Thoughts on this episode...
...did that just really happen? No, not in a good way...the opening bits in the church with the archbishop struck the right chords, what with the crosses turning upside down, but as soon as they went to the President storyline this episode lost me.
When the Secret Service descended on the Impala, I thought, "Okay, so all season we've been hearing about an 'angry, powerful' Castiel, maybe now we FINALLY get to see him in action like we used to." Nope, Dean stopped him, when in season 6 he would've just used a blast of light from his hands to incapacitate everyone nearby. Likewise at the very end--I was shocked when he ran out with Kelly but then left the Winchesters on their own. Granted in the old days he would've just zapped back to get them, which he can't do anymore without wings, but still...unleash your angel badassery or just go back to Heaven already.
And speaking of angel wings, as much as I get why Lucifer would have them and Cas wouldn't, it doesn't make sense to me that Lucifer seems a lot less powerful now than he did last year. The excuse that "Amara really took it out of him" just doesn't fly--all she did was expel him from Cas, I don't see that she did anything else that would've de-powered him.
Then we get to the infamous egg scene. I don't buy that Lucifer was banished anywhere--remember the demon exorcisms we used to see, they'd dissolve right through the floor and leave burn marks behind them. The only time they went through a vent was if they were fleeing the scene--and that's exactly what I saw happening with Lucifer in his angelic form, fleeing through a convenient escape tunnel and *not* being banished back to Hell, much less the Cage.
Now...let's talk about Cas again. I get that he can't be too powerful or the story loses jeopardy, but I echo another reviewer on another site who wanted the narrative to at least try to explain why his wings are still burned out, since he didn't fall with the rest of the angels. It still drives me crazy that Crowley (and Lucifer) can teleport, but not him; it also drives me crazy that his power level seems to be sharply uneven from one sighting to the next. At least in seasons 4, 5, and 6, they managed to keep it very consistent about what he could and couldn't (not to mention would and wouldn't) do. Is he a seraph again or not? (And can we PLEASE finally find a way to reverse Metatron's spell and give the angels back their wings?)
Yes, I still miss his being able to teleport and all the other things that wings made possible--but losing those powers at least makes sense. It's all these one-off abilities that seem to come out of nowhere that bother me. As an example, season before last, he probed Rowena's memories to learn about the Polish kid that she supposedly loved; we'd never seen that before, and it was literally new powers as the plot demanded. Then in this season's midseason cliffhanger, since he couldn't just incapacitate the Secret Service at the motel (since that would tip off Lucifer and he'd just zap away), he instead...uses mind control? Again, where did this come from? Have we seen it before? (Yes I know Zaccariah did it to Dean in that one episode when he created a false world to show Dean he really was a hunter, but that was more about putting his memories on "layaway" as I recall.)
About the only thing this episode really did right was bring in Matthew Kellogg (or at least the actor who played him on "Continuum"). It was a tad jarring to see him as a Secret Service guy when I'm used to seeing him as a master manipulator/social engineer, but I'm actually looking forward to what he'll bring to the second half of the season.
...did that just really happen? No, not in a good way...the opening bits in the church with the archbishop struck the right chords, what with the crosses turning upside down, but as soon as they went to the President storyline this episode lost me.
When the Secret Service descended on the Impala, I thought, "Okay, so all season we've been hearing about an 'angry, powerful' Castiel, maybe now we FINALLY get to see him in action like we used to." Nope, Dean stopped him, when in season 6 he would've just used a blast of light from his hands to incapacitate everyone nearby. Likewise at the very end--I was shocked when he ran out with Kelly but then left the Winchesters on their own. Granted in the old days he would've just zapped back to get them, which he can't do anymore without wings, but still...unleash your angel badassery or just go back to Heaven already.
And speaking of angel wings, as much as I get why Lucifer would have them and Cas wouldn't, it doesn't make sense to me that Lucifer seems a lot less powerful now than he did last year. The excuse that "Amara really took it out of him" just doesn't fly--all she did was expel him from Cas, I don't see that she did anything else that would've de-powered him.
Then we get to the infamous egg scene. I don't buy that Lucifer was banished anywhere--remember the demon exorcisms we used to see, they'd dissolve right through the floor and leave burn marks behind them. The only time they went through a vent was if they were fleeing the scene--and that's exactly what I saw happening with Lucifer in his angelic form, fleeing through a convenient escape tunnel and *not* being banished back to Hell, much less the Cage.
Now...let's talk about Cas again. I get that he can't be too powerful or the story loses jeopardy, but I echo another reviewer on another site who wanted the narrative to at least try to explain why his wings are still burned out, since he didn't fall with the rest of the angels. It still drives me crazy that Crowley (and Lucifer) can teleport, but not him; it also drives me crazy that his power level seems to be sharply uneven from one sighting to the next. At least in seasons 4, 5, and 6, they managed to keep it very consistent about what he could and couldn't (not to mention would and wouldn't) do. Is he a seraph again or not? (And can we PLEASE finally find a way to reverse Metatron's spell and give the angels back their wings?)
Yes, I still miss his being able to teleport and all the other things that wings made possible--but losing those powers at least makes sense. It's all these one-off abilities that seem to come out of nowhere that bother me. As an example, season before last, he probed Rowena's memories to learn about the Polish kid that she supposedly loved; we'd never seen that before, and it was literally new powers as the plot demanded. Then in this season's midseason cliffhanger, since he couldn't just incapacitate the Secret Service at the motel (since that would tip off Lucifer and he'd just zap away), he instead...uses mind control? Again, where did this come from? Have we seen it before? (Yes I know Zaccariah did it to Dean in that one episode when he created a false world to show Dean he really was a hunter, but that was more about putting his memories on "layaway" as I recall.)
About the only thing this episode really did right was bring in Matthew Kellogg (or at least the actor who played him on "Continuum"). It was a tad jarring to see him as a Secret Service guy when I'm used to seeing him as a master manipulator/social engineer, but I'm actually looking forward to what he'll bring to the second half of the season.
Best. Reply. Ever.
