Supernatural: Into the Mystic (11x11)

My poor boys are in so much pain and I want to hug them all a lot but at the same time this episode filled me with such joy. I have one giant complaint and one smaller complaint, and then several things to praise. I'd say this episode doesn't quite hold up to last week's killer installment, but it was as solid as a C-plot episode ever has been. Go Robbie Thompson!

Cons:

Giant complaint is as follows - Dean/Amara is disgusting and not at all compelling. In this episode, we see that Dean is vulnerable to the attack of the Banshee because he is hung up on Amara. He also confides in Cas, or Lucifer, rather, that he's had two shots to take Amara out and he's been unable both times, due to his connection and attraction to her. It's just creepy, is what it is. I'm sorry, but Amara is as old as the universe itself, but she's also only been alive for like under a year in a human vessel. And other than the compulsion drawing them together because of the Mark, I don't understand at all why Dean would be drawn to her. I mean, in getting rid of the Mark, Dean was supposed to have banished those dark thoughts completely. Right? This isn't a Sam/Ruby situation, since Dean isn't still being corrupted by dark power like Sam was when he was drinking Demon blood. It seem like this is a pale imitation of that earlier Sam/Ruby storyline, but with a much less compelling reason, nonexistent chemistry, and even more uncomfortable questions about consent. I keep trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but Amara just doesn't do it for me, either as a love interest for Dean or as a proper villain.

The smaller complaint is about Eileen, one of this episode's new characters. I loved her for the most part, and I totally ship Sam/Eileen like you would not believe. But the thing is, Eileen is Deaf, and she spends the whole episode talking and reading lips so seamlessly that her Deafness is basically a non-issue. That's just not realistic. Give her an interpreter, or have her be hard of hearing, or have her lip-read with a little bit less perfection so that communication becomes an actual obstacle. Including a Deaf character is amazing and awesome and I'm so happy about it, but including so very little sign language and having her able to lip-read with an absurd amount of accuracy erases the effect to a certain extent.

Pros:

Casifer! Last week I said I was reserving judgment about Misha's performance of Lucifer. I knew he would do a great job, it all just depended on how they decided to integrate Lucifer into the story moving forward. I'm happy to say that I'm not disappointed. From Sam and Dean's point of view, Cas has been AWOL since their trip down to Hell. Then, when Dean goes back to the bunker to fetch a weapon they need against the Monster of the Week, he finds Cas looting around in the bunker. Casifer tells Dean that he was looking for a spell to defeat Amara, and Dean confesses that he's had trouble killing her for personal reasons. Casifer assures Dean that the next time he faces Amara, he won't be alone.

The thing about this scene between Dean and Casifer is that it is Destiel as hell. I mean, can you imagine if it were really Cas interacting with Dean this way? Dean opens up to Cas and tells him about his confusing feelings for Amara. Cas is sympathetic, putting his hand on Dean's shoulder and promising that he'll stand by his side and help him defeat the Darkness. It's just so... it's so painful to think of Cas buried somewhere in there, screaming at Dean not to trust the person standing in front of him. And Dean, confessing things to Cas that he hasn't even been able to tell Sam yet. Yikes.

Misha's acting is of course excellent. Misha playing Lucifer playing Cas is a lot of fun, and the subtleties make me so uncomfortable. You can just tell something is off with Cas, even if you didn't know that it wasn't really him. It reminds me of when Gadreel tricked us all into thinking that he was Sam for that fateful conversation with Dean just before Kevin's death. Jared did such a good job of playing Sam just the slightest bit off, and the same sort of thing is happening here. I loved the earlier scene of Lucifer, as he lazily explodes an Angel who tries to do his Heavenly duty and rid the world of the newly freed Devil. He's a legitimate threat, and hilarious to boot!

The case itself was a lot of fun this week. It was standard one, with a Banshee being the villain to defeat. At an old folk's home they meet Mildred, a kindly old woman who seems like a likely target for the Banshee due to her heart problems (the Banshee preys on those who are vulnerable). They also meet Eileen, a Deaf woman whose parents were killed by the Banshee when she was just a baby. She is out for revenge, and she teams up with Sam and Dean to take out the monster. They succeed, saving Dean from the horrible death caused by the Banshee's screams. Turns out, he was the target. Sam questions what makes Dean "vulnerable," but Dean evades the question. I loved the Banshee as a villain. It was actually properly creepy. I have a squick about head injuries, so watching all the victims bash their heads against walls to escape the Banshee's screams was really gruesome for me. I was actually frightened!

Mildred was a really fun character. She immediately starts hitting on Dean, which got a lot of laughs. She gave Dean the very generic advice to "follow your heart" in order to be happy, but coming from her the advice rang very sincere and sweet. She talks about her incredible life and how she got to bring joy to people doing something she loved. Mildred also gave Sam and Dean a chance to think about their own futures. Dean is impressed with the retirement home and jokes that perhaps he and Sam should put their names down. Sam is pessimistic, saying that they are unlikely to live long enough, but in the end he takes a brochure and saves it. That is so, so important. Sam and Dean have got to start hoping for a future again.

I complained about Eileen a bit earlier, but I also mentioned that I loved her, and I did. She's been a hunter all her life, spurred on by the death of her parents when she was just a baby. Her grandfather was a Man of Letters. I mean, essentially she's a female Sam Winchester. But the similarities aren't belabored, and the two of them have some real chemistry. I would love, love, love to see Eileen appear again. She was a lot of fun, and I totally ship her with Sam! My favorite bit was probably at the end, when Sam said that she should feel free to call if she needed anything, and she says "you can't call me, though. Well, you could, but I won't answer." That was hilarious! It's so important to see some lady hunters thrown into the mix.

And hey - I'd just like to point out that Mildred was the one to cut her hand and use her blood to trap the Banshee, and Eileen was the one to kill the creature with a golden blade. They totally saved the Winchesters' asses. In fact, Eileen probably could have handled the whole thing by herself, without any assistance from Sam and Dean. That's awesome! Go ladies!

I've saved my favorite element of Supernatural for last. The brotherly moments. This episode was just chalk full of a lot of great stuff. First of all, you have Sam's guilt about not looking for Dean when he was in Purgatory. Talk about resolving old plot threads! Hell yes! I still say that Sam doesn't have any reason for feeling guilty, but that doesn't change the fact that this has been hanging over their heads for a good two and a half seasons now. Dean keeps it simple, telling Sam that even if he hasn't been able to forgive himself for what happened, Dean has. It's in the past. All that matters is that they're together. I mean, Dean actually said that. Be still my beating heart.

We continue with the theme of honesty here, as Sam openly addresses to Dean his feelings of unease. Dean is worried about Sam's doom and gloom attitude about the rest of their lives, and Sam admits that he's been feeling a little off-balance since his run-in with Lucifer. Dean firmly declares that Sam is never going anywhere near Lucifer again, so he'll be okay after he's taken some time to heal. Sam also confides in Eileen, saying that Dean has always been there for him, even when Sam has let him down. I want to shake some sense into the younger Winchester brother because honestly he is so brave and strong and he does not deserve to be burdened with feelings of guilt and inadequacy. But it's so lovely to see Sam opening up about these things, both to new friends and to Dean himself.

Typical brotherly awesomeness also happened during the episode's climax, as Dean is targeted by the Banshee. Sam gets to display the typical freaked-out-Winchester-watching-his-brother-in-trouble routine, and it warms my heart as per usual.

All in all, this was a C-plot episode that moved a few key elements forward in a powerful way. I loved the way this episode dealt with Sam's lingering feelings of guilt. I'm much less thrilled with the Dean/Amara elements, and am choosing to believe that it's all a creepy compulsion until it's proven otherwise. Because. Ew. Just don't. In any case, I had a lot of fun watching this one, and I got a lot more Winchester brotherly moments than I would have expected, so that makes me a pretty happy camper.

8/10