8.08 Hunteri Heroici
| |
| Title | Hunteri Heroici |
| Episode # | Season 8, Episode 8 |
| First aired | November 28, 2012 |
| Directed by | Paul Edwards |
| Written by | Andrew Dabb |
| On IMDB | Hunteri Heroici |
| Outline | Castiel wants to be a hunter like Sam and Dean, and he finds a case for them to work together, where a man's heart literally burst out of his chest. |
| Monster | Humans Psychics |
| Timeline | |
| Location(s) | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| [[{{{prevep}}}|« Previous Episode]] | [[{{{nextep}}}|Next Episode »]] | |
Contents
Synopsis
Dean, Sam, and Castiel are refueling the Impala when Sam gets a call from Linda Tran. She tells him that she and Kevin are now on Garth's safe-houseboat and that Kevin is having difficulties translating the half of the God tablet they got back from Crowley. He tells her to call if they find anything. Dean asks Castiel if there's any angel chatter about the tablet, and Castiel tells him that he's cut himself off from angel communications because he doesn't want anything to do with heaven. Instead, he wants to be a hunter - he's even found a case in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where a man's heart burst out of his chest and flew 10 feet into the air. Dean says he'll work the case with him as long as he stays with them and doesn't teleport around. Castiel agrees and then asks if he can ride in the front seat of the Impala. Sam and Dean say "no" at the same time, and Castiel gets in the back seat.
In Oklahoma City, they go to see Gary Freleng's body at the morgue. He has a cookie-cutter heart-shaped hole in his chest, and the detective working the case tells them that the consensus is that Gary was on drugs. Castiel tells Dean that there are no drugs in Gary's system, and once the detective leaves, he says that he senses no EMF or sulfur and that Gary's only health problem was a recent bladder infection. Sam, who's been reading the case file, asks Castiel if he can tell that Gary was also having an affair. His friend Olivia Kopple was with him when he died, and from Olivia's statement it seems like they were meeting in the park every week to have lunch at a nearby diner. Sam suspects that they were spending less time in the diner and more time in the motel attached to it, and that Gary's wife is a witch who wanted revenge on her cheating husband.
As they leave the morgue, Sam remembers the night he met Amelia's father, Stan Thompson. He and Amelia had just moved into a house together, and Stan obviously hadn't approved of him. When he'd learned that Sam was working a maintenance job at a local motel despite going to Stanford, he'd remarked that Sam seemed like a "real fixer-upper."
They go to see Gary's wife, Deb Freleng, at her home, and Castiel tries to interrogate her. He comes on too strong, though, and Sam interrupts to ask Deb more gently if her husband may have been hiding something from her. Then the doorbell rings and Olivia comes inside, crying. She and Deb embrace, and Deb asks them what they think Gary was hiding. The hunters are confused until they learn that Deb knew about Olivia because she and her husband "had an arrangement."
Soon after, another weird death happens in town. According to witnesses, a man who stepped off the roof of a building floated in midair, only falling after he looked down. The lead detective tells them that it was definitely a suicide, but points out that both cases seem to be straight out of cartoons. Back at their motel room, Castiel watches cartoons while Dean and Sam try to figure out what's going on. Dean mentions that it might be a Tulpa just as Castiel hears something on the police band frequency: there's been a "loony" bank robbery.
At the bank, a security guard who interrupted the robbery has been killed, crushed by a 1-ton anvil. The detective tells them that the culprit is a thief they've been calling "Black Hole" because of the black holes he paints on the walls of the banks he robs. Sam goes with her to the police station to get the files on the past robberies, and Dean and Castiel stay behind. Dean asks Castiel to move the anvil, and under it they see a black "X" drawn on the floor. Dean remarks that the robber seems to be following "cartoon rules," and that the black holes were likely painted on the walls by the robber to get inside the bank. The holes are inactive now, though.
Back in their motel room, Dean searches online while Castiel reads John's Journal. Dean asks Castiel how he's feeling after coming back from Purgatory, and Castiel answers that he's fine. Dean suggests that he return to heaven to investigate who or what resurrected him, but Castiel refuses. He tells Dean that if he sees the devastation he wrought in heaven, he's afraid he'll kill himself. Before Dean can respond, Sam returns from the police station with news: all three cartoon-like deaths happened while a "Black Hole" robbery was taking place. In fact, people reported strange cartoon behavior in a 50 yards radius around each robbery while it was occurring. Because every robbery also involved the property of someone living at Sunset Fields retirement home, they decide to check out its residents.
They meet the man who runs the retirement home, Dr Dwight Mahoney, and question some residents. An old woman tells Dean and Castiel that the cat, BOB, talks sometimes, and Castiel goes to interrogate it. Sam talks to an orderly who tells him that a lot of the residents live in their own heads because the real world is too much. Sam remembers back to the night he met Amelia's father, Stan, and the man asked him if he had served in the military. When Sam had said no, Stan had said that Sam had the look of someone who'd seen a lot of terrible things. He thought that Sam and Amelia were holding on to each other because they were both scared of something, and he wanted to know what Sam was running from.
When Sam and Dean reconvene, Dean tells him that most of the residents don't even remember being robbed. Then Sam notices a picture on the wall: it's Fred Jones, an old psychokinetic that had been a friend of their dad's, and he's in room 114. They go to see him, but he's in a wheelchair and completely unresponsive. His TV is playing cartoons, and Dean confirms that Fred's behind the cartoon antics by hitting himself in the head with a book, which causes a loud clang and the sound of birds chirping. Sam says that Fred was so powerful he could reshape reality, but he doesn't seem to be in control of himself anymore. Castiel asks if they should kill him just as Dr Mahoney walks into the room with an orderly. They are promptly kicked out, but Dean asks Castiel to become invisible and keep an eye on things until he and Sam can return later that night.
Later, Dean and Sam find the retirement home in chaos. The candle on a resident's birthday cake exploded in classic cartoon style and, while Castiel was distracted, Fred disappeared. A female orderly confronts them, but one of the residents tells Castiel that the orderly is wearing her stolen diamond bracelet. When they ask the orderly where she got it, she tells them that it was a gift from her boyfriend, who also works at the retirement home. They leave and break into his house, where they find stolen bearer bonds and then the orderly himself, lying on the ground with a gunshot wound in his stomach. Castiel heals him, and the orderly tells them that Dr Mahoney has been skimming off the Sunset Fields residents for years. Since he discovered what Fred can do, he and Dr Mahoney have been using the psychic to pull off the "Black Hole" robberies. When the bank's guard was killed and the hunters showed up, though, he lost it, and he's now heading to the bank with Fred for one last score. He shot the orderly when he disagreed with his plan to kill Fred after everything was over.
As they get in the Impala, Castiel asks Dean if he thinks Fred knows what is going on, and Dean remarks that he seems to be living in a dream world. Sam has another flashback to the night he met Amelia's father. He had overheard Stan telling Amelia that she needed to stop living in a dream world and come home with him. When he'd called Sam a mess, Amelia had said that she was a mess, too, and that he needed to give her and Sam a chance. Stan had given in and been nicer to Sam, asking about the Impala. During their conversation, Sam had rubbed the scar on his hand.
They arrive at the bank and, while Dean uses the black hole painted on the outer wall to get inside, Sam and Castiel search for Fred in the vicinity. Castiel senses his power coming from a parked van, and they find Fred inside, watching cartoons on a computer tablet. Sam tries to snap him out of his catatonic state, but is unsuccessful. Castiel touches Fred, and they're surrounded by a white light before things resolve and they're inside Fred's mind, which looks like a cartoon landscape. Fred is there, and when Sam tells him who he is, Fred is confused: Sam looks much older than he thinks he should because Fred's been trapped in his own mind for 16 years. Sam tells him what's been happening with Dr Mahoney, and Fred is distraught. He tells Sam that he loved cartoons as a kid and his mind likely focused on cartoons because they made him feel safe. Sam sympathizes and tells Fred that living in a dream world is nice, but eventually whatever he's running from will catch up to him. He needs to wake up and take control.
Meanwhile, Dean has found Dr Mahoney in the bank. He's emptying out the safety deposit boxes belonging to his clients' children, and he offers Dean half of everything if he lets him go. Dean refuses, and Mahoney catches him by surprise, knocking him off balance and then running. Dean tries to fire his gun after him, but a flag with the word BANG! appears instead of a bullet. Dean chases and tackles him, freezing in midair as cartoon-style captions appear next to him and Mahoney. After they land, Mahoney pulls a frying pan out of his jacket and hits Dean in the face. Dean draws an "X" on the ground and a 1-ton anvil barely misses landing on Mahoney, who then tries to leave the bank through one of his black holes. The hole is inactive, though, cartoon rules no longer in effect. Mahoney pulls his gun and aims it at Dean, but Fred, awake now and with Castiel and Sam at his side, interrupts. He tells Mahoney that he'll never hurt anyone again and then uses his psychic powers to make Mahoney put the gun to his own head and pull the trigger, killing him.
Sam asks Fred if he's okay, and Fred says he is now, but that he doesn't want to lose control of his powers again. Castiel offers to do a procedure that will strip him of his powers, and Fred agrees to it despite the risk that his mind will be further damaged. Afterwards, Fred is once again in a catatonic state in his room at Sunset Fields. Dean tells Castiel that he's done a good job and that he can ride in the front seat of the Impala, but Castiel says that he can't come with them. Before he can explain why, he hears a bell and is suddenly in heaven with Naomi. She tells him that she can read his mind and that she won't allow him to do what he's planning. Castiel isn't allowed in heaven unless she rings her bell, and he needs to do what he's told. He asks her what he should do, and she asks him instead what he wants to do. In the next instant, Castiel is back in front Sam and Dean, who don't notice that he's been gone. Sam asks him why he can't stay with them, and Castiel says that he'll watch over Fred for a few days to make sure he's okay. Then he's not sure what he's going to do, but he knows he can't run anymore.
After Castiel's words, Sam has a final flashback to the night he met Amelia's father. The two of them were finally getting along and, as Amelia left the dinner table to answer a phone call, Sam had told Stan that he ran away from his life after his brother died. Stan had given him his condolences and then Amelia had come back into the room, phone in hand, to tell them that her husband Don was found alive. Sam is jarred out of the memory by Dean, who claps him on the arm. They leave the retirement home together while Castiel stays with Fred.
Characters
- Sam Winchester
- Dean Winchester
- Castiel
- Fred Jones
- Naomi
- Amelia Richardson
- Gary Freleng
- Mrs Freleng
- Dr Dwight Mahoney
- Stan Thompson
- Riot
- BOB
Definitions
Music
Ode to Joy from Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven.
Quotes
Castiel: It's a shortened version of my name.
Dean: You were being bad everything.
Cat: Dumbass!
Castiel: I don't think you pronounced that correctly.
Amelia: I like it here. I like this house. I like Sam.
Stan: Sam is a mess.
Trivia & References
- The tags were presented in the typeface Comic Sans, a much maligned typeface, although in this situation, very appropriate.
- The first victim, whose heart explodes from his chest, is Gary Freleng. His last name is a reference to animator Friz Freleng who created iconic characters such as Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, and Sylvester the cat.
- Fred Jones' name may be a reference to Merry Melodies and Looney Tune animator and director Chuck Jones, and also to the character of Fred Jones from the Scooby Do series.
- Dean also refers to the Animaniacs which was a 1990s cartoon series.
- Misha Collins once called Castiel "Columbo". On CW event of 5.21 Two Minutes to Midnight, Collins tweeted "The guy dressed as Columbo needs to wash his face." and "The smart looking Columbo guy seems like he's turning into a big gun fanatic. He should join the NRA. Start raising money for." (#21 and #24) - See Misha on Twitter
- A tulpa is an idea that is made manifest, such as was encountered by Sam and Dean in 1.17 Hell House. Robot chicken is a stop-motion animated series that parodies pop culture.
- Heartbreak Hotel is a song recorded by American rock and roll musician Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956. Free Fallin' is the opening track from Tom Petty's 1989 solo album, Full Moon Fever.
Fred Jones: As what – some kind of a damn psychic CopperTop?
- CopperTop is a brand of battery made by Duracell.
- Termite Terrace is the nickname for the Warner Brother's animation department.
Minutiae
Sides, Scripts & Transcripts
Promotion
- Episode Title
- Guest star cast by Zap2It
- Photos from filming by socialitelife
- Plot spoilers from TVLine
- Plot spoilers from TV Overmind
- Promo pics by TV Overmind
- Episode promo
- Sneak Peek by Supernaturalcmm
- Video interview with Jared, Jensen and Misha about the episode by TVOvermind
- Winchester Radio's discussion of this episode
