13.04 The Big Empty
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| Title | The Big Empty |
| Episode # | Season 13, Episode 4 |
| First aired | November 2, 2017 |
| Directed by | John Badham |
| Written by | Meredith Glynn |
| On IMDB | The Big Empty |
| Outline | When patients of a grief counselor begin dying at the hands of deceased loved ones, Sam, Dean, and Jack investigate and are forced to deal with their own unresolved grief. Meanwhile, in the Empty, Castiel learns that he is not alone. |
| Monster | Shapeshifter |
| Timeline | |
| Location(s) | Madison, Wisconsin Lebanon, Kansas |
| « Previous Episode | Next Episode » | |
Contents
Synopsis
In Madison, Wisconsin, Wes Bailey comes home to find his dead wife, Erica, alive in their living room. Erica moves to embrace Wes, only to stab him in the gut. With Wes' dying breath he watches as she leaves the house with the bloody knife out the front door.
In the Bunker, Dean has found the Madison case and wants to leave Jack behind while he and Sam investigate, arguing to Sam that the world is safer if Jack is hidden away while continuing to assert that Mary is dead and that Sam needs to move on. Sam disagrees and asks Dean to give Jack a chance. When Sam goes to tell Jack they are all going on a hunt, Jack does not want to go and accuses Sam of using him. Sam explains that at Jack’s birth, a door between universes was opened and Mary is trapped on the other side. He tells Jack that he hopes that Jack can use his powers to open a rift and save Mary, but even if he can’t, Sam assures that he still cares for Jack. When Jack voices his fear of Dean and how he wants to kill him, Sam tells Jack he won't let that happen and that Dean respects effort, so Jack should come along.
They pull up at the house in Madison, and Dean and Sam explain ghosts and revenants to a curious Jack. Dean tells Jack to stay in the car while they interview the neighbor. Jack, however, goes into the house. When the Winchesters notice Jack missing, Dean hassles him about leaving the car, but Sam intercedes and begins explaining EMF to Jack. Seeing there’s no EMF in the house, Dean concludes that they are dealing with a revanant.
At Erica’s grave site, Dean orders Jack to start digging. Sam questions Dean about all the orders and sounding like their Dad, telling him while that worked for Dean, it didn't for him and they need to approach Jack differently. Dean counters that they shouldn't be babying him, but compliments Jack's digging ability. Once Jack hits Erica's coffin, they find her body is still inside. Jack wonders about his mother, Kelly, and if she would be a ghost. Sam explains that they burned her body. Dean asserts that anything that burns stays dead and proceeds to salt and burn the body.
Castiel, having awaken in the Empty, begins wandering the infinite void. As Castiel passes by, a pool of iridescent black goo pulls itself out of the nothingness and takes on human form.
Sam and Dean are at another murder scene, that of Gloria Simon who was killed by her young son, Scotty. As with the Bailey house, there is no EMF at the scene. The three stop at a Madison police station to look for a connection between the two deaths. While Sam is getting files, Dean sends Jack to get their lunch. Sam objects that Jack is not their intern and Jack just wants Dean to like him. In looking for connections between the victims, Sam and Dean discover that both victims saw the same therapist, Mia Vallens.
Sam, Dean, and Jack visit Mia’s office, posing as brothers who have recently lost their mother. Mia and Dean butt heads about the value of therapy, leading to Sam and Dean arguing about accepting their Mother's death. Sam tells Dean that he feels he never had the relationship Dean did with Mary and he doesn't want to accept that he never will, and in his anger Sam storms out of the room. While getting some water, Sam notices blood on the stairs and sneaks upstairs to discover skin, hair, and teeth remains in the bathroom.
Back in the office, Mia confronts Dean about upsetting Sam and Jack being so obviously scared of Dean. Sam bursts into the room accusing Mia of being a shapeshifter. Mia admits it but says she is helping people get closure with their lost loved ones by seeing them one last time and saying goodbye. When Sam and Dean mention the death of Wes and Gloria, Mia is surprised and gives them an alibi for Wes' death, which checks out.
Castiel, realizing he is being followed, confronts the creature who takes his form. When he asks what the creature is and where they are, the Cosmic Entity tells Castiel that they are in the place that was before God and Amara -- the Empty. It explains that the Empty is where angels and demons end up when they die, where they sleep an eternal peaceful slumber. The Cosmic Entity, angry that Castiel is awake and therefore keeping it awake, begins torturing Castiel to try and learn why he has woken up.
Mia suggests the killings are being perpetrated by her ex, Buddy. She explains that Buddy is another shifter who enjoys hurting people and that she left him when she couldn't take his sadism anymore. Dean and Jack go to check out Mia’s assistant, Tom, to see if he is actually Buddy. Sam stays behind with Mia to review security footage and quickly discovers Mia’s patient, John Driscoll, is Buddy by his retinal flare on the video.
Castiel asks the Cosmic Entity to send him back to Earth, if he is causing such a disturbance. The Entity denies the request and shows Castiel memories of great pain from his past and tells Castiel that he should want to be asleep rather than continue as the failure he was on Earth. Castiel stands up to the Entity and threatens to keep them awake until they both go insane for eternity.
When Dean and Jack return to Mia’s office, Sam has already left to track down John Driscoll. As Dean calls Sam, Jack asks to speak to Mia alone. Jack confesses that Sam and Dean are not his brothers and tells Mia about Kelly, showing her the video she left him. Jack asks Mia for a chance to see her. Mia gladly agrees and asks Jack to close his eyes while she shifts into Kelly's form. Upon seeing Mia as Kelly, Jack tearfully tells her that he is afraid that he’s not good and that he feels nothing. Mia, as Kelly, tells Jack that it matters what he does, not what he is, and that even monsters can do good in the world.
Buddy, unbeknownst to Mia, has arrived at her home and taken Dean’s form after knocking him unconscious. As Dean, Buddy barges into Mia’s office and strikes Jack with a fire poker, knocking him out. With Dean and Jack restrained, Buddy removes his Dean skin. While Buddy explains how he has been looking for Mia since she left him, and how after seeing the life she created for herself he wanted to destroy it, Dean tries to get Jack to use his powers. Buddy gives Mia an ultimatum: either she kills Dean and Jack or he will shoot her. Mia, choosing not to be a killer, tells Buddy to shoot her but Buddy is distracted by Sam's arrival. Calling Sam into the office using Dean's voice, Buddy takes a shot at him. Seeing his friend in danger, Jack is able to tap into his powers and send a blast of celestial energy to slam Buddy into the wall and deflect the bullet, allowing Sam time to kill Buddy with a silver bullet.
Back at the Bunker, Dean tells Jack he did good, bringing a smile to Jack's face. In the library, Dean brings Sam a beer and they talk about what they said in Mia’s office. Dean apologizes for being difficult and praises Jack for saving them. Sam worries that Dean may be right and that Mary is dead, but Dean tells Sam to keep the faith for both of them, because right now, he doesn’t believe in anything.
In a field on Earth, Castiel wakes and basks in the sunlight.
Characters
Definitions
- Alcohol
- Aliases
- Antichrist
- Costumes & Disguises
- EMF
- The Empty
- Impala
- Men of Letters Bunker
- Monsters
- A Practitioner's Guide to Exorcism
- Resurrection
- Revenant
- Salt
- Sammy
- Shapeshifter
- Silver
- Star Wars
- Table of Death
- Unconscious
Music
None
Quotes
Sam: So you're saying you want to move on, from Mom.
Jack: You wanna save her.
Sam: Yeah. Yeah, I do. But... if this doesn't work, if that can't happen, that's okay, because I do care about you. But I should've told you. I'm sorry. It's a lot and, uh...
Jack: Dean can't even look at me. He wants to kill me.
Dean: That a bad thing?
Sam: I'm just saying his-- his drill sergeant act worked with you... but it didn't work with me. And that's not the way we're gonna get through to Jack.
Dean: I can see him. He keeps staring at me.
Sam: Yes, he wants you to like him.Sam: Dean.
Dean: You said you wanted to give this a shot, right? Here we go. He won't even admit that Mom's dead. Won't even admit it.
Sam: Stop.
Dean: Because if he admits it then, it's real. And if it's real, then he has to deal with it, and he can't handle that.
Sam: Right, because this is so easy for you, huh?
Dean: No, it's not easy.
Sam: Yeah, but at least you had a relationship with Mom. I mean, who would she always call? Who did she look to for everything?
Dean: Okay.
Cosmic Entity: Oh, yes. Excellent question. You see, before God and Amara, creation, destruction, Heaven, Hell, your precious little Earth, what was there?
Castiel: Nothing.
Cosmic Entity: Yes. That's right. Nothing. Nothing but Empty. And you are soaking in it. Angels and demons, you all come here when you die.
Castiel: Every angel that ever died is here?
Mia / Kelly: Jack. It doesn't matter what you are. It matters what you do. And even monsters can do good in this world.
Jack: You really believe that?
Castiel: I'm already saved. You can prance and you can preen and you can scream and yell and remind me of my failings but somehow, I'm awake. And I will stay awake and I will keep you awake until we both go insane. I will fight you. Fight you and fight you for... ever. For eternity.
Dean: Don't say that.
Sam: What? You've been wanting me to admit that since it happened.
Trivia & References
- Damien refers to Damien Thorn, the son of Satan, who is the main character in The Omen series of films.
- Adventures in Babysitting is a 1987 comedy movie.
Jack: The computer said I'd like it. I do like Ahsoka. Kinda hate Anakin.
Sam: Uh... that's probably for the best. Never mind.
- Clone Wars is an animated series set in the Star Wars universe that ran from 2008-2014. Ahsoka Tona is a Jedi who trains under Anakin Skywalker. Anakin, of course, goes Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader.
Sam: Yeah, sometimes.
- John Bonham was the drummer for the British rock band Led Zeppelin. Bob Seger is an American singer-songwriter; his hits include "Night Moves', which featured in a Sam-Dean singalong scene in 11.04 Baby. "Anderson" may refer to Ian Anderson, flautist and lead singer of Jethro Tull, or possibly Jon Anderson, former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes.
Dean: They're called ghosts. And hanging around makes them go loony tunes. Uh, they go crazy.
- Looney Tunes were cartoons by Warner Brothers that ran from the 1930s to the 1960s. As "looney" is slang for "lunatic" the phrase became slang for someone having a mental illness.
Dean: Yeah, well, what does these days? You know, I mean, we -- we've got portals to apocalyptic worlds. We've got, uh, shape-shifting demons. Dealing with a whole new set of tiddlywinks. I say we just... do what we do.
- Tiddlywinks is a game where players try and flip flat discs into a container.
- Dean is referring to the Kool-Aid poisoned with cyanide that members of the People's Temple were made to drink during the Jonestown massacre.
- A reference to cannibalistic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter.
Dean: Yeah, doctor's gonna eat our liver with some fava beans and a bottle of Chianti.
- "Fava beans and a bottle of Chianti" is a reference to this famous scene from The Silence of the Lambs.
- Spock is one of the most iconic characters from the Star Trek series.
Cosmic Entity: Oh, I'm just your friendly neighborhood cosmic entity.
- A play on Spider-Man's nickname of being known as, "Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."
Cosmic Entity: Oh, yes. Yes, yes. Well, I show up in my real form, and you freak out, rip out your own eyes, et cetera. That would be embarrassing, wouldn't it, for both of us?
- An element of author H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos is that if a person were to lay eyes upon a member of the Great Old Ones, the sight would drive them mad.
- A reference to the 1929 song, "Tiptoe Through the Tulips".
Buddy: What? A monster? Well, so are you. And it's about time you embraced that. So I'm not gonna kill those boys. You are. You end them, or you die, courtesy of Tweedledee's silver bullets.
- Tweedledee and Tweedledum are fictional identical twin brothers from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Minutiae
- Sam used the same line in 4.04 Metamorphosis when he tried to reason with a rugaru who ironically is also named Jack.
Sides, Scripts & Transcripts
- 13.04 The Big Empty (transcript)
- The Big Empty Script (Blue Draft, missing Act Five)
- The Big Empty Script (Yellow Draft)
