Supernatural 'Soul Survivor' Review: Who's The Real Monster?

Supernatural has developed a peculiar habit in its nine-plus seasons. Often, the season finales end with a major cliffhanger that gets wrapped up within the first few episodes of the next season. That trend continued in Season 10 with Tuesday's episode, "Soul Survivor."

Many fans probably expected Demon Dean to only stick around for a few episodes in the tenth season. As amazing as 13 or 22 episodes of Jensen Ackles acting like a badass would be, it just wouldn't be sustainable. Of course Sam had to cure his brother and of course he was going to do it rather quickly. It was just a matter of when and how.

But with this formula that Supernatural has developed, the show usually takes care to depict the lingering effects throughout the remainder of the season. For example, Sam nearly died at the end of Season 8 and Dean saved him at the beginning of Season 9. But the effects of Gadreel's possession and Dean's betrayal rippled throughout the ninth season.

In this case, the problem was Demon Dean, which Sam fixed. Now, the lingering issue is the Mark of Cain. Dean might be back to his old self (and we're not even sure if that's 100% true), but he still has the mark and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Castiel even tells Sam as much, but his reaction is to say "one problem at a time." There's no telling how the mark will continue to plague Dean, especially because it needed to be fed every so often with a kill. Dean is most likely not doing that anymore, so will the mark start to eat away at him?

As Sam tried to cure Dean, his brother dropped some emotional bombs on him. He played on some of the usual angst between the brothers but cranked it up to 11. He blamed Sam for their mother's death and said that his very existence ruined his life. It was harsh, but it also made Sam (and the audience) question how much of it was true because Dean and Sam had raised some of these issues in the past. We'll have to see if the brothers talk about what Demon Dean said at some point.

Elsewhere in the episode, Crowley looked bored ruling over Hell. His absence apparently had a profound effect on his subjects, one of whom immolated himself right in front of the King of Hell. As a result, Crowley went to an unlikely source for help: Castiel.

Cas and Hannah continued their journey toward the Men of Letters' bunker, but the female angel from the Season 10 premiere shows up looking for revenge after the duo killed her boyfriend/companion. As she was whooping the grace out of Cas and Hannah, Crowley showed up to kill her and shove her grace down Cas' throat. The King of Hell basically put a Band-Aid on a bullet wound, but Cas is at least on his feet for now and strong enough to restrain Dean and save Sam's life.

The various plot threads of Season 10 are starting to weave together, and things should return to status quo now that Dean is cured and Cas is at least functional again. The early flurry of heavy mythology episodes is likely over, so let's see what the rest of Season 10 has to offer.

Notes from Dad's Journal:

-       Reason #6623 I'll miss Demon Dean: Jensen Ackles was absolutely brilliant in portraying this character. His "Here's Johnny" moment when he was smashing the door to pieces with the hammer was chilling.

-       Ackles also did a great job directing this episode, particularly in the bunker scenes. He built tension by framing his shots nicely as Sam and Dean played cat and mouse.

-       Castiel is still going to burn out, but how long will this new stolen grace last?

-       "You realize how screwed up our lives are that that even makes sense?"

-       Crowley, you're a liar. You're completely sentimental.

-       Who was the redheaded woman at the end of the episode that seems to enjoy nailing people to the ceiling? She appeared ominously after Castiel said all was quiet, so could she be the Big Bad for Season 10?

What did you think of "Soul Survivor"? Let us know in the comments section.