6.07 Family Matters

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Familmatterspromo.jpg
Title Family Matters
Episode # Season 6, Episode 7
First aired November 5, 2010
Directed by Guy Norman Bee
Written by Andrew Dabb
Daniel Loflin
On IMDB Family Matters
Outline Castiel helps find out what's wrong with Sam. Dean's suspicions lead to rising tension between him and the Campbells.
Monster Vampires
Alpha Vampire
Crowley
Timeline Immediately following the events of 6.06 You Can't Handle the Truth
Location(s) Calumet City, Illinois
Lansing, Michigan
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Synopsis

Directly following the events of 6.06 You Can't Handle the Truth, Sam wakes up tied to a chair. His face is still bloody from Dean's pummeling, and Castiel is there to examine him. What Castiel discovers is that Sam is no longer sleeping or feeling any emotions. After closer inspection, Castiel finds out that Sam's soul is missing and is likely still in Lucifer's Cage. Dean wants to keep him tied up, but Sam proves that he can't be held captive, and Dean agrees to stay with him and help him try to find his soul. They have no leads except one: Samuel Campbell was also resurrected a year ago. So Sam, Dean, and Castiel head to the Campbell Compound.

At the compound, Dean questions Samuel about his resurrection, but Samuel reiterates that he doesn't remember anything before waking up alive. Castiel tests Samuel to see if he still has a soul--he does--and Castiel leaves shortly after to get back to the angelic civil war. After he leaves, Sam and Dean learn that Samuel is preparing to attack the nest of the Alpha Vampire. Samuel seems reluctant to invite Sam and Dean along, but Dean convinces him to let them help. Still, Dean is suspicious of Samuel, and he tries to break into his office, but Christian waylays him and they trade insults and threats. Despite the altercation, Sam and Dean join the other hunters as they all head out to the Alpha Vampire's location at dawn. Samuel orders Dean and Gwen to stay back and "sweep any stragglers" they flush out, but after Gwen decapitates a stray vampire, Dean heads up to the house where shots are being fired. Bodies are strewn about and Dean recognizes a weathervane he saw in his vision from the Alpha vampire in 6.05 Live Free or Twihard. Dean goes around the back of the house and sees the hunters, including Sam and Samuel, loading the Alpha vampire (also from his vision) into the back of a van. He waits until he's alone with Sam to confront him about it, and learns that Samuel is taking the creatures he captures somewhere to be interrogated. Dean is furious with Sam for keeping this from him, and resolves to find out why Samuel is interrogating the Alpha vampire.

Sam helps Dean find out where Samuel is taking the creatures for interrogation by activating a GPS tracker in one of the his cell phones. They arrive to find Samuel torturing the Alpha vampire, but not getting anywhere. He leaves the room and Sam and Dean take the opportunity to question the Alpha themselves. The Alpha recognizes Dean. He also expresses an interest in Sam because of his soullessness. Eventually, he tells them that Samuel is trying to get information from him about Purgatory and where it is located, and that he's doing it on someone else's orders. Before they can learn more, Samuel, Christian, Gwen, and another hunter interrupt them and hold them at gun point. They're forced to disarm, but then the Alpha vampire escapes and they all join forces to try to kill him. In the fracas, Christian's neck is snapped and the Alpha tries to disable Sam so that he can take him with him--he thinks that a soulless person will make "the perfect animal." While he is choking Sam, Christian comes up behind him and injects him with dead man's blood. Christian's eyes are black, and several more demons show up and take the Alpha away with them, leaving just Dean, Sam, Samuel, Gwen, and Crowley.

Crowley, as the new King of Hell, had the power to resurrect Samuel and Sam, and says he did so because he wanted their help. Crowley reveals that Christian has been possessed for a while and serving as his mole, and that Samuel has been working for him, gathering high-ranking creatures and trying to learn the location of Purgatory because Crowley is interested in "developing" it. He tells them that if Sam ever wants the return of his soul, he and Dean need to help Samuel continue to capture creatures for him. Currently, they don't see any other option but to help Crowley, but Sam and Dean are determined to get him back eventually.

Characters

Definitions

Music

None

Quotes

Dean: What, you think that there's a clinic out there for people who just pop out of hell wrong? He asks, you answer! Then you shut your hole. You got it?
Dean: Um... I'm s-- I'm sorry. One more time, like I'm 5. What do you mean, he's got no--
Castiel: Somehow, when Sam was resurrected, it was without his soul.
Dean: You're leaving?

Castiel: I'm in the middle of a civil war.
Dean: You better tear the attic up, find something to help Sam.

Castiel: Of course. Your problems always come first. I'll be in touch.
Christian: You know, I've tried playing nice, Dean, but I think I'm done.

Dean: Wait, are you trying to tell me that you're a bigger knob than you've been letting on?

Christian: I'm the guy who's been here, doing my job. Who are you? You think we need you here? You walk around like you're playing pro tennis. Only action you seen lately is between your slut girlfriend's legs.
Gwen: Sorry about the 'reject' thing.

Dean: Ah, I've been called worse.
Gwen: Just, uh, get sick of getting left behind. Think it's probably 'cause I remind him of his daughter or something.
Dean: Well, you just speak your mind.
Gwen: I'll take that as a compliment.

Dean: You should.
Alpha Vampire: When your kind first huddled around the fire, I was the thing in the dark! Now you think you can hurt me? I have all night, boys. Anyway, I'm happy to tell you whatever you want to know.

Sam: Why?

Alpha Vampire: Why? Because soon, I'll be ankle-deep in your blood, sucking the marrow from your bones.
Alpha Vampire: We all have our mothers. Even me.

Dean: What does that mean? And what's with the big surge of vamps lately? I mean, it's like--

Alpha Vampire: Like we're going to war.
Dean: Purgatory? Purgatory's real?
Alpha Vampire: Oh, stupid cattle. Of course! And it is filled with the soul of every hungry thing like me that ever walked this earth. Now, where is it? That is the mystery. And that is what your kindhearted granddaddy is trying to beat out of me.
Alpha Vampire: The boy with no soul. I've got big plans for you. It's amazing how that pesky, little soul gets in the way. But not for you. You will be the perfect... animal.
Dean: I have done some stupid things in my time, but punching a demon's clock?

Sam: Look, just till we find another way.
Dean: And then?

Sam: And then we track Crowley down and give that son of a bitch what's coming to him. You with me, Dean?

Trivia & References

The title of the episode refers to Family Matters, a 1990s sitcom featuring the Winslow family and the nerdy Steve Urkel.
Christian: Sam! Ahh. Dean.

Dean: Hello, Newman. Where's the man?

This was a catchphrase of Jerry Seinfeld in the eponymous '90s sitcom. Jerry used it whenever his neighbor and nemesis Newman appeared.
Castiel: This is a vessel. My true form is approximately the size of your Chrysler Building.
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan in the Turtle Bay area at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. It is 319 metres (1,047 ft) tall.
Dean: I can feel it. And if you weren't Robo-Sam, you'd feel it, too.
A probable reference to the lead character from Robocop.
Sam: Trust me. He thinks Velcro is big news.
Velcro was manufactured in the United States beginning in 1957, but it's integration into the textile industry took time. It wasn’t until NASA began using Velcro in its bulky space suits in the mid 1960s that the fasteners began to appear in consumer products – first in snow skiing clothing, and then in SCUBA and marine gear. Samuel Campbell originally died in 1973, so it's likely that he would have at least heard of Velcro before his death.
Dean: Yeah? Locked down pretty tight. And with all that dead blood rushing through your veins, not sure you got enough juice to fire up that psychic bat-signal of yours, do you?
The Bat-Signal is a modified spotlight used by Gotham City Police to summon Batman.
Dean: I'm asking the questions here, Fright Night.
Fright Night is a horror comedy movie in which a kid discovers his next door neighbor is a vampire.
Alpha Vampire: The thing about souls -- If you've got one, of course -- is they're predictable. You die, you go up or down. Where do my kind go?

Dean: All right, enough with the sermon, freak.
Alpha Vampire: I'm trying to answer the question. Now, when we 'freaks' die... where do we go? Not Heaven, not Hell. So?
Dean: Legoland?
Alpha Vampire: Little rusty on our Dante, boys?
Sam: Purgatory.

Legoland is a chain of Lego-themed theme parks all over the world.
Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet whose most famous work is The Divine Comedy, which chronicles Dante's travels through the afterlife. The second book of the Divine Comedy is about Purgatory. Dante/the Divine Comedy were previously referenced in the episode title for 5.10 Abandon All Hope....
Dean: Well, if the old man's Kermit, who's hand's up his ass?
A reference to the famous Muppet, but also a variation of the question of who's pulling the puppet's strings.
Dean: Wow, you know, I have seen some stupid in my time, but you take the crown. Putting Jaws in a fishbowl? How do you think that's gonna end? I don't know what kind of game you're running --
A reference to the killer great white shark in the movie Jaws.
Dean: I think you've got the rest of these feebs convinced that you're John Wayne. So whatever you're doing, whatever you're hiding... it's gonna put you and everyone around you in the ground.
John Wayne is a famous American actor.
Crowley: Was a punk-ass crossroads demon. Now? King of hell. Believe me, I've got the mojo. I snap my fingers, Sam gets his soul back. Or you can be... You and I shove Sam right back in the hole. Can't imagine what it's like in there... and I can imagine so many things. So, we clear? Me, Charlie... you, angels. Job's simple enough -- bring me creatures. Aim high on the food chain, please. Everybody wins. It's been a pleasure. See you soon.
A reference to the popular TV show and movie Charlie's Angels.

Minutiae

According to an interview with director Guy Norman Bee, Mark Sheppard requested that he not be listed in the opening credits, to keep the Crowley's appearance as a surprise.
Sam's injuries from the previous episode do not match. When Dean punched Sam's face, the injuries were isolated on the left side of Sam's face while his right cheek was scratched by Veritas. When Sam wakes up in this episode, Sam's face is completely bruised up on both sides and the scratches are gone.
Samuel says after his resurrection, he came to in Elton Ridge. In the Origins series of the Supernatural comics, Mary tells John Winchester she wants to get married in Elton Ridge.
Guy Bee released a photo of a panel from the storyboard, drawn as a reference before shooting.
Detail from storyboard for "Family Matters."

According to Sera Gamble in Supernatural Magazine #23, not all the hunters in this episode were Campbells.
Dean: Since when do you give a crap about vampires?

Crowley: Since... What's today, Friday? Since, let's see... Mind your business.

A reference to the fact Supernatural now airs on Fridays. Dean made a previous mention to the day of the week Supernatural aired in 5.15 Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.
Samuel: He pulled us both back, me and Sam.
Crowley allows Sam and Dean to believe that he pulled Sam out of Hell. It is later confirmed in 6.20 The Man Who Would Be King that it was Castiel who saved Sam from Hell, albeit sans soul.

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