Baby’s Rear View Recap: 11.14 “The Vessel”

This post is about Supernatural episode 11.14 “The Vessel,” written by Robert Berens and directed by John Badham.

Spoilers to follow.

“The Men of Letters send their regards”

In Nazi Occupied France, 1943, a Nazi officer speaks to a comrade on the telephone concerning an object. A beautiful French woman in a nightgown listens in the background. When he has hung up, she needles at him until he shows her what’s in the box. Once she sees it, she turns and stabs the Nazi. As he falls to the floor, she tells him that the months she spent with him were the worst moments of her life, but that killing him was the best.

“Un Femme de Lettres”

Cut to the boys in the bunker, where Dean once again shambles to the kitchen after waking to find Sam deep in research. This time, Sam thinks he has discovered the existence of a weapon that could be used against Amara. It’s called “The Hand of God,” and is one of the objects He supposedly imbued with His power when He touched them on Earth. It was found by the “Ahnenerbe,” a special branch of Nazis devoted to archaeology. It seems it was stolen by one Delphine Seydoux, a woman of letters.

“That’s a good doggie”

We finally see what Casifer and Crowley are up to, which is basically nothing. Casifer sits on the throne of Hell playing a game on a tablet. Crowley is being held in a cage, chained and forced to wear a Hawaiian shirt.

“I just never got the impression that they were so big on gender equality. You know, it's right there in the name.”

Yes Dean, you are correct. Glad you brought it up. Also really glad that you seem so excited about women being included, it makes my heart happy.

While Dean downs a beer for breakfast (because Sam drank all the coffee and what is he supposed to drink, water?), Sam shows him some French documents he found. Also, just pointing out, they have a magic wand that scans documents and translates them immediately. How cool is that. From these documents, the boys surmise that the Hand was to be transferred by the U.S.S. Bluefin, a submarine that sank midway through its trip across the Atlantic.

“We have something that James Cameron doesn’t have”

An angel. We’re back in the throneroom, where Lucifer’s weapons have just been delivered. Casifer consults with Crowley, telling Crowley that he knows he is just pretending to be under his control and biding his time until the opportunity to seize the throne presents itself. Crowley suggests that Casifer would have taken the fight to Amara already if he had a way to beat her.

“Maybe defeating Amara was a bit more of a team effort than I led certain people to believe.”

When Dean calls, Casifer answers. Even though the boys know that Cas doesn’t have the power he used to, Casifer insists that time travel works differently, and that he will be able to do it.

“That’s not a very good plan”

After some discussion (a fight which Casifer clearly delights in seeing), Cas and Dean are to travel back in time to catch the sub before it sinks while Sam stays behind and “rides the pine.” While Sam isn’t a fan of Dean taking this risk or of Dean referring to himself as the “least valuable player,” there is some logic in him staying behind to take care of Amara if something goes sideways. Once Dean tells Sam that he needs to do this and Cas promises not to let him out of his sight, Sam reluctantly agrees to the plan.

“Be safe.”
“When am I not?”

Always. Dean Winchester is never safe. But it’s bon voyage anyway, as Cas zaps Dean into the past and onto the sub. Casifer, however, gets stuck outside the hull due to some sort of warding. Dean, now on his own, incapacitates one of the sailors and steals his clothes. They really wanted an excuse to put him in a uniform. Dean finds Delphine, but a split-second later, the sailor finds him (and he’s brought more sailors). He tries to explain, but Delphine is the only one who buys his time travel story.

“We don’t have time for long shots, Cas”

Sam finds a spell to get past what’s blocking Cas, but when he sees that it requires an archangel, he gives up. He doesn’t realize that Casifer is an archangel and leaves while Casifer gets to work.

“But we all die?”

Dean tells Delphine and the sailor guarding him that he is there for the weapon. Delphine shares that the Hand is a piece of the Ark of the Covenant. Delphine goes to destroy the other sigil, and Dean has a sad conversation with the sailor guarding him. The sailor seems to believe him now, and asks about the end of the war for his family and friends. When Delphine returns, she unbuttons her shirt and shows Dean the sigil carved into her chest. She tells him she must be killed to break the power of the sigil. Dean takes the knife, but is unable to go through with it before the sub is pitched into chaos.

“I don't need you anymore. I mean, Dean's the one with the link to Amara. Why have I been trying to spare you? I mean, maybe it's because you're like the girl who kept turning me down at the prom.”

Sam offers his soul to Casifer to give him the strength to break through the warding to save Dean. When Sam tells Cas that he trusts him, Casifer finally breaks his cover. Sam realizes that he has once again been betrayed by Lucifer and he’s at his mercy now. As if that isn’t soul-crushing enough, Casifer reaches into Sam’s body and begins siphoning his soul for power.

“Hello Castiel”

Castiel has managed to stay Lucifer’s hand for the time being; he and Sam get a brief moment to talk. Cas tells Sam that he wants to be of service to the fight, and that only Lucifer can beat Amara. When Sam tells Cas to eject Lucifer, Cas says he can’t. For one, it’s all he can do to stop Lucifer from killing Sam; for two, it’s the only way to save Dean.

“We are supposed to die. Let us do it with a purpose.”

The German sub sends a message for Delphine. It turns out that Delphine’s Nazi lover was a necromancer, and can only be vanquished through fire. He tells the sub if they surrender Delphine and the weapon, he will let them go, but that he will get the weapon either way. Dean offers to use the weapon himself to save Delphine and the sub. Delphine refuses. She takes the Hand and uses it to explode both ships. It kills her and destroys the magic of the sigil, allowing Casifer to get close enough to zap both Dean and the Hand back to the bunker.

“Dean, that’s not Cas”

As soon as Dean and Cas arrive back at the bunker, Sam warns Dean about Casifer. Casifer backs them both into a corner and takes out the Hand of God, which turns out to be a totally useless one-hitter. Luckily, by the time they have figured this out, Sam has drawn a blood-sigil on the wall and Lucifer is banished.

“I was just a witness”

The boys debrief as the episode comes to a close. When Sam asks what they will do, Dean answers that they will hunt Lucifer and save Cas. Sam warns that Cas may not come back willingly, but Dean refuses to accept that. Sam changes the topic and asks Dean what he did on the sub. Dean answers that he did nothing. Sam asks whether he wants to talk about it and Dean replies that it is a story for another day. Before Sam leaves, Dean asks what happened to the German ship. When he finds out that it burned and sank, Dean smiles.

Questions:

Who will find the next Hand of God first, Casifer, or the Winchesters? They obviously can’t work together anymore, but Castiel said that this will require teamwork… how will he get them to cooperate? (And by them I mean Dean, because Casifer said that he needs Dean for his connection to Amara but doesn’t need Sam).

What are the boys going to do about Lucifer? Can they trap him in the cage again? Could they use the Hand of God on him?

And how many Hands of God are there? Enough to take care of Amara and Luci? My guess is no, because that would be way too easy.

Where is Amara? We haven’t even seen her in months. What is she up to? Because even though Casifer, Crowley, and the Winchesters are planless, you can bet that Amara is not.

Conclusions:

I liked the episode. The highlights for me were Dean in a uniform and all the man-pain (am I a bad person?)

It was a plot episode, and though the plot moved forward, the boys really didn’t. In fact, though they learned a lot, they just realized how much further behind they are than they thought they were; it just amounted to them learning about more things that they have to do (defeat Lucifer and save Cas, find another hand of God). That being said, I am so relieved that they know now. Hopefully this means that they will be able to keep themselves safe from Lucifer, and that they will in fact save Cas.

Even though a lot happened, it was kind of annoying to me that all of it sort of happened for nothing. Dean didn’t accomplish anything by going back in time. Casifer didn’t accomplish anything by revealing his true nature. The Hand of God is useless, and the Winchesters played their only card letting Casifer know about it.

This was a pretty crazy episode; I personally don’t love the supernatural Nazi thing, but I think the episode was good overall. The sub gave us a completely new setting, so even though there was no new monster this week, it didn’t feel too samey. It was also interesting and new to see Dean go through something like this, where he was unable to save people and was tossed around by other peoples’ decisions.

It’s fitting that Dean had to be the witness in this episode, because it parallels his struggles to stay away from the fight with Amara. I think this is why he gets so attached to saving Cas and beating Lucifer in the end: not only because he loves Cas, but because that is the one thing that he knows he can do. He’s probably going to end up being the most valuable player on that front, because Sam is particularly vulnerable when it comes to old Luci.

I think it’s a shame that Delphine had to die, although not a surprise. I would love to have a woman of letters that gets to be a recurring character. But, I am excited that we have a woman of letters at all; like Dean said, the men of letters are not nearly supportive enough of gender-equality.

And finally, the last scene of the episode was my favorite again. I can’t get enough of seeing the boys talk and lean on each other. They have become so kind in their old age. It’s beautiful.