"Luck is not our style."

Okay, first thought: Samhain is not pronounced Sam-Hayn. Seriously. But I have to write it like that throughout this recap because it's the only way I can keep a straight face when transcribing the mangled mispronunciation. This is an awesome episode, but I will never be able to watch it without giggling.

Second thought: this is another fantastic episode in what so far has been a remarkably strong season, taking the existing mytharc as we understand it and adding still more layers of depth and complexity. An excellent offering from another writer new to the team.

Then

"You know how I feel about Halloween," Sam Winchester reminded his girlfriend Jessica, way, way back at the beginning of it all.

Since that day, Sam and his brother Dean have fought all manner of creatures, and we are treated to a run-through of quite a number of them. Crocatta. Vanir. Achiri. Rakshasa. Death omen. Shtriga. Djinn. Vampire. Reaper. Spirit. Demon. Doc Benton.

Castiel was an angel of the lord, who pulled Dean out of hell. He explained to Dean that the demon Lilith was working to break the 66 Seals and free Lucifer.

Sam claimed that he was not using his Azazel-given powers, but Dean learned that this was a lie – that Sam had developed the ability to extract demons from their host bodies and send them back to hell. Sam had convinced himself that this was a good thing – that he was saving lives, whereas Ruby's demon-killing knife would kill the host. Dean was not convinced.

Castiel warned Dean to show him some respect. "I dragged you out of hell. I can throw you back in."

Now

Two days before Halloween

A young mother arrives home with arms full of Halloween goodies. Her husband is just finishing up feeding the baby, and they chitchat about the mayhem that was the store and about Hubby's desire for the Halloween candy. The actors do a good job in this scene – they feel very genuine and warm, the perfect happy little family.

Mom takes Baby upstairs for a bath, and Hubby instantly takes the opportunity to pinch a piece of candy. It is the last mistake he will ever make. Within moments he has realised that something is wrong, and reaches into his mouth. We are treated to a rather House-esque view from the back of his throat as he pulls out a razor blade that has inexplicably become embedded in the roof of his mouth…inexplicable, because the blade is bigger than the candy he just chewed. Ick! Gross!

I don't do mouths. This isn't as bad as the teeth or maggots of Malleus Maleficarum, but still verges on triggering my gag reflex!

Hubby panics, and collapses to the floor groaning in pain and coughing up blood, spitting out another razor blade in the process. By the time Mom comes back downstairs to find out what is taking so long, he is dead.

Titles

One day before Halloween

Sam interviews Mom – Mrs Wallace – while Dean pokes around. She tearfully explains that two razor blades were found on the floor, one in Hubby Luke's stomach, and one stuck in his throat, and can't understand how it is even possible that he swallowed four of them.



Sam has no good answer to offer, and Mrs Wallace is distracted by Dean's investigation of her kitchen, pointing out that the candy was never in the oven. Dean flounders very slightly – it's all in the eyes – before falling back on the old "we just have to be very thorough" line by way of non-explanation. While Sam continues the interview, learning in the process that no razors were found in the rest of the candy, Dean notices that the fridge has recently been moved and investigates.

"I can't believe it," Mrs Wallace flails. "I mean, you hear urban legends about this stuff…but it actually happens?"

"More than you might imagine," Sam grimly admits.

Behind Mrs Wallace, Dean holds up the hex bag he just found behind the fridge.



By way of acknowledgement of this development, Sam smoothly switches to a new line of enquiry, asking if Hubby Luke had any enemies. Mrs Wallace doesn't know what he means, so Sam offers a few angles in hopes of ringing a bell: neighbours, co-workers…a woman…? Mrs Wallace is appalled at the inference that her husband might have had an affair, and insists that it is not possible. Sam apologises but firmly insists that they have to consider all possibilities.

"If someone wanted to kill my husband," Mrs Wallace spits. "Don't you think they'd find a better way than a razor in a piece of candy he might eat?"

That's an excellent point, and the brothers can't deny it.

Motel

Sam perches on the edge of the sofa with books and his laptop strewn across the coffee table in front of him, researching. It looks like rather an uncomfortable arrangement to sit and study for any length of time, but I daresay he's used to the backache by now.



Sam is busily identifying the various items from the hex bag as Dean wanders in munching on candy. Sam snorts and reminds his brother that Luke Wallace choked down a gutful of razor blades along with his candy. Mouth full, Dean just shrugs that it is Halloween. The allure of candy outweighs all else.

"Yeah, right. For us, every day is Halloween," Sam scoffs.

Telling his brother not to be such a downer, Dean perches on the arm of the sofa and asks if he's found anything interesting.

Sam observes that they are on a witch-hunt, which I'm guessing Dean had already figured out for himself the moment he found the hex bag. However, Sam adds, it is not the typical hex bag. It contains a herb that has been extinct for 200 years, an ancient coin bearing a genuine Celtic symbol, maybe 600 years old – certainly no New Age knock off – and the charred metacarpal bone of a new born baby.



Dean had picked the bone up to take a look, but on learning what it is hastily drops it back onto the table, groaning at the grossness. Sam just shrugs that it is at least a hundred years old, picking the bone up for a closer look. Sam's all about the scientific detachment here, in contrast to Dean's visceral reaction to the concept of a baby's bone. Sam's cerebral to Dean's physical; we see it over and over.

And maybe this is another reason Sam succumbed to the temptation of exploring his powers. Dean is all instinct and intuition, but Sam likes to operate from a position of knowledge. He likes to study, to learn – to understand. There is power in knowledge. Maybe he hoped that by gaining a greater understanding of his abilities, by mastering them, bending them to his own will, he might have less to fear from them.



"That makes it better?" Dean protests with a shudder. "Witches, man – they're so freaking skeevy."

Sam agrees, and observes that it would take a pretty powerful witch to put a bag like this together. "More juice than we've ever dealt with before, that's for sure." He asks in turn what Dean has managed to find out about the victim.

"This Luke Wallace? He was so vanilla that he made vanilla seem spicy," Dean reports. "I can't find any reason why somebody would want this guy dead."

Party

Elsewhere in town, a Halloween party is in full swing…or not, as the case may be. A pair of teenage girls wearing skimpy outfits agree that the party blows, but blonde Tracy brightens up at the sight of classmate Justin and asks if he's breaking into the booze yet. He sighs that it is triple locked, and asks if they are going to the 'mausoleum party' the following night. The girls giggle and agree that it has to be better than this 'g-rated ass-fest', although blonde Tracy chides her brunette friend that it isn't that bad and decides to go bobbing for apples despite the protests of her friends that it is lame.

Tracy gets her apple first try, and as she turns around with the apple in her mouth, face dripping with water, all seductive teen temptress, Justin changes his mind. Brunette Jenny promptly decides that she wants to try, unwilling to let Tracy have all the attention. She can't get her teeth into any of the apples, however…and then can't get her face out of the water. It takes Tracy and Justin a while to work out that something is wrong, finally alerted by Jenny's frantically scrabbling feet. But they are unable to pull her out of the water, and then further alarmed when the water starts to bubble and boil.

Trapped, Jenny's face turns scarlet as it boils along with the water. Finally, she goes limp, and Justin is now able to haul her out of the water, dead, her face horribly scalded.

Later

Dean and Sam arrive to find Tracy being interviewed by the police. Dean takes one look and decides that he will handle the interviewing on this one. Sam snorts. "Two words: jail bait." Heh. Dean smirks that he would never, and heads on over while Sam starts searching the place.



All wrapped up in a blanket for the shock, Tracy is confusedly explaining to the interviewing cop that the water in the tub wasn't even hot, that she had just been in there herself. Smoothly inserting himself into the interview, Dean asks if Jenny happened to know a man named Luke Wallace, holding up a badge and identifying himself as Agent Seger, FBI.

The name Luke Wallace doesn't mean anything to Tracy. But behind her Sam has found another hex bag, tucked into the cushions on the sofa.



Motel

Dean is on laptop duty this time, while Sam lounges on the bed with a book, and we only get a quick glimpse of them researching quietly together like this before the scene kicks into action but I like it, the studious, companiable atmosphere of them working individually but together on the same problem. I want to see joint research more often! Except of course that two people sitting silently in a room reading probably wouldn't make for the most thrilling TV ever… Whatever. I still want to see it!



I also really appreciate that the table Dean is working at is strewn with a variety of candy wrappers. Because it is Halloween and he is Dean and is taking the opportunity to indulge.

Just as Dean sighs that both victims were squeaky clean and he can't find any reason for Wiccan payback, Sam sits bolt upright, transfixed by whatever he is reading, his face lighting up in that way it always does when he thinks he is onto something. He announces that maybe this isn't about payback, that maybe the witch isn't working a grudge but a spell. "Check this out: 'three blood sacrifices over three days, the last before midnight on the final day of the final harvest'." He hands the book over for Dean to see. "Celtic calendar – the final day of the final harvest is October 31st."

Halloween, Dean realises, asking what the blood sacrifices are for. Of course, he could just read it for himself, since the page is right there in front of him and he is looking at it. But they need to say it all out loud to keep the viewing audience informed, and since Sam read the whole passage already, the exposition falls to him.

"If I'm right, the witch is summoning a demon," Sam explains. "And not just any demon: Sam-Hayn."



This is the point where I bury my head in my hands and groan in mock despair. He means Samhain, an ancient festival celebrated on November Eve, marking the end of summer and onset of winter. But both Sam and every single other character in this episode grossly mispronounces the word to the point where it is unrecognisable. It's Gaelic. The mh is a digraph, a double letter to produce a single sound. And that sound does not sound like either m or h! Samhain sounds a bit like soh-wen, or sah-ven, depending on whether you are using Irish or Scots Gaelic. Not sam-hayn.

Therefore I am going to refer to this demon as Sam-Hayn throughout the recap and completely forget about the spurious Samhain connection, because it is the only way I can keep a straight face when I hear them say it over and over! Especially since they are all so very earnest when they say it. Hilarious.

Dean asks if he is supposed to be impressed, and Sam snips that Sam-Hayn "is the damn origin of Halloween." He says it as if Dean should know that, and my first thought is that maybe Dean would have known it if Sam had pronounced the word correctly…

But no. Dean can't say it either. Nobody can, in the whole episode.

"Celts believed that October 31st was the one night of the year when the veil was thinnest between the living and the dead," Sam explains. "And it was Sam-Hayn's night, I mean: masks were put on to hide from him and sweets left on doorsteps to appease him, faces carved into pumpkins to worship him. He was exorcised centuries ago."

I shan't comment on the discrepancies between this broad Supernatural-universe overview and the genuine myth, because the one is only very loosely based on the other and is no more intended to represent any real world myths than the Show's version of the various urban legends we have seen them take on. The old Celtic tradition of Samhain was merely a place for the development of this story to begin, adapted heavily (and rather bizarrely turned into a demon) to fit the requirements of the Show's own mytharc development.

"So even though Sam-Hayn took a trip downstairs, the tradition stuck," Dean summarises.

"Exactly. Only now, instead of demons and blood orgies, Halloween is all about kids, candy and costumes," Sam agrees.



"So some witch wants to raise Sam-Hayn and take back the night?" Dean frowns.

Sam snips that this is serious, and Dean protests that he is serious. "We're talking heavy-weight witchcraft," Sam points out. "This ritual can only be performed every six hundred years."

And the six hundred year marker is tomorrow night, of course. Such convenient timing! Dean grumbles that it is a lot of death and destruction for just one demon, and Sam explains that this is because Sam-Hayn likes company. "Once he's raised, Sam-Hayn can do some raising of his own." Raising what, exactly, Dean wonders, glancing at the illustrations in the book by way of a clue. "Dark, evil crap, and lots of it," Sam grimly replies. "And they follow him around like the friggin' Pied Piper."

Oh, Show should so make a Pied Piper episode! That would be awesome.

So they are talking ghosts, Dean notes. Yep, Sam agrees. "Zombies? Leprechauns?" Dean offers. Sam huffs his frustration at the flippancy, but "those little dudes are scary," Dean deadpans. "Small hands." Hee.

"Look, it just starts with ghosts and ghouls," Sam snaps, no sense of humour at all in the face of something this huge. "Then this sucker keeps on going – by night's end we are talking every evil thing we have ever seen. Everything we fight. All in one place."

"It's going to be a slaughterhouse," Dean sombrely realises.



Street. Day. Halloween

Dean sits at the wheel of the parked Impala, munching on candy. The pile of empty wrappers on the passenger seat beside him bears ample testimony to just how much he has indulged since he's been sitting here, so he totally deserves the stomachache he evidently now has as a result.

Dean's phone rings. Man, we hadn't heard that ringtone since season two, and now we get it twice in as many episodes. Back at the motel, Sam asks how it's going. Awesome, Dean snarks, reporting that he has talked to Mrs Razor Blade again and has since been sitting out in front of her house for hours but has a big steamy pile of nothing to show for it.

Sam, from the snug warmth of the motel room, gets all huffy with his brother, who is sitting in the car in the cold, snipping that someone with access to both houses planted those hex bags and there has to be some connection. Dean grumbles that he hopes they find it soon, because he is starting to cramp like a… "Son of a bitch!"

He is no longer talking about the cramp, staring in disbelief as blonde Tracy approaches the Wallace house. Sam, lacking the visual, does not know what he is talking about. "No, Sam, I mean son of a bitch," Dean repeats, staring as Mrs Wallace and Baby greet Tracy like an old friend.

Moonlight Motel

As Dean returns, Sam is lounging on the bed with the laptop, which looks marginally more comfortable than hunching over the coffee table. Between them they summarise that the apple-bobbing cheerleader Tracy is the Wallace's babysitter, despite her claim never to have heard of Luke Wallace.

"Interesting look for a centuries old witch," Sam remarks.

You know, the small but surely pertinent detail of just how this witch comes to be centuries old and how she achieves her youthful appearance is never addressed in the episode.

"Yeah, well, if you were a six hundred year old hag and you could pick any costume to come back in, wouldn't you go for a hot cheerleader?" Dean smirks. "I would."

Heh. Dean's all hazy-eyed at the thought of hot cheerleaders, and I'm fairly certain it's not because he's imagining being one. Sam just looks at him, like dude, that is so wrong, and Dean finally notices and reacts and the silence and the expressions are just perfect. Hee.



Sam reports that Tracy isn't as wholesome as she looks – he's done some digging and learned that she is currently suspended from school after a violent altercation with one of her teachers.

School

Dean wanders along a corridor decorated with the students' papier-mache Halloween masks. One of these masks – a sunken face with bloody, gaping holes for mouth and eye sockets – stops him dead in his tracks, and we hear the sound of screaming, another brief but disturbing flashback of hell triggered by something about this mask in particular.



Dean stands and stares at the mask, transfixed. Now, up till recently he hasn't seemed entirely aware that his buried memories of hell are starting to surface, firmly repressing conscious awareness of his nightmare-flashbacks – the mind has to function, after all, and suppressing horrific memories is a form of self-protection. But after his ghost sickness-induced hallucinations in Yellow Fever, I doubt he can truly deny the existence of those buried memories to himself any more, however reluctant he is to share this information with his brother. Saying something out loud makes it real. He certainly seems aware of what is happening here, for all that his repress-and-deny instinct continues to immediately kick into operation.

"Bring back memories?" Sam appears behind Dean, who is startled by the question and wonders what his brother means. "Being a teenager, all that angst." Sam glances around at the masks, amused, like he doesn't angst as much as any teenager even now. "What did you think I meant?"



Dean brushes it off, although his eyes are drawn like magnets back to the mask that disturbed him so.

The brothers continue on into the art lab, where a student is preparing a clay bong for baking – or trying to anyway, since it doesn't fit in the kiln. "Now that brings back memories," Dean grins, resolutely repressing all thought of hell once more, still not even willing to acknowledge the flashbacks to himself, never mind to Sam.

The teacher Don Hardy wanders over and makes himself known to the brothers, wondering what they want to talk to him about. Dean introduces himself and Sam as Agents Getty and Lee. Okay, cute – but wasn't he Agent Seger just yesterday? Isn't that the same ID badge? Is he not just asking to get busted?

The brothers explain that they need to talk about Tracy Davis, and Don vagues that she is a bright kid with loads of talent and it's a shame she got suspended. Dean reminds him of the violent altercation he had with her and Don chuckles that she exploded and would have clawed his eyes out if the principal hadn't walked by when he did. He was just trying to talk to her about her work, he sighs, since said work had become inappropriate and disturbing.



"More disturbing than those guys?" Dean indicates the Halloween masks, keeping it light.

Don explains that Tracy filled page after page with bizarre, cryptic symbols, and drew detailed images of killings, gory and primitive, depicting herself in the middle, participating. Sam pulls out a Celtic coin from the hex bags and shows it to Don, who agrees that some of the symbols Tracy drew looked like that.

Dean asks if the teacher knows where Tracy is now, and he shrugs that she is probably at her apartment. "She got here about a year ago, alone – as I understood it, as an emancipated teen. God only knows what her parents were like."

But…Tracy's school file that we saw earlier listed both parents, complete with contact details, so that doesn't entirely fit. Still, it's a minor point.

Moonlight Motel

The Impala pulls up and parks in the otherwise deserted parking lot. Tourist season's over, huh.

Dean hops out as Sam wanders across the lot to meet him. Neither one has been able to find any trace of Tracy. "Luck is not our style," Dean sighs. "Her friends don't know where she is. It's like the bitch hopped a broomstick."

The brothers are dismayed by their inability to find Tracy, since she should be making the third sacrifice at any time…but the crisis management meeting has to be postponed slightly as a small, pudgy astronaut approaches them, perkily calling out "trick or treat!"



Ah, Halloween.

Dean points out that this is a motel. The young astronaut fails to see why this is a problem. Dean tells him they don't have any candy. Sam begs to differ, recalling that they had a ton in the car. Dean has to obliquely confess that he ate it all and tells the kid that they can't help him. The brat whines that he wants candy, and this is one of my biggest problems with the whole Halloween phenomenon as celebrated in this day and age: the way children are encouraged to believe that they have some kind of divine right to be given freebies by any stranger they happen upon.



Astronaut-eye-view from behind the Buzz Lightyear helmet shows Dean smiling that he thinks the boy has had enough, and then double taking at the glare the child bestows upon him. Heh. Dean is usually rather better at handling children than this, but I can easily believe that he is better with troubled youngsters than spoiled ones.

The brothers head on to their room, the disgruntled boy rudely shoving his way past Dean to head in the other direction.

Motel room

Sam enters the room first. And this is the point at which what had been an entertaining but rather slow Monster Of The Week offering suddenly about turns and transforms itself into an intense and enthralling mytharc-heavy instalment. For Sam immediately hits red alert, whipping out his gun and yelling a warning, because there is someone in the room.

It is Castiel, sitting with his back to the door and looking glum. He doesn't react to Sam's shout, and Dean quickly calls his brother off, explaining that it is Castiel, the angel. However, Dean doesn't know the other man in the room, standing gazing out of the window.

Castiel turns to say hello to Sam, who positively lights up with delight at being face to face with an actual angel. Such a total fanboy, filled with reverence and awe. Sam is the brother who has always had faith, always believed. Even after Dean told him about Castiel's threat and disapproval of his actions, he still reacts like this when he finally gets to meet the angel. That's adorable – and kinda heartbreaking. Sam is so very, very Sam in this episode, and I am relieved to see it.



Sam starts stammering that he didn't meant to point a gun at an angel and that it is an honour to finally get to meet Castiel, and he holds out his hand in greeting…and Castiel just stands there and stares at it, like he's never seen a hand before and doesn't know what to do with it. And there is a very long, tense moment as we all wonder if the angel is going to completely snub Sam by refusing to shake his hand, maybe because he doesn't want to touch the man with demon blood…or maybe just because he's still unfamiliar with human conventions and niceties and isn't sure how to react. Plus, I daresay he is a little uneasy with touch in general. Only thrice have we seen him lay a hand on a living being, once to knock Bobby out, once to send Dean back in time, and once as an unprecedented gesture of reassurance to Dean. He is still relatively unaccustomed to this human form, although learning fast, and we know that the touch of an angel can be powerful if not carefully controlled.



So, there is a long, long moment where Sam keeps his hand out, fidgeting and anxious, while Dean closes the door and Castiel hesitates. But then finally the angel reaches out his own hand and shakes Sam's – clasps it, even, a gesture that comes across as equal parts greeting and threat – as he returns the sentiment that it is an honour to meet him. "Sam Winchester. The boy with the demon blood."



Even after Dean told him what Castiel had to say about his powers, Sam is disconcerted to hear the angel describing him thus, to know that this is how they have labelled him, what they think of him. He had such high hopes for what it might mean to have angels on their side.

"I'm glad to hear you've ceased your extra-curricular activities," Castiel continues, and again, this is hardly designed to make Sam feel comfortable, being such a thorny and complex issue.

Thorny and complex from Sam's point of view, that is, human as he is and at the mercy of his emotions. I daresay it looks a lot more straightforward, black-and-white, from an angelic point of view, unhindered by human emotion. And it has to be said: Castiel does look genuinely glad about Sam's decision, as if it is a relief to him. He means what he is saying quite sincerely, however unsettling it is for Sam to hear.

"Let's keep it that way," the other man grimly grates out, keeping his back to the room.

"Yeah, okay, Chuckles," Dean defensively snips, standing at Sam's shoulder and taking offence on his behalf. It was one thing for Dean to have a go at Sam about exploring his powers at a time when he was still actively using them; he's Sam's brother, he has that right. But it is another matter entirely when a pair of angels start ganging up to berate his little brother, especially after Sam has already stopped using his powers – way to rub his nose in it. Dean doesn't do grudges, and he never takes kindly to any outside hostility toward his brother.

Sam only now reclaims his hand from Castiel's grip. Dean asks Castiel who his friend is, but instead of answering the angel urgently asks if they have stopped the raising of Sam-Hayn. Dean asks why. Castiel again ignores the question to ask if they have located the witch, again with a note of urgency in his voice. I suspect he is hoping that if the witch has already been located and disposed of, the confrontation they are about to have could be forestalled.

Nonplussed, Dean replies that yes, they have located the witch. Still urgent, Castiel further asks if the witch is dead. Confused, Sam says no, while Dean clarifies that they do know who it is.



"Apparently, the witch knows who you are, too," says Castiel, picking up a hex bag off a bedside cabinet. "This was inside the wall of your room. If we hadn't found it, surely one or both of you would be dead. Do you know where the witch is now?"

The brothers fidget uncomfortably, totally thrown onto the back foot – Castiel is good at that – and Dean offers that they are working on it.

"That's unfortunate," sighs Castiel, looking over at his companion. Dean wonders why he cares. "The raising of Sam-Hayn is one of the 66 Seals," Castiel explains.

At this point, fans attempting to follow the mythology along at home start to become somewhat confused at such wanton intermingling of what seem to be mutually exclusive religious mythologies, the one monotheistic and the other polytheistic. But then again, Show has already turned the festival of Samhain into a demon called Sam-Hayn, so by that token further incorporating the demon Sam-Hayn into their own version of quasi Judeo-Christian mythology isn't such a stretch. In the reality of the Show, all mythologies fall under the same broad umbrella, interlinked.

"So this is about your buddy Lucifer," Dean realises.

"Lucifer is no friend of ours," Castiel's companion primly, grimly asserts, still gazing out of the window with his back to the room. Clearly, the understanding of either humour or sarcasm is also no friend of his. Eyeing the man suspiciously, Dean guardedly points out that it is just an expression.

"Lucifer cannot rise," Castiel firmly states. Lilith's attempt to do so is, after all, why angels have been sent into the world for the first time in 2,000 years.



But…hang on. Isn't Lilith meant to be the one breaking all the Seals? Where do this random witch and her Sam-Hayn raising ambitions fit into that? Coincidence? Lilith must be pleased not to have to bother with this one, since someone else is already doing all the dirty work. And what about the 600 year thing? To be truly dangerous, surely all the Seals should be breakable at any time? Because if enough of them are time-restricted, then it should be impossible to get them all broken at once, as those time-limited opening hours could be spread over millennia….

Best not to think too hard about such details, methinks.

The point Castiel is trying to make is that the breaking of the Seal must be prevented at all costs. Dean has no problem with that, in principle. "Okay. Great. Now that you're here, why don't you just tell us where the witch is, and we'll gank her and everybody goes home."

Castiel sombrely explains that this is not his mission – the witch is very powerful and has even cloaked their methods. A timely reminder that however powerful these angels are, they do have their limits.

Still excited about being in the presence of angels, despite their disapproving attitude toward him and in contrast to Dean's frustration, Sam is all anxious and hopeful and eager as he points out that he and Dean already know who the witch is, so if they all work together….

"Enough. Of. This," Castiel's dour companion spits as he finally turns around to face the others.



"Who are you and why should I care?" Dean snaps back, frustrated.

"This is Uriel. He's what you might call a specialist," Castiel rather uncomfortably introduces his companion. It seems that Uriel is a rather different kind of angel, then, someone that Castiel is maybe not entirely at ease working with so closely.



It is rather fascinating to see how Castiel interacts with a whole group like this, having only ever seen him one-on-one with Dean before now. In past visitations, when it was just he and Dean, he seemed utterly composed, able to give Dean his full attention and intimidate him with ease. Here, though, in the midst of group dynamics, he is far less assured, both Sam and Uriel adding too many variables to the conversation for his comfort. You can see him trying hard to focus on Dean, trying to hold his attention and convey his full meaning, but the distraction provided by the others makes it difficult.

Dean wonders what kind of specialist Uriel might be, and the two angels exchange a long look, fraught with discomfort on Castiel's part and resolve on Uriel's, but don't answer. "What are you going to do?" Dean presses, alarm levels rising.

"You – both of you – you need to leave this town, immediately," Castiel says by way of non-answer. I like the way he includes Sam in this warning more as an afterthought than anything else, because Sam is with Dean and Dean won't go anywhere without him, rather than because Sam's life matters in any way. Interesting. Deeply suspicious, Dean wants to know why they need to get out of town. "Because we're about to destroy it," Castiel admits.



Dean and Sam gape at one another in great alarm at the thought of such overkill.

Break

"So this is your plan: you're going to smite the whole freaking town?" Dean disbelieves.

"We're out of time," Castiel insists. "This witch has to die. The Seal must be saved."

"There are a thousand people here!" Sam protests, appalled. One thousand two hundred fourteen, Uriel grimly corrects. "And you're willing to kill them all?" Sam can't wrap his brain around the concept. It is a very Old Testament solution to the problem – just look at Sodom and Gomorrah, or Noah's Ark.



"This isn't the first time I've…purified a city," Uriel calmly states, as if that makes it any better.

"Look." Castiel turns back to Dean, trying to placate, in contrast to Uriel's dogmatism. "I understand: this is regrettable –"

"Regrettable?" Dean splutters at such understatement.



"We have to hold the line," Castiel insists. "Too many Seals have broken already."

"So you screwed the pooch on some Seals and now this town has to pay the price?" Dean protests.

Castiel argues that it is the lives of one thousand against the lives of six billion, that there is a bigger picture here, and as he says this, we are looking not at him but at the disappointment flooding Sam's face.



In essence, this is actually merely a much larger scale version of the argument that Dean and Sam had back in Jus in Bello, last season, when Sam in fact argued the same line the angels are taking here: that through the sacrifice of one the lives of many more could be saved. This time, however, the brothers are united in their rejection of the mere suggestion, and Sam is absolutely crushed that angels, of all people, are even proposing it. He had such high hopes for what they might be, as warriors of good…but he'd forgotten what the warrior part of the equation actually meant.

From an angelic, heavenly perspective, with a clear overview of the whole of time and space, it must look tremendously clear-cut and logical, like a surgical procedure. Something is happening in this one tiny town that threatens the rest of creation, and therefore if this one tiny town is removed, the threat goes away, like a surgeon excising an appendix that is about to rupture. From a distance, it is the most rational solution to the problem….

Up close, however, surrounded by the places and faces about to be wiped off the map through no fault of their own, each of them beautiful and precious in their own way, however flawed, that's where this logic starts to break down. This is the greatest difference between angelic and human perception, perhaps, the one being so distant and the other so immediate.

Dean angrily scoffs at the bigger picture and Castiel starts to lose patience, stepping closer to glare at him as he insists that Lucifer cannot rise. "If he does, then hell rises with him. Is that something that you're willing to risk?"

Dean is deeply shaken by the reminder of his recent hell experience and the prospect of another, whether here or there. Once upon a time, Castiel threatened to send him back for insubordination, and we know that threat has weighed on his mind. We've caught glimpses of his flashbacks, know how greatly he dreads any kind of return to hell, and it is this dread that Castiel is playing upon here, a powerful argument that all but paralyses Dean for a moment. The angel holds eye contact, all up in Dean's personal space, finally managing to successfully intimidate him even with the others in the room. Castiel is a reminder to Dean of everything he doesn't want to remember about how he spent his summer.

It is Sam who answers, fervently declaring that they will stop the witch before she summons anyone: that the Seal won't be broken and no one has to die.



Uriel interrupts. "We're wasting time, mud monkeys." Oh, burn. And aww, Sam's face at the insult, coming from an angel. Man, this encounter is just shattering all his illusions, and he had precious few of them left as it was.

Castiel breaks the eye contact with Dean, turning away as he says that he is sorry, but they have their orders.



"No, you can't do this," Sam chokes. "You're angels. I mean, aren't you supposed to…? You're supposed to show mercy!"

"Says who?" scoffs Uriel, amused by such naivety. It's a fair point. Whatever the modern conception of them might indicate to the contrary, both Biblical and other texts consistently portray angels as fierce and unyielding warriors.

Back to Dean, Castiel grimly says that they have no choice. Rallying, Dean counters that of course they have a choice. "What, have you never questioned a crap order? What are you, just a couple of hammers?"

Pot, meet kettle. How many times in the past has Sam made the exact same criticism of Dean?

"Look, even if you can't understand it," Castiel bites out. "Have faith. The plan is just."



Sam wonders how he can even say that. Because it comes from heaven, Castiel firmly replies, and that makes it just.

"It must be nice," Dean fumes. "To be so sure of yourselves."



"Tell me something, Dean," Castiel counters. "When your father gave you an order, didn't you obey?"

Ooh, zing. Dean has no answer to that, because, of course, the answer is yes. He did. Even when he didn't understand or didn't entirely agree, even when it hurt, he placed his faith in John and obeyed. So, rather than argue the point, he takes the hit but sticks firmly to the matter at hand rather than allowing any sidetracking onto old and personal issues. "Well, sorry, boys – looks like the plans have changed."

Castiel regards Dean with something like wonder at such intransigence, while Uriel scoffs at the notion of a mere human preventing angels from carrying out their orders. "You think you can stop us?"



"No," Dean admits, game face firmly in place. It's at moments like this that we see most clearly just how good of a poker player Dean must be. "But if you're going to smite this whole town, then you're going to have to smite us with it, 'cause we are not leaving." I like the way he includes his brother in this, knowing that Sam feels as strongly about protecting the town as he does and will totally back him up on this point. "If you went to the trouble of busting me out of hell, I figure I'm worth something to the man upstairs. You want to waste me? Go ahead. See how he digs that."



Uriel smirks, unimpressed, but Dean stands his ground. He's bluffing on kind of a weak hand, since, you know, the angels could very easily just relocate him in the blink of an eye, or bring him back to life all over again if he did get smited along with the town. But those details are unimportant compared to the simple fact of his sticking resolutely to this point of principle and arguing it so vehemently, making himself completely understood: that he would rather die all over again – and face the dreaded prospect of a return to hell – than agree to sacrifice this town.

This is not the first time that Dean has used the concept of the Almighty and the fact of his divine salvation as ammunition in an argument, and it is always noteworthy, coming from the man with no faith, who has always been so determinedly atheist. However, his worldview has been pretty much turned upside down this season, and the facts are pretty hard to deny, even for the most strenuous of unbelievers. Although it is very doubtful that he has internalised the concept of God, angels and his own value in terms of divine salvation in any way, he has had time now to become accustomed to the idea in the abstract, enough that he can comfortable employ that angle in an argument, if and when it suits him.



"I'll drag you out of here myself," Uriel grates, angered by such insolence and obstinacy from a mere human.

"But you'll have to kill me," Dean counters. "And then we're back to the same problem. I mean, come on – are you going to wipe out a whole town for one little witch? Sounds to me like you're compensating for something." He turns away from Uriel and back to Castiel, with whom he is comparatively familiar and therefore slightly more comfortable. "We can do this. We will find that witch and we will stop the summoning."



"Castiel!" Uriel roars, launching into the start of a tirade about not listening to mere mud monkeys, or something of the kind, but Castiel shuts him down immediately. Enough. Doesn't even look at him, maintaining steady, appraising eye contact with Dean. It's worth wondering just who is in charge here – not Uriel, it seems, for all his bluster.

"I suggest you work quickly," Castiel tells Dean, holding the eye contact. His almost unbroken focus has been on Dean since the moment he walked into the room, assessing action and reaction. Dean is surprised at the success of his argument, but nods, grateful to be given the opportunity to at least try.

Parking lot

Horrors! The Impala has been egged! Sacrilege!

The brothers gape at the mess, Sam looking shocked (but also mildly amused) and Dean so appalled that he can't even speak. He circles around to the driver's side in silent wrath, surveying the mess, seething, and then finally finds just one word. "Astronaut!!"

Hee.

But since there are larger, Apocalyptic matters afoot, of course, the affront to the Impala must be pushed aside so that the brothers can focus on the small issue of saving the lives of everyone in this town, including the spoiled brat who just egged their car….

Except Dean notices that Sam is just sitting there lost in a cloud of misery, and wonders what is wrong.



"Nothing," says Sam, brooding at the hex bag in his hands…and then promptly spills his woes, right on cue. Man, Sam is so predictable. This is why Dean was so shocked the one time his brother didn't want to talk. "I thought they'd be different," Sam admits.

"The angels?" Dean realises. "Well, I tried to tell you."

Sam is subdued, bitterly disappointed. "It's just…I thought they'd be righteous."

"Well," Dean muses. "They are righteous. That's kind of the problem." Surprised, Sam is snapped right out of his funk, and starts listening. "There's nothing more dangerous than some a-hole who thinks he's on a holy mission," Dean proclaims, and I love his self-censorship there as he studiously ignores the immediate obvious hole in this argument, that the angels really are on a holy mission rather than merely thinking it, since the point is otherwise sound.



The Biblical definition of righteousness involves the inherent quality of God, and although preconceptions drawn from any religious tradition don't necessarily apply, since the Show deviates from such texts in many regards, Biblical source material can and does provide a road map of sorts here. God is right because He is righteous, says this definition, therefore God can only act righteously. In one instance the word means being right, in another it is used to mean doing right, in still another case it means putting right. Righteousness implies absolute justice and allows for no shades of grey.

From an angelic point of view, everyone is a sinner and everyone has had their entire life on earth to mend their ways, warnings a-plenty, therefore smiting is just, even if the majority of those killed are collateral damage rather than intended target. It's why the whole concept of Christianity hinges around grace rather than justice. And it's why these angels are potentially so dangerous, from a human perspective, even in the course of doing right: righteousness tends not to walk hand in hand with mercy. Just look at Sodom and Gomorrah.

Sam concedes the point, and remains disheartened. "But, I mean…this is God? And heaven…and this is what I've been praying to?"



Now…Dean has never been a believer, steeped in cynicism from childhood as he has been. But he would never dream of mocking Sam's faith, especially not when it is rocking like this. He always, always tries to preserve whatever he can of his brother's innocence, of which precious little is left, and now is no different. In the face of Sam's despair, Dean automatically offers unconditional support and reassurance to try and sure up his brother's crumbling faith, absolutely sincere. He needs Sam to maintain his faith, needs Sam to have hope, not least because without it his brother's struggle against his dark destiny becomes a whole lot murkier. Sam needs to believe that he can be saved, and Dean needs Sam to believe that he can be saved.

"Look, man, I know you're into the whole God thing," he offers. "Jesus on a tortilla, stuff like that. But just because there's a couple of bad apples doesn't mean the whole barrel's rotten. I mean, for all we know, God hates these jerks. Don't give up on this stuff is all I'm saying. Babe Ruth was a dick, but baseball is still a beautiful game."

Aww. Dean makes up with sincerity what he lacks in eloquence.

Sam manages a half-smile, acknowledging his brother's efforts even if he is still struggling with his disappointment. He disconsolately picks through the contents of the hex bag, fingering the charred baby bone.

"Well, are you going to figure out a way to find this witch, or are you just going to sit there fingering your bone?" Dean teases, starting the engine.

Hee. Ah, but Sam is pondering the bone for a reason, it turns out. He points out the intensity of heat required to char a bone like this: "a lot. More than some fire or kitchen oven." Dean wonders where he is going with this. "It means we make a stop," Sam decides.

School

The brothers stealthily make their way into the deserted art room. Dean pauses to examine the kiln, shrugging that Tracy used it to char the bones and wondering what the big deal is.

Sam has gone straight to the desk, however, and points out that the hex bag turned up in their room not after they talked to Tracy… After they talked to the teacher, Dean realises, catching up.

So…during the whole drive to the school, Sam didn't bother to explain his theory in full?

Sam discovers a hefty lock on the bottom desk drawer and smashes it off with a handy nearby mallet. Inside is a bowl full of children's bones. Ick! The brothers are squicked.

Park

It is starting to get dark, and there are costumed youngsters everywhere, merrily going about their trick-or-treating.



Castiel and Uriel lurk around a bench under a tree, mulling over the situation. Castiel firmly states that the decision has been made. Uriel scoffs. "By a mud monkey," he scorns.

See that, right there? They out and tell us who has the final call here, just slipping it into the conversation to see if we'll notice the significance.

Castiel mildly berates his fellow angel for calling humans that, but Uriel loftily argues that that's what they are: savages, just plumbing on two legs.

"You're close to blasphemy," Castiel frowns. Yeah, he definitely doesn't like working with this hardcore specialist. Uriel huffs. "There is a reason we were sent to save him," Castiel insists. "He has potential. He may succeed here. At any rate, it's out of our hands."

"It doesn't have to be," Uriel proposes. Castiel asks what he would suggest. "That we drag Dean Winchester out of here," Uriel shrugs. "And we blow this insignificant pinprick off the map."

Notice that he doesn't mention Sam there. So if the town were to be destroyed, Dean would be dragged out because his life is important, but Sam would be left to his fate? Interesting. The plot thickens.

It is worth remembering Castiel's mention in Are You There God? It's me, Dean Winchester of his fellow angels killed in battle that day, as they fought against Lilith and her Seal breaking activities. With battles raging on that kind of scale, the aggressive and hard-line stance taken by a 'specialist' such as Uriel makes more sense, watching his kind die to save those who have been given plenty of chances but have proved too weak to save themselves, a people with whom he has little or nothing in common.

Even so, Uriel's utter contempt for humanity is very noteworthy. According to Biblical mythology, the angels are God's closest companions, his messengers and foot servants, emanations of his divine being – but it was mankind, for all its flaws, that was created in God's image. Tradition, and the internal mythology of this Show according to Sin City, has it that Lucifer himself was a fallen angel, cast out of heaven because he refused to bow down to humanity. Whether or not angels in general have free will has been a subject of intense debate over the centuries. Within the Show's internal mythology, however, it seems clear that although angels are God's servants and warriors just as generally understood, powerful and shining and stalwart…they are also rather more than merely an extension of the supreme being's will, possessing enough individual agency to hold very firm opinions of their own, and even to act upon those beliefs under extreme circumstances.

Bottom line: it is possible for angels to go rogue. And that adds in a whole 'nother layer of complexity to the mytharc unfolding this season, Uriel's impatient and anti-human stance providing a fascinating foil for the development of Castiel's rather more compassionate character. And it is worth wondering which of the two is most representative of angel-kind in general: Castiel, whose concern for humanity seems to be growing the longer he spends among them, or the jaded Uriel, who appears to see little or no value in humankind.

"You know our true orders," Castiel firmly insists. "Are you prepared to disobey?"



Uriel backs down, but he doesn't like it.

Street

Costumed children wander from house to house, trick-or-treating, escorted by responsible adults. Said responsible adults very sensibly steer them away from one particular house, shrouded in darkness….

House

Down in the cellar, teacher Don Hardy stands chanting over an altar in a language I don't recognise. It doesn't sound like Gaelic, which you'd maybe expect for Sam-Hayn…but given the mangling of Samhain already seen in this episode, who knows? It might just be his rather guttural accent that renders it incomprehensible. The witches in Malleus Maleficarum did a much better job.

Tracy is bound and gagged in the middle of the room, tied by the wrists to an overhead beam, struggling.

Silver chalice in one hand and knife in the other, Don comes to stand before Tracy, menacing her with the knife before drawing it back for the kill….

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Just in the nick of time, the Winchester brothers come charging in and shoot the man dead. Sam moves to check the body, while Dean hurries to free Tracy, who rants furiously about how he was going to kill her and did they see what he was doing…? "How sloppy his incantation was? My brother always was a little dim."

Her brother? Too late, the brothers realise that the two were in this together, and before they can reach for their guns again Tracy has snapped out a quick incantation that sends them crashing to the floor, each doubled up with crippling pain and unable to even retrieve his weapon, never mind use it.

"He was going to make me the final sacrifice," Tracy rather redundantly, and petulantly, observes. "His idea. But now, that honour goes to him. Our Master's return – the spell work's a two-man job, you understand. So for 600 years I had to deal with that pompous son of a bitch: planning, preparing – unbearable." She bends to drip Don's blood into the chalice as she monologues away. "The whole time I wanted to rip his face off. Then you get him with a gun. Love that."

I'm a little confused as to how this brother and sister have managed to live for 600 years or more, but am prepared to believe that they have employed dark magic. We have seen plenty of supernatural creatures on this show that started out human but then became something else, the loss of their humanity part of the price for virtual immortality. I daresay these two managed something similar. In which case…it kind of begs the question of how they appear to be so very vulnerable and easy to kill now?

"You know, back in the day, this was the one night you kept your children inside," Tracy nostalgically continues. "Well, tonight you'll all see what Halloween really is."

She begins to chant…and I'm not sure her incantation is any less sloppy than Don's.

Still rolling around in agony on the floor, Dean and Sam are completely unable to prevent the summoning being completed. So near and yet so far.

Sam thinks fast and opts instead for defensive measures, pressing a hand into a puddle of Don's blood and painting it all over his own face. Dean wonders what the hell he is doing, but Sam only whispers for his brother to follow his lead, smearing blood over Dean's face, too.



Sam's hands are huge.

The floor cracks open as Tracy completes the summoning and black, demonic smoke comes gushing up and rushes into Don's bloody corpse, which is handily lying around for it to use. Don's eyes snap open, blue-white where once they were brown. Hello, Sam-Hayn.

Sam-Hayn vision shows us that the demon can't see too clearly, his vision terribly blurred. That seems like something of a handicap for an ancient and powerful demon, no? Maybe he should go to Specsavers. He blurrily focuses on Tracy and advances toward her. Behind him, we see Dean and Sam playing dead. I'm going to guess that whatever Tracy did to leave them rolling around in agony has either worn off or she has lost concentration, as there is no way they'd be able to lie so still if it was still going on.

Tracy is delighted to see her lord and master, albeit in the body of the brother she hated. They kiss. My, but the Show is throwing in a fair bit of incidental, demon-possessed incest this season.

"My love," Tracy simpers. By way of reply, Sam-Hayn tells her that she has aged. Really, he thinks so? She looks like a teenage girl to me – how young was she last time he saw her, then? Her supposed brother looks an awful lot older. Or is he talking about the soul within? Then again, maybe she just looks old to him because he can't see properly! Taken aback, Tracy stammers that she kept this face for him. Sam-Hayn snarks that her beauty is beyond time…and snaps her neck. Way to reward the faithful!

"Whore," Sam-Hayn snarls at the corpse of the witch who dedicated hundreds of years of planning and execution to his release. That's a consistent theme of the show: the utter contempt in which demons hold the humans that choose to worship them. We saw it in Malleus Maleficarum as well. It might suit the purposes of the demons to make full use of the devotion of their human followers, wringing every last drop of usefulness out of them, but once they have served their purpose those humans are discarded without a second's thought.

Sam-Hayn woozily turns, contemplates his surroundings and then starts to stagger toward the exit. Maybe his blurred vision and wooziness is a side effect of having been imprisoned for so very long and he is just taking a little while to adjust. If that is the case…maybe if Lucifer is freed and goes through a similar period of disorientation, however brief, the forces of good might stand a chance against him after all….

That's a thought that sits alongside a nasty suspicion at the back of my mind that we could eventually see Sam throwing himself upon the holy hand grenade, so to speak. But that's a possibility I really don't want to explore in any depth, given how many variables and unknowns are still floating around.



Sam-Hayn lurches toward the limp bodies of the Winchester brothers, contemplates them hazily via his blurred vision, and then stomps on past. Once he is gone, Dean cracks an eyelid, puzzled, and wonders what the hell that was.

"Halloween lore," Sam murmurs. "People used to wear masks to hide from him. So I gave it a shot."

"You gave it a shot?" Dean is gobsmacked, this appalled reaction harking back to previous occasions on which Sam has staked either his brother's or both of their lives on a mere possibility. Another very consistent character trait, that.

Street

Sam-Hayn lurches along, completely ignoring the blurry figures he passes because they are all wearing Halloween masks. Just as well there aren't any dissenters out and about without costume, huh? I daresay tomorrow, when the masks come off, is when he would become truly dangerous, then. He is covered in blood, of course…but then again, so are probably a fair proportion of other people out and about, and nobody is looking close enough to see that his is not fake.

Elsewhere

Dean and Sam head for the Impala, hurriedly wiping the blood off their faces. Dean wonders just how they are going to find 'this mook'. With Sam-Hayn raised and the Seal therefore already broken – mission failure, so near and yet so far – they are into damage limitation mode now.

Sam pointedly asks where Dean would go to raise all the dark forces of the night. Sam is in good form in this episode, brain ticking over at a rate of knots. Maybe he is inspired by the fact that he apparently shares a forename with the demon…

The cemetery, Dean realises. So, the brothers hop into the car and head off in search of Sam-Hayn.

Car

Sam looks contemplative. "So, this demon's pretty powerful," he rhetorically notes. Dean agrees. Sam takes a deep breath, steeling himself. "Might take more than the usual weapons," he tentatively offers, not quite brave enough to come out and say what he means out loud, after everything.



Dean double takes as he realises what his brother is saying. Sam gives him a look that is equal parts resolve and puppy eyes, asking for understanding – for permission. But Dean is very, very firm on this point. "Sam, no. You're not using your psychic whatever." Sam starts to chip in with a 'but', but Dean cuts him off, stern. "Don't even think about it. Ruby's knife is enough."

Dean's unwillingness to even countenance the idea of Sam using his powers is both predictable and highly characteristic. From Azazel's glee over his plans to Castiel's dire warning, everything Dean has ever heard about those demon-given powers of Sam's suggests that embracing them is likely to lead his brother full-steam toward that dark destiny they are both so desperate to avoid – if the angels don't act against him first, that is. The very idea of it must give him the screaming heebie-jeebies, way too dangerous and much better buried and forgotten, end of story. Repression and denial have always been Dean's coping mechanisms of choice.

What's interesting here is how very quick Sam is to suggest re-visiting his demon-extracting abilities as an option. For all that he made a very definite choice at the end of Metamorphosis to stop using his powers, it is clear that they remain right at the forefront of his mind and that he still feels making use of them can be a valid option in the right circumstances – a chance to do good, whatever the risks. It is also clear that he would very much like his brother's blessing to do so, however, unwilling to risk another devastating confrontation such as they had when he tried to keep his powers secret from Dean; it is very good to see this honesty, to know that Sam has learned from his mistakes and is doing his best to repair the damage and rebuild his brother's trust. It makes you wonder just how much of his decision to stop using his powers was about appeasing Dean after all, whether he'd admit it or not.

It was always clear that it would never be as simple as Sam walking away from his powers as if they had never existed, of course, that his resolve would be put to the test sooner or later. Whether he is actively using them or not, those abilities are right there, within him; leaning upon them is relatively easy, and he has a taste for that power now. The big question mark hangs over whether he can truly rely on his own judgement regarding whether or not he should be using his power – if the end result, which is the good he is trying to achieve in the short term, truly justifies the means, which is the possible damage done to Sam himself as a result of embracing his abilities, and the knock-on effect this could have on not only the people around him but potentially the rest of the world.

And right there is a parallel, however oblique, with the angels and their plan to destroy the town to prevent Sam-Hayn's rising.

Sam wants to know why Dean is so opposed to the idea of him using his powers. "Well, because the angel said so, for one!" Dean argues. It sounds kind of a lame argument, but is a very valid point. He was warned that Sam's life could be forfeit if he uses his powers. That is not a threat Dean can ever take lightly and is good enough reason all on its own, from his point of view, for Sam to never, ever use his powers again, no matter what the provocation or justification.



"I thought you said they were a bunch of fanatics," Sam counter-argues.

"Well, they happen to be right about this one," Dean insists. Again, it sounds rather a weak argument and reeks of hypocrisy. But I think Dean just really struggles to find words for exactly why the thought of Sam using his powers scares him so much. It is something he just feels, deep in his gut, and he is not an articulate guy. Dean operates on instinct and intuition in contrast to Sam's more measured scientific approach.

"I don't know, Dean. Doesn't seem like they're right about much," Sam grumbles. Wow, he really has lost faith in the angels, having heard their argument in favour of smiting an entire town. All or nothing and no halfway houses. Has he forgotten that, despite their rather extreme plans for this town, the angels are at least responsible for giving his brother back to him? I doubt he'd consider that a mistake on their part. But his scepticism here is understandable, given the intensity of his disillusionment.

And that loss of faith is troubling, because it leaves Sam floundering, removing his moral yardstick, as it were, and leaving him with only his own convictions and conscience to cling to by way of guidance as he attempts to pick his way along this murky path.

Dean tells his brother to forget the angels, and reminds Sam that he said himself using his powers was like playing with fire. Sam has no come back for that. He knows that using his powers is potentially very dangerous, has acknowledged his uncertainty about it right from the start of the season. But he has been willing to push those doubts aside in favour of bending his power to good in the past.



Dean holds out the demon-killing knife and says please, determined not to let a bad situation become worse by having the already smite-happy angels turn their attention to his brother. Sam looks mulish. Whatever promises he has made about not using his powers, he definitely wants to keep the option open. At the time he made that promise, it was abstract, and came on the heels of a series of shattering emotional blows. Here, though, about to go into battle, it becomes very real and immediate, and he clearly wants to be released from the promise even if only as an option of last resort, wants to feel that he can fall back on his powers without any guilt or conflict.

He takes the knife, however, capitulating to Dean's fervent desire to keep that option well and truly off the table.

The Impala drives on.

It is worth noting, though, that by giving Sam the knife, Dean has left his brother holding all the possible weapons they have against this demon and therefore effectively taken himself out of the fight, whether he realises it or not.

Crypt

That 'mausoleum party' Justin mentioned at last night's party is in full swing. Nobody present, including Justin (who is wearing the same costume) seems the slightest bit downhearted about the fact that one of their friends died horribly just last night.

Seeing someone coming down the stairs toward them, Justin panics that it is cops and calls for everyone to be quiet. But of course it is Sam-Hayn, wearing the body of their teacher, Don Hardy. The kids are rather startled to see him – especially as he says nothing, but instead closes the door of the crypt and locks them in.

I'm not sure why he does this. Does he even see the partygoers? They are all in costume, after all, and thus should be masked from his sight. But if he doesn't realise that there are humans in there, why lock the door? Since his plan is to raise the dead to cause widespread death and destruction, surely locking those newly animated dead into their crypt is counter-productive?

Maybe he just wants to make sure that when he raises his zombies, they stay put until he comes back to give them their orders? Who knows?

Unsurprisingly, the teenagers are rather alarmed at being locked in the crypt. They are even more alarmed when the vaults all around them start to shake. One of said vaults burst open and a pair of arms reaches out, grabs Justin, and drags him in. Seconds later, a spray of arterial blood signals the teenager's grisly demise. His classmates scream their horror and panic, frantically hammering on the gates trying to get out.

Mere moments behind Sam-Hayn, Dean and Sam come hurrying down the stairs.

"Help them," Sam crisply instructs his brother, totally taking charge without skipping a beat. Sam is the one carrying the demon-killing knife; therefore Sam has to be the one who goes after Sam-Hayn.

"Dude, you're not going off alone!" Dean protests, and it isn't clear if he doesn't want Sam going off alone because he is worried for his brother's safety, going up against the demon on his own, or because he is worried that Sam might take the opportunity to use his powers, having raised the subject already. Maybe a little of both. But Sam fiercely snaps at him to do it and takes off. My, but Sam can be autocratic when he wants to be.

Left to deal with the civilians, Dean yells at them all to stand back and then shoots the lock open. Wow, that was easy. The kids run for it, spurred on by Dean's frustrated yelling. And then he is left alone with a bunch of zombies starting to crawl out of their graves.



Remember Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, when just one zombie was tricky to deal with? Well, it was their first, I suppose. Dean has a whole room full of them, now. Pulling a silver stake out of his duffle, he prepares for battle. "Bring it on, Stinky."

Elsewhere

Sam wanders around the mausoleum in search of Sam-Hayn. Man, it's a real labyrinth – goes on forever! Big mausoleum. He eventually locates his prey in the chapel, standing quizzically in front of a stained glass window. Sam sets his resolve and advances, game face firmly in place.



Sam-Hayn promptly swings around, holds up a hand, and unleashes a Lilith-style White Ray of Death. He must be a similar level of demon, then, I would guess.

If Dean had been the one to come after the demon alone, he'd be dead right about now. That's a point worth pondering. As it is, Sam doesn't so much as break stride. "Yeah, that demon-ray-gun stuff? Doesn't work on me."

Sam-Hayn is rather dismayed, but doesn't let this hold him back. He promptly charges at Sam, who, rather than going straight for the knife, opts for a spot of hand-to-hand instead by way of starters.

Oh, Sam, honey – have you forgotten how very bad you have always been at hand-to-hand when you don't have the element of surprise?

Sam starts out promisingly enough, but however woozy and blurry-eyed Sam-Hayn might be, he is also an ancient and powerful demon the likes of which the Winchesters have only rarely encountered. It doesn't take him long to get the upper hand, getting Sam into a chokehold against the wall and starting to squeeze.

Crypt

One zombie down – pinned to the ground with a stake through his chest – and several more still to go.

Dean wrestles another zombie to the ground and firmly stakes it back to death. I daresay this whole operation is made a little easier by the fact that they are all still in the crypt – no luring back to the gravesite necessary.



A pair of wizened feet in stilettos approaches from behind. Dean swiftly swipes at the woman with another stake…but it goes straight through. Spirit, then, rather than zombie, and she quickly takes advantage of his distraction to telekinetically fling him against the wall. Viewers start to hope that he has some salt somewhere about his person, as well as the stakes.

On the floor, winded, Dean surveys the room. "Zombie-ghost orgy, huh? Well, that's it. I'm torching everybody."

Chapel

Sam is being throttled. It's good to know that some things really never change. He manages, belatedly, to pull out Ruby's knife and tries to swipe at the demon, but Sam-Hayn blocks with his arm.

The knife cuts into Sam-Hayn's arm, glowing with power, and he recognises the danger, knocks the knife clean out of Sam's hand. It goes flying to the floor, too far out of reach to be of any use now. Then Sam-Hayn gives up on throttling Sam and throws him hard against another wall, charges at him before he can fully recover.

Back to the wall and with no other hope of escape, Sam instinctively flings out a hand and stops the demon dead in his tracks.



Two points to consider here. The first is that at this stage in the struggle Sam really is out of options, caught between a rock and a hard place. If he doesn't use his powers, he will die and so will everyone else. This is now the only hope of stopping Sam-Hayn…unless of course he attempted a little more dodging and ducking and managed to regain the knife, that is, which is what he would have to do if those psychic powers were not an option. Possessing these powers means that he always has an easy solution within reach – and maybe won't always stop to consider all other options first.

And thus the second point to ponder here is how instinctive it is for Sam to reach for his powers now, an automatic reflex. The possibility of needing them was already in his mind, something to which he had given some thought beforehand, but still it comes across as more of a reflex action than anything. His life is in danger and he reacts, no stopping to think about it or to weigh up his options. And then, once committed, all he can do is follow through. However little choice Sam has about it here, you can see why the angels would find it worrying, how easy it would be for him to slide on down that slippery slope with the floodgates wide open.

Sam-Hayn fights against Sam's hold on him, and Sam strains and strains to hold him off. This is an older and more powerful demon than he has ever tried to take on before, and it shows.



Black demon smoke starts to trickle out of the bullet holes in Sam-Hayn's chest, but still the demon fights against Sam's power, absolutely confident that this mere human will not defeat him. Sam struggles and struggles and struggles, the pain of the effort showing clearly in his face – it's a real battle of wills. Sam-Hayn pushes and pushes against the force Sam is exerting on him, feet slipping and sliding as he attempts to press forward. Despair washes across Sam's face as he fights and fights to hold on to the demon and extract it from the body, pushing himself right to his limits – and beyond.

At the end of the hallway, Dean comes running into shot – and stops dead when he sees the standoff. Sees Sam using his powers, just as he had promised not to do, just as Dean had argued so vehemently against. Sees the effort it is costing his brother to hold this demon at bay. Dismay floods across his face.



Now, the demon-killing knife is lying right there in the doorway, in Dean's view. I'm not sure he even sees it, though, frozen to the spot as he is, eyes glued to his brother and the demon and their struggle. Even if he did see it, he's so transfixed I'm not sure he'd be able to move – or be willing to risk distracting Sam right now.



Sam sees his brother standing at the end of the hall and meets his eyes just for a second. He can't afford to lose concentration, since he is just barely holding the demon at bay and all, but his dismay and despair is obvious. He clutches at his head with his free hand, the effort almost too much for him, but finally black demon smoke starts to gush from Don's mouth.



Blood trickles from Sam's nose, clear visual evidence of just how great a toll this is taking on him, fighting such an ancient and powerful demon. He finally succeeds, heart pounding as he manages to extract the demon from the body.

I wonder – were there special circumstances around Sam-Hayn's original exorcism to bring about the condition wherein it was only possible to raise him once in 600 years? If so, does Sam's alternate method of exorcism negate that, meaning that the demon is now loose in hell and can crawl back out like any other demon determined enough to do so, rather than being imprisoned more securely? Or is he right back where he started, having to wait another 600 years in hopes of a follower dedicated enough to raise him? There is no way of knowing. Given the significance of the Seal being broken, however, I suspect the former.

Don's corpse drops to the ground, the ground around him scorched by the passage of the demon back to hell, and Sam gasps for breath, shaking with exertion, nose bleeding.

At the other end of the hallway, Dean stands and stares, shocked and shaken by what he just witnessed: Sam breaking his promise, Sam forced to break his promise, Sam defeating this ancient and powerful demon and saving everybody, the pain and effort the fight has cost his brother….



Sam slowly raises his eyes to meet his brother's gaze, his expression equal parts defiant and pleading, desperate for Dean to understand and not judge him for this.



Motel

One day after Halloween

Sam is alone in the brothers' room, packing.

The camera pans down from Sam to the bag he is stuffing clothes into and back up again…and this time someone is sitting in a chair further back in the room, just out of focus. Uriel. Hey, so Dean is no longer the only one being paid personal house calls by the angels!

"Tomorrow," Uriel remarks by way of announcing his presence, and Sam just about jumps out of his skin. "November 2nd. It's an anniversary for you, right?" Sam grimly asks what the angel is doing here, but Uriel ignores the question and continues. "It's the day Azazel killed your mother – and 22 years later your girlfriend, too. Must be difficult to bear…yet you brazenly use the power he gave you. His profane blood pumping through your veins."

"Excuse me?" Sam snips – the mention of Mary and Jessica's death was painful, but this criticism of his decision to use his powers and angelic contempt of his contaminated blood has struck a more angry nerve.



"You were told not to use your abilities," Uriel firmly reminds him.

"But what was I supposed to do?" Sam asks, reasonably enough. "That demon would have killed me. And my brother. And everyone."

But for Uriel, an angel, this isn't about what is or isn't fair, or the shades of grey around what could have been. It isn't about compassion or mercy, or loss of life or prevention thereof. It is purely about the rights and wrongs of Sam using his power, black and white. "You were told," he repeats. "Not to."

Sam starts to argue that if Sam-Hayn had gotten loose in this town…

"You've been warned. Twice now," Uriel interrupts.

"You know, my brother was right about you," Sam decides. "You are dicks."

My, that word is being thrown around an awful lot lately.

A flutter of unseen wings, and suddenly Uriel is right up in Sam's face, impassive and intimidating. "The only reason you're still alive, Sam Winchester, is because you've been useful. But the moment that ceases to be true, the second you become more trouble than you're worth, one word – one – and I will turn you to dust."



Would it be that easy for the angels to smite Sam, given his powers and demonic immunity and what not? Maybe. Maybe not. Are they completely serious in their threats against him? The chances are good that they are…but the chances are also good that there is a lot more going on than either the brothers or we are aware of. And it is worth remembering that Castiel's threat to send Dean back to hell was largely empty, intended more to intimidate more than anything else – it is always possible that the threats against Sam are more of the same. I certainly doubt that they are keen to take action against Sam if it can be avoided, given the knock-on effect this could have on so many other things, not least of which would be Dean.

"As for your brother," Uriel continues, satisfied that Sam is suitably cowed. "Tell him that maybe he should climb off that high horse of his. Ask Dean what he remembers from hell."

What Uriel means by this is open to interpretation. With his anti-human bias already emphasised in the episode, we know that he is an unreliable narrator, his words designed to emphasise his point of view more than anything else. Certainly he disagreed with the course of action chosen by Dean and Sam, and deeply resented not only having to take orders from a mere 'mud monkey' but having this lowly human dare to sit in moral judgement over him, an angel of the lord. So is he referring here to something specific that happened to Dean in hell? Or does he merely mean that he feels Dean's memories of hell should motivate him more strongly to prevent it being unleashed on earth, that he should pay more attention to the big picture even at the expense of a few (or even many) lives along the way? Maybe time will tell.

Sam is startled. As far as he knows, Dean doesn't remember anything from hell, and he has never questioned this – evidently hasn't noticed his brother's disturbed sleep, in contrast to how acutely aware Dean was of Sam's nightmares back in season one. Dean told him when they first reunited in Lazarus Rising that he had blacked out everything that happened to him in hell…and it hasn't occurred to Sam to ponder the fact that repressed memories can and often do re-emerge at a later date.

A second later, with another flutter of unseen wings, Uriel is gone, and a very unsettled Sam is left alone in the room to ponder the angel's words and their possible meanings.

Park

Dean sits on a park bench watching a bunch of children playing on the swings and slides nearby.

We are not told how the brothers reacted to one another in the wake of Sam's defeat of Sam-Hayn, whether Dean chewed his brother out about using his powers, offered absolution, or simply brushed it aside for the time being. Whichever way it played out, he has now left his brother alone and come to lurk around this playground instead, evidently needing time and space to think. Needing to try and get his head around what happened, to try to make sense of the rights and wrongs of an impossible situation.

Dean has become accustomed to the way Castiel comes and goes by now, so doesn't bat an eyelid when the angel is suddenly on another bench alongside him – nor even so much as glance sideways, simply knowing that the angel is there now where he wasn't a second ago.



"Let me guess," Dean says, getting in first for a change. "You're here for the 'I told you so'." Castiel says no. Dean again doesn't bat an eyelid. "Good, 'cause I'm really not that interested."

"I'm not here to judge you, Dean," Castiel gravely announces. Dean wonders why he is here, then. "Our orders," Castiel begins, looking ever so slightly troubled.

Dean interrupts. "You know, I've had about enough of these orders of yours."

"Our orders," Castiel repeats, more firmly. "Were not to stop the summoning of Sam-Hayn. They were to do whatever you told us to do."

Dean wasn't expecting that, and takes a moment to take it in. "Your orders were to follow my orders?" he disbelieves.

"It was a test," Castiel nods. "To see how you would perform under…battlefield conditions, I'd say."

Right. Because Dean has never fought any battles before, obviously. He makes much this point himself. "It was a witch. Not the Tet Offensive."



Castiel actually chuckles, ever so slightly. Man, he's getting the hang of Dean at last.

"So, I, uh, failed your test, huh?" Dean guesses, since he didn't manage to prevent the rising of Sam-Hayn.

That's a reasonable assumption, albeit based on the belief that preventing that Seal from breaking was the point of the test. This is not necessarily the case. It could be that the test was to see what Dean would do on the battlefield, if he would be able to prevent the breaking of the Seal, in which case yes: he failed. But we already know that even the angels have failed to prevent Seals breaking in the past, so to expect more from a mere human might be considered unreasonable.

There are other possibilities, every bit as likely. Rather than being about the Seal per se, for example, it could have been a test how to see how Dean would react to orders given by a higher authority. Would he follow without question, would he utterly reject those expectations, or would he try to do things his way? Or it might have been a test of whether he would be willing to take the easy option of the town-smiting proposed by the angels, or would rather fight for the lives of the townsfolk at stake in the here and now – with no way of knowing which would be considered passing or failing the test. Human compassion to temper angelic wrath could well be valued rather than rejected. Dean's perspective has always been so very immediate, focusing intently on preservation of life at all costs, it is hard to see how anyone could expect him to change his priorities at this stage of the game, Apocalypse or no.

It is also worth considering that Dean could well expect that failure to live up to the purpose for which he was brought back might result in his being returned to the Pit. We have seen very clearly just how much he dreads such a prospect – but even so, he resolutely stands by the decision that he made to save this town, no matter what the cost. And maybe this, too, could be part of the test. Who knows?

"I get it," Dean nods, fully prepared, as always, to shoulder all blame for any perceived failure. "But, you know what? If you were to wave that magic time-travelling wand of yours and we get to do it all over again, I'd make the same call." He glares at the angel, fierce and resolute, daring it to defy his instinct against sacrificing innocent lives for any greater good. "Cause, see, I don't know what's going to happen when these Seals are broken – hell, I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. But what I do know is, is that this, here? These kids, the swings, the trees – all of it. They are still here because of my brother and me."

It is good to see Dean so resolutely siding with his brother against the angels here, supporting Sam's use of his abilities to defeat Sam-Hayn and save the town in the face of all anticipated angelic disapproval, no matter how worried he is about Sam and those powers and what they might lead to. Seeing Sam in action, the effort it cost him and the final outcome, has to have given him new insight into his brother and just why Sam feels he has to try to bend those powers to achieve good. He may not agree, may believe as firmly as ever that the dangers outweigh the benefits, but he can perhaps understand a little better now that this is not something Sam enters into in any way lightly. It must also be clearer to him now than ever that Sam is going to continue to make his own decisions, independent of Dean's counsel or instructions, and that Dean can't stop him – so instead he must decide whether or not he trusts his brother's judgement.

Right now Dean is focusing on the good that Sam achieved with his defeat of Sam-Hayn, rather than worrying about any potential cost – all the more especially, perhaps, given the threat made against Sam if he continued to use his powers, defiant in his support of his brother, who still comes first for Dean, ahead of all other considerations. He may or may not be entirely convinced by Sam's argument and actions, but either way he is on his brother's side.

"You misunderstand me, Dean," says Castiel, still so very calm and grave. This is why it is so hard for Dean to understand him; he doesn't feel or emote the way humans do, so there aren't really any tells to indicate his mood or opinions. "I'm not like you think, I was praying that you would choose to save the town." Dean wasn't expecting that, either. "These people," Castiel frowns, trying to explain. "They're all my Father's creations. They are works of art. And yet, even though you stopped Sam-Hayn, the Seal was broken and we are one step closer to hell on earth, for all creation, and that's not an expression, Dean. That's a literal. You of all people should appreciate what that means."



I wonder how much Castiel understands of Dean's repressed memories, if he realises how little conscious memory he has of hell or expects him to remember it all?

"Can I tell you something, if you promise not to tell another soul?" Castiel continues. Dean agrees. "I'm not…" Castiel struggles to spit it out. "A hammer, as you say. I have questions, I…I have doubts. I don't know what is right and what is wrong any more. Whether you passed or failed here."

Dean looks surprised by this admission, implying as it does rather more independent agency on the part of individual angels than is generally attributed to them, a confidence shared that will maybe allow him to understand his angelic guide a little better, perhaps might inspire a little more trust and co-operation.

And might be genuine, but might also be more manipulation, or maybe a little of both. Either way, this is the most civil conversation Dean and Castiel have had yet. They are both gradually becoming accustomed to dealing with one another, each slowly but surely gaining a fuller understanding of the other.

It is worth considering that the independence of thought and opinion displayed by both Castiel and Uriel in this episode, if it can be projected onto the rest of their angelic brethren, is perhaps a very good reason why angelic forces are so rarely deployed in the world, given the power at their disposal and the potential for rebellion that comes hand-in-hand with free will. Dean has been asking why there has been no heavenly intervention in the sufferings of mankind for so long…well, now he has seen for himself that perhaps humans are better off fighting their own battles, by and large! Asking for help is all well and good, until it turns up in a completely different form than you expected or intended.

If the doubt Castiel reveals here is genuine, and there is no real reason to suppose that it isn't, one might well wonder what has brought it about, as there has been little sign such misgivings in his earlier appearances. But then again, maybe it isn't so surprising. It is clear that this is the first time Castiel has ever been down to earth, interacting with mankind, and that it has been a steep learning curve for him. Dean has had a lot of angry questions for him about the condition of mankind, and he has been unable to come up with any good answers. We have seen him intrigued by Dean, the first human he has had such close contact with, and we have seen him appear troubled by the gravity of the situation that brought him down to earth. So, given the amount of free will for angels established by this episode, if Dean can balk at being asked to accept and even facilitate the deaths of thousands, why shouldn't Castiel question the necessity as well, all the more especially given his reverence for his heavenly Father and His creations?



Clearly, God's ways are inscrutable even to his angels – maybe especially when they are here in the world, interacting, rather than sitting at his side watching from a safe distance. Uriel might be jaded by the experience of past campaigns, but Castiel's more empathetic nature instead sees him identifying with the rats now that he is in the maze with them, so to speak, and a little disillusioned perhaps by the sudden onset of war and death.

The next question, I suppose, is whether or not God would consider Dean to have been a positive or negative influence on the angel chosen to guide him. The answer to that no doubt connects closely with the unknown nature of the test Dean has been put through here.

"In the coming months you will have more decisions to make," Castiel continues. "I…don't envy the weight that's on your shoulders, Dean. I truly don't."

It has to be said, though: right now, Dean doesn't look heavy-laden. He looks resolute. And we can compare this to season two, when he buckled under the weight of his burdens. He is a lot more certain of himself and his convictions now, and that can only be a good thing, given the battles that undoubtedly lie ahead.

The man and the angel hold one another's eyes for a long, long moment, each weighing the other up and contemplating the uncertainty of what lies ahead. Then Dean glances away just for a second, back toward the children playing in the park…and, of course, when he looks back Castiel is gone.



So much food for thought in this episode! Awesome.

November 2008

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