2.13 Houses of the Holy
Title | Houses of the Holy |
Episode # | Season 2, Episode 13 |
First aired | February 1, 2007 |
Directed by | Kim Manners |
Written by | Sera Gamble |
On IMDB | Houses of the Holy |
Outline | Sam and Dean investigate the murders of several people by individuals who claim they were visited by an angel and were carrying out God's will. |
Monster | Ghost |
Timeline | Winter, after New Year |
Location(s) | Providence, Rhode Island |
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Contents
Synopsis
Sam, disguised as a nurse, interviews a woman in a psychiatric facility who murdered a man, Carl Gully, and claims an angel told her to do it.
Sam returns to a motel room, where Dean is keeping a low profile, after his media exposure during the bank siege in Milwaukee. He relates her story, and Dean scoffs at the idea of angels. They proceed to investigate Carl Gully’s house, where they find a number of bodies buried.
Over night another killing takes place – a man kills a stranger and says an angel told him who to kill. Investigating the victim’s house, they find evidence on his computer that he was stalking a young girl over the internet. Dean discovers that both victims attended the same church - Our Lady of the Angels.
The boys visit the church and speak to Father Reynolds, who has nothing helpful for them, until he mentions his fellow clergyman Father Gregory who was shot on the steps of the church. Dean thinks it may be Father Gregory, a vengeful spirit making people kill parishioners whose guilty secrets he knew. Sam is skeptical, he thinks it may be God at work, and reveals to a startled Dean that he prays regularly.
The boys return to investigate the church’s crypt where Father Gregory is buried. While in different rooms, an angel appears to Sam, and tells him he will be given a sign of someone to kill, someone about to do evil.
Dean still thinks it is the spirit of Father Gregory, and suggests that they summon his spirit. As they buy the supplies necessary for the summoning, Sam sees the man he says the angel wants him to kill.
Dean takes off after the man and tells Sam to go and perform a séance. Sam is interrupted by Father Reynolds, just as the spirit of Father Gregory appears. Father Gregory thinks he is an angel but Father Reynolds argues with him, and finally puts his soul to rest by saying the Last Rites.
Meanwhile Dean is following the man Sam had identified, and stops him as he is attacking a young woman. Dean chases him in his car, until the man’s car nearly collides with a truck. A metal pipe from the truck impales the man, killing him.
Back at the motel, Sam explains to Dean why his faith is important to him. Dean describes how the man died, and says he thinks it may have been the hand of God at work.
Characters
Definitions
- Magic Fingers
- Angel Lore
- Deanna Laney PoD
- Redemption PoD
- Roma Downey PoD
- Seance PoD
- Ghost
- Christian God
- Wormwood
- Archangel
- Michael
- Raphael
Music
- "Down on Love" by Jamie Dunlap
- (played when Dean is lying on the vibrating bed at beginning of the episode)
- "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan
- (played during the final scene as Sam and Dean discuss what's happened)
Quotes
Sam: Dean, there's ten times as much lore about angels as there is about anything else we've ever hunted.
Dean: Yeah, you know what? There's a ton of lore on unicorns too. In fact, I hear that they, they ride on silver moonbeams, and they shoot rainbows out of their ass.
Sam: I'm laughing on the inside.
Sam: Dude, I'm not enabling your sick habit. You're like one of those lab rats that pushes the pleasure button instead of the food button until it dies.
Dean: Okay, ecstasy boy. Maybe we’ll get you some glow sticks and a nice Dr. Seuss hat.
Trivia & References
- “I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!” is one of the taglines used in commercials for the breakfast cereal Coco Puffs.
Sam: Dude, I'm not enabling your sick habit. You're like one of those lab rats that pushes the pleasure button instead of the food button until it dies.
Dean: What're you talking about, I eat.
Dean: Roma Downey made him do it.
- Dean refers to Touched by an Angel.
- The Bat-Signal is used by the Gotham City Police Department as a method of contacting and summoning Batman to their assistance.
Sam: (nodding to a painting on the wall) Father, that's Michael, right?
Father Reynolds: That's right. The archangel Michael, with the flaming sword. The fighter of demons, holy force against evil.
Sam: So they're not really the Hallmark card version that everybody thinks? They're fierce, right? Vigilant?
Father Reynolds: Well, I like to think of them as more loving than wrathful; but yes, a lot of Scripture paints angels as God's warriors. "An angel of the Lord appeared to them, the glory of the Lord shone down upon them, and they were terrified." Luke. Two nine.
- Michael is an archangel in Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition. He is most known as a leader of the armies of God against Lucifer. The painting here is by the Renaissance painter Raphael.
- This is the first reference to the archangel Michael in the series. In 4.22 Lucifer Rising, Zachariah shows Dean a painting of St Michael killing Lucifer when he talks about Dean's role in the apocalypse. Michael is a central, albeit predominantly unseen character in season 5. He doesn't appear in a speaking role until 5.13 The Song Remains the Same, whose title is a song on Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy album.
- 700 Club is a news talk show with a religious focus.
- A reference to the movie 'Ghost', specifically Whoopi Goldberg's character in the movie, who was a psychic that communicated with dead spirits.
- At the end of 5.13 The Song Remains the Same, we see the scene where Mary says first says this to an unborn Dean.
- The first reference to the archangel Raphael in the series, although he doesn't appear until 4.18 The Monster at the End of This Book or 4.22 Lucifer Rising and doesn't have a speaking role until 5.03 Free to Be You and Me.
Minutiae
Sides, Scripts & Transcripts
Promotion
- Episode Promo: 2.13 Houses of the Holy
- Cut You Down. A promo clip set to Johnny Cash's "Cut you Down" was released over the Christmas hiatus in the lead-up to the screening of 2.10 Hunted on January 11, 2007. Produced in black and white, and set to the Johnny Cash's "Cut you down", it contained scenes from upcoming episodes 2.10 Hunted, 2.11 Playthings, 2.12 Nightshifter and 2.13 Houses of the Holy. In June 2007, this promo won two awards at the annual Promax/BDA Promotion and Marketing Awards : a gold award for Use of Library Music for a Promos and a silver for Drama Program Promotion.