‘Supernatural’ | ‘The Future’ S12E19 Overview
Time is running out before the Nephilim is born. Castiel returns from heaven, telling Sam and Dean that the angels are unable to help. Meanwhile, Sam comes up with a plan for helping Kelly, but Cas has other ideas.
SPOILER ALERT!
‘The Future’ is a rollercoaster of an episode from beginning to end. Firstly, a raw and powerful opening scene shows Kelly Kline (Courtney Ford), chained up and force-fed vitamins. She is treated badly by Dagon (Ali Ahn) and in a desperately sad moment, attempts suicide. Later it is revealed that her baby has healed her, or even brought her back from the dead, but that doesn’t make the scene any easier to watch.
Then Castiel (Misha Collins) returns after a six-week absence – having disappeared in Episode 15. Sam (Jared Padalecki) is pleased to see him, but Dean (Jensen Ackles) is angry that Cas disappeared back to heaven without contact for weeks.
Later, Dean expresses how worried he during this time when Cas tries to return a mixtape that Dean had given him (that’s a whole other level of subtext there that we won’t go into). The men agree to go forward together, as ‘Team Free Will’; these words make it all the more gut-wrenching when Cas betrays them, stealing the Colt from under Dean’s nose (or pillow, as it turns out).
There are a few moments in this episode which appear to be purely written for the fans: the mixtape moment felt a lot like ‘shipper’-bait, as the scene could have worked just as well with Cas merely apologising upon a arrival; and the reference to ‘Team Free Will’ - a nickname that Dean briefly mentioned way back in Season 5, is widely used in the fandom to refer to the trio of Dean, Sam and Cas.
Still, they were sweet moments in this episode, and it’s nice to think that Dean gave Cas music for his truck, even if you disagree with the romantic subtext.
Cas is desperate for a win, but as he has habitually done in the past, makes all the wrong decisions in the name of keeping Sam and Dean safe; betraying his friends to do what he perceives to be the ‘right thing’ is still a betrayal. Will the Winchesters ever trust him again?
Cas’ true mission from heaven is never revealed, other than perhaps stealing the Colt to kill Dagon and Kelly. It seems like a weak plan, and he says that the plan to take Kelly to heaven was his own idea. Is there some other job that Joshua gave him?
We may never know, since he now appears to be controlled by the Nephilim, and the pair won’t be seen again until the season finale in a few weeks time.
‘The Future’ is directed by Amanda Tapping, who previously appeared in the show as angel Naomi in Season 8. She has done a fine job of bringing together a tense and enthralling episode.
Next week, fan-favourite director Richard Speight Jr is back with ‘Twigs & Twine & Tasha Banes’.
‘Supernatural’ airs in the US Thursdays at 8pm on The CW, and Mondays in Australia on Eleven.
