Warning: Spoiler Alert
Since The CW Network series first aired their veteran series “Supernatural,” only three characters have appeared in all 223 episodes. Most of the screen time’s dominated by the Winchester Brothers Sam and Dean, raised as Hunter’s since childhood by their late father John. Although the third character’s yet to utter a word of dialogue, the show just wouldn’t be the same without “BABY.” If you find yourself asking who “BABY” is, I’m frankly surprised you’ve read down this far as “BABY’S” the 1967 Chevy Impala first owned by a young John Winchester and passed down to Dean when their father died.
“BABY’S” far more than a car to the Winchester brothers, she becomes symbolic to THE BOYS for a variety of reasons. A constant reminder of their father and their childhood as they’ve likely spent nearly half their lives in the Impala, first with their dad and then on their own. In many ways “BABY’S” the closest thing either one of them has to a home.
Executive Producer Jeremy Carver and the writer’s paid tribute to the Impala in the latest episode entitled “BABY,” the conceit being that the entire episode got presented from the Chevy’s point of view. All the action got confined to inside the vehicle or action visible through one of the Impala’s windows. Despite putting the self-imposed restraint on range of movement, the episode remained fast-paced and kept the season’s storyline the “Darkness” prominent throughout.
Our first image’s the car’s windshield and the camera pans down to the steering wheel, then we see the upholstery as the camera widens the shot. We see blood smeared on one of the windows then we see a blood covered knife then we see Dean unconscious and handcuffed in the backseat with the rear window blown out.
A graphic informs us we have jumped back to 48-hours earlier and Dean’s washing the Impala, soon Sam arrives and the two of them soap down the windshield. After a quick conversation about Castiel’s and Sam’s health status, Dean says he’s got cabin-fever and asks Sam if he’d like to join him investigating a case in Oregon. He says it’s likely nothing but they found a local sheriff’s body drained of all his blood, Sam says let’s hit the road. Castiel keeps in contact via phone updating the brothers on the lore of the possible creature.
Dean pulls up to some honky-tonk called the Roadhouse and Sam asks why he’s stopping. Dean looks shocked that his younger brother doesn’t remember the joint as Dean had a one-night stand with a hunter they met there named Heather. He says he texted her but she’s working on a case, however this place screams good times and they both need some. Sam tells him to knock himself out he’s going to find a nearby diner.
The pair leave the car but we stay inside, getting the perspective from the driver’s seat. We watch night turn into dawn and Dean stumbles out and into the Impala as the place shuts off their lights. Dean says out loud mistakes were made and suddenly this beautiful blonde rises up from the backseat, apparently just wearing a smile and asking Dean who he is. We hear Sam’s voice saying he’s sorry and introduces him as his brother Dean and asks his older brother if they could have a minute. Dean says he’ll get out of their way and we see by the uniform she’s putting on that she’s a waitress from the diner. She asks Sam if he sees her hairpin and though we see it on the backseat she doesn’t find it.
The brothers get back in the car ready to hit the highway and the younger brother says he can explain but his older brother tells him to remain quite and drops in a cassette of Bob Seger singing “Night Moves.” The brothers laugh and start singing along, then we see them later in the trip eating Tex-Mex food and laughing together.
The conversation turns serious when Sam asks his brother if he’d like a permanent relationship with a woman and his older brother responds while laughing they’ve struck-out at every attempt they ever made. He says that given the life they lead there will never be long-term relationships for either of them. Dean tells Sammy to go lie down in the backseat as Dean’s wired and ready to keep driving.
Sam wakes up in the front seat hearing Judy Collins singing “Some Day Soon” and he asks Dean what he’s playing, but his brother’s not driving the car. Behind the wheel’s a young John Winchester the way he looked when he first married their mother. He says your mother used to love this song and he smiles as Sam freaks. As Sammy tries to make sense of the situation, John says it feels great to be driving the Impala and Dean took good care of it and took good care of Sam as well.
Sam asks if this is another vision and John asks you’ve been having visions son? Sam tells John not to call him son and he asks what’s wrong with a father and Sam cuts him off. He says you’re not my father my father’s dead and John asks him when did death ever stop a Winchester?
He starts talking about his sons’ conversation earlier about relationships and he says he never wanted this kind a life for them. Sammy responds they turned out all right and John says they turned out great but that’s on them not due to anything he did as a father. Sam says this got to be a dream and John smiles and says he never could fool him.
John’s face turns somber and he says call this a dream or a vision but there’s a message and it’s the same. The “Darkness” is coming and only you boys can stop it. Sam responds then tell us how we need help and not visions of dead people. John smiles and replies God helps those that help themselves and Sam asks who he really is?
The horn of a passing train actually wakes Sam up and he finds himself in the backseat with Dean sprawled out on the front and he says to his younger brother welcome to the Winchester Motel. They don’t have cable but they’ve got room-service and he reaches into the cooler and hands Sammy a beer. He says that Sam sang in his sleep, the song their mother liked that their father used to play for them.
Hearing that clears any remaining haziness from his head and he asks Dean if he remembers that he said he wasn’t sure his encounter with the “Darkness” was a vision or reality? He then tells his older brother that he’s been having visions and he just had one involving their father. Not the John Winchester he remembers but a younger version when he was their age.
He recounts the dream and tells Dean that John’s last words were God helps those that help themselves and he asks his brother if he thinks the visions are coming from God? Dean says pump the breaks here and Sammy says he had the first one while he prayed. The older brother asks him why he suddenly turned to prayer and Sam finally reveals that he’s been infected by the “Darkness” and that’s how he found the cure.
Dean tells Sammy he’s having fever-dreams not visions from God, he says they caused this problem and they need to solve it. He says nobody’s going to help them especially God but they’ll handle it like they’ve handled every situation that’s crossed their path.
Next day they arrive in Quaker-Town, Oregon and they speak with the deputies about the sheriff’s death. They find out that the body had been drained of blood and several organs were missing. Dean says their dealing with a Werewolf/Vampire hybrid, a WEREPIRE. Sam refuses to use the word his brother just invented. They ask Deputy Donnelly where they can find a motel and a place to eat. He suggests a motel a couple of miles away and tells them Aunt Meg’s steakhouse has the best stakes in the state.
They get to Aunt Meg’s and Dean barks about there being valet-parking, he gives the parking attendant a young woman named Jesse the keys and tells her not a scratch. We stay with Jesse in the car and she picks up another teenage girl and they drive the Impala to a dirt parking lot and start doing donuts at about 90 MPH. Screaming and laughing and taking dozens of selfies until her phone rings and she tells her friend she’s got to get the car back before she gets fired. She drives back to the restaurant and opens the door and Dean says nicely done and hands her a couple of bucks.
The brothers decide to split-up as Sam heads to the sheriff’s widow’s house to find out what she know while Dean goes back to the crime scene. When he arrives Cas calls him and says he believes the creature they’re looking for are called Whisperers. He says that likely silver will destroy them but better decapitate it to be safe. Dean’s got Cas on speaker-phone and tells him to hold on but the Angel doesn’t hear him and keeps on talking as Deputy Donnelly drives up. He gets out of his car and he starts attacking Dean, the two slug it out until Dean grabs his pistol and brings the creature down by unloading silver bullets into him.
Castiel hears the gunfire and starts asking Dean if everything’s okay not realizing Winchester’s outside of the car. Dean finally hears the Angel’s voice and he says all’s fine when Donnelly starts to rise up in front of the car. Winchester cuts his head off with an axe but both parts remain active. Dean pumps more silver bullets into the torso empties the remaining beer from the cooler and puts the head in it while the head keeps growling. Castiel says he’ll do more digging on the lore and Dean sees there’s a message from Sam. He calls his brother and finds out two more of the creatures jumped him but he scared them off with silver bullets. Sammy says they knocked out the sheriff’s widow Lily Markham and he texts Dean the address.
The brothers drive into town with Markham still passed out on the backseat and Castiel tells them he’s identified the creature and it’s actually a hybrid of a Ghoul/Vampire. He tells them they have to find the Alpha-Male stick a copper coin in their mouth and then decapitate the creature. When they do that all the others possessed by the creatures will revert back to themselves.
Sam goes into a convenience store to get some pennies minted prior to 1982, when the coins were still mostly copper. He starts flirting with the girl behind the register when Markham wakes up and asks what’s going on. Dean tells her who he and Sam area and tells her they rescued her when she starts hearing the head growl in the cooler. She opens it and her eyes grow wide as she sees the head, Dean apologizes and puts the cooler in the trunk. However Markham soon reveals herself to be one of the creatures and she knocks Dean out and handcuffs him and puts him on the backseat. She gets into the driver’s seat just as Sam looks up he runs out to the parking lot and shatters the Impala’s rear-window with his shot but Markham escapes.
Dean comes to briefly and he sees that Markham’s taken Donnelly’s head out of the cooler and tries to reattach it to his torso. It works and the two drive away. Winchester regains consciousness and Donnelly starts talking to him and telling him he knows he and Sam are Hunters. Dean identifies the creature Donnelly is and the deputy tells him he’s smarter than he looks. Turns out Lilly killed her own husband as he refused to join them, Donnelly puts the blame on himself for not training her better. He tells him he’s building an army to fight the “Darkness.” He says his army won’t win but it will buy them some time.
Winchester finds the waitress’ hairpin on the backseat and picks the lock on the handcuffs then grabs Donnelly by the neck forcing him to lose control of the steering wheel and the car crashes. Dean comes to and thinks he’s alone in the car and sees the blood covered knife and the waitress’ Hello Kitty purse.
As he’s going through the contents Donnelly gets up from in front of the Impala pulling a hunk of glass out of his face that belonged to the now shattered windshield. Lilly comes to lying on the front seat and tries to attack Dean but he wins this round. As Donnelly heads into the back seat Dean shoves a penny in his mouth and decapitates him by slamming the back door over and over against his neck and the head falls off and the creature dies. Markham becomes human again and tells Dean her children are with the others.
They find her children standing next to Sam she runs to her kids as the brothers throw their arms over each other’s shoulders. Sam says they were building an army and Dean says he knows and the younger brother says even the monsters are scared of the “Darkness.” Dean says that ends now and Sam asks if they can wait until tomorrow, the older brother laughs and says let’s go home and Sammy pats the dashboard and says we are home.
Dean steps on the accelerator and the Impala grudgingly turns over. As they pull away Dean puts back on Seger and we see that “BABY’S” truly beat-up. Her grills smashed in the headlights and both the windshield and the rear window blown out. The hood’s bent but she keeps straight and keen on the highway, kind of like “THE BOYS.”
The Story Resumes Next Wednesday Night at 9:00 pm on The CW.
