Supernatural S05E18 - Point of No Return (2010)

Review

Zachariah thinks he is out of the game but the Angels have a devious plan to get one Winchester or another to accept being Michael's vessel. Dean is hell bent on saying yes to the arch angel but is thwarted by Sam and Castiel, with eventually Bobby weighing in. Castiel decides something is happening and warps out of Casa Bobby leaving the humans to keep Dean in check. Fighting off some Angels the fallen one discovers they have resurrected Adam, the younger Winchester Bro who was gobbled on by a Ghoul! Seems the Angels have a backup plan in case Dean decides to be all grumpy and non-committal, which is sort of ironic given Dean's current state of capitulation.

Naturally Zachariah grabs Adam out of team Winchester's grasp, and the younger Bro is pretty tight with the idea of being Michael's vessel as it means he can see his mom again, talk about doing things on the cheap. This doesn't sit well with the Bros and along with Castiel they go into a final confrontation with Zachariah in an attempt to derail agenda Angel.

Got to say, and guess it has shown in the last few Supernatural reviews, am a bit over the Winchester Bros going all moody and chick moment yet again. Seems over the last few seasons it has been rinse and repeat, things are getting old man, real old. While I was watching this episode I couldn't help but notice how much time was spent on Dean being the equivalent of a moody teenager. Sure he is facing ultimate defeat and is giving up with no apparent options left, but come on I don't dial into Supernatural for Dawson's Creek levels of melodramatic soap opera teen viewing. Sorry tough love folks, but someone has to break out of the fandom hippy hippy shake and bring some harsh reality to the Supernatural universe.

Man, bad episode, it wasn't fun to watch and am pleased the review is out of the way

On the bright side if we didn't know it already Castiel is a bad ass, the fallen one is kicking Angel butt left and right and centre while rocking a trench coat. How's that for style and single minded purpose. Going to argue that in the best scene in the show Castiel discovers a buried Adam after dispatching a duo of what appear to be corporate Angels. The episode is worth catching for this one, and Castiel doesn't relent as he single handily makes it possible for the Winchester to rush to Adam's aid while also giving Dean a chance to "discuss" things with the way too arrogant Zachariah.

Both Castiel and Bobby point out they both keep going due to believing in Dean, say what, and neither is best pleased with Dean's decision to give up on finding an alternative to the End of Days. Still it is ultimately Sam who makes the difference, by being all dark and moody I guess, character development and motivations isn't one of Supernatural's strong points. Besides various Winchesters being moody little bitches any character traits are either as the plot requires or plastered on cause cardboard cut outs would be a tad too Disney. While this is fine and rocking for monster of the week episodes it doesn't really cut the mustard, was going to say cheese there but hey too easy, when your focus is on drama. And yes before anyone acts like a pork chop horror can rock drama; it's not all blood and guts kids.

Okay so this is the controversial bit, and hey if this gets under your skin then skip a couple of paragraphs, especially if you are Christian or something. You know how we are constantly on about horror being so rich because it's all subversive, shining a light onto the dark edges of town that society really doesn't want illumination well, just saying here, Supernatural over season five has pretty much been putting the blow torch onto the hypocrisy of the Christian faith. Think about it, our politicians are forever citing Christian values and good will to all men, but then prove to be a pack of liars, hypocrites, and in a lot of cases of dubious character, shut out to Deputy PM Joyce, well Supernatural are right across pointing this out in no uncertain detail that the Angelic host are just as venal and self-serving as their human worshipers. In the Supernatural universe organised religion is a lot less admirable than society would have us believe; in fact it's downright deranged.

Sorry mouthed off a bit there, but hey we need to get this one up to review length and there's a tad less meat on the bone than one might expect from a drama laden episode. Besides having a by now usual dig at organised religion and its less than impressive practice the episode does move the season plot back on track. Finally we are through the teen angst we have been dealing with over the past three episode and hopefully are back on track of some serious monster arse kicking next week. Oh and there is still the small matter of Lucifer to sort out, but hey baby steps right.

Only two mullet rock numbers through episode 18th, and to be honest they are pretty light and trite which isn't what we all want in our Supernatural soundtrack. Give me that old long hair rock folks and I'm happy than a ghoul at a morgue. We get Kay Starr hitting The Man Upstairs and Kurt Fuller backed by Zachariah notching a cover of When the Saints Go Marching In. Slim pickings friends and neighbours.

Disappointed with Point of No Return folks, this was another detour into emotive land which is something that has plagued Supernatural in recent seasons. We're not here for teenage soap opera, we're all here for some monster smashing and Dean wise cracks, let's get back to that sooner rather than later. The last three episodes have settled into melodramatic overtures, my recommendation would be to jump them to be honest, and definitely in the case of this episode press the fast forward button. About the only take away here is that Michael has Adam, uhmm, spoiler alert.