Lower Decks

Supernatural
“On the Head of a Pin”
Originally Broadcast Thursday, March 19th, 2009

A follow-up to “Death Takes a Holiday,” this episode was both intriguing and depressing. It was quite dark, too, which explains why it was depressing. It also seems to set up the rest of the season to get even darker, although frankly I’m at a loss as to how it could become darker than it already is. The Brothers Winchester are not happy campers: Dean is a broken man and Sam sucking down demon blood to amp up his already impressive powers.

In short, Castiel and Uriel charge Dean with torturing Alistair so he’ll give up the name of the demon(s) killing angels. Seven from Castiel’s garrison (who knew a group of angels is called a garrison) have already died. Dean is whisked away from Sam, who turns to Ruby for help. While Dean banters with and tortures Alistair, Ruby uses demon magic to find Dean and lets Sam drink her blood to increase his own powers. Yuck.

While injecting Alistair with holy water and the like, Dean learns that his father never gave in to torture during his decades in Hell. And it was Dean’s inability to withstand the same torture, and willingness to torture others, that opened the first seal. Poor Dean really can’t catch a break. Not only does he pale in comparison to his dear departed dad (if Alistair wasn’t lying, that is) but he is also to blame for the current, hellish state of affairs.

Alistair somehow manages to break free of the devil’s trap the angels place him on and knocks out Dean. He then tussles with Castiel before Sam shows up and kills Alistair with his demon-blood-heightened powers. So, Sam is now apparently more powerful than Alistair and Castiel combined. That’s going to come in handy. But what the repercussions for Sam will be in the long run are still a mystery. How will Dean react? Judging from his emotional state at the end of this episode, he may not notice.

Castiel has his own little story line in this episode. He may be starting to doubt the Big Guy’s grand plan. If so, that’s a godly no-no. Emotions are also not allowed, it seems, which is one of Anna’s faults (she was introduced in “I Know What You Did Last Summer“). She tries to convince Castiel to give into his doubts but it takes a little more than that to push him over the edge. What it takes, in fact, is Uriel turning out to be the one killing the angels.

Uriel is apparently in favor of breaking Lucifer out of Hell and has been killing anyone who doesn’t side with him. When he tries to kill Castiel, Anna stabs him from behind, killing him. Thus, the episode ends with Alistair and Uriel dead, Castiel uncertain of the future, Dean battered and beaten and Sam with demon blood circulating in his body. Anna, I’m sure, will pop up again in a future episode to save the day. Again.

Learning that a group of angels actually wants the Lucifer to escape Hell was an unexpected twist. Uriel seemed pretty enamored by Lucifer, or at least the idea of Lucifer, and hoped that releasing Alistair from the devil’s trap would lead to Dean’s death. Dean is the only one who can stop Lilith from opening the 66 seals. He obviously doesn’t believe he has it in him, though, and neither does Sam.

Personally, I think Dean has a few more fights in him. One of them is going to have to be with Sam before the season is out. Will the two brothers end up battling one another in addition to the demons and, potentially, the angels? We shall see.