SUPERNATURAL: I Know What You Did Last Summer

There was a lot to digest in this week’s episode of Supernatural in terms of the overarching storyline. On the one hand, we had a present-day predicament that delves further into the Angel/Demon face-off that’s been building all season. On the other hand, we got to take a look back over the summer that Sam spent with Ruby while Dean was enduring Lucifer-knows-what in The Pit. This storyline is proving to be highly controversial in the SPN fandom – I’ll throw in my two cents down below. There wasn’t a Big Bad of the Week this time around – instead the feature character was a girl named Anna who appears to figure quite heavily in the weeks to come. Since the show was divided into past/present, I’ll do the same with my review, starting with…

The Past
We get to travel back in time to see Sam pretty much immediately after Dean’s untimely demise, drowning his sorrows in alcohol and attempting to make a deal with a Crossroads demon in order to save his brother. I am so glad that the deal wasn’t made, because I think we’ve seen enough of the Winchester Brother demon-deal-gone-bad angle. Instead Sam runs into Ruby, not in her current brunette form but inhabiting the body of a blonde receptionist. She and a demon buddy were waiting for Sam when he returned home and instead of killing him, Ruby turned on her friend. Apparently, she has also been stuck down below and did what she had to do to convince Lilith that she was worthy of another chance to wreak havoc on earth, and it wasn’t pretty. Not only that, but she did all of this to get back to Sam and help him prevent the upcoming apocalypse. Sam, however, can only focus on the body she’s “wearing” – he’s disgusted that she’s taken over someone whose soul is trapped inside and wants her to ditch it or he’ll send her back to hell.

Conveniently, Ruby finds a young attractive girl in a coma known only as “Jane Doe” who is moments away from being taken off of life support. She sneaks in just as the body is about to expire and literally breathes new life into it. Now, it’s hard to say whether this was the plan all along to explain where the body came from or if this is a reaction to the fan arguments online about what it would mean if Sam and Ruby were sleeping together. I haven’t really addressed this particular topic in the SPN reviews this season because there has been a lot of heated speculation and it hadn’t yet been substantiated on the show, but the fandom has apparently been talking about the possibility of Sam and Ruby doing the deed and the implications of that for the girl whose body Ruby was inhabiting. Would this make Sam a technical rapist, since the girl inside would have no way of consenting to what was going on? Now that we know that they have, in fact, been sleeping together and we have an explanation as to why this is does not make Sam a felon, does it make it less icky? But at the same time – it was a pretty hot scene, so… I have to say that overall it didn’t bother me. Yes, there are some questionable things you could dwell on, but why?

ANYWAY, Ruby wants to teach Sam everything that she knows, but first she demands that he become a little more patient and a lot more sober. She wants to teach him to use his demon mojo effectively so that he can control it when they ultimately go up against Lilith. He has a hard time at first and before he’s really ready he gets word that the child demon herself is in town and goes after her alone. Ruby is very against this since she knows he’s pretty defenseless against the sweet and creepy looking kid. Sam goes anyway and finds himself in a set-up with two demons waiting to take him out. Luckily for him Ruby shows up and saves his ass.

The best part about this entire portion of the episode was Sam finally opening up to Dean and sharing what he went through while he was mourning his brother. Dean is also much more sympathetic and frankly even thankful to Ruby for saving his brother’s life while he was in no position to do so. She stepped up and filled the gap temporarily left by Dean’s death and he knows he’s in her debt. I think that this new dynamic will be really interesting to watch in the coming weeks. Now that we’re all caught up on the past, let’s discuss…
The Present

Anna is a girl who hears angels; it all started the night that Dean died and it’s driving her crazy, to the point where she’s been locked up in an institution. She manages to escape when a demonic orderly comes by her room, but she has nowhere to go and ends up in the comforting church she grew up attending. Ruby tips the brothers off to her existence and they find her there after a visit to her home where it appears that someone of the demon persuasion has already found and killed her parents.

Immediately interesting: Anna knows exactly who Sam and Dean are, and how the angels view them. She can hear the whispers, but she can’t communicate with the unearthly beings, however she is still a prime target of demons who could use her newfound power to their utmost advantage. Sam, Ruby and Dean know immediately she needs protection, and sure enough an extremely powerful demon shows up at the church – his name is Allistar and he’s on par with Lilith in terms of force. He also knows Dean from hell, but we don’t quite know any more than that at the moment other than the fact that Dean didn’t recognize him at first because he’s now “wearing a pediatrician”.

The guys try to fight him off while Ruby takes Anna to safety and Sam ends up losing the magical demon knife. On the bright side, they are both still alive and Allistar has let them off – for now. Next up Castiel and Uriel show up – they are also extremely interested in Anna – but according to them it’s not protection she needs – she has to die. TO BE CONTINUED…

What is the root of Anna’s newfound gift, how is it connected to Dean and why do the angels want her dead? What happened in hell between Dean and Allistar and what does he want now that he’s out? Most importantly, what was going on between Dean and Anna in what looked like the backseat of the Impala in the preview for next week?? I’d love to hear your thoughts and theories in the comments section! See you back here next week!

Nicole is a lawyer by day and will be GMMR’s resident Supernatural and Privileged expert this year. She lives just outside of Toronto, and as such, you’ll have to forgive Canadian spellings and maybe the occasional “eh” when they pop up in her reviews. Nicole is still in mourning over the loss of Arrested Development and desperately hoping that the movie happens soon. While she’s a lover of music and movies, television is near and dear to her heart and she’s really excited to be a part of the GMMR team!