‘Supernatural’ | ‘There’s Something About Mary’ S12E21 Review
It’s the week before the season finale, and tensions are high. Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) are worried about their mother, Mary (Samantha Smith), after a strange phone call. Then, when they receive some sad news, they realise that someone is out there, hunting hunters…
SPOILER ALERT!
Emotionally raw scenes in this week’s episode make for heartbreaking viewing, reinforced y fantastic acting and direction from P.J. Pesce. In ‘There’s Something About Mary’, Mary herself has been reprogrammed by the British Men of Letters’ Lady Bevell (Elizabeth Blackmore), and forced to carry out her nasty orders to kill the remaining American hunters. There are heartbreaking scenes as Mary surfaces from her brainwashed state to realise that she has become a danger to her friends and her sons.
Fans may not be happy with this episode, particularly as the first five minutes show a fan-favourite being killed off - hunter Eileen Lahey (Shoshanna Stern). Without a line of dialogue, she is murdered by a hellhound that she is unable to hear. Writers Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross-Leming have a long history of killing off characters, and the fandom is furious with the duo following this particular episode.
Then there is the questionable nature of some dialogue and story devices, easily ranking it as one of the weakest episodes this season. Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) can suddenly reverse the control of his bindings and control Crowley (Mark A Sheppard)? The BMOL are keeping the Winchesters in their own bunker by simply changing the locks? Sam and Dean didn’t think to change the locks and check for bugs before now, even after they knew that the BMOL had a key? It’s all a little out of character for ‘Supernatural’.
Even the death of Crowley - another fan favourite and long-running cast member - lacked impact because a rat immediately followed his body as it was being dragged from the room. We can only assume that Crowley is in the rat, or perhaps his mother, Rowena, is about to resurrect him. Either way, Lucifer is once again at large.
This season has had many parallel story lines: Lucifer’s rock star vessel early in the season, the British Men of Letters, Mary’s return, and Kelly and the Nephilim in the second half of the season, and Castiel’s disappearance. It’s almost too much story for twenty-three episodes and has resulted in hardly any monster-of-the-week episodes. Can it all be wrapped up in the finale?
Poor story aside, what redeems this episode is the stellar acting. Arthur Ketch (David Haydn Jones) in particular is fantastic, keeping to his psychopathic form while allowing a little humanity to leak through now and then. The action in the bunker shoot-out at the end was well executed, and the cliffhanger will keep fans in suspense until next week.
Season finale episodes 22 and 23 will be shown back to back in a special two-hour presentation next week. ‘Supernatural’ airs on the CW at 8pm EST Thursdays, & on Eleven at 9:30pm Mondays in Australia.
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