Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Supernatural Review: Season 10 Episode 10 "The Hunter Games"

By: Eugenie Ross-Leming & Brad Buckner


**Spoilers**
If you have not yet seen this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

         Sooo...does Dean not need the Blade to trigger the Mark these days? Because I swear last season it was only set off whenever he actually touched the Blade. Is it different now because he was a demon? Are they ever going to explain? (Hint: probably not...)

               But that doesn't mean I didn't thoroughly enjoy this episode. Sam and Dean were wonderful, as always, and Crowley and Rowena are just the best. I hope Rowena stays around for a long, LONG time. Even Castiel, for all that his scenes were sort of dragged down by the re-appearance of Claire, was pretty much a lot of fun. I really did enjoy this episode and I happily boo'd at the return of Metatron. He's one of those characters that you really love to hate.


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- Loved the montage of Deanmon in 'The Road So Far'.

- This episode felt very much like a continuation of The Things We Left Behind. I'm not sure how to feel about that...

- Rowena gives a new meaning to the term 'helicopter mother'. I was SO confused whenever the episode started out with Crowley biting the dust. Fortunately, 'twas all a dream. A dream brought on by one of Rowena's hex bags. I like this dynamic. Certainly it's more interesting than Dean's over-hyped angst or Castiel's attempts at being a family man.

- "She's like a wounded animal, just watching me." Gee, Castiel, I wonder why. It couldn't be because you're still walking around wearing the face of the father that you stole away from her, could it? Or that you traumatized her at a young age? Or that you told her to her face that you heard and ignored her prayers? Nah...of course not.

- I also take issue with the fact that Cas says Claire has known so little love in her life. ROT! When Castiel came to Jimmy Novak, Claire was clearly around the age eleven. So that means for the first eleven years of her life she lived in a strong Christian family with parents devoted to each other and who obviously loved her. Look at those flashbacks in The Rapture! They were happy! And she felt that Randy loved her, so there's that too. Stop being over-dramatic just for the sake of trying to make me like a character that only becomes worse the longer I think about her.

- I still don't see how Dean killing those scumbags was any different from the meatsuits that he and Sam hack through on nearly a weekly basis. Are we doing a Merlin 'let's talk up the situation because if we say it's dire enough, somebody might actually believe us' type thing? 

- While I will forever be miffed that they have decided to actually SHOW us Hell, I have to admit that Rowena is fast becoming my favorite character ever. She's certainly the most interesting baddie since Meg. 

- And her squabbling with Crowley is a thing of beauty.

- I'm going to punch somebody for freeing Metatron. WHY didn't Castiel just go to Heaven to interrogate him? They should KNOW by now that irritating little snake of a librarian will find some way to muck things up.

- The scene where Sam interrogates Metatron was just wonderful. You could FEEL the hatred and the tension radiating off of Sam (kudos to Jared) and it's a wonder he didn't just stab Metatron through the face. I rather think that the old Sam may have. But Sam's older and wiser now. Let's just hope that somebody is wise enough to extract the info from Metatron and THEN stab him. Before he can cause any more trouble!

- At least they acknowledged that Castiel is still wearing Jimmy and how hard it must be for Claire to see his face. Shame they decided to have her go vengeful on Dean instead of Castiel like it would MAKE SENSE for her to do. I really don't like the way they've developed her character.

- Sam and Dean interrogating Metatron may just have been the best scene of the entire episode.

- "I would be tickled to help you pop this Biblical zit." I still can't believe this is actual dialogue.

- Ten seasons ago, Dean felt that demons weren't their gig. Now he has the King of Hell on speed-dial. Excuse me while I go laugh over that.

- Okay. So the scene where Rowena scrys on Crowley and the Winchesters is pretty cool. If having Rowena hang around means that we get to see some more magic, I am totally on board. 

- This episode would have been PERFECT if Claire did not exist. Her story only serves to divert attention away from the main focus (Dean and the MoC) and is neither interesting nor funny, like the saga of Crowley and his dear old Mum. I liked her in the last episode okay. She is, unfortunately, one of the characters who only gets worse the longer I think about her. Maybe she'll redeem herself one day...we can only hope.

- Metatron needs to die.

- The scene where Dean starts carving Metatron up...can we give Jensen Ackles an award of some kind? Because when I looked at him, I was reminded of some of the shots where Sam was high on demon blood. You look at his eyes and it's not Dean, but it sure as heck isn't Jensen either. 

- Gotta love how Sam figured out that Dean was snapping due to the unfinished sandwich in the kitchen.

- Metatron calling Dean out on his concept of the 'greater good' was something that needed to be done. I'm still kind of upset with him over the whole Gadreel Fiasco.

- I'm starting to think that Crowley calling the Blade Dean's 'precious' was all too apt of a comparison. Seems like a lot of the dialogue and descriptions of the effects of the Mark/Blade sound very much like the way the One Ring effects its bearers.

- The whole Metatron and Dean torture scene was very intense and really showcased both of the actors through Dean's calculated, desperate rage and Metatron's slippery tongue. It calls to mind the quieter but no less potent scenes between Sam and Crowley in Sacrifice. See, writers? Whenever you give these actors a chance to just go at it, they create some of the best drama in the world WITHOUT needed to have melodrama in the dialogue!

- I still don't know why the Mark was triggered by a weapon that wasn't the First Blade. Are we ever going to get an explanation for that?

- What...but...what...WHY IN THE NAME OF CHUCK DID THEY TAKE METATRON BACK TO HEAVEN?! Was this entire venture POINTLESS?!

- I do like that we actually got a broment at the end of this episode. (Now hug!)


        Basically, this episode just felt like more glorified filler. Entertaining filler, for the most part (minus the bits with Claire) but still filler. Reminds me of Reichenbach, actually. I guess we'll have to wait until next week to see if it's actually building up to something good or not. Rowena is officially the best thing since sliced bread. I love the way she's manipulating Crowley and I'm anxious to see where this goes. Sam and Dean were awesome, as usual. Though I do feel like Sam was a bit under-used in this episode. Hopefully that will get better. All-in-all, The Hunter Games is a 3/5.




What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?

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