SPN Georg

This... is a big one. This is the episode where I first sat up and realized why Cas stuck around, why he became such an important and beloved character (s7 was airing at the time of my first watch, if you needed context for that). His entire character arc for the rest of the series pretty much takes off right here. But the seeds of his entire relationship with Dean are also planted here. This was the first episode of Supernatural that I watched, got to the end of, and then immediately went back and watched it again. It’s that important.

Also, the episode where we first see an Angel Blade, aka the “Sword of Lucifer” that was supposed to be a one-off, or at least a Unique Special Weapon, that Kripke was like... nah that’s too good, and just handed them out like tic tacs at the beginning of s5, completely retconning all of s4. Wild stuff.

That said, I’ll just jump right to giving y’all links, because there’s a lot...

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tag for this episode (all 12 pages of it lol... it’s A Lot of meta)

Especially these posts that I usually link individually, but heck, so many I grouped them by topic:

Retcons, Angel Blades, and the Writing Room: 1, 2, 3

Castiel and his Character Arc: 1, 2, 3,

Watch notes from June 2019

the CW promo video

The extended scene of Dean and Cas talking before torturing Alastair, 100% must watch 5 minutes of footage

RIP Pamela. RIP Dean beginning to feel even remotely good about himself. RIP Sam’s secrets (well... soon... we the audience have seen a glimpse, but Dean is still getting stonewalled...)

This is a hard episode, and even more so because it follows several MotW episodes and wrenches us back into the big mytharc plots. But also because we can watch Sam completely abandon the concept of being “careful” with his demon powers and “not letting it get too far” that he’d promised Dean earlier this season. It hurts.

We watch Dean regain memories of one of the worst days of his life and have to reconcile all of that on the fly while facing off against the demon who tortured him in hell for forty years. It’s a lot.

And Cas... he’s still “other.” He’s still an outsider and not a friend or even an ally. Right here, he looks a lot more like someone just using Dean for his own purposes, which is also kinda scary how easily Sam and Dean both just... believed it had been Bobby sending them info on this case all along. What is even real? What’s the deal with this natural order that Sam has accepted he might not really be part of, while Dean struggles to accept himself only to have even that ripped away by the end? Ow.

Supplemental links for this week’s episode include:

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tumblr tag for this episode

But especially these posts:

A Mini-Hellatus extended CW promo video, including scenes from 4.15 and 4.16

And interestingly, a casting call announcement for Alastair and Cole

Finally, for the truly intrepid listener, here’s my cosmology tag. I debated including a few other tags, but that’s enough to be going on for now :’D

Did someone say queer Dean content? Because we have some of that here...

Truly there’s been so much written about this episode, strictly about Dean and his sexuality, that I’m gonna take one little paragraph here to say that the surface-level parallels (including the vast majority of the THEN segment of this episode) are all sending up flaming red flags about Sam and what he’s secretly up to with Ruby. Even though Ruby isn’t even *in* this episode. Because if we weren’t already worried about Sam and the terrible secrets he’s keeping from Dean, this episode does its best to launch flare guns at us over it.

But the queer Dean content? I got plenty of that too!

Links that will likely be especially of interest this week:

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tag for this episode

But especially these posts:

Network arena (previously posted for 4.12), as well as casting sides for Nick the Siren and Dr. Cara Roberts

An interview with Jim Parrack (the actor who plays Nick) from the official Supernatural magazine (archived from the source) and if that’s hard to read (tumblr version with embiggenable images) (yes, that’s the one where he talks about leaning into the sexuality of the siren, while also playing the character as not strictly male or female)

The 20 second CW Promo for this episode

Poor Sam thought he completely understood the situation when he was a freshman in high school, but fifteen years later from an adult perspective things look very, very different. And doesn’t this just define a big part of Sam? This burden of guilt he carries for so many things that aren’t really his fault, yet he still feels responsible for? Owwww.

Granted, this theme pretty much sums up the mytharc plot of s4, too, from both Sam and Dean’s perspectives-- not having the full story, believing they know the right thing from Sam’s putting his trust in Ruby in their mission to kill Lilith, and Dean not having the full story of what’s going on with Sam and assuming they’re on the same page...

And Dean in this episode, what we learn about him on the cusp of adulthood gives us a lot of insight into the mask of Performing Dean, his ability to fit himself into a situation as both a shield and a tool to get even a little of what he needs. It’s just sad all around. :(

But that’s why we watch this show. Bring on the suffering!

Supplemental materials for this week’s episode:

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tag for this episode

But especially these posts:

Story Arena and casting sides for Amanda, Dirk McGregor Senior, Mr. Wyatt, April, and young Dean

And yet another CW promo video

Disclaimer: I have no idea what kind of person the actual Criss Angel is, but the dollar store version of him in this episode is most definitely a douchebag. They don’t let us forget! It’s like this episode was written to test the network censor’s last nerve over how many times they could say “douchebag” in a single episode. :’D

Sometimes when I’m editing an episode, I have to stop and debate whether or not to go back and add a clarification or expand on something I said, and I’m still genuinely turning this one over in my head. I didn’t add anything, but hooboy, I kinda want to. Specifically, pointing out how anvil-heavy some of the conversations between Jay and Charlie are-- not just to Sam’s situation in s4 with Ruby and his guilt in s5 (and even later... think 8.23 and his confession, that he always felt like he was letting Dean down), but to so much of the Brother Drama that drives a large part of the series. His guilt and his own feelings of failure so often drives him to make irrationally terrible decisions.

I’m not letting Dean off the hook on that one. I mean, his feelings of failure over Sam’s death in 2.21 have been driving this plot for the last two seasons. And he will make objectively terrible decisions in the future, like taking on the Mark of Cain, saying yes to Michael, etc. But his choices are so often motivated by his personal feelings of failure, his personal depression and feelings of worthlessness, while Sam’s are motivated almost entirely by his feeling that he has failed DEAN. There’s a difference.

Anyway, I can’t really figure how to add a conversation about all of this without totally derailing the chat about THIS episode specifically, so I just crammed the little notification here and hopefully listeners will be ready to pick up on it between what I did say out loud. :’D

Supplemental material for this week’s episode is kinda light anyway:

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tag for this episode

But mostly these two rewatch notes posts: one and two

The CW promo video for this episode

The Network Arena  for this episode (the arena being a short outline of the episode presented to the network for approval before writing even begins. In this case, it’s about a page and a half of text. in the same document is the original idea for 4.14 as well… which we’ll discuss when we get there)

I know this is an episode that a lot of people forget exists (or really try to forget it exists). But for how truly terrible the rest of this episode is, that final scene with Sam and Dean under the bridge is *critical* to Dean’s character, and understanding the breaking point of s4, as well as Dean’s arc going forward. For like... the rest of the series. So yeah, I’m mad it’s at the tail end of an episode almost nobody rewatches because the rest of it is so terribly forgettable.

He didn’t just spent 40 years in Hell. He didn’t just break and get up off that torture table and pick up the razor and start torturing others to save himself. He *liked* it. He ENJOYED being the torturer, because it enabled him to let all that pain and suffering slide away, leaving him completely empty of feeling. Very demon-y. But also what he wishes he could feel again-- nothing at all. CRY WITH ME ABOUT DEAN PLS.

Also, this is the shortest episode of this podcast yet, for obvious reasons :’D

Things that may be of interest to listeners:

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tumblr tag for this episode (there’s only like 15 posts there)

But especially these four posts:

Casting sides for four members of the Carter family, the story arena (detailed outline presented to the network before writing began), and the Yellow Draft of the script

The wikipedia article about the X-Files episode “Home”

The CW Promo video for this episode

 And a link to the X-Files/Supernatural crossover fic I wrote for gish 2022, in case anyone is into super meta with a side of crack fic :’D

If their ability to find an escape hatch out of this one irritated Chuck, I can’t help but imagine that’s at least part of what pushes him in 4.18 to “write himself into the story,” you know? When does Chuck ever show up in the story, when the Winchesters could really use a helping hand from a loving God? Nah. Well, maybe a little bit... but mostly it’s when they’re finding loopholes in the story-- the whole “we’ll find another way” rather than make this most awful choice the narrative has been pushing them toward. But that’s besides the point, because this episode isn’t about him :’D

Mostly what we learn about here is the intro to all the stuff that will underpin Castiel’s entire character arc for the next 13 seasons-- the nature of angel grace, what an angel is, what differentiates and what makes them similar to a human soul, and the oppression angels experience under Heaven’s rules of “obey or die.” Right there you get the foundation for Cas’s fear of allowing his “humanity” to blossom, and if you let me I’ll rant forever about why this alone makes his end in canon the ultimate tragedy. But I won’t do that today >.>

We also learn a little more about Dean’s 40 years in Hell and that he wished he couldn’t feel any of that at all-- the worst human emotions. He’d give up the good stuff just to not have to feel all that bad stuff, as Anna tells him even knowing what he experienced and feels right then is worth it to her, that she doesn’t want to give up any of it to go back to being an angel who can’t really feel any of it...

on to the references for this week’s episode!

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tag for this episode

but especially these posts:

The cut scene of Cas and Uriel talking about their orders that is absolutely essential, likely cut because it gave too much away of the larger plot (1:47 long video)

The CW promo for this episode (:20 long)

Interviews with Gen & Thunderbird linked on tumblr bc i hit AnchorFM's 4k character lim

aka that one where Chuck submitted fic to a bang because he wanted art for it

I joke, but... it’s kinda like he was trying to fill in those missing months while Dean was in Hell a little bit, and then Anna was forced to beta it, and illustrated a few scenes.

Yes, this is a two-parter that ends on a big cliffhanger, and it’s not even a midseason finale, let alone a season finale. We go right into the second half next week, and together these episodes give us yet another mirror to how the larger season arc functions. But only in hindsight. Season four, still with the shenanigans!

Sure we learn loads about how Ruby inserted herself into Sam’s life without learning The Biggest Issue (Sam and his demon blood...), and we learn that Dean knows this Big Bad Demon hassling them and trying to kill Anna, but not the nature of their interactions in Hell. What we do learn in this episode does go miles to give us a larger picture of what happened during those months, knowing what happens by the end of the season, having the full context of what we’re clearly still missing as the story unfolds, gives us an entirely different perspective on the underlying drama and the painful twist that still awaits us.

Things referenced in this week’s episode:

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tag for this episode

But especially these posts:

My tags for angel grace discussion: On the nature of angel grace, angels and souls, you learned it from the goats. There’s a bit of overlap between them, but there’s a lot there despite that.

The CW’s promo video for the episode

An interview with Julie McNiven about playing Anna

Casting sides for Anna and Alastair

I am so personally partial to episodes wherein Sam and Dean experience maximum wtf, which so often defines Edlund episodes. Especially as the series continues and they have leveled up so much since the early days of “this is so far out of our paygrade” for every little monster they run across. Sometimes knocking them completely off balance is the best way to shake loose important character development. As it is in this episode.

Directly to the point today, with the links relevant to this week’s episode:

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tag for this episode

But especially these posts (since a lot of my tag is funny gif sets and later seasons meta for this one):

(and a quick personal aside to scream internally about how they should’ve finally received the payoff they deserved at the end of the series, because GAAAHHHHH)

The archived interview with Ted Raimi including comments on his appearance in this episode

The CW Promo video for this episode

Casting sides for Wes and Hope

And finally, since I talked about the SPNscripthunt project at the end of this one, you can find everything we’re working on right here, and a continuously updated listing of our collection on the Superwiki scripts and sides page!

What I consider to be the beginning of Castiel’s arc toward truly understanding Free Will and eventually accepting it for himself, this episode is packed with things that will become central tenets of the show for the rest of the series. Considering this is Julie Siege’s first episode, and she only wrote a total of six episodes over two seasons, her impact on the core of the narrative of the entire series can’t really be overstated.

Sam battles with his own power, his addiction to it, and can’t even see just how much it’s already begun to burn him. He also gets to meet angels for the first time, and it really blows the shine off the whole heaven, god, and prayer thing he’d always believed so strongly in before. And that revelation-- that angels are dicks-- doesn’t really help Sam with his own internal struggle this season. Poor Sam. Maybe he’s just not “sincere” enough in his belief in that Great Pumpkin...

Things referenced in this episode:

The Superwiki page for this episode

My tag for this episode

But especially these posts:

Casting sides for Tracy, Don, and Uriel (the ones for Uriel are worth the click alone)

The extended scene of Uriel and Cas talking about their orders (less than 2 minutes, on youtube)

the CW promo for this episode (30 seconds, on youtube)