A Most Holy Man

• Will the Winchesters and Castiel be able to assemble all the ingredients in time to save Mary and Jack? And if they do, will their spell work?
• Was Sam being prophetic about the end of the season when he said he'd like to somehow eliminate all the monsters in the world?

• Scarpatti said that Dean and Sam officially died six years ago. He was likely talking about season 7 "Slash Fiction" when leviathans pretending to be Dean and Sam went on a killing spree and were supposedly killed by law enforcement
• Apparently, the Tree of Life (if it exists) is in Syria. Castiel is in Syria looking for the tree

• Before the skull of Saint Peter was stolen, it was kept at the Holy Sisters of Malta Monastery in Valetta, Malta
• Robert Singer has been a long-time director on Supernatural (since season 1), and this is the 4th episode he has co-written. He wrote "Sin City" (season 3) with Jeremy Carver, "Appointment in Samarra" (season 6) with Sera Gamble, "Out With The Old" (season 7) with Jenny Klein, and the current episode with Andrew Dabb
• Amanda Tapping plays the angel Naomi, and this is the 3rd episode she has directed. She directed "The Future" (season 12), "Various and Sundry Villains" (season 13), and the current episode
• Fulvio Cecere, who played the corrupt cop Cromarty in this episode also played a strip club owner in "Sex and Violence" season 4

• This episode was intended to have a "film noir" feel and in particular drew inspiration from the 1941 film "The Maltese Falcon". Several similarities occur, including the fact that the relic was stolen from Malta, and two of the characters are named for actors in the 1941 film -- "Margaret Astor" and "Richard Greenstreet" are named after Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet
• Several elements of this episode allude to devices and details from 1972 film "The Godfather" and its two sequels. In the Godfather films, scenes of terrible violence and murder are often viewed while sacred or operatic music is playing in the background. Similar music plays during the final shootout in this episode. Also, Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather was holding a cat in a famous scene; similar to the scene in this episode when Scarpatti is meeting with the Winchesters. And Scarpatti's first name is Santino, which is the name of Don Corleone's eldest son in The Godfather
• Dean comments that Castiel is "in Syria dodging bullets", referring to the civil war going on in Syria when this episode aired
• Dean joked that he was sick of eating "Pop Giovanni" pizza; Giovanni is the Italian form of "John", so the show may have been alluding to the Papa John's pizza restaurant chain
• Richard Greenstreet belittles Dean and Sam for wearing "Montgomery Ward" suits. Montgomery Wards is a successful American department store chain founded in 1872
• This could be coincidence, but as of this writing there is a Luca Camilleri who is a professor at the University of Malta
• Dean jokingly calls the priest "Friar Tuck" referring to the fictional character from the 1883 Howard Pyle novel, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. In the book, Friar Tuck is a monk who joins Robin Hood's band of outlaws
• Cromarty calls Sam "Lerch", referring to the stoic and very tall butler from the 1960s era comedy series "The Addams Family"
• Dean jokes that Sam's perfect "Disney Princess" hair doesn't seem to protect him from getting knocked unconscious. Sam's repeated incidents of head trauma are a running joke among the Supernatural fans on social media
• The sacred artifact of importance in this episode was the skull of Saint Peter. Peter was one of Jesus' twelve apostles and an early church leader who is recognized by the Roman Catholic church as the first pope. He was martyred in Rome sometime between 64 and 68 A.D
• Saint Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish priest who is well known for founding a religiousorder of priests who would later become known as the Jesuits. He died in 1556 in Rome
• An "apostolic protonotaries supernumerary" is an actual title awarded to high-ranking Roman Catholic priests by the pope
• There apparently is no Patricia Hotel in Seattle, Washington, but there is one in Vancouver, BC. This is a photo of the actual Patricia Hotel in Vancouver:

• "Leich Pax Vita Salus" --by Schola Gregoriana Pragnesis and Petra Noskaiova (plays when Miele is stealing the skull from the monastery
• "Accentuate the Positive" -- by Johnny Mercer (plays in the coffee shop)
• "I Capuleti e I Montecchi: Se Romeo t'uccise un figlio" - by La tremenda ultrice spada by Compagnia d'Opera Italiana Orchestra (plays in Scarpatti's house)
• "Vita Nostra" -- by David Kelly (plays during the warehouse shootout)

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EPISODE #16: SCOOBYNATURAL