Supernatural Season 12 Episode 5: The One You’ve Been Waiting For – Review and Analysis

Supernatural proved, once again, that no one ever really stays dead in this week’s episode ‘The One You’ve Been Waiting For’. The boys are faced against a Nazi threat and possibly the reincarnation of one of history’s worst tyrants, Hitler. Suffice to say, it was an enjoyably intriguing episode. Here’s my review and analysis but beware of spoilers ahead.

To Recap

The Thule make an appearance and we learn of their plan to resurrect Hitler, whose soul is trapped in a, rather ugly, pocket watch. That’s right, Hitler’s pulled a Voldemort. He’s made a horcrux. No, I’m not joking; they even call it a horcrux. Harry Potter references aside, the Thule, a Nazi supporter society, attempt to resurrect the world’s crappiest leader by infusing his soul into the body of a relative. Said relative is a quirky girl who now has to flee from the Nazi necromancers. Cue Sam and Dean Winchester who are inevitably tasked with protecting Hitler’s distant relative and stopping the king of genocide from coming back to life. They succeed; Dean kills Hitler. It’s pretty awesome.

The Review

So for those of you that don’t know who the Thule are, let me explain. They are a secret society with a penchant for dark magic and necromancy. They’ve also made some terrible political choices, choosing to back Hitler during WWII. The Thule are also essentially immortal.

Sam and Dean have gone up against the Thule before, and they’ve made for some really interesting episodes, but this one has got to take first prize. The possibility of a resurrected Hitler with an army of necromancers would make for one hell of a story arc. I was a bit disappointed by the plot lasting only one episode. The episode itself was quirky and enjoyable. It felt a little surreal, what with the Harry Potter-esque storyline and the silly scenes. It provided a good breakaway from the emotionally heavy episodes of prior.

The episode did flow rather differently than I had expected. For one, it seemed a lot less grave than an episode involving the resurrection of Hitler would presume to be. Also, Hitler is a petulant five-year-old child with a penchant for murder. He eventually does get resurrected into the body of one of his followers and it’s nothing like you would expect. He doesn’t carry himself as one would expect a manipulative tyrant to; instead, Hitler is an energized, almost silly character who also happens to like slaughter. He’s actually really annoying and I gave a sigh of relief when Dean had finally shot man-child in the head.

The episode also dealt with parentage, on a much smaller scale. One of the Thule Society’s leaders employs his son for the mission of tracking Hitler’s distant relative. When the son is captured by Sam and Dean and reveals the society’s secret plan, the leader, and coincidentally Hitler’s future vessel, orders for his son to be killed. The episode does briefly touch on what a childhood with a crazily obsessed Nazi parent would be like, but I do wish the show would seem a little less indifferent to the character’s emotions. The son eventually helps the brothers save the day.

Dean’s portrayal in this episode basically made the episode great, for me. While Sam is the responsible, kind-eyed adult, Dean is a man-child in the most adorable sense. His character reminded me of earlier seasons, when the boys didn’t horde the weight of the world on their shoulders. I still can’t choose whether the Fumbling Ship scene or the Grenade Launcher scene is my favorite. Yep, they have a grenade launcher. No, they didn’t use it but I’m eagerly awaiting the moment they do because it promises to be spectacular.