The Miller Twins Talk #Supernatural Ep13x6 #Tombstone via @stacyamiller85 @tdmiller820917 @cw_spn

The Nerdy Girl Express writers and twins Stacy and Tracy Miller are back for Season 13 for The Miller Twins Talk Supernatural. They will share their thoughts on heroic Winchester brothers, Sam and Dean (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) as well as other characters on The CW’s longest running show.

This article contains spoilers so if you haven’t seen the episode “Tombstone” please do not continue reading.

Tracy:

“Tombstone” suggested the unification of Team Free Will 2.0 configured to include Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles), Castiel (Misha Collins) and Jack (Alexander Calvert) poised to tackle a zombie case that in fact turned out to be a robber ghoul that stole the form of a 19th century outlaw.

The seminal ghoul case for me was the Season 4 episode “Jump The Shark.” In that episode, our hunting team consisted of the Winchester brothers while the ghoul was a revenge seeking monster who assumed the persona of Sam and Dean’s half brother Adam Milligan (Jake Abel).

For me, “Tombstone” attempted to examine four components: Team Free Will 2.0, the ghoul hunt and Jack’s continuing doubts about whether he will turn evil. A small part of the episode involved Dean’s cowboy/old West fetish.

I tried to approach this episode with an open mind, but I couldn’t muster too much enthusiasm. The episode just fell flat.

My initial disappointment was with Team Free Will 2.0. It was just painful to watch. Too many hunters on a case, I would argue, is like too many cooks in the kitchen: rather than enhance the meal, it just diminishes it.

In addition, the script burdened itself with trying to create a bond between Castiel and Jack. I just didn’t see it. Kelly anointed Castiel as Jack’s protector, yet the angel and Nephilim’s meeting and subsequent interactions felt awkward.

Jack proudly showed off his powers at the bunker as well as his research skills in finding the case. Once the hunting quartet hit the road to Dodge City, Kansas, we saw Dean pair off with Castiel (as Texas Rangers) while Sam and Jack were FBI agent and FBI trainee, respectively, questioning the coroner. Jack was an eager student looking at the examining room and trying to ask questions about cold spots. I desperately missed the days of Sam and Dean, hunting brothers working the case together.

Dean’s Old West fixation back in the Season 6 episode “Frontierland” (when the Winchester brothers time traveled to March 5, 1861 to get Samuel Colt’s gun to kill Finch aka The Phoenix to create Phoenix ash to destroy Eve, the Mother of All) was fun to watch. In contrast, “Tombstone” attempted to recapture Dean’s fascination with the Old West and outlaws. But I felt that the charm was sorely lacking. The ghoul in “Tombstone” failed to excite me.

The best part of the episode for me was when Jack used his powers to subdue the ghoul but accidentally killed the bank employee. Plagued by guilt and now convinced that he is evil, Jack left the bunker.

Stacy:

Usually I’m able to write this column with very minimal effort. As a longtime fan of Supernatural since it premiered on the now defunct The WB network on Tuesday, September 13, the journey of Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) has kept me tuned in for thirteen seasons. I’ve had favorite episodes and some not so much. But even with episodes I’ve found lacking something to put them on the “most see again” list for me, there was usually some aspect that I could relate to that made me want to explore and view it again. Sadly, I think that “Tombstone” won’t be one of those episodes.

I’ve read comments all day on social media in which many viewers made the decision not to watch. There were those viewers who watch Supernatural primarily for Sam and Dean and felt the episode would be a waste of their time as they reasoned that it looked from the previews that the brothers would have very little brotherly interaction. Yes, I was concerned about the lack of Winchester bonding while hunting. But as I never like to offer judgment on anything before I give it a chance, I knew I would be watching. Plus, I will only stop Supernatural after the last scene of the series finale. I followed Sam and Dean’s road so far from the start and will continue on it until the end.

The biggest problem I had with “Tombstone” was that it felt like a draft of an episode that was missing integral parts. The monster was a grave robbing ghoul? The location Dodge City Kansas seemed as though it was chosen just to give the episode a western flair, which I could have done without as I’m not a big western fan. “Frontierland” only worked for me because I enjoyed the time travel aspect. I got the impression in “Tombstone” that Sam and Dean’s whole heart wasn’t into the case; it seems as just a reason to get out of the bunker with Jack and Castiel so they could be Team Free Will (or Team Free Will 2.0) again.

For me, the best part of “Tombstone” was Jack’s attempts at being a hero and a hunter after thinking himself evil because he was Lucifer’s son. Jack has an almost child-like excitement on fitting into Sam and Dean’s hunting world. Finally having a handle on his powers, Jack just wanted to help save people from monsters. But when he mistakenly kills an innocent in the quest, the young Nephilim begins questioning whether he is evil. And seeing the fear of him in Sam’s eyes was a pain Jack couldn’t bear. As he stated, Sam, Dean and Castiel were all he had and he didn’t want to end of hurting them. At the episode’s end, Jack left.

I think an episode where Castiel returned from the empty shouldn’t have been a lackluster hunt. Sam and Dean could have gone off hunting alone (with a better case and monster) while Castiel should have stayed at the bunker and regrouped while getting to know Jack. At times, Castiel has felt displaced on Earth and doing more harm then good in his attempts to help humanity. He could have counseled Jack on his experience and been a mentor for when they went out on a case together. Instead we got “Castiel is back….Cas, this is Jack, Jack this is Cas. Let’s go hunting.” To me, the episode lack reasoning to make it interesting.