Lost Limey Watches Supernatural #62 – “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester”

A quick note by way of introduction may be required here. For quite some time now, certain members of the Richmond WriMos have been trying to persuade me to watch the CW show Supernatural. I  have relented and am now embarking on watching Supernatural via the wonders of Netflix. This series of posts will simply be my first impressions, almost stream of consciousness style, presented in the form of the time elapsed in the episode and my thoughts expressed as bullet points. It’s effectively live tweeting the episodes except I don’t have to stick to 140 characters or fewer. So without further ado here’s my take on:

Season 4 Episode 02 – “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester”

• 01:43 – The episode starts with a “Then” montage to the tune of Billy Squier’s “Lonely Is the Night.” It seems to focus on people that Sam & Dean failed to save, including Meg, Agent Henriksen, and Ronald Reznick (who I barely remembered either). After that we get a shot of Dean in Hell, plus his Carrie graveyard moment, reunion with Sam, and meeting Castiel from last episode. After that, it’s time for “NOW.”
• 03:27 – Now is represented by a women in a t-shirt and small shorts being awoken by TV static and radio tuning. It’s also apparentl super cold in her house, since we can see her breath as she exhales. The woman turns out to be a Hunter of some kind, since she has a small arsenal of weaponry,including what looks like a rock salt shotgun. Apparently Bobby knows her, because he leaves a message on her answering machine (remember those? Oh 2008 seems so long ago!) telling her that something big has come up and he needs help. He also names her as “Olivia.” Since she’s showing up in a teaser for Supernatural, I’m not sure the name was worth remembering. Shortly afterwards, she’s killed by a couple of battered-looking ghosts, one of which she apologized to.
• 03:43 – Dean is refusing to believe that he was “groped by an Angel.” Sam asks why Castiel would lie about that.
• 03:35 – Dean’s theory: “It was a demon. Demons lie,” which is a pretty reasonable assumption based on their shared experiences until now. Sam points out that Castiel was immune to (among other things) salt, devil’s traps and even Ruby’s Knife of Demon Stabbiness, which even Lilith is scared of.
• 04:22 – The Brothers Winchester argue about the existence of angels for a bit (Dean’s anti, Sam’s pro) until Bobby interrupts them and tells them to come look at something. I’m guessing it’s the latest Playdemon centerfold.
• 05:23 – Bobby’s research seems to show that an angel is literally the only thing that could rescue someone from Hell. Naturally, this leads to reasoned theological debate between our siblings. Sam sees this as a good thing (but he also sees his haircut the same way, so judgement impaired there, Sammy?) since it means that something good is on their side. Dena refuses to believe that if their was a God, said deity would give a crap about Dean. I can kind of see both side’s points here.
• 06:16 – After a bit more back and forth, Dean concedes that Sam and Bobby may have a point. He asks what they know about angels. Bobby produces a metric butt load of lore-type books and tells him to start reading.
• 06:21 – Dean’s immediate reaction is to grab a book and order Sam to go get some pie. Seems legit.
• 07:15 – Sam’s pie trip turns into an impromptu rendezvous with Ruby, who’s heard the angel rumors about Dean. Apparently it’s big news among the demon community. She goes to abandon Sam, and seems scared because “they’re angels, I’m a demon. they smite first and ask questions later.” To be honest, based on the first three seasons of this show, I’m 100% down with the smite first agenda.
• 07:40 – Unlike Ruby, Sam isn’t scared of angels. Of course Sam isn’t a demon or currently possessed by one, which makes a difference.
• 08:15 – Sam gets back to Bobby’s place. Bobby tells him not to stop, since they’re going to visit Olivia, the Hunter from the teaser and find out why she’snot returning Bobby’s calls. That’s a bad thing. And even worse thing is that Sam forgot the pie,  which was the entire reason for his trip. (Incidentally, as someone who is currently keto dieting, I’m seriously Jonesing for some pie myself.)
• 09:37 – Our intrepid trio enter Olivia’s place, shotguns at the ready. They spot a line of salt and an EMF meter so they know spirit activity was involved. They also spot Olivia’s rather grisly corpse, which doesn’t bode well. Bobby calls other local hunters on his flip phone. They’re also not answering. Something is clearly up. Bobby seems upset and the brothers seem concerned.
• 10:00 – Dean calls Jed, another Hunter friend of Bobby’s to see if he’s okay. Jed is about as okay as a mutilated bloody corpse can be. there’s salt and shotgun detritus nearby, so he obviously struggled a bit. Jed’s glassy stare takes us into the fade for the act break.
• 10:36 – The brothers Winchester confirm Jed’s currently not living status with Bobby, who name checks two other Hunters who are wearing their blood outside their body in the currently fashionable style. Dean is curious as to why ghosts have decided to “gank” off duty Hunters. I’m curious as to whether a Hunter is ever really considered off-duty.
• 11:37 – While stopped off at a service station to replenish the fuel of this show’s greatest character, the Impala, Sam gets a surprise in the rest room in the form of super cold temperatures and the gh-gh-ghost! of Agent Henriksen.
• 12:40 – After Henriksen clarifies that 1) he didn’t survive Lilith’s assault on the police station and 2) He blames Sam & Dean, Henriksen and Sam get their Itchy & Scratchy on. They fight, and fight, and fight. It looks like Sam saw something on Henriksen’s hand but it wasn’t clear on my Netflix copy. Sam does get tossed bodily into a few things and have his head slammed into a sink before Dean saves the day by blowing Henriksen’s ghost away with a rock salt shotgun.
• 14:06-Bobby’s facing a ghostly failure of his own, with twin girls who I think we can charitably say were inspired by Kubrick’s The Shining.
• 14:33 – Sam and Dean are driving and can’t get hold of Bobby. They pass the time in the traditional Winchester way, by arguing. Sam says that Henriksen wanted revenge because the boys got him killed. Dean doesn’t exactly disagree but snaps at Sam to think of solutions to the situation, not to wallow in it, but less eloquently.
• 15:39-The boys are back at Bobby’s. There’s no sign of Bobby initially. The boys split the party, with Dean checking upstairs and Sam checking outside in the salvage yard. We see that the Shining girls have Bobby trapped in a car and are stopping him from answering Sam’s  shouts.
• 16:20 – Back inside and upstairs, the doors around the hallway are going all Scooby-Doo on Dean, rapidly slamming aside from one which creaks open slowly. It’s mostly a distraction so that the ghost of Meg’s meatsuit can sneak up behind him ad complain about what the demon that possessed her did to her hair and outfit. She points out that she’s not  demon, and we fade to act break black.
• 17:32- We come back to Meg clarifying that she was just a college girl, who was awake and imprisoned within her own body while watching the demon murder people. Dean claims to be sorry. Meg retorts “So sorry you had me thrown off a building.” The woman has a point.
• 18:33 – She backs up her point by attacking Dean with the old punchy-kicky. She asks if he considers himself a hero. Dean doesn’t As Meg grabs dean, we see some kind of gnarly brand on her hand. I think we were supposed to see the same on Henriksen’s hand back at 12:40…
• 19:03 -The Shining girls exposit at Bobby with extreme prejudice about his failure to rescue them. They say Bobby’s name so much in 30 seconds that it ceases to hold any meaning.
• 19:06 -Sam sees his breath become visible, so he knows there’s something ghostly near by.
• 19:33 – Sam starts searching through the cars in the yard for Bobby and/or ghosts. The Shining girls continue to backstory at Bobby in the form of threats.
• 20:34 – Meg guilt trips Dean by talking about how her death led to Meg’s little sister committing suicide, and how that blood is on Dean’s hands. Dean having a younger sibling and something of a complex about that seems like it might be relevant here, no?
• 21:05 – Sam finds Bobby and the Shining girls. There’s a brief confrontation, and then both girls are dispatched by cold iron crowbars (Incidentally “Cold Iron Crowbars” would be a great name for a Bauhaus cover band.)
• 21:36 – Back in the house, Dean crawls and grabs a gun. Meg points out that regular bullets don’t work on ghosts. Dean responds by saying he wasn’t going to shoot her. Instead he shoot at an iron chandelier, which drops on the ghost of Meg, banishing her.
• 22:11 – A brief exposition exchange between Bobby and the boys establishes that the ghosts they’ve been seeing are specifically people they couldn’t save, and that they all had the same brand on them. bobby claims to recognize the brand from somewhere. At that point, they get interrupted by the radio static noise of forthcoming ghostly presence.
• 23:37 – Bobby leads the boys into his insane ghost panic room. It’s built from salt-lined iron, has ventilation fans in the shape of Devil’s traps, and a poster of what I think is Bo Derek in 10. I can’t help but think that it probably still smells like a gym locker room, despite the vents.
• 24:27 – As the boys start to make bullets, Dean goes on a bit of a rant about the existence of God and the “why does He let bad things happen to good people?” conundrum that’s been discussed for literally centuries. Bobby sagely decides he’s not going to touch that one.
• 25:48 -He does discover that the brand on the ghosts is something called the Mark of the Witnesses. It’s a brand on the ghosts’ souls that forces them to rise up angry. A very powerful spell that’s mentioned in prophecy as the “rising of the witnesses.” Bobby clarifies that the common version of the prophecy is in Revelations(which bugs me, because that Biblical book isn’t a plural, it’s the Revelation, singular). we fade to commercial break black with Bobby portentously saying that it’s a sign of the Apocalypse.
• 26:17 – Dean is skeptical about it being the capital-A Apocalypse. Bobby refer to the witnesses as a “mile marker,” which is probably why Dean responds to Sam asking what the should do with “Road trip: Grand Canyon, Star Trek Experience, Bunny Ranch.” I’d like to do two of those three things myself.
• 27:03 – Bobby thinks he’s found a counter-spell to get rid of the Witnesses that are currently plaguing them. He thinks he has everything they need in the house, but unfortunately, not in the current ghost proof panic room. One of the things needed is to cast the spell over an open fire, and the library apparently has a fireplace. I would think a room that by definition would tend to be full of old, dry books would be the very last place a sane person would ever put a fireplace, but I’m not sure how sane any Hunter can truly be considered.
• 28:11 – The trio head out of the panic room with salt/iron loaded shotguns. They stumble across Ronald Reznick’s ghost on the stairway. He asks if they remember him. By the power of the flashback they do. Which means they’re doing better than I was, as I don’t recall his episode at all.
• 28:26 -Ronald and Dean have a brief conversation until Bobby shoots Ronald and recalls the iconic advice of The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly‘s Tuco: “If you’re gonna shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.”
• 29:31 -Bobby begins getting the spell together, dispatching Sam, and after a brief shotgun altercation involving the Shining girls, Dean to get the components. The Shining girls return and exposition-taunt Bobby for a bit. He points his shotgun at them but hesitates to fire. We here the shot as the camera cuts to Sam.
• 30:26 – Ghost Meg confronts Sam, and guilt trips him about his current relationship with Ruby, asking how many innocent bodies Ruby’s burnt through and tortured. Pointing out that Sam not sending Ruby back to Hell makes Sam a monster. Sam responds in the most emotional mature way possible, he shoots her in the face with a shotgun.
• 32:02 – Dean is confronted by Henriksen, who clarifies that Lilith tortured the survivors at the police station for over 45 minutes, flaying their skin off piece by piece, starting with the secretary and making the others watch, until Henriksen was the last to die. I’m not sure that tracks with what the episode showed us, but I read enough comics that retcons come naturally to me, so whatever. Henriksen ends his rant by squeezing Dean’s heart and asking why Den deserves another chance, while all Heriksen got to do was die painfully. From what I’ve seen so far, I don’t think Dean believe he deserved another chance…
• 32:28 – Sam ends the impasse by introducing Henriksen to Mr. Shotgun blast. The brothers get all the spell bits they need to Bobby. Ronald shows up again, and he mad.
• 34:01 -Bobby begins to cast the spell. The windows fly open and wind starts blowing all through the library. The various ghosts we’ve seen throughout the episode keep popping up, and keep getting shot by the Brothers Winchester until they’re both out of shells. Dean swats at Ghost Meg with an iron poker to send her away temporarily, but Henriksen traps Sam against a wall by moving a desk. Sam more or less orders Dean not to worry about him and cover Bobby until the spell is done.
• 34:53- And Bobby needs that coverage. He’s initially distracted by the Shining girls long enough for Ghost Meg to do some heart juju and cause him to drop the spell bowl. Luckily Dean catches the bowl and throws it into the fire, which creates a blue flame and banishes the Witness ghosts on a slightly more permanent basis. Bobby & Sam free themselves and it looks like our intrepid trio are okay as we go into act break blackness.
• 36:05 – We return to see sleeping Winchesters. Dean is awoken by the sound of fluttering wings and has a visitor – Castiel. Castiel congratulates Dean n teh job he did with the Witnesses. Dean’s angry at the complete lack of angelic assistance they got if Castiel knew about things. As Dean puts it “I thought angels were supposed to be guardians. Fluffy wings, halos — you know, Michael Landon. Not dicks.”
• 36:55 – Castiel’s comeback of “read the Bible,” is pretty good. Apparently the angels had larger concerns. this leads into Dean ranting about whether there is a God, and at what point will He lift a finger to help the Earthbound. Never has the line “if you say ‘mysterious ways,’  so help me, I will kick your ass,” made me giggle so hard.
• 37:51 – It turns out that the Witnesses being risen is one of sixty-six seals that if broken, will lead to the apocalypse. Apparently Lilith was responsible for the rising of the witnesses, which has lead to the death of at least twenty hunters. And the seal still counts as broken, even though Bobby and the Brothers Winchester put the spirits to rest.
• 38:27 – The seals can be thought of as locks, and apparently once the last lock is opened, then Lucifer can walk free. Dean didn’t think there was such a thing as Lucifer, figuring it was a story made up to scare demons. Castiel reasonably points out that three days ago, Dean didn’t think there was such as thing as Castiel. I’m guessing this being the third day after Dean’s resurrection has some symbolism, but what that might be escapes me.
• 39:37 -Apparently there’s a lot more going on than just the Witnesses. Other seals are being broken, and at least six angels died this week. Castiel also demands some respect from Dean, pointing out that if he could drag Dean out of Hell, he could also send him back there, and so should be respected.
• 40:33 – The episode ends with Dean saying that if Sam has no problem believing in God and angles, then does he also believe in the Devil? Sam wants to know why Dean’s asking, and we go to the credits.

This felt like a very “meat and potatoes” episode of Supernatural for the majority of the episode being, at its heart, a fairly basic ghost story with angry spirits. the stakes were raised by giving the spirits a personal connection to the Winchesters and a way to connect with longer term viewers (except for Ronald the Forgettable). I was enjoying it as almost a break from the rather metaplot heavy last trio of episodes. Though if you’re going to have metaplot episodes, season premieres and finales are definitely the place for them.

Then the connection to the Witnesses and the Apocalypse emerged in the last quarter of the episode or so, which booted the stakes significantly and tied the threat more firmly into the pre-existing demonology mythos that the show has developed over the last three seasons. I’m still not entirely sure that using Castiel as an exposition drop in in the final act is a structure that can be maintained on a season long basis, but it is a nice way to establish the arc so far and give the more abstract elements a humanoid face, which we didn’t really get with Lilith until fairly late into last season as I recall.

The next episode has a somewhat Biblically loaded title, “In TheBeginning,” so I’m guessing it’s going to lean heavily into whatever the seaosn long plot with Lilith and Lucifer turns out to be, and I am one hundred per cent okay with that, as I think this series so far has shown that I definitely have a preference for mythology arc episodes over the more stand alone ones.