Supernatural: The Things We Left Behind

Posted by: Kyle Tetarenko  •  December 10, 2014 @ 8:41pm

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

After losing his friend last week, Castiel is having a mid-life crisis when he goes to see a face from his vessel's past.

When Hannah let her vessel have her life back, it made Castiel remember that his vessel used to be Jimmy Novak. Jimmy had a wife and a daughter named Claire and as it turns out, things haven't been going so well for Claire since Castiel entered her life. Left by her mom and eventually bouncing from one foster home to the next, Claire is now under the care of the state. When Castiel shows up to see her, he doesn't get the warm reception he was hoping for. Instead, Claire gets him to get her out of the state home and then robs him when she's ready to go her separate ways. Not sure who else to turn to, Castiel calls the Winchesters. While this isn't something that Sam and Dean would usually handle they want to be there for their friend. Dean offers some words of wisdom and suggests that Castiel let it go. Castiel knows that he can't be there for Claire like her father but he still wants to know that she is safe. After a bit of detective work, they manage to track Claire down. She stays at Randy's; a guy that considers her family but also happens to have a terrible gambling problem. Luck hasn't been too kind to Randy lately and he owes his loan shark quite a bit of money; money which he doesn't have and is hoping that Claire can steal. When his plan to have Claire knock over a convenience store goes south, Randy has only one thing left that his loan shark might want: Safe Flo. It isn't demons but Castiel and the Winchesters can still save an innocent girl's life if they make it in time.

So first off, sorry for the late posting but I haven't been feeling very well lately. Secondly, that was a terrible episode of Supernatural. As a mid-season finale, I'm expecting for something significant to be alluded to in more than the final closing moments where Dean stands over the dead bodies of a loan shark that was about to sexually assault a minor and his lackeys that wanted to make that happen. The Things We Left Behind felt like an episode that should have aired last season when Castiel was human and unsure of where his life was going after he had permanently lost his grace. Between Castiel's inner turmoil with Claire and Crowley's entirely out of place inclusion in the episode, it gave the episode an odd pacing that never came together in any way.

Speaking of Crowley, has Supernatural run out of ideas for the king of hell to the point where he has to have mommy issues? This plotline is already quite dull and my interest is nowhere near piqued to find out where it leads. To make matters worse, Ruth Connell is just as terrible as Rowena as when we first saw her. Rowena's magical abilities may be something but it's her charm over her son that will undoubtedly prove to be her strongest asset. How Rowena manipulates Crowley going forward and how that affects Sam and Dean has yet to be seen.

While I was hoping that The Things We Left Behind would shed some light on the Mark of Cain, we barely got of hint of its power over Dean. Dean dreamt of killing several people and the final scene was similar to that but we don't really know what happened. The loan shark and his men fully intended to hurt or even kill Dean but just how did the Mark of Cain factor into it? Almost half way through the season, I'm expecting answers or answers that lead to new questions but the tenth season of the show hasn't given either. Seemingly complacent to string us along without any hint of what's to come, the first half of Supernatural's tenth season isn't shaping up to be as good as I was hoping.

As a mid-season finale, The Things We Left Behind is a dud. A real threat to the world has yet to emerge and the episodes in between have focused on a family aspect that has been with the show since it began. I don't know where Supernatural is headed this season but I'm cautiously optimistic that it will be better when it returns in the new year.

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

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