Supernatural S4E3: In the Beginning

“Sammy, wherever you are, mom’s a babe. I’m going to hell…again.”

Holy shit, guys. I know I’ve said this before, but I think this was the best episode of SN, ever. It answered so many questions, and brought nearly every major plot point of the show so far into one big, beautiful package. Holy shit!

As we open, Sam leaves a sleeping Dean in their hotel room to meet Ruby. “You ready?” she asks. “Definitely,” Sam replies. Dean, who is in a terribly uncomfortable-looking sleeping position, awakes to find Castiel, who tells him to “stop it.” Suddenly, he awakes on a bus bench. It doesn’t take long to discover that he’s in 1973, and that young man he runs into? John Winchester!

And then he meets Mary…who is a hunter! And so are her parents! Dean’s grandparents are hunters! And Grandpa Samuel (played by Mitch Pileggi!) refers to it as “the family business”! Dean asks his mom what John is like, and she says he is sweet and kind, he believes in happily ever after, he’s everything a hunter isn’t. She wants out of the hunter’s life because she wants to marry John, and the worst thing she can imagine is her children being brought up as hunters. Dean warns his mother not to get out of bed on that fateful night in 1983. Too bad that doesn’t work. I never doubted Jensen Ackles’ talent, but in this episode he blew me away.



Dean crosses paths with the Yellow-Eyed Demon, who is making shady deals that will come to a head in 10 years. Dean is determined to kill him, even though Castiel warns that if he changes the future, all the innocents the Winchesters have saved will die. Dean gets the Colt from a young Daniel, and goes after the YED. Mary and Samuel reluctantly join the charge, and Mary ends up fighting the YED, who tells her he “loves her spunk” before escaping. While Mary begs John to take her away, Dean tells Samuel the truth about what will happen in the future … but Samuel is the YED! He kills Dean’s grandma and stabs himself in the gut, all the while chatting happily. “Are you one of my psychic kids?” he asks. Turns out he’s attempting to breed certain individuals together and has taken a liking to Mary … but not to “that slug” she’s going to marry. Interesting. Is this why only Sam is special? Because John’s blood somehow tainted the pool? Before Dean can even catch a breath, the YED reveals that his endgame is much, much bigger than the creation of a demon army.

Samuel then goes after Mary and John. He kills John, and of course Mary makes a deal to get him back. HOLY SHIT! Poor Mary is responsible for everything this family has gone through. And the worst part is, she knew what she was doing. The YED says he’ll be back in 10 years, and as long as he isn’t disturbed no one will be hurt. First Dean warns her to stay in bed. Then the YED tells her not to interrupt him. Mary is one stubborn lady. A devastated Dean shows up moments later to find a dead grandpa, newly reanimated dad, and sobbing mom. Now he’s going to be even MORE fucked up.

When Dean awakes back in the future, Castiel tells him he couldn’t have stopped the events because destiny can’t be changed. They needed him to know everything they know. Castiel gestures to Sam’s empty bed and admits they still don’t know the YED’s endgame. Sam is headed down a dangerous road, and if Dean doesn’t stop him, they will.

HOLY SHIT! I cannot believe the fountain of goodness that erupted from my TV tonight. The truth about why the YED attacked the Winchesters, revealed! Mary’s vaguely-hinted-at strange past, revealed! The origin of the Impala, revealed! Sam’s slow slide to the dark side, returned! I always thought that storyline died too early a death. The episode ended with a “to be continued,” although the preview for next week’s ep didn’t look like much of a continuation. What will happen? I can’t wait to find out!