1.12 Faith
Title | Faith |
Episode # | Season 1, Episode 12 |
First aired | January 17, 2006 |
Directed by | Allan Kroeker |
Written by | Raelle Tucker Sera Gamble |
On IMDB | Faith |
Outline | When Dean is mortally wounded, Sam takes him to a faith healer in Nebraska that turns out to be another hunt. |
Monster | Rawhead Reaper |
Timeline | |
Location(s) | Ford City, Nebraska |
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Contents
Synopsis
While hunting a rawhead, Dean is accidentally electrocuted. Sam gets him to the hospital, but the prognosis is bad – his heart is damaged and he will die within a few weeks. Sam desperately searches for a way to save him, including leaving a message for John. Dean checks himself out of the hospital, and when he turns up at the motel, Sam announces he has found a specialist in Nebraska who will be able to help. Dean is not impressed when the specialist turns out to be Reverend Roy Le Grange, a faith healer. As they enter the tent where Le Grange preaches, they pass a man protesting that he is a fraud, though Layla Rourke and her mother have faith in his abilities.
Dean and Sam take their seats in the congregation. On stage is Roy Le Grange, a blind man, and his wife Sue-Ann Le Grange. Roy picks Dean out from the crowd, and he reluctantly joins Roy on stage. As Roy and the congregation start to pray, Dean gets dizzy and then collapses. Sam rushes to the stage. As Dean comes to, he sees the figure of a cadaverous man next to Roy. The next day Dean is checked out at the local hospital; he has inexplicably recovered from his fatal injuries, but he feels a strong sense of disquiet. When the nurse mentions that the previous day a young healthy man died of a heart attack, Dean suggests that Sam check it out, while he goes to visit the reverend.
Sam talks to a friend of Marshall Hall, the young man who died. The friend says that Marshall felt he was being followed before he died. Sam finds out that he died at the same time Dean was healed. At Roy Le Grange’s house, Roy tells Dean that he feels Dean has an unfinished purpose. As he leaves, Dean meets Layla Rourke and Mrs. Rourke. They are regular attendees at the services. Layla has a brain tumor, and Mrs. Rourke is bitter that Dean was healed rather than her daughter. Sam tells Dean about Marshall Hall’s death, and Dean tells Sam about the man he saw as he was being healed – he thinks it was a reaper. Sam also identifies a particular type of cross from the altar in the church tent as one that could be associated with black magic which could be used to control the reaper.
That night Sam breaks into the Le Grange house to try and find a spell book or something that Roy is using to control the reaper. Meanwhile, Dean goes to stop Roy healing, and therefore killing, someone else during his evening service. Sam finds a book full of newspaper clippings, and surmises that Roy is killing people he sees as immoral, and that the man who was protesting in the parking lot will be next. He calls Dean and tells him to stop Roy. Before Dean can act, Roy calls Layla to the stage for healing. Dean is reluctant, but finally stops the service by yelling "Fire!" Sam tracks down David, the parking lot protester, but he says The Reaper is still coming for him. Dean then sees Sue-Ann, praying over the unusual cross they had identified earlier. When she stops, the reaper disappears.
Back at the motel, Sam and Dean work out that it is Sue-Ann controlling the reaper, and that there must be an altar at the house. They return and Sam goes to find the altar, while Dean finds a service in progress and Layla, again, about to be healed. Sam finds the altar in the basement and destroys it, but Sue-Ann discovers him, and locks him down there. She returns to the service to summon the reaper so Layla can be healed. The Reaper appears to Dean, and starts to take his life. Just in time, Sam appears, and smashes the cross Sue-Ann is praying over. The reaper is released and takes Sue-Ann’s life. Layla, however, is not healed.
As they prepare to leave town, Dean is still disturbed that he was saved while Layla wasn’t. Layla arrives, invited by Sam, and she tells Dean she has made her peace with what will happen to her. Dean says he will pray for her, which she calls a miracle.
Characters
- Sam Winchester
- Dean Winchester
- Sue-Ann Le Grange
- Roy Le Grange
- Layla Rourke
- Mrs. Rourke
- The Reaper
- Marshall Hall
Definitions
- Aliases
- Binding Spell
- Black Magic
- Coptic Cross
- Dark side
- Dean's Amulet
- Faith Healer
- Healing
- Hunters
- Impala
- John's Cell Phone
- John's Journal
- Necromancy
- Rawhead
- Reaper
- Sammy
- Spells
- Star Wars
- Table of Death
- Tarot cards
- Tongues
- Unconscious
Music
- "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult
- (plays when the reaper kills the girl in the woods)
Netflix
- "Death in the Valley" by Death Riders
- (plays when the reaper kills the girl in the woods)
Quotes
Dean: A hundred thousand volts.
Sam: Damn.
Sam: I don't think that's funny.
Dean: I checked myself out.
Sam: What, are you crazy?
Sam: I believe I said a specialist. Look, Dean, this guy's supposed to be the real deal.
Dean: You know what I've got faith in? Reality. Knowing what's really going on.
Sam: How can you be a skeptic? With the things we see everyday?
Dean: Exactly. We see them, we know they're real.
Sam: But if you know evil's out there, how can you not believe good's out there, too?
Sam: You really think it's the Grim Reaper? Like, angel of death, collect your soul, the whole deal?
Dean: No no no, not the reaper, A reaper. There's reaper lore in pretty much every culture on earth, it goes by 100 different names, it's possible that there's more than one of them.
Sam: But you said you saw a dude in a suit.
Dean: Okay, we cant kill Roy, we can't kill death. Any bright ideas college boy?
Sam: Right. To force the reaper to kill people she thinks are immoral.
Dean: Then God save us from half the people who think they're doing God's work.Dean: So what now?
Layla: God works in mysterious ways... Goodbye Dean.
Dean: Well... I'm not much of the praying type... but... I'm gonna pray for you.
Trivia & References
- Amusing, seeing as Jensen Ackles's first major gig was in the role of Eric Brady on the daytime soap Days of Our Lives from 1997-2000.
- Snuggle Fabric Softener uses a disgustingly cute and possibly possessed Teddy Bear puppet in its commercials. For further reference: an original commercial; justification for Dean's fears.
Reverend Roy: You will be, son. You will be.
- Calls to mind Yoda's words to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back:
- Luke: I'm not afraid.
- Yoda: You will be. You will be.
Minutiae
- "It's when I first realized what the show was capable of. Here's this episode about: Is there a god? What's meant to be? And is there free will? And is your life worth the cost of someone else's life? It's a metaphysical and moral study of the boys' universe. There's so many different places the show can go and so many tones. That's been really fun to do."S1Com,p. 70-71.
Sides, Scripts & Transcripts
- 1.12 Faith (transcript)
- Faith Script (Studio Draft)
Promotion
Episode Meta
- SPN Heavy Meta Season One Meta Index
- Bond, Silvia. 2007. Angels Among Us: "Faith" Season 1, Episode 12. Pink Raygun, November 26; archive link
- Supernatural: Then and Now]] with guest Julie Benz who played Layla Rourke