Supernatural 12x01 "Keep Calm and Carry On"

Well, kids, we're back, back again. Much like a long lost Winchester née Campbell, miss Mary. That's right, in case you forgot what happened at the end of last season, Amara decided to give Dean what he's always wanted. Or, some part of it. If she were really for real she would've brought back both of the Winchester parents, but beggars can't be choosers.

Yep. Mary's back, straight from the moment she died burning on that ceiling. Dean manages to convince her of what's happened after laying down some facts about her life and whatnot. But they only have a short time to reminisce, or whatever it is you do in such an awkward position, before they head back to the bunker and realize both Sam and Castiel are missing.

Castiel is alright, he may have gotten blasted away, presumably back up to Heaven or something, but he plummets back down to Earth and makes his way back to the bunker to tell Dean and Mary that some woman was there in the bunker and, presumably, took Sam after blasting him away.

Yep, woman in question is Toni from the UK Men of Letters chapter, who wants to track down all of the US hunters and basically indoctrinate them in how they do things across the pond. Mainly, they track down monsters before they kill anyone, and kill them first. Fairly soundproof plan, although as we've learned through the years, not all monsters are really bad. Nonetheless, after getting a local veterinarian to stitch up Sam's bullet-wounded leg, they take him to some basement to attempt to torture him into telling them what he knows. But, as Sam says, he's been tortured by Lucifer himself, so good luck with that, ladies. Oh yes, Toni has an assistant with her who incidentally I liked better than Toni in these scenes, so you know she's not long for this world.

The new trio of Dean, Castiel and Mary team up to try to figure out where Sam could be by hacking some cameras and eventually finding that veterinarian from earlier, who happens to have Toni's phone number. Dean gives her the ole "give me back my brother, you bitch" speech that he loves to do, and she genuinely does look scared, so she sends her lady minion out to track them down first.

And boy does she, ramming straight into the poor Impala's back side, then proceeding to kick both Dean and Castiel's asses with some fancy brass knuckles, only to be impaled by Mary, because yaaasss mama Winchester should kick some butt, am I right? Of course, she never wanted this hunter life, but what can ya do?

Meanwhile, Toni is torturing Sam with some kind of toxin stuff that makes him see all of the bad things that have happened. He appears to start to lose it, and take a mirror shard to his own neck. But if I know Sam, I know it's a trick. But does Toni know Sam? No. She goes down there, and Sam nearly is able to overpower her and get away. He definitely would have if not for the burnt foot and the bullet hole in his leg. Poor Sammy. But he is not to be rescued in this hour, instead he gets to sit there and be lonely and hurting while Dean and Mary (and Cas) look for him some more.

What's going on with the demons, you wonder? Who the heck are you, wondering such things? Who the F cares anymore? But whatever, Crowley cares. He's been tracking Lucifer, who was not killed by Amara, but instead has been burning through vessels at an alarming rate as he is weak and whatnot. Crowley kills a couple demon minions, yada yada.

And that's about all she wrote for this season premiere. What did you think? Are you looking forward to this season?

Random Thoughts:

- I'm usually against Supernatural bringing people back from the dead, but I admit I am intrigued by Mary being around now. I think it works mostly because she wasn't in the show very much before, so it's not like beating a dead horse or something a la bringing back Bobby.

- I don't really see why Toni felt the need to torture Sam rather than try to work together to get the information. If she had shown up in a more helpful guise, they probably would've just told her everything she wanted to know. But whatever, that is less dramatic, I guess.

- One thing that is interesting about this season is that it's not clear if there is necessarily a "big bad" like in past seasons. To be honest, I kind of like that. For awhile now things have been way too apocalyptic, so hopefully they don't try to introduce another huge big bad again.

Quotes:

Mary: Dean.
Dean: Hi, Mom.

Mary: Is that a computer?
Castiel: Yes. I don't trust them.

Crowley: Well, like they say...duh.

Veterinarian: Student loans are a bitch, okay?

Dean: Saving people. Hunting things. This is our life. I think we make the world a better place. I know that we do.

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