Dean is back from Purgatory. Covered in dirt and blood,
armed and ready to shoot some helpless campers, but he’s back.
4 days, a good shower, some hitch-hiking and a good sound
track (don’t judge my music choices) and he’s dug up a grave. Apparently a
matter of some urgency since his arm is glowing red and throbbing very nastily.
He slices across it and pours the red good that comes out across the bones –
there’s a flash and a man appears, a vampire. A vampire Dean’s friendly with,
by the hug and the agreement to go their separate ways now they’re free from
Purgatory.
Sam sneaks out of a woman’s house(and her dog) – and bed – to get in the Impala and make a trip to the old safe house – where he is accosted by Dean pouring holy water on him, borax and cutting him with a silver knife (demon, leviathan and shapeshifter testing), Sam tries to say hello (silly Sam, checking to see if you are a demon is how Dean says hello) before the exasperated Dean tests himself to prove he’s the real Dean as well.
Dean has spent the whole year in Purgatory, running for
his life and surviving among the monsters. Sadly Castiel didn’t make it –
though Dean is very cagey about the details (so he WILL be coming back. You
hear me!? HE WILL!)
 |
| HE WILL BE BACK! |
Sam has spent the year… not hunting. Alone, with his
whole family killed, no Bobby, no Dean, no Castiel, Sam stopped hunting. Which
Dean, after a year of fighting monsters for his life, isn’t amused by – and is
even less amused by the fact Sam didn’t even look for him. Relations become…
rather strained.
They become a little more strained when Dean goes through
the mobile phones Sam abandoned and finds messages from Kevin Tran, (the
Prophet and Sole Keeper of God’s Word on Earth) asking for Sam and slowly
degrading as he was completely abandoned, eventually stopping to try because it
had been 6 months without any contact. Dean says Kevin is their responsibility
and is extremely pissed that Sam couldn’t even pick up a phone when he was
called – something even Sam agrees to and investigates the call so they can
begin tracking Kevin down.
On the road Dean smells the crime of dog smell in his car – and zones out over a vending machine and again in the hotel room. Clearly he’s not adapting well to the peace after constantly fighting for his life for a year. And things are not all rosy between him and Sam about him giving up on fighting the monsters. Working past that they go check on Kevin’s ex-girlfriend , Channing, who hasn’t seen him in a year and, since he’s not going to Princeton any more, isn’t particularly interested in him. That could be because she’s a demon who then uses her room-mate’s blood to communicate with her bosses that Dean is back.
After re-bonding with the glories of fast food, Dean and
Sam follow the next lead after Kevin, his web activity and they catch up to him
– and a year has certainly changed him. Crowley had had him translating another
Word of God tablet – this one on Demons. The tablet mentioned a hell-gate in
Wisconsin which Kevin said needed to be opened with a spell. When he completed
the spell, it actually destroyed all the demons around him, allowing him to
escape, with the tablet and a whole load of information about demons. I like
this new Kevin. Even better, Kevin has information on how to close the gates of
hell forever, banishing all demons.
Dean’s all for it but Sam is less gung-ho, thinking it
would ruin Kevin’s chance to get out of the life and avoid hunting. He makes a
snarky attack that free will is only for Dean which is so beyond not fair that
I again return to my wish we could ditch Sam and have more Castiel.
Sam does go speak to Kevin and, after a little aside gay
joke which is all kinds of inappropriate, he talks about how they could all
stop worrying about demons entirely and have a normal life if they close the
gates of hell. So he gets some points back. Grudgingly. I still want Castiel.
Nothing’s so simple and demons soon arrive. A couple of
extras to be stabbed – and Crowley with the possessed Channing. He wants to
swap Channing for Kevin. Kevin agrees over Dean’s objection but he can’t stop
him – especially not when Crowley makes the Meg-Knife too hot to hold. But it’s
another trick from Kevin and, after dousing the demons with holy water, they
make a run for it in the Impala – but as they drive away they see Crowley kill
Channing.
We get two sets of flashbacks – from Sam we see him meeting Amelia, a vet, and
them bonding over Sam hitting a dog with his car and Amelia shaming him into
taking it in.
And Dean in Purgatory fighting for his life, trying to
find Castiel and forming an uneasy alliance with the friendly vampire, Benny,
who tells him that Purgatory has a loop hole to allow humans to escape it, since
they’re not intended to be there. Dean comments on how “pure” things are in
Purgatory – kill or be killed, constant fight for survival.
In the aftermath, Dean gets a phone call he hides form
Sam – Benny the friendly vampire touching base.
Congrats Kevin, you have been officially initiated as a
hunter – a woman you love has died pointlessly for your emotional angst!
Hey, Channing, you join the ranks of women who have
absolutely no character, history or point for existence except to die so your
manfolk can grow and have an emotional moment. Don’t worry, you won’t be lonely
in the club, Jess, Karen Singer, Mary Winchester and many many others are
waiting to welcome you. Actually, it could be standing room only, that fridge is awfully full.
Could it be that we finally have a regular POC character
on the show with Kevin? Hmmm, we can hope – but not too much, I think.
Dean now has another reason for PTSD – at some point they
need to deal with his issues or he’s going to explode. Sam annoys me.
And this episode needed more Castiel.
