Supernatural Season 13 Episode 2 Review: The Rising Son
Michelle Lietz
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Opening with a few familiar bickering demons in Hell's throne room, Supernatural Season 13 Episode 2 "The Rising Son" begins with the grand, flashy entrance of Asmodeus, Prince of Hell.
There's a new sheriff in town.
Asmodeus
I get that Asmodeus is supposed to be intimidating in his fancy white suit and demon-smiting powers but, I can't help thinking of Mark Twain with that southern accent, which isn't very intimidating despite his Prince of Hell powers.
Where has Asmodeus been all of this time anyway? We know from Ramiel's quip back in Supernatural Season 12 that Asmodeus "has his hobbies" and everything but, he sounds like he's been posing as a southern preacher and giving some undoubtedly confusing sermons.
If he wanted to be Sheriff of Hell, I'm sure he could have picked up that role sooner, so I'm not altogether convinced his sudden appearance is really about setting things up for Lucifer's return.
At least Sam and Dean's Baby chats are familiar territory. While Sam is doing a good job trying to take on the caretaker role, it's so hard to see Dean so utterly hopeless, especially given the contrast from last season.
While he's definitely been low before, it's been a long time since he's flat out refused to be hopeful about anything.
Look when we try to bend the rules, pretend that the bad guys aren't so bad, or that things will get fixed, that's when people that we care about get hurt.
Dean
In Supernatural Season 12 Dean was thanking Crowley for saving Cas, and he very pointedly included Crowley in his list of people he wanted back in his desperate prayer to Chuck just last episode in Supernatural Season 13 Episode 1.
Hopelessness brings out the jerk in Dean if he's reverting back to this black and white/good and evil rhetoric.
Meanwhile, back in Hell, Asmodeus seems incredibly sensitive about his relationship to Lucifer.
It's a good thing Sam convinces Dean to stop and rest for a few hours because the first hotel room scene is just amazing.
Dude, you were hallucinating sheep on the road.
Sam
Jack immediately sitting down to watch some Scooby-Doo is adorable, and Dean's distraction with the cartoon brings back fond memories of Supernatural Season 12 Episode 11 "Regarding Dean," when Dean's bout of memory loss made it necessary for Sam to distract him with Scooby-Doo.
It's also very clearly foreshadowing, but I imagine it'll be a while before that comes back into play.
Throwing the Bible at Jack instead seems a little heavy-handed, but it's interesting that Jack opens it immediately to Song of Solomon, often considered the most romantic part of the Bible.
The best part, however, is when Sam, Dean, and Jack sit down for dinner and a few beers. Jack seems eager to mirror Dean's movements, so it's perfectly reasonable that he reaches for a beer just after Dean.
Dean: Wait, wait, wait, wait. How old do you think you are?
Jack: Three days, seventeen hours, and forty-two minutes.
Jack's response is absolutely something Cas would say, and Dean immediately stops arguing about it.
The following conversation about God and Lucifer is sad and hilarious at the same time. Sam explaining that Lucifer isn't an "easy" guy to know, and calling him "rough around the edges" is a hilarious understatement.
It's a shame Jack doesn't actually get the joke, but asking if God is "famous or something" and then concluding God is his grandpa is just precious.
The levels of father-abandonment issues in this conversation are pretty heavy though. Hopefully, Jack doesn't develop a complex.
While Donatello as human-diving-rod for Jack is probably going to be convenient more than once, his commentary on Jack's power definitely isn't reassuring Dean.
It probably should, since Donatello says Jack's power isn't toxic, but grieving Dean is completely convinced it's only a matter of time before everything is awful.
It's pretty unfortunate that Donatello doesn't have a soul anymore, but Mr. Rogers seems like a pretty solid moral compass to follow, so at least there's that.
It's also pretty unfair of Dean to judge Jack's automatic freak-out to pain as a sign of being evil, especially since they didn't even give him a warning and the poor kid doesn't know tattoos tend to hurt. Kevin wasn't exactly pleasant when he got his, either.
Jack's response to Dean telling him to "man up" about the pain?
Yes, I understand. Pain is a part of the complete human experience. Accepting it is a sign of maturity.
Jack
Honestly, the resemblance between Cas and Jack probably isn't helping Dean deal with all that angry, repressed grief.
I tend to agree with Sam that Jack healing himself of the tattoos was a reflex. Jack being unable to understand or control his powers is understandable; he's only three days, seventeen hours and forty-two minutes old, remember? There has to be a learning curve here.
All the angry bickering about if Jack has ulterior motives if he's already evil or not, and Dean calling him the "freaking Devil" clearly makes Jack uncomfortable enough to poof elsewhere, which solves the question of his teleportation abilities.
And seriously, if you don't immediately think of Supernatural Season 7's "don't like conflict" Castiel in this scene, you have not been paying enough attention.
At least Jack has Sam looking out for him, tracking him down and telling him some people believe he can be good and explaining Dean's misplaced anger.
Dean once again illustrates that he is clearly off his game by not picking up on the awkward information digging the woman with self-proclaimed dad issues is doing in the bar. There are suspicious red flags all over that conversation even before the woman morphs back into Asmodeus.
It's a good thing Dean walks away as quickly as he does. This shape-shifting power is going to be trouble.
And Sam's instincts are a little off since he doesn't find it suspicious that Donatello would leave Jack alone just to chat with him about Jack's power.
It's a good thing the real Donatello shows up when he does, even if it does interrupt Sam's attempts at forcing some hope back into Dean.
Leaving Jack alone wasn't the smart thing to do with a shape-shifting Prince of Hell looking for him, and now Jack's been tricked into following a fake Donatello out for some nefarious task.
It's a good thing Dean's well-placed angel blade throw saves the real Donatello because that divining-rod talent of his is apparently the only thing that's going to get them to Jack in time to interrupt Asmodeus's weird sermon about soldiers trapped in their own special Hell.
Of course, they show up just in time, and Jack's declaration that the Winchesters are his friends as he uses his powers to save them is just so sweet, especially since Dean has not been friendly at all.
I have high hopes for Jack, mainly since he'll be more powerful than his dad someday, but right now he's just too lost, confused and scared.
Jack's fear of hurting someone sounds a lot like Sam's fears back when he thought he was destined to be evil though, so maybe they'll have a bonding moment over that sometime in the near future.
Meanwhile, in Apocalypse World, Lucifer and Mary are at least surviving, albeit awkwardly.
Mary's first encounter with a human in this world makes it clear that she has absolutely no good options, but after Lucifer disposes of the angelic military guys with a literal snap of his fingers, Apocalypse World Michael appears to make things even more complicated.
While it's nice to see someone actually be able to take on Lucifer in a physical fight, and I can't say I'm sorry that Michael already killed the Lucifer of his world, Michael's statement about needing Lucifer is definitely worrying.
The introduction of Asmodeus has only made me miss Crowley more, and I'm beyond ready to have some screen time with Cas again. All the Cas quirks displayed by Jack make his absence felt even more. Am I the only one who sees Cas every time they look at Jack?
Hopefully, Supernatural Season 13 Episode 3 will bring a change of scenery in Apocalypse World too because I'm having a hard time believing its all an endless expanse of gray nothing. Don't you expect there to be more to it?
And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Dean stops taking all his anger and pain out on Jack, who hasn't done anything yet, or Dean will just end up driving him away to awful things.
Let me know what you're thinking of the new season so far. Are you feeling the loss of Cas and Crowley? What do you think of Jack and his two "dads"? Are you worried Dean might push him away? Hit the comments!
To catch up on this episode or re-watch it obsessively, watch Supernatural online.
