Supernatural 4.3: In the Beginning

Mary: "You know the worst thing I can think of? The very worst thing? It's for my children to be raised into this, like I was."

This is one of my favorite Supernatural episodes, ever. It was like the last piece of the Winchester family puzzle snapping into place.

It started as a funny, adept homage to Back to the Future, complete with a recreation of the scene where Marty McFly met his father at the soda fountain ("Hey, Winchester!"). It continued with Dean's attraction to his mother, and the scene where he got to know his late grandparents at the dinner table. Discovering that Mary and her parents were hunters made a lot of sense, and shifted the story from comic to tragic.

Mary sold her soul, or more accurately, Sam's future, to the Yellow-Eyed Demon in return for John's life. (And John in turn sold his soul for Dean, and Dean for Sam. A Winchester family tradition, with Sam the only exception.) I bet that when Mary made the deal, she thought she could kill the Yellow-Eyed Demon herself ten years in the future, especially since Dean even told her when It would be coming. But she couldn't, and because she interfered, It killed her. This episode finally explained what happened in the pilot episode, and it made total sense. Wow.

I thought at first that Dean's trip into the past was Castiel testing Dean's commitment to doing God's bidding. (Which Dean would have failed miserably, but who could blame him?) Instead, and what a great twist, it was all about Sam. Castiel knew that Sam was flirting with dark powers. I thought the Yellow-Eyed Demon plot was over, but as Castiel pointed out, we still don't know what the Yellow-Eyed Demon's end game was. And if Sam is still on the road to fulfilling it.

Marvelous casting of young John and Mary. John looked a lot like a darker version of Dean, and Mary a little like Sam as well as the actress who played her earlier. They certainly could have brought back the earlier actors, but it just felt right to see Dean and his parents the same age. And terrific casting of X-Files icon Mitch Pileggi as Samuel Campbell. His leering, sneering sexual interpretation of the Yellow-Eyed Demon was chilling.

Bits and pieces:

-- Biblical title. Appropriate.

-- Dean and Sam were named for their late maternal grandparents, hunters Samuel and Deanna Campbell. Nice touch, and prophetic as well.

-- Dean introduced himself to John as Dean van Halen. And when he and his grandfather were masquerading as priests, he referred to Samuel as "Father Cheney."

-- Dean talked his father into buying the Impala. That was fun. Wouldn't John have bought it anyway, though?

-- Mary described John as sweet and kind, a man who came back from Vietnam still believing in happily ever after. John changed a lot.

-- As he dreamed all of this, Dean was sleeping at the Willow Tree motel. The willow tree symbolizes inner healing as well as dreams. Another nice touch there.

-- This episode was like a parallel to "What Is and What Should Never Be." Except Dean passed that test. He failed this one.

-- The action took place on April 30, 1973. Mary died on November 2, 1983. So it wasn't exactly ten years. Was Sam born on April 30, perhaps? And Dean's birthdate was given as January 24, 1979. Not that it's important. I just like to record these things for future reference.

Quotes:

Dean: (trying his cell phone) "Can you tell me where I can get reception on this thing?"
John: "The U.S.S. Enterprise?"

Dean: "So angels got their hands on some DeLoreans? How did I get here?"

Dean: "Are you allergic to straight answers, you son of a bitch?"
Only Dean would have the nerve to call an angel a son of a bitch.

Dean: "Sammy, wherever you are, Mom is a babe. I'm going to Hell. Again."

This is an outstanding must-watch episode. Four out of four stars,

Billie