Thoughts on Supernatural 8.22 – “Clip Show”
As penultimate (see Sam, people do say it) episodes go, this set a number of balls in motion for the finale and what will be most interesting to see is not only how the plots are wrapped up (for the ones that are) but how they end up coming together when they do.
“Clip Show” probably served as close to a flashback episode as Supernatural will ever come and it was nice to see some familiar faces again, however briefly and tragically. Poor Tommy scarred forever by his wendigo trauma came fully prepared but couldn’t anticipate Crowley. Neither could Jenny the baker or Sarah the antiques dealer who’d managed to move on and have a family. It was great to see her and hear her tell Sam how much he’s changed in a good way. As sad as these stories ended, especially Sarah’s whose death shook Sam’s confidence in what they’re doing to the core, the episode wasn’t really about these victims at all. So let’s look at what is was all about then.
The Cure
We learn all about how to cure a demon, because after all it is just a twisted human soul. The curing process isn’t all that difficult in and of itself apparently – the trickier part appears to be getting a hold of the demon. The boys acknowledged my question about the demon cure and that is what happens to the original soul in the body? Perhaps once the demon is cured the soul can be expelled and moved on to Heaven?
Frankenstein Telekinesis
Abaddon and her great return, well I don’t quite know what to make of it. Honestly it was pure set up. Will she be the cured demon? It’s a hard guess at this moment. Given her power, age and authority as a demon, were she to be cured she could give some useful information about the baddies – assuming her sins didn’t drive her to maddness. One thing to note was her disgust at hearing Crowley was the reigning King of Hell. I wonder if she skedaddled off to track him down. I was a little bothered about this scene and how careless the boys were with both leaving her unattended in the room and not secured with a devil’s trap at all, even if she did have on the bullet in her head. Additionally, it seemed a bit bizarre that the boxes containing her hands were just on the table beside her, unlocked, if Sam and Dean had no intention of reattaching them. Not big issues – but a bit out of character of our cunning boys. I supposed they are both being run ragged these days though.
Forgiveness and Pie
Castiel in the bunker was great, if a bit short. Dean and Cas shared some hard scenes, and even Sammy thought Dean was a bit rough on the angel. Dean’s level of upset with Castiel surprised me yet at the same time read more as hurt than anything. Sam seemed surprised by his brothers behavior likely because if there is anyone Dean will forgive, aside from Sam himself, it’s been Cas and I’m sure we’ll see that coming, eventually.
On the note of forgiveness, I think my favourite scene in this episode was Castiel in the grocery store. First we have more demonstrations of him trying so earnestly but failing to fit in the human world. Secondly, the sweetness of what he was doing – just writing about it makes me saw “aww” aloud. Finally, threatening the cashier for pie. So badly I wanted to see Castiel bring all the food back to the bunker, pie included, and have Dean understand how much Castiel was trying to earn his forgiveness. Was it a huge, jump in front of a bullet, fall into a hell pit, and take on a hell hound Supernatural level gesture? Maybe not. But it was the meaningful sincere attempt of a friend. The scene was shot perfectly too, with the music and the only dialogue being the annoyed cashier exclaiming “dude!” every so often.
Half-Breeds and Trials
A fussy nitpick of this episode overall was having the waitress turn nasty and threaten Metatron’s life so as to take away from the ethical debate for Castiel’s decision when it came to killing her. Although I am glad that Cas did not (a) agree out and out to slaughter an apparently innocent being no questions asked in cold blood and (b) continued to struggle with the decision of taking an innocent life, it did seem a bit of a cop out to have the hybrid turn evil, for lack of a better term. Regardless, Castiel did not speak any words that we saw after he completed this first trial, so one has to wonder if he is on the path to closing Heaven’s gates or not.
I’m also curious to know the effect performing the trials will have on Castiel. Metatron made me suspicious in this episode and just as Sam gets sicker has he continues to perform the trials and there is an element of great sacrifice involved there, I wonder if the real reason Metatron didn’t want to perform the Angel trials himself is something like: as those trials are complete you lose your grace and become mortal ergo Castiel will be human and stuck on earth once he’s finished? Metatron was the scribe, he knows the details verbatim and he has demonstrated cowardliness and self-interest at supreme levels, so yeah, kind of not entirely buying what he’s selling.
Final Thoughts
This episode ended up a lot different then what I expected. I certainly didn…t expect the emotional punch that was the ending – Crowley’s speech to the Winchesters was a devastating blow to the confidence that only moments before her death Sarah had commented on and this scene was brilliantly done with the frantic search and panic comfort cutting back and forth with Crowley’s cool, malicious and matter-of-fact statements about how things will be going forward after a harsh but nevertheless accurate analysis of the boys.
Not only did “Clip Show” move the trials from a personal scale to a wider net of immediate effect with Crowley’s threat, but it also turned the “Supernatural” book series from a meta-joke into a weapon of knowledge against the Winchesters. And really, it was only a matter of time before one of the more higher functioning baddies cottoned on to the existence of and truth in these books and used it to the their own devious ends. Thinking back to Charlie’s casual reference and mention that they are on the Internet now: maybe not just a joke? Either way, the idea of these books are a bit more sinister than laughable at the moment, given the (for the moment) overpowering sucker punch they allowed Crowley to issue.
Speaking to the final exchange between the boys, Sam’s hesitation to continue with the trials while Dean is steadfastly determine to move forward despite the threat of civilian casualty it makes me wonder if this is the sacrifice that has been spoken about for so long. Castiel and Metatron’s subplot drama with the waitress is actually the perfect analogy: Castiel hesitated to kill the waitress because she was an innocent bystander in all this though as Metatron put it her death was a necessary for the greater scale good of Heaven (putting aside the merits of “good of Heaven” for the time being).
The people Sam and Dean have saved throughout the years truly have done nothing to be involved in the trials but they would be casualties for “the greater good” if the gates of Hell were closed. So the question for Sam and Dean becomes: are the few worth the many?
Wow! Great review! This episode was much more of a set-up episode I thought and you said everything I was thinking perfectly! I caught that they never went back to Cas either and he almost seemed to be looking warily at Metatron after he killed the nephilem so we don’t really know if he’s on board with the whole idea or not at this point. In fact Metatron says something almost like what Crowley says to Cas at the end of Season 6 … basically Heaven needs you to save it sort of a thing. Don’t trust him!
I don’t know what the boys are gonna do though and it scares me that they may go too far and without much insight into what will happen if they do it. I’m scared but excited for the next episode!
Thanks! I’m getting very excited for next week too. Gonna be a doozy no matter where it leads I suspect.
Hi Elle, very nice review.
I didn’t love the episode but it was pretty good. I was expecting more reveals or surprises but ok.
The cure was a little concerning to me as the demon and the original human still share the same body. The demon is still in control. That to me is still possession, even if the demon is no longer “evil”. So for the cure to be a positive thing the soul of the demon would have to depart, as you said. There was no indication of that. The whole concept was iffy and confusing to me.
Cas has gone down this road too many times. He doesn’t seem to learn from past mistakes. I am surprised that they even let him into the bunker! I love Cas but he has been acting hinky (yet again) and even though the boys are forgiving, this seems foolhardy.
Crowley was great, truly evil. Beautiful job by Mark Sheppard.
I really don’t want to see him eliminated. Better him that any Winchester!!
Thanks Leah. I have the same concerns about the cure as well, but it hasn’t been fully explored yet so we’ll have to see where it goes. With Cas – well, anything he did while under mind control from Naomi isn’t technically his fault in my books and he did finally break free from because of his friendship with Dean. If that doesn’t say caring, I don’t know what does. I’m still not sure if Dean and Sam are 100% clear about Naomi puppet mastering and the extent of it, perhaps that would ease some of Dean’s anger.
As to him leaving with the Angel tablet. Well, again I understand being upset by the lack of communication and really the anger seems to stem from concern about whether Cas was alive or not. I can’t say Cas did anything specifically wrong necessarily by hiding with the tablet. I’m not saying he did the right thing necessarily either. He just made a decision to protect the tablet and the boys. His leaving and lack of communication with them doesn’t strike me as much different in motivation from John disappearing in season one so as to keep his sons off the YED radar, you know?
At this point I think a lot of Dean’s anger is about his worry for Sam and the stress for what’s happening overall and then you have the added concern of the missing friend Cas who they haven’t heard from in weeks; rather than a reflection of the magnitude of Castiel’s perceived sins.
I agree with you about Mark Sheppard and Crowley – he is such a great baddie. Clever bad guys are so much fun!
Elle, thanks for the response 🙂 I agree of course that Cas shouldn’t be held accountable for what happened under mind control. I think if when Cas took off with the tablet, had he told Dean it was to protect them, it might have stung less and not felt like Cas didn’t trust Dean. I guess his subsequent actions with Metatron are still fresh in my mind and do not seem like good decision making. He could have run that one by the brothers, maybe? It all seems so fishy and S&D would sniff it out usually.
I actually thought he might head back to Dean and Sam before killing the hybrid waitress. It was my first thought as Metatron was pushing him to make the move. I’m not sure he would have stabbed her had the fight not begun actually.
Fishy is the right word. Metatron isn’t wearing the “totally trustworthy” hat in my books.
Nice review Elle. I really loved this episode. It devastated me when Sarah died, 🙁 though I can see why it had to happen. This is exactly what Crowley wanted, Sam is now hesitating about completing the third trial because of all the casualties that may result. Using the family business line to goad them was such a low blow, but hey, the guy is the King of Hell after all, he’s not known for his cuddliness! I did laugh at one of his lines though. The first call he makes to the Winchesters, he tells them he hasn’t sent his droogs their way. Clockwork Orange reference! Crowley would have loved Alex! 😆
As for what’s happening with Cass, I think he’s going down a very sketchy road…again. 😮 If he thinks Dean is pissed at him now, there will be no forgiviness coming his way if he doesn’t tell the Winchesters what he is doing with Metatron. Speaking of, I don’t trust the guy one bit. Why is he getting Cass to do all the heavy lifting? because he is only a scribe and Cass a soldier? I don’t buy it. 😕
I will forgive our darlings the major faux pas in leaving Abbadon tied to a chair with no devil’s trap to secure her, just because they are under a tremendous amount of stress at the moment, and let’s face it, when you receive a call with a 666 number, you answer the phone with trepidation. 😮 Loved the way she escaped though, let’s hope she sticks around, I would like to see how she handles Crowley, kind of like a Meg situation, only worse I think.
I agree with your review Alice. Though I do suspect all the problems are the result of spending half a season on the manufactured conflict betweent he boys. HAving Dean spend 10 episodes whiping Sam for every percerived betrayal, Sam not looking for Dean and then making Sam practically mute. The poorly thought out Amiela storyline, the hit and run peaks at Sams headspace were far too fleeting to make a story.
If they had cut the poorly written conflict or at least pared it down and used more episodes to focus on the MOL, the trials…etc… we might have a more complex, layered second half.
I agree with everyone above who said bumbling Cas didn’t work. He should know humanity by now. he spent eons watching humanity. All teh time spent with Sam and Dean he should be used more to raise the moral questuions..the bigger picture. Castiel comes across more as a baby in a trenchcoat then a age old celestial warrior.