‘Supernatural’ season 14 episode 2: ‘Gods and Monsters’ is heaps better

“Supernatural” season 14 episode 2 has been drama-packed and heavy loaded. “Gods and Monsters” made way for backstories and possible solution to Dean’s (Jensen Ackles) imprisonment from Michael.

The following recaps and reviews “Supernatural” 14x02 “Gods and Monsters.” It was aired in the US on The CW on Thursday. It will air Tuesday in Australia on Ten.

Michael, occupying Dean’s body as vessel, appeared to have been experimenting with different monsters, including vampires. He had one vampire bled and then fed him his own blood mixed with angel (archangel?) grace. Whatever he hoped to achieve, he didn’t get it as the vampire died.

Later on, however, Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki), Bobby (Jim Beaver) and Mary (Samantha Smith) would encounter werewolves who weren’t affected by silver bullets. It looked like they were part of Michael’s experiments. Maybe he was creating super soldiers since angels have depleted their number.

Jack’s grandparents

Not God, but his maternal godparents. With his powers drained and would possibly take a century to replenish, Jack (Alexander Calvert) was feeling hopeless more than ever. He thought no one could understand what he was going through, but Castiel told him that he, too, felt like everything had been taken away from him when the angels fell and he basically became human and felt hopeless and useless.

“I had Sam and Dean,” Cas answered when asked what he had left, apparently forgetting that Dean had banished him from the bunker and left him on his own on the behest of Gadreel, who was using Sam as vessel. “But I had something else that was extremely helpful. I had myself. Just the basic me, as Dean would say, without the bells and whistles.”

Their talk inspired Jack to find his mother’s parents, his real family, as he said. His grandparents, he learnt, loved his mother so much. They didn’t know she was dead but knew she had been pregnant. Jack introduced himself as her friend, hiding the fact that she was Kelly’s one-year-old son.

Upon Jack’s return to the bunker, Cas initially reprimanded him for going out without protection. The seraph softened, though, understanding why Jack had to see his family.

“What you did, you did from a place of kindness. There are worse ways to be human than to be kind,” he told his adoptive son.

Nick’s background

When Nick (Mark Pellegrino) was first introduced in season 5, he was a grieving husband and father, who said yes to Lucifer out of desperation. In “Gods and Monsters,” his storyline was expounded a bit, not much but enough to reveal that his wife and child was bludgeoned to death by a mysterious man. Nick went to his neighbour, Arty, who was the witness who retracted his statement that he saw a man who ran out of Nick’s home at the time of the murder. Nick beat Arty to death with a hammer, the same way his family were killed years ago.

Sam, Mary and Bobby

Sam and his mother and alternate adoptive father followed a lead that could bring them to Michael. They found a female vampire, who was one of Michael’s prisoners on the first scenes. The girl was Michael’s lure for the Winchesters and Bobby, and when she had unknowingly served her purpose, Michael killed her immediately.

Next Michael was seen approaching the trio with his usual aplomb, but then with each step he appeared to be shedding his angelic persona, first by taking off his hat. Then he was seen collapsing, and all his arrogance seemed to have melted away. He was back to being Dean. Was it a ruse? Was Michael just pretending to be Dean? No one knows, until the preview for the next episode was shown. (Watch below.)

‘Gods and Monsters’ review

Written by Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross-Leming and directed by Richard Speight Jr, “Gods and Monsters” is heaps better than the first episode. It’s emotional but didn’t slow down the story at all. Last week’s episode appeared to have been lazily written, with many, if not most, of its canons ignored for an aimless storyline. With the second episode, there has been a clear direction.

Lucifer’s vessel Nick being alive was a surprise last week. Why was he kept alive by the writers when, canonically, vessels along with the angel or demon that occupied them because they wouldn’t be able to withstand the abuse their bodies had suffered. But there might just be a good use for Nick this season.

When Jack and Cas were arguing about how they should approach Michael, with Cas desperately wanting to save Dean and Jack didn’t care either way, Nick’s fate might just be a clue on what they could do to save Dean and kill Michael at the same time. After all, if Lucifer died but Nick survived after being stabbed by an archangel blade, then the same method could be applied to Michael and Dean and they should get the same result.

Pellegrino did a brilliant job showcasing Nick’s frustration, confusion and fury at being used by Lucifer and not being able to avenge his family’s death. From being a victim to a killer, Nick sounds like many serial killers’ life story. It could be that Pellegrino’s character would become the big bad of the season yet again, as it was earlier revealed that Michael wasn’t the season’s main villain.

Cas finally recognised that he was more than his divinity and his humanity. There had been speculations that Castiel’s fate would be to become human, which could still happen and it’s likely to happen. However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be his only endgame.

And this goes the same for Jack. He had to be in touch with his humanity before he could fully comprehend what it’s like to be a powerful species. And again, neither defines him, just as Castiel’s being angel and human don’t define him.

Speaking of endgame, it’s pretty obvious Michael is building an army enhanced with angel grace to destroy humans. His being a villain on Earth was understandable as he could be consumed with power now that he knew he could rule this Earth. But why kill the human race? What possible reason does he have to do it? He was doing it in the alternate universe, and again, why?

The questions from last season remain. Why were the angels destroying humanity? That was the very opposite of what God wanted to happen, and if the angels were just following God by killing Lucifer and the demons, why did they not stop after wiping out the demons and just leave humans alone? It didn’t make sense for the angel to antagonise humans in the alternate universe.

Michael and the angels didn’t have any reason to destroy humanity. Why didn’t Sam and Dean and Cas and the rest of the Earth character questioned it? That should have been the first question everyone asked.