‘Supernatural’ | ‘Who We Are’ S12E22 Review
The final two ‘Supernatural’ episodes for Season 12 aired one after the other this week, but since the stories were quite different and disconnected, let’s take a look at each of them separately.
Episode 22, ‘Who We Are’, is a triumph of character development, redemption and closure (for now, at least) of one of this season’s story arcs.
SPOILER ALERT!
Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) have been locked in their own bunker by Ketch (David Haydn Jones), along with Lady Toni Bevell (Elizabeth Blackmore), with the water and air pumps shut off. They try a spell to reset the electronics, but the bunker seems to be warded against spell work.
At this point, they are surely regretting not changing the locks, but decide to try breaking down a wall to reach a pipe to the surface instead. Mining picks don’t make much headway, but then Dean remembers the toy that he (and we) have been waiting to be able to use - the grenade launcher. And just like that, they’re free.
Meanwhile, Mary (Samantha Smith) is still brainwashed, driving around, doing the British Men of Letters' dirty hunter-killing work. Next on her list is Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes), but in a move that had all viewers breathing a sigh of relief, Jody and Alex (Katherine Ramdeen) manage to subdue Mary and restrain her until her sons arrive.
Up until now in the show, Sam has been happy to follow his brother’s lead, even admitting earlier in this episode that it was easier to take orders from the Men of Letters than to try to lead anyone. In a stirring scene at Jody’s place, he brings some of the surviving American hunters together to act against the BMoL in a raid on their base, killing off the rest of the Men of Letters and blowing the base sky-high.
Dean, Mary and Toni return to the bunker, where Toni rigs up a device to allow Dean into Mary’s subconscious mind to try to break her out of the programming; this scene was one of the most heartbreaking of the entire show thus far, as Dean finally confronts his mother about the deal she made, and all the consequences he and Sam have dealt with since then. He says he loves and forgives her, and honestly, Ackles completely nails this scene.
They are suddenly brought out of the mind-meld by an irate Ketch who has already killed Toni; however, it doesn’t take long for a lucid Mary to dispatch him. Mary hopes that Sam can forgive her just as Sam himself walks in, and Mary, Sam and Dean have a touching reunion.
Writer Robert Berens and director John Showalter have certainly created an emotionally charged episode that is the highlight of this season. The Winchester brothers are finally letting go of their co-dependency: Sam discovering a strength he has been repressing, and Dean letting down his barriers by admitting that he (rightly) blames his mother for the atrocities that have happened to them. His show of forgiveness is a true depiction of character development.
The final episode of the season, ‘All Along the Watchtower’, was aired immediately afterwards. Stay tuned!
'Supernatural' will return with Season 13 later in 2017.
