Supernatural 11×11 Review: Into the Mystic

January 28, 2016 Angel Wilson

SPn1

I must admit I’m quite conflicted by the recent turn of events on the show.  On the one hand, I’m excited to see Misha Collins stretch his acting chops.  On the other, I hate seeing Cas abused.  I’m also not over the last time Cas got possessed by something and then disintegrated into a puddle of black goo and presumed dead for most of the season.  The last two episodes have also jerked me around emotionally.  In my last (apparently quite controversial?) review I enjoyed the set design of the cage and everything about Rowena, but the rest of the episode was a complete failure in my book.  Then last week we got some interesting plot and stellar acting all around, but they ended up killing one of the few recurring women on the show (and the woman with the record for most appearances, I might add). And let’s face it, this show does not have a good track record with how it treats its women (please read the linked article before saying “men die too!” okay?), so that alone put me back into a really cranky mood.  I’ve got trust issues with this show, guys.  And I’m not sure if I’m more excited or scared about what’s happening here.

EileenDespite the fact that they killed the longest recurring woman on the show last week, this episode actually had some incredible diversity.  We start out with an incredibly badass woman who basically sacrificed herself in an attempt to save her husband and daughter.  One of the main characters is a deaf woman and sign language is used in the episode.  She’s also a badass hunter and on a mission to avenge the death of her parents by tracking down the banshee.  Can we add her to Wayward Daughters, please?  And then we have Mildred, an elderly woman, also completely badass, who is dripping with self confidence and joy.  She was absolutely wonderful.  Hell, make her a Wayward Daughter too. Wayward Grandmother?

But let’s back up and talk about Eileen, the deaf woman, for just a moment.  Her story closely parallels the Winchesters, right down to having Men of Letters heritage.  Her and Sam even bonded over their desires to become lawyers and their need for revenge against the monsters who took their parents from them.  I not only want Eileen to come back, but I want her and Sam to bond more.  Sam deserves happiness and there were just so many things right with this pairing that I can’t help but ship it a little bit.  Typically I don’t ship heterosexual pairings as I like my women to be fierce independent characters who don’t exist to be paired with a male character (or I prefer them to be lesbians, but that’s beside the point here).  In this case, however, I am definitely rooting for Sam/Eileen.  Is there a ship name for this yet?  There needs to be one.

spn2The part of the episode that conflicted me the most was Castiel.  Misha’s acting blew me away.  As Lucifer, he got to use his more natural voice.  When he was Lucifer pretending to be Cas, he dropped back down into his deeper voice, but it wasn’t quite right.  His mannerisms were also just so slightly ‘off’ (though he still got all up in Dean’s personal space).  So far, his acting is beating out my fear that this could go horribly wrong, but in the back of my mind I remember what happened with the Leviathans.  I remember how it took my favorite character away from me for an entire season and I’m terrified that that will happen again.  These two competing emotions inside me can’t quite come to a compromise, so I’m basically forcing myself to be cautiously optimistic as this story plays out.  Maybe it’ll be better this time.  Maybe we’ll get amazing acting from Misha, and get to keep Castiel around after this arc is done.  I’m praying to Chuck that this is the case.

Overall, I actually quite enjoyed this episode.  It was a wonderful reminder about why I stick it out when things get so abysmal that I’m tempted to jump ship, with or without Castiel.  Despite the massive flaws from this season, this episode has proven that the show I fell in love with is still there, and the things that bother me about this show can be changed.  We can have diversity.  We can show off Misha’s acting without eliminating Castiel entirely.  We can give Sam some happiness, even if only for a moment.  Thank you, Supernatural.  I really needed this episode.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.


Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary

Do not copy our content in whole to other websites. If you are reading this anywhere besides TheGeekiary.com, it has been stolen.
Read our policies before commenting. Be kind to each other.

Related posts:

Tags: ,

11 thoughts on “Supernatural 11×11 Review: Into the Mystic”

  1. This episode is awesome. I enjoy the new diversity too.And agree wit your ship even though I, too, don’t ship heterosexual pairing because it is all over the place. Gay love still needs more respect from majority people.

    I heard that last time with Leviathan Cas, Misha was violently ill so I assume that it is why Cas was missing for almost the entire season which I think it sounds reasonable enough that I won’t feel a strong urge to punch the writers. Sorry for the violent attempt. Anyway, I hope that this season, Casifer will be better than Leviathan. I also really enjoy seeing Misha using his natural voice and at the same time being more relax and more evil psychopath smiles. I was once really drawn to the idea of Casifer to the point that I want to them to be together forever. As soon as I post that idea, I immediately regret it; not because of being hatred by Cas fans, but because I actually really like the character Castiel. I just realize how important that character to me; not because he is a good rebellion angel or because I ship Destiel, but because I like Cas as being Cas.

    I don’t have any problem with Rowena dead. I think her dead is necessary to the plot because Lucifer doesn’t want anyone to send him back to the cage again (at least not by our favorite characters) nor letting Micheal out. Rowena herself might stay loyal to him, but that doesn’t guarantee that someone else might not try to trick her or force her to open the cage and trap him there again such as using a witch-control-collar.

    As much as I do really enjoy seeing Misha in the show and want to see him more; I know that there is not enough room to focus just one person in an episode because there are more characters to explore so I’m not gonna complain about not get enough Misha scene in this episode.

    1. “Misha was violently ill so I assume that it is why Cas was missing for almost the entire season”

      Actually, after he recovered from the food poisoning, Misha was fine. Cas was missing because the Showrunners at the time had decided that Cas wasn’t needed any longer and fired Misha. After 3 months or so of horrific reviews from fans and critics and ratings slowly slipping toward the basement, they thought better of it and brought him back. The presence of Cas and greatly improved story-lines, the show recovered.

      1. Thanks for the info. I didn’t know about the firing Misha. I heard several people talk about it but I can’t relate it to the fact that he was ill at that time so I decide not to believe since there are a lot of rumor going around and I don’t know which one is true. I believe the info about his illness because I found a video of him talking about that on Youtube, while the other, I’ve just found it from some fans talk, not from an interview of a cast or any other SPN crew.

  2. I’ve read three of your reviews and in not one of them do you actually review the story. Its always who was in it and who wasn’t (Misha) and how many women there were. I find this to be not only sad but unfair to the series because some amazing stories are being told and all you can concentrate on are your own obsessions. Is this a personal blog? because if it is, my apologies; you’re entitled to write whatever you want on your personal blog, but if this is supposed to be a legit review site then I’m sorry, you fall very far short. Perhaps you can take some tips from Price Peterson.

    1. ??? Are you talking abot me? I’m confused. If so, please tell me what’s wrong so I can explain or try not to say it necxt comment. If not, my apologized.

  5. Pingback: Thank You Robbie: Goodbye to SPN's Robbie Thompson - The Geekiary

Comments are closed.