Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Supernatural 8x02 "What's Up, Tiger Mommy?"

I'm going to start with a complete aside and ask: did any of you watch Arrow? Because I kinda dug it. It definitely seems like the perfect fit with Supernatural. I mean, pair Stephen Amnell with Jensen and Jared and whoa. Trifecta.

Also, another sidenote, I really don't feel so well right now, so this might be shorter and/or not as funny as usual. That is, if you usually find these at least somewhat fun/funny. Okay! Enough dilly dally!

After the requisite random-person-gets-killed opening, this time involving what turns out to be the bone of a frost giant, a virgin bank worker and a genuinely creepy dude, we get back to the problem at large - finding the tablet that Kevin hid before going on the run from demons. Now that he's got Dean and Sam back on the GoGoProphet team, they can go find it again and close the gates to Hell forever. Right?

Recap/review of Supernatural 8x02 "What's Up, Tiger Mommy?" by
Don't worry, Mom, it was just a demon possessing you.
Well. No. Because Kev first wants to make sure that his mom is okay, after what happened to his girlfriend. Dean assures him that she is fine, as Crowley wouldn't get rid of leverage over Kevin. But, she is probably surrounded by demons, so, you know, trap city. But Kevin insists, and Sam happens to agree with him, so Dean throws up in his hands in surrender and off they go.

After dispatching the demons that were indeed surrounding Ms. Tran, they want to put her in a safe house, but she is having none of it. She wants to accompany them on their quest so she can protect her son. Also, why was she that surprised about the demons? Didn't she encounter them before after the angels were killed or whatever? Whatevs. The boys get them inked up with some anti-demon tattoos and they're off!

To a train station, where Kevin apparently stashed the tablet. But, of course, it's no longer there. There was a thief working some mischief, and he pawned it. And the pawn shop dude sold it. They track down the seller's address, which looks to be a motel very similar to one we saw back in season four with the kid in the astronaut costume. The dude in question that bought the tablet is apparently the right hand to the god Plutos, who is about to host a special sort of monster auction, which is purportedly on neutral ground. And they're going to sell the tablet, naturally.

Time to head to the auction, wherein we also see for sale Thor's hammer. Guess who wants to buy it? Yes, the dude with the frost giant bone. Ha. Anyway, Crowley also happens to be in attendance, and when things start selling for much more team GoGoProphet has, things do not look good. Things especially don't look good when Plutus pulls a nasty and puts Kevin up on the bidding block along with the tablet. Since, you know, it's no good on its own, really, with no one to read it. In the end, Kevin's mom offers up her soul as payment. Crowley tries to counter with his own soul, but alas, he does not have one. Ms. Tran "wins." Can you call losing your soul a win? Dean might. So long as it's not Sam's soul, anyway.

Yes Dean, I have a beard. It's a great Purgatorian mystery.
But, Crowley is sneaky. He manages to get Ms. Tran on her own (twice in one episode the boys leave her and/or Kevin alone, to allow them "some time," which is clearly something they should never do), and burns away the anti-possession tattoo. So, yep, Crowley possesses Kevin's mom and manages to get away with the tablet. But, well, yes, not before vacating her body and going back into his own. Sam also gets to wield Thor's hammer while taking down some evildoers. Not everyday that happens.

In the end, the Trans decide to take off on their own. They've had enough of the Winchesters' "help," and can you really blame them? As Crowley said, people who hang around them usually end up dead eventually. So now the boys are without Kevin or the tablet. Well, crap.

Meanwhile, throughout the episode, we were treated to some PurgatoryDean flashbacks of him tracking down Castiel with Benny. They did manage to track him down, only to find that he was trying to keep hidden from Dean this whole time, to protect him from the wrath of the Leviathan(s) down there with them. But Dean was not going to let Cas rot in Purgatory if he could help it. Only, in the last flashback, we're not so sure what has happened, because it looks like maybe Dean actually sacrificed Cas or something. PurgatoryDean is not so nice, you see. Not so nice. ReturnedFromPurgatoryDean isn't much nicer, either, but would you be?

Next week it looks like we get to see more of Sam's time away, getting frisky with the vet and finally having the pet dog he always wanted.

Random Thoughts:

- So Cas grows facial hair in Purgatory, but Dean takes the time to somehow shave but is okay with leaving his face covered in blood? Riiiight.

- The guy who played Alfie/Samadriel seemed ultra familiar to me. Anyone else?

- I do believe this is the first time we've ever seen Crowley's demony eyes, right? It's definitely the first time we've ever seen him smoke out of someone, because I know I would've remembered red smoke. I guess it makes sense that he has red eyes, since he was the king of making deals, and the crossroads demons also had red eyes. Minions, if you will.

- Is there a running tally of how many times Crowley makes a moose reference? It's becoming his idjit, which was fun at first, but was eventually overused into the ground.


Dean: Smell it, Sammy?
Sam: What, burning flesh?
Dean: Revenge.

Dean: They didn't mean it, baby.

Crowley: Listen to Moose, Squirrel.

Crowley: Samadriel. Slumming it, are we?

Previous Episode -- Next Episode


  1. Love your SPN recaps. I like this episode - darkDean pushes my buttons.

    I read that the actor playing Samadriel was also in the episode "Bugs" back in S1. He played the kid who collected bugs.

    1. Thanks!

      I guess that must be why he looks familiar, but I swear I've seen him in something else too. Hmm.

  2. Tyler Johnston. Played Matt Pike in season 1.

  3. I liked this episode. I know right shocker! lol Considering I hated the promos for this arc I though it was going to be a corny auction episode and most of it was but in a good way because the thrills were well balanced and that sacrifice Kevin's mom made for her boy even I was choked up a bit. Except Sam without a soul was an emphetic basterd who was great at hunting but no personality. Kevin's mom is catatonic. Okayyyyyyyyy.... I guess that could work but considering we've seen people without souls on this show function fine I'm gonna need an explanation. Kevin's note to Dean was also tragic even if I think it's bupkiss however it's how the character feels and Dean carries the world on his shoulders so he's gonna take this hard. A realy great followup ep all around. However I think the flashbacks were the strongest point.

    This one really examined the crumbling friendship of Dean and Cas has continued. Cas running away from a fight leaving Dean to fend for himself was low, he says it's because of of him, which may be true but considering their current track record I'm not the least surprised Dean doesnt believe him. I'm still on the fence whether or not he's dead (You know my standings on TV deaths "No body no death") Cas will return we know that but this time I'm really anticipating it.

    1. Did she actually not have her soul at the end of the episode, or was she just shaken up from being possessed? I didn't think the guy had a chance to take her soul because Crowley had possessed her already, but I could be wrong.

      I'm not sure this version of Dean is going to feel as bad as he would have in the past, he didn't seem to particularly care that much that Kevin's mom gave up her soul in the first place, since it was for a larger purpose.

      Regarding whether Cas is really "dead," I mean Dean has never said he's actually dead, pretty sure it was just along the lines of "as good as." This show also has a major tendency not to let popular characters stay dead even when they should, a la Bobby last season. I'm still annoyed by that whole ghost plotline!

  4. the actor who played Alfie was in an episode of Blood Ties, if that helps. it was the ep about reincarnation, and he played Lee

  5. I liked 'Arrow' and I loved this episode of Supernatural.
    Name two big brothers that are bad ass and just got back from 'Purgatory'? Dean Winchester and Oliver Queen.

    I liked Kevin's Mom, but I think that having the two of them in the backseat for more than a couple of episodes would get kind of annoying, real quickly. So, I am kinda glad that Kevin grabbed his Mom and split.

    I do not think that it is Dean's fault that Mom got possessed by Crowley. Dean didn't even want to go get her, so if they had just left her alone, she would have been fine.

    As for Castiel, I really doubt that he left Dean alone only because he wanted the bad guys to go after him. As we saw in episode 1, the bad guys still found and tried to kill Dean, so Castiel's "plan" didn't work. I truly hope that all we get are eight episodes of Castiel and a final death.

    1. I mean, I like Cas and all, but I feel like they've sort of been grasping at straws to give him story lines after season five, you know?

    2. Yep, in season four, he got Dean out of Hell and the whole seals things, but then he got so popular that the writers were now stuck with him and had to try to fit him in to every season, instead of just letting his character go.

      So, he became the big bad of season six and the beginning of season seven. Then he died, but then the uproar to his death, I think, caused the PTB to bring him back. Hopefully, they will let him die finally and give him the peace that he deserves.