4x07 It's The Great Pumpkin Sam Winchester

Supernatural: Sam Winchester, Meet Samhain

Posted by Sarah on October 31, 2008 12:17 PM


Happy Halloween! We hope you have a great time this year, and you avoid perils like ill-fitting costumes, sugar hangovers, and pranking teens. If you encounter any of these hazards, just be glad you don't live in the world of Supernatural, where you'd also face razor blades in the candy, boiling apple-bobbing water, the resurrection of the angry (not to mention hungry) dead, and an ancient demonic bad-ass bent on death and destruction.

The boys visit a bucolic town when a man who dipped into the Halloween candy stash two days before the even ends up with a mouth -- and stomach, and trachea -- full of razor blades. Gross! The guys find a hex bag in the house, so they know they're dealing with a witch. Trouble is, they can't figure out why a witch would have it in for the victim. The next day, a teenage girl at a (lame) Halloween party is boiled alive when she bobs for apples. There seems to be no connection between the victims. Maybe the witch has something else in mind?

That something else is Samhain, a particularly destructive demon who was the original reason for the season. (Wiccans, Celtic scholars, etc. -- we know this isn't accurate. We're just recapping what we were told.) In the bad old days, people put on masks to hide from him, left out food as an offering, and carved pumpkins for dramatic effect. But the candy-and-costume lobby co-opted the fearsome celebration, and out Halloween was born. Every 600 years, witches get another shot at bringing him back. Lucky us -- this is one of those years.

After snooping around, the guys discover that Tracy, one of the teens at the tragic apple-bobbing party, is also a babysitter for the razor-eating guy. She's the witch! Or is she? After the guys talk to Don, her art teacher, a hex bag appears in their room. So do a couple of pissed-off angels.

Castiel and his colleague, Uriel, show up to tell the Winchesters to clear out of town. Summoning Samhain breaks one of the seals that keep Lucifer in Hell. The angels would rather raze the place -- and kill everyone in it -- rather than let that happen.

This is a big shock for Sam, who was initially thrilled to meet real live angels. It's heartbreaking to watch him stammer and stutter and introduce himself, all starry-eyed, to Castiel, only to have Castiel gave at Sam's outstretched hand for a good long while before taking it. "I've heard a lot about you," Sam says. "And I you," replies Castiel. "Sam Winchester, the boy with demon blood." You can see Sam wilting as Castiel says it. And Castiel's the nice one! You know those Revelations angels with the fiery swords who rain destruction on the earth? Uriel is one of those. He has no particular desire to listen to "these mud monkeys," and he scoff when Sam says angels are supposed to be merciful. "Says who?" Uriel sneers. Ouch.

Dean takes charge -- he tells Castiel and Uriel that he's not leaving town. If they destroy it, they'll have to take out him, and God probably wouldn't be happy about that. He pledges that he and Sam will take out the witch before he can summon Samhain. The guys track down the teacher and discover Tracy strung up, about to be sacrificed. They shoot Don and free Tracy -- who turns out to be a witch, too! She uses Don as the final sacrifice and calls Samhain into his body. Sam smears blood on his and Dean's faces, and the guys play dead while Samhain rises and kills Tracy. If that makeshift mask was enough to keep them hidden, we're having trouble finding Samhain that terrifying!

Samhain tromps over to the cemetery to raise himself some undead playmates. While Dean tackles the zombies and ghosts, Sam tracks Samhain with Ruby's knife. Samhain pulls the white-light trick, which fails to affect Sam. When Samhain knocks the knife way, Sam is forced to fall back on his demon-whammy powers. It's a close thing -- Samhain gets awfully close before Sam's powers are able to defeat him, and Sam gets a nosebleed and a massive headache before he wins. Dean sees the whole thing.

After that battle, the boys each get touched by their very own angels. Uriel visits Sam and sneers that Sam is using his demon powers again, despite being ordered not to. Sam's alive only because he’s still useful, Uriel say, and the moment he becomes more trouble than he's worth, Uriel will happily get smiting. He also tells Sam to tell Dean to get off his high horse, and recommends that Sam ask Dean what he remembers from Hell. Hmmmm....

Meanwhile, Dean meets Castiel, who says that this was a sort of test for Dean -- they wanted to see how he'd react in battlefield conditions. Castiel admits that he has doubts about what's gong on, and he doesn't know what the right answer is. But he does know that they're all one step closer to hell on earth, and Dean is going to be instrumental in fighting it. "I don't envy the weight that's on your shoulders, Dean," he says. Dean doesn't look too happy about it, either.



Quelle: CW Source