4.15 Death Takes a Holiday
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| Title | Death Takes a Holiday |
| Episode # | Season 4, Episode 15 |
| First aired | March 12, 2009 |
| Directed by | Steve Boyum |
| Written by | Jeremy Carver |
| On IMDB | Death Takes a Holiday |
| Outline | In a small town in Wyoming, people stop dying. |
| Monster | Demons Reapers |
| Timeline | December 19th-22nd, 2008 |
| Location(s) | Greybull, Wyoming |
| [[{{{prevep}}}|« Previous Episode]] | [[{{{nextep}}}|Next Episode »]] | |
Contents
Synopsis
A call from Bobby alerts Sam and Dean to the small town of Greybull, where people have stopped dying - a terminally ill man recovers, another is shot at point blank range and walks away. It appears to be another of The 66 Seals, which will be broken if two reapers are killed under a solstice moon.
They decide to summon the spirit of the last person to die - Cole Griffith. As they commence the ceremony on his grave, Alastair appears. He flings Dean to the ground with his power, knocking him out, but is unable to affect Sam, who manages to hit Alastair with his own power, causing him to leave the body he is possessing and flee. When Dean later questions Sam as to what happened and why he is now immune to Alastair's power, Sam denies that he knows why. Dean is hurt, knowing Sam is both keeping secrets and lying to him.
Dean suggests they contact Cole by projecting on to the astral plane - effectively becoming spirits. They get Pamela Barnes to help them with this and she sits vigil over their bodies while the boys wander the town in spirit form.
They find Cole, who tells them that after he died, a reaper arrived but disappeared after black smoke appeared; however, he refuses to tell them where this happened. The lights flicker, and Tessa arrives. With a kiss, she awakens Dean's memories of her. Sam persuades Cole to reveal where he saw the black smoke, at a funeral home, by lying to him, telling him he will be able to stay with his family. Tessa agrees not to take him until Sam and Dean work out what's happening. Just then the room is flooded with black demon smoke. When it clears, Tessa is gone. Cole gives Sam and Dean some quick lessons on how to transport and move objects.
The funeral home is covered in sigils, and Sam and Dean enter to find Tessa and the other reaper laid out and surrounded by symbols. A demon traps the boys with a circle of iron chain, and Alastair appears. This time Sam's powers don't work, and Alastair kills one reaper. Sam and Dean manage to use the tricks Cole taught them to bring a chandelier crashing down, breaking the protective circle trapping Tessa, enabling her to escape and free them.
Meanwhile, Pamela is attacked by a demon and desperately tries to bring Sam back to his body. She succeeds, but the demon has already stabbed her. Sam uses his power to exorcise the demon.
Castiel appears to Dean, who is still a ghost, and reveals he needed Sam and Dean as the demons were holed up in a refuge protected by sigils that keep angels out. He said that it wasn't Bobby, but he calling the brothers and telling them about this town. The boys have been successful in stopping the seal being broken and in the process Castiel has captured Alastair. Dean questions Castiel why, if death is part of the natural order, he was rescued from Hell. Castiel replies "You're different". Dean then helps Tessa get Cole Griffith to cross over. She warns Dean to stop lying to himself, that he knows that there are bad things ahead.
Back in his body, Dean finds Pamela starting to die from her wound now Tessa is once again reaping. With her dying breath, she warns Sam that his powers are not good-intentioned. Dean asks Sam what she said, but Sam is silent, and the episode ends.
Characters
Definitions
Music
- "Perfect Situation for a Fool" by George Highfill & Jai Josefs
- (plays in the beginning as the two men leave the bar)
Quotes
Dean: And he's not a doughnut?!
Sam: You have no idea.
Castiel: You're different.
Sam: Get out of me.
Trivia & References
Huggy Bear was the colorful informant on Starsky and Hutch.
Joe the Plumber was invoked as a symbol of the 'everyman' by John McCain in the 2008 US Presidential Election.
Dean: No, thanks House.
Alastair is referring to Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, from the book Revelation in the Bible, who is supposed to ride a pale or pale green horse. The scythe used to kill the reapers is also a reference to Death who is also known as the Grim Reaper and who carries a scythe as his symbol. This is the first reference to Death in the series. For more information, also see Death's Scythe.
Dean: Yo.
Pamela: Oh surprise, Chachi.
Socs and Greasers are rival groups, divided by socioeconomic status, in S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders.
A reference to the movie Ghost where the dead Patrick Swayze makes out with his living wife (Demi Moore) via Whoopi Goldberg.
Haley Joel Osment played a kid who could see dead people in The Sixth Sense. The name of Haley Joel Osment's character in the movie is Cole Sear.
Sam: I don't know. Learn some ghost moves?
Dean: By tonight? Yeah sure, I'll meet you back at Mr. Miyagi's.
Cole: Who's Mr Miyagi?
Amityville was the location of a haunted house made famous in the book and movie The Amityville Horror.
Sam: Dude, I'm not going to do Fight Club with a 12-year-old.
In the movie New Jack City, an apartment block is fortified and used as the base for gang activites.
Castiel is quoting the Book of Ecclesiastes 3:1. Also, the line is used in the Byrds' song "Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)".
This is a variation of the famous New York Times motto "All the news that's fit to print."
Somewhere Over the Rainbow is a famous song sung by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz.
