Well! You know what. Though many have been saying that season six hasn't felt like the same show as it used to be, and while I have somewhat agreed with that, I think it may be safe to say that the show has been really picking things up. And now I also think it may be safe to say that with this episode and The French Mistake, there are two new contenders for top 10 of all time material. Oh yes, I said it.
The episode started off in classic western style, a shootout at high noon in 1861 Wyoming. And just who was partaking in said shootout? None other than our very own Dean Winchester. I confess I already saw this part of the episode at the Paley Fest, so it was no surprise to me, and no surprise to probably anyone else who knew even the littlest bit about the episode. Just as they draw their weapons, BAM we go into the western-ized Supernatural title. Love it every time they do one of those for an episode!
Back in the present, Sam has taken Dean and Bobby to the Campbell's secret library lair in hopes that they have a book that will give them some hint as to how to kill Eve, the Mother of All (Evil Monsters). Luckily, they do find something. One of the books says that she can be killed by the ash of a phoenix. Or something. I confess, friends, I was so incredibly tired by the time I got to watch this episode last night, I may have missed some of the more detailed details. In any event, they then had to figure out if a phoenix even existed, and this time Dean was the lucky one.
While perusing some kind of journal with a child-like glee, he stumbled upon an entry in it that said the person had shot a phoenix and it left a pile of ash. And just whose journal was this, you wonder? None other than Samuel Colt himself, the very one who made the gun everyone now calls the Colt that can kill nearly anything. Dean's big idea? To get Cas to send them back in time to get the ash.
But when they try to call upon their angel friend, someone else shows up instead - Rachel, Castiel's lieutenant. And she has some fighting words for the boys, accusing them of only calling upon Cas when they need something for themselves (it's true, though, when you think about it) and berating them for not thinking about the fact that he's running an army himself and has his own problems. Before she can do anything drastic, however, Cas wings down there himself and tells her to shoo. She's not so happy about that, but she goes.
Cas agrees to the plan, but with a caveat - they have to return within 24 hours, or he might not have the juice to get them back. This is a classic thing to do in movies/tv, by the way. Giving something a clock automatically ups the stakes. So Dean gets dressed up in some sort of hilarious attire, while Sam just changes his shirt and adds a belt. And with that - whoosh - off to Frontierland, or, you know, Sunrise, Wyoming.
When they get to town, they are immediately witness to a hanging of Elias Finch, for reasons I have already forgotten, if they were even explicitly mentioned. They probably were. It's not so important. He warned them that he'd be back, but of course they were like MEH and hung him anyway. Sam and Dean go to the Sheriff to ask if they know Samuel Colt, and after they give them (mostly Dean) crap for his very clean and shiny outfit, direct them to the saloon owner.
The saloon owner informs them that while Colt was in town a few years ago, he since left, but supposedly has taken up residence about 20 miles outside of town. While they're having this chat, the most noble priest dude who was one of the ones to hang Elias, partakes in some saloon girl action, only to have Elias Finch appear in the room, stick his hand on his face, and burn him into a pile of ash. Have we found our phoenix? I think so.
Dean sends Sam off to find the other Sam (so many Sam's on this show lately! Was Samuel Campbell named after Samuel Colt?), staying behind himself to take part in the posse that's going to find Elias Finch in the morning. Time's a running out, so Sam's gotta be quick. The quickest way to travel in this time period? Horse. I bet these boys have never been on a horse in their lives (the Winchester boys, not Jared or Jensen, I bet they both have). So Sam awkwardly rides his noble steed over to see Samuel Colt, who has just dispatched a couple demons with his handy dandy special gun. But, though he does have the gun, and just finished making the devil's gate we saw way back in season two, he tells Sam he's done with the hunting trade. Sam tries to convince him to help out anyway, and demands he give him the gun even if he doesn't come along. We're left to wonder what he does as we go back to...
Dean. He shows up for the posse, only he's the only one there. Because it turns out that the Sheriff who was organizing the whole thing had also been killed by the phoenix dude. Who gets to be the new Sheriff? Why, none of other than Dean himself! He finds the third guy who was part of the group to hang Elias in the first place, figuring that's who Elias will go after next, and locks him up in the jail. They're running out of time, though, so Sam better get there quick. But Dean was right about one thing - sure enough, Elias comes looking for him, and we find out that the only reason he's so angry is that the supposedly noble priest, Sheriff, and Deputy all took part in killing his wife, even though they were living a normal, quiet life together. Though he is unable to do his hand-burny business on the deputy because he's locked behind iron bars, he decides to just shoot him. Yeah, Dean, you should've thought of that.
Dean runs for it, and lucky for him, Sam shows up just in time, the Colt in hand. The gun Colt, not the Samuel Colt. Dean takes it and steps out into the square, challenging Elias to a high noon shoot-out to solve this once and for all. Elias thinks he's got this one in the bag, but he doesn't know who he's up against, does he? Dean's the quicker draw in this round, shooting him square in the chest. It buzzes and blips and he slowly burns up into a pile of ash. The boys run for the pile, only seconds to spare on their 24-hour clock, and--
Time to head over into the subplot with Castiel! Muahaha. While the boys are off having their adventure, Rachel confronts Castiel about just what he's been up to in this angel war of his. She accuses him of doing some bad things, and thinks it's time to take him out of the top spot. They tussle, and she actually manages to stab Cas just a little with her angel-killing weapon. But Cas manages to get the upper hand on her, and ends up killing her good and proper, with the burned wings on the ground and all. But he's hurt.
He manages to make it to Bobby's, but he's not in such great shape. He puts some kind of blood symbol on Bobby's fridge before collapsing. Later, he comes around, and informs Bobby that the symbol was to keep other angels out. He also sadly informs him that he won't be able to get the boys back in his current condition. The only way to heal him quickly is if he can touch Bobby's soul and siphon off some of its pure energy. Only if he messes it up, he'll basically blow up Bobby. Well, delicate proposition, indeed, but Bobby steps up to the plate.
And when Cas gets all powered up, he goes back and snatches the boys - just BEFORE they are able to grab any of the phoenix ash! Of course! He couldn't wait two seconds more! They think they're completely SOL now, but then! Someone knocks at the door. They've got a package that's been waiting around since 1861 to be delivered to one Sam Winchester here at that address. And it turns out that Mr. Samuel Colt went and got some of that phoenix ash and set up the delivery! They've got some ammo against Miss Eve now!
Random Thoughts:
- Love the Back to the Future references! The ridiculous Western attire. Samuel Colt sending a package into the future to be delivered just when they get back. LOVE.
- There was all of this hoopla about the introduction of Castiel's second in command Rachel, and she lasted less than a whole episode! Ha. No need for such hoopla, I think we can agree.
- Dean was so giddy about the whole experience. I wonder how much of that was Jensen too.
- The saloon girl coming over to Dean, with that really disgusting mouth. OMG. So gross! "More germy than I pictured." Or whatever he said. Indeed. No real form of protection from STDs back then. Nasty!
- While I do appreciate the introduction of so many different mythical creatures on the show, I do wish that they didn't always look human. It's probably a budget problem a lot of the time, but even still. The dragons, and now phoenixes - all look like people? Then where did the stories of a giant red bird come from?
- The way Castiel was sucking on Bobby's soul made me wonder just what he may be doing with other souls. Can he suck them up and become more powerful, is that what Rachel was accusing him of? I'm guessing we'll find out soon enough.
Quotes:
"Either of you jokers ever heard of a phoenix?" - Bobby
"River, Joaquin, or a giant flaming bird?" - Dean
"Dude, no." - Sam
"Dude, yes." - Dean
"Well let me see it." - Sam
"Get your own." - Dean
"We'll Star Trek 4 this bitch." - Dean
"I only watch Deep Space Nine." - Bobby
"It's like I don't even know you guys anymore." - Dean
"Is it customary to wear a blanket?" - Castiel
"You know what that is?" - Dean
"Yeah, it's horse--" - Sam
"Authenticity." - Dean
"'Cause you know me, I'm a posse magnet. I love posse. ... Make that into a t-shirt." - Dean
"You done?" - Sam
"When you've done this job as long as I have, a giant from the future with a magic brick doesn't exactly give you the vapors." - Samuel Colt
"Well we can't just strand those idjits in Deadwood, can we?" - Bobby (doubly funny because Jim Beaver was on Deadwood)
"Yippee ki yay mother--" - Dean
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