Supernatural: “The Hunter Games” Review

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Michael Spring in Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Reviews // 0 Comments

The Winchesters and Castiel struggle to react in the aftermath of Dean’s devastating rampage.

The CW

FAMILY TIES

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

One of the most questionable aspects of the first half of Supernatural’s tenth season was just how little the Winchester’s did to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean’s arm. That was rectified almost immediately here as everyone was in full blown panic mode after Dean’s little massacre. The midseason finale ended with one of the darkest scenes in the show’s history, and it’s good to see that there’s no ducking of guilt from Dean at all.

We’re now set up for a storyline that will draw in all of our central characters, something which seems to always improve the show. Even Metatron got pulled off the shelf here for a round of torture with Dean. Bringing Castiel and Crowley into the mix can only make things better, and I’m hoping to see a lot more of them interacting with the Winchesters. They are both series regulars this season, so it’s about time they began teaming up with the brothers on the regular. Searching for a way to remove the Mark gives us a nice little quest for the remainder of the season, which will hopefully lead to a more focused run of episodes.

The CW

I’m not quite buying into the Rowena storyline yet. On the one hand I like how devious and conniving her character is, but on the other I don’t buy Crowley falling for her tricks so easily. Crowley has been changed by the ritual at the end of Season 8 so that offers up one reason why he may be conned so easily, but I’m hoping he’s just toying with his dear mother. It’s hard to tell exactly what Rowena’s overall plan is so far. She is clearly trying to manipulate Crowley into thinking that she is the only person he can trust. Whether she’s doing this so she can be his puppet master or for a totally different end goal remains to be seen.

Castiel and Claire’s relationship remained quite interesting this week. Castiel is just such a great character to watch, and you could really feel his guilt in his talks with his (kinda) daughter. I could have done without Claire running into a pair of killers though. At first I figured they were some sort of supernatural beings, but they really just were two normal people willing to kill Dean for a complete stranger. The best thing to come from this was Dean controlling his anger and choosing not to kill. Despite it coming at the end of a slightly annoying scene, this is a pivotal moment in Dean’s potential recovery.

THE BREAKDOWN

This was a solid follow-up to the brutal cliffhanger we were left with last year. Removing the Mark of Cain has jumped to the top of the Winchester’s “to-do list,” but as always, it’s going to be far easier said than done. Everybody had their own slice of family drama to deal with this week, but hopefully the Winchester’s quest will unite all of our favorite characters under the one banner for an extended period of time.