SUPERNATURAL Creates a Superhero

Season 12, Episode 10 “Lily Sunder has Some Regrets”
Written by Steve Yockey and Davey Perez
Directed by Thomas J. Wright

In this episode we get to meet a cool new character and get some back story on Castiel (Misha Collins). We haven’t heard too much about Castiel’s past from before he fell in with the boys. We know that it won’t be good because, in general, angels are jerks. They look down at humans but at the same time are jealous of them since God seems to prefer them as his favorite creations. Angels in Supernatural are not usually beneficent in human affairs. You don’t see them granting prayers or getting people out of burning cars or the like.

It begins with a woman (Miranda Edwards) in a bar playing Rampage. The bar is closing so there’s no one around. Another woman (Alicia Witt) with an eyepatch confronts her. The first woman attempts to blast her but the one with the patch declares that her angel tricks won’t work on her. A pitched battle ensues with angel blades. The first woman is killed.

There’s trouble in Destiel. Cas and Dean (Jensen Ackles) aren’t talking to each other. Dean is upset that Cas killed Billie the Reaper and cosmic consequences could be coming down on his head. Cas is certain that he was right and is prepared to sacrifice himself, if necessary. Cas gets an SOS on angel radio and the call ends abruptly. He has to go see if the angel Benjamin is okay.

The crime scene has angel wings burned into the wall and they find an unknown angel blade. They assume it’s angel on angel violence.

Cas meets up with Ishim (Ian Tracey) and Mirabel (Tiara Sorenson), with whom he served before he had his own squadron. Two other members of their former group died in the last year besides Benjamin. Sam and Dean join the three angels, even though not invited. Ishim sends Mirabel out to look for others Cas might have brought, and she gets skewered by the lady with the eyepatch. Ishim leaves and almost gets killed. Cas and Ishim know who the mysterious lady is and they tell the story.

Many years ago, before the apocalypse, when angels rarely visited Earth, Ishim’s group came to Earth to find a nephilim. Cas was a striking woman, though rather prudish. It could explain some things about Cas. Their squad looks for all the world like missionaries going door to door to find converts. Ishim tells them that they are going to the house of an angel and human that got married and had a child together. The angel is Akobel (Nils Hognestad) and they kill him with little fanfare except for Castiel reciting the charge of creating a nephilim. Castiel is outside when Ishim goes into the house to kill the child.

Dean and Sam decide it’s worth talking to Lily, the eyepatch lady. She gives a somewhat different story. Her child was human, and Ishim killed her to hurt Lily because she rejected him. Ishim said that she made a demonic deal to stay alive and Lily said she learned angel magic. They decide that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea that they left Cas alone with an injured Ishim in an abandoned church, so Dean goes back and Sam stays with Lily.

Cas healed Ishim, unfortunately. Cas is weak and Ishim threatens to kill Dean to cure Cas of his love for humans. Sam and Lily get back in time to save them. Lily holds Ishim long enough for Cas to stab him. Cas apologizes to Lily and offers his life if she isn’t able to forgive him in the future. They patch it up. Sort of. Cas and the boys discuss the decision he has to make when they find the nephilim they are looking for now. Funny, they make it sound like he’s the only one who will be making that decision.

I love this new character, played beautifully by Alicia Witt. She’s a kickass female character, fully human but possessed of angel abilities from study, sacrifice (why she only has one eye) and using up her soul for power. I’m not too worried about the loss of the soul. The human soul has the biggest battery of all. It was a nice touch that Sam knew exactly what it was like, since he spent some time soulless.

She is like a comic book character and I don’t mean that in a bad way. She has her origin story, her power lost and power regained story, and an original trauma. I’m so glad it’s not rape. It’s usually sexual assault when it’s a woman’s story, as if that’s the only kind of trauma a woman can have. The murder of a child is good motivation for revenge. I would love to see this character again. She could be a great asset, particularly against angels. And of course, she started out the way most hunters do, by having her life entirely destroyed by the supernatural. I haven’t read any of the comics so I suppose she actually could be from them, especially since she starts her story so long ago.

None of the angels appear to be worth saving except Cas. He is a rarity among angels. He is not only more human, but is achieving a mature and wise persona, more what we think angels should be. He’s nothing like the shallow creatures the other angels are.

I like the way this skeleton from the past relates to the challenge they have coming up before them.

I wonder if they are building up to something big with Castiel. He killed Billy the Reaper and broke the contract, which should have serious consequences. He is also taking the lead in hunting for the nephilim. No, I don’t have the slightest idea what they could be planning for him.

Because the show has been renewed for a thirteenth season, I’m hopeful that they haven’t decided it’s time for him to die. I’m also worried about him offering himself up for sacrifice, both by killing Billie and breaking the contract, and offering himself up for Lily Sunder’s revenge. He’s been a little down lately, as if the character might be discouraged or depressed or not well.

Next week, Dean loses his memory. I knew the boys were getting old, but geez.

 

Supernatural airs on Thursday nights at 8pm/7c on the CW.