1.06 Art of Dying
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| Title | Art of Dying |
| Episode # | Season 1, Episode 6 |
| First aired | November 22, 2022 |
| Directed by | Geary McLeod |
| Written by | Jessica Kardos |
| On IMDB | Art of Dying |
| Outline | |
| Monster | Vengeful Spirit |
| Timeline | |
| Location(s) | Elk Falls, Kansas |
| « Previous Episode | Next Episode » | |
Contents
Synopsis
- Dean: Hunting has a way of changing a person. After a while, right, wrong, good, evil, they all start to look the same. And then it makes you start to wonder, "Who's really the monster here--them or me?"
While Latika tries to meditate, John and Carlos argue. John wants to continue searching for the radio tower that is sending out the signal calling monsters to Lawrence, while Carlos wants to wait until they get some intel they are waiting on. Mary interrupts, noting Carlos is wearing her robe, when a phone rings. It's not the house phone, but a phone hidden in a credenza that is just for hunters. The call is from Tracy Gellar, a retired hunter, who has found Darla, an old hunting partner dead in her barn. As they head to Tracy's place, Mary explains how Tracy leaving hunting and having a life has been an inspiration for her.
At Tracy's farm they examine Darla's body, which looks as though she was killed by a werewolf. However, Carlos find a claw in the rafters, which suggests another creature is responsible. Together they help Tracy give Darla a hunter's funeral. The team speculate that the creature might be another "unicorn" monster drawn to Lawrence by the Akrida, and killed Darla on its way. Latika suggests she and Carlos visit a friend of hers nearby who may be able to help identify the claw they found. Meanwhile Mary and Tracy protect the house with hex bags, and discuss the possibility of life after hunting.
On their drive, Lata confides to Carlos that, as a pacifist , she doesn't really know how valuable she is on a hunt. Latika's friend Anton is a taxidermist and monster specialist - and Carlos is instantly smitten! He identifies the monster that killed Darla as a soucouyant which he describes as rare vampire witch from the Caribbean. Back at the farm, Tracy relates how her last hunt ten years ago was of a nest of soucouyants in Barbados with Darla and two other hunters - Rob and Mac. They held killed three of the four creatures, but the last one holed up in a cave and Mac went in after it and was killed when there was a cave-in. Tracy has a theory that Rob returned to Barbados to retrieve Mac's body, and released the soucouyant. Just then the soucouyant arrives, and attacks them. It gets John pinned down, but when Mary cuts off its arm, it retreats.
At the clubhouse, Anton helps Latika examine the monster's arm. It appears to be long dead, and contains ectoplasm suggesting that the body of the soucouyant is possessed by a vengeful spirit. This leads Tracy to confess that she, Rob and Darla deliberately caused the case-in that killed Mac and the soucouyant. When Rob excavated the cave, Mac's spirit has possessed the creature's body and is seeking revenge. Tracy tries to explain that they did it because Mac, who had a traumatic childhood, had been getting more violent and into dark magic. When he became paranoid that his friends were out to get him, they decided they had to kill him first. Carlos notes there's a similarity between John and Mac and then they notice - John has gone.
At the barn, John tries to attack the possessed soucouyant but Mac's spirit jumps from the dead monster into John. When the gang and Tracy arrive, Mac, in John's body, attacks them. Just as Tracy is about to shoot him (and John) Latika intervenes, and steps between the gun and her friend. She tells her own story, of what she suffered when her father came back from war, and how she thought violence was the answer until she hurt someone. It was then she chose not to pursue violence, Eventually she gets through to him, and Mac departs John's body.
Tracy decides she needs to atone for her actions, and that she will start by finishing the hunt Darla was on. Carlos is thrilled when Lata gives him a note from Anton asking him on a date. When John wakes up, he talks about how angry he is and later goes and asks Lata to help him learn to meditate.
- Dean: Hunting's not for everyone. You have to be strong, stay sharp, make tough decisions, and it's not easy, But then again, the righteous things never are.
Characters
- Mary Campbell
- John Winchester
- Latika Dar
- Carlos Cervantez
- Ada Monroe
- Millie Winchester
- Dean Winchester
- Anton
- Tracy Gellar
- Mac
Definitions
- Akrida
- Anti-Possession Symbol
- Celtic Sigil Trap
- Ectoplasm
- Hex Bag
- Hunters
- Hunter's Funeral Pyre
- John's Journal
- Loup-Garou
- Men of Letters Clubhouse
- Monsters
- Possession
- Soucouyant
- Table of Death
- Telekinesis
- Vengeful Spirit
Music
- "Joan of Arc" by Judy Collins
- (plays as Darla's body is being prepared for a hunter's funeral)
Quotes
Carlos: I like to think of it as our robe.
Carlos: Okay, so I embellished for dramatic effect. Are we really gonna act surprised by that now?
Tracy: In the ten years since, I've read hundreds of books, stepped foot on almost every continent. I went to college, cultivated the land... Broke nearly a dozen hearts.
Mary: Okay!
John: I don't need you or my mom psychoanalyzing me.
Trivia & References
- Popularized by the '60s Batman television series, a batphone was the phone that Commissioner Gordon used to summon Batman in emergencies.
Anton: Interesting. I'm--I'm more of a "Rear Window" kind of guy myself, so...
- Psycho and Rear Window are both movies by Alfred Hitchcock.
