Week three of Supernatural’s eleventh season and we have Amara growing by leaps and bounds, Rowena playing the witchy recruiter, Castiel losing his fight against the rage curse and Sam and Dean trying to find answers on all of the above. Sounds like fun times.

Crowley’s playing the concerned mentor to Amara–but she’s a bit more wily than he realizes.

Starting with Rowena—she’s pulling out all the stops to get her Mega Coven off the ground. What’s that? Yep, ‘Mega’—“see, because it’s greater than ‘Grand Coven’…it’s the MEGA COVEN!” Her first recruitment attempt don’t work out too well as the trio of witches aren’t buying what she’s selling (though they do drop the knowledge that her boy Fergus/Crowley’s still alive). She throws a bit of a tantrum, relegating the trio to dust and starts all over again with a pair of witches in Denver. Things go better on this one until one of Crowley’s minions show up with the job of taking Rowena out. Despite killing one of the recruits, he’s unable to get to Rowena before she disappears.

Still having flashbacks on his original meeting with the Darkness, Dean tries focusing on the two major problems at hand: finding Amara and getting the rage curse removed from Castiel.  Time’s running short for our favorite angel but when Sam gets wind of the Denver incident, they pay a visit to the ginger witch that got away and demand that she help them find Rowena. She’s able to scry Rowena’s location and the brothers, using a bit of misdirection, distract her long enough to slap the witch cuffs on her. They bring her back to the Bunker where she and Dean go over the particulars of their deal—she removes the curse and goes free. Dean adds in the inclusion of the Book of the Damned but their negotiations are cut short when Sam discovers Cas has broken free of his restraints and is prowling the town for his next victim.

As the brothers and Rowena search for Cas, Crowley’s busy trying to mold the young Amara into his protégé. Though he’s appointed the young girl a nanny, the King of Hell is heavily involved in her education—from Hitler speeches to natural disasters. Problem is, Amara has her own covert mentor—her grown self, the one Dean knows well. During a mirror one-on-one, the elder version tells her younger self “You must stay fixed on our purpose. Even we cannot undo what’s already done. But as you grow and become stronger your true destiny will become clear to you. I am what you are becoming. And we are mightier than God.”

  Dean getting pummeled by Castiel…again.

Back to the odd trio, Rowena may be cuffed but she’s not helpless, using her barbed tongue to kick up some strife among the brothers. She “lets slip” her deal with Sam; remove the Mark and Sam kills Crowley. Though Dean somewhat dismisses it, I’m sure this little nugget will pop up at the most inopportune time. Still, when they catch Castiel’s trail, the three split up. Dean stumbles across the angel just before he throttles to death an innocent woman. The rage needs to be sated and Cas starts pounding Dean’s face to paste but Sam arrives with Rowena in tow. She removes the curse but, slithery like a snake, she’s able to get out of dodge before the brothers can do anything to alter their deal.

With one obstacle out of the way, the white hats still need to find Amara, the sooner the better. Despite his centuries of experience and silver tongue, Crowley’s slowly starting to realize he may have bitten off a bit more than he can chew as Amara continues to grow, to eat and to demand. It’s only a matter of time before she sets her sights on the King of Hell to sate her voracious appetite for souls. And even with his power, methinks Crowley will be helpless against the Force Against Creation.

The Good

  • Well, Castiel’s back in the fold. No longer suffering from the rage curse, he can devote his energies to helping the brothers track down Amara, which may include finding Metatron, who’s currently in the wind.
  • Though Rowena escaped and still has possession of the Book of the Damned, the Winchesters have the codex used to translate it. It should slow her down but, knowing Rowena, she has a few more nasty tricks up her sleeves.

The Bad

  • Not just for Crowley, but Amara’s growing by leaps and bounds and starting to realize her power. Once she matures, will anyone be able to control her? With God still out of the picture and Heaven in disarray, who will be the ones to mount the necessary defense against the coming Darkness? Well, if the short scene between angel and demon comes to fruition, “if management won’t, it’s up to the little guy.” But will the soldiers of Heaven and Hell really make a difference without a leader to, well, lead the charge?

The Supernatural

  • As always, it seems like Crowley has the best lines. When Amara shares her learnings and how the world is so different than what she remembers, he remarks “Boom. Bang. Stars. Evolution. Taylor Swift. I’m guessing you’d have done things differently.”
  • After Rowena’s witchy recruit tells Dean that she has rights, his response—“And I have a fake badge”—is a classic Dean-ism.
  • Back to Crowley, when he gives the second nanny instructions on limiting Amara’s gluttonous intake of souls: “We don’t want a generation of entitled, pudgy kids, do we?” Too bad Amara doesn’t share Crowley’s thoughts of moderation.