Supernatural 2.21 "King of the Damned" Review and DC Con Spoilers & Report: Evening the Playing Field

     This week’s episode of Supernatural, “King of the Damned,” was written by the team of Eugenie Ross-Leming and Brad Buckner and directed by newcomer PJ Pesce. Pesce has also directed Fringe, Leverage, and Tremors among others. For those following the antics of Orlando Jones on Twitter – he frequently live tweets the show – Pesce has a close relationship to Jones as he was actually the creator of The Orlando Jones Show in 2003! This is probably my least favorite writing team for the show, and while there were some good, memorable scenes and performances, this won’t go down as a favorite episode for me.

    The episode begins with an extremely long “Then” montage. There is a lot packed into this episode that needs to be explained. To some extent that isn’t the fault of the writers of the episode. It feels like nothing has happened in the main arc of the season for so long, and suddenly we have an episode that is jam packed with it. In an episode with so much going on, it seemed curious that we would also have a couple of scenes that while funny were superfluous – by and large – that really slowed down the momentum of the episode. Front and center of the things that had me scratching my head was that we lost one of the big bads – Abaddon (Alaina Huffman). I can’t believe they killed her off before the last episode, and it feels as if her fantastic talent has been squandered. If they were going to kill her off so early, why not have her factor in to some of the mid season episodes? A waste. Huffman is always a joy to watch and one of the highlights of this episode.

    I’m willing to forgive recasting Gavin McLeod (Theo Devaney) as actors aren’t always available, especially for a small role. I’m even willing to forgive that while Devaney’s Scottish accent is serviceable, it in no way equates to what would have been spoken in 16th century Scotland. What I’m not willing to forgive is that a quick 2 minute read on Superwiki revealed how much of Gavin’s previous story was simply re-written. He hadn’t signed on to work his way across to the colonies – he’d been the captain of a trading ship, and he’d known that his father had traded his soul for an extra 3 inches. Yes, it’s funnier if Gavin is a bit stupid, but it’s not a consistent characterization with the Gavin we met in 6.03, “Weekend at Bobby’s.”

    And that leads me to another thing that I found very jarring about this episode – shifts in tone. We have the pretty hilarious interrogation between Ezra (Gordon Michael Woolvett – who also played the deputy in “Frontierland”), Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles), and then we have the death of Abaddon and Dean’s descent into the effects of the Mark of Cain. I’m finding it harder and harder to believe that the actors are taking the show seriously, which in turn makes it harder for me to become immersed in its world.

    Interestingly, Castiel’s (Misha Collins) storyline is the one least played for laughs. We see that he has accepted his role as Commander and a big shout out to Jerry Wanek and his production design team for creating yet another amazing set. No doubt every viewer was happy to see Cas and the Winchesters hug each other hello. Cas is trying to avoid any bloodshed and stop the “angel on angel” violence. Dean is quick to pick up that Cas has called them to be “his goons” and do the torturing for him. Unlike the gravitas that the parallel situation had in season four’s “On the Head of a Pin” when Dean wanted no part of torturing Alastair, the scene in this episode lacked the seriousness and drama of the earlier episode. And the ramifications of Dean’s eagerness to torture Ezra are presumably just as serious.

    The scene with Cas segues into the interrogation scene in another way as well. Cas tells Sam and Dean that he accepted the position of Commander because “They had no leader and they insisted on following me.” I immediately thought of the million plus followers Collins has on Twitter. Up until Collins joined, the fans had no one to directly follow – we’ve even heard the angels called minions – as Collins calls his followers on Twitter. I do believe we have some fourth wall breaking happening in this episode.

    Sam stops Dean from using violence on Ezra, recognizing that this is someone who really is no threat and is simply aggrandizing himself. They go about appealing to Ezra’s false pride by ridiculing him. It was a really nice moment when Sam completely shifts gears and Dean understands immediately what Sam is doing and plays along. They may be struggling, but they still share that bond. They quickly learn that there is a private portal to Heaven which Metatron keeps secret by moving it around.

    Dean says, “He’s a fan! Just because you’re hot for Metatron – or Bieber – or Beckham... Just because you know everything about them, doesn’t mean that you actually know them.” Sam then interjects, “Or that they even know you exist!” And Dean follows with, “Oh, that’s cold, Sammy” and an evil laugh. And isn’t that every fan’s worst fear? On the other hand, it’s absolutely the truth. It’s easy to research facts about one person. It’s not nearly so easy to get to know even that one person. Now turn it around. How could one person get to know their millions of fans? I think this was perhaps a bit heavy handed – more heavy handed even than some of the Becky moments in seasons past. It’s a nice wake up call to fans not to assume things about people based on a few comments. Further than that, I’m not going to spend a lot more time analyzing this scene, but I believe that it will be one that is discussed for some time to come.

    After Dean and Sam leave Ezra, he is found dead. They both deny having had anything to do with it, leaving the only option to be that Cas has a mole in his camp. Cas insists that everyone is loyal. Dean points out that Cas’s problem is that he thinks no one is lying whereas Dean thinks everyone is lying. Dean leaves to start looking for the leak, and Cas asks Sam to stay behind. This is a great scene as we see Sam working through his feelings about Gadreel’s (Tahmoh Penikett) possession of him. Padalecki is great in this scene – it’s easy to see that Sam is conflicted in how he feels about Gadreel. He admits that he wasn’t completely possessed, that he was still “me” and it was more like “shared housing.” He admits that he didn’t feel threatened or that Gadreel was dangerous. But then Sam points out that he was wrong because Gadreel killed Kevin. Cas is able to gain valuable insight into Gadreel, however, as Sam tells him that Gadreel felt more like he wasn’t at rest, that he had unfinished business, that he felt misunderstood.

    Cas is able to arrange a meeting with Gadreel. We saw in the previously ons that Gadreel was not happy about Metatron letting Dean torture him. Gadreel tells Cas that he saw him through Sam’s eyes and that Sam trusts Cas. He also knows Cas has a reputation for honor. Tellingly, Cas is self-deprecating about accepting the compliment about his honor – he still feels he has much to make up for and consequently isn’t likely to fall into the same trap of hubris as before. In many ways, Cas can relate to Gadreel. Both Collins and Penikett are terrific in this scene and during their second meeting. Cas tells Gadreel that he understands he feels misunderstood and wants to redeem himself – the information he got from Sam. But Cas also understands putting your trust in the wrong master. Gadreel doesn’t want to change loyalties again, but Cas reminds him that they both serve an older mission – to be loyal to Heaven and serve God.

    Their first meeting ends in treachery as they are attacked and proves the point that Metatron can’t be trusted. This was filmed in such a way that I was sure that Cas had killed Gadreel, so I was momentarily confused when Gadreel showed up for a second meeting. In the end, Cas only asks Gadreel to be a spy – to even the playing field and tell him what Metatron is planning and when he will strike. They part with Cas simply asking Gadreel to consider his offer. I like that they are clarifying Gadreel’s motives and intentions. I suspect that Gadreel will end up dead by the end of the season, but I also suspect that he will redeem himself.

    The episode really centers around the face off between Crowley (Mark Sheppard) and Abaddon. Why couldn’t there have been a Crowley/Abaddon spinoff? These two just light the screen up. In large part, this is because both can deliver terrific lines perfectly and they trade barbs quip for quip. Case in point? Crowley tells the assembled demons, “No one in the history of torture has been tortured with torture like the torture you’ll be tortured with.” And Abaddon tells them, “Relax everyone. You did the new Queen a solid. You are sitting at the popular kids table.” Now admittedly, it’s a choice to have her speak so colloquially. It could have given her a lot more gravitas (there’s that word again) to have her speak more formally and less “humanly.”

    Another word about Huffman’s performance. She not only delivers her dialogue with relish, she also embodies the character perfectly physically, using the perfect snaps and hand gestures. I liked that she made good use of Crowley’s addiction and weakness through emotions. It’s a nice parallel as well to see Dean losing that barrier of emotion while Crowley gains it. It was also a nice touch to remind us that Fergus McLeod had been a drunk – he has an addictive personality at his core. It was fun to watch both Crowley and Abaddon be a bit stunned by just how stupid Gavin apparently is. It’s quite hilarious when Gavin turns from the window and declared that Crowley and Abaddon must be angels. The capper to the scene is Crowley and Abaddon saying “wow” in perfect unison.

    Given how vehemently Gavin and Crowley hated each other in “Weekend at Bobby’s,” it seems much too easy for them to get over their differences here. Sam insists that all the lore indicates that “You change one thing in the past, the ripple effect changes everything that follows.” This is, of course, the butterfly effect – a well-known trope in time travel. Even though Gavin would only return to the past to die, will his staying in the present be the central issue in season 10?

    Crowley tells them where the First Blade is hidden. I felt that this scene was really pretty superfluous. It was funny that Crowley is able to call off Julia via speaker phone, but having then chased by a hellhound and have to dig into a dead body for the blade didn’t really seem to be particularly essential to the episode and really slowed the pacing down. Again, Gavin’s stupidity is funny, but there are more than enough scenes to drive the point home. It was fun to watch Crowley – the King of the Crossroads too remember – to be so proud when Gavin tries to bargain with him.

    Crowley does try to warn Sam and Dean about the trap by using the code word “Poughkeepsie.” Dean keeps the information from Sam so that he can keep him out of his way when he faces off against Abaddon. We’ve already seen that Dean is becoming obsessed with the blade as he is lost in the feelings of using it to such an extent that he doesn’t hear his phone and it’s only Sam that brings him back to reality.

    Upon arriving at the Humbolt Hotel, Dean manages to get Sam to go to the basement, while he heads to the penthouse to confront Abaddon. A quick shout out to the VFX team. According to AD Kevin Parks and Ryan Curtis (VFX coordinator) both the Hotel and the scene of Leith, Scotland at the beginning were completely created by the VFX team – really amazing work.

    Dean finds Crowley incapacitated. Abaddon steals Henry Winchester’s trick of carving a devil’s trap into a bullet and shooting Crowley. She doesn’t kill him because she needs him as bait for Sam and Dean, but why Sam and Dean don’t kill Crowley is a mystery. And not in a good way. However, Dean’s face off with Abaddon is everything we’d hoped for – I’m just still surprised that this wasn’t part of the season climax.

    I’m sure I’m not the only one to feel a direct parallel to the season one finale when Sam is pinned against the wall and the Yellow Eyed Demon taunts him to teleport the colt to himself and shoot him. Sam isn’t able to make the colt budge, but Dean not only gets the blade back but defeats Abaddon’s hold on him entirely to stab and kill her with the Blade. It’s a beautiful shot as Dean lifts and kills her – terrifically framed and held by Boyd’s direction. Sam burst in just in time to see Dean make the kill and become completely taken over by the bloodlust. Once again, it’s only Sam who is able to stop Dean from stabbing Abaddon over and over – but it takes longer this time.

    The final scene is Sam and Dean in the Impala. Dean explains to Sam that he lied to him so that Abaddon wouldn’t be able to use Sam as a bargaining chip – a sound strategy given that that is exactly what she did with Crowley and Gavin. Is this perhaps the set up for the finale? Will Dean have lost so much of his humanity by the end of the season that he won’t bargain for Sam but let him die? It is, after all, what Sam has said he wants. Was Dean worried that he wouldn’t try to save Sam in this instance?

    Dean talks about the effects of the First Blade for the first time, telling “Sammy” that he knew from the first time he touched the Blade that he would be able to defeat Abaddon. He tells him “it wasn’t a hero thing. It was just calm. I knew. And I had to go it alone.” Has Dean finally achieved the independence that Sam has always insisted Dean needs to have? For his own part, Sam is definitely starting to worry – and it’s worry for a brother not just a partner. He’s worried that the blade is doing something to Dean himself and he asks that they put the Blade away somewhere safe until they need it. Dean’s answer is an emotionless and definitive no which ends the episode.

    What did you think of the episode? Were you troubled by some of the issues I’ve mentioned? Were you sorry to see Abaddon killed? Do you think Cas will be able to defeat Metatron? Will Gadreel prove to be a trustworthy and valuable ally? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and keep reading for some tidbits from last weekend’s Creation DC Convention!

Spoilers from the Creation DC Con...

Richard Speight Jr.: According to Robbie Thompson, the fact that the Trickster/Gabriel was still able to make things disappear with a snap after Cas figured out that it wasn’t real, is an indication that the Trickster/Gabriel IS real. The eye waggle at the end is also a hint that we will more than likely see him again!

Jensen Ackles: Dean is going to really show the effects of the Mark of Cain in the final episodes.

Misha Collins: Cas is very important to the finale. He didn’t indicate whether Cas would factor into NEXT season, however.

Mark Sheppard: His remarks seemed to indicate that the finale won’t be the last we see of Crowley – but Sheppard is notoriously cagey.

Perhaps the two favorite people I met this past weekend were Rachel Miner and Gil McKinney. Both are incredibly lovely, nice, and down to earth. Rachel is a huge inspiration for her work for Multiple Sclerosis. She has largely retired from acting since being diagnoses with MS. For those who missed the many reports or videos for the convention, Gil can sing! If there is ever a musical episode of Supernatural, he will have to play the lead! Jensen confirmed again when asked that Dean cannot sing...