Warning: Spoiler Alert
Butch and Sundance, Holmes and Watson, Crockett and Tubbs and Rowan and Martin, great duos that stood the test of time, although good on their own, teaming up with their respective partners, put them at the top of their games. After the second episode of tenth season for the CW series “Supernatural,” we can eliminate Dean Winchester and Roderick Crowley/AKA The King Of Hell, from that list, as their already frayed relationship got dashed against the rocks, destroyed forever. However, lets explore the events leading up to that momentous breakup.
Avid fans of the series, realize that every episode’s title’s got a hidden meaning, one of the best shows during the series run’s entitled “The French Mistake,” referencing a song and dance number, from the Mel Brooks classic comedy “Blazing Saddles.” Most of the titles are easily recognizable for anybody aware of “Pop Culture,” but that’s not the case with the title of this episode “Reichenbach,” which sent me to Google looking for info. It seems the show-runners are referencing Hans Reichenbach, who described himself as someone involved in “The Philosophy Of Science,” and promoted logical empiricism, which is over my head.
While the premiere episode of the tenth season, seemed stuck in neutral as it didn’t advance the story, they crammed the second episode full of change and in the process, got me looking back at the first episode far more kindly. Every event that took place in “Reichenbach,” got put into play in the previous episode. The end result, the deck got shuffled, alliances changed and we realize that some events will cause ramifications later in the season. We also found out that the Mark Of Cain needs to “get fed,” as well as whose the dude who ambushed and kidnapped Sam in the previous episode and why he despises Dean so much.
We open the episode watching Dean in a nearly empty North Dakota strip club, enjoying the talents of an attractive, brunette, nubile, young thing, bumping and grinding to Warrant’s “Cherry Pie,” when he strokes her boot. (Yes, her BOOT.) The stripper tells him no touching, Dean responds are you sure, and flashes a twenty, like it’s a C-Note and puts it on the stage, then tells her to pick it up. She’s disgusted tells him that’s it, and stomps off the stage, while Dean yells the song’s not over. The Bouncer tries to throw him out and Demon-Dean rises to the surface, pummeling the guy mercilessly and shattering his right arm, then walks out of the place.
Sam’s still tied up by Cole Trenton, whose mission in life’s killing Dean Winchester, the previous episode concluded with Dean telling Trenton that if he wanted to slit Sam’s throat, he wouldn’t attempt to stop him. Trenton hopes that Sam, who got left in the lurch by his older brother, will join him in trying to hunt down and kill Dean, but Sam dismisses the possibility. Cole starts wailing on Sam’s face, then stops and once again asks him if he’ll join him. Winchester asks him why he’s got such deep hatred for Dean and we’re taken via flashback to 2003, while Sam’s still in college. We see a young teen-aged boy in an older house and at first I thought the kid’s Dean or Sam at that age, but the time period ruled that out. He hears thrashing downstairs on the main level of the house, jumps out of bed runs down the stairs screaming for his dad, whose a lifeless bloody corpse. Hearing a rustling, he looks up and sees Dean holding a bloody knife, meaning Cole Trenton’s father’s a demon.
He tells Sam that took place at age 13 and for the last 11-years, dedicated his life to killing his older brother. Sam smiles and says there are monsters out there and Cole cuts him off and tells him he’s well aware, he did two tours in the Middle-East and met plenty of monsters. This time Sam cuts him off and says those aren’t the monsters he’s referring to, he pauses and says, Vampires, Werewolves and Trenton thinks Sam’s insane. Winchester tells him to look in his bag and Cole pulls out a flask, thinking it’s filled with alcohol, but Sam tells him its holy water. Trenton’s not impressed and decides to try persuading Sam with a ballpeen hammer, but a ringtone that sounds like a lullaby interrupts him, it’s his wife and son. He walks out of the barn where he’s holding Sam and Winchester sees a set of keys and a knife on the floor. When Cole returns Sam’s escaped.
Castiel’s weakening by the minute, we first see him attempting to heal the wound in his abdomen he suffered during a scuffle with angels in the previous episode, but can’t. Hannah comes over and says let me do it, then heals him, Castiel sadly thanks her. I’m truly beginning to like Hannah, (Erica Carroll) a character introduced last season, whose stuck with Castiel over the first two episodes. She’s reminiscent of Cas, when he first met the boys, a bit awkward and confused, but starting to catch onto what makes human’s tick, in fact Castiel says to her at one point, that an act she performed was very human-like and stressed it’s a compliment.
Sam calls Cas when he escapes and tells him, though he realizes he’s sick, he needs all hands on deck to capture Dean, whom he’s tracked to North Dakota. He also reveals to Cas, that Dean’s a demon and the Angel responds he’s on his way. Hannah insists on going along, so they climb into Castiel’s car and head to meet Sam. (Except for the drive becoming a plot-point, why didn’t Hannah just transport the two of them to where Dean’s at? The BOYS got transported by Angels, several times during the series, especially with Cas being close to death, why did Hannah not suggest they do things the easy way?)
Crowley finds Dean and suggests they get a drink and talk about Dean’s “anger management issues.” The King Of Hell then admits he left out another detail about the Mark Of Cain, it requires the bearer of it to kill, it feeds on death and won’t accept denial, finally pushing Dean to the point of going postal. Crowley asks, if Dean preferred killing some innocent civilian, or somebody who deserves to get killed? Cas then shows him a video of a married couple Mindy and Lester, whose marriage went southward quickly, when he walked in on her and another man getting hot and heavy in the kitchen. She wants a divorce and half his stuff, so he put together a deal with Crowley, his wife gets killed and in ten years, Hell claims his soul. Crowley asks Dean if he wants the contract hit gig and Winchester takes it.
Castiel and Hannah, driving to meet Sam get into a conversation about humans after she tells Cas, that she believes the Winchesters are a bad influence on him. He chuckles and says they’re a little rough around the edges, but they’re the finest men he knows. A bit later Castiel passes out at the wheel, the car aimed for a head-on collision with a truck, when Hannah grabs the wheel, steering them off the road. The car’s tires get destroyed but no injuries. They find a single mother mechanic named Kim and she invites them to make themselves in her house and there’s three-bean surprise in the refrigerator. They head inside and Hannah heads to the refrigerator, pulls out the container of salad and in classic Castiel form says she sees the three beans, but what’s the surprise? She brings the container to Cas, but he’s passed out on the couch, she covers him with his trench-coat.
Dean heads to Mindy’s house and he’s watching her through the window, preparing for the kill, when a car pulls into the driveway, it’s the husband Lester who came to watch. Dean climbs into the passenger’s seat and berates him for being foolish and not establishing an alibi, then Winchester asks Lester if he knows what an alibi is and the husband says sure, he watches Franklin and Bash. Dean starts ripping the guy apart verbally, saying Mindy’s an eight and he’s just a four, Lester returns the insults and Dean punches him in the mouth. The husband then calls Dean a Punk-A** Demon and tells him he works for him. Human Dean would find it difficult to keep control of his temper, Demon-Dean didn’t try, and shoved the first blade into Lester’s chest twisting the blade slowly while Lester dies.
Crowley’s having a meeting with two aides on the subject of improving recruitment for the “Real Down-Under,” and this toady little man’s explaining a proposal that’d increase recruitment by three percent, when Dean walks in all smiles and greets them all. Crowley asks how things went and Winchester replies he killed him and now he feels great, but The King Of Hell, questions his hearing and asks you killed him? Dean says that he decided to kill the loser husband instead and Crowley goes ballistic, telling him Dean lost them a soul. He gets right in Dean’s face and Winchester pushes him to the floor, the toady starts to laugh and Crowley asks if anything’s funny and the young man responds no sir.
This moment’s huge, as Crowley’s given to reacting first and thinking later, but this situation’s far different. Dean’s not the usual challenger that Roderick crushes like an ant, with the First Blade, Dean destroyed Abaddon and could destroy Crowley. So first he goes the diplomatic route but that fails, as Dean tells him we’re not Besties or working for him, then tells Crowley to call him when he needs somebody killed. Crowley stops him however and says that’s it, we’re through and we can see first the hurt in Crowley’s eyes, then the anger and finally a steely coldness. As Dean walks out, The King Of Hell calls Sam, telling him exactly where he can find his brother, he can have him back as he can’t control him, all he wants is the First Blade. Sam tells him he’ll call Crowley when he finds Dean.
Kim and her daughter Frankie come back from repairing Castiel’s car and the little girl puts on the TV to watch cartoons, with a cup filled with crackers, or dry cereal and sits down on the couch where Cas’ still sleeping on. He senses her presence and wakes up and waves hello to her, she says hello and asks him if he had a good dream? Castiel tells here he doesn’t really have dreams, which confuses Frankie, but she skips past that and tells Cas about a dream when snot from her nose became a rocket, went into space and wiped out some stars, so there’d be room for more rockets. Castiel smiles and tells Frankie, she must have really special snot and the little girl laughs, then offers Cas some food from her cup, he thanks her, takes out one piece and eats it. Kim says they’re all set and then says to Hannah that she’s got a great guy, but the Angel says we’re not like that. Kim smiles at her and says too bad.
Sam pulls into the parking lot of the bar Dean’s in and his brother greets him without turning around. Sam tells his older brother, he’s there to take him home, but Dean tells him no, it’s taking all the self-control he possesses to restrain from ripping his brother’s neck open. Dean says he’s killed in his new form and Sam blames Crowley, but the older brother says it’s all on him. Sam tells him they’ve cured demons before and Dean responds his memories of the process revolve around a whole lot of Latin and even more blood.
Guess who shows up next? Yes, Cole Trenton, whose trailed Sam and followed him to the bar and he tells Dean he’s going to take him out, then asks Winchester if he remembers him and he responds that he’s the guy on the phone. Trenton doesn’t mean that and tells him he killed his father and left after warning him to stay out of trouble. Winchester responds he’s killed hundreds of guys and Cole jumps him, but Dean easily throws him off, he pulls out a blade, Winchester knocks it out of his hand. He starts getting into martial-arts form and Dean laughs and says Kung-Fu, and quickly subdues him, causing Trenton to ask what he is and Winchester responds he’s a demon. Cole tells him to kill him, but Dean says he’d prefer he live a long life and suffer every day, realizing his one chance to revenge his father’s death failed. He walks away but Sam runs up from behind throws Holy Water on his brother, then puts him in the demon proof handcuffs and puts him in the passenger seat of Dean’s Impala.
Sam quickly realizes that Dean’s usually pristine “Baby’s” a pig-sty and Dean says big deal it’s only a car. Sam pulls over and gets out, Crowley appears and Sam gives him the First Blade, which is powerless without the Mark Of Cain. Crowley promises to hide it in a volcano or on the bottom of the ocean, anywhere that Dean can never access it. Now what happens to Dean without the First Blade? Will it become easier to turn him human again, or did the act imperil his life?
Castiel can’t find Hannah and another female Angel tells him she took the express elevator to Heaven. She’s there to see Metatron, not only imprisoned but in a straight-jacket. She tells him she want’s Castiel’s grace, he tells her he’ll give it to her if she grants his freedom and he’ll even move away from earth to another part of the universe. Hannah’s ready to make the deal, but Castiel arrives and stops it from happening, he says he’s resigned to his fate and he enjoys seeing his foe imprisoned.
The Story Continues Next Tuesday at 9:00 pm on The CW.
