Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A- | 4 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT The Hardy Boys Get Déjà Vu All Over Again
By Cindy McLennan | Season 4 | Episode 2 | Aired on 09.25.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.The episode opens on an absolutely petrified hunter of the ladylike persuasion as she skitters around her sparse yet tasteful apartment in a frantic and ultimately futile attempt to escape the vengeful ghosts of several bits of Monster Chow she failed to save back in the day, and my ears are still ringing from all the shrieking that commenced the moment we saw the full extent of the ultra-violence those ghosts perpetrated on that poor woman's torso. Of course, the hunter lady turns out to have been an acquaintance of Bobby's, because everybody knows everybody on this show, and it also turns out hers was simply the latest in a grisly and perplexing string of hunter murders that have taken out an alarming number of Our Intrepid Heroes' colleagues over the last couple of weeks, so you can imagine the generalized consternation and anxiety that erupt when the boys plus Bobby come under attack from the vengeful ghosts of several bits of Monster Chow Sam and Dean failed to save back in the day.
Yep, Special Agent Scooter Javert Henriksen, Fat Ronald, and -- most awesomely -- Short-Lip Meg come back from beyond the grave to torment Our Dear Boys over the latter's perceived failings in life, with the ultimate goal of course being Sam and Dean's joint evisceration. Interestingly enough, The Anti-Christ Superstar's fancy new mind mojo has no effect whatsoever on the unruly spirits, so the boys are forced to retreat to Bobby's pinnacle-of-awesome supernatural panic room, where all three fret and strategize and eventually land upon a ritual that'll return the ghosts to wherever the hell they came from in the first place for good, with no harm done to their immortal souls, or whatever.
And where does everyone's brand-new favorite angel man fit into all of this? Here: The ghosts are actually The Witnesses, whose Rising is one of the sixty-six -- yes, sixty-six -- seals Lilith needs to break to bring about The Apocalypse, which is why The Big Guy Upstairs sent Castiel and his brethren down to earth for the first time in 2000 years, and with that, the fourth season's overarching storyline just got huge."Eeeeeeeeeeeee!" -- Demian
Want more? The full recap starts right below!A bloody colored THEN bursts onto the screen and fades to black. We see Sam carrying two children (possibly from "Home") down the stairs. In voice-over, Dean says, "Look Sam, we've saved a lot of people." Dean saves the little boy from Dead In The Water. "But we can't save them all." The victims include a pretty blonde I can no longer remember, wearing a white negligee and not much else except her own blood that drips down into her décolleté. She lies dead with her throat slashed. The opening guitar riff from Billy Squier's "Lonely Is The Night," blasts through the TV, so you know something badass is coming. We're on the other side of a door that's kicked in with great force and hooray! It's the fandom's favorite sassy blonde...
Jo! Just kidding. From "Scarecrow," Sassy introduces herself to Sam in a bus station. "I'm Meg." Next Meg's caught in the Devil's Trap. With a scream, she gives up the ghost and dies. Flash to Sam saying, "Ronald Resnick." A red laser beam shines on his back. A bullet tears right through him, exploding out his chest and he's gone. Bye bye, Ron. Whoosh Special Angel...er...Agent Victor Henrickson announces his presence with great bluster. Then Lilith v.1 turns her creepy whited-out eyes upward, and a far less blustery Henrickson tries not to pee his pants as she white lights him to death...
Lonely is the night, when you find yourself alone. Sam says, "Dean, you're not going to go to hell." Ruby!Lilith says, "Sic him, boys." Dean is puppy chow. Ruby!Lilith tries to white light Sammy to death, to no avail. Dean's stuck in Hell. Dean copies Buffy and digs his own way out of his grave, but it's in broad daylight and nowhere as creepy and scary. All the windows blow in at Dean's first post-Hell pitstop. Sam and Dean are reunited. They hug. Dean kills a demon disguised as a cop. Sam exorcises the waitress demon with 100% less Latinizing and 100% more mojo. NuRuby comes out of the shadows and makes eyes at Sam. Bobby and Dean summon Castiel, who takes a bullet better than Superman, and has a better motto, too: "I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition." Wings! Pointy teethed monsters. Decaying monsters. Blonde monsters. Sam driving! Dean driving! Dean with a flash light. Dean with a look. Sam looking broken. Dean fighting. Metallicar! Sam fighting. Someone shooting. Sam fighting badly. Dean shooting. Things burning. Red rooms. Big knives. Crashing through walls. Dean mouthing off to Castiel who brought him (back) into this world and can take him (back) out (again). Castiel speaking slowly and clearly like one might to a learning disabled child. "Because God commanded it. Because we have work for you." I have work to do too, which was hindered considerably by that long set of clips from prior episodes. Note to self: Send Craig Thomas and Carter Bays a thank you note for not including clips that run 1:45 before each episode of How I Met Your Mother.