S14.E09 : The Spear

[Myrelle]

I think that was just to show that he was expecting them and that it was, indeed, a trap. He wanted them all to come and try and take him down so that it would be that much worse when he took Dean's body back.

[Aeryn13]

Yeah, that was supposed to show Michael as "I think in eons" look antsy. To be quite honest, I believe it was done because he was wearing a female vessel because the whole vibe of that bit didn`t scream "Michael" but "see, the chick gets antsy when waiting". The actress did a good job with the role and her other scenes as Michael weren`t like that but that bit just screwed "chick comedy" to me. Honestly, I don`t think a female writer would have done it. 

A better writer would have focused more on the build-up for the misdirect where Michael grins and says "there he is" where the audience was supposed to connect it to the team talking about Cas going in first but Michael instantly feeling him just before that when in actuality it was a little nod to the "haha, back in Dean because I had this crazy plan to break and disappoint him completely" (should have possessed Mary Winchester in the interrim then) cliffhanger. 

That bit actually could have been clever but the whole thing with Michael needed way more build-up.  

[Pondlass1]

Re-watching this episode last night it really hit me just how ridiculous it was.  Why didn't Michael kill Sam and Jack at the post office? Why didn't Dean follow up with a death stab at momentarily distracted Michael instead of pulling back and saying 'that'll leave a scar'?  

When an all powerful evil entity is inserted into a story with two human stars of the show it all just gets stupid and frustrating.

I hope season 15 returns to saving people, hunting things... you know, the family business.  

Edited January 11, 2019 by Pondlass1

[juppschmitz]

I have to admit that I haven't actually been watching the recent episodes. Seems like I'm getting the gist of what's happening simply reading recaps and following discussions without actually missing out on much.

But what I don't get is Michael's plan with Dean. He...left him voluntarily but "left a door open" (how? did he leave some grace or what? had he established some kind of psychic link?) so he could easily return once Dean was broken and disappointed completely (isn't that the definition of Dean's normal status quo anyway??)

How is Dean more broken now than normal? And why would that make Dean less "squirmy" and easier to control? Why does Michael need Dean at all? He seemed to be doing all the same things with the other vessels just fine.

[AwesomO4000]

We don't know how exactly Michael left a door open. That part is an unknown as far a I know.

As to why Dean might be less "squirmy" now - someone else might also have an interpretation, too, but what I got from what Michael said was that his plan was a variation on what Hallucination Lucifer told Sam when he explained that the reason why it could be true that he let Sam think he was out of the cage and have such an elaborate fantasy was because it would then be that much worse when Sam found himself back in hell and any hope he might have had would be crushed even more. What better torture than to let Dean get right up to the finish line, thinking he might just have a chance to beat Michael... and then not only snatch that victory away by revealing that he'd been toying with them the entire time and destroying any weapon they had managed to get, but also by showing Dean that Dean really was his to repossess any time he wanted to do so. In other words, I think Michael was trying to show Dean that fighting was useless anyway so Dean might as well give up. His taking Dean over again was the thing that is supposed to break him and keep him quiet.

I'm thinking that Michael might be a bit overconfident in how long he thinks that's going to last, however, but I think he may think that if he can distract Dean - and by extension Sam and Cas - long enough that it might  be worth it.

[juppschmitz]

26 minutes ago, AwesomO4000 said:

What better torture than to let Dean get right up to the finish line, thinking he might just have a chance to beat Michael...

Hm. Well. Yeah, I'm still not convinced. 

You know, maybe Dean should have played it like he did with Azazel. You know, kill the bad guy first and THEN drop the one-liner.("This is for our mom.") And not hesitate to drop the one-liner ("That'll leave a scar.") for Michael to conveniently use that little window to grab and break the spear. 

Of course, way back in the early seasons the guys who are supposed to be the heroes of the show used to also be clever, resourceful and good at their jobs.

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, juppschmitz said:

You know, maybe Dean should have played it like he did with Azazel. You know, kill the bad guy first and THEN drop the one-liner.("This is for our mom.") And not hesitate to drop the one-liner ("That'll leave a scar.") for Michael to conveniently use that little window to grab and break the spear. 

He does that a lot.  Like in The Rapture when the demon told Sam he couldn't get it up or whatever. Dean said, "WEll, I can", giving her time to turn around see him with the knife and smoke out.

[The Companion]

On 12/14/2018 at 4:03 AM, juppschmitz said:

Nothing of what happened this season needed to happen. Like, at all.

(Same cliffhanger, same shit is going to happen - Dean girls are excited, come back to watch next year, Michael will be gone in next to no time.)

This. I just can't get excited about revisiting  a storyline that has already been fucked up twice. 

 

On 12/15/2018 at 2:30 PM, catrox14 said:

I am certainly not one to defend anything under Dabb yet I can find ways for this to work without it being LOLcanon.   I

 I think it would be best explained for the show to acknowledge  there are differences between the AU and Earth 1 and in the AU once in a vessel it's irrevocable and maybe that's why humans resisted Michael so fully after they were allies. But that requires more imagination than they have demonstrated thus far.  So I'm not hopeful it will be the answer.

My problem with this is that you shouldn't have to come up with an explanation. If they are going to go against canon, they need to explain it.

On 12/15/2018 at 8:55 PM, Dobian said:

Yes they were definitely channeling Die Hard in that scene.

My big problem with the episode was why the hell didn't they just bring Kaia with them?  She's the freaking spear master and would have had Michael skewered in a heartbeat.  But plot dictated that it had to be Dean so Michael could jump back into his body, so meh.

 

This bugged the hell out of me. Why the hell wouldn't they ask her to join in the fight against the person who has been sending monsters against her? It was so obviously to have Dean holding the spear.

Sorry to everyone excited enough about the end to think this episode was watchable. To me, it was like someone turned an outline of the storyline into a script. It was so much talking about off screen action. Oh, we need the egg? Instead of showing its acquisition,  we will have a skype call about mailing it. What? Ok, we have to break in somewhere and go after some monsters, finally something is . . .  Oh, guess the break in is done and the monsters are gone. Coool, let's all talk instead. Not even some menacing video of the monster army lurking. Just talk talk talk. 

Even worse, I got super excited about Die Hard and instead it turns out we were in an office building for no real reason. We got a few minor references and the rest was just zzzzzzzzzz.

[gonzosgirrl]

58 minutes ago, The Companion said:

Oh, we need the egg? Instead of showing its acquisition,  we will have a skype call about mailing it.

Not to mention that in canon, the last person to have the egg was Castiel.

[ahrtee]

8 minutes ago, gonzosgirrl said:

Not to mention that in canon, the last person to have the egg was Castiel.

Canon?  What's canon?