War of the Worlds

• Where is Mary?
• Where is Jack, and why can't Lucifer, Asmodeus, or any of the angels sense him?
• Is Rowena still alive?
• Will Ketch abandon his search for Rowena now that he's been hired by Asmodeus to look for Jack?
• How will Lucifer deal with his diminished powers? Will he steal another angel's grace?
• What will Michael do if he successfully makes it to our world? And if his powers are also diminished (because he has to use his own grace for the spell), how will he deal with his weakened condition? Will that make it easier for him to be killed?
• Are Raphael and Gabriel alive in the AU? If so, maybe Michael could use their grace for the spell?

• Lucifer apparently can't detect Jack's presence, and neither can Asmodeus.
• Lucifer is in a very weakened state without all of his grace.
• Mr. Ketch implied (while pretending to be his twin brother) that he regrets what he did to the Winchesters and to Mary.
• So many angels have been killed that their species is going extinct. Chuck created all the angels at the dawn of creation, but the angels believe that Jack can (and will, even if not voluntarily) make more angels to replenish their ranks.
• Lucifer's worst fear is being locked up again like when he was in the cage.
• The demons have a hunter on their payroll.
• In the alternate universe (AU) Kevin Tran has been working for Michael, mostly because as a prophet he has no choice.
• Kevin Tran found a spell in the angel tablet that can open the inter-dimensionalrift; but the spell only allows one person/entity to pass through each time, and an archangel's grace is required to complete the ritual.
• Michael told Kevin that if he can open the rift, he will be allowed to come to our world, which Kevin calls "paradise world"
• The sigil on Rowena's body resurrects her if she dies. When Rowena was being held prisoner by the British Men of Letters (BMOLs) many years ago, Ketch convinced Rowena to implant a sigil into his body, in exchange for helping her escape. Ketch used the sigil to resurrect himself after Mary shot him in the head, but the sigil can only be used once without being recharged. Ketch needs to find Rowena so she can recharge his sigil.
• Mr. Ketch keeps a lock pick hidden in a place where the Winchesters would have found it if they'd performed a body cavity search when they took him prisoner.
• Mr. Ketch is hiding from the BMOLs because they consider him a deserter and will kill him if they know he's alive. He has been working as a hunter mercenary -- killing monsters for clients who hire him. He's taken on the identity of a fake twin brother, Alexander.
• Mr. Ketch wants the Winchesters to believe that he's one of the good guys, and that what he did to their family and to Mary was just him doing his job.
• Sam stole the computer hard drive from the BMOLs base when he and the other American hunters raided it in "Who We Are" (season 12).

• This episode mark's Richard Speight Jr.'s fourth time in the director's chair for Supernatural. Speight also directed "Just My Imagination" (season 11), "Stuck in the Middle With You" (season 12), and "Twigs & Twine & Tasha Banes" (season 12). Richard also played the archangel Gabriel.
• When the Winchesters are outside the police station investigating the murders, we see the name "Clinton Police Department" on the building, but we can't tell what state the city is in. There are 34 cities named Clinton in the United States. The closest two to the bunker would have been Clinton, Kansas or Clinton, Missouri.
• In the scene where Sam is researching Alexander Ketch's background, Sam is sitting at the same table in the bunker's library where the Winchester brothers carved their initials in "The Memory Remains" (season 12). You can see the initials near the bottom right corner of this screen grab:

• The name of the bar where Castiel and Lucifer met was "Nick's Bar".
• Castiel and Lucifer seemed to be at that bar for a long time, but they never even ordered a beer. That's pretty unusual. Also, we never saw a bartender (perhaps the man Asmodeus killed was the bartender/waiter), and there only seemed to be one other patron.
• Erica Cerra, who played the angel Duma in this episode, also played the bartender in "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (season 6).
• Caitlin Stryker, who played an angel in this episode, also played the nanny in "Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menangerie" (season 7).

• The original War of the Worldswas a science fiction novel written by H.G.Wells in 1897, depicting an alien invasion of Earth. A famous 1938 radio broadcast based on the book panicked many listeners, who believed the invasion was actually happening.
• Dean asks if Jack is too "Fast and Furious" for the angels, alluding to the popular action movie franchise (beginning in 2001) about a team of car thieves.
• Annelids and nematodes are both classes of worms.
• Donny and Marie Osmond were the most popular members of the 1970's era family musical group The Osmond Family.
• Lucifer teases Asmodeus about being a "one time stooge", referring to the popular 1930s - 1950s era comedy team The Three Stooges.
• Dean jokes that Arthur Ketch having an evil twin brother is "Ripley's Believe it or Not" weird, referring to the popular franchise (including museums and a television series) that focuses on highlighting bizarre, hard-to-believe events and individuals.
• Dean jokes that the truth about Ketch is behind "door number two", alluding to the popular game show "Let's Make A Deal" in which contestants had to choose which door to open, without knowing which prize was behind each door.
• Lucifer asks the angels is they are planning a "Make my day" moment, referring to an utterance by the fictional police detective "Dirty" Harry Callahan (played by actor Clint Eastwood) from the 1983 film "Sudden Impact".
• Lucifer jokes that Kevin Tran is a "meth head", a derogatory term for someone who is addicted to methamphetamine.
• Dean and Castiel used aliases Russell and Kilmer when they were posing as Texas Rangers in "Tombstone".In this episode, Dean received a phone call from the motel manager, who called asking for Agent Russell. Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer portrayed Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday in the 1993 western "Tombstone".

• "Blues are Turning Black" - by Stephen Emil Dudas (plays as Castiel and Lucifer are talking at the bar)

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EPISODE # 8: The Scorpion and the Frog