Bird of A Feather - Supernatural Season 9, Ep. 2
Before I go into any more detail about Season 9's Episode 2, "Devil May Care," I want to point out something that nobody else seems to have caught. In that glorious moment when Ezekiel takes over Sam:
EZEKIEL HAS WINGS! Tattered wings with feathers falling off, but HE HAS WINGS!
Every angel that fell from Heaven lost their wings--except Ezekiel. This must be an intentional choice on the part of the show. I'm not going to go into the myriad explanations for it, because I believe there will be an explanation down the road, and I am dying to know what it is.
In the meantime, let's review the episode, shall we? Directed by Guy Norman Bee and written by Andrew Dabb, the basic premise for "Devil May Care" seemed to be: throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. Following the Season 9 premiere, this episode had one thing that shouldn't have bugged me, but did, because it's so early in the season: too many characters.
First, there's the resurrected Abbadon, that gorgeous Lauren Bacall from Hell, one of Lucifer's Knights, and her first demon squad. "Granny Demon" steals the scene, backtalking at her new boss.
Don't give me shit, young lady!
(I can't find the name of the actress on IMDB or in any of the live tweets.) Amazed that "the salesman" has taken over Hell, Abbadon, a fiery warrior, intends to return it to its full glory:
The good old days, when there were...bunnies?
The first thing she does is replace the old vessels with a bunch of young soldiers on shore leave. Jeez, just when you think you're gonna get laid, you get someone in your body who's hot in all the wrong ways. (Interesting point: these demons are all inhabiting dead bodies. That's unusually altruistic. Maybe they should stop smoking into live people and truck on down to the city morgue.)
Second, there are a bunch of redshirt hunters being rounded up and tortured so Abbadon can find the Winchesters. To make it even more confusing, there's some who have real dialogue. (Side-note: I love Paul Rae, who plays Irv.) Then there's a young women in Daisy Dukes, who's a hunter, not just an anonymous babe. Oh, forget it, she is an anonymous babe. Has anyone ever noticed that the show's casting people have a thing for tiny brunettes?
All you need to know about this character
Third there's Kevin, Crowley, Dean, Sam and Ezekiel. Damn, no nude Cas. Every episode needs nude Cas. Really, how did we go 8 seasons without knowing what a rocking vessel Cas had? The script has many great moments, and hilarious lines. On leaving a deserted, contaminated town, Dean announces, "Burgers and Silkwood showers for everyone!"
"Devil May Care" Plot for Dummies:
1. Dean has Crowley stashed in the Impala's trunk. Priceless. When Crowley starts to say his signature line, "Hello, boys," Dean punches him before he can get the second word out. Heh. He and Sam take the King of Hell back to the Batcave. When Kevin finds out that Crowley is alive, Kevin completely loses his shit. Told to keep away from Crowley (spoiler alert!), Kevin goes straight to the dungeon. Crowley goads Kevin into beating the crap out of him, taunting him with the idea that Mama Tran might still be alive--please, please let this be true--and Kevin decides to leave the Batcave. Only to be stopped by Mama Dean, who tells the tormented lad, that not only is he family, "we would die for you." What? Did they really need that line? Something tells me...
Big Bad: "It's either you or Kevin!"
Dean: "I'll wait in the car." (Leaves to feel crushing guilt over yet another bad decision)
This gives Osric Chau a chance to show his range as an actor, from funny to homicidal to muddy puddle of exhaustion and confusion. Not to mention constipated. Heh. As always, Mark Sheppard is a pleasure to watch. And I share his desire to see Sam in stilettos and a leather bustier, putting the S-A-M into S&M. Rowr.
2. As part of her demonic plan to take over Hell (pun intended), Abbadon lures the boys into an obvious trap (it's gotten so that when one of the boys says, "You know this is a trap?" the other nods. No big.) with two kidnapped hunters. IRV!
Remember me in "House"? No? True Grit? I'm Paul Rae, bitches!
3. Anonymous babe is royally pissed at Sam. His releasing Lucifer from his cage got her parents slaughtered by a celebrating demon. One thing I've loved about this season and the last is all of the callbacks to earlier seasons, giving Season 9 a sense of continuity. Irv reveals that he ratted out the hunters' names to Abbadon, and promptly gets shot. IRV! Oh, how I wanted him to be a continuing character! As I wrote before, Show has an gift of writing interesting background characters. He may be there for expository purposes, but he's a great character and I would have loved him to be, say the new Bobby. It's a stretch, true, but aside from a scene where Kevin humiliates a (female) soldier into letting the boys investigate a crime scene, he'd be better off staying a prophet and not the go-to guy for...everything. Besides, who else would beat the tar out of Crowley?
When the boys enter the empty, waste-contaminated town, they split up, Dean taking Babe, Sam taking the soon-to-be dead Irv. Dean sends Babe to get weapons out of Baby's trunk, conveniently setting the scene where Abbadon meets Dean face to face. It's a weirdly sexy, twisted scene. "Are we gonna fight or make out, 'cause I'm getting some real mixed signals here," Dean gasps as she breaks his shoulder. She threatens to peel off his anti-possession tattoo and take over his body. Which, like Sam's, is designed to be a powerful vessel.
A female character with a rockin' personality! Thank you, Andrew Dabb!
Back at the diner where the Winchesters first freed Babe and Irv, the soldier demons are smashing Sam around, having a lot of sadistic fun. Sam gets knocked unconscious. At which AWESOME point Ezekiel takes over, leading to the images above, that cool high-pitched angel whine, and the diner explodes. Terrified, Abbadon gets the hell out of toxic Dodge.
Some have said that Abbadon shouldn't be frightened of a mere angel. But Crowley, the King of Hell himself, beat it out of there last season when Cas angeled up. Dean goes to find Ezekiel, who he dubs Zeke. There is a wonderful scene between Dean and Zeke. Zeke's body language reminded me of a baffled parrot, the way he cocks his head in bewilderment and stares at Sam's brother. (Seriously, is there any character Jared Padalecki can't play??) Dean is--of course--filled with guilt that he stopped Sam from slamming the gates of Hell and that everything that happens is Dean's fault. But Zeke tells Dean that his brother stopped the trials out of love, which embarrasses the heck out of Dean. It's a word that never comes up between the brothers because they're big ole macho guys who don't use that language. But Zeke cuts right through the bullshit. He assures Dean that he is doing the right thing. Then he gives Dean the bloody knife to "prove" to Sam that Dean took out the three demons. When Sam comes to, Dean tells him that's what happened. Sam is going to start putting two and three together at some point.
At the end, Dean gives Kevin the speech about family, and Kevin goes to his room for a good cry. The brothers have a glass of whiskey. Sam says that he feels he has everything, and that he feels happy. Uh-oh. Perhaps Zeke is brainwashing Sam, or perhaps Zeke is just feeling mighty good that he is inside Sam. Lucky angel.
EZEKIEL HAS WINGS! Tattered wings with feathers falling off, but HE HAS WINGS!
Every angel that fell from Heaven lost their wings--except Ezekiel. This must be an intentional choice on the part of the show. I'm not going to go into the myriad explanations for it, because I believe there will be an explanation down the road, and I am dying to know what it is.
In the meantime, let's review the episode, shall we? Directed by Guy Norman Bee and written by Andrew Dabb, the basic premise for "Devil May Care" seemed to be: throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. Following the Season 9 premiere, this episode had one thing that shouldn't have bugged me, but did, because it's so early in the season: too many characters.
First, there's the resurrected Abbadon, that gorgeous Lauren Bacall from Hell, one of Lucifer's Knights, and her first demon squad. "Granny Demon" steals the scene, backtalking at her new boss.
Don't give me shit, young lady!
(I can't find the name of the actress on IMDB or in any of the live tweets.) Amazed that "the salesman" has taken over Hell, Abbadon, a fiery warrior, intends to return it to its full glory:
The good old days, when there were...bunnies?
The first thing she does is replace the old vessels with a bunch of young soldiers on shore leave. Jeez, just when you think you're gonna get laid, you get someone in your body who's hot in all the wrong ways. (Interesting point: these demons are all inhabiting dead bodies. That's unusually altruistic. Maybe they should stop smoking into live people and truck on down to the city morgue.)
Second, there are a bunch of redshirt hunters being rounded up and tortured so Abbadon can find the Winchesters. To make it even more confusing, there's some who have real dialogue. (Side-note: I love Paul Rae, who plays Irv.) Then there's a young women in Daisy Dukes, who's a hunter, not just an anonymous babe. Oh, forget it, she is an anonymous babe. Has anyone ever noticed that the show's casting people have a thing for tiny brunettes?
All you need to know about this character
Third there's Kevin, Crowley, Dean, Sam and Ezekiel. Damn, no nude Cas. Every episode needs nude Cas. Really, how did we go 8 seasons without knowing what a rocking vessel Cas had? The script has many great moments, and hilarious lines. On leaving a deserted, contaminated town, Dean announces, "Burgers and Silkwood showers for everyone!"
"Devil May Care" Plot for Dummies:
1. Dean has Crowley stashed in the Impala's trunk. Priceless. When Crowley starts to say his signature line, "Hello, boys," Dean punches him before he can get the second word out. Heh. He and Sam take the King of Hell back to the Batcave. When Kevin finds out that Crowley is alive, Kevin completely loses his shit. Told to keep away from Crowley (spoiler alert!), Kevin goes straight to the dungeon. Crowley goads Kevin into beating the crap out of him, taunting him with the idea that Mama Tran might still be alive--please, please let this be true--and Kevin decides to leave the Batcave. Only to be stopped by Mama Dean, who tells the tormented lad, that not only is he family, "we would die for you." What? Did they really need that line? Something tells me...
Big Bad: "It's either you or Kevin!"
Dean: "I'll wait in the car." (Leaves to feel crushing guilt over yet another bad decision)
This gives Osric Chau a chance to show his range as an actor, from funny to homicidal to muddy puddle of exhaustion and confusion. Not to mention constipated. Heh. As always, Mark Sheppard is a pleasure to watch. And I share his desire to see Sam in stilettos and a leather bustier, putting the S-A-M into S&M. Rowr.
2. As part of her demonic plan to take over Hell (pun intended), Abbadon lures the boys into an obvious trap (it's gotten so that when one of the boys says, "You know this is a trap?" the other nods. No big.) with two kidnapped hunters. IRV!
Remember me in "House"? No? True Grit? I'm Paul Rae, bitches!
3. Anonymous babe is royally pissed at Sam. His releasing Lucifer from his cage got her parents slaughtered by a celebrating demon. One thing I've loved about this season and the last is all of the callbacks to earlier seasons, giving Season 9 a sense of continuity. Irv reveals that he ratted out the hunters' names to Abbadon, and promptly gets shot. IRV! Oh, how I wanted him to be a continuing character! As I wrote before, Show has an gift of writing interesting background characters. He may be there for expository purposes, but he's a great character and I would have loved him to be, say the new Bobby. It's a stretch, true, but aside from a scene where Kevin humiliates a (female) soldier into letting the boys investigate a crime scene, he'd be better off staying a prophet and not the go-to guy for...everything. Besides, who else would beat the tar out of Crowley?
When the boys enter the empty, waste-contaminated town, they split up, Dean taking Babe, Sam taking the soon-to-be dead Irv. Dean sends Babe to get weapons out of Baby's trunk, conveniently setting the scene where Abbadon meets Dean face to face. It's a weirdly sexy, twisted scene. "Are we gonna fight or make out, 'cause I'm getting some real mixed signals here," Dean gasps as she breaks his shoulder. She threatens to peel off his anti-possession tattoo and take over his body. Which, like Sam's, is designed to be a powerful vessel.
A female character with a rockin' personality! Thank you, Andrew Dabb!
Back at the diner where the Winchesters first freed Babe and Irv, the soldier demons are smashing Sam around, having a lot of sadistic fun. Sam gets knocked unconscious. At which AWESOME point Ezekiel takes over, leading to the images above, that cool high-pitched angel whine, and the diner explodes. Terrified, Abbadon gets the hell out of toxic Dodge.
Some have said that Abbadon shouldn't be frightened of a mere angel. But Crowley, the King of Hell himself, beat it out of there last season when Cas angeled up. Dean goes to find Ezekiel, who he dubs Zeke. There is a wonderful scene between Dean and Zeke. Zeke's body language reminded me of a baffled parrot, the way he cocks his head in bewilderment and stares at Sam's brother. (Seriously, is there any character Jared Padalecki can't play??) Dean is--of course--filled with guilt that he stopped Sam from slamming the gates of Hell and that everything that happens is Dean's fault. But Zeke tells Dean that his brother stopped the trials out of love, which embarrasses the heck out of Dean. It's a word that never comes up between the brothers because they're big ole macho guys who don't use that language. But Zeke cuts right through the bullshit. He assures Dean that he is doing the right thing. Then he gives Dean the bloody knife to "prove" to Sam that Dean took out the three demons. When Sam comes to, Dean tells him that's what happened. Sam is going to start putting two and three together at some point.
At the end, Dean gives Kevin the speech about family, and Kevin goes to his room for a good cry. The brothers have a glass of whiskey. Sam says that he feels he has everything, and that he feels happy. Uh-oh. Perhaps Zeke is brainwashing Sam, or perhaps Zeke is just feeling mighty good that he is inside Sam. Lucky angel.