Supernatural: Damaged Goods

Posted by: Kyle Tetarenko  •  January 25, 2019 @ 12:06am

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

Some people are broken. Others can't be saved.

Now that Michael is trapped within Dean's mind, Sam's worry for his brother is at an all time high. Even so, Dean needs some time to reset and plans to visit Mary at the cabin – alone. On his way, he stops and sees Donna but even the Sheriff notices that Dean seems off. Elsewhere, Nick is tracking down the demon that killed his family so many years ago and all roads point to Mary Winchester. After Dean arrives, he bonds with Mary but gets to work as soon as she makes a grocery run. Dean took tools and a certain book before he left the bunker and is constructing something that no one knows about. Ever persistent, Nick has tracked Mary down and ambushes her after dinner. He wants to know what happened with the demon named Abraxis that killed his family; Mary fought him but didn't kill him. Nick wants answers and no one will stand in his way to get them.

Slower, emotional and well- paced - Damaged Goods is one of the best episodes of season fourteen yet. After several episodes with many twist and turns, Supernatural really stepped back from the action and gave Jensen Ackles the opportunity to shine as Dean. Throughout the episode, Deanw as saying goodbye to the people that he loved and knew that the only person that could change his mind on his plans was Sam. The reveal of the new cage that he's building was pretty obvious but that part wasn't. Dean is out of options after seeing the book from Billie and his mind can't be changed. What this means for Sam later on will likely change but that doesn't mean that the final scenes of the show were easily the strongest. Damaged Goods was at its best when it was confronting hurt, pain, regret and everything else connected to loss. The one part that felt like it was there for the sake of it was the action with Abraxis in the storage locker. It felt necessary but not on the scale that it went to as the character died so quickly and his simple answers for the murder of Nick's family cut deeper than any mystic powers he could have shown.

While Dean was great, he wasn't the only Winchester that stood out in Damaged Goods. Its' been a while since Dean told his brother that was he was doing was dumb but he was right. Sam was utterly careless with Nick and has made these mistakes again and again when he gives monsters another chance to redeem themselves. Nick may have been possessed by the devil but that didn't mean that Sam should have let him off the hook so easily. Even throughout his journey to find answers, Nick only embraced his dark nature and reveled in killing. He felt justified in torturing and sadistic violence as his family was murdered. In the end, they didn't matter and were killed as part of the plan to have him say yes to Lucifer. It was fitting that he killed Abraxis but even better that when he realized that he doesn't want to be fixed. Nick may not have been a monster before he said yes to Lucifer but he is now.

Damaged Goods did a lot for Dean, Sam and Nick but just as much for the story of season fourteen. Dean is building a cage that will hold him and Michael forever at the bottom of the ocean. It's a bold move going forward and solution where no one wins. Let's see how this continues to unfold in next week's, Prophet and Loss.

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

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