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Epic SPN Rewatch: Season 13
Feb. 12th, 2019 10:16 pm Season 13 is incredibly tight with very little wasted space. The plot charges forward consistently, and lots of stuff happens. It also works as a great sequel to Season 5, re-introducing Gabriel and Michael, and making Lucifer delightfully manic evil again. We also are introduced to Jack, Lucifer's nephilim son who was born in the final minutes of the S12 finale.
Jack is a great character, especially since in the early episodes it's left an open question as to whether he is good or evil. But it turns out that with three daddies--Cas, Sam, and Dean--he is a sweet boy trying to do his best with an infant's knowledge and powers greater than an archangel.
The first episodes of the season are difficult to watch; in the wake of Cas's death, Dean becomes literally suicidally depressed: in "Advanced Thanatology" Dean temporarily dies to solve a case, and tells Death he would be okay staying dead. He is angry and abusive to both Sam and Jack, but when Cas is restored at the end of that episode he is giddy and completely changes. (It's not hard, especially after 14.13 "Lebanon" to see this analogous to John Winchester.) In the following episode, "Tombstone" he is geeky and goofy; in 14.8 "Byzantium" we see one of Jack's favorite memories, a scene that takes place but is not shown during "Tombstone" in which Dean teaches him how to read a map.
In "The Big Empty" we see what the afterlife is like for angels and demons--a void. Castiel awakes when Jack calls his name; when Cas awakes, The Empty itself awakes, and Cas annoys it so much by BEING AWAKE that The Empty restores him to life. (We see The Empty again briefly in S14, where Cas bargains with it to save Jack's life; The Empty restores Jack only to promise that it will come for Castiel on the day when he is finally Happy. I know I'm a fangirl, but it's REALLY hard not to see that as being a lot like the classic Buffy/Angel storyline. Especially when actual dialogue in 13.4 is "I have tiptoed through all your little tulips. Your memories, your little feelings, yes. I know what you hate. I know who you love… what you fear. There is nothing for you back there." YES TELL US WHO CAS LOVES, EMPTY.)
Meanwhile, Mary and Lucifer are stuck in Apocalypse world, only Lucifer eventually escapes with his power much nerfed. The angels briefly take him back to Heaven only to acknowledge his uselessness and eventually kick him out; it is revealed that so few angels survive that Heaven literally can barely keep the lights on. We meet Naomi again, briefly, as she struggles to keep the apparatus functioning.
Gabriel is brought back for a handful of episodes. "Unfinished Business" shows the aftermath of S5's "Hammer of the Gods" and Gabriel's disappearing act--hiding out in Monte Carlo with porn stars--with an awful lot of aping of American Gods. He's killed rather ignominiously at the end of "The Exodus" which is a bit of a waste, but so it goes.
In the season finale, "Let the Good Times Roll" Jack is about to kill himself to save Sam, when he says "I love you. I love all of you" much like dying Cas said to the group in S11, only the camera stays on him vs. how in the scene with Cas, the camera immediately goes to Dean's distraught face after Cas says "I love you" and then back to Cas, then back to the others. Will have to think on that some more.
There's two notable standalones: "Wayward Sisters" which was meant to be a backdoor pilot for a spin-off featuring Jody, Donna, Claire, and Alex that wasn't picked up. At the time I was rather underwhelmed by the ep--the ep is WAY TOO BUSY reintroducing characters and ham-handed in building up a budding friendship/retroactively canon "first love" (see 14.3 "The Scar") between Claire and Kaia before fridging Kaia. Rewatching I appreciate more of worked even as I am even more irritated by all that did not; this COULD have been an actual spin-off if they hadn't mucked it up so badly. Sigh. The other, "Scoobynatural" is a partially animated crossover with Scoobydoo that is hilarious and adorable and a thing that actually happened. Man, I love this show.
I don't think I'm prepared to rewatch all of S14; I think I'll wait til the season is over for that. Man I'm glad we're renewed for S15 though.
Jack is a great character, especially since in the early episodes it's left an open question as to whether he is good or evil. But it turns out that with three daddies--Cas, Sam, and Dean--he is a sweet boy trying to do his best with an infant's knowledge and powers greater than an archangel.
The first episodes of the season are difficult to watch; in the wake of Cas's death, Dean becomes literally suicidally depressed: in "Advanced Thanatology" Dean temporarily dies to solve a case, and tells Death he would be okay staying dead. He is angry and abusive to both Sam and Jack, but when Cas is restored at the end of that episode he is giddy and completely changes. (It's not hard, especially after 14.13 "Lebanon" to see this analogous to John Winchester.) In the following episode, "Tombstone" he is geeky and goofy; in 14.8 "Byzantium" we see one of Jack's favorite memories, a scene that takes place but is not shown during "Tombstone" in which Dean teaches him how to read a map.
In "The Big Empty" we see what the afterlife is like for angels and demons--a void. Castiel awakes when Jack calls his name; when Cas awakes, The Empty itself awakes, and Cas annoys it so much by BEING AWAKE that The Empty restores him to life. (We see The Empty again briefly in S14, where Cas bargains with it to save Jack's life; The Empty restores Jack only to promise that it will come for Castiel on the day when he is finally Happy. I know I'm a fangirl, but it's REALLY hard not to see that as being a lot like the classic Buffy/Angel storyline. Especially when actual dialogue in 13.4 is "I have tiptoed through all your little tulips. Your memories, your little feelings, yes. I know what you hate. I know who you love… what you fear. There is nothing for you back there." YES TELL US WHO CAS LOVES, EMPTY.)
Meanwhile, Mary and Lucifer are stuck in Apocalypse world, only Lucifer eventually escapes with his power much nerfed. The angels briefly take him back to Heaven only to acknowledge his uselessness and eventually kick him out; it is revealed that so few angels survive that Heaven literally can barely keep the lights on. We meet Naomi again, briefly, as she struggles to keep the apparatus functioning.
Gabriel is brought back for a handful of episodes. "Unfinished Business" shows the aftermath of S5's "Hammer of the Gods" and Gabriel's disappearing act--hiding out in Monte Carlo with porn stars--with an awful lot of aping of American Gods. He's killed rather ignominiously at the end of "The Exodus" which is a bit of a waste, but so it goes.
In the season finale, "Let the Good Times Roll" Jack is about to kill himself to save Sam, when he says "I love you. I love all of you" much like dying Cas said to the group in S11, only the camera stays on him vs. how in the scene with Cas, the camera immediately goes to Dean's distraught face after Cas says "I love you" and then back to Cas, then back to the others. Will have to think on that some more.
There's two notable standalones: "Wayward Sisters" which was meant to be a backdoor pilot for a spin-off featuring Jody, Donna, Claire, and Alex that wasn't picked up. At the time I was rather underwhelmed by the ep--the ep is WAY TOO BUSY reintroducing characters and ham-handed in building up a budding friendship/retroactively canon "first love" (see 14.3 "The Scar") between Claire and Kaia before fridging Kaia. Rewatching I appreciate more of worked even as I am even more irritated by all that did not; this COULD have been an actual spin-off if they hadn't mucked it up so badly. Sigh. The other, "Scoobynatural" is a partially animated crossover with Scoobydoo that is hilarious and adorable and a thing that actually happened. Man, I love this show.
I don't think I'm prepared to rewatch all of S14; I think I'll wait til the season is over for that. Man I'm glad we're renewed for S15 though.
