Originally aired: Thursday May 7, 2009 on the CW.
Writer: Sera Gamble
Director: Robert Singer
Show Stars: Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester), Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester)
All Guest Stars: Jim Beaver (Bobby Singer), Misha Collins (Castiel)


Dean and Bobby lock Sam in Bobby’s panic room so he can detox from the demon blood.

However, as Bobby sees more seals are being broken he tells Dean they should let Sam out to help them fight the impending apocalypse. Dean disagrees and goes to Castiel for help.

Sam and Dean have a big blowout confrontation.


Source: The CW and TV.com.

[Post edited to add the episode information - lyric]


Lyric forgot to start the thread so here goes. Vin, Clarity

Eeeeeeeeep 5 mins!

*gets alcohol and tissues*

Yay, now hug me!

Crap!

I'm crying already and hid already

Bobby better get out of this alive!!!

I do not think he will.

Crap!!! Something is wrong with Bobby. He'd never suggest that.

Jesus!

Totally and you know, I totally called this. It's going like I thought it would but --- OH HELL NO.

No, no, no, no, no.

Random commercial comment:

Okay, I loved Donnie Darko but I hate the idea of a sequel. ;/

Oh...oh...Sam! You poor thing, so conflicted, so sad. How could he see mom like that???


Oh, Bobby. Oh, Dean! Nothing good will come of your agreement with the angels, you think it will help Sam. It won't.

YIKES pulling the boys apart!! The only way to save the world is together! Don't listen to devils or demons!

NOOOOO!

That's not Dean talking with Sammy. It's a delusion

What the frell??? Cass,????? Noooo! None of this is good He betrayed Anna also.

I'm sorry, but I REALLY do not like Castiel now.

Okay owie!

Did he take the Impala??

Auuugghh!!!


Oh, Sam!! You know it can't be good that someone let you out.


And oh, called it so right in the podcast--the angels WANT Sam drinking demon blood, he's doing their dirty work. Cas, you look like you hate it, but you're still doing it.


Oh, Bobby...I just...I'm incoherant. Obviously.

ACK I KNEW IT which means him fighting someone wasn't exactly an accident because someone wants to stop Cas, IMO.

She eats BABIES?!! I don't know if I should laugh my head off or cringe.

Is the Actress playing Ruby just bad tonight or is she supposed to be this obvious?

EEEEWWW Lilith eats babies??

Babies? BABIES?? Seriously, show? Oh, for Pete's sake. OTT, bah.


But, Jared is doing great. Had me fooled talked to Bobby!


And Sam? I know you're focused on the demon blood, but Ruby wants you to kill Lilith, she's the LAST SEAL and they'll raise Lucifer. Killing her won't stop him, that's what they want!! Argh!

OUCH

Cool shot with Dean's hand and ring coming at the camera.

I do not want this to happen. Please don't have brother against brother for long.

She's not that bad in Wildfire actually.

Bring on the Apocalypse. I kind of really wanna see it just for kicks.

Also OH MAN, MAKE IT STOP. This HURTS.

Oh my God. Jared and Jensen are playing the heck out of this!! Omg, they. are. killing. me!!


Argh, Dean, how can you say those things??? He's your brother, you love him.

Sam, stop, oh, god...


*flails*

Jesus! I knew that would hurt.

Oh lordy, next week is even worse. I might have to drug myself.

*bursts in tears*


How...how...could they say such things to each other?? How could Sam choke Dean?? Oh, oh, oh...it's just awful.


They have to make up next season, they have to!!!

I was honestly scared Sam was going to continue to stangle him till something stopped him.

I thought Bobby might burst in and get caught in the crossfire.


The promo looks so scary...oh, God, Sam....

*Runs in and tries not to read any of the posts* Again I missed the viewing party but I'm off to watch the show now.

Val~ I'll check in in a little bit. You'll need a and a ing buddy

I'm really sorry everyone

Thank you for opening the thread, PQ I'll just add the episode information to the first post.

Vin, I couldn't even post last night after watching . God talk about a game changer. This is up there with Buffy's episode The Body as far as being emotionally draining and I mean that as a complete compliment.

God how much do I hate the Emmys right now and to know that Jenson and Jared perfomances won't even get a second glance for best actors in a drama series because Supernatural is on The CW and isn't taken seriously. The same way they ignored Buffy as best drama and Anothy Head should have several best supporting actor trophies on his mantel. Damn Emmy snobs!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry my rant is over.

I was so afraid that Sam was going to kill Bobby (and I'm terrified that they will kill Bobby off). He just brings so much to this show. He loves both boys and you could see how much it was killing him tonight to see the brothers pitted against each other.

Cass was a d*ck but I like that they aren't making the angels out to be likeable. Doing the right thing is very rarely an easy thing to do. You have to overcome hardships and Dean is being tested big time. I may not like it but I can believe that God and his angels would do this to him which makes it even worst in a way.

That makes what is going on with Sam even harder. Did God give up on him when his mother made the deal before he was even born?

Next week is going to be hard to watch .

I loved the way the lights played in the beginning: Sam painted in red, while Dean is... well, more or less, in white.

Sam's hallucinations - First, great interaction between Jared and Colin. The entire hallucination scenes were fantastic, not to mention, very telling. I did find Mary's appearance to be off. Not the acting, which was great, but Sam was a baby when she died. How could he see her the way she died? I mean, this isn't something he actually saw. Than again, hallucinations.

Not sure what to make of Ruby revealing information through what seems like a 'pillow talk', but I did like the look she gave Sam when Dean talked about killing her. As if she wasn't sure which way Sam will take.

My heart broke when Sam asked Dean to trust him, and Dean flat out said 'no'. And than Dean's 'You're a monster'. Sam was thinking it himself throughout his hallucinations, but to hear Dean saying that... It was all of Supernatural history in a nutshell; Sam trusting Dean his entire life, and he needs Dean not to say it, because if Dean's will say it...

And the tears in their eyes.

I'm so trying to decide what it means when Dean basically repeating John's words. Sam left than, but came back. Will he come back again?

I so agree about the emmys. What other show currently on has had nearly this level of performance from the entire crew? This season has blown everything else in it's category out of the water, but I know it won't get nominated. Part of the problem is I'm not sure how effective just pulling out one ep is? How much of our intense feeling comes from the boy's history and all that has come before. SPN, more than any other show, relies on our dread of how much the boys have endured in the past and us praying/dreading them being hurt again?? It's very much like real life, when you know and love a person, and are so afraid the world and other people will hurt them. It might be hard to just pull a ep out and show it to the people voting, would it have the same effect if they didn't connect to the boys like we do? These feelings they are playing on are much more layered and complex than you average show offers. The layers can't be absorbed in one stand alone ep.

The emmys by the very nature of the evaluation process limits true quality being considered even beyond the politics involved.

This was a moment a long time coming, and as one would expect, the writers take their time bringing it to fruition. After all, they've been hinting at it for more than two seasons. This is the episode where the Brothers Winchester come to blows as Sam takes one huge step towards the Dark Side. The result is one of the best episodes of the season (and most heart-wrenching, to say the least).

I can't say that I'm particularly pleased with the way that the final swing happened. Sam's choice to drink Ruby's demon blood was initially his own, despite her urging and manipulations, so at least it was another example of his conscious choice to use something evil for something good. (At least, that was and is his stated intention. We all know how the saying goes.)

This latest turn, making the demon blood like a drug and highly addictive, takes away some of that agency. Now Sam is "under the influence". Had he become a bit twisted with the rush of power, and had that power never truly waned, it would have been a logical extension of the corruption of power. Making it a physical need, complete with withdrawal symptoms, implies that Sam is no longer capable of mastering his desires.

Of course, this does facilitate an eventual recovery, because if Sam is largely under the control of an external, altering substance, then there's always the possibility of a cure. Bobby may not have found it yet, but that doesn't mean it doesn’t exist. Had Sam's attainment of power been completely driven by self-awareness, it would be hard to argue that some future recovery was entirely successful.

In terms of an eventual cure, the solution could be standing right in plain sight. After all, Dean was pulled out of Hell because he started this mess, and it was decided that he was the right one to finish it. But Castiel and others have often implied that Dean was also meant to handle Sam. The implication is clear, now that Castiel released Sam so he could get one final and damning power-up.

Sam is meant to take down Lilith, as Lilith herself already mentioned, and he needs to be as close to the Antichrist Superstar as it gets when that happens, then as soon as Lilith is defeated and Lucifer's rise is halted, Sam becomes the most potent threat in the demonic horde. Because so far, as Ruby mentioned back in the early days of the third season, Lilith was Sam's main challenger for command.

If one can apply logic to the situation, the angelic plan is fairly simple. They try to stop Lilith, but knowing that failure is a good possibility, they set the stage so Sam is compelled by events to gain more and more power to stop her himself. They let Dean get to the point where he has nowhere else to turn, and he accepts his role as their servant. Then they let Sam take down Lilith, ending the threat, and then undercut any possibility of someone quickly taking her place by giving Dean the means to take down Sam.

This points to the easiest solution to the whole mess. The angels may give Dean the power to kill Sam, but it would be his choice to use it in that manner. The key is what Castiel made Dean swear: that he would obey God and his angels as fervently as he would his own father. Dean's expression just about said it all: recent experience has left him with little desire to honor his father. Castiel must have known that, under the circumstances, and that implies that Dean could use whatever he will be given to save Sam rather than kill him.

That still wouldn't repair the damage done to their relationship in this episode. It would only serve the short-term goal of keeping Sam alive (which, logically, is going to happen). In the long term, there are a lot of issues that would need to be addressed. Knowing that the fifth season is already on the schedule is therefore something of a comfort.

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