Stream of Consciousness, Episode 6.19
Since about episode eight-ish, I’ve said this is a season I’m only going to truly appreciate in retrospect, and with the events that unfolded herein, that is proving to be more and more true.
Also? I have to start with a quote from U2’s “Miss Sarajevo” live from Milan, 2005, “Let’s turn this song into a prayer…that we don’t become a monster in order to defeat a monster.”
There were a multitude of fantastic moments in this episode, a few that made me rub my heart, several that made me almost angry, and two specific ones were some of you might’ve heard a shout from Lawrence of I knew it! And my hero was so heroic and our boys were our boys. *takes breath*
I have to start with my jumble of ah-ha!’s before I get going. Thanks for indulging me.
Okay, now I get why I wasn’t too anxious about the Mother of All. She never really felt like an omgkillhernow threat because she had one focused agenda: get Crowley. If you think about it, she was really just a Monster of the Week. It just took about six weeks (or so) to kill her. For me, she was practically a Red Herring. I was spending so much time wondering what the hell they were going to do with her - and why we were supposed to be afraid of her (I mean…she was no Lilith) - that I temporarily lost focus on the real issue: souls. And the one 'being' that held the soul most important to us: Crowley.
I can’t remember whose comment to the ramble I was replying to a couple of weeks back, but I said that if I were writing this, I’d blend it all together: MoA, Purgatory, Alpha Monsters, RoboSam, Angelic Civil War. I’d make them all pivot on the human souls storyline, because it was the only way I could make all these loose threads make sense I my head. In reality, I think Death’s quiet words to Dean, it’s all about the souls, just wormed their way into my subconscious and took root.
I don’t think we have enough clues to have it all mapped out yet, but what I’ve got so far is this: human souls are fuel for the supernatural-demons and angels alike. There is a war going on in Heaven over who is in control since God has, as far as we know, walked away. Part of this war has to do with control over this fuel (and if that’s not a subtle political barb, I don’t know what is). Taking advantage of this war, the King of Hell is also vying to get his piece of the Soul Power, and he’s not squeamish about how he gets it.
The battle for human souls is age-old. A tug-of-war between God and the Devil for our salvation. But that struggle for our souls always felt, y’know, figurative to me. Ethereal, almost. Now, it’s literal. Souls are like oil. Black gold. Texas tea. They want our souls-and the entity who has the most souls wins because he also has the most fuel or power. It’s so basic it’s ingenious.
So, at some point as yet unknown to us, Crowley and Castiel made a deal (or Cas recruited Crowley...) because Castiel needed help fighting against Raphael’s superior forces in Heaven. I think that is probably his ‘dirty little secret’ - and not, perhaps, as I’d thought last week, his use of Sam’s soul.
However, Sam’s soul still has a role in all of this because Crowley was holding it hostage-claiming that he pulled Sam’s body from the Cage. It was always doubtful to me (and a large number of us, I suspect) that a demon-even the King of Hell-would have enough mojo to pull someone from the Cage when Azaezal had to jump through a million small, fiery hoops to get Lucifer out.
Which makes me think that Cas had something to do with getting Sam out of Hell and knew all along that Crowley had his soul. Maybe he was working to get it back. Maybe the reason he knew it was ‘skinned’ was because he knew Crowley had been using it for fuel. I don’t know.
But I think that’s why he didn’t answer any of RoboSam’s prayers during the year without Dean. And I’m almost positive he knew it was gone before he gave Sam the soulonoscopy. I think he knew and he didn’t tell Dean because it was one of the casualties of his war, and he had to preserve whatever trust Dean had in him. Talk about regrettable things. Oh, and I almost suspect that Sam knows something about all of this-behind his wall, I mean. Not consciously knows. I haven’t let go of that bizarrely tense exchange RoboSam had with Cas just before he decided he didn’t want Dean to help him get his soul back.
I’m not quite sure what role Purgatory has in all of this yet-because it seems that if the souls are there, they are already monster-souls. They belong to Eve. So they wouldn’t be any good to Crowley. Hopefully that is in the gaggle of questions I still have that get cleared up.
Honestly, with only three episodes left, I’m waiting to find out that Sam’s soul was/is the key. If this were The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I’d be waiting for them to tell us that Sam’s soul is the Number 42. And by doing what he’s always done-take care of his brother, fight for his brother, protect his brother-Dean screwed up a lot of plans by going all rogue on them, dealing directly with Death, and getting Sam’s soul back. Wall or no wall, I’m pretty sure Sam’s soul is going to be key in all of this and Dean’s never ending quest to safeguard the most important person in his life is going to put both of them right at ground zero.
And if you know spoilery stuff that proves me wrong, don’t tell me. I’ll find out soon enough. *smiles*
Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, let’s ramble on. I’ll skip the THEN and go right to the NOW. Two college-age guys wearing “Bruisers” jerseys are walking out of a bar, laughing about whatever conversation took place just inside. Eve walks up to them in the white don’t hate me because I’m innocent nightgown/dress-and there’s a smear of blood on the side. One guy-an African American guy-tries the lame, “there must be an angel missing from Heaven,” line. She smiles at him, strokes his face, then moves on.
The guy looks a bit sick, but his friend tugs him on. Eve continues into the bar where “You Sexy Thing” (by Hot Chocolate, I think) is playing. She locks the door behind her (never a good sign). A good looking guy asks her if she’s okay (seeing the blood).
Eve: I’m perfect.
Her smile is empty and innocent and tooootally creepy. She steps close to the guy and kisses him while his friend is looking on all seriously, what the hell? She walks away from the guy who looks like he’s passed out and randomly starts touching people. In moments, the veins on the faces of the guy she kissed and people she touches crawl to the surface of their skin, deep red and indicative that something is definitely Not Right. Next thing you know, they’re turning on their friends and each other-literally tearing into them. Biting, clawing…blood everywhere.
And Eve sits back with that calm smile and a daiquiri, watching.
Back at Bobby’s-for this seems to have become the boys’ permanent home-away-from-road (and a good thing to)-Dean is filling shotgun shells with Phoenix Ash. I wondered how they were going to do it. Couldn’t just throw it at her-no way to guarantee aim. Brilliant idea, Dean. One of several he has this episode.
Bobby and Sam enter and Dean tells them that he’s not sure if it’s going to work-he tried the ash on his own skin (after a small mishap, he said) and…nada. Sam suggests that maybe it’s like iron or silver-hurts them, not us. Which is what I thought all along, so Dean’s “this may not work” warning confused me a bit.
Bobby says that it’s not going to matter if they don’t find Eve, so he thinks it’s time Dean made “a call.” Meaning, to Cas.
Dean: Why does it always have to be me? Not like Cas lives I my ass. Dude’s busy!
Cas shows up right behind Dean, startling him.
Dean: Cas! Get outta my ass!
Cas: I was never in your-
Cas does a curious-look head tilt, Dean does a this thought is disturbing on so many levels tilt right back. I sigh a bit with a really, Show? thought, and then we all move on. Cas wants to know if they’ve made any progress in locating Eve, which Bobby says they were going to ask him about that. But Cas says that she’s hidden from all Angels.
Total aside? I love how Dean’s dressed. Dark green T-shirt, navy-blue over shirt. In fact, I like how Sam’s dressed, too, and I rarely notice Sam’s attire, to be honest. It’s like the clothes from the Season 4 photo shoot in the stone room with the crying angel statue. Love those pictures.
Anyway, Sam says that they need an ‘inside man’ - someone with claws and sympathy. A friendly monster in other words, which, Sam contends, they’ve met one or two along the way. So, while Cas searches for a friendly monster (which just puts me in mind of a character from Sesame Street), time passes and the boys and Bobby basically…pace.
Cas returns with Lenore-who cut her hair and looks really cute with the new ‘do. Dirty and disheveled, but cute. We flashback quickly to remind everyone where we met her before and Sam soothes her with that quiet voice he gets when confronting a cornered-animal situation. He wants to know if she remembers them.
Lenore: Your hunter friend almost killed me.
Sam: If it makes you feel any better, he turned into a vampire and I chopped his head off.
Dean: With razor wire. Wicked.
He gets this proud, my little brother is bad. ass. grin on his face and Sam gives him a so not the time look. Dean sobers and looks back at Lenore as she demands to know why she’s here and Sam introduces her to Cas and says they need to talk with her about Eve.
Lenore (with classic feminine ire): I have nothing to say about Eve. I’m trying to stay away from her. Believe me.
Sam: Where’s your nest?
Lenore: Gone. Couldn’t fight it anymore.
She tells them that they hear Eve’s voice in their heads and the nest vamps left and started killing again. Lenore was hiding in the basement. And this just made me think about that vision that Dean shared with the Alpha vamp-the one with the twin, The Shining-like little girl vamps. I’m sadly drawing a blank…did we ever find out why Dean saw that? Where that place was, who they were? Because I don’t remember and I’m wondering if it had something to do with Eve (though she was still in Purgatory at that time, so…yeah *shrug*).
Lenore: You don’t know how hard it is, not to give in. Everyone gives in.
Dean glances at Sam and there’s a brief wave of memory pain that flits over his features. He refocuses on Lenore, wanting her to tell them where Eve is.
Lenore: She could be listening. I might as well be a video camera.
Bobby: So, we don’t have the element of surprise. We’re still going in.
Lenore: I can’t help you.
Sam: Can’t or won’t? It’s clear you give a crap. You don’t want to kill or have this whole planet die.
Lenore: You actually believe you can stop her?
Sam nods and says she just has to tell them where she is. Lenore stares at him a moment, then says that Eve’s in Grants Pass, OR, and now she knows they’re coming. But Lenore didn’t do this out of the goodness of her heart. She wants something. She wants them to kill her. Dean’s all, witness protection-protesting killing her outright, curiously, even though she is a monster. He’s so interesting. The things he’s able to feel something for aren’t always predictable. Lenore wasn’t that much different from Elias, but Dean had no trouble killing him (and yes, he needed the ashes, but part of it was just because the guy was a monster).
Lenore: I’m dangerous. I hear her voice all the time.
She advances directly to Sam, imploring him with her eyes.
Lenore: I’m exactly like the others. I fed. Girl couldn’t have been more than 16, Sam. I’ll do it again. You have to. Please.
Sam is almost backing away in protest when Cas touches her, burning her out and leaving her body intact, falling to the ground, her face gone and her eye sockets hollow. The boys gape at Cas.
Cas: We needed to move this along.
Okay then! So much for saying goodbye.
Cas zaps them to Grants Pass, OR, and I have to say that while I really like the dynamic that Cas’ character brings to the mix, there are things about having an Angel around that (while convenient for the boys) I regret. Like no Impala road trip. Or healing with a touch.
They look around. Grants Pass looks a bit like…downtown Lawrence, to be honest.
Dean: I was expecting more Zombieland, less Pleasantville.
Hee. Zombieland. Great flick.
Bobby: Just because it looks quiet don’t mean it is.
True. I’m thinking that goes for a lot of stuff this season. Things aren’t what they seem.
Dean says that if it’s not really this quiet, he’s glad they have “Smitey McSmiterson” on their team. Bobby says he wants a computer. So, they head to Ervin’s Diner. They’re eating breakfast-all except Cas who is just sitting there-and Bobby is messing with what looks like an iPad. Man, Sammy gets all the cool toys! It takes Bobby a bit longer to get into the police database on that, though, because it doesn’t have buttons.
While he’s looking, Dean and Sam are eating and there’s just…something easy about them. Story-wise, so much has happened this season between them since that wonderful, horrible moment where Sam came back to himself while Lucifer is busy beating Dean to death and Dean gasps out, “I’m here, Sammy. I’m here.” Too much, I think, for it to be water under the bridge as Dean claimed in his ‘blanket apology.’
And I still want that revisited somehow. But in the meantime, it was nice to see them this episode just…being brothers again. Remembering where they came from at different points. Remembering that it wasn’t always about Angels and Heavenly wars and destinies as vessels and the Apocalypse. Not long ago, really, it was about two brothers who became orphans and had only each other and knew that keenly. Starting at the scene in the diner, we saw several shared glances of memory and understanding. I liked it. I missed it.
Anyway, Bobby is coming up with nothing weird going on in the town. Cas says he’ll take a look around town. But then…he just sits there.
Dean: Cas. We can still see you.
Cas: Yeah, I’m still here.
Aside-Cas has started talking more and more like the brothers, have you noticed?
Dean: Well, don’t wait on our account.
Cas scrunches up his eyes, trying harder.
Dean: Now it just looks like you’re pooping.
Great. Now I’ve got the image of Cas pooping in my head. *Erase! Erase!*
Cas: Something’s wrong.
Dean: You stuck?
Cas: I’m blocked.
The boys exchange an uh-oh glance.
Cas: I’m…powerless. It’s Eve.
Dean: Mom’s making you limp?
Cas (giving Dean an exasperated look): Figuratively, yes.
Dean: How?
Cas: I don’t know.
Dean (frowning with concern and masking it as he always does when it comes to Cas-with ill-placed verbal barbs): Without your power you’re basically just a baby in a trench coat.
Meaning, we can’t protect you and you don’t know enough to protect yourself.
Cas gives him a shut up look, then stares out through the window, pouting.
Sam (whispers to Dean): You hurt his feelings.
Throughout all of this, Bobby’s been playing with the iPad and says he’s found something. A Dr. Silver (Dr. J. Silver…oh, Show….) called the CDC last night on an illness he couldn’t ID. Patient was Ed Bright-the African American guy from the bar.
Dean and Cas go to Dr. Silver’s to investigate and run into his nurse (or admin or something) exiting the clinic. They ask where the doc is and Dean says his friend is really sick.
Cas: I have a…painful, burning sensation.
Dean gives him a seriously? that’s what you’re going with? look. The nurse/admin says that Dr. Silver is out-never showed up that day-and then suggests that Cas get some ointment. As she leaves, Dean wonders aloud who calls the CDC, then goes AWOL. Cas looks at him curiously as if trying to think of an answer and Dean moves around back to poke around. He stars to pick the lock and Cas asks, impatiently, if this is going to take a long time. Hard to slow down when you are used to instant gratification. *pets Cas* Dean shoots him an irritated glance and as he does so, notices a spot of blood on the ground. He follows it to more blood smeared on the lock of a storage-like fence enclosure. He kicks it open and they find Ed Bright, wrapped in plastic, his face kinda…gooey and partly pulled away. Gack.
Stumped, Dean asks another rhetorical question to which Cas replies, “I don’t understand what’s happening here.” Stepping away, Dean says that he does know one thing-they need kerosene for the body.
Meanwhile, Bobby and Sam are leaving after investigating Dr. Silver’s house with no luck. As they’re leaving (carrying a picture of Dr. Silver, wife, and two boys) they’re stopped by the Sheriff. Bobby plays an FBI Jedi-mind trick on him and tells him to go back to the station and put out an APB on Silver and they’ll meet him there. The Sheriff buys it, leaves, and Sam’s all not bad, old man.
They all four converge on Ed Bright’s house-each in stolen cars since the Angel Transport is down. Sam and Bobby are in what looks like a Nova while Dean and Cas are in…a Lincoln? *shrug* They get out of the cars and Cas sees Ed in the window, pulling the curtains shut. Only…Ed’s dead, so….
Sam and Dean decide to go in.
Dean: Anything comes out, shoot. Best guess-silver bullets.
Cas: I’m fairly unpracticed with firearms.
Dean pauses, glances sideways at him, and says, “You know who whines? Babies.”
Knowing what we know now, I don’t feel sorry for Cas. But at the time I watched this, I did shake my head at Dean a bit. Then again, guys are tooootally different with their friends than girls are. My hubs and his friends give each other a hard time constantly. In this exact way. Sure, Dean doesn’t do that with Sam. Much. Anymore. But he used to. And…Sam’s his brother. It’s different.
Breaking in the door, Dean and some head in, guns drawn, to find Multiplicity of Horror. Four different Eds, apparently dead, and…gooey...are laying in the living room-on the floor, the couch, the chair.
Dean: Don’t. Touch. Anything.
Sam sees that one Ed is apparently still alive and goes to him, avoiding the cough and spit he’s doing. The guys obviously in pain, so Sam and Dean tell him what he needs to hear so that he can tell them what they need to hear. Reassuring him that the ambulance is on the way and he’s not going to die (lying liars who lie) they find out that he’s not Ed-he’s Marshall Todd, the friend who was with Ed at the bar. He tells the guys that they left the bar, met a girl, Ed started to feel sick, he took him to the doctor’s, and now they’re all sick. Or shifters.
Marshall dies and the boys head out, Dean making plans to bathe in Purell that night. Check for paper cuts first, dude. Just sayin’.
Bobby: Shifters run in families; this looks like an infection.
Cas: Why would she do this?
Bobby: Mommy monster. Making more.
Dean: No, Cas has a point. If she wanted a shifter army, why make one that’s sick, gooey, and dying?
Bobby: Add that to the pile of crap that don’t make sense.
Bobby, you’re preachin’ to the choir, my man. We’re right there with you.
They decide to go to the bar and end up breaking in there as well to see scores of bloody, ripped up bodies. Carnage. Extraordinaire.
Bobby: The sheriff was a mook but you’d think he’d notice this many missing folks….
Dean finds vamp teeth on one body and says they have a vamp (in which case, it wouldn’t be dead, since it had its head), then calls out, “Scratch that…it’s a wraith,” when he finds the…pokey thing coming out of its wrist.
Dean: She’s making hybrids now? What would she want with a…what do you call these?
Bobby: You discovered it. You get to name it.
Dean (after thinking a moment): Jefferson Starship…because they’re horrible and hard to kill.
Little-boy grin.
I love that even with his self-constructed walls, Dean allows himself to show a range of emotion-from jaw-clenching anger to one-lone-tear of sorrow to giddy glee. I love that we see it all. I don’t know that we’ve often seen Sam express unabashed joy like his brother does. He doesn’t grin at his own jokes or act like a kid at Christmas over any one thing…like Dean has done with the Impala, the old west, that sort of thing. It’s an interesting layer of difference with two men who have survived what they have.
Sam: But why are all the…
Dean: Jefferson Starships.
Sam (tolerant eye roll): …Starships…dead?
Bobby says that it looks like they all burned up-like with a high fever or the flu. Not exactly sure how he determined that by looking at them, but…he’s Bobby. We’ll give it to him. Just then the sheriff and two deputies break in and tell them to put their hands up. Cas protests that it’s not what it looks like. Bobby says they’re Feds. Dean, however, is crouched next to a body and slips around the edge of the bar, out of sight as Sam, Bobby, and Cas are cuffed and hauled away.
As they enter the police station, Sam’s asking for their phone call and happens to see them on the overhead security monitor: glowing eyes.
Sam: Jefferson Starships!
*laugh* I couldn’t help it. I laughed.
He head-butts his guy and they all fight with their hands cuffed behind their backs until Dean shows up and machetes the Starship about to eat Cas, then Cas saves Bobby while Dean pulls the 3rd guy off of Sam, who stops him from killing the Starship so they can question him. Always thinking, our Sam. They put the bad guy in the interrogation room, tied up with a silver chain, and Bobby begins to question him about Eve, threatening him with a silver knife.
They hear a banging noise.
Dean: More Starships.
He and Sam go and investigate and find two kids, bound and gagged, in a jail cell. Sam recognizes them as Dr. Silver’s sons. Dean goes for the keys and Sam does the, “You’re going to be okay. I’m Sam, this is my brother Dean,” intro to reassure them. They remove the gags and the older boy introduces himself as Joe and nods to his little brother, Ryan, who hasn’t talked since “they” came to take them away. Dean says they have to make sure they boys are human.
Bobby and Cas are still questioning the bad guy when Dean and Sam bring two hungry, human boys out from the jail. They get the kids something to eat and ask them about Eve. They say they didn’t know anything about her, but that the cops told them they were going to be food and insinuate that his parents were first in the food chain. Joe says they have an uncle about 15 miles outside of town, and Dean and Sam say they’ll take them. Cas, hearing this, pulls Dean aside.
Cas: Millions of lives are at stake. We need to find Eve. There’s a greater purpose here. Stay focused.
His voice is so…human and earnest here.
Dean: I’m getting a little sick and tired of the greater purposes. I’d like to save a couple of kids if you don’t mind. We’ll catch up.
The “brothers theme” is playing in the background-the one that always melts my heart and usually plays during a significant Dean moment. And I know that what happens later kinda negates the emotional impact of what Dean said, but as he was defending their right to save just these two, I started thinking about the whole ‘greater good’ concept. Because when it stops being about saving just one and starts becoming sacrifice this one for the sake of those ten, the purpose is skewed.
Yes, there are worthwhile, noble, necessary sacrifices where one is given for the sake of the masses. In the Supernatural universe, Sam is a perfect example, with his fall into the pit at the end of Season 5. And there’s a pretty big example in the real world, too. *smiles* But in war, the moment that becomes the norm is when direction is lost and meaning is turned on its ear. If they start to say it’s okay to allow two kids to die just for the chance to kill a monster, they might not recognize the monster when they see it.
I think the reason why Dean hasn’t fallen into the “for the greater good” gravitational pull like Sam did and Cas is now, is because his greater good has always been so much smaller. He’s concerned about the world, but his focus is narrower. It’s one person, really.
Cas watches them walk out of the police station with a sad, almost regret-filled expression. In the (stolen) car, the kids are in the back seat. Joe tells his little brother to get some rest and pulls him close so that Ryan can rest his head on Joe’s shoulder. Our boys exchange a look and Dean’s mouth pulls up into a soft grin while Sam glances out of the window with a small smile of memory. It’s a really nice moment that I wish they would have been able to keep.
Back at the police station, Cas is staring out of the window, his expression frustrated and…a little lost.
Bobby: They won’t take long.
Cas: You don’t know that. They might find more wayward orphans along the way.
His voice cracks on the end of the last word.
Bobby: Don’t get cute.
Cas turns to face him.
Cas: Right. Pardon me for highlighting their crippling and dangerous empathetic response with “sarcasm.”
He totally busts out the quotey fingers. And I kinda hate that they made him right. I get why and all, but…I just wanted Sam and Dean to have this moment of solace that they’d done right. That this time, not killing the virgin (so to speak) was the right decision. I understand that war is Hell and hard decisions have to be made and as soldiers they can’t always make those decisions with their heart, but they’ve been fighting for so long and they so rarely get to win one…and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Cas: It was a bad idea letting them go.
Bobby: You don’t let Sam and Dean Winchester do squat. They do what they gotta. You know that.
That’s the truth, brother.
Bobby: We want Eve? We need coordinates. So, we can stand here bellyaching, or we can poke that pig until he squeals.
Heh.
Elsewhere, Dean and Sam watch the uncle hug Ryan and Joe, exchanging a heartfelt glance before they head back.
Bobby is questioning the Starship who is still resisting and finally Cas asks for five minutes alone with him. Bobby’s like, but…your batteries are dead. Cas repeats that he needs five minutes, so Bobby has himself a coffee break. He hears the bad guy scream and shortly thereafter, Cas comes out, wiping blood (a lot of it) off his hand and tells Bobby the address to where Eve is, suggesting he call Sam and Dean.
As they’re gearing up to head out, you can see that the bad guy cop’s head is missing. Cas-minus angel powers-ripped the dude’s head clean off. YIPE! You do not want to mess with this guy. *gulp*
Dean passes around the Magic Shotgun Shells of Ash-keeping two for himself-and tells everyone to load them up and make them count. So, I guess they gave Cas a gun? They head to the address and realize that it’s Erwin’s Diner-same place they had breakfast that morning. Eve probably waited on them.
Sam: Why’d she let us in…or out?
Bobby: We just go in? We won’t know who’s human or who’s her!
Dean (looked stone-faced and determined): One way to draw her out. Me and Sam will go in.
Bobby: Dean!
Dean: We don’t get a shot off, you two better.
Sam is saying nothing, his silence voicing his agreement.
Bobby: That’s the plan?
Dean: Yeah. Pretty much.
The boys head in and Bobby and Cas glance at each other.
Bobby: Well, at least it ain’t complicated.
It struck me how often these four have been in a do-or-die, scare-the-pee-out-of-yourself situation. This moment wasn’t unlike Swan Song just before Sam drank 40 bagillion gallons of demon blood. These four are a good team, really. And my heart is already aching for what the previews showed us about next week, and what we found out this week about Cas. He’s not only going to crumble the foursome, he’s going to destroy his friend, shatter trust, and I don’t know what it’s going to do to him, personally. *rubs heart*
The boys sit down at the counter. Sam pulls out his video phone and subtly scans the room, whispering, “Crap. Crap. Crap.”
Dean: Starships?
Sam: Yep.
Dean: Is there anyone in this diner who is not a flesh eating monster?
Sam: Me and you.
Dean: Okay, well, let’s get out of here.
Sam: Shall we?
A waitress puts two plates full of fried stuff in front of them and Sam tries to wave it off until she calls him by name. They actually look at her for the first time and just…stop and stare for a moment.
Sam: Eve.
Eve: Pleasure.
Dean: Why don’t we step outside to chat?
Eve: Why? This is private.
A few Starships get up to close all of the blinds. Outside, Bobby and Cas are all uh-oh. Inside, one of the Starships takes the bag of guns and Eve checks it.
Eve: Phoenix ash. I’m impressed. Bet you had to go a long way for that.
Dean: You have no idea.
She tells her minion to destroy the weapon, then smiles that cool, creepy smile at the boys who look tense enough they could spit diamonds. She tells them she’s not here to fight.
Dean: No, just to rally every freak on the planet. Bring on Kahn worms and half-assed spidermen and dragons. Really, sister? Dragons?
Eve: So I dusted off some of the old classics. I needed help.
Sam: With what? Tearing apart the planet?
She leans across the counter toward Sam and Dean’s shoulders straighten in instinctive protection.
Eve: I never wanted that. Not at first. I liked the natural order. My children kill some of you; you kill some of them.
Dean: What changed?
Eve: My children started getting kidnapped and tortured. Even my first born. A mother defends her children.
And you know? The way she said it? I believed her. I never thought I’d be capable of killing. I can barely slap someone. I am the ultimate non-confrontational person. But the minute Mo Chuisle was born, that changed. Now I can tell you without a doubt that if my baby girl was in danger or was hurt, I’d literally do whatever I had to to save her-including killing, if necessary. And I get a bit Mama Tiger around her even with other kids sometimes who aren’t being very nice. I know, I know. I’m harmless in that particular situation, though. I just…stare and snarl a bit.
Dean: You’re going for mother of the year defense? You?
Eve: It happens to be true. Maybe you’d believe me if I looked a little more like this.
Annnddd…she morphs into Mary.
Dean: You bitch.
Loved his you don’t touch her tone.
Eve: She died to protect you.
Okay, so I have to say, it was good to see Samantha Smith. I think she’s a beautiful woman and I found I liked listening to her version of Eve more than the dead-eyed, creepy-calm smile of the young brunette. She was engaging and believable. But…I don’t know that I get why they thought having Eve morph into Mary was necessary. I mean, I can see where it set them off-balance a bit at first, the shock of seeing that face again.
But after Zach played the evil!Mary card in his warped Heaven, I think the whole demons/angels using Mary as a way to get to the boys-I mean, unless they were really and truly using her soul like Crowley apparently promised Gramps-would be kind of a wasted effect. And, other than having fun watching Samantha Smith, it really seemed to be. Shock and denial washed over Sam’s face for a moment before he looked away. Dean looked pale and surprised as he barely resisted saying her name, but he still resisted, sassed, and fought back.
Okay, that’s my two cents. Moving on.
Dean (looking down-away from the image of Mary): This conversation is over. If you’re gonna kill us, kill us.
Eve: You? It’s Crowley I want dead.
Me: *blink* *blink* Did she just say Crowley?
Dean: You’re too late, there. That little Limey mook roasted months ago.
Eve: Crowley’s alive.
Sam: That’s impossible.
Eve (coming around the corner to lean on the counter next to Sam): I see his face through every child he strings up and skins.
Me: OMG I knew it!! And OMG Cas is in league with Crowley!! And OMG poor boys!!!
(That was actually said out loud.)
Dean’s jaw clenches.
Eve: Why is he hurting my babies?
Dean: He…wants Purgatory.
Eve: Is that what he told you? It’s about the souls.
Sam (flinching a bit and speaking in a strained whisper): What about them?
And this next little bit of exposition is masterfully animated on Mary’s face. She tells them that each soul is a “beautiful little nuclear reactor” and that Crowley wants to siphon her supply and torture her children to do it, so she’s done playing nice. She plans on turning every human soul into a monster and therefore they will belong to her.
Eve: Let’s see how hot his Hell burns when everyone comes to me. He asked for it.
Aside-Lucifer said that Hell was cold. But Crowley’s Hell is burning hot? Maybe they are really going Dante on us. Hmmm.
Dean: Last I checked there were a few billion of us. That plan might take awhile.
And this is where she crushes me just a bit. She says that she’s built the ‘perfect beast’ and that all those dead Starships were basically results of her beta testing. But, she finally got it right-and she had to make sure it would slip by hunters.
It’s the little boy, Ryan.
There’s a quick flash to the uncle coming into a dark living room to find Joe dead, covered in blood, on the ground, then turning to see Ryan with a blood-covered mouth behind him. Before he can do more than say Ryan’s name, Ryan charges, and then Joe is up like a shot and BAM! They eat their uncle.
Our boys are looking shell-shocked, their faces twin expressions of FML. I was right there with them. Because not only once again was their empathy and need to save people proven the wrong choice in the wake of war-just like with Jus In Bello-but the similarities they saw and felt between the two boys went one level deeper with the little brother turning into the monster. *sigh* I totally get the horror factor-and it was horrible-but it all ended there, in that episode. And it just so, so made me feel for our boys. *rubs heart*
Eve (to Sam): You look upset. If it makes you feel any better, Ryan was bound to work on you. Little wayward orphan like yourself.
She pets Sam who jerks away. Dean dead-eye snarls at her.
Eve: So, let’s talk. I have an offer. You find Crowley. Bring him to me. I let you live.
Dean: Pass.
Sam: Dean!
Dean: The answer is no.
Eve: You say that like you have another option.
Her Starship minions bring in Bobby and Cas. Bobby gapes at the image of Mary. Eve walks up to Cas and tells him she’s older than him and knows what makes angels tick-as long as she’s around, he’s unplugged. She turns back to the boys and tries to weedle a ‘yes’ out of them.
Dean: For the last few months we’ve been working for an evil dick. We’re not about to sign up for an evil bitch.
Bobby and Cas exchange WTH looks. Sam stares down in to his lap.
Dean: We don’t work for demons. We don’t work for monsters. And if that means you gotta kill us, then kill us.
I loved him standing firm on this. He had to give in before because Sam’s soul was on the line, but this? Nope. He’s not doing it. *loves*
Eve: Or…I turn you and you do what I want anyway.
Dean: Beat me with a wire hanger. Answer’s still no.
With that, Mommy Dearest is around the counter and at Dean’s back-practically pouncing on him-in an instant, a flash. Two Starships grab Sam and haul him up and away while Eve’s grip holds Dean still.
Eve: Don’t. Test. Me.
Dean (breathing hard, face tense): Bite me.
And she does. Right where the neck slopes to the shoulder. Dean cries out in pain. Sam yells ‘NO!’ and struggles to get free. Cas yells Dean’s name. Bobby lunges forward.
Then suddenly, Eve pulls away, blood running down her chin, coughing, her insides going all glowy, her face distorting. His hand gripping his bleeding neck, Dean turns and pulls out an empty shotgun shell.
Dean: Phoenix ash. One shell, one ounce of whiskey. Little musky on the after burn. Call ya later, Mom!
YES! That was awesome. I loved that they showcased Dean’s hunter savvy, his willingness to risk himself for his family, his having the stones to take such a risk, and his fortitude to resist yet one more deal. And I also kinda loved that he did it without telling anyone.
As Eve bends in pain, the Mary image is erased and she begins to…melt. Gray gunk flows from her scalp, eyes, mouth. She locks eyes with Dean and almost looks as if she’s pleading with him. Dean stares at her until she falls to the ground, the light inside her going out. In that instant, the Starship minions go nuts and start to attack just as Cas gets his mojo back.
Cas: Shut your eyes!
He raises his hands and zaps a brilliant light throughout the diner, setting off a car alarm with the force of the power. In the aftermath, Dean is sagging, kinda gray-faced, on the diner stool. Bobby and Cas are looking around at the dead monster bodies, and Sam is watching Dean.
Bobby (to Cas): We oughta take you on more monster hunts.
Sam: Hey, Cas, um, Dean’s bleeding pretty good.
Dean (hunched over, handkerchief to his neck, his voice shaking): I think she turned me into a Jefferson Starship. Could you clean that up, too?
Cas touches his shoulder and bam. All healed. Y’know, I knew they wouldn’t say anything because of the agreed-upon effort to not bring up anything that might jostle Sam’s wall, but all of this turning humans into monsters-and especially Dean getting bit-had to trigger a few reminders of the Vampire Incident. At least for Dean, I’d think.
Dean: We’re gonna go. Now.
Cas: Where?
Dean: The kid. The little kid is one of them.
Cas (with human-like exasperation): Unbelievable.
Dean: I know. You told me. Let’s just go.
He sets down the empty shotgun shell and Cas zaps them to the uncle’s house. I had a brief holy cow that’s a nightmare of a mess for someone to find in that diner thought, but I guess that’s a moot point now, huh?
They find the dead uncle and Dean is frustrated, understandably.
Dean: We killed the wicked witch and she still wins. They could’ve turned half the town by now. (to Cas) Don’t. Say it.
Sam and Bobby are looking around and Bobby opens the door to the basement where he finds the bodies of the two kid monsters. Dean wants to know who ganked them. Sam finds sulfur and says that it was demons. He looks up at his brother and asks him what he thinks.
Dean: I think demons don’t give a crap about monsters ‘tweens unless they’re told to.
Sam: You think she was telling the truth?
Cas: Truth about what?
Dean: She said Crowley’s still kicking.
Bobby is watching Cas, who looks convincingly baffled.
Cas: But, I burned his bones…. Was she certain?
He’s is SO believable here, in fact, I doubted my loudly declared assumption of several minutes prior. No eye-averting, no clipped speech. Just baffled.
Dean: According to her, he’s still water-boarding her kids.
Cas swooshes away to investigate before anyone can say anything. Bobby and Sam exchange a knowing glance and move away from the bodies. Dean sees this glance and is all, what?
Bobby: How did Crowley get away? It’s not like Cas to make mistakes like that. Unless he meant to.
Sam nods slightly.
Dean: Bobby, this is Cas we’re talking about. (he looks at Sam) Do you believe this? (Sam is quiet) Sam?
Sam looks pained…and slightly guilty for doubting their friend and having to say so to Dean.
Sam: It’s probably nothing…it’s just…no, you’re right. It’s probably nothing.
See, I think he almost-but-not-quite remembers something. And I think in one of these last three episodes, the fit’s going to hit the shan and when the wall comes tumbling down, Sam isn’t the only one who is going to have to deal with the memories stored there.
Dean looks at his brother, then looks away his expression extremely uneasy.
Back at the Diner of Death, a record drops in the jukebox and (hilariously) Jefferson Starship’s, “Miracle” starts playing. Heh. Nicely done, Show. Cas is there, looking angry. He’s standing over Eve, peering down at her. And then, like a slow-reveal of a winning poker hand, we see Crowley standing behind him.
My second I knew it! moment.
Crowley: Really, Cas, this is getting ridiculous. How many times am I going to have to clean up your messes?
Cas turns slowly and stares at him with dangerous eyes. Annnnddd…credits.
Ack, how many other messes has Crowley had to clean up? What kind of messes? And what is this going to do to Dean when he finds out? He’s trusted Cas completely…even when he felt betrayed by his father-figure (when Bobby didn’t tell him about Sam being back) and when his brother was still “in a hole” he trusted Cas. How is he going to handle all of this? Agghh! So. Many. Questions!
Next week looks to be Cas-centric so MAYBE we’ll get some answers. But I have a really heavy feeling in my heart with it comes to my favorite Angel. And I worry that where’s he’s going, our boys can’t (or won’t) follow.
Just a note about the ramble for the last three episodes of this season (because YAY we have a 7th Season! Anything is possible now-no matter what happens on May 20th, it can all come full circle in the next 22 episodes.). I write these rambles immediately after viewing, as you know, but they take about 2.5 hours to do so. Next week, I have a commitment that will keep me from doing that, so I will be watching/writing/posting on Saturday morning. Then on May 20th, since we get two episodes, back-to-back, I will writing/posting on Saturday morning as well-otherwise, I’d get no sleep and then Mo Chuisle would have a very cranky Mommy. I hope you’ll stick with me.
Thank you for reading! Looking forward to your thoughts!
Slainte.