Supernatural (8.5): The Blood, The Demons, and The Inappropriate Humor.

It is rare that I am lost for words. I get shocked or stunned, but I recover quickly and return to hyperbolic rhapsodizing, verbose mockery and rhetorical questioning. As Supernatural went to credits last night I had only one thought. And this morning I still have only one thought: I DO NOT LIKE EVIL CHILDREN.

Some of you may be thinking right now that I am making a fairly obvious statement, but I am not kidding. I have never seen The Exorcist series, The Omen (either version), The Children of the Corn series, and I was not sad when Spike fried the Annoying (Anointed) One early on in Season Two of Buffy, because I couldn’t deal with him anymore. One reason I like Supernatural is that it generally stays away from children as monsters; in 57 episodes there have been 3 killer ghost children, one set of changelings, and one murderous projected soul of a coma patient that was figured as a child. Call me naïve, but I believe in the innocence of childhood, and that without will and free, informed consent there can be no (mortal) sin. I tend to stay away from CBS and NBC procedural shows because without fail there is a physically/sexually abused child that is either the murder victim or the murder witness. I do not live in some kind of Disney-inspired delusion, but it hurts my soul to be constantly (and sentimentally) berated with one of the horrifying perversions of humanity. That was a digression, but children being or causing hurt upsets me quite a bit (naturally). Aside from the exceptions mentioned above, Supernatural maintains that children are innocent and require the utmost protection. This not only makes our heroes all the more heroic, it makes the show much easier for me to watch.

But then came Lilith. Now, my friends Calah and Christopher came over to my apartment last night to watch, and she and I had quite a hoot when the new demon-leader’s name was revealed; as you all should know Lilith is the mythic first wife of Adam whom is replaced by Eve, and in C.S. Lewis’ conception of the universe she goes to Narnia and founds the race that the White Witch comes from. This name could not have been chosen randomly, and it just makes me smile when show creators ask viewers to draw upon a wider range of connotation than what is explicitly stated in the show. I sure as shit stopped smiling when that little girl walked onto the screen. Her eyes turned white, so this demon is something different than what we have encountered before, and when we see her again it may be in a different body/form and all of my horror might be extinguished, but as you can tell, right now I am overwhelmed and overwrought.

The white-eyes are defiantly a wonderful twist. Calah suggests that a kind of demon hierarchy is being suggested; the black eyes for demons that are the souls of deceased humans (like Ruby), the yellow for demons that are the traditional fallen angels, and the white for something other than these options (and again, the name indicates she is a new element in the mythos of the show). I am inclined to agree with her hypothesis. I am continually impressed that this show refuses to rest on its laurels, that they take the chances of expanding and developing.

Change is not always a positive step. Sam, darling, this is not ancient Greece. We no longer sacrifice virgins. (Tangent: anyone else notice that her name was Nancy, and that was what she was called until it came out that she was a virgin and then that became her name?) Granted, we are not supposed to be sacrificing (in the literal bodily sense) anyone nowadays, but unless Agamemnon made a comeback and no one informed me, then the time for virgin sacrifice has passed and we all need to move on to better scenarios. I am so proud that Dean called Sam out for agreeing with Ruby’s plan. Nancy may have been willing, but it would not have been right. And by thinking outside the box, Dean may have established that the war can be won. At the very least he reminded everyone why the war is worth fighting in the first place. Dean also gets a gold star for ‘but you did not shoot the deputy.” No situation is so dire that it is above mockery.

Regarding Ruby, people keep asking me if I “like” Bela and Ruby, and I am not sure how to respond. I can say I was not a big fan of Ruby last night. She acted as if her annihilation would have been more important than Nancy’s death. True, you don’t end up in hell by living as a selfless person, so I shouldn’t be surprised she was concerned with number one. It just makes me question if she is truly trying to prepare Sam for his life after Dean, or is she attempting to manipulate Sam into joining her in the afterlife. I am trying my best to hold off judgment of Bela until her back-story is revealed, but my patience is running thin. (Plus I like jumping to conclusions; I find it a relaxing pastime.) I will be slightly disappointed if this plays out that she is not the hardcore bitch she seems to be at the moment. I kind of want her to be evil, not only because then I could justify my current exasperation, but also it would provide an interesting contrast to Ruby: a human who chooses to do wrong against a demon who chooses to do (limited) good. The best I can say for these girls right now is that neither of them pisses me off as much as Jo managed to in her few scenes.

There is something that I find less irksome than Jo but irksome nonetheless. Why do Sam and Dean never wear gloves? Sometimes we see them wipe down what they touch, and it should be safe to assume that they always clean their prints from a room when they leave it. I should be thankful that this show is good enough that such a minor issue is my only major (continual) complaint, but the no gloves thing just drives me around the bend. They have been given a clean slate; legally they are dead. There will be no more law enforcement types trying to catch them, so I would much prefer that they did not give anyone a reason to come looking for them by (apparently) leaving fingerprints everywhere.

I hate myself for being so pedestrian and so easily manipulated, but the tattoos are hot. Since they serve a practical purpose I will forgive my weakness.

Final Note: Christopher commented last night that it was a shame Henricksen got all blown up, because he would have made a good hunter. I agree intellectually, but not emotionally. Though I completely understand that in the beginning of the episode he was possessed, therefore it was a demon speaking and not he, I was not sorry to see him go because out of his mouth came an accusation that John had sexually abused Dean. Again, yes it was a demon speaking, but it was Henricksen’s face, so I am fine saying sayonara to the Fed, simply for the fact that I don’t have to think about that moment ever again.

The TV Girl