8.19 Taxi Driver
Title | Taxi Driver |
Episode # | Season 8, Episode 19 |
First aired | April 3, 2013 |
Directed by | Guy Norman Bee |
Written by | Eugenie Ross-Leming Brad Buckner |
On IMDB | Taxi Driver |
Outline | In order to complete the second trial, Sam must rescue an innocent soul from Hell. |
Monster | Crowley Demons Vampires |
Timeline | |
Location(s) | Kansas City, Missouri Warsaw, Missouri Purgatory Hell 100-Mile Wilderness, Maine |
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Contents
Synopsis
On Garth's safe-boat, Kevin is startled awake in the middle of the night by hearing Crowley's voice taunt him. He looks around the boat for the source, but finds nothing. While the taunts warn Kevin about what further injury Crowley may inflict on him, he is distraught to notice that first one hand, then both feet and both arms have disappeared into bloody stumps.
Sam and Dean arrive at the safe-boat, and a fully-limbed Kevin tells them that the reason he has called is that he has finished translating the second trial from the demon tablet. Though panicking that Crowley has gotten into his head, Kevin relays that the second trial is to rescue an innocent soul from Hell and deliver it unto Heaven.
Sam and Dean go to a crossroads where they summon a demon. A male crossroads demon appears and immediately attempts to leave when he sees it's the Winchesters, but cannot as he is caught in a massive devil's trap painted onto the road surface. The boys take the demon to an empty building and torture him into revealing that rogue reapers can smuggle people/souls into and out of Hell and Heaven.
The boys drive into a seedy downtown neighborhood and walk over to a taxi driver named Ajay, who is actually a reaper. While they negotiate the possibility of Ajay smuggling them into Hell, he reveals that he knows who they are because he is the one who transported Bobby Singer to Hell, as ordered by Crowley. The boys are surprised to hear about Bobby, as they had assumed he was in Heaven. Dean wants Ajay to send both he and Sam to Hell, but Sam argues that he must complete the trials alone, and tells Ajay to send only him. Ajay lets Dean know that he and Sam will be back in exactly 24 hours.
Ajay and Sam, hand in hand, pass through a gateway into Purgatory. Ajay gives Sam directions to get to a portal which serves as a back door from Purgatory into Hell. He reminds Sam to be back at that spot where they landed in Purgatory in precisely 24 hours, then vanishes. Meanwhile, Dean has gone back to the safe-boat to bring Kevin some food. He finds Kevin hiding in a heavily-warded closet, convinced that Crowley knows where to find him. Dean gives Kevin a pep talk, and Kevin takes his food back to the closet to eat—along with Dean's pie.
In the seedy downtown neighborhood, Ajay walks up to his taxi and gets in the driver's seat, not realizing that Crowley is in the back. Crowley questions him about making a deal with the Winchesters, and Ajay reluctantly reveals that he assisted Sam in getting into Hell, although he does not know Sam's reasons for wanting to go. Once Crowley has gotten this information from Ajay, Crowley stabs and kills him.
Back in Purgatory, Sam continues to search for the back door to Hell. He is attacked by and kills a monster before finding the portal and getting sucked through it. Once in Hell, he makes his way through its prisoners until he finds Bobby, who at first mistakes Sam for another in a long line of demons wearing the likeness of Sam. He soon recognizes it is actually Sam and is relieved to find out that Sam is not there because he has died, but rather because he is there to rescue Bobby.
At Crowley HQ, the King of Hell angrily questions one of his demons, demanding that she help figure out what the Winchesters are up to and orders her to find Kevin Tran along with the other half of the demon tablet. Aboard the safe-boat, Kevin surprises Dean by returning from a trip to hide the tablet. He refuses to reveal its location to Dean, and retires to the closet. Naomi appears inside the safe-boat and introduces herself to Dean. She attempts to convince him that she is on his side, spinning the truth of her interactions with Castiel, and providing him with the information that Ajay took Sam into Purgatory in order to help him get into Hell. Dean then goes in search of Ajay, but finds him dead in his cab.
Sam and Bobby, having exited Hell, travel through Purgatory, look for the landing spot where Sam arrived with Ajay. Sam explains the trials to Bobby as they go, and Bobby tells Sam that if the boys can figure out a way to bring him back, he's ready and willing to get into the fight again. Sam is distressed to realize that Ajay has not showed up at the agreed time and place.
Back topside, Dean calls Benny Lafitte and tells him he needs a big favor. Benny meets him, and it becomes evident that Dean wants Benny to return to Purgatory in order to help Sam get out, now that Ajay is dead. Benny agrees to go back, telling Dean that he could use a break. Dean promises to help him once Benny gets back from Purgatory with Sam. They embrace, and Dean slices off Benny's head.
Just before Sam and Bobby are attacked by a trio of monsters in Purgatory, Sam admits to Bobby that Dean had spent a year there in Purgatory, and that Sam had not looked for Dean during that whole time. Bobby berates Sam for abandoning Dean. As Sam and Bobby are attacked, Benny appears out of nowhere and helps them fight off the monsters. Bobby assumes that Benny is also a monster, and Sam moves in to save Benny before Bobby can kill him.
When Benny, Bobby, and Sam arrive at the portal for leaving Purgatory, Sam absorbs Bobby's spirit into his arm in order to transport him out. When Sam goes to do the same with Benny, Benny refuses, choosing to stay in Purgatory. At that moment, a group of vampires appear and Benny goes to fight them, leaving Sam to exit Purgatory without him. As Sam enters the portal, he catches a final glimpse of Benny under a pile of attackers.
Sam exits the portal into Maine's 100-Mile Wilderness, and Dean is there waiting for him. Sam relates to Dean how Benny used himself as bait to save Sam. Sam then releases Bobby's spirit to make its way to Heaven, but as it is doing so, Crowley appears and prevents Bobby's spirit from ascending. He attempts to send it back to Hell but, just then, Naomi shows up, scaring Crowley off and allowing Bobby's spirit to complete its ascent to Heaven before vanishing herself. Sam recites the Enochian incantation to finish the second trial, collapsing in pain as he does so.
As Kevin adds some touch ups to warding symbols at the safe-boat, Crowley blasts through the windows and announces to Kevin that he has killed Kevin's mother.
As the boys make their way back to the safe-boat, Dean admits that he has buried, not burned, Benny's bones. Sam affirms that Benny was different than he had first thought, and that leaving the door open to bring him back is the right thing to do. When the boys arrive at the safe-boat, the windows are shown to still be intact, although Kevin is gone along with all his notes and belongings.
Characters
Definitions
- Acting in Unison
- Angel Blade
- Angel Lore
- Bacon
- Balls
- Benny's Truck
- Biggerson's
- Bobby's Hats
- Crossroads
- Crossroads Demon
- Deals and Pacts
- Deleted Scenes
- Demon-Killing Knife
- Demonology
- Devil's Trap
- Drugs
- Enochian
- Fizzles' Folly
- Heaven
- Hell
- Hell Gates
- Hello Boys
- Holy Water
- Hugs
- Idjit
- Impala
- Nicknames
- Pie
- Portal
- Prophet
- Purgatory
- Purgatory Weapons
- Reapers
- Shapeshifting
- Sam's Height
- Souls
- Spells
- Tablets
- Trials
- Vampires
- The Veil
- Warding Sigils
Music
None
Quotes
Dean: What?
Dean: By who?
Crossroads Demon: Rogue reapers. They got secret ways, in and out. Not just Hell -- the Veil, Heaven.
Sam: Rogue reapers smuggling people?
Crossroads Demon: People, souls...
Ajay: Whoa, whoa, Winchester, detach. This is Hell-adjacent. Been down this highway many times before. Follow the stream to where three trees meet as one. Where they meet, there are rocks. Between the rocks is the portal.
Bobby: A buddy?
Benny: A good buddy.
Dean: You're probably right. So, uh... Bobby -- how -- how'd he hold up down there?
Sam: He's good, all things considered. Ornery as hell, of course.
Naomi: Don’t call me a bureaucrat.
Trivia & References
Sam: But could a coyote like you do it?
- Sam is referring to the rabbit hole which Alice falls down to enter the fantasy world in Alice in Wonderland.
Minutiae
- Crowley is referencing when he cut off Kevin Tran's finger in 8.07 A Little Slice of Kevin.
- Crowley had previously referred to Purgatory as "Hell-adjacent" in 6.07 Family Matters.
Bobby: What?
Sam: You're a fan. Yeah. Or -- or, uh... Okay. What about your free pedicure at the Mall of America? You made Dean swear to never tell another living soul how it changed your life.
- In 6.06 You Can't Handle the Truth, the influence of Veritas meant that people could only speak the truth to Dean. Bobby revealed to him his love for actress Tori Spelling and her reality shows with her husband Dean. He also confided that he gets pedicures and loves having his feet massaged. Dean obviously passed this all on to Sam!
- The Mothership is the nickname used for the Los Angeles Supernatural offices.
- A short clip of Dean checking his watch before running down an empty alleyway calling for Sam. Read the transcript here.
- A scene where Dean prays to Castiel. Read the transcript here.
- A short scene where Dean asks Benny if he ever fed while they were apart. Read the transcript here.
Sides, Scripts & Transcripts
- 8.19 Taxi Driver (transcript)
- Taxi Driver Script (Production Draft)
- Taxi Driver Call Sheet (Day 1 of 8)
- Taxi Driver Call Sheet and Script Sides (Day 6 of 8)
Promotion
- Title
- Synopsis
- Promo pics via ksite
- Promo Video
- Sneak Peek
- CHCH promo
- Winchester Radio's podcast for this episode] with special guest Guy Bee