On Supernatural, Castiel Finds a Purpose

Season 12, Episode 19 “The Future”
Written by Robert Berens and Meredith Glynn
Directed by Amanda Tapping

In fact, it’s almost like he’s going to be a father. It’s very much like Castiel (Misha Collins) is going to be a father because if he had fathered a child they’d be having the same dilemma except that the child would not be as powerful.  It makes me wonder why they didn’t just go ahead and make it Cas’s kid in the first place.

This week on Supernatural we return to the storyline of Kelly (Courtney Ford) and Lucifer’s (Mark Pellegrino) baby. She’s miserable now that she knows she won’t survive the birth. It doesn’t help that Dagon (Ali Ahn) has her manacled and is trying to force feed her vitamins. Dagon tells her all the evil things her son will do and all of the people he will kill. I truly feel sorry for Kelly at this point. She’s in a very bad place, and none of it is her fault. Dagon lets her loose to bathe and she cuts her wrists in the bathtub.

Castiel shows back up suddenly and with little explanation as to why he’s been out of touch. Dean (Jensen Ackles) is hurt because he’s been worried and is furious with Cas for making him worried. He really is insecure. Castiel is acting angelic-that is to say, he’s being a jerk. This is because he plans to steal the Colt and go after Dagon himself. Once again he has taken it upon himself to protect the Winchesters without their consent. The plan was hatched up in heaven, of course.

Kelly has miraculously survived her suicide attempt and massive blood loss. Her mood has made a turnaround. She feels that the baby must love her to have saved her, but Dagon says it’s self-preservation.

Sam (Jared Padelecki) comes up with a plan they could use. They think that removing the nephilim’s grace would make it human and therefore powerless, whether it was evil or not. They have reason to believe that, since removing an angel’s grace renders them human and trapped in the vessel they are in.

Castiel finds Kelly but can’t bring himself to kill her. He kidnaps her, or liberates her, depending on your point of view. They run off together which gives them some time to bond. Kelly tries to convince him that no one is born evil, and that her baby is good. Castiel tries to convince Kelly that she and the baby have to die for the good of the world. If he takes her to heaven she will disintegrate, something like a transporter accident. Castiel points out that she will die in childbirth and there will be no one to raise her child and teach it to be good. That’s not the sort of thing you should say unless you want the job yourself.

He touches her belly while the baby is kicking and she knows instantly that Cas is the one who’s supposed to be the guardian and that it would be okay to go to the playground.

Dagon meets them at the sandbox that is the entrance to heaven. The Winchesters find them there as well. Dagon destroys the Colt. Kelly and Cas hold hands and the baby (who really needs a name by now) takes Cas over and destroys Dagon with a touch. Sam and Dean explain their idea but Kelly doesn’t like it. She thinks the baby will be a force for good and and needs its powers. Cas is fully empowered and full of purpose. He heals Dean and then knocks them out with a touch. Castiel and Kelly run off together and Castiel tells Kelly that her baby showed him the future.

This is the closest thing they ever have to an ep without the two leads. Most of the screen time was Castiel’s. It probably gave the actors some much needed family time. Misha did a great job during the ep, with being sneaky at the beginning to the interactions with Kelly to the conversion to acolyte.

Is it possible that Lucifer’s child is not evil? I would like to believe what Kelly says, that no one is born evil, but the odds are that he is evil. Blind faith is frightening. An entity controlling or possessing someone else is not a good sign. Cas is vulnerable to being influenced because he’s had a series of failures lately. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is a very powerful being. It destroyed a Prince of Hell with a touch of Castiel’s hand. The more power, the further away from humanity with its frailties, the more evil something is on Supernatural. Look at what happened to Castiel when he absorbed godlike powers.

Even if Lucifer’s child was not born bad, his life has been pretty negative so far. If he is aware enough to save his mother, he might have known her state of mind and experienced the abuse she suffered secondhand. That’s not a good start in life.

Now Castiel will be standing between the BMoL and the child, which puts him in a lot of danger. Sam and Dean want the kid neutralized, not killed.  They may be guarding the kid as well, but they are also not on the same side as Kelly and Castiel. We don’t know how far Castiel will go to protect him.

There are two interesting bits of trivia about this episode. It’s directed by Amanda Tapping, who starred in Sanctuary and Stargate SG-1 and its spinoffs. She was the angel Naomi on Supernatural, so she should know a few things about angels.She’s also no novice to directing. She’s directed episodes of Sanctuary, Continuum and many others. She did a great job in this episode.

The other factoid is that this is Misha Collin’s 100th episode. It was a wonderful tribute to him that they made it a Castiel centered one.

In the next episode, the brothers get a call from the twins, Alicia and Max, and it looks like Mary has a confrontation with Ketch.

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