Supernatural Review: The Spear (Season 14 Episode 9)
Bad news, folks. We have to go for a month without any new Supernatural episodes.
Good news, though. Supernatural Season 14 Episode 9, “The Spear,” left fans wanting plenty more when the show returns.
On “The Spear” fans are treated to return appearances from Earth-2 Kaia, Garth(!!) and Ketch, while Team Free Will 2.0 made another run at Michael. Unfortunately, the run at Michael doesn’t work out the way they plan.
“The Spear” really establishes what makes Michael such a scary villain. They’ve defeated Lucifer and Michael before, but the threat that alterna-Michael now poses is much greater than they’ve faced before.
Michael, it turns out, gives out small pieces of his grace to monsters because he can use it to control them. Similarly, remnants of his grace in vessels that he has previously occupied allow him to return without requesting additional permission. This revelation (while not totally unexpected…more on that later) gives serious credence to Michael’s role as a villain.
Revisiting the apocalypse has always been a rich story for Supernatural, but it needed something extra to make Michael a more powerful villain. These revelations have accomplished that. Serious work (or perhaps stupid, emotional decisions) will have to go in to defeating Michael.
Supernatural also drops a little hint at what may be next. Even though this Michael has been in play for some time, there has been little mention of his Earth-1 counterpart. “The Spear,” however, casually (almost flippantly, really) mentions Michael prime when Michael-2 calls Jack his family.
Some viewers may not have even caught it, but I think this means we’ll see old Michael (and Adam) sometime soon. After all, as Jack says, he’s “in the cage.” I have previously speculated we may see Adam Milligan again.
Jack: You mean dying and coming back to life?
Castiel: Yeah, we’ve all been through it. Sort of a rite of passage.
“The Spear” ends with some serious blows to Team Free Will. Michael now occupies Dean once more, and both of the weapons Team Free Will intended to use against Michael are now destroyed. This is a devastating blow, but really sets up what should be a fun back half of the season.
A few stray thoughts:
- I love that this episode takes place at Christmas, and the Die Hard references to boot.
- It was so great to see Ketch and Garth again. I’m really glad to see Supernatural making better use of its deep bench of recurring characters, and these two are some of my favorites.
- Speculation time: Nick is going to accidentally bring Lucifer back, and the Winchesters and company will have to team up with he and Earth-1 Michael to stop the other and also the void coming after Castiel. Once all of those threats are neutralized, Lucifer and Michael will immediately go back at the each other’s throat and start the apocalypse. Perhaps through Season 16.
What did you think of this episode of Supernatural? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Supernatural airs Thursday at 8/7c on The CW.
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Nick Hogan
Nick Hogan is an experienced podcaster and writer (particularly on media topics), who loves discussion and analysis of TV and is always looking for new shows to watch. He is also a parent who loves buffalo wings, blowing raspberries, and his beloved Cincinnati Reds.