Supernatural - S11E14 - The Vessel
Previously on Supernatural, ‘Love Hurts’
Sam, in search of a weapon to help in the incoming battle with Amara, comes across an article that mentions of a powerful artifact “The Hand of God,” which is believed to contain traces of God’s power.
The last accounts of the artifact has a French Woman of Letter, Delphine Seydoux (Weronika Rosati), who while posing as a mistress of a high ranking Nazi leader, steals the artifact. In an attempt to bring the artifact back to the U.S., the Naval submarine she was in was sunk by a German battle ship. Dean calls Castiel, who’s still Lucifer, (and who I will refer to as Castifer) so they can teleport back in time to the submarine, get the artifact, and teleport back before the submarine sinks while Sam stays back to deal with Amara in case the plan backfires. While Dean was able to get inside the ship, Delphine warded the submarine from supernatural forces, which causes Castifer to materialize in the sea.
Castifer gets back to Sam, who, after some research, finds a spell that is designed to clear all mystical or occult magic, but Sam fears it’s a dead-end as it requires the power of an Archangel. Castifer gathers the components to cast the spell, but when Sam finds out, Castifer (tired of the charade) reveals that he’s Lucifer and starts to steal Sam’s soul. Castiel is able to takeover long enough to stop him from killing Sam. Castiel discloses he can’t eject Lucifer, even if he wanted to, because they need his power to get Dean back.
Meanwhile, back in 1944, Dean finds Delphine and explains his missions. While he has trouble convincing the other seamen that he’s from the future, Delphine believes him and agrees to erase the other wards.
Unfortunately, one of the wards is bound to her lifeblood and can only be eradicated with her life. Dean hesitates to kill her, which allows the German ship to catch up and begin bombing them. The leader of the German ship (who’s the same one who Delphine stole the artifact from and left for dead - but Supernatural lore has already established that Nazi deal in necromancy so they must be burned to truly kill them) communicates to them that they just want the girl (and artifact) and will make the rest P.O.W.s instead of killing them if they submit.
The U.S. commander, who was directed to protect Delphine at all costs, refuses to comply. Delphine, reckoning if they are going to die they should die with a purpose, uses the power of the “Hand of God” to remove the last ward, allowing Lucifer to retrieve Dean. When they get back, Sam warns Dean that Castiel is Lucifer, but not before he immobilizes them and takes the artifact. Fortunately, Delphine used up all its power rendering it useless. Before Lucifer can take out his frustration on the boys, Sam draws an eviction spell casting Lucifer out of the bunker.
Later, a distraught Dean gets some solace when he learns that the wreckage of the German ship was found in the bottom of the sea as an unknown explosion hit its fuel tank causing it to burn.
Supernatural S11E14
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Plot - somewhat intriguing plot that relies on previous Supernatural lore - 7/107/10
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Action - some submarine action sequences were clunky, especially during the bombing sequences - 7/107/10
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Dialogue - nothing stands out except some by Lucifer... - 8/108/10
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Performances - shout out to M. Collins, who continues to do an excellent job mimicking Mark Pellegrino - 9/109/10
Summary
I generally tend to enjoy the time travel episodes, but this one was disjointed and a lot of things didn’t really correlate. Especially Dean’s dealing with Delphine and the seamen in the sub. I can understand Delphine believing him because he knew enough about the Men of Letters to be legit, but it didn’t make sense that the seamen believed him, especially since he kept failing their questions (World Series winner, President).
Also I didn’t get Dean’s connection to Delphine (besides that she’s a hot French woman) but are we supposed to believe he was ready to give up on Sam and the future to use the power of the “Hand of God” to rescue Delphine and the crew? Even at the end, Dean seemed so sullen like he lost his long lost love but he only knew Delphine for like an hour. Minor fault here, but I didn’t like Lucifer keeping Crowley chained up like a mad dog. To be honest, it doesn’t even make sense for Lucifer to keep Crowley around as Crowley usurped his power before, so why chance him doing it again? Anyway, at least the plot moved forward some as Lucifer is now outed and the boys can work to get Castiel back.
