5.18 Point of No Return
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Title | Point of No Return |
Episode # | Season 5, Episode 18 |
First aired | April 15, 2010 |
Directed by | Phil Sgriccia |
Written by | Jeremy Carver |
On IMDB | Point of No Return |
Outline | Dean begins to think the only way to stop Lucifer is to say "yes" to Michael, but the angels decide they don't need him anymore. Dean, Sam and Castiel are horrified at the angels' new game plan and take on Zachariah to prevent an all out war on Earth. Meanwhile, a familiar face returns. |
Monster | Zachariah |
Timeline | |
Location(s) | Cicero, Indiana Sioux Falls, South Dakota Windom, Minnesota Van Nuys, California |
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Contents
Synopsis
The episode begins with Zachariah in a bar, drinking and complaining about "work" with another patron. After a few minutes, Zachariah’s “boss” comes to visit, burning out the eyes of the people in the bar and shattering all of the glass. Zachariah is given another chance to do something, and he leaves singing.
Dean is in a hotel packing up some of his important belongings, including his gun, keys, and leather jacket. Sam comes in, and talks to Dean about running away. Dean tells Sam that he won’t be able to stop him when he’s not on demon blood, but Sam brought backup: Castiel.
The boys appear at Bobby's house. Sam and Bobby try to convince Dean to wait longer before saying yes to Michael. Bobby tells them that he thinks about giving up every day, but doesn’t because of the promise he made to Dean. Castiel gets a vision of something about to happen, and disappears.
Castiel shows up in a wooded field in Minnesota, where he is attacked by a couple of angels with angel blades. After killing them, he pulls the body of Adam Milligan out of the ground.
Back at Bobby’s, Castiel brands Adam’s ribs with the same Enochian symbols that Sam and Dean have on theirs, hiding them from all angels. Sam and Dean tell Adam that they are all brothers, and they learn that Adam was resurrected by angels to be Michael’s vessel. If Adam agreed to be Michael's vessel, the angels would bring his mom back. Castiel says it is because the angels have given up on Dean. Sam tries to convince Adam to stay, saying he will if he has a single good memory of their father. He stays, but makes it clear that the only family to him is his mother, who Zachariah promises to revive if he plays his role for Michael.
When Adam has a lapse in watchers, he tries to escape. Sam finds him before he leaves, and talks to him about John. Adam doesn’t find this reassuring, and tells Sam how he would have taken a father of any form. He tries to console Adam, telling him that he and Dean would have tried to find him if they knew they had a brother. Adam's demeanor remains, but nonetheless, Sam admits he'd fit right in.
Dean is being kept in Bobby's panic room. Sam and Castiel come down to talk to him. Dean says he won’t let Adam become Michael’s vessel, that they have let so many people die already. He wants to be who he was meant to be. Sam asks him to stop sacrificing himself for a minute and try to stick together. Dean can’t because he doesn’t believe in Sam. He is sure that Sam will turn and eventually be convinced to say yes to Lucifer. Dean has to say yes to Michael to be there to fight Sam when it happens.
Sam leaves, and Castiel goes to check on Dean. He hears a crash inside the panic room, and calls out to Dean. Once he’s entered, Dean puts his hand to an angel banishing sigil, sending Castiel away and giving Dean time to escape. Sam finds out and heads off to find him, leaving Bobby in charge of watching over Adam.
While Adam sleeps, Zachariah visits him in his dream. He tells Adam that he won’t be able to see his mother yet, and that he knows that Sam and Dean are bad news.
Dean meets a preacher on the street and asks him to pray to the angels and tell them where Dean is. Castiel hears this prayer, knocks out the preacher, and beats Dean up in an alley. He is angry that Dean would be willing to surrender to the angels after he has rebelled for Dean. He zaps them back to Bobby’s, where we learn that Adam has disappeared into thin air. Castiel figures out that he must have told the angels where he was in a dream.
In the Green Room, Zachariah speaks to Adam about how he is not the vessel of Michael, and he is just the bait to lure Dean there. When Adam confronts him about lying and seeing his mom again, Zachariah makes him cough up blood.
Back in Bobby’s panic room, Sam un-handcuffs Dean from a cot. He tells Dean that Adam has been taken by angels, and they need to get him back. Castiel has figured out that Adam is in the green room, and it is guarded by five angels. Sam tells Dean that he is bringing Dean along, trusting him to do the right thing when the time comes and not say yes to Michael. Castiel tells Sam and Dean that the green room is in Van Nuys, California. Castiel is to head into the abandoned warehouse in which the room is located, and he will fight off the angels, giving Dean and Sam time to get Adam. Dean notes that Castiel taking on five angels alone is basically suicide, and Castiel says he would rather face it than Dean failing (or saying yes).
Inside, Castiel kills an angel and is surrounded by the four others. He drops his blade and tells them to come get him. While they rush in, he reveals an angel banishing sigil he has carved onto his chest. He is banished, along with the four angels, and Sam and Dean can access the green room. Dean finds Adam on the floor in the green room. Adam, after his surprise that Dean came for him, tells him it is a trap. Zachariah appears, and Sam tries to stab him from behind. Zachariah throws Sam to the ground and makes Adam fall to the floor and cough up blood again. He does this to Sam as well, telling Dean there was no other choice. Dean asks him to stop, and says he will in exchange for Dean saying yes.
Zachariah calls Michael down from Heaven with an Enochian chant, and Dean says that he has some conditions first, including Michael wasting Zachariah. After sharing a look with Sam, Dean stabs Zachariah through the mouth with an Angel Blade, finally killing him. He gets Adam up, and rushes to help Sam out of the green room before Michael arrives. But as soon as Sam and Dean pass the threshold, the door slams shut, locking Adam in. Back on the road, Sam asks Dean why he changed his mind about saying yes. Dean explains that Sam had faith in him, and he couldn’t let Sam down. Dean says screw destiny and they will keep on fighting.
Characters
Definitions
- Alcohol
- Angel Banishing Sigil
- Angel Blade
- Angel Lore
- Angel Wings
- Back to the Future
- Big Brother
- Bobby's Hats
- Bobby's Panic Room
- Deals and Pacts
- Dean's Leather Jacket
- Dreamwalking
- Enochian
- Green Room
- Impala
- Prayer
- Resurrection
- Sammy
- Sedation
- Singer Salvage Yard
- Son of a Bitch
- Telekinesis
- They're Brothers
- Unconscious
- Vessel
Music
- "The Man Upstairs" by Kay Starr
- (plays in the jukebox when Zachariah is in the bar)
- "When the Saints Go Marching In" by Kurt Fuller
- (sung by Zachariah as he is leaving the bar)
Quotes
Dean: I’m not going to kill myself.
Dean: Reality happened. Nuclear’s the only option we have left. Michael can ice the devil, save a boatload of people.
Bobby: But not all of them. We gotta think of something else.
Dean: You’re not my father. And you ain’t in my shoes... What is that?
Adam: Give me one good reason.
Sam: Because we're blood.
Adam: You've got no right to say that to me.
Bobby: You're still John's boy.
Adam: No, John Winchester was some guy who took me to a baseball game once a year. I don't have a dad. So we may be blood, but we are not family. My mom is my family. And if I do my job, I get to see her again. So no offense, but she's the one I give a rat's ass about, not you.
Sam: Adam, you may not believe it, but dad was trying to protect you. Keeping you from all of this.
Adam: Do you know how full of crap you are?
Sam: What?
Sam: It’s not like we pulled the trigger.
Zachariah: You really think Michael’s gonna go for that?
Dean: Who’s more important to him now? You... or me?
Zachariah: You listen to me. You are nothing but a maggot inside a worm’s ass. Do you know who I am…after I deliver you to Michael?
Sam: Sounds good.
Trivia & References
- The Muppets is a media franchise revolving around puppet characters.
- Kristin McGee is a personal trainer of yoga, Pilates and fitness, and has released a number of DVDs.
Sam: Yeah, but there's another way.
Adam: Great. What is it?
Dean: We're working on the power of love.
- Possibly a reference to the Huey Lewis and the News song of the same name. This would be another Back to the Future reference.
- The popular idiom Sam is trying to quote is "you don't know me from Adam." That 'Adam' being the Biblical first man. For more on the origin of the idiom, click here.
- This is a reference to the film National Lampoon's Vacation, where the Griswold family load up for a cross country trip in a green station wagon called the Family Truckster and drive to Wally World.
Sam: Blown to Oz.
- Reference to the Land of Oz, which can be accessed through being blown away by a tornado.
Zachariah: Cool your jets, Corky. Sit down. We're doing it together.
- Possible reference to the main character, Corky, from the '90s TV series, Life Goes On.
Castiel: Where’d you think it was?
Dean: I—I don’t know. Jupiter? A blade of grass? Not Van Nuys.
- This may be a reference to the "Jupiter and the Infinite Beyond" segment of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Minutiae
- Sam and Bobby—
- Given what's about to happen, I'll be surprised if this package ever finds you. But if it does, I want you both to know that what I'm doing isn't about giving up. John taught us better than that. This is about time. We've run out of it.
- Left the Impala in Cicero. Where I'm going, we don't need roads. I know you'll look after her for me. Bobby—you've taken more for the team than anyone could ever ask. That makes you an honorary Winchester in my book.
- Sam. You told me once that you pray every day. Not sure if that's still true. Probably isn't, but if it is, give it one last try for me. And Sammy—one Winchester lost to this fight is enough. When it's over [...]
- The second paragraph contains the line "Where I'm going, we don't need roads." This is a reference to the last line of the movie Back to the Future. When Doc Brown prepares to travel to October 21, 2015, with Marty McFly and Jennifer Parker, he says, "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads."
- Bobby is referring to comments Dean made in 5.07 The Curious Case of Dean Winchester:
- You don't stop being a soldier 'cause you got wounded in battle. No matter what shape you're in, bottom line is you're family. I don't know if you've noticed, but me and Sam, we don't have much left. I can't do this without you. I can't. So don't you dare think about checking out. I don't wanna hear that again.
- This line was taken by fans as a shout out by the writers' to the Dean/Castiel shippers. Even the review inthe Entertainment Weekly Popwatch blog said of the line: "...and Cas/Dean ’shippers’ heads exploded."
- Zachariah's line about Sam and Dean being "erotically co-dependent" was likewise taken as a shoutout to Wincest.
Sides, Scripts & Transcripts
Promotion
- Interview with Eric Kripke
- Interview with Jake Abel and Kurt Fuller by Examiner
- Episode Title
- Plot Spoilers from Ausiello
- Plot Spoilers from Ausiello
- Plot Spoilers from Ausiello
- Casting Spoiler from Ausiello
- Episode Synopsis from SpoilerTV
- Promo
- Sneak Peek
Episode Meta
- 5.18 Point Of No Return: When Push Shoves, You’ll Make The Right Choice by bardicvoice (April 2010); archive link, spn-heavymeta
- Bond, Silvia. 2010. Faith in the Atmosphere: "Point of No Return: Season 5, Episode 18. Pink Raygun, April 20; archive link, spn-heavymeta
- Chan, Suzette. 2010. Supernatural Talk: Tarts talk about SPN 5.18: Point of No Return. Sequential Tart, May 31; archive link, spn-heavymeta link