Supernatural- Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

By: Stacy Miller

Sheridan County, Nebraska.  A young couple Marcus and Gwen (Connor Paton and Angelique Rivera) are camping.  He shows her a video of a bear chasing people up a tree. “That’s not why we come out here, we came out here to commune with nature not watch people get eaten by it.” Obviously Gwen doesn’t know that on “Supernatural,” going camping usually means getting eaten by some sort of evil creature.  As Gwen has been accepted into a vet program in Washington, which will mean a long distance relationship for them, Marcus practices proposing.  Suddenly, he hears growling noise and starts running when something unseen begins chasing him.  He tells Gwen to run.  She’s horrified to witness Marcus being ripped to shreds by something invisible, which then turns its attention to Gwen. The girl is able to protect herself by hitting the invisible creature with an ax.

Sam and Dean (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) return from several successful hunts. Dean places a familiar looking weapon (Hey, it’s Lucille from “The Walking Dead”) down on the table and comments “Dad would love this thing.”  Sam tells Dean not to sit down “You’re covered in Ghoul and Wraith. And you got a piece of Siren in your hair.”  Talk about bringing your work home Dean.  Sam gets a text message regarding a new case and tells Dean that he programmed an algorithm into his phone that takes information from police scanners. But before they leave to investigate the case, Sam urges his brother to take a shower first.

The Impala pulls up in Sheridan County.  Sam has just finished a call with Mary (Samantha Smith) in which he learned that she was working a haunting case in Akron with the British Men of Letters. “Who you gonna call? Douchebusters,” Dean says. He tells his brother that Castiel (Misha Collins) is in Idaho because someone is killing angels…again.

We see Castiel at a diner. He shows his badge (upside down) to the woman behind the counter and requests to speak with the manager.  Herb Nelson (Gabe Khouth) the manager takes Castiel to a backroom. Nelson is a conspiracy nut who believes that his waitress Sara was killed by reptilian aliens.  He shows Castiel video footage of Kelly Kline’s (Courtney Ford) altercation in the alley of the diner with the angels and Dagon rescuing her.

Sam and Dean arrive in Sheridan County and the local badge tells them about the couple. The girl Gwen Hernandez is saying that they were attacked by an invisible wolf. “An invisible dog, sounds like a hellhound to me,” Dean tells Sam after the sheriff walks away. So, it’s off to Gwen’s to question her about what killed her boyfriend. Dean doesn’t think it’s a good idea; if they can’t tell Gwen the truth, why bother?  But Sam begs to differ “We tell her something that will give her peace and help her sleep at night.” “So we lie?” Dean asks. Of course you do, fake FBI Agents! Gwen opens the door to Agents Baker and Clapton.  They tell her that the thing that killed her boyfriend was a bear that they found and put down. “I know what I saw,” Gwen says angrily before putting Sam and Dean out of her house. The hellhound watches her before attacking.  Gwen runs screaming and tries to lock it out of the bedroom.  But the hellhound is in hot pursuit. Gwen can’t see the creature but its scratches are visible on her rug. Before it tears her apart, Sam and Dean burst in and shoot the pooch.

At Hell headquarters, Crowley (Mark Sheppard) taunts Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) about capturing him.  The devil is not impressed “I’m still going to peel off your skin and eat your soul.”  Ooh…Crowley’s shaking…NOT! The King of Hell tells Lucifer that whatever the devil’s planning, he’ll be ten steps ahead. “You cross me, I cross your twice as hard.  You make me your dog, I make you my slave.” Their conversation/threats are interrupted when Crowley’s demon minions Tommy and Victor (Paul Piaskowski and Marc Senior) need the King of Hell’s attention on urgent matters of state; he’s behind in his approvals on Crossroad deals.

Back at Gwen’s house, Dean explains that hellhounds are “Giant dogs from hell.”  They lied to her about what killed Marcus to make her feel better.  As hellhounds only come after people who made deals ten years ago, Sam and Dean ask Gwen, who assures she didn’t. So why is the hellhound coming after her? The Winchesters know who they can ask. Dean calls Crowley and tells him that one of his hellhounds is going after people who didn’t sell their souls.  Tommy and Victor tell Crowley that Ramsey got out.  Crowley pops in and gives exposition: After God created everything, he created hellhounds but planned on having them all put down because they became too vicious. But Lucifer rescued Ramsey, who is only loyal to him.  Gwen tells Sam and Dean that when Ramsey attacked her and Marcus, she hit it with an ax.   So, we have a hellhound with a grudge…this time it’s personal!

Meanwhile, the door to Lucifer’s cell is unlocked and demon minions Tommy and Victor enter.  They tell Lucifer that they released Ramsey to find out what Crowley was hiding.  We see how Victor was able to slip the key off of Crowley.  But before they release the angel, Victor tells Lucifer that they have some, not demands (yes, they are so demands) but things they want. Negotiating with the devil?  I have a feeling this is not going to turn out well!

Sam goes off with Gwen while Dean and Crowley explore Sica Hollow, Sheridan County, which is the camping grounds where Ramsey killed Marcus.    Castiel runs into an angel named Kelvin (Nathan Mitchell), who tells him that if Castiel helps them track down Kelly Kline, he’ll be welcome back up to Heaven and into the fold. Castiel doesn’t believe him, there’s no way Kelvin could do something like that.  Kelvin may not be able to; be Joshua could. Remember Joshua…God’s gardener and confidant from the Season 5 episode “Dark Side of the Moon.”

Back in Hell, Victor tells Lucifer that he wants a hundred souls per year and wants to be made the new King of the Crossroads but all Tommy wants is “To make Hell great again.”  Lucifer nods in agreement, so Victor releases him.  Once freed, Lucifer grabs Victor and snaps his fingers, turning the ambitious demon into dust.  Tommy offers himself to Lucifer to devour.  “Now you just made it weird, “Lucifer says, before turning Tommy into dust too.

Dean sports his Clark Kent look; the hellhound seeing glasses in order to see Ramsey. Crowley comments how a few years ago Dean probably couldn’t imagine that he’d be working with the King of Hell; maybe they rubbed off on each other. In the Impala, Gwen tells Sam that what happened to Marcus is her fault.  She reveals that going camping was her idea.  “I took him out there even though I knew it was over.”  Gwen liked Marcus but didn’t love him as much as Marcus loved her.  She cries that she should have told Marcus the truth, but lied to him to make things easier.  Suddenly, Ramsey jumps on top the Impala.  Sam orders Gwen to stay in the car while he takes care of Ramsey.  But it’s a good thing she doesn’t listen.  Ramsey has Sam pinned to the ground so Gwen hits the devil dog with the Winchesters’ cooler.  Unfortunately, Sam’s hellhound seeing glasses were knocked off his face.  But hellhounds leave footprints so Sam is able to track Ramsey and kills the beast with Ruby’s knife!  “This is why you don’t drive” Dean tells Sam, seeing the damage to the Impala caused by Ramsey.  Gwen is relieved that it is over.

Crowley returns to Hell and finds Lucifer has escaped. The angel punches the King of Hell, then shows his full power complete with angel wings.  But as he mentioned earlier, Crowley is ten steps ahead of Lucifer, snapping his fingers and making the angel wings disappear.  Crowley explains that the chain around Lucifer’s neck isn’t just a fashionable accessory. “This vessel is your real prison.”  Crowley had Lucifer’s Nick vessel warded with spells and magical runes carved throughout every molecule.  Crowley taunts that he’ll find Lucifer’s spawn and kill him while the devil watches. Crowley is just getting started!

Returning to the Men of Letters bunker, Dean takes a call from Castiel, who tells him about Dagon being with Kelly. What Sam and Dean don’t know is that Castiel is at Heaven’s playground entrance. “You ready brother?” Kelvin asks.  Sam confesses that he doesn’t have a computer program.  “Every job we’ve had the last two weeks has come from the British Men of Letters.” Sam doesn’t like the Brits, but because of them, the Alpha vamp is dead. “They get results,” Sam tells Dean, apologizing for lying to him.  As they work with people they don’t trust all the time (like Crowley), Dean is willing to give it a shot.  But the moment they feel something is wrong, they bale.  Sam’s phone rings, it is Mick.