Credit: CW
We begin tonight’s episode with a stuttering priest and Sam posing as a doctor in a hospital environment. After the priest leaves, Sam helps himself to pouches of human blood from the fridge before driving to the Bunker.
Delivery to demon Dean in the cell previously occupied by Crowley. Dean is adamant he doesn’t want this – to undergo the same ‘demon-curing’ procedure previously endured by Crowley in the season finale that ended with the Angel Fall. Both brothers are aware the procedure might not even work, because, as Dean puts it, he’s “got a hell of a lot more running through me than just demon juice”. The first injection has them both worried – not the least because Dean is sounding snarly like a wild dog. Demon semantics as to who the monster is – to that end, there’s a faux flashback to the guy Dean killed last episode for doucheyness, but the beginning of that story: how the man made a deal with a Crossroads demon to kill his wife in exchange for his soul. Turns out it was Sam’s idea to summon one so he’d be able to trap one for info on Crowley and Dean’s whereabouts. Unfortunately, he didn’t get to them before the deal was made. Dean spins it so it’s all Sam’s fault. During a telecon with Castiel he confesses his doubts about the efficacy of the treatment, that he might be killing him. Castiel offers no alternative to the blood treatment but to carry on. Speaking of ‘all Sam’s fault’, Dean tries guilt as his next approach: if it hadn’t been for Sam, their mother would still be alive.
For the tone of this untender conversation (not as cold as when Dean got shot of Crowley), watch this scene:
As much as he tries to soldier on, Dean’s words do have an effect on him and during Sam’s nostalgic time-out with photographs of happier times, Dean escapes. Cue hide-and-seek in the bunker, each of them looking for a weapon to use against the other. Sam puts the Bunker on lock-down to prevent Dean’s escape, who announces he’s not interested in leaving. He also shares important pieces of information: the blood that’s been injected into him has been successful in making him less demon, the drawback was that the cuffs didn’t hold him anymore, neither did the Devil’s Trap. Sam tries a more conventional method: trapping Dean inside a room with only one entrance and exit.
In the meanwhile, Crowley holds court once again in Hell: dispensing justice on the demons who actively recruited for Abaddon, remembering fond times with Dean, looking over contracts. King of Hell doesn’t seem to cut it anymore for Crowley, everyone can see his heart’s not in it. A demon calls him on it – preferring self-immolation to living under Crowley’s version of hell. This gives him pause for thought.
Hannah and Castiel are still driving – Hannah worries about how ill Castiel is. The goal remains the same: help Sam either turn Dean back into a human or help Sam ‘deal with’ his bro, and also to continue finding rogue angels and returning them to heaven (or else). Hannah, sadly has no sense of direction so lots of opportunity for ‘deep and meaningfuls’. I wouldn’t be surprised if before too long she offered her own grace to him. I think Castiel was also getting a sense of this and he talks to her about keeping their eyes firmly on the priorities and not to get distracted. There is one: at a gas station, the rogue angel from last episode finds them, incapacitates Hannah and captures Castiel with a view to killing him slowly, ideally with Hannah watching. While she’s gone to get Hannah, Crowley appears. He finds the rogue angel ‘playing’ with Hannah, takes her grace, and kills her with a disdainful “why can’t you people just sit on clouds and play on harps like you’re supposed to?” directed at Hannah. Guess Castiel is filling up on more than just petrol. Haha. Crowley has no sense of nobility about this: “you’re useless to me dead” – and tells Castiel to “fix the problem”, in whatever way is necessary in order to control the uncontrollable. Good news though – Crowley informs them they’re only 5 miles away from the Bunker.
Credit: Pinterest
Trapping Dean in the Electrical Room doesn’t work so well. He gets out and the hunt continues to a point where Sam puts a demon-killing knife to Dean’s throat, but instead of having to make a decision as whether to cut across it (or maybe that was just a ploy), Castiel saves the day – well, he sneaks up behind Dean and restrains him long enough to plunk him back into the cell to continue the blood treatment. Our insightful angel makes an interesting observation while Dean is out cold and Sam questions their actions a little, saying: “Only humans can feel real joy and also such profound pain – this is easier.”. When Dean comes to, they splash him with holy water: water off a duck’s back, he’s cured, hallelujah! Sam and Castiel look very happy about it; Dean does not.
Closing convos: Castiel and Sam – the former raises the question of Dean still having the mark of Cain and that might become a problem down the road. Sam is TIRED, his arm’s been in a sling the entire episode, and just wants to deal with “one battle at a time”. This battle being done, he just wants to get Dean some cholesterol (in the form of a big ole greasy burger, most likely), and then get drunk.
Castiel and Dean – Dean feels guilty about trying to kill Sam, does thank Castiel for his help and wants to know if Sam wants a ‘divorce’. As can really only happen on this show, Castiel reassures him that it would “take a lot more than you trying to kill Sam with a hammer to make him want to walk away”. Dean’s acutely aware of the absurdity of that. Castiel suggests Dean take this time to heal, “heaven and hell seem reasonably back in order; it’s quiet out there”. Is it, really?
The answer comes via a shot to Tulsa, OK: classical music, a red-headed demon reads peacefully in her hotel room and wipes a drop or two of blood off her arm that come from the recently deceased humans she has pinned to the ceiling above her. Sure to be a charmer, I’m sure.
Gruska theme. This episode was directed by Jensen Ackles (and was the one they shot first back in August, as per the Supernatural panel at SDCC). Full marks to Ackles for it, too. AND, whoever said Dean would be cured by episode 3, which I read in more than one comments thread, wins their bet (depending on whether or not Episode 3 was included in the count).
Philosophical Musings:
In the early stages of treatment, while Dean is still trying to talk his brother out of it, Sam says that according to the lore, the blood injections are the only way. Dean has a mini-rant over how useless the lore is, the Men of Letters, their whole way of life, really. It made me think though – actually, I’ve thought about this a bit over the summer. The heroes Winchester, they’re not actually adding to any of the knowledge base. They’re quite literal when they say they’re ‘legacies’, not Men of Letters. Naming Charlie a Woman of Letters was a good move in that regard, because before she became interested in learning about hunting, it was more along the lines of acquiring and sharing information (like from shadowy companies to expose their shady dealings), but since she’s in Oz as far as we know, nothing is happening on that front.
In the most literal of senses, the Winchesters only take knowledge, and what they learn as they go along, knowledge that might be of use to future generations of hunters. If they were to pop off and not come back (as they’ve done so, SO often), that knowledge would be lost. And it doesn’t even occur to them that they’re withholding knowledge in that way. They have a disturbingly fatalistic world view and it’s not ever articulated, but the way it comes across is that if they can’t save the world, no one can – it ends with them. Everyone else can go after ghouls, werewolves, shapeshifters, vamps, wendigos, whatever, in the traditional ways, using the lore that the hunter collective all know, the methods that work. Is that why they’ve never trained anyone to carry on after them? Because if they don’t succeed, there won’t be anything to carry on with? Ellen trained Jo. John Winchester trained Sam and Dean. Who knows how many hunters Bobby nurtured in addition to Sam and Dean? There’s a reason they call it ‘the family business’. A lot of fuss and bother is made about the two being brothers, that that counts for more than anything else, and is a prime motivator for so many things, but, the way things stand, unless they adopt someone else into that ‘family’, this one is on course to die out.
Thoughts?