SUPERNATURAL Recap: ‘The Man Who Would Be King’

“Let me tell you my story; let me tell you everything.” What a great way to open the first ever episode of SUPERNATURAL from Cas’ POV, especially after a season that the angel has largely spent on the periphery of the action. I honestly didn’t know how I felt about this episode immediately after watching it; I had to sleep on it and reconcile the side of me that really loved the insight into Cas’s life and the new information we learned about his role in rescuing Sam from hell with the side that just felt like this was a lot of exposition, not much of it new, and that it was too close to the end of the season for so little action.

In the end, the side of me that liked the episode is winning out. If for no other reason than the fact that I really loved seeing the world through Cas’ eyes. I’m also very into the idea of Cas striking out on his own to do what he feels is necessary to win the war with Raphael, even if that means doing things like working with Crowley and lying to the closest people he has to family. Does anyone really want to see Sam or Dean working against each other again? I don’t; we’ve sort of exhausted the brotherly subterfuge at this point, right? But it’s always good for drama to have someone acting out of character and/or keeping secrets for the ‘greater good’, so I’m cool with it being Cas.

At first, I really wasn’t sure of his motivations for his partnership with Crowley – was he just trying to do the right thing and keep heaven out of Raphael’s control? Had he gone ‘dark side’? Was he evil all along? Now THAT would have been completely mind-blowing, but not conducive to him sticking around for season 7. Also, I don’t think I could have bought Evil Cas after everything we’ve been through with him since his arrival back in season 4.

Yet, there was something pretty sinister about him skulking around and spying on Team Hunter, wasn’t there? It just seemed so dishonest and underhanded – very un-Cas. I wanted to know if this was new behavior necessitated by the Crowley deal, or if he’s been doing things like this all along and we just haven’t been privy to it. There were little hints throughout the episode that Cas has maybe been holding back in his interactions with Dean and Sam; or maybe he was just putting things he’d learned from them into practice, because he was a whole different angel away from the boys. He was the one with the smartass comments, he was confident, he was almost…normal?

I’m so used to Cas being clueless when it comes to social interaction that his newfound casually snarky side had me wondering if he was the Keyser Sosé of angels. Then there was the scene with Team Hunter where, after Dean spent the better part of the episode defending his friend, Cas let the Superman reference slip and Dean caught it. I don’t know how many of you have seen Primal Fear, (spoiler alert for a movie released in 1996) but it was like watching Richard Gere realize that the real Ed Norton wasn’t the sweet mentally ill Aaron, but the murderous, lewd mastermind Roy. The shock and betrayal on Dean’s face was pretty heartbreaking.

So now Team Hunter is fully up to speed on Cas’ plan to amass enough souls to beat Raphael through is work with Crowley to open purgatory. It may not be the best solution, but it’s the only one he has. Team Hunter is not on board, obviously, so I’m sure this conflict will be the focus of at least the first half of the finale.

My hope for the end of season 6 and season 7? As much as I’ve loved the addition of Cas and the epic heaven and hell battle over the past few seasons, I would really love for the show to get back to its roots before it ends for good. I don’t see, after thwarting the apocalypse and likely taking back control of heaven by the end of this season, where they could possibly go with that storyline. The only option left is God himself, but do we really think the show is going to go there? And do we want it to?

I’d be happy with Cas winning the battle and ousting Raphael, with the purgatory plan releasing a ton of new monsters into the world that the boys have to hunt down again like they used to back in the good ol’ days. It may be wishful thinking, but this show started as a show about this one family and their fate as lifelong monster hunters – I’d like to see it end on that note too. It would also be nice if they could see fit to bring back the awesome music that has been severely lacking the last few years (I know, I know…budget reasons, but c’mon!). Oh, and I should mention that Cas would still have to be a part of things, even if only occasionally, because I am far too attached for him to leave now.

A few stray observations and quotes from the episode:

I loved that Bobby had an evil counterpart in Ellsworth, complete with hat, flannel, beard and makeshift phone bank.

Crowley is SUCH an evil bastard, turning hell into an endless line in what looked like the most depressing yet orderly government building ever.

“If you kill them I’ll just bring them back again.”

“He is the Balki Bartokomous of heaven; he can make a mistake.”

“You never look like you’re joking.”

“I want to help you help me help ourselves.”

Below is the promo for the big two-hour finale which is airing on May 20th (SMALLVILLE will have its own two-hour finale on the 13th). Remember Lisa and Ben? I hardly do either, but it looks like they’re back!

So, what did you think of ‘The Man Who Would be King’? What are you hoping to see happen in the final two hours of season six? Where do you fall on the vintage monster-killing SPN versus the epic heaven and hell SPN debate? Any thoughts on how you’d like season 7 to proceed? Let’s discuss it in the comments!