Supernatural: Like A Virgin

So, I figure if we time it right, we can tunnel out of this motel and make it back to Bobby's before anyone realizes we aren't really Pierre and Francois Chevalier.

We’ve all been waiting for it.  And waiting, and waiting…and then waiting an extra week due to a last minute network decision.  But this is it: the hiatus finally ended, and Sam gets his soul back.  Now to get to the juicy stuff.  And Oh My Chuck, is that Aerosmith playing over “The Road So Far?”  It is!  They had to scrimp and save for five and a half years, but they finally managed to afford an Aerosmith song.  Awesome.  As the strains of “Back in the Saddle” fade, we see a frightened woman in a small plane flying through an electrical storm.  Yeah, that looks like a fun date.  Not.  Poor Penny here is freaking out, despite the reassurances of Stan the pilot boyfriend, especially once she sees something large and inexplicable flap by her window.  Stan continues to be reassuring…right up until the second something breaks the windshield and snatches him out of the plane.  Which then starts a nosedive, Penny screaming all the way.  Now that we’ve got that out of the way…

…it’s back to Bobby’s, where Castiel has finished his checkup on Sam’s soul.  It’s there all right, but he’s not happy with Dean for going against his advice.  “Let me tell you what his soul felt like when I touched it,” he growls.  “Like it had been skinned alive, Dean.  If you wanted to kill your brother you should’ve done it outright.”  Oooh.  Methinks that “profound bond” is switching allegiances.  Once he’s fluttered off in a huff, Dean goes back upstairs, Sam weighing heavy on his mind.  Bobby takes a crack at a he’ll-be-okay speech, but the possibility of a job is the only thing that can distract them.  And the case Bobby’s just starting is the missing couple from the opener.  Before they get far discussing it, though, there’s a whisper from the doorway.  “Dean?”  It’s Sam, awake and astonished, but obviously grateful to be alive.  Before Dean can even ask how he is, he pulls his big brother into an emotional bear hug, the hug thousands of fans have been waiting for since the Season Five finale.  He holds onto Dean, eyes closed, ever so thankful for the reunion, since he swan-dived into Hell thinking he‘d never see his brother again, and I think I have something in my eye.  Bobby’s next, and gets a hug you can hear; Sam literally knocking the air out of him.  Sam pulls back, confused, though, because he recalls Lucifer snapping Bobby’s neck.  Not that he’s unhappy about Bobby being alive–in fact, he’s equally surprised and thrilled to hear Castiel is fine, too.  “Are you okay?” Dean wonders, confused that Sam doesn’t seem to remember the past eighteen months.  “Actually, I’m starving,” Sam replies.  Awww.  It warms my heart to know Sammy’s all caught up on his sleep now and for the first time ever is showing an appetite.

The hug heard round the world.

Boy, does he show an appetite.  Like we’ve never seen before, he’s chowing down on sandwiches and chips, and I think Bobby better make a run to the grocery store.  In between bites he reveals the last thing he remembers before waking up in the panic room was falling into the pit.  Bobby’s about to throw out some recent details, but Dean cuts him off.  “How long was I gone?” Sam wonders.  “About a year and a half,” Dean fudges.  A shocked Sam, assuming Dean means he was in Hell all that time, does a fantastic double-take before rattling off all the questions suddenly popping into his head.  And he’s none to happy to hear Dean worked with Death to get him back.  But Dean insists the entire deal is over, despite Bobby’s snarky comment about everything being “all neat and clean.”  Sam, being the smart guy he is, notices that something is a little off(not to mention the stinkeye Bobby is giving Dean), but doesn’t press the issue.

Some time later that day, Dean brings Bobby a beer out in the yard, so he can marvel at Sam’s recovery while the curmudgeonly Mr. Singer works on a car.  Understandably, he’s extra-curmudgeonly, considering the previous incarnation of Sam “went all Menendez” on him ten days earlier.  So, that means Sam slept for a week and a half after his soul was re-installed.  Considering he hasn’t slept in a year and a half, I’d say that’s a pretty efficient catch up time.  I’ve wondered how much time he’d need.  Anyway, Bobby’s gonna need some time to reconcile his Sams.  Still, it doesn’t keep him from being the voice of caution about keeping the truth from the younger Winchester.  While Dean is ready to send Death a fruit basket and not tempt fate by possibly stressing Sam’s inner wall with the truth, Bobby warns that it will come out eventually.  “One way or another; someone will tell him or he’ll figure it out on his own–he’s not dumb.  He should hear it from us.”  And Bobby’s right, Sam’s not dumb.  When he wakes up a day or two later and steps out into the yard to see Dean and Bobby loading up the Impala for a case, only to have Bobby bail when he wants in on the job, he knows something is up.  I’ve gotta say, it’s so good to see this Sam again.  He looks rested and energetic and there’s an openness in his eyes we haven’t seen in a long time.  Gone is the down-to-business, vaguely veiled survivalist conniving how to get the job done most efficiently.  He even carries himself differently; he’s relaxed and flowing in his movements, not tactical and on alert.  And he smiles a hell of a lot more.  Hi Sam; we’ve missed you.

On the road to Portland, Oregon, Sam digs up some info on additional missing girls, but with no further leads, he turns to genially chiding Dean for not keeping his promise to live a normal life.  Considering Dean’s current state, it’s an easy assumption to make, and he’s surprised when Dean reveals he did spend a year doing the normal thing.  And Dean is content to leave Sam thinking he and Lisa broke up for perfectly mundane and normal reasons.  Not because, say, his brother let him get turned into a vampire and he unintentionally attacked her kid while he was said creature.  At Penny’s sister’s door, Sam turns on the puppy dog eyes and the sympathetic Federal Agent routine, much to Dean’s delight.  After talking their way in, they learn Penny was far from the adventurous type; and considering her pink-on-pink bedroom decorated with teddy bears and frills, it’s not surprising.  It does, however, give Dean an opportunity to lift her diary.  And reading it has given him a theory:  the girls who vanished were all virgins.  The other two girls “baked cookies for the Lord” but Sam is skeptical about Penny.  “I’ve decided; I’m going to give Stan my most precious gift,” Dean recites from the diary as proof.  “Wow, that sounded really creepy coming out of your mouth,” Sam squicks.

Elsewhere in town, outside St. Mary’s Center for Catholic Studies, another girl splits from her friends on her way home, only to be chased down by some mysterious creature from the sky.  Which, of course, brings the Winchesters to visit her in her hospital room the following day.  Again with the Kinder And Gentler Investigators bit, they get her to describe her attacker, which looked rather like a giant bat.  Fortunately for her, it didn’t snatch her, although it did snatch her gold purity ring and leave her with a series of nasty cuts on her back.  Dean, being so talented at “reading people”(see Bad Day At Black Rock), quickly spots why she wasn’t taken–she’s not a virgin.  Back at the motel, Sam’s online research keeps leading him to the same unbelievable result:  dragons.  Preying on virgins fits the dragon profile, as does gold theft, but even Bobby says the things aren’t real(although the Loch Ness monster is), so they’re stumped.  Next, he turns to Dad’s journal, while Dean kind of looks up stuff on the laptop, but he’s really watching Sam like a hawk.  And mentally scrambling to lie convincingly when Sam asks, “Hey, did we hunt a skin walker lately?”  A drawing in the journal is giving him the strangest sense of déjà vu.  Uh oh.  Luckily for Dean, Bobby calls back at this moment with the name of someone who might have some answers about dragons, a Dr. Visyak of Medieval Studies at San Francisco University.  And so he’s off to San Fran, leaving Sam to sort out where a dragon might hole up in the greater Portland area.

Meanwhile, in some dank, dark underground lair, Penny and the other missing girls are locked in a cage, and are soon joined by another young virgin, who is tossed in by a burly man in black with the ability to weld metal with his bare hands.  Ah, these dragons don’t breathe fire, but they do have high heat at their disposal.  Down in San Francisco, Dean arrives at Dr. Visyak’s abode, and discovers the comely professor and Bobby have a history.  Which causes Dean to develop this deer-in-the-headlights look as he tries to decide if he really wants to hear that history.  The history he’s here for concerns dragons; and that confuses the professor, as they’ve been assumed extinct for seven hundred years.  The key bit of info he’s after is this–to kill a dragon, you need a blade forged with dragon’s blood.  Fortunately, she just happens to have one in her well-appointed basement.  Complete with large stone security device/worthiness tester.  Thus giving us a taste of Jensen Ackles’ comedy skills.  For as Dean confidently braces one foot on the stone and reaches for the pommel, heroic music swells, and he pulls at the sword.  Then changes his grip and tries again.  Then latches on with both hands and tries again.  Then strains so much his hands slip and he falls on his face.  The music screeches to a halt.  Heh.  He tries again, planting both feet on the stone, gripping the pommel with both hands again, and pulling with all his strength, until his face starts turning purple.  “Son of a bitch, that’s really on there,” he gasps as he staggers away.  Heh heh.

Back in Portland, Sam is hitting a dead end, and calls Bobby.  Who has to visibly steel himself when he sees the caller ID.  He’s brusque and not completely covering it as they reason out that the lack of caves in the area leaves the sewers as the probable location for a dragon lair.  And Sam calls him on it, concerned for his well-being.  When he goes on to ask about the year he doesn’t remember, Bobby is quick to assure him it was nothing out of the ordinary and hang up.  My, but that man is torn.  He wants to avoid the guy who nearly killed him, but he knows this Sam is confused and wants information; he wants to tell Sam everything, but knows it may damage him.  Left hanging, Sam falls back on praying to Castiel, the only friend he has yet to talk to.  Almost immediately, the angel appears, looking to be near tears, he’s so happy to see Sam alive.  Quite the contrast to the distant, distracted guy who was too busy to answer Winchester pleas earlier in the season.  See, I knew that “profound bond” was shifting from Dean to Sam.  He even moves in to hug Sam, who instantly plops his butt back in his chair.  “Look, I would hug you, but…” he stammers apologetically.  “…that would be awkward,” a slightly hurt Castiel finishes.  Aww.  What’s the etiquette for angel hugs?  I think Castiel really needs one.  To cover that awkwardness and get on with why he called, Sam comments vaguely on the past year, claiming Bobby told him everything.  Castiel expresses his surprise at Sam’s survival, then asks how it feels to have his soul back.  This bit of info, and the implications, knocks Sam for a huge loop.  But he forges on, asking Castiel to fill in the “hazy details.”  Not being in on Dean’s plan to protect Sam from the truth, the clueless, hugless angel clears things up for him.

In Dr. Visyak’s basement, despite her trepidations, Dean has implemented Plan B, which consists of strategically placed plastic explosives.  It works, a little too well.  Not only is the stone cracked open, but the sword is now half as long as it once was.  From the look on Dr. Visyak’s face, I’d say Dean’s going on her shit list, right next to Bobby Singer.  And when he shows it to Sam, Sam is skeptical.  Still, it’s all they’ve got, so it’s off to the Portland sewer system.  Sam pauses, wondering if and how he should bring up what he so recently learned about his missing year, then decides against it for now.  After hours of wandering, they stumble across a pile of gold jewelry, and then a decidedly suspicious altar.  That’s when they catch the echoes of the captured girls yelling for help.  But just as they start prying the cage open, the dragon returns, throwing Sam across the room and going up against Dean and his dragon’s blood sword.  Of course, it gets knocked away, just out of reach.  Suddenly Sam attacks with his crowbar, giving Dean time to stretch for the sword.  Which he can’t get, because he’s just as suddenly attacked by a second dragon.  Sam’s having issues as well, as his opponent has grabbed the crowbar and is heating it up, forcing him to drop it.  But a well-placed kick gives him a few seconds to dive for the sword; having longer arms, he can snatch it up, slash at one dragon, and stab the other in the back.  Dragon #1 weighs his options and wings it out of there ASAP.

Having saved the girls and slain a dragon, they head back to Bobby’s, where Dean is happily fondling the pile of gold stuff he picked up.  “Why don’t you cut to the chase and just roll in it?” Sam jokes.  All jokes aside, Sam has come out to the workbench to apologize for all the stuff he did without a soul.  Ticked off at Castiel for spilling the beans, Dean explains the Great Wall of Sam, and why he didn’t tell Sam this stuff himself.  Protective Big Brother Mode engaged.  And Sam understands, but feels the need to atone.  “I kinda feel like I got slipped the worst mickey of all time, and I woke up to find that I had burnt the whole city down.  And you can say it wasn’t me, but, I’m the one with the Zippo in my pocket.”  He’s humble and matter-of-fact, and not wallowing in angst; he just wants to fix things.  It’ll have to wait a bit, though, because Bobby wants to show them what he’s figured out about a book they picked up from the dragon’s altar.  It’s an ancient text made of human skin, giving the guys major creeps, and as near as Bobby can figure, it’s an instruction manual for opening Purgatory and raising something called the Mother of All.  And the page with the pertinent steps has been ripped out by the dragon.  Who is, at that very moment, in a deep, dark cave, reciting the page aloud and throwing a virgin into the chasm leading to Purgatory’s front door.  She rises back up from the deep shortly thereafter, limbs like embers, as host to a new being we can most likely safely assume is the Mother of All.  Now this raises some interesting questions–was Crowley seeking out Purgatory to take over as he claimed, or to keep the door shut?  Did he want to raise the Mother of All, or keep her in place?  Did he view her as a threat, competition, or a possible partner in Hell?