Supernatural Review – “The Bad Seed” S11E3

Last night’s episode of Supernatural…happened. It wasn’t necessarily a bad episode, but I don’t think I can quite say it was a good one either. Maybe it’ll make more sense once we break it down.

Pros:

Castiel is cured: Well that sure is a relief. Especially considering in the tenth season finale I had no idea the whole curse on Cas thing would stick around and become such a big deal. I’m glad it’s over with now for his sake, and for mine, because that issue had the makings to get really old, really fast.

The Mega-Coven: This isn’t an actual pro, really, but watching Rowena say Mega-Coven and then be so crestfallen when everyone else thought it was a dumb name was funny and endearing. In an evil sort of way.

Rowena: I’ve got to hand it to her, she brings lively dialogue and drama to every scene she’s in. Of course she’s evil, and yet still not even that terrifying of a big bad but she adds layers to what she’s involved in and I think Supernatural benefits from her presence.

Ya know, we’re not so different after all: The best scene in last night’s episode was hands down the demon and angel sharing a drink. It was such a charming moment. The dialogue was well written and witty, and while the scene added comedic relief and a touch of lightheartedness the overall driving point landed hard. The Darkness is such a fearsome foe that the forces of heaven and hell are left terrified and confused, and maybe even considering a team up?

Cons:

Nothing really happened: Sam and Dean found Rowena, she lifted the curse on Cas and then escaped – episode over. I just don’t feel like there was any story development whatsoever in “The Bad Seed”. The Winchester’s are no closer to find Amara, even though Dean called Crowley’s cell – about an unrelated matter. Don’t be dumb guys, you know Crowley ran off with her. But hey, on the plus side it was at least mentioned that the hunters three will need Metatron’s insight on fighting the Darkness – because ya know, he’s been so helpful and not full of lies before.

And Crowley is an idiot: Despite his best efforts, I’ve never thought Crowley was all that cunning in the first place. If he really thinks he has the upper hand with Amara he’s even dumber than I thought. She has no loyalty to him and it is so obvious! She liked her nanny more than Crowley and she still ate her! He has to know that no mere King of Hell can control something like the Darkness and there is no way she will ever follow his lead.

And Amara kind of sucks: Seriously though, fuck her. At this point she is a pretty piss poor big bad. I’m not afraid of her, even though the show is totally trying to do the creepy evil little girl thing with her (flashback to season three when we did that already with Lilith) and it’s not landing at all. I don’t believe anything about her, she doesn’t seem powerful, fearsome, compassionate or tragic. She honestly just seems like a dumb/confused little brat. And I’m so not into it.

Predictions:

Stuff will happen: I’m sorry guys, I’m not trying to be shitty but last night’s episode really didn’t give me much to draw from. Amara will continue to grow up whilst eating souls, Rowena is on the loose and a steady secondary evil and that’s about it. Oh, and Sam, Dean and Castiel will track down Metatron so he can deceive them while they think he’s giving them a solid lead on how to stop the Darkness. Frankly I don’t want to have to think about that writer’s conundrum anymore than I have to so I’m just going to leave it at that.

---

Hush Comics gives “The Bad Seed” a C for spending a whole lot of time doing nothing, devoting no time to good characters and for zero story development.

Supernatural Review – “Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire” S11E1

Guys! GUYS! Supernatural is back! Last night’s season premiere, “Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire” hit audiences hard with a few answers, even more questions and a healthy serving of fear.

Pros:

Supernatural is back!: It may not seem like a legitimate pro simply that this episode aired on television, but trust me, it is. It’s been a long summer and Supernatural is finally back. Count it.

And off to such a strong start!: Sometimes Supernatural season premieres move a little slower, mostly because of whatever amount of time was supposed to have passed since the finale. But not this time. The premiere picked up maybe 5-10 minutes from where we left off and kept a steady pace throughout. “Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire” is one of the best premieres I’ve seen from Supernatural because while it acknowledged the grief and turmoil between Sam and Dean considering all they’d just been through it wasted no time throwing them back into terrifying action and getting the audience ready for another hell of a season.

Supernatural — “Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire” — Image SN1102B_0221.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Jensen Ackles as Dean, Jared Padalecki as Sam and Laci J. Mailey as Jenna Nickerson — Photo: Diyah Pera/The CW — © 2015 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The season long storyline seems like it’ll be really good: We were all left shocked and confused when season 10 came to a close – what is the Darkness? What happens when you kill Death? Did Cas just kill Crowley?! Where the hell is Rowena going and what is she up to? Not all of our questions were answered, but what was established in this first episode has the makings of an incredible season. I don’t understand the Darkness yet, as I’m not supposed to, but the havoc it wreaked so far makes it look like one of the scariest season long monsters we’ve ever seen. The idea of the Darkness infecting people and turning them into 28 Days Later-esque rage zombies is something completely new for the series, and the fact that the rage is a communicable disease makes it all the better.

And let’s not forget that Sam has already been infected which means a cure has to be coming soon. Sam is special, so he’ll probably be able to fight the transformation longer than other people, but either way the sense of urgency will add some great drama and conflict to his relationship with Dean.

Oh, and the Darkness has already taken a reincarnated form, in the shape of the newborn baby girl Amara that Sam and Dean were so determined to save.

Not to mention that Castiel is still under Rowena’s spell, which is likely trying to kill him from the inside out and the last we saw him his angel (dicks) brethren were putting a black bag over his head and taking him away to god knows what.

Holy strong season premiere, Batman!

The return of Lucifer?: I don’t know if this will really happen, but I sure am excited that it was at least mentioned. Lucifer and Michael are still trapped in the cage, and barely anyone acknowledges that anymore. Crowley is only in charge because Lucifer is absent and something tells me Satan himself will not be too happy what what the little old King of the Crossroads has done to his Kingdom.

 

Cons:

The Darkness, herself: Or at least the dialogue between her and Dean. It felt unnatural and oddly sexual in a way that didn’t work for me.

Predictions:

More angel bullshit (those guys are dicks): Man I hate those guys, but as long as there is no resolution in Heaven we can’t do away with the angels. Also Cas did pray to them for help so naturally he just invited them back into the plot in the worst possible way. Metatron (that ass) will be back since he ran off with the tablet, but I hope that doesn’t happen for awhile as I’m way more into what’s currently happening. Maybe, maybe God will show back up since the Darkness is free and then the angels will have to answer for all the shit they’ve pulled the last few years. And it will be awesome.

Amara will be the most heartbreaking villain yet: Oh man, please don’t let them kill a baby. I mean, I know they won’t, Amara will probably grow at an accelerated rate if there is to be a showdown between her and the Winchester’s but still. I really don’t know where things are going to go with Amara, all I know is she has the same Mark of Cain that the adult Darkness had and that in the preview for next week’s episode Crowley said she eats souls. For now though she is just a newborn baby, and chances are her journey will be a sad one.

 

Hush Comics gives “Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire” an A+ for wasting no time getting a very well written story going and reminding the fans why we love this show so freaking much.