“Girl, you’ll be a woman soon” – Supernatural Recap – Ladies Drink Free

Supernatural Season 12, Episode 16
“Ladies Drink Free”
Posted by Dawn and Erica

Female director, female writer, female returning guest star–quite the episode trifecta this week, and it worked pretty damn well. And our first episode after the mini hiatus was Mary-less, which remains a nice break. This episode maintained terrific tension, nearly gave us all a heart attack/heart-break, and laid in just enough sentimental moments to be, well, Supernatural. Well done, ladies. Really well done.

Dawn is recapping on her own this week, since Erica caught the plague (but still gif’d the hell out of this recap because she is a trooper) and our dear Jay is still stuck in the throes of new job travel. So off I go.

I know the fandom is divided on her, but I was glad to see the return of Claire Novak, played with sarcastic glee by Kathryn Newton. Claire’s journey from angry teen to legit hunter has been bumpy, yes, but her time with Sheriff Jody Mills has paid off in a big way, and I feel like this episode showed us how much Claire has come into her own. Plus, she has had a hefty dose of Winchesters throughout her formative teen years, and it shows. It particularly shows when it comes to Dean–his big brother/Dad moments with her ring far truer, in my opinion, than some of the more strained scenes in past episodes with Castiel.

(For those who are a little confused, Claire is the daughter of Jimmy Novak, the human who gave himself to become Castiel’s vessel). Claire is very Dean; their personalities work well together and they are a lot alike. So couple Dean’s influence with Jody Mills as Claire’s new mom, and what you end up with is a formidable hunter-in-training (she’s not quite there yet, but she will be) who is more than worthy of joining the ranks of SPN’s–and the CWs– badass women. Claire is a Wayward Daughter–like Jody, like Donna–and seriously if the Powers That Be don’t realize THAT’S where the true spinoff material is, then just pay attention to the fans. SPN ladies are BAMFs. Give us more.

Also Claire’s alias is Beatrice Quimby. How can you not love that?

Not so BAMF, however, are the British Men of Letters. Guys, they are just so bad at what they do, and I still hope Mick defects because even he has to be realizing at this point that the Winchesters can hunt circles around the BMoL and every single one of their legacies. Also, and I feel it’s important to point this out, I am sick and tired of hearing how the BMoL have rid the UK of monsters, because geography. Let me break it down here: the entirety of the United Kingdom is around 94,000 square miles, which means it’s essentially the size of Oregon, give or take a thousand square miles. That’s one state. ONE. There are 49 others, including Texas which, at just under 260,000 square miles, is equal to almost three entire United Kingdoms, and Alaska, which is 663,000 square miles, or seven United Kingdoms. Want the big math? Thirty-nine United Kingdoms can fit into the entirety of the US. THIRTY-NINE. So, yeah, BMoL, nice job on the UK. Get back to us when you clear it all another 38 times, ok? Bitch, please.

So, yeah, Mick. He does a nice job at pretending to be a doctor, I will give him that, and it looks like all hunters just lie lie lie to each other, which is another thing you’d think the BMoL would know was unwise if they have indeed been Winchester-watching for as long as they claim. The monster of the week this time is a werewolf, you see, and Mick is the one who discovers that Hayden, their still-alive victim, was bit. Look, I am not going to get into the whys and wherefores of twelve seasons of why lying is bad on this show, but it seems to me that hiding that particular bit of info is a problem because she will–and does–turn, just as he is prepping to kill her. She gets a good shot in, and good for her, but in true BMoL style, Mick does manage to get the deed done. Bastard.

While Sam is still willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the BMoL (at first), Dean remains 1000% done and I could not love him more for it. It takes him about three seconds to know Mick is bullshitting them about Hayden and another five seconds to do what he does best and take charge of this hunt. Sure, he might like the level of hotel that the BMoL can offer, but that’s about it. Seeing him get into Mick’s face about what hunting REALLY is (and heartbreakingly bringing up Magda, who Dean doesn’t know Ketch killed) was gorgeous. Jensen Ackles was so damn good in this episode, bringing all of Dean’s protectiveness and self-righteousness and knowledge base to the forefront. He showed us the culmination of twelve seasons of playing the character, and he gave us Dean down to the bone. So good. So Chuck damn good.

Not that Sammy was a slouch, of course. He cares about Claire just as much as Dean, but his big brother role is different. It’s Sam’s job to ask why Claire lied to Jody. It’s Sam’s job to hold on to a hurt and crying Claire when she is wolf-bit (yes, we all lost our minds).

And finally, FINALLY, it was Sam’s job to essentially tell Mick to piss off. YES, BABY. THAT’S MY BOY.

(Yeah, I know he gives Mick a second chance at the end but for now I am just going to revel in this moment again.)

Now we have to talk about the bite. Claire knows what it means. She knows what it will mean when she turns. And she will not take that chance, not with her family. So Dean! And when the chance of a cure comes up (which the BMoL have only tested on mice so far, and I am kinda sad that we didn’t get to see the weremice), she steps up for that as well, because it’s her life. So Sam! Claire is wayward AF, Winchester AF, and she is a hunter. End of story.

But not the end of Claire’s story, thank Chuck. The boys figure out the identity of the were who bit her and manage to find him and Claire, who the werewolf kidnapped because Mick is useless in a fight that doesn’t involve distance weapons. The big bad werewolf dies (thanks to Mick, credit where credit is due) and, amazingly, the BMoL’s plasma cure works. Not that there weren’t some damn tense moments there for us, especially when we actually saw her turn and all of SPN Twitter was screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, but for once the writers gave us pretty quick gratification so no one passed out from holding their breath.

But the end. Guys, the end. Claire called Jody to apologize, but also to say it’s time for Claire to stand on her own and also thanks, mom. SERIOUSLY, GUYS, SHE CALLED JODY HER MOM AND I DIED.

Because Jody is an AMAZING mom, and she deserves her two girls, and Claire deserves a good mom because her life had kinda been a shit show thanks to daddy giving it up to Castiel. And probably by now Sheriff Donna is Aunt Donna and now someone needs to write that fanfic for me because it’s perfect. Wayward AF, CW. This is your spin-off. Listen to the fans. We want this. We will watch the fuck out of it.

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