Reviews That I Missed: Supernatural 13.01 – “Lost and Found”

Here we go, another look at Supernatural Season 13!  For me, this is actually kind of a first look.  At the time, my father died just before the premiere and I do confess season 13 is a bit of a blur as I handled family issues most of the season.  Sure, I stuck around for the “Wayward Sisters” stuff, but I was mostly absent.  There are a handful of episodes I never watched.  Others, I didn’t pay deep attention to and I certainly didn’t do a review.  If I did, it might not have been very flattering (see the afore mentioned “Wayward Sisters”).  

I had to look back at my words from last season too because I didn’t love “All Along the Watchtower.”  I gave it a C.  It was such a let down after “Who We Are.”  I really hated all the deaths, especially Crowley and Castiel, which were the result of some really tough contract negotiations because the show wanted to go in “a different direction”.  But we still got Lucifer?  Meh.  It all felt like a grand stunt and the plot holes were ridiculous.  It felt like Dabb just pooped out another script because he had to.  

So then, what about this next one of his, “Lost and Found?”  I actually liked it, despite it again felt like Dabb was phoning it in.  It was a bit slow, but it did introduce a new “horizon” let’s say that carried us to the end of the series.  It also continued with the insufferable Dean theme, which by this point was tiresome. It only continued to get worse.  

The Good Stuff

The episode did get off to one awesome start.  The beginning sequence summarizing the past season had been lackluster at best the last several seasons.  Not season 13!  The choice of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” was perfect and the choices in the montage really fit the mood of the song.  It’s one of my all time favorites.  Great job crew!  

The introduction of Jack really made a statement, and I fell for his character right off the bat.  I found overall the Nephilim storyline was more inspired than the alternate universe one.  Jack grew up fast, just like his mother told him, so the explanation of him coming out as a young man instead of a baby was explained!  It also made Kelly’s IKEA inspired crib useless, but hey, she was nesting.  Jack was obviously paying attention to the world from his mother’s eyes and it grounded him.  It also gave us hope about him (and Sam saw this), that even though he’s Lucifer’s son, he obviously takes after his human mother.  It makes him sympathetic and an intriguing character to watch go through this discovery of the real world.  Alex Calvert was a brilliant casting choice and brought so much to the role!    

Jack also had great power that wasn’t in check, which is very understandable.  I liked that he had the ability to scream Sam and Dean against the wall, which Dean totally deserved.  But he could have done a little more than getting candy bars out of a machine for free.  I thought it would have been cool if Jack had healed the sheriff’s kid when he was stabbed by the bitch angel.  After all, why injure the kid like that if they weren’t going to heal him?  It seemed like a big missed opportunity.  I’m very interested though in seeing Jack’s powers manifest, especially since there was no established Nephilim lore in this show.  New territory, new rules.  Of course, it meant that Uncle Dean will continue to be a total asshole to him the rest of the series.  Fantastic.  

I give the episode credit for trying to do emotional storytelling, and it did succeed in many ways.  The angels looking for Jack took time to lament over Castiel’s body and talk of his legacy.  It was a nice acknowledgment that loved or hated, Castiel certainly made an impact.  I found it moving when Dean took down the curtains to prep Castiel’s body for the salt and burn.  It was an honest glimpse of how much Castiel meant to him in between all that lashing out in man pain (more on that coming).  

I really liked how Sam and Jack were making a connection.  Their conversation in the jail was great, especially when it’s revealed that Castiel was meant to take the role of Jack’s father.  Sam chose to step in and give some guidance, like his words to Jack during Castiel’s salt and burn:

Sam: You wanna say anything?
Jack: I… What do you say?
Sam: Right. Thank you. You say thank you. And you say you’re sorry. You hope they’re somewhere without, uh, sadness or pain. You hope they’re somewhere better. You say goodbye.

I do believe at the time Sam didn’t know that angels go to rot in The Empty when they die, but I suppose if he did, he wasn’t going to tell Jack that.  He’s a classy guy that Sam. 

The most colorful character without a doubt was the crazy, mouthy, obnoxious angel Miriam.  The fact that she got a boat load of screen time back at Pirate Pete’s was our huge clue that she was going to turn out to be an angel or demon.  As a matter of fact, that lost exposition time that they could have given Sam and Jack went to this bitch.  She got way too much screen time, even if she was fun to watch in the jail.  

The Rest

So, that leads me to the flip side, Dean, which is totally infuriating.   By this point in the series it became the quintessential Andrew Dabb trope, overdoing the Dean Winchester man pain for the sake of really bad drama.  I mean, it’s utterly ridiculous and totally ruined the character.  Dean started in this episode all “shoot first and ask questions later,” and I know a lot of that was being reactionary to the losses that just happened, but for fuck’s sake, it’s season fucking thirteen.  Dean STILL can’t follow Sam’s lead, especially when Sam made it clear he had the situation under control?  Which he totally did BTW.  I mean, Sam, who has actually spending time with Jack, who above anyone else understands what it’s like to have people think you’re evil, who tells Dean Jack isn’t evil, and Dean goes with the whole, “He’s Lucifer’s son, of course he’s evil!” crap.  GIVE SAM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT!  He has a pretty good track record by this point in the series. 

(Amazing scenery!)

I’m also really tired of Dean having his little tirades when things don’t go his way, like when he bashed his hand on the bathroom sign after Chuck wouldn’t answer him.  You don’t get to boss around God, Dean!  He’s been silent for years, he’s not helping now.  Come on, did Dean forget the conversation he had with Chuck in “All in the Family?”  

Dean: Here’s the thing…Chuck… And I mean no disrespect. I’m guessing you came back to help with the Darkness, and that’s great. That’s, you know – It’s fantastic. Um, but you’ve been gone a – a… long, long time. And there’s so much crap that has gone down on the Earth for thousands of years. I mean, plagues and wars, slaughters. And you were, I don’t know, writing books, going to fan conventions. Were you even aware, o-or did you just tune it out?
Chuck: I was aware, Dean.
Dean: But you did nothing. And, again, I-I’m not trying to piss you off. You know, I don’t want to turn into a pillar of salt.
Chuck: I actually… didn’t do that.
Dean: Okay. People – People pray to you. People build churches for you. They fight wars in your name, and you did nothing.
Chuck: You’re frustrated. I get it. Believe me, I was hands-on – Real hands-on for, wow, ages. I was so sure if I kept stepping in, teaching, punishing, that these beautiful creatures that I created… would grow up. But it only stayed the same. And I saw that I needed to step away and let my baby find its way. Being over-involved is no longer parenting.  It’s enabling.
Dean: But it didn’t get better.
Chuck: Well, I’ve been mulling it over. And from where I sit, I think it has.
Dean: Well, from where I sit, it feels like you left us and you’re trying to justify it.
Chuck: I know you had a complicated upbringing, Dean, but don’t confuse me with your dad.

The lack of character growth in Dean was just maddening.  This is a man who just spent the last few seasons hanging around with the King of Hell, who was, wait for it, evil.  He knows that there is no black and white in these situations.  Castiel saw Jack as a savior.  That wasn’t enough for Dean?  He kept reverting back to the “whatever he doesn’t understand should be killed” mentality and losing his trust in those that matter.  At this point Dean needed to suck it up, tuck away the man pain, go home, and mope in his room until he came around.  Where was the character growth after all these years?  Dean got stuck in a rut, just like the writers, and it became unwatchable.  

On top of the character assassination of a main character, the pacing of the episode was deplorable.  Way too much filler that took away from the story.  What was the point of the kid doing the fake names on the menu board?  Was that supposed to be funny?  It seemed out of place in what was a somewhat important plot.  I know that Dabb has historically struggled with working in humor, but really?

As usual, there were a few head scratchers in the plotting.  The sheriff let Sam and Dean go before the angel altercation?  She bought Dean’s story?  That makes no sense.  What happened to the FBI aliases?  I don’t recall their cover getting busted.  Seeing the angels would have definitely changed her mind, of course she was too busy abandoning her post to go to the hospital with her son, who again could have totally been healed by Jack.  Too many loose threads in the plotting for my liking.  This again highlights the weak editing choices of the time.   

One cool thing they got out of the way to eliminate speculation: an angel blade doesn’t do anything on Jack!  I’m sad that Dean agreed with Sam to take Jack to the bunker, but only so they could figure out how to kill him?  Where is my hero again?  Right. Dabb.  Sam’s intentions were way more noble.  It’s all on you Sam to do the right thing.  Turns out in the end, he’s the one that does.  

Other Thoughts

This episode had several shots along the Sea to Sky Highway (Highway 99) north of Vancouver.  I rode along the Sea and Sky in one of my trips to Vancouver on the way to Squamish.  What a gorgeous area!  Some of the most stunning scenery I’ve ever seen.  Kudos to the film crew for capturing every bit of it’s beauty.  Too bad Dean was in such a pissy mood to enjoy such a beautiful area.   

There was a scene in Apocalypse World with Lucifer and Mary.  Just mentioning it since it happened.  Surprise, Lucifer decided to keep her alive.  It looks like Mary gets another season, mostly.  

This fact came up on Supernatural Wiki, and I guess I’m too busy to look into it.  This was the the first time that Sam killed an angel?  Really?  Really?  Wow, check that off the to do list I guess.  I was just pretty geeked that they remembered the angel banishing sigil and Sam got to do it with his own blood after taking an angel beating.  Dumb angels.  For the weak time he got in this episode, he did have a couple of badass moments.  

Overall grade, a B.  A bit of a lackluster start to an overall lackluster (but not horrible compared to season 12) season.  Coming, up next, 13.02, “Rising Son.”  Warning, it’s a Brad and Eugenie ep, so prepare to be underwhelmed!