Mark Watches ‘Supernatural’: S07E12 – Time After Time

In the twelfth episode of the seventh season of Supernatural, COSPLAYING DEAN WINCHESTER IS BACK AND NOTHING ELSE MATTERS. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Supernatural.

Trigger Warning: For discussion of death/grief.

Oh my god, I love this episode so much.

Guest Stars

LET’S START OUT WITH MY JOY OVER SEEING BOTH NICHOLAS LEA (Alex Krycek from The X-Files) AND JASON DOHRING (Logan Echolls OH MY GOD) IN THE SAME EPISODE AND THEY’RE PUNCHING EACH OTHER IN THE FACE AND EVERYTHING IS AWESOME. Of course, then there’s a bit of weirdness here: Dean and Sam have both referenced The X-Files within the Supernatural universe and here’s Nicholas Lea and… let’s just pretend this isn’t something we need to think about. I mean, Mitch Pileggi should have broken their minds.

Anyway, there’s so much that I enjoy about “Time After Time.”

Dual Storylines

It’s not often that Supernatural gets to split the narrative the way they do here, despite that Winchesters have been separated before. What makes this episode feel so special is the way in which we get a parallel between Sam and Jodi (MY QUEEN I AM SO GLAD YOU ARE STILL HERE, casual reminder that I once said it was certain she was going to die because Bobby liked her BURY ME RIGHT HERE) and Dean and Eliot Ness. The Eliot Ness, who is played perfectly by Nicholas Lea. They are unexpected partnerships, and they both explore dynamics we haven’t quite seen before. I was reminded of Dean’s experience in “Frontierland,” since he has to examine his own flawed perception of history. But the reveal that Ness is a hunter yields a lot more of a favorable experience for Dean, since he not only gets to meet a hero of his, but he finds a kindred spirit in Eliot Ness.

Sort of. It’s complicated.

Meanwhile, Jodi and Sam discover that they are incredibly well-suited to working with one another, and I can’t fucking deal with Jodi Mills. I can’t. Never has this show shown so much promise in a side character than with her, and I desperately, desperately wish that this show could find a way to add her permanently to the roster. Just from her scenes with Sam alone, I can see how much she’d benefit the Winchesters. She’s resourceful, there’s no bullshit or nonsense to her, and she manages to toe the line between empathy and pragmatism like it’s not a big deal at all. She’s got the best qualities of both of these men, doesn’t she? At the very least, there’s a sense of fluidity to her partnership with Sam, much like Ness and Dean’s partnership. These people compliment their partners so perfectly, and I WANT A THOUSAND EPISODES WITH THIS.

Time Travel!

I know I’m biased because I enjoy Jason Dohring’s acting, but I wanted so much more out of Chronos. If I have any complaint about this episode, it’s that the final scene reveals this HUMONGOUS character twist for Chronos, and then BAM. Chronos is dead, and we don’t get to explore the ramifications of his tortured life. I do love the American Gods take on gods within the Supernatural universe that’s been seeded over the course of the show, and that idea is furthered here. Chronos, long without any devotees to give him power, turns to murdering people in order steal their life force. It allows him to travel through time again, though that seemed unimportant to me once it was revealed. I just assumed this was how he hid from the crimes he was committing. Isn’t a perfect getaway? You kill someone, and you simply flash to another period in time.

However, during the big confrontation at Lila Taylor’s house, we find out that this isn’t what was happening. He wasn’t escaping so much as trying to control the time jumps. His power wasn’t so much the ability to jump through time so much as choosing when he jumped. He’s a being cursed to jump through time entirely at random, and the murders allow him to stop that, and Y’ALL, THAT’S SO FUCKED UP. That’s so fucked! You could never have any permanence at all. That’s not to excuse Chronos at all, but again, I wanted SO MUCH MORE FROM THIS. It’s such a fascinating idea!

Ezra and Puzzles

I do love continuity, and emotional continuity in particular hits me right where it hurts. Well, hello, “Time After Time.” Thank you for your dual reminders of Bobby’s death. I mean, I do appreciate that this show is not moving on from his loss without these sort of references. For someone as vital to the Supernatural experience to suddenly be gone is a huge thing, and there are always going to be these little reminders that Bobby isn’t here anymore. Dean experiences one in Ezra Moore, Eliot’s friend and Bobby-esque partner. Her straight-forward style and vocabulary remind Dean of the friend that he just lost. But it’s through Jody that we get the most HEARTBREAKING line imaginable.

I know from my own experience with grief and loss that I went through the same thing: the ones I lost left puzzles behind, and I was constantly finding the pieces and learning new things about that. That’s especially true with my father, and it feels a little more torturous because I never really got to know him. I can’t ever truly know him now either. But in the years since he’s passed, I’ve gotten a better look at who he was because of what he left behind, and that’s… I don’t know. It’s a really strange thing to go through, and it wasn’t until Jody vocalized this phenomenon that I ever knew how to refer to it. It’s not that a person’s memories haunt you. In this case, Jody is referring to physical things left behind that shed light on Bobby’s life, and I remember going through my father’s stuff after he died. I remember finding shirts I never saw him wear or photos of him in Vietnam that he’d never showed to us. How much did he hide from us? By nature, most of us are private people, and we hide so much from the world. Bobby’s death doesn’t mean that he’s gone from these people’s lives, though, and his possessions will always provide that link back to his life.

And it’s really fucking sad, y’all. I miss Bobby Singer so much.

Enjoy Oblivion

As infuriating as that final line is, it actually makes sense that Chronos wouldn’t tell Sam his exact future. It’s a vindictive moment meant to fuck with Sam’s head, and guess what? IT WORKED ON ME. BECAUSE WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT ARE THE LEVIATHANS GOING TO DO. WHAT’S OBLIVION. THESE AREN’T QUESTIONS ANYMORE, I’M JUST UPSET AND YELLING.

GODDAMN THIS SHOW.

The video for “Time After Time” can be downloaded here for $0.99.

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