Supernatural: Safe House (11x16)

This was a C-plot episode, but it was a very solid one. And it had lots of lovely little threads tying it back to the main plot and the themes of the season, which was fantastic.

Cons:

Supernatural has this super annoying exposition problem. If I have to hear Sam and Dean talk about how they have no new information and maybe they should take a case to distract themselves while they wait to learn more about the A-plot, I'm going to scream. These scenes that sit at the top of virtually every single C-plot episode are so repetitive and dull. It really feels like Jared and Jensen are just going through the motions.

Also, I'll admit that while this was a solid episode in its own right, it might have been nice to have a few more tie-ins with the main story, especially since we're coming off of a few weeks without new episodes. There's a moment where Dean is trapped in a "soul nest" that's supposed to show him torturous images of the things he loves, to keep his soul trapped. He sees Sam's dead body, but I must admit it would have been apropos for him to see Cas as well, especially since he's worrying so much about the whole Lucifer thing. It's a small detail, but I felt like Dean could have seen something in that nest that would have tied us back a bit more strongly to the A-plot.

Pros:

The main case of the week is fairly simple: basically, Sam and Dean are hunting a soul eater that grabs people from a parallel world, pulling their souls inside to feed on while their bodies are left in comas back in the real world. As they investigate, we learn that Bobby and Rufus hunted this same creature a few years back, and succeeded in trapping, but not killing, the soul eater. Sam and Dean, with help from the Men of Letters' library, learn how to kill it. Dean has to get trapped inside the soul eater's "soul nest," while Sam remains outside. Each of them paints a sigil in blood, which kills the creature once and for all. All of the souls trapped in the soul nest are freed, and the people in comas wake up.

I liked the simplicity of this story, and how we learned the truth about the soul eater through piecemeal scenes between the two time periods. We jumped from Bobby and Rufus, circa Season Four, and then Sam and Dean all the way up in Season Eleven. Each time Sam and Dean learned something new, it seemed that Bobby and Rufus had gotten there first - but then in the end, Sam and Dean learned just enough more to end this whole thing once and for all, instead of merely delaying the problem.

Another awesome thing about the case was that the family who were victimized by the soul eater included a married mix-race female couple and their child. It wasn't made a big deal or emphasized or anything, but it was just a lovely example of representation. I've been burned recently by The 100 and by The Walking Dead, so I was profoundly relieved that this family made it out unscathed. In fact, it was refreshing to get a win for everybody in this episode, as it looks like all the victims of the soul eater got out alive in the end.

Bobby and Rufus were delightful. I mean, what can you really say about these two? As I was watching these two grumpy old hunters go about their business, I started to wonder why we couldn't have this as a spin-off. Give me Wayward Daughters, and give me Bobby and Rufus, curmudgeonly hunters. I'd watch it all. My favorite bit was when Sam and Dean were digging up graves to salt and burn some bones, thinking that the house might be haunted. As they pant in exhaustion, having uncovered one of the graves, Dean says that there must be an easier way to dig up graves. Cut to Bobby, using a freakin' backhoe to lift the dirt out of the ground. So funny! Also, Rufus keeps making Bobby do all the hard work, because it's the Sabbath, and apparently Rufus is Jewish. He won't put up with Bobby's religious persecution, especially when Bobby starts talking all logical and pointing out that he already broke the rules by driving over for the job! Jim Beaver and Steven Williams were both a lot of fun in this episode, and I think a flashback was a great way to bring them back in.

Also, on a more tender note, Bobby is run down and exhausted trying to research the apocalypse, and worrying about Sam and Dean, who are right in the middle of it. On various occasions throughout the episode, he calls Sam and Dean "my boys," and when he's in the soul nest, the vision he sees to keep him trapped is one of Sam and Dean both dead. Gah. Bobby loves them so much. And they sooo took him for granted. I appreciated the fact that there was no revisionist history here. At the end of the episode, Bobby gets a call from Dean about tracking down Lilith (remember this is back in Season Four), and Dean is gruff and short with him, asking him to get off his ass and join in the fight. Bobby, who we know has been working through the night looking for answers and worrying about Sam and Dean, doesn't defend himself. It's just the way it is. All of this tied back very nicely to Bobby's heartbreaking death episode back in Season Seven, when he talks about how kids aren't supposed to be grateful for their parents - they're supposed to break your hearts, and you're supposed to be there for them anyway. Ouch.

Then when you get to Sam and Dean's stuff, there's a lot of really interesting stuff to explore. When they realize that one of them will have to voluntarily travel into the soul nest to vanquish this monster, Dean initially says "not it." They play rock-paper-scissors, and Dean loses. I have this head-canon about the rock-paper-scissors thing, which is that Dean always loses on purpose, so that Sam won't be stuck with any particularly dangerous jobs. Just think about it - back when they're kids, and Sam is just starting to go on his first hunts, John wants to throw him right in the thick of things. Dean pretends to be upset at being forced to do the more dangerous and unpleasant parts of the job, but he only does that so Sam won't know that Dean is protecting him. Obviously I'm being a sentimental fool, but I don't like the idea that Dean would push Sam towards such an obviously dangerous task. Even now, as grown adults, Dean will always put himself in the line of fire for Sam.

Inside the soul nest, my favorite moment was when Dean saw a vision of Sam's dead body. This was a very subtle moment for many reasons. Basically, we learn that inside the soul nest, Dean is going to see the things that he loves in distress, in order to keep the soul on edge and trapped. Of course it makes perfect sense that Dean would see Sam dead, but there's this part of you that wonders if he's going to see Amara, or confront something dark within himself. At the end of the episode, Sam asks Dean what the soul eater made him see, and Dean, quite matter-of-fact, tells Sam that he saw him dead. Sam is actually comforted by this. At first I didn't understand why that would be, but then I got it - Sam was worried about Dean's psychological torment of late, and it's actually a good sign that the thing Dean loves the most hasn't changed - it's still Sam. Dean is still Dean. They played the moment very understated, too - when Dean sees Sam's body, he doesn't freak out and panic. He knows it's just a vision, but it does still shake him. He closes his eyes against the pain, collects himself, and then gets to work.

I also want to briefly mention the effects in this episode - the human souls stuck inside the soul nest were really creepy, with their blacked out eyes and solemn stillness. When the little kids were talking to Dean and Bobby and they could see the creepy people but the two men couldn't, I actually got a little freaked out!

Finally, we have to mention the thematic resonances in this episode - Rufus continually mentions the "oldest rule" in the book: the idea that some people have got to die for the greater good. Then, of course, we have the disturbing visions of dead Sam and Dean in Bobby's mind, and dead Sam in Dean's mind, and the disturbing moment when the soul eater possesses Dean and tells Sam that he can "keep them both safe" from what's coming. The soul eater knows that Dean is drawn to Amara, and believes there's no escape. All of this talk is getting me mighty worried. I mean, this "oldest rule" probably isn't going to end with Sam or Dean dead, given that we're getting a Season Twelve. But Cas? There's a part of me that's very, very scared he might be the one sacrificed for the greater good. I will freak out so much.

There you have it. A C-plot episode, sure, but a very solid one with some interesting connections to the season's bigger arc. I can't wait for next week, when we get Billie coming to reap Sam's soul. Should be intense!

9/10