SPN Rewatch Season 5
Sep. 13th, 2022 12:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
borgmama1of5Rewatch of Supernatural 2022
Season 5
Season 5 was the first season I watched live, and it’s been a really long time since I’ve watched it. Rewatching it, particularly knowing what comes in later seasons, I have to say it was a very emotionally gripping season. There were only 2 episodes that I felt were duds.
Season 4 was about Sam taking the wrong path because of his pride. Season 5 was watching Dean lose his hope, his belief that what he did mattered. And when it ended I felt as bereft now as I had back in 2010.
Side note about the DVDs—until this season, each disk had an option to watch with or without the recap (THEN) and you had to set it to ‘on’ or the episode just begins with NOW. As of season 5 this was discontinued, every episode begins with the recap. Also there was only 1 commentary for the whole season.
To the episodes—
83. Sympathy for the Devil (5.01)—W: Kripke/D: Singer
Recap—summary of previous season to AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck.’ A touch of humor—on the phrase ‘you’ve been thunderstruck’ we see Sam being struck by lightning and blasted out of his shoes (Wishful Thinking)
White light is filling the chapel, Sam and Dean try to run, doors shut on them—
And they’re in the airplane
Driving a presumably stolen car to get back to Bobby’s
Sam tries to start an apology, Dean: ‘Don’t say anything’
Dean accuses angels of starting apocalypse—Zachariah: ‘Maybe we let it happen. We didn’t start anything’
Smart Dean had banishing sigil prepared—says learned it from Cas—must have memorized it from in the green room in the previous episode
Sam not having withdrawal—Dean: ‘Supernatural Methadone’
Sam tries to apologize again: ‘Because what can I even say? I'm sorry? I screwed up? Doesn't really do it justice, you know? Look, there's nothing I can do or say that will ever make this right’—Dean: ‘So why do you keep bringing it up?... We made a mess. We clean it up. That's it’
Dean is clearly pissed however
And here’s Nick who we’re going to be stuck with for 10 more years…
Nick’s wife: ‘You’re special…you’re chosen’
Becky the superfan! Her scene talking online with Carver Edlund—first ‘I know it’s not real,’ then ‘I knew it!’ when he says it is, is a replica of a scene in ‘Galaxy Quest,’ which I knew the first time I saw it
Becky knows the last name Winchester when she meets them—did Chuck tell her???
Becky when she sees Dean: ‘You’re…not what I pictured’ LOL
The angels lost the Michael sword on earth (this whole bit is weird since later on there are so many comments about Dean being the only possible vessel due to his bloodline…unless the angels really didn’t understand they were looking for a vessel, not a real weapon right up until the big reveal that Dean is the sword???)
Bobby collected the Impala from where it was left last episode
Sam tells Bobby he freed Lucifer and Bobby tells Sam to lose his number--ouch
Sam says he’s going to read lore books in church and leaves without any books
Bobby’s reference to John triggers Dean remembering the storage locker and Bobby hulks out
Meg 2.0 plants a long kiss on restrained Dean
Like John, Bobby pulls control away from the demon possessing him long enough to save Dean—I think this is very significant—something about caring about Dean enables people to break through demon possession—too bad Dean doesn’t give himself credit for that
Meg smokes out when Sam shows up—she must like this body, though, since she returns to it later in the season
To be fair they really torment Nick with the bloody visions of his family’s death
Mark Pellegrino looks so young
First time (of what will be many) we get the argument that if Lucifer takes over everyone dies, but if Michael and Lucifer battle, only half the people die—however the Winchesters want a solution without any mass casualties
Zach breaks Sam’s leg, offers to heal Bobby, gives Dean stomach cancer, removes Sam’s lungs as motivation for Dean
Cas shows up with angel blade and implies that God brought him back and put the boys on the airplane
Cas carves Enochian sigils on their ribs to hide them from angels
Lucifer when asking Nick for yes: ‘It’ll probably be unpleasant for you’
And the first time we hear Lucifer whining about how God treated him wrong simply because he loved God too much
Dean: ‘what I do have is a GED and a give-'em-hell attitude, and I'll figure it out’
Bobby makes up with Sam
Dean: I just said a bunch of crap for Bobby’s benefit…but let's at least be honest. I mean, we don't stand a snowball's chance’
After trying all episode to cope Dean tells Sam how he really feels: ‘I just can't keep pretending that everything's all right. Because it's not. And it's never going to be. You chose a demon over your own brother…I know how sorry you are. I do. But you were the one that I depended on the most. And you let me down in ways that I can't even...I'm having a hard time forgiving and forgetting here…I don't think that we can ever be what we were…I just don’t think I can trust you’
The visual after Dean says this emphasizes how apart they are
84. Good God, Y’All (5.02)—W: Gamble/D: Sgriccia
Another Road So Far: Foreigner’s ‘Long Long Way from Home’—final seal; Rufus; Ellen and Jo; Dean is Michael sword; ‘I can’t trust you’
Bobby is still wearing his cap in the hospital
Dean got his ribs x-ray’d, shows off the sigils
Cas has to call them on phone, he can’t find them either because of sigils
Cas cut off from heaven, can’t heal Bobby
Cas is going to look for God with the amulet—finding him is strategic, not theological
First time Cas says he did everything (rebel, killed 2 angels) for Dean
Bobby: ‘When you find God tell him to send legs’
Rufus has an enormous cellphone
Bridge out, boys have to hike into town
Ellen had to find out Dean was alive from Rufus and is pissed at Dean for that
Dean has concerns about Sam going out by demons
Demons don’t light up when Sam stabs them with Ruby’s knife
Sam fights temptation of (fake) demon blood
Dean tells military man he served ‘in Hell’
Sam: ‘I just wish I could save people like I used to’—Dean: ‘you mean when you were all hopped up on demon blood?’
Ellen asks if tension between boys is because of a girl
Jo and Rufus pour salt down Sam’s throat—awful! But I would expect much more choking after that
Everyone sees black eyes—hallucination
Smart Dean figures out it’s War from the omens
War taunts Sam about wanting to be strong again, having good intentions
Boys say ‘It’s War’ in sync
Dean: ‘pit stop at Mt. Doom?’
Sam: I don't trust me either…I tell myself it's for the right reasons, my intentions are good… But I think, underneath...I just miss the feeling…I know how messed up I am…The problem's me. How far I'll go. There's something in me that scares the hell out of me…maybe it’s best we just go our separate ways’—Dean: ‘I think you’re right’
Dean offers Sam the Impala but conveniently there is a man with a truck parked right next to the Impala who Sam just walks up to for a ride
This is the lowest point for the boys so far even after everything in season 4…
85. Free to Be You and Me (5.03)—W: Carver/D: Miller Tobin
Recap: Sam confessing he doesn’t trust himself; Jess; vessels; go separate ways
Sam sleeps shirtless
Wanted to be normal, now he’s a freak
Jess taunts him
1 week earlier—scenes intercut between Sam and Dean including some nice transitions: Sam opens trunk of car he got a ride in goes to Dean closing Impala trunk; Sam burns his IDs to Dean showing his; Dean bringing knife down on vamp to Sam slicing lemons; Dean soaping Impala’s trunk to Sam washing down the bar to the song ‘Simple Man’
Sam gets job in bar
Dean wearing suit on job
Dean is washing blood out of his jacket
Bobby told Cas where to find Dean
No angel will harm the Michael vessel
Sam is using name Keith
Lindsey really wants to unravel mystery of who Keith is, impressed he does NY Times crossword; Keith bullseyes darts
TV talking about all the natural disasters
‘You lie because that’s how you become president’ (and this is 10 years before Trump!)
Empty vessels are left in drooling condition
Dean is fixated on Cas getting laid—that whole bit is annoying and out of character; and if the writers had to have Dean get a girl for Cas why not pick up a girl at a bar??? And then Dean says it’s the hardest he’s laughed in a long time? I mentally excise that whole scene…
Lindsey to Sam: ‘No one has ever done anything so bad they can’t be forgiven’
Apparently Dean and Cas figured Raphael wouldn’t show at the hospital so they set another trap in the abandoned house? Stretching the smart Dean a bit?
Raphael says god is dead and that Lucifer must have raised Cas
Hunters threaten innocent (Lindsey) to get Sam to drink demon blood and go after demons—bad idea, guys
Dean: ‘Honestly I’m good. I can’t believe I’m saying that but I am’—Cas: ‘Even without your brother?’—Dean: ‘Especially without my brother…I spent so much time worrying about the son of a bitch…I've had more fun with you in the past twenty-four hours than I've had with Sam in years, and you're not that much fun…I've been so chained to my family, but now that I'm alone, hell, I'm happy’ (You keep telling yourself that, Dean)
Lucifer tells Sam he is Lucifer’s true vessel
Sam says he’ll kill himself before letting Lucifer in—Lucifer will bring him back
Lucifer: ‘My heart breaks for you. The weight on your shoulders, what you've done, what you still have to do. It is more than anyone could bear. If there was some other way...but there isn't. I will never lie to you. I will never trick you. But you will say yes to me’
Lucifer repeats what Ruby said last episode: ‘It always had to be you’
86. The End (5.04)—W: Edlund/D: Boyum
Recap: Croatoan virus; Colt; vessels; boys splitting up
Religious man on street asks Dean if he’s thought about God’s plan for him
Cas will ‘wait here then’ since Dean needs to sleep
Dean sleeps in his clothes
Sam calls about being Lucifer’s vessel, wants back in with Dean to hunt Lucifer down—Dean: ‘Oh we’re back to revenge then…cause that worked out so well last time’—Sam: ‘Not revenge, redemption’—Dean: ‘We're not stronger when we're together, Sam. I think we're weaker. Because whatever we have between us—love, family, whatever it is—they are always gonna use it against us. And you know that. Yeah, we're better off apart. We got a better chance of dodging Lucifer and Michael and this whole damn thing, if we just go our own ways’
Dean’s face when he says ‘Bye Sam’
Of course Dean goes to help the little girl…and gets slashed for it
When the soldiers start shooting the Croats through the fence how did Dean not get shot? He was right there in front of the Croats
Date August 1, 2014
President Palin bombed Houston
Dean knows that Bobby’s journal is in a secret spot in the fireplace
The busted Impala
Dean was 19 when he tried on Rhonda Hurley’s pink satin panties
Croatoan virus hit major cities in 2012
Angels are not responding
2014 Dean says there was a heavyweight showdown in Detroit and Sam didn’t make it
Dean is appalled 2014 Dean wasn’t with Sam and that they hadn’t talked in 5 years
Dean protests being handcuffed: ‘You don’t trust yourself?’ 2014 Dean: ‘Absolutely not’
Risa pissed that 2014 Dean spent night in Jane’s cabin
2014 Dean: ‘Tonight I’m going to kill the devil’
Finally 2014 Dean says that Sam said yes in Detroit and Dean has to say yes to Michael now to prevent the 2014 world—again the reference that half the planet left from a Michael/Lucifer showdown is better
2014 Dean: “Never actually thought I’d lose but I was wrong…I’m begging you say yes…But you won’t…because that’s just not us, is it’
Hoard toilet paper (after living through covid pandemic, Chuck was totally right!!!)
Dean: ‘I know your lying expressions. I've seen them in the mirror’
Dean appalled at 2014 Dean’s use of his friends as cannon fodder
Lucifer: ‘We will always end up here’
Dean’s ‘Nah’ face to Zachariah
Boys meet at the iconic bridge
Dean: ‘The point is...maybe we are each other's Achilles heel. Maybe they'll find a way to use us against each other, I don't know. I just know we're all we've got. More than that. We keep each other human’
This episode is one of my top 10.
87. Fallen Idol (5.05)—W: Siege/D: Conway
Recap: Sam demon blood; splitting up and reconnecting; vessels
Sam is all about the apocalypse, Dean about doing jobs
3 weeks back together, no leads on Colt
Dean knows all about Little Bastard car
Suits
Fake-out tense scene of Dean under the car
Dean hitting on bartender as a Hollywood talent agent
Sam speaks Spanish
Both boys are on laptops—Dean must have gotten one when they were split up
Gen Y reference
Dean talks to Bobby about apocalypse being Sam’s fault, Sam overhears
This sheriff is funny with his justifications of weirdness
Fake-out tense scene of Sam and Lincoln
Sam’s hero is Ghandi??? And Dean gets to mock both Sam and Ghandi…sigh
Sam upset with Dean bossing him around: ‘How long am I going to be on double-secret probation?’—Dean: ‘Till I say so’—Sam: ‘One of the reasons I went off with Ruby was to get away from you…it made me feel strong like I wasn’t your kid brother…you’re gonna have to let me grow up’
Skill leveling up—Sam does an autopsy???
Dean’s idol is John
Dean tries to treat Sam better: ‘I did break the first seal…who’d have thought killing Lilith would’ve been a bad thing?’
Dean offers Sam keys to drive
What happened to the innocent man the sheriff was positive killed the car’s owner? Nothing the boys did would have proved he was innocent by normal standards…
This episode just annoys me, it seems to exist purely for stunt casting
88. I believe the Children Are Our Future (5.06)—W: Dabb & Loflin/D: Beeson
Recap: Sam being guilty, need to be a team
Suits
Dean recalls babysitter Ms. Chancey who only cared about ‘Dynasty’ and bedtime
Boys have all kinds of safety equipment to test the joy buzzer on the ham
Smart Dean connects the cases
Obnoxious hairy palm joke
Dean tests the theoretically safe joy buzzer on Sam—Dean would never have done this! He might have tested it on himself discreetly first, but then he would have told Sam that later—really out-of-character moment!
So half-human/half-demon anti-christ can nuke angels
Sam: ‘We’re the good guys. We don’t just kill children’
Cas very set on the need to take Jesse out
Action figure Cas!
Sam wants Jesse to make the right choice because he didn’t
Why does Jesse’s bedroom door have a deadbolt lock on it?
So the 7ish-yr-old anti-christ takes himself off to Australia and is never heard from again…one of the biggest dropped characters in the show and the whole episode is dumb anyway
89. The Curious Case of Dean Winchester (5.07)—W: Gamble & Klein/D: Singer
No recap
Suits as CDC
Bobby gets to the poker witch before Dean can and loses 25 years
Gun doesn’t bother witch
Dean immediately cashes in half the chips he took to restore Bobby
They all ride around in Bobby’s van
Smart Dean finds the safe
Smart Sam is a safe cracker
The witch gives Sam the clap
Bobby: ‘I ain’t a hunter no more’
Sam appears to be playing on his own but really it was a plan with Dean and Bobby
Sam good at bluffing, not responding to witch’s taunts
Very dramatic visuals for end of poker game—who won?
Sam did it!
Scene of witch and his girl playing final poker game—not sure why we needed it
Dean to Bobby: ‘I can’t do this without you’
Final shot of Bobby looking unconvinced
90. Changing Channels—W: Carver/D: Beeson
Recap: Vessels, Trickster
Immediately starts with sitcom set-up—Dean with food, girl, son of a bitch
Sitcom title card and credits
2 days earlier—Dean watching Dr. Sexy—TV show based on the books mentioned in ‘The Monster at the End of This Book’
Suits
Dean knows all the different Hulk actors
Sam figures Trickster from the candy wrappers
Sam wants to recruit the Trickster for apocalypse: ‘We don’t have the luxury of a moral stand’ (Sam doesn’t feel the same about working with Crowley later, though)
When they go in Dr. Sexy show Dean figures out what’s happening
Nutcracker
Sam genital herpes ad
Sitcom resumes from the opening scene
Detectives in cop procedural—hilarious
Smart plan to have Sam sneak up on Trickster from behind
Fake out—Sam is now the car
Smart boys figure out he is angel—Gabriel reveal
Gabriel: ‘…It's about two brothers that loved each other and betrayed each other. You'd think you'd be able to relate’
Gabriel: ‘We knew it was all gonna end with you—always’
Cool visual from upside-down reflection in the water
Dean sets off the sprinkler to let Gabriel out
Speight gives a riveting performance!
One of my favorite episodes—clever and meaningful to the mythology
91. The Real Ghostbusters (5.09)—W: Kripke & Weiner/D: Conway
Recap: Sam being angry in ‘Asylum’; LARPing mention; Chuck; Becky
A bunch of Impalas
‘See what’ in sync
Panels—‘Frightened Little Boy: The Secret Life of Dean’ and ‘Homoerotic Subtext of Supernatural’—wow
Dean: ‘…the Dean and Sam story sucks. It is not fun. It is not entertaining. It is a river of crap that would send most people howling to the nut house. So you listen to me. Their pain is not for your amusement. I mean do you think they enjoy being treated like circus freaks?’—Demian: ‘Uh....I don't think they care, because they're fictional characters’
The LARPers volunteer to help fight the ghost because it’s what Sam and Dean would do
‘Supernatural makes digging graves look so easy’
Chuck has his heroic moment
LARPer Dean can’t get the lighter to light
LARPers save the day!
‘…to be Sam and Dean, to wake up every morning and save the world…to have a brother who would die for you…well who wouldn’t want that?’
Becky dumps Sam: ‘We had undeniable chemistry. But like a monkey on the sun it was too hot to live’—Sam, bless him, plays along
However Sam tells Chuck if he publishes more books: ‘We have guns and we will find you’
Becky tells them in Chapter 33 of ‘Time is on my Side’ Bela gave the Colt to the demon Crowley, not Lilith
Extra clips of Chuck on stage talking at end of episode
Another one of my favorite episodes because of the meta and I really loved that the LARPers saved the day
92. Abandon All Hope…(5.10)—W: Edlund/D: Sgriccia
Recap: Meg 2.0, Ellen & Jo, Colt
Jo is bait to get boys in to Crowley’s place but is not dragged in with the boys—she got away?
‘Hardy Boys’
Somehow they managed to get in and put a devil’s trap under his rug before they got caught?
Crowley is part of the minority demon faction that believes Lucifer will kill them when he’s done with humans
Sam shoot Crowley with Colt—but no bullets
Everyone gathers at Bobby’s
Dean: ‘Sam Winchester having trust issues with a demon. Well better late than never’—Sam: ‘…thank you again for your continued support’
Jo rejects Dean’s ‘last night on earth’ attempt
Carthage full of reapers but no people
Nick is wearing out
Salt keeps out hellhounds now???
Meg calls Lucifer her father—I thought Azazel was her dad
Smart Dean jury-rigs a shortwave radio to reach Bobby
Dean is losing it, Bobby keeps him on track
Bobby about Death: ‘…this is the angel of death. Big daddy reaper. They keep this guy chained in a box six hundred feet under. Last time they hauled him up, Noah was building a boat’—this line bothers me, I would think Death has been around a lot more genocides
Jo faces reality and comes up with the plan—when Ellen objects: ‘Mom. This might literally be your last chance to treat me like an adult. Might wanna take it?’
Ellen tells boys to ‘kick it in the ass’
Crying now…
Sam is the distraction while Dean sneaks up on Lucifer
We really think it worked!
5 things the Colt can’t kill (I don’t think we ever find out what the other 4 are)
Lucifer to Sam: ‘…it’ll happen soon…within six months…in Detroit’
Lucifer appeals to Sam with his whining about Michael mistreating him like Dean treated Sam…
Lucifer says Sam needs his anger
Meg calls Cas Clarence for the first time
Cas tells her about Crowley and his theory about Lucifer
Cas can’t gank Meg because he’s cut off from heaven’s juice
We don’t see Death, just hear Nick greet him
Jo and Ellen’s deaths are heartbreaking…
93. Sam, Interrupted (5.11)—W: Dabb & Loflin/D: Conway
Recap: previous episode, Dean’s ‘who does this? Crazy people!’
Doctor in psych hospital insists there are no such things as monsters
Doctor: ‘…referred to me by a Dr. Babar…isn’t there a children’s book about an elephant named Babar?’—Dean: ‘I don’t know, I don’t have any elephant books’
To get admitted Sam simply tells the truth: he started the apocalypse by accidentally freeing Lucifer, he has an angel friend who wears a trench coat—then Dean chimes in that it wasn’t Sam’s fault, it was Ruby’s, Sam was just high, so fix him because they need to get back to hunting monsters
Martin saved John several times and was a good hunter until Albuquerque
Dean’s doctor: “…you're my paranoid schizophrenic with narcissistic personality disorder and religious psychosis’—which is very interesting to revisit when we find out the doctor was all in Dean’s mind!
Dean says he sleeps 3-4 hours a night, has in the mid-50s drinks per week, and has never had a romantic relationship that lasted over 2 months
Sam sticking the swab in the victim’s neck—ew!
Skill leveling up—Sam can now do brain autopsy
‘Pudding’
Martin figures out it’s a wraith
Dean’s doctor: ‘…that's a crushing weight to have on your shoulders. To feel like six billion lives depend on you... how do you get up in the morning?’—Dean: ‘That’s a good question’
Martin stops Sam from killing the doctor
Dean says Sam is always a happy drunk—but he sure wasn’t in ‘Playthings’
Even under the wraith’s influence Dean figures out that him and Sam freaking out on the same day means they’re under the monster’s influence
Wraith goads Sam about all his anger
Dean saves the day even when drugged into crazy
Sam: ‘I am angry. I'm mad at everything. I used to be mad at you and Dad, then Lilith, now it's Lucifer, and I make excuses. I blame Ruby or the demon blood, but it's not their fault…It's me. It's inside me. I'm mad all the time and I don't know why.’ Dean: ‘You're gonna take all that crap and you're gonna bury it. You're gonna forget about it, because that's how we keep going!’—Real healthy, Dean…
94. Swap Meat (5.12)—W: Siege & Dessertine & Fedor/D: Singer
No recap
Oddly behaving Sam ordering a drink and goes to ‘have the sex’ with a blonde
36 hours earlier
Interviewing an old babysitter who was a maid at Mayflower on the interstate and John left the boys with her; one time he was gone for 2 weeks; she last saw them the summer before Sam started 6th grade when he assigned himself his own reading list. Sam says she was the best babysitter they ever had; she knows what John did
Health Quake Salad Shake
Dean asks Sam if he wants a family and kids—Sam says no, not anymore
Gary throws all the boys’ cellphones out—how do they get them back???
Sam finds Busty Asian Beauties magazine in Gary’s room
Gary knows all about the legend Sam had no luck researching the previous day
Willow moss grows over witches’ graves
When Dean gets suspicious Gary: ‘I can’t be in a good mood?’—Dean: ‘No’
And Gary takes Sam’s body for a spin with the dominatrix…
There is a bounty on Dean
Smart Dean set a trap for Gary with fake body in bed
If Gary says yes in Sam’s body it counts
Gary and Dean co-exorcise demon
‘If you were voting age we would kill you’
Sam tells Gary: “I wish I had your life’ then tells Dean he ‘totally lied’
Sam: ‘All that apple-pie, family crap? It's stressful. Trust me – we didn't miss a damn thing’—Dean: ‘Or we don’t know what we’re missing’—Bit of an odd reversal for Dean to say out loud—foreshadowing going to Lisa???
When the episode ended I was waiting for Sam to ask why it took Dean so long to figure it out and rescue him—and then I realized I was expecting it because Sandymg and I both wrote codas from opposite viewpoints about that question and my brain had assimilated them into the show as canon LOL
I like this episode but the visuals of who is Sam and who is Gary don’t feel consistent
95. The Song Remains the Same (5.13)—W: Gamble & Weiner/D: Boyum
Recap: Anna; Dean’s previous trip to the past
Dean is having his ‘cherry pie’ dream with strippers when Anna shows up—awkward…
Cas shows up to meet Anna instead of boys—discussion about her escape being allowed (I remember being confused by her character about-face originally, but everything really clicks once you know about Naomi’s reprogramming sessions)
Anna: ‘Sam Winchester has to die’
Cas: ‘Sam is my friend’
When Anna crash lands in 1978 she is splayed on a car with a bird painted on the hood and the wings are positioned perfectly under her
Cas doesn’t understand multiple pop culture references in this episode
Time travel weakens Cas because he’s cut off from heaven
John and Mary live in a different house
Mary’s glare when John invites Sam and Dean for supper
‘Mary’s dad was pretty much like a grandpa to us’
Mary knows how to fight!
John driving Impala—because at that time it’s his car
When Dean starts to explain angel sigil to John: ‘I don’t care what it means. Where does it go?’ and he slices his hand for blood without hesitating—Dean is unnerved to see the dad he knew under this early version (nice characterization there!)
When Sam says his dad raised him in the life young John gets pissed: ‘The number it must’ve done on your head…Your father was supposed to protect you’—Sam: “He was trying. He died trying…I used to hate the guy but now I get it. He was just doing the best he could…and I forgive him for what it did to us…and I love him’
Uriel in 1978 vessel shows up
Dean explains who they really are from 2010—says Mary made him tomato rice soup when he got sick like her mom did for her and that she sang ‘Hey Jude’ her favorite Beatles song as a lullaby
Mary is devastated she raised her kids to be hunters—Dean: ‘You didn’t do it. Because you’re dead’ and he warns her again to stay out of the nursery
Sam says Mary has to leave John so they are never born—Dean: ‘There's a big difference between dying and never being born. And trust me, we're okay with it, I promise you that’
Too late—Mary is already pregnant with Dean
Angels are able to smudge the sigils and vaporize the holy oil from outside (later-season angels apparently have lost that ability)
Anna skewers Sam with pipe
Michael vaporizes Anna
Michael explains Dean’s bloodline, stretching back to Cain and Abel, makes him Michael’s vessel
Michael: ‘I don’t want this any more than you would want to kill Sam…But I am going to kill him because it is right and I have to’—Dean: ‘…you’re just gonna do what God says?’—Michael: ‘Yes because I am a good son’
When Dean objects—Michael: What makes you think you get to choose?’—Dean: ‘Because I got to believe that I can choose what I do with my unimportant little life’—Michael: ‘Think of a million random acts of chance that let John and Mary be born, to meet, to fall in love, to have the two of you. Think of the million random choices that you make, and yet how each and every one of them brings you closer to your destiny. Do you know why that is? Because it's not random. It's not chance. It's a plan that is playing itself out perfectly. Free will's an illusion, Dean. That's why you're going to say yes…’
Michael sends boys back to future, Cas shows up later, very weak
Dean: ‘Well this is it…Team Free Will. One ex-blood junkie, one dropout with six bucks to his name, and Mr. Comatose over there. It's awesome’
Back in 1978 Mary shows John the angel statue she brought for the nursery and says to her baby ‘Angels are watching over you’
I think this is where Dean really starts on his downward spiral that it’s a hopeless fight
This episode packs a punch showing who John and Mary really were and how screwed they were
Now how the heck is Jensen’s prequel going to fit in what we’ve seen in canon???
96. My Bloody Valentine (5.14)—W: Edlund/D: Rohl
Recap: War, Sam being tempted by demon blood, Dean’s despair
Suits
Sam encourages Dean to go out for ‘unattached drifter Christmas’—Dean not in the mood
Weird slo-mo of man in suit
Skill leveling up: Sam is a medically savvy enough to recognize abnormal markings on a heart???
Cupids are angels
Now Dean’s not hungry—Sam knows something’s wrong
Cupid explains union of John and Mary was a top priority assignment
Sam resists pull of demon blood
Suitcase contains a soul
Cas is craving meat because his vessel wants it
Famine must devour the souls of his victims
Dean still has War’s ring in a pocket
Sam confesses his blood craving instead of hiding it and requests to be locked down
Famine is in a Biggerson’s restaurant
Famine gives sermon on failings of American consumerism…sigh
Famine: ‘That's one deep, dark nothing you got there, Dean. Can't fill it, can you? Not with food or drink. Not even with sex…you can smirk and joke and lie to your brother, lie to yourself, but not to me! I can see inside you, Dean. I can see how broken you are, how defeated. You can't win, and you know it. But you just keep fighting. Just keep going through the motions. You're not hungry, Dean, because inside, you're already dead’
Famine tells Sam he is special, he won’t die from drinking too much demon blood
Sam doesn’t drink any more blood—pulls the demons, then pulls them from Famine while Dean just stands with the knife unmoving—giving up because of seeing Sam demonized again or because of Famine’s words or both?
Sam in detox again
Who is Dean praying to???
97. Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (5.15)—W: Carver/D: Showalter
Recap: Horsemen lore, Bobby’s backstory memories, Dean’s despair
Wildebeest TV narrative mirrors the actions of the victim
Suits
Jody!!!
Sam whips out the card of his FBI supervisor—they must have a bunch printed up?
‘Bullcrap’ LOL
Bobby is the town drunk with disorderlies and mail fraud
Dean knows something is wrong with how Bobby is treating the case
Jody arrests the boys instead of being concerned about undead killer zombie
Bobby bails them out
Bobby admits he knows the dead have started rising and one of them is his dead wife Karen
15-20 people have come back
Iconic shot of Dean leaning on car watching Bobby’s house
Karen is really a decent person, clearly cares about Bobby very much
Dean: ‘What would you do if you were us?’—Bobby: ‘I’m begging you please leave her be’
Bobby threatens boys with a gun
Jody pulls herself together really fast, saving her town overtakes her personal grief: ‘How do we put them down?’
Bobby’s face when he has to kill Karen again—it hurts to see
Bobby and Dean are going to make a run for it when zombies attack—why did they go back inside instead of getting in the van???
Sam and Jody round up civilians to the police station but there aren’t very many people
Zombies are all coming after Dean and Bobby—Sam and Jody just show up—what made them decide to not stay at the station and what made them go to Bobby’s? We are missing a line that explains it, like ‘when the zombies didn’t come after us we thought we better check Bobby’s’
Sam asks Jody thoughtless question: ‘How are you holding up?’ and she doesn’t answer
Dean tries to help Bobby feel better: ‘At least you got to spend 5 days with her, right?’—Bobby: ‘Which makes things about a thousand times worse’
Bobby says the zombie attack was a message to him because ‘I’m one of the reasons you’re still saying no to Lucifer, Sam’
Sam asks Bobby same thoughtless question about being all right twice—Bobby doesn’t answer
Jim Beaver kills it in this episode
98. Dark Side of the Moon (5.16)—W: Dabb & Loflin/D: Wolnough
Recap: Scenes of all the times they’ve died; amulet backstory and Cas using it to search for God
When Dean reaches under his pillow for his gun the hunter has already pulled it out—Dean wouldn’t normally sleep through that happening!
Sam is already sitting up
Dean recognizes the hunters as Roy and Walt
Roy and Walt aren’t the only hunters after Sam
After Sam is shot—Dean: ‘Go ahead, Roy, do it. But I’m going to warn you, when I come back I’m going to be pissed. C’mon! Let’s get this show on the road’
Fireworks with young Sam—Dean figures out it’s July 1996
Tickled to find his old lighter
Dean talking to Cas on the radio: ‘I’m dead’—Cas: ‘Condolences’—Dean: ‘If I’m in heaven, where’s Sam?’
Sam’s Thanksgiving when he was 11
Sam: ‘How are we in heaven?’
Sam figures out they are reliving ‘greatest hits’ memories
Zachariah wants to return them to their bodies but Cas wants them to find Joshua who talks to God
Sam wants to hurry out of Dean’s memory with mom but Dean asks for a minute
John moved out for a few days because he and Mary were fighting—when Dean goes to comfort his mom like he did when he was 4, his voice is very young
Sam was in Flagstaff for 2 weeks with Bones
Dean recognizes the house as where they were the night Sam left for Stanford and is devastated that this is one of Sam’s happy memories—Sam: ‘I just don’t look at family the way you do’—Dean: ‘Yeah, but I’m your family…it’s supposed to be you and me against the world, right?’
Everyone has their own heaven with favorite memories
Ash: ‘You boys die more than anyone I’ve ever met’ LOL
Pamela thinks heaven is pretty cool and if Michael and Lucifer decimate the world that wouldn’t be so bad
because everyone would get to go to their own heaven—Dean: ‘Spending eternity trapped in your own little universe while the angels run the show, that’s lonely. You know. That’s not Nirvana. That’s the Matrix’
Most people can’t leave their own heaven—Soulmates share heavens however
Ash didn’t know Ellen and Jo were dead; hasn’t been able to find John or Mary
Corrupted Mary: ‘You were my burden…everybody leaves you…you ever ask yourself why? Maybe it’s not them, maybe it’s you’
Zachariah has been demoted because of Dean’s refusal to say yes and is taking it very personally: ‘Lucifer may be strong but I’m petty’
Zachariah dismisses Joshua because God’s not around—Joshua: ‘Sooner or later he’s going to come back home and you know how he is with that whole wrath thing’
God’s message to the boys: ‘Back off… God saved you already. He put you on that plane. He brought back Castiel. He granted you salvation in heaven and after everything you’ve done too. It’s more than he’s intervened in a long time. He’s finished…I know how important this was to you, Dean. I’m sorry…you’re losing faith in yourself, your brother, and now this’
God wants them to remember what happened in heaven this time
Cas returns the amulet as useless
Dean deliberately drops the amulet in the trash—that hurts!!!
Again watching this episode with what we know now but didn’t then—I can see the idea of Chuck manipulating the story just to see what the boys will do next. (I absolutely hated the retcon of Chuck’s/God’s character but since it’s there I will use it to help explain earlier seasons in hindsight)
99. 99 Problems (5.17)—W: Siege/D: Beeson
Recap: Lisa, Joshua’s words
Absolutely wild car chase into flaming roadblock—intense!
Strangers with holy water firehoses and Enochian exorcism to the rescue
Sam upset that angels have been turning civilians into hunters to do their dirty work, Dean okay with it: ‘We’re all gonna die, Sam’
Boys follow pastor’s lead in attacking demon house
Intense mass fight scene
Sam throws Ruby’s knife across the room and nails demon, Dean pulls it out and kills another one—nice
Dylan’s mom to Dean: ‘This is your fault’
Pastor’s honest sermon: ‘I don’t know why this is happening’
Leah says the angels have chosen them to have paradise on earth—but only if they follow orders
New orders: ‘No drinking, no gambling, no premarital sex. Dean, they basically just outlawed ninety percent of your personality’
Sam disturbed, tries to get Dean to care: ‘I got one thing, one thing, keeping me going. You think you’re the only one white-knuckling it here, Dean? I can’t count on anyone else. I can’t do this alone’
Dean doesn’t care until townsfolk kill the bartender because he doesn’t believe
Cas shows up drunk—Sam: ‘Are you okay?’—Cas: ‘Don’t ask stupid questions’
Dean to Cas: ‘I’m a big expert on deadbeat dads. So…Yeah, I get it. I know how you feel’
Names of the prophets are seared in Cas’ brain and Leah is not one of them—she is the whore of Babylon
Can only be killed by a true servant of heaven
Leah has set off a witch hunt by naming people as sinners—they will be burned alive, including children
Pastor injured, drops the deadly stake—Dean gets it and stabs Leah—so Dean is a ‘servant of heaven’ now??? I wish that would have been explained! (Sam is surprised too)
Sam: ‘Are you going to do something stupid? Like Michael stupid?—Dean: ‘Come on Sam, give me a break’—and then Dean takes off
Lisa is surprised and tries to talk Dean into staying
Dean: ‘I wanted you to know…that when I do picture myself happy…it’s with you. And the kid’ (Foreshadowing???)
Dean says he will make arrangements for her and Ben to be safe
Lisa: ‘Whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t do it’
And this final scene made me cry because I know how bad it’s going to get for Dean…
100. Point of No Return (5.18)—W: Carver/D: Sgriccia
Recap: Zachariah, Adam, Dean driving off
The bar scene between Zachariah and laid-off businessman is kind of funny…until it turns deadly
Dean packs his jacket, keys, and gun to send to Bobby
Sam found Dean because he knew what the stops would be on Dean’s farewell tour—a nice switch, it’s always been Dean finding Sam because he knows his brother so well
Dean: ‘All you’ve ever done is run away’—Sam: ‘And I was wrong every single time I did…you know I have to stop you’—Dean: ‘…you’re not all hopped up on demon blood this time’—Sam: ‘Yeah…but I brought help’
8 months have passed since start of apocalypse
Dean says Michael can save a boatload of people
Bobby: ‘You can’t give up, son’—Dean: ‘You’re not my father’—Ouch, Dean has really given up and just wants it over
Bobby: ‘That’s the round that I mean to put through my skull… Every morning, I look at it. I think, Maybe today’s the day I flip the lights out. But I don’t do it. I never do it. You know why? Because I promised you I wouldn’t give up!’
Cas fights with angels over Adam’s grave—nice fight moves, gets one angel to stab the other while he is in between them!
Adam: ‘We may be blood but we are not family’
Dean is on lockdown in the panic room
Dean: ‘I just don’t believe…in you. I don’t know whether it’s gonna be demon blood or some other demon chick or what, but…I do know they're gonna find a way to turn you…You’re angry, you’re self-righteous. Lucifer's gonna wear you to the prom, man. It's just a matter of time’
Smart Dean tricks Cas to escape
Cas is furious with Dean and beats the crap out of him: ‘I rebelled for this? So that you could surrender to them?...I gave everything for you and this is what you give to me’
Sam: ‘What the hell happened to him (Dean)?’—Cas: ‘Me’
Zachariah plays Adam like a violin…
Sam is going to bring Dean with to rescue Adam—Sam’s finest moment IMO, showing he really believes in his brother even when Dean doesn’t believe in himself—Dean: ‘Isn’t that a bad idea?... Because either it’s a trap to get me there to make me say yes, or it’s not a trap and I’m gonna say yes anyway. And I will. I’ll do it. Fair warning’—Sam: ‘No, you won’t. When push shoves, you’ll make the right call’—Dean: ‘You know, if tables were turned…I’d let you rot in here. Hell, I have let you rot in here’—Sam: ‘…I guess I’m not that smart’—Dean: ‘…Sam, why are you doing this?’—Sam: ‘Because you’re still my big brother’
Cas is going to take on 5 angels—Dean: ‘Isn’t that suicide?’—Cas: ‘Maybe it is. But then I won’t have to watch you fall. I’m sorry Dean, I don’t have the same faith in you that Sam does’
Cas carves banishing sigil into his chest (Why isn’t his shirt bloody then)
The entire scene in the green room with Zachariah goading Dean, torturing Sam and Adam, Dean says he’ll say yes, Sam can’t believe it, Dean looks like he’s given up—and then winks at Sam and stabs Zachariah—it was magnificent!
Sam: ‘I saw your eyes. You were totally rockin’ the “yes” back there. So, what changed your mind?—Dean: ‘Honestly? The damnedest thing. I mean, the world’s ending. The walls are coming down on us, and I look over to you and all I can think about is, this stupid son of a bitch brought me here. I just didn’t want to let you down…I don't know if it's being a big brother or what, but to me, you've always been this snot-nosed kid that I've had to keep on the straight and narrow. I think we both know that that's not you anymore. I mean, hell, if you're grown-up enough to find faith in me…the least I can do is return the favor. So screw destiny, right in the face. I say we take the fight to them, and do it our way’
And Dean is back in the game—sort of…
101. Hammer of the Gods (5.19)—W: Dabb & Loflin & Reed/D: Bota
Recap: Trickster/Gabriel; Dean killing Zachariah, getting back in the game
Sam is back to being fixated on finding the solution to the apocalypse, Dean is wanting a night off
Figure out there’s a case very quickly
Clever shots of pages of books to identify the various gods
Gods fed up with Judeo-Christian religions thinking they run everything and now they’re going to have an apocalypse
Gabriel finally taking a side although primarily motivated to save Kali
There is a commercial for the Ghostfacers web series in the middle…
We find out about archangel blades
Kali ‘kills’ Gabriel
Dean blusters his way through an arrogant exchange to give the gods Lucifer but the captive humans meant for dinner have to be let go—then he finds out Gabriel faked his death and the archangel blade is a fake and tells the gods the truth
Mercury invited Lucifer to crash
Lucifer considers the gods worse than humans
Gabriel calls Lucifer out: ‘Lucifer, you're my brother. And I love you. But you are a great big bag of dicks… Play the victim all you want. But you and me? We know the truth. Dad loved you best. More than Michael, more than me. Then he brought the new baby home and you couldn't handle it. So this is all just one big temper tantrum. Time to grow up…I’m loyal to them…to people Lucifer, people…because dad was right, they are better than us… Damn right they're flawed. But a lot of them try. To do better, to forgive…I'm not on your side, or Michael's. I'm on theirs.’
Gabriel almost manages to stab Lucifer but gets killed when Lucifer sees through his trickery.
(I felt bad watching that, even though I know he gets retconned back alive)
But there’s one more twist—Gabriel leaves them the Casa Erotica tape with instructions on how to put Lucifer back in the cage!
And we end up with a truly disgusting scene of Pestilence leaving his mucus everywhere
I remember not being impressed with this episode the first time around but found it decent this time
102. The Devil You Know (5.20)—W: Edlund/D: Singer
Recap: Jess dying, Croatoan, Gabriel’s reveal about the rings
Swine flu epidemic (how quaint!!!)
Suits as CDC, wear masks in the clinic (what a familiar look nowadays!)
Boys say ‘East’ in sync
Crowley knows about the rings—he put a tracking/listening device in the Impala!
Crowley never gets tired of hearing his own voice…
‘I’ve sold sin to saints for centuries’
Sam very against working with Crowley but Dean caves, including that Sam can’t come with
Sam who’s been drinking asks Bobby how he got free from the demon, posits the idea of saying ‘yes’ and then taking control in order to get Lucifer into the cage
Crowley kills the human guards to ‘speed up the process’—Dean is too numb to be appalled any more
Brady beats Dean brutally
Brady gloats that he hasn’t been Brady since Thanksgiving of sophomore year, mocks Sam for trying to ‘save’ him when Brady went off the rails
Sam: ‘…we trust him (Crowley) now? Like I trusted Ruby?’—Sam’s not wrong…
Sam locks Dean in the bathroom so he can go at Brady alone
Brady introduced Sam to Jess as a set up to jolt Sam because Sam was turning too soft and taunts him about burning Jess
Sam restrains himself from killing Brady
Brady believes Lucifer will reward him—but Crowley starts rumor that Brady has betrayed Lucifer and is working with Crowley
Hellhound battle
After Brady caves Dean lets Sam have him: ‘All those angels, all those demons, all those sons of bitches --They just don't get it, do they, Sammy?... You see, Brady...We're the ones you should be afraid of’
Brady: ‘…it wasn't all our fault, was it?...You're the one who trusted us. You're the one who let us into your life, let us whisper in your ear over and over and over again. Ever wonder why that is, Sammy? Ever wonder why we were so in your blind spot? Maybe it's because we got the same stuff in our veins and, deep down, you know you're just like us… maybe you hate us so much because you hate what you see every time you look in the mirror. You ever think of that… the only difference between you and a demon is your hell is right here’—Sam as he kills him: ‘Interesting theory’
Dean looks disturbed at how Sam acted as he killed Brady
And Crowley talks Bobby into a deal
103. 2 Minutes to Midnight (5.21)—W: Gamble/D: Sgriccia
Recap: Adam, Rings, Croatoan, Vaccine, Lucifer summoning Death, Bobby’s deal
Sam puts out his plan to say yes and jump into the cage, Dean is no way
Cas is now human and needs money to get back
Cas shows up in the nick of time and cuts off Pestilence’s ring but he gloats they are too late
Sam: ‘For the record...I agree with you. About me. You think I'm too weak to take on Lucifer. Well, so do I. Believe me, I know exactly how screwed up I am. You, Bobby, Cas...I'm the least of any of you… But...I'm also all we got. If there was another way...But I don't think there is. There's just me. So I don't know what else to do. Except just try to do what's got to be done’
Crowley figures out the vaccine is covering for the Croatoan virus
Bobby, Sam, and Cas go to blow up the virus warehouse
Crowley has given Bobby back his legs out of the goodness of his heart…but is keeping Bobby’s soul for ‘insurance’ against them killing him
Cas feels useless without his powers
Cas thinks Sam’s plan has a chance: ‘You and Dean have a habit of exceeding my expectations. He resisted Michael. Maybe you could resist Lucifer’
Sam would need to drink a lot of demon blood
Dean and Crowley head to Chicago to meet Death—Chicago is about to be wiped off the map (this concerned me very much at the time since I lived in Chicago!)
Death has a very cool and disturbing introduction
Crowley gives Dean Death’s scythe (he must have gotten it after the Samhain seal broken)
Death is as old as god, will reap him
Death is pissed about Lucifer binding him and offers Dean the ring on the condition he won’t stop Sam
Chicago can stay because Death likes the pizza (Whew!)
Lots of action at warehouse with Sam getting humans out and everyone fighting Croats and demons
Bobby: ‘I watched that kid pull one civilian out after another. Must have saved 10 people. Never stopped. Never slowed down. We're hard on him, Dean. We've always been…He's been running into burning buildings since he was, what, 12?...you know Sam will beat the devil...Or die trying. That's the best we could ask for. So I got to ask, Dean. What exactly are you afraid of? Losing? Or losing your brother?’
This episode should have been split into two, there is too much going on—going up against Pestilence and getting the ring, taking out the vaccine at the warehouse, and Dean meeting Death…Pestilence and the warehouse battle both felt very rushed, and we never saw the warehouse actually being blown up, a big disappointment after all the set-up…Dean and Death made the episode, though! (I might have written a story about an office worker who almost went to that pizzeria for lunch that day…)
104. Swan Song (5.22)—W: Kripke & Gerwirtz/D: Boyum
The Road so Far covers everything leading to Michael/Lucifer battle
Chuck’s narrative about Baby
The green cooler is out when boys have their last talk
Sam: ‘You're gonna let me say yes?’ —Dean: ‘No. That's the thing. It's not on me to let you do anything. You're a grown – well, overgrown – man. If this is what you want, I'll back your play’—Sam: ‘That's the last thing I thought you'd ever say’—Dean: ‘Might be. I'm not gonna lie to you, though. It goes against every fiber I got. I mean, truth is...You know, watching out for you...it's kinda been my job, you know? But more than that, it's...it's kinda who I am. You're not a kid anymore, Sam, and I can't keep treating you like one. Maybe I got to grow up a little, too. I don't know if we got a snowball's chance. But... But I do know that if anybody can do it... it's you’
Sob…
Sam: ‘You go find Lisa. You pray to god she's dumb enough to take you in, and you – you have barbecues and go to football games. You go live some normal, apple-pie life, Dean. Promise me’
What a dirty trick, Sam…I need more tissues…
Sam asking Dean not to watch him drink the demon blood…
When Lucifer toys with Dean making him think they’d won—Dean’s face…
When Lucifer is talking to Sam in the mirror, somehow they make Sam’s face look completely different! Lucifer has razor-sharp cheekbones while Sam’s face is softer…how did they do that?!
Sam’s prom date Rachel was a demon…
Chuck says they drove 1000 miles to see an Ozzie show and drove 2 days to a Jayhawks game…and they’d sit for hours silently looking at the stars…
Chuck says it didn’t work out between him and Becky
Chuck has seen that the showdown will be in Stull Cemetery
Dean: ‘I’m gonna go talk to Sam…if we’ve already lost I guess I got nothing t lose, right?’—Cas: ‘…the only thing that your gonna see out there is Michael killing your brother’—Dean: ‘Well then I ain’t gonna let him die alone’
So Dean repays Sam’s trust in him and my heart is dying…
Michael with his righteousness and Lucifer with his hurt feelings…get over yourselves, guys!
‘No one dicks with Michael except me’
That beating is appalling to watch…and Sam gets control…and jumps into the cage, killing me and Dean…
Dean’s despair…
New and improved Cas—God not done playing around with the Winchesters, is he
Dean: ‘…what about Sam? What about me, huh? Where's my grand prize? All I got is my brother in a hole!’—Cas: ‘You got what you asked for, Dean. No paradise. No hell. Just more of the same. I mean it, Dean. What would you rather have? Peace or freedom?’—Cas seems to have reset to being less caring?
Chuck: ‘Dean didn't want Cas to save him. Every part of him, every fiber he's got, wants to die, or find a way to bring Sam back. But he isn't gonna do either. Because he made a promise’
Chuck: ‘So, what's it all add up to? It's hard to say. But me, I'd say this was a test...for Sam and Dean. And I think they did all right. Up against good, evil, angels, devils, destiny, and God himself, they made their own choice. They chose family. And, well... isn't that kinda the whole point?’—This was a perfect ending line at the time…but knowing how Chuck continued to toy with them it really stung…
And Sam is under the streetlight…
I remember being (and still am, actually) really pissed about they lyrics in ‘Carry On, Wayward Son’ promising ‘…there’ll be peace when you are done…don’t you cry no more’ and then getting Dean with his brother in hell— how could show have implied a happy ending and then left Dean to try to live a happy life while knowing ever minute that Sam was getting tortured!!!
Season 5
Season 5 was the first season I watched live, and it’s been a really long time since I’ve watched it. Rewatching it, particularly knowing what comes in later seasons, I have to say it was a very emotionally gripping season. There were only 2 episodes that I felt were duds.
Season 4 was about Sam taking the wrong path because of his pride. Season 5 was watching Dean lose his hope, his belief that what he did mattered. And when it ended I felt as bereft now as I had back in 2010.
Side note about the DVDs—until this season, each disk had an option to watch with or without the recap (THEN) and you had to set it to ‘on’ or the episode just begins with NOW. As of season 5 this was discontinued, every episode begins with the recap. Also there was only 1 commentary for the whole season.
To the episodes—
83. Sympathy for the Devil (5.01)—W: Kripke/D: Singer
Recap—summary of previous season to AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck.’ A touch of humor—on the phrase ‘you’ve been thunderstruck’ we see Sam being struck by lightning and blasted out of his shoes (Wishful Thinking)
White light is filling the chapel, Sam and Dean try to run, doors shut on them—
And they’re in the airplane
Driving a presumably stolen car to get back to Bobby’s
Sam tries to start an apology, Dean: ‘Don’t say anything’
Dean accuses angels of starting apocalypse—Zachariah: ‘Maybe we let it happen. We didn’t start anything’
Smart Dean had banishing sigil prepared—says learned it from Cas—must have memorized it from in the green room in the previous episode
Sam not having withdrawal—Dean: ‘Supernatural Methadone’
Sam tries to apologize again: ‘Because what can I even say? I'm sorry? I screwed up? Doesn't really do it justice, you know? Look, there's nothing I can do or say that will ever make this right’—Dean: ‘So why do you keep bringing it up?... We made a mess. We clean it up. That's it’
Dean is clearly pissed however
And here’s Nick who we’re going to be stuck with for 10 more years…
Nick’s wife: ‘You’re special…you’re chosen’
Becky the superfan! Her scene talking online with Carver Edlund—first ‘I know it’s not real,’ then ‘I knew it!’ when he says it is, is a replica of a scene in ‘Galaxy Quest,’ which I knew the first time I saw it
Becky knows the last name Winchester when she meets them—did Chuck tell her???
Becky when she sees Dean: ‘You’re…not what I pictured’ LOL
The angels lost the Michael sword on earth (this whole bit is weird since later on there are so many comments about Dean being the only possible vessel due to his bloodline…unless the angels really didn’t understand they were looking for a vessel, not a real weapon right up until the big reveal that Dean is the sword???)
Bobby collected the Impala from where it was left last episode
Sam tells Bobby he freed Lucifer and Bobby tells Sam to lose his number--ouch
Sam says he’s going to read lore books in church and leaves without any books
Bobby’s reference to John triggers Dean remembering the storage locker and Bobby hulks out
Meg 2.0 plants a long kiss on restrained Dean
Like John, Bobby pulls control away from the demon possessing him long enough to save Dean—I think this is very significant—something about caring about Dean enables people to break through demon possession—too bad Dean doesn’t give himself credit for that
Meg smokes out when Sam shows up—she must like this body, though, since she returns to it later in the season
To be fair they really torment Nick with the bloody visions of his family’s death
Mark Pellegrino looks so young
First time (of what will be many) we get the argument that if Lucifer takes over everyone dies, but if Michael and Lucifer battle, only half the people die—however the Winchesters want a solution without any mass casualties
Zach breaks Sam’s leg, offers to heal Bobby, gives Dean stomach cancer, removes Sam’s lungs as motivation for Dean
Cas shows up with angel blade and implies that God brought him back and put the boys on the airplane
Cas carves Enochian sigils on their ribs to hide them from angels
Lucifer when asking Nick for yes: ‘It’ll probably be unpleasant for you’
And the first time we hear Lucifer whining about how God treated him wrong simply because he loved God too much
Dean: ‘what I do have is a GED and a give-'em-hell attitude, and I'll figure it out’
Bobby makes up with Sam
Dean: I just said a bunch of crap for Bobby’s benefit…but let's at least be honest. I mean, we don't stand a snowball's chance’
After trying all episode to cope Dean tells Sam how he really feels: ‘I just can't keep pretending that everything's all right. Because it's not. And it's never going to be. You chose a demon over your own brother…I know how sorry you are. I do. But you were the one that I depended on the most. And you let me down in ways that I can't even...I'm having a hard time forgiving and forgetting here…I don't think that we can ever be what we were…I just don’t think I can trust you’
The visual after Dean says this emphasizes how apart they are
84. Good God, Y’All (5.02)—W: Gamble/D: Sgriccia
Another Road So Far: Foreigner’s ‘Long Long Way from Home’—final seal; Rufus; Ellen and Jo; Dean is Michael sword; ‘I can’t trust you’
Bobby is still wearing his cap in the hospital
Dean got his ribs x-ray’d, shows off the sigils
Cas has to call them on phone, he can’t find them either because of sigils
Cas cut off from heaven, can’t heal Bobby
Cas is going to look for God with the amulet—finding him is strategic, not theological
First time Cas says he did everything (rebel, killed 2 angels) for Dean
Bobby: ‘When you find God tell him to send legs’
Rufus has an enormous cellphone
Bridge out, boys have to hike into town
Ellen had to find out Dean was alive from Rufus and is pissed at Dean for that
Dean has concerns about Sam going out by demons
Demons don’t light up when Sam stabs them with Ruby’s knife
Sam fights temptation of (fake) demon blood
Dean tells military man he served ‘in Hell’
Sam: ‘I just wish I could save people like I used to’—Dean: ‘you mean when you were all hopped up on demon blood?’
Ellen asks if tension between boys is because of a girl
Jo and Rufus pour salt down Sam’s throat—awful! But I would expect much more choking after that
Everyone sees black eyes—hallucination
Smart Dean figures out it’s War from the omens
War taunts Sam about wanting to be strong again, having good intentions
Boys say ‘It’s War’ in sync
Dean: ‘pit stop at Mt. Doom?’
Sam: I don't trust me either…I tell myself it's for the right reasons, my intentions are good… But I think, underneath...I just miss the feeling…I know how messed up I am…The problem's me. How far I'll go. There's something in me that scares the hell out of me…maybe it’s best we just go our separate ways’—Dean: ‘I think you’re right’
Dean offers Sam the Impala but conveniently there is a man with a truck parked right next to the Impala who Sam just walks up to for a ride
This is the lowest point for the boys so far even after everything in season 4…
85. Free to Be You and Me (5.03)—W: Carver/D: Miller Tobin
Recap: Sam confessing he doesn’t trust himself; Jess; vessels; go separate ways
Sam sleeps shirtless
Wanted to be normal, now he’s a freak
Jess taunts him
1 week earlier—scenes intercut between Sam and Dean including some nice transitions: Sam opens trunk of car he got a ride in goes to Dean closing Impala trunk; Sam burns his IDs to Dean showing his; Dean bringing knife down on vamp to Sam slicing lemons; Dean soaping Impala’s trunk to Sam washing down the bar to the song ‘Simple Man’
Sam gets job in bar
Dean wearing suit on job
Dean is washing blood out of his jacket
Bobby told Cas where to find Dean
No angel will harm the Michael vessel
Sam is using name Keith
Lindsey really wants to unravel mystery of who Keith is, impressed he does NY Times crossword; Keith bullseyes darts
TV talking about all the natural disasters
‘You lie because that’s how you become president’ (and this is 10 years before Trump!)
Empty vessels are left in drooling condition
Dean is fixated on Cas getting laid—that whole bit is annoying and out of character; and if the writers had to have Dean get a girl for Cas why not pick up a girl at a bar??? And then Dean says it’s the hardest he’s laughed in a long time? I mentally excise that whole scene…
Lindsey to Sam: ‘No one has ever done anything so bad they can’t be forgiven’
Apparently Dean and Cas figured Raphael wouldn’t show at the hospital so they set another trap in the abandoned house? Stretching the smart Dean a bit?
Raphael says god is dead and that Lucifer must have raised Cas
Hunters threaten innocent (Lindsey) to get Sam to drink demon blood and go after demons—bad idea, guys
Dean: ‘Honestly I’m good. I can’t believe I’m saying that but I am’—Cas: ‘Even without your brother?’—Dean: ‘Especially without my brother…I spent so much time worrying about the son of a bitch…I've had more fun with you in the past twenty-four hours than I've had with Sam in years, and you're not that much fun…I've been so chained to my family, but now that I'm alone, hell, I'm happy’ (You keep telling yourself that, Dean)
Lucifer tells Sam he is Lucifer’s true vessel
Sam says he’ll kill himself before letting Lucifer in—Lucifer will bring him back
Lucifer: ‘My heart breaks for you. The weight on your shoulders, what you've done, what you still have to do. It is more than anyone could bear. If there was some other way...but there isn't. I will never lie to you. I will never trick you. But you will say yes to me’
Lucifer repeats what Ruby said last episode: ‘It always had to be you’
86. The End (5.04)—W: Edlund/D: Boyum
Recap: Croatoan virus; Colt; vessels; boys splitting up
Religious man on street asks Dean if he’s thought about God’s plan for him
Cas will ‘wait here then’ since Dean needs to sleep
Dean sleeps in his clothes
Sam calls about being Lucifer’s vessel, wants back in with Dean to hunt Lucifer down—Dean: ‘Oh we’re back to revenge then…cause that worked out so well last time’—Sam: ‘Not revenge, redemption’—Dean: ‘We're not stronger when we're together, Sam. I think we're weaker. Because whatever we have between us—love, family, whatever it is—they are always gonna use it against us. And you know that. Yeah, we're better off apart. We got a better chance of dodging Lucifer and Michael and this whole damn thing, if we just go our own ways’
Dean’s face when he says ‘Bye Sam’
Of course Dean goes to help the little girl…and gets slashed for it
When the soldiers start shooting the Croats through the fence how did Dean not get shot? He was right there in front of the Croats
Date August 1, 2014
President Palin bombed Houston
Dean knows that Bobby’s journal is in a secret spot in the fireplace
The busted Impala
Dean was 19 when he tried on Rhonda Hurley’s pink satin panties
Croatoan virus hit major cities in 2012
Angels are not responding
2014 Dean says there was a heavyweight showdown in Detroit and Sam didn’t make it
Dean is appalled 2014 Dean wasn’t with Sam and that they hadn’t talked in 5 years
Dean protests being handcuffed: ‘You don’t trust yourself?’ 2014 Dean: ‘Absolutely not’
Risa pissed that 2014 Dean spent night in Jane’s cabin
2014 Dean: ‘Tonight I’m going to kill the devil’
Finally 2014 Dean says that Sam said yes in Detroit and Dean has to say yes to Michael now to prevent the 2014 world—again the reference that half the planet left from a Michael/Lucifer showdown is better
2014 Dean: “Never actually thought I’d lose but I was wrong…I’m begging you say yes…But you won’t…because that’s just not us, is it’
Hoard toilet paper (after living through covid pandemic, Chuck was totally right!!!)
Dean: ‘I know your lying expressions. I've seen them in the mirror’
Dean appalled at 2014 Dean’s use of his friends as cannon fodder
Lucifer: ‘We will always end up here’
Dean’s ‘Nah’ face to Zachariah
Boys meet at the iconic bridge
Dean: ‘The point is...maybe we are each other's Achilles heel. Maybe they'll find a way to use us against each other, I don't know. I just know we're all we've got. More than that. We keep each other human’
This episode is one of my top 10.
87. Fallen Idol (5.05)—W: Siege/D: Conway
Recap: Sam demon blood; splitting up and reconnecting; vessels
Sam is all about the apocalypse, Dean about doing jobs
3 weeks back together, no leads on Colt
Dean knows all about Little Bastard car
Suits
Fake-out tense scene of Dean under the car
Dean hitting on bartender as a Hollywood talent agent
Sam speaks Spanish
Both boys are on laptops—Dean must have gotten one when they were split up
Gen Y reference
Dean talks to Bobby about apocalypse being Sam’s fault, Sam overhears
This sheriff is funny with his justifications of weirdness
Fake-out tense scene of Sam and Lincoln
Sam’s hero is Ghandi??? And Dean gets to mock both Sam and Ghandi…sigh
Sam upset with Dean bossing him around: ‘How long am I going to be on double-secret probation?’—Dean: ‘Till I say so’—Sam: ‘One of the reasons I went off with Ruby was to get away from you…it made me feel strong like I wasn’t your kid brother…you’re gonna have to let me grow up’
Skill leveling up—Sam does an autopsy???
Dean’s idol is John
Dean tries to treat Sam better: ‘I did break the first seal…who’d have thought killing Lilith would’ve been a bad thing?’
Dean offers Sam keys to drive
What happened to the innocent man the sheriff was positive killed the car’s owner? Nothing the boys did would have proved he was innocent by normal standards…
This episode just annoys me, it seems to exist purely for stunt casting
88. I believe the Children Are Our Future (5.06)—W: Dabb & Loflin/D: Beeson
Recap: Sam being guilty, need to be a team
Suits
Dean recalls babysitter Ms. Chancey who only cared about ‘Dynasty’ and bedtime
Boys have all kinds of safety equipment to test the joy buzzer on the ham
Smart Dean connects the cases
Obnoxious hairy palm joke
Dean tests the theoretically safe joy buzzer on Sam—Dean would never have done this! He might have tested it on himself discreetly first, but then he would have told Sam that later—really out-of-character moment!
So half-human/half-demon anti-christ can nuke angels
Sam: ‘We’re the good guys. We don’t just kill children’
Cas very set on the need to take Jesse out
Action figure Cas!
Sam wants Jesse to make the right choice because he didn’t
Why does Jesse’s bedroom door have a deadbolt lock on it?
So the 7ish-yr-old anti-christ takes himself off to Australia and is never heard from again…one of the biggest dropped characters in the show and the whole episode is dumb anyway
89. The Curious Case of Dean Winchester (5.07)—W: Gamble & Klein/D: Singer
No recap
Suits as CDC
Bobby gets to the poker witch before Dean can and loses 25 years
Gun doesn’t bother witch
Dean immediately cashes in half the chips he took to restore Bobby
They all ride around in Bobby’s van
Smart Dean finds the safe
Smart Sam is a safe cracker
The witch gives Sam the clap
Bobby: ‘I ain’t a hunter no more’
Sam appears to be playing on his own but really it was a plan with Dean and Bobby
Sam good at bluffing, not responding to witch’s taunts
Very dramatic visuals for end of poker game—who won?
Sam did it!
Scene of witch and his girl playing final poker game—not sure why we needed it
Dean to Bobby: ‘I can’t do this without you’
Final shot of Bobby looking unconvinced
90. Changing Channels—W: Carver/D: Beeson
Recap: Vessels, Trickster
Immediately starts with sitcom set-up—Dean with food, girl, son of a bitch
Sitcom title card and credits
2 days earlier—Dean watching Dr. Sexy—TV show based on the books mentioned in ‘The Monster at the End of This Book’
Suits
Dean knows all the different Hulk actors
Sam figures Trickster from the candy wrappers
Sam wants to recruit the Trickster for apocalypse: ‘We don’t have the luxury of a moral stand’ (Sam doesn’t feel the same about working with Crowley later, though)
When they go in Dr. Sexy show Dean figures out what’s happening
Nutcracker
Sam genital herpes ad
Sitcom resumes from the opening scene
Detectives in cop procedural—hilarious
Smart plan to have Sam sneak up on Trickster from behind
Fake out—Sam is now the car
Smart boys figure out he is angel—Gabriel reveal
Gabriel: ‘…It's about two brothers that loved each other and betrayed each other. You'd think you'd be able to relate’
Gabriel: ‘We knew it was all gonna end with you—always’
Cool visual from upside-down reflection in the water
Dean sets off the sprinkler to let Gabriel out
Speight gives a riveting performance!
One of my favorite episodes—clever and meaningful to the mythology
91. The Real Ghostbusters (5.09)—W: Kripke & Weiner/D: Conway
Recap: Sam being angry in ‘Asylum’; LARPing mention; Chuck; Becky
A bunch of Impalas
‘See what’ in sync
Panels—‘Frightened Little Boy: The Secret Life of Dean’ and ‘Homoerotic Subtext of Supernatural’—wow
Dean: ‘…the Dean and Sam story sucks. It is not fun. It is not entertaining. It is a river of crap that would send most people howling to the nut house. So you listen to me. Their pain is not for your amusement. I mean do you think they enjoy being treated like circus freaks?’—Demian: ‘Uh....I don't think they care, because they're fictional characters’
The LARPers volunteer to help fight the ghost because it’s what Sam and Dean would do
‘Supernatural makes digging graves look so easy’
Chuck has his heroic moment
LARPer Dean can’t get the lighter to light
LARPers save the day!
‘…to be Sam and Dean, to wake up every morning and save the world…to have a brother who would die for you…well who wouldn’t want that?’
Becky dumps Sam: ‘We had undeniable chemistry. But like a monkey on the sun it was too hot to live’—Sam, bless him, plays along
However Sam tells Chuck if he publishes more books: ‘We have guns and we will find you’
Becky tells them in Chapter 33 of ‘Time is on my Side’ Bela gave the Colt to the demon Crowley, not Lilith
Extra clips of Chuck on stage talking at end of episode
Another one of my favorite episodes because of the meta and I really loved that the LARPers saved the day
92. Abandon All Hope…(5.10)—W: Edlund/D: Sgriccia
Recap: Meg 2.0, Ellen & Jo, Colt
Jo is bait to get boys in to Crowley’s place but is not dragged in with the boys—she got away?
‘Hardy Boys’
Somehow they managed to get in and put a devil’s trap under his rug before they got caught?
Crowley is part of the minority demon faction that believes Lucifer will kill them when he’s done with humans
Sam shoot Crowley with Colt—but no bullets
Everyone gathers at Bobby’s
Dean: ‘Sam Winchester having trust issues with a demon. Well better late than never’—Sam: ‘…thank you again for your continued support’
Jo rejects Dean’s ‘last night on earth’ attempt
Carthage full of reapers but no people
Nick is wearing out
Salt keeps out hellhounds now???
Meg calls Lucifer her father—I thought Azazel was her dad
Smart Dean jury-rigs a shortwave radio to reach Bobby
Dean is losing it, Bobby keeps him on track
Bobby about Death: ‘…this is the angel of death. Big daddy reaper. They keep this guy chained in a box six hundred feet under. Last time they hauled him up, Noah was building a boat’—this line bothers me, I would think Death has been around a lot more genocides
Jo faces reality and comes up with the plan—when Ellen objects: ‘Mom. This might literally be your last chance to treat me like an adult. Might wanna take it?’
Ellen tells boys to ‘kick it in the ass’
Crying now…
Sam is the distraction while Dean sneaks up on Lucifer
We really think it worked!
5 things the Colt can’t kill (I don’t think we ever find out what the other 4 are)
Lucifer to Sam: ‘…it’ll happen soon…within six months…in Detroit’
Lucifer appeals to Sam with his whining about Michael mistreating him like Dean treated Sam…
Lucifer says Sam needs his anger
Meg calls Cas Clarence for the first time
Cas tells her about Crowley and his theory about Lucifer
Cas can’t gank Meg because he’s cut off from heaven’s juice
We don’t see Death, just hear Nick greet him
Jo and Ellen’s deaths are heartbreaking…
93. Sam, Interrupted (5.11)—W: Dabb & Loflin/D: Conway
Recap: previous episode, Dean’s ‘who does this? Crazy people!’
Doctor in psych hospital insists there are no such things as monsters
Doctor: ‘…referred to me by a Dr. Babar…isn’t there a children’s book about an elephant named Babar?’—Dean: ‘I don’t know, I don’t have any elephant books’
To get admitted Sam simply tells the truth: he started the apocalypse by accidentally freeing Lucifer, he has an angel friend who wears a trench coat—then Dean chimes in that it wasn’t Sam’s fault, it was Ruby’s, Sam was just high, so fix him because they need to get back to hunting monsters
Martin saved John several times and was a good hunter until Albuquerque
Dean’s doctor: “…you're my paranoid schizophrenic with narcissistic personality disorder and religious psychosis’—which is very interesting to revisit when we find out the doctor was all in Dean’s mind!
Dean says he sleeps 3-4 hours a night, has in the mid-50s drinks per week, and has never had a romantic relationship that lasted over 2 months
Sam sticking the swab in the victim’s neck—ew!
Skill leveling up—Sam can now do brain autopsy
‘Pudding’
Martin figures out it’s a wraith
Dean’s doctor: ‘…that's a crushing weight to have on your shoulders. To feel like six billion lives depend on you... how do you get up in the morning?’—Dean: ‘That’s a good question’
Martin stops Sam from killing the doctor
Dean says Sam is always a happy drunk—but he sure wasn’t in ‘Playthings’
Even under the wraith’s influence Dean figures out that him and Sam freaking out on the same day means they’re under the monster’s influence
Wraith goads Sam about all his anger
Dean saves the day even when drugged into crazy
Sam: ‘I am angry. I'm mad at everything. I used to be mad at you and Dad, then Lilith, now it's Lucifer, and I make excuses. I blame Ruby or the demon blood, but it's not their fault…It's me. It's inside me. I'm mad all the time and I don't know why.’ Dean: ‘You're gonna take all that crap and you're gonna bury it. You're gonna forget about it, because that's how we keep going!’—Real healthy, Dean…
94. Swap Meat (5.12)—W: Siege & Dessertine & Fedor/D: Singer
No recap
Oddly behaving Sam ordering a drink and goes to ‘have the sex’ with a blonde
36 hours earlier
Interviewing an old babysitter who was a maid at Mayflower on the interstate and John left the boys with her; one time he was gone for 2 weeks; she last saw them the summer before Sam started 6th grade when he assigned himself his own reading list. Sam says she was the best babysitter they ever had; she knows what John did
Health Quake Salad Shake
Dean asks Sam if he wants a family and kids—Sam says no, not anymore
Gary throws all the boys’ cellphones out—how do they get them back???
Sam finds Busty Asian Beauties magazine in Gary’s room
Gary knows all about the legend Sam had no luck researching the previous day
Willow moss grows over witches’ graves
When Dean gets suspicious Gary: ‘I can’t be in a good mood?’—Dean: ‘No’
And Gary takes Sam’s body for a spin with the dominatrix…
There is a bounty on Dean
Smart Dean set a trap for Gary with fake body in bed
If Gary says yes in Sam’s body it counts
Gary and Dean co-exorcise demon
‘If you were voting age we would kill you’
Sam tells Gary: “I wish I had your life’ then tells Dean he ‘totally lied’
Sam: ‘All that apple-pie, family crap? It's stressful. Trust me – we didn't miss a damn thing’—Dean: ‘Or we don’t know what we’re missing’—Bit of an odd reversal for Dean to say out loud—foreshadowing going to Lisa???
When the episode ended I was waiting for Sam to ask why it took Dean so long to figure it out and rescue him—and then I realized I was expecting it because Sandymg and I both wrote codas from opposite viewpoints about that question and my brain had assimilated them into the show as canon LOL
I like this episode but the visuals of who is Sam and who is Gary don’t feel consistent
95. The Song Remains the Same (5.13)—W: Gamble & Weiner/D: Boyum
Recap: Anna; Dean’s previous trip to the past
Dean is having his ‘cherry pie’ dream with strippers when Anna shows up—awkward…
Cas shows up to meet Anna instead of boys—discussion about her escape being allowed (I remember being confused by her character about-face originally, but everything really clicks once you know about Naomi’s reprogramming sessions)
Anna: ‘Sam Winchester has to die’
Cas: ‘Sam is my friend’
When Anna crash lands in 1978 she is splayed on a car with a bird painted on the hood and the wings are positioned perfectly under her
Cas doesn’t understand multiple pop culture references in this episode
Time travel weakens Cas because he’s cut off from heaven
John and Mary live in a different house
Mary’s glare when John invites Sam and Dean for supper
‘Mary’s dad was pretty much like a grandpa to us’
Mary knows how to fight!
John driving Impala—because at that time it’s his car
When Dean starts to explain angel sigil to John: ‘I don’t care what it means. Where does it go?’ and he slices his hand for blood without hesitating—Dean is unnerved to see the dad he knew under this early version (nice characterization there!)
When Sam says his dad raised him in the life young John gets pissed: ‘The number it must’ve done on your head…Your father was supposed to protect you’—Sam: “He was trying. He died trying…I used to hate the guy but now I get it. He was just doing the best he could…and I forgive him for what it did to us…and I love him’
Uriel in 1978 vessel shows up
Dean explains who they really are from 2010—says Mary made him tomato rice soup when he got sick like her mom did for her and that she sang ‘Hey Jude’ her favorite Beatles song as a lullaby
Mary is devastated she raised her kids to be hunters—Dean: ‘You didn’t do it. Because you’re dead’ and he warns her again to stay out of the nursery
Sam says Mary has to leave John so they are never born—Dean: ‘There's a big difference between dying and never being born. And trust me, we're okay with it, I promise you that’
Too late—Mary is already pregnant with Dean
Angels are able to smudge the sigils and vaporize the holy oil from outside (later-season angels apparently have lost that ability)
Anna skewers Sam with pipe
Michael vaporizes Anna
Michael explains Dean’s bloodline, stretching back to Cain and Abel, makes him Michael’s vessel
Michael: ‘I don’t want this any more than you would want to kill Sam…But I am going to kill him because it is right and I have to’—Dean: ‘…you’re just gonna do what God says?’—Michael: ‘Yes because I am a good son’
When Dean objects—Michael: What makes you think you get to choose?’—Dean: ‘Because I got to believe that I can choose what I do with my unimportant little life’—Michael: ‘Think of a million random acts of chance that let John and Mary be born, to meet, to fall in love, to have the two of you. Think of the million random choices that you make, and yet how each and every one of them brings you closer to your destiny. Do you know why that is? Because it's not random. It's not chance. It's a plan that is playing itself out perfectly. Free will's an illusion, Dean. That's why you're going to say yes…’
Michael sends boys back to future, Cas shows up later, very weak
Dean: ‘Well this is it…Team Free Will. One ex-blood junkie, one dropout with six bucks to his name, and Mr. Comatose over there. It's awesome’
Back in 1978 Mary shows John the angel statue she brought for the nursery and says to her baby ‘Angels are watching over you’
I think this is where Dean really starts on his downward spiral that it’s a hopeless fight
This episode packs a punch showing who John and Mary really were and how screwed they were
Now how the heck is Jensen’s prequel going to fit in what we’ve seen in canon???
96. My Bloody Valentine (5.14)—W: Edlund/D: Rohl
Recap: War, Sam being tempted by demon blood, Dean’s despair
Suits
Sam encourages Dean to go out for ‘unattached drifter Christmas’—Dean not in the mood
Weird slo-mo of man in suit
Skill leveling up: Sam is a medically savvy enough to recognize abnormal markings on a heart???
Cupids are angels
Now Dean’s not hungry—Sam knows something’s wrong
Cupid explains union of John and Mary was a top priority assignment
Sam resists pull of demon blood
Suitcase contains a soul
Cas is craving meat because his vessel wants it
Famine must devour the souls of his victims
Dean still has War’s ring in a pocket
Sam confesses his blood craving instead of hiding it and requests to be locked down
Famine is in a Biggerson’s restaurant
Famine gives sermon on failings of American consumerism…sigh
Famine: ‘That's one deep, dark nothing you got there, Dean. Can't fill it, can you? Not with food or drink. Not even with sex…you can smirk and joke and lie to your brother, lie to yourself, but not to me! I can see inside you, Dean. I can see how broken you are, how defeated. You can't win, and you know it. But you just keep fighting. Just keep going through the motions. You're not hungry, Dean, because inside, you're already dead’
Famine tells Sam he is special, he won’t die from drinking too much demon blood
Sam doesn’t drink any more blood—pulls the demons, then pulls them from Famine while Dean just stands with the knife unmoving—giving up because of seeing Sam demonized again or because of Famine’s words or both?
Sam in detox again
Who is Dean praying to???
97. Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (5.15)—W: Carver/D: Showalter
Recap: Horsemen lore, Bobby’s backstory memories, Dean’s despair
Wildebeest TV narrative mirrors the actions of the victim
Suits
Jody!!!
Sam whips out the card of his FBI supervisor—they must have a bunch printed up?
‘Bullcrap’ LOL
Bobby is the town drunk with disorderlies and mail fraud
Dean knows something is wrong with how Bobby is treating the case
Jody arrests the boys instead of being concerned about undead killer zombie
Bobby bails them out
Bobby admits he knows the dead have started rising and one of them is his dead wife Karen
15-20 people have come back
Iconic shot of Dean leaning on car watching Bobby’s house
Karen is really a decent person, clearly cares about Bobby very much
Dean: ‘What would you do if you were us?’—Bobby: ‘I’m begging you please leave her be’
Bobby threatens boys with a gun
Jody pulls herself together really fast, saving her town overtakes her personal grief: ‘How do we put them down?’
Bobby’s face when he has to kill Karen again—it hurts to see
Bobby and Dean are going to make a run for it when zombies attack—why did they go back inside instead of getting in the van???
Sam and Jody round up civilians to the police station but there aren’t very many people
Zombies are all coming after Dean and Bobby—Sam and Jody just show up—what made them decide to not stay at the station and what made them go to Bobby’s? We are missing a line that explains it, like ‘when the zombies didn’t come after us we thought we better check Bobby’s’
Sam asks Jody thoughtless question: ‘How are you holding up?’ and she doesn’t answer
Dean tries to help Bobby feel better: ‘At least you got to spend 5 days with her, right?’—Bobby: ‘Which makes things about a thousand times worse’
Bobby says the zombie attack was a message to him because ‘I’m one of the reasons you’re still saying no to Lucifer, Sam’
Sam asks Bobby same thoughtless question about being all right twice—Bobby doesn’t answer
Jim Beaver kills it in this episode
98. Dark Side of the Moon (5.16)—W: Dabb & Loflin/D: Wolnough
Recap: Scenes of all the times they’ve died; amulet backstory and Cas using it to search for God
When Dean reaches under his pillow for his gun the hunter has already pulled it out—Dean wouldn’t normally sleep through that happening!
Sam is already sitting up
Dean recognizes the hunters as Roy and Walt
Roy and Walt aren’t the only hunters after Sam
After Sam is shot—Dean: ‘Go ahead, Roy, do it. But I’m going to warn you, when I come back I’m going to be pissed. C’mon! Let’s get this show on the road’
Fireworks with young Sam—Dean figures out it’s July 1996
Tickled to find his old lighter
Dean talking to Cas on the radio: ‘I’m dead’—Cas: ‘Condolences’—Dean: ‘If I’m in heaven, where’s Sam?’
Sam’s Thanksgiving when he was 11
Sam: ‘How are we in heaven?’
Sam figures out they are reliving ‘greatest hits’ memories
Zachariah wants to return them to their bodies but Cas wants them to find Joshua who talks to God
Sam wants to hurry out of Dean’s memory with mom but Dean asks for a minute
John moved out for a few days because he and Mary were fighting—when Dean goes to comfort his mom like he did when he was 4, his voice is very young
Sam was in Flagstaff for 2 weeks with Bones
Dean recognizes the house as where they were the night Sam left for Stanford and is devastated that this is one of Sam’s happy memories—Sam: ‘I just don’t look at family the way you do’—Dean: ‘Yeah, but I’m your family…it’s supposed to be you and me against the world, right?’
Everyone has their own heaven with favorite memories
Ash: ‘You boys die more than anyone I’ve ever met’ LOL
Pamela thinks heaven is pretty cool and if Michael and Lucifer decimate the world that wouldn’t be so bad
because everyone would get to go to their own heaven—Dean: ‘Spending eternity trapped in your own little universe while the angels run the show, that’s lonely. You know. That’s not Nirvana. That’s the Matrix’
Most people can’t leave their own heaven—Soulmates share heavens however
Ash didn’t know Ellen and Jo were dead; hasn’t been able to find John or Mary
Corrupted Mary: ‘You were my burden…everybody leaves you…you ever ask yourself why? Maybe it’s not them, maybe it’s you’
Zachariah has been demoted because of Dean’s refusal to say yes and is taking it very personally: ‘Lucifer may be strong but I’m petty’
Zachariah dismisses Joshua because God’s not around—Joshua: ‘Sooner or later he’s going to come back home and you know how he is with that whole wrath thing’
God’s message to the boys: ‘Back off… God saved you already. He put you on that plane. He brought back Castiel. He granted you salvation in heaven and after everything you’ve done too. It’s more than he’s intervened in a long time. He’s finished…I know how important this was to you, Dean. I’m sorry…you’re losing faith in yourself, your brother, and now this’
God wants them to remember what happened in heaven this time
Cas returns the amulet as useless
Dean deliberately drops the amulet in the trash—that hurts!!!
Again watching this episode with what we know now but didn’t then—I can see the idea of Chuck manipulating the story just to see what the boys will do next. (I absolutely hated the retcon of Chuck’s/God’s character but since it’s there I will use it to help explain earlier seasons in hindsight)
99. 99 Problems (5.17)—W: Siege/D: Beeson
Recap: Lisa, Joshua’s words
Absolutely wild car chase into flaming roadblock—intense!
Strangers with holy water firehoses and Enochian exorcism to the rescue
Sam upset that angels have been turning civilians into hunters to do their dirty work, Dean okay with it: ‘We’re all gonna die, Sam’
Boys follow pastor’s lead in attacking demon house
Intense mass fight scene
Sam throws Ruby’s knife across the room and nails demon, Dean pulls it out and kills another one—nice
Dylan’s mom to Dean: ‘This is your fault’
Pastor’s honest sermon: ‘I don’t know why this is happening’
Leah says the angels have chosen them to have paradise on earth—but only if they follow orders
New orders: ‘No drinking, no gambling, no premarital sex. Dean, they basically just outlawed ninety percent of your personality’
Sam disturbed, tries to get Dean to care: ‘I got one thing, one thing, keeping me going. You think you’re the only one white-knuckling it here, Dean? I can’t count on anyone else. I can’t do this alone’
Dean doesn’t care until townsfolk kill the bartender because he doesn’t believe
Cas shows up drunk—Sam: ‘Are you okay?’—Cas: ‘Don’t ask stupid questions’
Dean to Cas: ‘I’m a big expert on deadbeat dads. So…Yeah, I get it. I know how you feel’
Names of the prophets are seared in Cas’ brain and Leah is not one of them—she is the whore of Babylon
Can only be killed by a true servant of heaven
Leah has set off a witch hunt by naming people as sinners—they will be burned alive, including children
Pastor injured, drops the deadly stake—Dean gets it and stabs Leah—so Dean is a ‘servant of heaven’ now??? I wish that would have been explained! (Sam is surprised too)
Sam: ‘Are you going to do something stupid? Like Michael stupid?—Dean: ‘Come on Sam, give me a break’—and then Dean takes off
Lisa is surprised and tries to talk Dean into staying
Dean: ‘I wanted you to know…that when I do picture myself happy…it’s with you. And the kid’ (Foreshadowing???)
Dean says he will make arrangements for her and Ben to be safe
Lisa: ‘Whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t do it’
And this final scene made me cry because I know how bad it’s going to get for Dean…
100. Point of No Return (5.18)—W: Carver/D: Sgriccia
Recap: Zachariah, Adam, Dean driving off
The bar scene between Zachariah and laid-off businessman is kind of funny…until it turns deadly
Dean packs his jacket, keys, and gun to send to Bobby
Sam found Dean because he knew what the stops would be on Dean’s farewell tour—a nice switch, it’s always been Dean finding Sam because he knows his brother so well
Dean: ‘All you’ve ever done is run away’—Sam: ‘And I was wrong every single time I did…you know I have to stop you’—Dean: ‘…you’re not all hopped up on demon blood this time’—Sam: ‘Yeah…but I brought help’
8 months have passed since start of apocalypse
Dean says Michael can save a boatload of people
Bobby: ‘You can’t give up, son’—Dean: ‘You’re not my father’—Ouch, Dean has really given up and just wants it over
Bobby: ‘That’s the round that I mean to put through my skull… Every morning, I look at it. I think, Maybe today’s the day I flip the lights out. But I don’t do it. I never do it. You know why? Because I promised you I wouldn’t give up!’
Cas fights with angels over Adam’s grave—nice fight moves, gets one angel to stab the other while he is in between them!
Adam: ‘We may be blood but we are not family’
Dean is on lockdown in the panic room
Dean: ‘I just don’t believe…in you. I don’t know whether it’s gonna be demon blood or some other demon chick or what, but…I do know they're gonna find a way to turn you…You’re angry, you’re self-righteous. Lucifer's gonna wear you to the prom, man. It's just a matter of time’
Smart Dean tricks Cas to escape
Cas is furious with Dean and beats the crap out of him: ‘I rebelled for this? So that you could surrender to them?...I gave everything for you and this is what you give to me’
Sam: ‘What the hell happened to him (Dean)?’—Cas: ‘Me’
Zachariah plays Adam like a violin…
Sam is going to bring Dean with to rescue Adam—Sam’s finest moment IMO, showing he really believes in his brother even when Dean doesn’t believe in himself—Dean: ‘Isn’t that a bad idea?... Because either it’s a trap to get me there to make me say yes, or it’s not a trap and I’m gonna say yes anyway. And I will. I’ll do it. Fair warning’—Sam: ‘No, you won’t. When push shoves, you’ll make the right call’—Dean: ‘You know, if tables were turned…I’d let you rot in here. Hell, I have let you rot in here’—Sam: ‘…I guess I’m not that smart’—Dean: ‘…Sam, why are you doing this?’—Sam: ‘Because you’re still my big brother’
Cas is going to take on 5 angels—Dean: ‘Isn’t that suicide?’—Cas: ‘Maybe it is. But then I won’t have to watch you fall. I’m sorry Dean, I don’t have the same faith in you that Sam does’
Cas carves banishing sigil into his chest (Why isn’t his shirt bloody then)
The entire scene in the green room with Zachariah goading Dean, torturing Sam and Adam, Dean says he’ll say yes, Sam can’t believe it, Dean looks like he’s given up—and then winks at Sam and stabs Zachariah—it was magnificent!
Sam: ‘I saw your eyes. You were totally rockin’ the “yes” back there. So, what changed your mind?—Dean: ‘Honestly? The damnedest thing. I mean, the world’s ending. The walls are coming down on us, and I look over to you and all I can think about is, this stupid son of a bitch brought me here. I just didn’t want to let you down…I don't know if it's being a big brother or what, but to me, you've always been this snot-nosed kid that I've had to keep on the straight and narrow. I think we both know that that's not you anymore. I mean, hell, if you're grown-up enough to find faith in me…the least I can do is return the favor. So screw destiny, right in the face. I say we take the fight to them, and do it our way’
And Dean is back in the game—sort of…
101. Hammer of the Gods (5.19)—W: Dabb & Loflin & Reed/D: Bota
Recap: Trickster/Gabriel; Dean killing Zachariah, getting back in the game
Sam is back to being fixated on finding the solution to the apocalypse, Dean is wanting a night off
Figure out there’s a case very quickly
Clever shots of pages of books to identify the various gods
Gods fed up with Judeo-Christian religions thinking they run everything and now they’re going to have an apocalypse
Gabriel finally taking a side although primarily motivated to save Kali
There is a commercial for the Ghostfacers web series in the middle…
We find out about archangel blades
Kali ‘kills’ Gabriel
Dean blusters his way through an arrogant exchange to give the gods Lucifer but the captive humans meant for dinner have to be let go—then he finds out Gabriel faked his death and the archangel blade is a fake and tells the gods the truth
Mercury invited Lucifer to crash
Lucifer considers the gods worse than humans
Gabriel calls Lucifer out: ‘Lucifer, you're my brother. And I love you. But you are a great big bag of dicks… Play the victim all you want. But you and me? We know the truth. Dad loved you best. More than Michael, more than me. Then he brought the new baby home and you couldn't handle it. So this is all just one big temper tantrum. Time to grow up…I’m loyal to them…to people Lucifer, people…because dad was right, they are better than us… Damn right they're flawed. But a lot of them try. To do better, to forgive…I'm not on your side, or Michael's. I'm on theirs.’
Gabriel almost manages to stab Lucifer but gets killed when Lucifer sees through his trickery.
(I felt bad watching that, even though I know he gets retconned back alive)
But there’s one more twist—Gabriel leaves them the Casa Erotica tape with instructions on how to put Lucifer back in the cage!
And we end up with a truly disgusting scene of Pestilence leaving his mucus everywhere
I remember not being impressed with this episode the first time around but found it decent this time
102. The Devil You Know (5.20)—W: Edlund/D: Singer
Recap: Jess dying, Croatoan, Gabriel’s reveal about the rings
Swine flu epidemic (how quaint!!!)
Suits as CDC, wear masks in the clinic (what a familiar look nowadays!)
Boys say ‘East’ in sync
Crowley knows about the rings—he put a tracking/listening device in the Impala!
Crowley never gets tired of hearing his own voice…
‘I’ve sold sin to saints for centuries’
Sam very against working with Crowley but Dean caves, including that Sam can’t come with
Sam who’s been drinking asks Bobby how he got free from the demon, posits the idea of saying ‘yes’ and then taking control in order to get Lucifer into the cage
Crowley kills the human guards to ‘speed up the process’—Dean is too numb to be appalled any more
Brady beats Dean brutally
Brady gloats that he hasn’t been Brady since Thanksgiving of sophomore year, mocks Sam for trying to ‘save’ him when Brady went off the rails
Sam: ‘…we trust him (Crowley) now? Like I trusted Ruby?’—Sam’s not wrong…
Sam locks Dean in the bathroom so he can go at Brady alone
Brady introduced Sam to Jess as a set up to jolt Sam because Sam was turning too soft and taunts him about burning Jess
Sam restrains himself from killing Brady
Brady believes Lucifer will reward him—but Crowley starts rumor that Brady has betrayed Lucifer and is working with Crowley
Hellhound battle
After Brady caves Dean lets Sam have him: ‘All those angels, all those demons, all those sons of bitches --They just don't get it, do they, Sammy?... You see, Brady...We're the ones you should be afraid of’
Brady: ‘…it wasn't all our fault, was it?...You're the one who trusted us. You're the one who let us into your life, let us whisper in your ear over and over and over again. Ever wonder why that is, Sammy? Ever wonder why we were so in your blind spot? Maybe it's because we got the same stuff in our veins and, deep down, you know you're just like us… maybe you hate us so much because you hate what you see every time you look in the mirror. You ever think of that… the only difference between you and a demon is your hell is right here’—Sam as he kills him: ‘Interesting theory’
Dean looks disturbed at how Sam acted as he killed Brady
And Crowley talks Bobby into a deal
103. 2 Minutes to Midnight (5.21)—W: Gamble/D: Sgriccia
Recap: Adam, Rings, Croatoan, Vaccine, Lucifer summoning Death, Bobby’s deal
Sam puts out his plan to say yes and jump into the cage, Dean is no way
Cas is now human and needs money to get back
Cas shows up in the nick of time and cuts off Pestilence’s ring but he gloats they are too late
Sam: ‘For the record...I agree with you. About me. You think I'm too weak to take on Lucifer. Well, so do I. Believe me, I know exactly how screwed up I am. You, Bobby, Cas...I'm the least of any of you… But...I'm also all we got. If there was another way...But I don't think there is. There's just me. So I don't know what else to do. Except just try to do what's got to be done’
Crowley figures out the vaccine is covering for the Croatoan virus
Bobby, Sam, and Cas go to blow up the virus warehouse
Crowley has given Bobby back his legs out of the goodness of his heart…but is keeping Bobby’s soul for ‘insurance’ against them killing him
Cas feels useless without his powers
Cas thinks Sam’s plan has a chance: ‘You and Dean have a habit of exceeding my expectations. He resisted Michael. Maybe you could resist Lucifer’
Sam would need to drink a lot of demon blood
Dean and Crowley head to Chicago to meet Death—Chicago is about to be wiped off the map (this concerned me very much at the time since I lived in Chicago!)
Death has a very cool and disturbing introduction
Crowley gives Dean Death’s scythe (he must have gotten it after the Samhain seal broken)
Death is as old as god, will reap him
Death is pissed about Lucifer binding him and offers Dean the ring on the condition he won’t stop Sam
Chicago can stay because Death likes the pizza (Whew!)
Lots of action at warehouse with Sam getting humans out and everyone fighting Croats and demons
Bobby: ‘I watched that kid pull one civilian out after another. Must have saved 10 people. Never stopped. Never slowed down. We're hard on him, Dean. We've always been…He's been running into burning buildings since he was, what, 12?...you know Sam will beat the devil...Or die trying. That's the best we could ask for. So I got to ask, Dean. What exactly are you afraid of? Losing? Or losing your brother?’
This episode should have been split into two, there is too much going on—going up against Pestilence and getting the ring, taking out the vaccine at the warehouse, and Dean meeting Death…Pestilence and the warehouse battle both felt very rushed, and we never saw the warehouse actually being blown up, a big disappointment after all the set-up…Dean and Death made the episode, though! (I might have written a story about an office worker who almost went to that pizzeria for lunch that day…)
104. Swan Song (5.22)—W: Kripke & Gerwirtz/D: Boyum
The Road so Far covers everything leading to Michael/Lucifer battle
Chuck’s narrative about Baby
The green cooler is out when boys have their last talk
Sam: ‘You're gonna let me say yes?’ —Dean: ‘No. That's the thing. It's not on me to let you do anything. You're a grown – well, overgrown – man. If this is what you want, I'll back your play’—Sam: ‘That's the last thing I thought you'd ever say’—Dean: ‘Might be. I'm not gonna lie to you, though. It goes against every fiber I got. I mean, truth is...You know, watching out for you...it's kinda been my job, you know? But more than that, it's...it's kinda who I am. You're not a kid anymore, Sam, and I can't keep treating you like one. Maybe I got to grow up a little, too. I don't know if we got a snowball's chance. But... But I do know that if anybody can do it... it's you’
Sob…
Sam: ‘You go find Lisa. You pray to god she's dumb enough to take you in, and you – you have barbecues and go to football games. You go live some normal, apple-pie life, Dean. Promise me’
What a dirty trick, Sam…I need more tissues…
Sam asking Dean not to watch him drink the demon blood…
When Lucifer toys with Dean making him think they’d won—Dean’s face…
When Lucifer is talking to Sam in the mirror, somehow they make Sam’s face look completely different! Lucifer has razor-sharp cheekbones while Sam’s face is softer…how did they do that?!
Sam’s prom date Rachel was a demon…
Chuck says they drove 1000 miles to see an Ozzie show and drove 2 days to a Jayhawks game…and they’d sit for hours silently looking at the stars…
Chuck says it didn’t work out between him and Becky
Chuck has seen that the showdown will be in Stull Cemetery
Dean: ‘I’m gonna go talk to Sam…if we’ve already lost I guess I got nothing t lose, right?’—Cas: ‘…the only thing that your gonna see out there is Michael killing your brother’—Dean: ‘Well then I ain’t gonna let him die alone’
So Dean repays Sam’s trust in him and my heart is dying…
Michael with his righteousness and Lucifer with his hurt feelings…get over yourselves, guys!
‘No one dicks with Michael except me’
That beating is appalling to watch…and Sam gets control…and jumps into the cage, killing me and Dean…
Dean’s despair…
New and improved Cas—God not done playing around with the Winchesters, is he
Dean: ‘…what about Sam? What about me, huh? Where's my grand prize? All I got is my brother in a hole!’—Cas: ‘You got what you asked for, Dean. No paradise. No hell. Just more of the same. I mean it, Dean. What would you rather have? Peace or freedom?’—Cas seems to have reset to being less caring?
Chuck: ‘Dean didn't want Cas to save him. Every part of him, every fiber he's got, wants to die, or find a way to bring Sam back. But he isn't gonna do either. Because he made a promise’
Chuck: ‘So, what's it all add up to? It's hard to say. But me, I'd say this was a test...for Sam and Dean. And I think they did all right. Up against good, evil, angels, devils, destiny, and God himself, they made their own choice. They chose family. And, well... isn't that kinda the whole point?’—This was a perfect ending line at the time…but knowing how Chuck continued to toy with them it really stung…
And Sam is under the streetlight…
I remember being (and still am, actually) really pissed about they lyrics in ‘Carry On, Wayward Son’ promising ‘…there’ll be peace when you are done…don’t you cry no more’ and then getting Dean with his brother in hell— how could show have implied a happy ending and then left Dean to try to live a happy life while knowing ever minute that Sam was getting tortured!!!
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Date: 2022-09-18 06:51 pm (UTC)*HUGS*
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Date: 2022-09-19 03:33 pm (UTC)