Supernatural - Girls, Girls, Girls - Review

Supernatural, “Girls, Girls, Girls,” was written by Robert Berens and directed by Robert Singer. This was a somewhat oddly paced episode. I felt like I was watching three separate episodes as we saw a number of storylines wrap up and a few others jump off. What was most jarring is that the departure of Hannah (Erica Carroll) and the wrap up of the Cole (Travis Aaron Wade) storyline come after we haven’t even seen them either of them for several episodes.

This is the seventh episode of the season, and I feel like we’ve had a total of 30 minutes of both Crowley (Mark Sheppard) and Castiel (Misha Collins). In this episode, we do see Crowley’s interests come up against those of the brothers, but Castiel might as well be in a different show. It makes me wonder why they had to be made regulars, given how irregularly they are used on the show!

I will admit that I was not terribly impressed by Carroll’s acting last season, but I’ve been quite favorably impressed with her this season and what seems likely to be her swan song for the show is a terrific performance. Hannah’s struggle against the human influence of the host body has been fascinating to watch and draws some important issues about Cas to the surface. Many people have expressed concern about the ethics of Castiel evicting Jimmy Novak from his body.

We’ve seen Hannah gradually becoming more aware of the human vessel she’s inhabiting. It’s been pretty clear to the audience, even if Cas is typically oblivious, that she’s been harboring growing feelings for him. I loved the initial scene as we see them discussing strategy, and Hannah points out that the high profile rogues are all pretty much rounded up. Sounds a lot like their mission is really done, and they are both just trying to drag it out. It’s hilarious as Hannah simply strips naked – while Cas doesn’t even notice until she’s completely naked! Collins is terrific as always as Cas is caught completely flatfooted and has no idea where to look. He denies being bothered, but Hannah knows he’s not telling the truth. Collins’ body language in this scene is terrific as he holds his shoulders stiffly with his hands rigidly down by his sides – classic Cas awkward pose.

Carroll is terrific as we see Hannah’s conflict when Joe (Steve Belford) arrive on the scene, having put a trace on Caroline’s credit card. Hannah tries to put him off, but when he’s not deterred, she takes advantage of Cas’ return to say she left Joe for Cas. And then she kisses him – something it’s been clear that she’s wanted to do for some time. However, the mix of her own ‘feelings’ with those of Caroline’s proves to be the catalyst for Hannah’s revelation. She tells Cas that she could have erased Joe’s memory but that didn’t feel right and now she feels terrible for having hurt him. Cas then opens up to Hannah about Jimmy and his wife and their daughter Claire. We’ve just seen how difficult this was for Joe, so it drives home that Cas did this not once but twice – assuming season four was long enough ago that we’ve forgotten that episode’s impact. Cas excuses what they do to their vessels as necessary because the mission comes first, always.

What the mission has become is what bothers Hannah. This was a beautifully shot scene with them beginning the conversation on a bridge – a frequent motif in the show often demarcating a decision – see how often the final brother scene takes place under a bridge or with one in the background. This bridge is tellingly in a park or at least the countryside. Remember that Cas’ favorite heaven is a park. They continue their conversation walking beside a stream – water under the bridge and all that.

Hannah tells Cas that she’s not coming with him. She says it’s hard letting go of the story (see Dean’s (Jensen Ackles) final words to Cole), the mission. Hannah points out that their real mission has always been about humans. She feels it’s time to put the humans first, it’s time to step aside. She tells him that she was starting to enjoy the human feelings and passions but once she felt Caroline’s love for Joe, she realized the difference between her own feelings and the human’s within her. She kisses him on the cheek before releasing her grace and returning to heaven. The last scene we have of Cas is after he’s dropped Caroline at her home. He’s googling Jimmy Novak. So, is Cas considering returning his vessel to Jimmy? Isn’t Jimmy categorically dead? Is Cas considering taking up Jimmy’s life when his own grace runs out?

I have a lot of problems with this storyline – even while it does solve the problem of the angel storyline without having to lose Misha Collins. The references back to “The Rapture” in season four beg the comparison to how angels functioned then and how they function now. When Cas returned to heaven in that episode, he left his vessel behind. Why then, are the angels continually taking their bodies to heaven? How does that even work? When Dean and Sam (Jared Padalecki) went to heaven in “Dark Side of the Moon” their bodies stayed in the hotel room where they were killed. This all makes sense, right? If Hannah is completely gone from Caroline when her grace leaves the body, doesn’t that make the grace Hannah? If that’s the case, how is Cas even still Cas? Shouldn’t he have ceased to exist when Metatron (Curtis Armstrong) took his grace? Shouldn’t he become those other angels when their grace enters his vessel? And why are they using a car, credit cards, and google? Aren’t they angels? Remember when that meant something? I suppose we can assume they have to stay off the angel radar, but if they are doing heaven’s work – Hannah has no issue about going back after all – why should they have to?

I will concede that the theme of the importance of the mission does nicely transition into Dean and Sam’s storyline in the episode. The hunt for Rowena (Ruth Connell) is actually the least important part of the episode for them. Honestly, did they save anyone in this episode except Cole? Catlin (Chelsea Hobbs) saved herself from Rowena by punching her. Dean’s confrontation with Cole was terrifically acted by both Wade and Ackles. The fight scene was good, and I particularly liked the slow motion shot of Wade going through the windshield – and then the close up of him crawling back out. The heart of the episode was Dean’s conversation with Cole.

It was really refreshing for Dean to tell Cole that he was “going to clean this mess up once and for all.” It’s felt like the writers are trying to do that a bit this season – see the above discussion about Jimmy Novak. When Dean hands Cole the gun, the scene did take on a patina of suicide by cop – is Dean at the point where he once again feels he is getting what he deserves? He tells Cole that his whole life is about hunting and killing monsters. He also reveals that he actually remembers every detail of the hunt that resulted in Cole’s father’s death. He carries that weight with him and he doesn’t carry it lightly. I thought it was very weak writing for Cole’s father to be a monster that Dean had never seen before or again and couldn’t name. If it was my father, I certainly wouldn’t have been convinced by that explanation. Did Dean make a mistake?

There’s a really nice moment between Padalecki and Ackles when Sam arrives and pulls his gun on Cole – also a nice echo to Cole doing the same thing to Dean. Dean just looks at his brother and an entire conversation occurs wordlessly between them, ending with Sam accepting his brother’s request and lowering his gun. Cole asks Dean how he can believe him when his whole life has been about revenge.

        Dean replies, “I get it. That was your story. I got one of those too. Those sotries that we tell us that keep us going? Sometimes they blind us. They take us to dark places. The kind of place where I might beat the crap out of a good man just for the fun of it. The people that love me, they pulled me back from that edge. Once you touch that darkness it never goes away.” There’s a great shot of Wade pulling back in horror at this point in the conversation – it’s a great reaction and wonderfully caught. Dean continues, “The truth is, I’m past saving.” And here’s there’s a great reaction shot of Padalecki frowning. Sam is clearly worried about his brother and doesn’t accept his conclusion.

        Again, Dean continues, “I know how my story ends. It’s at the edge of a blade or the barrel of a gun.” While this sounds like a great line, I wish they’d spent a bit more time getting it to be grammatically parallel – picky, I know… Dean continues, “So the question is, is that going to be today? It gonna be that gun?” At which point, Sam jumps in to really give Cole a reason to walk away, reminding him that he has a family that wants him to come home, and they need him “to come back whole” – not as a monster like Cole’s own father did.

Cole gives up the gun and heads back after a chat with Dean. But Sam is still worried about what Dean said and asks him if he meant it. Dean says he only said what he thought Cole needed to hear, but it doesn’t seem like either of them believe that. The final shot of the two is heading down the dark alley together, but they aren’t side by side. Dean is slightly ahead with Sam trailing and there’s a good distance between them. Remember last week when they got into the Impala and shut the doors in unison? I suspect that this season isn’t going to tear the brothers apart even as we see them struggle. Dean has at least now recognized that he has a support system – and we see that Sam has his back in both the confrontation with Cole and as they end the episode, so I’ll take that all as a good sign.

Of course there are some light hearted moments in the show and it’s always fun to watch the brothers banter. Dean taking an eight hour detour for a hook up with a woman he met through a dating site is pretty classic Dean – though remember the good old days when he didn’t even know what MySpace was? And really, how prophetic of him – who does now! While Sam is willing to believe his brother would travel that far for a steak – though it’s also clear he lead him to believe there might be a hunt – Sam is the one to immediately suspect a scam because of how over the top Shaylene (Elysia Rotaru) is in her texts. I loved Crowley’s objection to the sex trade being that he doesn’t mind being evil, but that’s tacky. I also loved Rowena asking Crowley if he was the King of Lilliput because he’s so short – which, did you notice how tiny she is?

Dean’s screen name – Impala67 – is hilariously perfect. His profile is actually pretty honest, but anybody else concerned that he’s given out his real name and the location of the bunker? And who exactly took that picture? It’s not a selfie… It was a nice transition to from Dean’s pick up to the awkward scene of Hannah’s barely veiled invitation to Cas and then back to Dean’s hookup.

It was fun to watch Dean go from horny to hunter and then get the upper hand on the demon with Sam’s help. This of course leads them to Raul’s Girls where they find dead demons and a hex bag. Nice touch to have Dean put down his drink as soon as Sam says it’s a witch. The rest of the hunt is pretty routine and also pretty unproductive. However, one quick quibble – if only one witch ever used that spell and knew it, how did it get on the Internet?

We finally get to meet Rowena in this episode after having been teased with her in the very first episode. Connell is terrific, and I’m looking forward to a lot more of her. We learn more about witches in this episode, and I do like that the writers have at least tried to make a bridge with their previously established rules for witches. We learn there are three kinds of witches: Borrowers get their power from demons (this is the kind we are familiar with), Naturals are born with their gifts (Rowena), and Students are mentored by someone from the Grand Coven and can be taught witchcraft. We learn that Rowena has been hiding from the Grand Coven who threw her out because they felt her magic was too extreme.

However, we get no explanation of how she’s managed to make it from the 18th century to the present. And she’s clearly not a great witch because she clearly loses control of her magic. It can’t be her intention for the head waiter’s brains to boil before they get their dessert or for Elle (Kirsten Comerford) to die before killing Sam. Of course, the biggest reveal is that Rowena is Crowley’s mother! I think the cat was largely out of the bag on that one as it had been spoiled pretty extensively. I wonder if Crowley will now help his dear old mum refine her craft?

This episode wasn’t without its powerful scenes. However, it really underscores the weaknesses of the overall season plotting. Both Hannah and Cole’s departures seemed very abrupt. I’m definitely going to miss that wide-eyed, awkward angel response to humanity from Hannah that Carroll was really nailing. Clearly, we now have the next storyarcs put in place. Cas will question the continued use of his vessel or possibly see Jimmy’s former life as a possible future. And yes, I’m aware of another returning character… Crowley must deal with the return of his mother. Dean is struggling with what he’s done and whether he has a future. If he’s no longer blinded by his “story” or “mission” what does that leave him. What mission is talking about? He’s already revenged his mother and saved his brother and stopped the apocalypse. What did you think of the episode? Did you find the departures satisfying or too abrupt? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem

I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.