Supernatural: Like a Virgin
September 6, 2021 5:19 AM - Season 6, Episode 12 - Subscribe
Sam emerges from his coma and remembers nothing of what happened to him since Lucifer first possessed him and he entered the cage in hell with him, Michael, and Adam, and Bobby and Dean are resolved to keep it that way. Dean and Sam head to Oregon to investigate the disappearance of several local female virgins.
Quotes:
Dean: Could you make a few calls?
Bobby: To who, Hogwarts?
Dragon: [referring to the Blade] Where did you get that?
Dean: Comic Con.
Sam: So what likes gold and virgins?
Dean: P. Diddy?
Sam: Sorry, I would hug you, but...
Castiel: It would be awkward.
Dean: [Trying to get sword out of a stone] You rocks think you're so smart.
Sam: Well, looks like those other two missing girls both baked cookies for the Lord.
Dean: What is that? Code?
Sam: No. Church choir, bake sales, uh, promise ring clubs. The works. They were good girls. But, Penny wasn't even a Christian, so I...
Dean: I've got another theory. [pulls a small book out of his jacket] Penny's diary.
Sam: Did you steal that from her room?
Dean: I love that you even ask me that.
Sam: And why wouldn't I?
Dean: No reason.
Sam: You mean, you think they're all...
Dean: Virgins, Sam. Virgins.
Sam: Penny was 22.
Dean: Yeah, with a pink room.
Sam: So?
Dean: And stuffed teddy bears.
Sam: But, you really think...
Dean: [reading from Penny's diary] I've decided. I'm going to give Stan my most precious gift.
Sam: Wow, that... sounded really creepy coming outta your mouth.
Dean: I think I delivered it.
Bobby: [handing Dean a tumbler of whiskey] Like my daddy always said -- just cuz it'll wreck your liver doesn't mean it's not medicine.
Sam: Ya know, it's comforting.
Dean: What's that?
Sam: I die for a year, came back -- and you're *still* not funny.
Dean: Shut up! I'm hilarious.
Dean: [Sam is reading John's journal] Dad never wrote anything about dragons. I promise. I'd remember if I read Neverending Story in there.
Castiel: I'm sorry, Dean, but I warned you not to put that thing back inside him.
Dean: What was I supposed to do? Let T1000 walk around? Hope he doesn't open fire?
Sam: Who would want virgins?
Dean: You got me. I prefer ladies with experience.
Sam: [referring to the latest victim who survived] So, what, you think Batman tried to rape her?
Dean: Well, he does carry a lot of rage. But, he rejected her because she was already dehymenated. Huh?
Sam: You think?
Dean: I think it just goes to show that being easy is pretty much all upside.
Dean: [searching through the sewers with Sam] Oh, God! Just when I get used to the smell, I hit another flavour! Dude, we have been here for *hours*. There is nothing. I think the lore's off. Hey, what if, uh... what if dragons like nice hotels?
Dr. Eleanor Visyak: [regarding the sword] Finding it took two decades, countless hours... and some really bad sex with an Eastern European ambassador.
Sam: [regarding Bobby acting unfriendly to him] What was that?
Dean: One part age, three parts liquor.
Dean: Promise ring. So, uh, from, like, a church, like a purity ring?
Melissa: Yeah. Why?
Dean: Ahem. I gotta ask. Ahh... Melissa, look, nobody is judging anybody here, okay? Believe me. But should you really be wearing that ring?
Melissa: Well, I mean, I am...
Dean: Really?
Melissa: Matt Barne didn't count!
Bobby: Now, as near as I can figure it, this dates back around the 14th century.
Sam: What language is it?
Bobby: Da Vinci Code.
Dean: Is he ever gonna wake up?
Castiel: I'm not a human doctor, Dean.
Dean: Could you take a guess?
Castiel: Okay. Probably not.
Dean: Oh, well, don't sugarcoat it.
Dr. Eleanor Visyak: Bobby Singer. Tell him something for me next time you see him.... Actually, just kick him in the jewels. That's more poetic.
Trivia:
The sword of Bruncvik, which can kill dragons, comes from an old Czech legend. According to the legend, Bruncvik obtained sword that can kill any creature. While travelling the world, he killed a dragon who was about to kill a lion. This is the reason why there was a dragon's blood on that sword (and why there is a lion on the coat of arms of the Czech Republic).
In the scene where Sam calls Castiel, there is a Voodoo Doughnuts box on the table, an iconic Portland doughnut shop.
When Bobby says that Sam "went straight up Menendez on me", he's referring to the Menendez brothers who murdered their parents in California.
Dean calls Bobby about dragons who then asks, "How's Memento doing over there? He caught you in any lies yet?" Bobby is referring to the 2000 psychological thriller Memento, about a man with short-term memory loss searching for his wife's killer.
When Sam and Dean hear about the dragons releasing "mother" Sam asks, "The mother of dragons?" Four months later, in June 2011, Game of Thrones debuted on HBO and popularized the phrase "the mother of dragons".
When Melissa is running from what she later describes as a "giant bat", the scene is reminiscent of The Lost Boys movie, which opens with a man looking up and screaming at something in the sky that the audience can't see. In both Supernatural and The Lost Boys, there's wind and whipping leaves while the camera zooms in on the victim as the creature attacks.
Quotes:
Dean: Could you make a few calls?
Bobby: To who, Hogwarts?
Dragon: [referring to the Blade] Where did you get that?
Dean: Comic Con.
Sam: So what likes gold and virgins?
Dean: P. Diddy?
Sam: Sorry, I would hug you, but...
Castiel: It would be awkward.
Dean: [Trying to get sword out of a stone] You rocks think you're so smart.
Sam: Well, looks like those other two missing girls both baked cookies for the Lord.
Dean: What is that? Code?
Sam: No. Church choir, bake sales, uh, promise ring clubs. The works. They were good girls. But, Penny wasn't even a Christian, so I...
Dean: I've got another theory. [pulls a small book out of his jacket] Penny's diary.
Sam: Did you steal that from her room?
Dean: I love that you even ask me that.
Sam: And why wouldn't I?
Dean: No reason.
Sam: You mean, you think they're all...
Dean: Virgins, Sam. Virgins.
Sam: Penny was 22.
Dean: Yeah, with a pink room.
Sam: So?
Dean: And stuffed teddy bears.
Sam: But, you really think...
Dean: [reading from Penny's diary] I've decided. I'm going to give Stan my most precious gift.
Sam: Wow, that... sounded really creepy coming outta your mouth.
Dean: I think I delivered it.
Bobby: [handing Dean a tumbler of whiskey] Like my daddy always said -- just cuz it'll wreck your liver doesn't mean it's not medicine.
Sam: Ya know, it's comforting.
Dean: What's that?
Sam: I die for a year, came back -- and you're *still* not funny.
Dean: Shut up! I'm hilarious.
Dean: [Sam is reading John's journal] Dad never wrote anything about dragons. I promise. I'd remember if I read Neverending Story in there.
Castiel: I'm sorry, Dean, but I warned you not to put that thing back inside him.
Dean: What was I supposed to do? Let T1000 walk around? Hope he doesn't open fire?
Sam: Who would want virgins?
Dean: You got me. I prefer ladies with experience.
Sam: [referring to the latest victim who survived] So, what, you think Batman tried to rape her?
Dean: Well, he does carry a lot of rage. But, he rejected her because she was already dehymenated. Huh?
Sam: You think?
Dean: I think it just goes to show that being easy is pretty much all upside.
Dean: [searching through the sewers with Sam] Oh, God! Just when I get used to the smell, I hit another flavour! Dude, we have been here for *hours*. There is nothing. I think the lore's off. Hey, what if, uh... what if dragons like nice hotels?
Dr. Eleanor Visyak: [regarding the sword] Finding it took two decades, countless hours... and some really bad sex with an Eastern European ambassador.
Sam: [regarding Bobby acting unfriendly to him] What was that?
Dean: One part age, three parts liquor.
Dean: Promise ring. So, uh, from, like, a church, like a purity ring?
Melissa: Yeah. Why?
Dean: Ahem. I gotta ask. Ahh... Melissa, look, nobody is judging anybody here, okay? Believe me. But should you really be wearing that ring?
Melissa: Well, I mean, I am...
Dean: Really?
Melissa: Matt Barne didn't count!
Bobby: Now, as near as I can figure it, this dates back around the 14th century.
Sam: What language is it?
Bobby: Da Vinci Code.
Dean: Is he ever gonna wake up?
Castiel: I'm not a human doctor, Dean.
Dean: Could you take a guess?
Castiel: Okay. Probably not.
Dean: Oh, well, don't sugarcoat it.
Dr. Eleanor Visyak: Bobby Singer. Tell him something for me next time you see him.... Actually, just kick him in the jewels. That's more poetic.
Trivia:
The sword of Bruncvik, which can kill dragons, comes from an old Czech legend. According to the legend, Bruncvik obtained sword that can kill any creature. While travelling the world, he killed a dragon who was about to kill a lion. This is the reason why there was a dragon's blood on that sword (and why there is a lion on the coat of arms of the Czech Republic).
In the scene where Sam calls Castiel, there is a Voodoo Doughnuts box on the table, an iconic Portland doughnut shop.
When Bobby says that Sam "went straight up Menendez on me", he's referring to the Menendez brothers who murdered their parents in California.
Dean calls Bobby about dragons who then asks, "How's Memento doing over there? He caught you in any lies yet?" Bobby is referring to the 2000 psychological thriller Memento, about a man with short-term memory loss searching for his wife's killer.
When Sam and Dean hear about the dragons releasing "mother" Sam asks, "The mother of dragons?" Four months later, in June 2011, Game of Thrones debuted on HBO and popularized the phrase "the mother of dragons".
When Melissa is running from what she later describes as a "giant bat", the scene is reminiscent of The Lost Boys movie, which opens with a man looking up and screaming at something in the sky that the audience can't see. In both Supernatural and The Lost Boys, there's wind and whipping leaves while the camera zooms in on the victim as the creature attacks.
I can’t believe the prof would all Dean to blow that rock apart in that fabulous room. Of course there was going to be serious damage to the walls and art and ceiling and everything.
I certainly wasn’t expecting the explosives. I was expecting newly re-ensouled Sam to be the chosen one to pull the blade.
posted by sardonyx at 11:51 AM on September 6, 2021
I certainly wasn’t expecting the explosives. I was expecting newly re-ensouled Sam to be the chosen one to pull the blade.
posted by sardonyx at 11:51 AM on September 6, 2021
This A-plot is dumb as hell but it's nice having Sam back. You could argue specifics, but this is pretty close to the first old school Sam & Dean Hunt a MOTW episode since mid-season 5, which was an entire year as it originally aired and even this way feels like it's been a while.
I admire the chaotic confidence it takes to go "hell yeah we're doing a *~DRAGONS~* episode" and then the dragons are just completely unremarkable white guys with little or no effects or even noticeable makeup; Game of Thrones would not have DARED.
My dude Dean's for real for real plan was to just never mention that the year and a half Sam spent in Hell he also spent walking around with an entire set of people that I guess Dean's hoping he either never hears about or never sees again, plus Bobby, Castiel, and also all the demons and probably a lot of the angels, who maybe can just be cool?
So, okay, Sam who has a soul or was a soul. Bobby, who's been around Sam since he got back, either didn't think Sam was behaving that differently (and in fairness to him Sam had no idea what was wrong, and was probably trying to fake it), or else wrote off any differences to being possessed by Lucifer. It's a little unclear, but he doesn't seem to have an opinion either way while Dean was trying to figure Sam's situation out. But to him, Sam's Sam, has been Sam this whole time, was temporarily Sam with some wires pulled but the guy who stalked him through his house and tried to kill him is Sam and that's going to be a factor in his relationship with Sam from now on.
Dean noticed Sam was different immediately, but didn't know what to make of it or what to do till Sam let him be turned into a vampire, which sort of shocked him into Do Something mode because now there is a person riding around in his car and drinking his beer and walking around in Sam's body who Is Not Sam in some fundamental, unsquarable ways. Sam eventually considers the part of him that stayed in Hell to be the same part that's Dean's brother. When that part could be easily retrieved, all well and good. Of course, Dean and Soulless have radically different opinions on whether or not Soulless should continue to exist, but at this point neither of them think he's quite Sam, and when he's gone, he's just gone.
But like. Dean's rationale was 1) he wants Sam back, 2) Soulless is turning into a huge intractable problem on his own independent of simply not being Sam, and 3) in some meaningful way Sam is being tortured in Hell and will be forever unless someone gets him out. (No one ever raises the possibility of getting Sam's soul out of Hell and not putting it back in his body but letting it go on to Heaven or whatever, I guess mainly because it doesn't solve #1 or 2?)
#3 makes every argument about leaving him in Hell very strange, because the only advantage to that would be protecting Soulless, who no one even wants around. (Because the injury is to Sam's soul, presumably the wall would still be there even after he dies, and he could be in Heaven five hundred years from now and that's when the wall breaks, and that IS fucked up, but it still seems like a better deal than Hell.) I understand why Soulless doesn't want his soul back. But the idea that Dean would rather have Sam's soul suffering in Hell than have him as a vegetable on Earth is really messed up, since otherwise Soulless' autonomy over his body and life is not a thing Dean seems to value or even recognize.
I'm not really coming to a point here, I don't know what the theologically correct answer is, Soulless was a scary guy and I'm glad to have regular Sam back, but like. If you think Soulless was a person who's capable of exercising autonomy, and who things can be done to, and Soulless clearly did, then he gets pretty screwed, though technically not as screwed as Sam would've been if they just left him in Hell.
posted by jameaterblues at 2:12 PM on September 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
I admire the chaotic confidence it takes to go "hell yeah we're doing a *~DRAGONS~* episode" and then the dragons are just completely unremarkable white guys with little or no effects or even noticeable makeup; Game of Thrones would not have DARED.
My dude Dean's for real for real plan was to just never mention that the year and a half Sam spent in Hell he also spent walking around with an entire set of people that I guess Dean's hoping he either never hears about or never sees again, plus Bobby, Castiel, and also all the demons and probably a lot of the angels, who maybe can just be cool?
So, okay, Sam who has a soul or was a soul. Bobby, who's been around Sam since he got back, either didn't think Sam was behaving that differently (and in fairness to him Sam had no idea what was wrong, and was probably trying to fake it), or else wrote off any differences to being possessed by Lucifer. It's a little unclear, but he doesn't seem to have an opinion either way while Dean was trying to figure Sam's situation out. But to him, Sam's Sam, has been Sam this whole time, was temporarily Sam with some wires pulled but the guy who stalked him through his house and tried to kill him is Sam and that's going to be a factor in his relationship with Sam from now on.
Dean noticed Sam was different immediately, but didn't know what to make of it or what to do till Sam let him be turned into a vampire, which sort of shocked him into Do Something mode because now there is a person riding around in his car and drinking his beer and walking around in Sam's body who Is Not Sam in some fundamental, unsquarable ways. Sam eventually considers the part of him that stayed in Hell to be the same part that's Dean's brother. When that part could be easily retrieved, all well and good. Of course, Dean and Soulless have radically different opinions on whether or not Soulless should continue to exist, but at this point neither of them think he's quite Sam, and when he's gone, he's just gone.
But like. Dean's rationale was 1) he wants Sam back, 2) Soulless is turning into a huge intractable problem on his own independent of simply not being Sam, and 3) in some meaningful way Sam is being tortured in Hell and will be forever unless someone gets him out. (No one ever raises the possibility of getting Sam's soul out of Hell and not putting it back in his body but letting it go on to Heaven or whatever, I guess mainly because it doesn't solve #1 or 2?)
#3 makes every argument about leaving him in Hell very strange, because the only advantage to that would be protecting Soulless, who no one even wants around. (Because the injury is to Sam's soul, presumably the wall would still be there even after he dies, and he could be in Heaven five hundred years from now and that's when the wall breaks, and that IS fucked up, but it still seems like a better deal than Hell.) I understand why Soulless doesn't want his soul back. But the idea that Dean would rather have Sam's soul suffering in Hell than have him as a vegetable on Earth is really messed up, since otherwise Soulless' autonomy over his body and life is not a thing Dean seems to value or even recognize.
I'm not really coming to a point here, I don't know what the theologically correct answer is, Soulless was a scary guy and I'm glad to have regular Sam back, but like. If you think Soulless was a person who's capable of exercising autonomy, and who things can be done to, and Soulless clearly did, then he gets pretty screwed, though technically not as screwed as Sam would've been if they just left him in Hell.
posted by jameaterblues at 2:12 PM on September 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
If the time dilation in the Trap is similar to Hell; Dean's subjective 40 years over 4 months Earth time means Sam's soul's subjective is several decades over 120 years.
And he's ... fine? Despite Castiel mentioning it felt skinned/ flayed?
I guess an argument could be made that there's no idea if Sam coming back after over a century of torture would be a bigger monster than Soulless - so it's more pragmatic to let his soul keep rotting rather than risking letting the soul be able to influence things on Earth?
--
Jodie Balfour (Melissa) was 24 - is the character supposed to still be in Catholic school (the uniform)? She later plays Jackie Kennedy in 'The Crown.'
"Drawing the sword from the stone" - I like the interpretation that its an allegory for technology, that whoever can do so be the chosen King; the tech for smelting iron was significant enough for an entire age of human existance to be named after it.
The timing is a bit wonky though; King Arthur and Camelot was written in the 12th century CE, the maybe historical figure lived in the 5th (shortly after the Romans left), and the British Iron Age was between 6th BCE to 1st CE (initial Roman conquest).
The interpretation here isbeyond dumb silly. If the stone could be blown up with a (surface! and not even shaped) charge of whatever plastique Dean could get his hands on (and was probably in Baby's trunk), you could crack that rock with hand tools.
The gold - that's collected from victims, no? Not as sketchy as a bag of gold teeth and fillings, but still. If they straight up sold it legitimately, I can't imagine it not drawing down law enforcement heat over identifiables from a whole lot of missing persons. They'd have to fence it or melt it down for scrap, though I'm sure Bobby knows some gold bugs/ preppers who'd take it off their hands despite it being pretty debased/ alloyed gold and not bullion grade.
Dr. Visyak's house is the Gabriola Mansion just outside of downtown Vancouver. It's a super weird location, a sprawling ultra low density property surrounded by high density towers. Founded with Big Sugar money (technology - refinery and rail and Vancouver being a port - rather than slave-trade) in 1900 before the moneyed class decided on Shaughnessy or the British Properties to get away from the plebs.
It used to be a fancy steakhouse and then a weird - but still fancy - restaurant and has some ghost stories associated with it. It was boarded up for about a decade (!) but has now been gutted and finally in the process of being turned into ultra luxe apartments. It listed for $10MM in 2014 - I would be surprised if it doesn't appraise comfortably in the triple digit millions after the conversion is complete.
Went there once when it was the Macaroni and I recall it being very impressive.
posted by porpoise at 6:55 PM on September 6, 2021
And he's ... fine? Despite Castiel mentioning it felt skinned/ flayed?
I guess an argument could be made that there's no idea if Sam coming back after over a century of torture would be a bigger monster than Soulless - so it's more pragmatic to let his soul keep rotting rather than risking letting the soul be able to influence things on Earth?
--
Jodie Balfour (Melissa) was 24 - is the character supposed to still be in Catholic school (the uniform)? She later plays Jackie Kennedy in 'The Crown.'
"Drawing the sword from the stone" - I like the interpretation that its an allegory for technology, that whoever can do so be the chosen King; the tech for smelting iron was significant enough for an entire age of human existance to be named after it.
The timing is a bit wonky though; King Arthur and Camelot was written in the 12th century CE, the maybe historical figure lived in the 5th (shortly after the Romans left), and the British Iron Age was between 6th BCE to 1st CE (initial Roman conquest).
The interpretation here is
The gold - that's collected from victims, no? Not as sketchy as a bag of gold teeth and fillings, but still. If they straight up sold it legitimately, I can't imagine it not drawing down law enforcement heat over identifiables from a whole lot of missing persons. They'd have to fence it or melt it down for scrap, though I'm sure Bobby knows some gold bugs/ preppers who'd take it off their hands despite it being pretty debased/ alloyed gold and not bullion grade.
Dr. Visyak's house is the Gabriola Mansion just outside of downtown Vancouver. It's a super weird location, a sprawling ultra low density property surrounded by high density towers. Founded with Big Sugar money (technology - refinery and rail and Vancouver being a port - rather than slave-trade) in 1900 before the moneyed class decided on Shaughnessy or the British Properties to get away from the plebs.
It used to be a fancy steakhouse and then a weird - but still fancy - restaurant and has some ghost stories associated with it. It was boarded up for about a decade (!) but has now been gutted and finally in the process of being turned into ultra luxe apartments. It listed for $10MM in 2014 - I would be surprised if it doesn't appraise comfortably in the triple digit millions after the conversion is complete.
Went there once when it was the Macaroni and I recall it being very impressive.
posted by porpoise at 6:55 PM on September 6, 2021
If the time dilation in the Trap is similar to Hell; Dean's subjective 40 years over 4 months Earth time means Sam's soul's subjective is several decades over 120 years. And he's ... fine? Despite Castiel mentioning it felt skinned/ flayed?
Yeah, because I think the point of the wall is to make sure Sam doesn't remember any of that, so he's fine as long as it stays up, and without it would very much not be fine.
I guess an argument could be made that there's no idea if Sam coming back after over a century of torture would be a bigger monster than Soulless - so it's more pragmatic to let his soul keep rotting rather than risking letting the soul be able to influence things on Earth?
Yeah, it's interesting that no one up to and including Dean seem worried Sam might be a demon or worse by the time he comes out. Maybe being tortured by archangels is different enough from whatever turns souls into demons that it's not really a risk? I think Dean's too gone on Sam to entertain leaving him there because he might come out evil, but I could see that maybe being at least a consideration for the others.
posted by jameaterblues at 7:39 PM on September 6, 2021
Yeah, because I think the point of the wall is to make sure Sam doesn't remember any of that, so he's fine as long as it stays up, and without it would very much not be fine.
I guess an argument could be made that there's no idea if Sam coming back after over a century of torture would be a bigger monster than Soulless - so it's more pragmatic to let his soul keep rotting rather than risking letting the soul be able to influence things on Earth?
Yeah, it's interesting that no one up to and including Dean seem worried Sam might be a demon or worse by the time he comes out. Maybe being tortured by archangels is different enough from whatever turns souls into demons that it's not really a risk? I think Dean's too gone on Sam to entertain leaving him there because he might come out evil, but I could see that maybe being at least a consideration for the others.
posted by jameaterblues at 7:39 PM on September 6, 2021
If I understand correctly the demon process involves agreeing to torture others in order to avoid the pain of being tortured, which presumably is not happening to Sam in the Trap.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:35 PM on September 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:35 PM on September 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
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Dean thinks he's hilarious, but he's actually not. What's really funny about Jensen Ackles' performance is always Dean's reaction to things rather than any of the jokes Dean intentionally makes, such as the shit-eating grin he gets when a woman shoots him down, or, in this episode, Dean being so smugly sure he was the brave knight who could pull the sword from the stone, and his growing frustration with not being able to do it.
This is one of the few times we see the Winchesters get any material benefit from their work. They'll be able to sell that big pile of gold for a pretty penny.
Dean should have been more communicative with Sam. He ought to have known Sam wouldn't leave well enough alone -- he never does.
posted by orange swan at 5:32 AM on September 6, 2021