Supernatural Preview: “Form and Void” 

Sam’s infected, Dean’s connected to the Darkness, Crowley’s got his groove back and a rabid Cas has a ways to go to get anywhere within the vicinity of his groove. Last week’s premiere of the CW’s Supernatural was a solid start to Season 11. Jensen and Jared have been talking about feeling shades of Season 1 but “Out in the Darkness, Into the Fire” felt a bit more like Season 2 to me. “Croatoan,” anyone?

Yes, we immediately got Sam keeping his infected status from Dean. And even though Dean did come clean with the fact that The Darkness saved him, he didn’t quite tell his brother everything. I’m going to give both Winchesters a pass…for now. It doesn’t feel like years past when Sam and Dean kept important things from each other. I have a feeling Dean’s going to find out about Sam sooner rather than later. And there’s no way Dean’s going to say anything about just how connected he is to this Darkness until he knows more. But, man, what she had to say to him was scary:

Dean: If you’re as bad as they say you are, why haven’t you hurt me?

Darkness: For the same reason, you haven’t hurt me. (She shows him her Mark) We’re bound, Dean. We’ll always be bound. You helped me. I helped you. No matter where I am, who I am…we will always help each other.

Only on our show does a major force of darkness and destruction — possibly the very first evil — want to make out with one of our heroes. Again, it’s the super famous Dean Winchester Effect in play here. Don’t blame her/it/– whatever you want to call it — one bit.

It doesn’t hurt the actress who plays The Darkness has already shown some chemistry with Jensen. I really like the casting. Emily Swallow looked familiar and now I know why. For any of you who watch Bravo’s Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce, she was in a couple of episodes. She played Carla, the new interior designer girlfriend to Phoebe’s ex-husband, Ralf. Her other TV credits include The Mentalist, the short-lived TNT series, Monday Mornings, NCIS and Southland. Good to have her on board. I’m looking forward to seeing more of her and how Amara/the Darkness makes things hella difficult for Team Free Will.

I absolutely adored Crowley’s journey in this episode — his spirit and once he found his way back to his original body. Before that, however, he inhabited that woman’s body, had a little orgy fun and then got back to business of killing and being the King of Hell. Loved the actress who played Marnie. By the by, if you think you’ve seen Kirsten Robek in this universe before, good eye. She once played Mrs. Wallace in the Season 4 episode, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester.”

Speaking of Sam…he gets through to Dean — which is huge. HUGE. Restating the Winchesters’ mission of hunting things and saving people was beyond necessary. And so Sam stays at the hospital to try and protect and save everyone from this dire situation. Unlike in “Croatoan,” where he was immune to the disease, things take a turn for the worse. He gets surprised in a closet and proceeds to get infected himself. Oh Sam. That scene where the group of diseased black veined townfolk approach him and then curiously walk away without doing anything was super creepy. Was this because they realized he was already one of them? Or was there another reason? I immediately thought that it was because he was Special Sam.

I can’t forget about Cas. While I’m anxious to see where his story is going, I’m less interested in seeing him suffer from this attack dog spell. I feel like every season he’s forced to deal with one affliction or another. Enough. I want to see him in full Castiel mode a.s.a.p. And I’d like to see him join the Winchesters as they battle against The Darkness. Sam and Dean need all the help they can get.

Now to tonight’s episode, “Form and Void.”

Synopsis for “Form and Void”: Dean (Jensen Ackles) helps Jenna (guest star Laci J. Mailey), the nurse he met after the Darkness fell, get back home safely and then sets off to help Sam (Jared Padalecki) deal with a town infected by a mysterious and deadly gas. However, when Jenna falls into dangerous hands, she calls Dean for help and Sam tells him to go back to her. Unfortunately for Sam, he isn’t able to handle the townspeople turned monsters as easily as he thought.

Questions/Thoughts

-What’s it going to take for Sam to find a cure? Will he be able to hide his new condition from Dean?
-That baby has the Mark which means she’s the Darkness (Amara). This can’t be good for Jenna or Dean.
-It seems like Sam and Dean go their separate ways again. Hope this doesn’t last too long. The brothers are stronger together than apart.

-Why does Crowley look like a Man of the Cloth?

-And how is Cas going to get out of the trouble he’s in?
-“Form and Void” is an interesting phrase. It’s from the book of Genesis (second verse of the first chapter). “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
-Will we be seeing God this season?
-Plus, Rowena and Metatron are out there — when will we see them?
-This Darkness arc can go in a million different ways. They’ve already mentioned the Cage as well as Michael and Lucifer. I want to see Mark Pellegrino back on this show so bad.

Yes, I’m encouraged by what this show gave us in the premiere. Hopefully it continues on the right (and righteous) path. Consider me excited to see what happens next. I like that, so far, there’s story for everyone.

Clip from “Form and Void”