Supernatural: Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox

Posted by: Kyle Tetarenko  •  November 17, 2016 @ 11:35pm

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

The death of a hunter brings the Winchesters and Sheriff Jody Mills into Canada to say goodbye to an old friend but as Sam and Dean know all too well, hunters never die alone.

Everything seems fine for Sam and Dean after stopping into to say hello to Sheriff Jody Mills but after she gets a call that a long-time friend and hunter, Asa Fox, has recently died she is quite broken up. Unwilling to let her make the trip alone, the three of them head north to Manitoba for Asa's wake. The Winchesters don't usually attend hunter gatherings so it's refreshing to see so many people together that know the trade. The two of them exchange stories with the others but it's really Sam and Dean that are the celebrities of the event. Their hunts and encounters with Lucifer have made them legendary and it's not the kind of attention they are used to. Day passes into night and then Mary Winchester walks through the door; she recused Asa when he was a boy and that is what inspired him to become a hunter in the first place. Asa's mother blames Mary for the life that her son lead and Mary only feels worse. When she and Sam go to see Asa's body, they find blood dripping onto it and look up to find one of the hunters with his throat cut and tied to the ceiling. Whatever killed Asa that night isn't done and wants to send all of them down there with him.

Leave it to Supernatural to find a way to add more death to a funeral. All in all, Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox was a lot better than I was expecting give last week's preview. The episode a good sense of pacing and never felt as though it let anything linger and managed to keep it fresh by introducing us to some of the Canadian hunters who we have never seen before. If there was anything that was wrong with the episode, it was that it never let the mystery of the killer/demon sit for long enough. It was obvious that Alicia killed Randy almost immediately but the reveal that the demon was possessing her spoiled it right away. That story could have gone anywhere and the suspense could have been a blend of Clue meets Supernatural. The immediate reveal and the obvious giveaways by the demon didn't give us the opportunity to suspect that it could have been inside anyone at any point.

It was a matter of time but Billie has made her return. I keep expecting Billie to eventually have some significance on the show but it has yet to happen. She conveniently just finished reaping Randy's soul and then runs into Dean outside the house as she was about to leave and then allows him to get in but he would owe her one. Then she tries to collect on Mary Winchester twenty minutes later at the end of the episode. I was expected that moment to come back to haunt Dean but it really didn't. His mom said nope and then Billie left! I don't understand why Supernatural keeps bringing Lisa Berry back if they don't plan on doing anything with the character.

Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox was a solid episode from Supernatural. Sure, it could have been better in a number of ways (Asa could have been older, just saying) but it had great pacing and didn't let the emotional beats between Dean and Mary hold it back. That alone is something that the first five epsiodes of the season have not been able to do. I'm excited to see what happens on December 1st when Lucifer returns in Rock Never Dies.

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

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