SPN Rewatch Season 8--Part 2
LJ said my rant about season 8 was too big for one post, so here's the second half:
161. Everybody Hates Hitler (8.13)-W: Edlund/D: Sgriccia
Recap is of the previous episode
1944-something destroys Nazi camp
Boys first find the Men of Letters bunker-nice sense of their awe-Sam when he sees the library, very respectfully: ‘Son of a bitch’-I suspect that is the only time he says it (hasn’t up till now)
Sam questions how they have water and electricity-Dean supplies the handwave for the fans: ‘…well, I am putting that under the "ain't broke" column’
Sam takes MOL seriously right away
Dean’s dead man’s robe
2 weeks later Dean is returning from seeing Kevin, Cas is still MIA
Suits
Guy at bar (Aaron) flirts with Dean, Dean is flustered
Sam says ‘…something stuck to my shoe’ to let Dean know Sam’s being followed
Dean has parked the Impala and hides to watch-Sam goes to the trunk and drops his keys-so Sam has his own set of car keys now
Smart Sam recognizes library call numbers
Fortunately killing the Thule reverses the poisoning spell-that was convenient
Boys warming hands over fire burning the corpse-Aaron: ‘Oh my god, these guys are psychopaths!’
Dean calls Garth to see if he has any info that might help
Great timing between Aaron and boys, great shooting by boys to get out of the situation
Back at bunker Sam is making entry into MOL records-Dean: ‘you’re a man of letters now?’-Dean starts to pull 2 beers out, puts them back and pours scotch into MOL crystal tumblers, sets one by Sam, puts his feet up on the table to drink his
What a perfect final shot, boys working together, a successful hunt, lots of new possibilities on the horizon-this could have been the final shot of the show either right then or 7 years later, and everyone would have been happy…
A very engaging guest character, Aaron really changed from his brief association with the boys and the case was intriguing…episodes like this are what keep me hanging in there even when the overall season sucks
163. Trial and Error (8.14)-W: Dabb/D: Parks
Recap: Crossroads deals, hellhounds, finding the bunker
Dean is nesting-his room has his weapons displayed on the walls, vinyl album collection, Mary’s picture, and his memory foam mattress (do I want to ask how he got it to the bunker? No, I won’t ask…)
Sam mocks Dean’s efforts
Dean serves Sam a fancy burger-Dean: ‘We have a real kitchen now’-Sam: ‘I just didn’t think you knew what a kitchen was’-Sam’s reaction to the burger: ‘Wow’ and when they have to run off right away Sam grabs the burger to take with
Kevin is living on hot dogs-guess he’s not a vegetarian any more
Sam tries to get Kevin to slow down, not burn himself out while Dean encourages Kevin to keep gong without a break
Dean is ready to go: ‘Hey, if this means icing all demons, I got no problem gutting some devil dog and letting Calgon take me away’
When the plan to kill a hellhound looks like it went south, Dean wants to go to a crossroads, Sam pulls him back that it would be suicide and says he thinks someone else made a deal too-Dean: ‘And you want to scope ‘em out?’-Sam: ‘I want to kill a hellhound and not die’
Glasses scorched in holy oil will let them see hellhounds
Ellie hits on Dean and he turns her down
Dean decides on the plan of action: ‘I need you to be safe, Sam, okay? That's what I need…We both know where this ends, one of us dies...Or worse’-Sam: ‘…you just up and decided it's gonna be you?’-Dean: ‘I'm a grunt, Sam. You're not…You see a light at the end of this ugly-ass tunnel. I don't. But I tell you what I do know - it's that I'm gonna die with a gun in my hand. 'Cause that's what I have waiting for me - that's all I have waiting for me. I want you to get out. I want you to have a life - become a man of Letters, whatever. You, with a wife and kids and grandkids…that is my perfect ending, and it's the only one that I'm gonna get. So I'm gonna do these trials. I'm gonna do them alone, end of story. You're staying here’ (Other than it was a machete in his hand, not a gun, Dean called it, didn’t he…)
Ellie: ‘I did it for my mom, Dean. What would you do for your mom?’
Throughout the episode it seems like everyone hears the hellhounds even though only the damned are supposed to…
And Sam ices the hellhound, setting the rest of the season and angst between the boys in place…
Sam’s t-shirt is soaked with hellhound blood but his neck and face are perfectly clean-I get that he wiped it off but to have done such a perfectly demarcated job??? Not even a couple of smears he missed???
Dean wants to find another hellhound and do the job-Sam: ‘I’m closing the gates. It’s a suicide mission for you…I want to slam hell shut too, okay? But I want to survive it. I want to live, and so should you. You have friends up here, family. I mean, hell, you even got your own room now. You were right, okay? I see light at the end of this tunnel. And I'm sorry you don't - I am. But it's there. And if you come with me, I can take you to it…You’re not a grunt, Dean. You’re a genius…you’re the best damn hunter I have ever seen, better than me, better than dad. I believe in you, Dean, so please believe in me too’
Dean’s face when Sam says he’s okay
I wonder what ever happened to Ellie? They just sent her off with some hex bags and instructions to keep moving…
164. Man’s Best Friend with Benefits (8.15)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Showalter
Recap: Witches; Sam will do the trials
James saved the boys’ lives when they were hunting a lunatic alchemist
New drinking game: every time Dean asks Sam ‘Are you okay’ for the rest of this season take a drink…
Sam says he’s good-Dean: ‘You sure?...there is a minefield of who knows what crap ahead’-great pep talk
Sam tries to preemptively calm Dean down over a dog being in their room…only when he opens the door it’s a woman…
Portia says Dean doesn’t like dogs (well, clearly that changes by season 15)
They are going to use Bobby’s witch-killing spell that didn’t work on the Starks because the chicken feet weren’t cold
Discussing the spell-Sam: ‘Concerned about the witch-killing spell or that I’m gonna mess these trials up?-Dean: ‘It’ll be too late for me to jump in’-Sam: ‘Maybe I’ll actually pull this one off’-C’mon writers, do you remember Sam putting Lucifer in the Cage a few years ago?
Sam: ‘I've been going over this and over this, asking myself "why doesn't he trust me?" And it occurred to me, finally. It's not that you don't trust me. It's that you can only trust you’
Dean sneezes around cats
We get Portia and chained-up James having sex. Why would we care about that?
Oh, let’s get Dean all twisted up about Portia and James’ sex life…sigh
When James does his farseeing thing his eyeballs go white-they kept that for Rowena’s spells
So the whole evil plot was spawned by jealousy over a beautiful woman…sigh
Actual reference to what both boys have suffered through! When they relive their worst memories we see glimpses of Sam falling into the cage, Mary burning, Sam burning in hell, Dean chained in hell
When the witch’s hold falters they work seamlessly to set the spell
Spell actually kills the witch!
Dean ready to acknowledge he will support Sam: ‘I realize that the only way we've made it through it all is by hanging together. I trust you, Sammy. With this deal, locking those sons of bitches up in the furnace once and for all, it's too important not to. So if you say you're good... ...then that's it. I'm with you 100%’
And of course then Sam coughs up blood and hides it
This mess is what happens when writers say something like ‘wouldn’t it be cool to have a character who’s a woman and a dog? And she has sex?’ and then slap some plot together to cover it. James is one of the most boring guest characters we ever get and the only part of the entire episode worth acknowledging is that they showed the boys having flashbacks to their worst moments (though are we ever told that Dean actually witnessed Mary burning? Because I thought he didn’t see it. They should have used Sam dying in Cold Oak)
165. Remember the Titans (8.16)-W: Loflin/D: Boyum
Recap-trials
Sam is hiding that he’s coughing up blood, of course Dean knows he’s hiding something…here we go again…
Kevin’s been working on trial #2 for 3 weeks
Wearing very nice suits
The cop believes in zombies and they have to cool his enthusiasm
Sam: ‘We need to think. Dean, what do we know of that has Jason Bourne fighting skills, dies a lot, and has a history with violent women?’-Dean: ‘I don’t know? You?’-Nice, Dean
Smart Sam figures out it’s Prometheus
Just bring some random strangers to the bunker, okay…
Dean: ‘So, the way we usually handle this is we summon the bastard and we work him over until he undoes whatever it is he did’-an adequate summary…
Dean: ‘…the Men of Letters translated his journal…It’s a secret society. This is actually their lair. We’re legacies’-and sadly no one is impressed
Fulgurite-Dean: ‘The last time we needed it we stole it from a one-percenter’-Hayley: ‘You do know that fulgurite is available in crystal shops all over, right?...The new age people, they use it to make cheap jewelry’
Prometheus dug the grave with Sam all night-how come he didn’t die during that time?
Because they’ve been flippant with Hayley all along she doesn’t understand when they start to walk away from Zeus and she breaks the trap thinking that will make Zeus save her son…
Smart Sam psychs out Artemis into switching sides
Prometheus gets a hunter’s funeral
That was one somber little boy
Sam confesses he is having difficulty: ‘I'm starting to think maybe I was being naive… When I said that I could just will myself into coming out of these trials unscathed’-Dean: ‘No, no, no. Stop with the sullen emo crap, all right? That's - you're not gonna die like Prometheus…You promised to live a long, Clark Griswold life…You’re not welshing on that deal, not on my watch. If you die it’s gonna be because of something normal’-so instead of listening to what Sam’s saying Dean has to shut him down (and then he’s surprised that Sam stops telling him he’s feeling awful)
Dean prays to Cas: ‘…this is about Sam, so I need you to hear me…I don't know what's ahead or what it's gonna bring for Sam. Now, he's covering pretty good, but I know that he is hurting, and this one was supposed to be on me. So…I'm asking you...you keep a lookout for my little brother…’
This is how you write a guest character that fans care about, and though the mom screwed everything up I could see where she was coming from. The case was a cool one. But now we start the back-and-forth about Sam surviving the trials…sigh
166. Goodbye Stranger (8.17)-W: Thompson/D: Wright
Recap: Meg; Naomi; angel and demon tablets; trials
Opening of Cas killing Dean is a shock…and then we see a room full of dead Deans…
Actually see boys sorting through MOL boxes and drawers
Dean finds vintage Busty Asian Beauties magazine
Suits (Sam has a pretty lavender tie)
Impressive fight scene
Cas is single-minded and cold-but he pleads with Naomi not to have to kill Meg
Meg saw where Lucifer’s crypts were when she was with Azazel
Lucifer had the angel tablet and hid it
Boys did an incredibly fast clothes change from suits to flannels…
The painful Meg and Cas flirtation
Dean calls them ‘Megstiel’
Crowley has an angel blade-from Samandriel?
Dean says Sam has to stay outside with Meg because: ‘…you’re not fine. You haven’t been fine since the first trial’
Boys say ‘Shut up, Meg’ in sync
Helpful Cas: ‘You’re damaged in ways even I can’t heal. Dean’s right…’
Continuity! Meg talks about knowing Sam from when she possessed him: ‘Deep down, in parts you never let see the light of day, you want to live a long, normal life away from creepy old things like me’
Sam tells Meg about his past year off-screen…why is Meg suddenly Sam’s BFF?
Cas points out the angel tablet chest and Dean picks it up and moves it to another table before opening it-The point of that was???
Cas brutally beats up Dean while trying to convince Naomi not to make him do it
Dean somehow still has faith in Cas: ‘Cas, fight this! This is not you!’-Cas breaks Dean’s arm-Dean: ‘Take it but you’re gonna have to kill me first…Cas, this isn’t you…We’re family. We need you. I need you’
Naomi: ‘You have to choose Castiel, us or them’
Cas drops the angel blade and picks up the tablet-white light
Cas heals Dean, tells him off-screen about Naomi, and leaves with the tablet
Meg tells Sam to save his brother and ‘my unicorn’ and fights Crowley so Sam can escape
Meg stabs Crowley with angel blade but he kills her as Sam and Dean drive away
Crowley spars with Naomi, references their time in Mesopotamia-except he was a Scottish tailor in the 17th century…
Sam: ‘I just wanted to believe I was ok’-Dean: ‘…you heard what Cas said, that that first trial hurt you in ways that even he can't heal…I need you to be honest with me from here on out…I may not be able to carry the burden that comes along with these trials, But I can carry you’
We get aerial shot of Cas’ bus and the trees are all bare as in autumn…I remember when the episode aired thinking that it was becoming spring and there should have been some green in there…
I can’t think of anything positive to say about this episode. It was painful. I really don’t care about the angels and their tablet, I don’t find Megstiel plausible, I hated Cas beating Dean so horribly and then stopping with the magic words ‘I need you,’ the fact that Dean can forgive Cas even while Cas is beating him to death but can’t forgive Sam not looking for Dean-and Sam and Dean are ignoring the almost-certainty that Sam won’t survive the trials because the writers need them to go back and forth about it for drama.
167. Freaks and Geeks (8.17)-W: Glass/D: Showalter
Recap: Vamp lore, Krissy
Driving in suits
Dean sees Krissy on cops’ videotape and commandeers the tape, shuts the investigation down under FBI authority
Dean pulls Krissy aside to talk to her privately (he’s done that for Sam too-he usually doesn’t chew people out in front of others)
Dean: ‘Hunting isn’t all about killing and revenge’
Boys met hunter Victor Rogers in Spokane, hunting a rugaru
Victor: ‘…the next generation of hunters has to be better’-he then disses Martin, Garth, and Bobby
Dean doesn’t think kids should be raised as hunters-Sam: ‘They got a pretty good life…maybe they can hunt and have a real life’
Victor asks Sam if he wants kids-Sam: ‘Uh, I don’t know’
Dean changed out of suit into flannels before going to cabin
Dean knocks gun out of Aiden’s hand
Dean presses the kids about killing an innocent, hunting is not about revenge
Victor references ‘Leviathan fiasco’
Dean as Krissy is holding gun on Victor: ‘We don’t kill people. You don’t kill people’
Very convenient that Victor kills himself…
Krissy won’t look for hunts, but if any monsters show up…
Dean sees that Krissy deserves to make her own choice, but he will have Garth check in on them
Aiden: ‘I know. You’ll kill me if I ever hurt her’-Dean: ‘No, no, no, she’ll kill you’
Dean: ‘…if we shut that hell hole once and for and all, those three can have a real life’
Another good episode because I cared about Dean caring about these kids, and the plot, though convoluted, kept me guessing but ultimately made sense. Though there are an awful lot of hunters willing to do awful things because they are righteous…
168. Taxi Driver (8.19)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Bee
Before I say anything else, I have to say this episode infuriates me by how it destroyed canon, making Sam and Dean’s struggles over Dean’s hell deal pointless. The only more egregious destruction of Supernatural’s backstory is the revision of God’s story in the final season
Recap: Naomi, Benny, trials
Kevin hears Crowley in a nightmare
Boys torture a crossroads demon to find out how to get into hell, and by golly, all you have to do is use some holy water to get a demon to tell you that all you need is a rogue reaper…Gosh, why didn’t Sam just do that to rescue Dean from hell back in season 4???
Ajay says he was the reaper who took Bobby to hell…either he swiped Bobby’s soul from the reaper who was with Bobby when he died, or it’s the same reaper in a different vessel (remember, we find out in a future season that reapers are actually angels!) with a very different attitude
And he’s a very reasonable reaper, will help them so that they owe him one…
A reaper can ease you in and out of Purgatory, too-that would have been handy knowledge for Sam at the end of last season…and, wow, if only Crowley had known back when he was torturing alphas to get into Purgatory that all he needed to do was ask a reaper…
Dean’s hanging with Kevin who is having a mental breakdown (and steals Dean’s pie); Dean doesn’t believe Kevin is really hearing Crowley
That must be one very long angel blade Crowley uses to stab Ajay through the entire seat of the car and still come 6 inches out his chest…
Sam fights ONE monster in scary Purgatory on his way to the doorway to hell…
Looks like Crowley returned hell to its traditional form of torment, dark and dank cells with torture instead of an endless line…
How incredibly fortunate that the hell door opens on the corridor that Bobby’s in!
Continuity! Gasp! Sam refers to Bobby’s love of Tory Spelling and pedicures that we learned about in the past!
Bobby’s torture was seeing ‘endless Sams and Deans all wearing the same black eyes’
Kevin ducks out on Dean and hides the half of the demon tablet (Not too sharp there, Dean, if you didn’t hear the kid sneaking out…)
Naomi tries to manipulate Dean without success
Sam and Bobby run into two whole demons on the way out-hell must be short-staffed…
Sam! You left the hell door open!!!!!!!
Dean calls Benny to ask a favor: ‘Wow, when Dean Winchester asks for a favor, he’s not screwing around’
The conversation between Dean and Benny is the only worthwhile thing in the entire episode-Dean’s distress at having to kill Benny to save Sam is so clear, and Benny is remarkably cool about doing it…he does say he is having some adjustment issues
Dean intends for Sam to bring Benny back, though
Dean and Benny hug, Dean’s face really shows how he’s hurting at doing this
Bobby lays into Sam for not looking for Dean: ‘I know that agreement. I taught you that agreement. That's a non-agreement’
Oh wow-a second Purgatory attack! What a scary place!
Bobby takes issue with Sam saying Benny is a friend of Dean’s: ‘A frigging vampire? Well, you two really went off the rails while I was gone, didn't you?’
Sam is prepared to take Benny through the portal but Benny sends Sam out and goes to fight the vampires that just showed up
Just how fast did Dean drive to get from Kansas to Maine?
Boys hug
Naomi does one useful thing: getting Bobby’s soul away from Crowley
Sam collapses after saying the spell and of course Dean freaks
Crowley kidnaps Kevin, says he got Kevin’s location from his mom and killed her
Everything of Kevin’s is gone when boys get to the houseboat, so figure he made a run for it
I cannot say anything more about this travesty
169. Pac-Man Fever (8.20)-W: Thompson/D: Singer
Recap: SPN books, Charlie, 2nd trial, Kevin gone
Dean wakes up wearing a medical coat over a spiffy uniform (man, they like to dress him up, don’t they???)
Smart Dean breaks off a table leg for a weapon before venturing out
He’s in 1951
24 hours earlier
Boys in bunker, Sam looks like crap, misses the beer Dean tosses him
Smart Dean has hacked into cameras around Garth’s boat and Mrs. Tran’s home
Dean tests Sam on the shooting range when Sam says he’s good enough to hunt-Sam completely misses the target
Bunker shorts out their cell phone signals so they can only be traced to an area with a 20-mile radius-nice explanation
Charlie calls with a case; she has used the Carver Edlund books to learn about hunting
When Dean tests Charlie on the shooting range she immediately nails 2 headshots
Charlie clothes montage-what was the purpose of that?
Dean in suit (Sam wears one later)
Dean borrows Charlie’s phone, we later find out he did that to turn on her GPS
Charlie holds her FBI badge upside-down, now a running gag for newbies hunting with the boys
The coroner insists on paperwork-first time that’s ever happened LOL
Sam shows up and Dean is upset, drives off without Charlie
However Sam had ‘borrowed’ Charlie’s car and they beat him to the morgue
Boys think that Charlie seems off
Dean tracks down patient Mrs. Middleton who has been in a coma for 16 years and figures out she’s Charlie’s mother (the amount of information that nurse provided goes way against HIPAA regulations…)
They have dreamroot in trunk
Sam punches Dean to knock him out
Dean and Charlie are in a game she hacked when she was 12
Dean sees Sam in the game as a patient
Smart Dean: ‘This poison, it's designed to put your mind into an endless cycle, while your insides turn to mush, okay, and its fuel is fear. Now call me crazy, but I think the only way to break the cycle is to let go of the fear and stop playing the game…you're not afraid of those super-soldier vamps out there…You're afraid of losing her’
Charlie blames herself for calling her parents to pick her up from a sleep-over when she was 12, they shouldn’t have been driving
Even sick, Sam defeats the djinn
Charlie sobbing in Dean’s arms when she wakes up…
Charlie gives the boys a pep talk: ‘You know you're gonna be okay, right? Those books portray you as like, one tough customer. If anyone can get through the trials, Sam, it's you’
Sam starts to justify going out on the case, Dean pulls him into a hug
Not gonna lie, this episode made me cry for Charlie…excellent episode!
170. The Great Escapist (8.21)-W: Edlund/D: McNeill
Recap: Cas and angel tablet, Naomi, trials, Crowley and Kevin, sick Sam
Kevin is still on the boat? And ‘Sam and Dean’ give him the other half of the demon tablet
Have to admit Crowley’s plan to make Kevin think nothing’s changed is very clever, and wow, is he really getting into being a director…
Dean makes John’s ‘kitchen sink stew’ with lots of cayenne for Sam
Dean thinks he can get Sam healthy-Sam: ‘This isn’t a cold. Or a fever…This is part of it all. Those first 2 trials…they’re doing something to me’-will one of them acknowledge the trials are going to kill Sam???
Dean knocks stuff off the bunker table in anger after getting Kevin’s email that he’s dead if they get it (Dean’s habit of going physical on his surroundings when angry is very consistent…and highlight his anger management issues)
Unable to locate Garth
No other prophets have been activated, though
Cas is using Biggersons to elude the angels
Smart Sam recognizes a mark on Kevin’s work as matching the symbol of a Native American tribe that he learned about in Stanford (what a coincidence…)
Ruthless angels kill Biggersons’ customers…Cas calls Naomi on it, she blows off the criticism with examples of other horrors angels have done for god
Continuity error-Sam remembers the donkey ride in the Grand Canyon but back in season 2 Dean says they’ve never been to the Grand Canyon
Sam really looks terrible
Why submerge Sam’s entire face in the ice bath? Wouldn’t you want to keep his nose and mouth out so he doesn’t drown???
Angel blade bullets-more clever Crowley
Metatron doesn’t know who the Winchesters are-Sam: ‘What, you really haven't heard of us? What kind of angel are you, we're the freaking Winchesters’
Smart Kevin figured out how Crowley has trapped him
Metatron is not an archangel, contrary to what Cas said when the Leviathan tablet came to light
Note for trying to make sense of season 15-Metatron: ‘God…seemed very worried about his work, what would happen to it when he left, so he had me write down instructions. Then, he was gone’
Metatron: ‘…storytelling. That is the true flower of free will…When you create stories, you become gods, of tiny, intricate dimensions unto themselves’
Sam despises Metatron for hiding, challenges Metatron to shoot him to Dean’s horror
Metatron saves Kevin and casually mentions what the last trial is
Dean: ‘…if we do this, you get better, right? I mean, you stop trying to cough up a lung, and, and, and bumping into furniture?’-Dean is still deluding himself…Sam gives a non-answer: ‘I fell better…just having a direction to move in’
This episode is all to set up the finale…
171. Clip Show (8.22)-W: Dabb/D: Wright
Recap: Metatron, trials, rescue Kevin, Cas is back, Abaddon
So long Tommy from season 1…
Sam is actually honest about feeling awful
Dean ignores Cas who is in the bunker for the first time-he is pissed and won’t accept Cas’ apology: ‘You didn’t trust me…so you can take your little apology and you cram it up your ass’-Cas: ‘I thought I was doing the right thing’-Dean: ‘Yeah, you always do’
Boys go into storeroom in bunker with flashlights-no light bulb in the room?
Smart Dean finds the dungeon (which seems really oddly situated, but what do I know about dungeon placement in secret bunkers?)
Dean still not forgiving Cas
A demon has a human soul that has been twisted by hell (Note that in the auction episode Plutus says Crowley doesn’t have a soul but according to this lore-and the next episode-he does)
Priest questions if Sam is all right-Dean: ‘…over the past couple of months, I've seen him do crap that I didn't even think was possible. I mean, sure, he's miserable and he's hurting, but you know what? There's not a doubt in my mind that he's gonna cross that finish line - not one’-How about sharing that with Sam, Dean? He needs to know you believe in him!
Metatron starts his manipulation of Cas, sells him on closing the gates of heaven
Cas has to kill the Nephilim girl-when he balks, Metatron: ‘What’s more important? Her life or your family?’
Dumb Dean has the idea to sew Abaddon back together to use for the last trial-why use the most powerful demon around? And you want me to believe Sam and Dean can just sew a body back together?????? That is the most ridiculous premise in the entire 15 years. (I know, they wanted to bring back Abaddon because she was a memorable character…but come on, come up with something believable, a spell, or Cas, or some other angel, or something!!!)
Abaddon was not in yet Josie’s meatsuit when she killed the priest
Dumb boys walk out on Abaddon
Hand crawling out of the box is one creepy visual!
Crowley kills the cupcake girl-except she was in season 7 and the books end at season 3
Sarah Blake says Sam seems more confident, focused, but she misses his old haircut LOL; she is married with an almost one-year-old
Angel blade kills Nephilim-question for the future, I kind of think angel blades didn’t work on Jack? But maybe I’m remembering wrong…
Crowley says he’s the son of a witch (true) who taught him a few tricks (I doubt that since she sold him as a toddler)
Crowley taunts them while Sarah is dying: ‘Saving people, hunting things - the family business…Well, I think the people you save, they're how you justify your pathetic little lives…the one thing that allows you to sleep at night… is knowing that these folks are out there, still out there happy and healthy because of you, you great, big, bloody heroes! They're your life's work, and I'm going to rip it apart piece by piece because I can, because you can't stop me, and because when they're all gone, what will you have left? You want to keep these people alive, I want complete and utter surrender’-that is the devastating speech of a purely evil villain
Dean: ‘You okay?’-Sam: ‘What do you think?’-Seriously, they have got to stop asking each other that question…
Sam: ‘Maybe this isn’t one we can win. Maybe we should just take the deal’-Dean: ‘We’ll figure this out…we’ll kick it in the ass like we always do’
Sarah’s death HURT! And that is why I could never understand in future seasons how they get buddy-buddy with Crowley-not after he did that. There was a lot going on in this episode, again to set up the finale, but the killing off of the people the boys had saved was truly tragic and evil. So I’m invested in seeing Crowley losing…
172. Sacrifice (8.23)-W: Carver/D: Sgriccia
Road so far of the season
Jody in peril! You better not kill Jody off!!!
Kevin takes boys to his half of the demon tablet and they send him to the bunker for safety (where has he been in the meantime? And do they have a spare key???)
Cas still not savvy in pop culture…
Brilliant boys trap Crowley: ‘You’re the 3rd trial’
Sam as they are outside the church: ‘…for the first time in a long time, it feels like we’re gonna win’
And then Dean offers suggestions for what Sam can say in confession and I want to punch him: ‘I'm just spit-balling here, but if I were you...Ruby, killing Lilith, letting Lucifer out, losing your soul, not looking for me when I went to Purgatory…’-Way to show you believe in Sam! And losing his soul was not Sam’s fault! Oh, after all they’ve gone through this season, to throw this up in Sam’s face again…I blame the writer, honestly, for forcing the issue to get the big climactic scene he wants at the end…
Cas shows up and urgently needs Dean’s help again…and Dean goes, telling Sam: ‘Start the injections now. If I'm not back in eight hours, finish it, no questions, no hesitation’
Cas goes ballistic on Kevin when he balks at reading another tablet
Sam ignores Crowley’s jibes
Crowley’s call to hell sure backfires when Abaddon shows up to dethrone him
Smart Sam sets Abaddon on fire
Naomi tells Cas and Dean that Metatron lied to Cas about closing the gates of heaven-Cas refuses to believe her
Naomi tells Dean that Sam is going to die if he finishes the trials-duh!
Dean: ‘You finish this trial, you’re dead, Sam’-Sam: ‘So?’ (This is the conviction of his worthlessness to Dean that was the showrunner’s goal for the whole season so that Dean could declare how much he really needs Sam-and it was a sucky endgame. The boys deserved so much better)
Sam: ‘You want to know what I confessed in there? What my greatest sin was? It was how many times I let you down. I can't do that again…What happens when you've decided I can't be trusted again? I mean, who are you gonna turn to next time instead of me? Another angel, another vampire? Do you have any idea what it feels like to watch your brother just…’-Dean: ‘You seriously think that? Because none of it…is true…I know I've said some junk that set you back on your heels. But, Sammy...come on. I killed Benny to save you. I'm willing to let this bastard and all the sons of bitches that killed mom walk because of you. Don't you dare think that there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you! It has never been like that, ever! I need you to see that. I'm begging you’
Metatron tricks Cas, the angels fall, and Sam may have stopped the trials but he is in very bad shape anyway.
It would have been much more satisfying-and in character with his previous actions at the end of season 5-if Sam had finished the trials from a position of emotional strength. That would have made the season about the boys being heroes instead of spending it tearing each other apart. The only saving grace to this season were the stand-alone episodes with the terrific guest characters.
I really went into this season looking for reasons to like it…I’m not looking forward to season 9…
161. Everybody Hates Hitler (8.13)-W: Edlund/D: Sgriccia
Recap is of the previous episode
1944-something destroys Nazi camp
Boys first find the Men of Letters bunker-nice sense of their awe-Sam when he sees the library, very respectfully: ‘Son of a bitch’-I suspect that is the only time he says it (hasn’t up till now)
Sam questions how they have water and electricity-Dean supplies the handwave for the fans: ‘…well, I am putting that under the "ain't broke" column’
Sam takes MOL seriously right away
Dean’s dead man’s robe
2 weeks later Dean is returning from seeing Kevin, Cas is still MIA
Suits
Guy at bar (Aaron) flirts with Dean, Dean is flustered
Sam says ‘…something stuck to my shoe’ to let Dean know Sam’s being followed
Dean has parked the Impala and hides to watch-Sam goes to the trunk and drops his keys-so Sam has his own set of car keys now
Smart Sam recognizes library call numbers
Fortunately killing the Thule reverses the poisoning spell-that was convenient
Boys warming hands over fire burning the corpse-Aaron: ‘Oh my god, these guys are psychopaths!’
Dean calls Garth to see if he has any info that might help
Great timing between Aaron and boys, great shooting by boys to get out of the situation
Back at bunker Sam is making entry into MOL records-Dean: ‘you’re a man of letters now?’-Dean starts to pull 2 beers out, puts them back and pours scotch into MOL crystal tumblers, sets one by Sam, puts his feet up on the table to drink his
What a perfect final shot, boys working together, a successful hunt, lots of new possibilities on the horizon-this could have been the final shot of the show either right then or 7 years later, and everyone would have been happy…
A very engaging guest character, Aaron really changed from his brief association with the boys and the case was intriguing…episodes like this are what keep me hanging in there even when the overall season sucks
163. Trial and Error (8.14)-W: Dabb/D: Parks
Recap: Crossroads deals, hellhounds, finding the bunker
Dean is nesting-his room has his weapons displayed on the walls, vinyl album collection, Mary’s picture, and his memory foam mattress (do I want to ask how he got it to the bunker? No, I won’t ask…)
Sam mocks Dean’s efforts
Dean serves Sam a fancy burger-Dean: ‘We have a real kitchen now’-Sam: ‘I just didn’t think you knew what a kitchen was’-Sam’s reaction to the burger: ‘Wow’ and when they have to run off right away Sam grabs the burger to take with
Kevin is living on hot dogs-guess he’s not a vegetarian any more
Sam tries to get Kevin to slow down, not burn himself out while Dean encourages Kevin to keep gong without a break
Dean is ready to go: ‘Hey, if this means icing all demons, I got no problem gutting some devil dog and letting Calgon take me away’
When the plan to kill a hellhound looks like it went south, Dean wants to go to a crossroads, Sam pulls him back that it would be suicide and says he thinks someone else made a deal too-Dean: ‘And you want to scope ‘em out?’-Sam: ‘I want to kill a hellhound and not die’
Glasses scorched in holy oil will let them see hellhounds
Ellie hits on Dean and he turns her down
Dean decides on the plan of action: ‘I need you to be safe, Sam, okay? That's what I need…We both know where this ends, one of us dies...Or worse’-Sam: ‘…you just up and decided it's gonna be you?’-Dean: ‘I'm a grunt, Sam. You're not…You see a light at the end of this ugly-ass tunnel. I don't. But I tell you what I do know - it's that I'm gonna die with a gun in my hand. 'Cause that's what I have waiting for me - that's all I have waiting for me. I want you to get out. I want you to have a life - become a man of Letters, whatever. You, with a wife and kids and grandkids…that is my perfect ending, and it's the only one that I'm gonna get. So I'm gonna do these trials. I'm gonna do them alone, end of story. You're staying here’ (Other than it was a machete in his hand, not a gun, Dean called it, didn’t he…)
Ellie: ‘I did it for my mom, Dean. What would you do for your mom?’
Throughout the episode it seems like everyone hears the hellhounds even though only the damned are supposed to…
And Sam ices the hellhound, setting the rest of the season and angst between the boys in place…
Sam’s t-shirt is soaked with hellhound blood but his neck and face are perfectly clean-I get that he wiped it off but to have done such a perfectly demarcated job??? Not even a couple of smears he missed???
Dean wants to find another hellhound and do the job-Sam: ‘I’m closing the gates. It’s a suicide mission for you…I want to slam hell shut too, okay? But I want to survive it. I want to live, and so should you. You have friends up here, family. I mean, hell, you even got your own room now. You were right, okay? I see light at the end of this tunnel. And I'm sorry you don't - I am. But it's there. And if you come with me, I can take you to it…You’re not a grunt, Dean. You’re a genius…you’re the best damn hunter I have ever seen, better than me, better than dad. I believe in you, Dean, so please believe in me too’
Dean’s face when Sam says he’s okay
I wonder what ever happened to Ellie? They just sent her off with some hex bags and instructions to keep moving…
164. Man’s Best Friend with Benefits (8.15)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Showalter
Recap: Witches; Sam will do the trials
James saved the boys’ lives when they were hunting a lunatic alchemist
New drinking game: every time Dean asks Sam ‘Are you okay’ for the rest of this season take a drink…
Sam says he’s good-Dean: ‘You sure?...there is a minefield of who knows what crap ahead’-great pep talk
Sam tries to preemptively calm Dean down over a dog being in their room…only when he opens the door it’s a woman…
Portia says Dean doesn’t like dogs (well, clearly that changes by season 15)
They are going to use Bobby’s witch-killing spell that didn’t work on the Starks because the chicken feet weren’t cold
Discussing the spell-Sam: ‘Concerned about the witch-killing spell or that I’m gonna mess these trials up?-Dean: ‘It’ll be too late for me to jump in’-Sam: ‘Maybe I’ll actually pull this one off’-C’mon writers, do you remember Sam putting Lucifer in the Cage a few years ago?
Sam: ‘I've been going over this and over this, asking myself "why doesn't he trust me?" And it occurred to me, finally. It's not that you don't trust me. It's that you can only trust you’
Dean sneezes around cats
We get Portia and chained-up James having sex. Why would we care about that?
Oh, let’s get Dean all twisted up about Portia and James’ sex life…sigh
When James does his farseeing thing his eyeballs go white-they kept that for Rowena’s spells
So the whole evil plot was spawned by jealousy over a beautiful woman…sigh
Actual reference to what both boys have suffered through! When they relive their worst memories we see glimpses of Sam falling into the cage, Mary burning, Sam burning in hell, Dean chained in hell
When the witch’s hold falters they work seamlessly to set the spell
Spell actually kills the witch!
Dean ready to acknowledge he will support Sam: ‘I realize that the only way we've made it through it all is by hanging together. I trust you, Sammy. With this deal, locking those sons of bitches up in the furnace once and for all, it's too important not to. So if you say you're good... ...then that's it. I'm with you 100%’
And of course then Sam coughs up blood and hides it
This mess is what happens when writers say something like ‘wouldn’t it be cool to have a character who’s a woman and a dog? And she has sex?’ and then slap some plot together to cover it. James is one of the most boring guest characters we ever get and the only part of the entire episode worth acknowledging is that they showed the boys having flashbacks to their worst moments (though are we ever told that Dean actually witnessed Mary burning? Because I thought he didn’t see it. They should have used Sam dying in Cold Oak)
165. Remember the Titans (8.16)-W: Loflin/D: Boyum
Recap-trials
Sam is hiding that he’s coughing up blood, of course Dean knows he’s hiding something…here we go again…
Kevin’s been working on trial #2 for 3 weeks
Wearing very nice suits
The cop believes in zombies and they have to cool his enthusiasm
Sam: ‘We need to think. Dean, what do we know of that has Jason Bourne fighting skills, dies a lot, and has a history with violent women?’-Dean: ‘I don’t know? You?’-Nice, Dean
Smart Sam figures out it’s Prometheus
Just bring some random strangers to the bunker, okay…
Dean: ‘So, the way we usually handle this is we summon the bastard and we work him over until he undoes whatever it is he did’-an adequate summary…
Dean: ‘…the Men of Letters translated his journal…It’s a secret society. This is actually their lair. We’re legacies’-and sadly no one is impressed
Fulgurite-Dean: ‘The last time we needed it we stole it from a one-percenter’-Hayley: ‘You do know that fulgurite is available in crystal shops all over, right?...The new age people, they use it to make cheap jewelry’
Prometheus dug the grave with Sam all night-how come he didn’t die during that time?
Because they’ve been flippant with Hayley all along she doesn’t understand when they start to walk away from Zeus and she breaks the trap thinking that will make Zeus save her son…
Smart Sam psychs out Artemis into switching sides
Prometheus gets a hunter’s funeral
That was one somber little boy
Sam confesses he is having difficulty: ‘I'm starting to think maybe I was being naive… When I said that I could just will myself into coming out of these trials unscathed’-Dean: ‘No, no, no. Stop with the sullen emo crap, all right? That's - you're not gonna die like Prometheus…You promised to live a long, Clark Griswold life…You’re not welshing on that deal, not on my watch. If you die it’s gonna be because of something normal’-so instead of listening to what Sam’s saying Dean has to shut him down (and then he’s surprised that Sam stops telling him he’s feeling awful)
Dean prays to Cas: ‘…this is about Sam, so I need you to hear me…I don't know what's ahead or what it's gonna bring for Sam. Now, he's covering pretty good, but I know that he is hurting, and this one was supposed to be on me. So…I'm asking you...you keep a lookout for my little brother…’
This is how you write a guest character that fans care about, and though the mom screwed everything up I could see where she was coming from. The case was a cool one. But now we start the back-and-forth about Sam surviving the trials…sigh
166. Goodbye Stranger (8.17)-W: Thompson/D: Wright
Recap: Meg; Naomi; angel and demon tablets; trials
Opening of Cas killing Dean is a shock…and then we see a room full of dead Deans…
Actually see boys sorting through MOL boxes and drawers
Dean finds vintage Busty Asian Beauties magazine
Suits (Sam has a pretty lavender tie)
Impressive fight scene
Cas is single-minded and cold-but he pleads with Naomi not to have to kill Meg
Meg saw where Lucifer’s crypts were when she was with Azazel
Lucifer had the angel tablet and hid it
Boys did an incredibly fast clothes change from suits to flannels…
The painful Meg and Cas flirtation
Dean calls them ‘Megstiel’
Crowley has an angel blade-from Samandriel?
Dean says Sam has to stay outside with Meg because: ‘…you’re not fine. You haven’t been fine since the first trial’
Boys say ‘Shut up, Meg’ in sync
Helpful Cas: ‘You’re damaged in ways even I can’t heal. Dean’s right…’
Continuity! Meg talks about knowing Sam from when she possessed him: ‘Deep down, in parts you never let see the light of day, you want to live a long, normal life away from creepy old things like me’
Sam tells Meg about his past year off-screen…why is Meg suddenly Sam’s BFF?
Cas points out the angel tablet chest and Dean picks it up and moves it to another table before opening it-The point of that was???
Cas brutally beats up Dean while trying to convince Naomi not to make him do it
Dean somehow still has faith in Cas: ‘Cas, fight this! This is not you!’-Cas breaks Dean’s arm-Dean: ‘Take it but you’re gonna have to kill me first…Cas, this isn’t you…We’re family. We need you. I need you’
Naomi: ‘You have to choose Castiel, us or them’
Cas drops the angel blade and picks up the tablet-white light
Cas heals Dean, tells him off-screen about Naomi, and leaves with the tablet
Meg tells Sam to save his brother and ‘my unicorn’ and fights Crowley so Sam can escape
Meg stabs Crowley with angel blade but he kills her as Sam and Dean drive away
Crowley spars with Naomi, references their time in Mesopotamia-except he was a Scottish tailor in the 17th century…
Sam: ‘I just wanted to believe I was ok’-Dean: ‘…you heard what Cas said, that that first trial hurt you in ways that even he can't heal…I need you to be honest with me from here on out…I may not be able to carry the burden that comes along with these trials, But I can carry you’
We get aerial shot of Cas’ bus and the trees are all bare as in autumn…I remember when the episode aired thinking that it was becoming spring and there should have been some green in there…
I can’t think of anything positive to say about this episode. It was painful. I really don’t care about the angels and their tablet, I don’t find Megstiel plausible, I hated Cas beating Dean so horribly and then stopping with the magic words ‘I need you,’ the fact that Dean can forgive Cas even while Cas is beating him to death but can’t forgive Sam not looking for Dean-and Sam and Dean are ignoring the almost-certainty that Sam won’t survive the trials because the writers need them to go back and forth about it for drama.
167. Freaks and Geeks (8.17)-W: Glass/D: Showalter
Recap: Vamp lore, Krissy
Driving in suits
Dean sees Krissy on cops’ videotape and commandeers the tape, shuts the investigation down under FBI authority
Dean pulls Krissy aside to talk to her privately (he’s done that for Sam too-he usually doesn’t chew people out in front of others)
Dean: ‘Hunting isn’t all about killing and revenge’
Boys met hunter Victor Rogers in Spokane, hunting a rugaru
Victor: ‘…the next generation of hunters has to be better’-he then disses Martin, Garth, and Bobby
Dean doesn’t think kids should be raised as hunters-Sam: ‘They got a pretty good life…maybe they can hunt and have a real life’
Victor asks Sam if he wants kids-Sam: ‘Uh, I don’t know’
Dean changed out of suit into flannels before going to cabin
Dean knocks gun out of Aiden’s hand
Dean presses the kids about killing an innocent, hunting is not about revenge
Victor references ‘Leviathan fiasco’
Dean as Krissy is holding gun on Victor: ‘We don’t kill people. You don’t kill people’
Very convenient that Victor kills himself…
Krissy won’t look for hunts, but if any monsters show up…
Dean sees that Krissy deserves to make her own choice, but he will have Garth check in on them
Aiden: ‘I know. You’ll kill me if I ever hurt her’-Dean: ‘No, no, no, she’ll kill you’
Dean: ‘…if we shut that hell hole once and for and all, those three can have a real life’
Another good episode because I cared about Dean caring about these kids, and the plot, though convoluted, kept me guessing but ultimately made sense. Though there are an awful lot of hunters willing to do awful things because they are righteous…
168. Taxi Driver (8.19)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Bee
Before I say anything else, I have to say this episode infuriates me by how it destroyed canon, making Sam and Dean’s struggles over Dean’s hell deal pointless. The only more egregious destruction of Supernatural’s backstory is the revision of God’s story in the final season
Recap: Naomi, Benny, trials
Kevin hears Crowley in a nightmare
Boys torture a crossroads demon to find out how to get into hell, and by golly, all you have to do is use some holy water to get a demon to tell you that all you need is a rogue reaper…Gosh, why didn’t Sam just do that to rescue Dean from hell back in season 4???
Ajay says he was the reaper who took Bobby to hell…either he swiped Bobby’s soul from the reaper who was with Bobby when he died, or it’s the same reaper in a different vessel (remember, we find out in a future season that reapers are actually angels!) with a very different attitude
And he’s a very reasonable reaper, will help them so that they owe him one…
A reaper can ease you in and out of Purgatory, too-that would have been handy knowledge for Sam at the end of last season…and, wow, if only Crowley had known back when he was torturing alphas to get into Purgatory that all he needed to do was ask a reaper…
Dean’s hanging with Kevin who is having a mental breakdown (and steals Dean’s pie); Dean doesn’t believe Kevin is really hearing Crowley
That must be one very long angel blade Crowley uses to stab Ajay through the entire seat of the car and still come 6 inches out his chest…
Sam fights ONE monster in scary Purgatory on his way to the doorway to hell…
Looks like Crowley returned hell to its traditional form of torment, dark and dank cells with torture instead of an endless line…
How incredibly fortunate that the hell door opens on the corridor that Bobby’s in!
Continuity! Gasp! Sam refers to Bobby’s love of Tory Spelling and pedicures that we learned about in the past!
Bobby’s torture was seeing ‘endless Sams and Deans all wearing the same black eyes’
Kevin ducks out on Dean and hides the half of the demon tablet (Not too sharp there, Dean, if you didn’t hear the kid sneaking out…)
Naomi tries to manipulate Dean without success
Sam and Bobby run into two whole demons on the way out-hell must be short-staffed…
Sam! You left the hell door open!!!!!!!
Dean calls Benny to ask a favor: ‘Wow, when Dean Winchester asks for a favor, he’s not screwing around’
The conversation between Dean and Benny is the only worthwhile thing in the entire episode-Dean’s distress at having to kill Benny to save Sam is so clear, and Benny is remarkably cool about doing it…he does say he is having some adjustment issues
Dean intends for Sam to bring Benny back, though
Dean and Benny hug, Dean’s face really shows how he’s hurting at doing this
Bobby lays into Sam for not looking for Dean: ‘I know that agreement. I taught you that agreement. That's a non-agreement’
Oh wow-a second Purgatory attack! What a scary place!
Bobby takes issue with Sam saying Benny is a friend of Dean’s: ‘A frigging vampire? Well, you two really went off the rails while I was gone, didn't you?’
Sam is prepared to take Benny through the portal but Benny sends Sam out and goes to fight the vampires that just showed up
Just how fast did Dean drive to get from Kansas to Maine?
Boys hug
Naomi does one useful thing: getting Bobby’s soul away from Crowley
Sam collapses after saying the spell and of course Dean freaks
Crowley kidnaps Kevin, says he got Kevin’s location from his mom and killed her
Everything of Kevin’s is gone when boys get to the houseboat, so figure he made a run for it
I cannot say anything more about this travesty
169. Pac-Man Fever (8.20)-W: Thompson/D: Singer
Recap: SPN books, Charlie, 2nd trial, Kevin gone
Dean wakes up wearing a medical coat over a spiffy uniform (man, they like to dress him up, don’t they???)
Smart Dean breaks off a table leg for a weapon before venturing out
He’s in 1951
24 hours earlier
Boys in bunker, Sam looks like crap, misses the beer Dean tosses him
Smart Dean has hacked into cameras around Garth’s boat and Mrs. Tran’s home
Dean tests Sam on the shooting range when Sam says he’s good enough to hunt-Sam completely misses the target
Bunker shorts out their cell phone signals so they can only be traced to an area with a 20-mile radius-nice explanation
Charlie calls with a case; she has used the Carver Edlund books to learn about hunting
When Dean tests Charlie on the shooting range she immediately nails 2 headshots
Charlie clothes montage-what was the purpose of that?
Dean in suit (Sam wears one later)
Dean borrows Charlie’s phone, we later find out he did that to turn on her GPS
Charlie holds her FBI badge upside-down, now a running gag for newbies hunting with the boys
The coroner insists on paperwork-first time that’s ever happened LOL
Sam shows up and Dean is upset, drives off without Charlie
However Sam had ‘borrowed’ Charlie’s car and they beat him to the morgue
Boys think that Charlie seems off
Dean tracks down patient Mrs. Middleton who has been in a coma for 16 years and figures out she’s Charlie’s mother (the amount of information that nurse provided goes way against HIPAA regulations…)
They have dreamroot in trunk
Sam punches Dean to knock him out
Dean and Charlie are in a game she hacked when she was 12
Dean sees Sam in the game as a patient
Smart Dean: ‘This poison, it's designed to put your mind into an endless cycle, while your insides turn to mush, okay, and its fuel is fear. Now call me crazy, but I think the only way to break the cycle is to let go of the fear and stop playing the game…you're not afraid of those super-soldier vamps out there…You're afraid of losing her’
Charlie blames herself for calling her parents to pick her up from a sleep-over when she was 12, they shouldn’t have been driving
Even sick, Sam defeats the djinn
Charlie sobbing in Dean’s arms when she wakes up…
Charlie gives the boys a pep talk: ‘You know you're gonna be okay, right? Those books portray you as like, one tough customer. If anyone can get through the trials, Sam, it's you’
Sam starts to justify going out on the case, Dean pulls him into a hug
Not gonna lie, this episode made me cry for Charlie…excellent episode!
170. The Great Escapist (8.21)-W: Edlund/D: McNeill
Recap: Cas and angel tablet, Naomi, trials, Crowley and Kevin, sick Sam
Kevin is still on the boat? And ‘Sam and Dean’ give him the other half of the demon tablet
Have to admit Crowley’s plan to make Kevin think nothing’s changed is very clever, and wow, is he really getting into being a director…
Dean makes John’s ‘kitchen sink stew’ with lots of cayenne for Sam
Dean thinks he can get Sam healthy-Sam: ‘This isn’t a cold. Or a fever…This is part of it all. Those first 2 trials…they’re doing something to me’-will one of them acknowledge the trials are going to kill Sam???
Dean knocks stuff off the bunker table in anger after getting Kevin’s email that he’s dead if they get it (Dean’s habit of going physical on his surroundings when angry is very consistent…and highlight his anger management issues)
Unable to locate Garth
No other prophets have been activated, though
Cas is using Biggersons to elude the angels
Smart Sam recognizes a mark on Kevin’s work as matching the symbol of a Native American tribe that he learned about in Stanford (what a coincidence…)
Ruthless angels kill Biggersons’ customers…Cas calls Naomi on it, she blows off the criticism with examples of other horrors angels have done for god
Continuity error-Sam remembers the donkey ride in the Grand Canyon but back in season 2 Dean says they’ve never been to the Grand Canyon
Sam really looks terrible
Why submerge Sam’s entire face in the ice bath? Wouldn’t you want to keep his nose and mouth out so he doesn’t drown???
Angel blade bullets-more clever Crowley
Metatron doesn’t know who the Winchesters are-Sam: ‘What, you really haven't heard of us? What kind of angel are you, we're the freaking Winchesters’
Smart Kevin figured out how Crowley has trapped him
Metatron is not an archangel, contrary to what Cas said when the Leviathan tablet came to light
Note for trying to make sense of season 15-Metatron: ‘God…seemed very worried about his work, what would happen to it when he left, so he had me write down instructions. Then, he was gone’
Metatron: ‘…storytelling. That is the true flower of free will…When you create stories, you become gods, of tiny, intricate dimensions unto themselves’
Sam despises Metatron for hiding, challenges Metatron to shoot him to Dean’s horror
Metatron saves Kevin and casually mentions what the last trial is
Dean: ‘…if we do this, you get better, right? I mean, you stop trying to cough up a lung, and, and, and bumping into furniture?’-Dean is still deluding himself…Sam gives a non-answer: ‘I fell better…just having a direction to move in’
This episode is all to set up the finale…
171. Clip Show (8.22)-W: Dabb/D: Wright
Recap: Metatron, trials, rescue Kevin, Cas is back, Abaddon
So long Tommy from season 1…
Sam is actually honest about feeling awful
Dean ignores Cas who is in the bunker for the first time-he is pissed and won’t accept Cas’ apology: ‘You didn’t trust me…so you can take your little apology and you cram it up your ass’-Cas: ‘I thought I was doing the right thing’-Dean: ‘Yeah, you always do’
Boys go into storeroom in bunker with flashlights-no light bulb in the room?
Smart Dean finds the dungeon (which seems really oddly situated, but what do I know about dungeon placement in secret bunkers?)
Dean still not forgiving Cas
A demon has a human soul that has been twisted by hell (Note that in the auction episode Plutus says Crowley doesn’t have a soul but according to this lore-and the next episode-he does)
Priest questions if Sam is all right-Dean: ‘…over the past couple of months, I've seen him do crap that I didn't even think was possible. I mean, sure, he's miserable and he's hurting, but you know what? There's not a doubt in my mind that he's gonna cross that finish line - not one’-How about sharing that with Sam, Dean? He needs to know you believe in him!
Metatron starts his manipulation of Cas, sells him on closing the gates of heaven
Cas has to kill the Nephilim girl-when he balks, Metatron: ‘What’s more important? Her life or your family?’
Dumb Dean has the idea to sew Abaddon back together to use for the last trial-why use the most powerful demon around? And you want me to believe Sam and Dean can just sew a body back together?????? That is the most ridiculous premise in the entire 15 years. (I know, they wanted to bring back Abaddon because she was a memorable character…but come on, come up with something believable, a spell, or Cas, or some other angel, or something!!!)
Abaddon was not in yet Josie’s meatsuit when she killed the priest
Dumb boys walk out on Abaddon
Hand crawling out of the box is one creepy visual!
Crowley kills the cupcake girl-except she was in season 7 and the books end at season 3
Sarah Blake says Sam seems more confident, focused, but she misses his old haircut LOL; she is married with an almost one-year-old
Angel blade kills Nephilim-question for the future, I kind of think angel blades didn’t work on Jack? But maybe I’m remembering wrong…
Crowley says he’s the son of a witch (true) who taught him a few tricks (I doubt that since she sold him as a toddler)
Crowley taunts them while Sarah is dying: ‘Saving people, hunting things - the family business…Well, I think the people you save, they're how you justify your pathetic little lives…the one thing that allows you to sleep at night… is knowing that these folks are out there, still out there happy and healthy because of you, you great, big, bloody heroes! They're your life's work, and I'm going to rip it apart piece by piece because I can, because you can't stop me, and because when they're all gone, what will you have left? You want to keep these people alive, I want complete and utter surrender’-that is the devastating speech of a purely evil villain
Dean: ‘You okay?’-Sam: ‘What do you think?’-Seriously, they have got to stop asking each other that question…
Sam: ‘Maybe this isn’t one we can win. Maybe we should just take the deal’-Dean: ‘We’ll figure this out…we’ll kick it in the ass like we always do’
Sarah’s death HURT! And that is why I could never understand in future seasons how they get buddy-buddy with Crowley-not after he did that. There was a lot going on in this episode, again to set up the finale, but the killing off of the people the boys had saved was truly tragic and evil. So I’m invested in seeing Crowley losing…
172. Sacrifice (8.23)-W: Carver/D: Sgriccia
Road so far of the season
Jody in peril! You better not kill Jody off!!!
Kevin takes boys to his half of the demon tablet and they send him to the bunker for safety (where has he been in the meantime? And do they have a spare key???)
Cas still not savvy in pop culture…
Brilliant boys trap Crowley: ‘You’re the 3rd trial’
Sam as they are outside the church: ‘…for the first time in a long time, it feels like we’re gonna win’
And then Dean offers suggestions for what Sam can say in confession and I want to punch him: ‘I'm just spit-balling here, but if I were you...Ruby, killing Lilith, letting Lucifer out, losing your soul, not looking for me when I went to Purgatory…’-Way to show you believe in Sam! And losing his soul was not Sam’s fault! Oh, after all they’ve gone through this season, to throw this up in Sam’s face again…I blame the writer, honestly, for forcing the issue to get the big climactic scene he wants at the end…
Cas shows up and urgently needs Dean’s help again…and Dean goes, telling Sam: ‘Start the injections now. If I'm not back in eight hours, finish it, no questions, no hesitation’
Cas goes ballistic on Kevin when he balks at reading another tablet
Sam ignores Crowley’s jibes
Crowley’s call to hell sure backfires when Abaddon shows up to dethrone him
Smart Sam sets Abaddon on fire
Naomi tells Cas and Dean that Metatron lied to Cas about closing the gates of heaven-Cas refuses to believe her
Naomi tells Dean that Sam is going to die if he finishes the trials-duh!
Dean: ‘You finish this trial, you’re dead, Sam’-Sam: ‘So?’ (This is the conviction of his worthlessness to Dean that was the showrunner’s goal for the whole season so that Dean could declare how much he really needs Sam-and it was a sucky endgame. The boys deserved so much better)
Sam: ‘You want to know what I confessed in there? What my greatest sin was? It was how many times I let you down. I can't do that again…What happens when you've decided I can't be trusted again? I mean, who are you gonna turn to next time instead of me? Another angel, another vampire? Do you have any idea what it feels like to watch your brother just…’-Dean: ‘You seriously think that? Because none of it…is true…I know I've said some junk that set you back on your heels. But, Sammy...come on. I killed Benny to save you. I'm willing to let this bastard and all the sons of bitches that killed mom walk because of you. Don't you dare think that there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you! It has never been like that, ever! I need you to see that. I'm begging you’
Metatron tricks Cas, the angels fall, and Sam may have stopped the trials but he is in very bad shape anyway.
It would have been much more satisfying-and in character with his previous actions at the end of season 5-if Sam had finished the trials from a position of emotional strength. That would have made the season about the boys being heroes instead of spending it tearing each other apart. The only saving grace to this season were the stand-alone episodes with the terrific guest characters.
I really went into this season looking for reasons to like it…I’m not looking forward to season 9…