Reviews That I Missed: Supernatural 9.09 – Holy Terror

Dean Winchester got what he deserved.

I could end the review of “Holy Terror” right there, but I suppose in his desperate act he left a lot of collateral damage in his wake, so I should probably explore that. I just think it’s pretty sad as the episode closed out on Dean’s devastated face that I was screaming “It’s about time!” rather than “Poor baby.” Not one iota of sympathy out of me.

This episode was almost great. It had many good elements, especially in the escalation of the angel war. The problem was, it all failed to come together in a clean way. As usual with a Brad and Eugenie script, it tended to be a random scattering of rapid fire events rather than a cohesive and fluid story. Plus, it carries on the bad taste of the season in general, especially Dean’s stupidity. Still, there were good bits that made it a worthy attempt at entertaining me.

What I liked the most is Castiel finally digging in and getting involved. It’s an angel war and he’s not letting it go on his watch. Good for him! It felt a little like the badass Castiel of old. I feel sad that he didn’t stick to his morals and stole the grace of that unwitting angel that let him go and then killed him. Did he kill him out of mercy or revenge? Not sure, but it didn’t sit right with me either way. I know, the guy had brutally killed another angel just minutes earlier, but does that still make it right? That’s not a Castiel thing to do, especially when Malachi just lectured Cas on how many angels he’s killed. Cas could have shown him mercy and got him to join his cause. He could have taken the grace of another bad angel in Malachi’s ranks. After all, he did slaughter them all, hopefully for a reason. Ah well, at least he’s not Steve from the gas and sip anymore.

What I hated is Dean brushing poor Cas off again, leaving him to his own devices. It was pretty ballsy of Castiel to pray to the angels to get caught and insert himself in the angel war, but the fact that he had to go it alone really sucked. I would have loved to see a Winchester team up, but no, we got stuck with Dean looking foolish and stupid covering up a lie that was going to bite him. I was especially pissed with him in the beginning when he YET AGAIN gave Sam a “would I lie?” line. Hell yes! Dean is the epitome of the lying liar who lies. What’s wrong is Sam knows this. He should have figured it out by now. He should have at least told Dean to go f*** off and help Cas on his own. Of course, Gadreel would have intervened, but it would have been cool.

The angel war was inevitable and I was pleased to see it play out. They’re all pretty much shallow dicks, let them kill one another! Although, innocent human meat suits are getting slaughtered in the act, and that angle was never truly explored. They could have used some heroes, huh? Sam and Dean ended up being bystanders to the real action, being pulled into it sideways with Metatron approaching notEzekiel! but Gadreel. Was the fact that he wasn’t Ezekiel a mind blowing twist? Not really. I suppose if you really dork out on your angel lore perhaps that sparked an, “ooh, interesting,” but for me, “whatever”. He’s the same angel regardless, and he made the same decision as everyone else. He’s got to look out for number one. So, Sam and Dean are screwed. Except, only Dean deserved this.

This of course was one of the hard hitters in the whole “consequences of actions” theme of season nine. I wish Dean went into “I learned my lesson” mode and tried to make things right, if that was even possible, but no. Instead he wallowed in self pity and accepted the Mark of Cain without a second thought, pushing him into even deeper shit. Sheesh, is that the best they can do with Dean? As the Impala Turns I guess.

The real innocent victim in this whole scheme was Kevin Tran and he’ll never earn his peace. I’m still furious how much they screwed him over in season 15. If Supernatural ever returns, the first act MUST be a happy ending for Kevin. I feel awful for him. Dean pulled that whole “loyalty” card on him and he fell for it, working hard to give Dean what he wanted in a hurry only to get killed for it. Kevin knew Dean was keeping something from him but trusted him anyway. Poor sap, what a fatal mistake. Granted, Kevin was on Metatron’s hit list no matter what he did, but the access was too easy. I miss smart Kevin, using all that prophet knowledge to at least conceive a backup plan like he did with the demons. Or better yet, it would have been fun to see Crowley come out of the dungeon and save him. Oh, the conundrum that would have given Kevin! That could have setup the best buddy comedy ever. But no, these writers hit the easy button and went for the “shocking” kill of a fan favorite. Yawn.

But hey, a lot of my negativity comes from the overall arc, not what happened here, so let me focus on other highlights of this episode, which did leave a great setup for the next episode. I can’t wait for Sam to get out of this whole angel possession thing so he can go back to being a real boy, and maybe get a real plot.

Random Thoughts

I really liked the visual of a happy all female glee club taking on the butch men in the biker bar and it ending bloody. That is so this show. Blood and smiles all the way.

I think Gadreel did a pretty damn good job of anticipating Sam’s reaction to Dean’s news, don’t you think? That is exactly how I would have expected Sam to act. It felt right to me! I did like seeing Dean getting punched, even if it was Gadreel that did it.

How is Metatron running Heaven by himself? Isn’t that a ton of work? Maintaining all those rooms alone? That was never explained, and it got explained even less in later years when the number of angels dwindled to 10 or so. All it takes is a Bobby or Ash to remember how to breach the door! There’s got to be chaos going on up there.

Who thought it was a good idea to stand Gadreel in a Sam suit next to Metatron? It’s hilarious. He’s an angry elf! You would have thought Gadreel in his Sam body would have said, “Oh yeah, I can take him.”

Okay, one more complaint. The ‘THEN’ segment was way too long! Couldn’t they have filled the time with some more action? Seemed like a waste to me.

Overall grade, a B. I’m still giving season nine so far a C- to D+, but this is an episode I could stomach watching again. Up next, the conclusion to this whole mess, “Road Trip.” This one is more of a group effort with Crowley joining in for fun, so bring it.