King of Hell

“Once you get going, it’s really hard to stop.”

Crowley:  The King of Hell;  The artisan of obsession.

Obsession:  the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

Linda Tran is obsessed with freeing her son, so she hires a witch.  She has no idea that witches are controlled by demons.

Kevin Tran is obsessed with saving his mother, and then the world.  He had no idea that his immediate concerns create a map to his decimation as a productive force.]

Sam Winchester is obsessed with banishing the demons and sealing the gates to hell so that he can resume ‘normal’.

Dean Winchester is obsessed.  It’s all he’s ever known.

Sam and Dean know, but refuse to turn away because of their obsession with the hope for mankind.  Dean is not shaken, even after he is shown that he did not know the truth.  Sam takes it in stride, waiting for the next revelation.

Castiel is obsessed with following the Will of God, regardless of his understanding or ability to determine its definition or origin.

Once you get going, it’s hard to stop.

Hard to stop trusting a witch.  Hard to stop trusting your mother.  Hard to stop trusting an Angel.  Hard to stop listening to Heaven. Hard to stop.  Because you can’t.

To stop trusting is to give up all hope, and hope is all that is left.

Hope, and dare we say Faith?  How exactly DID Cas get out of Purgatory? He clearly told us that he stayed because he needed to do his penance. Yet somehow, he is here, out of purgatory, in the world, and rescued by some unknown force, presenting itself in the form of an entity named Naomi, to “Help the Winchesters.  Come when they call.”

“And yes, I’m with you, if that’s alright.”  Castiel says to the Winchesters, after clearly stating that he will not obey Naomi.

“Oh, ye of little faith,” said the vampire.

Faith.  Faith in what is real.  What appears real right now and right here, and nothing else.

Supernatural –  Manifestations or events considered to be attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.

Reality - The world or the state of things as they actually exist

A Little Slice of Kevin

Who’s to say?  What is to come?  Hope keeps your heart beating. Faith is the only compass.

Once you get started, it’s really hard to stop.

Cas

Dean is haunted by Castiel, and Linda Tran is possessed by controlling her surroundings.

Dean sees Castiel, walking by the roadside, while Linda hires a witch to gather the ingredients for her Demon Obliviator by hiring a witch.  Too bad Linda doesn’t know that witches are beholden to demons.  Too bad Dean doesn’t know that Castiel was the one who decided not to leave Purgatory.  Castiel doesn’t know how he escaped Purgatory, and Crowley doesn’t know what’s on the tablet.

But they find out.  Linda and Kevin are betrayed by the witch and handed to Crowley.  Crowley has assemble the entire body ofpotential prophets, waiting to take Kevin’s place, should he die.  Crowley has leverage, as the King of Hell always will, and Linda is powerless.  It is up to Kevin, who is in advanced placement after all, to hold out against the powers of Hell in protecting the Word of God.  The Word of God that can seal the gates of hell, and also contains a cryptic message from the Angel Metatron

Dean finds out.  He finds out that he had no power over Castiel’s refusal to leave Purgatory.  And everything isn’t his responsibility.  Castiel needed to serve his penance, and would not allow Dean to pull him out.

Crowley Finds Out

Castiel begins to find out.  He was pulled from Purgatory to serve Naomi, whom he clearly defies in favor of the Winchesters.

Crowley finds out that there is a game changer.  There is a way to seal the gates of hell.  And the archangel Metatron has taken his leave of his Master in this world.  And there is a compendium of tablets.

Sam, Dean and Garth, Texas Ranger

Southern Comfort breaks in with Dean and Sam arguing heatedly about the encounter with Benny.  Once again, Sam is frustrated that they’re working what seems like a sketchy case, and if this isn’t enough tension, they run into Garth, Texas Ranger.

Garth has not only started working the case before them, he’s become a self-styled replica of Bobby.  He’s wearing Bobby’s hat. He’s using Bobby’s phrases.  He’s giving advice to hunters everywhere through a bank of cell phones he wears in his buckskin jacket.  Dean pointedly lets him know that he’s doing it wrong.  Garth finds the ectoplasm.  Garth finds Bobby’s note that identifies their target as a Spectre, a vengeful spirit.

“I still see Amelia…”

Sam ruminates some more about Amelia.  We don’t see anything of purgatory in this episode, but Sam is dreaming on about Amelia. It’s a little reminiscent of Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin in “Paint Your Wagon” (if you haven’t seen that, you really should).  I keep waiting for Sam to break out in song, “I still see Amelia, she keeps on returning…”

This spirit travels on a cursed object – the penny he wore around his neck for luck, which was stolen from his grave by some local miscreants.  Corporal Collins is his name, and his anger is amazing.  A woman in love and married to a man for 37 years drops a car on him for going to the prom with someone else before they were married.  Her son does in a former business partner with a shovel in a local store.  A deputy kills the sheriff for asking him to write a report.  Another deputy chases down a softball umpire in the hospital for calling him out at second base.

Wow, good thing he didn’t get a hold of someone who was really angry at someone else.  Oh wait, enter Dean Winchester.

Dean with a vengeance

Dean has spent so much time trying to be Sam’s father figure that he can’t possibly let go of all the angry thoughts he has for his brother.  Unless he’s possessed.  Dean releases the Kraken on Sam, at gunpoint.  He goes all the way back to Ruby and demon blood, Samuel Winchester, the lies, the soullessness, the whole history of everything he’s ‘forgiven’ Sam for.  Don’t forget that every time Sam had an issue, or as Dean puts it, makes a choice, Dean gives everything, including 40 years in Hell to get him back.

Dean gets ported to Purgatory, and Sam takes off, finds a girl, and seemingly forgets all about him.

What can possibly save Sam at this point?

The New Bobby?

At the height of the tension, Garth knocks the penny out of Dean’s hand and picks it up.  And…nothing.

When Dean asks him later why it didn’t affect him – after all, everyone has a beef with someone, Garth replies, “Not me, man, I let all that stuff go with the help of my Yogi, my Sega Genesis, and you should too.”

To exit the episode, Garth gets two things right – he calls Dean to “Stop being a idgit”, and says “BALLS!” with anger when his El Camino won’t start.

And we see another milestone in the Winchester journey.  Sam tells Dean like it is.

Move on, or I will

“You’ve been kicking me ever since we got back.  But that’s over.  So move on, or I will.”

Dean hears him.

Sam and Dean still can’t find the Kevin trail, and wind up in a little Missouri town where a wife of 37 years drops a car on her husband and carves the name of a childhood fling on his chest with her fingernails.

Sam, Dean and Garth, Texas Ranger

Suited up for first contact, the Winchesters find that the case is already being worked.  Enter Garth, Texas Ranger.  The three compadres work the case together, finding through Bobby’s notes that they are chasing a Spectre.  Not just any spectre, the ghost of the body that is buried in the Confederate Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Local legend has it that the ‘unknown soldier’ is actually a man named Vance Collins, whose brother betrayed him by fighting for the Union Army.  Vance has sworn an oath of vengeance against his brother, and now anyone he is able to encounter takes their vengeance on their enemies.

The Spectre is released from the tomb through a penny he had tied around his neck when he was buried.  Local kids were drinking in the tomb and stole the penny – then used it during a purchase at a local store.  Once the penny started its circulation, vengeance was wreaked upon the citizens of the small town.

Vengeance is mine

A husband is killed for a fling he had 37 years ago, before his marriage; a young entrepreneur is shot in the local mini mart for his part in a failed business partnership; the sheriff has his chest removed with a 12 gauge for asking the deputy to write one more report; another county cop chases down a softball umpire at the hospital, and runs into Dean.

“Ohhh…the Spectre likes you,” he smiles, and hands Dean the penny.

Dean, rife with anger for Sam’s betrayal during his year in purgatory, waits patiently for Sam and Garth to return to the hotel room.  Garth, who doesn’t have a beef with anyone, is able to take the penny and destroy it.

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Anger, And questions.

The Winchester Holy Grail quest has been ground to a halt by Kevin Tran, who WAS in advanced placement, after all, outwitting our heroes at every turn, and Dean insists on underestimating him out of pride. Now Sam sits by himself in a hotel room, haunted by memories of his normal life, while Dean attacks a nest of “Vampirates” (isn’t that the third thing you say?) with a vampire, who doesn’t seem to have what it takes to hunt monsters in the real world.

Sam and Dean, dirtslingers

Winchester dirt slinging:

“What friends?  All your friends are dead!”

“Last I checked you took a year off.  I’m asking for a day.”

“You DID try to kill his mother.”

“Did you have a stroke?”

Benny, bloodied and broken, calls on Dean for help.

Benny is out for blood.  Vampire Blood.

After attacking members of his former nest, Benny lies bloodied and broken and calls Dean for help.

Sam and Dean find themselves in Enid, Oregon looking for Kevin, who has once again duped them with a fake credit card trail.

Dean, still silent regarding his escape from Purgatory, tells Sam he needs some personal time to help a friend.  Dean departs to find Benny, and four story lines emerge:

Sam the handyman

While waiting for “Dog” to recuperate, Sam befriends the hotel owners and begins working for them as a handyman.  This lands him under Amelia’s sink, and gives him a view into her life that she would rather he didn’t have.  Amelia is alone, without family or direction, living in a hotel for months.  She finds Sam “creepy”, particularly his “Army/Navy Surplus” wardrobe and creepy sideburns.

During the fight, Dean calls on Sam for help, and Sam arrives after the fight is won.  Benny and Sam meet for the first time.  Sam has to shake Benny’s hand to gain the knowledge that he is undead.  Sam is reaching for his knife, and Dean just shakes his head no.

Sam realizes Benny is undead

Through Brian’s Eyes

Our beloved staff has treated us to a different perspective in Season 8 Episode 4: Bitten.

Bitten, a story about a group of college students gone wolf, is shown from the point of view of home video.  So we take a trip down the Blair Witch Paranormal Avenue and take a look at the story as it unfolds for three college roommates.

At the end we find out the entire thing is compiled by Kate, the middle of our coed love triangle.  Kate, Brian and Michael are terrible cinematographers, but apparently Kate is just awesome at editing.  Just a shout out to those who treat us to the ‘Awesome’ cinematography in Supernatural – we love your work. We tune in every week to be treated to it, even when you switch it up and go game show or sitcom on us.

Eric Kripke – you may have noticed that we also love our heroes.  Fans are screaming about this episode, losing the faith and giving up on the whole season.  This is Sam and Dean withdrawal.  Oh, and let’s not forget the Impala.  We didn’t get to ride in it once.  We should start a trivia contest to see if anyone remembers which scene the Impala was actually in.

People are so caught up in not seeing the show through our heroes eyes that the true art in this episode is missed: Perspective.

This episode spirals in on itself in so many ways that it’s difficult to jump into the subject.  Sam and Dean are hunted by students, who are hunted by an alpha, who is hunted by Dean and Sam.

Brian films Kate, who films Sam and Dean

We’re watching from the point of view of Brian, which is compiled by Kate, and eventually we learn that we’re watching through the eyes of Sam and Dean.  All this pales in comparison with the significance of the different perspective of the story line, the viewer, and most subtly, the boys themselves.

Were we going through so much Dean and Sam withdrawal that we failed to notice that they agreed to let her go without an argument? Where was Dean’s purgatory blood-lust?   Where was Sam’s need to tie up loose ends?  Each of them have, at different times in our view of their lives, shown mercy for their prey.  The lines between prey and victim are getting blurrier and blurrier, and now a unilateral conclusion that sometimes you let bygones be bygones.  We’re evolving past daddy John now. Breaking the Campbell cycle.  Changing perspective.

Artful episode, that.

But truly, we needed a little more Sam and Dean, and a little more Impala.

Hunter or Hunted? – Bitten

Supernatural goes Paranormal for the Blair Wolf Project

Brian, Michael and Kate are college students documenting their lives (and whatever fun they can steal from others) on digital media.  ”Bitten” is shown from the perspective of these amateur documentarians.

The story commences with clips of Sam and Dean from a camcorder through the bushes, ‘suited up’ for an FBI gig with the local constabulary.  It’s another animal attack, and the victim’s heart is missing. The FBI suits don’t fool our college stalkers, though.

According to Kate, “I’m pretty sure FBI agents don’t say Awesome that much”.

From here, we are thrown into the night bushes, where the camera crew is chased through the woods by an angry, jolted would-be lover straight into a growling beast who attacks, but doesn’t kill, Michael.

Fans are treated to the story from the victim’s point of view using the harsh jolting reality of home video, smattered with clips of Sam and Dean investigating the case.  Michael turns werewolf, Brian is jealous, Kate is worried and the three eventually all go native.

What did we learn from ‘Bitten’?  We finally figured out why some werewolves turn outside of the moon cycle.  If they’re less than 4 generations from an alpha, they’re not as feral and can turn before, during and after the lunar cycle.   We watched from a camera hidden in the bookshelf as Sam and Dean extinguished the first werewolf in this chain, a college professor who fed off animal hearts for years before he slipped and had to turn Michael to cover his tracks.

We also learned that Brian is in love with Kate, who is Michael’s girlfriend.  In the end, the boy-wolves fight and Michael loses.  To realize his dream of living eternity with Kate, Brian bites her.  Brian apparently didn’t understand the fury of a woman scorned.  Kate is the only one left at the end of the episode.  She compiles her video story and sends it to the Winchesters, pleading with them to let her go.  She didn’t choose this.  She’s never hurt anyone….human.

Their year apart seems to have changed the perspective of the brothers.  Sam and Dean are on the same page on this one, and decide to let her go.  Kate walks into the sunset on a set of rural train tracks and the brothers go on their way.

“Do I really say Awesome a lot?” queries Dean.

“No, not at all,” Sam lies.

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