Alice’s Review: Supernatural 11.03, “The Bad Seed” aka an Angel and a Demon Walk into a Bar…
Umm… yeah. Okay, let’s do this.
Allow me to start this review with a rant against the very thing that I think is sinking network television. Our time as TV watchers is very limited. More and more shows are out there competing for attention, not to mention the vast network of social media that causes massive distractions in our free time space. That being said, there is no room in our TV viewing for filler anymore. When an inferior, poorly constructed, momentum killing hour of television happens in a TV show’s season, that does not help the viewer in maintaining any kind incentive to keep watching said TV show every week. Our standards can be higher because the competition with tightly written 13 episode a season shows on cable is fierce.
So, when I see an episode like “The Bad Seed,” it becomes obvious that quantity is the primary goal over quality for “Supernatural.” It’s not surprising for an older show, the studio needs to get as many lucrative, money making episodes for syndication as they can! As a reviewer though, knowing that basic economic fact of network TV, do I just call something “filler” and grade on a curve? Nah.
Last week I praised writer Andrew Dabb for his ability to weave together three separate stories perfectly. Even though three things were happening at the same time, we were engrossed with the way each scene flowed together and only enhanced the interest of the viewer. The story built up into one grand crescendo. I’m calling writers Eugenie Ross-Leming and Brad Buckner the “anti Andrew Dabb.” Their MO is random plotting, choppy scenes that literally make no sense when put together, glacial pacing, dialogue that is rudimentary and often plain stupid, and the characters in their stories are about as wooden as a cigar store Indian statue. The only thing that makes such a story even remotely watchable is the fact that there are talented actors, directors, and crew that actually do their jobs well.
So where exactly did the wheels fall off the wagon? First scene. Mega coven? This is Rowena’s, a very powerful and menacing witch BTW, grand debut in season 11? A totally campy scene where she’s made to look like the most ignorant witch of all time before sizzling those that made fun of her to a crisp? She didn’t know Crowley wasn’t dead? Wouldn’t she have stuck around to find that out? Verified it at least? Doing that horrible bit in the opening scene gives us a great glimpse of the Rowena we’ll be getting this week. The annoying one. My biggest problem with Rowena is that put in the hands of the wrong writers she turns into an over-the-top, excruciating character that should be on one of those Teen Nick shows rather than the formidable villain other episodes make her to be. It was sophomoric and once again, insulted my intelligence as a viewer. I’m okay with Rowena being funny, but this was just pathetic. I was waiting for a poorly timed laugh track.
For plot B, we have Castiel going on a bender and Sam and Dean dealing with it. Nice to see Sam and Dean fall back into supporting characters of their own show. Speaking of the brother, oh wow they are keeping secrets from each other! Ooh, let’s dig up that old plot again! Fans will eat it up! Watch Sam twist over Dean finding out another lie. Bad Sam, bad! (I really need a GIF of a TV brick being thrown). At least they have Castiel’s back, right? I did enjoy seeing the three of them together in the bunker actually and that Castiel didn’t have to go through this whole spell alone. I even like the idea that Sam and Dean found a solution, even if that solution turned out to be easy and predictable. Okay, I hated that part. Plotting by the numbers. I did laugh though over Sam calling Castiel’s 78 Lincoln Continental “crappy.” Castiel was actually offended! Yes, I have to cling onto the little things.
That whole scene in the warehouse didn’t make sense. Castiel goes on a bender, tries to choke an innocent woman (?), Dean arrives just in the knick of time to save the day (??), Dean gets the crap beat out of him by Castiel (???), Rowena reverses the spell on Castiel and then uses her magic to break free and trap everyone while she escapes(?????) Why didn’t she try to kill them all? As much as she wanted The Winchesters dead last year? Because she wanted to prove she keeps her word? ROWENA (????????) I know Sam and Dean have the codex, but she obviously doesn’t need it anymore since she unlocked the power of the Book of the Damned. Plus, I hope Sam and Dean were smart enough to cover her eyes before going to the bunker because she can’t know the location of that place. Unless it’s warded against witches. Yes, this is actually the thought process that I waste time on when scenes like this happen. It’s pitiful really. As a viewer you shouldn’t have to work that hard.
That all leaves one important piece left and that’s Amara. This was the one part of the story that wasn’t botched. Well, Crowley’s was for the first part. He had a big role in this episode and his condescending attitude toward Amara was just awful. Crowley is better than that! Uncle Crowley? Giving her children’s books? Treating her like a child when it was very clear this girl was quite a bit sharper than that? It’s the return of dumb Crowley after he was so wonderful the previous two episodes. I’m also a bit confused over grown up The Darkness lady talking to little Amara through the mirror, but it’s not a deal breaker. It might mean something. Is the grown up lady what little Amara will look like eventually? Are they separate entities or one in the same?
However, it vastly improves with the conversation between him and Amara about what God has done to the world. Suddenly Crowley is having a very grown up conversation with this girl and it bothers him plenty. I did love how Amara was trying to process the cruelty of God and why did locked her away just to create an earth of suffering and pain. She felt it in all the souls she’s consumed. She is trying to figure out her role and purpose, not to mention deal with power that’s growing rather quickly. It does make you wonder what side she will land on, the side that shows the earth mercy or the side that shows wrath. On one side humans are God’s creation so they should be destroyed, or maybe she’ll end up trying to save humanity all from the cruel God and be the new savior. Either way, she isn’t going to be serving Crowley’s agenda and that was becoming very clear to him. He’s got a monster that he cannot control. It makes you wonder if he’ll eventually be seeking the help of Moose, Squirrel, and Clarence. I’m sure he will, because he already sees the bond Dean has with her.
Strangely, my favorite scene of this episode was the random meeting of stunt demon #3 and stunt angel #4 in a bar for a drink. I’ve actually dreamed of seeing a scene like this ever since season 4! It’s really awesome because it played out exactly as I imagined it; both of them downing whiskey after a bad day at work, complaining about how horrible everything is, and then clinging glasses while having more. One said they should do something about it, but they just kept drinking. I doubt anything will come of this scene, but it was fun to see for once. I wouldn’t mind seeing them again once in a while. Maybe they could be spotted in the background of scenes playing tennis or walking in the park?
Does everyone remember that beauty that was “Weekend at Bobby’s?” The story that struck all the right chords, and was made even better by first time director Jensen Ackles? What irks me most is that every script he’s had since then has been total crap. Where’s his next “woodchipper” scene? Where are the awesome lines that bring emotional depth to a character that gives a director room to bring that out even more? Where’s a story that isn’t so glacially paced that watching paint dry becomes more entertaining? Visually Jensen knows how to tell a story and bring out the best. When the script though has a hodge podge of events spelled out like that awful warehouse scene, it’s really just better watching with the whole thing on mute. That way you can truly appreciate the gift of the director. Good job Jensen. (Psst, you’re the star of the show. Next time, ask for a Robbie Thompson or Robert Berens script. I would have loved to have seen what you could have done with “Baby.”)
Major kudos to the director though of the gorgeous shot of Sam appearing to a waking yet disoriented Castiel. (See picture at the top).
Since the whole review was a rant, I shall skip the Red Headed Monster segment of the week. Overall grade, a C-. Luckily, the director saved it from being a total fail and there were two good scenes. I’m once again erasing a Brad and Eugenie episode from my memory and moving onto next week. “Baby” just might be the remedy we need (fingers crossed!).
Why filler at all? Are the writers so un-creative? (don’t answer that, the question was rhetorical ….. sadly we know the answer)
There is so much story potential for Supernatural, a mere 23 episodes is not enough to tell what could be told.
I’m very disappointed with the showrunners, the writers and even JA & JP for tolerating crap like this.
These “filler” episodes have been apart of the show from the start, hell the first season would considered “filler” as well as the majority of seasons 2 and 3. The reason why there are mytharc episodes and these so called “filler” episodes is because the show has 23 hours of television to fill, and you don’t want to run the risk of burning through so much story so fast. Season 5 as the only season that had more mytharc than MotW, and it suffered from meandering wheel spinning for the majority of it.
That said, this wasn’t a filler episode in my view. It tied up plot points, and moved the story forward by shedding light on characters and motivation.
From what I understand, the Nep Duo never get filler episodes only the myth arc ones. True? (I’m not going to slog through the record of their work it’s just what I’ve read several times). It’d be nice if they were relegated to just the MOTWs so we wouldn’t have to watch them screw up canon. Fingers crossed that next yearJensen gets to direct a script from a different writer.
No, they do half MotW, half mytharc.
And really, their record on canon is pretty good, I mean Kripke has done more canon retconning than they have. The whole reapers as angel thing, despite popular belief, was not them, rather it was Dabb.
I think 23 is more than enough. They simply need to add two storylines for the season. Like.. S6 with first half being soulless Sam then moving on to that Purgatory stuff.
I have to say for the first time ever I fell asleep mid episode and have been in no hurry to catch it up.
OMG, not you……
I don’t watch live anymore but I have yet to fall asleep without illness/ medication. 🙂
Good review, Alice. Watched it again today and it was just as mediocre. The Crowley/Amara storyline had promise but, after last week, raise of hands of those who DIDN’T think Crowley bit off more than he could chew? If it’s going to be that predictable, at least do something to keep it interesting.
Castiel’s storyline suffered because he really didn’t do anything bad under the attack dog spell. Trying to kill Crowley? Who hasn’t? As with Dean last year, they played it safe and didn’t do anything that would portray Castiel in too negative a light.
Started liking Rowena towards the end of last season but we’re back to the hackneyed, over the top cartoon villain crapola again.
Oh, and I guess Sam and Dean were in the episode, too. It’s okay if they take a back seat once and a while but they really need to step up the storylines and writing for the other characters.
You totally hit the nail on the head on why Rowena bothers me so much. She is NOT scary. She is indeed like a witch in a children’s show. Too bad really I love Ruth Connell, she has the chops to deliver. I want menacing in the supposedly evil characters. Even Crowley is more icky than scary to me now. I’d love to see more of the red-eyed evil king of hell. This was a C- for me too. Not the worse but definitely not anywhere near as good as the 1st two episodes. Disappointing, as I’d hoped these two with a few seasons under their belt might have been able to deliver a decent cohesive story.
She has the typical aggressive passive aggressiveness of a typical Scottish person. Also Rowena was never really shown to be evil, and I don’t think that was ever the plan for the character. She always been delusional, petty and manipulative.
Her introduction with 2 bloody dripping bodies on the ceiling above her while she sat nonchalantly below may have given me the wrong impression. 🙂 I don’t think petty, manipulative and often silly is that interesting I guess. I thought her character had a lot of promise and I liked her at the end of last season but in general I just find her annoying.
I agree Leah… when she was introduced there was a lot of indication that she was sinister and powerful. Now though, she’s an ineffectual clown trying to win a popularity contest among her fellow witches. It’s wasted potential IMO. She certainly did not come across as dangerous in this episode; she was annoying more than anything.
Sophomoric is one very good description of the Nep Duos writing. It’s a shame they waste available show time on Supernatural that could be used for/by others who actually have the ability to write a smart, concise, solid script. Another word that comes to mind is juvenile, predictable, rote, boring… how these two are remotely even considered professional writers in any sense of the word is beyond me. How sad is it when you see a comment elsewhere about how “at least it wasn’t Mans Best Friend With Benefits”… Well now there are 3 things in life you can count on – Death, taxes and the fact that Eugenie and friend will never write a decent story to save their lives.
I saw this theory on IMDB but with Alice’s review it seems like this is where the plot is going. Amara is going to become Jasmine from Angel. Jasmine made humans worship her by putting them into a euphoria like trance. Then she gave them Utopia. Of course the price humanity had to pay was that she got to eat a few people along the way in order to stay powerful.
Fred figured it out first when she touched Jasmine’s blood then had to get the rest of the Scooby gang on board with her plan to take back earth. I can see Amara creating the perfect Earth with Dean (Conner) as her protector and all she needs in return is a few dozen souls to keep her powered up. The question is which one of the Supernatural Scooby gang will be the one to figure it out.
I hated that story line….with a passion. Please someone tell me how wrong I am.
Otherwise on 2nd view (which was really my first because “live tweeting”)the episode was ok. I just wish that someone would tell Brad and Eugenie that they are not funny. And turning villain’s into cartoon characters is insulting to the audience the show is intended for (unless I am mistaken and they are going after teenagers from the 70’s). I liked what little we got from Sam and Dean. I’m glad that Cas is cured but like someone wrote above what was the point of that story in the first place. Crowley is again reduced to a joke. Who couldn’t see that coming….Crowley never learns. He is always trying to harness a being more powerful than he is and it always backfires. Just a lot of treading wheels. Can’t even talk about Rowena. I feel kind of sorry for Ruth. Sam’s hair looked great.
Any episode that doesn’t focus on the brothers doesn’t work for me. I shouldn’t have to groan my way through scenes either. At least logically get our heros into and out of danger. These two seem to write in broad strokes with little attention to detail. It’s too bad this episode was placed just before an episode that sounds like is going to be the hit of the season. Oh well on to the awesome Baby. Can’t wait.
[b]Please someone tell me how wrong I am.[/b]
Can I? 🙂 I don’t think it’s where the story going. What was noticeable about this storyline is that Amara’s apetite is growing with her growing. So, she won’t be satisfied with consuming several humans souls now and then. I see her as a primal insatiable force which won’t satisfy her hunger even if she consumes all souls in the world. Disatisfaction is her primary characteristics. So if to leave her to her agenda she will consume the whole world and will remain unsatisfied. That’s why she was characerized by Death as the destructive force. So, in the end of the day no perfect Earth with Amara in power, or any of what philosophers call Being or Existence. Just the Darkness and the Empty. And I wouldn’t like to see Dean serving the Darkness. That would be awful, and I don’t think the story is going there. As for why Dean doesn’t want to hurt the baby, don’t you think it’s because she is a baby, or at least he still thinks so. I haven’t noticed any influence of the Darkness on Dean’s decision-taking so far. Of course Castiel is less scrupulous on the matter, he is an angel, he doesn’t have parental instincts humans have.
In general I don’t think high of this episode, though I really liked Amara/Crowly story. (Crowly as Mr. Rochester, Dante, Hitler’s Nuremberg speech – those were good). And I certainly liked rank and file angel and demon interaction. “Power to people – Well, not exactly to people” line was hilarious. By the way, if to take into consideration the human history it’s the most powereful slogan known to humankind. Civilizations collapsed and rose under that slogan. 😉 So this plotline has a certain potential.
[quote] As for why Dean doesn’t want to hurt the baby, don’t you think it’s because she is a baby, or at least he still thinks so. I haven’t noticed any influence of the Darkness on Dean’s decision-taking so far.[/quote]
Hmmm… I’m not sure that Dean isn’t being affected in some other way by both the baby and the darkness lady. It hasn’t been made completely clear yet, but his protective instincts in eps one and two, and his defense of Amara being “just a baby” as well as his trance in this episode are indicating that Dean may have a big conflict brewing. I am not sure that I am totally on board with a story like that, but I am willing to wait and see where it goes. It also makes sense that he would be connected to either or both of them given the fact that he bore the mark for a short while. I don’t want Dean blindly following Amara or TheD that’s for sure, but if they wanted to make him conflicted that could work. They did such a piss poor job of showing Dean’s conflict with the MoC, so maybe this one will go better.
Fingers crossed. 🙂
I guess that would work for me too. But it depends on the execution.
I hope you are right but the conversation between Crowley and Amara has me worried. We’ll see how it plays out.
Things I liked about this episode: Sam, Dean and Cas in the bunker caring about each other. (apply that ice, Dean..thanks, Mom.) Dean reacting quietly to Rowena’s mention of Sam’s “secret” deal with her. Not a problem worth fighting about in front of her. Things I did not like: Cas hurting that girl in the alley. Very unpleasant. Crowley and Amara scenes were too long. Her eating a lot of his demons was kind of funny though. Rowena being pathetic. Get a story line, woman!! Love her hair, though.
I watched/ felt embaressed, cry for Jensen because he had to direct this crap and try and make it good. And the loser duo JUST AIN’T FUNNY – Sammy beautiful his hair perfect, Poor Dean beaten bad
Fire these two totally pathetic writers before they kill my show :(:(:(:(:(:(:(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What exactly was choppy about the episode? It was no different than last week jumping between Sam and Dean’s separate plots. For example how does it not make sense that Crowley is told they’ve found Rowena, he tells a minion to move on the kill, the next scene is Rowena being a attacked by a demon.
As for glacial pacing, pacing is just as much on the director as the writers. And as a director, he was in a position to tighten up any scenes while filming, and one would assume in editing also. So yeah, Jensen is as much to blame for the pacing of the episode, and shouldn’t be placed on a pedestal.
I wonder if filming the episodes out of sequence also affects the quality of the episode, as much as it can’t be denied that Buckner and Ross-Leming really need to go. Without the intensity and momentum of having performed the scenes in the previous episodes, does the third episode (shot first) suffer? Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Hollywood has always shot out of sequence. MOVIES especially. Sometimes jackass backward, in case something happens to the star, they shoot the most irreplaceable scenes first; Or at least they used to.
That’s true NOLA that Hollywood shoots out of order, but the actors have the whole script and know where things are going. I’m not sure that either Jared or Jensen had an opportunity to read episodes 1 or 2 when this one was filmed. It would explain why nothing seems to match up and why the all of the characterization so seemed so off here.
I would say it would be stupid NOT to have them, but hey we are talking ”stick to the wall, spn.” :o:o:o:o:o:o
Or maybe those scripts just weren’t ready at that point.
Therein lies the STUPIDITY !!!!!
Well, I can’t really argue with that!! You’d think they would be given all the info they needed to make the story work but this one didn’t. I’m blaming it on a bad script and a lack of knowledge on the actors part.
They should do us all a favor & go to 13 episodes, then ALL the stories should be already WRITTEN.
Since it was the third episode of the season, I am fairly certain that they already had the other scripts also. I think that Jared and Jensen have mentioned at conventions that they get more than one script at a time even though they don’t necessarily know too far in advance what is going to happen for the season. And actually for me, this particular episode did not feel as disjointed because it was filmed out of order as other seasons. I thought “Weekend At Bobby’s” felt more odd, just because they hadn’t filmed the first two episodes of Sam being soulless yet, so in the third episode (which they filmed first) he almost seemed like normal Sam to me. It was jarring after the first two episodes of him being so un-Sam-like. This episode, in contrast, didn’t feel all that jarring even though it was not a great episode.
And it didn’t strike me at all out of character for Dean to get his nose out of joint over Sam not telling him about Crowley (even though Sam is a hunter and a grown man and has every right to want to kill Crowley after what he’s done) because Dean really tends to towards the “do as I say, not as I do” philosophy, so the fact that he’d keeping a major secret from Sam right now about Amara isn’t registering for him.
This reply was obviously meant for someone else.
I only know about scripts & acting. I did not say 1 thing about
things being ”out of order” other than it is Asinine to not have WRITTEN the 1st 2 scripts while shooting the 3rd!!!!!
I have been feeling the same for a while.
For exemple when Dean reacts strongly learning Sam made a deal with Rowena, did Jensen knew at the time Dean was hiding secrets from Sam too ?? This scene felt weird and the filming out of order might be the reason. Sam miracle recovery too (it wasn’t so long between the 2 episodes, right ?)
That’s a good point Jane…. I wonder if either he or Jared had the script for the other two episodes before they filmed this one. That scene didn’t play well at all. I know that Dean has often been “do as I say, not as I do” but geez…. that was pretty baldly hypocritical even for him. Remember Gadreel Dean? Remember the months of lies? The Deal making? You are so willing to got to any extreme for Sam, so no sniping when Sam does the exact same thing for you. So, I am willing to disregard that scene and pretend it didn’t happen. Actually, I am pretty ready to disregard this entire episode…. since nothing crucial developed and the episode was mostly inconsequential, it’s easy enough to pretend it never happened.
hi alice, my grade for this atrocity is F, im really worried about Baby so worried im gonna wait to watch it 🙁
I wouldn’t worry about Baby too much. According to Jensen and Jared it is their favorite episode so far and they both love how well written it is.
Boring episode as it always is when Sam and Dean are supporting characters: IT DOESN’T WORK (except for Weekend at Bobby’s !)
I am tired to watch Sam and Dean being stupid : why would they bring an other villain to the bunker ? Dumb idea, again.
I have a question about Amara/Darkness. If she need to feed on souls, what the hell does she/it feed on the first time around when there was nothing on earth ?
I am waiting impatiently for “Baby” but I don’t know if I should feel happy about the promised broments or sad because we used to have it in every single episodes and nowadays, we crave it ???
Why would Sam and Dean bring another villain to the Bunker? I suppose because they have a dungeon designed by the MOL’s for just that purpose. To bring villain’s to. But I do hope that they at least blind folded her like they did with Crowley.
thank you
Sure but knowing what happen the last they brought someone there, it is still a bad idea
Well since the same writers were responsible for the last escape I would agree with you. Thank goodness she didn’t escape there but waited until both of them were looking right at her and one of them had a gun on her. That made just as much sense.
No, Rowena didn’t escape, but inexplicably Cas did. These two writers can’t seem to go a single episode without having someone ‘escape’ inescapable bindings and an inescapable place. And they didn’t bother to explain it either. Boo.
Cas seems to come and go as he pleases so key? How he got free of the chains????
These dear writers don’t care. By the way could Sam and Dean go to their dungeon without passing through the main lobby and not seeing that Cass was gone ??? When they brought Crowley they had to.
I think he was there when they came back and then took off after they took Rowena to the dungeon. I think you are wrong about the writers. I think they do care. I just think this is the best they can do. In all the many years they have written for the show they haven’t gotten any better unfortunately.
Sorry I didn’t meant they don’t care about the show or the characters, I am sure they do but they don’t seem to care about plot holes as if we wouldn’t notice. I truly think this Cass missing is a hole in the script because they would have brought him on the same time as Rowena or it could be a cut scene. It’s not very important in the story but annoying. It’s the same with Rowena who escapes: she could have done that before she cured Castiel, it took her 1 second to make flew away Sam’s gun, why would she help them (I don’t believe it’s because she cares). It is an easy writing: they wanted this result and took the easy road. You’re right, in the end, it might be the best they can do.
I suppose it’s not easy writing a script but it’s their job, could they at least try to improve.
I agree with you. These two writers seem to write in broad strokes. They don’t pay too much attention to detail. They are more concerned about getting to their destination. They certainly could try to improve. I don’t know why they don’t.
“I have a question about Amara/Darkness. If she need to feed on souls, what the hell does she/it feed on the first time around when there was nothing on earth ?”
Good question. Sad really, that the show runner and writers couldn’t come up with something more interesting.
Well… to be fair we are only 3 episodes into this storyline (well, two if you want to discount this most recent fiasco, which is what I am doing). Everyone is assuming that TheD and Amara are one in the same. This may turn out to be true, but that hasn’t been established yet. TheD has not been shown to need food of any kind so far, so maybe Amara is a different kind of being altogether, one who eats souls. Or this could just be a Carverism; the big bad eats souls because that’s easy to do and the fact that it makes no sense will never be explained. I’d give it a few more episodes before calling foul.
Alice, I love and agree with your rant. What a boring, tired, simple minded episode. Even Jensen’s directorial chops couldn’t make it any better. :(. Poor Jensen. I want to see him direct just about any other writer’s episode than these two. There’s nothing here for him to work with it seems. The pacing was so slow. The dialog was terrible and weighted all the scenes down so that it seemed like they weren’t moving at all and we didn’t learn much that we didn’t already know in any of these scenes either; the boys don’t know Amara isn’t a baby – knew that, Cas indicates she’s dangerous – knew that, Cas is fighting off the attack Dog spell – knew that, they need to find Rowena to cure Cas – knew that…….. zzzzzzz. And where the transitions between scenes in Dabb’s episode were clever and drove the action forward, here they were choppy, awkward and killed what meager tension was built up. Rowena was beyond annoying….MEGA coven…..geez, how lame was that, and she kept saying it. I realize that Rowena is not the main big bad this season, but there’s no reason to turn her into an ineffectual buffoon. The tone of the episode was so kitschy and unsophisticated…like a cartoon or as you said one of those overly loud Disney shows for kids. Was this episode bad on the level of Mans Best Friends with Benefits bad, Paint it Black bad or canon annihilating like Taxi Driver? No, I guess not, but it was still bad in it’s own special way and it was ultra boring to boot.
BORING !!! Why such a crash and burn when the set up from episode 1 and 2 was handed on a silver platter and the raw materials were all present? After re-watching to determine why I was so bored, my conclusion is the writing and the acting. The writing as Alycat22 so aptly stated is Sophomoric: Defined here for emphasis: “Conceited and overconfident of knowledge but poorly informed and immature; regarded as self-assured and opinionated but crude and immature”. These writers take the characters to a basic immature level with no substance. Add in poor acting on the part of some of the the extras and ….. we got toast. Rowena was written as a petty campy insecure girl recruiting other MEAN girls for her startup high school cheer-leading squad where she wants to be captain because they kicked her off the real team. I thought the acting was poor all around with the recruitment witches. The repeat scene in the restaurant was not necessary. Witches in seasons 1-7 were powerful, real and creeped out Dean as well as me. Now, I just want someone to slit Rowena’s throat just to stop her from talking. Castiel’s story was condensed to an awful basic formula: I am an attack dog, I will go kill. They wasted a prime opportunity to further explore Castiel’s POV in action or dialogue in regard to his choice to turn to heaven for help first, his acceptance of punishment, despair over loss of Hannah, heaven’s reaction to the Darkness, some reaction to Dean being free from the MOC. His almost Frankenstein pursuit of the girl in the alley was not scary. Then in an awkward move, Cas finds the strength to not kill the girl but cannot stop himself from savagely beating Dean. Also the attack dog spell was already done, someone should have come up with something new. And as BoGirle pointed out, Dean’s interchange/ leering with random girl in the middle of the save Cas mission was misplaced and awkward. Crowley and his foray with little girl Amara was a mixed bag. I would like to see a more evil sophisticated, complicated Crowley. Here Crowley was dumbed down at times. He knew this child was powerful, ate souls, was growing at an Amazon pace, was, at his instruction, downloading college level information about the world and he buys her a book for a toddler and reverts to giving her sweets after luring her with human souls. Crowley was also acting a bit too nonchalant; I mean the darkness/ this kid set off alarms, yelling in the cage and pandemonium in hell. Repeat plot, he is ONCE AGAIN in over his head. The child actress was one dimensional almost monotone playing the role of spoiled child with no expression. There was no glimmer of intelligence, depth, or motive. Perhaps it was intentional that Amara is as nothing as as the void- but that is boring. The Nanny actress was awful. She never changed her blank expression no matter what Crowley said to her. As SamandDean10, pointed out: The only really interesting scene or line of dialogue was when Dean and Cas were counting out God and Sam said “maybe he’s not as far away as you think”. This was a seriously lost moment. This statement should have had more attention and weight. Anything! A reaction from Dean and Cas, a longer look at Sam’s expression. I also think the angel and demon in a bar was an okay start to some collaboration. Looking forward to moving on.
I must sadly agree with the reviewer on how low this episode is scored. I did not find most of the attempts at humor funny. Rowena became comic book over the top. Sam became Captain Obvious having all the lines that stated the obvious a hunter like Dean would see for himself, as well as a seasoned viewer. This pair of writers may not have started out to fill an episode, but for the first time in 10 years, i wondered if my time should not have been better spent with an older episode on Demand. Alas, I stayed the course for the hour. Even Dean seemed to start to be written cartoon-like. His “fake badge scene” was amusing but bordered on- what is going on with Dean? Over the top. It felt like Changing Channels without the plot.
The story lines were there. The script IMO was one of the weakest I had ever viewed; Mr. Ackles use of camera angles, light and the make up crew did a great job with the material. HE has the talent to direct, just given a script that was crappy- not the Cas car-please. is that to show us that Sam lives in the now and doesn’t feel the same about vintage cars as Dean? What was the point?
The angel and demon scene had such possibilities. it does show how the order God created is threatened by the Darkness. Even Crowley’s realm is threatened by her. But the scene fell flat as each side what flacid and lacked the free will and love that the Winchesters have. Maybe that is the point the writers were trying to make. Disappointment after Andrew Dabb’s installment and promise. Hoping the season picks up. The viewership was down….is the darkness going to go to my screen after this season? Hope not, but please SPN producers, get those 2 writers a remedial.