Supernatural: First Born

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

"You're good but I'm Crowley."

While Dean is knocking a few back at the bar who shows up but none other than Crowley. Though Abaddon maybe invincible, Crowley knows of a weapon called the first blade that can put her in the ground for good. He is also suggesting that he and Dean hunt together. While he isn't thrilled at the idea of working with his sworn enemy, Dean knows that if he has a chance to take Abaddon out of the game he has to take it. Meanwhile back at the lair, Sam and Castiel are getting some alone time and while Castiel is healing Sam, he spots something unusual. Gadriel has left behind some of his grace in Sam and if they can extract enough of it, they might be able to track him down. After getting some information from one of John Winchester's old friend's, Dean and Crowley end up in Missippi at a house in the country. Everything seems fine until Crowley stops them from going any further, he senses something much darker than him and when he sees the owner of the home, his suspicions are correct. The owner is the father of murder himself, Cain. Cain doesn't have the blade but is actually its source of power and the being that trained the knights of hell. If Dean and Crowley intend to go forward, they need to go through him.

While it was a bit of a gamble, First Born paid off for Supernatural. When you look at the story itself, it simply boiled down to Dean and Crowley finding a knife but it became so much more than that. First Born gave us a Dean that is on edge, desperate and allying with Crowley. We've seen Crowley manipulate Sam and Dean several times but never to the point that he would hand a weapon as powerful as the first blade over to Dean. The stakes are constantly raising and this time it won't just be a matter of Sam and Dean against the world.

Dean and Crowley may have provided the action and excitement but Sam and Castiel were the heart. For years, Sam and Castiel have never quite seen eye to eye on many things but their relationship has finally come together on their understanding of one another. The two of them have messed up so terribly that they both know what it is to fail and what it means to be sorry. Some may consider this part of the episode the slow, dull drag but it was anything but. It broke the tension and really developed the relationship between the two of them

Though Supernatural can sometimes take too many liberties with the myths they explore, their treatment of the story of Cain and Abel was truly fantastic. Cain is always portrayed as the jealous brother whole brutally murdered his own brother but Supernatural made made Cain a tragic character who sacrificed himself to save his brother. He became a monster that was redeemed by the love of a woman only to have it torn away from him by the very demons he trained. Anchoring the story was Timothy Omundson whose incredible performance as Cain drove every bit of it home. This certainly could have been a different tale without Omundson in the role but he made it believable for the king of hell to cower in his shoes.

First Born was as good as we could have hoped for. Its solid story had Dean kicking ass and Sam realizing that his life isn't worth throwing away. Here's hoping next week's episode, Sharp Teeth, is just as strong.

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Tags: Supernatural, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misah Collins, Mark Shepard, Timothy Omundson

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