Supernatural began its eleventh season with “Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire” written by showrunner Jeremy Carver and directed by exec producer Robert Singer. The episode was interestingly structured and you had to pay attention to get many of the nuances, suggesting the potential for some satisfying payoffs as the season progresses. We’ve heard the promises before that the boys will learn from their mistakes and be fighting side by side. However, with as much promise as a number of the speeches made, by the end of the episode, the brothers are apart and are keeping secrets from each other. Still, as I said, there was much to like about this episode.
Certainly, the traditional opening montage of ‘last season on the show’ set to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Run Through the Jungle” a nice “classic” way to begin. Sadly, CHCH, the channel that’s taken over broadcasting the show in my area, completely botched the sound levels. I re-watched on the CW site and had no problem. One thing that really disappointed me about the opening was the new “Darkness” title card which I found really boring after a few excellent ones. So I'm using the season 10 one at least for this week. If you want to refresh your memory on the long list of title cards go
here.
I liked that the mystery was built by the timeline cutting back and forth. The biggest mystery, of course, is what or who is the ‘Darkness.’ Apparently, it’s a woman called Amara (Emily Swallow). I’ll admit that I didn’t actually get that the baby was the Darkness that Dean (Jensen Ackles) meets until I looked up the actress on IMDb and saw the name of her character.
We get Dean’s conversation with the Darkness spread out over the episode, and in typical Winchester fashion, he doesn’t share all of the information with Sam (Jared Padalecki). I wasn’t sure at first when Sam found him unconscious in the field whether Dean actually remembered what had happened, but as the episode unfolds, it begins to seem chillingly like he did remember everything – and there may be more yet to come.
All Dean tells Sam initially is that she saved him and thanked him for setting her free. Sam insist that he set her free, but Dean clarifies that Sam may have said the spell but he had the mark, so it’s on both of them. It seems that neither really believes that though both insist in two different scenes that they are equally culpable. Yes, boys – you are. Dean does tell Sam that she had an energy or force about her. I quite liked the little touch of humor at the end of the episode when Dean notices the Impala’s wheel stuck in the hole just before he gets in the car and turns to Sam saying, “You were just going to let me get in the car?” And Sam smirks and says, “You were on a roll….” Classic, boys, classic.
Dean and Sam run into carnage on the road and naturally stop to investigate. It’s another nice moment when they get out of the car and cock their guns at exactly the same moment. A group of infected road workers – what Sam will later dub Rabids – has set upon a family in a car. Deputy Jenna (Laci J Mailey – who was also in “There Will Be Blood” as a different character) gets the drop on them and asks to see some skin. Dean asks if this is a Magic Mike moment – typical Dean – but she’s serious as she’s looking for the tell-tale black lines of infection. Mailey did a good job portraying the character. She came across as strong if somewhat green – she’d only been on the job three weeks.
Jenna has been injured, so the brothers take her to the nearest hospital that has also been attacked. Jenna wants to call for backup, but Dean sensibly points out that more bodies means more victims, so it’s safer if they take care of it themselves. Dean stiches up Jenna while Sam clears the building. She tells him that she hadn’t expected to be killing her friends. The job was supposed to be about saving people. And of course that resonates with the hunting things, saving people that is the Winchester moto. Dean tells her it looks better in print – he knows the reality has another side.
Sam stumbles upon a Rabid attacking a janitors closet from which you can hear a baby crying. Before Sam can really do anything, the Rabid simply dies. Apparently, they have a very short shelf life. Sam opens the door to reveal Mike (Aaron Hill) and his baby. His wife died in childbirth just before the Rabids arrived.
As Mike tells them his story, Sam sees the lines creeping up Mike’s neck. Hill delivered a terrific performance. He knows he’s infected. They all figure out that whatever this is it can be transmitted by injury or blood. Dean wants to simply kill Mike, but Sam points out they can just let him die. Mike tells them he’ll make them a deal if the save the baby, he’ll just go away and die. Dean agrees, but Mike clarifies that he doesn’t want Dean to take the baby, he wants Jenna to take her because he’s known Jenna most of her life. Jenna takes the baby, even while pointing out, “I don’t even own a Guinea Pig.” Mike leaves.
Just as the three are about to leave the hospital, another band of Rabids arrives. Sam asks what’s the plan, and Dean replies “in order to get out, we go through.” This scene really was the heart of the episode. Sam tells Dean that if they don’t change, “all of our crap is going to keep repeating.” He asks, “When did we forget how to do this? This kill first ask questions later?” I think this is a question a lot of people, myself included, have been asking for a long time. Once upon a time, they agonized over exorcising Meg, but now routinely kill demons with no regard to their human hosts. Sam reminds Dean that “hunting things” is only half of the bumper sticker. Sam insists that there is always a cure if you want to find it. Of course, that’s not strictly true. Sam tells Dean that saving people means saving all people – not a select few. Sam tells Dean that it isn’t on him, it’s on the both of them. They both have to change.
And then they do the opposite of change. The brothers split up – “Do what you do. You have to let me do what I do.” Sam leads the Rabids off and stupidly doesn’t clear the janitor’s closet before he locks himself in. And surprise, the Rabid that attacks him bleeds all over him and infects him. Also surprise, he’d likely be dead if she hadn’t because he’s no match for three – and neither was the door. And of course, when Dean calls to check in, despite having the black lines, Sam continues to lie and say that he’s fine. He also tells Dean that he’s going to find a cure.
As Sam leads the Rabids away, Dean and Jenna try to slip out with the baby. They’re stopped by Mike. The black tendrils are all the way up his face now, but he seems to still be fighting it and manages to tell them the baby’s name is Amara before he dies. I wonder if it was Mike or the Darkness telling them the baby’s name though.
Dean calls on the way to Jenna’s Grandma’s with the baby when they stop to change the baby. Jenna is dealing with all that’s happened but is still overwhelmed. Dean tells her that her way back is through the baby. She can heal herself from the killing by saving the baby. As Jenna is changing the baby, we see that she is carrying the Mark of Cain. We also get the final piece of Dean’s conversation with the Darkness.
In a previous scene, she tells Dean that she likes it in the middle of the swirling darkness. She hasn’t felt that peaceful in a long time. She also says that she doesn’t know Death and Death didn’t know her. Dean asks why he shouldn’t kill her right then. But if she doesn’t know death, can she know what killing is? However, her answer is a lot more interesting than that. She says, “Am I saying that or you?” I thought this scene with the two so close and face to face was interestingly shot. Could we surmise that the Darkness is actually Dean’s darkness made incarnate? And how interesting would it be if it was that it took the shape of a woman? Or if she isn’t merely Dean’s darkness, but all the darkness and evil, did the Mark strip out Dean’s darkness when it left him?
In the final scene between the two, which Dean remembers as he waits for Jenna, Amara tells Dean, “We’re bound. We’ll always be bound. No matter where I am, who I am. We will always help each other.” So is Dean helping the baby to safety because he knows who the baby is? And are they bound because Amara is a piece of him?
Meanwhile, Crowley (Mark Sheppard) is in pieces after a fashion. He manages to smoke out before Cas (Misha Collins) can kill him with the angel blade. The entire sequence with Crowley is simply comedy gold – mainly because Kirsten Robek playing Marnie – female Crowley – is just so damn good! She nails Crowley. If she looked familiar, she was also in “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester.” You probably also recognized her husband, played by Kurt Evans who played FBI Special Agent Reidy in “Jus in Bello” and “Folsom Prison Blues.”
Crowley attempts to snap out when he smokes into Marnie, but finding he can’t, is happy to resort to old school demon-communication, which requires blood to make a call. He puts the call off to take advantage of the orgy that Marnie’s husband has thoughtfully arranged for her birthday! I loved the demons showing up when Crowley does get around to calling and hesitantly wondering about the delay! Even better was Crowley complaining about being hot and the demon telling him it was menopause! One thing I did find unfortunate in this scene – that is only partially mitigated by the demons being Black and Asian, was Crowley saying “what about the ‘other white meat’ suit?” Now, it’s a play on calling pork the other white meat, but I still sucked my breath in a bit at the other implications you could draw from that remark.
Once Crowley does return to his male body, the demons fill him in on the Darkness. Crowley isn’t concerned because in his mind, “Darkness, King of Hell. Natural allies.” But the demons say that when the Darkness was released there was a horrible noise coming from the cage, like a frightened animal. They think it could be either Michael or Lucifer trying to warn them. The end result is that half of Hell is currently flipping out. It would certainly be fun to see either Jake Abel return as Michael or Mark Pellegrino as Lucifer. That bit of information does give Crowley pause.
Finally, Cas is still trapped by Rowena’s spell. He realizes that the spell to kill hasn’t abated because Crowley isn’t dead. Cas seems to have killed a dog but he runs away before he can hurt the children or father owners. When the police seem to have surrounded him, Cas prays for help. He also calls Dean and there’s a nice moment between the two in which all is forgiven without anyone having to say they’re sorry. Cas manages to tell them that Rowena (Ruth Connell) has taken off with the Codex and spell book.
Their conversation is cut off as two angels show up. Instead of taking Cas to heaven, they take him to where they say they’ve moved the door to Heaven. It quickly becomes clear that while they answered Cas’s prayer for help, they have no good intentions. What exactly are they going to torture him for? Information? Punishment?
So Dean and Sam are now apart and keeping secrets – I agree. That needs to change. This episode pays lip service to a new direction, but I want to see that actually happen. I actually loved Sam’s question about “When did we forget how to do this” because I’m still feeling like the writers have forgotten. Still, I’m taking this away as some forward motion. I’m definitely curious about Dean’s relationship to the Darkness. It was also nice to have some news about Lucifer and Michael – could either be the promised characters from the past the writers mentioned? It seems pretty clear how Crowley will fit in to the overall arc, but I’m not sure how Cas is going to play a part. Rowena (Ruth Connell) remains a wild card.
What did you think of the premiere? Is the Darkness the big bad the show’s been looking for? What do you think Dean’s relationship is with her? What did you think of Cas and Crowley’s storylines? Favorite scene? 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, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. 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.
