Supernatural Review: First Blood (Season 12 Episode 9)

Is anyone else scratching their heads with teary eyes?

Don’t get me wrong; it’s always a great day when there’s a new episode of Supernatural, especially after a long hiatus.

But Supernatural Season 12 Episode 9, “First Blood,” is filled with so many storytelling inconsistencies that I feel a little let down in the end.

Let’s start by recapping where we last saw the Winchesters:

Lucifer took over the President of the United States’ body, got a woman named Kelly pregnant, the Winchesters got rid of Lucifer (at least for now), and then they got arrested by the Secret Service for trying to assassinate the President.

Caught up? Great.

So now it’s been six weeks, two days, and ten hours since Castiel and Mary have seen Dean and Sam.

Mary’s reaction to her sons being locked in a maximum security private prison is confusing; she’s not running to their aid, but she’s also visibly shaken that they’re gone.

I can’t figure out what she’s thinking in these moments. She goes about hunting, working cases, living life…does it even cross her mind to MAYBE try to find her sons and help them?

Meanwhile, the absence of Sam and Dean is consuming Castiel.

He’s guilt-stricken sobbing, with his head on the floor, blaming himself for their arrest, and tries to take on their work.

Of course Castiel isn’t great at hunting. What Dean and Sam do isn’t the kind of thing an angel can just pick up on, right?

Wrong.

This is one of my major criticisms. Castiel has been working with the Winchesters for what, seven or eight years? Has he learned literally nothing?

On top of that, haven’t he and Crowley been off  questioning folks in recent months together, doing their own solid impersonations of FBI agents?

How can Castiel question whether or not he’s talking to the right people or hunting the right monsters? He just spent months tracking down LUCIFER.

If he can’t find a tiny lil’ demon after that, I have to question his worth in the bigger picture.

Castiel’s sudden incompetence seems to only serve the final moments of the hour, when he breaks the Winchesters’ deal with the reaper Billie – by stabbing her in the heart with his angel blade.

So, to recap – Castiel can successfully hunt Lucifer and kill a reaper. But he can’t hunt and kill regular, less threatening, demons without Sam and Dean.

Maybe I’m missing something, but it just doesn’t add up. Castiel’s skills are better than this.

But then again, isn’t this what we’ve become accustomed to with Castiel? He’s been getting the shaft on storylines for years now. Why not dumb him down even more?

Castiel’s moment with Crowley is a saving grace of “First Blood.”

Crowley’s personality is returning, his fair-weather attitude concerning the brothers back on center stage.

Of course Crowley doesn’t care about Sam and Dean! He’s free to do whatever he pleases if they’re gone. He’s a bad guy.

It’s easy to forget that he’s crappy when all he does are nice things, teaming up with the Scooby Gang 2.0.

I’m pleased to see the return of Crowley’s real persona. I’m hoping this isn’t a fake out, and that the King of Hell continues to sing this tune for the rest of the season.

I’m not at all surprised that Sam and Dean broke their way out of prison. That’s what they do.

I AM surprised by HOW it occurs.

After being locked in solitary cells for six weeks, Dean and Sam (who’ve LITERALLY been to Hell, and tortured by the Devil) decide that they can’t take it anymore and would rather die than find a way out of jail.

I’m not buying that for a second.

Sam and Dean have worked their way out of plenty of tight spots. This is just another. What makes THIS the one that they can’t handle?

Dean: We were already dead. Being locked in that cell…with nothing. I’ve been to Hell. This was worse.
Sam: At least this way, one of us gets to keep fighting.

Come on, guys. This isn’t you!

There’s not a bone in my body that believes that solitude is the thing that finally makes the Winchesters crack.

The story is all muddy – lots of tiny inconsistencies that all pile up for a big emotional payoff. No one is in character. It’s frustrating, to be perfectly blunt.

But man – the payoff is good.

Dean: Cas, what have you done?
Castiel: What had to be done. You know, this world – this sad, doomed, little world – it needs you. It needs every last Winchester it can get and I will not let you die. I won’t let any of you die. And I won’t let you sacrifice yourselves. You mean too much to me. To everything.

Castiel’s time away from Sam and Dean has made him appreciate them more. He considers the number of lives that are saved daily because of them, and how much the world needs them.

Maybe it’s cheesy. You may roll your eyes at this tiny declaration of Winchester love from Castiel, but me? I’m crying.

I have to touch on Billie’s death for just a moment – it comes so fast and so unexpectedly.

Billie has been around a while now. I thought she held some major significance moving forward.

She’s so quickly disposed of that it feels like an injustice to her character. That’s not how Billie goes down – not for a cheesy (but WONDERFUL) love declaration.

But it is.

You’ll notice that I’ve failed to talk about the British Men of Letters – that’s intentional. I hate this story and until they give me a reason to be interested, I’m ignoring them.

And no, Mary’s interest in talking with them still isn’t reason enough for me to care.

What did you think of this episode of Supernatural? Sound off in the comments below!

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Supernatural airs Thursdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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