| RECAP ADDED BY Spnfanforever (SFF) and Journalbookbinder (JBB)
The Season 8 Opener starts in 100-Mile Wilderness, Maine, one year after the conclusion of Season 7, when Dean and Cas disappeared after Dean killed Dick Roman, who was the Head Leviathan. It’s night time, and there’s a couple sleeping in a tent in the woods…
Suddenly an intense blue-white light appears in the sky, as if opening from another place, maybe another dimension. It lasts only briefly and then disappears but it wakes the girl up. She wakes her partner, Will, and they hear something outside and see a shadow pass outside the tent. She asks him to check outside…
He goes out with a flashlight; he’s nervous and asks, ‘Hello?’ several times, but no-one answers. He thinks it’s been a deer and turns around to tell the girl but when he looks back he sees Dean standing there! Dean looks wild – even slightly mad. He’s dirty and disheveled and holding a strange weapon, plus a gun. He asks, ‘Where am I?’ and then when the girl comes out he points the gun at her and is obviously having difficulty maintaining control. He asks where the road is and they point to it and say it’s twelve miles away, then he steals one of their rucksacks and runs off in that direction without any more words to them…
The scene changes to Clayton, Louisiana. It’s daytime. A truck rolls up and Dean gets out and starts walking. His left arm is hurting; he holds it, grimacing, and shakes it every so often. He walks until dark and goes into a property with ‘Lafitte’ on the gateposts. He walks up to a windmill and starts pacing out from there, then he stops and says, ‘this’d better be you, you sonofab*tch!’ and he starts to dig…
Later, he’s uncovered a corpse. He gets out of the grave and his arm is still hurting him, a lot. He says, ‘hold on you b****** … hold on!’ and rolls his sleeve up. His forearm is misshapen and pulsating with a red-gold glow. He opens up his forearm with a knife and there’s a bright white glow along the cut. He speaks a Latin chant, holding his arm over the corpse and letting the red liquid – like blood – drip onto the bones; it is very painful to him, but he continues until all the ‘blood’ is out of him. Light flashes over the skull and bones, then there is a deep red flash from the grave and Dean falls down. A figure – a man - appears behind him…
  Dean turns around. He’s expecting the figure as he says, ‘Well, that was fast’, and the ‘man’ responds by complaining how long it’s taken Dean to do it. Dean asks him if everything’s working and he replies by showing what look like vampire teeth. He asks Dean what they should do now, and Dean says just what they’ve talked about, so the vampire says ‘it’s goodbye then.’ Dean says, ‘keep your nose clean, Benny!’ and they shake hands. Benny says, ‘‘we made it, brother, I can’t believe it,’ and Dean replies, ‘you and me both’, and they hug; Dean is smiling… The monster has obviously accompanied Dean back from Purgatory…
The scene changes to Kermit, Texas. It is night and Sam is standing in a bedroom, packing his bag. A woman is in bed, asleep. There’s a dog on the bed and he strokes it before he leaves. The woman wakes up as he’s going but she doesn’t say anything to him. Sam leaves in the Impala but someone is watching him as he pulls out into the street…
Sam pulls up outside a cabin in Whitefish, Montana – they’ve used this place before with Bobby. It’s day. He goes in and Dean knocks him to the floor, throwing holy water and Borax liquid over him, and then cuts him with a silver knife. He wants Sam to do the same to him but Sam refuses; he says he knows it’s Dean but Dean covers himself with holy water and Borax liquid and offers Sam the knife, but Sam again refuses and says he just wants to say ‘hello’, so Dean cuts his own arm to prove he’s him. They hug for a time…
Sam asks Dean what happened to him and he says he was sent to Purgatory after killing Dick, and he was in there for the whole year. Sam asks him how he got out but Dean is evasive and just says ‘whoever built that box didn’t want me in there anymore than I did.’ He won’t explain anymore to Sam, who asks about Cas. Dean says ‘Cas didn’t make it.’ Sam asks for more explanation but all Dean will say is that something happened to him down there and Cas let go… Sam asks if Dean saw Cas die and he says, ‘I saw enough’ but Sam asks if he isn’t sure and Dean replies, ‘I said I saw enough, Sam’ and this silences him…
Dean said he had trouble getting hold of Sam as half his phones weren’t working and Sam admits that he ditched his phones because he hasn’t been hunting this past year. Dean is incredulous at first but then realizes Sam is telling the truth. He asks why and Sam says that he was gone, Cas and Bobby too, and Crowley had even taken Kevin and Meg off with him. Dean’s amazed and upset that Sam has given up on the ‘family business’ of killing monsters. Sam says that everyone was dead and Dean is angry now, saying he wasn’t dead, he was killing monsters in ‘God’s armpit’ – Purgatory – and Sam replies that killing monsters was what got all his family killed… He says he was alone and had no roadmap of what to do, so he ‘fixed the Impala up and just drove’. Dean says, ‘… after you looked for me?‘ but Sam doesn’t reply and Dean asks again, ‘did you look for me, Sam?’ Sam looks guilty and doesn’t reply. Dean is very hurt and angry. He says they always told each other not to look for the other if they were ‘lost’ but they always ignored that, because of ‘their deep, abiding love for each other, except for this time’. Sam says he’s still the same guy but Dean says he (Dean) isn’t and he leaves the cabin…
Later at the cabin, Sam asks Dean if he wants anything to eat and Dean says, ‘I’ll pass.’ Sam looks surprised but goes ahead and just fixes himself some food. Dean is going through the phones, listening for messages. He looks at Sam and when he has his attention he starts playing him messages from Kevin, each more desperate than the last, sent over a period of six months. Kevin had escaped from Crowley and wanted Sam’s help. Dean says, ‘he was our responsibility and you couldn’t answer the damn phone!’ and he throws the cell at Sam…
Sam has managed to isolate background noise from Kevin’s last call and they hear ‘Centerville’. Sam says Kevin must have been on a bus going there. Dean asks where that is and Sam says Michigan and the ‘why’ is because that’s where his high school girlfriend goes to college. Dean is surprised when Sam says ’it’s the best lead we’ve got’ because he doesn’t think Sam is interested in helping, but Sam says Dean is right, Kevin is their responsibility so they should find him…
They go to the Impala; Sam tosses Dean the keys and Dean gives her the once-over and says, ‘no visible signs of douchery’, I’ll give you that’ (- funny!) but when he gets in Dean looks around and says, ‘Smells like dog to you?’ but Sam just shrugs…
They stop at the Palm Motel. Dean is about to buy some snacks and sees children playing with toy guns. It takes him back to Purgatory…
…Dean is chasing a monster through the forest. He catches him and asks where Cas is. The monster doesn’t know and Dean beheads and kills him with his own weapon. Another monster jumps on Dean, knocking him to the ground and tries to bite or kill him… then a third one – Benny, the one whom Dean resurrected – comes along and kills the monster attacking Dean. Dean and Benny face each other…
The scene changes back to the motel. Dean is sitting on the bed; he’s restless, edgy. He wants to go now and find Kevin, but Sam says Kevin will be alright for another twelve hours and Dean needs some sleep. Dean asks him if that’s how he rationalized not hunting for a year – that people would be OK? Sam says that he did what they promised to do – he moved on and lived his own life. He says he read the weird stories in the paper and when Dean says ‘and you said what, not my problem?’ he agrees. Sam tells Dean the world went on and he realized it wasn’t only up to him... Dean asks what could have made Sam stop hunting just like that and asks if there was a girl, which Sam admits, although he said it had nothing to do with her…
 Sam tries to explain to Dean that he found something he hadn’t had his whole life and Dean asks how Sam met this girl, Amelia. He says he hit a dog, and immediately Dean is incensed that Sam had a dog in his car, saying he knew he smelled dog in there! Sam told Dean he didn’t want to tell him about the dog because he knew he’d throw a ‘b*tch fit’…
 Sam asks Dean how he is now, as he’s so edgy. Dean says it was bloody and messy and he was fighting the whole time, but there was something about being there, it was pure – almost as if he misses it… He has a flashback to when he’s facing the monster who saved him – Benny… They circle each other. Benny says he has a way out for Dean, if he still wants to leave. Dean doesn’t believe him but Benny says God left a way out for human souls. Dean asks him why he wants to help him escape and Benny says he wants a ride back with Dean as the portal is only for humans. Dean is interested but he tells Benny he wants to find Cas first. Benny isn’t keen but then agrees… The scene switches back to Dean in the present….
The Boys are now with Channing Ngo, Kevin’s old girlfriend, at college. She says she hasn’t seen Kevin for a year. She says she hates him and isn’t covering for him – she’s not interested in him anymore because he didn’t go to Princeton, which Dean and Sam think is cold. They believe her and leave. They don’t know why Kevin would have gone there if not to see her, so they decide to search the campus.
Meanwhile, Channing turns out to be a demon. She cuts her roommate’s throat and sends a message via the goblet of blood she’s drained from her to some unnamed demon, saying she hasn’t seen Kevin but Dean Winchester is back…
Sam is sitting outside at a café on campus, using his laptop. He sees a dog and has a flashback to when he was alone... He’s carrying a dog, which he’s hit with his car, into an animal hospital. He’s very agitated and wants someone to save the dog…
Back to the present, and Sam is joined by Dean, who says he’s found nothing out about Kevin. He’s touched when a waitress delivers a burger, ordered by Sam, to him. He starts eating with an expression of ecstasy on his face – Sam can’t even get him to answer when he’s trying to show him a picture of Kevin! (There may be some forgiveness here from Dean since he wouldn’t even accept any food from Sam back at the cabin – here he’s grateful Sam ordered him his favorite thing) Sam has found Kevin on surveillance footage and has traced him to using a computer in the computer lab. He’s managed to reverse-trace Kevin back to using an Internet connection in a coffee shop in Iowa…
The scene changes to Fairfield, Iowa. Dean and Sam pull up outside an old church – someone at the coffee shop said that Kevin has been seen going into it. Sam knocks and announces them to Kevin while Dean picks the lock. They go inside and Kevin shoots them with Borax liquid. They say they’re not leviathans, and Dean tells Kevin when he asks what happened to them that he went to Purgatory and ‘Sam hit a dog.’
…They go in with Kevin. He’s drawn devil’s traps as protection against demons and when Dean asks him how he knew to do this he says ‘God told him… technically.’ Sam asks him what happened, how he escaped from Crowley, and Kevin goes back in time…
… He was taken to a warehouse by Crowley, who’s being very ‘nice’ to him. He asks Kevin to interpret the words on another tablet from God – this time it’s about demons….
Back to the present: Dean asks Kevin what about demons and he says, ‘everything’. Then back to the past and Kevin being held by Crowley: Kevin can read ‘Hell gates’ on it. The scene switches back to the present again and Sam asks Kevin what about the Hell gates and he tells them that there are Hell gates in Wisconsin and the tablet has told him how to open them, with a spell…
Back in the past again, and Kevin is in the warehouse, mixing the ingredients for the spell. He’s ready, and the demons with him are speaking to Crowley on the phone – he wants Kevin to proceed with the spell. Kevin asks where Crowley is and they say in Wisconsin. Kevin lights a match and it drops towards the ingredients….
The scene switches back to Dean in the present. He asks Kevin incredulously if he’s opened the Hell gates for Crowley to let all the demons out, and Kevin says, ‘No!’ … Back to the match falling, but the spell doesn’t open the gates, it blasts the two demons guarding Kevin, killing them. Crowley is left holding the phone… he’s in a field, surrounded by goats… Kevin leaves, taking the tablet with him…
Back in the present, Kevin explains he was actually reading from a different chapter – how to destroy demons! Dean’s happy… Sam asks where the tablet is now and Kevin says it’s safe. Sam asks again where it is and Dean tells him basically to back off; if Kevin says it’s safe, that’s all that matters. Dean asks if he read anything else from it before he stashed it and Kevin says he read how to close the gates of Hell forever, banishing all the demons and keeping them locked away. Dean allowed that could be important!
 The Boys go outside. Dean’s really excited about this development but Sam isn’t. He doesn’t think Kevin will survive, but Dean says that Kevin’s done OK so far. Sam thinks Kevin doesn’t have to be involved but Dean says he’s back in it now, he has no choice. Sam thinks Dean is pushing Kevin into this and shouldn’t, and Dean is incredulous because he says they have a chance of ‘wiping the slate clean’ – removing all the demons who destroyed their lives, killed their mother and Jess, if Kevin just takes them to the tablet and gives them the spell…
Later, inside, Sam apologizes to Kevin for not being there for him – not answering his calls when he and Dean disappeared. Kevin talks about how ever since he’s been a prophet, he can’t believe this is his life. Sam says he knows his life sucks now but he tells him it will get better, which Kevin doesn’t really believe. Sam seems to have accepted what Dean said because he tells Kevin now that if they can get the tablet and everything Kevin needs for the spell there will be no demons chasing him anymore and he will have his life back. Kevin says he can’t see a way to get there but Sam says there is a way. Kevin asks for five minutes, and while Sam is sitting there, he thinks back to when he took the dog to the animal hospital…
… Sam is waiting for news on the dog. The vet tells him the dog’s badly hurt but he should pull through. She asks Sam if he’s going to take him and Sam says he can’t. She asks her assistant to ‘hand this man his trophy on his way out’ and also says, ‘if you were such an upstanding guy you wouldn’t have hit him in the first place,’ guilt-tripping him into taking the dog…
Back in the present, in the church, the floor starts shaking and the floorboards rip up, breaking the devil’s trap. Dean hands Sam the ‘magic’ (demon-killing) knife and takes the weapon he brought back from Purgatory. Two demons appear: there is a fight and Dean and Sam each kill one of them, but then Crowley appears, with Channing…
Crowley tells Kevin if he goes with him he’ll let bygones be bygones and Channing can go free. Dean says he’s lying and Channing is probably dead already. Crowley tells the demon in Channing to let her speak and she talks to Kevin, briefly, then Crowley puts the demon back in control. Kevin agrees to Crowley’s demands, saying he’ll swap himself for Channing. Dean says he can’t let Kevin do that but he says, ’or what, you’ll kill me?’ He tells Crowley he’s going to get his stuff. Crowley is smirking, but after a few moments when Kevin doesn’t appear, he starts calling him and when he doesn’t answer, he moves to find him. Dean tries to stop him with the ‘magic’ knife but Crowley makes the handle glow red-hot and Dean drops it. Crowley and Channing go to find Kevin…
Crowley opens the door to Kevin’s room but he’s prepared a surprise. He pulls a rope and a trough of holy water spills onto Crowley and Channing. Kevin tells Dean and Sam to run and while the demons are burning he escapes also. They all get into the Impala and head off. Crowley tells the demon to find another meat-suit and it leaves Channing’s body. The scene as they drive past Crowley is in slow-motion and Kevin is looking on as Crowley snaps Channing’s neck and she crumples to the floor…
Later they pull into a gas station. Dean gets a call which he answers saying, ‘wrong number!’ Sam asks Kevin how he’s holding up and he’s very upset about Channing, saying, ‘awesome, the King of Hell has just snapped my girlfriend’s neck, how about you?’ Dean tells him he’s sorry about his girlfriend but he’s in it now, like it or not, and he has to do what he has to do. He gets out of the car to go ‘hit the head’ but when he’s around the corner he phones someone. It is Benny, who’s standing close to where someone is being buried, and he tells Dean there are so many choices now… They have a cryptic conversation. Dean says they did what they had to do down there and he doesn’t regret it for one second, but maybe they shouldn’t keep in touch until they both adjust –' one day at a time', like they talked about. Benny says that Dean was right about Purgatory being ‘pure’ and he wished he’d appreciated it like Dean did. Dean thinks about that and then tells Benny to call him if he has an emergency, and Benny says, ‘you keep your nose clean too, brother,’ to which Dean replies ‘yep’.
The episode ends with Dean looking pensive, even grave…
Editor’s note:
We think this was a fine Opener for Season 8 – very gritty and ‘real’ and just sharp. There’s a lot to look forward to in terms of plot, and also in terms of ‘backstory’ for what happened to The Boys over the last year. We liked this episode a lot! We hope they fill out Sam’s backstory a bit more, but this episode had a very classic 'Supernatural' feel and it left us wanting much more... |
