9.09 Holy Terror
Title | Holy Terror |
Episode # | Season 9, Episode 9 |
First aired | December 3, 2013 |
Directed by | Thomas J. Wright |
Written by | Eugenie Ross-Leming Brad Buckner |
On IMDB | Holy Terror |
Outline | The boys meet up with Castiel as they investigate warring factions of angels. |
Monster | Angels |
Timeline | |
Location(s) | Lebanon, Kansas Caribou, Wyoming Utah |
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Contents
Synopsis
The Melody Ministry Glee Club bus pulls up to a biker bar. Upon entering, the choristers and bikers reveal themselves to be opposing factions of angels. A fight ensues, and the bikers are killed.
In the Impala, Ezekiel assures Dean that Sam's health is improving, though he's uncomfortable with the Winchesters taking a job that involves angels. Sam resurfaces, noticing the time gap when Ezekiel had been in control, and Dean lies, insisting it's leftover damage from the trials. The Winchesters arrive at the biker bar where Castiel poses as a federal agent, hoping to prevent more angel deaths. Ezekiel briefly appears to Dean, conveying his disapproval of Castiel's involvement.
Malachi and the blonde chorus leader, both anarchist angels, meet with Bartholomew's lieutenant to discuss a truce, uniting in order to defeat Metatron and take control of Heaven. The lieutenant refuses, and Malachi murders her and her henchmen.
Sam, Dean, and Castiel go to a bar where Castiel has his first beer as a human. Castiel says that, according to April Kelly, Bartholomew plans to reverse Metatron's spell. When Castiel steps away, Ezekiel demands that Dean remove Castiel from the case, claiming he is a beacon that attracts other angels for miles around. Dean is curious as to what has Ezekiel spooked about the other angels, for which he tells him because he helped the Winchesters, he chose sides.
Ezekiel steps outside and meets Metatron, who outs him as Gadreel, locked in Heaven's prison for failing to prevent the Serpent from entering Eden. Metatron's spell had freed Gadreel along with the fallen angels, and Metatron admits he's bored being the only angel in Heaven, envisioning a new Heaven run by a handpicked few. Metatron proposes a partnership with Gadreel, with Metatron as the new God.
With Sam outside, Dean admits to Castiel that Sam is still damaged from the trials, and that they can't work together until Sam has recovered. Later at the bunker, Dean tells Sam that Castiel wanted to work alone. Sam discovers the obituary of one of the dead angel bikers, William Edwards, and that all of the bikers were born-again Christians who, thanks to Buddy Boyle, consented to being vessels for Bartholomew's followers.
The blonde chorus leader attends a Utah bible study group, recruiting students as angel vessels. Celestial energy coils in the air over their heads, but Bartholomew's henchmen swoop in and kill everyone before the angels can take the host bodies. Metatron and Gadreel meet many times, and Gadreel agrees to work for him, but Metatron hedges, giving Gadreel the name of an enemy he must kill in order to prove his loyalty.
Castiel prays for assistance in a motel room, and the angel Muriel appears. Though she's hesitant to be seen with him, she admits that Malachi and Bartholomew are fanatics, and that angels who fail to pick a side are soon killed. Suddenly, Malachi's men break in and steal them away to be tortured. Castiel insists Metatron duped him into causing the angels to fall, but Malachi believes Castiel can influence Metatron, and kills Muriel as retribution for the angels that died in the fall, including Ezekiel. Malachi leaves Castiel to be tortured, but his torturer, Theo, begs Castiel to arrange for Metatron to raise him to Heaven. Castiel plays along, assuring Theo a place in Metatron's army, but as soon as he's freed, Castiel grabs an angel blade, slits Theo's throat, consumes his grace, and kills him. Malachi returns to find all his men dead and Castiel gone.
In the bunker, Kevin Tran finds a section of the angel tablet that's so obscure it's as if Metatron wanted to keep it hidden from a prophet. Later, Kevin notices Sam's frequent disappearances. Castiel calls Dean to inform him that Malachi leads the angel opposition, Castiel is once more an angel, and Ezekiel died in the fall. Dean asks Kevin for a spell that would hobble an angel, so that one could speak to the vessel's owner without the residing angel listening in. Kevin uses the angel tablet and an old Men of Letters book to find an angel suppressing sigil which Kevin and Dean paint in the storeroom. Kevin knows Dean is withholding information, but trusts him anyway.
Dean takes Sam to the storeroom, where he activates the sigil with his blood and quickly admits everything about Ezekiel's possession after the trials, urging Sam to expel the angel. Sam is furious at being tricked, and punches Dean unconscious. Dean awakens just in time to see Gadreel lay a hand on Kevin's head and smite him. Gadreel pins Dean to the wall, confessing that he’d overheard Dean and Kevin's earlier conversation, altered the sigils so they would fail, and pretended to be Sam in the storeroom. Taking the angel and demon tablets, Gadreel exits the bunker, leaving Dean to weep beside Kevin's body.
Characters
- Sam Winchester
- Dean Winchester
- Castiel
- Kevin Tran
- Ezekiel/Gadreel
- Metatron
- Bartholomew
- Female Angel
- Malachi
- Muriel
- Theo
Definitions
Music
- "This Little Light of Mine"
- (sung by the Melody Ministry Glee Club)
- "Bad Luck" by Social Distortion
- (plays in the bar during the angel battle between the bikers and the Melody Ministry Glee Club)
- "Wrong Path" by Jonny Redmond (Source in Sync / Imagem Production Music)
- (playing in the bar while Sam, Dean and Cas are drinking beers)
- "Tears in My Beer" by Lionel Wendling, Christian Seguret & Olivier Andres (Kosinus)
- (plays during Dean and Castiel's conversation in the bar)
Quotes
Castiel: Agent.
Dean: Seriously did you just... did he just say that?
Castiel: Hey, you once told me that you don't choose what you do. It chooses you.
Castiel: Well, Bartholomew wants to reverse Metatron's spell. Presumably to – to retake Heaven once his following is large enough. That's according to April.
Dean: The reaper you banged.
Castiel: Yeah, and you stabbed.
Dean: Yeah. She was hot.
Castiel: So hot. And very nice.
Dean: Mm.
Castiel: Up to the point she started torturing me
Ezekiel: I told you. When I chose to answer your prayers and heal Sam, I chose sides. That means I'm not in good standing with certain angels.
Gadreel: No angels are in Heaven? None at all?
Metatron: No, and you know, at first, I thought I would love it. But it's a big place. My solitude is getting tedious.
Gadreel: And so?
Dean: Well that is not something you hear everyday!
Gadreel: Humans do seem chaotic, Metatron.
Malachi: Just following your example, Castiel. How many did you kill in Heaven? How many in the fall? Oh, you didn't know? A host of angels died when they fell –- Azrael, Sophia, Ezekiel... "Died" doesn't even describe it. Devastation. Wings shredded, unspeakable agony at your hands. So, I think you would want to provide any information you have, considering... All right. I leave you in the hands of an artist. I don't care what's left.
Theo: I thought he was the answer, but he's crazy.
Castiel: You're... noticing this now? You were more than willing to do his dirty work.
Theo: I did what I had to.
Castiel: When you were sure he would defeat Bartholomew.
Kevin: I always trust you, and I always end up screwed.
Dean: How do you know that?
Castiel: He had me. I, uh, I was tortured. But I got away.
Dean: How?
Sam: What did you do?
Dean: I let an angel in.
Sam: In what?
Dean: In you. He said he could heal you and he is.
Sam: He's still in me? Wait. That's impossible, Dean. That couldn't happen. I never invited him in.
Dean: I tricked you into saying yes. It seemed like the only way.
Sam: So... Again. You thought I couldn't handle something, so you took over!
Dean: No, I did what I had to do! You would've never agreed to it, and you would've died.
Trivia & References
- Warp speed refers to the the faster-than-light propulsion system that is most famously used in Star Trek.
- X is the Greek abbreviation for "Christ".
Dean: Yesterday, Cinderella.
- Cinderella is the eponymous character in the European folk tale of the same name. The name Cinderella has also been taken on as an analogy regarding a person whose attributes are unrecognized and neglected, only to receive recognition and success later.
Minutiae
Sides, Scripts & Transcripts
Promotion
Episode Meta
- Chan, Suzette. 2014. Supernatural Talk: Tarts talk about 9.09: Holy Terror. Sequential Tart, February 17; archive link
- Scott, Lyda. 2013. TV Review: 'Supernatural' - 'Holy Terror.' Blogcritics, December 8; archive link