Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Supernatural - Angel Heart - Review


    Enable Dark Mode!

  • What's HOT
  • Premiere Calendar
  • Ratings News
  • Movies
  • YouTube Channel
  • Submit Scoop
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Privacy Policy
Support SpoilerTV
SpoilerTV.com is now available ad-free to for all premium subscribers. Thank you for considering becoming a SpoilerTV premium member!

SpoilerTV - TV Spoilers

Supernatural - Angel Heart - Review

May 1, 2015

Share on Reddit


Supernatural, “Angel Heart,” was written by Robbie Thompson and directed by Steve Boyum. It continues the tendency of the show to have a Cas-centric episode or a filler episode in the 20-slot – we were introduced to the Novaks in 4.20, “The Rapture.” While this episode had some fun moments and was structurally interesting, there were just too many holes and inconsistencies, not to mention obvious outcomes, to make it a really memorable episode. I apologize for not having as rich a choice of photos for this review, but the site I normally get them from hadn't posted any by the time I was ready to get this up.

We finally get some closure on the Jimmy Novak (Misha Collins doing double duty as Castiel) storyline. He is definitively now in Heaven – as is Amelia (Leisha Hailey) by the end of the episode. I actually really do like how they handled that. We begin the episode with Jimmy arriving in Amelia’s heaven and we end it with Amelia arriving in Jimmy’s. It’s a nice bookend to the episode, but it also demonstrates how strong their love was for each other - not everyone gets to share their Heaven. Collins is especially good in the final scene, and Jimmy really does feel like an entirely different character from Cas. Given how Cas-centric the story is, I really didn’t feel that we actually got that much of Collins in the actual episode.

I’m sure many viewers noticed that, like Claire (Kathryn Newton), Amelia had been re-cast, having originally been played by Wynn Everett. Also like Claire, this re-casting was not an improvement. I can only imagine that Everett was not able to fit it into her schedule, which is a shame because she’s very talented (check her out in The Newsroom). You may have recognized Ronnie (Russell Porter) – from “Exile on Main Street” in which he played Sid and also had a scene in a bar with Dean – though much more amenably!

The episode also continues the recent tradition of everyone who comes into Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean’s (Jensen Ackles) life being turned into hunters. Is anyone going to be surprised in season eleven when the new hunters are the center of the episode and Sam and Dean provide back up over the phone? Don’t get me wrong, I totally agree with Sam that Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes) is good people, and I thoroughly enjoy watching Jody help the boys on a case. A lot of that is due to Rhodes acting abilities and a lot is due to the fact that Jody is a trained Sheriff. But why not center on the really good actors you’ve accumulated – like Rhodes – instead of picking up new ones at the drop of a hat. What happened to we do what we do and shut up about it?

As the episode opens, Claire is trying to track down Amelia to tell her she ruined her life. Thank you hair and makeup for getting rid of that stupid hairdo! We find out that she’s not off trying to find herself as we were told as recently as “The Things We Left Behind” but is trying to find Jimmy and reunite their family. We also learn that she’s been being held for two years and the last postcard she sent said she was coming home to Claire. Sam points out to Claire that that hardly sounds like someone trying to abandon her. And of course, she was being held when Claire’s grandmother died. Perhaps I’m being too harsh in feeling like this is changing the story after the fact rather than simply peeling back a layer of the story. What did you think? Ret-con or not?

Claire has tracked Amelia to Ronnie and meets him at Susie’s Bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For those who don’t know, this is a pretty sweet shout out to SE Hinton – author of The Outsiders and a huge Supernatural fan and supporter – who lives in Tulsa. The location gave Jerry Wanek a really good excuse for that oil-themed hotel too!

I liked that Cas called Sam and Dean in for backup because they were troubled teens and therefore speak her language. Sam proves it almost immediately when she denies being in the bar and he realizes it’s simply an evasion. I will admit that Newton is much improved in this episode and shares some good scenes with both Padalecki and Ackles. However, it still grates that both seem to have no problem indoctrinating her into the world of hunting.

Sam is the first to offer her “pro-tips” like using an alias when checking into a hotel and committing credit card fraud – I’m betting Jody will have something to say about that last one. He admires the hunter’s wall she’s constructed to find Amelia. One has to wonder where she learned how to do that. Amelia’s diary was a very heavy-handed shout out to John’s journal, of course. I did like the conversation they had about mothers. One thing the show has done consistently this season is look back to past seasons. Unfortunately, this isn’t always successful given the re-writing of so much canon in recent years. The important take away from this scene is Sam telling Claire that in this line of work, death isn’t always good bye.

Claire echoes Sam’s words in the final scene. She says to Sam that death isn’t always good bye, so good bye isn’t always forever. Now, this may simply mean that she will see them again, or it may mean she’s thinking about ways to see her parents again. Dean does tell her to call them if she needs them. He also lets her take the angel sword. Why does she need this? To fight her way into Heaven? Why wouldn’t Sam and Dean – or even Cas – have taken it? Surely, they would have more need of it and should add it to the Men of Letters collection at the very least? But Dean lets her take it and even tells her to do her homework.

The episode has a few nicely parallel sequences. Jimmy and Amelia’s heavens are one, but we also see both Dean and Sam tell Claire that they hunt in order to help people. Given the allusion to John’s journal, this is a nice demonstration that both brothers are still on the same page of “hunting things, saving people.”

However, the two seem to be on very different pages when it comes to advice for Cas over Claire. And here, we have some extremely heavy-handed foreshadowing. Dean tells Cas to simply let her go, she’s stronger on her own when Cas asks him what he should do about her. Sam on the other hand tells Cas that she’s family: “Going alone? That’s no way to live. You being there for her, even if she doesn’t want you to be, is good for both of you.” Anybody else see Dean insisting on going it alone and Sam insisting on sticking together?

Meanwhile, Sam and Cas seem to be freaking out over how much worse Dean is when I’m not seeing a lot of actual evidence that that is the case. Dean determines from what Claire tells them that is looks like a case and says, “Give me something to punch already!” Dean immediately tells them he’s kidding – and really, is this out of character for Dean? He assures them he’s fine, but they clearly don’t believe him. At the bar, Dean slams Ronnie’s face into the table twice to get him to talk. He stops immediately when he does talk, and he doesn’t even draw blood! How hard was he really slamming his head into the table? However, this is enough for Sam and Cas to bench him from coming to the farm.

It was a nice role reversal to have Dean doing the research and Sam the hunting. I loved the moment when they meet in the farmhouse and say “is a Grigori” in unison. A quick word about the disappointing monster of the week. Grigori were a sect of “Watcher” angels – and technically, that’s what Castiel was doing before he was sent to Hell to retrieve Dean. You can look up the full write up about them on Wikipedia, but the interesting part is that they didn’t feed off humans but lusted after and procreated with human women, creating the Nephilim. In the episode, it would appear that Tamiel (Treva Etienne) is simply feeding off human souls and keeping them quiet by putting them in their own piece of heaven. Frankly, he’s a supped-up Djinn. Though Djinn haven’t been impressive since “What Is and What Should Never Be.”

Dean and Claire playing mini-golf was fun. It certainly looked like they both got holes in one, but as Ackles is more than an avid golfer in real life, maybe not such a stretch – but fun for Claire to make it look not impressive. It was also fun for them to have the pop culture generation gap between Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore. The scene provides some needed comic relief but also turns more serious as Dean tells Claire that he’s sorry about her dad. This is another nicely parallel scene as Dean talks fathers in contrast to Sam and mothers. Dean tells Claire that her father was a hero. It’s one of the things that Dean holds onto about John – that he was a hero – so he knows that this will comfort her. He tells her that by allowing Cas to use his body, Jimmy helped Cas help to save the world. There’s a nice reaction shot of Claire smiling as she turns away from Dean.

Claire receives three birthday gifts. I actually found Cas showing up with the first one a bit jarring as I didn’t take Claire saying it was her birthday the next day in the bar seriously, so it went unnoticed by me. Cas’ choice of a stuffed Grumpy cat is perfect – she is a grumpy kid after all! Dean gives Claire a gun and lets her come with him to save Cas and Sam, but later takes it back, replacing it with a copy of Caddyshack and a book – The Enochian Myth – so she can continue her homework. Of course, she’s already proven that she’s hunter material because she’s the one to kill Tamiel.

The final fight scene was good, though having Amelia killed saving Claire seemed a bit on the nose. And of course, it’s the 18 year old fledgling hunter who must save the others. It does allow for Claire to satisfy her need for revenge – which we know she would have had given her history. However, in the scene in which she tags along to see Ronnie’s body, she is squeamish in viewing the dead body. Just a quick aside about my love for the Page/Clapton alias and “It’s bring you daughter to work day at the Bureau.” So, when Claire kills Tamiel, she seems to have no qualms – she’s also a remarkably good shot.

The final thing to note about that final fight scene is that Dean does seem to be affected during the fight – and I have to say I wish Ackles wouldn’t adopt the “monster-robot” face when this happens. Actually, I found both Ackles and Padalecki’s performances a bit off in the sequences they were both in at the farm. Perhaps this was the end of the filming for the episode and they were running out of time. However, the most important take away from that fight is that Dean seems perfectly okay once it’s over. Seeing as he didn’t get to do the killing himself, shouldn’t he still be jonesing for blood? They just aren’t doing enough to demonstrate Dean getting worse for me. I felt there was more evidence at the end of last season and in the previous season, when Sam was succumbing, he was clearly more ill in each successive episode.

The final scene provides some closure to Claire’s story – she’s made her peace with her mother and with Castiel – she hugs him good bye and asks Dean to watch out for him. Instead of blithely letting her wander off, hitching hiking alone along America’s highways, they actually ship her off to Jody’s. Here’s my other fear about Jody Mills – is she now just a convenient place to stash people? I hope not! Of course, whether or not Claire has any intention of staying there remains to be seen. The taxi driver asks Claire if she’s leaving or going home, and she answers, “Just going.”

While this episode did have some bright spots – Collins and Newton do deliver excellent performances – there were a lot of clunkers too. Robbie Thompson actually tweeted “Enough of this MOTW business.” Clearly, this was a considered a filler episode even for the writers! And I can’t think that’s a good way to approach writing an episode. For those concerned that Thompson would once again be “Mary Sueing” his way in with Charlie, this was his last episode for the season. The bad news is that Eugenie Ross-Leming and Brad Buckner are writing the next episode. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.

32 comments:

  1. Oh no! That means if someone else is writing a Charlie episode, she will most like be killed off :'( Sad day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think that any episode where there are DEAN, SAM and CASTIEL, our SUPERNATURAL BOYS, is always SUPER !!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Based on the hints they've been giving Chalire is most likely to die next episode for sure. They need to have Dean be pissed at Sam and go off on his own chasing after the Stynes and they need to have Sam be the one aparently in the wrong. How Charlie getting killed because Sam has her working on the book behind Dean's back is any different to Kevin getting killed by Gadriel while Dean was lying to Sam I dont know? But hypocrite, stomping off in snit Dean will be back with a vengence.
    Anyway my guess for the rest of the season
    -Next week Dean finds out about the book from the Stynes and is pissed at Sam
    -Charlie gets killed and Sam is the bad guy
    -Dean thinks he's better off alone and takes off to spend episode 22 chasing after the Stynes because they killed Charlie
    -Sam feels episode 22 feeling guilty about his actions and probably not much else thpugh I hope he spends the episode trying to kill Crowley but deciding that going Dark to save Dean isnt worth it.
    -Finale time-Dean is full on MOC, Sam dies to save him, Death saves Sam, Rowena unleashes the power of the book

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yep. That's exactly what I was thinking. It's nice that they don't force the writers to kill their own children though...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think I could suffer through all of that JUST to have Julian Richings back...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great review. I share many of your issues with the episode, but I came away in a good mood and therefore rated it more highly than I'm guessing you did. (And I really like Claire, so that helps.) The tweet from Thompson is so telling – it reveals just how formulaic the season plan is, and the mindset of the writers (at least this one) when approaching a MotW episode. A shame, because in past seasons, "filler" eps were sometimes the best ones. Nightshifter, anyone?


    Like you, I was annoyed by how bland the monster of the week turned out to be. So much potential! Nephilim, eating human souls. We could have had an interesting angel plot for once. I'm hoping that we'll revisit Grigori in the future, though only if it's done well.


    And like you, I was surprised by the lack of Cas insight in a supposedly Cas-centric episode. I think we got a better look at Sam's and Dean's headspaces than we did Cas', though Collins turned in a very good episode.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks! I did like Claire a lot more in this episode, but how many angsty teenage girls does one horror show about hunting brothers, angels and demons, really need? I feel like we covered this territory with Madison and Annie already... I think that Claire has a more organic relationship with the main characters, but perhaps they waited too long to get to her story?

    ReplyDelete
  8. You were literally the first person I thought of when Claire killed Tamiel - and then the many who were disgusted when Madison did it. I have to agree about the lack of concern over canon. However, I think it's even worse. I think even when they are aware - and are made aware - that they just don't care. They just write what they want to write regardless of what's gone before. I have to admit that I didn't even notice the nuance to the saving the world remark. I do consider then Team Free Will and they all had a part to play. If it was Jensen messing up the line on the day, he clearly isn't worried about where the credit lies either.


    For me, they killed Dean's character the moment they let him become a demon. I'm ok with how they fudged it, but I ceased to be invested in their reality in those last 3 seconds. Case in point? Last summer was the first summer since the show started that I didn't watch an episode a day, or a week - or even once all summer.


    I do feel that Jensen and Jared are more invested in the show again, so I will continue to watch, but I'm far less likely to be as forgiving when an episode seriously stumbles as this one did. I begin to feel like the best thing for the show is to clean out the writers room and start fresh.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Waited too long, perhaps, and the timing within the season was really weird. Mid-season finale? Claire really could have been a one-off ep like The Rapture, too.


    And the other new, recurring minor characters this season (Cole, Hannah, Rowena to some extent) in addition to the not-new recurring minor characters made this season very crowded. Adding Claire to that mix was maybe not the best way to wrap up the Novaks' story. By the time she arrived, we were already tired of focusing on everyone but the Winchesters.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I begin to feel like the best thing for the show is to clean out the writers room and start fresh.

    I'd keep Berens and Dabb (and maybe demote Carver to writer – his episodes while not showrunning were some of the best) but otherwise, yes. We need fresh blood who first have to watch all 10 seasons twice and then pass a "knowledge of SPN canon" test. The show has evolved since the early seasons, but that doesn't mean the writers can act like they never happened. As you mentioned, this season has been full of callbacks, which gives me hope that the writers haven't completely forgotten where we came from.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Excellent points. Hannah feels like the first half equivalent to Claire. And having that single bookend to The Rapture would definitely have been the way to go - and maybe would have gotten them to make the story gel a little more by being faithful to that episode...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jared and Jensen said at a convention sometime in season 7 - towards the end - maybe even during hiatus, that they wouldn't mind if season 6 and 7 turned out to be a bad dream.... I'd like to go with 6-10 being a bad dream...

    ReplyDelete
  13. The synopsis for 22 says that Sam "comes to terms with his decision" I am very curious as to what his decision was. I have high hopes that Charlie will make it out of this season alive. Pictures show that he is with Cas, so even if she does die, he'll most likely bring her back. It would be interesting to see if that was mirror what happened to Kevin last season. But unlike Kevin, Charlie has been around much longer, has more character development, and has a huge fan base. If she died then there would a lot of pissed off fans(Me included). She'll be with Rowena, so probably the only way she will die would be if Rowena somehow used the book to kill her. I have a feeling that since the main theme this season has been suicide and "Keep on Fighting" that either Sam or Dean will sacrifice themselves in order to save the other, or one has to kill the other for getting too dark.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Is anyone else confused about how Amelia got to heaven in the first place? I thought souls were still trapped in the veil. And why couldn't cas heal her angel "sword" would? We needed Amelia dead to make this a "gut-wrenching" episode?


    The writers are still doing a poor job of convincing me that MOC Dean is getting worse. Didn't Sam slam someone's head on a bar when he was looking for teen!dean just a few episodes ago?

    ReplyDelete
  15. @ Lisa: You know, I have not re-watched time after time all summer a season since Swan Song. I used to love laying in bed in the evenings and re-watching the show. Now I find it hard to even find an episode to re-waktch after the first airing. I have re-watched two for a second time this season.


    The point about the writers knowing canon and writing their stories anyway is a classic example of why each episode's story is driving the characters and why there is no consistency, lack of plotting and lack of pacing all over the Carver years. There is no excuse for TV network level writers violating Creative Writing 101. None.


    I wasn't happy with the idea of Demon Dean either, but I was okay with their 'fudging.' I am not okay with the MoC running as a background story for 1.5 seasons now. It's not a story at all; just background noise. So far this season, there is a big dichotomy between Dean, the Mark-bearer who is much better off than both Sam and Cas, and those two, who are not okay. I don't know if that is intentional and I don't know if that is going to be addressed in these last three episodes, but it sure is a big gaping hole.


    It's not just the little girl teenagers that saves the brothers these days. It's every female one-off they have on the show, and the result is hunting is diminished, the Winchesters are diminished, and their entire backstory (the premise of the show) is diminished.


    Here's the two questions the episode left me with, and they aren't about the arc or anything else that should excite me for the remaining episodes of the season.


    Who is paying for the cab ride between Tulsa and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a trip of 564 miles?


    Who in their right mind connected to the show thought a 5-minute character like Claire deserved a 3-episode arc in the season or a nobody character like Cole getting a 3-episode arc? Both those characters got equal time to DDean's 3-episode arc.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yep. A couple of non-bloody head slams proves nothing. I'm assuming that Hannah having everything in order back in Heaven includes letting souls in from the veil. I assumed that her wounds not healing was related to Tamiel feeding on her soul through them - but who knows?

    ReplyDelete
  17. While I share your love for Charlie, don't assume that she has a huge following - she has a lot of haters out there too. I would also disagree that Kevin didn't have the same amount of character development - he was in far more episodes than Charlie - 18 for Kevin and only 6 for Charlie. He was introduced in the episode immediately following the one that introduced Charlie so negligibly longer.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Excellent points. What happened to putting them on a bus? I keep getting the feeling that the writers are trying to correct for every complaint they get - and failing miserably to actually get the point. So we have a parade of female characters who are under-developed and rush in to save the day. How about some more Jody Mills? Who has training and isn't obnoxious and works well with them?

    ReplyDelete
  19. I don't know what the point of this whole storyline was. Cas is feeling sad about what he did, but it's okay everyone forgives him for destroying a family, like the scene of Amelia straight hand waving his apology, personally I think they've made all the wrong choices with this storyline, and thus renders it a waste of time, because nothing has changed with Castiel's character. I mean the logical end for this whole would have been Cas, pulling a Hannah, or at least promising to resurrect Jimmy and give his body back when he's done with helping Sam and Dean. Also, I just hate the whole Jimmy in Heaven thing, because it makes no sense, It's a retcon about as bad as when Kripke had angels dying fighting demons/protecting seals in the beginning of season 4, and then have everyone confused when angels end up dying in the back end of season 4.

    Also, just saying, I've liked Buckner/Ross-Lemming's episodes this season way more than Thompson's. "Book of the Damned" being in my view his only really good episode his season. But I'm the rare Buckner/Ross-Lemming apologist apparently.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Kevin's actually only been in 15, the Super Wiki also lists the episodes he gets mentioned in, so that's probably why you thought 18.


    Though Osric still holds the record for guest actor appearances, well outside of Jim Beaver/Mark Shepperd and Misha who were basically main cast.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I highly doubt Charlie will die, unless next season is the final season, in which it should be a blood bath.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Robbie said the "saved the world" line was originally "helped save the world", for whatever reason someone thought it needed to be changed, so it was. His glib response to the complaints, however was more annoying then the line itself.

    ReplyDelete
  23. There's an entrance into Heaven, so reapers should have access again.


    I think Cas couldn't heal Amelia had something to do with her soul siphoned off, but that's just an assumption on my part.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I am inclined more towards Charlie being kidnapped, but there is a possibility that she will die, since she is the only character at this point that the Winchesters really have a big enough stake in to "surprise" the audience and drive Dean to go on a Styne rampage. If she does die, though, Cas is all angered up and ready and waiting to bring resurrect her between now and S11 for a second great big audience surprise. Ho hum.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Oh, we will see Jodi, Sheriff Donut, Cole, Claire and Charlie next season. Of course, Cas and Crowley will be there, and maybe even Annie Alex or another teenager that joins Jodi's Home for Wayward Hunter Teens. That gives them a big ensemble cast to allow the Js their part-time work.


    Since I am still invested in the Winchester story and want to see how it ends, my plans are to watch the premiere and the finale. Based on the last two years, I'll see their whole story in those two episodes and skip the junk in-between.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Not sure how Jimmy in Heaven is a ret-con - because they said he was trapped in his body with Cas in The Rapture? Pretty sure that was taken care of by Cas exploding in Swan Song - which was in the THEN montage btw. But I definitely agree this storyline was a waste. However, Cas can't pull a Hannah when his actual mission - saving Dean - is in real jeopardy.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Fair review of a lame episode.

    ReplyDelete
  28. He was unable to heal even her injuries when he tried earlier in the episode, so I guess we are to assume that the nature of how Tamiel's weapons work make their wounds unhealable by angels.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Well, Cas also says that whole "celestial wavelength" line in season 6, clearly meaning he was fighting in Heaven in his true form. So that raises the question of what happen to the body, and if Jimmy was gone how did Cas regain consent?


    But then it also raises a plot hole for season 5, because if angels can occupy empty vessels, why didn't Zachariah just kill Sam and Dean and have Michael and Lucifer jump in them.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Goes to show Robbie Thompson may of wrote most of Charlie's eps but she's not his baby. She's Carver's baby hence the consistency that no matter who writes her she's still annoying.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Gamble years = the end of canon. You still have to have consent - Sam and Dean would have to say yes the way Jimmy did - then apparently, you can stay even after the host's soul leaves...

    ReplyDelete
  32. Ok, to correct some of your "clearing up of revisionist history":
    Castiel took Jimmy's body in order to communicate with Dean, and to carry out his orders. He didn't know what the plan for Earth was until AFTER Zachariah revealed their intentions to Dean, which then causes Cas to rebel AGAIN.
    Cas thought Uriel was a traitor. Then we got Zach, who kept prodding about behind the scenes. When it became obvious Cas wasn't going to play along, he got sent back to Heaven to have an attitude adjustment, and went back to blindly following orders. Until the Beautiful Room, when he uses his own blood to banish Zach.


    Jimmy did NOT "not want to play host anymore," Castiel got sent in for "reconditioning," which freed Jimmy from vessel duty.
    Cas took Claire's body because Jimmy had just gotten shot. Cas wanted Jimmy to "receive his reward" in heaven, but Jimmy chose to continue to be Cas' vessel to save Claire from that fate.

    ReplyDelete

NOTE: Name-calling, personal attacks, spamming, excessive self-promotion, condescending pomposity, general assiness, racism, sexism, any-other-ism, homophobia, acrophobia, and destructive (versus constructive) criticism will get you BANNED from the party.