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caranfindelTHEN: Well, okay, the music is Bob Seger. And I like Bob Seger. But not this song. And they've used it before; I believe in the episode after Gadreel!Sam kills Kevin. So I'm starting off disappointed. Me and Sam, we've killed just about everything there is. Dean not killing Jack, but still looking awfully hot aiming the God Gun at him. Michael!Dean. Sam's beard! \o/ Oh, wait, SAM was the one who pushed Michael into the walk-in in Dean's brain? How did I not catch that? I am a Winchester! Sam's violent hug. John. And then some forgettable stuff and then SAM SHOOTING CHUCK. Welcome to the end.
Now. Bob Seger's still singing, and it doesn't seem like an appropriate song for this fight scene. Because we've obviously picked up right where we left off, with TFW fighting off the risen dead in the cemetery. Cas calls out to the brothers and then picks up Jack's corpse and I think he's making a run for it and leaving them to deal with the horde of undead, but they follow. Sam leads the way into a mausoleum. (The same one where Maggie and her pink pants ended up last season? Looks familiar.)
New title card!
Inside, they bar the door shut. Man, this place is huge. It's like the Tardis - it's much bigger on the inside. The music changes to sad Winchester music, and Dean says Jack didn't deserve this, and oh yeah. This is their first chance to react to his death. Sorry, boys, I've had all summer. Sam haltingly asks if Cas can do anything. He's so emotional he can't even finish his sentence. Oh, Sam. I've missed you so much. Cas says "I don't think so." And adds "I'm not even going to try; it doesn't seem important enough to waste the effort." Well. Not out loud.
Dean's all, we get killed by zombies now? He's pissed. We're back where we were at the end of 14.20, with angry Dean and despondent Sam, and I'm all for it. Sam doesn't think they're zombies; he says when the souls were raised from Hell, they must have taken the bodies as vessels. They're concerned about the doors holding against the onslaught of undead - Sam notes they're "banded iron," so he hopes they hold. Sam has a hole in his nice blue jacket that I like so much. But other than that, he's showing no evidence of being injured by the God Gun.
Dean angrily asks if Cas can smite all the undead, and Cas says "of course I can, I just didn't want to do it while we were all out there fighting them off in hand-to-hand combat." Well. Not out loud. He suggests they could burn their bones, since they're ghosts, and Sam points out that their bodies could be anywhere. Because remember, they came from Hell - these aren't their actual bodies.
Great. So we go outside, we get ripped apart. We stay in here, we what - starve to death?
Well. I wouldn't starve.
Hee!!! (But you'd actually die of thirst first, Dean.) Dean's complaining about Chuck, saying he knew he'd do something like this (oh, did you really, Dean, and is that why you snuck off without informing Sam that you were going to follow Chuck's suggestion to kill Jack), and he was always so squirrely (hee!). I'm really, really appreciating angry Dean here. Cas just looks befuddled.
Meanwhile, Sam is exploring, and he thinks he hears water running behind a wall, meaning there might be a way to escape. He and Dean tear the wall apart as the snarls outside get louder. But just as they break through, something breaks in from the other side - a snarling not!zombie. Whoops! Cas drops a huge chunk of wall on its head, and we see the spirit that was inhabiting it escape. So much for that plan.
And behind them, poor dead Jack is standing. Huh! "Hello," he says, awkwardly lifting a hand. Sam is emotional again, thinking Jack is alive, but Cas recognizes it's not him; it's a demon. Demon!Jack apologizes and says "I'd do the whole eyes thing, but, no eyes." Hee! Then he finds a pile of stuff left by... a drunk who spent the night in the mausoleum and then left all his stuff? I dunno. Anyway, there's a backpack, an empty liquor bottle, and a pair of sunglasses. Demon!Jack puts the sunglasses on, which is going to save a lot on the CGI budget, and also makes him slightly less creepy. He introduces himself as Belphagar (I think?) and Cas angrily insists he get out of Jack, but no one attempts to exorcise him because I guess that's not a thing any more. {shrugs}
Belphagar says he can help them, and Dean urges Cas to listen to what he has to say, because that's Dean for you; always willing to let a demon help. Cas calls him an abomination, and Belphagar says Cas's trenchcoat is an abomination, and I get the sinking feeling that Belphagar is going to be a comedian. He knows who the Winchesters are, and there's a joke about the wifi being bad in Hell and oh, crap, is this really happening? A sassy demon sidekick? Please, no. (Also, if Sam had taken his place as the King of Hell, you know there'd be high speed wifi in every corner, baby.) He tells them he's a nobody in Hell, but he liked Hell the way it was, and he wants to to go back to that. So he's willing to send all of his snarling buddies back, and he happens to know a spell. It calls for graveyard dirt, which is conveniently present, and angel blood, which is also conveniently present. (Why would a low-level demon know of a spell that requires angel blood? Isn't that like me memorizing a recipe that calls for caviar and wild truffles? Discuss.)
The spell drops all the not!zombies to the ground, though Belphagar says the spirits aren't destroyed, just blasted out of their bodies. Dean asks where the "ghosts" went. So, let's just clarify here. The beings that left Hell and took over all of these bodies were spirits stuck in Hell, not demons? And Belphagar is just a rogue demon who left when he had the chance?
Anyway, we immediately cut to a couple of teenagers playing with makeup and tiaras, because one of them has a divorced mom who buys her all kinds of stuff. "Divorce is awesome." Oh, but someone else is here to play - say hello to Bloody Mary! Apparently you don't have to say her name any more; she just shows up in the mirror if you say divorce is awesome. So don't do that.
Impala. Sam's checking the news, looking for reports of a worldwide zombie apocalypse and finding nothing. Dean's relieved the ghostpocalypse is limited to their area. "For now," Belphagar adds ominously. But the billions of souls released from Hell have to go somewhere. He suggests they buy some time by trapping the ghosts within a mile-wide circle. Which presumes the ghosts are all still in that cemetery. And he has a spell for that. Gee, Belphagar knows a lot of spells for a low-level demon. Cas is against the idea, because there's a town less than a mile from the cemetery. And also, probably, because he doesn't like Belphagar. No problem, says Dean, they'll just get everyone out of town.
They come upon a car at the side of the road. It's clearly a crime scene, or a accident scene, or some kind of bad scene, because there's blood on the windshield. But the victim is gone. The Winchesters recognize this as a Woman in White. "This could be our Woman in White," says Sam, accompanied by flashbacks to the pilot episode (oh, sweet baby boys.)) I don't know why he thinks that. We know there's more than one WIW. Dean says they sent her to Hell years ago, and Sam says she could be back, and Dean says if that's the case, then everything they killed could be back. Now, why did they come to this conclusion? Why does Sam look at a bloody car and think Constance Welch? (No, I didn't have to look her name up {pats self on back}) If Show wanted the guys to figure out that their old monsters are back, couldn't they have actually shown a very specific monster?
Moving on.
House. Bloody remains of a birthday party. Frantic mom carrying a young girl through the house. Scary laughter. She can't get the garage door open, and apparently she has the only garage I've ever seen with no regular door to the outside. (True, mine is blocked by stuff and completely unusable, but her garage is pretty clean and I'd think her door would be at least visible, if not accessible.) Oh, look, it's the John Wayne Gacy clown ghost! You know, that would have been a good way to demonstrate to the guys that their own personal kills are back. Let them see this guy. Let Sam say "oh Hell no, we killed that fucker!" We see him looking for his victims, but we cut away before he finds them.
To... Harlan, Kansas.
Hello, beautiful.
It's daytime now, so I guess Chuck's instant darkness wasn't intended to mean anything. Sam's wearing an FBI jacket and, more importantly, no undershirt. Oh my god, y'all. So much exposed throat. He walks up to a sheriff, conveniently located on the sidewalk, and flashes his badge. "How can I help you?" says the sheriff. He adds: "Because really, I'll do anything you want. And when I say anything, I mean AN. EE. THING." Oh, no, wait. That was me. Sam explains that the non-existent benzene pipeline outside of town has sprung a leak, and the town needs to be evacuated. The sheriff agrees to get everyone moved to a school five miles away, and Sam says he'll go house to house, because that's how evacuations work. A couple of law enforcement agents run around town and tell everyone to go to the high school.
Handwavin' it. (Hello, beautiful.)
Back in the car, Dean tells Cas to help "Crowley Junior" get what he needs for his spell. Cas refuses, because he can't even look at him, and gets out of the car to join Sam. This leaves Dean to inadvertently reveal the God Gun and Belphagar to comment that everyone is better-looking than they were when he was a human, which was long ago that people had a lot of humps. He also points out that Dean is gorgeous, because of course we have to have someone tell Dean he's pretty at least once a season. Dean asks when he's going to vacate this vessel, but does not angrily demand that he do so, and Belphagar says he will as soon as he finds another suitable one. He asks who Jack was and oh, guys, what is Dean going to say? I expect "none of your business" or "no one" or "a friend," but he actually says "He was our kid. Kind of." Dawwwwww!
The supplies Belphagar needs for the spell are a big bag of salt and a human heart. Hey, remember when Dean would have said "no, we're not doing any spell that calls for a human heart?"
We see Sam and Cas walking down a residential street. There's no indication of how they got there. Maybe the sheriff gave them a ride. Sam is in take-charge mode (maybe the FBI jacket has some influence on him) and they split up, each taking one side of the street. Sam enters his house visibly anxious, with his shotgun (rifle? I never know) out, while Cas just kind of wanders casually in.
Cas is in the Divorce is Awesome house. He finds the teen girls dead in the bedroom, and gets an image of Bloody Mary. Or are we the only ones getting that image? I don't know if Cas could ever look at a body and determine what killed it, but you know. Capabilities appear and disappear at random. It's how angels are. He leaves the house without noticing Bloody Mary in the mirror by the door.
The walls in Sam's house are streaked with blood. Looks like the Ghost!Gacy house. He makes his way into the garage, where he'll presumably find the bodies of the mom and little girl, but they're actually alive, hiding on a shelf. Sam helps the little girl down (aw, Sam and a little girl, my heart!) but he has to put his gun down to do it. I'm sure it will be okay, though. The car is gone. I guess Ghost!Gacy was able to get the garage door open, and he drove it away.
Handwavin' it still.
Oh, I guess he didn't, because he suddenly appears behind Sam. And slashes him with his knife. And wounded Sam, lying on the ground, looking fearfully up at a murderous clown ghost? Naw, that's not my thing at all. I don't need to rewind this a few times. Nope. Ghost!Gacy disappears in a puff of smoke, and we see Cas behind him with his shotgun. Good on you, Cas.
Sam stays on the ground, and it looks like he actually got stabbed, not just slashed. He's obviously in a lot of pain. Cas heals him, fixing the hole in his FBI jacket while he's at it. Mom is kind of shocked to see this, and to learn that Cas is an angel. Sam says "I'm just a guy," but NO SAM NO YOU ARE SO MUCH MORE.
So much.
Sam's still pale and sweaty (!!!) and when he gets up, he grimaces in pain and grabs his shoulder, the one with the godhole that hasn't bothered him for the past 27:13 minutes. He tries to tell Cas he's fine, but Cas is faced with all of that pale sweaty exposed throat and needs an excuse to touch him (WHAT) and says "let me see." So unbuttons his jacket and pulls his shirt down and lawd help me, there's even more skin, and his tattoo, and his burned-looking godhole. Cas puts his hand on it and it glows and Sam closes his eyes and looks kind of pinched and WHAT THE WHAT.
We see:
The vision ends and we see Sam, looking terrified, backing away from Cas.
WHAT IS THIS. WHAT HAPPENED.
Sam whispers "did you fix it" and Cas says "No, I can't, there's an energy in that wound that's... I've never felt that before." Cas is very disturbed, and on first watch I thought he was the one who had the vision, but no, it was Sam.
OH MY GOD, WHAT IS IT, WHAT IS SAM SEEING?
Stolen from adaav on Tumblr.
Theories:
Whatever it is, I AM HERE FOR IT.
Sam is not. He shakily tells Cas he's fine and rejects Cas's very legitimate concern, and then his phone buzzes. It's the sheriff. Sam agrees to meet him at the school. Sam herds Cas and the mom and daughter out of the garage. As they leave, we see Ghost!Gacy watching them through the window. As they walk down the street, the little girl is distracted by a very dark and sinister-looking koi pond.
Suddenly Ghost!Gacy shows up! "It's just one ghost," Cas says, as Sam's hair blows nicely in the breeze. Oh, Cas, you jinxed it, because there's Lizzie Borden, and some tall guy I don't remember. Sam ends up accidentally unloading a round of rock salt into Cas's chest. (Hey, remember when he did that to Dean?) These two are getting their cute little rear ends kicked by the three ghosts, and Bloody Mary is appearing in the koi pond. She grabs the mom's leg, but Sam manages to shoot Mary and they make a run for it while all of the ghosts are temporarily out of service.
While this is happening, we see the sheriff clearing out the town, and Dean on the phone to somebody. Oh, it's Rowena! Well, that's not fair. Sam needs to be the one to call her. But we do get this amusing one-sided dialog.
No, Rowena, we need your help, so move your ass... What? No, I'm not... Move your exquisite ass, PLEASE.
(Sidebar: What would she have made Sam say or do, and would someone please fic it for me?)
Dean catches Belphagar watching him (as much as he can watch anybody, considering the whole eye situation) and the demon admits he was a fan of Dean's, back when he worked under Alastair. Oh, wait, we're going there? {squeals with glee} Dean doesn't get angry; he just takes a second and says "that was a long time ago." Then he asks what it's like in Hell right now, and the juxtaposition really makes it sound like he misses the place. Belphagar says "we don't have a ruler, since your brother won't allow it" (NO HE DOESN'T, DAMMIT) and compares it to an ant hill set on fire, and then this happens.
Every door in Hell just sprang open, all at once. Souls got out, sky cracked, and, boom. Ta da.
What, every door? Even the cage?
Yeah, even the cage.
And Michael?
Well, last I heard, he was just sitting there. But if he got out, ugh. I mean, he wouldn't hold a grudge, right?
Guys. GUYS. ARE WE GETTING INSANE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL. DID SOMEONE READ MY LIST.
("Oh, THAT'S why you mentioned Insane Archangel Michael earlier," said anybody who reads this but doesn't watch the episodes.)
It's not torture, it's art. (OKAY IT MIGHT BE A LITTLE BIT OF BOTH.)
The sheriff is clearing the last of the residents out of the town, and he sees a dark-haired woman in a long white dress. Uh oh! Belphagar is explaining to Dean that a fresh heart would be better than one from the morgue, when they hear the sheriff scream. They run to his rescue, but it's too late - his neck is slashed open. "Cool," says Belphagar, harvesting his conveniently-no-longer-needed heart.
Dean sees his breath and says they need to go, but it's too late - Constance is there, and she remembers him. She hurls him against a dumpster, then comes after Belphagar, who calls her "bad ghost" and gets his hand slashed. Luckily, Dean found some iron, or something, and wipes her away.
The spell calls for a heart on top of a pile of rock salt, and a little bit of some unknown language. Belphagar completes it, and there is an earth-shattering kaboom, and a wave emanates from the salty heart.
Out in the neighborhood, Sam and Cas hear the boom and watch the flaming force field ripple past them. They recognize it as the spell, and make a run for it. The ghosts appear again, behind them, and Sam starts to shoot at them but then picks up the little girl and makes a run for it instead. Which I don't think was the best choice, but okay. They make it just past the border before Ghost!Gacy catches up to them and tries to stab Sam again. Sam curls over the little girl to protect her (let her run, Sam!) but the ghost's knife is stopped by the invisible barrier. He screeches in anger. "Shut up," says Sam. Yay!!!
My sweet badass baby boy.
Aftermath! The Impala pulls up to the high school. I don't know when Dean and his sassy demon sidekick picked up Sam and Cas and the ladies, but they're all together now. TFW suggests they don't tell anyone about the ghost thing, or the angel thing. Sam gets a wooden "thank you" from the little girl and then escorts them into the building, keeping a hand on one of their shoulders the whole time. Oh, Sam. You kill me.
At the car, we get this between Dean and Cas.
You okay?
Yes, but -
Good.
Which is partly Dean being an asshole, and partly Dean still being angry at Cas for the events of 14.20, and partly I think a little bit of if you're not currently bleeding to death, you're okay, and we'll deal with anything else later. Belphagar is snarky and Cas stomps off.
Impala trunk POV. (Hey, remember in the Pilot, and the end of All Hell Breaks Loose, when we got this POV?) Dean's digging something out of the trunk as Sam gets back. Sam warns Dean that, when word of the "gas leak" gets out, they'll have "one, maybe two" days before the actual FBI shows up. Oh, Sam. I think someone from the Kansas City office will be there this afternoon. But right Dean wants to fix up his injured brother. Oh, he was digging for the first aid kit! Because now that things have calmed down and no one is trying to kill them this very second, he's going to take care of his wounded brother. I LOVE IT.
Sam, annoyed, exposes his godhole again. (THANK YOU BABY JESUS) Dean notes that there's no exit wound (maybe because there was no bullet, Dean) and Sam quietly says "I know" and that it hurts "a little, not much" Then we get this conversation:
Hey, you remember when we were little, what I'd do to distract you whenever I'd rip off a bandaid or something like that?
Yeah, you'd tell some stupid joke.
Yeah. Knock knock. Come on, knock knock.
Who's - (Dean applies alcohol)
Still got it.
OH MY GOD. YOU GUYS. This one tiny little exchange brings me SO MUCH JOY. Because it has:
So much joy
And then there's this:
So, when Chuck - God said this is the end, I guess this is what he meant.
Yeah, well, screw him. He's been playing us this entire time. Just when we thought we had a choice, you know, whenever we thought we had free will? We were just rats in a maze. Sure, we could go left, we could go right. But we were still in the damn maze.
Which also gives me joy, because I basically ficced this conversation. (Yeah, I know, it was obvious from 14.20, but let me have this, okay?)
Dean thinks everything they've done was for nothing. Sam says no, they saved people. And now Chuck's gone, because that's what he does - he gets bored and moves on to a different world. Sam doesn't think he's coming back.
You know what? Good! If he bailed, it's just us. For the first time, it's just us.
And about three billion ghosts.
Yeah, well, what's one more apocalypse, right? (SAM'S VOICE, Y'ALL, THE WAY IT BREAKS ON THAT.) But seriously. If we win, WHEN we win this, God's gone. There's no one to screw with us, there's no more maze, it's just us. And we're free.
So you and me, versus every soul in Hell. I like those odds.
Yeah, me too.
Well, you know what that means.
We got work to do.
And we switch to the Impala trunk POV and I'm thinking here's the homage to the pilot and AHBL pt 2 and then they actually CUT IN THE SCENE FROM THE PILOT. AND I FALL ON THE FLOOR AND DIE.
Stolen from jaredandjensen on Tumblr.
Guys. GUYS.
I'll admit, my expectations were not particularly high. I was kind of excited and anxious all day yesterday, and I had to remind myself that this episode would set up the season, and there wouldn't be room for a lot of good stuff. And the first half did not exactly grab me. I honestly did not think the reminders of older, better episodes were doing it any favors. And then. THEN. IT REACHED OUT FROM UNDER THE BED AND GRABBED ME AND DRAGGED ME UNDER.
Things I'm not all that excited about:
Things I'm excited about:
Now, can we talk about the title? Because I'm not sure what it's referring to. The only thing that comes to mind is that Seinfeld bit about "back and to the left," which was itself riffing off the movie JFK.
And also, let's take a closer look at the new title card.
Do you see what I see?
I didn't notice it until someone pointed it out on Tumblr. IT'S SAM'S GODHOLE. Guys. I like where we're going with this.
And now I get to see what you thought! As always, no spoilers in the comments, please and thank you.
Now. Bob Seger's still singing, and it doesn't seem like an appropriate song for this fight scene. Because we've obviously picked up right where we left off, with TFW fighting off the risen dead in the cemetery. Cas calls out to the brothers and then picks up Jack's corpse and I think he's making a run for it and leaving them to deal with the horde of undead, but they follow. Sam leads the way into a mausoleum. (The same one where Maggie and her pink pants ended up last season? Looks familiar.)
New title card!
Inside, they bar the door shut. Man, this place is huge. It's like the Tardis - it's much bigger on the inside. The music changes to sad Winchester music, and Dean says Jack didn't deserve this, and oh yeah. This is their first chance to react to his death. Sorry, boys, I've had all summer. Sam haltingly asks if Cas can do anything. He's so emotional he can't even finish his sentence. Oh, Sam. I've missed you so much. Cas says "I don't think so." And adds "I'm not even going to try; it doesn't seem important enough to waste the effort." Well. Not out loud.
Dean's all, we get killed by zombies now? He's pissed. We're back where we were at the end of 14.20, with angry Dean and despondent Sam, and I'm all for it. Sam doesn't think they're zombies; he says when the souls were raised from Hell, they must have taken the bodies as vessels. They're concerned about the doors holding against the onslaught of undead - Sam notes they're "banded iron," so he hopes they hold. Sam has a hole in his nice blue jacket that I like so much. But other than that, he's showing no evidence of being injured by the God Gun.
Dean angrily asks if Cas can smite all the undead, and Cas says "of course I can, I just didn't want to do it while we were all out there fighting them off in hand-to-hand combat." Well. Not out loud. He suggests they could burn their bones, since they're ghosts, and Sam points out that their bodies could be anywhere. Because remember, they came from Hell - these aren't their actual bodies.
Great. So we go outside, we get ripped apart. We stay in here, we what - starve to death?
Well. I wouldn't starve.
Hee!!! (But you'd actually die of thirst first, Dean.) Dean's complaining about Chuck, saying he knew he'd do something like this (oh, did you really, Dean, and is that why you snuck off without informing Sam that you were going to follow Chuck's suggestion to kill Jack), and he was always so squirrely (hee!). I'm really, really appreciating angry Dean here. Cas just looks befuddled.
Meanwhile, Sam is exploring, and he thinks he hears water running behind a wall, meaning there might be a way to escape. He and Dean tear the wall apart as the snarls outside get louder. But just as they break through, something breaks in from the other side - a snarling not!zombie. Whoops! Cas drops a huge chunk of wall on its head, and we see the spirit that was inhabiting it escape. So much for that plan.
And behind them, poor dead Jack is standing. Huh! "Hello," he says, awkwardly lifting a hand. Sam is emotional again, thinking Jack is alive, but Cas recognizes it's not him; it's a demon. Demon!Jack apologizes and says "I'd do the whole eyes thing, but, no eyes." Hee! Then he finds a pile of stuff left by... a drunk who spent the night in the mausoleum and then left all his stuff? I dunno. Anyway, there's a backpack, an empty liquor bottle, and a pair of sunglasses. Demon!Jack puts the sunglasses on, which is going to save a lot on the CGI budget, and also makes him slightly less creepy. He introduces himself as Belphagar (I think?) and Cas angrily insists he get out of Jack, but no one attempts to exorcise him because I guess that's not a thing any more. {shrugs}
Belphagar says he can help them, and Dean urges Cas to listen to what he has to say, because that's Dean for you; always willing to let a demon help. Cas calls him an abomination, and Belphagar says Cas's trenchcoat is an abomination, and I get the sinking feeling that Belphagar is going to be a comedian. He knows who the Winchesters are, and there's a joke about the wifi being bad in Hell and oh, crap, is this really happening? A sassy demon sidekick? Please, no. (Also, if Sam had taken his place as the King of Hell, you know there'd be high speed wifi in every corner, baby.) He tells them he's a nobody in Hell, but he liked Hell the way it was, and he wants to to go back to that. So he's willing to send all of his snarling buddies back, and he happens to know a spell. It calls for graveyard dirt, which is conveniently present, and angel blood, which is also conveniently present. (Why would a low-level demon know of a spell that requires angel blood? Isn't that like me memorizing a recipe that calls for caviar and wild truffles? Discuss.)
The spell drops all the not!zombies to the ground, though Belphagar says the spirits aren't destroyed, just blasted out of their bodies. Dean asks where the "ghosts" went. So, let's just clarify here. The beings that left Hell and took over all of these bodies were spirits stuck in Hell, not demons? And Belphagar is just a rogue demon who left when he had the chance?
Anyway, we immediately cut to a couple of teenagers playing with makeup and tiaras, because one of them has a divorced mom who buys her all kinds of stuff. "Divorce is awesome." Oh, but someone else is here to play - say hello to Bloody Mary! Apparently you don't have to say her name any more; she just shows up in the mirror if you say divorce is awesome. So don't do that.
Impala. Sam's checking the news, looking for reports of a worldwide zombie apocalypse and finding nothing. Dean's relieved the ghostpocalypse is limited to their area. "For now," Belphagar adds ominously. But the billions of souls released from Hell have to go somewhere. He suggests they buy some time by trapping the ghosts within a mile-wide circle. Which presumes the ghosts are all still in that cemetery. And he has a spell for that. Gee, Belphagar knows a lot of spells for a low-level demon. Cas is against the idea, because there's a town less than a mile from the cemetery. And also, probably, because he doesn't like Belphagar. No problem, says Dean, they'll just get everyone out of town.
They come upon a car at the side of the road. It's clearly a crime scene, or a accident scene, or some kind of bad scene, because there's blood on the windshield. But the victim is gone. The Winchesters recognize this as a Woman in White. "This could be our Woman in White," says Sam, accompanied by flashbacks to the pilot episode (oh, sweet baby boys.)) I don't know why he thinks that. We know there's more than one WIW. Dean says they sent her to Hell years ago, and Sam says she could be back, and Dean says if that's the case, then everything they killed could be back. Now, why did they come to this conclusion? Why does Sam look at a bloody car and think Constance Welch? (No, I didn't have to look her name up {pats self on back}) If Show wanted the guys to figure out that their old monsters are back, couldn't they have actually shown a very specific monster?
Moving on.
House. Bloody remains of a birthday party. Frantic mom carrying a young girl through the house. Scary laughter. She can't get the garage door open, and apparently she has the only garage I've ever seen with no regular door to the outside. (True, mine is blocked by stuff and completely unusable, but her garage is pretty clean and I'd think her door would be at least visible, if not accessible.) Oh, look, it's the John Wayne Gacy clown ghost! You know, that would have been a good way to demonstrate to the guys that their own personal kills are back. Let them see this guy. Let Sam say "oh Hell no, we killed that fucker!" We see him looking for his victims, but we cut away before he finds them.
To... Harlan, Kansas.
Hello, beautiful.
It's daytime now, so I guess Chuck's instant darkness wasn't intended to mean anything. Sam's wearing an FBI jacket and, more importantly, no undershirt. Oh my god, y'all. So much exposed throat. He walks up to a sheriff, conveniently located on the sidewalk, and flashes his badge. "How can I help you?" says the sheriff. He adds: "Because really, I'll do anything you want. And when I say anything, I mean AN. EE. THING." Oh, no, wait. That was me. Sam explains that the non-existent benzene pipeline outside of town has sprung a leak, and the town needs to be evacuated. The sheriff agrees to get everyone moved to a school five miles away, and Sam says he'll go house to house, because that's how evacuations work. A couple of law enforcement agents run around town and tell everyone to go to the high school.
Handwavin' it. (Hello, beautiful.)
Back in the car, Dean tells Cas to help "Crowley Junior" get what he needs for his spell. Cas refuses, because he can't even look at him, and gets out of the car to join Sam. This leaves Dean to inadvertently reveal the God Gun and Belphagar to comment that everyone is better-looking than they were when he was a human, which was long ago that people had a lot of humps. He also points out that Dean is gorgeous, because of course we have to have someone tell Dean he's pretty at least once a season. Dean asks when he's going to vacate this vessel, but does not angrily demand that he do so, and Belphagar says he will as soon as he finds another suitable one. He asks who Jack was and oh, guys, what is Dean going to say? I expect "none of your business" or "no one" or "a friend," but he actually says "He was our kid. Kind of." Dawwwwww!
The supplies Belphagar needs for the spell are a big bag of salt and a human heart. Hey, remember when Dean would have said "no, we're not doing any spell that calls for a human heart?"
We see Sam and Cas walking down a residential street. There's no indication of how they got there. Maybe the sheriff gave them a ride. Sam is in take-charge mode (maybe the FBI jacket has some influence on him) and they split up, each taking one side of the street. Sam enters his house visibly anxious, with his shotgun (rifle? I never know) out, while Cas just kind of wanders casually in.
Cas is in the Divorce is Awesome house. He finds the teen girls dead in the bedroom, and gets an image of Bloody Mary. Or are we the only ones getting that image? I don't know if Cas could ever look at a body and determine what killed it, but you know. Capabilities appear and disappear at random. It's how angels are. He leaves the house without noticing Bloody Mary in the mirror by the door.
The walls in Sam's house are streaked with blood. Looks like the Ghost!Gacy house. He makes his way into the garage, where he'll presumably find the bodies of the mom and little girl, but they're actually alive, hiding on a shelf. Sam helps the little girl down (aw, Sam and a little girl, my heart!) but he has to put his gun down to do it. I'm sure it will be okay, though. The car is gone. I guess Ghost!Gacy was able to get the garage door open, and he drove it away.
Handwavin' it still.
Oh, I guess he didn't, because he suddenly appears behind Sam. And slashes him with his knife. And wounded Sam, lying on the ground, looking fearfully up at a murderous clown ghost? Naw, that's not my thing at all. I don't need to rewind this a few times. Nope. Ghost!Gacy disappears in a puff of smoke, and we see Cas behind him with his shotgun. Good on you, Cas.
Sam stays on the ground, and it looks like he actually got stabbed, not just slashed. He's obviously in a lot of pain. Cas heals him, fixing the hole in his FBI jacket while he's at it. Mom is kind of shocked to see this, and to learn that Cas is an angel. Sam says "I'm just a guy," but NO SAM NO YOU ARE SO MUCH MORE.
So much.
Sam's still pale and sweaty (!!!) and when he gets up, he grimaces in pain and grabs his shoulder, the one with the godhole that hasn't bothered him for the past 27:13 minutes. He tries to tell Cas he's fine, but Cas is faced with all of that pale sweaty exposed throat and needs an excuse to touch him (WHAT) and says "let me see." So unbuttons his jacket and pulls his shirt down and lawd help me, there's even more skin, and his tattoo, and his burned-looking godhole. Cas puts his hand on it and it glows and Sam closes his eyes and looks kind of pinched and WHAT THE WHAT.
We see:
- Sam, bathed in red light, wearing an un-Samlike smirk.
- Sam tilts his head.
- Dean's voice says Sam, please.
- Someone falls to the floor.
- Sam tilts his head the other way and his eyes maybe go black?
The vision ends and we see Sam, looking terrified, backing away from Cas.
WHAT IS THIS. WHAT HAPPENED.
Sam whispers "did you fix it" and Cas says "No, I can't, there's an energy in that wound that's... I've never felt that before." Cas is very disturbed, and on first watch I thought he was the one who had the vision, but no, it was Sam.
OH MY GOD, WHAT IS IT, WHAT IS SAM SEEING?
Stolen from adaav on Tumblr.
Theories:
- It's a vision of the future, and our Sammy is going darkside.
- Sam's godhole is a connection to some other version of Sam.
- There's some kind of reflection/ghost/shadow of Sam in the cage.
- Insane Archangel Michael is disguising himself as Sam.
Whatever it is, I AM HERE FOR IT.
Sam is not. He shakily tells Cas he's fine and rejects Cas's very legitimate concern, and then his phone buzzes. It's the sheriff. Sam agrees to meet him at the school. Sam herds Cas and the mom and daughter out of the garage. As they leave, we see Ghost!Gacy watching them through the window. As they walk down the street, the little girl is distracted by a very dark and sinister-looking koi pond.
Suddenly Ghost!Gacy shows up! "It's just one ghost," Cas says, as Sam's hair blows nicely in the breeze. Oh, Cas, you jinxed it, because there's Lizzie Borden, and some tall guy I don't remember. Sam ends up accidentally unloading a round of rock salt into Cas's chest. (Hey, remember when he did that to Dean?) These two are getting their cute little rear ends kicked by the three ghosts, and Bloody Mary is appearing in the koi pond. She grabs the mom's leg, but Sam manages to shoot Mary and they make a run for it while all of the ghosts are temporarily out of service.
While this is happening, we see the sheriff clearing out the town, and Dean on the phone to somebody. Oh, it's Rowena! Well, that's not fair. Sam needs to be the one to call her. But we do get this amusing one-sided dialog.
No, Rowena, we need your help, so move your ass... What? No, I'm not... Move your exquisite ass, PLEASE.
(Sidebar: What would she have made Sam say or do, and would someone please fic it for me?)
Dean catches Belphagar watching him (as much as he can watch anybody, considering the whole eye situation) and the demon admits he was a fan of Dean's, back when he worked under Alastair. Oh, wait, we're going there? {squeals with glee} Dean doesn't get angry; he just takes a second and says "that was a long time ago." Then he asks what it's like in Hell right now, and the juxtaposition really makes it sound like he misses the place. Belphagar says "we don't have a ruler, since your brother won't allow it" (NO HE DOESN'T, DAMMIT) and compares it to an ant hill set on fire, and then this happens.
Every door in Hell just sprang open, all at once. Souls got out, sky cracked, and, boom. Ta da.
What, every door? Even the cage?
Yeah, even the cage.
And Michael?
Well, last I heard, he was just sitting there. But if he got out, ugh. I mean, he wouldn't hold a grudge, right?
Guys. GUYS. ARE WE GETTING INSANE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL. DID SOMEONE READ MY LIST.
("Oh, THAT'S why you mentioned Insane Archangel Michael earlier," said anybody who reads this but doesn't watch the episodes.)
It's not torture, it's art. (OKAY IT MIGHT BE A LITTLE BIT OF BOTH.)
The sheriff is clearing the last of the residents out of the town, and he sees a dark-haired woman in a long white dress. Uh oh! Belphagar is explaining to Dean that a fresh heart would be better than one from the morgue, when they hear the sheriff scream. They run to his rescue, but it's too late - his neck is slashed open. "Cool," says Belphagar, harvesting his conveniently-no-longer-needed heart.
Dean sees his breath and says they need to go, but it's too late - Constance is there, and she remembers him. She hurls him against a dumpster, then comes after Belphagar, who calls her "bad ghost" and gets his hand slashed. Luckily, Dean found some iron, or something, and wipes her away.
The spell calls for a heart on top of a pile of rock salt, and a little bit of some unknown language. Belphagar completes it, and there is an earth-shattering kaboom, and a wave emanates from the salty heart.
Out in the neighborhood, Sam and Cas hear the boom and watch the flaming force field ripple past them. They recognize it as the spell, and make a run for it. The ghosts appear again, behind them, and Sam starts to shoot at them but then picks up the little girl and makes a run for it instead. Which I don't think was the best choice, but okay. They make it just past the border before Ghost!Gacy catches up to them and tries to stab Sam again. Sam curls over the little girl to protect her (let her run, Sam!) but the ghost's knife is stopped by the invisible barrier. He screeches in anger. "Shut up," says Sam. Yay!!!
My sweet badass baby boy.
Aftermath! The Impala pulls up to the high school. I don't know when Dean and his sassy demon sidekick picked up Sam and Cas and the ladies, but they're all together now. TFW suggests they don't tell anyone about the ghost thing, or the angel thing. Sam gets a wooden "thank you" from the little girl and then escorts them into the building, keeping a hand on one of their shoulders the whole time. Oh, Sam. You kill me.
At the car, we get this between Dean and Cas.
You okay?
Yes, but -
Good.
Which is partly Dean being an asshole, and partly Dean still being angry at Cas for the events of 14.20, and partly I think a little bit of if you're not currently bleeding to death, you're okay, and we'll deal with anything else later. Belphagar is snarky and Cas stomps off.
Impala trunk POV. (Hey, remember in the Pilot, and the end of All Hell Breaks Loose, when we got this POV?) Dean's digging something out of the trunk as Sam gets back. Sam warns Dean that, when word of the "gas leak" gets out, they'll have "one, maybe two" days before the actual FBI shows up. Oh, Sam. I think someone from the Kansas City office will be there this afternoon. But right Dean wants to fix up his injured brother. Oh, he was digging for the first aid kit! Because now that things have calmed down and no one is trying to kill them this very second, he's going to take care of his wounded brother. I LOVE IT.
Sam, annoyed, exposes his godhole again. (THANK YOU BABY JESUS) Dean notes that there's no exit wound (maybe because there was no bullet, Dean) and Sam quietly says "I know" and that it hurts "a little, not much" Then we get this conversation:
Hey, you remember when we were little, what I'd do to distract you whenever I'd rip off a bandaid or something like that?
Yeah, you'd tell some stupid joke.
Yeah. Knock knock. Come on, knock knock.
Who's - (Dean applies alcohol)
Still got it.
OH MY GOD. YOU GUYS. This one tiny little exchange brings me SO MUCH JOY. Because it has:
- Dean taking care of Sam
- Sam's eye-rolling reluctance to be taken care of
- "When we were little," because I LOVE stories about their childhood
- Sam's exposed shoulder
- The unspoken possibility that wee Dean had to distract wee Sam from things more painful than ripping off a bandaid
- Sam's reaction to the alcohol
- Dean applying the alcohol just as Sam responds, rather than waiting for the punchline, which reminds me of when they say "on three" and then do the painful thing on two
- Sam's fondly annoyed face
- Dean's happy, relieved, at least I can take care of Sammy face
- Seriously, Sam's exposed shoulder, ALL THAT SKIN
- The way Dean's happy face turns serious and concerned as he looks at Sam's wound
So much joy
And then there's this:
So, when Chuck - God said this is the end, I guess this is what he meant.
Yeah, well, screw him. He's been playing us this entire time. Just when we thought we had a choice, you know, whenever we thought we had free will? We were just rats in a maze. Sure, we could go left, we could go right. But we were still in the damn maze.
Which also gives me joy, because I basically ficced this conversation. (Yeah, I know, it was obvious from 14.20, but let me have this, okay?)
Dean thinks everything they've done was for nothing. Sam says no, they saved people. And now Chuck's gone, because that's what he does - he gets bored and moves on to a different world. Sam doesn't think he's coming back.
You know what? Good! If he bailed, it's just us. For the first time, it's just us.
And about three billion ghosts.
Yeah, well, what's one more apocalypse, right? (SAM'S VOICE, Y'ALL, THE WAY IT BREAKS ON THAT.) But seriously. If we win, WHEN we win this, God's gone. There's no one to screw with us, there's no more maze, it's just us. And we're free.
So you and me, versus every soul in Hell. I like those odds.
Yeah, me too.
Well, you know what that means.
We got work to do.
And we switch to the Impala trunk POV and I'm thinking here's the homage to the pilot and AHBL pt 2 and then they actually CUT IN THE SCENE FROM THE PILOT. AND I FALL ON THE FLOOR AND DIE.
Stolen from jaredandjensen on Tumblr.Guys. GUYS.
I'll admit, my expectations were not particularly high. I was kind of excited and anxious all day yesterday, and I had to remind myself that this episode would set up the season, and there wouldn't be room for a lot of good stuff. And the first half did not exactly grab me. I honestly did not think the reminders of older, better episodes were doing it any favors. And then. THEN. IT REACHED OUT FROM UNDER THE BED AND GRABBED ME AND DRAGGED ME UNDER.
Things I'm not all that excited about:
- Dean and Cas having a little tiff
- Belphagar
Things I'm excited about:
- Sam's vision
- Insane Archangel Michael
- Reminder of what Dean did in Hell
- SERIOUSLY SAM'S GODHOLE VISION WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT
Now, can we talk about the title? Because I'm not sure what it's referring to. The only thing that comes to mind is that Seinfeld bit about "back and to the left," which was itself riffing off the movie JFK.
And also, let's take a closer look at the new title card.
Do you see what I see?
I didn't notice it until someone pointed it out on Tumblr. IT'S SAM'S GODHOLE. Guys. I like where we're going with this.
And now I get to see what you thought! As always, no spoilers in the comments, please and thank you.
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no subject
Date: 2019-10-11 09:31 pm (UTC)It felt like they had a list of plot points they had to get in this episode and just checked them off without any finesse.
I am equally intrigued and terrified of Sam's visions--not just what they mean, but how the writers are going to expand them.
How is it that they can give us an episode like Lebanon with John's return and make it hold up to logic and be so well-crafted...and then give us this cut-and-paste disappointment?
Sigh. I think the hardest thing about this season will be bracing myself for disappointment every Thursday at 6:59 because the SPN lover in me knows what this show can do when they get it together.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-12 12:25 am (UTC)I wondered about that too...and then I decided that it must be because the spirits inhabiting the dead bodies were just run-of-the-mill human souls out of Hell, who had no idea how to ghost, but that the four that went after Sam and Cas et al had experience in manifesting themselves in their own form as ghosts out in the world and being badass and murderous and such.
I had to do a lot more hand-waving around the convenience of the Demon now in Jack 'just happening' to know the right spell for the moment. Too convenient, right? But I do like
no subject
Date: 2019-10-12 02:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-12 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-12 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-14 05:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-11 10:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-11 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-12 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-12 12:28 am (UTC)So he aint no low level grunt. He's a man with a plan. And I think the next move in his plan will be to possess Sam next, and that's what Sam saw in his vision.
I'm not hating this because it obviously serves to give Alex Calvert something to do until show is ready to reveal the big Death and the Empty plan. Plus it gives Alex the opportunity to show what else he can do besides Nougat. and he is NAILING IT! :)))
As for Sam's vision, I figure the energy of the God wound has either granted him some of God's prescience or reawakened his own dormant powers. Or both. Either way, we have empowered Sam back. Yay! :)))
Aside of the stuff we had to hand wave, I'm happy with this episode as a season opener. It set up a lot of potentially interesting plot lines. Still, that's the easy part. The questions is, can show follow through? "Any chapped-ass monkey with a typewriter can poop out a beginning . . . Endings are hard."
no subject
Date: 2019-10-12 03:05 pm (UTC)Lots of interesting possibilities. Let's just hope tptb do them justice.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-12 11:24 pm (UTC)That's where my thoughts went once I'd looked up Belphegor too! If they stay true to existing mythology, this would seem like Belphegor's style. :)
no subject
Date: 2019-10-13 01:37 am (UTC)I think Belphegor said something to Dean about Jack's body just being temporary until he could find something better, so . . . maybe Sam will suit his purposes better. I like your thinking about him making Sam and Dean reliant on him. That would fit with the lore.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-12 12:47 am (UTC)Story-wise, I had to do a bit of hand-waving too, but overall I really enjoyed the episode. I like
The title...yeah. The meaning isn't immediately apparent. The 'back to the future' bit is there, obviously, with spirits dispatched in the past being back now in the future. But the addition of the and...'back and to the future...' yeah, the only thing that comes to mind is that Seinfeld ep which was riffing on the JFK shooting. And what were they trying to say when they kept repeating 'back and to the left'? That it proved there was a second spitter/shooter. So basically...it proved that things...weren't as they were being presented.
So with this SPN title...is it ...the writers trying to convince us of one scenario, when really it's another? Does this lend credence to
no subject
Date: 2019-10-12 03:58 am (UTC)I loved Sam yelling at John Gacy's scary clown ghost to shut up. It made me happy. And I was pround of him. He's so brave.
Also, I agree with amypond about the title card, I immediately assumed it was The Empty.
For this episode I was way too anxious and emotional to be picky about the copious amounts of handwaving. I thought it was a good start to the season. Dabb is spared my wrath for now.
The shots of Castiel and of Dean with their hands on all that Sam skin will certainly launch many a slash fic.
Who knows about the vision, but that is definitely the diffuse red background light of BAD THINGS. Demon!Jack is too much for me to think about yet. I have no idea except that he's definitely not just some grunt.
And I might put too much importance on location, but I feel like they need to be back at the bunker to be able to make a solid plan and try to figure out their next move/moves.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-13 05:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-14 12:41 am (UTC)I don't want Belphegor to be Chuck, I'd rather he be someone else, just because I want Chuck around sparingly, but I guess I could deal if he is Chuck. I was actually thinking he might be Ruby reborn, but probably not.
The did a good job setting the table for the season, so I'm okay with it.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-14 05:19 pm (UTC)Isn't that Dean falling in Sam's vision?
I wouldn't count on Demon!Jack being Chuck. Because that would be too clever.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-14 06:33 pm (UTC)