Supernatural - 6.19 - Mommy Dearest - Recap by Selina

It's official everyone: Supernatural was renewed for another season!!! I must admit, I didn't think it was going to happen, but I guess we're all still showing enough support that the CW felt it warranted. I'm so relieved, because I was starting to sweat over the (very close) finale and how there was no way they'd tie up everything in a satisfying way... now we can maybe assume they're saving the Angel War for next season? Who knows.

But this is the recap of episode 19, 'Mommy Dearest' - what a title. I immediately got excited about the fact that we were FINALLY going to delve properly into the Mother big bag plot, and I'd heard about a few veeery significant guest stars, so I had high hopes!

For more of my writing visit Out of the Box, the TV/entertainment blog with posts about Supernatural, Fringe, Buffy, Lost and much more.



Previously On:

We see the brothers working for Crowley, and Cas destroying him. Hmmm, I thought that storyline was long over... We also get a recap of who Mommy is, and how the brothers got the phoenix ashes (I forgot why they needed those already - pretty convenient that she has an Achilles heel like that, no?).


"Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel" - irony, we haz it.


Two young guys leave a bar, and we hear "I believe in miracles, where you from, you sexy thing" in the background (I love that song lol). Outside they encounter Eve - aw drat, they're toast! Well, when do two unknown guest stars out late at night in the beginning of a SPN episode EVER make it out alive?

Eve's got her white dress on and blood is seeping out of a wound but they don't seem to notice. Well, they wouldn't. I have to say, the Eve actress is really good. Her innocence and allure mixed with her deadliness and the somehow clear knowledge that she could disintegrate you in a second is perfect.

She touches one of the guys' faces and walks on. Yikes. I wonder what it is with her and infecting other people into hurting each other, rather than doing it herself?

We follow Eve into a bar (I am struggling to think of a good "The Mother of All Evil walks into a bar..." joke, but I got nothing), where she locks the door behind her. Another college guy actually notices the blood (aww a nice guy. They're like one in a million, too bad he dies ) this time, and she kisses him... infecting him, too. "I gave him a gift," she tells the guy's friend. And everyone she infects begin to attack and kill everyone else, and it's like a massive zombie bar brawl. Eve looks on, evidently satisfied.

Yo, she's a weird mother, y'all. I don't get her plan at all. But she looks totally evil.


So... Samuel Colt sent them 150-year-old dirt?


So after an establishing MOTW scene we clearly have to go to the brothers. Dean is making Colt bullets out of the phoenix ashes... he's made 5. Only, as he finds out because he knocked something over, the stuff (luckily!!) doesn't work. And we're left with the question: does this mean the phoenix ash is defective, or just that it doesn't work on humans?

Bobby tells Dean to "make a call", and Dean starts pouting. "Why's it always meeeeee?" he whines. Okay, maybe I exaggerate.


"It's not like Cas lives in my ass, the dude's busy." And then Castiel appears right behind him. HA! Nice.

"Cas, get out of my ass!"
"I was never in your..."
Awkward pause.

Looool. I'm laughing. It's just so funny on so many levels. I like how the producers acknowledge the fan favourite wannabe-ship on the show sometimes (but maybe they're just relieved the fan base is no longer primarily pro-incest?).

By the way, did you guys see that Castiel/Dean made the SpoilerTV shipping poll? Isn't that weird? Glancing down the list I see no other non-canon pairings, and I mean, as much as I love you guys who ship it (like I love ALL Supernatural fans *coughnottryingtocharmyouintocommentingoranything*), the Cas/Dean pairing is clearly something fans have made up which will never happen on the show... kind of like Spike/Angel on BtvS. So imo, while I don't see anything wrong with shipping it, I don't necessarily think it should have a place on the shipping poll. But it's the only ship Supernatural is represented by (but then again, it's not like anyone would nominate Lisa/Dean, please), so by all means, go vote for it if you're so inclined. I'm voting for Jack/Kate on Lost. :)

Cas says that they can't find Eve, because she's hidden from all angels. Sam sets up the episode's quest (and puts on his thinking cap, aww I've missed that thing) and suggests that they find themselves a "friendly monster" to infiltrate Camp Evil. Right. Naturally.

Oh, wow, and you know what just occurred to me? 'Eve' is like 'Eve-il' - or 'Evil!' Coincidence!?!?!?!? Bible, I'm calling you out.


Snuffleupagus is busy? Darn. What's the next best thing?


Aw yaaaay it's my favourite thing, a research montage! Thank goodness it's a short one, because look who Castiel found! IT'S TARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....um, Lenore. Oh hell screw it, IT'S TARAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! :D :D :D Yay!

And it's great to see a blast from that far in the past, isn't it, I mean this was like season 2 or something, was it not?

"Your hunter friend almost killed me."
"Well if it makes you feel any better, he turned into a vampire and I chopped his head off."
"Yeah, with razor wire, wicked."

Um, way to cheer up your long lost vampire friend, guys. They should tell her about the time Dean was a vampire instead.

Lenore tells the guys that she's trying to stay away from Eve and wants nothing to do with her. I sense that Lenore is gonna die this episode, guys.

Eve's voice apparently rings in the vampires' heads. Her nest gave up on their vegetarian ways but not Lenore, she's now a Cullen and lives in Forks, Washington.

Or you know, hiding in a basement. To escape going to Forks, Washington, I'm betting.

She says it's super hard not to give in and I wonder how she's holding herself back from jumping on Dean or Sam (I mean, that'd be hard for anyone, hint wink)?

I feel like Amber Benson's acting is strange. I love her, but what's with her accent? It's almost like she's singing. And she makes really weird jaw motions. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but I found it jarring, I couldn't stop noticing it.


Aw MAN Castiel you just got bumped to my 2nd favourite angel! :(


After giving up her intel (srsly Lenore, don't you know that you strike a bargain before you show your hand?) Lenore makes a request: that they kill her. Wow, she's so determined to be good, she'd rather die than give into her cravings. She SHOULD be a Cullen, she and Edward could have a contest to see who's more holier-than-thou.

She tries to goad them into killing her, saying that she's fed already and she knows that Sam is the weakest link. "The girl couldn't have been more than 16, Sam," she says, because she knows this will make him consider her point that she's dangerous.

And, damn, Castiel kills her! I so wasn't expecting that, were anyone else? I figured she'd at least go undercover or something but she got like one scene. And ew, he burned her face off, that's so gross!


Less Zombieland, More Pleasantville


Sam, Dean, Bobby and Castiel arrive in Oregon, where everything's looking nice and normal. And you know, whatever else you say about Supernatural, at least acknowledge that the show's put together a damn good group of protagonists! My favourite episodes are the ones where all four "main characters" (I include Bobby, he's in the show more than Cas anyway) work together. And I prefer Bobby to John, tbh, he's more sympathetic and it also adds a nice element of the hunters being family without the blood relation.

They go into a diner, and Bobby has an IPAD! "I asked for a computer." "It is a computer." "No, a computer has buttons!" LOL I don't understand, is this supposed to be product placement? I loved it regardless, what a funny dig at Apple. And as someone who has an iPad, while I love it and use it a lot, it definitely has limitations. I couldn't put up these recaps on it, for example, because I can't take screencaps or upload images. So Bobby, I got your back! Use it to take notes and watch stuff and read audiobooks. And play Fruit Ninja. I think Bobby would love Fruit Ninja.


"Cas, we can still see you."
"Yeah, I'm still here."
"Well now it just looks like you're pooping."

Apparently Eve blocked Castiel - she's made him powerless. Yikes! Now their secret weapon is a baby in a trench coat. And awwww look Cas is sad now! "You hurt his feelings," Sam whispers. Quote of the week y/y??

Meanwhile Bobby got a lead, on the guy we saw in the beginning whom Eve infected.


"A painful burning sensation." Tell that to Lenore, oh snap.

Seriously, the Dean and Castiel scenes this week are ON FIRE! No pun intended. Did anyone notice that?? Every scene they interact has me laughing, it's crazy. It's so funny, I think the best thing is their looks. There are a lot of looks in this episode, a lot of pauses to increase the funnyness. I like it. It's a great way to give this episode some lightness too - and I know, at this point in the season episodes shouldn't be light blah blah, but after the terrible 'And Then There Were None' darkness fest, I'm happy that SPN can do dark WHILE keeping things in line with their traditional satire-esque style.

Dean starts picking the lock and Castiel gets bored. Then things get serioussssss when Dean finds blood smatters and they uncover Ed Bright's gooey, disgusting corpse. I'm not going to screencap that.


Casual Friday Agents.


Meanwhile Bobby and Sam go looking for Dr. Silver at his home. And Bobby shows Sam a picture of the family: he's got a wife and two sons. And you know what's remarkable? That the two sons parallel isn't remarkable. Back in season 1, Dean and Sam would have been all up in the comparisons, linking themselves to the big- and little brother respectively and giving Now It's Personal looks all over the place. And now... the brother bonding this really has taken a back seat. As much as I love Bobby and Cas, sometimes I miss season 1 when it was just the two brothers alone against the world.

A police man comes up and they flash their badges (in a rather halfhearted sort of way). He tells them: "Doctor Silver's a friend of mine, I heard he didn't show up for work today so wanted to stop by and see if he's sick." Wait, sorry, time out: do I have the worst friends ever or is this just semi-lazy writing to get the cop guy out there? What kind of person, a police man no less, randomly decides to go visit their friend on a working day because they "heard they were sick"? How did he even hear it? Why didn't he just text him? Writers... people want to know these things! Okay, maybe nobody cares, but I do!

But Bobby tells him that Dr. Silver is missing, and sends him packing. Nice work Bobby.


"The Plot Thickens."

Indeed it does, Mr. Self-Referential Humour. Sam, Dean, Bobby and Cas all meet up to compare findings - outside a house where they find Ed Bright inside! Huh. I did not see that coming.

Cas complains that he's "unpracticed with firearms," and Dean responds: "You know who whines? Babies." Jeez Dean, be careful or you're gonna make him cry.


Dean and Sam break into the house... to find dead or dying Ed Brights everywhere! Wow, I love how this show keeps surprising me.

They find a live one - who tells them he's not Ed. He's Ed's friend, the guy we saw in the beginning. He's the one who took Ed to the doctor, and I guess Ed infected them all. Why would Mother want to turn them all into Ed though? I mean, if we're going to make a bunch of identical guys... we've got Sam and Dean right there, just saying. Aww but I'm being mean, Ed isn't bad looking. Anyway why am I talking about this?

Before they can get anything else out of Marshall, he dies, leaving them only knowing that Mother is behind it and that it started at a bar. The gang works out that it's a sort of Shapeshifter infection (aaahh I'm beginning to understand now). But as Cas points out, if she wants to make a Shifter army why did she made them gross and dying? "Add that to the pile of crap that don't make sense," Bobby says, speaking probably the wisest words said all season. At least the writers are acknowledging how confusing this all is.


Dean names his discovery... Jefferson Starships.

They go to the bar to find yet another carnage. All the zombie people are dead - and Bobby wonders why the sheriff hasn't realised that this has happened yet. Dean checks one of the bodies and reveals vampire teeth - and she's also a Wraith. Nice gift, Eve. You're not getting a Mother's Day card from me.

So... she's attempting to make hybrid monsters? Hey, that's like on the Vampire Diaries! Sorry, spoiler alert.


Another funny moment, when Bobby tells Dean he gets to name the new monster breed and gets all proud, and names them "Jefferson Starships. Because... they're horrible. And hard to kill." Hehe, I think that's a great name. And then they keep calling them Starships! Loving it!

But remember back in the day when Sam was the geeky one and Dean was the one who didn't get the pop culture references? Sigh. I'm so nostalgic today.

Just when they're beginning to discover that something like the flu killed the... Jefferson Starships... the police appear. Aw man, I hate when that happens! But Dean manages to hide (nice, Dean, way to be All In This Together), so he avoids getting arrested with the rest. And you know, the fact that the policemen just take them and go, not showing any sign of horror at the sight of the bar full of dead bodies, that's weird too! These policemen are just weird!


Ohhhh but when Sam catches a glimpse of the policemen on a monitor he sees that their eyes shine! I KNEW there was something way off about them! Phew, I was so worried it was just lazy writing.

"Jefferson Starships!" Sam calls (guess that name really caught on) and they start fighting the monsters. Castiel doesn't do so good, but luckily Dean saaaves him! And then Cas takes the knife and saves Bobby.


O Brother, Where Art... oh never mind.


But before Dean can kill the last one, Sam stops him because they need to interrogate someone. Bobby tries to get something out of him, but then they hear a noise. More Starships?

No. It's Dr. Silver's sons Joe and Ryan, gagged and locked in a cell. Huh. That's weird. I say they're bait.

And despite what I said earlier, the sad music over the fact that it's Dean and Sam who find the two boys WAS very poignant and brother-parallely. They even sit with the "right" one, Sam with the youngest and Dean with the oldest.

The brothers take... the brothers out to get some food and talk about what they know. The cops told them they were "food" and that they were next.

Castiel doesn't want Dean and Sam to bring the boys to safety before finding Eve, and I guess this is like with Lenore. Aside from Cas' affection for Sam and Dean, he really can't connect well to individual humans. He's all about the war and the greater good, and I guess I can see where he's coming from. He's not human. Still, Dean and Sam of course can't let this one go, not only are these civilians in danger (who they are as eager to protect as they are to fight monsters) but they're children, and brothers no less who I'm sure remind them of themselves.


In the car, we see a couple of nice parallel shots with Sam and Ryan in one frame, Dean and Joe in another. It's great and subtle camerawork, and just another reminder why I love this show so much. Joe tells Ryan to get some rest and it's so CUTE and with the sad music it's almost making me tear up. Dean and Sam almost do, too, smiling slightly at the way the other set of brothers interact. Oh, show, you do something so powerful sometimes, it blows me away. Supernatural just makes the bond between two brothers seem so magical, and special.


"You don't "let" Sam and Dean Winchester do squat, they do what they gotta." THAT'S RIGHT, HOLLA! Mantra of the show, right there.


Meanwhile back in Zombie town, Castiel is looking moody - because Dean chose brothers (in general) over him? He's definitely pouting over them being gone for so long. But Cas, you've still got Bobby!

"Pardon me for highlighting their crippling and dangerous empathetic response with "sarcasm"." Great line from Castiel. But Bobby reminds him that he isn't "letting" Sam and Dean go, Sam and Dean do whatever they want, and this is very true. Definitely untameable. Luckily Cas and Bobby have got a squeeze toy to keep them occupied.

Joe and Ryan are reunited with their uncle (the Bobby figure, if we're comparing?), and it's a nice little happy ending which sadly Sam and Dean have to walk out on as usual. Tragic, their lives.

Cas asks for five minutes alone with the captured Starship, and I guess he has some tension to release. He gets Eve's coordinates, at any rate, and even Bobby is a little peeved.

Now they're gearing up for the big fight, and the lighting is appropriately dim and the shadows are long. The only thing ruining the suspense a tiny bit is that we still don't know if the bullets work... and here's a thought, I know there's only five but wouldn't it have been beneficial to try a bullet on one of the other monsters first, before barging into Eve's lair without a 100% guarantee that the bullets even work?? That's what I would have done.


Dean divides the hollisters, giving them each one to put in their guns. I wonder if it'll work - I thought the magic was in the Colt, not in the bullets? Unless, did Samuel say something last episode about the Colt not being special, only the bullets? Don't quote me on that, but I vaguely remember something. Jeez I forget things quickly.


We Come Full Circle. In more ways than one.


Turns out Eve was in the diner all along - nice touch. You know, I thought she might have been their waitress! Funny.

Dean's foolproof, brilliant plan is that he and Sam go in, and if they fail, Bobby and Castiel can give killing her a try. Hm. "Well at least it ain't complicated," Bobby says, which I think nicely sums it up.

In the diner, Sam and Dean find lots of Starships just sitting around - and come face to face with Mommy Dearest. She takes their guns - so much for that time traveling extravaganza - and seriously, it just feels so hopeless when they go to all that trouble only for Eve to take it all away so easily. I guess it's a nice commentary on how these two humans really are in way over their heads, and how it truly is a miracle they've survived this long.

Lucky for them, she's "not here to fight". It's so nice when big evils just want to have a heart to heart revealing all their evil plans, rather than just destroying our heroes with a snap of their fingers. I love television.

Eve - speaking directly to Sam - explains that she doesn't want to destroy the planet, at least she didn't at first. She liked the natural order, that her monster children turned some humans, and hunters helped keep the population in check. But then when her children (even her first borns) began to be kidnapped and tortured by Crowley, she decided to take things into her own hands.

SERIOUSLY, this whole thing is because of Crowley?! Who else is a little miffed? I hope there's some bigger twist involved with this somehow, because Crowley never struck me as super big bad material.


From Eve to Mary - could we get any more Biblical?


Ohhh no she diiiiiiin't! Eve, in an attempt to make the boys see her (sort of logical, really) point, she turns into Mary! Yaaay I love this guest star, but awww sadness. First we had the two brothers, now this. Poor Sam and Dean are put through an emotional wringer this week.

"She died to protect you. See? I'm no different." Interesting. I like how she's still acting like Eve - she isn't, after all, channeling Mary, only using her appearance.

By the way, shouldn't the brothers be more... emotional, about seeing their mother and hearing her speak to them? Dean is pretty good at the shocked-yet-downplayed face, but Sam shouldn't just look puzzled. Where's the PAIN, Jared?

Bombshell: Crowley's still alive! Stringing up and skinning her children, still. And after all the trouble they went through to kill him, too. You know, I was never a massive fan of Crowley so I'm a bit like, meh, at this news. I know a lot of you like him though, so good for you that he's still alive. Maybe the brothers will team up with Mother now to fight HIM as the big bad? Nah that would never happen. (You know, at this point I honestly wouldn't be surprised.)

And I knew that Purgatory crap couldn't be the real reason Crowley went to all that trouble! It's about the souls - remember, Castiel wanted more souls because of the power they could give him, so he had Balty raise the Titanic? Apparently Crowley wants them too - their power ("you simple little monkey"). Crowley wants that power for himself. So now Eve is fighting back, turning all the humans and taking all the soul power for herself.

So last season the brothers and the world were caught in the crossfire of Michael and Lucifer's brotherly spat, and now it's the King of Hell vs. the Mother of All Evil? Wow, what side would you take? Of course there's another player, and I guess the war in Heaven is linked into this too, Castiel wanting to harness the soul power for their side.


Mother also reveals what she's doing with the Jefferson Starships: building the perfect beast. She's made quiet, smart, inconspicuous monsters now........ oh no, it's the children isn't it? No, just little Ryan, apparently! So much for that happy ending! Ryan has already turned his big brother, and now they're turning the uncle. Damn.

But Mother offers them a deal: if they find Crowley and bring him back, she'll let them live. But Dean says no - they're done working for monsters. Too bad Eve's got leverage; her Starships have captured Cas and Bobby.

Dean still point-blank refuses - clearly he'd rather die than work for a monster again. But then Eve says she'll turn them.


"Bite me" - and then she does.


Oh nooo is Dean going to turn into a monster again?! No, wait - phoenix ash! It's like drinking virvaine in TVD, isn't it? I didn't see it coming though, at all! Nice trick. Dean's so crafty.


"Call you later, mom," are Dean's parting words to Eve as she disintegrates. And... what now? Is Mother of All Evil DEAD? Does this mean no more monsters? Imbalance in the world? Free reign of her souls for Crowley? It's kind of sad, cause I liked her point about the natural balance. Of course we don't want monsters, but without the monsters we wouldn't have the Winchesters and their awesome Savin Ppl Huntin Thingz ways, so... we need her. And she never wanted to destroy the world until she was pushed into retaliation. She wasn't the worst bad guy ever, I thought, if you HAD to have one.

Cas has his powers back and kills all the demons. He also cures Dean of the JS infection, and Dean tells him about the children. But when they go to kill them, they find them already dead - demons killed them. Crowley's men, I'd wager.

Castiel leaves them to look into the Crowley thing, leaving the humans to wonder how Crowley got away... and Bobby speculates about whether Castiel meant for Crowley to get away. Dean doesn't believe it (they ARE bff's, after all), but Sam seems like he wants to take Bobby's side.


But then we see Cas, back in the diner - where he has a rendezvous with Crowley! Whuuut? "How many times am I gonna have to clean up your messes?" Crowley asks.

WHAT? Okay wait so this means... CASTIEL is the season's big bad?! Do you guys reckon that Crowley was working for Castiel all along, when he employed the hunters to track down the original monsters, trying to draw out Eve so he could kill her? So it really IS Castiel wanting all the souls, and being willing to go to any length to get them? OR is Castiel working for Crowley, for whatever reason? What could Crowley promise him? Either way, this doesn't bode well. What a way to end an episode!


Quotables:

Dean: "It's not like Cas lives in my ass, the dude's busy --- Cas, get out of my ass!"
Castiel: "I was never in your ---"

Dean: "Well that's great, cause without your power you're basically just a baby in a trench coat."
Sam (whispers): "I think you hurt his feelings."

Dean: "You know who whines? Babies."


Rating: 5/5
I'm going to have to give this one a full rating, guys! I think a lot of you have touched on something important in the comments over the past few weeks: that this season in general just isn't like what SPN used to be, and I agree. If this episode had happened in season 2, maybe I wouldn't have given it this high a rating, but as far as season 6 episode this episode was PHENOMENAL. The mixture of humour, nostalgia and plot developments (and twists!) was perfect; we got some of the best snarky comebacks we've had in a while, but there was nothing gimmicky about the plot. This is what 'And Then There Were None' should have been - the perfect set-up of them coming to a town and finding it overrun with monsters (though it lacked the ominous quietness of 'Croatoan'), working to track down Eve only to find that "we were working for the very enemy we thought we were fighting," as Sydney Bristow would put it. I thought the fact that Eve just died like that was a bit random, though I did like the way Dean tricked her and the fact that she turned into Mary. But you know, in a way I like how throughout the season it's been a complete chaotic mess to work out who's good and who's bad and who's the Big Bad and who's ultimately irrelevant. I mean, look back at the beginning of the season where Dean was living an apple pie life and we were all worried Sam was the big bad again. And then it was Samuel, then the original monsters, then Crowley - but then he died and we were like, guess not - and then Mother... and now we're thinking Castiel, or Crowley again?! IF Cas turns out to be the big bad of the season, though it'll make me really sad, that would be an AWESOME twist! And in a way, the confusing and fragmented nature of the season would start to make perfect sense. As far as this episode goes, there's just nothing I can find to critique. Even the music, which often bothers me, was used well, and most of the twists caught me completely off guard. I like how they keep throwing us off the trail, and personally I have no idea what's coming up now, and that excites me. Just a great episode which really ups the tension for the finale and raises the stakes like whoa!