Supernatural Season 12 Episode 17 Review: British Invasion
The latest episode taps into the continuing saga of Lucifer’s offspring as well as a deeper look at the Men of Letters.
This Supernatural review contains spoilers.
Supernatural: Season 12, Episode 17
We took a short break from the story of Kelly Kline (Lucifer’s Baby Mama) and Lucifer last week, but we’re back at it again. Kelly is still strangely maternal towards the unholy creature that’s eventually going to ‘splode from her like a chest burster in Alien. Prince of Hell Dagon is looking after Kelly until the ‘sploding begins, and she makes that quite clear at the end. Still, we had an amusing scene where Kelly insists on a doctor visit and Dagon, mistaken as first a significant other and then a “birthing coach,” mind controls the doctor to claim that everything is fine. I enjoyed the grudging help Dagon gives Kelly.
Meanwhile, Daddy to Be Lucifer appears to have given up and become submissive to Crowley’s rule. But you didn’t fall for that, did you? I love Lucifer’s ruse when he pretends to support Crowley as King, all while giving the gathered demons his sly little winks and such. Play to your audience, Lucy. You know how they like it. This is a great set up piece for later when, I assume, these demons will turn on Crowley to free Lucifer.
As we’ve dug deeper into the British Men of Letters, we’ve heard more and more about their Code that dictates how they run their organization. The Code is pretty screwed up. Making kids fight to the death in Kendrick’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Indiscriminate killing of foes — even if their indiscretions were an accident? They play too hard. There’s no room for error with these guys. It’s amazing any of them still exist under those standards.
Mick has struggled against this doctrine since he was a wee lad at Kendrick’s, stabbing a friend in some twisted survival of the fittest test. Mick used to follow the Code by the letter, never questioning his superiors. And then he met the Winchesters, who over the course of the season have shown him another way, especially in the previous episode with Claire.
The episode title “The British Invasion” does indicate that this is the true beginning of the Men of Letters’ aggression towards our hunter friends. For a part of the season we had an uneasy truce, held in part due to Mick’s growing sense of respect for how Sam and Dean operate. Now, with Mick gone, there’s no buffer between the cold and calculating justice of the organization versus the hunters they seem to think of as dangerous loose cannons.
There were several guest stars this episode, but I wanted to mention how glad I am that Eileen was brought back. We so rarely see disabled characters in TV shows and to see someone who is both deaf and a capable hunter is refreshing. I had wondered if we’d see her again. Eileen did serve another purpose besides helping the boys locate Kelly Kline. She also shot at Dagon, missed, and hit the Men of Letters. This accident was the last domino to topple, causing not just the death of the one man, but also of Mick. That one bullet has completely turned the organization against the American hunters. Sam and Dean better watch out. The British are coming.
As a nice little cap to the episode, Dean takes a good look at the Colt, the incredibly powerful gun that we haven’t seen in many seasons. In one smooth, well timed shot, Dean levels and sights the Colt, saying, “Welcome back, sweetheart.”
Welcome back, indeed.