10X9 The Things We Left Behind

Let's have a Guilty Party

Part One: Summary

      Dragged to a juvenile detention center in Pontiac, Illinois, Claire Novak reappears in the series as a troubled teenager. In an attempt to get rid of the guilt he feels, Castiel visits Claire in order to make amends. Claire recognizes him and asks about her father which Castiel tells her of his passing. Outraged, Claire takes advantage of Castiel as he busts her out of the center and she joyrides back to her surrogate family, Randy and Dustin Tate. Sam and Dean arrive to help Castiel find her and eventually intercept her as she is about to rob a store for Randy in order to get him money to pay off a debt to a loan shark. When Claire returns to the house she is captured by the loan shark and his gang members along with the Tate family. In order to get out, Randy makes a deal. Sam, Dean, and Castiel arrive in time to save Claire, but as the gang attacks Dean he has flashbacks from the Mark. He tries to withhold himself but can't and slaughters everyone in the household.
Part Two: Review

     This episode of Supernatural begins with the introduction of Clair Novak, a character that fans haven't seen in seasons. They never see her develop. They never hear news of her. Nothing. So what could possibly bring about this sudden change? Guilt. The number one theme that the writers of the show love to play upon. Castiel returns as James Novak, Claire's father although he was burnt away by an archangel as he explains, in order to make up to Claire all the pain he has caused her. This doesn't bode well with her as she calls him out on all of his "sins" of killing her father and chasing her mother away. The one thing she does do is use Castiel to bust out of the Group Home. Claire resorts to her delinquent ways as she steals his wallet and joyrides back to Randy Tate's house, a family she has runaway to and called her own, but there the audience sees that Randy is a manipulative, lying jerk who is only using Claire for criminal means. This reunion doesn't sound so pleasant right? Well, neither does the one that happens below the earth in this episode...
     Used as a parallel to Claire and Castiel meeting again, Crowley finally caves in and brings forth his mother, Rowena, from the dungeons. Just as Castiel was a "bad father" to Claire and abandoned her, Rowena was a "horrible mother" to Crowley, a.k.a Fergus. Yet, both Castiel and Rowena feel guilty and wish to form some type of connection and are failing miserably. This can be seen as sweet and almost heart-wrenching except for the fact that both parties have different motives, as seen later on in the season. This parallel reveals that guilt pervades even those who wish to do right in the world in order to make up for their sins. An excellent question that is raised in this episode is, "Why come back now?" when Sandy asks Castiel, as James, why he wants Claire back.
     This question can be asked in pretty much every season of Supernatural. Why does Sam return to the hunting life? Why didn't Dean retire from the hunting life? Why did Castiel come back? Why do people have to sacrifice so much? And so on. This question challenges the events that push forth the exposition of this show. Everything happened because a character backtracked from a decision or demanded for a return to the way things were, thus, "The Things We Left Behind." It is returning to a comfort that has been missing for a while. It's recovering a sense of humanity that has been lost. Instead of "letting go" as Dean tries to convince Castiel to do, both him and Rowena are going back to the roots thinking that if they fix the foundation then they can have a sense of relief that things will go straight again. But they really couldn't be more wrong.
     This type of guilt that forces Castiel, Rowena, and mainly the Winchester brothers to go back and fix things just causes a false sense of security. Although they will fight through the bad things and something good comes in the end, it is only temporary for what is done, is done. This is shown through episodes such as, "In the Beginning," (4X3) "The End," (5X4) and, "As Time Goes By," (8X12). Ah, the common tropes and motifs that the writers of Supernatural have used to progress. Almost seems as though were caught in a paradox doesn't it?

Part Three: Questions/Concerns/Opinions

     This episode was a random interruption to the season 10 story line, and of course Andrew Dabb wrote this (I'm telling you Linda, the spin-off is Dabb). Not one of my favorite episodes, but no doubt memorable for the fact that Claire returns. One of the loose ends I guess the writers decided to try and fix. Anyway, this episode was such a guilty party it was almost a physical feeling to me. I did think it was interesting that they used parallelism for the two different parents. It's kind of adorable to imagine Castiel as Claire's father. And the one line Rowena has, "I'll be back in a flash," just shows that she is evil as hell (HA) and already has ulterior motives. It was a good filler episode you know? It provided more to the Supernatural world to play in.