Review: Supernatural 11x18 "Hell's Angel" - The Gangs All Here!

-by sweetondean

After a few incredibly strong monster of the week episodes, we were back with a whopping myth-arc instalment…whopping because everyone was in it! And I mean everyone! All of this season’s players…including the dead and discarded ones!

Yes we had Sam and Dean, and Crowley, and Casifer, and Amara, and Castiel, and Lucifer and Rowena…the previously, but obviously only mostly, dead Rowena! What a cast for one episode! I liked it!

I had a feeling Rowena wouldn’t be dead. I remember at some point either she said, or someone said she couldn’t be killed, or powerful witches couldn’t be killed or something…and so I felt like her despatch might not be final. But I was still surprised when I saw that tiny hand and heard that Scottish brogue! I’m glad she’s not dead. She’d grown on me by the time they took her out. She’d become a fascinating, complex, damaged character and I’m interested in what the future holds for her. Especially now, as she seems to be intent on burning every single bridge! Of course there’s nothing Lucifer, Crowley, or the boys can do about getting rid of her due to that immortality spell tucked away inside her, but Amara could suck the soul right out of her…I guess…I would assume she still has one. Playing both sides of the battle for your own gain, or as Dean said, playing the odds, is a tough juggle and we’ve seen many fail. And now everyone knows that’s what she was doing. I think she’d be best to stay out of sight!

I love evil, sassy Crowley. I love it what he’s an evil bastard. That’s how he should be, and it was great to see his return to form, especially at the beginning when he just killed everyone!

The relationship between him and the Winchesters always delights me, and it seems like there’s still some kind of odd connection between him and the boys, especially Dean. Even though both have professed they will kill the other, there seems to be something still lingering from Dean and Crowley’s time together. Or maybe it is simply the devil you know. Either way, I’m sure both would vehemently deny it, but seeing them on the phone, and then in particular the moment Dean called Crowley out on his ego and told him he was smarter than that… I freakin loved that moment! There was such a familiarity between the three of them in that scene. I will never cease to bubble with glee at the weirdness and awkwardness of the relationship between Crowley and the Winchester boys. It’s so wrong, but oh so right!

Misha is doing a fantastic job playing Lucifer. I absolutely dig Casifer! This week’s episode in particular he was a hoot! The scenes in Heaven were amazing. When Casifer actually straddled that guy I think I squee out loud. It was so unexpected! It was a show of dominance in every sense of the word. I wondered if it was scripted or a character choice by Misha? I’d love to know, because a-hem, I didn’t know how to feel!

Of course, when The Darkness bellows, she plays right into Lucifer’s hands by letting loose on Heaven. The angels see her strength, and in that moment I can see that those piss weak angels, the epic followers that they are, could actually let him in to rule them, if they thought he could protect Heaven from her, or destroy her, or both. Angels are not the sharpest tools.

I completely believe in Casifer’s power…I feel like at any moment he could break everyone’s necks and skip lightly from the room, whistling a jaunty tune! He feels like he’s perpetually teetering on the edge of snapping, and I love it. There’s a lot of anger in the Devil!

I found it equal parts exciting and terrifying when Casifer confronts the brothers…like a kitten with a moth, just kind of patting them around back and forth, he sure knows how to toy with his prey. I was holding my breath after he said, “Ahhh, who needs ya”. I mean I knew he wasn’t going to kill them…but man, I feel like he could! Thank goodness his ego likes to monologue! I adore the way this show writes Lucifer, ever since they first revealed him to us; he’s been absolutely brilliant. Definitely one of the best characters this show has created.

And if I can be shallow for a moment…Casifer-Misha is so pretty! All smiley all the time, in a manic kind of smug way! And his eyes look particularly blue up against all the white, in Heaven!

Misha as Cas was all sad and sort of detached. Completely under Lucifer’s control…brainwashed, or suppressed, I couldn’t decide. I feel like if he were lucid, he’d have realised by now that his decision was folly. But Cas could hear Dean, and that’s something…that’s hopeful, right? We had a brief moment, a glimmer that maybe the spell could be broken…he’s in there somewhere. I did wonder why he wasn’t in Sam’s room watching Netflix? Part of Lucifer’s evilness to make him watch a black and white, 4x3, rabbit ear portable TV instead of Sam’s big screen HD number? I mean…that’s pure evil right there!

I squeed when Mark Pellegrino showed up inside Cas’ vessel, (it was helluva crowded in there)! I thought that might happen the minute Crowley smoked in – like when he went to save Sammy from Gadreel. It was almost too much awesome! So much awesome! As much as I love Misha’s Lucifer having the true Devil back was a delight. He was scary with out the smart-arseness…because basically he just wanted to kill Crowley! If I were Crowley, I’d stay well out of this mess! Pick up the pieces once the fight’s done, like he did last time.

We hadn’t seen Amara for quite awhile, and I was glad that we were shown she’d been under the weather, because I’d been wondering what she was up to. One thing I liked about her was that she still sounds “new”. There’s a naivety to the way she talks, a child like quality as she tries to work through the challenges of dealing with humans and other entities after a millennium on her own. It’s something that I’ve always liked about the way this character is portrayed. She’s been out of the picture for a long time and her awkwardness fits with that isolation. I can’t decide if she really does want to destroy the world out of spite for what her brother did to her, and what she believes is her right; or if she just wants her brother to accept her, and apologise, or give her some attention…maybe a hug! Everyone loves a hug! I like that she seems like a bundle of angry hurt scary feels. When she burst through the window, I thought that she'd come to protect Dean at first, because Lucifer was about to kill him, but then she said she'd been following Rowena, so I'm not so sure. Maybe her timing was just spot on! I’m also not sure destroying Lucifer is the way to get her bro’s attention, he may have been God’s favourite once upon a time, but he was kicked out of the house a long, long time ago, and is now a great big back of dicks! However…maybe God will come for Castiel...

I was super interested in the God’s chosen line. Who would be God’s chosen; the only one to be able to wield a Hand of God weapon? I’m wondering if it’s Castiel. 

Cas has been resurrected more than once by God, he’s been glued back together after being blown apart. He’s been given a permanent human vessel in Jimmy Novack’s form, (who now resides in Heaven with the missus); all of which took place, one must assume, through the grace of God. Cas has even wondered why God kept resurrecting him. He thought that it was a punishment, so he could feel the guilt and the pay penance for all the catastrophic errors he’s made whilst trying to do the right thing. But what if Cas is actually God’s chosen? What if that’s why God continued to resurrect him? The irony of Cas allowing Lucifer in, when it was really Cas all along who held the power to destroy The Darkness, is somewhere the show most definitely would go! As well as the irony of having God’s cast out son possessing God’s chosen. 

At the beginning of the season, Cas was feeling hated, lost and down, a useless misfit who felt less Team Freewill and more a tool for the Winchesters to call on. He felt he had no place in either world he straddled, all of which led to him to saying yes to Lucifer. 

When Amara first met Castiel, she said to him she could never understand her brother’s interest in Cas. She was also noticeably weakened after her run in with Cas. It was only then that she wobbled and had to lean against a tree. This weakness has been put down to the angel smiting, but what if it was due to her proximity to Castiel, her proximity to God’s chosen, the only one that can destroy her, or send her back to…wherever, my guess is The Empty. This Cas is God’s chosen could be a nice arc to bring Castiel back to his original position of angelic power, and make Heaven eat its words! No one would expect Cas to be God’s chosen…least of all Cas! Be a nice reveal when God finally makes a showing, don’t cha think? 

Or random thought number 4082…what if it’s Metatron? God’s chosen scribe. He sure doesn’t deserve it…but God chose him once, chosen out of Heaven’s typing pool!

Just tossing around some theories…let’s face it, it’s probably neither of them! Moving right along...

While all this heaven and hell and demon and witch and angel and devil and deity stuff was going on…the brothers were being, well…brothers. 

In line with this epic season, the Winchester boys were talking…sometimes arguing sure, but arguing is talking, and is a lot better than they used to do! Even though they didn’t agree on the Cas/Lucifer fighting The Darkness thing, they talked it through. They both said their points. There was no “Well that’s what we’re doing so shut it” kind of thing going on (Dean…), they argued, but they listened. And you could tell by their final conversation in the bunker, they both actually heard.

Each had a point, Cas is family, and neither wants to lose him…Dean is worried that Lucifer may not win, and Cas will be the collateral. Sam believes Cas is strong enough to handle it, but also, it was his choice to say yes to Lucifer, and they should honour that. Dean is all, we don’t let family die. Sam is all, but we should respect family’s decisions. It’s the same argument they’ve been having for years! But what was wonderful was that even though this conversation was interrupted by Crowley (by the way asshat, I could listen to them bicker forever!), it continued later around the war table back in the bunker, each taking the other brother’s point…Sam saying he may have been wrong about the Lucifer thing, Dean saying that maybe they should respect Cas’ decision…

I loved that last conversation…I was worried where it was going at first, this whole respecting each other's decisions no matter what the out come might be sounded like a mighty bad idea to me! Until Dean’s last words…

Sam: Listen. Um, I know I came down on the side of wanting Cas to deal with Amara, so-

Dean: Well, that's what he wanted though, right? Besides, didn't we say we're gunna swear off getting in the way when one person makes a choice the other didn't agree with?

Sam: Yeah, um. Yeah, we did say that.

Dean: So.

Sam: Okay. So, that's our policy.

Dean: Which sounds damn good…. Well...

Yep…screw that, let’s find him and bring him home! 

One thing is very clear, when it comes to Amara’s hold on, or bond with Dean, or whatever we want to call it, family always trumps her. Whether it’s breaking through her hold because she hurtled Sam at a wall, or pretty much ignoring her because he’s worried for Cas. Amara’s hold seems non-existent when Dean’s family is threatened. Which we’ve always suspected would be the case. I feel like this is important!

I liked Hell’s Angel; I enjoyed it from beginning to end. The performances were great from everyone, just so damn good…such an amazing cast…and everyone was there, which was so exciting! The special effects were great, and the story set up some interesting plot points that I look forward to seeing more on. But as much as I enjoyed coming back to the myth-arc and I’m intrigued where this is all heading and what horrors lie ahead for us, the monster of the week (with some myth-arc sprinkled in) episodes have been so damn amazing this season that I find these are the eps that have absolutely sent my blood pressure soaring or made my heart overfill with love. They are the eps that I can’t help thinking about, or watching over and over. And really, that kind of makes sense, because Season 11 seems to understand that the monster of the week episodes are what this show was built on, it’s where we all started, it’s how we got to know Sam and Dean Winchester, got to see the brothers interacting, and their relationship in full flight - the ups and the downs. It’s how it’s always been, and it’s great to see that the episodes that aren’t 100% focused on the season arc, are as strong as, or if not stronger this season, than the myth-arc episodes. Baby, The Vessel, Safe House, Red Meat…these are some of my favourite episodes of not just this season, but the entire series! I think they’re some of the strongest episodes this show has done, and for the most part, these were either in someway, or entirely about the brothers, about their journey, their relationship, their bond. Maybe I’ve got it wrong…maybe it’s those episodes that carry this season’s arc; the reigniting of Sam and Dean’s connection, the maturation of their relationship, the harmony and equality that envelops all their discussions and interactions. Maybe the reawakening of the epic love story of Sam and Dean is actually this season’s myth-arc, and every episode is crafted to show that like Charlie said, they can do anything when they’re a team, that they are stronger together. I mean hey…they’re even talking at the same time!

-sweetondean


Bonus caps...for reasons of...well, I'm sweetondean!