Meg Masters

Meg Masters is a fictional character on The CW Television Network's drama and horror television series Supernatural. Created by the series' writers to develop a story arc for the first season, Meg is an unnamed demon who assumes the name of the host she possesses and begins antagonizing the series protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester. Nicki Aycox portrays her in the first season, with Jared Padalecki assuming the role in the second season. The writers wanted Aycox to reprise the role in later seasons, but ultimately cast Rachel Miner for storyline purposes. Miner's incarnation slowly evolves into an ally of the Winchesters throughout her appearances. The character received generally mixed reception from critics, with many favoring Aycox's version.

Plot

After possessing a young woman named Meg Masters (Nicki Aycox), the demon assumes her name and tracks down series protagonist Sam Winchester in the first season episode "Scarecrow". The two briefly meet while hitchhiking—Sam left his brother Dean to track down their missing father John—and then yet again at a bus station. Despite her attempts to convince him otherwise, Sam eventually leaves to help Dean with one of their supernatural investigations. Meg later slits a man's throat and uses his blood to communicate with her father Azazel, the demon responsible for the death of Sam and Dean's mother.^[1]

Sam encounters her again in the episode "Shadow". Finding her reappearance suspicious, Sam later spies on her and realizes that she is responsible for recent deaths of women from his hometown. The brothers confront Meg and learn that the recent killings were actually a trap set for John, who has been hunting her father Azazel.^[2] After Sam and Dean reunite with John and acquire the demon-killing Colt handgun, Meg begins killing their friends in "Salvation" and threatens to continue doing so unless they surrender the weapon. John delivers a fake gun, but Meg and her demonic brother Tom take him hostage after quickly realizing the deceit.^[3] Meg tracks down the brothers in search of the Colt in the season finale "Devil's Trap", but is ultimately captured and exorcised to Hell.^[4] Meg escapes in the second season and takes possession of Sam (Jared Padalecki) in "Born Under a Bad Sign". No longer caring about her father's plans, she instead merely seeks revenge. To trick Dean into killing his brother, she forces Sam to kill a fellow hunter of supernatural creatures. Meg then takes their friend Jo Harvelle hostage, but is eventually captured by the Winchesters' ally Bobby Singer. Though her time in Hell has made her more powerful, Bobby and Dean force Meg to flee Sam's body.^[5]

After Lucifer is freed from Hell, Meg (Rachel Miner) briefly appears in the fifth season premiere "Sympathy for the Devil" attempting to stop the brothers from finding a weapon said to be capable of defeating Lucifer. Her attack leaves Bobby paralyzed, but she is forced to flee before Sam can kill her.^[6] She returns in "Abandon All Hope...", helping Lucifer summon Death. She sends a pack of hellhounds after Sam, Dean, and their friends Jo and Ellen Harvelle when they arrive to stop Lucifer, with the confrontation ending in Jo and Ellen's deaths. Lucifer meanwhile captures the angel Castiel, an ally of the Winchesters, and she stands guard until he escapes by pushing her onto the burning circle keeping him imprisoned.^[7] The Winchesters ultimately send Lucifer back to Hell at the end of the season.^[8] The demon Crowley assumes reign, forcing Meg to go into hiding as a Lucifer loyalist. She teams up with the Winchesters and Castiel in the sixth season episode "Caged Heat" to kill the new ruler. After Castiel apparently destroys Crowley by burning his human remains—the only thing allowing demons to return to the mortal world—she flees out of fear that the Winchesters will kill her, too.^[9]

Crowley is later revealed to have faked his death,^[10] while Castiel is resurrected by God but left amnesiac after his death in the seventh season premiere.^[11] Meg again forms an alliance with Dean in "The Born-Again Identity" to stop Crowley from capturing Castiel. The angel eventually recovers his memories, and absorbs damage previously caused to Sam's mind by Lucifer. The Winchesters leave a now-insane Castiel in a mental hospital. To watch over him, Meg takes a job at the hospital under the name "Meg Masters".^[12] Castiel slightly recovers in "Reading is Fundamental". Meg alerts the brothers, and later helps protect Castiel from both angels and demons before once again going into hiding.^[13] Castiel locates her in the seventh season finale "Survival of the Fittest". She reluctantly agrees to help them kill Dick Roman, the leader of a race of creatures known as the Leviathan who plan to take over the planet. After distracting Dick's forces by directly attacking his headquarters, however, Meg is captured by demons.^[14] Due to her time spent with the Lucifer-worshiping Azazel, Crowley tortures her for the location of Lucifer's crypt. Inside is a Word of God tablet about angels. The Winchesters rescue Meg in the eighth season episode "Goodbye Stranger", and she takes them to the crypt's location. Meg ultimately sacrifices her life to Crowley to allow the Winchesters time to escape.^[15]

Characterization

Actress Nicki Aycox described Meg as having a "playful side" and a "sexuality", both of which are "tempered with an evil side underneath". In her mind, the human qualities represented the real Meg whom the demon was possessing.^[16] Aycox also found the character sarcastic, "sharp-tongued, witty, [and] smart", as well as determined to get what she wants.^[17] Likewise, series creator Eric Kripke noted that she can "really twist the knife psychologically."^[18]

The word "fiery" summed up the character for actress Rachel Miner, who noted the "devilish enjoyment" that the "obviously very evil" Meg gets from playing cat-and-mouse games with the Winchesters.^[20] In her opinion, Meg's "sense of fun" stems from her "thousands and thousands of years" of living,^[20] which have provided her "a little bit more of relaxation" because "the little things wouldn't be significant to her".^[21][20] In addition to describing the character as "quite powerful" and a "free spirit", Miner deemed Meg an "ambitious demon" who always has a plan and who seizes any opportunity to gain power.^[22][20][23] The actress attributed Meg's longevity to the character's sense of "[knowing] when to exit". She elaborated, "[Meg] made a hasty withdrawal and gathered her forces to come back. That's her strength... she doesn't take the brothers on unless she has the upper hand."^[22]

Writer Sera Gamble noted that Meg becomes "a bit of a free agent and kind of a demon rebel" following Lucifer's defeat at the end of the fifth season. Already an enemy of the new demonic ruler Crowley, her failed attempt to kill him in the sixth season puts her on "Crowley's most-wanted list".^[24] According to Miner, Meg is "just basically trying to survive" after that. Although she keeps an eye on "everything she can that might affect her, including what the Winchesters are up to", her main objective is avoiding Crowley.^[23] This desperation forces her to work with the Winchesters in later appearances.^[24]

In regards to Meg meeting the angel Castiel for the first time in the fifth season, Miner noted the "fun moment where it looks like maybe Cass and I could kiss". The actress enjoyed the flirtation, pointing out that "of course the demon would want the angel to give in to his lesser instincts".^[26] This "demon-angel dichotomy" continues in the sixth season,^[26] although Miner was uncertain whether Meg was merely toying with Castiel. "It's complex when you are dealing with a demon," she explained, "but Castiel definitely sparks her interest more than most. He had some effect on her especially with that kiss." ^[19] Nevertheless, she later deemed the flirtation as "just a fun deviation" for the characters.^[23] Actor Misha Collins, who portrays Castiel, acknowledged that Meg "is still turning up the heat on the sexual tension between Cas and herself" in the seventh season.^[27] Describing her as "sort of a helper", he joked, "Again, of course, it’s a strained relationship. Cas likes her... Sam and Dean have a little more trouble with her."^[28] Like Miner, however, he called her true motives with both Castiel and the Winchesters "a lingering question" at that time.^[27]

Development

With the initial episodes of the first season featuring mostly unconnected storylines, the writers became desperate to begin developing a mythology for the series.^[29] They thus crafted Meg as a recurring antagonist, but at the time were otherwise unsure of what direction to take the character.^[30] Executive Producer Kim Manners previously directed an episode of the series Over There featuring Aycox, and hand-selected her for the role of Meg.^[31] On developing the character and her storyline, Aycox noted that they "really just felt [their] way through" and described it as "very trial and error".^[31]

The actress's strategy in "Scarecrow" was to surprise the audience—the episode's conclusion reveals that Meg is a demon—by portraying her as "a truly innocent girl who's lost and on her way to somewhere else".^[16] In designing the costume for that episode, Diane Widas wanted to reflect that Meg was traveling but also dress her as "a girl that the boys would be interested in".^[33] As Aycox became more comfortable onset and saw how the series leads Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles were "playful" and "up for anything", the actress gained the confidence to bring a "sexuality" to the character.^[16] Given free rein over the character by production, Aycox also tried to make Meg "very stylized".^[32] Widas reflected this character progression by giving her a yellow leather jacket as she "got stronger", ultimately dressing her in a red jacket when her demonic side fully emerged in her final appearance.^[33] Manners disagreed with the decision to kill the character off. Comparing her to the Cigarette Smoking Man of the series The X-Files, he thought she had potential to be a "great nemesis" for the Winchesters.^[34]

Jared Padalecki's character Sam Winchester becomes possessed by Meg in the show's second season.

The show's second season involves a subplot of whether Sam would turn evil, and the writers wanted an episode where Sam would wake up covered in blood after having killed a person. Realizing that demonic possession could explain his actions, the writers brought back Meg because she would want revenge for being exorcised. Writer Cathryn Huphris felt that this strategy "provided a good opportunity to see what [being evil] would look like for Sam, and what Dean's response to that might be".^[35] For most of the episode, the writers depicted Sam as "scared, confused, and angry", ultimately revealing the "characteristic demon swagger" after he takes Jo hostage.^[36] Padalecki prepared by watching Aycox's performances, with the actress feeling that he picked up on her "own personal mannerisms...like little tics and looks and things like that".^[37] Director J. Miller Tobin believed Padalecki did a "terrific job of...just being so smarmy and so in your face".^[36]

After Meg's disappearance, creator Eric Kripke repeatedly asked the writers what she was doing off-screen. Considering her "a really formidable adversary" for the Winchesters, Kripke wrote her into the fifth season premiere "Sympathy for the Devil".^[38] The writers wanted Acyox to again reprise the role—the actress had already returned in the fourth season as the spirit of the actual Meg Masters—and brainstormed reasons why the demon would want to return to her old host after the body had been buried and rotting for years. Ultimately deeming it too impractical, they chose to recast.^[39] Because the writers still wanted to pay credit to Aycox, "the bar was set very high" during the casting process. Miner received the role, with Kripke finding her "just so interesting and complicated and sexy and idiosyncratic" and with "so many different layers".^[40]

Miner had not seen the series before,^[41] and only had the opportunity before filming to view a few clips of Aycox's episodes. She wanted to avoid merely copying Aycox's performance, but at the same time did not want to stray too far because it was the same character.^[21] However, Miner found that she did not have to alter her performance because the character was "written so specifically that the choices were very similar".^[42] Respecting prior depictions of Meg, Miner also noted, "I did take to heart that the character meant so much to people... That became something I took into consideration because I didn't want to disappoint people by taking away from what was originally there." ^[21] Upon being asked to return for "Abandon All Hope...", the actress declined a film offer because it conflicted with the series' filming.^[43]

The sixth season episode "Caged Heat" originally involved Lenore, a vampire whom the Winchesters spared in the second season, but the writers replaced her with Meg when actress Amber Benson was unavailable.^[44] Meg's increased presence in the episode as compared to Miner's previous appearances surprised the actress.^[45] Deeming it her favorite episode, Miner commented, "The episode took Meg in a lot of directions that you might not have expected and that were fun to play."^[46] Miner again returned in various episodes of the seventh season, with the character dying in the eighth season. Feeling that "when someone dies, you want it to count a little bit", Executive Producer Jeremy Carver stated that "there are no immediate plans to bring her back".^[47]

Reception

Maureen Ryan of Chicago Tribune deemed Aycox's incarnation of Meg a "good addition to the show" who "[spiced] things up a bit". She enjoyed how the character toyed around with the Winchesters, and thought Meg's final moments were "well done".^[48] Diana Steenbergen of IGN, on the other hand, found Meg's attempts to "out-tough and out-snark the boys" uninteresting. She opinioned, "The show has managed to make interesting, three-dimensional, flawed yet heroic male characters; it is high time to spread that care toward the recurring female characters."^[49]

Despite these mixed reviews of the character, however, critics praised Padalecki for his performance. Steenbergen found Padalecki's portrayal of the character "exceptionally entertaining". She noted, "Padalecki effortlessly switches from taunting...back into innocent-sounding Sammy begging his brother to help him".^[50] Comparing Padalecki's previous portrayals of an evil Sam, Tina Charles of TV Guide believed Padalecki "outdid himself" as Meg. "I just think that Jared had to relish the different levels of intensity Sam was put through," she wrote. "It showed, and he did such a great job."^[51]

Tim Janson of Mania believed that neither Aycox nor Padalecki portrayed Meg "with such dripping sarcasm as Rachel Miner". He felt that she "always adds spice when she appears", and deemed the bonding scenes between Meg and Sam in "Goodbye Stranger" to be "priceless".^[52] Similarly, Steenbergen felt Miner played the role "with vicious flair" and "[conveyed] Meg's brutality well, right from the beginning".^[53] As time passed, she noted that the actress "has done well taking over the role".^[54] Like Janson, Steenbergen particularly enjoyed the conversation between Meg and Sam in "Goodbye Stranger". In regard to this final appearance, she wrote, "If you had told me a few years ago that Meg’s death would be sad I wouldn’t have believed you, but it was."^[55] Miner's incarnation of Meg received praise from Jordan Farley of SFX, as well. Farley wrote, "As a demon turned good (sort of) she occupies a moral grey zone that leaves her actions completely unpredictable even after year’s of guest appearances, a refreshing quality for a character to have. And she’s funny."^[56] Ryan also liked Miner's portrayal of the character.^[57]

However, other reviewers were not as favorable to Miner. Charles liked Miner's portrayal,^[58] but only enjoyed her "in smaller doses" as opposed to Miner's large role in "Reading is Fundamental".^[59] At times, Charles also felt that her dialogue "always [seemed] to be a series of one-liners".^[60] Laura Prudom of Huffington Post felt Aycox portrayed the character with a "lot more subtlety" than Miner. Prudom preferred Meg's darker appearances prior to Miner, finding it "hard to reconcile the demon who possessed Sam and went on a killing and torture spree in the phenomenal 'Born Under a Bad Sign' with the character we've seen in the past couple of years".^[61] Nevertheless, she was "impressed that [Meg] went out fighting for what was right".^[62] Charles,^[58] John Kubicek of BuddyTV,^[63] and Sandra Gonzalez of Entertainment Weekly also favored Aycox's portrayal of the character.^[64]

References