Welcome back to the round table after brief hiatus last week. This week Jackie Bojarski, Kelly Silva and I will be discussing “The Future,” which was written by Robert Berens and Meredith Glynn and directed by Amanda Tapping. There will be three more weeks of new shows before season 12 wraps up, with the May 18th finale being two hours long. As always, we invite your comments and feedback in the comment section.
Sam, Dean and Castiel
Castiel and the Winchesters reunion:
Jackie: I really wouldn’t call it much of a reunion. It was more of an awkward catching up session in which few questions were answered and suspicions were high. I don’t think Sam nor Dean believed Cas’s flimsy excuses for not answering their attempts to contact him. Furthermore, I felt that they should’ve pushed for more information regarding why he had returned to Heaven. With everything that’s going on, I expected Sam and Dean to be more vigilant, especially about security at the Bunker. The fact that people can walk in and out at their leisure seems odd to me, but maybe I’m the only one.
Kelly: Even when Dean is angry with Cas I enjoy watching the interaction of Castiel with the Winchesters. Dean being that angry just shows how much he cares about Castiel. I wasn’t thrilled that Cas stole the Colt. He never seems to learn that lying to the Winchesters is never a good thing.
Debbi: So we are back to Cas lying to and taking advantage of the Winchesters – ‘for their own good’. You’d think by now the angel would learn that his ideas in the regard never seem to work out the way he hopes they will… although starting off by lying to the boys and following that up with stealing from them… isn’t an auspicious start. The fact that the Winchesters don’t trust anything Cas says is pretty evident. I feel really bad for Dean though, he doesn’t trust easily and considered Cas family and the angel used those feelings, again, to plot against them again. I won’t be surprised if Dean never trusts anyone other than Sam in the future.
I have to agree with Jackie – the bunker is too wide open! I would have thought they’d have changed the lock on the place after learning the BMoL had an all access pass. Of course, since they consider Cas family and have told him the bunker is his home as well, they would have eventually given Cas a new key.
Castiel’s Plan with Heaven:
Jackie: I can understand why Castiel–and by extension Heaven–felt that they had no alternative except to kill Kelly and her unborn child. However, I don’t like that he went behind the Winchesters’ backs again and betrayed them. He should’ve discussed all possible options with them instead.
Kelly: Dean and Sam tried that same plan and failed. If Cas had really listened to Dean, he might have understood that. When Cas took Kelly and Joshua wanted him to bring them to Heaven, I thought that was a good plan.
Debbi: Plan? You’d think the angels would know that the Winchesters tried this and failed, that Dagon is too fast to catch with just the colt. I may have missed this or forgotten it, but has anyone tried a devil’s trap to hold her (or any Prince of Hell) in one place long enough to shot her? This could have been discussed in the episodes with Ramiel but I don’t think so. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. In his usual fashion, Cas, thinks he knows it all and doesn’t stop long enough to listen to Sam and Dean. All he cares about at this point is winning or succeeding at something and this is dangerous territory for anybody. It leads to tunnel vision and poor judgment – in this case failing to kill Kelly and her child.
Sam & Dean’s Plan to Extract the Grace:
Jackie: I actually think this was the better plan of the two and would’ve liked to see if it could’ve worked. At least then Kelly and her child would’ve been able to live a relatively normal life. However, Kelly is determined to give birth to her child with his powers intact. To me, her faith in his inherent goodness seems naive but there is a chance that she’s right.
Kelly: Sam is so awesome. He’s always thinking. This is still a very good idea. If Sam and Dean can reach Cas and Kelly they can still try to enact this plan. The baby is already very powerful so it won’t be easy.
Debbi: This is a solid plan, even if the outcome isn’t a sure thing. If they were able to extract all of the Nephilim’s grace both Kelly and her child could have lived out a normal life. However, I think that the Nephilim is already too powerful to lead to a successful extraction. I’m not even sure that even killing Kelly would lead to death for both she and her child. Research!Sam, who I love, needs to get back to the bunker and figure out how to kill a Nephilim once it’s born. Both he and Dean will be faced with killing the Nephilim and his angelic protector – that’s not going to be easy for either Sam or Dean. Could we see Mary killing Cas to allow her boys (or herself) to get a chance at killing Lucifer’s child? Of course, they’ve lost the Colt for good… thanks Cas.
Kelly and the Nephilim
Kelly Trying to Kill Herself:
Jackie: This scene was fairly graphic and I had to look away. However, I felt it was necessary to the overall plot momentum. How else would she have arrived at the conclusion that her baby cared about her and was a force of good?
Kelly: I was asking myself why didn’t she do this right away. I knew the baby was never going to let her die. Kelly saw this as a miracle but I think it’s a bad omen.
Debbi: This may have worked at the beginning of her pregnancy, but it is clear that the baby is far more powerful than we’ve seen so far. He definitely manipulating both his ‘container’ and his new protector. I’d love to believe that Kelly is right and that nothing is born evil – even the son of an archangel – but I honestly don’t believe that to be the case.
The Baby’s Powers:
Jackie: I’m wary still regarding the baby and his powers; I think that it’s very likely that he’s manipulating Kelly and Cas into thinking he’s good so that they’ll protect him. The more pressing question is: what will the baby be able to do when he’s born and how fast will he age?
Kelly: Like father, like son. This child is already manipulating Kelly and whoever she touches. He’s going to be quite the foe for the Winchesters.
Debbi: Jackie’s hit the nail on the head. No one knows just how powerful this child will be and I suspect that he will age quickly. Similar to Amara’s aging process. There has got to be a way to neutralize or kill the Nephilim, they just need to find it.
Do you think the baby can be good?
Jackie: I think there’s a possibility that he could be good, but is that ever how it works out on “Supernatural”?
Kelly: No, I think the baby is a greater deceiver than his father.
Debbi: I would love to believe that there is a way for this to turn out well for everyone, but I’m with Jackie – this is “Supernatural” and the Winchesters never get a break.
Overall Thoughts
Jackie: I personally found this episode aggravating. Not enough Winchesters, too many out-of-character moments and too much recycling of old motivations. I hate when the writers have to dumb down otherwise smart characters to accomplish something and that’s what I felt they had to do here.
Kelly: I liked the episode, it was entertaining. My favorite episodes are when they’re about the brothers. The Angel & Demon story lines are always secondary for me.
Debbi: This episode seemed to combine all of my pet peeves in one episode. The Winchesters where again almost nowhere to be seen – come on already, the show is about the Winchesters, not the angels! Second point – too much angel and demon politics and motivations. Ugh, I don’t care about what Heaven or Hell are doing – I care about the characters on earth. As Jackie mentions, this is recycled material and if the only way to make this collection of crap work was to dumb down Sam and Dean then it should have never left in the writer’s room.
Predictions and Scores
Jackie: Honestly, I have no idea what’s going to happen besides Kelly dying and the Winchesters having to deal with Lucifer’s Nephilim. There are still opportunities to take this season in interesting directions and I hope the writers take them.
Score: C-
Kelly: Lucifer’s son is going to be born and now Castiel is under its spell. I think the Winchesters are going to have some tough choices to make.
Score: B-
Debbi: We may see the BMoL try to take charge of this overall operation, which will lead to further in-fighting and the possible loss of Mary if the BMoL start to think she’s a liability. I don’t see any way to stop the Nephilim’s birth, so hopefully our ‘beautiful mind’ will find something to stop him after birth. Cas will remain under the Nephilim’s control.
Score: D
There you have it – what do you think will happen as the season comes to a close? Will the Winchesters be successful in stopping the birth of Lucifer’s son? How about Lucifer – will he remain under Crowley’s control or will the birth of the Nephilim free him? Has Cas made another terrible mistake or is he trying to destroy the child by giving him a false sense of security? Sound off in the comments below!