The Great Escapist Recap

The episode opens with Kevin asleep on Garth’s houseboat – “Fizzle’s Folly”. He wakes up and then hears knocking at the door – it’s Dean and Sam and they have the other half of the demon tablet, the half Crowley had taken. Dean explains they found out that Crowley was moving his Earth-side operations and they laid a trap and got the stolen half of the demon tablet back. Sam asks Kevin if he needs the other half of the tablet but he points to all the notes pinned up on the wall and says he doesn’t need it. They leave the boat but then they walk through some sort of viscous screen and when they emerge they aren’t Dean or Sam – they are demons. They walk through into a dark room where people are monitoring TV screens and Crowley is there in the center, sitting down. He’s heard Kevin saying there are three trials to be completed by the Winchesters to close the Gates of Hell…

Meanwhile, The Boys get an email from Kevin. It contains a video and in it he explains that if they get this, he, Kevin, must be dead and it’s all thanks to Crowley (and them). It’s a video with a form of ‘dead man’s switch’ - if Kevin doesn’t log in regularly once a week, the video is sent automatically and all of Kevin’s notes about the tablet are also uploaded to the Winchesters’ laptop. Dean especially is upset about Kevin as he feels they let the prophet down but they push their grief aside to try and figure out the third trial. Sam is in bad shape but he won’t accept the help and care that Dean is trying to offer him; he says he won’t get better until the Trials are completed.

Maybe it is part of the changes the first two trials have forced on Sam but he recognizes a symbol that Kevin has made over and over in the margins of his notes. It is a glyph belonging to a Native American tribe and it means “messenger of god”. Sam believes Metatron is in the mountains with this tribe.

Dean and Sam head out to Colorado and check into a hotel on the tribe’s land. The manager is suspicious, silent and even a little hostile. The Boys find out later that they are the only guests to have checked in since 2006. Sam is worse now and has symptoms as if he’s drunk so Dean leaves him to rest while he checks out the local museum. He learns that this is the home on earth to a sacred messenger who likes to hear stories. Dean recognizes the hotel manager in a photo - dated nearly one hundred years ago.

While Dean is at the museum, Sam follows a high-pitched hum that only he can hear and discovers that one room has many boxes stacked up in front of the door. They are full of books. Dean returns and tells Sam about the messenger who likes to hear stories, and Sam realises what it all means. He shows Dean the room. All the packages are gone now and the door is open. They go in and are met by a middle-aged man with a shotgun: it is Metatron! He can see that Sam is more than halfway through the Trials, and he tells them something of himself. He says he is not an archangel; he was just an average “typing pool” angel until God picked him from obscurity to take down His Word. Then God left and the archangels took over. They started to scheme, and if they couldn’t have their Father back, they would take over the universe. Metatron feared for his own safety as he knew they wanted the secrets God had imparted to him so he went into hiding and has no idea what’s been going on – he doesn’t know about the failed Apocalypse or Dean and Sam’s part in that. He just reads every book, every story he can find.
Dean and Sam can’t believe he is so selfish, hiding away while people like Kevin die to protect God’s Word, which he should have done.

Meanwhile, Kevin has realised that ‘Dean’ and ‘Sam’ aren’t really there – he’s caught onto the fact that they are demons and has told Crowley he won’t tell him anything. Crowley is enraged with Kevin and he starts strangling him. Suddenly, blinding white light shines out of Kevin’s eyes, then he is with Sam, Dean, and Metatron. The angel has rescued and perhaps healed Kevin but he is still unconscious. Metatron agrees to share the Third Trial with them, but it is unnecessary. That loud hum that Sam has been hearing has been him 'resonating' with the Word of God. He is now on the same ‘plane’ and knows that the final trial is to ‘cure’ a demon, whatever that may mean.

Meanwhile, Castiel has been hiding in plain sight from Naomi and her angels inside Biggersons’ (coffee shop / restaurant) outlets across America and the fact that they are all exactly the same (funny!) has prevented the angels tracking him. Naomi comes up with the idea of her angels killing everyone in one location and Cas is distracted long enough for Naomi and her angels to find and secure him. She wants the angel tablet but Castiel won’t give it to her. Crowley materializes and kills one of the angels with a revolver containing bullets made from a melted-down angel blade! The other angel proves to be an agent of Crowley - he's the one who tipped Crowley off. Naomi leaves, realizing she can’t defeat Crowley at present and leaves Castiel with him. Cas refuses to give the tablet to Crowley but he has a sudden insight and realises that Cas wouldn’t put the tablet out of his reach – it's so precious he would keep it with him. He shoots Cas in the side just for kicks and then reaches into his gut. Cas is writhing as he roots around and Crowley pulls out the angel tablet, covered in blood…

Editor’s note: I think this is a very good episode. The plot races on apace: Crowley now has the angel tablet and Cas is badly hurt. Dean and Sam now know the Third Trial but Sam is very ill so can he stand up and complete it?Metatron is revealed to be a very self-serving angel and in spite of now helping The Boys, he seems untrustworthy. The drama and tension escalates as the Season Finale approaches…