Supernatural: Moriah

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

The right thing isn't always easy; sometimes it's hard and ugly.

The plan to keep Jack in the box has failed miserably. Now free from its confines, Jack unleashes his power on Castiel and the Winchesters before taking off. Now that Jack has proven more dangerous than ever, Dean thinks the only solution is to put the monster down that killed his mother. Castiel disagrees and won't be a part of hunt, leaving Sam and Dean to find Jack on his own. The Winchesters contact Rowena for help but also head over to Mirror Universe, one of the leading companies in facial recognition technology to help them find Jack when suddenly the office erupts into pandemonium. Elsewhere, Castiel is trying to find other ways to contain Jack when suddenly Chuck appears behind him. Chuck/God tells Castiel that Jack is a serious problem and that something must be done. The two of them head over to Mirror Universe where Chuck explains that no one can lie because Jack willed it. It's an easy fix for God but he explains that he can't do anything to restore Jack's soul. The word, straight from the man himself, is that Jack must be destroyed. The catch is that the only weapon capable of killing Jack will do the same thing to the person that uses it. If you kill Jack with the weapon, you die.

As a season finale, Moriah was pretty solid episode from Supernatural. For how much ground Moriah had to cover, the episode had very little filler and always moved at a brisk pace without glossing over the important parts of the story. In that, each character also had their own unique moment to shine in a way that helped drive the story forward. Dean wanted permission and forgiveness from his brother for what he was about to do, Sam confronted Chuck on why it's always them that need to suffer through violence and loss, Jack tried to find comfort from his grandmother, and Castiel got to be there with Jack and try to understand his adopted son. Each moment felt connected by the threads to save the world or save Jack and how each needed to decide between what is best and if they can lose another member of their family that lost his soul saving them from Michael. Moriah also took the high road and focused on the how conflicted everyone was on what to do with Jack. By the end, Jack realized that he wasn't the person that he should have been and surrendered to whatever fate Dean decided. It was a fitting end to that plot and felt organic as the story quickly shifted to Chuck and his manipulation of the Winchesters. As always, the setup for the next season was pretty impactful but probably more dramatic than Supernatural has been in the past. Whatever comes next, it all leads to the final chapter of the Winchesters.

As well done as Moriah was, it had its faults. To start, the trip to Mirror Universe really had no significance. The use of technology and facial recognition to track down Jack showed Sam and Dean being creative to solve their problems but that didn't go anywhere since it was Chuck that told them where he was. Really, it wouldn't have mattered if they were in a bar seeing the chaos or in the bunker seeing it on the internet since it wasn't connected to anything they did. The mention of Rowena also didn't go anywhere. They said that she would help but she didn't make an appearance in the episode at all. Those issues are minor but the hardest pill to swallow in Moriah was how quickly Chuck went from benevolent creator of existence to twisted villain in one episode. For more the entirety of Supernatural, Chuck has been an elusive figure that had left his creation to the mercy of free will but revealing him as the grand manipulator for his own entertainment feels petty compared to how the character has been consistently portrayed.

Overall, I have some mixed feelings about season fourteen. It felt like for every dull story, there was something good that came out of it. Dean's run as the angel Michael was terrible and it felt like it lasted far too long. Michael's plan failed entirely but it did lead to Jack burning his soul to save his family. Nick came back again and again but it led to Jack proving that his soul was lost when he killed him and eventually Mary. It was hard to see at the time but the core of season fourteen was all a set up to having Jack be the next big threat. Amidst that, we got episodes like the Lebanon where John Winchester finally returned and Damaged Goods where Dean was again saved by his brother from damning himself to an eternity in a box at the bottom of the ocean. Other episodes like The Scar featured Dark Kaia that had no significance on the season whatsoever. What still feels like a missed opportunity is how characters like Bobby and Mary were dreadfully underused. It was clear that Supernatural didn't know where Mary fit since the storyline with the British Men of Letters was resolved. She barely appeared throughout season fourteen and could have been a more stable figure for the boys that lead up to her death. The same could have easily been said about Bobby as he helped train Jack to fight but his presence in the show was intermittent at best this season. As far as turning Chuck into the orchestrator of everything, it really depends on how well Supernatural executes next season. I will say that this largely came out of nowhere and felt rushed and should have been something that was subtly hinted at throughout the season rather than the "Chuck is now terrible" as we got in Moriah. If this isn't done very well next season, it will likely just play out as Supernatural running out of ideas and defaulting to God because the Winchesters have really killed everything at this point. Unless it's Amara posing as Chuck... could be.

For all of that, season fourteen still managed to end on a strong note that was more Walking Dead than it was Supernatural. Turning Chuck (God!) into the villain for Supernatural's fifteenth, and final, season could go either way and be a huge success or crash and burn. If Chuck is meant to be that villain, we need to see more of him and understand what is truly at stake. Does existence end if God is no longer a part of it or does it continue without him? Why did he pick these Winchesters to have such a role in his grand design? Whatever happens, I hope you have enjoyed my reviews of Supernatural's fourteenth season, and I will be back it all comes to an end when Supernatural returns for its final season this fall.

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

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