Recap of Supernatural
Season 11, Episode 3:
The Bad Seed
Writer: Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross-Leming
Director: Jensen Ackles
While Rowena tries to consolidate her power to protect herself from the Winchesters, Sam and Dean search for a missing baby connected to the Darkness. Meanwhile, Castiel struggles to heal and Crowley tries to find a way to use the Darkness for his own personal gain.
Body Count:
For this episode: 8 humans (4 of which were witches) and 4 demons.
For the series so far = At least 1172 humans (of which 13 were witches), 1119 angels, 180 demons, 69 vampires, 51 ghosts, 36 Jefferson Starships, 22 gods, 19 zombies, 12 werewolves, 10 hellhounds, 7 shapeshifters, 7 skinwalkers, 6 changelings, 5 djinn, 5 reapers, 4 dogs, 4 ghouls, 4 Leviathan, 3 Khan Worms, 2 Amazons, 2 arachnes, 2 kitsunes, 2 rugarus, 2 Thule, 2 vetalas, 1 cat, 1 crocotta, Death, 1 deer, 1 dragon, 1 fairy, 1 familiar, 1 lamia, the Mother of All, 1 okami, 1 phoenix, 1 pishtaco, 1 Purgatory creature, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 shojo, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, 1 Titan, 1 wendigo, 1 whore of Babylon, 1 wicked witch, and 1 wraith.
Tropes
- Above Good and Evil: Amara sees herself as beyond good and evil and finds the idea of it along with God's plan, the universe and humanity in general as ridiculous and sad. Crowley thinks she's naturally evil, being the darkness and all. She's almost horrified that he suggests she wants a world where everything is evil.
- The Alleged Car: The Winchesters refer to Castiel's 1978 Lincoln Continental as a "crappy" car, much to his dismay.
- Blank Stare: The looks on the other witches' faces when Rowena proposes they call themselves the "Mega Coven".
- Compressed Hair: Rowena hides her long curly hair under a blonde wig.
- Creepy Uncle: Crowley wants Amara to call him "Uncle Crowley".
- Enfant Terrible: Woe be to the King of Hell who tries to restrict the inflow of souls for Amara to snack on.
- Epic Fail: Somehow, despite following handwritten directions to the letter, Castiel's attempts to track his stolen car online leads him to a porn site.
- Good Needs Evil: Inverted by Amara of all people while discussing the nature of good and evil with Crowley. She asks him if he honestly thinks the universe would be better if everything in it was evil. Crowley admits that there'd be no challenge and that evil in fact needs good to corrupt in order for life to be worth living.
- In Their Own Image: Amara's plan for the universe, though she won't reveal the details of her plan even to Crowley. When asked, she replies with a demand to be fed more souls.
- Left for Dead: Rowena tries to convince the other witches that she personally killed Crowley the king of hell, just because she cursed Castiel to attack him and didn't even stay to make sure it was successful. The other witches incredulously inform her that Crowley is indeed still alive and making deals.
- Impairment Shot: When Castiel has a fit resembling a seizure from the spell he's under, the camera tilts and goes blurry. It also shows Sam's face out of focus and then sharpens up as he recovers.
- The Internet Is for Porn: Castiel is searching a police website and accidentally brings up a porn site by accident.
- The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: Little girl Amara gets encouragement from her grown-up counterpart in the mirror. She can view her adult fully-knowledgable self in the mirror who advises her and tells her that she will eventually grow up to be the same omniscient adult self in the reflection she's talking to.
- Motive Misidentification: Crowley suggests to Amara that he shares her vision of reshaping reality into a Villain World. She is genuinely shocked that he would want such a world to exist, and says that she sees any rules of good and/or evil as stupid, pointless and beneath her.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Meeting in a bar, an angel and a demon face off, threaten to fight...then just sit down and talk over a drink. Each notes how Heaven and Hell aren't doing anything about the coming Darkness, mull over how "guys like us are expendable" and that maybe it's time the "little guys" took more of a stand on things. They finish their drink together as each realizes they have common ground.
- Oh, Crap!: Rowena's reaction to hearing that Crowley is very much alive, because it also means he will be sending every demon on Earth to hunt her down.
- One-Track-Minded Hunger: Amara has a constant hunger for souls and cares about precious little else.
- Playing the Victim Card: Amara acts innocent and scared to influence Crowley to want to protect her from being sealed away again by God.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Castiel's eyes are a step beyond bloodshot when the attack dog spell takes over.
- Shout-Out: Rowena tries to recruit two witches in Cafe Elta, a reference to Danneel Ackles (Elta's her first name), courtesy of director and husband Jensen Ackles.
- Status Quo Is God: This episode marks the completion of the Winchesters dealing with the immediate fallout that came from the release of the Darkness. The infected people epidemic has been stopped, the brothers are back in the bunker and Castiel is cured. Crowley is still running hell, Rowena and Metatron are still both on the loose, but the world hasn't ended quite yet. Now there's Amara, the Big Bad of the season to deal with.
- Super Loser: Rowena is one. She's great with spells and raw magical talent, but she wields her powers like a kid who just found his dad's gun. She also tends to succeed despite being utterly hopeless and clueless, and she looks like a bad joke even to other witches.
- Tyke-Bomb: Amara is actually this, not even knowing her power or destiny yet. Castiel even refers to her as a bomb waiting to go off.
- Wig, Dress, Accent: When the Winchesters finally catch up to Rowena, she's wearing a blonde wig, dark sunglasses and a black overcoat. Dean is also disguised, posing as a taxi driver to take her to the airport. He's wearing equally dark sunglasses, a Hawaiian T-shirt and a hat. Of course Dean knew it was Rowena from the getgo and she recognises him immediately when he gets out of the taxi, which calls into question why either of them would bother with a disguise when anyone looking for them would probably see through it immediately.
