Supernatural – Episode 10.02 – The Gripe Review

This is a bizarre review, completely unprecedented, even to me. I went into the episode thinking it would be more of the same old, and I’d have nothing new to say about it besides what I already said last week. The thoughts that emerged at the end however were unlike anything I expected.

To avoid spoiling anything I'll get right to it. This one will be character based too, like last week, with my overall view on the episode coming at the end.

Sam: Sam continues to impress me. If he keeps bringing his A game to the show like this every week I might have to stop denying being called his fan, and embrace my newborn, inner Sam Girl, at least for as long as the writers keep writing him so well.

When Sam got kidnapped last week I was worried we were heading toward yet another iteration of Sam looking like a helpless damsel and Dean beating the living daylight out of whoever had kidnapped him. Thankfully, and to the chorus of my inappropriately loud cheering, he got himself out of his conundrum himself. He used his brain to do it, you know the advanced gray matter the writers keep forgetting about, and opened the door to new possibilities for plot progression.

As if that wasn’t already great he also called Castiel, telling him Dean was a demon and asking him to help find him. I'd like to think he was as bored as I was with his friend’s pointless non-story and was trying to steer him back to action. Too bad it didn’t work.

The only time Sam came close to a stumble was when he met and talked with Dean. I thought he was about to melt into a puddle of "We are brothers!" blubber, but he pulled himself together quickly and brought out the handcuffs. I would have loved to see him try to put them on Dean, and Demon Dean's face when he inevitably failed, but some guy burst in and ruined the fun.

Generic revenge guy Cole: Last week I thought Cole was a hunter chasing Demon Dean. I had crazy ideas about his background, how he had heard of Demon Dean, and what he wanted with him. I couldn’t wait to find out.

This week they revealed the truth it was yet another humdrum revenge story.

In a fiction writing class I took a long time ago an instructor told us revenge was the easiest and most clichéd tool a writer could use to give a character motivation. It was something everyone understood and few questioned (especially when family members were involved.) An instant launch pad for the character to fly head first into action. It was also cheap and overdone and if one could come up with a more innovative way to make the character embark on a quest they should choose it. That is one reason why stories like Fullmetal Alchemist and Final Fantasy VII are masterpieces. They have exceptional quests at their core, but the reasons behind those quests make them even better, and set them apart from the hordes of similar stories.

Unfortunately Cole’s motivation was good old revenge, and when he started yappity yapping about his father and how he had dreamed about finding and killing Dean I yawned and went to pour myself a drink.

Dean: As soon as Dean's stripper song started I downed my drink and strapped myself in for yet another hour of douchebag, sexist Winchester. He didn't disappoint in his first act, getting rude and aggressive with the stripper, punching the security guard who came to her rescue..., caveman stuff. By the time he accepted a job to kill a jealous husband's cheating wife I was convinced Carver was on a mission to make Dean the champion of misogyny.

But then something interesting happened. The husband showed up and proved to be an even bigger douche than the demon. Just as I thought he would get a high five from Dean, and perhaps an invitation to have a beer together once the job was done, Dean first laughed at him, then rubbed hypocrisy into his face, then stabbed him. And thus he won back all the points he had lost with me last episode.

Here is a lesson in how to create a fallen hero: don't make him despicable, just unlawful. An unlawful character could still be categorized as a villain, but the audience wouldn't dislike him even if what he does isn't morally acceptable. Sawyer from Lost is a perfect example of this.

Dean didn't kill the husband because the man was a slimy loser. He killed him because he tried to pull rank on him as the holder of the CRD contract. However he killed a character the audience didn't feel much sorry for, so his act of villainy wasn't contemptible, not like when he beat the bouncer or insulted the women. Furthermore his act here established a core trait for his character. We now know Demon Dean doesn't like to be bossed around and could predict his actions based on that.

When Cole showed up to the Sam and Dean party, haranguing his 'my poor daddy' woes, Dean humiliated and beat him up too, doing the thing I, and perhaps every audience member fed up with generic revenge guys, wished to do. To top it off he mocked his pity party with priceless dialogue such as, "What did you think was gonna happen here? You just stroll up here and say, 'My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.' and I'd just fold? " in perfect Jensen drawl. That scene was so hilarious, well-acted, and satisfying I mentally stood up and clapped for Dean. In the span of thirty minutes good writing and characterization had brought Dean so forcefully back into my good graces that I felt a pang of sympathy when Sam doused him with holy water.

Castiel and Hannah: Here be flying pigs and frogs singing the Friday song in operatic choir voices..., because I hated everything that happened with Castiel in this episode.

It started when Sam, in his last ditch effort to engage Castiel in the plot, asked him to go find Dean. He also told Castiel Dean was a demon, which only drew a "How?" from him. I chalk up Castiel's lack of reaction to this important news to his illness and incoherent thinking. I also won't blame Hannah for letting the guy who was on the verge of passing out pretty much every minute of the day since this all started take the wheel. But when they go off road and into a tacky, irrelevant Disney movie that's when I get pissed.

I want to know what the point of that segment was, considering how much they had to bend logic to get to it. A Good Samaritan, who just happens to own a tow truck, plucks them from the side of the road and instead of taking them to town, she gives them shelter in her own home. She also happens to have the most adorable, Hallmark commercial little girl this side of Lilith, whose only purpose is to be cute with Castiel, prompting the, "Wouldn't you love to have that with your guy?" conversation between Ms. Tow Truck and Hannah not-Montana. Meanwhile I'm wondering what I am supposed to think? Is Hannah smitten with Castiel like a longing-to-be-a-mom human woman ? Is she dreaming of marrying him and having a houseful of fluffy-winged baby angels in the sky?

Does this sound as ridiculous to anyone else as it does to me?

Hannah goes to Metatron and demands he gives Cas' grace back, because apparently Cas not having a grace is the only thing standing in the way of her domestic bliss. Cas shows up and tells them both off for trying to ruin his martyr status. I flash back to seasons 6, 7, 8 and early 9, when Sam was getting on my last nerve with his sacrifice induced ailments, and his heroic suffering for the good of all, or simply because he didn't care if he lived or died. I remembered how much I resented these storylines because they turned my favourite characters into male versions of the Mary Sue, there to prompt others to fret and fuss over them while the audience was expected to both feel sorry for them and applaud.

Even though I liked that Castiel stood up to Metatron, I wished he would go searching for his grace. At least that way he would have had something to do instead of standing around looking tormented while Hannah WantsToBeAMama pined over him. He would not be a part of the main storyline still, but his story would be less boring than this lame exhibition of brokenness and heterosexuality they've been trying to shove down our throats since season 9.

My thoughts on the episode overall: Of the two episodes that aired this season, this was my favorite. It made me look forward to the show again. I have no illusions, considering it has been a trend since season 7 that the second episode gave me high hopes, to be dashed in episode 3.

I wish they keep up this characterization of sarcastic, carefree Demon Dean, and determined, self sufficient Sam, for a while at least. I don't have much hope for Castiel. They seem to be setting him and Hannah up to be the next Sam and Amelia (Heaven help us.) If I, a former Castiel fan, can't stand his new role on the show, God only knows what the Twitter and Livejournal hate-crowd is doing right now. I don't dare check. For now I'll do with his story same as I did with Samelia, pretend it doesn't exist until it either gets better or goes away.

Don't forget to post your opinions in the comment section. I will now duck behind my couch, to avoid any vegetables my fellow Castiel fans might want to throw at me.  You could get them from Dean fans by the way, if any are still left from last week.

Tessa

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