I’ve started so I’ll finish

Danger! Danger! Spoilers Will Robinson!
Supernatural season 4 episode 16 spoilers are contained in the following post!

Haven’t done an episode review / moan / squeee post for ‘Supernatural’ in a good long while, so this will be my thoughts on episode 4x16: 'On The Head Of A Pin'.

First, yay for having Anna back on the scene, and for her being kick-ass enough to take out Junkless. Not that I didn’t like Uriel in a love-to-hate-him kind of way, but he was ganking angels who Just Said No to his idea of mutiny, and that’s naughty. It’s also another problem purr wee Castiel will have to deal with: Uriel was only disposing of the angels that refused his plans for… whatever it was. So what will the other mutinying angels do without their ringleader? Band together and cause more problems in the murky background? Or release their own record and hope for a spot on the top 100 billboard chart?

Sam. I could slap him for willingly going for Ruby’s help and, yes, blood. Is this human blood from her dead female host? Or demon blood to make Sam stronger? One thing’s for sure, it ent Iron Bru and Ruby’s got him right where she wants him. Oh Sam - how did you go from Stanford hopeful to Destroyer Of Alastair? What would Jessica think of you now? Or are you so far removed from what used to be that even if she popped down from (probably) Heaven, you wouldn’t bat an eyelid? Oh Sam ‘delusions of grandeur’ Winchester - look where you are. Look down at the very thin ice under you. You’re telling Dean that the normal rules of right and wrong and the normal world no longer apply to you Winchesters - do you see what you said there? You’re telling Ruby - RUBY, for fuck’s sake! - that you think Dean’s lost it and will never be any use to anyone again. How dare you discuss this outside the family? How dare you presume to know how Dean will come back from his complete personal disaster?

And Dean. So he finds out he’s the reason the first seal broke, that it should have been John, but he held out against torture for 100 years. And then Dean came along and cracked in just 30. Alastair was right: a part of Dean is still stuck in the Pit and will never escape. But the rest of him’s out here, and his sense of family with him, and two out of three ain’t bad.

But Dean - I could slap you, too. Blubbing like a girl cos you find out you kicked off the race to set off the apocalypse! And in front of Castiel, of all beings! Purr wee lamb’s having enough of a crisis of faith without you crying over your feelings of inadequacy and inferiority! Telling him it’s all too big and you can’t help him, to get someone else cos you’re not the man either John or his father wanted - what were you thinking? Were you thinking, even?


We’ll put it all down to you being in a hospital bed and strapped into drips, medication and breathing machines, Dean. Add to that the shock of the biggest revelation since you found out Durex was nowt at all to do with Pyrex, and you have reason to panic and revert to the foetal position. But Castiel’s right, Dean - you started it, and you can bloody well finish it. Sort your life out, quit the blubbing and ‘woe is me’ act, get your shit together and start hunting Lilith down with Castiel. It’s the only way you’ll get closure or in fact any shred of self respect. I would say ‘get self respect back’, but we all know you haven’t had any since you were about 25, don’t we?

Oh, and while you’re at it, knife Ruby finally - IF that’s who she really is. I reckon she’s Lucifer, imprisoned as if she’s some regular demon. Not seeing a lot of demon power since she “escaped” from Hell, are we? Driving a car, fighting hand to hand, leading Sam down the dark path paved with good intentions? Yup, Lucifer imprisoned. And Sam’s going to unwittingly stumble about unable to stop seals breaking and therefore set her free, then go head to head with Lilith and win with Lucifer’s help, then get squashed like a bug when he’s finished providing gladiatorial entertainment.

Unless Dean kills him first. He’s had enough warning, and I’m sorry, but I’m kind of with John’s 10:41 a.m. death warning about this: John Winchester apparently told Dean that if he couldn’t save him, he’d have to kill him. John 10:41 (some Bible thing) has this to say: ‘And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spoke of this man were true.’

I say come in number seven, your time’s up. And here’s why.

Isn’t it a shame that we’re so far from those innocent days of father-hunting and bone-burning of season one? When Dean could silence Sam with a dirty look and over-rule him roughshod? Now he has no more sway over him than he does the wind. Oh dearie dearie me. Shit is going to hit the fan big time - and I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: that phrase only applies cos several herds of cows will be roped into contributing and the fan will be a forty-two foot alt-azimuth dish with telescopic blades.

Interesting that Castiel was at Dean’s hospital bedside upon his waking up - and that his first words were a concerned “You alright?” Where was Sam? And what’s going to happen when Anna pops up to say hello to Dean in hospital? Or will Castiel ask her to visit in an effort to help Dean get his game head back on?

So where does this leave us? Dean is a biscuit away from his second emotional / mental breakdown (I’m guessing there was one in Hell), Sam is just a black shiny helmet and red lightsabre away from fulfilling his destiny, and Castiel is a dry-cleaning shop away from trading that rumpled Columbo mac for a Grace-lift that leaves him human. So Dean is the only one who can finish this, the only one who can stop Lilith. He’s going to need Sam’s demon powers on his side, but something tells me Sam’s not going to be in the mood to share: he’s already mentioned a few times that he considers Dean too weak to help him. Fine. It pains me to say it, but a wee bit of breathing room would do them both good. Dean’s already intimated he feels like a fifth wheel as far as helping Sam goes, and since they’re both still pretending what they said in front of the siren wasn’t true, it’s obvious Dean’s given up trying to control, persuade or perhaps even look out for Sam. There’s a tiny crack here, and it’s only going to wedge further open under stresses to come.

But while Castiel’s gravitating toward Dean and Sam’s busy boinking and munching on Ruby, let’s not forget what happened last week: Pamela.

Sorry Boys, but there’s no excuse for this bit - she died spitting insults, cursing Bobby and everyone and everything, and you two chuckleheads just BURIED her? I’m sorry, was “proper vengeful spirit material” written on her forehead in invisible ink? Cos I sure as Hell saw it! You didn’t do the decent thing and salt n’ burn her? Then you deserve all you get for that one!

I was enjoying a bit of Evil!Dean as he was having a go at Alastair - but he didn’t get a chance to finish! He wasn’t enjoying it as much as he should have, neither - I think being up in the cold, dank air Topside makes torturing or carving people up much less fun. Now, if Dean could have been allowed to take Alastair back Downstairs to The Pit, praps things would have been different…

I liked everything about this episode - apart from The Boys now apparently separated by emotional walls so thick they’re going to need battering rams. I mean, how is Dean going to look Sam in the eye ever again? Is this the end of Team Winchester? I mean, they’ve had tantrums and thrown their toys out of the pram before, but this is some serious shit. I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

Oh, hang on - I can’t get my usual feed of the new episode next week - cos I’ll be in LA at the SPN convention! I’m telling you now, if I can’t get The CW channel in my Marriott hotel room, there’s literally going to be Hell to pay…

Peach and lube, everyone!

Tags:
Supernatural ~ Dean Winchester ~ Sam Winchester ~ Jensen Ackles ~ Jared Padalecki ~ Castiel ~ Misha Collins