Kevin’s back, Ketch is back, and Lucifer is back in our world in what is Supernatural’s most interesting hour of season thirteen. People returning from the dead has reached comical proportions at this point, but Supernatural is doing it with no more than a shrug and a wink. It’s bold, and for that, I’ll always admire this show.
We finally return to the apocalypse world to find Lucifer being tortured by Michael. Michael reads into Lucifer’s mind, seeing our world and seeing the supposed paradise God created for us in a series of flashes as Lucifer waxes poetic about the world. It’s a different cold open than the show’s done before, which I found refreshing. It gave Supernatural more physical depth than just the corn fields, forests, and motel rooms of the United States, but is actually Vancouver. Michael is intrigued by our world and decides he’s going to go to it and take it over, I suppose? Enter Kevin Tran.
In the apocalypse world, Kevin’s more wired, more frantic, and more twitchy than the one we knew. But he’s still a prophet of God, and so can read a tablet in order to find the incantation and list of ingredients on how to open a door to another world. Of course, as in all matters of alternate universes and parallel dimensions, there’s a loophole. The spell can only admit one person at a time, and Lucifer takes advantage of the distraction to escape his bonds and jumps back into the real world. Mary is not in any of these scenes, though Lucifer does mention that she’s also undergoing some form of torture, but it’s quite possible he was being glib. It’s hard to tell with that guy.
Meanwhile, Sam, Dean, and Cas are searching for Jack, but are low on leads. Cas says he’s going to talk to the angels because that tactic has literally always worked in the past. Dean tells him to be careful, and suggests he and Sam work a case in the meantime. Again, the monster-of-the-week is hardly interesting. Witches are being tortured and then killed, and who pops up on surveillance near where one of the victims disappeared? Arthur bloody Ketch. (I can use “bloody” because he’s English and also because he likes to torture people and is always covered in blood as a result.) He spins some tale about having a twin brother once the Winchesters catch him. It wasn’t totally clear to me if the show expected us to really believe that, but once it’s revealed Ketch is lying, there isn’t much fanfare. It’s the oddest part of the episode that I’m glad to just ignore.
Cas learns from the angels that they intend to capture Jack and use him to make more angels. Not sure how this works, but if you’re imagining what I’m imagining, it’s not an episode The CW would be able to air. I’m assuming they just mean they would use Jack’s immense power to create angels, which they want to do because angels are going extinct. An intriguing idea that I hope we revisit later on. No surprise, but after they give that info, the angels betray Cas, only for Lucifer to scare them off and save Cas. What follows is a fantastic, albeit short, buddy/cop vibe between Lucifer and Cas as they discuss Jack and what each of them are doing back from the dead and alternate worlds respectively. Mark Pellegrino continues to deliver an engaging performance as the devil, able to bounce off anyone and be funny, petulant, and terrifying all in one scene. Misha Collins’ aloof Cas is better than ever when faced with his evil kin. It doesn’t last long because Asmodeus comes and ruins the party. Cas and Lucifer get captured and locked in cells in hell, further proving that Cas’ plans always turn out worse than originally believed.
Ketch escapes on a motorcycle. How he ends up with Asmodeus is a supernatural mystery all on it’s own.
I definitely wouldn’t put “War of the Worlds” at the top of any “best of” list, but for how season thirteen is going so far, it’s at least fun and a lot goofy, if only because the sequence of events is absurd. But I’m still along for the ride.
This Week’s Wayward Thoughts
Advertisement
- “I have news of The Jack.”
- Cas: “I have to talk to Sam and Dean.” Lucifer, groaning and whining, banging head on table: “Why, why, why, with all their second guessing and their whining?”
- God keeps being brought up in words and in symbolism. At one point, Asmodeus asks who could be watching over Jack now that the Winchesters no longer have him, and it immediately cuts to a shot of Jesus on the cross. *wink*
- A lot of the episode titles are titles from movies, like “Tombstone,” “Patience,” “War of the Worlds” and “The Big Empty.” Not sure if I’m just slow on the up take, or Supernatural’s been doing this for years.
- This episode may be titled incorrectly. There were hardly any war of the worlds going on. More like, Rise of the War of the Worlds.
Supernatural airs Thursdays 8/7 c on The CW. Carry on.
Advertisement