13.13 Devil's Bargain

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SPN-1313.jpg
Title Devil's Bargain
Episode # Season 13, Episode 13
First aired February 8, 2018
Directed by Eduardo Sánchez
Written by Eugenie Ross-Leming
Brad Buckner
On IMDB Devil's Bargain
Outline The Winchesters and Castiel attempt to hunt Lucifer down, who in his weakened state finds unlikely help in a faith healer.
Monster Asmodeus
Lucifer
Timeline A few days after 13.12 Various & Sundry Villains
Location(s) Fall River, Massachusetts
Monroe City, Missouri
Lebanon, Kansas
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Synopsis

Castiel stumbles through a wooded area at night, coughing up blood from the wound he received from Lucifer outside of Needham Asylum. He soon finds a clearing and passes out. The next morning, two children find Castiel's body. Believing him to be dead, they begin poking him with a stick, only to jostle him awake, which sends them running. Picking himself up, Castiel heads back to the asylum looking for Lucifer, who has disappeared.

Lucifer, still in a state of diminished grace, finds a "cupid" in Monroe City, Missouri, who has just brought two people together. He takes the angel to a back-alley where he drains the cupid’s grace and murders him. The grace does not last long, having been used up as soon as he consumed it and drove his fist through the cherub, causing Lucifer to soon start to feel hunger. While begging for money to buy food he meets a panhandler who tells him of a faith healer named Sister Jo, whom he is saving up money to see. Intrigued, Lucifer visits Sister Jo at a community center, and witnesses as she appears to use angel-like powers to heal people. Lucifer quickly identifies her as the angel Anael and tries to drain her of her grace. However, a savvy Jo convinces Lucifer to keep her alive and to take portions of her grace slowly, so she will recharge and he has a never-ending supply.

Meanwhile, Castiel finds his way back to the Bunker and tells the Winchesters that Asmodeus imprisoned him and Lucifer and had been impersonating Castiel on phone calls with the brothers. Shocked to hear that Lucifer has returned, Castiel explains that he came back thanks to the efforts of Michael, who had convinced his Kevin Tran to open a portal between worlds using a spell found in the angel tablet. He notes that a key ingredient of the spell was the grace of an archangel and they used Lucifer’s to open the portal.

The Winchesters and Castiel decide to recreate the spell to save Mary and Jack. As they do not have the angel tablet, they attempt to use the demon tablet, calling on the prophet Donatello to see if it contains the same spell. While discussing their plan, Castiel receives a message over angel radio regarding the cupid’s murder. They travel to the scene of the murder and figure out that Lucifer is stealing grace. Sam questions the panhandler, who tells him about sending Lucifer to Sister Jo. The Winchesters and Castiel try to find Sister Jo at the community center but instead they find Ketch, whom Asmodeus had earlier instructed to find and to kill Lucifer. Ketch proposes they work together but Castiel renders him unconscious instead and they place his body in Baby’s trunk with the intention of later killing him. In the meantime, they find a video of Sister Jo healing people and Castiel identifies her as Anael. Sam, having placed an alert on Jo’s credit card, is notified that she has booked a motel room at the Diamond Deluxe Motel and they head that way.

At the motel room, Lucifer seductively siphons Jo’s grace. After he is finished, they discuss what it feels like to be human. While Lucifer hates feeling human weakness, Jo explains that she admires their hope and love. She hated feeling unimportant in Heaven and on Earth she feels free. She assumes that liberated feeling is the same Lucifer feels. Lucifer reveals that he has always wanted to fit in, to please his Father, and he worries that in turn he will be a bad father to Jack. He is uncomfortable experiencing human feelings and plans to find Jack and return to full strength.

The Winchesters and Castiel eventually arrive at the motel and manage to meet Jo in private. She convinces them that Lucifer has captured her and she needs their help, telling them he is still weak. They return to the motel room to detain Lucifer, but before they can do so, Jo knocks Sam into the wall and Lucifer takes the opportunity to do the same to Dean and Castiel. As Lucifer telekinetically attacks the Winchesters and Castiel, Ketch, who has escaped from the Impala's trunk, throws a demon bomb at Lucifer and Jo, but Lucifer transports them to safety. Ketch explains that he tried to kill Lucifer because he thinks he is too dangerous to be walking the earth and again offers to work together. To show his sincerity, he tells them he is working with Asmodeus and offers to pass on information to them. Unknown to the Winchesters and Castiel, Asmodeus has his own mole, having shifted into the form of Castiel and tricked Donatello into telling him about the plan to open a rift and placed the prophet under a spell to report back to him on the plan.

Later, at the Bunker, the Winchesters and Castiel agree they cannot trust Ketch but that they should work with him for now. Although Donatello is finding it hard to decipher the demon tablet, he reveals it does contain the spell and Sam is pleased that at least now they have a plan. Meanwhile, Lucifer, promising to create more angels and to give them back their wings, has convinced the remaining angels to install him as Heaven’s leader. A small number of angels kneel before Lucifer, who sits on Heaven’s throne, with Jo at his side.

Back at the asylum, Asmodeus meets with Ketch and reveals his previous errand involved retrieving something special -- the archangel blade, the only known weapon capable of killing an archangel such as Lucifer or Michael. When Ketch points out that the blade can only be wielded by an archangel, it leads Asmodeus to introduce Ketch to the prisoner that he intends to wield the blade to kill Lucifer: A disheveled and bloody Gabriel, who has had his lips sewn together.

Characters

Definitions

Music

None

Quotes

Lucifer: What? What are ya gawking at? You never seen the Prince of Darkness before, pal? Turn around. Come on, man.
Dean: Hey, there he is! Donny, how you doing?
Donatello: Ugh, the usual. Bewildered.
Lucifer: What, no 'Eek!'? No 'Spare me, Dark Master?' No quaking fear?

Sister Jo: Should I quake?

Lucifer: I mean, yeah, most people sort of do. Yeah.
Sister Jo: We're not in Heaven. We're on Earth. You may have noticed, around here, good life ain't cheap. After The Fall, all the angels were a mess, desperate for 'housing.' Any vessel would do. And they had no long game.

Lucifer: Yeah, that's...

Sister Jo: I, on the other hand, took some care. I listened. A woman was praying for her dying husband. So we made a trade -- his life for her vessel. She was grateful. I realized humans are so desperate for life, they'd do almost anything, pay almost anything. So... ca-ching! I was a so-so angel, but turns out, I am an excellent businesswoman.
Dean: All right. I say we take dick bag here back to the Bunker, find out what he knows, and put a bullet in him, burn his bones, and flush the ashes.
Castiel: I like that plan.
Sister Jo: It's always so strange. That final moment... when I've lost just enough grace that I'm almost --

Lucifer: Human?
Sister Jo: I feel... emotions. Sensations. Things they must feel.

Lucifer: Yeah, I had that experience. I didn't like it. Hunger. Cold. Loneliness. I don't know how they keep going.
Sister Jo: After The Fall, when we lost our wings, I wasn't devastated. I was liberated. I was finally free. But you must know how that feels.

Lucifer: No. No, I always wanted to... fit in, please a father I couldn't please. And now I'm gonna be a father. Probably screw it up like He did.
Sister Jo: Lucifer... the great and terrible.

Lucifer: I don't know why I said that. Stupid. I mean, it's like... pretty soon, I'm not gonna feel anything, you know. I mean... the more I do this, the stronger I get, the more me I become. Lucifer... Prince of Darkness. King of Lies. I'm back, baby.
Ketch: I know you think I'm a monster --

Dean: Because you are.

Ketch: But even I must draw the line somewhere. And letting Lucifer free upon the Earth? Well, as it turns out, that's my line. Not to mention the whole Michael situation. I know you want to kill me. I know you can't forgive me. But if you think about it, I'm the lesser of... Well, at least three evils. All I ask is that you wait to murder me until after I prove useful.
Lucifer: Hey, look, I was here when you, when all of you were born. I saw how the old man did it. I can make angels. Okay? And I'll do it, if...

Dumah: Enough games, Lucifer.

Lucifer: If for my incredible act of generosity, you name me the undisputed and unquestioned ruler of Heaven. Yeah? It's funny. Oh, come on. Let's face it. You don't wanna run the place. Angels were designed to follow, not lead. Don't give me the stink eye. That wasn't my idea. The point is, you need me. And icing on the cake, guys -- how'd you like your wings back?
Asmodeus: Beautiful, isn't it?

Ketch: Oh, yes.
Asmodeus: The only known weapon capable of destroying an archangel -- the archangel blade.
Ketch: You'll forgive me, but my reading of the lore suggests that the... blade is only effective if wielded by an archangel.

Asmodeus: Oh, really? Thanks for the news flash. Allow me to make an introduction. Mr. Ketch... Meet the Archangel Gabriel.

Trivia & References

The scene where the two young boys find Castiel and poke him with a stick recalls the movie Stand By Me where a group of young boys find a body in the woods. This was previously used in 8.20 Pac-Man Fever when two teenagers poke at the gelatinous corpse of a recent djinn victim.
Donatello: And so, the spell to open this rift is in the angel tablet?

Sam: Yeah, they -- they are, um... on Earth 2, except--
Castiel: Except we don't have the angel tablet anymore.

Earth-Two is an alternate universe found in DC Comics, and was home to the Golden Age superhero versions of the Flash (Jay Garrick) and Green Lantern (Alan Scott).
Donatello: Chicken wings. Heavy lifting like this requires real brain fuel. My analysis of the half-lives of the 33 arsenic isotopes required about, mm... 25 buckets.
The half-life of the 33 arsenic isotopes can be found here.
Anael, also known as Haniel, is an archangel from Jewish lore. The name probably derives from Hebrew word for joy - hana'ah. Julie McNiven suggested that Anael was the real angelic name of Anna Milton from seasons 4-5.
Asmodeus: Whatever you find on that tablet, you will report to me. Understand?

Donatello: Yes.
Asmodeus: Good boy. Run along now.

This scene is reminiscent of a scene from the 1992 Disney film Aladdin when Jafar uses his snake staff to control the mind of the Sultan.
Asmodeus grabbing the chicken wing and discarding it can be seen as yet another meta reference to fandom's nickname for him: "Evil Colonel Sanders."
Lucifer: Hail to the king, baby.
"Hail to the king, baby" is the catchphrase of Ash Williams of the Evil Dead series, first used in the film Army of Darkness. The phrase would later be adopted by video game character Duke Nukem.
Gabriel appearing with his mouth sewed shut is a reference to to the Norse trickster Loki, who similarly had his mouth sewed shut by the dwarf Brokkr after losing a wager. Gabriel had previously assumed the identity of Loki after retreating from Heaven.

Minutiae

Richard Speight, Jr.'s name does not appear until the end credits to preserve the surprise of Gabriel's return. This has previously been done with re-appearances of Crowley and Bobby Singer.
The backdrop for "Pray with Sister Jo" was previously used in Supernatural: The Musical! featured in 10.05 Fan Fiction. Fans speculated that the musical was now being performed at community theaters.
Lucifer pointing out the inaccuracies and pondering if anyone fact checked the Bible is a callback to 5.06 I Believe the Children Are Our Future, when Castiel reveals that the "Bible gets more wrong than it does right."
The picture Sam shows the homeless man of Lucifer is a blown-up shot of the picture given to Sam by Dr. Hess in 12.22 Who We Are.
At Salute to Supernatural San Francisco 2017, Jensen revealed that Danneel appearing on the show had been mentioned over the years, but Danneel wanted to let Jensen have Supernatural as his project. But after the show entered season 13, she said in passing, “It might be cool to be on the show...” Bob Singer jumped on the idea when Jensen mentioned it to him. Writer Eugenie Ross-Leming created the character of Sister Jo for Danneel.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

Promotion

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