This week’s SUPERNATURAL, a nod to the Tarantino style of films, begins with Mr. Ketch, asking someone to tell him a story. Then it’s 5:20 p.m. and Dean is flirting with a waitress while sitting at a restaurant with Sam, Mary, Cas and a hunter named Wally. The waitress, however, is into Cas and soon Mary directs the conversation into something more pressing — Wally called the others to help him with a demon problem. While Mary assures Wally that everything will be fine we launch right into the next scene, where Cas is bleeding out and being carried by Mary, Wally is soon dead and the brothers are fighting some demons.
The episode, which jumps around (so bear with me), flashes back to earlier, when the brothers first meet up with Wally, Mary and Cas. Then we’re back at the restaurant where they are finally going over the plan. Later, Cas is keeping watch outside the house, while the others are setting traps inside. Cas pops inside for a moment and Mary gets a call from Wally that the demon is returning early. Everyone inside the house is anxiously waiting for the whistling demon to enter and Dean immediately puts a bullet into him. But it has little effect. Sam goes after him next, but the demon pulls Ruby’s blade out of him with little effort. Cas is his next victim and then the demon goes after Mary with weird glowing eyes. The group is soon separated as more demons approach and the brothers join Wally in fighting them, while Cas is crawling away from the original demon.
Then we’re back at Wally’s death, while Cas gets stabbed in the side with a spear. Mary temporarily saves him and brings him to a nearby barn, but he’s in bad shape. And she tells the boys as much when she calls them with her location.
It’s 9:05 p.m. now and the brothers reunite with their mother and tell her of Wally’s death. Mary wants to know if her boys saw the demon’s yellow eyes and Sam wonders what she got them into.
At 10:07 a.m. we see Mary sitting in a car with Wally while spying on a demon and we learn that she recruited Wally as a cover — she wanted to tell her boys they were called to help Wally, not her. And she’s praising the British Men of Letters, telling Wally about all the monsters they’ve killed together since they recruited her.
It’s 8:23 p.m. and the group is first pulling up to the house, prepping for the battle that will come later. And we learn that Mary covertly went into the basement soon after. Behind a painting she finds a safe and inside she finds a magical glowing box. She takes something out of it and then closes up the safe and heads back upstairs.
Then we’re at 9:03 p.m. and Mary is texting her BMOL contact, who is telling her to split because they had bad intel. Cas is groaning in pain, while weird black veins are spreading all over him. He thinks he’s dying, but Dean says he just needs some time to heal.
Enter Crowley: “You idiots, you’re all going to die”.
Sam correctly guesses that the demons were friends of Crowley. “Do you know what you’ve done? Does the name Ramiel mean anything to you?” It doesn’t to the humans in the room, but Castiel knows Ramiel as the “Prince of Hell”. Cas insists the princes are all dead and Crowley explains that was just a story. Apparently the Princes of Hell are the first demons turned after Lilith. In fact, they have Azazel’s yellow eyes.
We’re back to six years ago now and we see the demon we now know as Ramiel meeting Crowley for the first time. He’s introducing himself as King of the Crossroads who has been sent by Hell and he comes bearing gifts: the lance of Michael, the archangel. This is the same lance/spear that later stabs Cas. The second gift is the same thing we later saw in the glowing box (although we still don’t know what it is). And his third gift? The Throne of Hell. Back then Lilith and Azazel were dead and Lucifer was back in his cage, so Crowley offers up the crown. But Ramiel suggests that Crowley take it instead. “You seem ambitious enough, conniving enough, slimy enough. So take it. Go for the glory, kid,” Ramiel says to Crowley. Ramiel’s only request is that Crowley will ensure that no one ever bothers a Prince of Hell again.
In the present, Crowley explains that the lance is what got Cas and he’s sure to rot away. The brothers suggest they trap Ramiel to find a cure for this, but Crowley doesn’t think they have enough time. He splits soon after.
It’s 9:07 p.m. and the Winchesters are prepping for Ramiel’s arrival (he helpfully whistles so they can hear him). Crowley wants to ensure Ramiel doesn’t go into the barn, but Ramiel throws him through the barn door instead.
It’s earlier again, back when Crowley first left the barn. Cas is telling the brothers that they’ve helped changed him and that they’re his family. “I love you. I love all of you,” he says. “Just please, please don’t make my last moments be spent watching you die. Just run. Save yourselves. And I will hold Ramiel off as long as I can.” But the Winchesters refuse to leave, so now we have Ramiel trapped in a ring of holy fire. Sam and Dean are demanding a cure, but Ramiel says one doesn’t exist. He also demands what they stole from him, but Dean says they doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Then Ramiel has Michael’s lance and he starts fighting the Winchesters. Sam manages to stab and kill him as black goo starts coming out of Cas’ mouth. Crowley picks up the lance and then….Cas is healed. “Magic’s in the craftsmanship,” Crowleys says, remembering what Ramiel said when he first received the lance.
Cas is now healed and they all dismiss what Ramiel said about someone stealing from him. The group heads home.
But there’s one last thing: we’re back with Mr. Ketch, who is actually listening to Mary recount what happened. She’s upset about them sending her after a Prince of Hell and she says she’ll burn everything down if they try to fool her like that again.
“Is that a threat?” he asks. “It’s a promise,” she replies.
He apologizes for them making a mistake and her anger dissipates. “Can I see it?” he asks of what she took. She pulls it out of her pocket and hands over what she took from the safe.
What is it?
The Colt!
And Crowley is now desperately trying to find the gun. Someone inside a cell is taunting him, telling him the brothers don’t care about him. “They kill your kind, it’s in their blood. You know it’s only a matter of time until they come for you.”
“Shut your mouth, you dog,” Crowley says.
“That’s not my name”,” says the red eyed creature (a.k.a. Lucifer).
Watch a preview below for the February 23 episode of SUPERNATURAL airing at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
