Supernatural – The Scorpion and The Frog

By: Stacy Miller

Cambridge, England at 7:45PM on a Friday.  A well-dressed African American woman (Nadji Sofi) walks into The Cambridge Museum. She enters a security code into a panel and when it doesn’t work, she punches the door in. She then removes a priceless parchment and places it into her purse before being interrupted by the museum guard (Charles Jarman), who tells her she isn’t allowed down there.  Suddenly, demon smoke flies from the woman’s mouth into the museum guard’s. The museum guard takes the woman’s purse and meets another man in the alley and hands over the purse to this man. “How do you think Asmodeus will reward us?” The demon possessed museum guard asks before being stabbed through the chest with the angel blade by the other man. Then, the man makes a phone call. “Dean Winchester.” “Who’s this?” asks Dean on the other end of the line. “I have something you might be interested in,” the man answers.

At the Men of Letters bunker, Dean (Jensen Ackles) is cleaning his gun when Sam enters the room. Sam and Dean discuss the missing Jack and Ketch when Dean’s phone rings. It is the call from the teaser when the man told him that he had something Dean might be interested in.  Word of Hell street is that the Winchesters’ Nephilim has gone rogue and he (the man) has something that will help Dean find him (Jack). He tells Dean to meet him at a diner.

Sam and Dean walk down the street to the diner and talk about how the demon could be working for Asmodeus. Dean remembers how he vowed that after Crowley he’d never work with a demon again. The Winchesters enter the diner and meet with the demon, who knows all about Sam and Dean as well as their angel. He has also ordered Dean a slice of cherry pie. This demon is named Barthamus (David Cutbitt) and he became King of the Crossroads after Crowley’s promotion. Barthamus hands them half of a genuine Nephilim tracking spell. Sam says that they’ve been around the block long enough to know that nothing comes without a price. Barthamus or Bart tells them that he’ll happily give them the other half when they retrieve something he needs. “Here’s the thing, when a demon tells us to jump we don’t ask how high we just ice their ass,” Dean tells Bartamus. “How very Dean of you,” Bart laughs then directs his attention to the younger Winchester, “Sam do me a favor, you’re the smart one look into that. I’ll be in touch.” Bart then leaves the diner.

Returning to the Men of Letters bunker, Sam tells Dean that the spell checks out.  It is Cainite and the lore indicates that King Solomon created it to keep tabs on the Queen of Sheba who was half angel. “So King Solomon created a spell so he can stalk his girlfriend?” Dean asks. Reluctantly, Sam and Dean realize that they have to play ball with Bart or risk their chance to find Jack.

Sam and Dean meet Bart at his hideout where he introduces them to his associates Smash (Christie Burke), who can crack any safe built by man and Grab (Matthew Kevin Anderson), a demon who can bypass supernatural security. Bart tells Sam and Dean that he wants a mahogany chest that contains something that belongs to him and is hidden in a safe on the farm of a man named Luther Shrike (Richard Blake), a hoarder and collector of supernatural artifacts. Grab can locate the safe while Smash can crack it. Sam asks why Bart can’t just steal his property back himself.  Bart tells them that the safe is warded and the only thing that can get through it is the blood of a man who’s been to Hell and back. Plus, Bart knows that there will be curveballs and the Winchesters can get around them. Sam and Dean learn that Luther is human and can get around the warding because he’s been to Hell.  Dean demands to know what is in the chest that Bart wants so badly. All Bart will say is that it is important to him. And if Sam and Dean don’t take the deal, he’ll offer it to Asmodeus, who he knows is also looking for the Nephilim.  Bart gave Sam and Dean dibs because although he doesn’t trust them, he trusts Asmodeus even less.  Sam and Dean go off to talk.  They know that Bart will screw them over, but Sam reminds that they can’t let Asmodeus get his hands on that spell. The brothers decide that once they get the spell, they will kill Bart.

Meanwhile, a demon who works for Asmodeus meets with Shrike and wants Luther to let Asmodeus know when Shrike sees Bart.  But Luther exorcises the demon saying that he doesn’t take orders, he gives them.

The Impala pulls up at the home of Luther Shrike where Sam pretends to be a man named John who emailed earlier about a family heirloom to sell to Shrike. Before the brothers separate, Sam tells Dean “Don’t get dead.”

Dean notices that Smash is drinking Nerve Damage, which contains ten times the legal limit of caffeine and was a favorite beverage of his when he was a kid. Smash gives Dean a can. He asks her why she is working for a demon and she reminds that he is doing the same. Grab interrupts and tells Dean that the vault where the safe is located is hidden under a cloaking spell, which needs Dean’s blood. After Grab does an incantation in Latin, Dean’s arm becomes a human compass.

Meanwhile, Sam distracts Shrike by commenting on the marvels of Luther’s collection and saying that he’d (Sam) like to see the entire collection. But Luther suggests they stick to the business that “John” came for. So, Sam shows him the demon killing knife.

As he continues to be a vault locating compass, Dean swears that nothing better not happen to his brother while he’s doing this crap. He gets angry when Grab says that Sam deserves what happens to him if he is too stupid to do his part. Obviously, Grab has never seen an episode of Supernatural as no one calls Dean Winchester’s brother stupid!

Dean leads Smash and Grab to the vault and Smash tells him where he’s to put his hand.

Back inside Luther’s house before Shrike pays Sam the agreed upon price, he grabs the demon killing knife.  He accuses Sam of being a demon sent by Bart to steal from him.  Sam and Shrike fight.  But when Sam gets the knife and stabs Shrike with it, Luther casually pulls it out and tells Sam that as long as he (Shrike) is on the property, he can’t die.  Then, Shrike knocks Sam unconscious. Because we’re not watching Supernatural unless Sam is knocked unconscious!

At the vault, Dean is nervous about putting his hand through where it will get his blood because he doesn’t know what’s inside; it could be spiders. The mechanism pinches Dean’s finger to get the blood. But then Shrike arrives and kills Grab. Smash takes off running.  Dean asks Shrike where his brother is, and Luther tells him that he thought Sam was a demon but left him alive. Shrike can’t believe that Bart is now getting humans to do his dirty work. “Why do you hand over the safe and we can all be home in time to watch Game of Thrones?” Dean asks. Luther’s more of a book guy. Dean shoots Shrike, but of course, Luther doesn’t die. Sam arrives and tells Dean that Luther is immortal. Sam and Dean tie Shrike up, but he tells them that in order to reach the safe they must crack a code and face thousands of darts filled with holy water and arsenic.  Sam gets an idea: The Winchesters duct tape Shrike to a chair and wheels him into the room where the safe is located and he becomes a human pin cushion. But they still have the problem of how they will open the safe. Smash returns because Bart refused to let her out of the job.  She made a deal and sold her soul; the only way she avoids Hell is by continuing to do jobs for Bart. Although the safe is over a hundred years old, Smash is able to crack it. They take the chest and out it in the Impala and drive off.

Unfortunately Shrike, who managed to get free, stops them on the road. He tells Sam and Dean that they are working for pure evil (Bart).  We learned that Shrike sold his soul to save the life of his dying son.  But Luther’s son died later. As the hounds dragged Luther off to Hell, Shrike was able to negotiate another deal.  This time he had leverage. Sam and Dean open the chest and learn that it contains Bart’s bone.  Just then, Bart appears and chops off Shrike’s head. “He never should have left the house.” When Sam and Dean refuse to take the spell as they know that Bart is the vile demon they believed him to be, he grabs Smash, whose real name is Alice and threatens to snap her neck unless Sam and Dean hand over the chest with Bart’s bones. “Take care of you,” Dean tells Smash. Realizing what he really means, Smash takes the lighter and burns Bart’s bones. But sadly, the spell also goes up in flames along with the demon.  How will Sam and Dean locate Jack now?

Smash thanks Sam and Dean for what they did for her. “Hey Alice, stay weird,” Dean says as Smash boards a bus to begin her new life.

Sam and Dean return to the Men of Letters bunker where Dean assures his brother that although they didn’t get the spell, they did save someone (Alice) and will figure something else out.