Supernatural: The One You've Been Waiting For

Posted by: Kyle Tetarenko  •  November 11, 2016 @ 12:23am

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

Who would have thought that Hitler and Voldemort had horcruxes in common?

Following the sudden immolation of a antique salesman and his customer in Columbus, Ohio, Dean thinks that he may have found a case. After arriving in town and searching the shop, Dean discovers that the salesman had a secret room that was hiding a stash of Nazi relics that he sold on the side. The two of them assume that the Thule Society may have had something to do with it but cut their search short when they get word of another immolation the next day except this time, there was a survivor. The Winchesters head to the crime scene and find the mound of ashes where a person used to be and just as they go to speak with her, Ellie is kidnapped. With relative ease, the Winchesters are able to track the two of them down and rescue Ellie. Still needing answers, they question her kidnapper, Christoph, who tells them that the Thule Society plans to resurrect Hitler as his soul was bound to the pocket watch that the antique shop owner was killed for. With that watch and a living relative of Hitler's, they can bring the furor back to life. Unfortunately for Ellie, she just happens to be a living descendant of the leader of the Third Reich. Before they can hatch a plan to lure the Thule Society into a trap, the Winchesters are attacked and Ellie is gone. Sam and Dean will have to move fast if they want to stop history from repeating itself and witnessing the return of Adolf Hitler.

In case you missed it, The One You've Been Waiting For was far more ridiculous than my description could have ever been with more lows than highs. What the episode excelled at was the brisk pace that was set the early scenes of the show – two random people being murdered by immolation just to attract the attention of people like Sam and Dean. From that point on, it was save the girls, fight the Nazis and kill Hitler. There was a few moments when the episode slowed down and those were marred by awkward writing and a dull performance. Overall, the pace and tone of the episode felt good but in terms of story, it felt like Supernatural missed the mark on this one. Several times throughout the episode I wondered why people were killed by immolation rather than just a gun. Hitler's pseudo return was mostly absurd and I couldn't take it seriously at any point. For an episode about Nazi necromancers, they could have been written in a more cold and evil way than they were.

Speaking of awkward writing and performances, Ellie and Nauhaus's characters left quite a bit to be desired. As Ellie Grant, Allison Paige seemed bored in the role and always came across as inconvenienced rather than in disbelief that she might be the vessel for the soul of Hitler. The interrogation scene with Christoph where she learned about her history should have been her time to shine but ended up as a small beat in between action scenes. While Paige's performance may not have suited the situation, a lot of this can be attributed to the writing of her character and how little she had to work with. Ellie was written as a character in disbelief after being abducted by a Nazi and her recovery to everything at the end of the episode was instant; as if it had never happened. While Ellie's writing may have felt off, it was the return of Hitler that missed the mark entirely. Though Gil Darnell valiantly gave it his all, an elated Hitler for two minutes is not incredibly exciting. Beyond that, his unstable temperament gave us little to believe that this was the soul of the man who almost ruled the world. Knowing that Hitler could return was one thing, we also had no idea what his return could mean. Would he attempt to start a new world war? A Fourth Reich? What was his plan after coming back into the world?

Supernatural has had some weird episodes in the past but Nazi necromancers resurrecting Hitler from a horcrux is really taking it a bit far. Though the pacing was quick and made The One You've Been Waiting For go by quickly, the odd tone and poor writing choices ultimately hindered what could have been a strange yet funny episode.

Tags: Supernatural, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki

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