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‘Supernatural’ 12×20 Review: The Bane Twins & The Lengths Hunters Would Go For Family

Supernatural‘s ‘Twigs & Twine & Tasha Banes’ showed us that hunter families really aren’t that different. No matter your upbringing, if the supernatural touched you then you are open to its power and pitfalls aka sacrificing yourself for the other. There’s no point in hiding from it.

This episode also saw the return of Alicia and Max Banes and the British Men of Letters (BMOL). The former tells the story of a pair of siblings so much like the Winchesters, with enough interest from me for that spin-off that Supernatural has been looking for. And the latter needs to be wiped off the board ASAP. They’re the real monsters of Supernatural.

Hunter Families Really Aren’t That Different

For 12 seasons the Winchesters have been the shining example of a family willing to go to any lengths to protect each other. (This includes Honorary Winchesters like Charlie, Cas, Jody, etc as well.) Maybe I have to rewatch earlier seasons, but I’ve never seen quite a comparison between two pairs of siblings who grew up as hunters.

Sam & Dean and Alicia & Max grew up in the hunter life. One had a dead mother, an absentee father, and were alone more than they wanted. And the other had a hunter father who they admired from afar and a mother that made it a priority to give these kids a good life while teaching them the way of hunting. (They don’t outright say the last part here but both Alicia & Max are hunters and seem to have a happier upbringing than Sam & Dean.)

Even with their differences, Alicia & Max ended up at the same spot as Sam & Dean, sacrificing one of their souls for the other. Because that’s what family does on a show like this, they sacrifice for each other. It’s born out of loneliness and a connection formed through hunting that no one else can understand in this mad world filled with things that go bump in the night.

The more I think about Sam & Deans life, the more I wonder if it would really be any different? Mary tired to keep hunting out of her life but it always found her. Same thing goes for Sam & Dean. The hunting life finds you as if you were always meant for it, not as a punishment, but because you’re the only one strong enough to bear the burden of it.

So, as long as the hunting life follows you or has touched you once, you’ll always have the power to do extraordinary, yet stupid, things to bring back the loved ones around you via crossroads demons, deals with angels, or dark witch magic. There’s no escape.

Foreshadowing Mary Winchester’s Death

The death of Tasha Banes, the flashbacks to making deals with crossroads demons, and what Max did to save Alicia, feels like foreshadowing for a soon to be fallen Winchester and I don’t like it.

We’ve only spent a handful of time with Mary Winchester. At first she kept away to help acclimate herself to this new world. Afterwards, and with the BMOL, it was fear driving her. She was afraid of not being enough instead of what I thought she was doing, which is going undercover at the BMOL to see what they were up to.

Now that she’s in Lady Rapists hands, because yes she did enter Sam’s mind and forced herself on him and she deserves no other name, I think Mary Winchester’s time is coming to a close. When that happens Dean and Sam won’t have Cas to stop them from making a deal with Crowley and making things even worse than they were before.

Crowley really isn’t their friend anymore and he’s got bigger problems. If he can use Mary Winchester’s life as a bargaining chip to get the Winchesters to help with Lucifer, he’ll do it. Here’s hoping I’m wrong and that Mary Winchester breaks out, socks Lady Rapist and Mr. Ketch in the face again, and S-U-R-V-I-V-E-S!

The BMOL Continue to Be the Real Monsters

From the moment the BMOL arrived I hated them. They hurt all of the Winchesters, they hurt supernatural beings who were the victims, and were pompous AF. Still I didn’t think they were the biggest threat around because big threats on Supernatural have always been…supernatural.

Season 12 has shown all of us that the biggest monsters are the humans, particularly the BMOL. They try to deceive themselves by saying their actions are for the greater good, but the end doesn’t justify the means they’re willing to go to, to get information on the supernatural.

They spy, torture, and kill their own if it means staying ahead of the game and see American hunters as nothing more than a bug under their boot, waiting to be squashed. Spoiler alert, if the Americans were able to overthrow the British once, they’ll do it again, especially with the Winchesters by their side.

So watch out Mr. Ketch, Lady Rapist, and the head of the BMOL. The Winchesters and the other American hunters will NOT play their part. They will NOT play nice while you try to tell them how to do their job, monitor them, or try to kill them for being independent. They WILL fight. And you will most certainly LOSE.

Additional Notes:

I enjoyed Mary kicking Ketch’ ass a little too much. It was a long time coming!
Throwback to Episode 1 in the form of Sam saying, “Their mom’s on a hunting trip and hasn’t been home in a week.”
Could the BMOL use the shifter to act like Mary in exchange for not going after his shifter family?
I hope Mick’s spirit is around and just waiting for the moment to come back and haunt the hell out of Ketch!
I also hope that Dean gets to use that grenade launcher on Ketch. you were thinking it. I was thinking it. We were all thinking about it!