Preview Supernatural Episode 7.17 “Born -Again Identity”

MISHA COLLINS RETURNS!
 
Well, fans it’s here!  The much anticipated return of Misha Collins as Castiel after a 6 month hiatus from the series.  Much talk and many interviews later, there is no question that Misha is happy to be back and Jensen and Jared are just as happy to have him!
 
Misha talked about his return to Supernatural in a number of interviews, and gave out little tidbits in each one.   Yes, he is still sort of Castiel and no, he doesn’t remember the boys.  Yes, Dean is sort of glad to see him and no, he is in no hurry to get his memories back, which is probably not a good thing with the leviathans running all over the place. 

What is worse, Cas doesn’t have his emblematic trench coat or black suit or ‘tied-on-backwards’ tie which is so not Cas.  Will that icon make a comeback?  “I hope so,” Collins says. “Because it’s almost tawdry not to wear that trench coat. It just felt wrong.”  Where is Cas’ coat?  Probably is the same place the impala is and so far, no idea when either are returning. (Can you say Frustration?!!!)

 
Collins continues saying Cas is not a Leviathan, but “he has changed.” Whatever he is, Dean is glad to see him. Between Bobby’s death and “Sam [being] in really dire straits,” Collins says, “Dean is definitely looking to lean on the character for help. It seems Castiel is no longer the Winchester brothers’ enemy.”  Collins continues, “There’s a kind of big experience that is being kicked off at the end of my first episode,” Collins reveals. “Cas is going to go through yet another transformation and on to another kind of struggle and journey. Once again, he’ll be put through the wringer.”
 

Collins goes on to describes Castiel’s new look as “nerdy” and says he based his voice on Miley Cyrus. The authors of that interview had no idea if Misha was joking or no, and with Misha, you just never know. 
 
Early on in the filming of the episode, Misha tweeted a photo of himself, sitting on a hospital bed in what looks like white orderly gear.   Fans wondered for a long time whether it’s a genuine set photo or Collins messing with the fans, could be both. (Smile)  The set is certainly the bed Jared is on in the sneak peak, but whether Cas had the bed first, remains to be seen.  

 
I’m thinking the addition of the bed pan is a definite Collins’ touch regardless.
 
But Cas isn’t the only myth arc character to return. Meg (played by Rachel Miner) also returns, and I can’t wait to see how she interacts with Cas.   The last time we saw Meg was in “Caged Heat.”  She was helping Cas, along with Dean and Sam defeat Crowley, who turned out to be Cas’s partner.  Have to wonder how Med felt when she found out.  In that episode they also shared a kiss between the two.  
 

 
and from “Abandon all Hope,” we know the Collins and Miner have been ‘hinting’ at something between the two of them besides Crowley and the apocalypse.  Hence there is a lot of speculation out there as to whether Meg might be playing nurse to an amnesiac Castiel, and some of the frames taken from the trailer seem to confirm that.

 
Meg really doesn’t look surprised OR angry.  Dean on the other hand is shocked!

Sera Gamble said in an interview, “Meg, as we learned in Season 6, is on the outs with Crowley. She was kind of on the opposing political team — she was in the other party. That hasn’t changed, but Crowley has cemented his position as king of hell. So if anything, she’s just higher on the most wanted list. It’s like everywhere she goes; there are demons who could easily turn her in for the equivalent of cash. So, she’s kind of desperate for allies really. We’ve been sort of scratching beneath the surface of where she’s at now. She’s really our longest-running demon, so she has some pretty interesting layers at this point.” 
 
But while Meg is ‘thunderstruck’, Dean is ‘gobsmacked’ at seeing Cas. But eventually that brings a whole host of buried feelings to the surface for Dean. Ackles explains, “I think there’s a lot of a mixed emotion about it. He’s probably elated to have his friend back, and somebody who he knows that he can count on, even though he doesn’t know who he is — meaning Cas doesn’t know that he’s Cas,”
 
Whether Meg finds Dean during his hunt or he finds her, the mixture of hunter and demon working together is always flammable.  However we know the two of them do not explode at each other this episode, because EP Sera Gamble also said the Meg would be back before the end of the season.  Oh and just for completeness sake€¦so will Crowley. According to Gamble, “Crowley manages to insert himself into everything, generally speaking.” Wonder if the ‘insertion’ will start this week.  I wouldn’t mind seeing the King of Hell again!

So what happened to Sam.? He finally has a nervous break down from his hallucinations and ends up on a psychic ward, but he doesn’t stay there long. 

Padalecki explains, “So Sam has a big breakdown, then once again, in Winchester form, has to kind of come crawling back out. And obviously, it’s not like I get a chance to go off to rehab for 18 months and take care of myself, because Leviathans and Dick Roman are still out there. So it’s kind of straight back into the game, you know … put a brace on and get back on the field. So that’s kind of where Sam is right now, trying to get back in the game. It feels like he’s been distracted all season long by his own issues, but now that we think he’s kind of clean of them, he wants to put his full momentum forward with the task at hand.”

 
But coming clean of them takes special kind of help in the supernatural universe and that help seems to come form Cas. 
 
So far, we have no idea what the final trigger was that sent Sam to the ward, but the CHCH promo starts out with a very strung-out Sam being harassed by Lucifer followed by a person being hit by a car.  If that was Sam it would explain how he became hospitalized and eventually transferred to the psychic ward.  We know he has not been sleeping, except when he gets behind the wheel of a car which is not the place to take a nap. 

 
A preview video released prior to last week’s episode did show Sam semi-conscious riding a gurney down a hospital hallway and examined by a doctor, the same doctor that seems to be in charge of Sam’s case and does interact with Dean on several occasions.

 
In the CHCH promo, the doctor explains to Dean that “Sam is experiencing a psychotic episode” and it seems to be a surprise for Dean, so Dean was not with Sam when he was admitted.  (See, nothing good happens when the boys separate!)   However, the doctor does take him to see his brother and that clip is the first sneak peak the CW released.

 
The Canadian promo does give us more quick snippets of Dean and Meg’s first meeting, Cas and Sam’s first meeting, and a scene where Cas is trying to remember the brothers and can’t. We also see a final scene with Dean and Cas outside and from the looks on their faces, something bad has happened. This makes me wonder if there is more to this episode than Cas’ and Sam’s dilemmas.  How did Cas get away from the Leviathans, or did he?  And why would they let him live?  Anyone think the Big Bad has Cas under surveillance?  I do!  Freaky!

 
The sneak peaked introduces Sam’s breakdown and the problems Dean will face in trying to find help for Sam.  Sam does believe it to be hopeless but not so Dean, which is lucky for Sam.  “Quitting” is not a word in Dean’s vocabulary.  (Smile)
 
One of the best parts of the clip is the funny antics and wise cracks from Lucifer expertly played by Mark Pellegrino.  It very well balances the sadder darker conversation between the brothers. 

 
Sam thinks he is going to die and really he is fine with that, Dean of course isn’t.  Sam feels it was inevitable once Sam’s soul was replaced and he does mention Cas’ warnings.   Dean doesn’t accept that and wants Sam to get angry and fight it, but Sam is just not up for it.  Dean leaves troubled, but also very determined to fine something or someone that will help.   

 
And he does…he finds his friend Cas, a fallen angel with a loss of memory, but with all his powers intact. In fact Padalecki said,” He’s still got great powers and we seek him out because we have an inkling that something’s going on.”

Once Dean realizes he needs to find a healer for Sam he does some extensive research and we’re told Dean spends time calling every hunter he knows to get an answer.  As Jensen Ackles put it, “Well, strange things have been happening to Dean, and I think that that’s starting to reveal itself a little bit more. One of those strange things is the fact that he got a number of a man who had contact with Cas, and it was an utter shock to Dean to find out that the guy that this guy had sent him to was, in fact, Cas; but he doesn’t know it.” 

And when he does find him, it poses a moral dilemma for Dean.  According to EP Robert Singer, “Dean does some soul searching.”  According to Jensen Ackles the reunion with an amnesiac Cas creates an “interesting dynamic in the fact that Dean has massive mixed feelings about Cas’ return. Obviously elated to see his friend, but what [Cas] had done before he left was something that Dean doesn’t forgive easily. So there’s a big struggle there with Dean and you’ll see more of that play out throughout that episode and throughout future episodes. It’s going to be difficult for him to kind of forgive and forget, but it’s also a different character. It’s Cas, but it’s not Cas, so there’s a whole different dynamic. All the history that comes with Cas and Dean, and with Sam and Cas, all of that has been really jumbled up and it’s such a mess. So it’s going to take a while for any of that stuff to make sense.”

 
Once Dean finds Cas, the drive back to Sam allows for some of these mixed feeling to surface.  They discuss Sam, his problem, which isn’t exactly medical, and Dean’s friend who betrayed him, the friend who “broke my brother’s head.” Cas is remarkable tolerant and placid, and though Dean is angry over what happened, he is not angry at this Cas. When Dean said his friend is gone, Cas wants to know if Dean killed him, as he senses that Dean’s killed a lot of people.  Dean admits that he honestly doesn’t know if he’s dead, but he does know that all this is a big mess.  He continues that while in the past he has been able to shake off things of this nature, this time he can’t and he doesn’t know why.  Cas said it didn’t really matter why, because Dean is not a machine, he’s a human. 

  
Sam’s is just as surprised to see Cas as Dean was and has mixed feelings as well.  In fact, Sam thinks Cas is now part of his hallucinations.

 
Padalecki says, “Sam kind of has a funny reaction, because Sam, all season long, has been seeing Lucifer, played by Mark Pellegrino. So he sees Castiel and he thinks, “Oh, my head’s still playing tricks with me. Here I go again.” And Sam is really trying to be in charge of himself and realize when he’s kind of out of line, realize when he’s imaging things or having hallucinations. So at first, he doesn’t believe it, and then comes to find out, through his brother, that it actually is Cas. And Sam and Cas have always had kind of a strained relationship, when Cas’ first episode was also Ruby’s, where Ruby and Sam reveal that they had been in cahoots. And so, Cas was obviously pretty hesitant to trust Sam and to give him too much power, and then Cas really kind of messed Sam up earlier this year. So Sam certainly doesn’t have a whole lot of love lost for Castiel, but he understands that Dean and Sam are better off with Cas than without. So, I think he keeps an open mind for it.” 

As for Castiel’s future with the show, nothing is being ruled out.  The 3 episode arc according to Singer, promises to have a more satisfying conclusion this time. “It will feel like some sort of closure, yes,” he says. “Not in the first episode back, of course, but by the third, absolutely.

Sera Gamble was a bit more specific. “We have left the door open for him. We don’t strike him with lightning. Also, by the way, if we did, I’m not sure how much difference that would make. But we don’t have a pickup; what we do have is just a really positive relationship with Misha. Misha is a busy and [an] in-demand actor, but we’ll see how things go.” 

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Official Synopsis: Lucifer (guest star Mark Pellegrino) drives Sam (Jared Padalecki) to the breaking point and Sam ends up in a mental hospital. Desperate to save his brother, Dean (Jensen Ackles) calls every hunter he knows for help. One of the hunters gives him the name of a healer who turns out to have a very familiar face (guest star Misha Collins). CW Publicity.  
 
Executive Producer Robert Singer directed the episode and Executive Producer Sera Gamble wrote it and neither of these two needs any introduction.  The last time these two worked on an episode was “Death’s Door” which was an excellent episode for both.  Unfortunately it portrayed the death of Bobby, which was expressed as a loss by both fans and actors alike.  Here’s hoping these two, in a future episode, write a sequel that brings the beloved character back.
 
Cast (IMDb) includes Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins (Castiel), Mark Pellegrino (Lucifer), Rachel Miner (Meg) 
 
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Official promo photos can be found in our photo gallery.
 
Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5oo6ubn9NU
     
Promo Sneak Peek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y7vkc-cDyU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QlTdgJduDI
 
Canadian Station CHCH promo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQXmvl-do6s 

Producers Promo:

Late addition:  The CW just released the Producer’s Promo narrated by Robert Singer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oCthT4rfYQ

HAPPY EPISODE EVERYONE! 
 
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