In the twenty-second and penultimate episode of the eleventh season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>, I DID NOT EXPECT THIS. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had (a lot of) issues with season eleven, with its inconsistency, with its refusal to commit to the things written into canon, and with its repetitive nature, so I suspect that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of the reason that this last batch of episodes has felt so exciting. I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a return to form because that phrase feels loaded and it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t properly describe how I feel. But finally, after spending an entire season wandering about,\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is now giving me a story about the end of the world that is starting to\u00c2\u00a0feel<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0like the end of the world.<\/p>\n
There are a number of things accomplished in the script for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We Happy Few\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that contribute to that. One of the reasons\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0came off as stale this season was its reliance on characters who aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t given any growth at all. Specifically, Rowena and Crowley haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t grown or done anything interesting in a long while. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s frustrating, especially in the case of Rowena, because these characters have so much potential to do interesting things. However, the writers always see them as agents of chaos and nothing more. They exist to double cross and betray others and it keeps the plot moving forward, often times in ways that feel artificial. Hell, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the perfect word for this: plot twists associated with these characters are\u00c2\u00a0artificial<\/i>. They feel\u00c2\u00a0written<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0instead of natural occurrences within a fictional world. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like you can see the writers knocking characters off the table and cackling. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153DEAL WITH THAT,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d they say!<\/p>\n
Anyway, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that in a small way, this is dealt with in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We Happy Few.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d When Crowley tries to rally the demons to his side to lead a coup against Lucifer, they just laugh at him. They even point out how pathetic Crowley has been most of this season! I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if this is Robert Berens way of acknowledging that Crowley must do better, but hey, it at least amused me. The same goes for Rowena, who is openly made fun of by Clea, a character I\u00c2\u00a0wish<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0we could have gotten more of. Remember when this was a show about American folk lore? That first scene in Clea\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s house made me wish that in an alternate universe,\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0was an intense serial about backwoods magic and lore. I wanted Creole magic. Appalachian mythology. I WANTED SO MANY THINGS JUST BECAUSE OF CLEA. But like Crowley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demons, Clea really serves one purpose: to point out how far Rowena is from doing anything significant. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Clea who urges Rowena to take up Sam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offer.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, every scene with God is just THE BEST. Honestly, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, ever since \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Call Me Shurley,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the God scenes make me feel like I am getting a rare chance to watch a show that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>. These scenes are intense, beautifully acted, and contain some of the best writing in the series. We got a chance to watch LUCIFER confront GOD about being forsaken! I know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fiction, and I know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absurd, but I was speechless during the scene because it was\u00c2\u00a0so goddamn good<\/i>. HOW WAS THIS HAPPENING ON OUR SCREENS? How had this show managed to craft a scene where God apologies for punishing Lucifer and\u00c2\u00a0not<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0make it a giant mess?<\/p>\n
But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also acknowledge that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We Happy Few\u00e2\u20ac\u009d contains one of my FAVORITE tropes ever: enemies forced to work together to defeat a MUCH BIGGER ENEMY. The show gives us a beautifully edited sequence where Dean and Sam vocalize their plan, all while the show keeps cutting to the future conversations they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have with Rowena and Crowley in order to convince them to team up. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an honest-to-gods montage here that is so cheesy and clich\u00c3\u00a9 and I\u00c2\u00a0literally do not care about it<\/i>. It works! It works so well within the context of the story being told, and I loved it!<\/p>\n
Even then, I assumed the penultimate episode would be a set-up for the big finale. Why would I assume otherwise? The show has done that plenty of times before, and we all knew that the confrontation between God and Amara was the final battle. I expected maybe a betrayal or a double-cross from Rowena or Crowley, and one was given to me, and then WAIT. WHAT.\u00c2\u00a0THE FIGHT WITH AMARA IS HAPPENING NOW?<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0In one of the most genuinely surprising moments of the whole season, THE BIG BATTLE HAPPENS IN THIS EPISODE. Rowena unleashes the power of her coven on Amara, hurting her long enough to allow the angels to smite her. Then, the demons, including Crowley, join the fray, and it is CHAOS, and Amara is CLEARLY INJURED and then Lucifer STABS HER with\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 something? What was that thing? Did I miss the part where they discussed that?<\/p>\n
Look, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also impressed with this episode because I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly thrilled about Sam getting the Mark. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already seen him soulless and got Dean with the Mark, and I figured it would just be more of the same. However, everyone underestimated Amara\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s utter hatred of being caged away, because SHE NEARLY KILLS GOD, and she takes back the Mark, and now they all have\u00c2\u00a0nothing,\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>and is Lucifer dead? Like really, really dead??? Will Castiel get any sort of story or resolution in this season?<\/p>\n
At the very least, I appreciate this because it eliminates possibilities for the story that I was tired of. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shocking in a way that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel artificial. Amara has no desire to return to her cage, and this was her showing it. So\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 now what?<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We Happy Few\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a><\/b>!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME<\/a>. In the twenty-second and penultimate episode of the eleventh season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural, I DID NOT EXPECT THIS. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[590],"tags":[591],"class_list":["post-5606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-supernatural","tag-mark-watches-supernatural"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5606\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! 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.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be Death Note<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0Neon Genesis Evangelion<\/em>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"