7.01 Meet the New Boss
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| Title | Meet the New Boss |
| Episode # | Season 7, Episode 1 |
| First aired | September 23, 2011 |
| Directed by | Philip Sgriccia |
| Written by | Sera Gamble |
| On IMDB | Meet the New Boss |
| Outline | As Castiel takes on his role of God, Sam struggles with his memories of Hell. |
| Monster | Castiel Leviathans |
| Timeline | Directly after the events of 6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much |
| Location(s) | Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Bootbock, Kansas (fictional location) |
| « Previous Episode | Next Episode » | |
Contents
Synopsis
Directly following 6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much, Bobby, Dean, and Sam prepare to bow down to Castiel, who has declared himself the new God. Castiel stops them, however, because he knows that they do not respect and love him as he wishes—they only fear him. Instead of smiting them as he threatened, he leaves without healing Sam, whose mind is in tatters after remembering his time in Lucifer's Cage.
Right after leaving Dean, Sam, and Bobby; Castiel returns to Heaven, where he kills all of the angels who sided with Raphael against him and declares that he is the new God. Later, Castiel appears in a small town church and, in front of an entire congregation, tells a reverend that, while he does not care about a person's sexual orientation, he does care about hypocrites who claim to speak for God. He implies that the reverend's own sexual activities make him a hypocrite and then kills him without touching him. The congregation is in shock, and, after replacing a stained glass image of Jesus with the image of himself, Castiel is momentarily staggered, hearing whispers of his name being called. Castiel leaves the church leaving a burn mark on a pew he used to steady himself.
After the confrontation with Castiel, Dean and Bobby take an unconscious Sam back to Bobby's place. Dean and Bobby are at a loss as to what they can do to challenge Castiel, and Dean decides to fix the Impala until Sam wakes up, at which point he plans to fix Sam. When Sam finally wakes up, however, he insists that he's fine. Bobby catches him acting oddly, but lets it go when news stories about a "young, sexy man" in a raincoat start to crop up. Over 200 religious leaders, the Ku Klux Klan, and a group of New Age motivational speakers are brought down, but Dean is resolved to stay out of Castiel's way despite Sam's misgivings.
While Castiel is busy bringing down corrupt religious leaders and healing the leper colonies in India, Crowley is hiding in a trailer covered in angel warding. Crowley is just having a drink of scotch when Castiel appears in his trailer despite his protections. Crowley thinks that Castiel is there to smite him, but instead Castiel makes Crowley an offer: he'll allow Crowley to live if he returns to his post as the "King of Hell" and takes the souls that Castiel allows him. Castiel notes that he would have done away with Hell completely, if not for the fact that he needed it as a threat to hold over his enemies, and because he and Crowley need to keep Michael in Lucifer's cage. Crowley doesn't have much of a choice, so he accepts Castiel's offer.
Back at Bobby's place, Sam's mental state is very unstable. He has a disturbing dream and wakes in a panic, but when he seeks out Dean and Bobby he overhears them talking about him. Dean wants to believe that Sam is okay, so Sam lets him. Instead of telling him about his problems, Sam updates him on more of Castiel's actions. As they talk, Dean gets an idea about what can stop Castiel, and they summon Crowley into a devil's trap. They want him to give them a ritual that will allow them to bind Death, similar to the way that Lucifer bound Death, and make him kill Castiel.
Once Crowley delivers the ritual, Bobby does some research regarding the necessary components. The one item they'll have to steal is a fulgurite, a crystallized lightning bolt, and they drive nine hours to the home of an affluent couple that owns one. Unfortunately, Dr. and Mrs. Weiss interrupt them mid-heist, and Dean is forced to tie them up and gag them. They are present when Bobby, Dean, and Sam prepare and perform the ritual to bind Death.
The ritual is successful, and Death appears, bound. He thinks that he has been summoned regarding Sam's hallucinations, and Dean looks to Sam, surprised by the news. Death asserts that he can't help Sam (there's only "one wall per customer"), and Dean tells him instead that they want him to kill Castiel. Before they can convince him, though, Castiel appears. He threatens to kill them all, but Dean reminds him that Death is under their control. It appears that they are at a stalemate.
During their standoff, Death confronts Castiel about his deteriorating state. Castiel's vessel is burning out, similar to an Angel's vessel, and Death tells him that it is because he absorbed things from Purgatory—things older than souls—that he can't contain. Long before God created the first angels and men, he created the first beasts: Leviathans. They were locked away in Purgatory because they threatened to tear apart the world, and now these Leviathans are within Castiel. Death warns that Castiel is just a thin membrane between the old ones and their world.
Castiel scoffs at Death's warnings and threatens to kill him, and Death ignores his threats, telling him that he isn't a God. As their bickering escalates, Dean orders Death to kill Castiel, but Castiel breaks the bonds tying Death to their will and then flees. Instead of turning on them, Death declares that Castiel's arrogance is annoying and decides to help them yet again. He tells Dean that the things Castiel absorbed can be returned to Purgatory: they just have to return to Bootbock, Kansas, the place where they first confronted Castiel as a God, open another door to Purgatory, and convince him to give up his new power.
In order to open the door to Purgatory, Death agrees to create another eclipse at 3:59 AM on Sunday. They have very little time, and Dean seems to have given up before even trying to talk to Castiel. Sam, despite the fact that he is suffering hallucinations and nightmares, refuses to give up, and prays to Castiel.
Meanwhile, Castiel awakens in a campaign office, covered in blood and horrified that he unconsciously slaughtered everyone in the office. When he hears Sam's prayer, he answers and admits that he needs their help. Dean, Sam, and Bobby take him back to Crowley's old hideout in Kansas. A jar of the blood that they need is in a supply closet there, and Sam goes to retrieve it while Dean and Bobby prepare to open the door to Purgatory. While alone, Sam sees Lucifer. He tells him that he knows he's a hallucination, but Lucifer convinces him that he's still in hell, and that everything else is a hallucination.
Castiel apologizes to Dean for the things that he did and his arrogance, and says that if he still had the power, he would heal Sam. Dean isn't really comforted, and Castiel can sense that things still aren't right between them. As they talk, their window of time before the eclipse is closing, and Dean goes looking for Sam. He doesn't find him, but he does find the jar of blood in the hall. He rushes back with the blood and paints the ritual symbol on the wall. They stand Castiel in front of the wall, and Bobby says the ritual words. Castiel apologizes to Dean one last time before the door to Purgatory opens as planned. A bright light emanates from Castiel and rushes into the opening. After a few moments, Castiel collapses and the door closes again.
At first, Castiel appears dead, but he revives, and Dean and Bobby are relieved. They stand him up and decide to find Sam and get out of there. Before they can even get out of the room, though, an internal battle wages inside Castiel: the Leviathans hung on and are still inside him. As they watch in horror, a Leviathan takes control of Castiel's vessel and throws both Dean and Bobby against the walls, claiming that Castiel is gone and that "this is going to be so much fun."
Characters
Definitions
Music
- "Slow Ride" by Foghat
- (plays during "The Road So Far" recap of events)
- "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" by Nancy Sinatra
- (plays when
CasGod pays Crowley a visit)
Quotes
Bobby: Exactly! What? Miracles? Mass visions? A trench coat on a tortilla?
Dean: Yeah, I'm not sure new Cas gets irony any better than old Cas.
Castiel: No.
Crowley: Castiel, you giraffe.
Bobby: Is your boss?
Crowley: He's everybody's boss! What do you think he's going to do when he finds out we've been conspiring? You do... want to conspire, don't you?
Trivia & References
- This is a reference to The Prince by Machiavelli; Chapter XVII, Concerning Cruelty and Clemency. Castiel's subsequent actions are a juvenile attempt to strike fear and receive love from humans.
- A reference to the proverb: "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth". It means not to overthink a gift. Dean previously referenced this proverb in 6.12 Like a Virgin.
- This may be a reference to or veiled swipe at the Westboro Baptist Church, a fringe religious group headed by Fred Phelps which is notorious for picketing the funerals of U.S. soldiers and other events to espouse their anti-gay and anti-Semitic messages.
- This is not a verbatim Bible verse. However, there are Bible passages that convey a similar meaning including Proverbs 19:5, and Jeremiah 14:14.
- This may be a veiled reference to Monica Lewinsky, the infamous White House intern and lover of Bill Clinton. Pentagon official Linda Tripp, a friend of Lewinsky's, was involved in getting evidence of the affair. She once famously said "Monica is a very worldly person. She educated me."
- This is a line from the song Renegade by Styx, which was used in the final scene of 2.12 Nightshifter.
- Dean is referencing a popular and widely-spoofed 1980s series of ads for Grey Poupon mustard. The line is also a quote from Wayne's World. Watch it here.
- Eager to start the ritual to bind Death, Bobby quotes astronaut Alan Shepard, who yelled "Let's light this candle!" while waiting inside his Mercury capsule for the command that would start the countdown and make him the first American in space.
- This is a reference to the famous "You're no Jack Kennedy" line, used by Lloyd Bentsen during his 1988 vice presidential debate with Dan Quayle, who had previously been comparing his limited experience in the U.S. Senate to John F. Kennedy's before he was elected president. It has since become one of the most famous and most quoted or parodied zingers in political history. Watch the clip here.
- A reference to the idiom, 'you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink' which means you can give someone the opportunity to do something, but you can't force them to do it.
- Guano is another term for batshit - a reference to the phrase - to be "batshit crazy."
Minutiae
The post-it note on the ritual from Crowley reads:
- BYE FOREVER
- YOU FOOLS
- KISSES
- C
The binding spell used on Death (written in red ink) reads:
Invoco Mortem.
Te in mea potestate.
Defixi.
Nunc et in aeternum.
I call upon Death.
Thee for my power.
Fastened.
Now and for eternity.
