“Byzantium”
On tonight’s episode of “Jack
the Nephilim” – a cross between a teenage drama and a soap-opera – Jack dies.
Dean, Sam and Castiel grieve and drink and then decide to find a way to bring
him back, because that’s what they do. They enlist the help of Lily Sunder, who
once upon a time gave up her soul for a whole load of angel magic in order to
avenge her daughter’s death and who, I assume, knows pretty much all there is
to know about angels. They hope that she can find something that might help bring
Jack back in the angel tablet translated by Kevin many seasons ago. However,
when that plan falls through, Lily, who has changed quite a bit since the last
time we saw her, growing old and white, provides them with another solution.
She offers to give her angel magic – that draws power from a human soul, by the
way – to Jack in order to cure him and bring him back to life. Apparently, as
long as he uses it only to sustain himself, it won’t cost him much and he won’t
even miss the piece of his soul that will be used.
It definitely sounds like
something that could potentially backfire in the future (not that the writers
of the show think that far ahead) – and yet Dean seems to be the only one who
questions the wisdom of this plan and its possible ramifications for Jack and
his soul. However, his protests are swiftly and vociferously overridden by Castiel
(“Don’t you think Jack should decide for himself?”) and then Sam (“Because, for
me, not doing this – that – that would be like letting him die all over again!).
Of course, there’s also a price. Lily is ready to give them her magic to save
Jack in exchange for a ticket to Heaven that Dean and Sam must provide her with
so that she can reunite with her daughter there. This proves tricky, because
her choices alone determine whether she goes up or down and no one can change
that. So when she understands that she will go to Hell, considering that she
killed a bunch of angels, she takes the deal off the table – until Dean appeals
to her humanity and pleads with her not to make them go through what she herself
went through when losing a child. It turns out that one selfless act can sway
the scales of justice in one’s favour and Lily ends up in Heaven.
I enjoyed the whole sequence
with Dean, Sam, Lily and Anubis. It is always a pleasure to watch Jensen and
Jared and I liked the other actors and their interaction with them too. But! I would
have appreciated it even more if the whole thing didn’t revolve around Jack. It
could have been a case (does anyone still remember those?) or Michael-related. By
the way, speaking about Michael – it seems that Dean’s blurry vision lasted
only one episode just like his Michael flashbacks. I wonder if the writers who
work on the show even read each other scripts, because they often seem so
disconnected and missing important pieces and nuances that it seems more than
likely that they don’t. If I worked with a team of writers, I would make
sure that I knew exactly what they wrote and what precisely they wanted to
convey and how to tie it in with the bigger picture. My theory about shaman and his connection to Michael fell through. I
knew that I was giving the writers of the show more credit for mystery-building
than they deserve – they obviously can’t see beyond their own individual
episodes and miss all the varied possibilities, little connections and clues that
could be sprinkled and threaded throughout the whole season, which once again
proves my theory that there is no real interaction or understanding between
them and that the story they are telling is not, in fact, a finely-woven tapestry one wishes it to be. I mean, if it were a book, such specific wording would
definitely mean something, but on this show it was just a fluke. I must confess that I'm used to a more refined, subtle, and layered narrative. However, I don't think that it is unreasonable to expect a well-crafted story even on a show.
Much to my chagrin, the
other plotline was likewise Jack-centered and way too soapy and sappy for my
liking. It took place in Heaven, where Castiel repaired to in order to pull
Jack’s soul back into his body for Lily’s spell to work. There Jack was pursued
by The Empty that wanted to claim him and take him where he actually belongs as
half-angel. In order to save Jack, Castiel makes a deal with The Empty and
offers himself in his stead. He says that he will go willingly as long as Jack
goes home and expects to be taken right away as he reassures Jack that he made
peace with his decision and that he is fine. However, The Empty has no
intentions to take him now: “I want you to suffer. I want you to go back to your
normal life and then forget about this and forget about me. And then, when you
finally give yourself permission to be happy and let the sun shine on your
face, that’s when I’ll come. That’s when I’ll come to drag you to nothing.”
Castiel accepts the deal but tells Jack not to tell Dean and Sam so that they
didn’t worry. Having technically saved Heaven from The Empty, Castiel gets
rewarded by learning the possible location of Michael.
I must mention a moment
that just about broke my heart. It was just after Jack died and Dean called
Mary to tell her about what happened but had to leave a message on her
voicemail with a resigned look on his face that
pretty much confirmed that she continues to be unavailable. “Anyway, to tell
you the truth, it would really be nice to hear your voice. If you could, uh,
just call us back.” I just bet she doesn’t call them back often and they rarely
get to hear her voice. And that’s just not right.
I feel more and more
discouraged with each new episode, most of which I find mind-numbingly boring.
I no longer believe that Sam and Dean will reclaim their position as the main
leads of the show or that they will have any interesting episodes and storylines this season that won't involve Jack and his never-ending troubles, trials and tribulations. I also have a strong feeling that this could be the
last one, because the showrunner is deliberately sabotaging the show with his inexpert management of the story, lazy attitude that results in countless plotholes and inconsistencies, and his complete lack of interest in the main characters. I also seriously consider giving up on the show... but I know that I can't.
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