Supernatural: Drag Me Away (From You) (15x16)

 So like. Hmm. I... hmm. I don't really know.

Cons:

Honestly, I have no problem whatsoever with the fact that this is a "filler episode". I think people are forgetting that even in the best days of Supernatural, many of the episodes, even pushing right up against climactic finales, were your basic MOTW stories, woven in with themes and character development that had a bigger impact on the A-plot. So that's fine. No complaints in theory.

But... okay, so, young Sam and Dean have the story of Sam talking about going to college and Dean being like "no that's stupid" and then Dean not letting Sam go on hunts, and then at the end Dean softening a bit and saying "I don't know about college... but we make a good team." Sound... familiar? It's... the entire seasons-long subplot about Sam and Dean being at odds about the hunting lifestyle. Sam wanting to be "normal" while Dean wants to hunt and make his dad proud. Okay, I understand this was a huge theme of their childhood, but GUYS. We've got four episodes left after this. Is this a theme that's important to the end of the show? Are we still debating where Sam wants to be, what he wants to do with his life? I thought this had been settled. Ad nauseum. A lot of the flashback stuff with the Winchesters felt like a serious retreading of ground. Not only was this what the first season of the show was largely about, it's also been a significant element in almost every episode where we've seen younger Sam and Dean, in any capacity.

I've also got to say, that this show's treatment of Dean and Jack's relationship has been enormously uneven. I kind of thought we did the whole cathartic "Dean forgives Jack" thing when Jack died at Chuck's hands. But now we're back to him acting like Jack is a fully grown adult acting of his own free will and not an incredibly volatile three-year-old supernatural being in need of protection and care. Dean doesn't even seem to want to look for another option, seems to resent the very idea that Sam and Cas might want to find another way to end Chuck and Amara, without Jack ending up dead. Dude. That's... pretty heartless, man. And speaking of repeating themes, didn't we do this when Dean wanted to be thrown into a box and sunk to the bottom of the ocean? He was all "there's no other way" and Sam was all "we don't give up!!" and then Dean was all "okay Sam, you're right." In fact, isn't this was Dean's original Hell deal back in season three was about too? I don't know what it was about this episode in specific, but it really made me realize how much repetition this show has had over the years.

I won't repeat my complaint from last week about Jack's whole plan to die, I'll just reiterate that if this show actually goes with a tragic ending where any of the boys has to die in order to save the world, they will completely have missed the point of their own goddamn show. Thematically, they can do the bittersweet ending only if it's Sam and Dean taking over Chuck and Amara's roles or something... but if they just die? Or if Cas and/or Jack die, and that turns out to be the "only way" to save the day? Bad. Stupid. Wrong. Incredibly poor writing.

Also, Cas is spelled Cas, not Cass. I will stand by that every time I see canonical evidence pointing us in the TOTALLY WRONG direction. It matters so very much. ;)

Pros:

So, all that being said about repetitive themes in the flashback stuff... one thing I really liked was when the repetition felt intentional, and felt like it was building somewhere new. Like, the echo of Dean as a young boy not being able to admit to fear, and then later he tells Caitlin that he's always scared. That's a big, important thing. Dean has admitted to fear before, that's not unique, but showcasing the then and now of it really shows how far he's come.

And even more significantly, we've got Sam and Dean and secret-keeping, a theme stretching back to the very start of the show. I loved the final scene in the impala at the end, with Dean finally admitting the truth, that Jack has to die to kill Chuck, and Sam getting pissed. This is the kind of shit that feels relevant to the endgame of the show for the two of them. The lying, the breaking promises to protect each other/do what needs to be done... they need to be on the same page in the end for this to work. And that same page needs to be that Jack can't freakin' die just because Billie says it has to be that way. Come the fuck on.

As far as character tensions go, in theory I quite enjoy the tension of Jack being willing to die to earn Dean's forgiveness. If this show ends the way it should, there will be a moment of catharsis where Dean will tell Jack he forgives him, he loves him, he wouldn't want him to die in order to earn redemption. You know, a nice little echo, since we're talking about echoes, of what happened end of season eight, where Sam was ready to die for a good cause, in part because he thought Dean didn't trust/respect him, and Dean said no, that's not true, I'd do anything to keep you with me. Come on, Supernatural. Don't fuck up the ending. Please do not.

Just on a monster-of-the-week level, I liked this whole Baba Yaga story. It's always nice to be in a creepy, ugly motel, seeing disturbing figures approaching down hallways, fights scrabbling for a magic object to destroy... gave off some very good early-days vibes, and I'm not mad about that at all, to be quite honest with you.

I missed Cas this week, but I did like the moment at the beginning when Sam was like "did you guys get into a fight and that's why he left?" and Dean says "Cas is just being Cas." To me it actually spoke to a very fundamental difference in how Sam and Dean view Cas' behavior, in that Sam thinks Cas is always motivated by something important, and Dean thinks that Cas constantly leaving is more of an abandonment thing. If I trusted this show to do better, I would want them to explore that in some sort of endgame setup of their various relationships but... probably not so much.

I really appreciated that Caitlin and Dean had no romantic vibes going on. When they were kids, there was the tiniest spark of that, as Dean was kind of trying to be impressive with this pretty girl he met at a motel... but they didn't go anywhere with it, and it didn't feel like there were any vibes when they re-met as adults. It feels weird to praise a thing that didn't happen, but that's the deal with Supernatural, sometimes you've got to take your wins where you can get them.

I hope this review doesn't come across as too negative, because honestly I quite enjoyed this episode on its own terms. The pressure is on, given how little time is left, so I feel like I can't avoid looking at everything through that lens... and if they can stick the landing, I think a lot about the last couple of episodes will improve in my mind. If the ending is stupid, I think it's going to color this last run of episodes in a more negative direction for me, looking back.

7.5/10