In the second episode of the seventh season of Supernatural, the Leviathans make a home while Sam copes with an increasingly disruptive hallucination. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Supernatural.Â
Trigger Warning: For consent, body horror, ableism, depictions of mental illness, and suicide/suicide ideation.
Well, this is upsetting.
Castiel
I refuse to believe he’s dead, though I cannot provide y’all with a theory as to how he survived Leviathans bursting from his body. I mean, he’s survived exploding before, right? So… he’ll survive it again? Because I want him to? THIS IS ALL I’VE GOT, Y’ALL. Dean’s heartbroken, I’m heartbroken, nothing is fair, and why is this season so mean to me already?
SamÂ
Well, this is how Supernatural makes things worse. I admit that I’m both fascinated and concerned by the depiction of mental illness in this specific episode. Historically, the show hasn’t always been all that sympathetic towards this group of people, and that’s even the case if you strip the show of its reliance on ableist terms. (Just heads up if you’ve not seen the episode, but there’s a liberal use of practically every slur or offensive term in the book here.) At the same time, there is a sense of sympathy and empathy here that we’ve not really seen before. Of course, it takes Dean nearly the entire episode to offer that empathy to his brother, but once he does, I felt a sense of validation about mental health that was rare coming from this show.
While I won’t speak to it in detail, I have suffered from depression since I was young, and it’s been hard to pinpoint when that started. It almost feels like it’s always been there, and I’ve had to continually struggle with thoughts of suicide along the way. I’ve found that it’s a difficult topic to discuss with some people because they literally cannot conceive of what the sensation feels like. They can’t empathize with the notion that a person would want to take their own life or that there are matters in a person’s life that might lead them to make such a decision.
So I admit that I’m particularly sensitive to depictions of suicide or suicidal ideation in media because it’s so easy to get this wrong. It’s so easy to use suicide as a plot twist and nothing more. Is Supernatural perfect here? No, of course not, and I would go so far to say that no single representation of this complex issue could ever be perfect, you know? But as Sam struggles with a hallucination of Lucifer that compels him to kill himself, I noticed that the show appeared to be suggesting that what Sam was experiencing wasn’t a supernatural thing. It was a manifestation of his trauma, a way for his mind to cope with the literal Hell that he went through. Why do I say this? Because Dean went through the same thing.
And that’s so important to me and to this story. The way Dean begins to crack through Sam’s hallucinations is sad, yes. Reminding Sam of the real pain of the world is goddamn heartbreaking, but it’s a way for these two brothers to bond over something horrific. Both of them went to Hell, both of them survived, and this is real. It’s not in Sam’s imagination. But holy shit, Dean. DEAN. DEAN TELLS HIS BROTHER TO MAKE HIM THE BEDROCK OF HIS UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD AND I THINK THAT IS ONE OF THE BEST MOMENTS OF THE WHOLE SHOW. Just….. feelings??? I have so many of them for this??? It’s Dean’s way of reaching across this abyss, grabbing hold of Sam, and reminding him that there is a way to live within all of this.
Of course, then we get that scene where Dean calls Bobby and we find out that Dean isn’t find and I’m dead inside at this point. This show is too much. IT’S TOO MUCH. Is this gonna be a season of the Winchesters being more messed up than ever? AND THEN HELPING ONE ANOTHER??? And allowing Mark Pellegrino to guest star repeatedly? (He’s the perfect Lucifer, I swear.)
Leviathans
Wow, NOPE. These creatures go from being an ambiguous threat to one that’s viscerally terrifying, all in the span of a single episode. They apparently kill Castiel (NO, NOPE, WON’T ACCEPT IT), leak into the water supply, possess an untold number of people, and then begin to set up shop. The Leviathan mythology revealed over the course of “Hello, Cruel World” is just so compelling to me, y’all! The writers could have just had these creatures show up and be gross and violent, but there are so many hints to something more. There’s some sort of pre-existing hierarchal structure, given that they seem to take commands from a single “boss,” who then tasks certain Leviathans with establishing themselves on Earth. In just the span of a day or two, they choose Sioux Falls General as one of their bases, all so that they can safely begin to feed. Because Leviathans are hungry, oh my god. Now I’m getting a sense of how dangerous they are and why they were locked away in Purgatory. This is what they’re capable of.
Don’t let me fool you into thinking I know exactly what they’re capable of, though. I’ve only gotten a hint here. They can not only control a body, but they can assume that human form. They’re seemingly immune to anything these hunters can throw at them: salt, gunshots, massive trauma to their bodies (which suggests that there’s no way to actually kill them by killing the host body), cars being dropped on them… you get the idea. So…. do they have a weakness???? WHO KNOWS?
What else do they eat? What else do they want? Do they want to turn Earth into their own personal buffet? How do they do that without exhausting their supply of food? DO THEY EVEN CARE ABOUT SUCH THINGS? Why has this show given us a creature that’s nearly nothing but a giant mouth? (UGH THAT IS SO HAUNTING.)
While I clearly don’t have any of the answers, it’s obvious that this is going to be a significant arc this season, even if it doesn’t last until the finale. There’s an unexpected cliffhanger at the end of “Hello, Cruel World,” and it’s devastating. Sam is having a seizure while the ambulance they’re in takes them straight to the Leviathan lair. (It is not lost on me that the mere appearance of an ambulance in the plot is new ground for Supernatural. That’s never happened before!!!) I hope that means that finally, Sheriff Jody Mills will be added to the roster of this show because THIS SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED A LONG TIME AGO. If the Leviathans are staying in Sioux Falls, she’ll have to get involved??? Right???? MORE MILLS. (Though, asking for this means it’s possible she’ll be killed off SIGH. THIS SHOW.)
I’d like to end this review by stating that if Bobby Singer is now dead, I will also drive Supernatural off a cliff.
The video for “Hello, Cruel World” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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