Mark Watches ‘Supernatural’: S05E14 – My Bloody Valentine

In the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of Supernatural, this show continually finds a way to make everything worse. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Supernatural. 

Trigger Warning: There is a LOT here that could trigger a person, so, generally speaking, this review will cover addiction, blood/gore/body horror, suicide, queerbaiting, depression.

Holy shit, what an immense, suspenseful, and relentlessly upsetting episode of Supernatural. Season five has had a few weird steps, but like season four, the more serialized nature of the narrative has given this all a lot more urgency and emotional resonance than we’ve ever had before. AND I LOVE SEASON FOUR. Oh god, there are so many levels to the story here, too. HELP.

Cupid

Remember when “My Bloody Valentine” was about a cupid gone awry???? DO YOU REMEMBER THOSE DAYS? This is one of the most jarring misdirects imaginable, especially when the scope of the story is made as wide as it is later on. After the most DISGUSTING FOREVER cold open in Supernatural history, we’re treated to one disturbing sequence after another, and NONE OF THEM MAKE ANY SENSE. Two people willingly eat one another in a moment of passion. Then, a man who met and began seeing a woman a week ago agrees to a bloody murder/suicide because they can’t bear to be apart. All of it is apparently the work of a rogue cupid, who are real and actual lower level angels.

This gives us a great deal of Castiel throughout, which I won’t ever complain about. He’s the one to confirm the existence of the cupid angels (and acts horrified at Dean’s suggestion that they wear diapers), and then he later summons one after catching him in the act. I actually thought it was a bizarre scene because of the way the show coded that specific cupid as gay. I’m not saying he was gay or that cupids can even have sexualities, since I don’t actually know much about them. But from the mannerisms that the actor puts into his portrayal and from the extended joke about hugs and nudity, it’s hard not to see that subtext to him. This show has such a strange relationship with queerness because it’s not like the writers are opposed to it. But this felt like someone was trying to get away with a gay joke – Haha, gay men are emotional and affectionate! – without actually engaging with the idea of actual queer people. It felt like queerbaiting 101, and I wish that the writers would move away from it.

I definitely want more of the cupids, though, because I’m fascinated with their place in Heaven and in the angel hierarchy. This episode works super well after “The Song Remains the Same” because of the use of the cupid to confirm Mary and John’s romantic destiny, and it made me wonder what other things cupids do. Do they have a role aside from pairing couples up together? Is their job more geared toward getting people to procreate? DO CUPIDS FALL IN LOVE WITH THEMSELVES?

The Twist

And then we get a death that seemingly fits nothing in the established pattern: a man dies from literally stuffing himself with Twinkies. There is nothing in that sentence that is an exaggeration, unfortunately. You’ll notice in the video that I was very eager to identify the man with the briefcase as the actual Cupid. You are also allowed to cackle at how wrong I was. (What other purpose do I serve but to entertain you with my wrongness?) I am seriously in awe at the way this episode tricks us into thinking this is just any ol’ monster-of-the-week case, and then BAM. ACTUALLY IT’S FAMINE, HAHAHA HAVE FUN WITH THAT. Oh, Famine himself rides in a black Cadillac Escalade? And he feeds off souls? And he compels an entire town to succumb to their deepest hungers, whether that’s emotional or psychological or physical? OH, AND WE GET THAT ENTIRE DINER SEQUENCE THAT MADE ME WANT TO EJECT OFF MY COUCH AND INTO SPACE? AHAHAHA COOL, THANKS SUPERNATURAL, I DEFINITELY NEEDED TO SEE SOMEONE DO THAT THING WITH THE FRYER. Thank you forever.

Hunger

Cas hungering for red meat because his vessel craves it? Until the end, it’s actually very funny. This is the only funny thing I’ve got to offer you, because other than this, this is one of the most nightmarish things Supernatural has ever done. Like, since I’m binge watching/reviewing this show in preparation for tour, my heart is still numb and raw from “The Song Remains the Same.” This episode rips off that bandage in a billion different ways, and there’s nothing left at the end of it to comfort me.

It’s a difficult thing to watch. I know that Sam has been trying harder than ever not only to remain off of demon blood, but to forgive himself. But then he’s struck with a hunger for demon blood, and it’s just awful to witness. I wasn’t surprised that Famine had sent those demons to Sam on purpose. I mean, it was clear that he didn’t care about sparing their lives. They were just minions to him, so sacrificing them to Sam so that Sam would be compelled to come to Famine made sense to me. Unfortunately, it also destroys Dean. And look, I’m sure that Dean understands the context. I know that he’s aware that Sam was struck with a hunger that was unimaginable. That doesn’t make it any easier for him to see his brother high on demon blood again. And it didn’t make it easier to watch Sam exorcise five demon souls two separate times.

Of course, we can’t divorce Dean’s reaction here from the gut-wrenching reveal that Famine gives him. Minutes before Sam enters the diner, Famine figures out why Dean wasn’t susceptible to his powers: there is nothing inside of him to hunger. He’s been going through the motions for the last year, but he’s dead inside. From guilt, I imagine. From his experience in Hell. From seeing all his friends and family die before his eyes, from being part of this everlasting struggle between good and evil, and from hating himself throughout it.

I admit that I sort of… well, I forgot about Dean’s ongoing existential crisis. It’s always there, under the surface, but there’s been so much that’s happened in the last twenty episodes or so. And then BAM! I am dragged right back into this mess of a human, and it hurts. Look, it’s not hard for someone who has suffered through depression (like myself) to find heartbreak in Dean. It’s not hard for me to watch Dean look up at God and beg for help and remember that I did the same thing, too. This cosmic despair of his stays hidden because Dean has always believed that if he ignores it, it goes away.

It doesn’t. It just gets worse.

So, War is currently out of commission without his ring. Famine appears to have died. (But he can’t??? I’m confused.) And Death is off doing something somewhere. There’s been no word from Pestilence, and we end this episode with Sam detoxing in Bobby’s safe room. Generally speaking, everything and everyone is fucked, right?

Right.

The video for “My Bloody Valentine” can be downloaded here for $0.99.

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