‘Supernatural’ | ‘Family Feud’ S12E13 Overview
A ghost hunt heralds the return of Crowley’s son, Gavin. Can the Winchesters stop the ghostly murders in a shipwreck museum?
Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) investigate a museum where a ghost has been on a murdering spree. As it turns out, the museum contains remains from the ‘Star’ - a ship that was wrecked while sailing for the New World; this is the same ship that was meant to carry Gavin (Theo Devaney) as a passenger…
Viewers haven’t seen Gavin since Season 9, where he was brought into the present day from way back in 1723 by Abbadon as a bargaining chip against Crowley (Mark A. Sheppard). Gavin has been making a life for himself in modern times, rather than let the Winchesters send him back to his own time to die.
Episode 13 contains several story threads, and the story jumps between them in a choppy way. Unfortunately, the scenes just didn’t flow well together in this episode, and it started from the first scene, which consisted of a ghostly jump scare with no explanation - a simple, yet effective device that hasn’t been used in recent seasons.
In ‘Family Feud’, Sam and Dean head to Ohio to the haunted museum. They attempt to invite Mary (Samantha Smith), but she is busy with Mr Ketch (David Hayden-Jones) from the British Men of Letters. She lies and makes her excuses, but Dean suspects that she is up to something.
Later, Mary confesses that she has been working with the BMoL - a fact that the boys are understandably shocked to discover. Ketch suggests that Mary ‘disengages’ from her boys, suggesting that they weaken her. Is he genuinely trying to separate her from them, or attempting reverse psychology to have her to do the opposite and bring them on board?
Meanwhile, Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) is still a prisoner in hell with Crowley. Pellegrino is awesome as the evil, utterly confident and slightly unhinged fallen archangel. Hopefully he gets some more screen time soon.
Crowley gives an explanation as to how Lucifer was banished back into his original vessel rather than into the Cage, but when Lucifer reveals that his child is still alive and kicking, Crowley is furious with the Winchesters.
Kelly (Courtney Ford), now heavily pregnant, is ambushed by a group of angels intent on killing her. She is saved by a demon - Dagon (Ali Ahn), the Prince(ss) of Hell mentioned in last week’s episode. Dagon takes Kelly in, and tells her that the ‘good guys’ are after her innocent child. She offers her protection, and even though Kelly is terrified, she accepts.
So, is Dagon working with Lucifer? Or will she use the child as some kind of bargaining chip?
The ghost hunt itself is fairly lack-lustre, with Gavin’s fiancée identified as the restless spirit. There are some beautiful special effects in this section, both with the ghost of Fiona’s appearance and the resolution with the time-travelling spell. It is touching to see Rowena (Ruth Connell) meeting her grandson for the first time, and she seems happier with him than with her own son. Her relationship with Crowley was doing so well in recent episodes, until now.
The collective decision to throw Gavin back in time to his death seems harsh, even rushed. They didn’t try to search for the locket to try destroying it, and Gavin seems willing to give up his own life for a greater cause; however, the episode appears to have resolved everything very neatly, so we will have to tune in again next week to find out about the aftermath.
Overall, Episode 13 was average at best, particularly when compared to the previous episodes this season. Hopefully the story is being established for some epic action soon. There are some big questions to be answered, and relationships are strained - a fact perfectly represented by The Rolling Stones’ ‘'Play With Fire’ which played during the closing scenes.
Watch ‘Supernatural’ on the CW at 8pm EST, Thursdays. Airing on Eleven at 9:30pm Mondays in Australia.
