Supernatural 9.9 -"Holy Terror" Recap *Spoilers

*SPOILERS: If you have not yet seen Supernatural episode 9.9 “Holy Terror” do NOT read any further…

If I’ve learned anything from watching eight years’ worth of Supernatural, it’s that: my heart is bound to get broken on countless occasions; forming attachments with loveable, awesome characters may end in tragic loss; angels and demons are all dicks; there can never be too many hugs shared between Sam and Dean; and the Breather episodes interspersed between the heavy, emotional episodes are literally like gasps of air in a sinking dilemma. With that being said, last night’s fall finale episode “Holy Terror” brought with it a devious identity revelation of angelic proportions and the shocking death Kevin Tran.

After Sam’s physical and mental fallout from the Trials, Dean manipulated Sam into allowing the angel “Ezekiel” to enter him to seemingly heal them both from the inside. For months Dean was weighed down with the lie staring him straight in the face, literally acting as a barrier between him and Sammy. At first, “Ezekiel” appeared to have Dean and Sam’s best interests in mind by physically defending Dean after answering his prayer, resurrecting both Castiel and Charlie, and always keeping Sam safe. However, he also displayed a suspiciously strong self-preservation instinct when it came to Castiel’s presence and being discovered by other angels. That suspicion was confirmed last night when “Ezekiel” was actually revealed to be Gadriel, the angel who fell asleep on the job and allowed the Serpent to enter the Garden of Eden and fudge up things for the rest of humanity. Gadriel was locked up in Heaven’s deepest dungeon for his failure, but fell to earth, injured, with the other angels. He took on the deceased Ezekiel’s identity to make amends for his past actions since Ezekiel was known as a noble angel and soldier in Heaven.

After being kidnapped and tortured by angels in the ensuing battle between Bartholomew and Malachi’s angelic forces, Castiel outwits one of his captors and takes his grace, once again imbuing Castiel with powers. Castiel lets Dean know that Ezekiel died in the fall from heaven and could not have been the one to have helped Sam. Dean seeks Kevin’s help in an attempt to create a sigil in order to talk to Sam without “Ezekiel” interfering. Unfortunately, Dean and Kevin’s conversation is overheard by Gadriel, he impersonates Sam, and he breaks a line in the sigill marking. (It’s worth mentioning that this moment is marked with acting brilliance as Jared Padalecki plays Sam, playing Ezekiel, pretending to be Sam. Whew!) Though at first declaring that he is not a killer, Gadriel chooses to prove his loyalty to Metatron, in an attempt to get back up to heaven, by killing Kevin. After burning out Kevin’s eyes, Gadriel pins a previously incapacitated Dean against the wall and then takes the Tablet, leaving Dean grieving over Kevin’s dead body.

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The preview for the next episode premiering in January showed Castiel in his illustrious trench coat as he and Dean seek Crowley’s help in stopping Gadriel, within Sam’s body. Viewers see Sam in a torture device similar to that used on Samandriel when Crowley tortured him for information on the other seven prophets. It is hard to tell whether Castiel will be able to resurrect Kevin, but I hope so. And if the void of Kevin as prophet remains, it will be interesting to see if writers bring in another prophet. As was stated in 8.7 “A Little Slice of Kevin” only one prophet can be active at a time. Sort of like Buffy; however, if you remember, when Buffy died and was resuscitated, that allowed two Slayers to be active at one time from then on. I’m just bouncing ideas around because I was so shocked and hurt to see Kevin die so gruesomely after all the good he has done, and Dean letting him know that he is family. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen, often it’s those closest to Sam and Dean, whom they consider family, who meet unfortunate, untimely ends.

What did you think of last night’s episode? Do you think Castiel will bring Kevin back?

Supernatural 9.1 "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" Recap (Spoilers)

“THE ANGELS HAVE FALLEN!” I literally can’t watch that Supernatural 8.23 scene and not hear Gerard Butler’s voice in my head from Olympus Has Fallen. The season 9 premiere of Supernatural was jam packed with the humor, action, mythology, and brotherly bond true fans have grown to love and appreciate from the show over the last 9 years. The episode was well paced with Dean, Sam and Castiel going through separate crises, with scenes interspersed throughout with Sam and Dean together.

Revenge of the Fallen: The fallen angel community is gunning for Castiel, believing him to be the source of their predicament. As angels do their best Patrick Swayze, roaming around in search of vessels, they also deal with the major identity crisis that comes with losing their grace and attempting to find their way in a world they have to share with the same humans many resent. Castiel is also thrust into his humanity, experiencing pain and the inability to heal instantly. In an extremely comedic scene, Castiel uses the bass in his voice to order a biker off of a payphone. When that doesn’t work, Castiel comes to the harsh reality that placing his fingers and hand on another man’s forehead only results in the response, “first I’m going to finish my call. Then I’m going to stab you.” In a sequence of events that play out like the film Misery, Castiel meets a fellow angel named Hail who looks to Castiel as an Obi-Wan of sorts. She then knocks him out and later tells him that she plans to take over his vessel because hers is too weak to contain her angelic essence. Cas puts on his seatbelt and crashes the car, throwing Hail out of the windshield and leaving her body a tattered mess. She threatens to put out an APB to all angels about his location if he doesn’t give her his body, forcing Cas to stab and kill her. Nobody puts trenchcoat baby in a corner! 

Can you hear me now?: While in the hospital with a comatose Sam, Dean sends out a city-wide prayer to any angels in hearing distance to come and help Sam. A hottie on a bus, a businessman and a man on a tractor all appear to hear and respond to the prayer. However, angel businessman assaults Dean trying to find out where Castiel is hiding. Angel hottie stops the assault long enough for Dean to stab the other. I don’t remember seeing Footloose arrive on his tractor. It’ll probably take him a minute… My Dollhouse boo, Tahmoh Penikett, guest starred as fallen angel hottie, Ezekiel. In Hebrew, Ezekiel means “May God strengthen him” and as we saw in this episode, Dean implores Ezekiel to heal Sammy and revive him from his coma. Little did Dean know that a deeper battle for the will to live was being waged inside Sam’s own head…

Clusterfuzz: Sam’s head is a bit of a clusterfuzz. Then again, he has died five times, ingested mass amounts of demon blood, gone to hell, lost his soul, and then had it returned at warp speed, practically ripping his head apart. If you remember from the season 8 finale, Sam now believes that he has been a burden to his brother and the world. He was more than willing to sacrifice himself in the final of the Dante Inferno type trials, and could not understand Dean’s desire for him to survive. It was a heart wrenching scene of Sam acknowledging and regretting making bad choices leading to Dean’s disappointment. Dean, however, reassures Sam that he is his rock and the only reason he keeps going. [Insert epic hug]. Visions of Dean and Bobby danced in Sam’s head as Dean represented Sam’s desire to survive and Bobby represented Sam’s desire for eternal rest. It’s always a joy to have Bobby back on screen with the boys. The bond and chemistry between the three is so close that even them snuggly sharing the front seat of a ’67 Chevy Impala was only slightly awkward. After Bobby takes Sam to a place where he can throw in the towel, Dean stabs Bobby through the heart and Sam let’s Dean (his desire to survive) go. Julian Richings definitely plays the coolest depiction of Death I’ve seen in a long time. (I wouldn’t bump into him on the street, though.) Death tells Sam that the prospect of taking him away is a true honor. Sam tells Death that if he goes he does not want to be resurrected ever again.

Choices: Ezekiel informs Dean that he can heal Sam if Dean allows him to merge with Sam and heal them both from the inside. Initially Dean is against the idea of possessing Sam with anything, but relents upon realizing it’s his only hope. Ezekiel appears in Sam’s mind as a vision of Dean. Sam unwittingly gives Ezekiel permission to enter his body and Dean once again has a “Sammich”: Sam on the outside, but a very monotone entity running the show from the inside.

It will be interesting to see what happens when vessels are unable to contain the angels. However, we now know that Castiel's vessel is coveted since it is strong enough to contain his angelic essence. But there's no angel like Cas; only he could make drinking a bottle of water possess more depth than most actors' death scenes.

What did you think of the season premiere of Supernatural season 9? Are you as excited about the rest of the season as I am?!