Supernatural 10x23 "Brother's Keeper"
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Supernatural 10x23 "Brother's Keeper"


Here we are at the end of a decade of Supernatural. That sounds completely insane, especially given the fact that it basically means I've been living in Los Angeles for a decade as well. Where has the time gone?

Recap/review of Supernatural 10x23 'Brother's Keeper' by freshfromthe.comI digress. We're here to talk about Supernatural, not my own life milestones. After an entire season all about ridding Dean of the Mark of Cain, things finally came to a conclusion tonight. I thought to myself as this episode was playing that there probably wasn't anything the show could do to surprise me anymore. And, to be honest, I'm really not that surprised by the ending, but that's not to say that I didn't like it. It looks like the brothers will be getting back to more of the working together to take down evil stuff rather than this save one another from something stuff, so that's at least something.

Anywho, let's get to the actual recap of it all. Sam is still hellbent on getting the Mark off of Dean no matter the cost, and you know that by using the Book of the Damned, there will certainly be a cost. Rowena has translated what is needed to do that thing, but it's not going to be easy. And her new terms for cooperating? She gets to go free, with the codex and the book. A bad idea, which Castiel voices, but Sam is in no mood. So just what do they need to work the spell? The forbidden fruit (a quince, apparently, not an apple), the golden calf, and the sacrifice of something the person casting the spell loves. That last bit appears to be the toughest part of the spell, because Rowena seemingly doesn't love anything. Or does she?

Meanwhile, Dean is off working a case brought to his attention by another hunter, Rudy. Dean is not in a very sharing mood, and basically takes over the case, and in not so nice a fashion. He ends up saving the missing girl in question, but in the process ends up getting Rudy killed by basically taunting a vampire. Or was the kid just a kid? I think he was a vampire. Anyway, yes, Rudy was killed. Dean is feeling very morose about letting a fellow hunter die, and decides to take things into his own hands with the whole Mark business.

What does that mean, exactly? Why, he calls up his old buddy Death. He wants Death to kill him for good this time, and rid the world of the Mark. But Death is like ummm dude, no. Turns out, the Mark is actually some sort of stopper against some even bigger evil than heretofore seen, called The Darkness. Basically, the Earth was overtaken by said darkness millennia ago, God came and smote it with his angels, and created the Mark as a way of keeping it at bay. He gave the Mark to Lucifer as a safekeeper, but the Mark corrupted him, so God had to send him to Hell. Lucifer then gave the Mark to Cain, who gave it to Dean, etc. Basically, Death could take the Mark off of Dean, but unless he wanted the darkness to take over again, he would have to pass it on to someone else. Dean doesn't want that, so Death gives him another option. That is, he can take Dean to some other realm to live, and leave the Earth in peace.

Recap/review of Supernatural 10x23 'Brother's Keeper' by freshfromthe.comDean is all for this plan, and calls up Sam. Sam happens to be in town as Rudy had called him up earlier on when Dean was acting rude. He heads over to hear this big plan. Death has also basically told Dean that in order for this whole thing to work, Sam must also sacrifice himself, because if he took Dean away, Sam would still work at trying to find him, thereby endangering the world. It's a bit of a flimsy argument, but whatever. Dean and Sam have some talky time that leads to fisticuffs that leads to Sam eventually agreeing that he will sacrifice himself for the greater good. So Death hands Dean his scythe to do it, but... wait! You know Dean can never kill his little brother. He takes that scythe and at the last minute turns it on Death himself. Uh oh.

Back at wherever they have Rowena holed up, Castiel has called up Crowley for help in getting the items on the Mark removal list. He agrees, mostly I think to stick it to Rowena, and actually finds the one thing she ever loved. Apparently, back in the day, she was nursed back to health by a Polish family after fleeing Scotland, and took to their son. He was deathly ill, so she repaid their kindness by healing him and giving him everlasting life. Crowley finds him, that guy from that diner he visited recently, and brings him to Rowena. Will she sacrifice the poor sap to work her magic?

You bet she will. She stabs the poor guy in the neck and uses his blood for the spell. After she's done the spell, she traps Crowley and Castiel in their places, takes the codex and the Book of the Damned, and puts some kind of spell on Castiel to sic him on Crowley. It appears to be the same one she did to those girls earlier in the season, with the bloody eyes. But Cas is an angel, so... hmm.

The spell she did, however, works in getting the Mark off of Dean. It zaps away in a hiss of lightning, leaving his arm all nice and shiny. The brothers head outside, thinking all might be well, when lightning starts zapping all over the place, and dark billowing smoke shoots out of the holes and starts coalescing together. They run for the Impala to try to drive away from it, but it gets stuck in a pothole. Damn lack of road maintenance, always ruining the fast getaway.

And, as the darkness engulfs the Impala, the screen goes black. Until next season...

Random Thoughts:

- Who knows what The Darkness actually entails. The black smoke is very reminiscent of demon smoke that we've seen a great number of times, and it seemed to be shooting up from the ground. So it would seem Hell is some kind of stopgap for the darkness, and now it's going to run amok or something? Hmm.

- What does it mean that Death is dead, so to speak? Will souls still be reaped? I mean, there are other Reapers, but it does seem like it would set things out of order, or like someone else would be called upon to be Death (it seems like it would be Dean since he was the one to kill Death with his own scythe).

- That Mexican restaurant looked very much like the old Roadhouse to me. Same set?

- How was there a chair blocking the door from the inside that hotel room if Dean wasn't inside, hmm? Did he really go to the trouble of setting up that chair and leaving through a bathroom window if he was just leaving Sam a note with the keys to the Impala? Maybe I misinterpreted that chair, but whatever.

- Last episode, Crowley seemed to say that he was returning to his evil ways, but I'm not so sure that's entirely the case. It's still not quite clear what his goals are, and those may shift now with the release of this darkness stuff.

- I'm never sure if I really want to keep recapping the show anymore. It's lost it's luster for me that it had in seasons 1 thru 5, in fact I would probably put all of the seasons after five behind those first ones, which is saying something when that was only half the show's life at this point. I suppose I will keep watching to the bitter end, but it does get difficult to care very much. Anyway, I'm just rambling.

Quotes:

Dean: I'm good. I'm good.

Crowley: Who summons anymore. Couldn't you call?
Castiel: You're not in my contacts list.

Death: Don't tell me that's queso.

Dean: So Genesis was a lie? Shocker.

Crowley: A long, long time ago there lived an ugly bitch. Sorry. Witch.

Crowley: It's only cruel if you actually go through with it. Though, who's the cruel one then?

Sam: You'll never, ever hear me say that you, the real you, is anything but good.

Dean: I think I just killed death.

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