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Parenting is hell — literally — on ‘Supernatural’
He’s baaaaack!
First, we all have to agree the “Supernatural” universe is a happier place with Mark Pellegrino’s version of Lucifer in it. And watching Lucifer and Crowley (Mark Sheppard) puffing their chests in an attempt to out-alpha-swagger (and out-snark) each other will never not be a glorious spectacle.
.. But in “Family Feud,” Thursday night (Feb. 23), we found ourselves at a sad intersection: Just as Lucifer is anticipating fatherhood, Crowley has to mourn its termination in his own life… With his mother Rowena (Ruth Connell) playing no small part in that. It’s easy to forget that beneath the amusingly caustic banter between mother and son, there’s a hefty dose of bona fide hatred.
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The case of the week involves Crowley’s son, Gavin (Theo Devaney), who proves to be the sacrificial lamb required to appease a vengeful spirit. It seems the ghost of his fiancée Fiona has been haunting — and more problematically, mauling — schoolteachers in the present day. Turns out when Abbadon abducted Gavin from 18th century Scotland, he was prevented from meeting his fiancée Fiona aboard a doomed ship called the Star. She suffered a decidedly unpleasant fate, before all on board perished in a shipwreck, and her vengeful ghost remained tied to some artifacts from the ship that are now on display in a museum. As she was not protected from the crew by a bad-apple schoolteacher on board, Fiona has decided that all teachers must face expulsion from life itself.
Sam and Dean ask Crowley for help in thwarting Fiona’s ghost, but Crowley’s a bit bent out of shape after discovering the boys let Lucifer’s baby’s mother Kelly Kline (Screener fave Courtney Ford) go — along with her bad-to-the-bone bun in the oven. Next, the boys turn to Rowena, and lure Gavin their way. Seems there’s a spell that will carry both Gavin and Fiona back in time, so she won’t ever be abandoned by Gavin and subsequently embark on a posthumous murderous rampage. The rub is that Gavin must join her on the ship, as they’d originally planned — where they’ll both surely die. Despite his parentage, Gavin’s a good egg: He’s racked with guilt over Fiona’s gruesome fate, and by his own admission, he’s not enjoying modern life. He’s felt out of place ever since he was dragged unwittingly here.
The guiding hand in encouraging Gavin to take his place alongside Fiona is grandmother Rowena. It first seems that she’s encouraging his romantic sacrifice for altruistic reasons. “Fergus, he’s not like us,” she points out when Papa Crowley naturally balks at the plan: “He believes in things.” When Crowley tries to stop Gavin from participating in the Winchesters’ plan, Rowena casts a spell that immobilizes him. (We could swear we see tears welling in Crowley’s eyes as Gavin says goodbye and the gang takes their leave.)
After Gavin returns to his original time zone and guaranteed doom, Crowley eventually catches up with Rowena and asks why she sent his son — her own grandson — to his certain death, and Rowena comes clean: It’s payback for Oskar’s death. As you may recall, in Season 10, she had to kill Oskar to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean’s arm. Well, technically, she had to kill someone she loved (and let’s not forget, it was not Crowley), so Crowley was more than happy to fetch Oskar.
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Turnabout’s fair but brutal play, when a witch and a king of Hell are involved. “I’m your mother, dear,” Rowena spits at a mourning Crowley. “The better to crush your shriveled heart.”
Ouch. But it’s entirely possible that Rowena is both doting grandmother and vengeful mother here. These aren’t mutually exclusive categories, and Rowena’s a complex one. It’s not as if she tricked Gavin into making a decision he was otherwise on the fence about. He’s been miserable in the present day, and he jumps at the chance to right a wrong — even one he didn’t voluntarily cause; we have Abbadon to thank for that. Rowena supporting her grandson in making a choice that would also devastate Crowley was likely just a bonus.
So now Crowley must live with the pain that he forced upon Rowena — not to mention what this will do for the Crowley-Winchester detente — these weren’t the only two struggling with the oft-brutal business of parenting. Or not parenting.
Mary (Samantha Smith) continues skulking around the shadows with Arthur Ketch (David Haydn-Jones), who finally says what we’ve all been thinking (albeit in a posh Brit accent, making it sound so much smarter and more sinister): Mary is not cut out for motherhood. It makes her softer and weaker, he insists, whereas when she’s slaying demons, she’s obviously happier. It’s a direct challenge to the rose-colored glasses perspective that mothers aren’t allowed to have a life beyond their brood, or at least not one that is allotted a higher priority.
It’s also, of course, a challenge that Sam and Dean, and even Crowley in relation to Rowena, might not so secretly resent. What does a mother owe her children? Is “her own happiness” too high of a price? Particularly when her children are grown, isn’t she allowed to enjoy someone else’s company at least as much as theirs?
By episode’s end, Mary does comes clean to her sons about her extracurricular activities with their fancy dandy nemesis. No, they’re not too happy about it. Sam simply looks like a sad puppy (more so than the usual “that’s his resting face” way) — but Dean’s got that steely jaw-clenching thing going on. Never a good sign.
Amidst all these parents making complicated choices, we finally caught up with Kelly Kline herself, whose rollercoaster car is only starting to ascend that first sheer uphill peak of the parenthood ride. She’s nearly killed at the hands of a few angels before we’re finally introduced to Ramiel’s super awesome sister Dagon (Ali Ahn), who takes Kelly under her (demon) wing and promises there’s no more need to run.
RELATED: ‘Supernatural’ tip-toes around one mother of a problem
Lucifer’s ad for the perfect ninja-nanny seems to have run afoul of the Mary Poppins prototype: No cheery disposition, rosy cheeks stuff here. Glowing highlighter-yellow eyes and angel-shanking skills, on the other hand…
Early on, a stalker angel disguised as a diner waitress assures Kelly that once her water breaks, having a life of her own is O-V-E-R. It’s an interesting observation, especially in this episode, and nestled as it is inside a series in which every less-than-perfect parent — Mary and John Winchester, Rowena, Crowley — visibly struggles to find a balance between their own happiness and that of their children.
And as for Crowley gloating over a chained-for-now Lucifer, we must agree with Lucifer when he promises Crowley will gonna regret the HELL out of his decision to exact revenge with the whole chained obedient dog treatment… And who else is super excited to see Lucifer raising a mini-him?
“Supernatural” airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.