14.12 Prophet and Loss
Title | Prophet and Loss |
Episode # | Season 14, Episode 12 |
First aired | January 31, 2019 |
Directed by | Thomas J. Wright |
Written by | Brad Buckner Eugenie Ross-Leming |
On IMDB | Prophet and Loss |
Outline | While Sam and Castiel try and talk Dean out of his plan to thwart Michael, Donatello's condition is having a terrible effect on other potential prophets. |
Monster | Tony Alvarez |
Timeline | January 2019 |
Location(s) | Lebanon, Kansas Fort Dodge, Iowa Pike Creek, Delaware |
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Contents
Synopsis
The Ma’lak box is underwater. Dean is inside and banging on the box. He is holding his phone as a flashlight. The box is creaking under the weight of the water and water is dripping in the box. Dean is very emotional and calls out for Sam many times. Dean’s phone dies, leaving him in pitch black. Suddenly, Dean wakes up from the dream - fingers are bloody from clawing the wall, as he clawed the inside of the box in his dream. He's in a motel room - Sam enters the room from the bathroom. Sam asks about the dream, but Dean pretends to be ok. Sam continues to believe there is another way to get rid of Michael, but Dean is steadfast in his belief that Billie’s book reveals the only way to secure Michael.
A woman is bound and gagged. A man pours salt into a tank of water. The man puts her into the water, slashing her wrist and holding her under the water. Her struggling stops as she dies. The man raises his arms to the ceiling as he hears Enochian chants.
In a hospital, a police officer brings Nick some dinner. Nick is handcuffed to the bed. Nick asks when he will be released and the officer says that at least four jurisdictions want to prosecute. Nick maintains his innocence because he was possessed by Satan. As Nick cries, the police officer tells Nick he will be locked up for the rest of his life.
At a rest area, Dean and Sam pull up in Baby pulling the Ma’lak box on a trailer. Dean wants Sam’s assurance that Sam will be with Dean to the end. Sam says that he will even though he hates the idea, as does Mary. Dean hasn’t even told Cas and Jack. As Dean goes to the restroom, Sam calls Cas in the bunker. Unable to talk Dean out of this plan, Sam has Cas doing research. Cas has been unsuccessful in finding any way to forcibly extract Michael. In addition, Rowena has been through the entire Book of the Damned and found nothing, too. Cas offers to talk to Dean but Sam thinks it won’t matter and that Dean is gone unless they can find another way.
The man sits in a car watching another man lock up a business at night. The man gets out of the car and follows the other man. The first man drags the second man, who is now bound and gagged, to a sheet of plastic. The first man says he will strike down the first born in the land of Egypt and stabs the captive man in the chest. As the man carves into the victim’s chest, he hears more Enochian and says “I am the Word.”
As Dean is driving, he struggles with a vision of Michael trying to break out of the door in Dean’s mind. Regaining composure, Dean talks to Sam about their childhood. Dean apologizes for not being a better brother. Dean wants to make sure that Sam knows that sometimes when John got mad at Dean, John sent him away. Dean would never abandon Sam. Sam says Dean was the only one there for him; Dean raised him. Sam asks that they not have “deathbed apologies” kinds of conversations. Sam has found a case in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Dean starts to object but then warms to the idea of one last case for the “Winchester boys.” Sam tells Dean about the two murders: the woman in bloody, red saltwater and the man with his throat slit. Both victims had Enochian carved into their bodies.
Nick is praying (to Lucifer, not God), when the police officer walks into the hospital room. Upon unlocking Nick’s handcuffs so that Nick can use the restroom, Nick swings a bedpan at the police officer and knocks him over. After repeatedly kicking the officer in the head, Nick finds his street clothes and escapes.
Sam and Dean go to interview the murdered man’s twin brother, Eddie. Eddie describes the pain of losing his brother, Alan, something Dean and Sam appear to commiserate with. Sam tells Eddie that the carvings on both murder victims are an ancient language and spell out the phrase “I am the Word.” Eddie realizes he has seen it before. A photograph of Tony and Alan show’s Tony’s Enochian tattoo.
Dean calls Cas, who is still in the bunker. Cas reveals that he knows about Dean’s plan and that it’s a terrible mistake. Refusing to discuss the matter, Dean asks if Cas knows Tony Alvarez. Cas says that Antonio Alvarez is next in line to be prophet after Donatello. Dean, pretending to be Donatello’s nephew, calls Donatello’s physician, Dr. Rashad, to confirm that Donatello is still alive. Sam and Dean break into Tony’s home and discover a room with Enochian and English phrases covering the walls and pictures of Tony’s previous victims and possibly future victims. The phrases correspond to the methods of the first two killings. The wall writings indicate the next killing will be fire. Dean realizes one of the pictures was taken at a machine shop.
At the machine shop, a man is hanging by his wrists from the ceiling. Tony pours gasoline on the man’s feet and trails the gasoline several yards away, all the while quoting the phrase about fire. Tony lights a match and drops it on the gasoline trail as Dean and Sam rush into the room. Sam tackles Tony as Dean puts out the fire and frees the captive. Tony claims to hear God’s voice in his head but Sam and Dean tell him it wasn’t God and the people Tony killed were innocent. As Sam and Dean discuss if Tony is picking up something from Donatello, Tony tackles Dean knocking Dean’s gun away. Tony reaches for the gun and shoots himself in the head. Back in Baby, Dean and Sam are on speakerphone with Cas. They theorize that Donatello’s comatose condition could be calling prophets too early and causing them to be wrong.
Nick breaks into his old house. He remembers the hallucinations of his baby’s toys moving on their own and the bloody crib. Nick’s breath is visible and a mirror freezes over; cabinet doors bang open and closed and lights flicker on and off. A woman in a nightgown appears. Since Lucifer first visited Nick in his dead wife’s form, Nick asks if it’s Lucifer. No, it’s his wife’s ghost. Sarah’s ghost tells Nick that she has been held in the house by unfinished business. Nick explains about finding Sarah’s killer, the cop, Frank Kellogg, possessed by the demon Abraxas. He got justice for her and she can leave. Sarah’s unfinished business turns out to be Nick’s choosing Lucifer. Sarah asks Nick to reject Lucifer and free her. But Nick can’t and walks away from her. He says he’s going to wherever is darkest because that’s where Lucifer is.
At the Happy Daze Nursing Home, Dean and Sam talk to Dr. Rashad about their decision to take Donatello off life support. They discover Cas posing as Dr. Novak. Donatello has very little brain activity but has babbled words in the past. While Sam goes with Dr. Rashad, Cas pressures Dean to let go of his suicidal plan. Sam interrupts their heated discussion with a video of Donatello speaking Enochian even as he lays in a coma. Cas translates the words to be the same that Tony Alvarez was hearing and theorizes that Donatello’s mind must be fighting to rebuild itself. With this “spark,” Cas insists on trying to save Donatello. As Dean and Sam sit in the waiting room, Sam remarks how hard it is to think about someone being trapped in his own body between life and death. Knowing that Sam is referring to Dean’s situation with Michael, Dean tells Sam that nothing has changed.
A blue light flares in Cas’ eyes as he attempts to heal Donatello. Donatello opens his eyes. Dean turns off life support, Donatello regains consciousness, and recognizes Dean and Sam. Cas confirms Donatello has returned, still without his soul.
Dean finds Sam leaning against Baby, drinking alone. Dean says that it’s nice to be going out with a win. Sam gets emotional, roughly slapping Dean in the chest, accusing Dean of giving up too easily, throwing away everything they stand for, and not believing in faith and family. Dean protests that he’s tried everything. Sam says while they don’t have new ideas today, if Dean quits and goes through with his plan, there will be no tomorrow and no opportunity of new ideas tomorrow. Sam says what Dean is doing is wrong and it’s quitting. Sam says he believes in them and then slugs Dean. Swinging to hit Dean again, Dean captures Sam in a hug. Giving in, Dean tells Sam they will go home, maybe Billie’s wrong, and he does believe in them. As Cas walks up, Dean says he will keep believing until he can’t. Dean extracts another promise from Sam that if the day comes, Sam will do then what he can’t do now: let Dean go and put Dean in the Ma’lak box. Sam agrees, but Cas remains silent. They all get in Baby and drive off.
Characters
Definitions
- Alcohol
- Cameras
- Castiel's Trench Coat
- Costumes & Disguises
- Enochian
- Fights
- Ghost
- Healing
- Hugs
- Impala
- Ma'lak Box
- Men of Letters Bunker
- Prophet
- Salvation
- Sammy
- Serial Killers
- Soullessness
- Table of Death
Music
None
Quotes
Dean: Never said I wasn't scared. But it doesn't matter.
Sam: And what about Rowena?
Sam: Dean, you were the one who was always there for me. The only one. I mean, you practically raised me.
Dean: I know things got dicey... you know, with Dad... the way he was. And I just... I didn't always look out for you the way I should've. I mean, I had my own stuff, you know. In order to keep the peace, probably looked like I took his side quite a bit. Sometimes, when I was... when I was away, you know it wasn't 'cause I just ran out, right? Dad would... He would send me away when I really pissed him off. I think you knew that.
Sam: Okay. But if Tony was wired wrong because of Donatello, then the next prophet will be wired wrong, as well, and then the next, and the next and the -- the next and... How do we end this?
Nick: He chose me, okay.
Sarah: You didn't come here to find peace. You came here to find him in the place you became one with him.
Nick: No.
Sarah: Then show me I'm wrong. Reject Lucifer right now. If you do, I can leave. I can find peace. Reject him, Nick. Please. Please!
Nick: I-I can't. I'm sorry.
Dean: So that's what Tony was picking up on.
Castiel: Well, then, I-I can fix him.
Dean: Wait. How? I thought he was too far gone.
Castiel: No. This is the -- the regular him. But, um... he -- he -- he doesn't have a soul.
Sam: 'Going out' being the operative phrase.
Dean: Sorry.
Sam: 'Sorry.' How sorry are you? Sorry that you fight to keep Donatello alive, but when it comes to you, you just throw in the towel? Or are you sorry that, after all these years, our entire lives, z-after I've looked up to you, after I've learned from you. I-I-I've copied you, I followed you to Hell and back, are you sorry that all of that -- it -- it -- it means nothing now?
Dean: Who's saying that?
Sam: You are, when you tell me I have to kill you. When you're telling me I have to throw away everything we stand for, throw away faith, throw away family. We're the guys that save the world. We don't just check out of it!
Dean: Sam, I have tried everything. Everything! I got one card left to pay, and I have to play it.
Sam: You have one card today! But we'll find another tomorrow. But if you quit on us today, there won't be no tomorrow! You tell me, uh, you don't know what else to do. I don't either, Dean. Not yet. But what you're doing now, i-it's -- it's wrong! It's quitting! I mean l-look what just happened. Donatello never quit fighting. So we could help him because he never gave up. I believe in us, Dean. I believe in us. Why don't you believe in us, too?
Trivia & References
- This line comes from Exodus 12:12.
- and
Tony: 'And the son of Aaron offered strange fire to the Lord' [...] 'which he commanded them not.' [...] 'There went out fire from the Lord and devoured him and he died before the Lord.'
- These lines come from the Sin of Nadab and Abihu referenced in both Leviticus 10:1-2 and Numbers 3:4.
Dean: And went all Hannibal?
- Hannibal Lecter is the psychopathic serial killer from the novels of Thomas Harris. He became widely known after the 1991 Academy Award-winning movie Silence of the Lambs and later the 2013 TV series Hannibal.
Minutiae
Dean: Doctor.
Sam: Doctor.
- This exchange recalls a similar one between Sam, Dean, and Dr. Sexy in 5.08 Changing Channels. A similar bit was done in 9.09 Holy Terror where Sam and Castiel greet each other as "Agent."