Supernatural' 'King of the
Damned' recap: The dark side http://www.examiner.com/article/supernatural-king-of-the-damned-recap-the-dark-sideThe Tuesday, May 6 episode of
"Supernatural," episode 9x21, "King
of the Damned," is a very welcome
return to the show we know and love
after last week's "Bloodlines." Castiel
brings Sam and Dean in for some
help with the angel war, while
Abaddon tracks down Crowley and
has a bargaining chip that wouldn't
have worked before now.
Going into this episode, the third to
last one of the season, quite a lot
still fit into the unfinished business
category, but with one major move,
that changed. We've seen how the
First Blade and the Mark of Cain have
been affecting Dean over recent
episodes, ever since he held the
Blade (and in case you didn't
remember, there are always those
helpful flashes), but nothing like what
happens in "King of the Damned." Is
this something Dean can come back
from, or is it setting up the season
finale cliffhanger to lead into season
10?
Whatever happens next, that
showdown between Dean and
Abaddon is a thing of beauty.
Unfortunately (because Alaina
Huffman has been so good as
Abaddon), the outcome of this battle
is not a surprise. In a way, it could
very well be what Crowley had
planned all along. Sure, he was kept
down with a Devil's Trap bullet (just
one of several callbacks, all helpfully
set up in the "Then" at the beginning
of the episode), but has he been
manipulating everything all along to
make sure Dean reached this point of
darkness? He is Crowley, after all.
Meanwhile, Castiel doesn't make
nearly as much progress in his own
tasks, but he does set up the pieces
for what could be a very interesting
turn of events, depending on what
exactly Metatron sees as the end to
his "story." Depending on how things
play out, Gadreel has the potential to
be a very intriguing character and
player in this war, given his past and
his history with the Winchesters.
Now let's get to the recap:
Welcome to Angel Headquarters Well,
Castiel's Angel's HQ, at least. Upon
their arrival, Sam and Dean are
brought to Castiel, a.k.a. the
"Commander," who explains that his
angels have a prisoner, an angel from
Metatron's inner circle who was
bragging and bragging at a bar about
being hand picked by Metatron
himself. "You've had success at
these situations before," Castiel says,
explaining just why he called them.
Dean's a bit too eager to jump on
board and start in with the torture,
but Sam pulls him back and instead,
they end up duping the angel into
telling them everything he knows. No
way could Ezra be one of the elite,
they tell him. No way could he be a
key player and not be in heaven with
Metatron, they say. This angel may
be stupid and really probably
would've told them everything they
needed to know the minute Dean
even touched him, but he does have
some crucial information. There's a
private portal to heaven, one that
moves around and is wherever
Metatron wants it to be. He doesn't
know anything else since the job he
was just a finalist for was only give
to a chosen few and only they now
the exact nature of the mission, but
that makes for quite the entertaining
interrogation scene. It's always nice
to see Sam and Dean working
together on something (especially
lately).
Then comes the problem: Ezra is
found dead. There's someone on the
inside in Castiel's camp. Castiel
takes a moment to ask Sam about
Gadreel and what he felt when the
angel possessed him. He never felt
threatened, but he felt like he had
unfinished business, like he felt
misunderstood. The thing is, Sam's
not going to forget that Gadreel killed
Kevin anytime soon.
Father/son reunion Abaddon travels
back to Scotland in 1723 to retrieve
her bargaining chip: Gavin, Crowley's
son. Crowley may be trying to play
off his "extended absence" doing
very important business, but it was
all the time Abaddon needed to get
through to his demons. "You
betrayed me? No one in the history of
torture's been tortured with torture
like the torture you'll be tortured
with," he threatens them when
Abaddon interrupts his strategy
meeting.
Abaddon knows all about the First
Blade and how he's helped the
Winchesters, but she proposes that
he join her and help her take out the
Winchesters, then they deal with
each other. Nope, sorry, not
happening, Crowley's too busy
picking out the song he'll be singing
during her death scene. Well, that is
until Abaddon brings in Gavin and
begins inflicting pain because he
may not have cared about him all
those years ago, but she knows all
about those human feelings he's
been feeling.
After Gavin gets introduced to 2014
via a light bulb and the balcony, he
takes a moment to yell at his father
for selling his soul for an extra three
inches. Crowley then tells him about
what he's accomplished. He's no
longer the alcoholic tailor who beat
his son morning and night. He
became the King of hell. Gavin
wonders if that would then make him
Prince and if he accepted him as his
father, he wouldn't burn in hell for
his sins? (Anyone else worried about
that?)
When it's all said and done, Crowley
whisks his son away and tells him
what would have happened to him if
he had returned to his time, despite
Sam and Dean's warnings about
changing the past. That has to come
back to hurt him, right?
A new deal Castiel meets Gadreel to
try to open his eyes up to how he's
repeating history and making the
same mistake, but Gadreel just brings
up the garden again and isn't exactly
on board with changing loyalties.
Then assassin angels attack, and
after Castiel deals with them,
Gadreel's gone. Later, however, they
meet again, and after Gadreel insists
he had nothing to do with the attack,
Castiel has a new proposal: be his
spy. After all, Metatron has one in
Castiel's ranks.
Worried for Dean Under Abaddon's
watchful eye, Crowley calls Sam and
Dean and sends them to get the First
Blade, but they run into a problem
when Crowley's hellhound shows up.
Poor Crowley, he's lost so much cred
in hell that no one does what he
says anymore. Crowley has to call
Juliet off before they can retrieve the
Blade out of a corpse, something
Sam insists on doing because of
what the Blade does to Dean. During
their next phone call, Crowley makes
sure to say Poughkeepsie twice to
warn Dean, but Dean doesn't tell his
brother and instead sends Sam down
to the basement with a lie about
demons.
When it comes time for the battle,
Abaddon pins Dean to the wall, but
he fights through it, the Mark glowing
very brightly on his arm. In fact,
getting the Blade out of his hand
doesn't even work because it flies
right back into it. Sam joins the party
in time to watch Dean walk through
Abaddon's attempts to push him
back and kill her - and then keep
hitting her until he's bloody as Sam
tells him to stop. Dean's gone dark,
way dark.
In the Impala, Sam brings up Dean's
lie, arguing he should've been at his
side as his partner, but Dean
explains that when he first touched
the blade, he knew he would've be
stopped. He'd take down Abaddon
and anything else if he had to.
Abaddon could've tried to use Sam
as a bargaining chip, and he couldn't
afford to screw it up. Sam tries to
bring up his concerns about what the
Blade is doing to Dean, suggesting
they lock it up somewhere safe until
they know for sure they're going to
kill Crowley, but Dean just tells him,
"No." It's great to see Sam
expressing his concern for his
brother, but is it too late?
" Supernatural " season 9 airs
Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on the CW .
Current Affairs
