Supernatural Review: The Eleventh Hour

The action was a near frenzy this week on Supernatural! We got not one but two horsemen appearances and photographic evidence of Bobby kissing Crowley. Yes you read right!

There were so many things that happened and if you were on twitter at all, Misha Collins was live tweeting from Australia as the show was happening! His comments were pretty hilarious and you can check it all out at http://www.twitter.com/mishacollins.

Here’s a sample: The smart looking Columbo guy seems like he’s turning into a big gun fanatic. He should join the NRA. Start raising money for. #supernatural.

Sam and Dean are at Bobby’s where the older Winchester is pissed off because he has just learned of Sam’s idea to say yes to Lucifer then jump into the pit. Dean is hell bent against the strategy and asks Bobby if he knew about it. The older hunter says yes. They unexpectedly receive a call from Castiel who is shown in a hospital bed. Cas explains how he had woken up in there and was told that he was found on a fishing boat. He is also in pain, starving, and has an itch that won’t go away no matter how much he scratches. Our favorite fallen angel is now human. This is also another event that has come to fruition from the episode “The End” (season 5, episode 4) where Cas was boozing and womanizing.

The Winchesters move to take Pestilence next at an assisted living facility where he is pretending to be a doctor. Matt Frewer is an awesome crazy villain. He has been using elderly patients as Petri dishes for his diseases. As Sam and Dean make their way to the room Pestilence is in, they begin to cough blood and get dizzy from infectious diseases. By the time they come face to face with the horseman, they are unable to get off the ground. Cas shows up and saves the day having taken a bus to get there! Now that he’s human though, he falls victim to Pestilence’s diseases and begins to cough up blood. At the last second he catches the horseman off guard and slices his fingers to get the ring. Pestilence then comments that it’s too late anyways before disappearing.

Back at Bobby’s, Crowley appears as Sam and Dean find out about his deal with the paralyzed hunter. Cas and the brothers now appear to be completely healed from their encounter with Pestilence (magic?). Meanwhile the demon reveals that he took Bobby’s soul as insurance. In a moment of sheer awesomeness, Sam asks Bobby if he kissed Crowley to which the elder hunter scoffs no. The demon whips out his iPhone where he shows evidence that they did lock lips. I cracked up. It was too good.

Crowley plays a big role in this episode as he explains what Pestilence meant about it “being too late” is that large shipments of the Croatoan virus are about to be released as antidotes to the Swine Flu spreading across the country. With Death in Chicago, they split up; Crowley and Dean heading to get the final ring and Sam, Bobby, and Cas to stop the shipments of Croatoan virus from being distributed. Before they leave, Crowley asks Bobby if he’s just going to sit there. It turns out that the demon had added a clause to their contract and gave the hunter use of his legs again. Hallelujah it’s a miracle!

At Niveus (the company where Brady was VP of Distribution) Sam, Bobby, and Cas engage in a lot of gun shooting and viewers are led to believe that they stopped the virus from going out. We never actually see what they do with it. On the way there though Bobby tells Cas about Sam’s idea to say yes to Lucifer in hopes of overpowering him and jumping into the pit. The former angel muses that it’s not entirely a bad option.

Back in Chicago, Crowley finally finds Death inside a pizzeria. As Dean approaches he sees dead bodies on the floor and the scythe he is carrying becomes so hot that he drops it. The final horseman invites him to sit at his table and have a slice. Actor Julian Richings is wonderful in this scene, conveying the ancientness of his character and we finally are clued in to the origins of the horsemen, or at least with Death. It seems that Death and God are the oldest things in existence (they can’t seem to remember who came first since it’s been so long and he uses the analogy of the chicken and the egg). What was incredibly teasing to hear was that God was going to be “reaped” as well. Say what?!? Oh and he basically confirmed the existence of aliens too.

Death tells Dean that he’s been waiting for him because he can’t stand being tied to Lucifer. A creature as ancient as himself subjected to the will of a bratty child throwing a tantrum was absurd. My interpretation is that he can’t really be killed and is more of God’s counterpart in the grand scheme of the universe. War and Famine are already dead and getting Pestilence’s ring hadn’t been that difficult.

Death is willing to give Dean his ring under the condition that Sam lets Lucifer use him as a vessel and then trick him back into the pit. He insists that only Sam can do it. The older Winchester is conflicted but is forced to say yes and mean it. Death then proceeds to tell him how the cage works. When Bobby asks him later on if he meant it, Dean says that you can’t lie to Death. Bobby comes out to say though that there is a lot of good in Sam and that they’ve all been giving him a hard time. All they can ask is that he does overpower Lucifer or dies trying. The older hunter asks Dean if he’s more afraid of Sam failing or losing his brother. I’m pretty sure it’s the latter.

It’s nice to see that Bobby is beginning to have faith in Sam after seeing him rescue people inside Niveus with no hesitation. It’s going to take Dean to believe and have faith in his younger brother for Sam to have the strength and drive to overpower Satan. It parallels Dean’s rejection of Michael because he just couldn’t let his brother down. Now it’ll be Sam’s turn. Speaking of brothers, Adam became Michael’s vessel after all (Cas informs them of this earlier).

Now that we’ve met all the horsemen, it seems that Death is on a whole different level than his brothers. If they are all at least almost as old as him then why were War and Famine so easily taken out of the game by mere mortals (they aren’t actually dead yet, just incapacitated)? It also felt like they were operating independently of each other. Is Pestilence just spreading the virus because that’s his only purpose? Death in the meantime appears to know the bigger picture with his talk of reaping God.

So the final stage is set and we’ll find out if their plan works or fails miserably. We don’t know if they managed to really stop the Croatoan virus from spreading because Pestilence is still out there. Should we actually be more worried about God being reaped? That could be what happens if Lucifer is back inside the cage and Death is free to do whatever he wants.

The season finale is next week and I’m sure the writers will throw a major twist that we won’t expect. It’ll probably make all of us want to rip our hair off because we have to wait till next fall to find out what happens. I can’t wait!

Season 5, Episode 21: Two Minutes to Midnight (originally aired May 6, 2010)

For more on Supernatural, click here.

Thursdays at 9/8C on The CW

Photograph courtesy of The CW and Jack Rowand.