The Leviathans might be the greatest villains in the history of Supernatural. Sure, the Winchesters have faced Azazel and Lucifer himself, but these are some sneaky monsters who don’t play by the usual rules. Not only did they kill Castiel, but this week they seize power, infect anyone they want and prove to be indestructible. If that’s not enough, they also destroy the one place that has been around since season 1: Bobby’s house.
Rise of the Leviathans
Castiel’s vessel, now full of Leviathans, is coming apart, oozing a black goo, so he runs off to the local water supply, sinks to the bottom of a lake and explodes (creating an image identical to the title card of this season). The Leviathans all squiggle away and the boys are left to eulogized the empty trenchcoat of the 100 percent dead Cas.
The Leviathans can go through the water supply and take over anybody they want. A few take over a high school swim team and cause some serious damage. There seems to be a hierarchy among the Leviathans, and two top lieutenants take over the bodies of Edgar (a demolitions expert played by The Shield’s Benito Martinez) and a creepy little girl named Annie. They both talk about a “boss” who isn’t happy with the rampant destruction from the swim team.
Annie (who watches some Dr. Sexy on TV in a glorious callback) goes to a hospital and kills a surgeon, morphing into his body. Dr. Leviathan (who looks a little like Mark Harmon) decides to cut open a patient to eat her liver (no fava beans or a nice Chianti, however). Unfortunately for him, Sheriff Mills is at the hospital for an appendectomy and sees it. She calls up Bobby for an assist.
Edgar and Dr. Leviathan meet up with the swim boys, who then take over the bodies and lives of the hospital administrator and head nurse, because a hospital is a never-ending supply of food. Bobby runs into Dr. Leviathan and shoots him, but it does nothing. Worse, all of the Leviathans remember what Cas saw and knew, so they know all about Bobby Singer.
And that’s when things get bad. Bobby’s house has been burned to the ground by the Leviathans, and Edgar shows up to kill Sam and Dean because they are a threat. It’s a brutal smackdown that results in Sam being unconscious and Dean getting a broken leg, but they literally drop a car on Edgar to incapacitate him. That’s the good thing about having an indestructible ancient beast inhabiting a simple human body.
Things are so bad that Dean is forced to call 911 for help, and while the ambulance is taking the Winchester brothers to a hospital (not the one run by Leviathans), we see that Edgar is still alive. Great, so we can check silver buckshot and car off the list of potential ways to kill a Leviathan.
I Love Luci
Many TV shows have done a storyline where one character begins to doubt whether their world is real. Lost‘s Hurley did it in “Dave” and Buffy the Vampire Slayer did it in “Normal Again.” Supernatural‘s take is surprisingly refreshing. Sam is very open and honest about seeing Lucifer and questioning which world is real. Usually the character suffering this delusion keeps it to himself.
Sam gets turned around when “Dean” drives him to an abandoned warehouse and turns out to be Lucifer in disguise. Mark Pellegrino is better than he’s ever been as Lucifer, and I have to credit Ben Edlund’s superb writing. The real Dean arrives to give a big speech about how the brotherly bond is stronger and how the wound on Sam’s hand feels different, which can help him differentiate real pain from the fake pain of Lucifer. It works and brotherly love wins, but at the end of the episode, Lucifer is still around, even though Sam now knows he’s not real.
Obviously Sam isn’t still in the cage, but I’m starting to think Lucifer isn’t just a hallucination. Maybe a little piece of him traveled along on Sam’s soul and is really inside of him. Either way, the promise of Pellegrino sticking around almost makes up for he loss of Misha Collins.
Next week on Supernatural: It’s the episode directed by Jensen Ackles starring Firefly‘s Jewel Staite!
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
