9.11 First Born

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SPN911.jpg
Title First Born
Episode # Season 9, Episode 11
First aired January 21, 2014
Directed by John Badham
Written by Robbie Thompson
On IMDB First Born
Outline While Sam and Castiel try to track down Gadreel. A despondent Dean teams up with Crowley to locate the First Blade, a weapon capable of killing a Knight of Hell.
Monster Demons
Timeline
Location(s) Jasper Springs, Mississippi (1863)
Lebanon, Kansas
Missouri
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Synopsis

Jasper Springs, Mississippi - 1863
A confederate soldier bursts into a cabin and warns the two soldiers inside to guard the Knight inside at all costs. As the cabin starts to shake, the men's eyes turn black revealing they are demons. A man enters and grabs the first soldier's face and his eyes and mouth burn out in a hot, red light. The other soldiers shoot him to no effect. A bright red light fills the cabin and the demons die. The man, carrying a large animal jawbone kicks in the door to the guarded room.

Present Day
Crowley finds Dean in a bar. He argues that Dean has no clue on where Gadreel is, but that he could help Crowley kill Abaddon. Crowley knows that John Winchester once hunted a demon working for Abaddon who knew about the First Blade, the only weapon that could kill a Knight of Hell. Dean checks the journal and John mentions he tortured the demon, but doesn't leave any specifics besides it worked for Abaddon and he exorcised it. He also writes in the margin a group of numbers which refers to his lock-up and a "T" which refers to Tara, the hunter he worked the case with.

Dean and Crowley visit John's lock-up looking for information. Dean finds a file on the case which reveals that John did hunt a demon who mentioned that with a hunter named Tara. Dean and Crowley then leave to find Tara.

In the Bunker, Castiel is coping with being an angel again -- and mourning the simple human pleasures he has lost, like the taste of a sandwich. As Castiel continues with Sam's healing, he discovers that Sam still has a bit of Gadreel's grace inside of him which, though harmless, could be used to track the angel according to a Men of Letters file "On the Inner Workings of Angels." Castiel's healing of Sam is slowly destroying the grace and if he keeps it up, it will be gone for good.

Dean approaches Tara for information on the First Blade with Crowley. Tara realizes that Crowley is a demon and initially refuses to help, leaving Crowley stuck in a devil's trap he has walked into. After learning that Dean and Crowley want the Blade to kill the last Knight of Hell -- Abaddon, Tara tells them what she knows though she is disgusted to be working with Crowley. When Tara reveals that the locator spell needs Kraken essence, Crowley offers to get it and she reluctantly breaks the devil's trap to let him go, telling Dean he shouldn't be working with Crowley and that John wouldn't be happy with him for doing it. Dean tells Tara that he'll handle Crowley after he stops Abaddon but that she is a much bigger problem that needs to be stopped. When Crowley returns, the three cast the spell which points to a location in Missouri. Though Dean offers Tara to join them, she refuses due to Crowley's presence.

Sam and Castiel start a procedure to extract the grace, but extracting the grace causes Sam to start to revert back to the state he was in before Gadreel possessed him though he doesn't care and insists Castiel continue as they don't have enough grace for the spell. Sam insists he doesn't deserve to live anymore than any one else -- like Kevin. Castiel reluctantly continues, but stops when he can't stand it anymore, arguing with Sam that his life is precious. He completely heals Sam of the rest of the damage he took from the trials, destroying the rest of the grace.

In Missouri, Dean and Crowley meet Cain. Crowley tells Dean that Cain is the "Father of Murder." Cain tells them that it was he who used the First Blade to kill the Knights of Hell, and tells them to leave. They do but return when Cain is out. However, he returns just before some demons associated with Abaddon arrive, having killed Tara to find the house. Cain lets the demons inside the house, and Dean has to battle them all.

Jasper Springs, Mississippi - 1863
Cain finds Abaddon possessing his wife Colette, and she taunts Cain by breaking Colette's body as he watches. He stabs her with The First Blade just as Abaddon leaves her body. As Colette dies, she begs Cain not to continue on his mission to kill Abaddon.

Present Day
Cain decides that Dean is "worthy" of carrying the Mark of Cain in order to wield the Blade. Cain transfers the Mark of Cain to Dean, where it appears on his right forearm. Cain asks Dean to promise that if he gets the Blade, Dean will kill him.

Sam and Castiel try the spell to locate Gadreel using the grace, but find that they didn't have enough grace for it to work. Sam gives Castiel a hug, agreeing he was right earlier. Castiel says Metatron is the key to finding Gadreel, he suggests they call on Dean for help, but Sam declines.

Dean confronts Crowley, having realized that Crowley played him all along in order to get Cain to give him the First Blade. Dean denies that they need Sam's help, and Crowley takes off to find the Blade, leaving Dean to contemplate his

Characters

Definitions

Music

  • "Just Another Night" by Ian Hunter
(plays in the bar when Crowley is talking with Dean)

Quotes

Dean: You want to hunt? With me?
Crowley: I do love a good buddy comedy.
Crowley: Fine. Let's go find daddy's man cave, then, shall we?

Dean: And how do I know this isn’t a trap?

Crowley: You...don't. That's what makes it fun.
Castiel: Tastes like... molecules.

Sam: What? What are you talking about?
Castiel: When I was human, you know, I had to eat constantly. It was kind of annoying.
Sam: Yeah, a lot of human things are pretty annoying.

Castiel: But... I enjoyed the taste of food -- particularly peanut butter with grape jelly, not jam. Jam I found unsettling.
Crowley: Is this really necessary? After all I've been inside your brother - we're practically family.
Dean: Listen to me. We are the furthest thing from family. You got that, dickbag?
Crowley: So, what do you call this decor, anyway? Rustic obsessive? Paranoid deco?
Sam: Well, they didn't have a guinea pig, but we do.
Castiel: You have a guinea pig? Where?
Crowley: Hunters. So trusting. I'll go grab a latte while you get this sorted.
Tara: Devil's trap under the knock-off Persian, jackass.
Cain: Well, here's something your friend doesn't know, that no one knows, in fact -- outside of Abaddon. It wasn't the archangels that slaughtered the Knights. It was me.
Castiel: Sam, when I was human, I died, and that showed me that life is precious, and it must be protected at all costs, even a life as... as pig-headed as a Winchester's.
Sam: My life's not worth any more than anyone else's -- not yours or Dean's...or Kevin's. Please. Please, help me do one thing right. Keep going.
Cain: Since when does the great Dean Winchester ask for help? Well, that doesn't sound like the man I've read about on demon bathroom walls. Maybe you've lost a step. Let's find out.
Crowley: You're good. But I'm Crowley.
Cain: I felt connected to you right from the beginning. Kindred spirits, if you will. You and I are very much alike.
Castiel: The only person who has screwed things up more consistently than you...is me. And now I know what that guilt feels like. And I know what it... I know what it means to feel sorry, Sam. I am sorry.

Sam: I know.

Castiel: You know, old me -- I would've have just kept going. I would've jammed that needle in deeper until you died because the ends always justified the means. But what I went though -- Well, that PB and J taught me that angels can change, so...who knows? Maybe Winchesters can, too.
Cain: Abel wasn't talking to God. He was talking to Lucifer. Lucifer was gonna make my brother into his pet. I couldn't bear to watch him be corrupted, so I offered a deal -- Abel's soul in heaven for my soul in hell. Lucifer accepted... As long as I was the one who sent Abel to heaven. So, I killed him. Became a soldier of Hell -- a knight.
Crowley: He was right, you know. You are worthy.

Dean: Oh, great. Now you're gonna get all touchy-feely, too?

Crowley: Your problem, mate, is that nobody hates you more than you do. Believe me, I've tried.

Trivia & References

The title of the episode, "First Born" could be a reference to the fact that Cain was the first born son of Adam and Eve in Biblical mythology. As well as being known as the first murderer.
"Cain shows very similar immunities and invulnerabilities as Castiel, with the example that Dean Winchester stabbed both with the demon-killing knife in the chest and hit their hearts, but both were truly and completely unaffected by this. However Cas, unlike Cain, did bleed from the wound when he pulled out the knife."
Crowley: You're gonna play hard to get? We have time for a montage?
This is a meta reference. Montages of clips from past episodes are often used in TV shows as an expository mechanism
Crowley: I've been chasing that blade for decades. The closest I got to it was when one of my droogs, Smitty, got wind of a protege demon of Abaddon's that claimed knowledge of the Blade.
Droog is the Russian word for friend, and was most famously used as Nadsat slang in Anthony Burgess's novel, and later film, A Clockwork Orange.
Crowley: Didn't they teach note-taking at hunters Hogwarts?
Hogwarts is the name of the school of witchcraft and wizardry in the Harry Potter novels.
The hunter Tara was named after Tara Larsen. When Dean and Crowley first meet her, she is reading a copy of Locke & Key.
Dean: Yeah, like your heart grew three sizes. You can't zap out of here, can you?
A reference to the Grinch and how he had a change of heart in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
The Mark of Cain appears to resemble the Hebrew letter for Vav (ו‬) alongside the two marks, each representing the letter Yod (י). In the Hebrew alphabet, letters take on a numerical meaning, with Vav = 6 and Yod = 10. If you were to add the letters up in the Mark (6 + 10 + 10) you would end up with the number 26. The number 26 has a significant meaning in Judaism.

Minutiae

Anna Galvin previously portrayed Mrs. Fremont in 3.16 No Rest for the Wicked.
In the epic fight scene against the demons, Jensen did all his own stunts.
The external of Cain's house was going to be a stock photo, but instead the art department built the cabin.
First blade.jpg

The First Blade was drawn/designed by Robbie Thompson:

"When I pitched I thought it'd be helpful to draw The 1st Blade. Despite this artwork they went for it."

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

Promotion



Episode Meta

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