Supernatural: Keep Calm and Carry On (12x01)

Okie dokie. We're back. And I'm thrilled. Although... yeah. I have a question.

Cons:

That question is as follows: why are the British MOL torturing Sam, again? Because they want to find American hunters and teach them their ways? W-what? So... the British have this system wherein they are awesome at killing monsters, and they want America to be awesome too. But why would torturing Sam be a way to make that happen? Has anybody just tried to reach out to them and tell them the deal? Couldn't Toni have just approached Sam in a neutral area and explained who she was and asked to have a conversation? I'm not saying that Sam would have instantly trusted her, but it would have been a way better way to start a relationship. And if the British MOL can track Sam and Dean so effectively for years on end, how is it that they have no other information about hunters in America? That seems... stupid. Basically what I'm saying is that if you want us to buy in to the torturing of one of the leads, the bad guys better have a compelling reason for their actions.

Pros:

That being said... I'll wait and see where this all goes. The stuff with Sam was actually pretty intense. Watching torture is no fun, but Sam holding up under it was all kinds of bad ass. Toni's torturer friend was amazed, saying that nobody holds up under torture like this. Hey, it's like Sam said. He's been tortured by Lucifer himself. He's not going to break that easily. Any excuse for bad-ass Sam, am I right? Later, our baddies turn to psychological torture. I'm not sure what they did to him, but suddenly he's having all of these hallucinations of dead people, and Dean's voice is in his head telling him that everything is his fault, that he's a freak, and that he should just die. Sam apparently listens to this, slitting his throat with a broken mirror. But when Toni comes down to check on him, it's revealed to be a trick. He incapacitates her but doesn't kill her. She gets back up and prevents him from escaping. Poor Sam!

Even if the excuse for the torture isn't compelling, Sam's reaction under the psychological torture certainly is. I knew he hadn't really killed himself, obviously, but that moment still had weight. Sam still thinks Dean is dead, remember. And here he is, hearing his dead brother's voice telling him that all of his hardship and pain is his own fault. I think Sam really does feel that level of self-loathing, which is what makes his bravery even more outstanding.

Crowley follows around a couple of Lucifer's lackeys, trying to get on Lucifer's trail. He knows he'll never be King of Hell again as long as good ol' Lucifer is still around. This plot thread didn't gain a ton of traction; it was almost like a teaser for whatever is coming later. Still, I was glad to see Crowley back to his scheming, intimidating ways. He killed two demons in the blink of an eye, like it was nothing. Which, to Crowley, it wasn't. More of that, please!

And then of course the main plot was... amazing. Mary Winchester is back, and more than a little overwhelmed. Dean and Mary go back to the bunker, where they find Cas. Cas tells Dean that Sam is gone, and the three of them work to try and track him down. They end up getting Toni's phone number, but then Toni's fellow British MOL member goes to head them off. She is super bad ass, and nearly defeats Dean and Cas both. But then Mary stabs and kills her. The guys check her phone, and they find out where the last phone call was made. They've got a lead on Sam's location.

In story terms, basically all we've got is that Sam is missing, and these three are going to try to find him. Pretty basic. In character terms, there was all sorts of amazing stuff going on here. I LOVE MARY. I'm so happy with what we've seen so far, and I want her to stick around for the long haul. Her discomfort and confusion at the world is played up just enough so that we know things are a real struggle. Still, she was raised as a hunter, so we're not starting from ground zero here. She seems a lot more dazed by the modern technology than she does by the fact that she was raised from the dead and her grown sons are hanging out with angels and demons and stuff. Mary toed the line between being too helpless and too bad ass. She's not incompetent, but she's at a disadvantage in this situation.

Cas and Mary had a moment where they bonded over being fish out of water, which I thought was superb, especially given that they met while Mary was holding a gun on Cas. I want a ton of scenes with these two in the future. I particularly loved the moment when Mary ordered Cas to hurt a witness to get more information. She literally just came back from the dead, but she's already locked in. Her son is missing, and she's not about to back off.

My Destiel feels were strong with this one, what with Cas hugging Dean the minute he saw him, his voice cracking as he said his name. Aww! But oddly enough, I thought the Sastiel stuff was perhaps even stronger. Cas was seriously livid about Sam being taken. Dean actually kept a more controlled lid on things. Cas, however, starts wailing on people for information pretty much right off the bat. I love that he's part of the search for Sam. There's no lame-o excuse as to why he needs to be elsewhere. Toni tried to send him away at the end of last season, and he came straight back to Lebanon, Kansas to look for Sam.

Protective Older Brother Dean was here in full force. He's pissed. The best moment was when he was on the phone with Toni and he promised that when he found her, if Sam wasn't in one piece he'd rip her apart. The minute Toni hangs up, she just turns to the other woman and says "we have a problem." If Toni and the others have been watching Sam and Dean for a while, then they understand exactly what Dean Winchester is capable of doing when it comes to Sam. Toni better watch her back.

And that's where I'll stop. This opening episode might not have been the best, strongest premiere we've ever had, but it did exactly what it should have done in terms of scaling back. We've got a character-driven challenge in the arrival of Mary Winchester, we've got a new but still human threat in the British MOL, and we've got the mere suggestion of Lucifer creeping in to remind us that he's not done yet. Not by a long shot. These ingredients should combine to make for a very exciting season!

8/10