Supernatural “Patience” was written by Robert Berens and directed by Robert Singer. I was really excited about this episode – not because it’s the first of the planted spinoff episodes – but because of the return of one of my favorite characters: Missouri Mosley (Loretta Devine). Devine was originally supposed to fill the role that Jim Beaver’s Bobby Singer played in the lives of the Winchester brothers. But, like Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Devine’s career took off and she wasn’t available to return. She – again like Morgan – had a very successful run on
Grey’s Anatomy and just finished several seasons on
The Carmichael Show (she and the show were fantastic if you missed it). So, you can imagine my extreme disappointment in how this episode squandered this character. Yes. The one thing that Supernatural seems to excel at is killing off favorite – or interesting/challenging – characters. And once again, it was an utterly pointless, stupid death. If this episode is the quality we can expect from the spinoff series, I won’t be watching.
Fans tend to despise seeing the brothers split up. There’s also been some dissatisfaction with how Sam (Jared Padalecki) is seemingly bonding with Jack (Alexander Calvert). I wasn’t bothered by seeing the brothers at odds – as long as the writers can actually manage to have the characters work through their differences like adults for a change. As for this episode, the best scenes all happened at the Bunker.
The episode begins with a classic teaser as a psychic Dede (Chelsey Reist) is killed by a Wraith (Jon Cor). There’s some nice spooky bits as she reads his aura and his true face bleeds through. It seems that the Wraith has developed a “taste” for the enhanced energy of a psychic – like the one in an earlier episode that had a taste for mentally disturbed people. Naturally, Dede turns out to be a friend of Missouri.
At the Bunker, Dean is listening to rock, drinking, and staring at his computer… research? Porn? Hard to say, but he didn’t look particularly entertained. Jack is struggling, and it’s up to Sam to check in on him. He gives Jack the tape that Kelly (Courtney Ford) made for him. She tells him not to let anyone tell him who he’s supposed to be. She tells him that he is who he chooses to be and that she knows he’ll be amazing. She is also clearly happy that he has an angel watching over him – reminding Jack of Castiel (Misha Collins).
Sam watches, clearly sympathetic to a son having to grow up without his mother. Sam has to step away when he gets a call from Missouri asking for help. He calls Jody (Kim Rhodes) to take over. Dean (Jensen Ackles) is angry that Sam has passed off the case, but Sam insists that they need to be at the Bunker to help Jack learn to control his powers.
But that’s not Dean’s way. He can’t say no to a friend, and hunting is his therapy. He has his own demons that he needs to work off. Ironically, Dean suggests that Jody could end up dead because Sam has decided to babysit the Anti-Christ – but Missouri ends up dead even with Dean on the case.
Dean arrives on the case and isn’t sure who to hug first. He goes for Missouri who cuts right through the small talk to tell him that she’s sorry for his losses. I found it interesting that Dean is wearing a jacket very similar to the one he wears in “The End” – the other alternate universe episode in which Dean becomes a hardened soldier after losing everyone close to him.
Missouri walks Dean and Jody through the crime scene and has a vision of her son, James (Adrian Holmes). Missouri tries to warn James, but he hangs up on her. Missouri sends Dean and Jody to protect her family. She knows the Wraith is coming for her, so why not tell them and lay the trap there!? It is utterly pointless for her to stay behind to face the Wraith alone.
Back at the Bunker, Sam begins Jack’s training. He’s going to teach him to harness his power by starting by moving a pencil. Jack gets frustrated and tells Sam that he doesn’t know how to make his powers work – they were just like breathing or blinking. Jack seems surprised when Sam tells him they’ll take a break – but it’s just to get something to eat.
Missouri refuses to run or scream and insists that her people are going to kill his ass. Having Missouri go out as a badass did not make up for the stupidity of not setting up a trap when she knew the Wraith was coming for her there and then.
We get to meet Missouri’s granddaughter Patience (Clark Backo), who is a brilliant student and is starting to manifest psychic abilities of her own – like seeing Missouri’s death. Her best friend Ronson (Chanelle Peloso) insists that she’s Wonder Woman – with hidden athletic abilities too.
Dean sees the report of Missouri’s death at a gas station. He knows that she knew. Jody wants to know if they should go back, but Dean insists that Missouri wanted them to save her family and that’s what they’re going to do. They arrive to a very chilly reception at James’ house. He doesn’t know his mother has been murdered until Dean tells him – but that information would never have been released to the media by the police until next of kin had been notified. James at least feels badly for having hung up on his mother.
I started watching
Supernatural for the monster and urban myth stories. I’m really not terribly interested in high school girls… Patience manages to break off the Wraith’s spike when he attacks her… at night… in the empty high school. Jody and Dean show up in the nick of time. Dean shoots the Wraith, who almost runs him down as he gets away. Patience insists that she gets déjà vu but she’s not a psychic – and thinks that Missouri was a fraud. Patience insists that Missouri ran out on them, and Dean insists that that is not who Missouri was.
Back at the Bunker, Jack is having the opposite of fun in trying to move the pencil. Sam doesn’t understand why it’s so hard now when it was easy before. Jack thinks it makes sense if he’s evil. Sam insists that Jack isn’t evil, and Jack tells Sam that Dean promised to kill him. Jack also tells Sam that Kelly said he could be whoever he wanted to be, but he killed her. And he can’t even do the one stupid good thing that they want him to do, so he must be evil.
Sam tells Jack that Asmodeus tricking him and Dean (being Dean)… isn’t his fault. Sam figures out that Jack is probably scared to use his powers, and the pressure Sam is putting on him isn’t helping. Padalecki is fantastic in this scene. I loved the way that Calvert asked him why he was being nice to him. It was really taking a backseat in the scene to set Padalecki up – the mark of a generous actor. Sam tells Jack that he knows what it feels like to feel like you don’t belong. To feel like there’s a darkness inside of you and to be scared of who you are and what you can do. Sam credits Dean and Cas – his family – for helping him through that. Sam tells Jack that he’s not evil.
Meanwhile, James explains why he broke with Missouri. She’d promised him that his wife, Tess, would be okay when she had cancer, but she died. Missouri explained that nothing is written in stone – so why not try to change her own death? Then James said that Missouri was on the road hunting during his entire childhood – and that is NOT the Missouri we met in season one. I call Retcon.
Patience is angry that her father denied her a relationship with her grandmother. Patience clearly has her grandmother’s gift as she has a vision of her mother’s funeral when holding a brooch. James sent Missouri away. While packing to go away to safety, Patience is kidnapped by the Wraith while Dean, Jody and James are downstairs. Way to secure the perimeter guys…
Dean and Jody strike out on trying to track the Wraith’s van, but as it turns out James actually knows a little witchcraft. Missouri taught him how to use divination stones so that they could always find each other, and he uses them to locate Patience.
The one thing (other than the scenes at the Bunker) that I did like in this episode was Patience seeing everyone die in a vision. Though Jody’s look of utter shock was totally out of character for a Sheriff and a hunter. Patience is able to warn them all, so James and Jody are knocked out but not killed and Dean is able to get the upper hand and kill the Wraith. Patience finally has to admit that she’s psychic.
Dean tells Patience she did good work and then asks what’s next. James has suggested that she put her gift “away” and go back to “normal.” Jody looks shocked, but Dean agrees. He tells her that this life, the hunting life, there is no joy in it, just pain, horror, and death. He tells her to take normal if she gets a chance at it.
Jody, however, tells Patience that she doesn’t have to listen to all of them. Jody tells her about Claire – she told her to try for normal and it didn’t work – it never does. Jody tells her if she ever needs someone to talk to – or a place to go??? – her door is always open. It’s like she’s encouraging her to run away from her father.
Dean arrives back at the Bunker and Sam confronts him for telling Jack he’d kill him. Sam tells Dean that Jack is messed up because of him. Dean is convinced that Sam’s only motivation is to use Jack – “the freak” – to get Mary (Samantha Smith) back. Dean is also convinced that Jack will go evil – it’s just a matter of time. Sam reminds Dean that he didn’t end bad when he was the freak, drinking demon blood. Their father told Dean to put a bullet in Sam, but Dean saved Sam. Dean denies that it’s the same at all.
Dean insists that Sam is just telling himself he cares about Jack because of what he can do for them. But Dean can barely stand to look at Jack because all he sees are all the people they’ve lost because of him. Dean insists that Jack manipulated Cas and that’s what got Cas killed.
The mere mention of Castiel’s name has Jack’s eyes glowing and we see Cas lying – and waking in some black place. We hear Jack’s voice say “Castiel” but it’s completely unclear where Cas may be.
Alexander Calvert continues to impress and Padalecki turns in a powerful performance in this episode. The Wraith storyline was disappointing on so many levels. Bringing back Missouri only to kill her was disappointing and short-sighted. Rather than piquing my interest in
Wayward Sisters, it’s made me less interested. Backo is definitely a better actor than Kathryn Newton, but I still can’t help feeling like
Wayward Sisters could easily cross over into
Riverdale, and I’m just not that demographic. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
