Supernatural: “Stairway to Heaven” Review

Metatron and Castiel continue to struggle for control over the angel masses, while Dean falls further under The First Blade’s influence.

(Credit: The CW / Via: MoviePilot.com)

Note: The following review goes into detail about the episode. SPOILER ALERT!

First things first: great title for the episode. “Supernatural” and classic rock go hand in hand so it was great to see them use such an iconic song as the title for an episode, while having it be a very fitting title indeed.

We’re one episode away from finding out how it all ends with Metatron (maybe) and these last two episodes have done a great job setting it all up in a short amount of time. We got to see more of Castiel’s cult-like followers this week and for a while it seemed like we may have been heading for all-out war between angels for heaven. Of course that really isn’t the style of “Supernatural” at all so it wasn’t too surprising to see Castiel’s faction come crumbling down around him by the end of the episode. It was heartbreaking watching Cas go through all of this as the angels turned away from him following Metatron’s meddling. So, it’s just the Winchesters and Cas against insurmountable odds yet again.

(Credit: The CW / Via: TheGeekiary.com)

Metatron was a great presence this week throughout the episode. He may not be as entertaining to watch as Abaddon or Crowley, but he has a certain sneaky, scheming nature that makes him a great baddie. I didn’t find it too much of a shock to learn that he was behind the “Castiel Suicide Angel Squad” but you really can’t fault his whole plan this week as it worked stunningly. One of these squad members turned out to be Tessa, the reaper Dean met way back in the Season 2 premiere. She’s popped up a few times here and there along the way and it’s quite remarkable she managed to survive this long considering the show does have a penchant for killing off interesting female characters. Unsurprisingly, she found herself on the wrong end of The First Blade this week, but it was still great to see a character from so far back in the shows history.

The First Blade is really starting to have a big effect on Dean now, worryingly so. It’s been obvious for weeks that he has felt drawn to it and that reached its most worrying point last week when Dean went to work on Abaddon’s corpse. This week we saw him lie to Sam about bringing it along, while also (reluctantly) stabbing Tessa and just generally acting like an out of control mad man. We’re seeing a very serious, focused Dean at the moment, a far cry from the usual jokester he is. The end of the episode highlighted this perfectly as he attacked Gadreel, who had just offered them a potential way to get to Metatron. He’s a massive loose cannon at the moment and it’ll be interesting to see how Sam and Cas deal with him in next week’s finale.

(Credit: The CW / Via: TheCWspn.Tumblr.com)

With all the serious angel business going down, it was pretty awesome that this episode managed to be absolutely hilarious at times too. From Metatron having a bowl-off to a freaking amazing “Lord of the Rings” reference from Castiel, it had me laughing several times throughout. The personal highpoint for me was Cas deadpanning “I’m very pop culture savvy now” after the aforementioned “Lord of the Rings” reference. Nobody but Misha Collins could pull that off so brilliantly. Excellent stuff.

THE BREAKDOWN

After a couple of so-so episodes earlier in the season and the interruption for the backdoor pilot, we now find ourselves set up rather well for the finale. Metatron seems unstoppable, but the Winchesters and Cas have been offered a trump card in the form of Gadreel… who Dean has just slashed with The First Blade. The ramifications of this may be huge leading into the final fight as Gadreel may not be able to help as much as expected. Dean’s out of control at the moment, but Sam and Cas can’t just bench him when the fate of humanity is on the line. Damn they’ve set this up well in the end! I can’t wait to hear “Carry On My Wayward Son” next week.

How do you feel about Dean’s change in behavior? What are your predictions for the finale? Let us know in the comments below.