Baby’s Rear View Recap: 12.01 “Keep Calm and Carry On”

This post is about Supernatural season 12 episode 1 “Keep Calm and Carry On,” written by Andrew Dabb and directed by Philip Sgriccia.

*****Spoilers below*****

“How long have I been gone?”

“Thirty-three years.”

The season opens on Dean and Mary, right where we left them pre-hellatus. They consider each other in silence and then, cue the sappy music, Dean asks her if she’s real. She’s real, all right, but she doesn’t know who Dean is. When he reaches out to her, she puts him into a hold until he explains that he is her son—her Dean. When Dean brings up her death, she remembers. Dean recites the details of Mary’s life with John and when she finally believes him, they share a hug.

“Where am I?”

“Earth.”

Next thing we know, Castiel is crashing down to earth in comet form, blasting a hole in a billboard and making a crater. A passing man pulls over and Castiel puts him to sleep and steals his truck after finding out he is about three hours from Lebanon, Kansas.

“It's a lot. And I know it's a lot. And I'll explain everything. I will. But right now, let's get out of here. Let's get you home. Come on, Mom.”

Dean and Mary sit on a park bench as the sun rises and talk briefly about the things Mary missed, such as John’s death and God’s sister. Mary does not remember her previous encounters with her grown son such as when she was a ghost or when Dean went back in time.

“Animals, people; they’re all meat.”

Lady Toni and her driver arrive at a veterinarian’s house. They proceed to threaten and bribe the vet, Gregory Marion, until he agrees to dress Sam’s gunshot-wounded leg. Though the vet initially balks at a bound and gagged Sam in the back of a black SUV, he eventually caves to the tune of $100,000.

“Who’s laughing now?”

Meanwhile, Crowley trails two demons cleaning up Lucifer’s mess. In this case, the mess is multiple burned out failed vessels. Crowley kills the demons and continues after the devil.

“You can ask me any kind of question you want. The answer's gonna be the exact same—screw you. You want to get mad? You want to get mean? I've been tortured by the Devil himself. So you, you're just an accent in a pantsuit. What can you do to me?”

Toni shares a brief phone call with her son before heading down to the basement to deal with Sam—who is now bound and gagged in a chair. Toni wants to ask some questions about Sam and Dean, hunters in America, and how they saved the sun. But Sam doesn’t trust these “British” men of letters. Cue the music again as the torture begins with a cold shower.

“An Angel, with a-a capital ‘A’. You know, wings, harp.”
“No, I don't have a harp.”

Dean and Mary arrive home to find the bunker empty and blood on the floor. Cas makes it back shortly after they do and while Dean checks the area, Cas and Mary get acquainted (by which I mean they both mistake each other for enemies and make threats). Luckily Dean de-escalates the situation, introduces the two, and shares a hug with his angel.

“Hi sweetheart. Remember me?”

After Cas explains what happened and Dean hacks the traffic cams, the three hit the road. But not before Mary takes a second to admire the impala and reminisce about certain… exploits in the backseat.

“There hasn’t been a monster-related death in Britain since 1965 because we are good at our job.”

Toni berates Sam for being bad at his job and explains how Britain has a much more efficient system. She says she just wants to make America safe, but Sam is reluctant to give her any names since he doesn’t trust her not to put them in danger. Toni lets the professional torturer have a go at Sam’s feet with a blowtorch in the hopes that she can crack him.

“So we stop trying to break his body. We break his mind.”

The professional torturer is at a loss as to how to get Sam to speak. She recommends calling in one “Mr. Ketch.” Toni declines on the grounds that Mr. Ketch is a psychopath. She decides instead to torture Sam with some sort of hallucinogenic.

“Listen, bitch. I don't care who you are, I don't care what you want. You have my brother. Now, I'm gonna give you one chance -- just one -- to hand Sam back. You think you can run from me? Try it. Because when I find you -- and I will find you -- if he is not in one piece, I will take you apart. You understand me?”

The fam begins finding and threatening the people Toni interacted with. After a short coffee and chat break, they get the phone number from the vet and Dean gives Toni a call.

“Thanks, Mom.”

As the fa heads back to the bunker to trace the number, the impala gets hit. It’s none other than the torturer, who has apparently been sent to head them off before they can find Sam. She has warded brass-knuckles and kicks both Dean and Cas’s butts while Mary sits still unconscious from the crash. Just as the torturer gets the drop on the boys and prepares to shoot, Mary stabs her with the angel blade.

“It's all your fault. Just die. Why won't you die, Sam? Why don't you die? It's your fault.”

“You’re right.”

Sam hallucinates the deaths of multiple friends and family members, including Jessica and Dean—whom he still believes to be dead. Sam also hears Dean’s voice blaming him for their deaths and Sam punches a mirror hanging on the wall in desperation. He then takes a shard to his throat and collapses to the floor. Lady Toni steps in to check if he’s okay. But when she does, Sam overpowers her. It turns out he cut his hand, and not his throat. He chokes her out and then heads for the door, only to have Toni revive and stop him (with a cattle-prod) just before he can make it out.

“Mom, I-I get it. I do. If I had kids, I wouldn't want them in this. But Sam and me—saving people and hunting things, this is our life. I think we make the world a better place. I know that we do.”

Dean and Mary have a heart-to-heart about hunting and life before the fam heads to Aldrich, Missouri, where they think Sam is being held.

“Witnesses say he was sweating and pale and psycho. He said his name was freaking Lucifer.”

To the tune of Black Sabbath’s “Solitude,” we see Crowley find Lucifer’s latest dead vessel, the fam drive silently through the night, and Sam break down in his cell.

Questions:

Who is Mr. Ketch? He’s psychopathic and apparently a torturer affiliated with the men of letters… but I have a feeling he’s gonna be important. Could he have been present in those montages that played during Lady Toni’s explanation of the bmol way? Cuz those definitely looked shady.

Also, I’m not convinced that the bmol method could work in America? I mean, I’m sure they could make some improvements, but there is no hierarchy or enough people hunting to make that system work in such a huge area. This leads me to suspect that there may be ulterior motives behind this whole thing that even Lady Toni isn’t aware of.

Why didn’t Cas heal Mary after the crash, or Dean after the fight? It’s not really clear to me how angel mojo works. Is he just saving it all up for when he has to heal Sam? Is his mojo not at full power? (And what is full power for him?) In earlier seasons it was said that his powers weren’t as strong when he was cut off from heaven. Is that happening now?

They took those warded brass knuckles, right? Because they definitely don’t want those in the wrong hands. Also they were cool af. I really want to know the specific effects they have.

So, it’s 6 ½ hours from Lebanon to Aldrich? I guess we don’t know where the veterinary clinic is in relation to either place, but something to consider: the fam was headed back to the bunker, but it seems they had just left the vet’s because Mary was just asking what they were going to do next, like they had just gotten into the car. But the torturer could not have gotten there fast enough to deal with them unless it was very close to where Sam is. But at the end, it looked like it was gonna be a long drive for them to get to Aldrich. So… is Sam not at Aldrich? Did the torturer use magic to like… teleport? Or is there a bunch of lost time there where they like, went out for coffee again or took a nap before heading back to the bunker. I don’t know.

And speaking of, what kind of ties could the bmol have to Aldrich, Missouri? What is that building? Who does it belong to? Is it warded?

And finally: this has been one hella long day for them. When’s the last time Dean slept? Like should he even be driving? (*asks in a tiny voice if maybe Cas can drive baby*) Because look—he was up all night wandering around apparently after Amara and Chuck left—and then talking to his mom until dawn. Then he drove straight to the bunker, then he got coffee and had a full day of threatening people. Now it’s night time again but he’s driving instead of sleeping. So that’s 24 hours. But immediately before that was all the end-of-the-world crap. I’d say it’s definitely been 48 hours, probably more. (Does anyone know the timeline at the end of last season?) Even if he got sleep within the space of the last three episodes before this, he’s certainly compromised. Because so much has happened and a human seriously cannot take this type of prolonged high-stress without sustaining damage.

Conclusions:

The hugs! Oh man, the hugs. Am I even capable of talking about anything else? Well, yes, I am, but just barely. Because that’s how emotional these hugs make me. Dabb is spoiling us with hugs. If I don’t get more hugs as the season goes on, I am going to riot.

Three thumbs up for Team Free Will threatening people’s lives. I probably should disapprove but I don’t. They are such scary creatures and it gives me life.

I am so here for Cas’s abilities. He knows exactly what time they got to the bunker. He knows the state of Mary’s health just by touching her. Not to mention Cas manhandling those guys…I don’t know, I’m just here for Cas being capable and confident in his abilities. And for him and Dean working side-by-side. They were such husbands this whole episode and I love it. (#stopsplittingupdeanandcas2k16).

What I’m not here for is the torture porn. I mean, I’m proud of how strong Sam is, but #samdeservesbetter and #givesambodilyautonomy2k16. Narrative-wise of course it makes sense, but I’m not happy about it. I’m really worried about the Toni redemption arc and Toni x Sam romance that already seems impending. It seems very Supernatural to do that. Or at least, very my least favorite things about Supernatural.

There were definitely some seeds planted this episode suggesting that Lady Toni isn’t as devoted to the “old men” as all that. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her betray the bmol in some way and help out the Winchesters by the time it’s all said and done.

I really liked that professional torturer and I’m sad to see her dead. I also feel sad for Mary that the first thing she did after getting a second chance at life is kill someone. It’s obviously been hard on her. I love that when Dean asks if she’s okay, she says “no.” This was a huge surprise to me. This is not the Winchester way! I’m so glad to see such honesty when it comes to feelings. This is important.

And they still have a lot to talk about. Dean didn’t explain how he got out alive and there’s so much Mary doesn’t know. I look forward to getting to filter all the information of the past through Mary’s fresh eyes.

All in all, I loved the episode. Nothing much happened, but it was emotional and interesting on a personal level. I like Mary so far and I’m excited to get to know the real her. I’m not quite as excited about Lady Toni, but I don’t hate her either. Her humanity is definitely the most interesting thing about her so far.

I was unusually impressed with the soundtrack and the lighting in this episode. There was a lot of natural light. It gave a feeling of a new dawn and also moved us in a natural cycle that grounded the episode in reality and the day-to-day. The brightness of the majority of the frames was also a nice contrast with the darkness of Sam’s whereabouts.

I’m hella excited for the next episode. Although, I can’t imagine what it’ll be like since (spoilers!) we know that Sam won’t be rescued in it. My guess is that something goes wrong and Dean gets captured (that’s what it looks like from the promos to me), and that’s basically as far as next episode gets. There’s probably a bigger emphasis on Satan since Rick Springfield is guest-starring. BUT, it’s called “Mamma-mia,” so it’s gotta be at least somewhat about Mary. And maybe Toni too, and even Rowena. Guess we will have to wait and see!