Someone hold me. Or better yet someone go hold Dean Winchester tight and give him a blanket and a hot chocolate. And by someone I mean Cas. What an episode, guys. the fandom is still reeling, and I'm right there with them. Plese share the pain.
We open in a prison, where a death row inmate is taunting a gaurd, perhaps hoping for an execution two week early. The guard does not rise to the bait, but someone else does. In an entrance on par with Death in "Two Minutes to Midnight" or Castiel's first intorduction, Cain, the Father of Murder himself (play brilliantly once again by Tim Omundson) strolls into the prison and pops into Tommy's cell. Tomy is unserstandably concerned when Cain introduces himself and mentions he knows Tommy has killed nine people and is there to ounish and save Tommy. then he does the thing where he stabs Tommy with a giagantic knife and teleports away, leaving only one drop of blood.
The Winchesters are quickly on the case of an imate disappearing from his cell like magic. (Fun fact: Sammy is a true crime buff!) The guards have no information about the disappearance for the fake FBI, but they do have some video of the unknown intruder who waltzed into the prison. They can't identify the man in the video but Dean would know that beard anywhere. Time to call the boyfriend to update him.
Cas of course is not answering his phone. He's too busy toturing a demon and giving mad eyebrow game to get Cain's whereabouts. The toture is super effective and Cas gets some info, which means stabby death time for Mr. Demon.
Meanwhile in Hell (there will never be a time when that is not my favorite thing to write), Crowley is dealing with another unruly demon making excuse for poor performance, The King is about to show some mercy, when Rowena butts in with both embaracing stories about chubby baby fergus and a suggestion the demon should ne flayed alive. Surprisingly, Crowly goes with mommy's idea and Rowena could not be more pleased.
Sam and Dean are picking up some grub when Cas finally makes contact. They fill him in on Cain grabbing Tommy, and the fact Tommy's father recently disappeared too and Cas fills them in that those guys, are dead. You see, Cas is standing is a huge field of graves and he'd tell the boys more except Cain choses that moment to show up, with an ominous (and let's be honest, pretty sexy) "Hello, Castiel."
Cas discovers from Cain that old Mr. Murder is killing again...and he's killing his own decendants! It's a genocide of all of those tainted by his original sin of the first murder. Yeah, that does mean a lot of people, in fact 1 in 10 of everyone. Cain's got time and the mark must be fed. (And yes, Sam and Dean are among those decendants). But why focus on that when our beautiful blue-eyed boys can talk about Dean! Cain insists there is no cure for the Mark, but not to worry, he'll come for Dean in due time. Now, threaten to slaughter half the planet was one thing, but threatening Castiel's bae? Uh uh. Angel blade activate! Cain won't fight Cas though, he just vanishes.
At the smae time in hell, Rowena is trying to convince Crowley to help her go after a rival witch, admitting that of course she is manipulating him, she's his mother. We allso get the best name for Crowley I've ever heard.
In the bunker, Cas has filled in the boys on Cain's bloody crusade. It turns out Cain is wiping out families, and Tommy had a son, Austin, who is the likely next taget. Terribly, this means that Dean has his mission: they know where Cain will be and Dean is gonna do what he has to do: kill Cain. Eeeep. Understandably, Cas and Dean are a bit concerned about this plan, especially since it means using the first blade, and they don't know what that will do to the elder Winchester. But Dean is determined, especially since Cain made Dean promise too kill him back when he was not so crazy. Dean of course blames himself for everything Cain has done as well.
Time for a booty blade call to Crowley, where Dean lies to him, saying Crowley is on Cain's kill list. Rowena, smart cookie she is, call Crowley on the dumbness of how he jumps the moment the Winchesters say so. She reminds Crowley Dean is a threat to Crowley's life and reputation. Again, she's not wrong.
At a creepy dark farm in Ohio, Team Free Will has located Austin. They formulate a plan to trap Cain, though Sam doesn't like using the child as bait. Crowley shows up just in time to offer his two cents, and make the helpful suggestion that he won't give Dean the blade until Cain is trapped. As they wait for Cain, Dean confesses, heartbreakingly, to Sam that, as he said last week, he is a peace with going down swinging, but he didn't think it would be so soon. And he's scared...
Oh it hurts.
Mmoments later, Cain does show up for Austin, but Cas is there to defend the boy. Well, he tries at lest. All his grace does it make Cain's fabulous hair waft in the breeze. Cain throws Cas aside and stalks into a barn where he stabs Austin. Except it's a spell, helpfully borrowed from Rowena and provided by Crowley. Cain is caught in a devil's trap, just long enough for Sam and Crowley to send in the big guns: Dean.
Before Dean takes the blade and enters thunderdome, he has a final pep talk with his team. Dean reassures Sam and Cas that he want's them outside, so he doesn't have to worry about hurting them, and anyway, he'll need all three of them to help take down whatever comes out of the fight, wither him or Cain. Crowley hands him the blade and, though he reassures everyone he's good and will return the blade, he looks like a man going to his execution. Uh oh.
Now, it's time for Dean vs. Cain. The scene is so good, I'm fighting not to just paste all the dialog. Dean tries to reason with Cain, but it's pointless. Cain is sure humanity is better off with fewer Tommys and Deans. Words don't seem to be working so, it's time to fight. Dean and Cain throw down and it's pretty dang epic. Dean, Cain notes is holding back at first, hoping he can hold on to him humanity if he doesn't go full rage monster. But there is onno holding back the mark, only remission and relapse. Then it is on. Cain goads Dean, telling him how he knew Dean would come, and it's all part of the plan to get Cain what he truly wanted - the blade back in his hand. Uh oh. And why does he want to blade - to save Dean. Becuase you see, Dean is on Cain's path only backward. First he'll kill his demon friend, Crowley, and then he'll kill Castiel...
And then he'l kill Sam. The one murder Dean would never survive. In one final act of courage before Cain cuts his throat, Dean grabs Cain's other giant knife and CUTS OFF CAIN'S HAND, blade and all. He begs Cain to tell him that he'll stop and Dean doesn't have to do this. But Cain will never stop. With an anguished cry, Dean kills the very first killer.
Dean emerges from the barn down to his crew looking devestated. Sam, Cas and Crowley are terrified for a moment as Crowley asks for the blade back, but Dean surrenders it willingly...To CAS! He confesses his lies to Crowley who leaves is a huff and then falls, broken, into a Sam hug. Like I said, everyone needs a hug.
Back in hell Crowley arrives to find Rowena packing. She's giving up on him too, as he is no longer a useful tool (poor Crowley). She was proud of him once but now he's the WInchester's bitch.
Back at the bunker, Sam tells poor broken Dean that what Dean did - killing Cain and giving up the blade - was amazing, and maybe it's a reason to hope. And maybe a cure will come around. At that moment, Cas happens to come around, saying the blade is now safe. Dean goes off to sleep (after a loving shouldr pat to Cas), leaving Sam alone to confess to Cas that things are not OK.
Cut to black.
Other Highlights:
There is no other, the whole episode was perfection. Robert Brens continues to be one of my favorite Supernatural writers.
Shipping News:
Oh, there was Cas' unfailing devotion to Dean, the fact he was ready to fight Cain for Dean alone, the fact DEAN TRUSTED CAS WITH THE BLADE, the shoulder pats and the longing looks and oh my god theirloveissopurekillmenow. So, you know, cool.
And now it's a four week hiaatus until new episodes return on Mrch 18th! I'll be here MArch 19 with the recap!
