hells_half_acre (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hells_half_acre) wrote2019-03-07 09:28 pm
hells_half_acre) wrote2019-03-07 09:28 pm
Entry tags:
Quick Reaction: 14x14 Ouroboros
Hello fine people!
Do I have a preamble? I think everyone knows the drill by now.
Oh, I guess I have a warning for next week: I'm probably not going to watch the episode until Monday the 18th at the earliest - and quite possibly not actually until Tuesday the 19th. Why? Because I'll be traveling, and I'm just not sure that I'm going to be able to find the time to watch.
Now, let's get into the episode...
New Mexico! Is this the first time that we've had an episode shot in New Mexico? Dude is making a fancy dinner - but oh no, it's cannibalism, which I HATE - but then the dude is a monster, so I'm like "oh sweet, I'm cool with you eating humans then." My squicks are a weird thing. Long story short: This is why I couldn't get into Hannibal.
Snake man can see the future when he eats human eyes! Also, his snake eyes are REALLY COOL. Way better than Voldemort's.
He sees Sam and Dean coming to get him, so he gets out of there without being able to eat his carefully cooked dinner yet! He's also got a cute pet snake that's all red.
The Gang is all here!
Apparently, this isn't the first time that they've missed this dude. Also, Rowena is helping them! Hello Rowena! She isn't too impressed with Dean thinking it's witches, even though Dean defends the assumption with the classic argument of "a lot of times it's witches!" Fair.
Jack coughs, and everyone looks at him like "you okay?!" and he flatly tells them "I'm not dying." And it's the most teenagery thing they've had him do so far and I love it.
Anyway, back to the case - this is victim number 6. The only difference this time is that Jack finds a snake skin. Also, Rowena notices that there's black soot like stuff on the victim's lips. "Does that mean something?" Jack asks, to which Rowena answers "Everything means something." Rowena is one of those really hardcore writers/readers.
Back at the Motel, Sam and Rowena hit the books. And my secret Sam/Rowena shipping heart is pleased...I just said to myself, "Do they have a ship name? Ram?!" And then I laughed for reals... it's probably Sawena or something. But, much like Sassy, I think I'm going to go with Ram or Rammy, because it makes me laugh.
Anyway, Rowena is curious as to how Jack is still alive, and Sam is like "don't worry about it" and Rowena is like "uh, yeah, not what I'm asking..."
But then we cut to Dean and Cas (and Jack, who we find out is in the bathroom). Dean feels good about having brought Rowena onto the case, which had me wondering if Dean was possess, I'm not gonna lie. That's a very odd opinion for Dean to have. But no, Dean is himself, but he has a headache the size of an archangel. Castiel praises Dean's willpower, because keeping Michael locked away should really be an impossible feat, and yet Dean is accomplishing it.
But not all is good. Jack is in the bathroom coughing up blood again.
Dean admits to Cas that he's not fine. That Michael is pounding in his head non-stop - and Dean is hardly sleeping. Cas points out that that's not sustainable. Dean says that fixing the situation is on him, but Cas argues that it's "on us" and tries to reassure Dean that they'll figure out a solution.
Jack, still in the bathroom, uses some power to fix his cough... and I wasn't sure if it was his soul power or his grace - but then realized that it must be the soul power, just to be the most ominous.
Before Jack gets back to the table, Dean tries to get Cas on board, or keep Cas on board, with Plan B, which is the coffin in the ocean thing. Jack comes back and they cease talking about it, but Cas can tell that Jack's not 100% and is suspicious - but Jack declares that he's fine and they get back to talking about the case. Cas thinks that the killings are a little ritualistic... and it makes for a cute moment, so I'll forgive it, but there's no way in heck Dean gets to the age of 40, living as a Hunter, without knowing what 'liturgical' means - like, I know the guy is an atheist who didn't go to church, but he ROUTINELY uses religious ritual and artifacts for his job.
They think that it must be a monster. And Jack says that after killing so many people, it's a monster even if its human... and Dean agrees with him... but at the same time, that's a really slippery slope, my friend. When even 'monsters' aren't black and white cases, JACK AS AN EXAMPLE, you don't want to get into judging what makes a human a monster that deserves to die.
Sam and Rowena calls the rest of the fam back to the motel. They've figured out that it's a gorgon. Again, there's no way that Dean only has Clash of the Titans as a reference for what a gorgon is... but I do like the joke... but basically here Sam and Rowena explain that the myth was a metaphorical telling of what gorgons did... it wasn't that they turned the victims to stone, it was that their venom paralyzed them. This gorgon their following (Noah, as we find out later), has actually killed 17 people in his travels.
Problem is, they aren't exactly sure how to kill him yet.
Meanwhile, the Gorgon is hitchhiking... by way of prostitution... which works out for him, because he just has to kiss the guy and then BAMMO venomized. He eats one of the dude's eyes before he's even dead, poor dude, so that he can elude the Winchesters further.
Dean and Cas check out the crime scene. After 10 years or so, Cas has actually gotten the FBI thing down, and pulls an awesome move with the police officer where he puts him off kilter nearly immediately so that he loses control of the situation and wants to give Cas what he wants. It's WELL PLAYED. The police officer grabs a note for them that was left with the body - it's addressed to Dean. It talks about how the Gorgon saw Dean standing alone by the truck reading the note, and that the tall one and the red head were trying to find him.
Cas realizes that the note doesn't mention Cas or Jack at all - meaning that the Gorgon can only see future HUMAN movement. This means that if Cas and Jack go in, they can catch him by surprise - because he can't see angels. "I'm not an angel" Jack protests! "Close enough" Dean shrugs. Again, this is the first writer, I feel, that has gotten Jack more as a teenager than a child/alien... maybe Jack is just growing up a little.
Rowena wants to get some anti-venom, to make a counter for the venom in case things go south with the fight. Apparently anti-venom is a controlled substance (does anyone know if this is true? I don't even know what anti-venom is made of, so I mean, it could be!). Rowena has a plan to get some though, and looks at Jack - and Jack seems eager to see what the plan is.
Apparently the plan is for Sam and Rowena to run into a small vet clinic (where apparently only one vet works) with a tiny dog and then get into a couple's spat about who's fault it was that the dog was unsupervised. The vet brings Jack to the back room to look him over... sees that he's fine, and then leaves him there to go talk to Sam and Rowena again (Uh, yeah, so, I may not know anything about anti-venom, but I do know that vets don't leave animals in exam rooms unattended. She would have either brought him back out with her, or she would have caged him first. But, hey, maybe they do things different in New Mexico.)
Once the vet is out of the room, we find out that the dog is JACK! He was transfigured... with his clothes, because this is a very PG Harry-Potter transfiguration. Jack grabs the anti-venom and skedaddles out the back before the vet can get back to the room after finding Sam and Rowena gone.
Rowena and Sam are actually out back, talking by the car. Jack makes a quip about how he wishes the vet hadn't taken his temperature before she left the room (because getting things stuck up your but is always funny, as long as it's not traumatic) and then gets in the car. Before Sam and Rowena get in the car, Rowena again asks Sam what the heck they did with Jack, because when she did the transfiguration, she felt another kind of magic in him - that was parasitic in nature. She's worried. Sam tries to get her to stop worrying, but she calls him out on it - guessing that he used some sort of extreme experimental magic in order to get what he wanted and damn the consequences - she says it sounds like something she would have done. Sam agrees, thinking that therefore she can't call him out on it. But then Rowena has the best line, because she points out that up "until very recently I was the villain." Burn! (And also Sam's MO, because he does like to skirt that line when it comes to saving his loved ones.)
We then join the Gorgon, who is talking to his newest pry, who looks like a nice man, and I feel bad for him. The Gorgon tells us that he doesn't just eat men, he also eats ladies, but these days ladies are so cautious - probably because they're "waking up from centuries of misogynistic oppression." Ha! Nice!
The guy finally breaks their deal of no-screaming and starts screaming - so Noah, the gorgon, kisses his cheek to paralyze him - which tells us that he can kiss them anywhere for the venom to work.
Sam is on the phone to Maggie at the Bunker, which is suddenly lively with hunters again... and she tells him they need a silver blade to kill a gorgon. And also that Mary has finished up her case in Oregon and is heading back tonight. Sam thanks Maggie for looking after things when they're gone, and I'm like "uh oh, Maggie....are you going to die?"
Armed with information, Cas and Jack interrupt the Gorgon's meal plans yet again - this time catching him off guard. I guess time is of the essence when trying to save gorgon victims, because Cas goes to give the old-man the anti-venom first. While Cas is saving the dude, the Gorgon holds off Jack's attack by telling him a story about a chicken and a snake, real quick - about how the snake ate all the chicken's eggs except for one, and then the chicken hardboiled the last egg so that it'd choke the snake to death when he ate it - and the Gorgon isn't sure whether Jack is the chicken or the snake in the story.
Then the fight begins, once he's got Jack off kilter. Cas gets taken out with a kiss to the cheek, and Jack gets thrown across the room. Sam and Dean run in and Sam also gets thrown about, and then Dean gets his head bashed into a wall repeatedly until he falls unconscious. The gorgon tries to flee, but Jack has gotten into position and beheads him before he can see it coming.
Jack tries to give Cas the anti-venom, but it's not working (probably because Cas is an angel?) and so Jack uses his soul-power to heal Castiel. Sam can't get Dean to wake up, so they quickly drive to to the Bunker.
Jack offers to heal Dean too, but he's quickly denied - Cas tells him that he can't afford to burn off any more of his soul. This announcement means that the jig is up in terms of keeping things from Rowena.
Sam's freaking out with worry. Rowena goes off to do research. And meanwhile, Jack has the gorgon's snake in a container - does he know that his name is Felix?, probably not.
Cas goes to talk with Jack. Jack is upset because it's DEAN - Dean can't die, because he's DEAN. Jack doesn't want to lose people. Cas tries to explain that while Sam and Dean are exceptional humans, they're human... and humans burn bright but brief. Eventually, beings like Cas and Jack will have to carry on without them.
Jack doesn't understand what the point is then - what's the point of immortality, or being powerful and long-lived, if everyone you know is going to die. Cas tries to explain that the point is that you got to know them at all, even if it was brief - and it will hurt when they die, but that pain will be a reminder of the love you had for them. Jack thinks that sounds awful. Cas tries to explain that it's about appreciating being together now.
Jack is still upset that he can't help the people that he loves. He's keeping the snake. He wants to understand what the Gorgon meant by the story that he told. Castiel says that it's a story about greed (the snake), and about being willing to give up the thing you love in order to kill the thing you hate (the chicken.).
Then Dean starts freaking out in the infirmary. He can't find Michael. Michael has escaped Dean.
Then they hear screaming from the library - and they run out in time to see Maggie burn out/get smited, and everyone is dead. (Well, this will solve the problem of 'now we're here, now we're not' that they've been playing.) And then Rowena steps forward, and she is MIGHTY POSSESSED by Michael.
Michael explains, via flashback, that he got Rowena to say yes by first trying to promise her that he'd let her live. Rowena was like "I'll live anyway" and then explained that the fates already told her that Sam Winchester was going to kill her (again, such an awesome relationship those two have, even if you don't ship them - just as allies)... anyway, Michael then exploits Rowena's new weakness, which is that he promises to leave her alive, and also not to kill everyone she loves - and he knows that she does love them, no matter what she says.
Michael starts attacking the gang.. only his powers don't seem to work on Jack. He incapacitates Cas, Sam, and Dean though, by taking away their air, sight, and causing them pain. Jack, meanwhile, reaches towards a bag, but Michael hits him with a blast of something.
Jack then decides to hell with it, and just powers up via soul-parasite. He marches up to Michael, taking numourous blasts. Michael tells him that he should have just killed Jack when he had the chance, and Jack says he was thinking the same thing - and when Michael yells that he's a commander of heaven, Jack counters with "I am the son of Lucifer, a Hunter, and a Winchester!" and then he expels Michael from Rowena's body and then EATS HIM.
It's AWESOME.
Michael is dead. Jack, flashes his wings, and declares "I'm me again!" and we fade to black....
...and my notes here say "BUT DOES HE HAVE A SOUL?!?!?!"
It was a great episode! I really enjoyed it! But MAN, I really hope that Jack still has enough of a soul that he can remain the good boy that he is - I REALLY don't want him to go irrecoverably dark-side, and so far soul-destruction is basically the only thing in SPN that you cannot come back from.
I know some people will probably be mad that the Michael resolution wasn't a more angsty heroic scene involving the Winchesters - I mean, I know part of me was hoping that since Dean got to kill Lucifer, maybe Sam would get to kill Michael... but I'm cool with this too - especially since Lucifer is probably coming back... wait, is he back already? I forget. No, I don't think so. Does that mean we're in a big bad lull? Sonofabitch - this means that Jack might be it... I REALLY DON'T WANT THAT... anyway, I was saying that maybe Sam would get his chance to kill Lucifer after all. That'd be my ideal. I REALLY WANT JACK TO BE OKAY. Maybe Dean can heroically save Jack. Anyway, I liked Jack's moment of triumph there... and I did call that as a possibility for how they could defeat Michael - feed him to Jack somehow to cure him. Back when they fixed Jack before, they didn't have access to Michael. Personally, I think as soon as they locked him up in Dean's mind, they should have done the handcuff thing then the throat-slit thing, and sucked that grace out. Though... pretty sure Michael burned through the handcuffs before.
Let me know what you thought in comments!
Once again, I'm going to be traveling for 10 days starting tomorrow evening, so rewatches and my quick reaction for next week's episode may not appear until I'm back.
Do I have a preamble? I think everyone knows the drill by now.
Oh, I guess I have a warning for next week: I'm probably not going to watch the episode until Monday the 18th at the earliest - and quite possibly not actually until Tuesday the 19th. Why? Because I'll be traveling, and I'm just not sure that I'm going to be able to find the time to watch.
Now, let's get into the episode...
New Mexico! Is this the first time that we've had an episode shot in New Mexico? Dude is making a fancy dinner - but oh no, it's cannibalism, which I HATE - but then the dude is a monster, so I'm like "oh sweet, I'm cool with you eating humans then." My squicks are a weird thing. Long story short: This is why I couldn't get into Hannibal.
Snake man can see the future when he eats human eyes! Also, his snake eyes are REALLY COOL. Way better than Voldemort's.
He sees Sam and Dean coming to get him, so he gets out of there without being able to eat his carefully cooked dinner yet! He's also got a cute pet snake that's all red.
The Gang is all here!
Apparently, this isn't the first time that they've missed this dude. Also, Rowena is helping them! Hello Rowena! She isn't too impressed with Dean thinking it's witches, even though Dean defends the assumption with the classic argument of "a lot of times it's witches!" Fair.
Jack coughs, and everyone looks at him like "you okay?!" and he flatly tells them "I'm not dying." And it's the most teenagery thing they've had him do so far and I love it.
Anyway, back to the case - this is victim number 6. The only difference this time is that Jack finds a snake skin. Also, Rowena notices that there's black soot like stuff on the victim's lips. "Does that mean something?" Jack asks, to which Rowena answers "Everything means something." Rowena is one of those really hardcore writers/readers.
Back at the Motel, Sam and Rowena hit the books. And my secret Sam/Rowena shipping heart is pleased...I just said to myself, "Do they have a ship name? Ram?!" And then I laughed for reals... it's probably Sawena or something. But, much like Sassy, I think I'm going to go with Ram or Rammy, because it makes me laugh.
Anyway, Rowena is curious as to how Jack is still alive, and Sam is like "don't worry about it" and Rowena is like "uh, yeah, not what I'm asking..."
But then we cut to Dean and Cas (and Jack, who we find out is in the bathroom). Dean feels good about having brought Rowena onto the case, which had me wondering if Dean was possess, I'm not gonna lie. That's a very odd opinion for Dean to have. But no, Dean is himself, but he has a headache the size of an archangel. Castiel praises Dean's willpower, because keeping Michael locked away should really be an impossible feat, and yet Dean is accomplishing it.
But not all is good. Jack is in the bathroom coughing up blood again.
Dean admits to Cas that he's not fine. That Michael is pounding in his head non-stop - and Dean is hardly sleeping. Cas points out that that's not sustainable. Dean says that fixing the situation is on him, but Cas argues that it's "on us" and tries to reassure Dean that they'll figure out a solution.
Jack, still in the bathroom, uses some power to fix his cough... and I wasn't sure if it was his soul power or his grace - but then realized that it must be the soul power, just to be the most ominous.
Before Jack gets back to the table, Dean tries to get Cas on board, or keep Cas on board, with Plan B, which is the coffin in the ocean thing. Jack comes back and they cease talking about it, but Cas can tell that Jack's not 100% and is suspicious - but Jack declares that he's fine and they get back to talking about the case. Cas thinks that the killings are a little ritualistic... and it makes for a cute moment, so I'll forgive it, but there's no way in heck Dean gets to the age of 40, living as a Hunter, without knowing what 'liturgical' means - like, I know the guy is an atheist who didn't go to church, but he ROUTINELY uses religious ritual and artifacts for his job.
They think that it must be a monster. And Jack says that after killing so many people, it's a monster even if its human... and Dean agrees with him... but at the same time, that's a really slippery slope, my friend. When even 'monsters' aren't black and white cases, JACK AS AN EXAMPLE, you don't want to get into judging what makes a human a monster that deserves to die.
Sam and Rowena calls the rest of the fam back to the motel. They've figured out that it's a gorgon. Again, there's no way that Dean only has Clash of the Titans as a reference for what a gorgon is... but I do like the joke... but basically here Sam and Rowena explain that the myth was a metaphorical telling of what gorgons did... it wasn't that they turned the victims to stone, it was that their venom paralyzed them. This gorgon their following (Noah, as we find out later), has actually killed 17 people in his travels.
Problem is, they aren't exactly sure how to kill him yet.
Meanwhile, the Gorgon is hitchhiking... by way of prostitution... which works out for him, because he just has to kiss the guy and then BAMMO venomized. He eats one of the dude's eyes before he's even dead, poor dude, so that he can elude the Winchesters further.
Dean and Cas check out the crime scene. After 10 years or so, Cas has actually gotten the FBI thing down, and pulls an awesome move with the police officer where he puts him off kilter nearly immediately so that he loses control of the situation and wants to give Cas what he wants. It's WELL PLAYED. The police officer grabs a note for them that was left with the body - it's addressed to Dean. It talks about how the Gorgon saw Dean standing alone by the truck reading the note, and that the tall one and the red head were trying to find him.
Cas realizes that the note doesn't mention Cas or Jack at all - meaning that the Gorgon can only see future HUMAN movement. This means that if Cas and Jack go in, they can catch him by surprise - because he can't see angels. "I'm not an angel" Jack protests! "Close enough" Dean shrugs. Again, this is the first writer, I feel, that has gotten Jack more as a teenager than a child/alien... maybe Jack is just growing up a little.
Rowena wants to get some anti-venom, to make a counter for the venom in case things go south with the fight. Apparently anti-venom is a controlled substance (does anyone know if this is true? I don't even know what anti-venom is made of, so I mean, it could be!). Rowena has a plan to get some though, and looks at Jack - and Jack seems eager to see what the plan is.
Apparently the plan is for Sam and Rowena to run into a small vet clinic (where apparently only one vet works) with a tiny dog and then get into a couple's spat about who's fault it was that the dog was unsupervised. The vet brings Jack to the back room to look him over... sees that he's fine, and then leaves him there to go talk to Sam and Rowena again (Uh, yeah, so, I may not know anything about anti-venom, but I do know that vets don't leave animals in exam rooms unattended. She would have either brought him back out with her, or she would have caged him first. But, hey, maybe they do things different in New Mexico.)
Once the vet is out of the room, we find out that the dog is JACK! He was transfigured... with his clothes, because this is a very PG Harry-Potter transfiguration. Jack grabs the anti-venom and skedaddles out the back before the vet can get back to the room after finding Sam and Rowena gone.
Rowena and Sam are actually out back, talking by the car. Jack makes a quip about how he wishes the vet hadn't taken his temperature before she left the room (because getting things stuck up your but is always funny, as long as it's not traumatic) and then gets in the car. Before Sam and Rowena get in the car, Rowena again asks Sam what the heck they did with Jack, because when she did the transfiguration, she felt another kind of magic in him - that was parasitic in nature. She's worried. Sam tries to get her to stop worrying, but she calls him out on it - guessing that he used some sort of extreme experimental magic in order to get what he wanted and damn the consequences - she says it sounds like something she would have done. Sam agrees, thinking that therefore she can't call him out on it. But then Rowena has the best line, because she points out that up "until very recently I was the villain." Burn! (And also Sam's MO, because he does like to skirt that line when it comes to saving his loved ones.)
We then join the Gorgon, who is talking to his newest pry, who looks like a nice man, and I feel bad for him. The Gorgon tells us that he doesn't just eat men, he also eats ladies, but these days ladies are so cautious - probably because they're "waking up from centuries of misogynistic oppression." Ha! Nice!
The guy finally breaks their deal of no-screaming and starts screaming - so Noah, the gorgon, kisses his cheek to paralyze him - which tells us that he can kiss them anywhere for the venom to work.
Sam is on the phone to Maggie at the Bunker, which is suddenly lively with hunters again... and she tells him they need a silver blade to kill a gorgon. And also that Mary has finished up her case in Oregon and is heading back tonight. Sam thanks Maggie for looking after things when they're gone, and I'm like "uh oh, Maggie....are you going to die?"
Armed with information, Cas and Jack interrupt the Gorgon's meal plans yet again - this time catching him off guard. I guess time is of the essence when trying to save gorgon victims, because Cas goes to give the old-man the anti-venom first. While Cas is saving the dude, the Gorgon holds off Jack's attack by telling him a story about a chicken and a snake, real quick - about how the snake ate all the chicken's eggs except for one, and then the chicken hardboiled the last egg so that it'd choke the snake to death when he ate it - and the Gorgon isn't sure whether Jack is the chicken or the snake in the story.
Then the fight begins, once he's got Jack off kilter. Cas gets taken out with a kiss to the cheek, and Jack gets thrown across the room. Sam and Dean run in and Sam also gets thrown about, and then Dean gets his head bashed into a wall repeatedly until he falls unconscious. The gorgon tries to flee, but Jack has gotten into position and beheads him before he can see it coming.
Jack tries to give Cas the anti-venom, but it's not working (probably because Cas is an angel?) and so Jack uses his soul-power to heal Castiel. Sam can't get Dean to wake up, so they quickly drive to to the Bunker.
Jack offers to heal Dean too, but he's quickly denied - Cas tells him that he can't afford to burn off any more of his soul. This announcement means that the jig is up in terms of keeping things from Rowena.
Sam's freaking out with worry. Rowena goes off to do research. And meanwhile, Jack has the gorgon's snake in a container - does he know that his name is Felix?, probably not.
Cas goes to talk with Jack. Jack is upset because it's DEAN - Dean can't die, because he's DEAN. Jack doesn't want to lose people. Cas tries to explain that while Sam and Dean are exceptional humans, they're human... and humans burn bright but brief. Eventually, beings like Cas and Jack will have to carry on without them.
Jack doesn't understand what the point is then - what's the point of immortality, or being powerful and long-lived, if everyone you know is going to die. Cas tries to explain that the point is that you got to know them at all, even if it was brief - and it will hurt when they die, but that pain will be a reminder of the love you had for them. Jack thinks that sounds awful. Cas tries to explain that it's about appreciating being together now.
Jack is still upset that he can't help the people that he loves. He's keeping the snake. He wants to understand what the Gorgon meant by the story that he told. Castiel says that it's a story about greed (the snake), and about being willing to give up the thing you love in order to kill the thing you hate (the chicken.).
Then Dean starts freaking out in the infirmary. He can't find Michael. Michael has escaped Dean.
Then they hear screaming from the library - and they run out in time to see Maggie burn out/get smited, and everyone is dead. (Well, this will solve the problem of 'now we're here, now we're not' that they've been playing.) And then Rowena steps forward, and she is MIGHTY POSSESSED by Michael.
Michael explains, via flashback, that he got Rowena to say yes by first trying to promise her that he'd let her live. Rowena was like "I'll live anyway" and then explained that the fates already told her that Sam Winchester was going to kill her (again, such an awesome relationship those two have, even if you don't ship them - just as allies)... anyway, Michael then exploits Rowena's new weakness, which is that he promises to leave her alive, and also not to kill everyone she loves - and he knows that she does love them, no matter what she says.
Michael starts attacking the gang.. only his powers don't seem to work on Jack. He incapacitates Cas, Sam, and Dean though, by taking away their air, sight, and causing them pain. Jack, meanwhile, reaches towards a bag, but Michael hits him with a blast of something.
Jack then decides to hell with it, and just powers up via soul-parasite. He marches up to Michael, taking numourous blasts. Michael tells him that he should have just killed Jack when he had the chance, and Jack says he was thinking the same thing - and when Michael yells that he's a commander of heaven, Jack counters with "I am the son of Lucifer, a Hunter, and a Winchester!" and then he expels Michael from Rowena's body and then EATS HIM.
It's AWESOME.
Michael is dead. Jack, flashes his wings, and declares "I'm me again!" and we fade to black....
...and my notes here say "BUT DOES HE HAVE A SOUL?!?!?!"
It was a great episode! I really enjoyed it! But MAN, I really hope that Jack still has enough of a soul that he can remain the good boy that he is - I REALLY don't want him to go irrecoverably dark-side, and so far soul-destruction is basically the only thing in SPN that you cannot come back from.
I know some people will probably be mad that the Michael resolution wasn't a more angsty heroic scene involving the Winchesters - I mean, I know part of me was hoping that since Dean got to kill Lucifer, maybe Sam would get to kill Michael... but I'm cool with this too - especially since Lucifer is probably coming back... wait, is he back already? I forget. No, I don't think so. Does that mean we're in a big bad lull? Sonofabitch - this means that Jack might be it... I REALLY DON'T WANT THAT... anyway, I was saying that maybe Sam would get his chance to kill Lucifer after all. That'd be my ideal. I REALLY WANT JACK TO BE OKAY. Maybe Dean can heroically save Jack. Anyway, I liked Jack's moment of triumph there... and I did call that as a possibility for how they could defeat Michael - feed him to Jack somehow to cure him. Back when they fixed Jack before, they didn't have access to Michael. Personally, I think as soon as they locked him up in Dean's mind, they should have done the handcuff thing then the throat-slit thing, and sucked that grace out. Though... pretty sure Michael burned through the handcuffs before.
Let me know what you thought in comments!
Once again, I'm going to be traveling for 10 days starting tomorrow evening, so rewatches and my quick reaction for next week's episode may not appear until I'm back.