9.22 Stairway to Heaven

Title	Stairway to Heaven
Episode #	Season 9, Episode 22
First aired	May 13, 2014
Directed by	Guy Bee
Written by	Andrew Dabb
On IMDB	Stairway to Heaven
Outline	When Dean learns that the reaper Tessa is involved with the angels that are s suicide bombing in the name of Castiel, he seeks her out for answers. Meanwhile Castiel and Sam get a beat on the location of Metatron's secret entrance into Heaven.
Monster	Metatron Angels
Timeline
Location(s)	Dixon, Missouri Colorado Pray, Montana Heaven
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Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Castiel
• Gadreel
• Metatron
• Tessa
• Hannah
• Flagstaff
• Tyrus
• Josiah

Definitions

• Angel Lore
• Angel Sword
• Binding Link
• The Bunker
• Castiel's Pimpmobile
• Castiel's Trench Coat
• Enochian
• The First Blade
• Grace
• Holy Oil
• Mark of Cain
• Reaper

Music

• "Cheek to Cheek" by Fred Astaire with Oscar Peterson and the JATP All Stars

(plays when Castiel and Sam enter the door to "Heaven"; also sung by Alastair in 4.16 On the Head of a Pin)

Quotes

Dean: Nice reflexes. Better hair.

Metatron: I mean, sure, he's cute. And Castiel has this simple...charm. He's like a mentally deficient puppy. But I'm lovable. And funny. I made God laugh -- twice!

Sam: You hold roll call?

Castiel: They like to hear me say their names.

Dean: I know a couple of women like that.

Castiel: They've put their faith in me.
Sam: And maybe that's the problem. I mean, people have been doing messed up crap in the name of faith -- in the name of God -- since forever.

Tyrus: Just smell that.

Gadreel: Old shoes and alcoholism?

Tyrus: Authenticity.

Flagstaff: You believe every problem can be solved with a gun. You play the hero, but underneath the hype, you're a killer with oceans of blood on his hands. I hate men like you.
Dean: Honey, there ain't no other men like me.

Sam: I checked all the windows and doors, no luck. You find anything?
Castiel: I think so, it's Enochian. I believe it's some kind of riddle. 'Why is six afraid of seven?' Now I assume it's because seven is a prime number, and prime numbers can be intimidating.

Hannah: I know what Tessa was planning, it's horrible, but there is only one person that can punish her.
Dean: Let me guess; yay big, trench coat, sensible shoes.

Josiah: I would rather die than owe my life to you, Castiel. You play at being noble. You play at being one of us. But I look into your eyes and I don't see an angel staring back at me.

Tessa: I guess I just can't take the screaming.

Dean: Who's screaming?

Tessa: All of them. The lost souls. The ones that can't get into Heaven now that it's been boarded up. I hear them. They are so confused. They're in so much pain. All I want to do is help them. It's what I do. It's my job. But I can't. So I suffered... until death, nothingness. Suddenly, it didn't seem so bad. It seemed quiet.

Metatron: Castiel. Bet you're not happy to see me.

Dean: Is anyone ever?

Metatron: Dean, always with the B-grade '80s-action-movie wit.

Metatron: I did what I had to do. I have always done what I had to do, for God and for the angels.

Metatron: He's in love - with humanity.

Dean: Until I jam that blade through that douchebag's heart, we are not a team. This is a dictatorship. Now, you don't have to like it, but that's how it's going to be.

Castiel: You really believe we three will be enough?
Dean: We always have been.

Trivia & References

"Stairway to Heaven" is the most widely known of Led Zeppelin's songs.

Sam: I'm glad, honestly. I'm not saying we bury the the thing, I'm saying we just save it for when we really need it. Crowley, Metatron -- the big boss fights. You don't have to have it with you all the time, right? Just leave it. Please.

"The big boss fights" is a term used in video gaming referring to the climactic battle between the player and a large, typically hard to beat enemy.

Castiel gives Sam and Dean's FBI aliases as "Agents Spears and Aguilera" referring to pop stars Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Castiel explains that "I've noticed your aliases are usually the names of popular musicians." Which is of course correct, although Sam and Dean always choose names of classic rock musicians!

Metatron: I told you we had our shot with operation Lee Harvey, and we took it.

Lee Harvey is a reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

Metatron: What is that old line about sins and stones?

A reference to the line in John 8:7, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Dean: I mean, the Manson girls aren't gonna give us a straight answer with Charlie in the room, so just hang back.

Charles "Charlie" Manson is a cult leader and mass murderer, whose followers were referred to as the Manson family.

Sam: You got a weird thing going on back there. Those other angels, the way they stare at you. It's like you're part rock star, part L. Ron.

L. Ron Hubbard was the founder of the Church of Scientology.

Tyrus: You'd still be you -- a nerd trying to be one of the popular kids.

Curtis Armstrong who plays Metatron became popular in his role as Booger in the 1984 comedy Revenge of the Nerds. Tyrus was also wearing a shirt with the name Fred on it in reference to Fred "The Ogre" Palowakski from the same movie.

The auditorium Tessa plans on suicide bombing was holding a production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Tessa: So, you're here. Why? You just love musical theater?

Dean: Only if it's Fiddler.

A reference to the musical Fiddler on the Roof.

Castiel: It's wordplay. And the answer is the key, like the doors of Durin in Lord of the Rings.

A reference to the scene in The Fellowship of the Ring, where the Fellowship must answer a riddle to gain entrance to the great Dwarven city of Khazad-dûm.

Dean: Let's talk about us. I mean we got history, yeah?

Tessa: Sure. I still remember our meet-cute. You were dying.

A meet-cute is a television trope where a future couple meets for the first time in an entertaining fashion.

In the building where the portal is located, "Only the penitent man shall pass" is carved on the wall. In the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, there are a series of traps. The first one is called "The Breath of God." The quote associated with the trap says, "Only the penitent man will pass." As a person approached, they would feel air move through the chamber's thick cobwebs. They would then have to kneel in order to avoid being decapitated by three huge circular blades, just as Castiel did in the episode.

Castiel: He reeks of holy oil.

Sam: Yeah, looks like he got Home Alone-ed.

In the 1990 movie Home Alone (and it sequels), Macauley Culkin plays 8-year-old Kevin who lays a series of traps for would-be burglars. In 1998 Culkin was breifly married to recurring Supernatural actor Rachel Miner.

Metatron: You want to stay with Castiel, fine, but he's playing you, because at the end of the day, the only thing he cares about is himself and the Hardy boys there.

The Hardy Boys refers to brothers who are amateur detectives in the boys' own adventure children's books. It is a term used to refer to Sam and Dean in the Television Without Pity recaps of Supernatural, and has been used as a nickname for them by Crowley.

Metatron: Well, that's an old writer's trick -- flipping the script. You start by building up a seemingly unbeatable enemy, like the death star, or a rival angel with a bigger army.

The Death Star is the weaponized space station in Star Wars.

Minutiae

Live tweets from the cast and crew during the broadcast.

Metatron is first seen trying on a trench coat similar to Castiel's trench coat.

The fake "stairway to Heaven" is located in Pray, Montana.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 9.22 Stairway to Heaven (transcript)

Promotion

• Episode synopsis by ksitetv
• Episode Promo
• CHCH Promo
• Sneak peek
• Promo pics from sweetondean