Leylin Vixen's Quick Draw Recap - Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

Opening words

Season 12 feels like a trip to the memory lane to the wide history and lore the show has. I can’t complain because I love it, but also I hope that they are not tying up loose ends because they have the series end in sight! Whatever the reason is I am enjoying the hell out of it. In the newest episode we got some new lore about Lucifer and Hellhounds and also a glance at Winchesters wearing eyeglasses. That's always a plus in my book. Also how awesome it is that Crowley has balls of steel! He totally played Lucifer. Also we heard a familiar name we haven’t heard oh… for 7 seasons! I wonder will we see the same actor to play Joshua.

But for now, let’s get on with the show!  

Details

Title: Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell
Episode: 12.15
First aired: March 9, 2017
Director: Nina Lopez-Corrado
Writer:  Davy Perez
Monster: Hellhound
Timeline: Two weeks after 12.14 The Raid
Location(s): Sheridan County, Nebraska, Lebanon, Kansas, Fall River, Massachusetts, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Story

Outside a couple is hiking and camping on a very wet day. Seriously, there is mud everywhere. We can see that the man and the woman have different priorities on their relationship. The man is going to propose to the woman. The woman, Gwen finds the ring at the camping site. Meanwhile her boyfriend is attacked by something as he is getting wood. He runs to warn her and he is killed by an invisible assailant. Gwen wounds the monster with her axe and then she runs away.

Back at the bunker Sam and Dean come back after many successful hunts. Dean is carrying "Lucille" the barbed wire covered baseball bat, and he is quite dirty from the hunts which the boys banter about. I like the reference to The Walking Dead, Negan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan but I know some fans didn't. They get another case from Sam's "computer" and Dean heads to the shower before they head out again. Oh Sam, you are clearly lying! But I truly love to see the brothers doing day to day normal domestic stuff; that there's more to their lives than just hunts.

After the cleaning up done they head out to the crime scene. Did I already say it was muddy?! Dean talks with Cas who is following a lead to find Kelly Kline. Cas is at the diner where she was attacked. He talks to the waiter, with his FBI badge upside down. He's then confronted by the creepy conspiracy theorist restaurant owner who leads him into the back room. Cas, what have the boys told you about following creepy guys to an isolated weird back room?! The owner though has the whole attack on tape, which Cas proceeds to take with him. He has had enough of the man!

Back with the Winchesters, there's no body and the sheriff says that the boy was probably attacked by a bear and not what Gwen described to be an invisible wolf. The Winchesters head to Gwen's house and she is mourning and feeling guilty. They talk about what they're going to say to her, and Dean sassily suggests: “No, seriously, Sam, what are we gonna say? - Hi, my name is Sam Winchester, and this is my much handsomer brother, Dean. We hunt monsters, oh and that guy you were banging, we’re pretty sure he made a deal with a demon, so a hellhound came and dragged his soul to Hell. But you, you’re cool. And since there’s nothing around for us to kill, peace out.” The Hellhound follows the boys inside when they enter the house and when Gwen tosses them out it attacks her. Sam and Dean come back when they hear her yell, and save the day.

In Hell Crowley is taunting Lucifer who is having none of it, and he threatens Crowley. Crowley says that he is always ten steps ahead of Lucifer. After that we get two of Crowley's minions knock on the door and ask him to attend to some duties. Meanwhile the boys ask if Gwen made a deal 10 years ago and she said no and her boyfriend didn't either. And that is how Crowley enters the scene. Crowley is taking care of a demonic dispute when he gets a call from Not Moose. 

Dean informs Crowley that a Hellhound is on the loose and it is the rebel kind. The minions confirm that a hound named Ramsey indeed escaped. (Somebody has been watching Game of Thrones!) Crowley orders the death of the incompetent guards who let Ramsey free, and then he blinks to where the boys are. It seems that Ramsey is the Alpha Hellhound that God created and wanted to put down because he couldn't control it. Lucifer saved the bitch and she will now only take orders from him. Ramsey also holds a grudge and as Gwen axed her, then voila!

Meanwhile back at Crowley's place we find out why Ramsey was on the loose. She was let out Victor and Thomas because they had planned to release Lucifer when Crowley was away. One of them steels the key to Lucifer's room. Lucifer is still gagged.

When we cut back to Sam and Dean, Dean rummages the Hellhound glasses from the trunk of the Impala. Sam heads out with Baby and Gwen, with Dean warning Sam about taking car of Baby. He on the other hand heads out with Crowley. 

Meanwhile Cas has bumped to one of his brothers, named Kelvin. Angels are all together on finding Kelly and he has come to ask Cas to join them. He also agrees that nothing is forgotten and "upstairs" many are still angry at Castiel. But it seems Joshua is in charge and says Cas is welcome back.

Back at Crowley's the minions are trying to negotiate with the muzzled Lucifer but he can't do anything but mumble and nod. Gosh, even I was annoyed by those two. How did they really think this would end for them? They have made their demands and then they let Lucifer free. He stretches and kills the one that actually had demands. The other tries to sublimate himself and makes it weird when he actually WANTS Lucifer to blast him and after a small consideration, Lucifer still does it.

Back to Dean and Crowley they're hunting Ramsey and talk about stuff. Dean even thanks Crowley for helping to save Cas; that I think is a first! They talk about which one has rubbed off on the other the most, really show! And the end result makes Dean do full-body heebies. 

With Sam and Gwen in the Impala, Gen is talking about guilt and lying and Sam is listening to her. He stops when Gwen needs to throw up and Sam, wearing his Hellhound seeing glasses, sees Ramsey. She leaps on the hood (Dean will be pissed!) and she brakes the windshield. Next stop is the roof and she stomps on it and growls. Sam steps out and a fight ensues. Sam looses his glasses and Gwen whacks the Hellhound with the Green Cooler! Sam stabs Ramsey with the angel blade, RIP Ramsey. This fight scene was perfectly filmed partly through Sam's glasses. Pretty cool!

As I wrote, Dean was not happy about the state of the Baby! Gwen gives hug to Crowley, which he is so NOT used to it, and she thanks him. Sam also thanks Crowley, that is also the first for him! Crowley feels awkward and he exits-stage-right back to his hideout. Lucifer is sprawled on his throne and he stands up walks to him and hits Crowley across the room. Lucifer shows off his wings and Crowley snaps his fingers and Lucifers powers go away. He keeps snapping his fingers to cause Lucifer pain to show that he was actually10 steps ahead of the Devil. He has warded the Nick vessel and Lucifer is now trapped inside. Crowley tells Lucifer that he will make Lucifer watch as he kills his child.

In the end Cas calls to Dean and he tells him about Kelly and how she went off with the Prince of Hell, Dagon. He hangs up and Dean says he sounded weird. Cas hasn't told the boys, but he is actually taking Kelvin's offer and he is heading back to heaven. 

Sam decides to come clean with Dean and confesses that the BMOL are the ones that have handed them cases. Dean does listen to Sam, but he does remind his brother how he feels about them. Sam counters on how much good they have done and that is why they should work with them. Dean agrees, but says that they will bail immediately if things go south and Sam agrees on that too. Both hate the BMOL and don't trust them one bit. The episode ends when Sam takes Mick's call with Dean's blessing.

Characters

Our favourite brothers had great heart to heart in the end of the episode but how was the other cast in SBHAH? 

We could feel Castiel's inside battle between his love for the Winchesters and his place in heaven. No matter what Sam and Dean say, it is still his real home. So I can't help but feel pity for Castiel whose family are a great big bag of dicks. I have for a long time thought that Castiel doesn't need their approval nor do the angels have any right to judge him. They lost that card when they tried to force the Apocalypse to happen, which would have resulted in the deaths of many people. That was not really their job.

How great it is also to have the evil conniving Crowley back? I was worried that he was in too deep with the Lucifer situation, but I guess he was not that deep after all. I still think this situation will bite him on his ass though. He also got some long due thank yous in this episode although he seemed very out of place to receive them. Gwen hugging that grumpy old man was a treat!

I didn't feel that much for Gwen and Marcus, though they were the victims. I don't know why. That is why the rest of the story was far more interesting to me. I mean Mark Pellegrino was again great as Lucifer and Crowley braking his bones really made me flinch. The demon minions were silly and everyone knew what their end would be. I still want the demon minions to return to their scary state like they were in earlier seasons. They are too predictable now and slightly annoying. They did show off their smarts with their plan but otherwise their stupidity had no bounds. 

The Hellhound Ramsey was an interesting monster and it's a shame they killed her. That dog had menace. I did actually like angel Kelvin. I would buy anything that he was selling! The actor was very charismatic and I think after Gadreel, he is one of the most interesting angels we have met. But do I trust him? No way in hell. I hope we will meet him again and well... in better circumstances. 

Here is the full list of characters:

Castiel

Crowley

Lucifer

Gwen Hernandez

Marcus

Kelvin

Ramsey

Victor 

Thomas

Set design

The sets were pretty ordinary this time around. The camp site was really muddy and wet. That was my only thoughts when I saw that place. We also had the bunker and Crowley's hideout so that is nothing new. We got a small glimpse in Gwen's house that was pretty simplistic and normal. The few sets that really caught my eyes were the diner with the crazy and messy conspiracy backroom. Suddenly my work room doesn't look that messy! But what I really loved was the bar where Cas and Kelvin were talking. All those lights, and how cosy the scene felt with two "buddies" drinking at the counter. The "angel portal" playground on the other hand was very familiar.

Props

We got some old props back in this episode and also a tiny one that meant a lot for the story that unfolded and even a meta prop that made me squee like the fangirl that I am. So shall we start with that one? 

I would have never predicted that Negan's bat Lucille would make an appearance in Supernatural. The bat is notorious in the Walking Dead and it is used by Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan to kill "the good guys". The bat is used on the show very brutally and it was used the same way in Supernatural. "Dad loved this thing" is very meta but pretty awesome if you think about it.

Next we had the Hellhound glasses back which we first saw in 8.14 Trial and Error. The glasses were scorched in holy fire which made them able to see the hounds. Also they make the boys look good, but what wouldn't? I mean they would look as good wearing just a sack as an outfit -Mind drifts off for a moment- cough, now where was I? Oh yes, the glasses. Last time they tried to close the gates of hell with them and even then Sam killed the Hellhound that they were after. In SBHAH we get a cool fight scene through the glasses where we see the hellhound that Sam can't.

Last but not least is the old large key Crowley has to the door of Lucifer's dungeon. I love old keys like that, huge, and they are works of art themselves. It was a key to a jail but later we find out that it was a decoy, a prop that was meant to be nothing. 

In a way I feel like we are fed now a key with the BMOL that we think will open the truth behind them. That they are just the "Good guys" but I think we are missing the real key. The key that will explain everything. I am at the same time exited but very VERY worried about our heroes. I think the key will hit us on our gut after this short hiatus.

Music

We only got one song this week called Ballad of a Truck Driver's Wife by Lorene Mercer. I did not find lyrics to it so the below is written by yours truly. Mistakes might have happened!

Truck driver man

Here today, and gone tomorrow. 

To make your run again

It hurts to have a husband who seems more like a rain.

So be careful dearly me how now one day a week 

just remember we're all waiting patiently.

We'll just be waiting here and longing for you dear

and that's how it is when you're married to a truck driving man. 

Here is the short +/- rundown for Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell: 

+ Crowley

+ Negan reference aka Lucille

+ Alpha Hellhound

+ Boys with glasses

+ Kelvin (I would follow him where ever he would want me)

+ Joshua mentioned!

- Don't hurt Baby!

- WHAT are you doing Cas?!

-/+ Lucifer "caged"

Broment in the end.

Enjoy the HELLATUS, mua-ha-ha-haa!

References: http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/ & http://www.homeofthenutty.com/