Supernatural: Various & Sundry Villains (13x12)

Good! This episode was actually good! When I saw the promos I was a little nervous. I predicted that Jensen would be hilarious, but that there would be some cringe-y moments and we'd sale through a C-plot episode with a little dash of B-plot in the form of Rowena, and then we'd get back to real business in the future. But no! That's not what this episode was at all!

Cons:

Apparently Cas has been "calling to check in every day," which is a detail I find utterly delightful. But I'm also really bummed that we didn't get to see how that plays out exactly... does Asmodeus force Cas to call? Does somebody imitate Cas to the boys? It annoys me that the Winchesters wouldn't have figured out that something was wrong by now. They do know Cas pretty well at this point.

The two witch sisters in this episode were played as kind of ditzy and stupid, and while I think that could have been fun in another universe, I don't think it was executed very well here. I wish we had seen evidence that their valley-girl attitude was a put-on, or that despite how they talked and dressed, they were really both very intelligent. Maybe that's what they were going for, but in execution they sounded just as air-headed when it was just the two of them as they did when they were conning men with magic. I also think there was a bit of a missed opportunity here, because two siblings desperately trying to save a parent, conning people out of money, doing increasingly desperate things to get what they want... that's a Winchester brother parallel if I ever saw one, and they didn't really take advantage of that opportunity.

Pros:

My prediction that Jensen would be funny in this episode proved entirely correct. His love-sick attitude was exactly what I was hoping for. I loved the moment when he punched Sam for trying to stop him from leaving, and then as he's leaving he calls out cheerfully that he's real sorry about that and will help him to ice his face when he gets back. Then, later, when they're wrestling as Sam tries to stop the witches from leaving with the grimoire and Dean tries to stop Sam from hurting his "true love," we hear Dean say "sorry, Sam, I just love her so much!" as he tries to choke Sam. I just loved that little detail of Dean having nothing against Sam, and still caring about him, but his love for this woman trumps all else.

Rowena was amazing as always. I love what a bad-ass she is, and how such a large range of emotions can come out of her in one episode. We see her mourn for her son, and she makes the very good argument that she'd rather have a living son than a dead hero, no matter what issues she and Fergus/Crowley have had in the past. We see her be her normal mischievous self as well, and we also see her display some true vulnerability. I loved the double and then triple crossing going on here, as she uses one pair of siblings to get at the other pair of siblings, then flips it, then flips it again. As the episode ends, we see her get one hell of a power-up from the grimoire, so that should be an interesting development moving forward.

SAM'S TRAUMA IS ADDRESSED. And I'm living for it, honestly. Sam and Rowena discuss their shared fear of Lucifer, and how that fear never really goes away. Later, Sam tries to talk to Dean about it, but he kind of brushes him off with an empty line about them figuring it out together just like they always do. I cannot believe we are lucky enough to actually be talking about this. I never thought I'd see the day. Lucifer is funny, and Mark Pellegrino does a great job with the character. But one of our main characters was tortured by him for untold years in Hell itself, and it would be a great disservice to Sam's character if none of that were addressed. Here we see it get brought up in the most unlikely of ways - Sam and Rowena bond over a shared trauma that Dean could never possibly understand. Sure, Dean has his own traumas that Sam can't share in too, but we're focused on Sam right now, and I for one am all about it.

I also love the fact that Dean has absolutely no idea how to deal with Sam's pessimism. He's not used to his brother being in such a dark place, and he really does not cope well when Sam is in distress. The fact that we're getting to see this narrative build out over the season as each brother deals with his grief in different ways... well, that is the kind of content that I'm here for.

In subplot news, Lucifer and Castiel escape Asmodeus and fight off a bunch of demons together, and then Cas stabs Lucifer like a total bad-ass, instead of giving in to Lucifer's continued pleas for Cas to give up some of his grace so that Lucifer can power up and find Jack.

I'm... in love with Cas. So much sarcasm, witty banter, and sass from him this week, and I was living for it. I feel like Cas has realized that he's very good and being very annoying when he wants to be, and he's started to weaponize that. First against the Empty, and now against Lucifer. Usually, Lucifer would so overpower Cas as to make their little team-up ridiculously uneven. But here, we've got a de-powered Lucifer and a Cas with a pretty uniquely strong motivation. Watching the two of them work together, and then watching Cas refuse to give Lucifer any leeway, was honestly a dream come true. And the way Cas taunted Lucifer about Jack? Please. More of this.

That's what I've got for now! Supernatural has surprised me plenty of times in the past, in both good and bad ways. This episode was a surprise particularly because I thought I was in for a standard C-plot, and I got such joy out of being wrong about that!

9/10