Supernatural: Angel Heart review

Supernatural took a break from the Book of the Damned for a continuation of Claire Novak’s storyline. Castiel gets all emo about whether or not he should be Claire’s Rent-a-Dad, and we learn once again to never trust a faith healer on Supernatural. Life lessons, kids.

Claire Novak has not exactly had an easy life. She started out the good Christian girl with a stable home, and ended up with a mother who ran away, a father who was possessed by an angel and then eventually killed, and enough resultant authority issues to make “rebellious teen” into an understatement. Now her intention is to find where her mom disappeared off to so she can tell her off.

Castiel and the Winchesters help a reluctant Claire out with her case when her possible informant puts her in the hospital. Dean and Cas follow up on it, and I’ll have to admit to being a little righteously pleased when Dean let the Mark take over and beat up Ron the informant.

There’s really cool lighting in the dark alley outside the bar that Claire meets Ron. The alley is misty, and two sections of it are awash in either blue or red light. It’s a very distinctive lighting design. Colors can mean a lot in filmmaking, whether they show up in a particular outfit on a character, set dressing, or in the lighting. Red and blue can mean several different things: in an abstract sense they can signify the battle between good and evil. They could directly tie in to all of this season’s promotional material that shows the boys in red and blue light. Or good and evil. You decide.

I enjoyed the dorky bonding moment between Dean and Claire. They traded quotes from Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore while owning each other on the miniature golf course. This was an important moment for Claire, because she could see the guy that Dean used to be, free from the temptations of the Mark. In this moment, she could start to trust the guys and understand that they weren’t the enemy.

The ultimate blow: Claire is reunited with her mother, has a tearful hug, and soon loses her at the hands of rogue angel Tamiel. Again, the affairs of angels have taken a parent away from her, and it would be very easy for the girl to become so bitter and enraged that she would never trust Cas again. There is a shift in her attitude though; she keeps the toy Grumpy Cat that Cas gets her from the “Hot Topical” store, and seems at peace with her new living arrangements with Jody Mills. Claire finally has closure on her parental drama.

What next for the Claire saga? I don’t necessarily want to see her go the hunter route. We’ve already seen it with another character before, so it wouldn’t be new to us as the viewers. I would however like to see how pseudo-Dad Castiel continues the relationship. Does he decide to let her be, and grow under the stewardship of Jody Mills, or does he pop in for time to time to have an awkward chat? Yes, Claire is now legally an adult at age 18, but she missed out on her teen years and spent her life as a runaway. If anything counts for a do-over, I think that’s it.

“Angel Heart” tore at the heartstrings of our viewers, now it’s time to see what craziness happens next week when Dean figures out the Book of the Damned isn’t as torched as he thought.