3.09 Malleus Maleficarum
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| Title | Malleus Maleficarum |
| Episode # | Season 3, Episode 9 |
| First aired | January 31, 2008 |
| Directed by | Robert Singer |
| Written by | Ben Edlund |
| On IMDB | Malleus Maleficarum |
| Outline | Sam and Dean investigate a coven of witches. |
| Monster | Witches Demons |
| Timeline | |
| Location(s) | Sturbridge, Massachusetts |
| [[{{{prevep}}}|« Previous Episode]] | [[{{{nextep}}}|Next Episode »]] | |
Contents
Synopsis
After arriving home from a party, Janet Dutton starts brushing her teeth, only to have them start falling out. Soon after, her husband, Paul finds her dead on the bathroom floor. Posing as investigators from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Sam and Dean interview Paul and search the house. Dean suspects Paul is lying about something, and Sam finds a hex bag hidden in the bathroom, indicating a witch was involved.
That night a woman, Amanda, casts a spell and Paul Dutton nearly dies while eating a burger that becomes infested with maggots. He is saved when Sam and Dean arrive and burn a hex bag they find in his car. When the spell unexpectedly ends, Amanda panics before being attacked by a mysterious force that slashes her wrists causing her to bleed to death. Paul admits he had an affair with Amanda, which he had ended the previous week against her wishes. When Sam and Dean arrive at her home, they find her dead, surrounded by the paraphernalia of witchcraft.
Elsewhere in the town, three of Amanda's neighbors, Tammi, Elisabeth, and Renee, meet under the guise of a book club, but it soon becomes apparent that they are practicing witchcraft.
The next day, Sam and Dean interview the women and while they don't learn much, research shows that a couple of the women have lately had a run of successes and windfalls. Sam suggests that they will have to kill the women as they are using dark magic and have murdered.
As they head back to their motel, the Impala is stopped when Ruby appears on the road. She tells them that a demon is in town, controlling the witches, and that the demon will come after Sam, and advises him to leave immediately. Dean argues that they shouldn’t listen to her and draws the Colt, but Sam stops Dean just as he tries to shoot Ruby, who vanishes.
At the motel, Dean questions Sam as to why he is no longer concerned over taking human life. Sam admits he is trying to be more like Dean, to prepare himself for dealing with the demon war after Dean is dead. Suddenly Dean feels intense pain, and starts vomiting blood. They suspect it is a spell caused by the coven. Unable to find a hex bag, Sam grabs the Colt and takes off to confront the women.
At the house, they deny all knowledge of what is happening to Dean, until Tammi reveals herself to be a demon, killing Renee. Back at the motel, Ruby arrives and doses Dean with a potion that saves him.
Sam tries to shoot Tammi with the Colt but she stops the bullet in mid-air, and then uses her power to pin Sam to the wall. She tells him that a new leader has arisen to lead the demons, and that he wants Sam eliminated. Dean arrives, but is also attacked by Tammi. When Ruby appears, she pretends she has led the Winchesters to Tammi in order to gain her favor, but then tries to kill Tammi with her knife.
Tammi overpowers Ruby, and reveals that Ruby was once a witch who sold her soul to a demon – Tammi. Just as Tammi is about to kill Ruby, Elizabeth starts a spell. Although Tammi kills her, she is distracted long enough for Dean to grab Ruby's Knife and kill her.
Later that night, Ruby visits Dean and admits that she can’t save him from Hell. She tells him that all demons were human once, but that Hell strips away their identity. She also tells Dean that the same will happen to him and that there is no way to stop him from going to Hell. She says she wants him to help prepare Sam to fight the demons after Dean is gone. Ruby retains a memory of what it was to be human and wants to fight on the side of humanity.
Characters
- Sam Winchester
- Dean Winchester
- Ruby
- Tammi
- Elizabeth
- Renee Van Allen
- Amanda Burns
- Paul Dutton
- Janet Dutton
Definitions
- Aliases
- Black Magic
- The Colt
- Costumes & Disguises
- Demonology
- Hex Bag
- Fights
- Impala
- Ruby's Knife
- Sammy
- Spells
- Witches
Music
- "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison
- (plays on the radio when Paul Dutton is in the car)
- "I Put a Spell on You" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
- (plays right after the Poison song, when the radio goes wacky, and plays again when Paul Dutton starts choking)
Quotes
Sam: Pretty much.
Sam: They're working black magic too, Dean. They need to be stopped.
Dean: 'Stopped' like stopped? They're human, Sam.
Sam: They're murderers.
Ruby: I'm not talking about witches, you jackass. Witches are whores. I'm talking about who they serve.
Sam: Demons. They get their power from demons.
Dean: Change into what?
Ruby: Stop... calling me bitch.
Sam: Why? Oh, right, 'cause I'm supposed to lead some piss poor demon army.
Tammi: No, not at all. You're not our Messiah. We don't believe in you. But, there's a new leader rising in the West – a real leader. That's the horse to bet on, Sam, the one who's gonna tear this world apart. Thing is, this demon? It doesn't like you very much. It doesn't want the competition.
Dean: I'm sorry?
Ruby: Yes, the same thing will happen to you. It might take centuries, but sooner or later Hell will burn away your humanity. Every Hell-bound soul, every one, turns into something else. Turns you into us. So yeah. Yeah, you can count on it.
Dean: There's no way of saving me from the Pit is there?
Ruby: Isn't it obvious? I'm not like them. I don't know why. I – I wish I was, but... I'm not. I remember what it's like.
Dean: What what's like?
Trivia & References
- A reference to the movie The Blair Witch Project.
- Fatal Attraction was a 1987 movie starring Glenn Close and Michael Douglas. After a brief affair while his family is away, Michael Douglas' character wants no more to do with Glenn Close. She starts stalking and terrorizing him and his family, and in a famous scene, kills the family's pet rabbit, and leaves it boiling on the stove for them to find.
Dean: A regular Black Sabbath.
- Possibly a reference to Witches' Sabbath or Sabbat.
Dean: Yeah, a regular Martha Stewart, huh? Except for the devil worship, I'm thinking that was the coven we met back there, minus one member.
- Martha Stewart is well known for her craftwork.
Ruby: It’s called witchcraft, shortbus.
Dean: You’re the shortbus... shortbus.
- “Shortbus” is an insult implying someone is mentally challenged. It arises from the use of buses, smaller than normal school buses, used to take children who are intellectually handicapped to special schools or classes.
- Thomas Magnum was a private investigator who lived in Hawaii in the 1980's show Magnum P.I.. "Dick" is slang for detective and/or investigator.
Tammi: Renee, Amanda... That's what happens to witches who get voted off the island.
- A reference to the system of contestant elimination on the reality TV show Survivor.
- The Secret is a self-help film and book, which claims to teach people how to attract good things into their lives.
- Abbott and Costello were slapstick comedians popular in the first half of the twentieth century.
Ruby: Actually, they got it pretty right, except for all the custom leather.
- Hellraiser was a 1987 horror movie, based on the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker.
