Supernatural: Mommy Dearest

Posted by: Kyle Tetarenko  •  May 2, 2011 @ 10:21pm

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

After entering a small town in Oregon, Eve has left a trail of death and destruction in her wake. In the midst of turning people into a new breed of demons she has a plan that will bring Sam and Dean face to face with someone they never though they would see again.

Now that they have the ashes of a phoenix, Bobby and the Winchester brothers are tired of sitting on the bench and want to take the fight to Eve but there's just one problem; no one knows where to find her. Even with the help of Castiel they are not getting any closer to finding Eve but there is one sure way of finding her: a demon. After tracking down Lenore (Amber Benson from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), she tells them where Eve is but since she has a connection with every demon she will be expecting them. Once in town, Sam and Dean encounter a new breed of demon (aptly named the Jefferson Starship by Dean) in what turns out be a town full of humans converted into demons by Eve. Everything leads to the confrontation with Eve that we have all been waiting for and a startling revelation at the conclusion Sam and Dean will never see coming.

After last week's disastrous "Frontierland", Supernatural was back to its familiar ways with "Mommy Dearest". This episode could have been all action with Sam, Dean, Bobby and Castiel slaying demons from start to finish but instead took a slower and more methodical pace. The result was the investigation into the new demon (Jefferson Starships) and the diner confrontation scene with Eve. Using Dean's intelligence was a good surprise to destroy Eve in a way I don't think anyone was suspecting but it was worked quite well for the story.

Unfortunately, everything did not work out as well for "Mommy Dearest" as much as I had hoped. Noticeably lacking in quality were the guest stars of the show when Lenore and Mary Winchester (though it was technically Eve) made their return appearances. Lenore did not have a significant role when she made her first appearance and Amber Benson is a talented actress so it was disappointing to see her killed after only a couple of minutes. It would have been better if she had to lead Sam and Dean directly to Eve and eventually succumbed to Eve's thrall only to be killed by a depowered Castiel. I know that she was already struggling with Eve's control over her but she deserved a more fitting end after bringing her back after so many years. While it was merely Eve shape shifting to take on the form of Mary Winchester, the impact would have been considerably greater had she shifted back to Eve after she had spoken with Sam and Dean first. Turning into Mary mid way through the scene took away the desired affect entirely.

Speaking of Eve, I'm pretty sure she was in this season for a grand total of ten minutes (at most). It only further goes to show that Supernatural introduced a powerful character only with the intention of discarding her without a second thought. It's would have been great if Eve served a purpose for the season's story but she was just another distraction for Sam and Dean to kill. Castiel's fall from grace was apparent in "Frontierland" but it would have been much better if they had spent more time throughout the season building on that. Castiel did say several times that he was losing the war with Raphael and had even upset the natural order with the Titanic souls but if we had seen a Castiel focused episode to shine more light on his story (similar in concept to the "Weekend at Bobby's" episode), Supernatural fans would have been in for something great but instead I feel cheated.

Though it has its ups and downs, "Mommy Dearest" is making strides towards a season ending story; one that I wish we had seen more of along the way. Considering we all knew it was coming I wish we were along for the ride rather than hear about it, but then again, Crowley lives! That alone gives me hope for next week's "The Man Who Would be King".

Tags: Supernatural, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Lenore, Mary Winchester, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Amber Benson, Samantha Smith, Eve

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