SUPERNATURAL: On the Head of a Pin

How good was this episode?!! There is so much to discuss that I honestly don’t even know where to begin. Talk about receiving revelations; we were handed one after the other tonight. First, I’d like to congratulate Ben Edlund, the writer of the ep, who until now has been known mostly for the more comedic installments of Supernatural. This was the opposite of his usual SPN style, and he killed it. Tonight’s ep felt as epic as many of the season finales or premieres we’ve had and I loved every minute of it (well, maybe not watching Alistair cough up half of his esophagus – that was truly sick; the effects team are a bunch of evil geniuses).

Where to start? How about Sam and his new favourite beverage? I couldn’t believe my eyes – maybe I should have expected it, what with Sam’s newfound strength, but watching him drink from Ruby’s self-inflicted wound shocked me. No wonder he’s been gaining powers so quickly – here I’d thought they’d just been meeting for power training sessions. This cannot be a good thing.

Watching Dean torture Alistair was intense. Christopher Heyerdahl, the actor who plays the Brando-esque demon, was fantastic tonight. In the past I’ve found him to be almost too much, but he was perfect in his role here. It was heartbreaking to watch Dean devolve into the animal he’s been struggling to forget since leaving Hell, but Alistair’s evilness at least helped to temper the shock a bit. How could Dean NOT proceed with the torture when Alistair tells him that he’d been torturing John for a hundred years before Dean arrived in the pit? Not only that, but that John had been given the same choice that he had every day of that century (come down off the rack if he’d turn to torturing others) yet remained firm in his convictions the entire time. Dean meanwhile gave in after thirty years. That was only the beginning of the story however. I’ll come back to this in a minute.

The angels were prominent tonight too, including the return of Anna who has never been a favourite of mine. Castiel and Uriel informed Dean that he needed to torture Alistair into telling them who has been killing off the angels. The two were clearly of different minds regarding this task, as Castiel didn’t feel comfortable asking this of Dean. Uriel on the other hand was his usual coldly-removed self and had no problem with it. Of course we know that Castiel has allowed himself to become close with Dean and also to question the orders he’s being asked to carry out. I love when they write Castiel as having emotion, rather than the stoic angel we first met. He’s turning into a really complex character.

Dean held up pretty well while Alistair essentially implied that Dean was less of a man than his father, until Alistair dropped the bomb – cryptically telling Dean that “when a righteous man spills blood in hell, the first seal will be broken”. In other words, Dean broke the first seal by accepting Alistair’s offer and putting an end to his own torture. The pain conveyed on JA’s face when he realized this was incredible. Once more…where is the Emmy recognition for this show? These guys can act circles around some other people who get nominated. What gives?

While Dean was reeling from the news that he set the Apocalypse in motion, a pipe mysteriously began to leak, dripping water on the edge of the devil’s trap holding Alistair. Once he saw that the circle had been broken he freed himself from the chains and began to beat Dean. Castiel jumped in just in time, saving Dean from choking to death, only to find himself in the same position moments later, with Dean unconscious on the floor and unable to help. In comes Sam, ready to do his worst. He managed to get Alistair to admit that demons were not responsible for killing the angels, which Sam believed (Alistair had already commented to Castiel that he didn’t know how to kill him – all he could do was send him back to heaven). Apparently only an angel can kill another angel – hmmmmm… Instead of sending Alistair back to hell, Sam used his newest skill and killed him. Yes, Sam Winchester is now strong enough to not only beat, but kill one of the toughest demons they’ve encountered so far. Wow.

With Dean recovering in the hospital and Alistair gone, Castiel gets to thinking about the pipe that caused the devil’s trap to break – he seems convinced that it was no accident. Uriel finds him and comes clean that he’s been the one killing the angels – he has lost all faith in heaven and God and now is working to free their fallen brother Lucifer, and bring on the Apocalypse. I’m telling you people, my jaw dropped so many times watching this episode that it would have just been easier to leave it on the floor until the show was over. Uriel has been asking angels to join him in his mission and killing the ones who turn him down. He then extended his offer to Castiel who said no, prompting a huge fight. (Aside: Castiel fighting? Hot.) Anna returned once again and put an end to Uriel with a knife through the throat. So, that’s two recurring characters gone in two episodes if you’re keeping count.

Dean and Castiel’s discussion in the hospital was, again, heartbreaking. Castiel confirmed what Alistair told him – he had been the one to break the first seal and set the rest of Lillith’s plan in motion. Not only that, but because of this, he is the only one who can stop it. I really appreciated his reaction to this news; to essentially say that no, he couldn’t do it. It was too big for him. I mean really – how much can Dean go through and still retain his cavalier “I can do anything” attitude? He is a broken man since his time in Hell and even more so now that he knows what he helped to do. Of course I assume he’ll be changing his mind in the near future, but it was nice to see his humanity there.

I can’t say enough about this episode – it was fantabulous from start to finish. Non-stop action, non-stop big reveals…what’s not to like? I don’t even know what questions to throw at you guys for the comments section, because there are just so many. So I will leave you with this…what did you think? Tell me your thoughts/predictions (no spoilers please!) below. I will say I’m especially curious to know your opinions on these points: Sam’s new habit and Dean’s new mission. I personally think they’re fantastic and I am on the edge of my seat to see how the rest of the season unfolds.

P.S. As mentioned by Kath yesterday, my interview with Misha Collins has been postponed until next month but you can still go to my original post here and leave questions you have for him up until then and I will try to incorporate a few when I speak with him. I’m really excited for the interview – he has so quickly become such an integral part of the show that it’s hard to imagine the show without him now. And as a community, SPN fans aren’t known for their welcoming ways, lol. We generally go by the motto “no new people” – he’s obviously special.

Nicole is a lawyer with an unhealthy t.v. obsession and many t.v. boyfriends. If she had a locker at her office it would be covered in photos of Zachary Levi, Jensen Ackles, Lee Pace and John Krasinski. She lives near Toronto and is spending the winter cursing that fact while trying to convince her friends to do a group move to a warmer climate. So far it’s not working.