Supernatural Introduces the John and Mary Winchester We Never Knew
Sam went sneaking off into the night with Ruby while Dean slept -- and that, unfortunately, was the last we saw of him. But Kripke and Co. made it up to use by introducing several other family members -- John Winchester (who was contemplating buying a VW van!), Mary Campbell (she's a Hunter!), and her Hunter parents Samuel and Deanna. Yes, you read the right --- her parents names were Sam and Dean... ish. Whatever, we'll take it.
Castiel sent Dean back in time with the admonition that he has to "stop it." What it? Apparently, angels aren't so great at clarifying the meaning of their objective personal pronouns, so Dean's on his own. At first, he doesn't even realize he's back in the 1970s, but he gradually catches on -- and figures out that the handsome, good-natured, dark-haired stranger he's talking is John Winchester. And the sweet, pretty blond John's wooing? That would be Mary. Oh, and Mary? She's a Hunter. And she's perfectly capable of kicking serious ass. Whoo-hoo!
After a tense meeting with Mary's very grumpy father (he makes future John at his most obsessed look cuddly!), Mary admits that she wants to marry John at least in part because she wants out of this life. And then she says something that breaks our hearts: "You know the worst thing I can think of? The very worst thing? Is for my children to be raised into this like I was. I won't let it happen." Oof. That sound you heard right then? That was Dean's heart breaking -- and our hearts broke with him. Then Dean has a request: He asks Mary to promise not to get out of bed on November 2, 1983 -- the day she dies. She promises -- but it's a promise we know she won't keep.
Dean uses the journal to track down the Yellow-Eyed Demon, but Samuel and Mary got there first. This is where Mary first met Old Yellow Eyes, and he decides he likes her. Uh-oh. He escapes before Dean can shoot him with the Colt (which he stole from Daniel Elkins), and Dean tells Samuel the truth -- that he's from the future, that Mary will be his mom, and that if they don't find the demon, she'll die. Unfortunately, the demon found them -- he's possessed Samuel! Yellow-Eyes makes Samuel stab himself through the heart, then snaps Deanna's neck. Then he goes after Mary. He drags John out of the car (just after he proposed!) and snaps his neck, too. Then he offers Mary a deal -- he can bring John back, but in return, he'll want something in 10 years. That something? To infect Sam. But Mary doesn't know that part. She agrees. Now we know why Mary's spirit apologized to Sam. She made the deal that started this whole mess, adn she gave him up to the demon.
Castiel brings Dean back to the present... and when Dean mourns that he couldn't stop anything from happening, the angel tells him that it was impossible. They can't change the past, but they wanted him to see what had happened, to know everything they knew. He had to understand exactly what he's up against. Here's what gets us about that: Old Yellow Eyes took Sam back to see the past in part to show him what happened, and in pat to torture him -- but he told Sam up front that he couldn't change things. Castiel sent Dean back into the past to educate him -- but he ended up torturing Dean more than the demon ever could, because he let Dean believe he could change the past and save his parents' lives. We know angels are supposed to be the good guys, but we seriously wonder about their methods.
But at least we finally find out the "it" Dean has to stop: Sam, and whatever he's doing. If Dean doesn't stop Sam, Castiel says, he and his heavenly brethren will.
And then Kripke hit us with "To be continued...." We still don't know what Sam is doing, or what Yellow-Eyes' endgame really was. What do you think is happening? And what did you think of the episode? Talk about it in in the comments!
Comments
Tina -- I have no idea what show *you're* watching, but are you seriously saying that Dean doesn't care about Sam? Dean Winchester? The guy who sold his soul and went to hell so that Sam could live? The guy who's been looking after and caring about Sam, above anyone and anything, his entire life?!!
Dean has literally been to hell and back, had to dig himself out of his own grave, and then, BAM!, he has to deal with something powerful after him, who turns out to be an angel! And Dean *is* sharing. He told Sam about Castiel right away. When is Sam going to start spilling some of HIS secrets?
And isn't Sam noticing that Dean is falling asleep fully clothed? Oh no, that's right, Sam's too busy sneaking off with Ruby to notice. I think Con has a very valid argument concerning Sam. I hope Dean confronts Sam in the next episode. Castiel seems deadly serious when he tells Dean that if he doesn't stop Sam, the angels will. I can only imagine how terrified Dean is for his brother right now.
This was an excellent episode, with a great script and great casting of the guest stars, especially Mitch Pileggi. I think the key to the episode working with one of the brothers MIA and first time guest stars, is Jensen Ackles. He's such a strong and compelling actor and he's easily able to carry the emotional weight of an episode like this. He did an outstanding job.
Posted by: Claire | October 8, 2008 7:35 PM
Con what makes my blood boil is fans like you coming ou with things without knowing anyhting, get this through your head this show isnt just about Dean Winchester and what he goes through.And frankly Deans hardly been the caring , sharing brother , look how he acted in the premiere.
Posted by: Tina | October 7, 2008 12:33 PM
I don't like Ruby, I think she has a secret agenda, she could be using Sam, to fullfill whatever the yllow-eyed demond had set out to do. And Dean never did trust her. Think about it she did show up after the yellow eyed demond was killed and then this whole flashback with sam and the Yellow eyed demond storyline. She gained Sam's trust by helping to defeat Lilith and now she's back again in another body. Now sam is sneaking around with her.
Posted by: tanje | October 6, 2008 12:17 PM
Sam might be physically absent in the eppy, but i can feel him throughout the show... i mean, EVERYTHING is about him in this eppy! there are numerous references to him, and we even get another Sam in the form of his grandfather. IMHO, i think this eppy is still a two-man lead.
Posted by: Lin | October 6, 2008 10:07 AM
I loved this episode! The acting was fantastic, especially by Jensen Ackles and Mitch Pillegi (sp?).
I disagree with the podcasters that the reason Dean was brought back from hell was to save or stop Sam. I think it's more than that, because Castiel threatened Dean that they (I'm assuming angels) will if Dean doesn't, so if they can do it on their own, then they didn't need to get Dean out of hell.
Posted by: Carolyn | October 6, 2008 7:30 AM
In my opinion it doesn't stop this episode from being brilliant that Sam wasn't in it. Yes, I missed him as well, I'm worried about him and I hope we'll see brothers together in the future episodes. Although some fans are... hmm... very devoted to either Sam or Dean, this show is and has always been about two brothers. If we get a Sam heavy or a Dean heavy episode every once in a while, so what? There are still two main characters and actors in this show, you know.
Anyway. This episode was magnificently acted and written. The Campbell family and young John were perfectly cast. It was a huge payoff episode, we got so many answers that we've been waiting for since who remembers when. The amount of surprises was awesome. There were many WTF!? moments. It was heartbreaking when Mary told what was the worst thing that could happen and Dean reacted to it. I freakin' cried, can you imagine?
JENSEN DESERVES AN EMMY. It's not the matter of an opinion, it's a simple fact.
It was wonderful to learn more about Mary, John, Samuel and Deanna. Now we know that the devotion to family does run in the family as well as where the phrase "son of a bitch" has originally come from. I was glad to find out that there's a lot of Mary in both brothers. That's one thing I love about this show. Dean making John to choose the Metallicar was priceless. "The car of a lifetime" like Dean said.
I think this episode is one of the saddest episodes in the entire series. John being such a sweet young man, still believing in "happily ever after" even after the war and just being everything a hunter isn't shocked me a little. I always knew Mary's death changed him but I never thought he was a completely different man before that. Also, the fact that Supernatural is basically a story of Mary's worst nightmare, her children as hunters, makes Winchesters tragic lives even more tragic. I feel bad for them all.
Misha continues doing good job. Castiel is kind of cold but maybe it's because angels don't have feelings like humans do. It was cruel of him to make Dean hope he could save his family even though Castiel knew he couldn't. But sending Dean to the past was clever. Obviously the angel has learned that Dean believes in what he sees. If Castiel had only told all these things, I don't think Dean would've necessarily believed him.
I'm scared for Sam and Dean. I can't wait to see where this all leads!!
But this seems the beginning of the end of our beloved Supernatural. Fortunately, according to Kripke's plan we should get the 5th season before all is said and done. So we better get it.
Posted by: WarriorGirl | October 5, 2008 6:58 AM
I am LOVING Jeremy Carver...he's written some great episodes before, but this is DEFINATELY one of my favorites ever...
And I completely with CandyMaize--Jensen Ackles REALLYYYY deserves an Emmy.
His scene where he was saying goodbye to Mary broke my heart in so many ways--especially when he was telling her not to get out of bed...I was basically at the level that I was at when Fred died in Deathly Hallows...that's saying something...
Posted by: Isha | October 4, 2008 12:53 PM
What a brilliant and heartbreaking episode. And as others have said, give Jensen and Emmy already. The man is a phenominal performer.
I liked that there was so much information that we fans have been waiting for. What a payoff. Dean having to witness his grandparent's death and his mother making a deal (for what, she didn't know) was heartbreaking enough. But the saddest moment for me was when Dean told Castiel that Sam would be looking for him and the answer was, no he isn't.
Sam sneaking out once again with absolutely no remorse on his face made my blood boil enough, that I did not care that he wasn't in the rest of the episode.
I hate it that Sam not only sneaks away from his fresh out of hell brother, but does it to meet a demon. One that manipulated Sam with Dean's deal last season, withheld information on who the contract holder was, lied that she could help save him, told Dean she wished she could see the flesh sizzle off his bones and was able to hear him scream in hell, and worse she interfered in the boy's final attempt to save Dean which alerted the demons that they were there. This is who Sam has thrown in with??? Really? Dean went to hell so that Sam could do this? It will take a hell of a lot to redeem Sam for me.
Anyway I still think that there is more to the story and can't wait to see what Dean's part is in all of this. He couldn't have been brought out of hell just because of the whole save or kill Sam scenerio because that is the same story he has always had and doesn't tie him into the mytharc at all as Kripke has promised.
I give this episode an A-.
Posted by: Con | October 4, 2008 12:29 PM
Deans 30 for crying out loud, and Deans hasnt been exactly alert to the affect his death and witnessing it had on Sam , something that needs exploring.
But loved the way this episode tied everything in and Mr Carver is one of Supernaturals best .
Posted by: Anonymous | October 4, 2008 12:00 PM
Gah! what a heartbreaking episode! I thought it was wonderfully written... I missed Sammy terribly though!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 4, 2008 11:00 AM
The lack of Sam stopped this episode being brilliant, it could have been but sadly Dean without Sam is just not as interesting as I imagine Sam would be without Dean. It's a shame because the episode was twisty enough it just didn't make up for the lack of Padalecki for me, where the heck was that boy, uh hello the show has two season regulars you know!!!
Posted by: Myra | October 3, 2008 6:34 PM
i was totally glued to the tv. couldn't even look away for a second. there were so many 'omg that did not just happen' kinda moments. loved this episode from start to finish. dude, when the 'to be continued' came up, i was like 'whaaat? its an hour already? argh i'll never survive until next thursday..'
wow i thought i may have been alone thinking about the most heartbreaking part was about the speech between mary and dean. guess i was wrong ^^. i was stunned at jensen ackles' performance. he always says those are the hardest to act out, yet he is PHENOMENAL at it! there was not a dry eye in my living room when my family was watching it with me.
great job kripke and co! love that this episode tied so many loose ends together. in a way i wasn't really interested in mary's backstory, but this ep definitely changed my opinion. i'd love to see some more of john and mary!
Posted by: jenn chen | October 3, 2008 5:53 PM
I know exactly where all this is going and what Castiel meant but I won't ruin it by spilling it all....I'm sure most of you can see the road this is headed down as well and it's all going to be heartbreaking but F'ROCKIN" Entertaining! (now- I've never heard or seen anyone use that word before- it's mine! Mine I tell ya! LOL
Posted by: lavender | October 3, 2008 5:02 PM
Excellent, excellent episode. Jensen was just phenomenal in every scene. But his goodbye scene with Mary was just heart-breaking. The boy is so talented.
I really liked the way this episode tied together a bunch of random dangling plot threads. Honestly I never thought Kripke could make it all fit together so perfectly.
Well done team.
Posted by: DeanFTW | October 3, 2008 3:24 PM
How many times was my heart broken in this brilliant, well-acted, spell-binding ep?
When Sam snuck out of yet another motel room to meet and drive off God-knows-where with Ruby, leaving Dean alone?
When Dean talked his Dad into buying the Impala instead of the Volkswagon van? (Ugh, can you imagine Sam and Dean driving around the country in THAT?)
When Dean had to defend himself against a very well-trained Mary, who kicked his ass six ways from Sunday? He pinned her, spotted a bracelet on her wrist and realized--my mother was a hunter!
When Dean had dinner with his mother and grandparents (who he apparently never even met, given that the YED killed them, too), and learned his maternal grandfather was a hard-ass who said "son-of-a-bitch" all the time?
When Mary told Dean she would never want the life of a hunter for her own children because she hated it so much and craved normal (shades of her youngest son, who tried to find his own normal when he went to Stanford, only to have it brutally snatched away when the YED murdered Jess)?
When Dean, with tears in his eyes, begged her not to get out of bed on November 2nd, 1983, no matter what she heard? (Yes, I was crying at this point, a tissue pressed to my leaking nose.)
When the YED murdered Mary's parents, and John, leaving her completely alone, forcing her to make a hideous deal (and how vague was that deal--"not to interrupt" what he would be doing in 10 years)? How the hell was she to know what she wasn't supposed to interrupt, or that it would involve her youngest child?
When Dean drove up in that dreadful Pinto and found his grandfather's meat suit bestowing the "deal" kiss on his mother? (An ewwwww moment; that was her dad.)
When Castiel returned with Dean to the present and told him that he had to stop what was going to happen with the absent Sam--or THEY would! Castiel had also told him that Sam wasn't searching for Dean while he was busy in the past, and gave him an address where to find his brother. WHAT IS SAM DOING, BESIDES GOING EEEEEVIL? And is he aware of the road he's heading down, or oblivious to it?
What puzzles me is how Mary explained to John what happened. Sam was dead of what appeared to be a self-inflicted knife would after attacking John. Deanna, too, was dead, neck broken, in a house a few miles away.
And why, after this terrible tragedy, did the Winchesters choose to move back to Lawrence to live and raise their kids? If I'd been Mary, craving a normal life, I would have moved far away from where these horrors had taken place.
The initial scene with Dean and John, where a guy enters the diner, calls, "Hey, Winchester!" and both Dean and John turn around, paid homage to the BACK TO THE FUTURE movies. Dean also mentioned a Delorean to Castiel, the funky car that transported everyone back and forth in those flicks. Star Trek ref, FTW, and Dean mentioned Sonny and Cher splitting up!
It killed me to realize Mary lost her parents AND John to the YED, and he took her life, too. It just took a few more years for Azazel to catch up to Dean and Sam's parents. Hunting gets Campells killed, and by extension, Winchesters. Mary told Dean she could never see John as a hunter, another heart-breaking moment. Sigh. There were so many in this powerful ep.
By the way, now we know where Sam and Dean's names came from (Dean was named after his maternal grandmother--a girl)! I do wonder what happened to John's parents--perhaps their names were used as the boys' middle names.
Now we (and Dean) know the Yellow-Eyed Demon/Mary connection. She was a hunter, the YED took a fancy to her. This put her entire family, present and future, on his radar. His BIG plan, which he refused to reveal to Dean, and which has been passed down for someone else to put into motion, apparently involves Sam somehow. Castiel told Dean HE has to stop it--or THEY will.
What does all this mean? Devil Sam vs. Angel Dean? I don't know. That scares me, because the core of SUPERNATURAL is the boys' love and unbreakable connection to each other.
If anything happens to that, Mary and John Winchester, along with Sam and Deanna Campbell, are going to be rolling in their graves--or perhaps rising from them.
Robin
Posted by: Robin | October 3, 2008 2:28 PM
I laughed. I cried. My jaw dropped. And I said OH MY GOD!' a million times (I'm still saying it now!).
Kripke and co. have done thier job.
Posted by: Sal | October 3, 2008 1:38 PM
I LOVED THIS EPISODE!!! I was glued to my seat start to finish.
(I did miss Sam, but I can understand why he didn't get to go back to the past - and that is what the episode was about. I really hope that we get a bunch of Sam time, and Sam/Dean together time, coming up very soon!! At the same time, with not seeing too much of Sam recently and exactly what he's been up to, him keeping secrets etc .. well it definitely builds up the tension and suspense, which I'm going to guess is what they're going for and are planning to really pay it off for us!)
They did such a good job with the casting (for character resemblance, acting ability and chemistry!). And it looks like they all did character their homework too. Mitch Pileggi really seemed to channel a Fredric Lehne version of the YED - awesome! And there was one point, while as the YED in Samuel and talking to Dean, that I swear he made a facial expression that looked exactly like a Sam/Jared one! Uncanny!
They also did a good job with showing how those family traits have been carried down the line. Just one example is Sam being so much like Mary in that he too wanted out of hunting and to have a normal life.
Although I found it kinda funny that Dean was named for a woman, his grandma .. it also made me sad that he's almost 30 years old and only just NOW founding out that he & Sam were named for their maternal grandparents.
I have to hand it to Jensen, who always does such a wonderful job with Dean anyway .. but this episode he spent the vast majority of his time with actors who haven't been on the show before (Misha is still fairly new and his scene with Jared wasn't much of a scene). That has to have made his job harder for this episode .. plus carrying this episode as a single lead ... and he was still just as awesome as usual. Give the man an Emmy already! (And hey, how about a bonus???)
I was surprised that it was a "to be continued" episode. (I believe I even said "Oh No!") Hopefully it'll go right into what Sam left to go do and we can find out if THAT is the episode where Dean learns of Sam's expanded powers (and by seeing Sam in action, not from Sam telling him).
Posted by: CandyMaize | October 3, 2008 12:58 PM
you guys should make an exception and podcast this episode it was awesome
Posted by: chilli | October 3, 2008 12:50 PM
Yet another kick a$$ episode! LOVED it!!!
Posted by: Heather | October 3, 2008 12:35 PM
Definately THE best episode ever!!! (So far at least!) Fill up with everything: funny and sad moments, but also meeting the Campbells and all the answers we got!!! Things that have been hanging on since season one were finally let loose! (Mary saying that she's sorry to Sam)...
I'm still speechless about this one and might be for a while... I cannot wait to see what's coming after the "To be continued"!
Awesome AWESOME performance by Jensen once again! Man he's the bomb!!! Every show needs an actor who can perform to his level (I still cry every time I watch the scene in WIAWSNB where he talks to his father's tombstone...) and I hope that things will only go for the best for him, he deserves so much!!!
I miss Sam, but I know that somehow Kripke and the others will gave him his spotlight moments soon!!!
I'll be watching this one over and over and over again during the next week! I hope you will all too!!! :D
Posted by: Julie | October 3, 2008 12:30 PM