{"id":4599,"date":"2015-04-13T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4599"},"modified":"2015-04-13T13:13:03","modified_gmt":"2015-04-13T20:13:03","slug":"mark-watches-supernatural-s09e11-first-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/04\/mark-watches-supernatural-s09e11-first-born\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Supernatural’: S09E11 – First Born"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eleventh episode of the ninth season of Supernatural<\/i>, Dean teams up with Crowley to take on Abaddon; Sam teams up with Castiel to take on Gadreel. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Supernatural<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I have one thing to criticize about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153First Born,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but god<\/span>damn<\/i>, this was a really solid episode of the show. LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S DISCUSS.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sam \/ Castiel<\/b><\/p>\n

As I said on video, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rare that this show puts Sam and Castiel into scenes where it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just the two of them. Obviously, the Dean\/Cas dynamic is more of a priority in the writing, and now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wondering why we haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gotten more of this. SAM AND CAS ARE SO GREAT TOGETHER. Of course, it helps that the story they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re given in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153First Born\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is so perfect for both of them. At the heart of their struggle is guilt. Sam is desperate to condone for his actions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even if they were committed without his consent \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and is willing to risk his life to do so. In a sense, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s typical of him and consistent with his characterization in the last few seasons. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been amplified by the most recent batch of events, particularly Sam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision in the season 8 finale to die so he could close the Gates of Hell.<\/p>\n

Where does Sam go after that? How does he cope with what his life has become? Well, when Castiel suggests that they use Gadreel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s remaining grace (still inside of Sam) to track him down, Sam doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hesitate to pursue. Initially, I just assumed that this was something to keep Sam busy and distracted, one he was well aware of. But why was Castiel so concerned about Sam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s willingness to have his grace extracted? The key to understanding that was in thinking about how Castiel and Sam are similar. (That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the only parallel in this episode, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to the other one in a second.) Both of these characters are coping with disappointment in themselves. On top of that, Castiel now more fully understands human emotions because he was<\/i> human. So when Sam talks about his worth as a person, it rings more true for Cas; he knows what Sam is referring to.<\/p>\n

Despite knowing that the spell would work, and despite Sam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s insistence to keep going, Castiel pulls away from completing the extraction. Why? Because for the first time in his existence, Castiel has realized that ends don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always justify the means. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so fascinating to think about what sort of character Castiel is now that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experienced being human because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, look at his scenes in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153First Born\u00e2\u20ac\u009d! They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a lot more tender than usual. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really see him trying to comfort someone else because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always been \u00e2\u20ac\u201c frankly speaking \u00e2\u20ac\u201c really awful at it. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much promise in this!!! And in Cas and Sam hanging out. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so compelling and interesting, and even if I hate how the show got us to this point (GRRRRRR KEVIN TRAN), I want to see more of this.<\/p>\n

The Mark of Cain<\/b><\/p>\n

Coming off that point, I want to say that I think the show is handling two separate Winchester stories incredibly well, especially if this<\/i> is how its going to go down. While Sam copes with his own guilt, Dean is busy trying to bury his in reckless displays of bravery and foolishness. How does he do that? By seeking out the First Blade alongside Crowley. Like the Sam\/Castiel scenes, I was really pleased with how the show played off the dynamic between Crowley and Dean, building off what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d already seen in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Road Trip.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I mean, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basically a fucked up buddy cop movie turned into\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well. WELL.<\/p>\n

See, this whole episode is overshadowed (in a good way!) by Cain, played PERFECTLY by Timothy Omundson. (I was so distracted because IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S CARLTON LASSITER.) Without his presence, this probably would have felt fairly average for Supernatural<\/i>. But the show takes liberty with Cain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biblical story to give us a character who is so goddamn fascinating because HE STARTED OFF AS A GOOD GUY. He might now be the Father of Murder, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because he killed Abel in order to guarantee his brother went to Heaven and he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Oh, the Winchester parallels are TOO MUCH. (Unfortunately, that means yet another man on this show has a woman fridged to give them character development or a tragic backstory. YAWN.) That alone<\/i> made this ridiculous. So it made sense in that context that Dean would volunteer to do something detrimental to himself in order to help his brother.<\/p>\n

EXCEPT I AM REALLY WORRIED ABOUT WHAT IT IS THAT DEAN HAS JUST DONE. Cain explains that the Mark makes him able to wield the First Blade, and that<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s it<\/i>. I highly, highly doubt that this is the only real affect of this Mark, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M SO CONCERNED. I also bet that Crowley knows what it does as well. Why else would he spend this entire episode manipulating Dean into getting the Mark? There has to be something else to it. I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 why else would Cain feel like Dean was a kindred spirit? Does the Mark make someone more compelled to kill? Given what Dean went through in Purgatory, this might be a TERRIBLE thing. BUT I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW??? I feel like I have nothing else to go on, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s freaking me out.<\/p>\n

WHAT HAS THIS SHOW DONE?<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153First Born\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often. My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>– Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a> I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
\n<\/a>– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"