Supernatural: The Spear

Posted by: Kyle Tetarenko  •  December 13, 2018 @ 10:26pm

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

What's old is new again.

It's been a while since the Winchesters have heard anything about Michael and have decided to take an unorthodox approach to catching the archangel – enter Garth. Sam called Garth to have him infiltrate Michael's ranks and learn more about his plans. All of that seems to work when Garth enlists in Kansas City, Missouri, where he updates Sam on Michael's strategy to turn the city into monsters on Christmas. Everything seems to be going to plan until Garth is forced to drink the angle grace Kool-Aid and for real join the club. Before that, he did manage to hear that Kaia and her spear are in Oklahoma. To double their odds of success, Dean and Castiel head for the spear while Sam and Jack go for the angel egg that can send Michael back into the cage. Unfortunately, Sam and Jack are attacked by Michael and a vampire. Sam is knocked out while Jack is taken. Meanwhile, Dena and Castiel finally catch up with Dark Kaia. Rather than fight her, Dean asks for the spear because it's the only thing that can save the people he loves from certain death at the hands of Michael. Kaia agrees but only on the condition that they send her back to her reality; her magic doesn't work and she's still being hunted by monsters every moment. At this point, Michael knows they are coming but the Winchesters are ready to go in and take down an archangel.

It's took a while for Michael to return and I would say the results are mixed at best. The Spear has set the stage for the rest of the season but it did so by returning to the status quo. Having Dean return to Michael possession mode has been set up for a few weeks now and Supernatural already spoiled that surprise. My guess was that Michael never left Dean to begin but the back door being open just a bit felt weak. It really means that Michael has been so powerful the entire time that he didn't even need to leave after his fight with Kaia. Rather, he was annoyed at the fly buzzing in his ear trying to get out in the form of Dean's soul. As a mid-season finale, The Spear may have ended on a cliff hanger but not one that we didn't see coming. Michael has launched an all out war against humanity but my guess is that by having control of all of the monsters, he can just as easily destroy them as he can turn them against everyone else. I'll wait and see but the Infinity War nod of the finger snap did not play well to end the episode.

As uneven as The Spear was, there were some moments of the episode that did stand out. In a real surprise, Michael no longer sees Jack as his enemy since he's been depowered. Their scene to discuss how Jack's emotions and love for humanity will fade with time added an existential perspective to the definition of eternity and what Michael feels will inevitably happen. How do you care for something that dies in less than a century when you have lived for millennia? That immortals all eventually become very alike if they live long enough to get there. With that in mind, where does Jack go from here? Is he still a target of Michael or someone he wants on his side?

Though his screen time was brief, DJ Kwalls return as Garth was effective. At one point, it seemed like Garth was being groomed to take over for Bobby but that never came to be once he became a werewolf. He gave flak right back to the Winchesters and even the signature line of "Balls" reminded me of past season of Supernatural. One part that doesn't feel great on Supernatural is how terrible the special effects makeup is. For a show that used to be known for amazing makeup, the vampire and werewolf looks were terrible and look cheesy on screen. Supernatural can much better than that.

As far as mid-season finale's go, The Spear is one of Supernatural's most forgettable. Any change in the season has been reset now that Dean is Michael and Kaia's (the other Kaia is dead, there is no need to call this one Dark Kaia) spear is broken, everything is the same as it was when the show returned in October. This close to the half way mark of the season, Supernatural needs to pull out all of the stops to make season fourteen great. Let's see if that happens on January 17th when Supernatural returns.

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

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