6.10 Caged Heat Samuel has a change of heart and reveals to Sam and Dean where he has been taking the creatures he has captured, and where he believes Crowley can be found. Sam asks him to come with them but Samuel turns him down. Sam, Dean and Castiel meet with Meg to plan their attack, and whilst preparations are made, Castiel, seemingly unaware that Sam is eavesdropping, voices his concern to Dean that Sam’s soul would have been corrupted by Lucifer and would be unfit to put back into Sam. Castiel suddenly vanishes as a result of Samuel using a sigil. Sam and Dean realise that their grandfather has betrayed them. Crowley appears and the brothers are thrown into cells, but later escape. Meg, having defeated the Hell hounds, has been captured by the demon-possessed Christian Campbell and is being tortured by him when Dean kills him and frees her. I have to admit, I really did not see Crowley’s demise coming. I liked the idea of Crowley as the villain of the piece, and was intrigued by his Purgatory scheme. This, in addition to the fact that Mark Sheppard really seemed to relish the role, meant that I thought he was here for the duration of the season. It certainly now throws up some interesting questions. Who’s going to replace him? Firstly, as the King of Hell, and secondly, as the big bad in this season? Samuel Winchester’s betrayal is certainly going to have interesting repercussions. He is completely on his own now. A small part of me actually feels a bit sorry for him, as I can sympathise with his desperation. Now he has lost his ‘boss’ and has a very annoyed grandson out to get him. The idea of Sam’s soul is an interesting dilemma. Early in this season, it was made very clear that things weren’t right with Sam, and then it was discovered that he was missing his soul, leaving him emotionless and unable to sleep. In this episode, Sam’s lack of soul is seemingly a positive. When Meg first appears, he is able to see her desperation for what it is, and is able to ignore the prejudices that Dean shows to allow them to get the job done. So, like Sam, the audience is left questioning, especially considering the thought that it’s been Lucifer’s plaything all this time. I have had a thought. Just the one, and it hurt a bit. One of the core elements of Supernatural is its depiction of demons taking advantage of people in desperate situations, and offering deals to get out of those situations. A lot has been made, in this episode, of Castiel’s struggle in heaven and how things are going against him, and as Purgatory is between heaven and hell with a lot of untapped resources, and possibly recruits, a desperate angel may see no other alternative but to do a deal with a demon. Part of that deal may be faking said demon’s death. Read our review of episode 9, Clap Your Hands If You Believe, here. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.
