Here’s a quick catch up on the last two episodes of Supernatural. “Love Hurts” was written by the team of Eric Charmelo and Nicloe Snyder and was directed by Phil Sgriccia. This episode marked the series second foray into the Valentine’s holiday. This one won’t go down as one of my favorite ever episodes but for a Charmelo/Snyder episode it was ok. “The Vessel” was written by Robert Berens and was directed by John Badham. This episode marked a return to time travel and was a really enjoyable and solid episode.
“Love Hurts” revolves around a cheating husband – Dan (Jim Thorburn). Wife Melissa (Luciana Carro) knows about the affair with the babysitter – Staci (Zoe Altman). It seems like the monster is a shapeshifter but it turns out that Melissa has gone to a witch – Sonja (Venus Terzo) and the monster is a Qareen – a type of shapeshifter that is controlled via its heart. The Qareen takes the form of the person’s deepest, darkest desire. The episode has some great fun with people’s hearts being ripped out.
If Sonja seemed familiar that’s because she was also in season one’s “Something Wicked.” I’d hate to think that the mom the brothers so identified in that episode somehow ended up as freaky hairdresser witch Sonja! Terzo starred in one of my favorite Canadian dramas, DaVinci’s Inquest and just incidentally the coroner from this episode – Carmen Aguirre, Luciana Carro, and Lucia Walters (Dan’s secretary) were also on DaVinci’s!
Our first scene with the brothers is the morning after Valentine’s Day, and Dean (Jensen Ackles) has been celebrating ‘unattached drifter Christmas’ and is sporting a gigantic hickey! Sam (Jared Padalecki) spent the night researching and has found the case. It’s a nice light-hearted scene between the two.
There were a lot of fun touches in this episode. The “Too Tired Motel” is car themed – what a great play on the two meanings of tired! The hairdresser’s is “The Art of Dyeing” – incorporating both her businesses! Dean has some great lines. Such as telling Melissa she can’t say Sonja didn’t warn her! He confronts Dan and tells him not to act all fake-offended. And we get a “Yahtzee” too! Dean determines that the spell is a magic STD!
Dan has hidden the nanny-cam because it shows him kissing – and then apparently murdering Staci. The eye flare leads the brothers to believe there’s a shapeshifter on the loose. Then Staci kills Dan and they suspect Melissa, but she can easily hold the silver pen Dean gives her.
It’s again like old times when Dean suggests the brothers go out and mop some hearts up off the local barroom floor. Sam is content to hit the lore, but tells his brother to be who he is. Melissa ends up at their hotel room when Dan comes for her. The spell turns out to be the “kiss of death.” It’s like a game of “hot potato” according to Dean. Dean tells Melissa they will protect her, so when the silver bullets don’t kill “Dan,” he kisses Melissa. Sam is NOT happy, but the three take off in the Impala. There’s a great shot of the silhouette of Dan transforming into a woman.
Sam tells Dean he doesn’t have to be the martyr, to try to carry it all himself. I loved Melissa’s face when she sees the trunk. It’s always fun to have the pop culture references to witches – the White Witch from
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and of course, Dean tells Melissa to drop a house on Sonja if she has to – it always comes back to
The Wizard of Oz, doesn’t it?
Dean reveals his deepest, darkest desire is Daisy Duke – and he’ll take Barbara Bach or Jessica Simpson! And Dean FINALLY wins rock, paper, scissors! Has he been practicing???
Sam searches upstairs and finds the heart in a box. Sonja spells him into her barber’s chair. Meanwhile Amara (Emily Swallow) turns up as Dean’s real deepest, darkest desire. Dean knows it’s not Amara – and that it doesn’t have a heart. Sonja knows Sam is a hunter. Sonja tells Sam, the only thing worse than a cheating man is one who gets away with it. She’s not wrong! She is also weeding out the foolish women who want them back – so all the idiots.
Qareen sees that Dean is ashamed of his desire for Amara and tells him not to fight it. I really wish they’d stop drawing attention to that horrid dress that Swallow is wearing! While Dean literally fights the Qareen, Melissa shows up and distracts Sonja long enough for Sam to shoot her – so much for not killing humans. Sam gets the heart just in time and there’s a nice effect as the Qareen flashes out of existence.
I liked the touch of Dean sticking some money under a concrete block to help pay for them wrecking the room. I was surprised that Dean came clean to Sam that it was Amara that came to him. Sam isn’t surprised and assures Dean that the sister of God being his deepest, darkest desire doesn’t make him weak or complicit.
Sam points out that Dean never had a choice and Sam isn’t going to blame or judge Dean. Dean insists he wants her dead. Dean also insists it’s not desire or love – but he looks troubled and unsure. He confesses that he doesn’t think he can kill the darkness. Sam tells Dean he’s got it. And for once, it looks like Dean may be ok with that. I really liked how they wove the mytharc into this episode.
“The Vessel” featured the big reveal that Cas (Misha Collins) had said yes to Lucifer. Collins is terrific in the episode as we see him slip on his mask of Cas and also fight back Lucifer to actually be Cas – there’s a lot of nuance in his performance. Like everyone else who’s played Lucifer, he’s clearly having a lot of fun with the Casifer portion of his performance. He’s also clearly opted to follow Mark Pellegrino’s version of a more playful Lucifer than the gravitas with which Jared played him.
The past storyline takes us back to the Nazis of WWII again. We are introduced to Delphine (Weronika Rosati) – a woman of letters! She steals the Hand of God from Nazi officer Gumprecht (Richard Stroh), apparently killing him. Dean is impressed but surprised at a woman working for the Men of Letters – didn’t know they were so big on gender equality – and Sam points out it was a kind of all hands on deck scenario in WWII.
Sam’s research has lead him to the Hand of God as a possible way to kill Amara. It’s a catch all phrase for things God touched during Biblical times – and we get a nice shot of a picture of the Arc of the Covenant – and then we find out later in the episode that the object Delphine has is a part of the Arc and Dean is so excited to go “Full on Raiders!” Sam’s research leads them to Delphine and the discovery that she perished at sea.
In Hell, Lucifer is more interested in video games than listening to his demons. Crowley (Mark Sheppard) is being kept chained – in a Hawaiian shirt! – the horror! – like a dog in the wall. He is clearly not happy, but he’s also not stupid enough to defy Lucifer. But if I know Crowley, he’s plotting something. Lucifer has called for all his weapons – and it’s a pretty paltry collection. Lucifer does take great pleasure in calling Crowley his little doggie, but he’s not fooled. He knows he’s broken Crowley, but he also smells defiance. Crowley admits it.
Crowley is a “clever little doggie” and recognizes that Lucifer knows he’s not strong enough to defeat Amara on his own. And Lucifer admits as much.
Sam works on translating the men of letters’ files. Dean is drinking beer – at noon! Which Sam is a bit concerned about. Dean falls back on the fact that Sam drank all the coffee, but it’s not the first time this season that we’ve seen Dean returning to his more hard-drinking ways.
The brothers call Cas, and Casifer comes to the bunker. He tells them that time travel is a different system from teleportation. Dean insists that being in a submarine under the ocean is perfect because it means he can’t affect time. Dean also insists that Sam has to stay behind. They can’t risk both of them. Dean is the least valuable player because he can’t kill Amara. And of course, Dean doesn’t know who Jules Verne is! Cas insists that he will stay right by Dean’s side, but when they get to the Blue Fin, Delphine has protected it with wards and Cas ends up in the ocean! Loved the shot of soggy Cas returning to the bunker!
Dean sees the warding as he’s hiding under a bunk. He ends up overhearing the sailors talking about the mission for “some broad” and he ties up Petey (Grant Harvey) and steals his clothes. He makes his way to Delphine. One crew member comments on her “gams” and Dean calls her a hottie – totally at sea with the current slang!
I loved how confused they are by Dean’s cell phone! Delphine, however, immediately realizes that Dean’s telling the truth. Dean tells them he is on a mission from the future. Dean warns Captain Dearborn (Darren Dolynski) that they are about to get sunk by a Nazi destroyer.
The Casifer that returns is very clearly not Cas, so I really had to wonder why Sam didn’t seem to have an inkling that something was amiss. Sam comes up with a spell – the Spell of Gathering. It’s hilariously ironic that Sam doesn’t think this theoretical magic will work because it requires the power of an arch angel! Sam is ready to give up. Cas suggests that they try it anyway, but in an echo of Crowley to Lucifer, Sam tells Cas he’s not strong enough.
Delphine asks to talk to Dean alone, and it’s at that moment that the surface ship is detected. Petey wants to know who won the World Series – and of course, Dean doesn’t follow baseball! Petey wants to know the next President – and Dean almost gets that on the first try. Petey is paying enough attention to be the first to understand that they are all about to die. Delphine trusts him immediately and completely because he’s a Men of Letters – he’s not a stranger.
Petey also wants to know how long the war is going to go on for, and Dean has to tell him years. It’s 1943 and the war ends in 1945. Petey is more worried for all of his friends who are scattered across the various fronts. He tells Dean he believes him because he reads a lot of Flash Gordon. There’s some great camera work to give the claustrophobic feeling of being in a sub, which is helped by the low, red lighting. As they are attacked, the ship suddenly disappears – more Nazi black magic? Seems even more likely when Gumprecht shows up alive!
Delphine tells Dean to kill her because there’s no way that Cas can get on the ship while she’s alive because her brand is spellbound to her heart – its power lives and dies with her. Dean can’t just cut it to break it. Anybody else see a brand in the boys’ future?
Sam finds Cas making the spell and warns him that he’s not strong enough. Sam offers Cas his soul to power him up to cast the spell. Casifer bursts out laughing. He muses that he doesn’t need Sam. He shoves him up against a pillar and demonstrates how he’ll tell Dean about how Sam died. Loved watching Collins slip into Cas from Casifer – it gives a really good picture of how much he actually drops his voice for the character.
Sam finally realizes that it’s Lucifer standing in front of him. And Casifer slowly – and painfully – sticks his hand into Sam’s soul. Cas manages to take control, but he won’t eject Lucifer because they need him to save Dean.
Gumprecht offers the Captain a choice – surrender the girl and cargo and go to a concentration camp – or they’ll sink them. The Captain says they won’t give up either her or the cargo. Dean offers to use the Hand of God to save them. Delphine wants Dean to kill her, but when he won’t, she uses the Hand of God. This is another great effect.
Lucifer grabs Dean just as Delphine goes nuclear. As soon as they’re back, Sam tells Dean Cas isn’t Cas – and Casifer admits, “Cat’s out of the bag!” Casifer is even more disgusted at having to work with them rather than just being mortal enemies. Casifer picks up the Hand of God but Delphine used all the power. Casifer is about to kill Dean when Sam uses a sigil to blast Casifer out of the bunker.
We get a final brother scene – side by side by a body of water. The plan now is to trap Lucifer and rescue Cas. Sam points out that it might not be that simple – Cas may not want to be rescued. Dean is overwhelmed by what he saw. He tells Sam he was just a witness. He clearly feels bad and inadequate in the face of their sacrifice. He tells Sam that he doesn’t want to talk about it. The Nazi ship, unlike the sub, was found. It had burned and sank. The setting and tone of this final scene really reminded me of the last scene in “Wishful Thinking.”
What did you think of the two episodes? 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.
