Supernatural Preview: Episode 7.02 – “Hello Cruel World”
This week’s episode is the second part of Cass’ story, even though the two episodes are not officially listed as a two-parter.
In case you missed it last week, Cass decided to return the souls to Purgatory after he realized he had indeed “˜bitten off more than he could chew.’ And once again he turned to his earth family for help. And help him they did. Bobby and Dean managed to get Cass back to Crowley’s lab, performed the ritual to open the portal and the souls flew back inside. Only problem, the Leviathans, Castiel’s downfall, didn’t go. They managed to hold on and once the portal closed, re-surfaced in Cass.
Now for all intents and purposes Cass is “˜possessed’ and how much of Cass remains is what we will find out this week. At least we know Cass is now back on the boy’s side and really regrets not listening to Dean last season. He also regrets what he did to Sam, and whether he will be able to rectify Sam’s condition for Dean remains to be seen.
So what do we know about “Hello, Cruel World?”
We have two promos and a clip that were released for this episode and by and large all three mainly deal with Sam and his hell-memories, pretty repetitive and not very informative about the MOTW plot. However, more interesting is the “Don’t Drink the Water; Your Sanity Will Evaporate” promo. That clip, and parts of last week’s trailer, gives an idea of what else will be going on this week for the Winchesters.
We see more into the modus operandi of the Leviathans (which BTW are biblical sea monsters), their personalities and some long term plans they have. – Yeah,we have not left the mythos behind again this year, but these creatures can be entertaining and funny depending on how well the writers handle them. Sera Gamble’s comment on the leviathans, ” Like the other bad guys who emerge a little as time goes on, their personalities will become clear in the next few episodes, but I think that sense that they are having fun and they’re not like here to hail fire and brimstone on the world and just be mustache-twirling evil, ,.. Part of that is that they’re here to have a good time.”
For a little history on leviathans, the word has become synonymous with any large sea monster or creature found in classical literature (such as the novel “Moby-Dick”). A rendition of a “˜supreme being’ destroying a Leviathan is below. These monsters have been the makings of some great horror movies and can generate possibilities for tremendous sci-fi and special effects, something the series has been lacking as of late. Hope in the future, we get to see more CGI like we did last week!
God definitely didn’t like these creatures and now they, the Leviathans, are alive and well inside Castiel. But for how long?
In the video, we learn that the Leviathan have started using the water supply as a means of getting around, causing strange mutations to take place in anyone who drinks it. Being sea monsters, water seems a natural place for them. Question is: how do they get from Cass to the water and what happens to Cass in the process? We already saw how they were trying to punch their way out of him last week. In the promo we do get a glimpse of Cass and he doesn’t look too good.
As Bobby points out to the boys in a park scene form the promo, the leviathans have found a natural conduit through the water pipes and rivers and we see the results when they end up in people’s homes, a hospital and a children’s park. All in all, not a good prospect for the boys.
Yeah,black goo everywhere and once inside a human, they get hungry and start to feed, on, you guessed it ““ HUMANS! This little lady ends up in a hospital where she eats her doctor.
In another scene a doctor eats a patient on an examination table.
The set photos show us Bobby, Dean and Sam, working out solutions to the problems of the leviathans and Castiel, always hoping they can still save their friend. Assuming they can find him of course.
Meanwhile, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Dean is beginning to falter under the combined weight of coping with Sam and his hallucinations while, at the same time, trying to saving his old friend, Castiel and fight the leviathans. The synopsis tells us the Dean is shouldering a lot of stress from the burdensome threesome, so much so that Bobby begins to worry about the toll it is taking on Dean. Bobby finds the right time to broach the subject with Dean, but just gets and “I’m fine” from the oldest Winchester,a reply Bobby does not believe!
But, there are no indications quite yet as to what effect that will have on Dean. Let’s just hope he can stays out of hallucinating Sam’s line of fire long enough for us to find out.
More from the promos give us insights into Sam’s hell-memories and the problems they are causing for the brothers. In a number of them we see Sam frantic in a warehouse when Dean comes to find him. Seems Sam thinks he has been there with Dean the whole time and when Dean walks in, Sam sees his “Dean” was a hallucination of Lucifer (very expertly played by Mark Pellegrino).
Lucifer’s comment when the real Dean appears, “Oh look,.another me.”
Sam, totally confused, decides he can’t trust anything and sets his sights on using his loaded gun to settle his problems. After a few random shots at sound or shadows, Sam sets his sights on his own brother!
Dean finally convinces Sam that he has indeed been hallucinating and just in time too, since Sam was all set to blow Dean away.
But in the end, Dean will always go back to trusting his little bro,.no matter what.
The only benefit of Sam’s hallucinations…we apparently get to see a lot of Mark Pellegrino! (Smile)
Other hallucinations from the promos include Sam watching Lucifer sneak up behind Bobby and ramming him through with a poker iron, only to see Bobby smirk at a horrified Sam as once again, it’s not real.
We also get clips of Lucifer playing golf in Bobby’s house and him strangling Sam.
All part of the same hallucination which I’m going to assume is what is going on when Sam disappeared last week on his trek to get the blood that would save Cass.
We also see Sam admitting to Dean that he can’t control his hallucinations and has trouble knowing what is real. Honesty is the best policy after all; however, you got to feel sorry for that face. Poor Sam.
The promos also show a driverless air-borne car, Sam shouting a warning (for the car?) and someone hitting a windshield. I’m guessing these are all results of the affects the leviathans are having on the locals.
Then we cut to a hospital where things do not get much better. (On a side note, Jim Beaver did tweet that the first few episodes they are at hospitals a lot.)
We see a medical person shot, the same person we seen in the second clip rendering aid to the girl and then eating his patient.
And, as last week, Dean and shotgun are a twosome again. What he is shooting at this week, we need to wait to see. Whatever it is, I wouldn’t want THAT Dean, with THAT expression after me!
However, neither the look nor the shot faze the villain, because a subsequent scene shows him taking the gun from Dean and tossing Dean in the air. My best guess,Dean’s the one who lands on the windshield. (Maybe that’s why he has a broken leg in the episode next week.) (Smile)
Official synopsis: Castiel continues to struggle with the burdens that come with his new-fangled power. The broken wall in Sam’s head causes him to have hallucinations, and he has difficulty discerning what’s real and what’s not. Bobby worries that Dean is beginning to stumble under the weight of fighting Castiel and keeping an eye on Sam.
Cast (IMDb): the J2s, Jim Beaver, Misha Collins, Mark Pellegrino, Kim Rhodes (Sheriff Jody Mills)
Guy Bee directed the episode which was written by Ben Edlund. Neither of these two needs any introduction to “Supernatural” fans. Guy Bee did talk to our editor-in-chief, Alice Jester, at the Vancouver con about the episode. He promised the episode was awesome! He said in his panel, “It’s funny, it’s scary, it’s everything we all like about the show.” What more can we ask?
One other tidbit of information, director Guy Bee, in his tweets during his time directing the episode, did confirmed that Kim Rhodes will be appearing in this episode, so looks like we will get to see Sheriff Jody Mills again. And as spoilers also put her in episode 7.06 “Slash Fiction,” we know she is not one to fall victim to the Big Bad, this time. Good! I always liked her and she certainly has Bobby’s number! Who knows maybe it’s her town that’s under attack.
All the photo stills CW released for the episode can be viewed here.
Promo, trailer and clips are below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA4tz1320xA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb4A9_Gfriw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSGGaTntNjY
So Castiel was redeemed, as many fans hoped, and then the writers threw in another huge twist. Where the storyline goes from here, of course, is something we’re praying this episode will answer for us.
I seriously doubt the Castiel story line concludes with this episode. Neither the fans nor TPTB want to see that, and it has been hinted all summer that we will have Cass again the season. But in what form is another matter. While the myth arc can’t go on indefinitely, angels and devil can and do persist in literature for all time. Heaven is still in disarray and God has never been found, so there is still plenty for Cass to do, between answering the boy’s calls for help. Course, these nasty leviathans may through a cork screw into the mix.
An interview with Sera Gamble revealed it’s far more likely that Castiel’s fate and the nature of the Leviathans will be a season-long arc, especially with all the plot reveals and information we are picking up about Castiel and the Big Bad. When Gamble was asked if we [the fans] should take the leviathans to heart about Cass’s demise, she said,” You should never take anyone for their word that anyone is dead, especially when they’re trying to get you out of their way. You certainly should not just ring the final bell on seeing Cass or Misha just because you don’t know what episode he’ll show up in next.”
Also it has been pointed out by some astute reporters that the small budget of the series is less strained if a single person plays the Big Bad this year, and so far there are no indications that anyone else is being considered. So, it certainly sounds likely that Collins will continue on the show, much to the delight of the fans, portraying a Castiel/Leviathan monster, set on causing the boys as much grief as possible ,when Cass is in “˜monster-mode’ that is. I’m sure we will see many times when Cass will be in angel-mode and I suspect one of those times comes at the very start of the episode when Dean and Leviathan!Cass were left alone in Crowley’s lab. I’m guessing Cass returns to himself long enough to save Dean and Bobby. At least I hope he’s the reason Dean and Bobby live to fight another day. Also hope Cass can hold it together eventually long enough to cure Sam.
How often Cass will be seen remains unknown, but his status as a guest star, instead of a series regular, will not diminish his frequency on the show. Last year Jim Beaver as a guest star appeared in more episodes than Collins did as a regular and Beaver even had his own episode, “Weekend at Bobby’s”. And guest stars get paid much better. (Smile)
I think we should all take the TPTB at their word, this time, that the character of Castiel will be with the series for a while yet.
Happy episode everyone. Come back and tell us what you think!
For spoiler updates, follow me on Twitter at @sblgrn
Awesome – well thought out and written. Great job. 😀
I respectfully agree with Marika – this is very well written, and I enjoyed reading it.
But going ahead in Season 7, I do hope that the Winchester brothers do catch a break or two (or more !).
Ahhh, but if they caught a break or two…what fun would that be? 😆
Thumbs up to your preview. made me even more excited for episode 2(and 3, I can’t stop thinking about Dean broken leg in cast! 😆 ) We’re gonna see some creepy kids again, still I’m having nightmares about Lilith 😀 BTW when did Jim tweet about lot of hospital scenes in 1st few episodes? (Can’t resist Hurt/boys)
Creep kids creep eveyone out. That’s why they are used so much in horror stories. Sorry I don’t have an exact date for JB’s tweet but it was sometime in late summer.
I love to come here on Thursdays and read your previews for the next episode. They give some great insight into what is going down. Can’t wait to watch it now. These leviathans sure sound like nasty creatures, let’s hope they pan out better than the mother of all.
[quote]Well, I’m much more interested in Sam’s part of the story than anything about Castiel. I hope they don’t run through his scenes to make room for Castiel. Besides, Mark Pellegrino on screen is always a pleasure.[/quote]
Neither do I .nor do I want Sam being a big burden to poor Dean . Sams the one going through this and he is not doing on purpose . .
Glad you liked the article. The issue of SPN ratings is a hot topic for many and most agree they are ‘normal and expected’ for the series given its, lenght on the air (s7), it’s Friday time slot behind Nikita, and the network it’s on.
IMHO, I personally am disappointed in the ratings because I feel the series has a lot of life in it yet, if TPTB (The Powers That Be) would be more receptive to fan complaints. But that’s just my 2cents worth. Everyone has an opinion.
CIG is really CGI which is computer generated image, and MOTW is monster of the week.
oops, should have added that most feel the ratings are nothing to worry about. SPN is still strong on the CW.
After that, drinking water will never be the same again…
I am very glad at this point that I have to work on Saturday and thus might not get to watch the episode before Sunday…one more day to remain in blissful ignorance… 😮
I am really afraid what this episode will touch on, since Sam’s journey seems in various, crazy ways similar to some of my own… I have found flashbacks to creep up my spine recently, so watching Sam freaking out in those clips makes it weirdly personal. Plus I see some of my patients before my ‘inner eye’ and wonder how they have survived their ordeals.
All in all…I am eagerly awaiting the episode and being frightened out of my wits. But, hey, isn’t this what we love about the show, too, we masochistic, yet sweet loonies… 😆 ?
No, The Vampire Diaries is the highest rated show on The CW. Supernatural is usually second or third, but there are a couple of new shows (Ringer, The Secret Circle) that are doing pretty well. While Supernatural isn’t the highest rated, The CW has far greater problems than lower ratings on their buzz worthy Sci-Fi show. It’s called Mondays and Wednesdays.
Ahem. HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is all.
That’s was actually a fairly decent episode. How will Bobby get his house back! That was so sad and Dean really did break his leg in this epi. At least now we know how they get into the hospital next week. Wow..this epi and next week’s could really be a two-parter. Really hope they do more of this!