11.14 The Vessel

Title	The Vessel
Episode #	Season 11, Episode 14
First aired	February 17, 2016
Directed by	John Badham
Written by	Robert Berens
On IMDB	The Vessel
Outline	Dean is sent back to 1943 by Lucifer to retrieve a weapon to stop Amara called the Hand of God, which was lost on an ill-fated submarine mission during World War II.
Monster	Thule Society Lucifer
Timeline	25 November 1943
Location(s)	Nazi-Occupied France (1943) Lebanon, Kansas
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Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Castiel
• Crowley
• Lucifer
• Simmons
• Delphine Seydoux
• Petey Giraldi
• Befehlsleiter Gumprecht

Definitions

• Alcohol
• Angel Banishing Sigil
• Archangel
• Ark of the Covenant
• Crowley's Lair
• Hand of God
• Lucifer's Crypts
• Men of Letters
• Men of Letters Bunker
• Soul
• Spells
• Table of Death
• Thule Society
• Time Travel
• Unconscious
• USS Bluefin
• Vessel

Music

• "Non, je ne regrette rien" by Edith Piaf

(playing while Delphine kills Befehlsleiter Gumprecht in Nazi Occupied France, and when Dean is sitting alone on the dock)

Quotes

Sam: Hey, did you know the Nazis had a special branch devoted to archaeology?
Dean: Little early for Nazi trivia, especially without caffeine.

Lucifer: How are your wounds, doggie?

Crowley: They are... no less than I deserve.
Lucifer: Aww, you're scared of your master. That's a good doggie. But it's an act. I broke you, but um, yup I can still smell it. You've got that delectable little whiff of defiance. You're just playing, huh? Waiting for your moment to retake the throne. Am I right?

Crowley: Yes sir.

Dean: You need to stay here.

Sam: Stay here?

Dean: Just in case things go sideways, somebody needs to be left standing to take care of the Darkness. We can't risk us both! And at the moment, I'm the least valuable player, you both know that I can't kill Amara! So the least I can do is get the thing that we need so that you can!

Dean: Captain James Dearborn, my name is Dean Winchester and I am on a mission from the future, the details of which I am not a liberty to discuss. But know this: within the hour, a German destroyer will find and attack this submarine and you will go down.

Dean: From Man of Letters to Man of Letters I'm fighting a war in the future. It's not like your war, it's big. Biblical, end-is-nigh big. And I need your weapon to win. That is why I came.

Lucifer: Oh, it's ju- I don't, I don't need you anymore. I mean, Dean's the one with the link to Amara. Why have I been trying to spare you? I mean, maybe it's because you're like the girl who kept turning me down at the prom. I will touch your soul, just because you asked so nicely. And I'll use your spell to blast through the warding and retrieve Dean and the, um, Hand of God. And then when Dean comes back and he finds this place decorated with your guts, I will tell him the truth, Sam. I'll just say, 'Dean -- Dean... he knew the risks, he wouldn't take no for an answer.'

Sam: Lucifer.

Lucifer: In the flesh.

Dean: Teach me how to use it. It's the power of God. Maybe I can use it to save you, save the sub.

Delphine: And your war?
Dean: I wanna help you now.

Delphine: You save this ship, get us to the surface, and then what? The power of God will consume you, and you'll have merely brought the weapon closer to the Nazis' grasp. We are supposed to die, let us do it with a purpose.

Sam: Cas? Why?
Castiel: I wanted to be of service to the fight. And only Lucifer can beat her.

Lucifer: Mmm, I feel a burden lifted. You know, this whole 'deep cover' thing, it just wasn't, it wasn't terribly well thought out. Donning this-this Cas mask? This grim face of angelic constipation? Just ugh. And then teaming up with you two. I mean, I thought you boys were insufferable as mortal enemies. But, working with you? Ugh, that's the soul crusher. Why the faces, boys? You should be cheering. We have a common enemy, and with this she will be no problem. I mean, I will have killed you both by then, but still, come on.

Sam: So how'd you get through today? I mean, what did you do?

Dean: Nothing. Sam, they... I was just a witness.
Sam: Do you want to talk about it?
Dean: No. No, story for another day. Hey, the, uh... The German ship that sank the Bluefin, what happened to it?

Sam: It went down. Unlike the sub, its wreckage was found. Um, there was a giant hole that'd been ripped through the entire thing, something must have hit the fuel tanks, it exploded. But it burned, sank.

Trivia & References

The song "Non, je ne regrette rien" was recorded by Edith Piaf in 1959, although the episode is set in 1943. Writer Robert Berens made the point that the song was non-diegetic and used as Delphine's theme.

Delphine: I have lived a hard life, but these months? Pretending to love a Nazi cochon like you has been the worst. But this moment, watching you die? It is the best. The Men of Letters send their regards.

Cochon is French for pig. "The Men of Letters send their regards" is a reference to this scene from Game of Thrones. (spoiler)

Sam: It was World War II, kind of an 'all hands on deck' situation, y'know?

Dean: Yeah, Rosie the Riveter. Cool.

Rosie the Riveter was an icon used in U.S. government campaigns during the Second World War to encourage women to work in industries supporting the war effort. In more recent years, she is often used as an emblem of feminism.

As Sam is reading Dean one the transatlantic cables between Delphine and Clifford Henshaw, the final paragraph includes the line:

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."

This phrase is used in the Mission: Impossible TV series and movies when the secret agents known as the Impossible Missions Force are offered a mission (which strangely is never impossible).

Sam: Uh, Henshaw pulled some strings with a Man of Letters in the OSS to requisition an active U.S. submarine to transport Delphine and the weapon back to the States.

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), was the the U.S. intelligence agency during World War II and a precursor to the CIA.

Sam: Well, yeah, I'd say so. I mean, tides took the wreckage, submersibles have been trying to locate it for years. I mean, if James Cameron and his Avatar billions can't find it...

Dean: Yeah, but we have something James Cameron doesn't have.

James Cameron is a filmmaker, known for movies including The Terminator, Aliens, Titanic and Avatar. He has been on expeditions in submarines to some of the deepest points in the ocean. Cameron also made the TV series Dark Angel in which Jensen co-starred for the second season.

Lucifer: Well then, tell me, once and future King of Hell. You've been watching my rule. What treasonous thoughts do you have brewing in that little head of yours, huh?

The Once and Future King, is an Arthurian fantasy novel by T.H. White. The book deals with the concepts of human nature, power and justice.

Dean: That sub is a tin can floating in the middle of the ocean, doomed to go down. You can't really mess with history at 20,000 leagues. So we get in, get the weapon, get out. It's a milk run.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a book by French author Jules Verne published in 1870 which followed the travels of Captain Nemo aboard the submarine "Nautilus."

Sam: So you expect me to sit here and ride the pine, while you and Cas go play Jules Verne?

Dean: Yes! No. Uh, who?

Jules Verne wrote the aforementioned 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Jensen ad-libbed the "Who?" in this exchange.

Harris: Rich, ain't it? Frog's sittin' pretty like Queen of Sheba getting room service in the war room. I can't even gripe, 'cause... Well, you seen that dame? The gams on her?

Dean: Yeah. Yeah, she's a hottie... Yeah, those gams, huh?

The Queen of Sheba was a queen regent who flaunted her wealth while visiting King Solomon in the Bible. Someone is referred to as the "Queen of Sheba" when they are treated in a preferential way, which may or may not be deserving.

Gams used to be slang for a woman's legs.

Captain Dearborn: Flash Gordon here will remain under guard until we reach shore.

and
Dean: So you believe me?
Girardi: I read a lot of Flash Gordon.

Flash Gordon is the hero of a space opera comic series (and subsequent TV series and movies).

Girardi: World Series 1944, go. You're from the future, tell me, who won?

Dean: Um, the, uh, the Rangers.
Girardi: The Rangers?

The 1944 World Series was comprised of six games between the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns, with the Cardinals winning the series 4 to 2.

The Texas Rangers would not become a team until 1972.

Dean: That's the Hand of God? Doesn't look like much.

Delphine: No, I suppose it doesn't. It must have been more impressive in its complete form -- the Ark of the Covenant.
Dean: Oh, so full-on 'Raiders.' That's, okay...

The Ark of the Covenant is an object from Biblical lore from the second book of the Torah and the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament). It was made by the prophet Moses to house the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments which God gave to him.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 movie in which adventurer and archaeologist Indiana Jones tries to stop Nazis from finding the Ark, which they believe will make them invincible.

Minutiae

Live tweets from the cast and crew during the broadcast.

Production Designer Jerry Wanek reports that the submarine set was built on the Supernatural sound stage and was 100 feet long and took 80 people two weeks to construct. The design was based on USS Cobia submarine, a National Historic Landmark at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum and the USS Bowfin in Hawaii. Read a blog post by the technical adviser on the construction.

Darren Dolynski, who played Captain James Dearborn, previously played Lilith's Demon in 4.22 Lucifer Rising.

Sam: Wait a second. I remember, Bobby told me when you needed strength to retrieve us from the past, you used him to power up. You touched his soul, right?

Castiel used Bobby's soul as power to retrieve Sam and Dean from 1861 in 6.18 Frontierland.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 11.14 The Vessel (transcript)

Promotion

• Synopsis
• Photos via the TV Addict
• Promo
• Sneak Peek
• Interview with Production Designer Jerry Wanek
• Interview with Misha about playing Lucifer and the You Are Not Alone Campaign by AccessHollywood
• Interview with Misha about playing Lucifer by EW