Supernatural: Absence (14x18)

Well... yep.

Cons:

This is only a con if it doesn't get addressed in future weeks, but I am mad about the way Dean spoke to Cas. Actually, it's not quite that cut and dry - I'm not necessarily mad that he lashed out and said something hurtful, but I'm mad that even after Dean admits to Sam that the blame isn't solely on Cas, we don't get to see Dean and Cas discuss what happened. If this ends up happening in the next two episodes, I'll eat my words, but for now, I'm frustrated by Dean's behavior and a lack of resolution therein.

I see that Bobby is in the promo for next week's episode, but even so, I was slightly annoyed the whole episode wondering why nobody was mentioning him or calling him or anything. He and Mary were, like, a thing, right? Shouldn't he have had the opportunity to be present at her funeral?

Pros:

This episode did something so smart in keeping it very focused on a single, important fact: Jack killed Mary. The whole episode is dealing with the ramifications of that for various characters. Sam, Dean, and Cas are frantically looking for Mary and Jack, as the truth slowly dawns on them. Rowena can't locate Mary on Earth. Jack is being plagued by visions of Lucifer, and goes to Rowena for help. Cas goes to Heaven and ensures that Mary is at peace with John. The Winchesters mourn Mary. Jack tries to bring Mary back, but can't. There weren't any subplots or extra elements to gum up the works here, and I think the focus of the episode is what made it so strong.

I saw that people on Tumblr weren't thrilled with the idea of Jack seeing Hallucifer, but as I mentioned in my review last week, I'm cool with Lucifer as an endgame villain. Jack might not be completely soulless and unfeeling in the same way that Sam was under similar conditions. He's clearly struggling and under a lot of strain, and we know that this kid has got some serious daddy issues. How could he not? His father is the literal devil, and at the same time he also has three dads who don't really know what they're doing, but who he's desperate to impress, and he's just done something so horrific he can't ever see a way back from that. But the thing is, Jack didn't kill Mary in a moment of cold, heartless calculation. He killed her because he lost control of his powers. I'm not saying Sam and Dean are going to forgive him instantly, but viewers of this show know that there might actually be a way to come back from this.

I'm glad that Rowena played such a vital role in this episode. It can be really frustrating to watch female characters on this show die, because we don't exactly have a bunch of them to go around. But Rowena has become one of the surprising delights of this show, and her presence always invigorates an episode. Kind of like with Crowley in the later seasons of the show, we're not really even keeping up the pretense that she and the Winchesters are enemies at this point. But Rowena can allow herself to be kind, to let her guard down a bit and be genuine with the boys. She's willing to help with a locator spell, she tries to encourage Jack to talk to the Winchesters... she's a genuine ally and one who I'd be sad to lose.

As I mentioned above, I'll be pissed if Dean's behavior towards Cas isn't addressed. But for what we saw in this episode specifically, I really liked seeing how Dean handled his grief here. He starts by being in denial about Jack, continually insisting that they don't know yet what really happened. They don't know Mary is dead. They don't know Jack is soulless. When the truth comes out, he lashes out in predictable anger. But I feel like we also see in this episode how Dean Winchester has grown over the years. He talks to Sam about how he's feeling. He's pissed at Cas, but when Sam points out that he himself is also responsible, that he was willing to see past how dangerous Jack was becoming, Dean listens. And he admits that he too let some things slide because he didn't want to admit the truth. They both love Jack. And they've both been willing to let a lot of things go for the sake of their family in the past. Sure, the consequences here are about as dire as they could be... but how could they have behaved differently? How could they have abandoned Jack? It's a delicious, angst-y scenario and I'm all about it.

I like the way they handled Mary's death. It happens off-screen, but we see these flashes of the impact she had on everyone's lives. We see her training with Jack when he was without her powers, and encouraging Sam about his difficulties with his role as a father figure with Jack. We see Mary when she was still new to being alive again, working to understand Castiel and let him know she values him. I liked all of these moments. They were very sweet and appropriate and showed how Mary added value to their lives and to the show. But it was only the last moment, the part they showed with Dean, that really got to me. It's just Dean driving in the impala, with Mary asleep on his shoulder. Dean looks down at her and smiles. So simple, no words necessary. That's the way to get an emotional reaction out of me, honestly. So sad.

I think for now that's where I'll stop. I'm fascinated with what they've done with Jack's character. They managed to integrate him and make him feel like a real part of the show, and now they've twisted things up so badly that it's difficult for me to imagine them coming out of it with everything intact. I'm okay with Mary's time on the show being over. These past few seasons have been a bonus, something she got to experience despite her death decades ago. But she's at peace now. Whether or not our boys are going to be able to recover from this, though... that's another story.

9/10