The Dragon Portal
 
By Chaos

Supernatural 6.03 The Third Man


The third episode of season three had an interesting opening, returning to the gore that was once a hallmark of Supernatural.

The episode itself dealt with Sam and Dean investigating a series of deaths. Policemen were dying in strange and fun supernatural ways and the Winchesters were on the case. The clues lead them to the decision to call the still missing in action Castiel (Misha Collins). Dean places the call, and not on a phone—after the Apocalypse the Enochian symbols cease to work? Castiel explains that heaven is in chaos, heavenly objects are missing, and he suspects one of these—the staff of Moses—is responsible for the deaths. They retrieve the item from the young man who sold his soul to get it. (He wanted revenge on the cops who killed his brother then planted a weapon to make it look like a justified shooting.) Once they have it, they chase after the angel who had taken it, Balthazar (Sebastian Roche), Castiel's one-time brother in arms believed dead in “the war”. Along the way they meet up with their old enemy Archangel Raphael (Demore Barnes) who is looking to take over heaven for himself.

The promising gorey beginning gave way to a much squeed about “shirtless boys” moment that seemed like nothing more than pandering to the fans' prurient interests and the writers indulging in too much fanfiction. The juxtaposition of Dean dreaming of being with Lisa at his home and Sam working out after a night with a prostitute (what happened to “I don't have to pay for it”?) was supposed to show their changed lives, their new selves, but did nothing to further their characters or the plot, mostly it was just to show naked chests. There was a delightful moment, the car chase between the brothers, in character and typically boyish, and it gave a lift and a hope for the episode.


Once they figured out what was going on and placed the call to Castiel. our beloved, scruffy angel still looking like he fell out of a thrift store sale, things took a darker turn. Of course, Supernatural has always had a dark bent, but this is a darkness that is disturbing in many ways and leads to some rather hard questions.

This first is Sam. Some good, some bad. Dean's defense of Sam, telling Cas that when Sam calls he should come, was touching. An almost Winchester moment. The fleeting emotion that crosses Sam's face when Cas informs him it wasn't God that pulled him out of hell is the first we have seen all season. Both interesting, both points that can move forward, but then we are hit with the information that Raphael wants to put the Apocalypse back on track, and whether intended or not in that one moment Sam's huge sacrifice, his great moment of redemption when he plunged into hell was taken away. Bad.


We also learn that heaven is corrupt. Well, that's heartening. God is still MIA, even better. It takes the whole concept and lowers it to a remarkably base level. Last year the writers poked a little fun at pagan mythologies with the gathering of gods in “Hammer of the Gods”, at their pettiness and corruption. Now it seems that the Judeo-Christian heaven and God are no better than those heathens. (At least in the Supernatural universe.)


Then comes the biggie. The one that might have actually destroyed three heroes. When they discover it's the staff of Moses, they go to retrieve it, only to discover it has been broken into pieces. (Okay, it was sawed apart and the young man brandished a sawed-off staff of Moses in possibly one of the most unintentionally corny Supernatural moments ever.) Castiel takes him back to the hotel in an intentional act of kidnapping and tells Sam and Dean he has to find out who took the staff and where he is, and he can find it because the child's soul will have an imprint. Of course to get this information will require torturing him.

Torturing a child.

An angel, not just any angel, but Castiel, a hero, a member of Team Free Will, torturing a child.

And after protests, almost half-hearted from Dean and interesting frowns from Sam, Castial proceeds. After retrieving the information they leave the child there for the police to return home.


Since when did out heroes become torturers? There was a great deal of outcry in season four when it was discovered that Dean had tortured souls in hell—and one would assume that since these were souls in hell they were not innocents. Now we have the three of them torturing a child and it is somehow okay because they needed the information? The moment sullied the characters, darkened them more than trips to hell, torture for Alastair and blood-drinking addictions had. It was a sad moment for the show and the Winchester brothers. It was a dark turn, and not a good dark turn, a “Come back from the dark side Anakin” turn, no it was just dark, wrong and made our heroes almost evil.


Certainly more evil than the “bad guy” Balthazar who was the bright point of the episode. His interplay with Castiel was delightful, his motives were clear and his return will be anticipated.


Overall, however, it was not just disappointing, it was heartbreaking. The Winchesters are falling, falling hard and after this, it will take a lot to redeem them.



 


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