Sam and Dean go to the chemically contaminated ghost town where Tracey and Irv are being held. The two kidnapped hunters are in an abandoned diner, tied together but unguarded. Good plan, Abaddon. Then, instead of running away, they dawdle and chat. This plan somehow backfires on them, and they split into teams of Sam/Irv and Dean/Tracy to try to make it to the Impala. Irv is shot and killed almost immediately, prompting Sam to dive back into the diner for cover. Meanwhile, Dean and Tracy waste their ammunition by plugging Abaddon in the chest, around which is strapped a Kevlar vest. For some reason, this annoys me more than anything else in the whole episode. Dean gives Tracy the keys to the Impala and sends her for more ammunition, getting her out of the way of Abaddon's wrath. Abaddon quickly overpowers Dean and does what sounds like some serious damage to his arm before launching into a weirdly seductive evil villain speech. She wants his body, she says, and I sense that she means it in a way that is very different from how a hefty percentage of the
Supernatural fandom wants his body. Elsewhere, Sam fights all three Navy demons. Despite a valiant showing, the demons knock him unconscious. Before Sam can die and we all have to take a shot of whiskey, Ezekiel takes over. A light shines out of him as he stands, and the shadowy silhouette of a pair of tattered wings extends behind him before he zaps all of the demons. It is both very cool and very sad. The light show from within the diner scares big bad Abaddon away. Evidently unbothered by Abaddon's attempt to twist his arm out of its socket, Dean enters the diner to find Samzekiel stabbing the dead demons with the demon knife to make it look as though there had been no angel involvement. Dean is clearly uncomfortable with the situation but chooses to trust that Ezekiel will keep his word and leave Sam once Sam is fully healed. Not that Dean really has much of a choice in the matter. Soon, Sam wakes up and has a moment of disbelief at the idea of Dean taking out the three Navy demons on his own. Before he can press further and figure out why Dean looks so guilty, however, Tracy reappears after apparently sauntering back to the Impala and admiring the upholstery for a few minutes. Bunker. Kevin is nowhere to be seen as the Winchesters return. They check on Crowley, who gives up the names of two demons and talks about the fun that he had with Kevin. Correctly interpreting this, Dean rushes to find Kevin and stop him before he can leave the bunker. Kevin parrots Crowley's words and accuses Dean of considering him expendable, but Dean tells Kevin that he is a member of their family. As this "family" is otherwise comprised of Sam, Dean, and Castiel, Kevin's subsequent tears probably should have been of despair rather than relief. He's practically begging for a hug, though, and Dean won't budge. "I'm sorry, Kevin," says Dean, "but if you want a hug, you're going to have to come back from the dead a few times." Not really. But I would have laughed. Later, Sam and Dean share a drink. Dean ask Sam how he feels, his expression uncertain as he refuses to look Sam in the eye. Sam says that "things are good" and that he's the happiest that he's been "in forever." As the world is tearing itself to pieces and optimism never leads to anything good on
Supernatural, Dean looks more suspicious than ever. He gulps down his bourbon and wonders if maybe he should have gotten Adam out of Hell instead.
This second episode of Season 9 wasn't bad
. It was nice to have Sam and Dean interacting once more. Both Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are capable of carrying an episode on their own, but they (as well as Misha Collins) are best when opposite each other. I also appreciated a revisit to the bunker, which--as contrived as it is--was a necessary addition to the
Supernatural universe. With Bobby's house gone (as well as Bobby, for the most part), the Winchesters need a base of sorts, and what could be more awesome than a base with a demon torture dungeon and stash of anachronistic weaponry? Nothing, thats what. This was a familiar episode, and while the return to formula was comfortable, the fall of the angels and capture of Crowley really demand a change of format that the rest of the season will hopefully deliver. Castiel was absent from "Devil May Care," which was a slight disappointment after the introduction of his arc in the premiere. Fortunately, Osric Chau as Kevin Tran more than compensated for the absence. Relatively unimpressive in his first few episodes in Season 7, Chau has become a fantastic addition to the show, contributing the sense of doomed naiveté that was originally embodied by Sam but has been long since abandoned. His conflict over his lack of closure regarding his mother's presumed death versus the Winchesters' instructions is believably introduced in this episode. Kevin
knows better than to take Crowley at his word, but--in the grand
Supernatural tradition--the concerns of family tend to outweigh logic. His decision not to free Crowley and to live with his lack of closure is one that I don't know that either Sam or Dean could have made in their earlier years (or even now), and his breakdown to Dean at the end of the episode feels completely earned. Unfortunately, not all of the acting in "Devil May Care" was so on point. As in the previous episode, Samzekiel's scene fell flat. Taking into account that this episode was filmed before the season premiere, it's difficult not to compare Jared Padalecki's first performance as Ezekiel with Misha Collins' first performance as Castiel. The two scenes are actually staged very similarly, and Padalecki looks as though he is trying to reenact the gravity of Castiel's first scene, but lacks the presence to do so. The circumstances are completely different, of course; Collins was an actor new to the show with the freedom of playing the first of a new species, while Padalecki has been playing one of the show's two protagonists for the past eight years. Ultimately, Samzekiel comes across as robotic whereas Castiel comes across as otherworldly. Padalecki is great at playing Sam, but he is so clearly acting as Ezekiel that it can be hard to take him seriously. Also difficult to take entirely seriously is Abaddon. While her character has great potential, Abaddon is overly-sexualized in a way that male villains in
Supernatural never really are. We haven't had many long-lasting female antagonists, and those who have been unambiguously evil have been uncomfortably sexualized, particularly Ruby 2.0 and (adult) Lilith. Her victories coming as a result of men gaping at her beauty reduces her agency as an antagonist, trivializing her own plots as lacking any particular finesse as well as painting male characters in a superficial light that does not encourage empathy. There is nothing wrong with having a beautiful female villain, and Alaina Huffman is gorgeous; the problem is when her beauty is portrayed as one of her most essential traits. Abaddon was one of the very first fallen demons, chosen specifically by Lucifer to be one of his Knights of Hell. She did not become a leading contender for the ruling of all of Hell via seduction, and
Supernatural should allow her to live up to her credentials and become a truly frightening antagonist. Next time: Castiel is back, and he is discovering the hardships of being human. One of which evidently includes making out with a woman. As the preview hints that his situation will also include homelessness and hunger, I think that we can all begrudge him a little bit of making out.