Dean finally meets Michael
Fate. Destiny. Bloodlines. Fathers & sons. Brother vs brother. Present meets past. Last night’s Supernatural had a little bit of everything and a lot of what I’ve been craving for weeks on end. Finally Dean meets Michael. Finally Sam gets to meet his mother. Finally we see Castiel. Finally Sam & John get to have a decent talk about how Dean and Sam were raised. Finally Dean revealed his true self to his mother. Finally, Anna died.
Okay, that last one was just icing on the cake but you knew I’d be celebrating the crispy critter that she became. I am so Michael’s bitch after that move, especially while he’s wearing the yummy young John Winchester while doing it. Seriously hot.
Total yum, especially when an angel's wearing him!
Anyway, Anna tries to reach out to Dean, interrupting one of his prurient dreams of angels and demons and asking him to meet her. Thankfully, our Dean was not born yesterday (though he wasn’t born in part of this epi, hehe) and he told Castiel who went to meet her in his place. It seems Anna was in Heaven Prison for awhile and that’s not a pleasant place to be. Cry me a river, Anna. She tells Cas that killing Sam is the only way to stop Lucifer but Cas won’t sign off on this because Sam is his friend now. That’s a definite about face for our favorite angel, in the not too distant past he was all on board the Kill Sam train. I like to think it’s his love for Dean that makes him unable to go that track now. What? He does!
So Anna takes it upon herself to head into the past to kill John and Mary before they even have the boys. Cas figures out where she is and zaps himself, Sam and Dean to help. I have to give major props to Jared for Sam’s reaction to seeing his younger parents for the first time. The love and awe he had on his face when looking at Mary was heartbreaking and adorable. It definitely made me think about to last week’s episode and his sneering at the trappings of traditional family. Methinks he might have changed his tune after a little time with his parents.
Bloody, soon to be dead, Anna. Yay!
Mary remembered Dean from his other jaunt into the past and was none too happy about his presence. Dean managed to get her to listen enough to hear that she and John were in danger from angels (thanks to Sam interjecting that last part) and she was prepared to run with them. But John got a call from his boss and went to meet him only to find Anna. Sam & Dean got there in time to send her away via the blood drawing on the wall.
Sam finally got to meet his Mom.
Then we get to the good stuff. John, driving the Impala and yelling at them all to be quiet in a very fatherly way, is stunned to learn about monsters and hunting. He & Sam have a conversation about how Sam could have been raised and what kind of terrible father he had to allow that. Sam, for the first time, was able to tell his father that he understood why he’d chosen that life for them, that thirst for revenge. It was fascinating to see John play the Sam role and Sam play the John role in that conversation. I thought they both were excellent.
I love John and Mary. That's baby Dean in there!
That was countered with Dean’s conversation with Mary, wherein he finally revealed that he was her son. He told her about the song she sang him at bedtime and the soup she made him when he was sick. He begged her not to go into that nursery the day that she dies, he even told her why and that her sons would be cursed. Mary was scared and upset and disbelieving but somehow accepting at the same time? I don’t know how to explain it. Sam interrupted and told them both that avoiding the nursery wasn’t enough, she needed to leave John and never have them and never look back. Mary kept saying she couldn’t, finally revealing that she was already pregnant with Dean.
That doesn't look like it feels too good!
That moment was interrupted by the return of Anna, this time with young Uriel in tow, set on killing the men that kill him 30 years later. John is dispatched and Anna stabs Sam and leaves him for dead while Dean tangles with Uriel and Anna goes after Mary. Outside, a flashing light appears and all of a sudden John is inside the house and Michael is inside John. He touched Anna and fried her to a crisp. I laughed. He dispensed Uriel with the snap of two fingers. Michael, in a word, was hot.
Feel the heat!
Dean demands that he fix Sam but Michael says he will in good time, after they’ve had a little chat. Dean asks how he can be inside John and Michael tells him that their bloodline is what makes it possible, he can inhabit anyone in that family (except for probably Sam I’m guessing). When John heard that Michael could help Mary he let him right in.
That's what happens when you try to take Dean away, bitch!
Michael explains to Dean that his life is fated, always, to come down to letting Michael inside so he can fight Lucifer. Every step John and Mary made in life led him down this path. I was happy to find out that Michael won’t leave Dean a slobbering idiot when all is said and done. I have a question…why can’t Dean let Michael in to fight Lucifer in that other body? I know he’s all about free will but I’m thinking he’d be willing to do it if he didn’t have to kill Sam in the process. I suppose there’s some caveat to that we don’t know about at this point. Dean doesn’t say a lot but he’s still clinging to the idea that he doesn’t have to go along with this masterplan. He tells Michael to take his brother and take their fight off his planet. So cute. Kisses to Dean.
Ram outlined this convo a lot better than I could after only one viewing so go check out her post on the matter, over at the I Love Bad Boys blog. Michael zapped Sam and Dean back to the future and Cas appeared but promptly passed out. He’s not able to travel through time as easily now that’s not a favored angel anymore.
Dean pours drinks to Team Free Will and Sam questions him, asking if there was nothing, not even saving Mom, that would make him agree to let Michael in. Dean doesn’t really have an answer to that and we’re done with the episode.
This was the kind of epi I’ve been craving for ages now. I love young John and Mary (seriously, give them a spin off or something). I love Cas and Michael. I love Anna dying. I love our boys confronting their pasts and filling in some of the many missing moments they had with their parents. I hope they manage to see them again before the series ends. A hug or two would be nice!
See you next week for an episode that appears might bring back out bloodlusting Sammy. Could be interesting!
Question: Were those Ellen and Bill Harvelle in the car? I thought they might be because the girl looked a little like younger version of Samantha Ferris. But it might have been wishful thinking.
Jared played Sam’s reaction perfectly, he was almost stalkerish. I’m so glad you mentioned it. The fact that this was the first time Sam saw his mother as a human and lived to remember it was heart breaking. He was just a baby when Mary died and since he’s only seen her ghost or a figment of his imagination portraying as her.
The moment I saw the year, I knew mini-Dean would be nestled in Mary’s womb.
When Sam was talking to John, it looked like shock on his face when John started ranting about the boys being raised as hunters. The understanding might have come to him slowly over the years, but it wasn’t until in that moment that Sam realised that his father was a victim too. Without the YED and Mary dying, he would have been just the kind of father Sam has always hoped for, the kind of father Dean was to him despite his young age.
You are right about the roles being reversed in that discussion. In a way, this was the first time we saw what Sam inherited from his father. Not just the stubbornness but his values as well. Neither would have chosen this life for themselves or for their children. Sam forgiving and saying ILY to his father was more important for him than it would ever have been to John. John got to be proud of Sam when he went of to school and tried to make a life for himself and though.
The fact that both Sam and Dean were willing to not be born, must have broken Mary’s heart. Was that what you were searching for? The fact that her children would go through something so horrific that they’d rather not exist. She must have questioned her mothering abilities right there and then. Or it’s just that she finally realised what her choice was leading up to. She was the one who originally sold her soul to keep John alive and with her. She must have been so happy when she first found out that she was pregnant and now suddenly her adult sons were telling her that they’d rather not be born? That’s a horrific cost for ten happy years for her.
Btw, I loved the fact that Dean was strong enough to keep Uriel at bay by himself while Sam and John and Mary couldn’t beat down Anna. No, it had to be Michael who saved them.
Was it just me, or did all that talk about bloodlines scream Winchester offspring? Especially for Dean. Or maybe it’s just my bias and that thought about Daddy Dean and Uncle Cas that’s stuck to my head.
This episode was full of brothers: Michael and Lucifer, Cain and Abel, Dean and Sam. I’m not sure why, but as I see it, the bloodline is all that matters. Anyone belonging to it can be a vessel; for whom, is a different matter. I’m guessing it’s the rage or the weakness or something that separates the righteous from the rest. But if every vessel is related that means Cas and Dean truly are family however distant.
Poor Cas. I love him so. I just wish they’d had time to show the conversation between the boys and Cas where he explains handing Anna over to the troops of heaven. Not that I’m blaming him after seeing her poor choices. He was hilarious, cute, cuddly, adorable and playful all at the same time after zapping himself and the boys back in time and after returning to the present himself. And the fact that he was “feeling better than expected” while ending up unconscious… I probably should stop gushing right about now.
The little angel in the end, it wasn’t supposed to be ominous was it? Because for some reason I saw it more as a curse for Dean than anything else. I just hope I’m so very wrong about that.
I’ve never been this happy to see death and gloom in my life. Last year (or was it the year before that) I couldn’t care less about the distinction between a mytharc episode and a normal SPN episode, but after enduring more than my share of funny ones, I’m convinced. If Kripke doesn’t have enough material for 20-22 mytharc episodes for SPN, why didn’t he opt to pen two part episodes. Sam Interrupted and The Song Remains The Same could have easily been extended to last two hours instead of just one.
/epic comment
I don’t know if that was Ellen! I never thought about it. I’m going to have to go back and see if they say a name or anything. Would be awesome if it was.
Yes, you’re right, it was almost stalkerish. He just kept staring at his mother with a light in his eye and it was funny when John got a bit irritated by it. Poor Sam. He never did get to know her and that was the only moment he had. Couldn’t blame him for his reaction and I truly loved how it was performed and written.
I wasn’t paying enough attention to the year at first and I assumed that Anna went back in between Sam and Dean’s births so I thought maybe we’d have a mini-Dean running around. That would have been awesome but this was probably better. Plus, it made her attempting to kill Mary, before my Dean was born, even more annoying. So glad she died.
Sam really did get some incredible life changing moments in this episode, from meeting his mom to getting to finally understand his father. Like you said, he may have changed quite a bit in his view of the world but it wasn’t until that moment, when John was attacking himself and Sam was defending him that he truly saw why they lived the life they did. He’s chosen it now and can’t imagine another life but until then I don’t think he really got it either. Profound stuff.
The Mary/Dean moment was also one of the more powerful things ever to happen on this show. As you said, Mary realized that her choices had well and truly fucked her sons to the point that they were telling her not to have them. They’d rather not exist than live the lives they lived and fight the fight they have. As you said, any excitement in her pregnancy had to have flown out the window in that moment. Michael’s erasing her memory was pivotal to the lives of Sam and Dean of course but it was also a mercy for that poor woman.
Hee, I noticed that Dean was busy with Uriel on his own. Pretty awesome.
I thought of Winchester babies, as I’m apt to do whenever I see Dean, for a moment or two when they talked of bloodlines. Of course, that discussion could be the catalyst for both boys to decide not to ever have kids also, which would suck.
I don’t know that every vessel is related. I just took it that Michael could safely inhabit anyone with the Winchester blood. Could Cas? I don’t know, maybe they all have to go to different bloodlines. I assume that Lucifer and Michael, brothers, have to inhabit the same bloodline. Or are all angels related? Too many questions!
Hee, Cas was truly adorable and sad at the same time. He had to miss all the action from being so tired he was almost like a druggie again. Looks like we get more of him next week, so yay.
I didn’t think the angel was supposed to be ominous at all. I was thinking that maybe Michael planted that little idea that an angel was watching over her boys in her head. And there is one, after all, it’s just not Michael. Cas is the angel by Dean’s bed. That’s totally going in fake fic.
Agreed, when we get an epi like this it really drives home how pointless the funny ones are. I just think we’re at the point in this show where all the shows need to have meaning. They’ve constructed something grewat and need to addess it. As you said, make two parters if they have to. Still, I won’t complain. This episode was made of awesome and I’m keeping it.
I’ve been keeping track of the boys ages quite well, but for the life of me, I can’t remember their reborn dates. Aka when Sam came back to life as Dean made the deal or when Dean got out of Hell.
And Jared had some brilliant stuff to work with and used it to shine in his scenes with Sam’s young parents. That’s the kind of material he can use in his resume.
I agree, Michael had to erase John’s and Mary’s minds. It was also a great relief to Mary and I can’t see how she could have carried on with those memories.
You might be right. Certain human bloodlines make vessels for certain angel angelic-equivalent-for-blood lines. If Michael and Lucifer truly are angelic brothers, it makes sense that their vessels would be human brothers…. or sisters. Cas is made for another bloodline which would also explain why Dean couldn’t hear his true voice. (Remember in the beginning of season four, all the shattered glass and terrible noises.)
If you put it that way… Cas could never be ominous. He’s too adorable for that. And I can’t wait to read that fake fic.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy the funny episodes, I do, kind of. My sense of humour just can’t tolerate all the jokes; it’s not something that translates well. But there was balance before and last autumn they lost that balance. That is why I crave for more myth, death and gloom.
Well Dean got out of hell the beginning of last season so I would assume Sept 2009. Sam…not sure, end of season 2 I think. Guessing May 2007? I’m sure we could find that info out but am too lazy at the moment.
Yeah I’m not sure but I like the idea that certain bloodlines are accessible to certain angels. Though it’s possible that Lucifer can only use hosts that have been touched by a demon at some point as well. I get the feeling it will not be established so we can make it anything we want.
Fake fic will be fun. Thrusting and the angel with the devilish temptation. Something along those lines. I’ll work it all out when the time comes 🙂
I like the funny episodes if and when they’re spread out. One of my favorite epis will always be the one where they made fun of the fandom. I thought that was hysterical. It’s just they need to not overdo and they’ve been doing it too much this year. Next week’s look like it has some humor but also serious undertones with Sam’s blood addiction. I can deal with that.
Not sure how I felt about this past episode. I’m not sure how I feel about Anna either as I forget why everyone hates her? The last thing I remember is her sleeping with Dean…and that’s it. Did she betray the boys somehow (before this latest epi)? I’d love a recap if you have time.
One thing I don’t understand is if everything is fated to be (Sam and Dean saying yes to their angels), then why is Lucifer trying so hard to get Sam to say yes if they know he will anyway?
I loved John and Mary, and it was interesting to see John telling Sam how he felt about a parent putting their children into hunting. It was also nice to see Sam defend older John; the whole conversation was quite endearing. The sad thing though is their memories (John and Mary) were erased by Michael. (Right?)
I could have used more Cas in the episode, but I’ll take what I can get. I think we all thought he was going to “save the day” in the end but it was Michael who did so instead.
Sorry I haven’t written in my blog — I’m in the process of moving. Hopefully I’ll get around to it later! 😀
In response to the erased memories — sad because older John will never know how Sam said during their conversation and Mary will never be able to know Sam as an adult. (Or Dean.)
Anna’s shown up a few times since the unsexy sex scene and she’s been progressively annoying each time. I can’t remember what she did to make Castiel set her up and get her thrown in Heaven Prison but that’s the last time we saw her. I’ve never forgiven the actress and thus the character for the unsexy still wearing a bra sex and of course here she was trying to make it so that Dean never existed. Why wouldn’t I want her to burn to a crisp?
I guess even if it’s fated they still have free will to say no. They have to be convinced and talked into it. If there was no choice then Michael wouldn’t have finally appeared to talk to Dean either.
Yeah it is sad that John and Mary can’t retain the memories of their children but I think it’s the only way they could have gone on existing and enjoying the last few years of Mary’s life as well.
Hope your move is going well, that’s never fun!
I do remember the unsexy bra wearing, lol.
I also remember her occasionally showing up after that scene as well; I just can’t for the life of me remember her purpose. I think Castiel turned her in for “falling.” Turning back on Heaven to return to earth as a human (I think that’s what “falling” was).
And of course, trying to kill Dean is never good!
And yes, I do agree the wiping of the memories was best. When Dean was telling her when she was going to die and whatnot, I kept thinking if I was Mary, I’d be so miserable and scared in the next few years.
You know what would be cool? To see a younger Bobby and how that whole friendship started.
Hee, who can forget such unsexiness? And how can you be unsexy when making out with Dean? It’s just wrong!
I don’t think Cas turned her in for falling, because that was several times later and she was already working with the angels again. I’m pretty sure she interfered with some plan of his. I really can’t remember for sure but I know she was upset with him for something he did. Too lazy to go figure it out. hehe
Younger Bobby would definitely be an awesome thing. Ram was hoping the couple who’s car Anna fell on was Ellen and her husband in their youth. It’s possible. hehe
Yeah I don’t know how Mary and/or John could have gone on living if they knew what lay ahead for them and their sons. There’s no way. Michael did the humane thing and of course the only thing that makes sense with the story, hehe.