Supernatural 12x19 "The Future"

Well, we're in to the home stretch here on season 12. Things are starting to come to a head with the Lucifer baby mama storyline in this week's episode. Sort of. I have to wonder if they're going to make the two main storylines of the season come together in some way - this one and the BMOL one. They've sort of crossed paths before, so it only seems natural.

Anywho, what happened in this week's episode? Why, the return of everyone's favorite angel in a trench coat, Castiel! Yep, Cas has returned from Heaven to supposedly come clean to the boys about what he's been doing. Though we soon find out his admissions of guilt and trying to find help in Heaven are really just a semi-ruse to get the colt and head off to find Kelly on his own. Or, rather, with another angel dude from before. They've tracked down Dagon and Kelly at their rundown house, wherein Kelly lost all hope and tried to off herself, but was resurrected by her unborn nephilim child, and now has faith that he will be good, yada yada.

Cas and his angel buddy get into fisticuffs with Dagon, but she beats them pretty easily. However, Cas is able to get away with Kelly and the colt, so that's something. His plan initially was to kill Kelly right there, but wavered once he saw her. So now his plan is to take Kelly and the baby up to Heaven, which really means they'll die, but at least they won't start another apocalypse or whatever.

Meanwhile, Sam has been postulating about other ways they could save Kelly without her having to die, and believes they could do some kind of grace extraction wherein the kid would become just human. They track down Cas and Kelly to tell them about this plan, but because Kelly had a vision earlier when Castiel put his hand on her belly, she's all no way and drives off with Cas in the impala to the sandbox entrance to Heaven.

Of course, Dagon shows up because they can get into said sandbox, and more fighting ensues. Dean and Sam show up just before Dagon is going to kill Cas and try to kill her with the Colt, but she manages to get it away from them and immediately melts it down. Well, that was a short resurrection for that old friend. But you know that they're not going to kill Cas right now, so Kelly grabs his hand and her baby infuses him with mysterious powers that make his eyes glow a kind of goldish color, and he smites Dagon into fire right there.

The Winchesters try to convince him to stick around and, I don't know, discuss options or whatever, but he's now had the kool aid and believes the child should be born with all of its powers intact. Because it showed him the future or something. Always a good sign.

Random Thoughts:

- Can I just ask what was the point of bringing Mary back if she's not really utilized? I guess if she were utilized more, then they'd probably end up killing her off or something, but still. For this person who kind of kickstarted the whole show to come back to not have more of a role is just odd to me.

- Can this baby really not be evil? What could it have shown Castiel in the future? Does it ever show lies? Who knows.

- So much man drama.

Quotes:

Sam: Where have you been?
Dean: Let me rephrase that for Sam, where the hell have you been?

Sam: Of course. I am an idiot.
Dean: Well there's no argument there.

Castiel: This is my voicemail. Make your voice...a mail.

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Blueberry Coffee Cake

You know when it's a weeknight, but you want something quick and easy and delicious for dessert? Yeah, that's what box mixes were made for, I'm sure, but this blueberry coffee cake is almost as easy as a box mix. 

Okay, let's be real, nothing is as easy a box mix, which involves dumping a box into a bowl, adding some oil and eggs, and sticking it in the oven. But still, this is easy. And you know what?

It's dang delicious.

Can I be honest? This coffee cake was so much better than I was expecting it to be. You take a bite, and at first you're like okay this is coffee cake, I get it. But then you realize, dang, this is actually really good coffee cake. It's dense but not goopy, with just the right amount of blueberries and crumb topping.

The original recipe called for 1 cup blueberries and 1 cup chopped nuts, but I was like nope, 2 cups blueberries and no nuts, please! I think the nuts would actually make the cake a bit drier than with all of the blueberries, which were frozen. That also adds some more water content, so I can't speak to how it turns out with fresh blueberries...yet. I'm not sure when I'd try with fresh as I tend to have frozen ones on hand a lot more, but if any of you try it, you'll have to let me know!

I bet this would also be nice with blackberries, marionberries, or boysenberries as well. Okay apparently all of those are just a version of the blackberry. Who knew! But yeah I would say raspberries might work, but strawberries probably not, as they are just too watery in comparison. A mix of blueberries, raspberries and some type of blackberry might also be nice. This is actually similar to my Summer Berry Bundt Cake, but easier and perfect for a weeknight.

Pretty sure you won't regret making this one.

Blueberry Coffee Cake
Author: Jen @ Fresh From The…
Servings: 9 Pieces
Prep time: 00:15
Cook time: 00:40

Total time: 00:55

A lovely coffee cake appropriate for breakfast or dessert, chock full of blueberries.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
For the Streusel Topping:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cold unsalted butter

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Set that aside while you beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy.
3. Add in the egg and milk and beat until mixed well. Stir in the dry ingredients. Fold in the blueberries. Spread into a 9 inch square pan (you can spray it if it usually gets sticky for you, but I never do).
4. For the topping, combine the sugar and flour together, then cut in the butter until it's nice and crumbly. Lay that over the top of the mixture.
5. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes. Your time will vary based on whether you used fresh or frozen blueberries (the frozen will take a bit longer). Cool on a wire rack.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

Supernatural 12x18 "The Memory Remains"

After too much of a focus on the BMOL last week, this week it's back to a case of the week monster with the brothers Winchester. Well, with a little BMOL splashed in too, but this time just the right amount. With Ketch's new orders to take out all of the American hunters, he sends Sam and Dean off on a case so he and some lackeys can study the bunker and learn all they can about the Winchesters. You know, like steal a photo of young Dean with Mary. And leave a bug. That sort of stuff.

Meanwhile, the brothers head off to investigate the disappearance of a kid in Wisconsin, who was taken by some goat dude. They find out that another kid thinks it was Black Bill, which is an urban legend I've only tangentially heard of myself, but apparently is a thing. As is the show's wont, before the next commercial break, the kid who saw the goat dude is the next one to be taken! Dun dun dun.

The case of the week is actually fairly simple for them to figure out. All of the disappearances lead back to the local meat factory, which just happens to be owned by the local sheriff, whose family has been sort of the it family of the town for generations. He's been selling off pieces of his inheritance for awhile, but they know something fishy must be up, so they head to the family estate.

What do they find there? Just a murder dungeon, you know, no big thing. The sheriff shows up then as well, and tells them the scoop - his family has trapped this goat god called Malek for a long time, feeding him human blood. They wear a goat mask thing to take the people, hence the Black Bill references. But, when his dad died, he decided it was time to set things right. He locked up Malek and hoped he would starve to death.

Only, what's this? Malek isn't in his hidey hole dungeon cave? Nope! Who could have let him out? Well, it's whoever is now in the house upstairs. Dean goes to investigate while the others get trapped downstairs, so of course Dean gets taken by a dude in a goat suit. But wait, who could it be? I thought all of the sheriff's family was gone?

Turns out, the guy who runs the factory is his half-brother and unleashed Malek to try to reclaim what he deemed rightfully his, yada yada. Sam and the sheriff make it back just in time before Malek is able to start feasting on Dean, and Sam kills him with the trusty colt. Because, as Dean puts it, work smarter not harder.

They head back to the now-bugged bunker to have their brotherly end of episode chat there instead of in the car. You know, so Ketch can listen in. Dean is concerned they might not leave a legacy, but Sam says their legacy is the people they've saved, that they're leaving the world better than when they started. And then they carve their initials into the table because they're saps like that.

Random Thoughts:

- In all seriousness, this was a pretty good episode. I kid because I love. Or something.

- But for real, I'm tired of the main storyline. I guess this BMOL side storyline isn't so bad, but I could give two hoots about the whole impending demon child.

- There were a lot of fun quotes this episode, I think I got most of them, but I know I missed a couple.

- It seems like Ketch has for realsies feelings about Mary, so it definitely doesn't seem like he's going to actually go through with killing them all. But we'll see, I guess. Hopefully it doesn't mean Mary ends up accidentally killed saving her boys by him or something.

Quotes:

Sam: I spent all night going through all our books on demons. And it turns out, we have a lot of books on demons.

Dean: We got a dude with a goat head with a name like a pirate.

Dean: Work smarter, Sammy, not harder.

Sam: Oh don't do the hot coffee thing.
Dean: Boy this coffee is HOT.

Dean: Oh come on this guy's adorable, he plays a frickin' flute.

Dean: Hello? Goat dude?

Dean: Why is it always the rich ones? Why are they like, croquet's all right, but you know what would be great? Murder.

Dean: So now we're reporting to low rent Christian Bale, seriously?

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Supernatural 12x17 "The British Invasion"

As seems to be the case with many of the past seasons, I seem to enjoy the more one-off episodes than the ones dealing with the overall arc of the season. So, you can kind of guess that this one wasn't necessarily one of my favorites. The thing is, where in the first five seasons most episodes were fairly memorable, now they've all become kind of a jumble of not-so-memorable, where I don't remember what happens in which episode.

Anyway. What did happen in this episode, then? Well, we return to the overall storyline of the impending birth of Lucifer's baby via Kelly Kline, who is being protected by Dagon, one of the big demons. Turns out, Eileen, who we met some episodes ago, has had some luck tracking her down. She visited a clinic recently to get a check up on the baby, blah blah blah. Honestly I was only half paying attention to the logistics behind all of this. Basically, Eileen gets her phone number and Sam uses an accent to trick her into going back to the clinic, where Dean nabs her.

The real story in this episode revolves around the BMOL. Turns out, the head office in London isn't satisfied with the progress in recruiting the American hunters. They want them to follow orders now. Mick himself is having a tough time sticking to the code of the MOL at this juncture, particularly since it's all bringing up memories about how he was forced to kill his best friend as a child because of said code. The headmistress lady sends a goon over to watch Mick, who joins him, the Winchesters, and Eileen in trying to talk sense into Kelly about her Nephilim child. Of course, Dagon shows up to ruin the party, and Eileen accidentally kills the BMOL lacky while trying to shoot Dagon with the colt. Apparently the code states that if a BMOL is killed, whoever did it must then be killed in retribution? What kind of weird ass code is this, anyway?

The brothers talk him out of it, but he still reports all of it to the home office, the dummy. That gets him a visit from the headmistress and Ketch, wherein he stands up for himself, and promptly gets a bullet in the head from Ketch for his troubles. Just when he was starting to get endearing. Basically, the headmistress, Dr. Hess I think, wants him to put an end to the hunters. All of them. Which would include...

Mary. Who has been working with Ketch all this time, and apparently decided to get some hanky panky time with him too. He claimed that there was no emotional connection between them when she said it didn't mean anything, but methinks he will come around to the side of the Winchesters as well by the end of it all. I could be wrong, but...

Meanwhile, back in Crowley's lair, he thinks he's got Lucifer all cowed and ready to obey his orders. Lucifer plays along, but hints to the followers that he's just putting it all on for show. One such follower comes to his aid, but confirms that whatever wards are on his vessel are still holding strong, and he doesn't know how to get rid of them since Crowley killed the demon who created them. Is Rowena going to come back into play here somehow? Would not be surprised.

Random Thoughts:

- Oh look, they decided to start showing previews again at the end of the episode, rather than just touting Riverdale. It got cut off near the end, but it looks like more of a standalone episode, so perhaps I will enjoy it more.

- There were multiple mentions in this episode that Cas has been MIA for some time now. What has he been up to? Will we be getting a Cas-centric episode soon? Seems likely.

- Do we think this child will actually be born, or will they stop the birth somehow? Maybe Kelly will come to her senses now that Dagon has told her that all of the mothers die when birthing Nephilim.

- I feel like they don't quite know what to do with Mary anymore. She was just in a random few scenes this week. I find it more interesting when she's interacting with the boys, which has been very little of late.

Quotes:

Dean: Well that's cute.
Sam: Come on.

Sam: Wow, you look like crap.
Dean: Yeah, you look crappier.

Ketch: So you want to have it all.
Mary: Trying to.
Ketch: Good for you.

Dean: Welcome back, sweetheart.

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