(As I mentioned in my post announcing this rewatch project, there will be spoilers!)
Season 4, Episode 9: I Know What You Did Last Summer
I didnβt remember the details of this episode before rewatching, but I am fairly certain that itβs one that ties into the seasonβs story arc.
The episode opens on a girl in a behavioural medicine centre staring out the window. Her name is Anna. A doctor is talking to her, telling her that she was hysterical and it took four people to restrain her.
Anna says she was trying to warn everyone. The doctor asks what Anna was trying to warn everyone about.
Anna says she knows the doctor thinks sheβs nuts, but itβs all true. The doctor wants to know what Annaβs talking about. Anna tells her the end is coming β the apocalypse.
Anna tells the doctor that Lillith, a demon, is trying to break the seals to free Lucifer from hell, and Lucifer will bring on the apocalypse. Anna seems to be hearing voices.
Anna tells the doctor that there are around 600 seals and Lillith only has to break 66 of them β and no one knows which ones sheβll try to break. Thatβs why itβs nearly impossible to stop her and why the angels are losing.
We see an orderly come in to give Anna her meds. Sheβs drawing in a sketchbook. When she turns and sees the orderly, she freaks out about his face. It turns out heβs a demon! He closes the door and Anna somehow uses telepathy or something to move furniture and knock him out. She escapes!
We see Sam, drunk in a bar, trying to win back some money from a guy at a pool table. Dean steps in and tries to tell the guy his brotherβs drunk, let it go. Sam says heβs fine, and tells the guy to make it $500 on the next game. The guy agrees. Then Sam breaks andβ¦turns out to be good.
Then he sees Ruby across the bar, tells the guy to keep the money (to Deanβs horror), and walks away.
They go over to Ruby, who says that sheβs just here to pass on some information and then sheβs gone. She tells them that a girl named Anna Milton escaped from a locked ward yesterday, and the demons are pretty keen on finding her.
Ruby doesnβt know why but the order is to capture her alive, so she must be pretty important. She figured the guys might want to find her before the demons.
Dean says no, theyβre working a case (which seems to be a lie). Dean does not trust or believe Ruby but Sam gets some more information and then we see him and Dean on the road. Sam gets off the phone, telling Dean that Anna Milton is real.
Dean is pissed that they got a tip from Ruby, and that Sam is practically BFF with a demon. Sam says that she helped him go after Lillith but Dean wants more information.
Sam says sure, letβs trade stories, asking him how hell was. Ooh.
Things are tense.
We get a flashback to six months earlier, and we see Sam trying to make a crossroads deal to bring Dean back. He is a little drunk and is pissed when no one shows up.
Then he turns around and sees a demon, who tells Sam that he doesnβt look so good.
The demon tells Sam to take out that special demon-killing knife. Sam puts it down, saying heβs not here to play games. The demon approaches, telling Sam a deal is not going to happen. Sam stabs the demonβs hand with Rubyβs knife, saying he doesnβt want any years β he wants to trade places with Dean.
The demon says no β Sam asks why not. Lillith wants Sam dead. The demon says it isnβt about Samβs soul. Deanβs in hell where they want him.
Then we jump back to the present, where the tension and silence in the car is pretty heavy.
At the hospital, Sam and Dean are interviewing the doctor about Annaβs escape. Apparently two months ago, Anna was happy and well-adjusted with a bright future; the doctor says that within weeks, Annaβs schizophrenia had her seeing delusions. She thought demons were everywhere.
The doctor says that it isnβt uncommon for their patients to believe that monsters are real.
As Sam flips through Annaβs sketchbook that the doctor handed over, he sees a page that talks about the raising of the witnesses. He and Dean share a look. They see sketches of Samhain, with a note that the seal is broken.
The doctor says that Annaβs father is a church deacon and when she became ill, she was convinced that the devil was going to rise up and end the world.
We see Sam and Dean at Annaβs parentsβ house. There are two cars in the driveway but no answer at the door. Dean turns the handle β the door is unlocked. They enter the house, calling out. Sam says theyβre from the sheriffβs department.
As he enters the house, he sees the dead bodies on the floor. Annaβs parents are dead. It looks like their throats have been cut.
Sam notices sulphur on the floor near the bodies β that means a demonβs been there.
Sam moves further into the house and finds a picture of Anna and her parents. He looks at Annaβs sketchbook and realizes that sheβs drawn the stained glass window of the church where her father worked.
Sam figures Anna will go to that church to feel safe. The boys get there and head upstairs, prepared to fight. Sam notices Anna hiding and they put their guns away. Sam says they arenβt going to hurt her, and theyβre here to help. He introduces himself and Anna seems to have heard of then.
She says the angels talk about Dean β he was in hell but Castiel pulled him out and some of them think Dean can save them β and some of them donβt like Sam at all.
She doesnβt talk to angels, but she can overhear them. They talk and sometimes she just hears them in her head.
Anna says that September 18 β the day Dean got out of hell β was when she started hearing βangel radioβ. She says the first words she heard were βDean Winchester is savedβ.
Dean asks Sam what he thinks but Sam says itβs above his paygrade. Dean says now they know why the demons want her β they get a hold of her and theyβll know what the angels are up to.
Anna asks if her parents are okay.
Suddenly Ruby shows up and tells them they have to go. A demon is coming and they can fight later β time to go.
Sam puts Anna in a hiding place and they get ready to fight. Ruby tells the boys that Sam has to exorcise the demon or they die, using his abilities.
The demon busts into the room and Sam starts trying to exorcise him. βThat tickles,β the demon says. He says Sam doesnβt have the juice to take him on, and throws him down the stairs. Dean goes to attack with Rubyβs knife and the demon grabs Deanβs wrist.
βHello again Dean,β he says.
Ruby grabs Anna.
The demon asks Dean if he recognizes him, in between punching him, saying they were so close in hell.
βAlistair,β Dean says. Sam stabs him with Rubyβs knife, but Alistair says Sam will have to try harder than that. As he pulls the knife out, Sam and Dean jump out the stained glass window to get away.
We see the boys tending to their wounds back at the motel. Sam is stitching up his arm, and Dean has a dislocated shoulder that he needs Sam to pop back in.
Ugh motel room self-surgery!
Dean is not impressed that they lost Rubyβs knife. Sam asks who that demon was. Dean says they have to find Anna. Sam says Rubyβs got her β heβs sure sheβs okay.
Sam pops Deanβs shoulder back in, and Dean asks if heβs sure about Ruby. Dean thinks Ruby used them to find Anna and then brought that demon in to kill them.
Sam says the demon is probably watching them, waiting to follow them back to Anna. For now, they have to lay low and wait to hear from Ruby.
Dean asks Sam why he trusts her so much. He wants to understand.
Sam tells Dean Ruby saved his life.
We see Sam six months earlier. Heβs a drunk mess after that encounter with the crossroads demon.
He enters his motel room and someone is in there! Sam starts to get his ass kicked by a guy and a girl.
Itβs Ruby! In a different vessel than weβve seen. She thanks Sam for keeping the knife for her. She says Lillith gave her one last chance to get out of hell β all she had to die was find and kill Sam Winchester. Sam tells her to do it.
Instead, she kills the demon she was with! She tells Sam to grab his keys and they have to go now.
In the car, Sam says he didnβt ask for her help. Ruby says Sam has no idea what sheβs been through. She says sheβs a fugitive for Sam. She took all of this risk to get back and help.
Sam says he didnβt ask her to save him. Can she help save Dean? Ruby says she doesnβt know anything powerful enough to do that. Sam pulls the car over and tells her to get out.
Sam asks whose body sheβs using. Ruby says itβs some secretary. Sam tells him to let her go or he sends her right back to hell.
Then we see βourβ Ruby β she is lying in a hospital bed as a Jane Doe, being taken off life support. Suddenly she sits up β Ruby jumped into this vessel.
So thatβs that Ruby vesselβs origin story.
She goes to Sam, holding proof that the body is β100% socially conscious. I recycleβ. She tells Sam she made sure to take a body where the spirit was gone.
She tells Sam she canβt bring Dean back, but she can get him something else that he wants. βWhatβs that?β Sam asks.
βLillith,β Ruby tells him. Sam says heβs ready to use his powers. βLetβs go.β
Ruby tells Sam that Lillith is a scary bitch, working on something big. Sam wants to go now but Ruby says they have the time to get it right β letβs get it right.
She tells Sam he has to promise her patience and sobriety, and sheβll teach him everything she knows.
Back in the present, Dean asks what Ruby taught him.
We get another flashback of Sam learning to use his abilities to exorcise a demon. Heβs not very good at first.
Ruby tells Sam to give it time and heβll get better. She means losing Dean β not pulling out demons.
Sam says he doesnβt want to talk about it. He asks Ruby what she knows about grief.
She tells him that she used to be human, and she remembers what itβs like to lose someone. She tells Sam heβs not alone, and they start making out! Sam walks away. Ruby tells him itβs okay. Sam says itβs anything but okay.
Ruby asks if itβs because of the body. She reminds him that itβs all her, thereβs no one else in there. She asks if itβs because heβs scared to go there with a demon.
Oh boy itβs getting steamy!
Hahahaha to Deanβs face in the present. βToo much information.β
Sam tells Dean that soon after, he put together some omens saying Lillith was in town. Sam wanted to strike first.
We see a flashback to five months ago where Sam is raring to go, but Ruby says he isnβt ready. They need to get this right and Sam is the only one who can do it.
Ruby realizes Sam wants to die fighting Lillith β he doesnβt want to survive this. Otherwise he has to go on without his brother. Ruby tells Sam that this isnβt what Dean died for.
Sam tells her to get out of his way. They scuffle and he heads out.
Sam enters a house where we presume Lillith is. Sam sees a little girl, who cries out that she wants to go home. Suddenly Sam is attacked! It was a trap β thank goodness Ruby shows up and takes out some demons. Ruby tells Sam to grab the little girl and run.
One of the demons grabs Ruby by the throat, but Sam comes back and uses his powers to exorcise the demon and save Ruby.
Sam tells Dean that Ruby came back for him. She saved him; she got through to him. What she said to him was what Dean would have said and if it wasnβt for her, he wouldnβt be here.
Deanβs face is very intense.
Thereβs a knock at the door. Itβs housekeeping β she comes in and gives Sam a note. She says sheβs at this address, and to go now. There are demons outside.
Itβs Ruby! Sheβs possessing this body momentarily, to deliver a message to give them the address where sheβs staying with Anna.
The boys head over there and Sam asks Anna if sheβs okay. Anna says Rubyβs not like other demons β she saved her life.
Dean says he owes Ruby β for Sam.
Anna asks if itβs safe to make a quick call to tell her parents sheβs okay. By Sam and Deanβs reaction, Anna knows something isnβt good. Sam has to tell her that her parents are dead.
Anna cries, asking why this is happening to her. Suddenly she sits up and the lights flicker. Dean tells her to get in the back room. The boys and Ruby gear up to fight. Ruby finds out they lost the knife and sheβs pissed.
Theyβre preparing for a demon to show up, but Cas shows up! With Uriel. Uriel wants to know what Rubyβs doing there.
Cas says theyβre here for Anna. Uriel tells them to give her to them. Sam asks if theyβre going to help her but Cas says no, she has to die.
TO BE CONTINUED!
Lore:
-angels
-demons
Overall Thoughts:
Well this is an interesting episode because we get to see what Sam was up to while Dean was in hell, and we get more background on his relationship with Ruby. I am very uncomfortable with how much Sam trusts Ruby, but she did seem to help him through a dark time.
Anna is kind of intriguing, but the part of this episode that really caught my attention was Alistair: what was his relationship with Dean in hell? What is he doing here?
This show doesnβt often do βTo be continuedβ episodes, but weβll get more of Annaβs story in the next one!