Supernatural Review: Beyond the Mat (Season 11 Episode 15)
It is so hard to come up with a clever opening line that involves a wrestling pun, besides the obvious, “Can you smell what the Winchesters are cooking?”
Supernatural decided to step into the world of wrestling for, “Beyond the Mat,” as Sam and Dean try to solve a case surrounding their childhood heroes, wrestlers who are several decades beyond their prime years.
Here’s the thing about wrestling: I just can’t take it seriously. I have many friends who love wrestling and eagerly await every big “event” with the same levels of anticipation that I feel waiting for the Gilmore Girls revival.
I don’t know what it is exactly about “Beyond the Mat,” but I could never fully bring myself into the story.
Maybe it’s due to recognizable guest stars. Remember Mike from The Real World Season 10, and several Challenge shows? Yeah, I know he’s a “wrestler” now, but he’s still naive Mike from MTV to me, and he doesn’t really serve a purpose in this episode.
Maybe it’s because of my lack of enthusiasm for wrestling. I can’t stress enough how little I care about wrestling.
More likely, I’m just growing increasingly impatient with every week that passes that Sam and Dean aren’t actually handling Amara. For some reason this season feels like it’s been 75% filler episodes, and that doesn’t work for me when the villain at hand is as big as they’ve made Amara out to be.
As Supernatural heads into it’s final stretch of the season, I really hope that Amara is the single focus.
That’s not to say that there aren’t enjoyable moments in “Beyond the Mat,” because there certainly are.
Anytime Sam and Dean have fun together, and they can just be brothers, it’s always nice. The nostalgia that the Winchesters feel about their dad taking them to wrestling matches reminds me that they really had a messed up childhood.
I also love the return of Hellhounds. It’s been far too long since we’ve seen a good story that ended with Hellhounds.
The real action of the episode is everything that Sam and Dean are not a part of. Crowley finally (?) gets out from under Lucifer’s thumb and takes back his life. “Finally.” He’s only been Lucifer’s slave for like, five minutes.
This is the kind of story I want to see stretched out longer so that the moment of escape feels more triumphant. But instead, it gets rushed, and yet another disservice is done to Crowley.
Now that Crowley is free though, I do hope that the writers give him a story that’s actually worthwhile, and not just aimless screen time for Mark Shepherd. He’s free of his momma-drama, he’s free of Lucifer (for now) and he’s got a brand new suit. Crowley is past-due for a good story.
Lucifer finds another weapon of God, this time the Rod of Aaron. The Rod, just like the Hand, only has enough juice for one use. This pattern means two things; there are other weapons of God and Lucifer probably won’t actually try to use them in the future until he needs to.
Maybe we’ll all get lucky and Chuck God will just show up and use all the weapons himself. I mean, he’s got to show up eventually, right?
Supernatural is taking a few weeks off before the final episodes of the season, but here’s the latest trailer to hold you over until it returns on Wednesday, March 23, at 9/8c on The CW:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0cxUrGlBpc
What did you think of “Beyond the Mat?” Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Supernatural airs Wednesday at 9/8c on The CW.
Christine Laskodi
Christine is guilty of watching Hart of Dixie more times than the average human will in their lifetime. She's the host of Long Live the Hart: A Hart of Dixie Podcast (available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!) as well as co-host on The Shipping Room, a podcast devoted to television's greatest relationships. You can find some of her older television reviews at TV Fanatic and IGN. Christine eagerly anticipates every cheesy holiday movie that networks can throw at her, and current favorite shows include The Good Place, The Resident, Shark Tank, and All Rise.