5.01 Sympathy for the Devil

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Promo still Sympathy For The Devil.jpg
Title Sympathy for the Devil
Episode # Season 5, Episode 1
First aired September 10, 2009
Directed by Robert Singer
Written by Eric Kripke
On IMDB Sympathy for the Devil
Outline Lucifer is free and both angels and demons are after Sam and Dean.
Monster Demons
Angels
Timeline Immediately after 4.22 Lucifer Rising
Location(s) Ilchester, Maryland
Pike Creek, Delaware
Kripke's Hollow, Ohio
Buffalo, New York
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Synopsis

Sam and Dean are trapped in the vestibule as Lucifer breaks free of his confinement, following Sam killing Lilith and breaking the last of the 66 Seals. Just as a blinding light and sound force them to their knees, they are transported into an airplane flying over Ilchester, Maryland, where Lucifer was confined. Landing safely, although unsure how they were saved, they travel to Kripke's Hollow and the devastated remains of Chuck's house. He explains, that the archangel had blown Castiel apart. Zachariah arrives, and tells Dean he is needed to battle Lucifer, who is seeking a vessel to possess. Dean is angry and not willing to help the angels. He has already partly drawn an angel banishing sigil on a sliding door with his own blood. He pulls out the sliding door to reveal the sigil, then slaps his bloody palm onto it and Zachariah and his angels disappear.

At a motel room, Sam arrives with some hex bags to hide them from the angels, which Sam reluctantly admits Ruby taught him how to make. Sam says he isn't feeling any after effects from the demon blood. He tries to talk to Dean about what has happened, about freeing Lucifer, but Dean refuses to engage with him. Dean suggests they treat it as any hunt, and they set about finding Lucifer. Becky Rosen, obviously a fan of the Supernatural books written by Chuck Shurley, judging by the posters in her room, is writing some Wincest fanfiction, when Chuck instant messages her and asks her to pass a message to Dean and Sam. She does so, however the message—that the "angels have lost Michael's Sword" and that it is to be found "in a castle, on a hill made of 42 dogs," doesn't appear to make sense.

A brief scene of a man, Nick, who seems to be having nightmares or hallucination. After hallucinating that his bed is full of blood, he finds his dead wife lying beside him in bed, whispering to him, "You're special."

Bobby arrives in the Impala, with research about the archangel Michael. Sam confesses to Bobby that it was his actions that freed Lucifer, and Bobby coldly tells him that once the hunt is over, he wants nothing to do with Sam. Sam leaves to do some research. While researching further, Dean gets an idea, and going through some of John's old things. He finds the address for John's storage facility: Castle Storage, 42 Rover Hill. It fits the message from Chuck.

Just then, a woman arrives with two henchman. It is Meg, the demon that once worked with Azazel and possessed Sam during the events of 2.14 Born Under a Bad Sign. Bobby attacks and restrains Dean—he too is possessed. Meg says the demons want Dean dead so he can't stop Lucifer. She orders the possessed Bobby to kill Dean with the Demon-Killing Knife, but just as he is about to strike, Bobby manages to battle the demon and stab himself instead. Sam returns and helps dispatch the other two demons, but Meg escapes by leaving her vessel. Sam and Dean drop off a gravely injured Bobby at the hospital and race to John's lock-up. Once there, they find some dead demons, and Zachariah with some angel muscle.

Zachariah reveals they misled Chuck; Michael's sword is at the storage lock-up because it's Dean. Zachariah explains that Dean is to be the vessel for the archangel Michael, so he can defeat Lucifer. He admits, however, that they need Dean's consent for this. When Dean refuses, Zachariah breaks one of Sam's legs. He then says that Bobby will never walk again unless Dean agrees. Dean still refuses. He then strikes Dean with stomach cancer and as he coughs up blood, Zachariah stops Sam from breathing by taking away his lungs. Just then, Castiel appears. He attacks the angels with his angel blade and orders Zachariah to make Sam and Dean whole again, and then to leave.

Castiel is elusive about how he has been brought back from death, but before he leaves, he touches Sam and Dean, burning an Enochian sigil into their ribs, that will hide them from the angels, demons and Lucifer. Nick wanders through his house, distraught. His wife and child have been murdered during a home invasion. As he grieves, he starts hallucinating again. Lucifer appears as his wife Sarah and tells him that he is a vessel, and that Lucifer wants his consent to possess him. Lucifer says he is misunderstood, that he was punished for "loving God too much." He says that, to let Nick's family be murdered, God must either be uncaring, or a sadist. He tells Nick possession will be painful, but that Lucifer will help him get justice for his family. Nick consents to possession.

At the hospital, Bobby yells at a doctor who tells him he won't walk again. He says they need to keep fighting, but is pessimistic about their chances. Dean makes a stirring speech, saying they should take them all on—angels and demons—and try to win. Before they leave, Bobby tells Sam that what he said before was coming from the demon possessing him, saying he'd never turn his back on Sam. As they walk to the car, Dean admits the speech he gave was for Bobby's benefit. Sam again tries to get Dean to talk about what happened. Dean admits that he feels deeply hurt and let down by Sam, and even though he knows Sam is sorry, he doesn't know if he can trust him again.

Characters

Definitions

Music

  • "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC
(plays during "The Road So Far" recap of events)

Quotes

Dean: Where's Cas?

Chuck: He's dead. Or gone. The archangel smote the crap out of him. I'm sorry.
Dean: You're sure? I mean, maybe he just vanished into the light or something.

Chuck: Oh, no. He, like, exploded. Like a water balloon of chunky soup.
Chuck: Oh. Oh, god. Is that a molar? It is. Do I have a molar in my hair? This has been a really stressful day.
Zachariah: You can stop him Dean. But you need our help.

Dean: You listen to me, you two-faced douche -- after what you did, I don't want jack squat from you!
Zachariah: You listen to me, boy! You think you can rebel against us? As Lucifer did? [stares at Dean's hand] You're bleeding.
Dean: Oh yeah. A little insurance policy in case you dicks showed up. [reveals hidden Angel Banishing Sigil & activates it]
Zachariah: No!
Dean: Learned that from my friend Cas, you son of a bitch.

Chuck: This sucks ass.
Dean: All right. So we just got to find... the devil.
Becky: Look, Mr. Edlund... Yes, I'm a fan, but I really don't appreciate being mocked. I know that Supernatural's just a book, okay? I know the difference between fantasy and reality.

Chuck: Becky, it's all real.

Becky: I knew it!
Meg: You know, your surrogate daddy's still awake screaming in there. And I want him to know how it feels slicing the life out of you.
Zachariah: We may have planted that particular piece of prophecy inside Chuck's skull, but it happened to be true. We did lose the Michael sword. We truly couldn't find it. Until now. You've just hand-delivered it to us.

Dean: We don't have anything.

Zachariah: It's you, chucklehead. You're the Michael sword.
Zachariah: What, you thought you could actually kill Lucifer? You simpering wad of insecurity and self-loathing? No. You're just a human, Dean. And not much of one.

Dean: What do you mean, I'm the sword?
Zachariah: You're Michael's weapon. Or, rather, his... receptacle.
Dean: I'm a vessel?
Zachariah: You're the vessel. Michael's vessel.
Dean: How? Why—why me?
Zachariah: Because you're chosen! It's a great honor, Dean.

Dean: Oh, yeah. Yeah, life as an angel condom. That's real fun. I think I'll pass, thanks.
Castiel: You two need to be more careful.
Dean: Yeah, I'm starting to get that. Your frat brothers are bigger dicks than I thought.
Lucifer: You people misunderstand me. You call me "Satan" and "devil", but... Do you know my crime? I loved God too much. And for that, he betrayed me—punished me. Just as he's punished you. After all, how could God stand idly by while that man broke into your home and butchered your family in their beds? There are only two rational answers, Nick—either he's sadistic, or he simply doesn't care. You're angry. You have every right to be angry. I am angry, too. That's why I want to find him—hold him accountable for his actions. Just because he created us doesn't mean he can toy with us, like playthings.
Bobby: Well... We save as many as we can for as long as we can, I guess. It's bad. Whoever wins, Heaven or Hell, we're boned.

Dean: What if we win? I'm serious. I mean, screw the angels and the demons and their crap apocalypse. Hell, they want to fight a war, they can find their own planet. This one's ours, and I say they get the hell off it. We take 'em all on. We kill the devil. Hell, we even kill Michael if we have to. But we do it our own damn selves.
Bobby: And how're we suppose to do all this, genius?

Dean: I got no idea.

Trivia & References

"Sympathy For The Devil" is both the name of a song by the Rolling Stones, later covered by Guns 'N Roses, and a movie by Jean-Luc Goddard.
"Devil's Feud Cake" is the name of the Yosemite Sam cartoon that is playing on the plane.
Radio Announcer: ...And Governor O'Malley urged calm
Martin O'Malley was then governor of Maryland, where the events at the end of 4.22 Lucifer Rising and the beginning of this episode take place.
When Dean switches off the radio in the rental car, the clock shows 11:58 PM: two minutes to midnight. This could refer to the Iron Maiden song of the same name, or to subject of the song, the Doomsday Clock itself. This clock is used by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to symbolically depict how close the planet is to global catastrophe. Two minutes until midnight is the closest it has ever gotten.
Dean: All right, well, first things first -- how did we end up on Soul Plane?
Soul Plane is a 2004 comedy that takes place on a plane.
Chuck: You went, like, full-on Vader.
A reference to Anakin Skywalker's final descent to Darth Vader in Star Wars.
Zachariah: You had a chance to stop your brother, and you couldn't. So let's not quibble over who started what. Let's just say it was all our faults and move on. 'Cause like it or not—it's Apocalypse Now.
A reference to the movie Apocalypse Now.
Dean: Cram it with walnuts, ugly!
This is a line from Homer Simpson in The Simpsons that appeared in the episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show."
Dean: Speaking of. How you doing? Are you jonesing for another hit of bitch blood or what?

Sam: I-It's weird. Uh, tell you the truth, I'm fine. No shakes, no fever. It's like whoever... put me on that plane cleaned me right up.
Dean: Supernatural methadone.

Methadone is a medication used to treat heroin addiction. Shakes and fever are common symptoms of heroin withdrawal.
Becky: You got my letters. And my marzipan.
Marzipan is a confection made of sugar, honey and almond meal.
The conversation between Becky and Chuck mirrors that of Galaxy Quest where Tim Allen's character explains to Justin Long's character that the ship is real and they need his help.
On TV: Two words. Carbon emissions.

Dean: Yeah right, Wavy Gravy.

This might be a reference to Wavy Gravy, an American activist for peace.
Bobby: I heard, Romeo. So... sword of Michael, huh?
Reference to the doomed lover in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
The paintings in the book that Bobby, Sam, and Dean are reading are:
Bobby: That's Michael. Toughest sombitch they got.

Dean: You kidding me? Tough? That guy looks like Cate Blanchett.

Cate Blanchett is a Australian actress.
Meg: Hi. These are the days of miracle and wonder, Dean. Our father's among us. You know we're all dreaming again for the first time since we were human? It's Heaven on Earth. Or Hell. We really owe your brother a fruit basket.
Reference to the Paul Simon song "The Boy in the Bubble."
Lucifer's vessel is named Nick -- "Old Nick" is a term used to refer to Lucifer.
Dean: But what I do have is a G.E.D. And a 'give-'em-hell' attitude, and I'll figure it out.
A G.E.D. is an educational credential that can be undertaken by those who do not have a high school diploma.

Minutiae

This episode filmed from July 2nd - 13th, 2009.
As is the tradition, this season featured a new title card.
Misha Collins is listed third in the credits as he is a regular this season.
On the day of the Premiere, fans got #luciferiscoming and #supernatural to the first and second highest trending topics on Twitter. For more on how this lead to Twitter banning both God and Lucifer, read Twitter
Sam and Dean stay in room 35 in the Regent Inn hotel.
Sam says that Ruby taught him how to make a hex bag.
Emily Perkins who plays Becky Rosen, co-starred in Ginger Snaps and its sequels, with Katharine Isabelle, who played Ava Wilson
Some of the items seen in Becky's room are:
  • A street sign with the words "WINCHESTER BLVD".
  • A framed poster of the cover of the Supernatural book, Route 666.
  • A poster of the cover of the Supernatural book, The Benders.
  • Posters of hand-drawn occult symbols.
  • A Castiel plush.
Becky's online name is samlicker81. She is the webmistress of morethanbrothers.net You can read a transcript of her Wincest fanfic here.
The domain name morethanbrothers.net is owned by Warner Brothers (Source).
John's lock-up is at Castle Storage, 42 Rover Hill in upstate New York, the same one visited by Sam and Dean in 3.03 Bad Day at Black Rock, from which the rabbit's foot was stolen.
Zachariah says that Dean is "Michael's Sword" - the vessel the archangel Michael will need to possess in order to kill Lucifer.
Castiel carves Enochian sigils into Sam and Dean's ribs that will hide them from all angels including Lucifer.
Bobby is being treated at Saint Martin's hospital.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

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