Difference between revisions of "5.21 Two Minutes to Midnight"

Revision as of 23:28, 20 October 2010


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Title	Two Minutes to Midnight
Episode #	Season 5, Episode 21
First aired	May 6, 2010
Directed by	Phil Sgriccia
Written by	Sera Gamble
On IMDB	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1626754/
Outline
Monster	Pestilence, Death
Timeline
Location(s)	Davenport, Iowa; Chicago, Illinois
[[{{{prevep}}}\|« Previous Episode]] \| [[{{{nextep}}}\|Next Episode »]]

Synopsis

Dean and Sam are at Bobby's place, arguing after Sam has revealed his plan to let Lucifer possess him as a way of getting him into Lucifer's Cage. Dean's phone rings - it's Castiel who following his heroic efforts at the warehouse in Van Nuys, appeared on a shrimping boat off Delacroix Island, Louisiana. He is now is hospital, and has little of his angel powers left and is experiencing what it feels like to be human. He apologises to Dean for thinking he would say yes to Michael.

Based on the information they got from Brady, the boys track Pestilence to a Nursing Home where he is brewing up a cocktail of diseases in a patient. Alerted to the Winchesters' arrival by a demon, he spreads disease through the hospital causing everyone to die, and the boys reach him in a deathly state. Just as they appear doomed, Castiel appears and cuts the ring from Pestilence's hand. Before he disappears, Pestilence warns that "it's too late".

Back at Bobby's, Team Free Will are wondering what to do next, when Bobby reveals that Death will next appear in Chicago. When questioned about how he knows this information, Crowley arrives and it is revealed that Bobby sold his soul in order gain this information, although Crowley states he intends to return it and is only keeping it as "insurance" so that Sam and Dean don't turn on him.

Sam tells Dean that he doesn't think saying "Yes" to Lucifer is in fact a good plan and he thinks he's the weakest out of them all. However, he also states that this is the only plan they have so there's no choice in the matter. Crowley interrupts them to tell them that Niveus Pharmaceuticals is distributing a vaccine for Swine Flu; which is actually the Croatoan virus.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, a storm rages through the city as Death arrives. A bystander accidentally bumps into him and almost immediately drops dead from the contact.

Castiel laments his newfound humanity and how useless he now feels, although Bobby quickly reprimands him for these thoughts considering he is still trapped in a wheelchair. Sam ponders how complicated their lives have gotten, and remembers the old days when they used to "just hunt Wendigo's. Crowley gives Dean Death's Scythe in order to kill Death and also reveals that he gave Bobby back the use of his legs in their deal.

On the way to the Niveus warehouse, Sam and Bobby unveil their plan for Sam to say "Yes" to Lucifer in order to trap him back into Hell. Despite Sam's thinking, Castiel ensures that it is not exactly a bad plan, although he says that there are first a number of things Sam will need to know. The first is that Michael has taken Adam to be in vessel in lieu of Dean. The second is that in order to take in Lucifer, Sam will need to consume more demon blood then he ever has before as the demon blood strengthens the vessel, which is exactly what has happened with Nick's body.

Sam, Bobby and Castiel arrive at the warehouse and immediately get to work stopping the trucks from leaving the warehouse, however, the demons inside infect a number of people with the Croatoan virus to attack them. Sam rushes through the warehouse quickly looking for survivors and dispatching the infected.

Meanwhile, Dean and Crowley search for Death in Chicago, eventually finding him in a pizzaria littered with dead bodies. Dean approaches him alone with the scythe but Death quickly takes it from him and thanks him for returning it. Dean sits with Death who says he has been waiting to speak with Dean for a long time. Death tells him that he considers Dean, the angels and the entire planet insignificant as he is as old as God (or perhaps even older, as neither can recall) and that one day he will reap God himself.

Dean is surprised to discover that Death does not actually care for Lucifer at all and is only working for him because of a spell that keeps him chained to Lucifer's will to be used as a weapon. Death agrees to give Dean his ring in order to chain up Lucifer again as long as Dean does whatever it takes to get it done; which means Dean must let Sam say "Yes" to Lucifer and jump into the pit. Dean agrees to this and acquires Death's ring and instructions on how to use the rings.

Back at Bobby's, Dean places the four rings in position and they immediately magnetize. Dean tells Bobby he actually lied to Death about Sam saying "Yes". Although Dean says they can't believe Death, Bobby is not so sure. Bobby tells Dean that he watched Sam save almost a dozen people back at the warehouse and he never let up for even a moment. He admits to Dean that they've always been unjustly hard on Sam even though, through all the criticism, Sam has been fighting hard since he was twelve years old.

Bobby also says he knows that Sam has got a deep darkness in him but he also has a lot of good in him too, which he knows will mean Sam will either beat Lucifer or die in the process. Dean says he knows this which prompts Bobby to ask what he is afraid of more; losing the war or losing Sam.

Characters

Definitions

Music

O Death (played when Death first appears in Chicago, gets out of his car and walks down the street.)

Quotes

Celeste: Are you going to cure me?
Pestilence: No. You're going to die. In 4...3...2... [Celeste vomits on him a la Linda Blair in "The Exorcist" and dies] Interesting.

Sam: Hey... what are we even looking for?

Dean: Well, he's Pestilence so he probably looks sick.

Sam: Everybody looks sick.

Nurse: Sir... the Winchesters are here. We should go.

Pestilence: [laughs] Are you kidding me?
Nurse: They have a track record with Horsemen.
Pestilence: You mean my brothers, what they did to my brothers. The only reasonable thing to do here is to take it out on their healthy young asses.
Nurse: We're under strict orders not to kill the vessels.

Pestilence: Well, if Satan wants them so bad, he can GLUE THEM BACK TOGETHER!

Dean: So please tell us you have actual good news.

Bobby: Chicago is about to be wiped off the map. Storm of the millennium. Sets off a daisy chain of natural disasters. Three million people are gonna die.

Castiel: I don't understand your definition of good news.

Bobby: The world's gonna end. Seems stupid to get all precious over one little soul.

Dean: You sold your soul?
Crowley: More like pawned it. I fully intend to give it back.
Dean: Well then give it back!
Crowley: I will.
Dean: Now!
Sam: Did you kiss him?
Dean: Sam!
Sam: Just wondering.
Bobby: [awkward silence] No!
Crowley: [coughs, shows photo of him and Bobby kissing on his iPhone]
Bobby: Why'd you take a picture?

Crowley: Why do you have to use tongue?

Sam: So Pestilence was spreading swine flu.

Dean: Yeah, but not just for giggles. That was step one. Step two is the vaccine. You think...?
Crowley: I know. I'll stake my reputation that vaccine is chock full of Grade A farm-fresh Croatoan virus.
Sam: Simultaneous countrywide distribution. That's part of the plan.

Crowley: They don't get to be Horsemen for nothing. So you boys better stock up on... well, everything. This time next Thursday, we'll all be living in Zombieland.

Dean: Bobby sold his soul for this!

Crowley: Relax. All deals are soul back or store credit. We'll catch Death in the next doomed city.
Dean: Millions, Crowley! Millions of people are about to die any minute!

Crowley: True. So I strongly suggest we get out of here.

Dean: So what, call in a bomb threat, a thousand bomb threats? I mean, how the hell am I supposed to get three million people out of Chicago in the next ten minutes?

Bobby: Can we commit our act of domestic terrorism already? Let's go!

Death: This is one little planet in one tiny solar system in a galaxy that’s barely out of its diapers. I’m old, Dean. Very old. So I invite you to contemplate how insignificant I find you.

Dean: Well I gotta ask: How old are you?

Death: As old as God. Maybe older. Neither of us can remember anymore. Life, death, chicken, egg – regardless, at the end, I’ll reap Him too.
Dean: God? You’ll reap God?
Death: Oh yes. God will die too, Dean.
Dean: This is way above my pay grade.

Death: Just a bit.

Death: Lucifer has me bound to him, some unseemly little spell. He has me where he wants, when he wants. That's why I couldn't go to you, I had to wait for you to catch up. He made me his weapon. Hurricanes, floods, raising the dead. I'm more powerful than you can process, and I'm enslaved to a bratty child having a tantrum.

Dean: What about Chicago?
Death: I suppose it can stay. I like the pizza.

Bobby: Back at Niveus, I watched that kid pull one civilian out after another, he must've saved ten people. Never stopped, never slowed down. We're hard on him, Dean. We've always been. But, in the meantime, he's been running into burning buildings since he was - what? Twelve?

Dean: Pretty much...
Bobby: Look, Sam's got a... darkness in him, I'm not saying he don't. But he's got a helluva lot of good in him too.
Dean: I know.

Bobby: Then you know Sam will beat the Devil or die trying. That's the best we can ask for. So, I gotta ask Dean - What exactly are you afraid of? Losing? Or losing your brother?

Trivia & References

The episode gets its title from the Iron Maiden song "Two Minutes to Midnight." The song's title and subject refer to the Doomsday Clock.

The storm in Chicago when Death arrives may actually play off of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks"

"If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break, When The Levee Breaks I'll have no place to stay." "If you're goin' down South, they go no work to do, if you don't know about Chicago." Death's ring is the final ring the brothers needed to open up Lucifer's cage, without it Sam couldn't have opened Lucifer's cage at the Stull Cemetery in Lawrence 5.22 Swan Song.

So without Death's ring in Chicago, the brothers would never have been able to do their "work" (opening Lucifer's cage) in Lawrence. Lawrence being south of Chicago.

The first scene where we see Death and he bumps into the pedestrian playing with his Blackberry is a literal representation of the phrase "a brush with death," which refers to a near-death experience, not actually dying.

Dean: So this is Dr. Evil's lair, huh?
A reference to Austin Powers's arch-nemesis. His lair changes in the three Austin Powers movies.

Dean: Hey, hi. I'm looking for my nana. Her name is Eunice Kennedy.
A reference to Eunice Kennedy Shriver. In addition to founding the Special Olympics she was a member of the famous Kennedy family, sister of John, Bobby, and Ted Kennedy, and mother of Maria Shriver.

The patient's vomit appears similar to the pea soup that was used during the famous vomiting scene in The Exorcist.

Pestilence: Disease gets a bad wrap, don't you think? For being filthy, chaotic, but really that just describes people who get sick. Disease itself is very pure. Single-minded. Bacteria have one purpose: divide and conquer. That's why in the end, it always wins.

This line is somewhat similar in tone and substance (but not necessarily exact detail) to comments by Agent Smith in The Matrix:

Agent Smith: I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure.

Sam: Remember when we used to just hunt wendigos and how simple things were?
A reference to 1.02 Wendigo.

Crowley: Up ahead. Big ugly building. Ground zero. Horseman's stable if you will. He's in there.

Dean: How do you know?
Crowley: Have you met me? Because I know. Also, the block is swarming with reapers.

The "Ground Zero" and "Horseman's stable" comments could be a reference to the famous (albeit false) story that a cow kicking over a lantern in a barn started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In 5.10 Abandon All Hope, Castiel said reapers "only gather like this at times of great catastrophe. The Chicago Fire, the San Francisco Quake, Pompeii."

Death: You know you can't cheat death.
Somewhat of an ironic statement considering the many times Dean has cheated death. See Dead...or are they?.

When Crowley tells the boys to stock up because they will be living in "Zombieland" this is most likely a reference to the 2009 movie Zombieland This horror comedy focuses on two men who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies.

Minutiae

Death drives a white Cadillac with California license plate BUH*BYE (Meaning is self-explanatory. Not seen in the episode but seen in the promo). "Buh bye" was also the signature catchphrase from a Saturday Night Live skit starring David Spade and Helen Hunt. See Death's Cadillac for more information.

Pestilence uses the alias "Dr. Green" when he's at the retirement home. This is probably a reference to the color of his ring and car.

Death is eating at Rinascita Pizzeria. Rinascita is the Italian word for rebirth.

After banishing himself and the other angels, Castiel was found on a shrimping boat off Delacroix Island Louisiana. This area is known for its shrimp and is 1,796 miles away from Van Nuys California were Cas originally disappeared.

In a CW event, Misha Collins tweeted during the episode, in his Twitter Persona. He kept referring to Pestilence as Max Headroom, a character played by actor Matt Frewer who played Pestilence, in a 1980s TV show. A clip of Max Headroom.

Misha's tweets: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Pestilence is working as a doctor at the Serenity Valley Convalescent Home. He tells Celeste (the old lady at the beginning of the episode) she has a combination of the common cold, dengue fever, and a "nasty, nasty case of Japanese encephalitis." He then proceeds to give her chicken pox. After unleashing an epidemic by turning the ring on his finger, Pestilence tells Sam and Dean they have scarlet fever, meningitis and syphilis.