Supernatural S8 Ep23 – Sacrifice

We’ve come to another season’s end. This was a vast improvement on the past two finales, but it’s not my favorite. But since every finale ends with something horrible happening, picking your favorite is like picking your favorite traumatic memory. I’m going to take this review one level at a time: Hell, Heaven, and Earth.

Sure he’s a lying demon, but he looks good doing it.

Let’s start off with all things hellish. Crowley still had his big plan to stop Sam and Dean from completing the third trial by killing off everyone they ever saved. Next on the list: Sheriff Jody Mills. Sam and Dean gave in to save her, though we don’t actually see her safe and sound. That worries me a bit because this show does love killing off its characters, particularly the female ones; in fact, just this episode Kevin mentioned his mother’s death, which I am still refusing to believe happened. I hope that next season they stumble across one of Crowley’s demon lairs and Ms. Tran is there, locked up, and when she sees them she’s just like “Finally! Where have you all been?” Anyway, Sam and Dean took the now-restored demon tablet to trade for the angel tablet, except they turned things around on Crowley for once by using those special demon handcuffs they found in the Men of Letters’ bunker. Crowley was now due to be demon-cured.

Not surprising: Crowley watches a lot of TV. I wonder if he likes Doctor Who.

This gave us a very interesting look into Crowley’s character. He’s always been a self-serving weasel, to put it lightly. He has helped out Sam and Dean before because ultimately it would lead to what he wanted. When he had the chance to grab power and become king of hell, he took it. He only looks out for himself, but in this episode we got to see him act more human. In fact, it started off in the beginning when he was pretending to be Jody’s date. We saw him interacting with someone in a way we’d never seen before. Sure, it was all a lie, but I think it foreshadowed what came later.

As Crowley started pleading with Sam, the effects of the demon cure obviously starting to show, he said that he deserves to be loved too (taking his words from Girls, but the sentiment shone through). Perhaps I’m looking into this too much, but we first see him on a date at the beginning, faking a bond with someone, and then later he’s yelling about how he wants to be loved. Does Crowley just crave love and acceptance, something that maybe he never achieved during his life on earth? Being the king of hell certainly puts him in the position to be fawned over and respected, so maybe he desired that role in the hopes of feeling what he’s never felt before: being needed, being loved. For a character that has always been a slick and dodgy salesman, ready to either cut the throats of anyone who stood in his way or to cozy up to anyone who could help him, this is the first true look of him as having any shred of humanity.

Goodbye time-traveling, punk-clothes-wearing, sewn-back-up-like-Frankenstein’s-monster host of Abaddon.

We also saw him completely terrified, so in his usual attempt at saving his own skin he managed to get a call out to hell for someone to save him. But the only one who came was Abaddon, and she wasn’t there to save him. Abaddon’s role in this was sadly very small and dealt with too quickly. She showed up to force a regime change in hell, but Sam was able to stop her easily by lighting her on fire with holy oil. The demon smoked out of the body and fled, so I’m betting Abaddon will show up next season with a different face. I’m a bit sad to see her current host go, because Alaina Huffman did a great job with the character. Here’s hoping they cast another amazing actress for the role next season.

Hell-wise, not much else happened. The third trial did not go through for reasons I will cover a little later, meaning that hell is still open and demons are still free to wander the planet. Abaddon is in the wind–literally–and Crowley was brought close to being cured, but not all the way. Will he be a kinder, gentler Crowley next season? Has he been brought too far by the cure to go back to his demonic ways? We’ll have to wait and see.

RIP, not-Sam-Carter

Now for more heavenly matters. You know how Metatron was acting so shady last episode? That would be because he was in fact up to something. The trials he was having Castiel perform weren’t trials to close heaven; they were part of a spell to cast out all angels, like Lucifer, but to send them to Earth rather than hell. Naomi figured it out and warned Cas, but then Metatron killed her. I’m sure fans will be split on how they feel about her death. Some loved Naomi as a villain, others just wanted her dead. I actually liked her and thought she made a good adversary, one who believed she was doing the right thing for her people. Also, Amanda Tapping is awesome, so I was sad to see her go. RIP yet another female character.

I think Metatron might be into some light dominance.

The third part of Metatron’s spell required taking an angel’s grace, and of course he took Castiel’s. This led to all the angels falling to earth, except for Metatron, I assume. Cas was the first to fall, his grace required for the spell, so he watched as his brothers and sisters fell from the sky in flames, all because of him. The last shot we see of him is Cas alone and human, watching those he had wanted to save now adrift in a world many of them had come to despise. As we saw in season four, when Anna got her grace back, it is possible for Castiel to be restored to his former power, but for now he’s human. Oddly enough, that leaves both Castiel and Crowley as relatively human at the end of this episode. Will they team up with the Winchesters in a weird new Team Free Will? I hope to see them interact at least a little bit next season.