Supernatural S02 E21 – X-Men Assemble

Previously: Dean ended up in his fantasy world after being captured by a djinn.
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All Hell Breaks Loose Part 1

Kirsti: Carry on my wayword soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon!! That’s right, friends. It’s the obligatory end-of-the-season Feels Inducing Music. The two seasons’ worth of previouslies show us the Yellow-Eyed Demon and all the special children. Oh, and because I forgot last time around:

You’re welcome.

The Bromobile pulls up outside a diner. Sam heads inside to get food, and Dean asks for pie, thereby establishing my Supernatural OTP.

He watches Sam head inside and order. Then the radio gets staticky. Dean fiddles with it, but it turns off completely. He looks up to see the diner empty. He runs inside and finds all the staff and customers dead in pools of blood. Sam’s gone. Dean rushes out the back, but no one’s there. Back inside, he spots sulphur on the door. He runs out the front, yelling for Sam at the top of his lungs. Cut to Sam waking up the next morning, lying on the ground in an abandoned town. He stands up and holds up his phone, trying to get reception, but there’s nothing.

FLAME ON!

After the Not Credits, Sam explores the abandoned town. He hears a creaking noise and grabs a plank of wood like a baseball bat. But Andy turns the corner. They’re shocked to see each other. Andy says he’s just woken up there too. They exchange notes, and the last thing either of them remember is the smell of sulphur. Sam’s just said that he doesn’t know where Dean is when they hear a woman scream. They rush in that direction and find a locked shed. Inside, a woman’s crying for help. Sam smashes the padlock with a rock, and opens the door to find Ava inside. She throws herself into his arms, sobbing.

Sam asks how long she’s been there, and she says she just woke up. He says she disappeared five months ago, and Ava babbles about how worried her fiancé must be. Sam awkward turtles. Andy says he’s freaking out too. Sam announces that he knows what they all have in common when they hear a man call out. They head that way and find a young black guy in combat uniform and a miserable looking blonde girl. Sam asks if they’re okay, and they introduce themselves as Jake and Lily. Lily’s freaked because she went to sleep in San Diego. Jake one ups her by saying he went to sleep in Afghanistan.

Sam asks a few questions, establishing that they all have powers. Andy says he’s been practising and now he can plant images in people’s heads. He made one douchebag he knew see nothing but gay porn. He thinks it’s hilarious but no one laughs. Lily yells that it’s fine for the others with their death-visions and their gay-porn-planting abilities. If she touches people, they die. Sam awkwardly says they’re all in it together now, and he knows what brought them there: a demon.

Cut to a highway. Bobby and Dean study a map marked with all the demonic signs from the past month. There’s nothing there. Dean panics because he has no way of finding Sam. His phone rings, and it’s Ash, who says he doesn’t know where Sam is, but he’s got some major news. They should get to Harvelle’s as soon as possible.

Frontierland. “So, we’re soldiers in a demon war to bring on the Apocalypse?” Jake asks. Sam realises how stupid it sounds, but yes. And the fact that they’re all gathered together means the war is starting. Jake declares himself done and says he’s heading out on his own. He leaves, Sam calling after him. As Jake passes a schoolhouse, he sees a young girl inside. She vanishes, and he heads inside, telling her not to be afraid. There’s a screeching noise and he turns to see the blackboard has Bart Simpson style lines on it, reading “I will not kill” over and over. The girl appears behind him, giggling. Her nails turn into claws and her face twists into a grimace. Sam runs in, grabs an iron poker and hits her with it. She turns into black smoke and vanishes. The other special snowflakes join them. “Just so you know? That was a demon,” Sam says. Fade to black.

After the Not Commercial Break, Sam informs them the demon was a Acheri, but that doesn’t help them narrow down where they are. He spots the town’s bell, which has a very distinctive oak tree on it, and realises where they are: Cold Oak, South Dakota. Otherwise known as the most haunted town in America. Lily’s all “COOL STORY BRO” and suggests they leave town, just like the residents did. Sam informs her there are miles of woods surrounding the town, but she doesn’t care. She wants nothing to do with any of them. She accidentally touched her girlfriend, and now she’s dead. Sam says he’s lost people too and it’s best to stay together. “Fine,” she snaps. Sam says they need to look for weapons, including anything made of salt or iron. As everyone heads into a building, Lily runs off alone.

Dean and Bobby arrive at Harvelle’s to find it’s been burnt to the ground. They get out of the Bromobile and start walking through the ruins in shock. There’s no sign of Ellen, but Dean spots Ash’s watch and lifts it to find it’s still on Ash’s very charred wrist. “Oh, Ash, dammit!” he says sadly.

Frontierland. Lily walks through the woods alone, Creepy Little Girl demon giggling along behind her. Back in the town, Ava rubs her forehead, insisting it’s just dizziness, not a vision. Andy’s found two big bags of salt. He calls the others, and Sam realises Lily’s missing. They hear CLG demon giggle, and turn to see Lily hanging from the water tower. Ava freaks, and Andy and Jake agree they should leave. Sam says Lily tried to leave and now she’s dead, so clearly leaving isn’t an option. He wishes he had a working phone so he could get in touch with Dean. Andy has a brainwave – he can use his new juiced up gay-porn-giving powers to send Dean images of where they are. He just needs something of Dean’s. Sam rummages through his pockets and finds a receipt (signed “D. Hasselhoff“, because Dean’s a dork). Andy takes it and closes his eyes.

Harvelle’s House of BBQ (is that bad taste?!). Dean’s freaking out now that they have no way of knowing what Ash was going to tell them, and therefore no way of finding Sam. Suddenly, he doubles up, clutching his head. He gets a quick flash of the Cold Oak bell.

Bobby’s concerned, but Dean waves it off. He doubles up again, and this time he sees Sam too. He tells Bobby, and Bobby says “I know exactly where Sam is.”

Frontierland, at night. Sam and Jake are trying to break iron bars off a piece of machinery. Well. Sam’s trying. Jake rips them off with zero effort because his X-Man power is superstrength. He was in Afghanistan when it started. It started with headaches, then he saved a guy who was pinned under his vehicle and passed it off as adrenaline. But he can bench press 800lbs without trying. He tells Sam he appreciates his efforts at keeping everyone calm. Sam reluctantly says keeping people calm is usually Dean’s role and he’s not sure he believes the “everything will be fine” spiel he’s been giving. Jake assures him it’s only important that the others believe him.

Back at their base, Sam and Ava salt the windowsills. She wants to know why they were chosen and says she just wants to go home to her fiance. Sam reluctantly tells her that her fiancé is dead. She breaks down and he holds her as she cries. Later, Sam’s struggling to stay awake. Suddenly, he sees the Yellow Eyed Demon in the corner. He calls out to Jake, but Jake doesn’t move. “Howdy, Sam,” YED says. Sam realises he’s dreaming. YED suggests they take a walk. Fade to black.

After the Not Commercial Break, we’re still in Sam’s dream. YED tells him to stop worrying about Dean and worry about himself instead, because this is the Non-Televised Hunger Games and only one of them gets out alive.

Sam’s all “Skrrrrt, WHAT?” because he thought this was about creating an army. YED chuckles and says he doesn’t need an army. He’s got that. He needs a leader. The best and brightest of Sam’s generation. Sam’s horrified to realise there are other generations of kids like him out there. YED says he wants to give Sam the inside track because Sam’s his favourite. He killed Jessica so Sam would be back on the road, honing his skills.

Sam asks about Mary’s death, and YED says it was just bad luck. She walked in, so she had to die. He takes Sam into a Pensieve-style flashback of that night. Sam calls out to his mother, though she can’t hear him. He watches with disgust as Flashback!YED slices his wrist with a thumbnail and drips blood into Baby!Sam’s mouth. Ew.

Mary rushes back into the room. “It’s you!” she says to Flashback!YED. Sam’s all “Wait, WHAT??”. But his dream dissolves and he wakes in Frontierland to find Jake telling him that Ava’s missing. Fade to black.

After the Not Commercial Break, Sam and Jake split up to search for Ava. As they head off, Ava peeks around a corner, unseen. Andy’s at base camp in case Ava returns. He turns around to find her behind him, and is all “Uh, rude” about her disappearance. Unseen, she runs a finger through the salt on the window, breaking the line. She puts her hands to her head and concentrates, and a cloud of black smoke appears outside the window. With the line broken, CLG Demon giggles her way into the room. Andy’s all “THE FUCK??” before CLG Demon tears him apart. Ava watches with amusement, then screams.

Sam hears her scream and rushes inside. He demands to know what happened and where she was. She claims she just went to get water from the well and found Andy when she got back. Sam spots the broken salt line, and says Andy knew better than to do something like that. He realises that she’s the only one with five months unaccounted for, and that she got a mystery headache right when CLG Demon killed Lily.

Ava plays dumb for a minute, then laughs and admits that she’s been there the whole time. People keep showing up in batches of three or four. She’s a Career from District 1 killed them all. Sam’s horrified, but Ava says she just stopped fighting it. Once she embraced her powers, it wasn’t long before she could control demons. She places her hands on her temples again and the cloud of black smoke reappears. But before it can come into the room, Jake appears behind Ava and snaps her neck. The black smoke vanishes.

In the woods, Dean and Bobby grab guns, then leave the Bromobile and start hiking in towards Frontierland. In town, Sam tells Jake that they should be able to leave now that Ava’s not summoning the Creepy Little Girl any more. But Jake says only one of them can make it out alive. He had a vision of YED. And seeing as how he’s the one with superstrength, he thinks he’s got a better chance of killing YED. So Sam has to die so that Jake can get close to YED. Sam says they should do it together, but Jake suggests Sam will turn on him. Sam pulls his knife out and puts it on the ground as a sign of truce. Jake puts his weapon down too. Sam looks relieved. But Jake charges him and uses his superstrength to hurl Sam across a field. He slams into the ground and Jake stalks towards him as we fade to black.

After the Not Commercial Break, Sam scrambles up and starts fighting Jake. Jake’s superstrength gets the upper hand until Sam ducks and Jake hits a wooden railing, trapping his hand. Sam takes advantage of the opportunity to attack, kicking Jake to the ground before knocking him out with an iron bar. He stands over Jake, debating whether or not to deliver the killing blow, then drops the bar and walks away. He hears Dean calling his name and stumbles towards his brother, clutching a hurt arm. Bobby and Dean heave sighs of relief when they see an exhausted Sam heading towards them.

But Jake regains consciousness and grabs Sam’s knife from the ground. He stomps towards Sam, and thought Dean yells out a warning, it’s too late. He stabs Sam in the back. Dean screams “NO!” and starts running. Jake twists the knife, then runs. Bobby gives chase as Sam drops to his knees. Dean slides in front of Sam as rain starts falling.

Dean grabs his brother, trying to keep him conscious. He presses a hand to Sam’s wound and stares at the blood, but insists it’s not that bad. “I’m gonna take you care of you. I’ve got you. That’s my job, right? Watch out for my pain-in-the-ass little brother?” he says. I get endless hayfever. Sam’s eyes close and he slumps forward. “No. No, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, God. Oh, God,” Dean says. He cradles Sam in his arms, tears streaming down his face. “SAM!” he screams. TO BE CONTINUED.

When this episode first aired, I was like “HOLY SHIT, I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL NEXT SEASON TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS???”. Because it really felt like a season finale. But no, it’s just part one! Which is both good and bad. There’s a lot of build up in this. And while it’s good to finally see the point in all the special snowflake children, I’m not sure I’ll ever be okay with them killing Ash…

 

Next time on Supernatural: Dean copes with the aftermath of Sam’s death in S02 E22 – All Hell Breaks Loose Part 2.