14.10 Nihilism
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| Title | Nihilism |
| Episode # | Season 14, Episode 10 |
| First aired | January 17, 2019 |
| Directed by | Amanda Tapping |
| Written by | Steve Yockey |
| On IMDB | Nihilism |
| Outline | Sam and Castiel travel into Dean's mind to help him regain control from a captured Michael, while Jack and the hunters from Apocalypse World contend with Michael's monster army descending on the Bunker. |
| Monster | Michael Michael's Monsters |
| Timeline | December 24-25, 2018 |
| Location(s) | Rocky's Bar Kansas City, Missouri Lebanon, Kansas |
| « Previous Episode | Next Episode » | |
Contents
Synopsis
Characters
- Sam Winchester
- Dean Winchester
- Castiel
- Jack Kline
- Pamela Barnes
- Billie / Death
- Michael (Apocalypse World)
- Maggie (Apocalypse World)
- Violet
Definitions
- Apocalypse World
- Archangel
- Binding Link
- Death's Reading Room
- God
- Holy Oil
- Hunters
- Hunter's Lingo
- Kaia's Spear
- Men of Letters Bunker
- Michael's Monsters
- Monsters
- Nephilim
- Reapers
- Rocky's Bar
- Rugaru
- Shapeshifters
- Soul
- Table of Death
- Teleportation
- Vampires
- Vessel
- Werewolves
Music
- "Searchin' for a Rainbow" by The Marshall Tucker Band
- (playing in Rocky's Bar as Dean prepares the "house special" for Pamela)
Quotes
Violet: Well, my name's Violet. It's my shift. We have shifts now, because you mess up so many things.
Castiel: Tell me, why you hate this world enough to burn it to the ground.
Michael: Because I can. Because... Me and my brother, my Lucifer. When we fought in my world, we thought that God would come back, give us answers. Why He'd gone, what we'd done. But instead you know what happened? Nothing. No God. Nothing. And now, now that I'm in here. Now I know why. God -- Chuck is a writer. And like all writers He turns out draft after draft. My world, this world. Nothing but failed drafts, and when He realizes that they're flawed He moves on and tries again.
Castiel: No, that's not. Why would He do that?
Michael: Because He doesn't care! About you, me, anything. Now at first, I thought I'd do it better. Show Him, be more God than God. But now, I just wanna burn every one of His little worlds until I catch up to the old man.
Castiel: And then what?
Castiel: Contentment.
Dean: Get out of my head.
Michael: You don't mean that, Dean, not really. You may lie to them, but deep down I know you. I am you. You only tolerate the angel, because you think you owe him because he, 'gripped you tight and raised you from perdition', or whatever. But since then, what has he done? Only made mistakes. One after the other. And Sam, oh Sam. You know Dean was his happiest when you quit hunting, leaving him with your Dad, just the two of them. See, deep down he knows you will always abandon him, again and again.
Dean: Shut up!
Dean: Then we don't kick him out. We keep him in. It'll hold. My mind, my rules. I got him. I'm the Cage.
Billie: I took a calculated risk. I warned you. About the dangers of jumping from world to world. But you ignored me, didn't you?
Trivia & References
- The name of the bar and the moose's head hanging on the wall are a reference to Crowley's nickname for Dean and Sam, which was Squirrel and Moose -- a reference to Rocky the squirrel and Bullwinkle the moose from the cartoon The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends. In fact, "Moose" became so popular with Crowley that it spread to Jared, other cast members, and the fans. (See all its uses in canon here.)
- There is also a stuffed squirrel wearing an aviator's cap and goggles as Rocky does in the cartoon behind the bar, holding a bottle of Margiekugel -- a beer created for the show that features regularly and is named for Production Designer Jerry Wanek's mother.
- "Daphne Loves Fred" can be seen carved inside a heart on the bar in Rocky's. This is a reference to Daphne Blake and Fred Jones from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! who appeared in 13.16 Scoobynatural. Dean has a crush on Daphne and was frustrated by her affection for Fred.
- The wooden monkey behind the bar originally lived on the corner of the bar at Harvelle's Roadhouse. In 2.02 Everybody Loves a Clown when the boys first visit the Roadhouse, Ash is passed out drunk on the pool table, referenced here with the vampire pretending to be passed out at the bar.
- There is an Impala tribute behind the bar including two photos of the Impala and the KAZ 2Y5 license plate.
- There is a "Texan Star" neon sign. Jensen grew up, and still lives, in Texas.
- The bar also features other things Dean loves, including a cassette deck and a pool table.
- There is a neon "Tom's Tequila" sign - a reference to director Thomas J. Wright.
- Cosmic Cowboy IPA, along with the other beers on tap -- Ghost White IPA and Fox Rye Lager -- are beers from Jensen's Family Business Beer Company located in Austin, Texas. The beer coasters also feature the Family Business Beer Co. logo.
Dean: Yeah. Upbeat classics.
Billie: Well, its the funniest thing, but they've all been rewritten. They all end the same way now -- with the archangel Michael escaping your mind and using you as his vessel to burn down this world.
Dean: All of them?
Billie: All of them. Except one.
- Billie revealing to Dean how his deaths have all been rewritten as the same thing -- Michael escaping and destroying the world -- except for one, is similar to Avengers: Infinity War, where Doctor Strange looks into fourteen million, six hundred and five possible outcomes against Thanos, all of which result in their defeat, except for one.
Minutiae
- This refers to the events of 9.10 Road Trip.
Sam: Its the uh, messed up British Men of Letters thing they use to get inside people's heads.
- The device Sam refers to is the same one Lady Antonia Bevell used to brainwash Mary Winchester and then to get Dean into her head in 12.22 Who We Are to save Mary.
Dean: What'd you say?
- In 9.10 Road Trip, when Crowley was trying to help free Sam from Gadreel, Dean told Crowley that "Poughkeepsie" is Sam and Dean's distress signal, meaning to drop everything and run. Crowley used it again to warn the boys in 9.21 King of the Damned
