Supernatural Goes to The Bad Place in Mid-Season Finale

Last week we were treated to The Bad Place, the first half of a two part backdoor pilot for Wayward Sisters (hopefully they’ll just call it “Wayward”). This will be a spin-off set in the Supernatural universe but following Jody Mills, Donna Hanscum, and other young hunters as they make their way through a life marked by the perils of being hip to there being things that go bump in the night. It has a much more ensemble feel to it than the flagship show, and from the looks of it, it is going to be a fun ride when and if it’s picked up to series.

Jack

Last we saw the nephilim, he was having a really hard time with the fact that he’d inadvertently killed an innocent while trying to stop a bank-robbing ghoul. He blasted Dean, Sam, and Cas before vanishing from the bunker (Dean and Sam should really look into an anti-teleportation warding for the place). Here we see him as he drops by to see an artist, posing as a potential buyer. Once the artist, Derek, sends his girlfriend off, Jack gets right to business. He tells Derek that he knows he’s a dream-walker (someone who can go between and into different worlds), and asks for his help. After Jack lists the many generations of dreamwalkers in his family, Derek reluctantly agrees to help, and Jack gives him a not so nice temple massage in order to see what Derek sees. Cue some screaming, both from Derek, and later from his girlfriend, who finds him dead, with his eyes burnt out. Oh Jack, what are you doing?

Spoiler: We’ll find out soon!

Patience

Patience is basically faking it to make it, which in her case means telling her dad that her gift just “went away” and letting him live in denial. It also means ignoring the many calls from Dean Winchester that she’s been getting. I wouldn’t ignore one call from the hunter, let alone six, but hey, I’m not a kid just trying to make it through high school. After getting a lecture from her dad about her grades, Patience has a vision (they’re still pretty muddled for us) of Jody being killed, and that’s enough to get her ass in gear. She tells her dad the truth, that her visions never stopped, but were mundane enough for her to ignore, and that she has to leave to help a friend who is in danger. Daddy Turner does the exact thing all the parenting handbooks (and this whole fucking show) tell you not to do, and gives his daughter an ultimatum: If she leaves, she shouldn’t bother coming home. And I’m sorry but, what? Is he fucking kidding? I understand being scared for you kid and not wanting any harm to visit them, but I’ve never understood the idea of making something black and white when the world is grey. Unconditional love is supposed to be just that: Unconditional, and no love is supposed to embody that more than the love a parent has for their child. James, you’re an idiot, but I’m sure if you’re not killed, we’ll see more of you on Wayward Sisters.

Kaia

Oh Kaia, I think I’m gonna like you. Kaia (who will be on Wayward Sisters along with Patience, Alex and Claire) is a dreamwalker like Derek, only much more powerful according to the now-dead artist. We meet her during group therapy where we learn she OD’d on some pretty hefty meds, landing her in the clink. Or rehab, it honestly doesn’t matter because she’s stuck there involuntarily. Which is where our boy Jack “Cocaine!” Morningstar comes in. The two meet after Kaia shares with the group about her “bad place” and, while the leader decides to take this as a figurative place and a first step towards Kaia’s recovery, her tone leads the rest of us to believe that it’s very, very real. Jack tells her he knows Derek, and that he’ll get her out if she helps him. He gently knocks out some folks who stand in their way (a la Cas), and strolls out, busting locks along the way. He doesn’t count on Sam and Dean being there however, nor does he count on Kaia hitting him and running off, like any sensible human would.

Winchesters

You might wonder why the boys are always last on these recaps, but as I’m sure you know that they’re the thread that tightens the story. While in the bunker, Sam and Dean are still looking into Jack’s whereabouts, with Dean calling Patience (and everyone else they know), and Sam talking to “Cas” who is apparently in Tucson. They get a call from Jody who tells them that she heard about an artist found dead with his eyeballs burned out. The boys immediately assume angels (because when you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras), but Jody tells them no, there was a witness who described Jack as being the last person she saw with Dead Derek. The boys share the Winchester Worried Look™ and head to North Dakota to investigate.

While in Derek’s loft, his girlfriend confirms that it’s Jack she saw and tells them that Derek was a Dreamwalker, and the boys see a painting of Derek’s which depicts the Alternate Universe in which Mary and Lucifer (to their knowledge) are trapped. Once back in their car (in front of a completely impressive and super subtle piece of street art of a wing), the boys share the Big Worry: That Jack is killing people and looking into the Pointy Spiky World looking for Lucifer, having ditched TFW 2.0. The one thing they’re not talking about, however, is when and how to call Cas, who is presumably searching for Jack, as well. I can’t help but feel the angel’s absence here, and not in the way I felt it earlier this season. Cas’s absence via death had a purpose and a meaning behind it, this just feels… off. He’s Jack’s adopted father, an angel, and part of the team. He should have at least been called. Anyway, Sam tells Dean that he hacked Derek’s computer (because of course he did) and found that he’d been talking to another dreamwalker named Kaia.

They arrive at the facility to find Kaia just in time for Jack to spring her and to see Kaia clobber their wayward nephilim and run off. Jack is pretty casual about seeing the hunters again, and Sam asks him what the hell he’s been up to. Jack confides that he’s been honing his skills and trying to do something good to prove to them that he’s not a monster. He tells them about trying to open interdimensional doors, but needing the eyes of a dreamwalk to help guide him. Not their actual eyes, mind you, and he seems genuinely sad to hear of Derek’s death. Jack starts to tell them that he saw Mary, but finds it easier to just show them (also a lot like his adoptive dad), does the head touch thingy, and we see Mary in what is sorta like a hanging Iron Maiden. Dean gets Very Serious Guilty Anger Face on and says they will get her no matter what, which always bodes well. Jack thinks Kaia, who is much more powerful than Derek, is the key and they head off to find her.

The three of them are in the car when Jack asks if they actually thought him capable of killing Derek, to which they boys say they didn’t know, and weren’t sure if Jack was looking for Lucifer. Jack doesn’t understand why they would think this, however, since Lucifer means nothing to him. The boys and Cas are his family. Dean tells Jack that finding Mary was a ‘good thing’ but before it gets too mushy, Angel Radio kicks in and Jack learns that Kaia has been taken and is being used as bait.

 

 

Oh wow, turns out it was horses, er angels, that killed Derek! They’ve also been hunting Jack, to use him to make more angels. The two angels snatched Kaia when she ran off and are just waiting to get their hands on the nephilim and the Winchesters. Kaia is firmly in camp “I Didn’t Sign Up For This” and tells them there’s no reason for the Winchesters to come looking for her, that she doesn’t matter, both in the macro and micro sense. It’s clear she’s never met the hunters, though, as they literally show up to do just that. After rejecting the super exciting offer to help the angels and calling Team Free Will 2.0 “home,” Jack whammies the Lady Angel with his powers, knocking her through a wall before making the Dude Angel stab himself, but Lady Angel gets away. Kaia is appropriately freaked the fuck out, and it doesn’t help matters much when Sam asks her to dream walk and help find their mom. She says no, that she isn’t like Derek. She can only go to one world and if she gets hurt there, the wounds appear on her body here, as well.

Not willing to take “hell no this shit is fucked up” for an answer, Dean pulls a fucking gun on her to force her to go with them and help find Mary. Now, I know that there have been a lot of people who have been saying Dean is “out of character” this season, and this is literally the only instance in which I’d agree. Pulling a gun on a fucking scared, innocent kid is not something Dean would do, if you ask me. Maybe he felt there wasn’t time to try and convince her… maybe he’s just got that adrenaline pumping, but the look we see Sam give him tells us that this shit doesn’t and shouldn’t sit right.

The four of them head to South Dakota, to a sacred place where the walls between worlds are thinner, and Sam calls Dean out on his shit. Dean just says “anything to get mom back” and it’s clear all he’s tormenting himself for spending even a minute doing anything else. In the backseat, Jack is trying to reassure Kaia and offer to help her get her powers under control, even help her see another place, other than The Bad Place. He touches her and shows her the beauty that Derek sees, and she seems a bit more on board. With Jack, probably not with Dean just yet. Before they can talk further, they’re nearly hit head on by Angel Lady and her super station wagon. Dean avoids a crash and drives into an abandoned shipyard.The angels hit Jack with Angel Radio, and everyone grabs their gear and makes a run for an old abandoned ship.  Man. It’d be sweet if they had an angel friend, right?

Sam is hastily painting sigils as they go, and Dean is basically ready to go out guns blazing. There are half a dozen angels, and they are actually working together, which is a surprisingly terrifying sight. The angels stab their blades into the ground and, simultaneously pounding, manage to begin melting the sigils Sam painted to ward them off. Jack and Kaia decide their only hope is to try and open the door to another world in order to escape, and so the two get to work.

Jack helps Kaia focus, and we get a glimpse into all the worlds being opened to us now. She tries to hone in on Mary, but the angels are making it hard to focus and she keeps switching from Alternate Universe (I’m going to have to come up with a new name, now) and The Bad Place. Oh, and there is a giant ass skull in The Bad Place, too. With sharp pointy teeth. She finds Mary, but it’s all too much for Kaia, who starts to scream. Her screams kill the angels, and when they’re abruptly cut off, there is no sign on her, Jack, Dean or Sam. There is just the crack opened up into another world.

After we hear Jody worriedly calling Sam to see if they’re okay, Patience shows up on her doorstep, telling her some bad shit is going down, and we see that Kaia is passed out (or dead) on the side of the road, Jack is in the Alternate World with Mary, and Dean and Sam are in what looks like The Bad Place. Oh, and there are giant, dinosaur size monsters there.

Boom.

What did you think of the first half of our spin-off? Is it making you more excited to see Jody and the girls? How are you feeling about the multiverse and the whole “dino-riffic” bit? Do you think this is how we’re gonna see the Scooby Doo episode? Did they finally find a way to make the boys do an Arrow crossover (which, to be fair, would be freaking hilarious. I can see Dean either geeking out or being super judgemental of superheroes and shit). Let me know what you think!