Supernatural 13x17 “The Thing” Episode Review
With the Scooby-Doo episode out of the way, we can get back to the return of Gabriel, our favorite archangel. Sorry Lucifer, king of all angels, but you will never be as great as The Trickster. Although his return and Arthur Ketch are the B-plot of tonight's episode, it was the better half of the episode because we addressed Gabriel's survival... sort of.
Lucifer hinted early on that Asmodeus was the weakest of the Princes of Hell, leaving us wondering how he came to possess additional powers like shape-shifting. Our question was answered once we saw him inject himself with archangel grace and milking all its power like a nice dose of heroin. Watching Gabriel broken, mouth sewed and frightened beyond recognition in his prison, hurt my own soul. When Ketch discovered his boss' intentions with Gabriel and had his ass handed to him by Asmodeus for learning said intentions, he broke Gabriel out with the archangel blade and made his escape.
Ketch is beginning to grow on me. Hopefully he can make amends for what he did in Season 12.
Dean and Sam, still reeling from their encounter with Scooby-Doo, are after the ingredients to open the gate to Apocalyptic World. When Dean planted those sticky notes on Sam's back and let out Velma's catchphrase, I chuckled thinking how little the show changed when it came to their brotherly dynamic and how Dean will never get over their adventure with the Scooby Gang. Neither will the rest of the fandom.
Today's A-plot centered around the Seal of Solomon and a history lesson in the American's Men of Letters. The final ingredient—besides archangel grace—they needed to open the rift and rescue Jack and their mother Mary. The boys travel to Rhode Island to find another Men of Letters bunker where the Men of Letters stashed the Seal of Solomon. Not to mention it's the same bunker where a group of robed individuals, in 1925, trapped a woman for a ritual, similar to the rift opening spell. What comes out is not friendly and has tentacles.
Turns out this woman—Sandy— is still alive once the boys get to the other bunker and take her to a nearby diner for answers. The best part of the A-plot episode is the scene between Dean, Sam, and the sassy waitress making fun of Sam's diet. It's a fun thing to see someone other than Dean commenting on Sam's eating habits for a change.
Once Sam gets his food though from a cook bearing a strange symbol on his arm, he is kidnapped—consider me shocked!—and the robed people surround the diner. Nothing Dean can't take care of, he kicked ass, but lost Sam in the process. Once the cook and his sister have Sam outside somewhere and don't kill him, they explain the ritual shown in 1925 at the beginning of the episode.
Whatever tentacle creature came out of there, it took control of Sandy, which explains why the siblings' great grandparents trapped her in that bunker. This revelation got my full attention for how far this show will go when it comes to world-building on the other dimensions out there.
Her goal is to prepare Dean as a vessel for her true love back in the other world dimension. She loves his body that much. Can't blame her, Dean is one good looking dude. Luckily, Sam returns with his kidnappers—siblings and descendants of Men of Letters—to save Dean and send Sandy/Monster back to her own dimension using the Seal of Solomon.
Once the Winchesters make peace with the siblings this is where the best part of the episode happens. Ketch returns to the bunker with Gabriel, his grace, and the archangel blade in exchange for protection against Asmodeus. Dean, however, is no mood for a happy reunion and is in mission mode once they all have ingredients assembled to open the rift.
Dean plans to leave Sam behind and only bring Ketch along to the Apocalypse World. He doesn't care about Ketch's well-being and wants Sam as a backup in case something goes wrong. With Ketch by his side and his bad history with Mary—considering she killed him, I'm sure things will be horrible moving forward. Plus Sam needs to deal with Gabriel's return and figure out where he's been this entire time and how Asmodeus captured him in the first place.
Sewing Gabriel's mouth is like sewing Deadpool's mouth shut. You just can't do that! Glad Sam had the courtesy to remove the stitches!
The rift portal can only stay open for 24 hours. I guess Sam will have to deal with Gabriel's return himself and what it could mean for the rest of the season. I'm excited to see Lucifer's reaction to his brother's return. Awkward but surely amusing Lucifer apology for killing Gabriel eight seasons ago?!
I'm glad we're finally getting this part of the season going, I believe gathering the ingredients for the spell dragged on longer than it should've. Season 13 has not been the most balanced when it comes to the plot and villains—too many of them and the threat of Michael is not menacing enough yet. Hopefully things pick up moving forward.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments or via messaging, I'm more than happy to discuss anything Supernatural especially if you don't watch it and got some apple pie with ya. Those conversations are the best.