Supernatural New Episode Review: Season 10 Crawls Ahead with 'Paint It Black'

Season 10 of Supernatural rolled along Tuesday night with "Paint It Black," another episode that slowed down the main plot in favor of another Monster of the Week episode.

Supernatural did its Supernatural thing this week by somewhat clumsily tying the action within the episode to the overall plot of the season. Dean went to confession to try to solve the case, and in the process unloaded his feelings about the Mark of Cain and his impending demise. He has been saying to Sam for weeks now that he wants his brother to stop trying to get rid of the mark and just let things be the way they are, but now it's clear that he has the will to survive. But more than that, he wants to live. He wants to experience the world, not just exist in it.

Elsewhere in the episode, we got some movement on the Rowena front, as Crowley brought the leader of the Grand Coven to his mother for her to do as she pleased. And what she pleased was to torture the witch, who set Rowena on the path to take down the Winchester brothers because they are the new Men of Letters. This development at least gives Rowena some purpose. It had been a struggle to really get invested in her character at all because all she did was sit there and whine to Crowley, but now she is set squarely opposite Sam and Dean. This has the added benefit of putting Crowley in an awkward spot. Would he choose Moose and Not Moose or his own mother?

Still, all of this ultimately felt like more stalling. The Mark of Cain storyline is enough to propel the show forward, but these Monster of the Week stories keep slowing the season to a crawl. Next week looks much more promising, as Dean and Rowena will square off, Bobby will return, and Castiel and Metatron also show up, presumably because of the Mark of Cain.

Variety first exclusively reported that Beaver will return in the April 1 episode of the series. "In the episode, titled 'Inside Man,' Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Castiel (Misha Collins) need a little help from someone in heaven, so they turn to Bobby (Beaver). Elsewhere, Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Rowena (guest star Ruth Connell) face off," the site reports.

Bobby died in Season 7 but has appeared sporadically since then. He last showed up in the Season 9 premiere "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here."

What did you think of "Paint It Black"? Let us know in the comments section.