Supernatural – Stranger in a Strange Land

By: Stacy Miller

It’s the Season Premiere of Supernatural. It takes place three weeks since the events of the Season Finale where Dean (Jensen Ackles) agreed to be possessed by Michael in order to save Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Jack (Alexander Calvert) from Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino). At the time Dean said yes, he made it clear that he was the one “driving the bus” so speak, meaning he was in charge. But after the epic battle on the church’s ceiling where Dean stabbed Lucifer with the archangel blade, Michael went back on the deal.  We see Sam is now sporting a beard and driving The Impala returning from Atlanta where he was checking on a lead regarding a Michael sighting.

Meanwhile, Michael pays a visit to Jamil Hamed (Shafin Karim). The man is praying to his God.  Hamed is surprised to see Michael and asks whether he is God.  Michael says that he is an archangel and not Gabriel but the better looking one. Michael asks Hamed what he wants. Hamed’s answer of peace and love is met with disbelief from Michael. Michael laughs that isn’t what Hamed wants but if it were, he wouldn’t have participated in wars or cheated on his wife. But unlike Jamed, The Archangel knows what he wants.  It’s what he’s always wanted which is to make the world a better place. Michael wants to make the world his.

At the Men of Letters bunker, Sam returns and Mary (Samantha Smith) asks what happened in his search for Dean.  Sam explains that unfortunately the lead in Atlanta didn’t pan out.  The woman that Sam went to talk with claimed to see an angel but Sam believes she was smoking the brown acid.  It’s obvious that Sam is getting frustrated that he hasn’t been able to find Michael yet and is no closer to getting his brother back. Mary assures her son they’ll get Dean back. Sam then asks how Jack has been since he (Sam) has been away.

We see Jack training with Bobby (Jim Beaver) and being knocked on his butt. Without his powers, Jack feels pretty useless. He’s also not the best fighter. But Bobby plans to whip the kid into shape and make him battle ready.

In Detroit, Castiel (Misha Collins) is approached in a bar by Kip (Dean Armstrong) a demon who wants to become the new King of Hell.  He tells Castiel that he needs his help to make it happen then has his other demons beat the angel up.

As Sister Jo (Danneel Ackles) a.k.a. the angel Anael is approached by Michael after leaving a church where she was working her healing for cash. Anael knows that Michael is from another Earth and is currently possessing Dean Winchester.  But what she doesn’t understand is why Dean would agree to such a thing. Michael tells Anael that Dean did it for love. Michael knows that Dean would have never agreed to allow him to be his vessel if his brother and Jack’s lives weren’t at stake. The archangel says he knows what Anael wants even if she won’t admit it to herself; she’s hungry for love and acceptance.

Sam goes to Jack’s room and offers words of support to him as Jack is feeling all but useless without his powers. Next, he stops in Nick’s room. Nick (Mark Pellegrino) is the human vessel that Lucifer possessed. We see multiple scenes from old episodes of Supernatural beginning with Season 5 when Nick agreed to let Lucifer possess him. It seems that even though the archangel blade killed Lucifer, Nick is still very much alive. This is strange as it has always been stated that once an archangel is killed its vessel automatically dies with it. Nick remembers everything Lucifer did and tries to deal with the fact of his part in allowing the devil to wreck so much havoc. Sam helps treat the wounds Nick’s sustained in the epic fight with Michael. When he leaves Nick’s room, Sam receives a phone call from Kip who tells him that he has “his boy” a.k.a. Castiel and demands a meeting with Winchester. Sam loads a bag with weapons and tells Mary, Bobby and Maggie (Katherine Evans) to bring every weapon they have holy water, demon killing bullets etc. Jack wants to come along, but Bobby doesn’t think that is a good idea. Sam tells Jack he can come and after Jack leaves the room, Sam tells Bobby that Jack needs this but asks Bobby to look after the kid because Jack doesn’t have his powers.

Sam is driving The Impala and Mary sits beside him in the passenger seat. Mary tells her son that she knows that Dean is still out there and they will get him back. Meanwhile, Jack is in another car with Bobby who reminds him that he (Jack) saved his life on the other Earth more times than he can count so he’ll be there for him.

They arrive at the location where Kip is holding Castiel. Sam tells Mary to hold onto the demon killing knife because he knows they will search him. He also tells them to wait a bit before coming in. When Sam goes inside, Kip seems excited to meet him. He calls Sam a legend and an icon citing the hair and the shoulders. Sam asks Castiel whether he’s okay.  “I’m more embarrassed than hurt,” Castiel answers. Kip tells Sam that he wants Winchester’s support in his bid to take over Hell now that Crowley is dead and Asmodeus is Kentucky fried. Sam reminds that Kip he is no Crowley and the demons know it too.  But Kip is certain that he can be great for Hell and all he wants is Sam to not get in the way of demon deals and look away. Soon, Mary, Bobby and Maggie storm in and there is a full blown battle between Team Winchester and the demons. Mary gives Maggie the demon killing knife and asks whether she knows how to use it. Maggie answers that you stab with the pointy end. Good enough for Mary. And it comes in handy when a demon has Mary on the floor and Maggie stabs and kills it with the knife. Mary throws the knife to Sam and he uses it to kill Kip.  Then, Sam orders the demons and his team to stop fighting and announces “There will be no new King of Hell and if anyone wants to try they’ll have to go through me. Does anyone have a problem with that?” The demons smoke out.

Back at the Men of Letters bunker, Jack still laments how useless he is without his powers. Castiel assures that Jack’s powers will regenerate but in the meantime he has his family. And they’ll be there for him and make sure nothing happens to him.

Sam receives a call from Anael who tells him about her meeting with Michael.

As the episode ends, Michael is talking with a vampire. The archangel likes that the creature knows what it wants, which is to kill.