Supernatural Season 10 Episode 23 Review: Brother's Keeper
Sean McKenna
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Who knew the Mark of Cain was more than just a branded curse that made Dean trash motel rooms and drove him to be a dangerous killer?
Supernatural Season 10 Episode 23 finally concluded the Mark’s storyline – with a twist – and brought Sam and Dean back together as a team.
There was also a major cliffhanger. And me? I’ve got a ton of questions.
Going into the hour, the possibilities for characters sacrificing themselves seemed high, and the separation of Sam and Dean really amped up the inevitable showdown between the two.
Dean was clearly further ramped up on the power of the Mark than ever before, even getting Rudy killed during a hunt, so much so that the older Winchester saw Death as his only option.
Of course, Sam continued in his quest to stop at nothing to save Dean, and that meant leaving Castiel with Rowena to get the spell done while he went to find his brother.
But it was Death who dropped a major information bomb with his knowledge that the Mark of Cain was what was keeping an ultimate evil, The Darkness (I don’t know why, but I kept thinking of the Nothing from The Neverending Story. Maybe Dean and Sam will get a luckdragon next season?), at bay. Removing the Mark would unleash that evil.
I understood Dean’s desires to call upon Death to help him out. Since dying wasn’t going to be an option and removing the Mark seemed like a really bad idea, Death was going to take Dean far away.
Really, though, it was a crazy twist when Dean said that Sam needed to die.
The whole scene between the brothers was an intense one from both the fight to the battle of words and opinions.
It was hard to hear Dean talk about him being evil, but it was just as emotional listening to Sam say he’d never say that about his brother. And for him to lay out those family pictures during that dramatic moment where Dean was ready to kill his brother was powerful.
Both actors were pouring themselves into that scene, and I really wasn’t sure what the outcome would be.
Then Dean used Death’s scythe to kill Death. Wait. What?
Is Death actually dead? And what does that mean? Can people not die? Does someone else become Death? What the heck just happened?
It was certainly a surprising move, but it was great to see Sam and Dean pull through everything and continue to recognize that familial bond. The two have had a lot of ups and downs, but they are definitely both good, not evil.
Unfortunately, when it came to focusing on Castiel, Crowley, and Rowena, I wanted to see if the spell would be completed. But it just took forever.
Castiel did get a great line about Crowley not being in his contacts, but I was getting tired by how long it was taking for them to get things going. And then bringing in Oscar felt rather last minute convenient as well.
Granted, when Rowena finally cast the spell to remove the curse and everything was turned upside down on all fronts, I was glued back into what was going on.
Of course, “Brother’s Keeper” went for the cliffhanger conclusion. Rowena managed to escape, super-powered, and seemingly ready to be one of next season’s big bads. (Though, I’m not really sure I’m looking forward to seeing more of her character.)
Rowena also sent a mind-controlled Castiel to kill Crowley. But the episode didn’t give us their final fates. Who knows if Crowley is dead or how that will have played out?
But the removal of the Mark, while a yay moment for Dean, was a bad moment for the world.
The visuals of the lighting in the sky followed by the massive black cloud (The Darkness looks a lot like demon smoke), and then the looks on Sam and Dean as they tried to escape, really were a solid way to close everything out.
But what does that mean for the world? And will The Darkness be a worthy big bad? They won’t wind up being like the Leviathan, right?
And does that mean we’ll be seeing archangels and maybe even God in order to take down The Darkness? What are Sam and Dean going to do?
So many questions and possibilities for Supernatural Season 11 have me pondering about what just happened and what’s to come. This was an engaging finale, especially when it came to the scenes with Sam and Dean, and while I’m still trying to go over everything that went down, I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what’s next.
Sam and Dean definitely have a lot of work to do when Supernatural returns.
What did you think of the finale? Were you surprised by Death’s death? What about The Darkness? Sound off below, and be sure to catch it all again when you watch Supernatural online now!
Sean McKenna was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. He retired in May of 2017. Follow him on Twitter.
