Stairway to Heaven

Episode 9.23:  Do You Believe in Miracles?

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

Stairway to Heaven
Episode 9x22
airdate: May 13, 2014
directed by Guy Norman Bee
written by Andrew Dabb

TESSA THE REAPER RETURNS — After a massive attack on the angels, Castiel calls Sam and Dean for help. As they leave, Dean’s eagerness to bring the First Blade doesn’t go unnoticed by Sam who is worried about the cost to his brother whenever he uses the Blade. Meanwhile, Castiel is shocked when he learns the angel that caused the attack was one of his followers and did it in his name. Dean discovers there is a conspiracy amongst Castiel’s angel followers and at the heart of it is Tessa, the Reaper...

 

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

More Photos from Stairway to Heaven

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki
  • Dean (to Sam about Cas) - “He is a weird guy, OK. He’s a weird, dorky little guy. But he happens to have an army of angels behind him.”
  • Metatron (to Gadreel) - "Sure, he’s cute. And Castiel has this simple charm. He’s like a a mentally deficient puppy.”
  • Sam - "You hold a roll call?"
    Cas: “They like to hear me say their names."
    Dean: “I know a couple of women like that."
  • Flagstaff to Dean - "You believe every problem can be solved with a gun. You play the hero, but underneath the hypeyou're a killer with oceans of blood on his hands. I hate men like you."
    Dean to Flagstaff (with an angel blade to her throat) - "Hunnie, there ain't no other men like me."
  • Cas (to Sam) - "I believe it’s some sort of riddle. Why is 6 afraid of 7? I assume it’s because 7 is a prime number and prime numbers can be intimidating.”
    Sam (to Cas) - "It's because seven ate (eight) nine."

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki
Curtis Armstrong Tessa...
Curtis Armstrong
(Metatron)
Lindsey McKeon
(Tessa)
Hannah... Gadreel...
Erica Carroll
(Hannah)
Tahmoh Penikett
(Gadreel)
Kevin O'Grady Stairway to Heaven - Supernatural Fan Wiki
Kevin O'Grady
(Tyrus)
Kaaren deZilva
(Flagstaff)

 

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki
Curtis Armstrong
Name: Metatron
Species: angel - "the Scribe of God"
Motivation: wants to rule Heaven
Fate: undecided

99 Problems - Supernatural WikiKING OF THE DAMNED

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki
  • What will the Mark of Cain do to Dean in the end?
  • Has Dean killed Gadreel?
  • How can Castiel hope to defeat Metatron now that he's lost his angel army?
  • Will Dean and Sam help Cas now in his fight to free Heaven?

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki
  • Tessa was brainwashed by Metatron into acting as a suicide bomber.
  • Metatron had an elite unit of angel suicide bombers as part of his plan to discredit Castiel.
  • Cas' grace is fading fast. He won't survive unless he takes another angel's grace.

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki
  • During this episode, Metatron tries on a trench coat similar to Castiel's to see if it makes him more appealing. Metatron has commented before (in "Clip Show" season 8) that he should've picked a more physically attractive vessel like Castiel's
  • Ironically, Tessa was preparing to detonate a bomb during a performance of "Jesus Christ Superstar", a rock music adaptation of the New Testament story of Christ

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki
  • The title references the 1971 song "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin, released on the band's untitled fourth album. The song runs for 8:02; it was never released as a single because the band refused to cut it down to fit
  • Castiel chooses fed aliases Spears and Aguilera for Dean and Sam. These refer to pop music performers Brittney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Castiel is correct that the Winchesters frequently use rock musician aliases, but he doesn't realize the aliases are always male performers
  • Metatron tells Gadreel that they had their shot with "operation Lee Harvey" referring to Lee Harvey Oswald, the man believed to have assassinated President John Kennedy. Oswald (who was murdered before going to trial) said to authorities that he was a "patsy", implying that he'd been set up. Metatron may have set Gadreel up to be a patsy
  • Sam warns Castiel that among his angel followers, he's part rock star and part "L Ron" referring to L. Ron Hubbard who founded the Church ofScientology
  • While Metatron chides Gadreel about secretly meeting with Castiel he referencesthe biblical quote about "sin and stones". The quote Metatron is referring to is from John 8:7 "Let the man among you who has no sin be the first to cast a stone at her."
  • Dean refers to the suicide bombers as "the Manson girls", alluding to the cult followers of Charles Manson, who committed brutal murders in 1969 on Manson's orders
  • Tessa says she remembers her and Dean's "meet cute", referring to (in television or films) a first meeting between two people who end up together
  • Dean: "Only if it's Fiddler." This refers to the 1964 musical, "Fiddler on the Roof", based on the story Tevye and his Daughters, is set in Russia in 1905. It explores the life of a Jewish milkman, Tevye against the backdrop of Tsarist pogroms which threaten to evict his family from their lands.
  • Castiel: "And the answer is the key, like the Doors of Durin in Lord of the Rings." - This references "The Lord of the Rings", a fantasy novel series by J.R.R. Tolkien concerning the adventures of a group of humans, elves, and hobbits who must destroy an evil ring by throwing it into Mount Doom. The Fellowship have to solve the riddle on the doors to enter the Dwarven city of Khazad-dum.
  • Metatron refers to Dean and Sam as the Hardy Boys, alluding to two fictional, teenage, amateur detectives from a series of books (1927 - present)
  • Sam: "Only the penitent man shall pass." - This refers to the 1989 movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". Archaeologist Indiana Jones must pass three traps and for the first he has to kneel to avoid hidden blades which decapitate the unwary. The line Sam quotes is the solution to the trap.
  • Dean sarcastically refers to Metatron as "Mother Theresa with neck beard", alluding to Mother Theresa of Calcutta, a nun who worked among the poor in India, founded a religious order, and was later canonized a saint by the Catholic church
  • When Sam and Castiel find the burned angel, Sam comments that the angel got "Home Alone'd", referring to the 1990 comedy about a young boy who uses booby traps to stop burglars
  • Metatron says that while everyone else was playing chess, he was playing Monopoly and he always builds a hotel on Boardwalk. Monopoly is a popular board game launched by the Hasbro toy company in 1935. In the game, players pretend to be real estate tycoons, and the object of the game is to own the most expensive real estate on the board. Hotels are the most expensive structures in the game, and Boardwalk is the most expensive place to build one. So owning a hotel on Boardwalk gives a player a definite advantage over all the other players in the game

Sympathy For The Devil - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki
  • "Cheek to Cheek" - by Frank Sinatra/Fred Astaire (plays when Sam and Castiel find the "trick" secret doorway to Heaven)

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

See below for the discussion thread for this episode.

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

episode guide - Supernatural Wiki

 

Started By Thread Subject Replies Last Post
spnfanforever Talk about STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN here!(page: 1 2 3) 59 May 17 2014, 12:10 PM EDT byoctober57rain
spnfanforever

Thread started: May 2 2014, 6:48 AM EDT  Watch

Hey All,

Well, last but one episode coming up this week - very exciting!!

Let us know what you're looking forward to and your hopes and fears for the Season Finale next week - and of course your views on the episode once it's aired!

SFF

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