Supernatural: Blade Runners (9x16)

Oh boy. Dean Winchester, honey, you're an idiot. I love you, but you're an idiot. Let's briefly talk about the plot, and then I'll get into more detail about the idiocy of the lovely elder Winchester brother.

Poor little Crowley is addicted to human blood now, and he's dependent on a demon woman who has been staying with him and taking care of him. Turns out, this woman is reporting back to Abaddon about Crowley's activities. Crowley finds out, and kills her. He then calls Dean, realizing that he needs help.

Sam, Dean, and Crowley try to locate the First Blade, now racing against Abaddon's people, who found out about it through Crowley. They track it to a Man of Letters named Cuthbert Sinclair. Once inside his hidden lair, Sam and Dean see that he collects rare artifacts and has a "zoo" of supernatural creatures. Magnus (Sinclair's preferred name) sees that Dean has the Mark of Cain, and traps him in his lair, wanting to keep him for his collection. Sam and Crowley break into the lair to get Dean back.

Sam gets captured by Magnus, but Crowley releases Dean from his bonds, and Dean chops Magnus's head off with the First Blade. There's a frightening moment where Sam sees how much this Blade thing is changing Dean, but Sam is able to talk Dean down. When they leave the bunker, they find the Impala vandalized by Abaddon's people. Carved into the car is a message in Enochian for Crowley, telling him that Abaddon is getting close. Crowley takes the Blade from Sam and Dean, because he doesn't trust them not to kill him. He agrees to give it back to them to use on Abaddon, once they find her.

Yikes. Things are really heating up. I'm very nervous for whatever they're going to do to us at the end of this season. It's not going to be pretty. Let's see... I'm trying to think of things I didn't enjoy....

There was really only one bigger issue I had with this episode. I think Abaddon should have been in it. The threat of Abaddon was a really important part of this episode, and indeed of this entire First Blade/Mark of Cain arc for Dean. They could have done a better job of making her a presence in the episode. She didn't feel... powerful, here. She didn't feel like an immediate threat. Even just a brief sighting of her might have helped quite a bit.

Along the same line, that demon who was spying on Crowley for Abaddon sure was an idiot. It erased her impact as a threat. She seemed like just an excuse for Crowley to be a bad-ass.

But hey. Let's take a look at the good stuff, because this episode was chalk full of it.

Cuthbert Sinclair/Magnus. What a cool character. What a cool concept. We've just introduced the concept of human immortality, which is pretty crazy. And that lair! That zoo! That collection! That was one of the coolest things ever. I do wonder, though... are Sam and Dean going to deal with the monster zoo? Are they going to take any of those valuable artifacts, other than the First Blade? I suppose they know where the lair is now, so they can get in and look around later? I'm not sure.

I can't believe Dean killed him. Scratch that - I can believe it, but Dean is such an idiot. First of all, that's yet another human being that he's killed without batting an eye. Yeah, sure, he was a very evil human being who was threatening Sam, but I still think we're supposed to be very worried by how easy it was for Dean to decapitate him. And this is part of why Dean Winchester is an idiot. Because, honestly. As messed up as Magnus was, he could have been damn useful. He knew the Men of Letters! He had ways to make the Bunker even more protected! Why wouldn't they want to question him?

My favorite thing ever is the obvious parallels between Sam-addicted-to-demon-blood, and Dean-with-mark-of-Cain. When Sam sees Dean, holding the blade, power thrumming through him, he's seeing himself. He's seeing what happens when something dangerous and powerful takes a hold of you. It's going to be so, so intense to watch Dean get in even deeper.

And they defiled Baby! That is not okay. However, this act of vandalism brings up so many questions for me... first of all, why was the message for Crowley written in Enochian? And was this a subtle jab at the fact that Crowley is allied with the Winchesters? Or so everyone thinks?

Also, I love, love, love the fact that Sam has to keep reminding Dean that it's time to kill Crowley. It reminds me so painfully of Sam and Ruby. This odd friendship/camaraderie between Dean and Crowley is probably going to get deeper before it starts changing again.

So, to be brief, I'm very excited to see the continued downward spiral of Dean Winchester. He's feeling alone and desperate, and he's got this mysterious Mark which is now starting to have its "consequences..." This is gonna be gooood!

8/10