The devil really IS in the details, ain't it?

[amberdreams]

Season 11 Episode 10: The Devil in the Details

Before I read anyone else’s reactions, I’m jotting down a few thoughts.

First – while I was watching I was engrossed. No critisisms of the grippingness of it, I was hooked. So good job there Mr Dabb.

But.

Yeah I know, there’s always a but. Now I’ve had wee while to digest it, I’m left with a few issues about Lucifer taking over Castiel/Castiel’s vessel.

Castiel is in a human vessel that said yes to Cas ages ago, and whose soul (the person whose consent was required for occupation) has long gone. Query – does this mean Castiel now has the right to consent? I suppose it does, because he has.

We know that Jimmy’s vessel is strong enough for Cas, and we also know it was strong enough to hold all the Leviathans and a pseudo-God, so can we canonically assume it is now strong enough for an archangel, even though Jimmy wasn’t part of the angelic breeding programme? I guess we have to. Though I seem to recall Castiel’s human form suffering while it was vessel for those additional powerful beings, so maybe not. Maybe that is where they are going with this, having Castiel’s human vessel decay and burn out as a result of housing Lucifer.

Which raises another question. Is Castiel’s grace still in there? Cohabiting? Or does one angel’s grace push the other out? In which case, where is Cas? Presumably he could wander off and find another vessel.

As an aside, I’m not sure Misha’s acting is up to Mark Pellegrino’s standards. Sorry Misha fans, but Mr Pellegrino is bloody good at the whole doing evil with a smile routine, and I am sorry we aren’t going to get more of his Lucifer. Plus I’m a bit disappointed they didn’t have Dean say yes - though the analysis of the situation Sam gave for his refusal was a logical reason for saying no, and continuing to say no. (And Sammy was awesome – back to his clever, thoughtful, courageous self).

Anyhow, whatever the answer they come up with to those slightly wobbly bits, I still think this was a great episode. Give me all the still-interesting and menacing Amaras, beaten up boys, dead Rowenas and badass/cowering Crowleys you want, chaps, I’ll be more than happy to watch.

Oh and a thought on Rowena – she’s in Hell already, so what’s to stop her coming back as a demon? Nothing that I can see. And now she’s dead, surely that makes her even more dangerous.

Now I'm off to trawl my flist to see what insights y'all had, because I'm usually a bit slow on the uptake.

Comments

[manzanita-crow.livejournal.com]

I really thought MC sucked as Lucifer, so glad I'm not the only one.

Hmm, thinky thoughts. There seems to be a bit of a pattern

S2-4: Dean screws up with the demon deal and breaking the first seal
S4: Sam screws up with demon blood and breaking the last seal
S6-7: Cas screws up by releasing Leviathans and killing lots of angels and humans
S8: Dean screws up by persuading Sam they should take on the Trials, even though Dean's isn't willing to accept it might kill Sam. Sam screws up by failing to point out to Dean that he'll probably die if he finishes them (I HATED that plotline, I know it was supposed to be all heartfelt but I just got annoyed at Dean because of his willful blindness to consequences. Mebbe just me though)
S8: Cas screws up too by getting the angels kicked out of Heaven
S9: Dean screws up by taking on MoC, no questions asked
S10: Sam screws up by releasing the Darkness
S11: Cas screws up by releasing Lucifer

Seems like they're taking turns to eff it up :) Wish they were back to saving people rather than making thing worse

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ah don'f forget in Season 8 Dean only agreed they should do the trials because he thought he'd be the one undertaking them, not Sam. But yeah, they do seem to be taking it in turns each season as to which character screws up what.

[manzanita-crow.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, but to me it was blatently obvious Sam was gonna die after trial 2. And then Dean's all 'But Sam! You'll die!" at the last minute and I'm going "No shit Sherlock!" :D

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

LOL! Although I did love Sam in that scene. "So?"

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

That was such a powerful one word, gotta agree.

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

I had a lot of problems with this episode after enjoying the beginning. And yes, Mark Pellegrino is a better actor than MC.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I have more and more problems the more I think about it!

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Got nothing much to add, except I do hope they address whether or not Cas' vessel can take two angels (one of which is an ARCHangel). Just curious, mostly. And we still don't know whether Sam has his tattoo back. If they play that he did it off-screen (like they played the 'talk' about Sam and Billie to Dean), I will cry for the lack of a shirtless Jared scene.

Also, demon!Rowena for the win!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

We NEED a new shirtless Sam scene...though I can't see them addressing his tattoo after all this time. We live in hope!

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Yeah, now so much time has passed, it'd be stupid for Sam to have never renewed the tattoo. And it would make me annoyed if they wrote Sam as being that dense. What would please me to no end, though, is if Sam eventually does take off his shirt (or has it ripped off because he's hurt and Dean needs to do triage), and we see a torso full of tattoos, sigils, scarification wards, the whole nine yards...because Sam will NEVER be violated that way again. FROM MY FINGERS TO THE WRITERS' EYES.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

From your fingers to paper to the writers eyes - a picture speaks a thousand words... LOL

[galwithglasses.livejournal.com]

My thought on Rowena exactly. She didn't get soul-smited so presumably she went to Hell. Demon Rowena could be a lot of fun.

Misha can do smarmy evil but between Jared and Mark, we've seen some really amazing Lucifer acting and Misha's Lucifer is really hard to buy after that. It was like he was trying too hard to not be Cas and overacted or something.

I'm liking that the Darkness is a strategic thinker and used Cas for his psych warfare potential instead of whatever tattered soul food he might be. It made for a believable reason why the Darkness had to spare Cas in terms of Misha being there for the long haul on the show.

There is no way the Winchesters should have walked away from a physical cage match with the devil unless Lucifer pulled his punches or Cas's body healed them after.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Misha's Lucifer made me squirm and not in a good way. I think it was made even harder for him to be convincing having to appear doing his version only moments after we've see Mark performing. Oh well, he might get better if he's given time to develop the character.

And of course you are quite right about the cage fight - I thought we'd moved away from the fights that leave no lasting injuries but sadly, no.

[gidgetgal9.livejournal.com]

I love Misha and I'll give him a chance but his smirking Lucifer made him look constipated. He has a hard act to follow between Mark and Jared.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

It is a ridiculously hard task they've given him!

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

Me too, I was gripped!!! I did not see those last few minutes coming and I thought that maybe Cas was affected by Amara, and poor poor Rowena (I'm sure we'll see her again!!!)

I thought Misha did a good Mark P as Lucifer impersonation - Mark has been a little more over the top recently, but Luci's been in a cage for a while, and that's bound to change a fallen Angel, right?! :) I think it's hard for Misha because he has to sort of capture the feel and expressions that Mark gave us, but Jared did set the bar so high.

After Sam's speech about being ready to say good bye to loved ones, and the cute angel saying Cas is expendable - are they hinting that Cas's days are limited? And yes, are we going to see his vessel deteriorate? (even Nick's did towards the end!)

Are we going to see more Arch Angels return? Like Sam said, Lucifer needed help with the darkness last time...I vote Michael, and then they can finally sort out poor Adam who they keep referring too, but then ignoring (is Jake busy, or something:))

And \o/ for strong and and smart Sam, voice messages, lovely Dean in the Impala, Billie, Colin Ford, flashbacks etc!!! I found this episode gripping, and I love love love that they can still shock and surprise me!!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Oh now, that might make Castiel's ridiculously quick decision to say yes to Lucifer make sense - Amara drove him to it somehow. But it still doesn't answer all the questions about what the point would be of Cas saying yes, etc, etc.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

[kribban.livejournal.com]

The fact that Jimmy and Amelia are soulmates is a clear indication that they were both part of the vessel breeding program.

I thought the cage match was really unrealistic, seeing as three of the people were in physical bodies and the fourth was non-corporeal.

But then again, Supernatural has never made it clear whether or not physical bodies can exist in heaven and hell!

I mean, I love the show, but when it comes to explaining the physics of their universe it doesn't always make sens...

[zara-zee.livejournal.com]

There are certainly unanswered questions around Cas's grace and the logistics of angels cohabiting in the one vessel. And why Lucifer thought killing a witch would be the end of her is a mystery, but it does leave the door open for the character to return, so I won't complain.

As to Misha. After much rumination, I think he spent so much time trying to mimic the physicality of Mark P's performances as Lucifer that he forgot to actually play the character. So we got an actor playing another actor playing a character. Here's hoping he finds his stride if he's going to spend much time in this role!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I think you might be right about Misha's technique here - I'm hoping he will move on from this and make the role his own.