Something is rotten in the state of Supernatural.
The Greatest Love Story Never Told – also known as Destiel, or Dean/Cas – has long been a talking point amongst Supernatural fans, to the point where even mainstream media was writing about its possibility. Would the show acknowledge the obvious chemistry between characters Dean Winchester and Castiel, making it one of the most interesting coming-out stories on television, or would they continue to deny all knowledge while indulging in a hefty case of queerbaiting?
This review isn’t about Supernatural’s queerbaiting issues though; it’s about how their desperate attempts to retroactively ‘no homo’ the show is taking its toll on the narrative. Whether you ever believed that the show intended to make Destiel canon, it was clear from Season Nine onward that they were swimming in the opposite direction. Fine. Only, it’s not fine. Castiel is increasingly kept at arm’s length, barely allowed a spot in the narrative, and Team Free Will as we knew it no longer exists. There were many other options the show could have chosen to demonstrate that Destiel was only a pipe dream that would not have turned out to be detrimental to the narrative. However, they chose this route so now we are where we are. As such, Castiel’s input this week can be summarised with a bout of light torture and puppy-eyes staring in the corner (hardly the best use of Misha Collins’ talent) and it feels like Mark Sheppard’s Crowley has to be used as a counter-weight to him throughout. Perhaps this explains the poor storylines both Collins and Sheppard have received this season.
Is Cain really gone? In Supernatural pretty much no one’s truly gone – especially if you are a white male – so odds are we may see Cain again. Either way, his death came too easily. Apparently all you need to do is chop a homicidal man’s hand off and he’ll meekly submit, despite the murderous rage that flows through his veins. Either way, killing Cain did not provide Dean with the cure he was looking for and, as Sam said at the close of the episode, Dean’s in trouble. The connection between Cain-and-Abel and Sam-and-Dean has already been talked about in past seasons, but Cain’s prophecy now hangs over Dean’s head in a more obvious way than ever before. With the rest of the season still to go we’re sure to see Dean go from bad to worse and now we have a potential brother-on-brother conflict in the offing. Whether that will play out though, only time will tell.
Supernatural is on hellatus now until March 18th.