Review - Supernatural 12x05 "The One You've Been Waiting For"

Brothers laughing, brothers smiling, brothers poking fun at each other, brothers talking…. *sigh* Oh Supernatural, you’re spoiling me!

This week was another episode, from a new member of the writing team, Meredith Glynn and was directed by the wonderful Nina Lopez Corrado.

We started The One You’ve Been Waiting For in my absolute favourite way…with a domestic scene in the bunker. Can every episode start like that please? Or end like that? I just love seeing the boys away from hunting. Seeing their life in-between the bits of their life we get to see. Seeing how they interact when they’re not making sure that one of them isn’t going to end up dead at any second! Sam went and did the grocery shopping and god damn it, bought Dean pie! It looked good too, and I’ve been craving pie ever since! Not only that - he offered to cook eggs. Boys doing things for each other! (I once wrote this fan fic where the boys are snowed into the bunker and Sam cooks eggs! Hee!)

Dean’s not hungry - which is never a good sign! Sam reads it as Dean still struggling with what happened with their mum. He’s allowed to still be struggling with his feelings over Mary and her decision to leave her sons. He can be okay with it and not okay with it. He can understand but still feel hurt. That’s all allowed, because emotions are complex and Supernatural has never shied away from complex emotions. Sam reaches out again to see if Dean wants to talk - as I said last week, I think Sam wants to talk too, and getting his brother to discuss their mum issues would also do him the world of good - but Dean’s not interested, he’s hit on a case and he’s sublimating - oh boy…is he ever good at that! But hey, at least he’s aware of it!

It was super cool to revisit the Thule (oooo that rhymes!). I adored Everyone Hates Hitler and The Vessel. Both of those episodes rank among my favourites. And one of my favourite things our show does is revisit old stories, old enemies, and old friends - it’s the luxury of having a show 12 seasons in. A self aware show at that.

Bringing the Thule back means we get to check in with Aaron and his Golem - and though we don’t see the Golem, we do hear that him and Aaron have been actively wiping out the Thule listed in the red ledger as being reanimated dead nazis! Out there doing the Judah Initiative’s work - his grandfather would be so proud. It was lovely to see Aaron - I hope we get to see him again, next time with his man of clay.

Oh Dean Winchester - such a goof. I mean, he is the baddest badass on the planet, but also such a goof. The fact that Jensen can do physical comedy like nobody's business just adds to the charm of Dean knocking that ship over…and over…and over. And Sam reminding him not to touch anything…it was pretty adorable, Dean does tend to touch before thinking - remember the ballet slippers? 

When Dean discovers a secret room full of nazi stuff, smart Winchesters put two and two together and realise their old enemies the Thule are behind the toasted humans, and I get to hear Dean quoting Indiana Jones!

In fact I get Dean quoting Indiana Jones, a total Han Solo gun under the table moment and Sam and Harry Potter. IT’S LIKE THIS SHOW KNOWS ME!!!!

Did I mention how much I’m loving this lighter side of the brothers? This teasing, eye-rolling, totally believable sibling interaction that we’re seeing this season. BECAUSE I LOVE IT.

And did I mention how I also love badass brothers? BECAUSE I LOVE THAT TOO! The fight scene with the Nazi’s was simply amazing. Nina Lopez Corrado showed us in Red Meat what a masterful director of action she is and she proved it again here. Even though the boys weren’t on the winning end of things, they sure as hell gave it one good fight. 

And then there was Dean and the grenade launcher! Keeping with the lighter tone in the brother’s relationship - we got to see Dean ALMOST getting to use that grenade launcher that’s been languishing in the Impala’s trunk…awwww he just wanted to blow up some nazis! I love that Sam tells his disappointed brother that he’ll get and chance, it’s okay. They really are adorable.

I enjoyed all the secondary characters in this episode. Ellie, Christoph and his crazy nazi dad.

I loved how incredulous Ellie was about the whole situation - even though she saw her date literally go up in flames! I often think that the victims seem way to quick to except the crazy that the boys are telling them. Ellie fought it all the way, and even when she believed in the Hitler stuff, even when as was taking in that she was a descendent of Hitler and that his soul was trapped in a pocket-watch, it was just too much for her when Sam shared that he was born to bring back Lucifer! I thought that was great, and I also thought it was great that Sam tried to share that with her - to make her feel less alone. Sam sharing about his connection to Lucifer and about his psychic powers over two weeks has been pretty damn awesome character stuff. Though I have to say I couldn’t help but giggle through this scene after the overly caffeinated out take we were treated to the day before! They really need to hold off putting those gag clips out until after the episode!

When we finally got to get Hitler - he was so over the top I couldn’t help but laugh. I don’t know much about Hitler’s personality, outside of him being megalomaniacal, tyrannical, murderous, mad man - so I don’t know if he was really into doggies or not - or liked to hug? Or if being in a stopwatch for 71 years sent him batshit crazy - or rather, batshit crazier. I do remember from my modern history learnings, that he was into occult stuff - which could have been interesting if he hadn’t been snuffed out quite so quickly, but let’s face it, we can’t have Hitler and Lucifer running around! I will admit though that at first I was…what even is going on?!! But I ended up laughing because the actor attacked that part with such gusto. He really did. And showing the nazis as bumbling fools whose bad deeds could be crushed by the good in this world - Sam and Dean - somehow felt nourishing.

And then Dean killed Hitler and I’m not sure we’re ever going to hear the end of it!

Dean puts so much stock in who he is by what he does. Helping people, saving people, is a big part of his self esteem, and a big part of how he judges is own self worth. When that is challenged, it takes a big swipe at how Dean sees himself, his place in the scheme of things and how he relates to his life... So killing Hitler? I’m quite happy for him to live off that as long as he wants to - and he gets all the pie for being so awesome! Sure, no one will ever believe him - but Sam does, and that’s pretty much all that matters to Dean.

And then Sam and Dean drove off to find the best pie for a thousand miles - with Dean’s mood definitely improved, because hey…he just killed Hitler!

A happy ending? That’s about as close to a happy ending as we ever get!

The timing of this episode was pretty interesting in the aftermath of Tuesday’s world rocking decision. I’m not sure if they purposely timed this to go after the U.S. election or not - but there were moments that rang extra loud in my ears because of it. I think Dean’s words are something to live by always “There are times when you run, and there are times when you stand and fight”. And having one of the most hated men in history taken out by the beautiful Winchesters felt like a balm to the soul.

I was lucky enough to watch part of this episode being shot - so it put a very different spin on a couple of the scenes for me - I had to go back and watch them again because I was too busy looking across the street to the tree I had been leaning on! Seeing the scenes come together was super cool. I feel so damn blessed to have had the chance to watch them “follow that car” and burn rubber up the street! (My report with loads of pics is here)

So this week we had a little bit of an emotional break - after the heavy and heartbreaking emotional start to the season, it’s good to have a breather and a few laughs, get to smile because our boys are smiling, and celebrate a win with them! A BIG WIN! The brothers were so on point in this episode in every possible way - and I loved it!

Oh and did I mention….Dean killed Hitler?

-sweetondean