Not to be a whiner, but Xfinity ate my DVR. Seriously – everything I’d committed to “tape” since mid-October was gone the morning of March 1st when Xfinity’s fancy new software blew out 20 percent of my DVR. So, that said, I lost “The French Mistake.” I’ll do my best to recap it and “And Then There Were None,” but feel free to comment me if something is seriously missing. This is more likely to just catch you up before the show resumes Friday night.
The first ep – TFM for short – was a goofy, giddy outing that went way, way, way meta and then sprinkled in “oh, yeah, killer angels, yadda yadda” when things got too light. Turns out the proceedings were courtesy of Balthazar and Castiel as a redirect to throw off the civil war brewing in Heaven. In the interim, Sam and Dean meet JAckles and JPad (and Mrs. JPad) and realize that as cushy as the TV star life is and could be, should they want to assume it, they miss hunting and they miss their purpose, so they dispatch the killer angel and head home where things go bump with dark intent. And that’s pretty much the gist of that hour – it was a fun, funny Valentine for the fans who follow the show and all its minutia and know the ins and outs of the production – with a dash of plot tossed in for good measure. It was also a wee breather before the REALLY dark episode that followed it and has left folks rending garments for a month and change.
“And Then There Were None” seemed to exist for the sole purpose of thinning out the cast by a whopping three while hinging guilt on the survivors. We begin with an overtly Christian truck driver mistakenly agreeing to drive Eve wherever she needs to go and getting earwigged for his trouble. He massacres his family without any recollection, and then another massacre follows soon after. The boys and Bobby discuss and realize there’s a migratory pattern of bad so they pick up the case. All roads lead to the local cannery and when Bobby goes to investigate, he finds Rufus. We get about nine seconds of silly joy on behalf of the boys and Rufus that the foursome are working together before it all goes straight to hell.
No sooner are they in the warehouse than Cousin Gwen and Samuel pop up, working the same case. Dean’s ready to forego the niceties in favor of ventilating Grandpa when Sam steps in and says hold up because Samuel has exposition to share on Eve – in short, really, really old, and really, really bad. Gwen catches enough of Dean’s accusation to go chat with him and get the what’s what on Samuel’s motives, and Dean seems to begin an honest discussion with her before he suddenly shoots her and then flits off. She dies while gang search for him, and when they catch up, he, like the others, has no recollection. Dean, angst. Angst, Dean.
Then we have a showdown with Sam squared where Sam lays it out that Samuel took advantage of his soullessness and is a bad, bad role model, and then he kills him, too. Next up, Grandpa’s not totally dead and his earwig jumps just as Rufus is breaking out the bone saw and the boys take turns shocking each other (with a live electric wire) to prove they’re OK. Everybody passes until they get to Bobby, and then he turns the tables and kills Rufus. Equal opportunity bloodshed!
We get a momentary fakeout of the boys standing over a grave until Bobby approaches behind them, grief stricken at what he’s done. We get the exposition fairy about how he and Rufus met when his wife died, and how Rufus made him a hunter. And then we somberly go to black. These two flipsides of the light and dark coin sent us into the current hellatus, which ends today, before commencing the mad dash to the end of season six. There will be a one-week break in there for the Smallville finale.
It was sort of surreal to lose two X-Files alumni in one episode. I caught the intro separately from the rest of the episode, several days later, and was watching it from the “Aw, Rufus” perspective, and it reminded me of the small bits of joy the boys are allowed to have, so it seemed cruel that yet again they were putting family in the ground – Rufus being more a loss than Samuel. And that gets added to the Ellen/Jo/Meg/Ruby/John/Jessica pile of angst. Meh.
If you missed the Paley and Supernatural Con festivities, visit the wiki for the highlights. The TV Guide magazine fan favorites issue is out now, and Jensen, Jared, and Misha are featured. Filming concluded on the season on April 1. We’re waiting on renewal news. Welcome back!
Photo Courtesy of The CW