Supernatural Review: Take it Like a Man

As we orient ourselves with the new storyline emerging in this season’s Supernatural, the action continues to escalate with the return of everyone’s favorite angel Castiel! Dean is back on the road hunting again and Sam stuns women worldwide with his hard-earned physique. The Campbell family hunters though were MIA this episode, but it felt good to have the Winchesters out and about again together.

There is finally a sense of equilibrium back and it’s incredibly relieving to feel. Cas’s return to the story and us viewers finding out what’s been happening in heaven just completes some unanswered questions that were lingering at the beginning of the season. Even though Cas himself doesn’t know what’s going on with Sam’s return from the cage, something big is happening with a heavenly civil war.

The brothers are doing their own thing on the road, Dean is asleep inside the Impala and dreams about Lisa while Sam is doing pull ups in a motel room after having slept with a prostitute the night before. They meet up in Pennsylvania after Sam learns of a mysterious death where a police officer liquefies and then another one dies from boils all over his body, inside and out. They go to a third cop who had earlier witnessed his partner become human goop. It turns out that he’s not feeling so well also as the camera pans to scratched out faces in picture frames all over his house. The brothers find out that all three cops killed a young man and lied about it claiming that he had been armed. Before he can say anything else though the third cop dies and as the hat is pulled from his head locusts come crawling out a big disgusting hole.

Back at the motel, Dean and Sam realize that these are some of the plagues from ancient Egypt, except why was it happening now and who was doing it? In desperation, Dean decides to call on Cas despite Sam saying that he’s tried over and over but has gotten no answer. But unexpectedly the angel does show up in all of his stoic glory. Turns out Dean and Cas have a stronger bro-bond than Cas and Sam, but that’s not the reason why he came. It turns out that what’s causing the mysterious deaths the Winchesters are investigating is the staff of Moses. For those unfamiliar with biblical stories, Moses led the Israelites out of slavery from the Egyptians in the Exodus and famously parted the Red Sea using his staff. Cas informs them that the staff and many other heavenly weapons were stolen after they stopped the apocalypse. God/Chuck is still missing in action.

The three of them go to the home of the boy killed by the three cops where they find out that the victim’s brother Aaron had gotten part of the staff from an angel in exchange for his soul. Cas kidnaps Aaron and they go back to the motel where he proceeds to torture the young boy by putting his hand inside him to find out the name of the angel who sold it to him. As soon as Cas says the name Balthazar, another angel appears (sent by Raphael who’s looking to take over heaven and restart the apocalypse) and they start brawling. It ends with the untimely death of Sam’s new “plastic” car.

Cas manages to track Balthazar down to a very Liberace-esque mansion where the other angel has been indulging his every whim after faking his death in heaven. You can sense the brotherhood between them but while Cas is very devoted to heaven and restoring a proper sense of order, Balthazar believes the fighting will never stop and that he deserves to have what he wants especially since God still hasn’t appeared. He quickly disappears though as Raphael and his goons arrive. Cas gets his ass kicked by them before Balthazar returns with the crystal used to turn people into salt pillars. This weapon was last seen used at Sodom and Gomorrah where angels were sent to punish humans for their wicked ways.

Just before Balthazar is about to disappear again, Dean and Sam trap him around a holy ring of fire demanding that he relinquish his claim on Aaron’s soul. He reluctantly agrees and out of a sense of brotherhood to his fellow angel, Cas lets him go but claims that his debt is paid. Dean and Sam are furious but before they can say anything else Cas disappears as well.

This is the first episode of the sixth season that feels balanced. Cas was really a missing element for me since the three of them had gone through so many trials in the previous season. I also realize how much the Campbell family hunters present a destabilizing factor because they are such new elements to the storyline that we don’t know whether they are going to be a force for good or evil quite yet. There must be a connection between them, the strange monster actions happening and the brewing civil war in heaven. Maybe Raphael plans to use them as soldiers?

Still, it’s interesting to see Dean and Sam still adjusting to each other, especially with Sam’s new nonchalant attitude about hunting and bedding women (though I’m pretty sure he could get away with not having to pay). While he keeps claiming he’s fine, Dean knows better and believes there’s something his brother doesn’t want to tell him or refuses to deal with. The competition between them is also hilarious as Dean attempts to reassert his role as alpha male (aka who has the better car, who got to the cop’s house first). Despite that the older Winchester still berated Cas for not answering Sam even if he didn’t have any answers. The devotion to his brother is still as strong as ever and you gotta love him for that. His concern for Sam’s growing lack of a conscience is gnawing on him and certainly for me as well.

Most memorable line of the night was Dean telling Ben on the phone to “take it like a man,” which is a fantastic lesson for my earlier wavering faith. I admit my mistake in not trusting the writers to give me great episodes. I’ll take my punishment like a man.

Season 6, Episode 3: The Third Man (originally aired date October 8, 2010)

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Photograph courtesy of The CW and Jack Rowand.