Supernatural: Goodbye Stranger
October 26, 2021 6:42 AM - Season 8, Episode 17 - Subscribe

Sam and Dean hunt down the angel tablet with assistance from Castiel and Meg.

Quotes

Dean: Well, he puts the "ass" in "Cass", huh?
Sam: He's definitely off.
Dean: Off? He hasn't been right since he got back from purgatory. We still don't know how he got out of there.
Sam: I don't know, Dean. If he's so sketchy, then why were you praying to him?
Castiel: [from the other room] You know, I can hear you both. I *am* a celestial being.

Castiel: [bandaging Meg's wrist] These wounds have festered.
Meg: You really do know how to make a girl's nethers quiver, don't you?
Castiel: I am aware of how to do that. Although it doesn't usually involve cleaning wounds.
Meg: Why are you so sweet on me, Clarence?
Castiel: I don't know. And I still don't know who Clarence is.
Meg: Would it kill you to watch a movie, read a book?
Castiel: A movie, no. But with a book with the proper spells -- yeah, it could, theoretically, kill me.

Meg: So, your noodle's back in order?
Castiel: Yeah, my... noodle remembers everything. I think it's a pretty good noodle.
Meg: Really? You remember everything?
Castiel: ... If you're referring to the Pizza Man... Yes, I remember the Pizza Man. And it's a good memory.

Meg: You ever miss the apocalypse?
Castiel: No, why would I miss the end of times?
Meg: I miss the simplicity. I was bad, you were good, life was easier. Now it's all so messy. I'm kinda good, which sucks, and you're kinda bad, which is actually all manner of hot! We survive this... I'm gonna order some pizza and we're gonna move some furniture around, you understand?
Castiel: No, I... I... Wait, actually... yes, I...
Dean: [abruptly walking into the room] Alright! Let's roll, campers!

Dean: Do you really think we can trust Megstiel?

Dean: Listen, I may not be able to carry the burden that comes along with these trials. But, I can carry you.
Sam: You realize you kinda just quoted Lord of the Rings, right?
Dean: C'mon, man, that is -- but it's the Rudy hobbit, alright? Rudy hobbit always gets a pass!
Sam: [snickers]
Dean: Shut up.

Dean: What, now you trust Meg?
Meg: Hey, I got you this far.
Dean & Sam: Shut up, Meg.

Sam: I'm fine.
Dean: No, you're not fine. You haven't been fine since the first trial. That's why I called Cass.
Meg: Trial?
Dean & Sam: Shut up, Meg.

Meg: [to Sam] Wait, that's how you spent your last year? With a chick? Lame.

Meg: Wait, hold on. There's one part I don't understand. You hit a dog and stopped. Why?
Sam: That whole story... and *that's* your take away?

Meg: [regarding Sam's story about how he spent the past year] I heard the rest. You fell in love with a unicorn. It was beautiful, then sad, then sadder. I laughed, I cried, I puked in my mouth a little.

Castiel: [referring to the woman in curlers who has been possessed by a demon] I'm hoping the strange-haired demon in the kitchen is more knowledgeable than the others I interrogated.

Crowley: Castiel. So, that's who's been poking my boys. And not in a sexy way.

Crowley: Timon and Pumbaa tell you their big plan? Did they share that little chestnut with you? They mean to close the Gates of Hell, sweetheart. They mean to kill me and all the demons -- you included.
Meg: You had me at "kill you", Crowley.

Dean: Why lie?
Meg: Buy myself some time, dummy. Try to find a way to get free.
Sam: Wait, so... A bunch of innocent people died so you could... buy yourself some time?
Meg: Hi. I'm Meg. I'm a demon.

Dean: [going through the Men of Letters storage] What the hell is this? "Spear of Destiny"? What, is this God's toothpick? Would it have killed these asshats to label these boxes in something other than hieroglyphics?

Dean: What did you mean back there about Sam?
Castiel: It's difficult to say. It's something on the subatomic level and his electromagnetic field...
Dean: Okay, bottom-line it for me, Bill Nye.

Dean: So, I got to ask. Um... What's up with the hair?
Meg: Thanks for noticing, Dean. But this wasn't my idea. It was Crowley's. And it's just another reason I want to stab him in the face.

Crowley: I'm here for the stone with the funny scribbles on it.
Sam: That's not gonna happen.
Crowley: Love it when you get all tough. Touches me right where my bathing suit goes.

Meg: You don't want to say, fine. But remember, I spent time in that walking corpse of yours. I know your sad, little thoughts and feelings.
Sam: ... That's creepy.

Dean: So somebody's killing demons. That is awesome. We should send a card or flowers. What kind of flower says, "Thanks for killing demons"?

Dean: [finds a vintage "gentlemen's" magazine entitled Voluptuous Asian Lovelies] Well, hello. These Men of Letters weren't so boring after all. Konnichiwa. Hey, check this out.
Sam: Dude, what is wrong with you?
Dean: What's wrong with me? You kidding me? This is a first edition, dude. Know what this would go for on eBay?
Sam: No. Why? Do you?
Dean: No. .. Maybe. Shut up.

Wendy Rice: Oh, the thoughts she had about you two. Mostly you, Sam. What can I say? She has a thing for smutton chops.

Wendy Rice: [after Castiel stabs her] I thought angels were supposed to be the good cops.

Sam: [after Naomi makes Castiel kill a demon mid-interrogation] What the hell was that?
Castiel: It told us what we needed.
Sam: No, she didn't!

Trivia

The repeated incidents of Sam and Dean saying, "Shut up Meg!" are a play on a running joke from Family Guy in which the father Peter says that whenever his daughter, Meg, says something he finds annoying.

Meg calls Castiel "Clarence". Clarence is the angel trying to get his wings in It's a Wonderful Life.

Sam introduces himself and Dean as Special Agents Tandy and Lynne. This is likely a reference to the musicians Richard Tandy and Jeff Lynne, both members of the rock group Electric Light Orchestra.

When Sam and Dean find Meg tied up in the bathroom, she asks Dean, "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" That's what Princess Leia asks Luke when he finds her locked up aboard the Death Star in Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope.

The Spear of Destiny that Dean finds in the vault of the Men of Letters is also known as the Holy Lance, the Holy Spear, Lance of Longinus, and Spear of Longinus -- that is, the spear that pierced Jesus in the Gospel of John.

When Sam coughs into a handkerchief, Dean calls him "Doc Holliday", the real-life friend of Wyatt Earp, who famously had tuberculosis. Holliday is often portrayed as coughing into a handkerchief, for example, in the 1993 movie Tombstone.

Dean semi-quotes The Lord Of the Rings and says it's "the Rudy Hobbit". Sean Astin, who played the ever-faithful Samwise Gamgee, had previously played Rudy Ruettiger in the 1993 movie Rudy.

When Dean says to Sam, "I can carry you," as is said in The Lord of the Rings, in both cases the phrase is a reference to a story widely considered to be a Biblical parable, though it's not actually in the Bible. The story changes depending on the sermon, but the original version seems to be that a little girl is struggling to carry her baby brother, and someone asks if he isn't too heavy for her. To which she replies, "He's not heavy; he's my brother." This story was also the inspiration for the classic 1969 song by the Hollies, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother".

Meg says, "I haven't exactly been giving them the Glengarry leads." She is referring to David Mamet's 1984 Pulitzer Prize winning play and 1992 movie, Glengarry Glen Ross, which is about the cutthroat world of real estate.

Dean asks, "Do we have a Maximum Overdrive situation here?" referring to the 1986 movie Maximum Overdrive based on a Stephen King novel.

The Daily Dot published an article titled "Did Supernatural Just Give Fans The Queer Romance They've Been Hoping For?" after this episode aired, claiming that in the original script for this episode, Dean's line to Castiel was, "I love you." It was later changed to "I need you." The article caused renewed fervour in the subset of fans that "ship" Destiel, the Dean/Castiel slash fiction, with shippers claiming that the original script made Destiel part of the show's canon.

When Meg says, "I have given them the wrong locations, that are as empty as Al Capone's vault," this is a dig at Geraldo Rivera, who in 1986 had a special, much promoted show on TV in which he opened Al Capone's vault live on air, only to find it contained all of one roll of quarters.

Reference to the 1975 movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail when Crowley dismisses his injuries with, "It's just a flesh wound."
posted by orange swan (4 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
This episode marks the end of Meg's regular appearances on Supernatural, as by 2013, Rachel Miner's MS had progressed to the point that it was too physically difficult for her to play a role on such an action-driven show. Meg really was a memorable character, and I would have liked to see how her and Castiel's unlikely romance played out. (I bet she would have taken the lead in bed, at least at first, until he surprised and delighted her by suddenly asserting himself....) It speaks well of the show runners/writers that they found a way to include Miner in three episodes in the final season by writing her material she could play sitting down -- and gave her a throne to sit in, no less.

It makes me snicker that Meg blames her blond dye job on Crowley. This isn't the first time the show has blamed hairstyle choices on demon influence/interference. Can't fault them for that, as it's a convenient excuse I wish I could use for my unfortunate hair past.

"Smutton chops", snarf! They made that poor actress appear in curlers, but threw her a bone when they gave her the show's only, and long overdue, dig at Sam's ridiculously overwrought sideburns. (I mean, what the hell was with that front point on them?) Even so, I wouldn't be opening the door to anyone while wearing curlers, though, especially not two such very handsome young men -- I'd hide.

Naomi and Crowley have a past, hmm. Demonic/angel action is actually a thing. This show really does do something interesting with its supernatural beings by making them just as messy and complex as humans, with their own agendas and flaws and foibles. It's more like a modern take on Greek mythology than one on Christian mythology -- in the latter, God and angels are perfect, and Satan is pure evil.

Red-headed, blue-eyed Whitey McWhiteperson here, but the moment of Dean opening a box to reveal the Voluptuous Asian Lovelies issue with a fucking gratuitous gong sound effect got a big, "OH FUCK OFF!!!" from me. How did the writers of this show remain so indifferent/tone deaf to how shitty that running Busty Asian Beauties "gag" was that they were doubling down on it eight years in?! If they wanted to make a recurring joke out of Dean having a particular porn fetish, they could have, you know, come up with one that didn't have racist overtones.
posted by orange swan at 7:16 AM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]


Why was Cas bandaging Meg’s wounds? Can’t he heal her? Sure, she’s a demon, but that shouldn’t matter, should it?

When Dean started to doubt Cas, why didn’t he just pop the tablet back in the angel-warded box?

Sure, the boys have trust issues with Meg, and rightfully so, but that was cold, hopping in the car and leaving her to die at Crowley’s hand.

The Spear of Destiny popped up in Legends of Tomorrow in a major arc.
posted by sardonyx at 7:58 AM on October 26, 2021


In fairness stabbing Dean Winchester to death a thousand times is probably a lot of people’s idea of Heaven.

The Busty Asian Beauties "jokes" are so racist and REALLY unpleasant and I do not ever need to see it again. I looked around and SupernaturalWiki has a listing of episodes where it appears and how, if you'd like to skip or otherwise be aware. (God save my search history.)

It was funny as hell when the real Meg Masters blamed her S1 hair on the Meg the demon and it is funny as hell when Meg the demon blames her S8 hair on Crowley. Though given everything else Crowley does to Meg and how much he seems to hate her, the idea he also decides she needs to be a blonde is extra creepy.

I don’t need romance on this show, but I do enjoy the bits we get of Castiel and Meg as a thing. I actually think Castiel’s most interesting dynamics are often with characters who are either not human or not just human, I think it brings his uncanniness out a little more, but also he and Meg are just cute in a really warped way. But that really, really sucks about Rachel Miner.

Biggest laugh of the episode was Sam explaining the whole Amelia drama to Meg OF ALL PEOPLE and she’s just confused why he didn’t leave the dog dead in the street, Meg you are wretched and great and I’ll miss you.
posted by jameaterblues at 2:37 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]


SupernaturalWiki has a listing of episodes where it appears and how, if you'd like to skip or otherwise be aware.

There are 14 Busty Asian Beauties references in the series, the last of which appears in season 14, and the seventh of which appears in this episode, so we're only halfway through them and it can't be said that the shows's creators ever learned better than to make them. Christ Almighty.
posted by orange swan at 11:14 AM on October 31, 2021


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