Supernatural - "Patience" - Season 13 Episode 3 Recap and Review

By Kaylynn Kasandra

So I suppose you could say this episode was a nice fluffy bit to fill out the season. There was murder yes, but not too much to add to the season’s main plot. We saw a few familiar faces, one being a semi-regular, Jodi. Jodi joins in when Sam decides he doesn’t want to help out with the case brought to them by old friend, Missouri. It’s clear there is still a lot of tension between the brothers over Sam’s affections towards Jack. With Sam choosing Jack over Jodi in Dean’s eyes, it didn’t seem like it would be easing anytime soon either.

Source: The CW

Dean makes his way to Jodi’s side to help with a Wrath case. Missouri’s protégé had been targeted just for being psychic and the Wrath didn’t want to stop with her. Missouri gets a vision that her son and granddaughter were also going to be targeted and she begs Dean to go to them and save them. That wasn't the only vision she had… she knew the Wrath was coming for her and she bravely took her fate.

Meanwhile Sam was trying to work with Jack on controlling his powers. Unfortunately for Sam he wasn’t aware of the threats Dean had made against Jack previously. And Jack was obviously dwelling on it even after seeing the footage his mom left for him. Sam and Jack seem to have more and more in common the more we see Jack. Jack is just as emotionally impulsive and obscenely sensitive as Sam has been in the past. And given his powers, I have to say I am still with Dean with thinking this is a dangerous combination. Even Jack isn’t sure if he is evil, but I must say knowing he has a connection to wherever Castiel is is a good thing in my book. I am just happy my favorite angel isn’t dead regardless of the Game of Thrones style fire they made with his body a few episodes back. And honestly, this was the highlight of this episode for me.

Source: The CW

I didn’t really feel like the whole psychic brain eating Wrath thing was too exciting. I’m not sure if it was the actor who played the Wrath who I didn’t connect to or if it was idea as a whole. I did however think it was nice to see Jodi reach out to Patience after they had killed the Wrath. She has a soft spot for teen girls in need. And Patience not being able to allow her psychic skills to develop under her father’s rule draws Jodi to help.

Speaking of help, we see Sam being called out by Dean for his real motivations behind helping Jack. Dean seems to think he only wants to help Jack for what he can do for them. And for his hope of being an “interdimensional can opener” of sorts. Dean expresses his anger over the loss of Castiel once again, which was the catalyst for Jack finally reaching out to him. But it may have come a little too late, given Jack once again hears Dean express his disdain towards him.

I’m just hoping Dean doesn’t make Jack into the monster he fears him to be. I mean shoot, he’s an over emotional Nephilim! The last thing that needs to happen is for him to be in a constant state of anger or self-hatred. I guess we will have to just continue to see how this all plays out.

Star Trek Discovery - "Lethe" - Season 1 Episode 6 Recap and Review

By Jarman Day-Bohn

Source: CBS

For those Trekkies out there that were worried about the format of Star Trek Discovery (among their many other worries), in that whether it would be serialized or procedural, I think that this week’s episode, Lethe, showed us that it will be a good mix of both. The story arc of the show is still present throughout, but this episode deals mainly with Michael Burnham’s past and her relationship with Sarek. I honestly believe that this is the first episode of Discovery where the crew has really come together and it is starting to feel like previous incarnations of Trek. When you boil it down, it’s your typical episode of: distress call, let’s go save them, oooo it’s in a dangerous nebula… Like so many of our favorite Trek episodes in the past!

Before we delve into the episode properly, I must first state that when I started streaming the show, everyone’s voice was severely lowered, like through a comedic audio effect. I knew I wasn’t crazy when Michael Burnham came on the screen and sounded like Leonard Nimoy! I restarted the CBS All Access app and it luckily went back to normal. So, ok, no big deal, right? Just a strange little hiccup. Then the real trouble began… Every couple of minutes, the stream would jump ahead 4-5 seconds, skipping over scenes and dialog. I had to rewind every time to see what I missed. Now yes, of course, this could be some fault of my otherwise perfectly working Amazon Fire Stick and super-fast internet, but needless to say, I was a little frustrated that the streaming service I’m paying for JUST to watch ONE show, was having streaming issues… Okay; first-world-problems-rant over. The next section is my lovely recap, but feel free to skip to the review section if you remember how everything went down perfectly.

Recap

Source: CBS

The episode starts off with what I think is a cool side story about Vulcan culture and the splinter group of radical logicists, who hate Vulcans associating with anyone other than Vulcans. (I think we can all see the parallels to that and real life right now…) We have Sarek travelling to speak to 2 Klingon houses in an attempt to end the violence, and one of the splinter group Vulcans on board his little ship tries to blow him up. Sarek manages to barely escape death, but is gravely injured. The Katra connection he shares with Michael immediately affects her, light years away from where he is. Michael knows Sarek is in trouble and begs Captain Lorca (against Starfleet orders) to rescue him. With Stamets’ help, they think they can use a neural link device to amplify Michael’s Katra link to Sarek to push him into activating his ship’s distress beacon. (Star Trek technobabble at its finest!)

 

Source: CBS

Michael jumps on a shuttle with Tilly and Ash Tyler, jumps into the nebula and dives into the neural link machine. She enters Sarek’s mind and finds herself in his memories, at the time of her graduation from the Vulcan academy. She finds out, with Ash Tyler’s help and encouragement, that she is in the memory of one of Sarek’s greatest regrets. Apparently Sarek was told that only one of his not-quite-Vulcan children (Spock and Michael) would be able to join the Vulcan Expeditionary Group, and without Michael knowing, he chose Spock over her. He regrets it because after choosing Spock, Spock rebels and joins Starfleet anyway, so he should have chosen Michael. Breaking through and confronting Sarek in this memory allows him to waken just long enough to activate his distress beacon and he is taken back aboard the Discovery and saved.

 

Source: CBS

Meanwhile throughout all this, Captain Lorca is on board the Discovery getting hot and heavy with Admiral Cornwell. It turns out, she was using her psychological expertise to test him out the whole time, due to his recent erratic behavior and refusal to follow Starfleet orders over and over again. When she touches one of the odd scars on his back while he’s sleeping (post-coitus), he jumps awake, grabs a phaser from under his pillow and grabs her by the throat, throttling her. She tells him he is unfit to command, and after she returns from the Klingon diplomatic talks that Sarek was going to attend, she will find him a replacement and get him psychological treatment. Of course, this doesn’t go well and she is kidnapped by the Klingons by the order of Kol. Suddenly, Lorca is struck with the glowing ethics and bureaucracy of Starfleet, (SARCASM) and decides to actually go through the proper channels before rescuing her.

 

Review

Like I mentioned at the beginning, I think this episode is the start of many more in the series that will feel more like old Trek, with a more problem-of-the-week feel, but with an ongoing story arc, similar to Deep Space Nine. For all the Trekkies out there that are Discovery haters, try to stay with it! You may be surprised by how you feel about the show by the end of this season. And besides…it’s not going anywhere. CBS just renewed Discovery for a second season! Huzzah!

Source: CBS

I really enjoyed how every character really played their part in this episode, from the engineer, to the doctor, to Lt. Saru and Michael, Tilly, Lorca and Ash Tyler! Speaking of Ash Tyler (possible future episode SPOILERS ahead) – The going theory out there is that he is actual Voq, but genetically altered and undercover on Discovery. I won’t go into the specifics of the theory, but it’s pretty much all but confirmed. I love this idea, because if you watch this episode with that in mind, it would seem as though Tyler/Voq is seeing humans and other races in a new light, and Michael is key in all this. Possibly he will be key in actually realizing peace between the Federation and the Klingons, being able to show the Klingons that the Federation is actually full of races worthy of partnership. This goes along with my theory that this whole show will be the bridge to the Federation truly becoming the peace-loving and super-progressive organization that they are by the time we reach the original series. If you watch this show under that lens, I think the whole show really comes together.

Source: CBS

I will mention briefly that Lorca and Tyler are seen toward the beginning of the episode in a holodeck type room, running a training simulation fighting Klingons. While canonistas out there might think this goes against Trek canon, and that there shouldn't be anything like that yet on a Starfleet vessel, I will point you to this section of the "Holodeck" Memory Alpha wiki page: 

Prior to the late 24th century, Federation starships were not equipped with holodecks. (VOY: "Flashback")
However, in 2151, the Starfleet vessel Enterprise NX-01 encountered a vessel belonging to an alien race known as Xyrillians, who had advanced holographic technology in the form of a holographic chamber similar to the holodeck, which Federation Starfleet developed two centuries later. A holo-chamber was later installed aboard a Klingon battle cruiser,
In the 23rd century, Constitution-class starships were equipped with a recreation room, which employed holographic technology. The USS Enterprise had a recreation room located in Area 39 of the ship. (TAS: "The Practical Joker")

Also…Lorca is from the Mirror Universe. I’m just putting it out there!

Supernatural - "The Rising Son" - Season 13 Episode 2 Recap and Review

By Kaylynn Kasandra

 So it looks like Drexel will have to continue to wait for Lucifer’s return to Hell. And I have to lay it to the kid, he has been pretty optimistic for as many times as he has been choked and put in his place. And it seems as though Asmodeus, one of the Knights of Hell, can be added to list of people who have done so. It seems the word has been spread of Jack’s arrival and it’s not just the demons and Angels who have been tracking him down.

Source: The CW

 Donatello makes his return as it seems that even if his connection to God may be cut off, he can’t help but feel and be pulled to the energy Jack gives off. And it couldn’t have come at a better time. Dean still isn’t sold on thinking Jack isn’t evil, and being the literal spawn of Satan, can you blame him? But, Donatello seems to agree Sam, and doesn’t read Jack as being evil or toxic like his father. Given Sam’s history of being overly sympathetic to dark and evil things it’s hard to trust his judgment, even with Donatello co-signing. After seeing Jack’s failed attempt at getting warding sigil tattoos and the accidental harm he inflicted to the artist in the process, I understand Dean standing firm in his belief too.

Dean is still stuck brooding over the loss of Castiel and Mary which isn’t helping with his disdain toward Jack. And even Sam tried to give him a reality check in regards to dwelling on the bad things. But as always, their personal feelings, inner drama, and arguments between them seem to throw things off track once again.

Source: The CW

They were so distracted that Asmodeus slipped right in under the guise of Donatello and took Jack away to Jasper, WY. It seems as though the Knight of Hell wanted to relive his past once again and release the shedim, the very thing that had once earned him the scar her bares. But he isn’t powerful enough so he has to feed Jack a bunch of lies to get him to open a portal for him. And of course Jack being the naive three days old he is, obliges thinking he is doing the world a favor. Poor kid. Luckily, after being slightly derailed by some demons, the Winchesters with Donatello are right behind Jack and Asmodeus.

Not quite understanding who they were up against Dean made the choice to shoot Asmodeus. In turn this allowed Jack to see for himself he wasn’t Donatello and allow the guys to realize he was actually a Knight of Hell. Before the guys can react Asmodeus had the trio in a choke hold struggling for their lives. Sam and Dean being the only ones there for Jack for his entire short life, this angered him. He lost focus opening the portal just as the shedim were creeping their way out. When Jack demanded Asmodeus leave his friends be Asmodeus disappeared in flash. And if I know anything of this Supernatural universe, I have a feeling he was smart enough to make his exit before Jack could smite him.

Source: The CW

 Speaking of smiting, we did get a few glimpses of Lucifer and Mary back in their alternate reality as Lucifer describes it. It seems as though in true Lucifer fashion he isn’t the greatest at making allies. We see him force Mary to be at his side after saving her from some creep hunter. And we also see him smite a small group of angels before Archangel Michael comes down to confront him. It seems as though Lucifer isn’t the only one to demand help from someone and we see Michael do the same to him. This should be pretty interesting to see play out.

And I can’t say Dean’s threat to Jack ending too well if I am going to be quite honest. I mean, he thinks the kid is evil and he tells him he will kill him if need be. Not really a smart call, but hey, he isn’t the brains so much as the brute in the operation. But, I am glad he took the knife from Jack because, yikes.