Previously: VAMPIRES. And a shiny gun.
—
Salvation
Kirsti: CARRY ON MY WAAAAYWARD SOOOOOOOOON. Sorry. It’s the pointy end of the season, and that means we start with a full recap of the season and the show’s unofficial theme song. It’s a sure sign that heartbreak isn’t far away.
Blue Earth, Minnesota. The camera pans over a stained glass window and down to a priest, flicking through a Bible. Meg walks in, and says she needs someone to talk to about all the terrible things she’s done. The priest says salvation was created for sinners, earning himself a shiny gold star:
Meg starts rattling off sins, ending with slitting a guy’s throat and ripping his heart out. She looks up at Father Soon-To-Be-Dead, her eyes black. He stumbles back, saying that she can’t be there because it’s hallowed ground. She scoffs, saying that only works for the minor leagues. She’s the majors.
Father STBD turns and runs for the basement. He unlocks a door, rushes through, and bars it behind him before turning to a stash of weapons. He grabs a knife just as Meg kicks the door in. Father STBD hurls the knife at her head, but she grabs it out of the air. He asks what she wants, and she replies “The Winchesters.” He claims to know nothing, and says that even if he did, he wouldn’t tell her. “I know,” she says, and slits his throat. Lightning flash.
Sara: I at least appreciate that Father STBD was such a badass before he died. Coolest priest award.
K: TRUE! After the Not!Credits, we’re back in Manning, Colorado. We flash through a series of shots of maps, website print outs, paintings and post-it notes, just like the boys found on Papa Winchester’s motel room wall in the pilot. Pan out to reveal Papa Winchester, telling the boys some more about the demon. Basically, he’s been looking for it all their lives but the first signs he found were a year ago. He found a trail of burnt down houses leading across the country, and says the demon is going after families with six month old babies, just like it did with them.
Sam gets feelsy as he realises that his mother’s death, and Jessica’s, were because of him. Legit feels, bro. Legit feels. Dean says that it’s not his fault, and Sam yells “It’s not my fault but it’s my problem!” Dean snaps that he’s wrong – it’s THEIR problem.
Papa Winchester tells them to calm the fuck down. He says that he’s always been one step behind it, too late to save anyone. Dean asks how they’re going to find the demon, and Papa Winchester reveals that there are signs in the area before an attack – cattle deaths, electrical storms, temperature fluctuations. And they’re happening again. Sam asks where, and Papa Winchester replies “Salvation, Iowa“. TOO LATE, BRO. AND NONE FOR PAPA WINCHESTER.
Sara: Papa Winchester is always a day late and a dollar short, isn’t he?
K: Pretty much.
Cut to the Winchesters shiny-black-vehicle-ing their way into Salvation, the town sign for which reads “Are you ready for Judgement Day?” CHEERFUL PLACE. Suddenly, Papa Winchester veers off the road. The Bromobile follows, and they all pile out of their cars. Papa Winchester informs them that he’s just gotten a phone call telling them that Father Soon-To-Be-Dead (or rather, Pastor Jim, who’s been mentioned a couple of times before) is dead. The boys are shocked.
Papa Winchester informs them that there were traces of sulphur found at the scene, but they don’t know if A demon or THE demon is responsible. He tells the boys that he wants a list of every baby in the area that will turn six months old in the next week. They’re going to investigate all of them, he says, because this is going to end now.
Sara: I bet this won’t end up making any of the Winchesters look super creepy at all. God help them if the FBI ever gets a hold of their recent Google searches.
K: Or, you know, their vehicles.
The Winchesters split up to cover the two hospitals and a health care centre in the county, and we see each of them conning their way in with fake IDs and copying details. Records copied, Sam heads outside and promptly gets a premonition migraine.
He sees a dark haired woman putting her baby down in its crib and flashes of the room, then the woman peering out the baby’s window as a train sounds in the background. He also sees a dark figure, standing over the baby’s crib. Premonition over, he pulls out a map and looks at where the train line passes by houses.
Cut to Sam walking through a park. He gets another premonition migraine, and I can’t stop laughing because the last time I saw this scene, it was on Tumblr:
Bless you, Tumblr.
Anyway, Sam sees the same premonition again, then looks up to see he’s standing opposite the house from his vision. (S: LUCKY.) The woman from said vision walks past, pushing her baby in a pram. Sam rushes over and introduces himself as a new neighbour. She offers up a weird amount of information to a total stranger – her name is Monica, the baby is Rosie, they bought their house just before Rosie was born, and Rosie’s six months old today. At that, Sam looks pained. He tells Monica to look after herself and lets her go on her way. He watches from the street as Monica greets her husband, then he gets another premonition migraine. In this one, he sees the clock stop at 8.44 and a dark figure approach the crib. Monica opens the door and sees the figure, which promptly pins her to the ceiling, blood dripping from her stomach. The room explodes into flames, and we fade to black.
After the Not Commercial Break, we’re at the Motel of the Week. Sam fills Dean and Papa Winchester in on his premonition and Papa Winchester’s all “…………..the fuck is this shit?” Dean explains that Sam’s been having visions/nightmares for a while now, and Papa Winchester wants to know why they didn’t phone him. Dean gets bitch face and says “Call you? Are you kidding me? Dad I called you from Lawrence all right? Sam called you when I was dying. I mean, getting you on the phone? I got a better chance of winning the lottery!” Papa Winchester death stares, then apologises before negating it by following up with this gem:
WORST. (S: But also such a parent thing to say, even when they are in the wrong.) Sam’s more concerned about saving Monica and Rosie from the demon, and Papa Winchester says that they’ll stop it.
Just then, Sam’s phone rings. He answers, and it’s Meg. Sam’s all “How the fuck are you alive? We saw you fall out of a seventh storey window!”, but Meg doesn’t care. She demands to speak to Papa Winchester. Sam reluctantly hands the phone over. Meg tells Papa Winchester that she’s the one who killed Father Soon-To-Be-Dead, and that she’s with another one of his hunter friends (Caleb) right now. She holds the phone to Caleb’s ear and he tells Papa Winchester not to…before Meg pulls the phone away. When Papa Winchester mentions Caleb’s name, the boys are instantly on alert. Papa Winchester tells Meg to let Caleb go. She says she will in exchange for the Colt.
Papa Winchester pleads ignorance, and Meg slits Caleb’s throat. She holds the phone out so Papa Winchester can hear Caleb dying. Meg tells him that they know he has the Colt, and it counts as a declaration of war. They’re going to keep killing his friends, one by one, until he hands over the gun. Papa Winchester thinks for a minute, then agrees. Meg tells him to meet her at a warehouse in Lincoln, Nebraska. Papa Winchester says that he’s at least a day away, and Meg’s all “LOL NOPE, you’ve got until midnight”. He insists that it’s impossible because he can’t drive there in time or take the Colt on a plane. Meg has no fucks to give, saying that his friends will just have to keep dying then. She tells him that if he does decide to come, he should come alone, then hangs up.
Papa Winchester says that Meg’s probably a demon and that he’s going to Lincoln. The boys are all “Wait, WHAT?!?!?!” because a) trap, and b) they have to save Monica from the demon. But apparently Papa Winchester has come up with a plan in the past ten seconds – they buy a gun at an antique store, carve some symbols on it, and give Meg the fake. All he needs, he says, is to buy a few hours so that Sam and Dean can kill the demon. He’s sick of people they love dying, and he wants it all to be over. At least he recognises how much this has cost his family?
Cut to a muddy back road. The Bromobile pulls in, and Dean hands Papa Winchester the fake gun. He asks if Papa Winchester knows he’s heading into a trap, and Papa Winchester says he can handle Meg. Dean looks despondent, and tells his father to just get out if the shit hits the fan. Papa Winchester tells the boys to do the same. Then he tells them that there are only four bullets left for the Colt, and that the gun is useless without it. Their shots have to count. He says that it’s their fight now, and they need to finish what he started. He hands Dean the real Colt and heads out, simply saying that he’ll see the boys later. Fade to black.
After the Not Commercial Break, Papa Winchester has arrived in Lincoln. He pockets the gun, then pulls out a rosary and a flask of holy water. There’s a weird sound, and a zoomy shot of a water tank, then we see Papa Winchester running through a tunnel, checking the pipes along the walls. Cut to the Bromobile. Sam suggests they fake a gas leak to get Monica and her family out of the house, but Dean points out that that never works. Sam says maybe the truth will work, and they both scoff.
Sara: I love that they’ve tried the gas leak idea before, like this is just another day in the life of a Winchester, y’know?
K: They should try gangs on PCP next. It worked for Principal Snyder!
Dean says their only option is to wait for the demon to turn up.
Dean stares out at the house as Sam wonders aloud how Papa Winchester is doing. They agree that they’d feel better if they were backing him up, or if he was there with them, doing the same. Cut to Nebraska. Papa Winchester is on the roof next to the water tank. Meg appears in the foreground and looks towards the tank, but Papa Winchester is gone. Once Meg’s moved on, he climbs up the side and drops the rosary into the tank, muttering in Latin as he does so.
Iowa. Sam muses on the weirdness of them finally being at the culmination of their life’s work. He thanks Dean for always having his back, “just in case.” Dean gets pissed, saying “Don’t say just in case something happens to you. I don’t wanna hear that freaking speech man. Nobody’s dying tonight. Not us, not that family, nobody. Except that demon. That evil son of a bitch ain’t getting any older than tonight, you understand me?” Sam nods, a little unconvincingly.
Nebraska. Papa Winchester walks towards Meg, stopping a few metres away from her. She sasses at him and when he doesn’t respond, suggests they get down to business. Papa Winchester says that maybe he’ll just shoot her, but she replies that there are more where she came from, like for instance the big dude who appears from the shadows in the background. Papa Winchester reluctantly hands over the gun. Meg hands it to Backup!Demon and asks what he thinks. Backup!Demon cocks the gun, then shoots Meg in the chest.
She’s all “DUDE. WHAT THE FUCK!”, and Backup!Demon tells her that the gun’s a fake. He tosses the gun, and both demons turn to stare at Papa Winchester. Fade to black.
Sara: I laughed so hard at this. Backup!Demon DGAF.
K: AND NO FUCKS WERE GIVEN THAT DAY.
After the Not Commercial Break, Meg yells that she’s going to kill all the Winchesters as Papa Winchester insists that he didn’t know the gun was a fake. Meg stalks towards him, promising to “strip the skin from your bones” (EW). A sudden loud noise distracts Meg, and Papa Winchester takes advantage of it to run into the next room and bar the door. He heads down the tunnel from earlier, turning a tap at the end, and sending water gushing all over the floor. Meg and Backup!Demon burst through the door, but can’t get past the holy water. Papa Winchester makes a run for it.
Iowa. Dean tries to phone Papa Winchester, without success. This whole timeline is whackadoodle, because the clock definitely stopped on 8.44pm in Sam’s premonition, but Meg told Papa Winchester to meet her at midnight. So…yeah. Anyway, the radio suddenly goes all static-y. When the wind picks up and the lights in Monica’s house start flashing, they realise that the demon’s arrived. Nebraska. Papa Winchester finds his tyres slashed, and scurries around the side of the factory.
Iowa. The boys break into Monica’s house and promptly find themselves confronted by her baseball bat wielding husband. He swings at them and misses. Sam tries to reason with him, but Dean grabs the bat and pins the husband against the wall, saying that they’re trying to help. Monica calls out from upstairs, and her husband tells her to get Rosie and run. Sam yells “DON’T GO INTO THE NURSERY!” Her husband struggles to get away, so Dean knocks him out and slings him over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift.
Upstairs, Monica walks into the nursery and gets dragged up to the ceiling, just like in Sam’s vision. Sam runs in, Colt drawn, and the dark figure steps forward a little, revealing that it has yellow eyes.
Hurrah, now I can officially call it the Yellow Eyed Demon!! (S: Aw, I kind of liked calling him the Fire Demon.) Sam hesitates for a second, then pulls the trigger. The Yellow Eyed Demon dissolves into smoke. Monica falls screaming to the floor. Sam tries to help her up, but she just screams for her baby. Dean runs in and grabs the baby from the crib, and rushes them all out of the room as the crib bursts into flames.
Nebraska. Papa Winchester is still on the run. He pulls out his phone to make a call, and is promptly slammed up against a wall. He’s dragged into the air, and Backup!Demon appears, grinning. Papa Winchester cries out in pain as Backup!Demon stalks towards him. Iowa. The upstairs windows explode out of the house as the boys hurry Monica and her family out of the front door. Monica thanks the boys for saving them, and cries as she looks at her burning house. A shadowy figure appears in the middle of the flames in the nursery window, unharmed. Sam goes to run back in after the demon, but Dean grabs him, saying that it’s suicide. Sam yells “I don’t care!” and Dean replies “I DO“.
#siblingfeels. They look up at the figure, and it vanishes. Fade to black.
Motel of the Week. Dean paces as he calls Papa Winchester. There’s no answer, and Dean’s convinced something’s wrong. Sam bitchfaces that this would have been over by now if Dean had just let him run into the burning house, that he was willing to sacrifice himself so the demon would die. Dean says that he won’t let that happen as long as he’s around. (Those of you who can see the future, I’ll be putting some additional rot13’d thoughts in the comments…)
Dean tells Sam that while they’ve been hunting for the demon all their lives, it’s not worth dying over. No matter what they do, it won’t bring their mother or Jessica back from the grave. Sam gets angry, slamming his brother against the wall, almost exactly like in the pilot when Dean did the same thing to Sam for saying nothing would bring their mother back. LOOK:
Dean tears up a little as he says “Sam, look. The three of us…that’s all we have…and it’s all I have. Sometimes I feel like I’m barely holding it together, man…and without you or Dad…”
Sam calms down a little and tears up himself as he realises that Papa Winchester should have phoned by now. He releases Dean, telling him to try calling again. Dean pulls out his phone and does.
Cut to a mysterious location. Papa Winchester’s phone rings. Meg answers with a smile, saying “You boys really screwed up this time…” Dean stares at Sam in horror. He angrily asks Meg where their father is, and she replies “You’re never going to see your father again.” Dramatic zoom. TO BE CONTINUED.
Sara: So probably they’ll be seeing him in the next episode, right? NOBODY BELIEVES YOUR SHIT, MEG.
K: This episode is pretty meh for me. I don’t care about any of the dying hunters. I don’t care about Papa Winchester, because he’s the worst parent ever. I don’t even care that much about the sibling feels. And I can’t really explain why. It’s just…meh. But whatever. ONWARDS TO THE FINALE!
Next time: The end of season 1! Find out how things wrap up in Supernatural S01 E22 – Devil’s Trap.
I'm a 30-something librarian and I still live with my parents because I'm super broke. Leader of Team Heartless Cow. I have an inexplicable love for 90s television, eat too much chocolate, and read more than is good for me.
I'm a 30-something with three kids who spends an embarrassing amount of time watching teen television dramas. There's a whole lot of Internet out there, and I plan on reading all of it before I die.
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