Supernatural 14x14 "Ouroboros"

As you may have noticed, I did not write up this review on Thursday night after the episode aired. I know this means it will get less hits and such, but I figure why put myself under a certain kind of pressure for a few hits. I don't love the show as much as I used to, I don't feel the urgency to watch it like I once did, so I'm going to watch and write these up by the weekend, but without a set date in mind. At least for now that is the plan. Part of this decision may stem from the fact that I was extra disappointed with the previous episode, but it's also been a long time coming.

Okay, on to this episode. Things are essentially back to normal, apart from Dean confessing to Castiel that he's not really sleeping with the effort to keep Michael at bay. But the four guys are all out on a hunt together, chasing down a dude that's killing other dudes and eating them. It turns out that said dude is a Gorgon, a la Medusa, who paralyzes his victims and uses snakes and such. Do we care about this Monster of the Week? Not really.

The important thing here is that he is able to see everyone but Castiel and Jack coming, seemingly because of their angel-ness and near-angel-ness. Which means that, with the help of Rowena's tracking spell, those two will be able to get close to this Gorgon before he spots them with his near-future visions, unlike the brothers Winchester. So, they track him down, fight a bit, Castiel gets hit with the paralyzing stuff, which works for some reason, the Gorgon tells some story about an egg that relates to Jack, basically insinuating he might be the real bad guy or some such. Blah blah, they kill him. But not before Dean gets hit on the head, which leads to the rest of the episode. Oh, and Jack uses his angel powers (the ones that will eventually drain him of his soul if he keeps doing it) to heal Castiel, who of course doesn't want him to keep doing that, etc.

They head back to the bunker, and they are unsure what to do about Dean, who is still unconscious. Because that might mean Michael can get out, right? Right. He manages to sort of escape, at least in the way that he can talk to Rowena in her mind, and get her to agree to let him in, which... whatever. Over people flip flopping between good and evil, honestly. She lets him in, kills a bunch of people in the bunker, including that Maggie girl who's been hanging around and not doing much.

But then Jack steps in. He's not having it, no sir. Despite Michael acting all cocky like Jack can't do anything to him, he uses his powers to weaken Michael, and then forces him out of Rowena. He does some stuff to his essence, and then consumes the grace that remains. Jack says he's back to himself, but I guess that's now the question for the rest of the season - is he really?

Random Thoughts:

- I mean, hopefully this is the end of the Michael storyline. It was getting stale and repetitive, for sure.

- Lately I keep thinking what shows that are forced to be over 20 episodes a season might have been if they could have been more like 10-12 instead. Man, so much unnecessary filler would be cut. I know some people like to have a show on for a while so they have something to watch every week that they like, but I'd rather it be good the whole time, you know?

Quotes:

Rowena: You, always blaming witches.
Dean: 'Cause a lot of times it's witches.

Dean: This is like an A/V club presentation.
Jack: What's an A/V club?
Castiel: It's a special group for people who do not play sports.
Dean: Yeah, he's A/V club.

Dean: I'm on a first name basis with a psycho penpal. That's...aces.

Rowena: Of course, Samuel. Until very recently, I was the villain.

Jack: I'm the son of Lucifer, I'm a hunter, and I'm a Winchester.

Previous Episode

Book Review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Published: February 24, 2015

Genre: Fantasy

Hardcover Pages: 400

Synopsis: Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

Thoughts: One thing I've been discovering since starting these book reviews is that, while I had previously thought I was an equal fan of science fiction and fantasy, it turns out I think I'm actually drawn to fantasy more. I think that tends to be because science fiction can focus on a lot of mechanical and technical things being different or advanced, and apparently I don't find that as interesting.

And now that we've gone on that tangent, let's talk about the book I'm actually reviewing! A Darker Shade of Magic does fall into the fantasy category, and on the surface, I should really like it. It has magic, and adventure, and parallel worlds. How the worlds vary is well done and the lore of the series is pretty cool in general. The story moves at a quick pace pretty much from the get go, which I always appreciate, and does a good job of mixing in the history along with the current happenings.

That said, I didn't love it. There is something a bit stark, something that doesn't quite make me feel much toward the characters. I think part of that lies in the fact that we don't really see Kell very much with his adopted family. While of course it's interesting how he smuggles things between worlds, for me to care about him, I need to know how he feels about everything. The fact that they call him their son, yet he's not. That he loves Rhy like a brother, etc. I mean, that becomes a rather important point later in the book, yet so little time is spent on their relationship in the beginning, it was hard to care very much when certain events went down.

Lila as well I wanted to like more than I actually did. She's meant to be a somewhat unlikable female lead, which I applaud because oftentimes that can be difficult to execute and difficult to get people to sign on to in the first place. My issue with her isn't that she's unlikable on the surface, it's that she's not that likable under that surface. We know next to nothing about, again, how she feels about everything. What makes her actually care about others, why she doesn't care about them (at least outwardly). She's a badass, sure, but I wanted a little chink in the armor, something that showed she was still human.

I debated whether to give it three or four stars, so I had to settle on 3.5. There's a lot of potential here, and I think I might continue on in the series just to find out more about where Kell and Lila came from, because that's a mystery I'm actually interested in, even though some of the mysteries I'm pretty sure I already have figured out.

If any of you have read it, let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Rating: 3.5/5

Buy on Amazon

What I'm Reading Next: Mirage by Somaiya Daud