SPN Rewatch Season 11
Rewatch of Supernatural 2022
Season 11
My memory of season 11 was that it was pretty good, definitely better than 7 to 10, and my rewatch confirmed this impression. There was a run of really interesting cases in the middle of the season, and the arc with Dean and Amara was intriguing, showing us a vulnerability in Dean that we hadn’t seen before. I also think it made a difference that the boys were finally working together and (mostly) communicating.
219. Out of the Darkness, into the Fire (11.01)-W: Carver/D: Singer
Recap: Mark; Crowley; Rowena; Charlie
Dean is not in the car with Sam-Darkness says she ‘saved’ him
Sam knows where to find Dean-instinct?
‘She thanked me for setting her free’-right away we see Dean’s connection and how it freaks him out
Dean: ‘We set her free and we’re gonna put her back in’
Cas kills Crowley except he smokes out in time
Cop Jenna only 3 weeks on job
Jenna hurt by damn rebar
Boys split up in hospital
Doctor Dean sews up Jenna, only why not pull her shirt out of the way instead of sewing through the hole in the shirt?
Darkness doesn’t know who Death is
3 or 4 hours since baby’s dad was attacked
Brave dad, knows he has to give kid up to keep her safe
Boys are intimidated by 4 monsters attacking the hospital??? (Thinking of attack on the police station in ‘Jus in Bello’ where there were so many demons it felt like a real threat, not like this lame quantity of attackers!)
Sam having crisis of conscience about needing to save people again is oddly timed…
Sam: ‘I unleashed a force on this world that could destroy it to save you’-Dean: ‘And I told you not to’-Sam: ‘And I’d do it again, in a second…This isn’t on you, it is on us. We have to change’
All the while Sam and Dean are arguing about the plan the hospital is quiet, no monsters around…
The whole argument about getting out of the hospital is so out of place-why not just go out the back door??? And why does Sam suddenly think he can find a cure when he doesn’t have any lore for the Darkness???
Why does Sam hide in a closet??? He should know better than to get himself pinned down!
Dad names the baby Amara
Looks like Jenna’s shirt is no longer bloody and she doesn’t seem to be in any pain…
Crowley’s back
Sam lies about being ok after he’s infected
Dean drove Jenna 40 miles to her Grandma’s
Amara: ‘You’ll never hurt me…we’re bound’
Baby has Amara’s mark
Amara scenes were cool but the whole hospital bit and Sam suddenly deciding he can find a cure is so bizarre…It would have made more sense if they had found a survivor or two and Sam decided to stay and try to evacuate any uninfected (yeah, he did something like that in season 15’s opener but we’re not there yet) and then he got infected while doing that
220. Form and Void (11.02)-W: Dabb/D: Sgriccia
Recap: Darkness; Crowley/Cas; Sam infected
Smart Sam raids hardware store to make homemade taser and monster trap
Baby Amara has powers!
Sam was infected last night-rate of change varies
Dick angels torture Cas again to find Metatron, don’t believe Cas
Baby knows how to spell already!
Reaper Billie is one cold character, not a Winchester fan
Death is gone but people still dying so souls to be collected
Billie: ‘It’s over…You and Dean dying and coming back again and again. The old Death thought it was funny, but now there is one hard fast rule in this universe. What lives, dies. So the next time you or your brother bite it. Well, you're not going to Heaven or Hell; one of us, and Lord I hope it's me, we're gonna make a mistake and toss you out into the Empty. And nothing comes back from that’-First mention of the Empty
Sam is ‘unclean in the biblical sense’-Did Billie deliberately give him the clue?
Angel Hannah is in a new meatsuit (not for long, though)
Sam prays: ‘This is my fault, and I don't know how to fix it. And if I have to die, I've made my peace with that, but please Dean deserves better. Dean deserves a life. There are people out there, good people... who are going to suffer because of me, and I'm not asking you to clean up my mess…we need a sign’
And Sam gets vision of torture in the Cage (nasty!)
Crowley has set himself up at the priest to be called for all exorcisms by the Catholic church
Angels say they don’t know what the alarms going off in heaven mean-yet Cas knows the alarms mean the Darkness
Cas figures out Hannah set his capture up
Jenna: ‘I always wanted to try this’-stabbing her Grandma now that she’s soulless
When Cas kills the angels there are no angel wings on the floor
It looks like Sam is roasting a marshmallow when he sets the gauze on fire
When Sam cures the first group in a ring of holy fire and they all collapse, really lucky none of them fell into the fire…
Crowley can tell Jenna’s soulless (so did he know Sam was soulless back in season 6 and just kept it a secret?)
Dean tells Crowley baby Amara is the Darkness
Dean lets Crowley live
The bunker is still a mess from when the Stynes were going to burn all the books
How did Cas get into the bunker before the boys? Does he have his own key?
Aged-up Amara goes out in a party dress-how did she tie the fancy bow in the back by herself?
I don’t want to be picky but the show deserves better scripts!
221. The Bad Seed (11.03)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Ackles!!!
Recap: Attack dog Cas; Baby Amara into little girl; Crowley getting Amara
So magic is more powerful than angels-interesting
Rowena wants to start Mega Coven-she is written as a caricature in this episode
Dean having Amara flashbacks
Boys are clean-shaven again (pretty much for the whole season!)
Amara wants Crowley to save her from god: ‘He tricked me…He sealed me away’
Boys need to find Rowena to fix Cas, and Metatron for dealing with the Darkness
Sam insults Cas’ car
Rowena was at Café Elta (Elta is Danneel’s real name)
Grown Amara to little girl Amara: ‘We are mightier than God’
Random interlude between an angel and a demon in a bar commiserating about lousy upper management-funny scene but why?
Awfully easy for witch to scry and find Rowena’s location…
Demons have souls, the meatsuits are dead
Dean in Hawaiian shirt to be cab driver picking up Rowena
Crowley says he wants a world of pure evil, then reconsiders: ‘Actually, now I come to think of it, if everyone was dark and damned, wouldn't be much of a challenge. Watching a human reject the light and embrace depravity... Yes, well, that's where the gratification really is.’
Rowena to boys: ‘Are we not a team?’-Boys in unison: ‘No!’
Crowley not sure of his hold on Amara
Rowena tells Dean about deal she had with Sam to kill Crowley which Sam hadn’t mentioned
Dean looking for Cas, stops and ogles girl walking by-not in character at that moment
Cas beats up Dean again
Sam has witch-killing bullets in gun pointed at Rowena
Dean won’t let Cas heal him: ‘I had it coming’
222. Baby (11.04)-W: Thompson/D: Wright
Recap: Impala’s history; Amara; Sam praying
Car is bloody, Dean cuffed in backseat
48 hours earlier
Dean washing car-Sam comments on Dean’s shorts but we never see them!
Both washing the windows
Visual segue from windows being washed to rain on windshield
Dean mentions hunter Heather that he and Sam worked a wendigo case with ‘a couple years ago’
Sam is the one who brings a woman to the backseat of the Impala (though we never see him-boo)
Love all the banter in the car!
Sam asks if Dean ever thinks about more: ‘You don't ever think about something? Not marriage or whatever. But something? You know, with a hunter? Somebody who understands the life?’
Sam dreams of young John driving-he figures out it’s not John, though
Sam confesses to Dean he’s been having visions since he prayed…since he was infected, which he hadn’t told Dean
Dean discounts visions immediately
Smart Dean knows ‘God helps those who help themselves’ is from Aesop’s fables, not bible
Dean has dreams about Dad teaching him to drive like a normal teenager getting learner’s permit
Sam says he dreams about Mom (must be from meeting her ghost, he was too little to have memories of her)
Goodnight jerk-bitch
Suits
Dean christens monster ‘werepires’ later ‘ghoulpires’
Boys leave police station in suits and pull up to restaurant in flannel…
Valet girl drives car!!!
Green cooler used as repository for severed head
Blood smear on car window seems to change appearance during episode
Mrs. Markham (who is a monster but we don’t know it): ‘Your family, you do anything for them, don’t you?’
Mrs. Markham drives car!!!
Deputy drives car!!!
Monsters are raising an army to fight the Darkness
Dean uses door to cut off head-yikes
Poor front of car
One of the best SPN episodes!!!
223. Thin Lizzie (11.05)-W: Won/D: Green
Recap: ghost lore; Amara
Sam all for taking hunt in Lizzie Borden’s house-continuity with his serial killer interest
Dean to clerk when clerk’s mother yells at him: ‘Working with family can be tough’
Switch from regular clothes to suits
Split up-Sam going to new crime scene, Dean keeps car and goes to see Len, so what did Sam use for transportation?
Len says after he encountered Amara: ‘I haven’t been right since. I can’t eat. Or sleep. I don’t dream. And all the things I used to love… They leave me cold. Just playing the part of what I used to be. You know. Fake it till you make it. Or feel it’
Dean figures out Len is soulless
Sam reminds Dean of ‘new rules’: ‘We want to save people. Remember?’
Sam speculates not everybody who loses soul turns into a killer
Dean wants Sam to tell Len he’s soulless because ‘you’ve been there’
Sam about potential killer: ‘…she couldn’t care less. It was kind of the way I felt the whole time I was soulless’
Boys keep Len with them in car-when he suspects they know what is wrong with him Dean blurts it out: ‘You don’t have a soul, all right? Amara sucked it out’-Len: ‘It feels good to finally know’
Amara meeting babysitter Sydney in parking lot: ‘Excuse me, drunk girl, you shouldn’t be driving’
Sydney is concerned about Amara being alone by bar late at night
Amara touched by her kindness, gives her ‘bliss’: ‘Amara took away the pain…Before there was always this constant voice in my head, “You can’t do that. It’s wrong. What if you get caught.” And now it’s quiet. It’s just me and what I want’
Len saves boys by killing Sydney
Sam tries to comfort boy left orphaned
Len is pretty amazing for being soulless: ‘I know for sure now if I’m not stopped there will be another kill…I’m gonna turn myself in, I’ll confess to all the murders. That way I can’t get out…I remember what it was like to do the right thing. So, I’m going through the motions. For as long as I can’
Dean says it felt quiet being with Amara
Episode was full of mis-directs which made it very interesting!
224. Our Little World (11.06)-W: Berens/D: Showalter
Recap: Amara growing up; Sam visions; Metartron; Len
Girl Goldie offers to help Amara-Amara wants to be like Goldie
Crowley grounds Amara
Suits
Len dies off-screen-that was too bed
Cas sees Metatron on TV
Smart boys trap demon in Goldie’s cell
Sam wants to exorcise demon after interrogation but meatsuit is dead
Crowley has been working out of abandoned asylum in Massachusetts since last season
Sam: ‘I keep forgetting about you and Crowley’s summer of love’
Sam asks if Dean is ready to kill Amara-he says he is
Crowley makes deal with Amara to stay with him until she doesn’t need his protection anymore
Metatron’s taunts to Cas backfire, Cas beats him up
Dean has Crowley’s voice on his phone and uses it to lure demons away
Dean preparing to kill Amara: ‘I’m sorry, Amara’
Crowley monologues about not being able to kill Dean because of their bromance, but he is over it and ready to kill Dean today-Amara stops Crowley
Sam is fighting demons instead of killing them to save the meatsuits-saves 2 out of 3 (we never see him exorcise the demons, though)
Amara says Dean can’t kill her: ‘Tell me what is happening here between us? You save me, I save you…You were the first thing I saw when I was freed…my first experience of his creation…There’s no fighting it, I’m fascinated’
Metatron tells Cas that Amara is God’s sister whom he betrayed
When Sam asks Dean how she got away-Dean: ‘She overpowered me’
Sam has vision of the cage
Amara montage felt unnecessary to me…use that time for the boys!
225. Plush (11.07)-W: Charmelo & Snyder/D: Andrew
Recap: Donna; Sam and clowns; Sam’s visions
Sam is praying again and Dean catches him: ‘Don’t count on God, count on us’
Sam identifies Donna as ‘fat-sucker Donna’
Arrive in suits
That rabbit mask is truly creepy! And his non-response to being talked to is unnerving
The kid was a victim too-Donna feels bad
That fire doesn’t look like it was very safely laid out
Clown is the creepiest one ever on the show
No hospital security?
Why are the boys giving Donna relationship advice she didn’t ask for? Glad Donna tells them to mind their own business
Serious issue-child molestation accusation
You can’t prove a negative
Sister screwed up in not talking to her brother, instead asking the men who accused him to ‘scare’ him
Sister: ‘Fear cripples you’
Lots of throwing boys into glass doors
Sam confesses visions of Cage-Dean is ‘no way’-Sam’s face shows disagreement
One of those episodes that revolves around a morally gray issue, which are always thought-provoking episodes
226. Just My Imagination (11.08)-W: Klein/D: Speight
Recap: Fantasy monster examples; visions
Mom to daughter: ‘Whenever you’re ready…’ for going to dinner-OMG, that is not how you parent…
Sam oblivious to table full of treats while he’s looking for coffee
Dean has bedhead
When Sam was 9 he wanted marshmallow nachos
Zanna are Romanian
Dean: ‘Fairy godmother getting capped, that ain't our beat’
Sam: ‘Sully helped me’
Pull up to house in hunter clothes, get out of car wearing button-down shirts, sweaters, and dress slacks???
Sam: ‘I was kind of a lonely kid…’-Dean: ‘You weren’t lonely, you had me’-Once again Dean denies Sam’s reality because it doesn’t match what he thinks should be Sam’s reality…
Flashback to 13-yr-old Dean at pay phone telling Sam he has to stay alone (1992)
Impala license plate BQN 9R3 same as in 4.13 ‘After School Special’ flashback (1997)
‘Manicorn’
Glittery blood
Sully doesn’t put up with Dean’s snark
Those poor traumatized kids!
‘Brother’ theme music plays when young Sam and Sully are talking
Young Sam mentions he used to think he could fly until he broke his arm (Dean referenced this in a past season)
Young Sam thinks about running away
Sully: ‘You can be whatever you wanna be. You’re not Dean, you’re not your dad. You’re Sam. And Sam is so awesome’
Sully approves of young Sam’s idea of running away-which seems awfully irresponsible for someone who is supposed to be watching out for the kid
Weems’ air guitar is awesome
When John decides young Sam can come on the hunt after all, Sam is all gung-ho and dismisses Sully
A 9-yr-old kid is going to get to the bus station and get a ticket to go to Milwaukee alone???
Sam confesses to Sully he screwed up by letting the Darkness out and that his visions scare him: ‘…I don’t think I can do what he’s asking’
Dean is taken out by a blow to the head-maybe a baseball bat?
Sully willing to be killed by Reese: ‘…if this is what you need, I’m okay with it’-pretty impressive self-sacrifice
Dean to Reese: ‘Revenge ain’t gonna make you feel better’ and then he defends Sully as a good guy
Sully to Sam about heroes: ‘Sometimes they’re scared. But that just means the thing that they’re facing, it’s super important. And nobody else is gonna go for it, because nobody else has got the balls’
Dean still against Sam trying for the Cage
Sam’s hair was perfect in this episode
227. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (11.09)-W: Bucker & Ross-Leming/D: Singer
Recap: Amara’s story; Sam visions and cage
Amara really deep-fries that crowd
Sam has a vision with a burning bush nearby
Dean trying so hard to dissuade Sam from going to the cage
Crowley questions Dean about how he didn’t kill Amara when he had the chance in Crowley’s lair, details are new to Sam
Cage was sealed by God
Interesting theological discussion between priest and Amara about meeting God
Huh, the angel from the bar in episode 3 is trying to rally the angels to tackle Amara
Dean in suit
Dean: ‘Are you sure that you’re okay with this whole deal?’-Sam: ‘Not eve a little. But what choice do we have…’
Dean senses Amara and doesn’t answer Sam’s urgent call so Sam has to go to the cage alone
Cage is in limbo, the farthest reach of hell-different than rest of hell scenes we’ve seen
Amara’s issue is with her brother, she is hurting his creation to get God’s attention
Amara consumes souls and they become part of her and live forever
Amara tries to persuade Dean to join her to attain bliss
Dean tries to kill her, the knife shatters, she looks like she is going to take his soul but then kisses him instead
Lucifer is gaslighting Sam with how Lucifer is the only one who can help defeat the Darkness, but he needs Sam as his vessel again
Parallel-Amara wants Dean to surrender, Lucifer wants Sam to surrender
Lucifer reveals the visions were from him, not god…
And the episode ends there!
228. The Devil in the Details (11.10)-W: Dabb/D: Wright
Recap: season so far
Utterly ridiculous ‘Christmas’ with Crowley in footie pajamas and Rowena in red nose, then Lucifer as Santa stabs Crowley-later this is referenced as the dream which inspired Rowena to help Lucifer, but it really feels like a writer’s room idea that has no relation to the show
Sam is counting on Dean for rescue from the cage
Dean called Cas for help-Dean is going to the site where Amara was smited because he doesn’t know Sam went to the Cage without him
The way Cas ‘diagnoses’ Dean with smiting sickness is silly, taking his vitals-another scene that feels put in to be funny without regard for whether the characters would actually do that
Last smiting Lot’s wife turned to salt (how does that jibe with Balthazar having the heavenly weapon used on Lot’s wife that turned Raphael to salt?)
Flashback of teenage Sam with flirty girl…he says his dad took him to Mexico ‘on a working vacation’-asks if she’s ever heard of a Chupacabra
Lucifer takes Sam to revisit Stull: ‘You were willing to do the hard thing, if it meant saving the world…That’s not you anymore, you’ve gone soft’
Crowley clues Dean in that Sam is with Lucifer
Cas meets angel Ambriel while looking for Amara-she is a cute angel and not out to kill Cas
Billie is working for Crowley…huh
Getting into hell is so much easier than it used to be
Lucifer takes Sam to revisit his time with Amelia: ‘This is the worst thing you’ve ever done…why did you let Dean talk you out of closing the gates of Hell? ‘Cos the old Sam never would’ve done that. Not ever…you’re so overcome by guilt that you can’t stand to lose Dean again and he could never lose you, and so instead of choosing the world you choose each other, no matter how many innocent people die…if you’re going to beat the Darkness you have to be ready to die. You have to be ready to watch the people you love die. A long time ago you could have fought the good fight kid, but not anymore. You can’t win this one Sam. You’re just not strong enough’
Dean meets up with Crowley: ‘Where’s Sam?’-Crowley: ‘Don’t worry about Sam’-Dean: ‘I’m sorry, have you met me?’
Amara takes Ambriel’s grace-sorry, Ambriel-very cool effect of how she reabsorbs the darkness surrounding the area
Lucifer: ‘Michael’s sitting in a corner singing show tunes and touching himself’
Sam: ‘…I think that whoever wins, you or the Darkness, everyone else loses. So, no. My answer is no. This isn't because of Dean, or the past, this is about me having faith in my friends, having faith in my family. We will find a way. I'm ready to die and I'm ready to watch people I love die, but I'm not ready to be your bitch’-Sam’s hero moment-he finally refuses to sacrifice himself
And Lucifer got out after all…
229. Into the Mystic (11.11)-W: Thompson/D: Badham
Recap: Lucifer and Sam in the cage; Cas saying yes; Dean and Amara
I felt so bad for the little baby!
Cas is MIA
Sam is brooding, tied up in knots about what to do about the Darkness-Dean says they need a hunt
Suits
Dean pockets Viagra bottle
Dean throws out the idea of retiring-Sam: ‘Hey, you're the one who's always wanted to go out blaze of glory style preferably while the Bon Jovi song is playing’
When Dean asks if Sam is okay he answers honestly: ‘No I’m not actually, not at all. Being so close to Lucifer again that brought stuff up. Stuff I thought I forgot about’
Burning the bones doesn’t solve the case
Banshees prey on vulnerable
Dean goes to bunker to get weapon, runs into Casifer, not aware of it, and confesses that he can’t kill Amara
Lucifer does a perfect imitation of Cas
So of all the residents in a retirement home, Sam zeroes in on Mildred as the next victim because having arterial fibrillation makes her vulnerable??? Really? A senior with arterial fibrillation is the most vulnerable in the whole place??? She should have had a more immediate disability
I guess it’s Sam’s sixth sense that makes him suspect the facility worker (Eileen)
Eileen’s maternal grandfather was a MOL, part of a small delegation sent to Europe. So he brought his daughter who married an Irishman? Eileen’s father had just lost his job and had a nervous breakdown which is why he was vulnerable to the Banshee
Sam changed out of his suit while still at the facility
Banshee shows up and all the hunters forget the plan?
Dean has a very hard head-he was really banging it on the wall and all he has is a tiny bandaid
Sam sitting at MOL table throws a beer behind his back and Dean catches it-nice
Sam: ‘I should've looked for you. When you were in Purgatory, I should've turned over every stone. But I didn't. I stopped. And I've never forgiven myself for it’-Dean: ‘Well I have…That’s in the past…what’s done is done…all that matters now…is that we’re together’
Sam wonders why banshee went after Dean-Dean blows it off
Sam puts brochure from the retirement home in his keepsake box
230. Don’t You Forget About Me (11.12)-W: Won/D: Pleszczynski
Recap: Jody, Alex, and Claire backgrounds
Claire is screwing up, thinking everything is a hunt
Cas MIA again
Claire calls Dean for help with a case she’s found
Alex has become a ‘normal’ high school kid, dating most popular boy
Jody brings up birth control at dinner table: ‘Hey, if we can't talk about it, we shouldn't be doing it, right? Right?’
Claire really wants to be a hunter, Dean tells her to appreciate the chance to have a family and a normal life
Suits with overcoats
Poor Jody gets beaten up again
Sam takes Jody’s truck while Dean is trying to find Alex
Dean has Alex’s cell number in his phone
Nothing like almost getting killed by monsters to bond a family…
‘I solemnly swear not to hunt like a dumbass’
231. Love Hurts (11.13)-W: Charmelo & Snyder/D: Sgriccia
Recap: Cases on Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day; Amara
Valentine’s Day
Really long teaser setting up murder
Dean is feeling effect of celebrating Valentine’s Day last night (it’s been a while since he’s had a one-nighter)
Dean has a hickey
Suits with overcoats
Dean goes after the husband and gets truth from him
Smart Dean tests wife by handing her a silver pen to write with
Wife knows what motel and what room the boys are in?
Dean kisses wife to get the curse off her
Sam is pissed at Dean for being self-sacrificing
Witch-killing bullets
Spell manifests deepest, darkest desire-Dean: ‘Silver lining about being cursed. I'll finally get some face time with Daisy Duke’-Sam: ‘Seriously?’-Dean: ‘Ever since I was 7’
They play rock-paper-scissors to see who checks upstairs and Dean wins-then is so shocked he takes the downstairs anyway
Amara is Dean’s deepest desire
Dean leaves money in the motel room for the broken window-first time he’s ever done that
Dean is honest: ‘Honestly? What, you seriously think the sister of God is my deepest, darkest desire?’-Sam: ‘She isn't?’ -Dean: ‘No, she can't be’-Sam: ‘Why not?’ -Dean: ‘Why? Because if she was, then that means I'm-‘-Sam: ‘Means you're what? Complicit? Weak? Evil?...do you honestly think you ever had a choice in the matter? She's the sister of God. And for some reason she picked you, and that sucks, but if you think I'm gonna blame you or judge you, I'm not…Just how bad is it?’-Dean: ‘Standing here right now? Every bone in my body wants to run her through, send her back to that hole she crawled out of. But when I'm near her...something happens. I can't explain it. But to call it desire or love, it's not that. I'm screwed, man. We want to kill the Darkness. We need to kill the Darkness. And I don't think I can. I'm sorry to do that to you, you know? But when it comes down to it...’-Sam: ‘I got it, Dean’
Loved the honesty at the end of this episode!
232. The Vessel (11.14)-W: Berens/D: Badham
Recap: MOL history; time travel; Thule; Casifer
1943 Nazi-occupied France, Delphine kills Nazi for his treasure
Sam’s research discovers story of Delphine and the ‘Hand of God’ in sub that sunk in WW2
Lucifer claims the throne of hell, humiliates Crowley
MOL had limited European chapter (but hey, the British chapter is still going strong…)
Dean comes up with idea to time travel to get the Hand of God weapon
Crowley acts subservient, Lucifer doesn’t believe he really is
Really nerve-wracking to watch the boys ask Casifer for help when they think it’s really Cas but we know it isn’t!
Casifer couldn’t get on the sub because of warding
Dean tells the captain the sub is going down
Dean tells Delphine the truth and the crewman listening takes him seriously and is bravely stoic about knowing he’s going to die shortly
Sam finds spell that could get past the warding but it needs an archangel’s power-Casifer offers to try knowing he can do it but Sam doesn’t want Cas to try
Delphine says Dean has to kill her to break the warding, she is the final step
Sam comes up with the idea of Cas tapping Sam’s soul to get enough power for the spell-and Lucifer decides to reveal himself-NOOOO!!!
Cas surfaces long enough to stop Lucifer from killing Sam-another ‘love of a Winchester enables someone to overcome possession’ but first one for Sam
Lucifer pulls Dean back and taunts them, seizes the Hand of God, but it is kaput
Smart Sam makes banishing sigil
Where is this dock they go sit on???
Dean was just a witness, everything happened as it was preordained
This was a tough one for Dean
This was an excellent episode!!!
233. Beyond the Mat (11.15)-W: Bring & Dabb/D: Wanek
Recap: Casifer, previous episode
Dean pitches an aspirin bottle to Sam across the room
John took Sam and Dean to Top Notch Wrestling shows when they were kids. Larry the Hangman was John’s favorite
Dean says they need to take a break from the bunker research-besides the Darkness they now are worrying about Cas being possessed by Lucifer-Sam questions whether Cas wants to be saved since he said yes to the purpose of defeating the Darkness
Dean got his first B&E at age 10 for borrowing a family’s pay-per-view to watch Gunnar fight
The wrestlers’ manager Rio was Sam’s first crush-he had her poster over his bed
Dean suit with overcoat, Sam in sportcoat
Dean talking about wrestlers’ life: ‘Town after town, putting your ass on the line for next to nothing? No money. No glory’-Sam: ‘You realize you just literally described our jobs’
Dean really into the wrestling as soon as it starts, Sam plays is cool at first but then gets into it too
Dean acting out in the ring
Demon frees Crowley supposedly because she can’t stand Lucifer
Dean shows off a scar on his leg in one-up-man-ship with Gunnar
It takes Sam a really long time to get to the bar-it’s closing when he arrives
Drunk Dean still able to pick lock
Douche wrestler Harley acknowledges he was in the wrong to throw a punch at Gunnar
When demon offers Harley fame in exchange for his soul, Harley refuses: ‘I’ve never been much for God or whatever. I sort of just thought that when your curtain came down, that was it…But if you’re a demon, that means there’s a Hell. And if there’s a Hell, there is a Heaven. And I’m not giving up my shot at paradise for a belt I can win on my own’-too bad he ended up dead
Demon springing Crowley was actually setting trap for Crowley to lead Lucifer to his treasure room
Why did Lucifer have to pick up the treasure box and move it to another table before opening it? Cas did the same thing when he and Dean found the angel tablet
Crowley was prepared for the double-cross and had weapon ready for Lucifer, then vanishes when Lucifer avoids it
Only Gunnar hears the hellhounds
Dean feels bad about Gunnar’s fate-they’ve all made bad decisions
234. Safe House (11.16)-W: Thompson/D: Pleszczynski
Recap: Rufus and Bobby
Watching little kids be endangered is always rough
2 weeks of nothing on Amara or Cas/Lucifer
Now Sam is being the optimist cheering up Dean and suggesting a case
Suits
When neighbor mentions rude FBI agents from a ‘handful of years ago’ Sam immediately thinks of Bobby and Rufus
Screen says ‘A Handful of Years Ago’ LOL (from Lilith reference it was 2009-7 years ago)
Episode is full of nifty transitions from current to past by focusing on a common element: Bobby and Rufus are at the front door/Sam and Dean are opening the door; boys go to motel/B&R are inside room/back to boys researching in same room; Dean says ‘there’s gotta be an easier way to dig graves’/Bobby is using a backhoe; doctor talking to boys/then talking to B&R; Dean asks Sam a question/Bobby answers Rufus
They have Bobby’s old journals (convenient)
Rufus bets Bobby a bottle of Johnny Walker that it’s a baku
Bobby: ‘I’m worried about my boys’-Rufus: ‘Oldest rule of hunting, Bobby, you can’t save everyone’
Soul-eater
Boys rock-paper-scissors for who has to go into the nest-Dean loses
Dean: ‘Come and get me, you son of a bitch’-Bobby: ‘Stay away from me, you son of a bitch’
Bobby sees dead Sam and Dean
Dean stops painting sigil to talk to kid-come on, Dean, focus
Soul-eater says he will keep Dean safe from the Darkness
Sam and soul-eater Dean have impressive fight
Bobby and Dean see each other
When Dean comes to, Sam goes over to help him sit up and pats Dean’s head
Rufus leaves bottle of Johnny Walker in Bobby’s car (This bottle is found two years later by Sam and Jody Mills in 7.12 ‘Time After Time’-lovely backwards continuity!)
Bobby is writing in journal when Dean from that time period calls (and is very rude) so Bobby never finishes the entry, which the boys complained about earlier
They are going to finish the soul-eater case Bobby worked in Tennessee back then-Bobby trapped it but they can kill it now
Another excellent episode!
235. Red Meat (11.17)-W: Berens & Dabb/D: Lopez Corrado
Recap: werewolf lore; Casifer; reaper lore; Billie
Opens with brutal fight and Sam is shot!!!
48 hours earlier
Now Sam wants to work a case, Dean is down
Current time
Dean extracts the bullet from Sam’s abdomen
Dean says these werewolves must be purebloods, they can change anytime
Earlier
Suits
Current time
Sam wants Dean to take the couple and come back for him-Dean is not leaving Sam-goes out to make a litter for Sam
Corbin suffocates Sam, as he does Sam sees bite mark
Dean sees a car but instead of going to it for help he somehow knows it belongs to more werewolves?
Dean can’t find a pulse on Sam-he is ready to fight the werewolves right there: ‘Let ‘em come’ but Corbin begs Dean to help them
Dean distress is palpable from his face-it really got to me!
Cop is a major dick! (But Dean could have stressed there was someone else to save instead of just punching the cop)
Dean has broken ribs and a concussion
Michelle is upset, she realizes what Corbin did to Sam
When Michelle says her mom used to say ‘death is not the end’ it gives Dean an idea-he’s going to talk to a ‘scary, crazy death machine’
Dean knows he needs barbital to kill himself
Sam is alive?!?!
Dean: ‘After I do this, go get the doc and tell her to, um... Tell her to bring me back, if she can. If not... no hard feelings, okay?’
Sam has lost a lot of blood!
Just like Dean, Sam knows those are bad guys in the car…
Sam falls down the stairs/Dean falls on the floor
Apparently the doctor is the only staffer in the entire clinic?
Dean’s spirit, watching his body: ‘Put me on my back. It’s easier to find a vein’-Doctor: ‘Roll him over’
Dean tries to negotiate with Billie to give Sam back saying Sam is needed to handle the Darkness-Billie: ‘It's cute…You pretending you're trying to save Sam for the greater good, when we both know you're doing it for you. You can't lose him. But even if Sammy could win the title bout... the answer would still be “no.” The answer will always be “no.” Game's over, Dean. No more second chances. No more extra lives...I'm not here to bargain with you, kid. I'm here to reap you. And the kicker is... Sam's not dead. But you are. Or will be, soon enough’
Wow, Billie is relentless…
Billie is ready to take Dean to the Empty but doctor manages to revive him
Super Sam manages to kill 2 werewolves while barely alive!
Dick cop cuffs Dean for stealing drugs-Michelle frees him
Sam reaches the Impala and manages to call Dean but the call drops
Not sorry that werewolf Corbin kills the dick cop
Corbin wants to turn Michelle so they can be together forever
Corbin strangling Dean when Sam appears and shoots him!!!
Doctor says Sam’s body went into shock and his heartbeat slowed down to almost nothing…nice try at explaining…
Dean tells Michelle ‘eventually you’ll get back to normal’-Michelle: ‘No, I won’t’
So all Sam needs is 2 quarts of blood and he’s good to go? Really???
Sam asks Dean what he did when he thought Sam was dead and Dean jokes then lies that he knew Sam wasn’t dead
It shouldn’t be alarming when one of the boys dies, we know they never stay dead, but for some reason this episode, even on rewatch, was really intensely nerve-wracking. Even with some questionable plot contrivances, this ranks as one of my top episodes. And of course Dean lies about what he did…
236. Hell’s Angel (11.18)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Sgriccia
Recap: Darkness; Casifer; Crowley’s escape
I find myself rooting for Crowley against my better judgment because I’d rather have him around as the villain than Lucifer…
Rowena?! She had a resurrection spell-huh
Rowena always goes to who has the most power-first Crowley, then Lucifer, now Amara
Crowley says he’ll give them Joshua’s Horn-boys in unison: ‘If…’
Crowley dumps the problem of getting Lucifer back in the cage on the boys, and getting rid of Lucifer is his priority over dealing with Amara
Boys want to use Lucifer against Amara, then re-cage him, argue with Crowley-Dean: ‘Is this what this is about? Huh? Your stupid ego? The fact that he dissed you in front of a bunch of stupid demons? You're smarter than this. Come on!’
Lucifer now forcing his plan on heaven, terrorizing any angel who stands up to him
3 storylines going back and forth: Crowley with Sam and Dean; Lucifer with angels; Rowena healing Amara
Rowena decides against helping Amara any further and lies about what her farseeing revealed about Sam and Dean’s plans
When the spell doesn’t work against Lucifer Crowley possesses Cas and finds him not even trying to fight Lucifer off (this seems very wrong, like it was written for comedic effect without considering what the character would really do)
Amara and Lucifer showdown-she wins
Sam and Dean discuss what to do about Cas-Dean: ‘…that's what he wanted, though, right? Besides, didn't we say that we were gonna swear off getting in the way when one person makes a choice the other doesn't agree with?’-Sam: ‘Yeah, we did say that…so that’s our policy’-Dean: ‘Which sounds damn good…Well let’s go find that idiot and bring him home’
Visual transition of Dean rolling ball into knocking over beer bottles to Amara slamming Casifer into a wall
Amara refers to Lucifer as God’s first son, which is wrong, Michael was first
237. The Chitters (11.19)-W: Won/D: Sanchez
Recap: other hunters; various monsters; Amara with Lucifer
1989 brothers Matty and Jesse discuss getting out of town
How far away did the kid walk to take a leak?
Boys have been looking for leads for a week, Dean worried Amara will hurt Cas while hurting Lucifer
Sam wants them to take a case-his turn to be upbeat
Suits
Dean teases Sam about weed-Sam: ‘I was 18…It was college…’
Smart Sam can identify scent of white sage in house
Split up
Dean changes out of suit by the time he’s in the woods
Dean drives Impala right into the woods, not on a road-dude, she’s not an off-road vehicle
Meet Cesar and Jesse
Dean: ‘You guys fight just like brothers…’-Cesar: ‘Well it’s more like an old married couple’-Dean after brief moment of adjusting his impression: ‘That’s…Oh…Okay…what’s it like settling down with a hunter?’
Dean and Cesar go back to woods in Impala and discuss how revenge doesn’t fix anything
It’s raining while they are driving but not when they are in the forest
Sam and Jesse go to see the former sheriff
Jesse is very angry about how the sheriff handled the case
Turns out the sheriff knew about the monsters because they’d taken his daughter and he resigned rather than deal with the pain-his behavior was reprehensible and yet he was also a tragic figure
Sam: ‘You know... whenever you and Dad used to leave me to go hunting and I wouldn't hear from y'all for a while I was always sure that some vamp or rugaru or take your pick... I always figured one of them finally got ya. I tried to think of what to do, you know, the next step to take. I was just lost’ (Way back in season 4 they heard of a rugaru for the first time, but that was retconned already)
Boys are going to ask Cesar and Jesse for help with Amara and Cas but Dean changes his mind when they say they are retiring from hunting
238. Don’t Call Me Shurley (11.20)-W: Thompson/D: Singer
Recap: Carver Edlund; Supernatural books; Amara; mortal Metatron; God is absent
Metatron gives the sandwich he was going to eat to the dog-hmm, unexpected kindness
‘I got a feeling we aren’t on Earth anymore…’
‘I get to spend eternity in a crappy bar with a hack writer’-before Metatron realizes Chuck is God LOL
Chuck wants to know if Metatron didn’t like ‘Home’ or ‘All Hell Breaks Loose?’ and references Metatron burning ‘Tall Tales’ in the episode ‘Meta Fiction’
Chuck: ‘I always forget people can’t see me unless I want them to see me’
Dean irons Sam’s shirt with beer
Sam has a very thin lead about a man who killed a co-worker and then himself for no reason and they jump on it as a soulless case…
Chuck started a new series of books ‘Revolution’-which was the name of Kripke’s first show after SPN
God bless Robbie Thompson, he made the re-appearance of the amulet actually believable without needing a detailed explanation: ‘I turned it off…I should really put this away. You’ll never guess where this thing has been this entire time’
Metatron admits he’s been ‘an absolute piece of garbage’
Suits with overcoats
Metatron says he loves Chuck’s draft-Chuck: ‘Last time I saw that look on an editor's face, I just handed in Bugs’
Metatron: ‘…you know every great hero is defined by his or her villain’
Metatron’s speech defending humanity is impressive
Metatron says Chuck created worlds-note plural
Chuck: ‘…look at what nature created on its own. What's more, nature's smart enough to know that sometimes, there's no fixing things. Sometimes, you just have to wipe the slate clean’
Amara’s message to Dean through the infected deputy: ‘It’s all going away forever…but not you Dean’
Chuck references Sam and Dean let Amara out: ‘You know I love those guys, but the world would still be spinning with Demon Dean in it. But Sam couldn't have that, though, could he?... I've saved them! I've rebuilt Castiel more times than I can remember! Look where that got me’
Metatron: ‘I was a crappy, terrible god. My work was pretty much a lame, half-assed rewrite of your greatest hits. But at least I was never a coward!’-and Chuck gets scary angry
Chuck says he picked Metatron as his scribe just because Metatron was the closest angel to the door
Metatron: ‘…you're wrong about humanity. They are your greatest creation because they're better than you are… Yeah, sure, they're weak and they cheat and steal and... destroy and disappoint. But they also give and create and they sing and dance and love. And above all, they never give up!’
Sam is infected and Dean tries breathing the fog so he can be infected too
Dean pulls glowing amulet from Sam’s pocket and the fog dissipates
Chuck: ‘We should probably talk’
I loved this episode so much because it made sense! Now I am rewatching it knowing that, because of season 15’s total revision, Chuck is still acting a part and it hurts because apparently Chuck wrote this whole script? So he was playing the boys by pretending he needed them to fight Amara? Or did his story get out of control and he really was as limited as shown in the rest of the season? I really, really want to ignore what they did to Chuck in the last season!!!
239. All in the Family (11.21)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Wright
Recap: last episode; Amara; Casifer
Kevin’s ghost randomly shows up and tells the boys to trust Chuck and Chuck sends him to heaven (except in season 15 it turns out Chuck sent him to hell!!!)
Dean: ‘I'm guessing you came back to help with the Darkness, and that's great. That's, you know -- It's fantastic. Um, but you've been gone a long, long time. And there's so much crap that has gone down on the Earth for thousands of years. I mean, plagues and wars, slaughters, and you were, I don't know, writing books, going to fan conventions. Were you even aware or did you just tune it out?’
Chuck says he needed to step away because he had to ‘let my baby find its way’
Chuck says Amara is warded against him-which makes no sense because she’s been trying to find him
Sam wants to ask Chuck why planets are round??? Really?
Metatron has Dean’s cell number
Suits
Gloss over Crowley having missed Donatello when he was rounding up prophets a few season ago by saying ‘it’s possible Crowley missed a few’
Donatello: ‘I can’t be a prophet! I’m an atheist…’
Dean: ‘…we're not asking you to believe that this is true, just act like you do. People do it all the time’
Metatron says that Chuck wrote a suicide note (in view of season 15, was this genuine or manipulation on Chuck’s part???)
Chuck says he’ll offer to let Amara cage him to leave his creation alone and Dean is upset: ‘She's gonna eliminate you, and then she's gonna destroy everything that you've created. She's told me this personally’
Dean meets with Amara to distract her: ‘There can be no us’-Amara: ‘Dean, give up your smallness, your humanity and become boundless within me’-Dean: ‘You're right. I am drawn to you. And it bothers the hell out of me, 'cause I can't control it’
Metatron says he will stay and fight Amara so Sam can escape with Casifer, and he dies redeemed
Sam driving, Amara stops the car-suddenly it is in a room in the bunker-Chuck: ‘Occasionally I do answer a prayer’ (I want to know how they got the car out of that room!)
They send Donatello home in a cab??? What about keeping him safe, guys???
240. We Happy Few (11.22)-W: Berens/D: Badham
Recap: Amara’s beef with god; last episode
Chuck has put a safeguard on Lucifer’s power
Sam and Dean are family counselors? Because they have such great communication skills…
Chuck: ‘The Mark didn’t change you. It just made you more of what you already were’ (What does that imply about Dean with the Mark?)
Dean’s advice: ‘…the great thing about apologies is you don’t even have to mean ‘em...I lie and tell Sam I’m sorry all the time’
Chuck: ‘When I watched my choice devour my most cherished son, I hated myself, and so I punished you. And I am so sorry’ (Very moving confession at the time…but in view of season 15, did he mean any of it? Grrr…)
Chuck explains both Dark and Light are needed to balance each other and killing the Darkness would unbalance things
Chuck doesn’t have time to rebuild archangels: ‘They’re the stuff of primordial creation’
Come up with plan that requires co-operation from Crowley, heaven, and Rowena-Dean goes to Crowley, Casifer goes to heaven, and Sam goes to Rowena
Dean still thinks Chuck should kill Amara, not trap her: ‘I tried to kill her and it didn’t work’-Chuck: ‘Maybe it didn’t work because you didn’t want it to work. Maybe you didn’t want to kill her’
Amara obliterates the bunker wards
Amara studies picture of little Dean with Mary
Reveal that Sam and Chuck discussed that Sam will take the Mark so Amara can be locked away-Dean is upset: ‘You couldn’t have talked to me?...What happens when the Mark turns you psycho?’-Sam: ‘You lock me up where I can’t hurt anyone and you throw away the key…it’s time to do the smart thing’-Dean has no choice but to go along
When demons are attacking Amara Crowley smokes out and joins the fight, gives her a serious blow
Amara weakened, ready to die until she realizes Chuck is going to lock her up again and she repowers up and leaves Chuck to die
241. Alpha and Omega (11.23)-W: Dabb/D: Sgriccia
During recap on line ‘lay your weary head to rest’ we get various decapitations…
Dean gives up: ‘If you've got something for me to punch, shoot, or kill, let me know and I'll do it. I'll do it 'til I die. But how are we supposed to fix the friggin' sun?’
Random interlude of MOL Toni Bevell in London kissing her little boy-has wall with Sam and Dean ‘wanted’ labels
Sam determined to find a plan B
Chuck: ‘Even if we could lock Amara away it wouldn’t do any good now, I’m dying, and when I’m gone a cosmic balance between light and dark, it’s over’-Sam: ‘Then if we can’t cage her we have to kill her’
Dean absolves Cas: ‘You were right to let Lucifer ride shotgun…it was our best shot and you stepped up…You’re the best friend we’ve ever had…you’re our brother Cas, I want you to know that’
Weird visual as Dean is driving, the passing scene outside the window is tilted
Cas comes up with idea of using souls
Dean suggests getting souls from Waverly Hills Sanatorium which has tons of ghosts…and which, in 11 years, has never been mentioned before-hunters haven’t cleaned it out despite it being so well-known??? And then the actual scene in Waverly shows maybe 20 ghosts??? This whole part of the episode made no sense!!! The only worthwhile moment in it was the lovely shot of the boys walking out in sync…
Billie gets in bunker despite wards
Billie: ‘…way things are going I’m about an hour away from reaping god himself’ then she magnanimously provides the souls they need by raiding the veil
Old woman to Amara: ‘…you know family. Even when you hate them you still love them’
Dean will be the bomb
More random Toni Bevell, now en route to Lebanon…
Sam: ‘You know if this works, that bomb goes off…’-Dean: ‘I know’
Chuck doesn’t want Amara dead but understands it’s the only way
Somehow they find the time to drive to Mary Winchester’s grave (which is in Greenville IL based on season 2 episode) so they could throw in some foreshadowing there…
Cas hugs Dean who tells him to watch after Sam
Dean: ‘I want a big funeral… Open bar, choir, Sabbath cover band, and Gary Busey reading the eulogy…and for my ashes I like it here…as far as eternal resting places go’-He gives Sam the Impala keys: ‘No chick-flick moments’-Sam: ‘you love chick flicks’-They have emotional hug-this was an unexpectedly mature send-off of Dean to his death by Sam…I guess the stakes were big enough he had to go with it, or was it that it happened so quickly he didn’t have time to react?
Dean transported to park with Amara, rest of them go to random bar
Amara sees the bomb in Dean
Amara: ‘When God’s gone…everything will cease to exist including me’
Dean tells Amara Chuck doesn’t want her dead, she’s family
Dean: ‘…revenge…it’ll get you out of bed in the morning and when you get it, it feels great for about 5 minutes…when everything goes to crap, that’s all you’ve got…family…you don’t want to be alone…maybe that’s why you wanted me but deep down you didn’t really want me ‘cause I’m not him…put aside the rage and you tell me what do you want?’
Amara to Chuck: ‘I hated you for needing something that wasn’t me…I wish that we could just be family again’-Chuck: ‘I do too’
The sun comes back and everyone in the bar assumes Dean is dead and my heart breaks for Sam
Chuck to Dean: ‘Earth will be fine. It’s got you and Sam’
Amara: ‘Dean, you gave me what I needed most. I want to do the same for you’
And Toni is waiting for Sam in the bunker: ‘What you've done, the damage you've caused-archangels, Leviathans, the Darkness, and now, well- the old men have decided enough's enough… You're just a jumped-up hunter playing with things you don't understand and doing more harm than good. Now where’s Dean?’-Sam: ‘Dead’-and he challenges Toni to shoot and she does…
And Dean sees Mary in the woods
Really, from episode 4, ‘Baby’ to episode 17, ‘Red Meat’ there were only 2 episodes that were questionable. Not all of them were stellar, but they were decent enough to not make me annoyed at the writing. Sadly I think this is the last good season of the show…there are some very good episodes in the last 4 years but the over-all arcs were so sloppily done that it hurts.
I will be taking a break from my rewatch for a bit because I am moving and it’s going to be a while till I have time to indulge in binge-watching again. But I will finish!
Season 11
My memory of season 11 was that it was pretty good, definitely better than 7 to 10, and my rewatch confirmed this impression. There was a run of really interesting cases in the middle of the season, and the arc with Dean and Amara was intriguing, showing us a vulnerability in Dean that we hadn’t seen before. I also think it made a difference that the boys were finally working together and (mostly) communicating.
219. Out of the Darkness, into the Fire (11.01)-W: Carver/D: Singer
Recap: Mark; Crowley; Rowena; Charlie
Dean is not in the car with Sam-Darkness says she ‘saved’ him
Sam knows where to find Dean-instinct?
‘She thanked me for setting her free’-right away we see Dean’s connection and how it freaks him out
Dean: ‘We set her free and we’re gonna put her back in’
Cas kills Crowley except he smokes out in time
Cop Jenna only 3 weeks on job
Jenna hurt by damn rebar
Boys split up in hospital
Doctor Dean sews up Jenna, only why not pull her shirt out of the way instead of sewing through the hole in the shirt?
Darkness doesn’t know who Death is
3 or 4 hours since baby’s dad was attacked
Brave dad, knows he has to give kid up to keep her safe
Boys are intimidated by 4 monsters attacking the hospital??? (Thinking of attack on the police station in ‘Jus in Bello’ where there were so many demons it felt like a real threat, not like this lame quantity of attackers!)
Sam having crisis of conscience about needing to save people again is oddly timed…
Sam: ‘I unleashed a force on this world that could destroy it to save you’-Dean: ‘And I told you not to’-Sam: ‘And I’d do it again, in a second…This isn’t on you, it is on us. We have to change’
All the while Sam and Dean are arguing about the plan the hospital is quiet, no monsters around…
The whole argument about getting out of the hospital is so out of place-why not just go out the back door??? And why does Sam suddenly think he can find a cure when he doesn’t have any lore for the Darkness???
Why does Sam hide in a closet??? He should know better than to get himself pinned down!
Dad names the baby Amara
Looks like Jenna’s shirt is no longer bloody and she doesn’t seem to be in any pain…
Crowley’s back
Sam lies about being ok after he’s infected
Dean drove Jenna 40 miles to her Grandma’s
Amara: ‘You’ll never hurt me…we’re bound’
Baby has Amara’s mark
Amara scenes were cool but the whole hospital bit and Sam suddenly deciding he can find a cure is so bizarre…It would have made more sense if they had found a survivor or two and Sam decided to stay and try to evacuate any uninfected (yeah, he did something like that in season 15’s opener but we’re not there yet) and then he got infected while doing that
220. Form and Void (11.02)-W: Dabb/D: Sgriccia
Recap: Darkness; Crowley/Cas; Sam infected
Smart Sam raids hardware store to make homemade taser and monster trap
Baby Amara has powers!
Sam was infected last night-rate of change varies
Dick angels torture Cas again to find Metatron, don’t believe Cas
Baby knows how to spell already!
Reaper Billie is one cold character, not a Winchester fan
Death is gone but people still dying so souls to be collected
Billie: ‘It’s over…You and Dean dying and coming back again and again. The old Death thought it was funny, but now there is one hard fast rule in this universe. What lives, dies. So the next time you or your brother bite it. Well, you're not going to Heaven or Hell; one of us, and Lord I hope it's me, we're gonna make a mistake and toss you out into the Empty. And nothing comes back from that’-First mention of the Empty
Sam is ‘unclean in the biblical sense’-Did Billie deliberately give him the clue?
Angel Hannah is in a new meatsuit (not for long, though)
Sam prays: ‘This is my fault, and I don't know how to fix it. And if I have to die, I've made my peace with that, but please Dean deserves better. Dean deserves a life. There are people out there, good people... who are going to suffer because of me, and I'm not asking you to clean up my mess…we need a sign’
And Sam gets vision of torture in the Cage (nasty!)
Crowley has set himself up at the priest to be called for all exorcisms by the Catholic church
Angels say they don’t know what the alarms going off in heaven mean-yet Cas knows the alarms mean the Darkness
Cas figures out Hannah set his capture up
Jenna: ‘I always wanted to try this’-stabbing her Grandma now that she’s soulless
When Cas kills the angels there are no angel wings on the floor
It looks like Sam is roasting a marshmallow when he sets the gauze on fire
When Sam cures the first group in a ring of holy fire and they all collapse, really lucky none of them fell into the fire…
Crowley can tell Jenna’s soulless (so did he know Sam was soulless back in season 6 and just kept it a secret?)
Dean tells Crowley baby Amara is the Darkness
Dean lets Crowley live
The bunker is still a mess from when the Stynes were going to burn all the books
How did Cas get into the bunker before the boys? Does he have his own key?
Aged-up Amara goes out in a party dress-how did she tie the fancy bow in the back by herself?
I don’t want to be picky but the show deserves better scripts!
221. The Bad Seed (11.03)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Ackles!!!
Recap: Attack dog Cas; Baby Amara into little girl; Crowley getting Amara
So magic is more powerful than angels-interesting
Rowena wants to start Mega Coven-she is written as a caricature in this episode
Dean having Amara flashbacks
Boys are clean-shaven again (pretty much for the whole season!)
Amara wants Crowley to save her from god: ‘He tricked me…He sealed me away’
Boys need to find Rowena to fix Cas, and Metatron for dealing with the Darkness
Sam insults Cas’ car
Rowena was at Café Elta (Elta is Danneel’s real name)
Grown Amara to little girl Amara: ‘We are mightier than God’
Random interlude between an angel and a demon in a bar commiserating about lousy upper management-funny scene but why?
Awfully easy for witch to scry and find Rowena’s location…
Demons have souls, the meatsuits are dead
Dean in Hawaiian shirt to be cab driver picking up Rowena
Crowley says he wants a world of pure evil, then reconsiders: ‘Actually, now I come to think of it, if everyone was dark and damned, wouldn't be much of a challenge. Watching a human reject the light and embrace depravity... Yes, well, that's where the gratification really is.’
Rowena to boys: ‘Are we not a team?’-Boys in unison: ‘No!’
Crowley not sure of his hold on Amara
Rowena tells Dean about deal she had with Sam to kill Crowley which Sam hadn’t mentioned
Dean looking for Cas, stops and ogles girl walking by-not in character at that moment
Cas beats up Dean again
Sam has witch-killing bullets in gun pointed at Rowena
Dean won’t let Cas heal him: ‘I had it coming’
222. Baby (11.04)-W: Thompson/D: Wright
Recap: Impala’s history; Amara; Sam praying
Car is bloody, Dean cuffed in backseat
48 hours earlier
Dean washing car-Sam comments on Dean’s shorts but we never see them!
Both washing the windows
Visual segue from windows being washed to rain on windshield
Dean mentions hunter Heather that he and Sam worked a wendigo case with ‘a couple years ago’
Sam is the one who brings a woman to the backseat of the Impala (though we never see him-boo)
Love all the banter in the car!
Sam asks if Dean ever thinks about more: ‘You don't ever think about something? Not marriage or whatever. But something? You know, with a hunter? Somebody who understands the life?’
Sam dreams of young John driving-he figures out it’s not John, though
Sam confesses to Dean he’s been having visions since he prayed…since he was infected, which he hadn’t told Dean
Dean discounts visions immediately
Smart Dean knows ‘God helps those who help themselves’ is from Aesop’s fables, not bible
Dean has dreams about Dad teaching him to drive like a normal teenager getting learner’s permit
Sam says he dreams about Mom (must be from meeting her ghost, he was too little to have memories of her)
Goodnight jerk-bitch
Suits
Dean christens monster ‘werepires’ later ‘ghoulpires’
Boys leave police station in suits and pull up to restaurant in flannel…
Valet girl drives car!!!
Green cooler used as repository for severed head
Blood smear on car window seems to change appearance during episode
Mrs. Markham (who is a monster but we don’t know it): ‘Your family, you do anything for them, don’t you?’
Mrs. Markham drives car!!!
Deputy drives car!!!
Monsters are raising an army to fight the Darkness
Dean uses door to cut off head-yikes
Poor front of car
One of the best SPN episodes!!!
223. Thin Lizzie (11.05)-W: Won/D: Green
Recap: ghost lore; Amara
Sam all for taking hunt in Lizzie Borden’s house-continuity with his serial killer interest
Dean to clerk when clerk’s mother yells at him: ‘Working with family can be tough’
Switch from regular clothes to suits
Split up-Sam going to new crime scene, Dean keeps car and goes to see Len, so what did Sam use for transportation?
Len says after he encountered Amara: ‘I haven’t been right since. I can’t eat. Or sleep. I don’t dream. And all the things I used to love… They leave me cold. Just playing the part of what I used to be. You know. Fake it till you make it. Or feel it’
Dean figures out Len is soulless
Sam reminds Dean of ‘new rules’: ‘We want to save people. Remember?’
Sam speculates not everybody who loses soul turns into a killer
Dean wants Sam to tell Len he’s soulless because ‘you’ve been there’
Sam about potential killer: ‘…she couldn’t care less. It was kind of the way I felt the whole time I was soulless’
Boys keep Len with them in car-when he suspects they know what is wrong with him Dean blurts it out: ‘You don’t have a soul, all right? Amara sucked it out’-Len: ‘It feels good to finally know’
Amara meeting babysitter Sydney in parking lot: ‘Excuse me, drunk girl, you shouldn’t be driving’
Sydney is concerned about Amara being alone by bar late at night
Amara touched by her kindness, gives her ‘bliss’: ‘Amara took away the pain…Before there was always this constant voice in my head, “You can’t do that. It’s wrong. What if you get caught.” And now it’s quiet. It’s just me and what I want’
Len saves boys by killing Sydney
Sam tries to comfort boy left orphaned
Len is pretty amazing for being soulless: ‘I know for sure now if I’m not stopped there will be another kill…I’m gonna turn myself in, I’ll confess to all the murders. That way I can’t get out…I remember what it was like to do the right thing. So, I’m going through the motions. For as long as I can’
Dean says it felt quiet being with Amara
Episode was full of mis-directs which made it very interesting!
224. Our Little World (11.06)-W: Berens/D: Showalter
Recap: Amara growing up; Sam visions; Metartron; Len
Girl Goldie offers to help Amara-Amara wants to be like Goldie
Crowley grounds Amara
Suits
Len dies off-screen-that was too bed
Cas sees Metatron on TV
Smart boys trap demon in Goldie’s cell
Sam wants to exorcise demon after interrogation but meatsuit is dead
Crowley has been working out of abandoned asylum in Massachusetts since last season
Sam: ‘I keep forgetting about you and Crowley’s summer of love’
Sam asks if Dean is ready to kill Amara-he says he is
Crowley makes deal with Amara to stay with him until she doesn’t need his protection anymore
Metatron’s taunts to Cas backfire, Cas beats him up
Dean has Crowley’s voice on his phone and uses it to lure demons away
Dean preparing to kill Amara: ‘I’m sorry, Amara’
Crowley monologues about not being able to kill Dean because of their bromance, but he is over it and ready to kill Dean today-Amara stops Crowley
Sam is fighting demons instead of killing them to save the meatsuits-saves 2 out of 3 (we never see him exorcise the demons, though)
Amara says Dean can’t kill her: ‘Tell me what is happening here between us? You save me, I save you…You were the first thing I saw when I was freed…my first experience of his creation…There’s no fighting it, I’m fascinated’
Metatron tells Cas that Amara is God’s sister whom he betrayed
When Sam asks Dean how she got away-Dean: ‘She overpowered me’
Sam has vision of the cage
Amara montage felt unnecessary to me…use that time for the boys!
225. Plush (11.07)-W: Charmelo & Snyder/D: Andrew
Recap: Donna; Sam and clowns; Sam’s visions
Sam is praying again and Dean catches him: ‘Don’t count on God, count on us’
Sam identifies Donna as ‘fat-sucker Donna’
Arrive in suits
That rabbit mask is truly creepy! And his non-response to being talked to is unnerving
The kid was a victim too-Donna feels bad
That fire doesn’t look like it was very safely laid out
Clown is the creepiest one ever on the show
No hospital security?
Why are the boys giving Donna relationship advice she didn’t ask for? Glad Donna tells them to mind their own business
Serious issue-child molestation accusation
You can’t prove a negative
Sister screwed up in not talking to her brother, instead asking the men who accused him to ‘scare’ him
Sister: ‘Fear cripples you’
Lots of throwing boys into glass doors
Sam confesses visions of Cage-Dean is ‘no way’-Sam’s face shows disagreement
One of those episodes that revolves around a morally gray issue, which are always thought-provoking episodes
226. Just My Imagination (11.08)-W: Klein/D: Speight
Recap: Fantasy monster examples; visions
Mom to daughter: ‘Whenever you’re ready…’ for going to dinner-OMG, that is not how you parent…
Sam oblivious to table full of treats while he’s looking for coffee
Dean has bedhead
When Sam was 9 he wanted marshmallow nachos
Zanna are Romanian
Dean: ‘Fairy godmother getting capped, that ain't our beat’
Sam: ‘Sully helped me’
Pull up to house in hunter clothes, get out of car wearing button-down shirts, sweaters, and dress slacks???
Sam: ‘I was kind of a lonely kid…’-Dean: ‘You weren’t lonely, you had me’-Once again Dean denies Sam’s reality because it doesn’t match what he thinks should be Sam’s reality…
Flashback to 13-yr-old Dean at pay phone telling Sam he has to stay alone (1992)
Impala license plate BQN 9R3 same as in 4.13 ‘After School Special’ flashback (1997)
‘Manicorn’
Glittery blood
Sully doesn’t put up with Dean’s snark
Those poor traumatized kids!
‘Brother’ theme music plays when young Sam and Sully are talking
Young Sam mentions he used to think he could fly until he broke his arm (Dean referenced this in a past season)
Young Sam thinks about running away
Sully: ‘You can be whatever you wanna be. You’re not Dean, you’re not your dad. You’re Sam. And Sam is so awesome’
Sully approves of young Sam’s idea of running away-which seems awfully irresponsible for someone who is supposed to be watching out for the kid
Weems’ air guitar is awesome
When John decides young Sam can come on the hunt after all, Sam is all gung-ho and dismisses Sully
A 9-yr-old kid is going to get to the bus station and get a ticket to go to Milwaukee alone???
Sam confesses to Sully he screwed up by letting the Darkness out and that his visions scare him: ‘…I don’t think I can do what he’s asking’
Dean is taken out by a blow to the head-maybe a baseball bat?
Sully willing to be killed by Reese: ‘…if this is what you need, I’m okay with it’-pretty impressive self-sacrifice
Dean to Reese: ‘Revenge ain’t gonna make you feel better’ and then he defends Sully as a good guy
Sully to Sam about heroes: ‘Sometimes they’re scared. But that just means the thing that they’re facing, it’s super important. And nobody else is gonna go for it, because nobody else has got the balls’
Dean still against Sam trying for the Cage
Sam’s hair was perfect in this episode
227. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (11.09)-W: Bucker & Ross-Leming/D: Singer
Recap: Amara’s story; Sam visions and cage
Amara really deep-fries that crowd
Sam has a vision with a burning bush nearby
Dean trying so hard to dissuade Sam from going to the cage
Crowley questions Dean about how he didn’t kill Amara when he had the chance in Crowley’s lair, details are new to Sam
Cage was sealed by God
Interesting theological discussion between priest and Amara about meeting God
Huh, the angel from the bar in episode 3 is trying to rally the angels to tackle Amara
Dean in suit
Dean: ‘Are you sure that you’re okay with this whole deal?’-Sam: ‘Not eve a little. But what choice do we have…’
Dean senses Amara and doesn’t answer Sam’s urgent call so Sam has to go to the cage alone
Cage is in limbo, the farthest reach of hell-different than rest of hell scenes we’ve seen
Amara’s issue is with her brother, she is hurting his creation to get God’s attention
Amara consumes souls and they become part of her and live forever
Amara tries to persuade Dean to join her to attain bliss
Dean tries to kill her, the knife shatters, she looks like she is going to take his soul but then kisses him instead
Lucifer is gaslighting Sam with how Lucifer is the only one who can help defeat the Darkness, but he needs Sam as his vessel again
Parallel-Amara wants Dean to surrender, Lucifer wants Sam to surrender
Lucifer reveals the visions were from him, not god…
And the episode ends there!
228. The Devil in the Details (11.10)-W: Dabb/D: Wright
Recap: season so far
Utterly ridiculous ‘Christmas’ with Crowley in footie pajamas and Rowena in red nose, then Lucifer as Santa stabs Crowley-later this is referenced as the dream which inspired Rowena to help Lucifer, but it really feels like a writer’s room idea that has no relation to the show
Sam is counting on Dean for rescue from the cage
Dean called Cas for help-Dean is going to the site where Amara was smited because he doesn’t know Sam went to the Cage without him
The way Cas ‘diagnoses’ Dean with smiting sickness is silly, taking his vitals-another scene that feels put in to be funny without regard for whether the characters would actually do that
Last smiting Lot’s wife turned to salt (how does that jibe with Balthazar having the heavenly weapon used on Lot’s wife that turned Raphael to salt?)
Flashback of teenage Sam with flirty girl…he says his dad took him to Mexico ‘on a working vacation’-asks if she’s ever heard of a Chupacabra
Lucifer takes Sam to revisit Stull: ‘You were willing to do the hard thing, if it meant saving the world…That’s not you anymore, you’ve gone soft’
Crowley clues Dean in that Sam is with Lucifer
Cas meets angel Ambriel while looking for Amara-she is a cute angel and not out to kill Cas
Billie is working for Crowley…huh
Getting into hell is so much easier than it used to be
Lucifer takes Sam to revisit his time with Amelia: ‘This is the worst thing you’ve ever done…why did you let Dean talk you out of closing the gates of Hell? ‘Cos the old Sam never would’ve done that. Not ever…you’re so overcome by guilt that you can’t stand to lose Dean again and he could never lose you, and so instead of choosing the world you choose each other, no matter how many innocent people die…if you’re going to beat the Darkness you have to be ready to die. You have to be ready to watch the people you love die. A long time ago you could have fought the good fight kid, but not anymore. You can’t win this one Sam. You’re just not strong enough’
Dean meets up with Crowley: ‘Where’s Sam?’-Crowley: ‘Don’t worry about Sam’-Dean: ‘I’m sorry, have you met me?’
Amara takes Ambriel’s grace-sorry, Ambriel-very cool effect of how she reabsorbs the darkness surrounding the area
Lucifer: ‘Michael’s sitting in a corner singing show tunes and touching himself’
Sam: ‘…I think that whoever wins, you or the Darkness, everyone else loses. So, no. My answer is no. This isn't because of Dean, or the past, this is about me having faith in my friends, having faith in my family. We will find a way. I'm ready to die and I'm ready to watch people I love die, but I'm not ready to be your bitch’-Sam’s hero moment-he finally refuses to sacrifice himself
And Lucifer got out after all…
229. Into the Mystic (11.11)-W: Thompson/D: Badham
Recap: Lucifer and Sam in the cage; Cas saying yes; Dean and Amara
I felt so bad for the little baby!
Cas is MIA
Sam is brooding, tied up in knots about what to do about the Darkness-Dean says they need a hunt
Suits
Dean pockets Viagra bottle
Dean throws out the idea of retiring-Sam: ‘Hey, you're the one who's always wanted to go out blaze of glory style preferably while the Bon Jovi song is playing’
When Dean asks if Sam is okay he answers honestly: ‘No I’m not actually, not at all. Being so close to Lucifer again that brought stuff up. Stuff I thought I forgot about’
Burning the bones doesn’t solve the case
Banshees prey on vulnerable
Dean goes to bunker to get weapon, runs into Casifer, not aware of it, and confesses that he can’t kill Amara
Lucifer does a perfect imitation of Cas
So of all the residents in a retirement home, Sam zeroes in on Mildred as the next victim because having arterial fibrillation makes her vulnerable??? Really? A senior with arterial fibrillation is the most vulnerable in the whole place??? She should have had a more immediate disability
I guess it’s Sam’s sixth sense that makes him suspect the facility worker (Eileen)
Eileen’s maternal grandfather was a MOL, part of a small delegation sent to Europe. So he brought his daughter who married an Irishman? Eileen’s father had just lost his job and had a nervous breakdown which is why he was vulnerable to the Banshee
Sam changed out of his suit while still at the facility
Banshee shows up and all the hunters forget the plan?
Dean has a very hard head-he was really banging it on the wall and all he has is a tiny bandaid
Sam sitting at MOL table throws a beer behind his back and Dean catches it-nice
Sam: ‘I should've looked for you. When you were in Purgatory, I should've turned over every stone. But I didn't. I stopped. And I've never forgiven myself for it’-Dean: ‘Well I have…That’s in the past…what’s done is done…all that matters now…is that we’re together’
Sam wonders why banshee went after Dean-Dean blows it off
Sam puts brochure from the retirement home in his keepsake box
230. Don’t You Forget About Me (11.12)-W: Won/D: Pleszczynski
Recap: Jody, Alex, and Claire backgrounds
Claire is screwing up, thinking everything is a hunt
Cas MIA again
Claire calls Dean for help with a case she’s found
Alex has become a ‘normal’ high school kid, dating most popular boy
Jody brings up birth control at dinner table: ‘Hey, if we can't talk about it, we shouldn't be doing it, right? Right?’
Claire really wants to be a hunter, Dean tells her to appreciate the chance to have a family and a normal life
Suits with overcoats
Poor Jody gets beaten up again
Sam takes Jody’s truck while Dean is trying to find Alex
Dean has Alex’s cell number in his phone
Nothing like almost getting killed by monsters to bond a family…
‘I solemnly swear not to hunt like a dumbass’
231. Love Hurts (11.13)-W: Charmelo & Snyder/D: Sgriccia
Recap: Cases on Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day; Amara
Valentine’s Day
Really long teaser setting up murder
Dean is feeling effect of celebrating Valentine’s Day last night (it’s been a while since he’s had a one-nighter)
Dean has a hickey
Suits with overcoats
Dean goes after the husband and gets truth from him
Smart Dean tests wife by handing her a silver pen to write with
Wife knows what motel and what room the boys are in?
Dean kisses wife to get the curse off her
Sam is pissed at Dean for being self-sacrificing
Witch-killing bullets
Spell manifests deepest, darkest desire-Dean: ‘Silver lining about being cursed. I'll finally get some face time with Daisy Duke’-Sam: ‘Seriously?’-Dean: ‘Ever since I was 7’
They play rock-paper-scissors to see who checks upstairs and Dean wins-then is so shocked he takes the downstairs anyway
Amara is Dean’s deepest desire
Dean leaves money in the motel room for the broken window-first time he’s ever done that
Dean is honest: ‘Honestly? What, you seriously think the sister of God is my deepest, darkest desire?’-Sam: ‘She isn't?’ -Dean: ‘No, she can't be’-Sam: ‘Why not?’ -Dean: ‘Why? Because if she was, then that means I'm-‘-Sam: ‘Means you're what? Complicit? Weak? Evil?...do you honestly think you ever had a choice in the matter? She's the sister of God. And for some reason she picked you, and that sucks, but if you think I'm gonna blame you or judge you, I'm not…Just how bad is it?’-Dean: ‘Standing here right now? Every bone in my body wants to run her through, send her back to that hole she crawled out of. But when I'm near her...something happens. I can't explain it. But to call it desire or love, it's not that. I'm screwed, man. We want to kill the Darkness. We need to kill the Darkness. And I don't think I can. I'm sorry to do that to you, you know? But when it comes down to it...’-Sam: ‘I got it, Dean’
Loved the honesty at the end of this episode!
232. The Vessel (11.14)-W: Berens/D: Badham
Recap: MOL history; time travel; Thule; Casifer
1943 Nazi-occupied France, Delphine kills Nazi for his treasure
Sam’s research discovers story of Delphine and the ‘Hand of God’ in sub that sunk in WW2
Lucifer claims the throne of hell, humiliates Crowley
MOL had limited European chapter (but hey, the British chapter is still going strong…)
Dean comes up with idea to time travel to get the Hand of God weapon
Crowley acts subservient, Lucifer doesn’t believe he really is
Really nerve-wracking to watch the boys ask Casifer for help when they think it’s really Cas but we know it isn’t!
Casifer couldn’t get on the sub because of warding
Dean tells the captain the sub is going down
Dean tells Delphine the truth and the crewman listening takes him seriously and is bravely stoic about knowing he’s going to die shortly
Sam finds spell that could get past the warding but it needs an archangel’s power-Casifer offers to try knowing he can do it but Sam doesn’t want Cas to try
Delphine says Dean has to kill her to break the warding, she is the final step
Sam comes up with the idea of Cas tapping Sam’s soul to get enough power for the spell-and Lucifer decides to reveal himself-NOOOO!!!
Cas surfaces long enough to stop Lucifer from killing Sam-another ‘love of a Winchester enables someone to overcome possession’ but first one for Sam
Lucifer pulls Dean back and taunts them, seizes the Hand of God, but it is kaput
Smart Sam makes banishing sigil
Where is this dock they go sit on???
Dean was just a witness, everything happened as it was preordained
This was a tough one for Dean
This was an excellent episode!!!
233. Beyond the Mat (11.15)-W: Bring & Dabb/D: Wanek
Recap: Casifer, previous episode
Dean pitches an aspirin bottle to Sam across the room
John took Sam and Dean to Top Notch Wrestling shows when they were kids. Larry the Hangman was John’s favorite
Dean says they need to take a break from the bunker research-besides the Darkness they now are worrying about Cas being possessed by Lucifer-Sam questions whether Cas wants to be saved since he said yes to the purpose of defeating the Darkness
Dean got his first B&E at age 10 for borrowing a family’s pay-per-view to watch Gunnar fight
The wrestlers’ manager Rio was Sam’s first crush-he had her poster over his bed
Dean suit with overcoat, Sam in sportcoat
Dean talking about wrestlers’ life: ‘Town after town, putting your ass on the line for next to nothing? No money. No glory’-Sam: ‘You realize you just literally described our jobs’
Dean really into the wrestling as soon as it starts, Sam plays is cool at first but then gets into it too
Dean acting out in the ring
Demon frees Crowley supposedly because she can’t stand Lucifer
Dean shows off a scar on his leg in one-up-man-ship with Gunnar
It takes Sam a really long time to get to the bar-it’s closing when he arrives
Drunk Dean still able to pick lock
Douche wrestler Harley acknowledges he was in the wrong to throw a punch at Gunnar
When demon offers Harley fame in exchange for his soul, Harley refuses: ‘I’ve never been much for God or whatever. I sort of just thought that when your curtain came down, that was it…But if you’re a demon, that means there’s a Hell. And if there’s a Hell, there is a Heaven. And I’m not giving up my shot at paradise for a belt I can win on my own’-too bad he ended up dead
Demon springing Crowley was actually setting trap for Crowley to lead Lucifer to his treasure room
Why did Lucifer have to pick up the treasure box and move it to another table before opening it? Cas did the same thing when he and Dean found the angel tablet
Crowley was prepared for the double-cross and had weapon ready for Lucifer, then vanishes when Lucifer avoids it
Only Gunnar hears the hellhounds
Dean feels bad about Gunnar’s fate-they’ve all made bad decisions
234. Safe House (11.16)-W: Thompson/D: Pleszczynski
Recap: Rufus and Bobby
Watching little kids be endangered is always rough
2 weeks of nothing on Amara or Cas/Lucifer
Now Sam is being the optimist cheering up Dean and suggesting a case
Suits
When neighbor mentions rude FBI agents from a ‘handful of years ago’ Sam immediately thinks of Bobby and Rufus
Screen says ‘A Handful of Years Ago’ LOL (from Lilith reference it was 2009-7 years ago)
Episode is full of nifty transitions from current to past by focusing on a common element: Bobby and Rufus are at the front door/Sam and Dean are opening the door; boys go to motel/B&R are inside room/back to boys researching in same room; Dean says ‘there’s gotta be an easier way to dig graves’/Bobby is using a backhoe; doctor talking to boys/then talking to B&R; Dean asks Sam a question/Bobby answers Rufus
They have Bobby’s old journals (convenient)
Rufus bets Bobby a bottle of Johnny Walker that it’s a baku
Bobby: ‘I’m worried about my boys’-Rufus: ‘Oldest rule of hunting, Bobby, you can’t save everyone’
Soul-eater
Boys rock-paper-scissors for who has to go into the nest-Dean loses
Dean: ‘Come and get me, you son of a bitch’-Bobby: ‘Stay away from me, you son of a bitch’
Bobby sees dead Sam and Dean
Dean stops painting sigil to talk to kid-come on, Dean, focus
Soul-eater says he will keep Dean safe from the Darkness
Sam and soul-eater Dean have impressive fight
Bobby and Dean see each other
When Dean comes to, Sam goes over to help him sit up and pats Dean’s head
Rufus leaves bottle of Johnny Walker in Bobby’s car (This bottle is found two years later by Sam and Jody Mills in 7.12 ‘Time After Time’-lovely backwards continuity!)
Bobby is writing in journal when Dean from that time period calls (and is very rude) so Bobby never finishes the entry, which the boys complained about earlier
They are going to finish the soul-eater case Bobby worked in Tennessee back then-Bobby trapped it but they can kill it now
Another excellent episode!
235. Red Meat (11.17)-W: Berens & Dabb/D: Lopez Corrado
Recap: werewolf lore; Casifer; reaper lore; Billie
Opens with brutal fight and Sam is shot!!!
48 hours earlier
Now Sam wants to work a case, Dean is down
Current time
Dean extracts the bullet from Sam’s abdomen
Dean says these werewolves must be purebloods, they can change anytime
Earlier
Suits
Current time
Sam wants Dean to take the couple and come back for him-Dean is not leaving Sam-goes out to make a litter for Sam
Corbin suffocates Sam, as he does Sam sees bite mark
Dean sees a car but instead of going to it for help he somehow knows it belongs to more werewolves?
Dean can’t find a pulse on Sam-he is ready to fight the werewolves right there: ‘Let ‘em come’ but Corbin begs Dean to help them
Dean distress is palpable from his face-it really got to me!
Cop is a major dick! (But Dean could have stressed there was someone else to save instead of just punching the cop)
Dean has broken ribs and a concussion
Michelle is upset, she realizes what Corbin did to Sam
When Michelle says her mom used to say ‘death is not the end’ it gives Dean an idea-he’s going to talk to a ‘scary, crazy death machine’
Dean knows he needs barbital to kill himself
Sam is alive?!?!
Dean: ‘After I do this, go get the doc and tell her to, um... Tell her to bring me back, if she can. If not... no hard feelings, okay?’
Sam has lost a lot of blood!
Just like Dean, Sam knows those are bad guys in the car…
Sam falls down the stairs/Dean falls on the floor
Apparently the doctor is the only staffer in the entire clinic?
Dean’s spirit, watching his body: ‘Put me on my back. It’s easier to find a vein’-Doctor: ‘Roll him over’
Dean tries to negotiate with Billie to give Sam back saying Sam is needed to handle the Darkness-Billie: ‘It's cute…You pretending you're trying to save Sam for the greater good, when we both know you're doing it for you. You can't lose him. But even if Sammy could win the title bout... the answer would still be “no.” The answer will always be “no.” Game's over, Dean. No more second chances. No more extra lives...I'm not here to bargain with you, kid. I'm here to reap you. And the kicker is... Sam's not dead. But you are. Or will be, soon enough’
Wow, Billie is relentless…
Billie is ready to take Dean to the Empty but doctor manages to revive him
Super Sam manages to kill 2 werewolves while barely alive!
Dick cop cuffs Dean for stealing drugs-Michelle frees him
Sam reaches the Impala and manages to call Dean but the call drops
Not sorry that werewolf Corbin kills the dick cop
Corbin wants to turn Michelle so they can be together forever
Corbin strangling Dean when Sam appears and shoots him!!!
Doctor says Sam’s body went into shock and his heartbeat slowed down to almost nothing…nice try at explaining…
Dean tells Michelle ‘eventually you’ll get back to normal’-Michelle: ‘No, I won’t’
So all Sam needs is 2 quarts of blood and he’s good to go? Really???
Sam asks Dean what he did when he thought Sam was dead and Dean jokes then lies that he knew Sam wasn’t dead
It shouldn’t be alarming when one of the boys dies, we know they never stay dead, but for some reason this episode, even on rewatch, was really intensely nerve-wracking. Even with some questionable plot contrivances, this ranks as one of my top episodes. And of course Dean lies about what he did…
236. Hell’s Angel (11.18)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Sgriccia
Recap: Darkness; Casifer; Crowley’s escape
I find myself rooting for Crowley against my better judgment because I’d rather have him around as the villain than Lucifer…
Rowena?! She had a resurrection spell-huh
Rowena always goes to who has the most power-first Crowley, then Lucifer, now Amara
Crowley says he’ll give them Joshua’s Horn-boys in unison: ‘If…’
Crowley dumps the problem of getting Lucifer back in the cage on the boys, and getting rid of Lucifer is his priority over dealing with Amara
Boys want to use Lucifer against Amara, then re-cage him, argue with Crowley-Dean: ‘Is this what this is about? Huh? Your stupid ego? The fact that he dissed you in front of a bunch of stupid demons? You're smarter than this. Come on!’
Lucifer now forcing his plan on heaven, terrorizing any angel who stands up to him
3 storylines going back and forth: Crowley with Sam and Dean; Lucifer with angels; Rowena healing Amara
Rowena decides against helping Amara any further and lies about what her farseeing revealed about Sam and Dean’s plans
When the spell doesn’t work against Lucifer Crowley possesses Cas and finds him not even trying to fight Lucifer off (this seems very wrong, like it was written for comedic effect without considering what the character would really do)
Amara and Lucifer showdown-she wins
Sam and Dean discuss what to do about Cas-Dean: ‘…that's what he wanted, though, right? Besides, didn't we say that we were gonna swear off getting in the way when one person makes a choice the other doesn't agree with?’-Sam: ‘Yeah, we did say that…so that’s our policy’-Dean: ‘Which sounds damn good…Well let’s go find that idiot and bring him home’
Visual transition of Dean rolling ball into knocking over beer bottles to Amara slamming Casifer into a wall
Amara refers to Lucifer as God’s first son, which is wrong, Michael was first
237. The Chitters (11.19)-W: Won/D: Sanchez
Recap: other hunters; various monsters; Amara with Lucifer
1989 brothers Matty and Jesse discuss getting out of town
How far away did the kid walk to take a leak?
Boys have been looking for leads for a week, Dean worried Amara will hurt Cas while hurting Lucifer
Sam wants them to take a case-his turn to be upbeat
Suits
Dean teases Sam about weed-Sam: ‘I was 18…It was college…’
Smart Sam can identify scent of white sage in house
Split up
Dean changes out of suit by the time he’s in the woods
Dean drives Impala right into the woods, not on a road-dude, she’s not an off-road vehicle
Meet Cesar and Jesse
Dean: ‘You guys fight just like brothers…’-Cesar: ‘Well it’s more like an old married couple’-Dean after brief moment of adjusting his impression: ‘That’s…Oh…Okay…what’s it like settling down with a hunter?’
Dean and Cesar go back to woods in Impala and discuss how revenge doesn’t fix anything
It’s raining while they are driving but not when they are in the forest
Sam and Jesse go to see the former sheriff
Jesse is very angry about how the sheriff handled the case
Turns out the sheriff knew about the monsters because they’d taken his daughter and he resigned rather than deal with the pain-his behavior was reprehensible and yet he was also a tragic figure
Sam: ‘You know... whenever you and Dad used to leave me to go hunting and I wouldn't hear from y'all for a while I was always sure that some vamp or rugaru or take your pick... I always figured one of them finally got ya. I tried to think of what to do, you know, the next step to take. I was just lost’ (Way back in season 4 they heard of a rugaru for the first time, but that was retconned already)
Boys are going to ask Cesar and Jesse for help with Amara and Cas but Dean changes his mind when they say they are retiring from hunting
238. Don’t Call Me Shurley (11.20)-W: Thompson/D: Singer
Recap: Carver Edlund; Supernatural books; Amara; mortal Metatron; God is absent
Metatron gives the sandwich he was going to eat to the dog-hmm, unexpected kindness
‘I got a feeling we aren’t on Earth anymore…’
‘I get to spend eternity in a crappy bar with a hack writer’-before Metatron realizes Chuck is God LOL
Chuck wants to know if Metatron didn’t like ‘Home’ or ‘All Hell Breaks Loose?’ and references Metatron burning ‘Tall Tales’ in the episode ‘Meta Fiction’
Chuck: ‘I always forget people can’t see me unless I want them to see me’
Dean irons Sam’s shirt with beer
Sam has a very thin lead about a man who killed a co-worker and then himself for no reason and they jump on it as a soulless case…
Chuck started a new series of books ‘Revolution’-which was the name of Kripke’s first show after SPN
God bless Robbie Thompson, he made the re-appearance of the amulet actually believable without needing a detailed explanation: ‘I turned it off…I should really put this away. You’ll never guess where this thing has been this entire time’
Metatron admits he’s been ‘an absolute piece of garbage’
Suits with overcoats
Metatron says he loves Chuck’s draft-Chuck: ‘Last time I saw that look on an editor's face, I just handed in Bugs’
Metatron: ‘…you know every great hero is defined by his or her villain’
Metatron’s speech defending humanity is impressive
Metatron says Chuck created worlds-note plural
Chuck: ‘…look at what nature created on its own. What's more, nature's smart enough to know that sometimes, there's no fixing things. Sometimes, you just have to wipe the slate clean’
Amara’s message to Dean through the infected deputy: ‘It’s all going away forever…but not you Dean’
Chuck references Sam and Dean let Amara out: ‘You know I love those guys, but the world would still be spinning with Demon Dean in it. But Sam couldn't have that, though, could he?... I've saved them! I've rebuilt Castiel more times than I can remember! Look where that got me’
Metatron: ‘I was a crappy, terrible god. My work was pretty much a lame, half-assed rewrite of your greatest hits. But at least I was never a coward!’-and Chuck gets scary angry
Chuck says he picked Metatron as his scribe just because Metatron was the closest angel to the door
Metatron: ‘…you're wrong about humanity. They are your greatest creation because they're better than you are… Yeah, sure, they're weak and they cheat and steal and... destroy and disappoint. But they also give and create and they sing and dance and love. And above all, they never give up!’
Sam is infected and Dean tries breathing the fog so he can be infected too
Dean pulls glowing amulet from Sam’s pocket and the fog dissipates
Chuck: ‘We should probably talk’
I loved this episode so much because it made sense! Now I am rewatching it knowing that, because of season 15’s total revision, Chuck is still acting a part and it hurts because apparently Chuck wrote this whole script? So he was playing the boys by pretending he needed them to fight Amara? Or did his story get out of control and he really was as limited as shown in the rest of the season? I really, really want to ignore what they did to Chuck in the last season!!!
239. All in the Family (11.21)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Wright
Recap: last episode; Amara; Casifer
Kevin’s ghost randomly shows up and tells the boys to trust Chuck and Chuck sends him to heaven (except in season 15 it turns out Chuck sent him to hell!!!)
Dean: ‘I'm guessing you came back to help with the Darkness, and that's great. That's, you know -- It's fantastic. Um, but you've been gone a long, long time. And there's so much crap that has gone down on the Earth for thousands of years. I mean, plagues and wars, slaughters, and you were, I don't know, writing books, going to fan conventions. Were you even aware or did you just tune it out?’
Chuck says he needed to step away because he had to ‘let my baby find its way’
Chuck says Amara is warded against him-which makes no sense because she’s been trying to find him
Sam wants to ask Chuck why planets are round??? Really?
Metatron has Dean’s cell number
Suits
Gloss over Crowley having missed Donatello when he was rounding up prophets a few season ago by saying ‘it’s possible Crowley missed a few’
Donatello: ‘I can’t be a prophet! I’m an atheist…’
Dean: ‘…we're not asking you to believe that this is true, just act like you do. People do it all the time’
Metatron says that Chuck wrote a suicide note (in view of season 15, was this genuine or manipulation on Chuck’s part???)
Chuck says he’ll offer to let Amara cage him to leave his creation alone and Dean is upset: ‘She's gonna eliminate you, and then she's gonna destroy everything that you've created. She's told me this personally’
Dean meets with Amara to distract her: ‘There can be no us’-Amara: ‘Dean, give up your smallness, your humanity and become boundless within me’-Dean: ‘You're right. I am drawn to you. And it bothers the hell out of me, 'cause I can't control it’
Metatron says he will stay and fight Amara so Sam can escape with Casifer, and he dies redeemed
Sam driving, Amara stops the car-suddenly it is in a room in the bunker-Chuck: ‘Occasionally I do answer a prayer’ (I want to know how they got the car out of that room!)
They send Donatello home in a cab??? What about keeping him safe, guys???
240. We Happy Few (11.22)-W: Berens/D: Badham
Recap: Amara’s beef with god; last episode
Chuck has put a safeguard on Lucifer’s power
Sam and Dean are family counselors? Because they have such great communication skills…
Chuck: ‘The Mark didn’t change you. It just made you more of what you already were’ (What does that imply about Dean with the Mark?)
Dean’s advice: ‘…the great thing about apologies is you don’t even have to mean ‘em...I lie and tell Sam I’m sorry all the time’
Chuck: ‘When I watched my choice devour my most cherished son, I hated myself, and so I punished you. And I am so sorry’ (Very moving confession at the time…but in view of season 15, did he mean any of it? Grrr…)
Chuck explains both Dark and Light are needed to balance each other and killing the Darkness would unbalance things
Chuck doesn’t have time to rebuild archangels: ‘They’re the stuff of primordial creation’
Come up with plan that requires co-operation from Crowley, heaven, and Rowena-Dean goes to Crowley, Casifer goes to heaven, and Sam goes to Rowena
Dean still thinks Chuck should kill Amara, not trap her: ‘I tried to kill her and it didn’t work’-Chuck: ‘Maybe it didn’t work because you didn’t want it to work. Maybe you didn’t want to kill her’
Amara obliterates the bunker wards
Amara studies picture of little Dean with Mary
Reveal that Sam and Chuck discussed that Sam will take the Mark so Amara can be locked away-Dean is upset: ‘You couldn’t have talked to me?...What happens when the Mark turns you psycho?’-Sam: ‘You lock me up where I can’t hurt anyone and you throw away the key…it’s time to do the smart thing’-Dean has no choice but to go along
When demons are attacking Amara Crowley smokes out and joins the fight, gives her a serious blow
Amara weakened, ready to die until she realizes Chuck is going to lock her up again and she repowers up and leaves Chuck to die
241. Alpha and Omega (11.23)-W: Dabb/D: Sgriccia
During recap on line ‘lay your weary head to rest’ we get various decapitations…
Dean gives up: ‘If you've got something for me to punch, shoot, or kill, let me know and I'll do it. I'll do it 'til I die. But how are we supposed to fix the friggin' sun?’
Random interlude of MOL Toni Bevell in London kissing her little boy-has wall with Sam and Dean ‘wanted’ labels
Sam determined to find a plan B
Chuck: ‘Even if we could lock Amara away it wouldn’t do any good now, I’m dying, and when I’m gone a cosmic balance between light and dark, it’s over’-Sam: ‘Then if we can’t cage her we have to kill her’
Dean absolves Cas: ‘You were right to let Lucifer ride shotgun…it was our best shot and you stepped up…You’re the best friend we’ve ever had…you’re our brother Cas, I want you to know that’
Weird visual as Dean is driving, the passing scene outside the window is tilted
Cas comes up with idea of using souls
Dean suggests getting souls from Waverly Hills Sanatorium which has tons of ghosts…and which, in 11 years, has never been mentioned before-hunters haven’t cleaned it out despite it being so well-known??? And then the actual scene in Waverly shows maybe 20 ghosts??? This whole part of the episode made no sense!!! The only worthwhile moment in it was the lovely shot of the boys walking out in sync…
Billie gets in bunker despite wards
Billie: ‘…way things are going I’m about an hour away from reaping god himself’ then she magnanimously provides the souls they need by raiding the veil
Old woman to Amara: ‘…you know family. Even when you hate them you still love them’
Dean will be the bomb
More random Toni Bevell, now en route to Lebanon…
Sam: ‘You know if this works, that bomb goes off…’-Dean: ‘I know’
Chuck doesn’t want Amara dead but understands it’s the only way
Somehow they find the time to drive to Mary Winchester’s grave (which is in Greenville IL based on season 2 episode) so they could throw in some foreshadowing there…
Cas hugs Dean who tells him to watch after Sam
Dean: ‘I want a big funeral… Open bar, choir, Sabbath cover band, and Gary Busey reading the eulogy…and for my ashes I like it here…as far as eternal resting places go’-He gives Sam the Impala keys: ‘No chick-flick moments’-Sam: ‘you love chick flicks’-They have emotional hug-this was an unexpectedly mature send-off of Dean to his death by Sam…I guess the stakes were big enough he had to go with it, or was it that it happened so quickly he didn’t have time to react?
Dean transported to park with Amara, rest of them go to random bar
Amara sees the bomb in Dean
Amara: ‘When God’s gone…everything will cease to exist including me’
Dean tells Amara Chuck doesn’t want her dead, she’s family
Dean: ‘…revenge…it’ll get you out of bed in the morning and when you get it, it feels great for about 5 minutes…when everything goes to crap, that’s all you’ve got…family…you don’t want to be alone…maybe that’s why you wanted me but deep down you didn’t really want me ‘cause I’m not him…put aside the rage and you tell me what do you want?’
Amara to Chuck: ‘I hated you for needing something that wasn’t me…I wish that we could just be family again’-Chuck: ‘I do too’
The sun comes back and everyone in the bar assumes Dean is dead and my heart breaks for Sam
Chuck to Dean: ‘Earth will be fine. It’s got you and Sam’
Amara: ‘Dean, you gave me what I needed most. I want to do the same for you’
And Toni is waiting for Sam in the bunker: ‘What you've done, the damage you've caused-archangels, Leviathans, the Darkness, and now, well- the old men have decided enough's enough… You're just a jumped-up hunter playing with things you don't understand and doing more harm than good. Now where’s Dean?’-Sam: ‘Dead’-and he challenges Toni to shoot and she does…
And Dean sees Mary in the woods
Really, from episode 4, ‘Baby’ to episode 17, ‘Red Meat’ there were only 2 episodes that were questionable. Not all of them were stellar, but they were decent enough to not make me annoyed at the writing. Sadly I think this is the last good season of the show…there are some very good episodes in the last 4 years but the over-all arcs were so sloppily done that it hurts.
I will be taking a break from my rewatch for a bit because I am moving and it’s going to be a while till I have time to indulge in binge-watching again. But I will finish!