Image Credit: Liane Hentscher/The CW
Dean better thank his lucky stars he’s still in one piece, because everyone around him is falling apart. At least, that was the case in this week’s Supernatural.
Let’s start with sweaty Sam, who continued to suffer the effects of the trials and seemed to get worse with every passing minute. When he wasn’t losing consciousness from a dangerously high fever or coughing up a lung, he also had another bizarre side-effect that had him recalling very early childhood memories with perfect clarity. (Dean reading to him as a kid and one family trip with a farting donkey.) I thought briefly that Sam’s memories were simply just the show giving us those sweet little background nuggets fans love so much, but later in the episode, we learned the stories were context for a revelation.
As Sam and Dean were discussing the trials, Sam admitted that he believed the trials were “purifying” him. After Sam’s history with demon blood and evil-filled destiny that was once his future, he felt like the trials were redeeming. The moment was rather short, but I had been waiting for the show to explain how the trials would be important to the character Sam. And the scene did exactly that.
Meanwhile, we also learned that Sam’s strange side-effects also gave him an edge in their search for Metatron, the scribe of God, a.k.a. a guy who would REALLY be useful when you’re trying to translate a bunch of secret-keeping scrolls. (Sam and Metatron are apparently linked in some way now that Sam has undertaken the trials.)
Once they found Metatron (Curtis Armstrong, Booger from Revenge of the Nerds!), they found out he was a crazy recluse who’d hidden himself from all supernatural happenings. In fact, he’s probably one of the few supernatural beings who had never heard of the Winchesters. (Side note: I was highly amused by Sam’s little “don’t you know who we are?” moment.) Initially, Metatron wanted nothing to do with the boys, but a little guilt trip got him on board the Saving the World train. And it came not a moment too soon…
You see, Kevin Tran was in dire need of some rescuing. Yes, Kevin was alive (despite Sam and Dean thinking the contrary) but he was being held captive by Crowley who had tricked him into thinking he was still with the Winchesters. To be fair to Crowley, it was a great idea… but poorly executed. The demons Crowley had chosen to be Sam and Dean apparently haven’t watched as much Supernatural as I have because their imitation ignored all the important details. Specifically, they were too darn nice. We later learned that Kevin had known all along that he wasn’t with the boys and had led the demons on a wild goose chase. Before Crowley could kill Kevin, however, Metatron swooped in and saved him. He was still in rough shape by the time Metatron got him back to the motel the guys were holding up in.
While all of this was going on, Castiel reappeared in our world as a man on the run. He was hiding in a series of Biggersons restaurants because their “sameness” threw off the angel bounty hunters who were charged with capturing him. Cas’s strategy paid off for a while, but the goons got him to stop running by slaughtering all the people in one of the restaurants. But even after being tortured, Cas refused to give up the location of the tablet he’d swiped. Crowley’s the one that ends up getting it out of him, though — literally. He extracted it out of Castiel’s body. It was gruesome.
It’s unsurprising that Cas was in rough shape when the boys found him on the street while driving, but I’m sure he’ll bounce back in time to be part of the fight to save the world. Step 3 in their quest by the way? “Cure a demon.” Good luck with that, gang.
QUOTEABLES:
“I was born to direct.” — Crowley
“Want me to do the whole airplane thing with the spoon?” — Dean
“Trial? I wouldn’t let you start a moped.” — Dean
“You’re not really supposed to say Indians.” — Sam to Dean
“They teach ‘Word of God’ at Stanford?” — Dean to Sam
“You rode a farty donkey.” — Sam to Dean
“In the words of a good friend… Bite me!” — Cas to Naomi
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