When we left off last week on Supernatural, something was seriously wrong with Sam as a result of him being the one to take the trials to close the gates of hell. He was coughing up blood, and — worst of all — hiding it from Dean. While I was anxious to find out more about what’s going on with Sam, tonight’s focus was more on the case of the week rather than the overarching mythology of Season 8. Things were put on pause… until the final minutes. But we’ll get to that.
“Remember the Titans” opened up on the worst kind of monster: a human being who was drinking while driving. That is a new low. Seriously, put down the beer, pull over, and sleep it off until morning or else something bad is going to happen… yup, something bad happened. The guy hit a man walking on the side of the road, and then he just left him there to die. What a terrible, rotten human being!
Lucky for him, the random man didn’t actually die. Well, he did, but after about eight hours he came back to life! Time to call in the Winchesters, who were sitting cozy in the Men of Letters lair. Sam was still coughing up blood and hiding it from Dean: not a good sign. Clearly, something is wrong here. But since Dean has no idea, it’s off to deal with a new case while Kevin still figures out the next trial and Cas is still M.I.A. Thank goodness for random zombie sightings, right?
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When the John Doe suddenly sat up, Sam and Dean knew they were dealing with something other than a zombie. But when all their usual tests came up negative, they were at a loss as to what exactly they were dealing with. Turns out, Shane (the John Doe couldn’t remember his real name so he calls himself that) dies every day, and comes back to life every day. It’s been this way for as long as he can remember, which is a couple years.
Later that night, a random girl with some badass fighting moves attacks Shane, and seems disappointed that he didn’t recognize her. And while Sam and Dean wait for Shane to wake up from death again, another woman, Haley, shows up at their door, this time with a little boy with her. Turns out, Shane and Haley met during an avalanche (the same one at the beginning of Shane’s memory), and hooked up, but when Haley saw him die and wake up she freaked and ran. Nine months later, of course, her little son arrived.
When Haley saw Shane’s photo in the paper she knew she had to come and find him again. Unfortunately, what happens to Shane every day is also happening to their son. Haley needed to figure out what exactly was going on and how to stop it.
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After some extensive research, Sam and Dean figure out what Shane’s issue is: he’s a god! Specifically, Prometheus, the man who stole fire from Olympus to give to man. Zeus punished Prometheus by chaining him to the top of a mountain and making him experience death everyday. No one realized that the curse would be passed on to his children, because no one thought Prometheus would have the chance to have children. Sam and Dean know the only way to undo the curse Zeus created was to have Zeus take it away. That’s right, it’s time to summon a god!
The plan was to summon Zeus, trap him and work him over until he undoes the curse, and if he doesn’t then they would kill him and hopefully the curse dies with him. Haley was understandably freaked out at the task before them, but Dean assured her they knew what they were doing. Thanks to the Men of Letters journals, they had expertise on their side. The look of pride on Dean’s face when he bragged about being a MoL legacy was so precious. Dean’s never really had anything to be proud of before, and he’s over the moon!
Of course, when it comes down to it, nothing goes as planned. Though Sam and Dean and Prometheus did summon and trap Zeus, Haley lets him out after he promises to fix her son. But duh, he was lying. Zeus was happy that his curse on Prometheus transferred to his son, since that would punish Prometheus even more. What a douche!
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The woman who attacked Prometheus earlier shows up: turns out she is Artemis, Goddess Hunters, aka Zeus’s daughter. She takes Sam and Dean away while Zeus deals with Prometheus, Haley, and their son, but Sam takes a risk and tries to get under Artemis’s skin. How does he do that? Girl talk, of course! Sam correctly guessed that Artemis fell in love with Prometheus, and Sam lied and said Prometheus loved her too. That motivated her to try and save Prometheus from her father, who blamed Prometheus for humans forgetting about the gods.
Artemis tried to save Prometheus from Zeus’s torture, but her arrow almost hit Prometheus’s son. Prometheus stepped in front of the arrow, and since this was Artemis’s weapon, he wouldn’t wake up again. Her weapons kill immortals. Prometheus realized this, and pushed the arrow even deeper into himself so it went through his back and into Zeus. That’s what I call a god shish kebob, y’all!
Both Zeus and Prometheus died for a final time. Haley’s son’s curse was lifted, and they could go on living their lives. The same could not be said for Sam and Dean though. Sam realized that by going through these trials, he wouldn’t come out unscathed as he previously thought (uh, you think the whole coughing-up-blood thing tipped him off?). Even just being in the life of a hunter meant you were going to die early and probably bloody. He told Dean he accepted that, but Dean was not too thrilled to hear it. So he did the only thing he had left to do: he prayed for Cas.
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This is when my heart broke. We know, and Sam and Dean know, that something is seriously wrong with Cas at the moment. Dean knows that Cas really can’t help him but he prays to him anyway. Dean asked Cas to look after Sam and help them out, even though he knew he wouldn’t give an answer. Dean really was all alone in this: trying to close the gates of hell while simultaneously saving his brother. The look on his face while he talked to the dark, empty room showed that Dean was realizing this. The last words he spoke sent chills down my spine, “Where the hell are you, man?” And just like that, any good feelings I had about the Winchester’s possible futures were dashed.
The best quotes from “Remember the Titans”:
Jack the state trooper: Since when do the feds start tracking zombie activity?
Dean: We don’t track zombie activity because there are no zombies.
Dean: If things go all Dawn of the Dead on us, you’ll be our first call.
Jack: Boys, aim for the head.
Dean: What are you, a real life Kenny?
Shane/Prometheus: Who? No, my name’s Shane.
Dean, while waiting for Shane/Prometheus to wake up: I feel like I’m sitting shiva.
Sam: That’s not, uh, never mind.
Dean, showing a picture of Prometheus to Prometheus: This is an eagle chowing down on your intestines. You don’t remember that.
Prometheus: No…
Dean: Here we go.
Sam: What’d you get?
Dean: Dragon penis.
Sam: You pretty much saved the whole world.
Prometheus: Yeah I guess, but none of that means anything unless I can save my son.
Dean: Really Sam? You’re trash talking a god?!? Seriously?!?
Follow Sydney on Twitter: @SydneyBucksbaum
[Photo Credit: Cate Cameron/The CW]
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