Reviews That I Missed: Supernatural 13.14 – “Good Intentions”
I sat down for the rewatch of “Good Intentions” with the hubby and we were in agreement about one thing, we had never seen this episode before. I knew there were 2 or 3 episodes in season thirteen I’d never watched and it became obvious we stumbled upon one. I find that this is a nice surprise, because I didn’t come in to this review with any pre-formed judgements. How did it go? Not bad.
Meredith Glynn is the writer, and while I didn’t get a camp vibe, I don’t think this was one of her best efforts. That could be because of the crap she was given to deal with. She got stuck with what I call one of those “plot bunny” episodes, meaning she had to move the season mytharc, both good and bad, along. She started with the long abandoned, well overdue for an update, alt world plot. The one that last left Jack at the feet of Mary at the end of EPISODE 13.09! So, how did Jack go to getting tortured by alt Michael and alt Zachariah from landing at Mary’s feet? And she didn’t recognize him until they were in a cell together? I really don’t have time to ponder it or go through the scenes again to see what I may have missed, so we’ll just say it’s plausible.
Overall, the alt world plot felt a little cliche. The big bad angels were over the top evil, the attempted brainwashing of Jack was ‘been there done that’ for this show, and the whole, “all angels are bad, even half ones” tirade by Bobby was on the heavy handed side. Jack ended up proving himself by killing angels with his mind. Nice to watch, but very predictable.
But beside the rudimentary semantics, the character moments of the alt world scenes were gold. I know, it’s a fan fic writer’s dream to pair together Mary and Bobby, so I don’t blame Meredith for going for that connection. It worked, even if one was alt world Bobby and Mary was…well…oh she’s technically alt world too. Just back from the dead after 30 years alt. I like that the Mary in the alt world didn’t take Azazel’s deal from “In The Beginning” and lived a life without John, and thus didn’t give birth to Sam and Dean. As a result, their world burned. Seems that Sam and Dean are the true saviors of the multi-verse, aren’t they? Okay, we knew that, but it’s nice to see that reinforced now and then.
I like how Mary and Jack instantly hit if off too. She sees people for who they are and she noticed how Jack is still an innocent spirit. His connection with the children was a delight, and understandable since he’s a child himself. Watching him at this point, knowing his fate, makes his character that much more endearing. He is the real deal. He intends to use his gifts to save the world, alt world or not.
On the flip side, there’s “As the Bunker Turns.” Things for poor Donatello did take a turn. It went something like this:
After the alt world stuff, this episode picked up where things left off in “Devil’s Bargain.” Sam, Dean and Castiel have a plan, which puts Sam’s psyche on more solid ground. Well, until something goes wrong and that doubt creeps in. That never happens on Supernatural, right? They just need their prophet Donatello to interpret the demon tablet. What could go wrong? Erm…we do remember the demon tablet, right? It’s kind of evil. This is not going to go according to plan. In other words, another day at the office for the Winchesters.
I’m sure this is the truth if I did a continuity check, but Castiel didn’t know that Donatello didn’t have a soul??? What??? He lost it in like season 11! Seriously, Donatello and Castiel haven’t crossed paths since then? He’s a prophet! Angels should know this. That’s almost as ridiculous as Jody and Castiel finally meeting in the middle of season 15. I mean, how? She’s been around since season 5! But, I digress. That is indeed the truth and let’s run with it.
Donatello played the evil card pretty damned well, giving Sam, Dean and Castiel a fake spell. That whole Gog and Magog thing was just…wow, talk about digging up the obscure biblical references. It was a fun scene, especially when Magog called Dean the pretty one and Gog thought they were both pretty! Go figure, homoerotic ancient biblical giants on Supernatural. After some sweet fight choreography where Dean and Castiel predictably beat these ancient behemoths, truth comes out. They are made of sand and don’t have hearts like the spell said. Donatello is really trying to kill them.
Meanwhile, back at the bunker, Sam already figured that out after once again getting clocked in the head. I would of course opine about all these head injuries if Castiel and his angel healings weren’t close by. However, stay tuned for the next review, which contains THE line that both hand waves yet totally addresses Sam’s blows to the noggin. He has a secret weapon that rhymes with air. Anyway, before Donatello could finish the job, Sam managed to detain him and put him in the dungeon. All with a head wound! He is super human.
Aside from a parlor trick where Dean gets choked, Donatello in his madness was harmless, right? Well, welcome to the world according to an angel on the edge. Castiel had a point. He’s been through a lot of these end of the world scenarios, so one has to believe he knows it when he sees it. The fact that Sam and Dean were trying to pull the moral card on Castiel despite the fact they have crossed that line too many times themselves was very hypocritical, but Castiel did not back down and stood his ground. It’s about time! He was the only one making sense. War is coming, Donatello was too far gone, so extracting the information and essentially rendering a corrupted prophet brain dead was the only way to go. It got the right spell they needed, and Sam and Dean did shut up after that. I guess they’re willing to cross that line after all if it means they can get Mary back.
What did we learn from all this? For one, foreshadowing! Okay, it’s season fourteen foreshadowing, but talk about being on the nose about Jack killing Michael:
Jack: I had to come back. Sam and Dean, they wouldn’t run. They’d stay and fight. These angels, what they’re doing, they’re not gonna stop. As long as Michael’s out there, this war will never be over.
Bobby: So what are you saying?
Jack: I have to kill him.
Also, Castiel did find the right spell despite turning Donatello into a vegetable. “We need four major ingredients — the grace of an archangel… a fruit from the Tree of Life…. the Seal of Solomon… and the blood of ‘a most holy man’.” Hmm, considering the name of the next episode is “A Most Holy Man,” me thinks that will be part one of this quest. Let’s go!
One thing that did annoy me about this episode was the wild back and forth between the two plots. I’m not sure if that was a writing choice or an editing choice, but I think it took away from the storytelling real quick. They were equal plots in terms of time, but it would have been nice to spend a little longer on each and let them breathe a bit. If I take time to focus on each plot individually though, both were pretty good.
Overall grade, a B. Coming up next, Andrew Dabb and Robert Singer decide we need another quirky episode. This time it’s their homage to the old noir films. Strangely, it really works.
Alice Jester is the founder, editor-in-chief, head writer, programmer, web designer, site administrator, marketer, and moderator for The Winchester Family Business. She is a 30 year IT applications and database expert with a penchant for creative and freelance writing in her spare (ha!!) time. That’s on top of being a wife, mother of two active kids, and four loving (aka needy) pets.
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