Supernatural: Book of the Damned

Alright, SPN Fans! We are in the homestretch at the eighteenth episode of season ten. We are all on the edge of our various seats, to find out just how this season will end. Will a cure for the Mark of Cain be discovered, and if so, what will be the price for the Winchesters? Will Castiel get his grace back? What part will Metatron play in this finale? Who is going to die?

Whatever happens, I can pretty much guarantee we probably won’t see it coming (and for the handful of you who think you know- you won’t know how.) The writers always manage to surprise us, somehow, and they have the benefit of knowing what’s  been given to us in the last nine finales.

Tonight is going to be another mythology-heavy episode, with some major revelations as Charlie, in her second appearance this season, has found the Book of the Damned, which will supposedly shed some light on how to get rid of the Mark of Cain.

Charlie is being pursued by men in black leather with guns, but she gets the drop on them with a short sword and a garbage bin. They tell her they’re after the Book. One of them has a strange Mark on his wrist. So is this a new player in the game?

Metatron is annoying Cas as he tries his best to ignore him. Does that man ever shut up? Cas calls Sam and asks permission to kill him and Metatron keeps babbling until he finally punches him. Twice. But that only lasts a second because his mouth opens up  again as if nothing had occurred.

Dean finally confesses to Sam what  Crowley told him last week. That the Mark was a curse that protected him from Rowena’s attack in the bar. So he  does comes clean about what happened last week but I don’t like that he waited so long to do it. Too busy pranking Sam’s room, I guess.

Charlie calls the brothers for help. She tells them she has the Book, it’s language is unknown and that it can undo any kind of spell or damnation. She tells  them  about her marked pursuers and the brothers guide her to a safehouse near her location. The brothers pack and head out.

Driving to get Charlie, have you ever noticed the Impala is always wet. It’s like she carries her own personal humidity around with her. I know she looks great wet, but still. The brothers plan a beach vacation if they get rid of the Mark. Somehow, I don’t think that’s in their future.

Metatron eats like a pig, but those Belgian waffles look delightful. He tries to form an emotional connection with Cas, through the senses of  humanity, but Cas won’t forgive him for killing Dean. The two of them are  being watched and pursued by another angel.

When  Charlie hands him the book, Dean has a reaction, of some kind, not unlike the reaction he had to the First Blade.

.

The angel, who is very angry with the two of them, for breaking Heaven,  attacks Cas and Metatron in the parking lot and Metatron saves Cas’ life when the attacker gets the drop on him. Metatron is trying hard to suck up to Cas becasue he knows that as soon as he produces Cas’ grace, Cas will kill him.

The brothers are now in possession of a book that is unreadable and in code. Dean tells the two nerds they can handle it. Sam puts the book in a special lockbox after seeing Dean’s reaction to it and apparently that was the right thing to do because now the people tracking the book can’t see it anymore.

Metatron finally admits he has no idea where Cas Grace is. I still think he’s stalling and lying about its existence, though. He’s got something up his sleeve. He always does.

Dean says the people following Charlie are called The  Stein Family, a seriously old family of sorcerers and witches. He also admits the book is, itself, evil and has been calling to him. That it wants to be used. But the price for using the book will be extremely high. Sam says he doesn’t care. He won’t lose Dean again. He can’t.

Dean is good enough to remember what Sam said he wouldn’t do last season. And he’s right to say it because this is how the two of them keep getting into trouble and breaking the world. It’s their complete inability to let each other go, that keeps going horribly wrong.

Metatron challenges Cas about what he’s going  to do with his life. He then works a spell on Cas that weakens Cas enough for him to make an escape, with one of the demon tablets he’d hidden, earlier.

Charlie asks what Dean meant and Sam  has to come clean about last season’s events and how he hurt Dean’s feelings  as a result. (That is not a debate that’s ever going to happen on this site.) Charlie calls them the Dread Robber  Pirates of Hunting and Sam confesses he loves this life and he can’t do it without his brother. He needs to tell Dean everything he just told Charlie. Of course he won’t do that because they are both complete lunkheads, who need a good, sharp smack. From Bobby, ideally.

Metatron escapes. Cas takes his  grace back and it is awesome. He was very powerful, beautiful moment, but it’s a bittersweet. Those sad, burnt looking wings, that shadow upwards, on the light of his grace, are not even worth showing off. They’re the wings of The Fallen.

Dean, having stormed out of the cabin, is confronted by the Steins in a convenience store. They have Dean’s knife but know not to use it on Dean because they know about the Mark. The standoff ends in a shoot out and the Steins pursue Dean to the cabin. Dean  orders Sam to burn the book and  Sam appears to do that, but remember what happened last time Dean gave that instruction?

Back at the bunker, Charlie and Cas meet for the first time. Huzzah! It’s a great moment. Dean shows up with beer and pizza and they have a party. Dean laughs a lot. Sam just looks shamefaced throughout becasue the lies from him and Cas flew fast and furious. They didn’t tell Dean about Metatron’s escape or the Book that Sam didn’t actually burn and  his subsequent meeting with Rowena.

Of course not.

So! We can see disaster shaping up for the end. Sam lying about the Book and giving it to Rowena, who is out to avenge herself against Crowley, and now has the power to do it. Metatron now has one of the demon tablets and is on the loose. Dean doesn’t know any of this. Castiel has his Grace back but is no longer welcome in Heaven.

What do you wanna bet that this year’s horrific mistake will belong to Sam, and as always will involve Hell?

Next week:  The Return of Benny! Yay!!! I really missed that warm, Louisiana drawl. Also, he is totally mackin’ on Dean and that’s always fun to watch.