Supernatural: Beyond the Mat (11x15)

Um. I have a question for the casual viewers of Supernatural. Obviously, I'm aware that the very few people actually reading this review are likely to be casual viewers, but still. I'm just curious. Are there actually people out there who can watch this episode, actually watch the whole damn thing, and come out of it thinking "ah, yes. Dean Winchester is a heterosexual." There's just no way, is there? No way! Let's just talk about the episode, shall we?

Cons:

Very few complaints, honestly. I mean I suppose I should complain a bit that the beginning of this episode was pretty lazy in getting us to the main plot. Sam and Dean go to a wrestler's funeral because... well, basically they have cabin fever and they have no answers about the Darkness, or Lucifer, or any of it. It's a bit of a weak excuse for the story's initiating event, and even beyond that, what are the odds that a case just ends up falling right into their laps when they're not looking for one? That seems a tad contrived.

Pros:

But honestly... that's nitpicking. For a C-plot episode with a healthy dose of B-plot thrown in, this was about as good an episode as I could have hoped for.

The plot follows Sam and Dean as they go to pay their respects to a wrestler who died under suspicious circumstances. When one of the audience members at a wrestling match ends up dead too, Sam and Dean start to think this might be a case. Eventually, they discover that Gunner Lawless, one of the wrestlers, made a deal with a demon ten years ago and has been working for that demon now that his time has come due, recruiting new potential clients for this demon. Sam and Dean fight him and the demon in the end, and Lawless kills the demon, thus sacrificing his soul to the hell hounds, but releasing Sam and Dean from danger.

This main plot had a relatively simple focus and was full to the brim with amazingness. First of all, you've got Sam and Dean being genuine fans of wrestling, experiencing a joyous memory from their childhood with their father. Sam was fannish, but Dean was over-the-top. He's such a massive dork! You cannot tell me that he didn't have a crush on Gunner Lawless. I mean it was right there. He got all flustered and didn't let go of his hand when he was shaking it. And then he played like he was a wrestler and did dramatic rolls onto the mat, and then he went out drinking with the guys and swapped war stories with Gunner, and said "damn, you're awesome." Dean has such a crush. In fact, just as Dean meets his crush Gunner Lawless, Sam meets his crush, the woman who manages the fighters. The parallel between Dean's reaction and Sam's reaction to these idols of their childhood could not be any clearer. Dean is soooo not straight. Sorry if I'm harping on this, but it was just all over the place in this episode.

I also liked the simple demon deal plot line that we had going on here. The demon in question was collecting souls as something of a nest egg, now that the Darkness is out and about, and Lucifer is running Hell, and Crowley has been taken out. I appreciate this enterprising attitude, since I've always thought it was a little lame how most of the demons are mindlessly loyal to whoever is in charge of Hell. And that demon was also super gay. He was fan-boying hardcore at getting to meet Sam and Dean Winchester, although he ended up being a little disappointed in the results.

Also, I liked how one of the wrestlers, played by The Miz, refused the demon deal in the end. He had a very logical reason for it: if there are demons, there must be a Hell. And if there's a Hell, there's got to be a Heaven. Therefore, he decides not to make a deal with a demon so he will still have a shot at Heaven. I loved that! More people should think that way.

Then there's the subplot, which was also all kinds of wonderful. Casifer is ruling Hell, but he's not up to any particularly evil shenanigans. He basically tasks all of his demons with nothing more than finding another Hand of God with which to defeat the Darkness. One demon, Simmons, seems fed up with the world order, and she goes to Crowley, who is still being treated like a dog by Lucifer. Simmons helps Crowley escape, and he brings her to his secret hiding place, where he reveals that he has the Rod of Aaron, another Hand of God. At this point, predictably, Lucifer shows up. The whole thing was a setup, and Simmons was working for Lucifer the whole time. However, Crowley has another trick up his sleeve. He turns the double cross into a triple cross, and tries to use the Hand of God to defeat Lucifer. Unfortunately, it's another one-hit-wonder, just like the last one, and his one shot at taking out Lucifer is wasted on Simmons, who jumps in the way. One good thing does come of this for Crowley, though, because he manages to escape Lucifer.

First of all, I was super annoyed when Simmons helped Crowley to escape, because the "twist" that she was still on Lucifer's side was beyond obvious. But I didn't expect Crowley's subsequent backstabbing, and I thought that was really wonderful. It's been strangely disheartening to see Crowley in such a low place over the last couple of weeks, and oddly satisfying to see him don a sharp black suit and win his independence back once again. I loved the part where Lucifer made fun of Crowley for trying to double cross him, because he "invented the double cross, literally." Crowley then turns around and says that he was the one to "perfect the double cross, literally." That was bad-ass, Crowley! I missed this actually hardcore Crowley, and hope he sticks around for a bit.

Misha is still killing it as Lucifer, of course. He had the best line of the night. When Simmons asks if she can touch the Rod of Aaron, Crowley says "I don't think you can handle my rod." Lucifer picks this moment to reveal his presence, saying: "I bet I can. Is it just me, or is it getting a little phallic in here?" Misha obviously had an amazing time with that line. It was great.

Finally, we end with Sam and Dean. Dean has a renewed vigor for finding a way to defeat the Darkness, kill Lucifer, and save Cas. Destiel fans will be happy to note that Dean mentions saving Cas as a priority two separate times in this episode. His worry for his (boy)friend is clearly one of his primary concerns right now. Sam tries to remind Dean that Cas might not want to be saved, but Dean is determined to get him back no matter what it takes.

I guess I just don't really know what else to say about this episode. It was firing on all cylinders. I mean, yeah, it didn't really add anything new, and in that way I feel like we're still kind of treading water. But just like with last week, when nothing particularly advanced the story, I still feel like we got a good final product.

8.5/10