Supernatural: Destiny's Child

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

There's always another rift in Supernatural.

After briefly crossing paths with some alternate reality versions of themselves in the armory, the Winchesters get a visit from none other than the head reaper herself, Billy. Step two of her plan is for the team to find a relic called the Occultum. Jack is up to it but details on something that translates into "secrecy" are pretty sparse as they don't know if it's a person or a thing but only that it's very powerful. After a few calls, Castiel tells the boys that hos contacts point to Sister Jo, the angel Anael, has the Occultum. It's a quick trip but when the boys confront Sister Jo, she says that she gave the relic to Ruby and that she doesn't have it. Ruby may be dead but Jo tells them that she stashed it somewhere in hell. Sam and Dean are willing to make the trip but Castiel isn't so trusting of Jo and decides that he needs to speak with Ruby himself – in the Empty where all supernatural beings go when they die. To pull that off, he needs Jack to almost kill him and bring him back before its too late; all while the Winchesters are in hell searching for the Occultum. Should be easy enough.

Fun and almost inconsequential, Destiny's Child is a good episode that didn't do enough to stick the landing. Though it's pacing was brisk and the moments with the alternate reality Winchesters were fun, it was these things that made the episode feel like the parts were greater than the episode as one piece. At the centre of Destiny's Child was Jack and how much he has changed since he lost his soul – understanding what feelings are but not feeling them himself or having a particular attachment to one way or the other yet knowing that he is somehow less than he was before. But this Jack is also very different than he was last season. His rage, resentment and betrayal by the ones he cared about is gone and he's intent on doing what he sees as the right thing. In contrast to this is the story with Jo and Ruby which is fun but doesn't support Jack's story and help bring that together. At the end of the episode, Jack's soul is restored after venturing into the Garden of Eden but it felt like an afterthought. Stories like Jack's sometimes need a serious episode that isn't distracted by comical versions of the stars.

Speaking of the alternate reality Winchesters, they are simultaneously the best and worst thing about Destiny's Child. Hear me out, Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki have great chemistry but who would have thought that the best chemistry they would have would be with themselves. All of the scenes were funny, well timed and some of the best humor from Supernatural in years. But they also added nothing to the story of Destiny's Child. They were there, they had great scenes, and nothing came of it. If those scenes were cut from the episode, it would have made no impact to the overall story. While they were awesome, it only served my point above that there were too many distractions from Jack.

All in all, Destiny's Child was a good episode but not great. Danneel Ackles and Genevieve Padalecki had fun scenes together and the alternate reality Winchesters were a laugh but ultimately took away from the redemption story that Supernatural is starting to tell with Jack now that he has regained his soul. It could be a while until we see the next episode, Last Holiday but in the mean-time, stay safe and please take care.

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

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