Any other week, this would have been one of Supernatural‘s zanier Monster of the Week episodes, but in light of recent events in the US, it’s hard not to read “The One You’ve Been Waiting For”, with its millennials vs. Nazis theme, as a weird mix of prophecy and Inglourious Basterds style wish fulfilment fantasy.
A young woman called Ellie with a history of running away when the going gets tough, found herself in need of Sam and Dean’s help when she saw her Tinder date immolated by the twisted fire-starters of the Thule Society, the group of Nazi necromancers we met back in season eight’s “Everybody Hates Hitler”. It turned out that a high-ranking Nazi in Hitler’s bunker, Commandant Nauhaus, talked Adolf into letting him store the fuhrer’s fascistic soul in a gold pocket watch until such a time as he could be resurrected. Much like a Horcrux as Nauhaus’ son, Christoph, pointed out, a Harry Potter reference which Sam was quick to explain to his disapproving brother.
In order to bring back history’s most famous genocidal maniac, the Society needed Hitler’s blood, and unbeknownst to Ellie, she was adopted and actually a descendant of the deceased despot. But rather than downloading Hitler into her feeble woman’s body, Nauhaus decided to transfuse her blood into his own, so he could be the vessel for his former boss. Things looked grim for Ellie until Christoph defected (I guess your own father trying to have you shot is pretty good grounds) and lead the Winchesters to where she was being held. After a tussle between the boys, the reanimated Hitler, and his henchmen, Ellie managed to rouse herself from her blood loss induced stupor and shoot one of the men, giving the Winchesters the upper hand once more, and Dean dispatched the undead Nazi for a second time.
So Dean Winchester is the man who killed Hitler for a second time, although, as Sam observed, no one is going to believe that. Poor Dean. Still, he seemed pretty happy with the outcome. He told Sam that Sam would know because he’d seen it happen, and that was basically Dean admitting Sam’s good opinion is all he cares about which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Dean even got his appetite for pie back, having previously spurned Sam’s offer to make him breakfast and the baked goods his little bro thoughtfully brought home, presumably because Dean is still smarting from Mary’s decision to leave. By his own admission, Dean is the king of sublimation, and hunting Nazi’s was just the thing he needed to put the spring back in his step.
There was little sign of the British MOL this week, nor the mysterious Mr. Ketch. No news from Cas and Crowley on the Lucifer hunt either. Although we’re only four episodes in, it still feels much more like a return to the first season, when the boys would investigate a new urban myth each week with the season arc woven very gently through select episodes. Now, with over a decade of material to revisit, it makes sense to see familiar adversaries crop up now and then.
Overall, this was a fairly fun – if ridiculous – premise, lent inadvertent meta meaning by the real life political shift which played out in the US a few days prior to broadcast. Misha Collins (Castiel) tweeted during transmission that he wished Sam and Dean could go back in time and save us all from the election result, and with the prevailing sense across social media platforms that young people have been failed by the older generation on both sides of the pond, this episode did feel like a bit of catharsis – a big, fat ‘fuck you’ to the far right.
Final Grade: C+
+ Dean’s face when Sam wouldn’t let him use the grenade launcher was priceless. In fact, there was some awesome physical comedy from Jensen Ackles in this episode.
+ Aaron Bass making a cameo was really nicely done. Loved that he was clubbing in Berlin (presumably) and doing his thing with his Golem. Having characters pop up like this without making the entire episode revolve around them gives the Winchesters’ world a sense of scale and authenticity without over egging the pudding.
+ I loved that Ellie saved the day despite having basically no blood left, and it’s great to see a female writing and directing partnership on the show.
– Even for Supernatural, the resurrection of Hitler was a bit far-fetched as storylines go.
– Playing Hitler so wildly unhinged and manic slightly undermined the scares here. The boys coming face to face with one of the most monstrous humans of all time should have probably had a bit more gravitas.
– There wasn’t much in the way of aftercare for Christoph. Probably would have been an idea to check that years of fascist propaganda hadn’t totally screwed him up before releasing him into the wild.
Extra Thought: Bit worrying that the police hadn’t found the secret Nazi paraphernalia room in the antiques shop, given that it was practically signposted.
What did you think? Was this episode a dead shot, or did it drop a bollock? Tell us in the comments or on Twitter.
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