Recap of Supernatural
Season 13, Episode 12:
Various And Saundry Villains
Written By: Steve Yockey
Directed By: Amanda Tapping
Air date: February 1, 2018
The Witch is Back! Dean falls victim to a couple of witches, sisters Jamie (guest star Jordan Clair Robbins) and Jennie Plum (guest star Elise Gatien), who manage to steal a powerful book of spells from the Winchester brothers. When Sam and Dean go after the book, they get help from a powerful and surprising ally when Rowena (guest star Ruth Connell), back from the dead, intervenes to assist them.
Tropes
- Aesop Amnesia: Invoked and averted. Lucifer is trying to convince Castiel to let him drain some of Cas' grace so he can be at full power. Castiel reminds Lucifer that he allowed Lucifer to possess his vessel not even a year ago in order to fight The Darkness and Lucifer immediately betrayed him and locked him inside his own vessel while trying to kill Cas' friends.Castiel (stabbing Lucifer with an angel blade): This is me learning from my mistakes.
- Antagonist in Mourning: Rowena is genuinely saddened to find out that Crowley is dead despite trying to have him killed on multiple occasions.
- Back from the Dead: Rowena shows up just in time to save the boys from each other. Turns out she used magic to resurrect herself after being murdered by the Devil.
- Bash Brothers: Although it's easy to forget, Castiel and Lucifer are siblings and they work together to murder the demons holding them captive and escape from Hell.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Jamie and Jennie use the love spell and over-the-top flirtatious behavior to fool their targets into thinking they're helpless damsels in distress who are genuinely attracted to the guy who's come to save them. That is, until they get what they want, and then they murder the poor sap.
- Commonality Connection: Sam and Rowena bond over the trauma they suffered from Lucifer's hands.
- Cool Car: Invoked by Jennie who is irritated when Dean returns on foot, rendering them unable to steal his car.Jennie: Where's the car? I really wanted the car.
- Crush Filter: While Jamie and Jennie are already attractive, their crushes see them through this lens, making them literally irresistible.
- Discontinuity Nod: When Sam is trying to explain the concept of love spells, he asks Dean if he remembers Becky Rosen. Dean denies having any knowledge or memory of Becky or the surrounding events. Given the reaction of the fandom, he's not the only one to take this stance.
- Does He Have a Brother?: Invoked by Dean when he's trying to explain that he's in love with Jamie and that Sam doesn't have to be jealous of their love.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Rowena's crippling fear of Lucifer and need to protect herself from him at all costs is very similar (and directly compared) to someone trying to put an abusive relationship behind them.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Stunt demon one can't see a downside to taunting Castiel, a fully powered angel, and Lucifer, the devil himself, just because they're in warded cages. This ends with Lucifer stabbing him in the neck and Castiel burning the demon out of his host.
- Evil Counterpart: Jamie and Jennie are two sisters raised in the world of the supernatural by their mother. They are suspiciously close and willing to do anything for family, up to and including trading souls to resurrect dead family members. The comparison between them and the Winchesters is so glaring that if they weren't so indiscriminately murderous, they would come across as the heroes of another story.
- Foreshadowing: Lucifer admits that he didn't teach Asmodeus how to shapeshift. The next episode gives a giant clue as to how he learned to do so.
- Grew a Spine: It might be because Lucifer is depowered, but Castiel does not hesitate to insult his big brother and tell him exactly what he thinks of Lucifer.
- Hulking Out: Getting extremely angry is what allows Lucifer to tap into his residual grace and powers.
- I Miss Mom: Invoked by Jennie and Jamie when they're trying to figure out how to cast spells from the Grimoire.
- Internal Reveal: Sam and Dean have to inform Rowena that Crowley is dead. It's news to Rowena, but the audience and most of the characters have known about it since last season.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: Castiel delights in detailing all the ways Jack is a good person and nothing like his father, Lucifer.
- Love Potion: Jennie and Jamie use a love spell to control and manipulate their male victims.
- MacGuffin Delivery Service: Dean is tricked into retrieving the Dark Grimoire from the Bunker and delivering it to Jamie and Jennie. He even goes as far as to knock out Sam who tries to stop him.
- Men Are the Expendable Gender: Jamie and Jennie's attitude towards their male victims.
- Necromancer/The Dark Arts: Jamie and Jennie are trying to resurrect their mother. It partially works but they end up with a magic-immune zombie on their hands.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The Winchesters fight a zombie who was also a witch in life. Dean, who loves combo monsters, does not have time to give the monster a Portmanteau and Jack is not there to appreciate that they finally got to fight a zombie.
- No-Sell: When Rowena tries to dispatch the zombie with a magic spell, it keeps advancing instead of flying across the room, the normal effect of the incantation.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The love spell doesn't seem to include any compulsion to hide the effects, as Dean is very obviously not himself. Sam picks up on it immediately.
- Pair the Spares: Dean suggests that Jennie and Sam could hook up. He thinks the "less attractive younger siblings" would be "cute."
- Pre-emptive Declaration: Jeannie tells Dale that the third rule their mother gave them was to make killings look natural so you don't attract attention from hunters. Dale looks confused by this. That's when Jeannie takes a sledgehammer to his knees, then his head.
- Sexophone: Porny saxophone music plays every time we view Jamie and Jennie through the eyes of a love-spell-affected victim.
- Sibling Team: This episode features three sets of siblings who are working to achieve a goal.
- Sam and Dean: Sam starts out trying to break the love spell that's been cast on Dean. Then they work together to retrieve the Grimoire Dean accidentally gave away.
- Jennie and Jamie: They're using their spellcasting abilities to track down the Grimoire which they plan to use to bring their mother back to life.
- Castiel and Lucifer: Generally, they are at odds with Lucifer being, you know, Satan and all, but this episode they have to work together to escape from Hell.
- Tap on the Head: The ensorcelled Dean knocks Sam out cold with a single punch to the face.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Rowena uses magic to make Jamie and Jennie fight each other to the death.
- True Love's Kiss: Invoked by Jennie to get Dean to kiss Jamie.
- Unusual Euphemism: When Rowena asks if Jamie and Jennie got to fifth base with Dean, it comes across as a Scottish person not understanding the rules of American baseball. In reality, fifth base refers to a sexual act that earned Deadpool (2016) an R-rating and Rowena knows exactly what she's saying.Rowena: Did they get to fifth base?Dean: There's no such thing as fifth base.Rowena: Oh, you poor, sheltered boy...
- Who's Laughing Now?: Stunt Demon Number 1 takes the time to insult both Castiel and Lucifer every time he comes to check on them, literally laughing as Lucifer burns himself on the warding cage, and insulting Lucifer's... endowment. He was oddly sure that that the warding in Hell would be enough to hold an angel and the Devil himself...
- Would Hit a Girl: Sam and Dean discuss the fact that they often have to fight women. Because of the supernatural nature of their job, they often get beat up by said women and can't afford to assume that women are weaker or should be treated with kid gloves.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: How Jamie and Jennie get potential targets to come close enough to be slipped the love spell MacGuffin.
- Yandere: Jamie and Jennie use spells that make men willing to do anything, including hurting and killing their family and friends, to get whatever they need.
