13.17 The Thing
From Super-wiki
| |
| Title | The Thing |
| Episode # | Season 13, Episode 17 |
| First aired | April 5, 2018 |
| Directed by | John Showalter |
| Written by | Davy Perez |
| On IMDB | The Thing |
| Outline | Sam and Dean travel to Rhode Island in search of the Seal of Solomon. |
| Monster | Yokoth Glythur Asmodeus |
| Timeline | |
| Location(s) | Lebanon, Kansas Portsmouth, Rhode Island Fall River, Massachusetts |
| [[{{{prevep}}}|« Previous Episode]] | [[{{{nextep}}}|Next Episode »]] | |
Contents
Synopsis
Characters
- Sam Winchester
- Dean Winchester
- Gabriel
- Arthur Ketch
- Asmodeus
- Diego Avila
- Ophelia
- Marco
- Sandy Porter
- Yokoth
- Glythur
Definitions
- Alternate Universe
- Archangel
- Archangel Blade
- Aquarian Star
- Deities
- Grace
- Grace Extractor
- Impala
- Key to the Bunker
- Men of Letters
- Men of Letters Bunker
- Needham Asylum
- Portal
- Pranks
- Sabriel
- Sammy
- Seal of Solomon
- Spells
- Table of Death
- Tree of Life
- Unconscious
Music
- "Better Luck Next Time" by Jay Ramsey
- (playing on the booth jukebox in the diner)
Quotes
Dean: Sandy, I know it's a lot to take in, okay? But... Well, look, this is -- this what a car looks like now. Well, they should. This...this is a phone and a camera and...everything else. Welcome to the future.
Sandy: How am I still alive?
Sam: We don't really know yet.
Sandy: And how are you so calm about the fact that I'm still alive?
Ketch: Ingredients? Such as?
Asmodeus: Well, if they got the spell from the Demon Tablet, which they did -- some blood, few other things, and a whole mess of archangel grace.
Ketch: And here you are, pumping it into your veins.
Joanne: Lobster roll, no bun, and kale salad for you, String Bean.
Dean: Kale's a garnish.
Sam: It's healthy. I'm watching my cholesterol, like you should be.
Dean: What's your name?
Yokoth: Yokoth. Star of Madness. Ravager of Galaxies. Mother of Faceless Hordes.
Dean: Cool.Yokoth: It was supposed to be us. Glythur and I, together. But my love...They shut the rift before he could make it through.
Dean: Oh, my god. That's tragic. It's like a Hallmark movie - but with tentacles.
Trivia & References
"The Thing" is a reference to the 1982 John Carpenter film of the same name, about a shapeshifting tentacled alien intent on taking over the planet.
The Rhode Island setting and robed occultists, along with the the tentacled gods, are references to the Great Old Ones and the Cthulhu mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. In 6.21 Let It Bleed it was revealed that in 1937, Lovecraft and his friends opened a portal to an alternate dimension -- Purgatory. A monster came through and possessed a woman, Eleanor Visyak. She spent her life ensuring the portal wouldn't be opened again.
The Men of Letters chapter in Rhode Island uses a variant of the Aquarian Star with an eye at its center. It can be seen throughout the chapterhouse, and as tattoos on Diego Avila and the other Men of Letters and their legacies. The Eye recalls the Eye of Providence which is a symbol of the eye of god. It is strongly associated with Freemasons, and also features on U.S. paper currency.
Dean: Hit me!
- "Hit me!" along with how Dean said it are a reference to singer James Brown, who would often use the phrase in his songs.
Dean: Okay. So we got the blood of a holy man. We've got fruit from the Tree of Life. But this piece of kryptonite -- we've been through every book in this place and we got squat.
- Kryptonite is a radioactive substance that causes weakness in Superman.
Dean: There it is. Jinkies.
Sam: You're gonna stop saying that eventually, right?
Dean: I don't know. Probably not.
- Jinkies is a catchphrase of Velma from the Scooby Gang, whom Dean, Sam, and Castiel encountered in 13.16 Scoobynatural.
Joanne: Well, people love the clam cakes, but if you ask me, gotta try the stuffies.
- Stuffies are a New England dish of minced clam and breadcrumbs baked on a clam half shell.
Dean: So what now? They're opening doors to different worlds and 'Buffalo Billing' chicks?
- The phrase "Buffalo Billing chicks" refers to the character Buffalo Bill from the novel (and movie) Silence of the Lambs. He was a serial killer who was murdering and skinning women so he could literally "wear" them.
Ophelia: Our great-grandfather Diego Avila was a member, well until he--
Marco: Went psycho, Jim Jones style.
- Jim Jones was a U.S. cult leader who led over 900 followers in a mass suicide and murder in 1978.
Writer Davy Perez revealed that Yokoth and Glythur's name were a mashup of Shoggoth and Hastur from the Cthulhu mythos, with the names of fellow Supernatural writers Steve Yockey and Meredith Glynn.
Yokoth: I mean us. It was supposed to be us, Glythur and I, together. But my love... they shut the rift before he could make it through.
Dean: Oh my God, that's tragic. It's like a Hallmark movie, but with tentacles.
- Hallmark movies are made-for-television movies that screen on the Hallmark Channel. They are marked by melodrama and sentimentality. David Haydn-Jones, who plays Ketch, has appeared in over a dozen Hallmark movies.
Dean: Okay. I don't know what kind of kinky Keymaster/Gatekeeper thing you got going on here. But I think I'll pass.
- Keymaster/Gatekeeper" refers to the original Ghostbusters movie in which Dana (Sigourney Weaver) is possessed by the demigod Zuul, the "Gatekeeper" and her neighbor Louis (Rick Moranis) by Vinz Clortho who is the "Keymaster". A sexual ritual between them will open a gateway to allow The Destructor entry into that world. In Cthulhu Mythos, the entity Yog-Sothoth is sometimes referred to as "The Key and the Gate." In Lovecraft's short story "The Dunwich Horror", Yog-Sothoth impregnates a mortal woman, Lavinia Whateley.
Minutiae
According to the VFX Coordinator Adam Williams:
- "Krispy's Diner" was shot on Stage 1, for the most part. Even the external establishing shot when the boys first arrive with Sandy. VFX added the roof and treeline and removed rigging. Later scenes outside were shot in Central Park."
Raye Adams, who played Joanne, previously played Colonel Scoop's Mother in 9.22 Stairway to Heaven.
The Post-It notes Dean sticks on Sam say - Kick Me, Dum Dum, Ass Face and I'm stupid ask me.
The chant the Rhode Island Men of Letters use to open the portal is "Insanidox Koth Munto, Yokoth". Yokoth chants "Insanidox Koth Munto, Glythur!" to open the portal and Opehelia chants "Panto Koth Munto!" to close it. Sam chants "Koth Munto Notox" to open a rift to Apocalypse World.
When Ketch brings Gabriel to the Bunker, Sam says that it can't be him because "We saw him die." However, when Lucifer "killed" Gabriel in 5.19 Hammer of the Gods, Sam and Dean had already left the Elysian Fields Hotel with Kali.
