Reviews That I Missed: Supernatural 13.17 – The Thing
I didn’t expect “The Thing” to be something big after the great episodes “A Most Holy Man” and “Scoobynatural,” but yeah, this installment was a bit of a letdown. It wasn’t horrible, just kind of…bland. But hey, it got the ball rolling on the whole mythic quest thing, so it wasn’t a total waste.
Before I get any further into this review, I’m dismissing the B plot right up front. Colonel Sanders, nuff said. These scenes were the scenery chewing parts of the episode, and only led to a relevant reveal in the end, which could have been done without putting us through all this. In summary, Gabriel is there, but he’s weakened, getting his grace stolen by the asshat in the white suit, and I guess a Prince of Hell can inject archangel grace and not die? Whatever. I’m still questioning how Gabriel is there! Bottom line, Ketch was summoned to the lair, Asmodeus being the dick he is kicked the crap out of him because he can, so Ketch gets even by breaking Gabriel out of there, taking the archangel blade too and some extra grace, and makes his way to the safe harbor of Chez Winchester. See how easy that recap was? That wasn’t worth what we had to watch to get there.
The A plot was far more interesting, continuing the quest to find the remaining two items for the rift spell. Next on their list since there seems to be a shortage of archangel grace is the search for the Seal of Solomon. What is it? It’s a jewel of the cosmos! I suspect writer Davy Perez has been watching The Jewel of the Nile. Actually, as we saw in the teaser, its a purple crystal with mojo, aka another low budget creation by the props and VFX departments. Remember the golden egg that sucked Lucifer away? Yes, somehow this cheesy object made me nostalgic for the golden egg. Shouldn’t the seal have been something etched on a wall or floor in an Indiana Jones style ancient tomb? I know, budget.
Considering it’s episode 17 and no one really has the patience for a long quest, the teaser solidifies that the Men of Letters have what Sam and Dean need. What luck! But it’s the rogue Portsmouth, Rhode Island chapter. In 1925. Um, didn’t bad shit happen the last time they were in Rhode Island? Sure it took a montage of brotherly research for Dean to find this key tidbit of information (Jinkies!), but we are plot building here and those can be fun to watch. As we learn with all other brotherly adventures, their quest for objects often comes with a cost. Hey, it’s only innocent lives.
So, this chapter, Capitulum Seven, which is a fancy word for chapterhouse because these guys were all stuffy intellectuals, was made a bunch of world saving saints who in their benevolence used magic and spells to bring a lot of good to their world in 1925. Hee, of course they weren’t. What show are you watching? They had an insane as shit member who thought he could tame a beast from another dimension for personal gain. Oh boy, those delusions of grandeur. One human sacrifice of an innocent flapper girl named Sandy later, they realized the very hard way they made a colossal mistake when the Sandy monster ate the bat shit crazy dude summoning her. So the flapper stayed chained to a table with this monster inside all these years until…you got it…Sam and Dean in their quest innocently freed her. Oops!
Once the premise was established, the creep factor went to eleven in Rhode Island. The scenes were often dark and the pacing was slow, all designed to heighten the suspense thing. The diner scenes felt very off, and that was by brilliant design. This ain’t no ordinary town, and this ain’t no ordinary diner. There was the usual small talk among the patrons and staff for appearances, but in the backdrop of it all, none of it felt normal. It all felt detached and going through the motions with just the right lace of fear. Kudos to director John Showalter and Serge Ladoucer’s cinematography for pulling that off that awkward feeling through those scenes.
What I enjoyed most was the chance to explore the burden of being a MOL legacy. Sam, because he was the one drugged and captured, was able to commiserate with two siblings responsible for protecting this world from his monster. The children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the dead Capitulum Seven MOL members were forced to keep the town and world safe from this monster their reckless ancestors let in. I guess Sam and Dean got off easy with their burden! Despite their caution after all these years, of course these legacies didn’t count on other MOL legacies showing up and releasing the monster because all they saw was an innocent girl chained to a table. They really should have put up a warning sign! Also, in the overthinking department, Abaddon killed all the Men of Letters but didn’t kill or release or try to control the monster they were hiding? Huh. But I digress. Sam did feel guilty for what they did, but that guilt didn’t stop Sandy the flapper monster from munching on patrons of the diner before moving on to execute her diabolical plan.
That plan, finding a mate! Luckily Dean just happened to be around, and she determined he would be perfect. Hee, this girl wasn’t wrong! This is what I’m picturing when this episode was broken out in the writer’s room. There’s a wish list of items on a white board that every writer had to strive to work in before the series ended. Tentacle porn must have been on that list, and writer Davy Perez happily crossed that off after this script! It’s no accident Dean was the victim to be on this one. At least Dean got to witness the spell to open the rift, which was pretty sad since the ingredients were right there and they got wasted so Dean could get felt up by a male octopus from another world. Luckily Sam and friends showed up after a little touchy-feely to send it and Sandy back to their world. The whole experience wasn’t lost on Dean though! “If it could take us somewhere other than, uh, tentacle porn land — not that there’s anything wrong with that.” Yes, that got the tentacle porn fan fiction exploding again.
So, Sam and Dean scored the Seal of Solomon jewel thingy thanks to the nice legacies who were grateful they got their life back, so they just need that archangel grace. Where are they going to get…wait is that Ketch? WITH GABRIEL? AND A VIAL OF HIS GRACE? Well, that was easy.
Of course, they chose to go with the controversial ending in order for us to remember what would otherwise be a forgettable episode. Dean chose to not waste time to open the rift and go get Mary. He’s going now. Alone. When I saw this the first time, I couldn’t believe that Dean would go to the other dimension without Sam. I called bullshit. But upon this second look, the rationale made sense. It sucks for entertainment value, but it made sense. As we learned, someone had to be on the other side watching the rift. Also, the fact that a very weak Gabriel was there with one very pissed off Asmodeus looking for his prize, it wasn’t a good time for a brotherly adventure. So, because calmer minds usually prevail, Sam convinced Dean to wait until Castiel got there so they could go together, right? Hee, again, what show are you watching? Jumping into something half cocked is Dean’s trademark move! Oh, but Ketch is going with him. That will make it all better (foreshadowing).
Of course we know this is only episode 17 of a 23 episode season. Sam’s apprehensive look at the end says it all when Dean and Ketch go through the rift, something doesn’t look or feel right about this (foreshadowing). This will not go well and my very unflattering next review of “Bring ‘Em Back Alive” will dig into just how stupid this move was by Dean. It’s a Brad and Eugenie episode, so you know it’s going to get skewered.
Overall grade, a B-. This was a well written and tonally good episode, but unwatchable scenes with Ketch and Colonel Sanders at the earth hell lair knocked the episode down a lot.
Alice Jester is the founder, editor-in-chief, head writer, programmer, web designer, site administrator, marketer, and moderator for The Winchester Family Business. She is a 30 year IT applications and database expert with a penchant for creative and freelance writing in her spare (ha!!) time. That’s on top of being a wife, mother of two active kids, and four loving (aka needy) pets.
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