Supernatural season 11, episode 9, “O Brother Where Art Thou?” aired tonight. Read our recap and discuss the episode with fellow fans.
Sam and Lucifer
The Winchesters enlist the help of Crowley and Rowena to find a safe way for Sam to speak to Lucifer in the Cage without, you know, Sam going back into the Cage. Rowena, a Lucifer fangirl, finds a spell in The Book of the Damned, and they manifest an actual cage — and Lucifer himself. The literal cage is a bit on the nose but we’ll go with it.
Lucifer is thrilled to see Sam and listens as Sam explains the situation with the Darkness. He also says that God sent him to Lucifer through visions. Lucifer offers his help dealing with Amara if he can have his vessel back. Sam, thankfully, refuses.
The conversation seems to be going nowhere when the warding sigils on the Cage fail. Lucifer pulls Sam into the Cage and when Sam again refuses to be his vessel, Lucifer reveals he’s been sending Sam the visions all along. The Darkness being released damaged the Cage and he was able to reach out. And now he’s not going to let Sam go. They’re MFEO, remember?
Jared Padalecki is excellent in this episode, as Sam has a lot of emotion, particularly terror, to deal with. Sam spent what likely equates to centuries in the Cage after season 5. His soul was mutilated to the point that his memories of the tortures he endured were potentially fatal. Yet Sam, feeling there is no other choice, braves that fear, and Padalecki knocks it out of the park. Despite his large stature, he somehow manages to look tiny and young in the face of Lucifer.
The revelation that Lucifer was the one sending the visions all along is also not surprising. (We theorized about it at the beginning of season 11.) We know all angels can hear all prayers, so Lucifer undoubtedly heard his vessel’s pleas for hope and help. There is no love lost between Lucifer and daddy (or auntie) dearest, so Lucifer has no problem exploiting further family drama to get exactly what he wants.
Dean and Amara
Amara continues searching out God and first kills a group of public worshipers in the hope of getting God’s attention. When that fails, she heads to a church and talks to a priest. She eventually kills everyone in the church, but still no response from brother dearest.
This does, however, catch Dean’s attention. And after investigating the crime scene, he and Amara come face to face. She takes them to a remote location, and they talk about their bond and Amara’s killings. Dean tries to kill her with blade, but it doesn’t work. Shocker.
Amara then says she cannot be resisted and kisses Dean. She says they will become one; it’s their destiny since Dean bore the Mark of Cain and Amara is the original Mark. There’s no innuendo there at all. Dean isn’t having any of it, but their conversation is interrupted by three angels who want to capture Amara. She disposes of them with ease, and the Angels set about for a mass smiling. As thunder and lightning brew, Amara sends Dean away.
As impressive as the thunder and lightning looked, we know Amara will get away since she is the season-long Big Bad. Moreover, the angels on Supernatural have been particularly underpowered since the apocalypse storyline ended all those seasons ago. We might argue that the ease with which Amara dispatched them shows how powerful she is, but this has been a seasons-long symptom with multiple baddies. Gone are the threatening figures like Zachariah or Uriel, and in their place are mostly nameless, suit-wearing red shirts with only a few exceptions. Only time will tell where the plotline goes, but the heaven-centric plots of the last several seasons have been among the weakest.
Watch a promo for the next episode
Note: This recap has been updated to correct some factual errors.