XI: Winchester Brothers Report “We geteth it.”

“Hell’s Angel” (11.18) is an ambitious episode. The big players are back on the scene and making big moves. Old alliances are renewed, a character returns from the dead and Lucifer unleashes the power of a Hand of God on Amara. Last episode before the two-week April hiatus.

Sam, Dean and Crowley on a mission to trap Lucifer: “He has to be dealt with.”

In exchange for tearing up a soul contract, Crowley gets the Horn of Joshua, a Hand of God, from an old client. Bent on revenge and eager to neutralize the Devil, he meets with the brothers in Saint Louis. The Winchesters find his litany of grievances against the archangel who treated him like a dog amusing, but they are not on board with his plan. Crowley wants Lucifer back in the Cage, immediately. Sam and Dean want Lucifer to defeat Amara first. What they disagree on, is which vessel he should be inhabiting when he goes up against The Darkness. For Sam, Castiel is strong enough to hold Lucifer and his choice to let him in should be respected. For Dean, Castiel should be saved and Lucifer directed to another vessel.

Rowena and Amara on a mission to end Lucifer: “I can be useful.”

Rowena has been helping Amara get her strength back after the collective smiting she endured in “O Brother, Where Art Thou”. Amara is suspicious of Rowena’s motives, especially when she finds out she’s “Uncle Crowley”’s mother. Rowena explains they have a common enemy in Lucifer, who would have killed had she not been protected by magic. She also wants to be of use to Amara, help her by spying on the Winchesters and Lucifer, and maybe, even be her friend.

Lucifer and the angels in Heaven: “You need me.”

Lucifer tells the angels that they need his help to defeat Amara. They don’t trust him. He just vaporized one of their own and he has a reputation. Lucifer breaks down their arguments. God casting him out? Only because he refused to bow down to the failed experiment that is mankind. God labeling him evil? A marketing strategy to create a super-vilain in order for justify the need for a savior.

Amara sends out a warning to Heaven : “I’m back.”

Rowena’s treatments are working and Amara’s ready to try a little test. Her power hit the sky like thunder and swirls through Heaven like a cyclone, knocking even Lucifer off his feet.

Rowena rejoins her old team: “Back from the dead, Fergus!”

Rowena is terrified by the magnitude of Amara’s power and worried about The Darkness plans for mass destruction. She lies to Amara, telling her the Winchesters are too paralyzed with fear to be a threat and then flees. She joins her old team just as the brothers wonder how the plan’s going to work without the only person who can read the Book of the Damned.

Sam, Dean, Crowley and Rowena against Lucifer: “Lucifer’s hold on him is too strong.”

The team summons Lucifer. They pin him down and try to speak to Castiel. Dean asks him to expel Lucifer but the archangel quickly recovers and informs him that Castiel is happy with his “arrangement”. When Crowley sees the warding’s about to fail, he makes a split decision to possess Castiel. He finds him, watching TV in the bunker’s kitchen in his mind, apathetic and unwilling to move. Castiel doesn’t intervene when Lucifer (in his Nick form) attacks Crowley, and Crowley sends an SOS through his vessel’s skin. Sam responds by exorcising Crowley and Dean lends a hand by splashing holy water onto the vessel in order to speed up the process.

Amara versus Lucifer: “I think you and I need to have a nice, long chat.”

Rowena  warns the team that the holy fire has gone out. Crowley exits stage left, leaving Lucifer free to seize the Horn and the Winchesters. The Darkness enters the scene as Lucifer is torturing Sam and Dean.  Even with the power of the Horn, Lucifer barely manages to ruffle Amara’s hair. She frees the brothers and drags Lucifer away.

 

Overall grade: 6/10

Watching Sam and Dean latinate, Crowley coming up with a new scheme, and the three of them teaming up against a common enemy is always fun. The parts I really liked were Rowena coming back from the dead, Amara showing off and Mark Pellegrino’s Lucifer returning.

We always hear of Crowley’s travels to faraway lands and it was fun to tag alongside him when he went to the An-Nafud Desert in Saudi Arabia. I chuckled at Dean’s “Palace? Oh, you mean the abandoned nuthouse” line. I had trouble staying awake during the angelic board meeting but I got a real kick out of Lucifer’s “Its not like he created the Prius, which actually works” line. I always found his hatred for humanity amusing and to be honest, quite justified. I was ecstatic to see my favorite witch rise from the dead and I hope she survives season 11. They can send her back to Scotland to build the Mega Coven if they want. I just really hope that they don’t kill her.

Aside from all this, the episode had some head scratching moments, like this canon continuity issue that’s stuck in my throat like a chicken bone.

Canon who? …Canon what.

Canon destruction has unfortunately become a common occurrence during Jeremy Carver’s reign as a showrunner. It was especially glaring at the beginning in season 8. This series is based on an older brother and a younger brother and a lot of the epic mythology that surrounds them falls into that first/second born rule. Dean is Cain because Cain is the older brother. Sam is Abel because Abel is the younger brother. Dean is Michael because Michael is God’s first born. It has always the case in the mythology of Supernatural until  “Hell’s Angel” went “Taxi Driver” on us.

Did we collectively hallucinate Michael telling Lucifer “You know, you haven’t changed a bit, little brother” in “Swan Song”? Hearing Amara refer to Lucifer as God’s first son made me nauseous. Yet another attempt to destroy an amazing character to prop up Lucifer. So not only is Michael curled up in the Cage touching himself while Lucifer is disco dancing to Tavares but now millennia of history have been mangled to knock him off his spot as the first born??? One step forward, two steps back. Mr. Carver, please look over some of your writers’ scripts when you find the time.

Still on this? “His choice deserves to be respected.”

Deep sigh for this one. “This is exactly how we screw ourselves. We make the heart choice, instead of the smart choice.” And this is how the writers screw their characters over. Didn’t we go through this merry-go-round already? Didn’t Sam disrespect Dean’s choice in season 10 and then said in season 11 he’d do it again, after he complained that Dean disrespected his choice in season 9? What is this “policy” no one uses? Does the tree make a sound if no one is in the forest to hear it? Is it too much to hope for, that Sam and Dean agreeing in “Hell’s Angel” to throw away that so-called policy that never was, the last I hear from this? Are they still fighting about a policy that only exist in abstract?

“It’s killing me.”

You and me both, Crowley!

“I would rather stick white hot skewers in my eyes then listen to you two bitches bicker.”

Ditto on the bitches bickering. Pass on the skewers but.. I definitely feel your pain there, Fergus. Let’s hear it for Crowley, who spoke the truth of my heart while this tedious fight was going on. Which made him telling Sam and Dean to can it because he was the only one with the weapon, one of my favorite moments.

 

Favorite moments

“I have all the cards and you have-”

“NO CARDS!”

Thank you, King, for putting a stop to the needless bickering. You earned yourself one of the best episode moments, for that, and also cause… this girl loves it when Crowley rolls into town!

Another great moment? Welcome back to the Original Dark Prince. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.

Best Dean moments

“There’s time I wanna get slapped during sex by a girl wearing a Zorro mask.” You kinky boy you.

Tell me more about your Tessa Alvaro Queen of Swords midnight fantasies. And look at Crowley silently cosigning. Ah, a little glimpse of Crown is good for the soul (just trying to squeeze every ounce of pleasure I can out of this episode).

Here’s another one who knows how to squeeze the joy out of life! Look at the first born prince, entertaining himself with a game of beer bottle bowling. I just want to sit next to him and rub his back. Such a swell guy.

Best Sam moments

Sam exorcising the hell out of Castiel. That was hot. Okay? Sam Keith Winchester, that latination, was the bomb.com.

Sometimes, the best moments are silent. Like those Sam L’Oréal moments. Shh… Just enjoy it.

Best broments

Back at home and aww… look at Sam bringing Dean some bowling pins for his game. It’s the little things.

And I am always here for the Winsync.

 

Juicy bit: “God’s Chosen”

“The crux of your dispute is the contention that Lucifer, and only Lucifer can use the Horn to beat Amara.”

Crowley was right. It’s not about Lucifer using the Hand. In order for it to work, it might have to be used by God’s Chosen.

This is what I said about God and his chosen in the Report for “The Vessel”.

“watching Dean holding the depowered Hand of God, I couldn’t help but wonder if it meant anything for his future. The writers don’t seem to care anymore but to me he will forever be the Host of Heaven, the Servant of Heaven who staked the Fancy Lady of Babylon, and the one who killed Zachariah and looked into his grace without losing his eyes, back when it meant something in the show’s canon. What if God’s Weapon could be reactivated by his Chosen. Now wouldn’t that be a great storyline for Dean?”

Remember the last time an angel of the Lord failed while using a Weapon of God? Who succeeded? It was Dean, in  “99 Problems”. Will the writers remember that he’s the Host of Heaven, Michael’s vessel and thus God’s Chosen? I’ll be waiting with baited breath.

 

Final verdict

What goes up must come down. “Red Meat” was an exceptional episode and I can’t use it as a point of reference for the rest of the season. “Masterpiece” loses all meaning if everything can be one.

I enjoyed Amara opening a can of whoop-ass on Lucifer, Rowena coming back from the dead, albeit, sadder and more subdued, and Crowley, who can’t help but being illuminated by the brilliance of his vessel, Mark The Sheppard.

As for the brothers, they’ve given me enough joy in recent episodes for me to give them a pass for whatever they were doing in “Hell’s Angel”.

Who isn’t getting a pass however, is whoever toppled down years of meaningful mythology by switching up Lucifer and Michael’s birth orders. Blasphemy. I’ll need the two-week hiatus to recover. Meanwhile I’ll be waiting for the moment Dean and Amara meet again. Someday.

Merci,

Vee

XI : Winchester Brothers Report
11.01 “We Broke It, We Bought It”
11.02 “That Giant, Crazy Fart”
11.03 “And I have a fake badge”
11.04 “We’re home”
11.05 “That whole sensitive verbal massage”
11.06 “She overpowered me, end of story”
11.07 “What do you mean, killer bunny?”
11.08 “The family that showers together”
11.09 “If Sam’s not safe, it’s not happening”
11A Midseason Report Card “So, lock and key?”
11.10 “Sam can’t talk cause he’s waxing…”
11.11 “All that’s ever mattered is that we’re together”
11.12 “And when you mix it up with the potatoes and the beans”
11.13 “I can’t help it if I’m a hopeless romantic.”
11.14 “Non, je ne regrette rien.”
11.15 “Groupie, much?”
11.16 “I got ya.”
11.17 “You got him, I need him, let’s make a deal.”

Gif credits