Supernatural : Angel Heart

I guess you can tell, by the title, that this episode will be very Angel adjacent, and that means lots of Castiel. Unfortunately, he will also be bringing along  some baggage in the form of Claire. If you’ve guessed I’m not a fan of Claire, well, you’re right. But it’s Supernatural, so I’m sure that this episode can overcome the presence of Claire.

And there’s always the possibility she might do something remotely relatable to me, so…

We find that Amelia, Claire’s mother, is being held hostage and bled by some guy.  He keeps her pacified with pleasant dreams about Jimmy Novak.

Claire is in a bar looking for a guy named Ronnie Cartwright. She believes he knows where Amelia is. Ronnie is an ugly drunk who claims hes never seen her. In the alley behind the bar, she also finds out he’s also a liar. He at least has the presence of mind to call an ambulance for her, when he accidentally knocks her out.

Cas calls the brothers, to help with Claire, at the hospital. Evidently, Cas is on her emergency contact list. She confesses she’s looking for her mum and, I guess, needs closure by ranting at her about ruining her life. She gives the trio Ronnie Cartwright’s name. Of course as soon as everyone’s back is turned, she disappears. Gob, but I want to smack the ever loving snot out of this character. She’s every quality I hate in a teenager.

Cas and Dean find Ronnie back in the bar and Dean is more than a little twitchy. He beats a confession out of Ronnie, who claims he took Amelia to the faith healer who cured his blindness. He procured lost people for him, until he found out the man tortured his victims, then he fled.

Sam is waiting for Claire at the motel. (How Winter Soldier of him.) He says he’ll help her find her mom by teaching her how to hack into her credit card records.

Ronnie, in yet another alley, snitches to the healer that Sam and Dean are hunters and is promptly stabbed to death, after the healer takes his sight away.

Sam and Claire bond over the life of a hunter, when Cas and Dean show up, with the information that Ronnie gave them. Cas has brought her a Grumpycat birthday gift from ” the Hot Topical.” When they hear of Ronnie’s death, they all immediately suspect Dean, who declares his innocence and leaves. Cas’ words to Sam, about what happened in the bar, are not reassuring. He tells him Dean is getting worse.

There’s some detectiving by Dean at  Ronnie’s crime scene and he gets the name Holloway.

Cas and Sam leave Dean and Claire behind. Dean is upset that Sam is ditching him again. He does have a point. Cas tells  the two of them not to fight.Dean and Claire don’t stay put, though. Dean decides they need to take a road trip.

For miniature golf.

This is not otherwise remarkable, except that the writers are bringing us full circle to the beginning of the season, with Dean trying to distract himself, from his growing twitchiness, with trifling activities and Sam engaging in questionable and underhanded behavior,  to save him. Dean trying hard not to be a monster and Sam trying his damnedest to become one, on Dean’s behalf.

We begin as we mean to go on.

In the car, Sam counsels Cas about Claire and how to be a family. Not that he’s following that advice himself, but it’s nice to know he knows it.

Claire and Dean bond over bad golf movies, while Sam and Cas go interrogate the healer.

Dean apologizes, once again, for what happened to Claire and explains that Cas is a hero,who saved the world. When  they get to the last hole, Claire gives Dean a clue. He figures out that Ronnie was stabbed with an Angel  sword and what they’re all dealing with is a Grigori.

Sam and Cas find Amelia, who panics when she sees Cas. Sam gets ambushed by Holloway, when he’s distracted by Dean’s phone call.

When Cas and Sam don’t answer his calls,  Dean gives Claire a gun and sets off to rescue them.

Amelia faces the fact that Jimmy is gone and that she’s been dreaming, for two years, about putting her family back together.

Sam is tied up.

Again.

Holloway starts monologuing. His real name is Tamiel, he’s a Grigori, he feeds on Angels, hates humans. Blah, blah, blah.  Got it. He gives Sam plenty of time to break free, because getting tied up, and breaking free, is Sam’s superpower.

Dean and Claire case the house, while Cas  and Amelia do some bonding.

Claire and Amelia have a semi-happy reunion while Dean goes in search of Sam.

Claire tries to sneak her mother away and encounters Holloway. Bullets don’t work on a Grigori, so Amelia gets stabbed. Cas tackles Holloway and they all fight and lose, but it’s Claire, who makes the kill. She watches Amelia die. Now all she has left is Cas.

Amelia goes to heaven and sees Jimmy Novak. The irony of having searched for him so long, only to find that the easiest way to have found him, was to die. But at least we’ve closed out The Novak’s story, with all of them accounted for. Their entire existence disrupted by the arrival of Angels. This is, I think, is what Hanna was talking about. That the Angels cause nothing but destruction.

Could all this talk of the damage Angels do to human lives, be leading to the Angels withdrawing from Earth, and never taking human hosts again?

Sam and Dean take Claire to Jodi Mills. Sam claims it’s not a halfway house, but that’s what it looks like, if Jodi keeps picking up stray girls. Dean gifts Claire with a copy of Caddyshack and an Enochian dictionary, because he saw her take the Angel sword.

She keeps the Grumpycat doll.

They put her in cab and see her off, while depressing music (Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain) by The Redheaded Stranger, Willie Nelson,  plays on the soundtrack.

Since making one spectacularly bad decision after another, seems to be one of Claire’s superpowers, how much you wanna bet she bails before reaching her destination?

This episode was kind of “meh” . Not good, not great. No mythology,  no Crowley, no Rowena and I got tired of snarking on Claire after a minute, but next week’s episode looks a little better.

There will be Charlie.

This is why I’m an advocate for the 16 hour season. With only 12 or 16 episodes to work with, the writers have to get directly to the plot of each season, without a whole lot of filler. I would not, then, have to sit through mediocre episodes like this one, hoping there’s a nugget in it.

In honor of this episodes mediocrity, there will be no photos for this post.

After all, of the writers are going to phone in episodes like this, this close to the end of the season, why should I make any extra effort, to spice up, their lackluster work?