Supernatural - Book of the Damned - Review

Supernatural, “Book of the Damned,” was written by Robbie Thompson and directed by PJ Pesce. The other episode that Pesce directed was last season’s “King of the Damned,” so apparently he’s there “Damned” specialist. The episode also marks the return of Charlie (Felicia Day), and Cas (Misha Collins) finally getting his grace back. In many ways, this episode is a nice tribute to much that has come before – a nice season 10 walk down memory lane. However, it also feels to me like we may be setting up for next season to be a victory lap and the series last. Of note in this episode is the terrific music and Jerry Wanek’s sets. There are also a few glorious brotherly moments.

Having just finished watching Arrow, I wasn’t sure if I was still watching it during the opening scene as we see a hooded figure running through an alley with a weapon strapped to their back! I wonder if this sequence was shot with the idea that it would be the first airing in the new Wednesday time slot. Regardless, how cool is it that Charlie carries a katana – like Michonne from The Walking Dead! Jacob Styne (Jeff Branson) and his family have been following Charlie for some time in order to get back the Book of the Damned. Charlie gets away, but not before being shot.

Meanwhile, back at the Bunker, Sam (Jared Padalecki) is still lying to Dean (Jensen Ackles). Dean walks in (in a fan-pleasing hoodie) on Sam on the phone to Cas, which Sam plays off as a wrong number. Dean, however, somewhat surprisingly, tells Sam everything he learned from Rowena (Ruth Connell) and Crowley (Mark Sheppard). They’re interrupted in discussing the Mark as a curse by Charlie’s call. She’s stitched herself up with dental floss – so the wound is “minty fresh” (nice Shrek reference!). If you aren’t familiar with fan fiction, stitching wounds with dental floss is a pretty common trope – as is Dean in a hoodie.

Charlie fills them in on the Book of the Damned that she rescued from a ruined monastery crypt. She tells them that it’s “a spell book for doing or undoing any damnation.” She also tells them about the tattoo she saw on Styne. They in turn give her directions to one of Bobby’s many cabins in the area – for hunters to use to lay low in. The cabin itself is the magnificent result of Jerry Wanek’s incredible set designing talents. A quick shout out for the beautiful library later in the episode because that too is entirely a set! We may be missing our funky motels, but Wanek is hard at work making up for them with these beautifully detailed sets. I was particularly taken with the fireplace at the cabin which Pesce uses for some gorgeous shots.

We get the first of two terrific classic songs as the boys drive to meet up with Charlie. It’s also one of the first brotherly moments. Dean has the tunes cranked as “The Boys Are Back In Town” by Thin Lizzy plays. I have to say, I think that they had to have replaced whatever Ackles was actually singing along to at the time of taping because what he’s doing with his mouth has no relation to the actual song. Dean is clearly optimistic that they’re going to be able to remove the Mark. He’s euphoria is a good indication of how worried he’s been about the Mark and its effect on him. Of course, we haven’t actually seen any manifestation of this except for one nightmare and the occasional flash of black eyes – both of which could just be the stress of worrying about the effects of the Mark.

Dean suddenly wants to take a vacation. Of course, this follows along with his previous musings this season about wondering about a life outside hunting. He wants to go to the beach – something neither of them have ever done: “Sand between our toes, Sammy. Sand between our toes.” Sam still looks worried and unconvinced that this will work. In case we’ve forgotten, Sam reminds us later in the episode of how he felt in season one. The season continues the role reversal of the brothers, with Dean thinking about life outside of or beyond hunting and Sam happy simply within the life. Dean’s first thought though is that it’s the both of them on that beach.

When they get to the cabin, Charlie tells them that 700 years ago, a nun locked herself away after having visions of darkness. A couple decades later she reemerged with the book in which the pages were made from her skin and the ink is her blood. YUK! As she speaks, Dean is holding the book and completely zones out. He tells them that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea for him to touch the book and takes off to bring the rest of the things in. Sam tells Charlie that Dean is getting worse. Again – evidence?

While Sam and Charlie try to decode the book, Dean looks through the Men of Letters files on occult families and discovers that the tattoo belongs to the Styne family. They have a very shady background – a “multi-generational centuries-old wrong.” They’ve been involved with creating disease, de-stabilizing markets, and helping the Nazis before they came to power. Anybody else hoping this might lead to a return of Aaron Bass (Adam Rose) with a link to the Thule Society and a need of the Judah Initiative?

Dean tells them that they can’t use the book. When you use it, “there’s a negative reaction. I’m talking Biblical negative. Dark magic always comes with a price, we know that, we've been down that road before.” He goes on to tell them:  You guys don't understand, the book's been calling out to me ever since I laid eyes on it, okay. Calling out to the Mark. I can hear it like it's alive, it wants me to use it, but not for good. Look I wanted it to be the answer too, okay. I really did. But we have to get rid of it; burn it, bury it -- I don't give a damn, we'll just have to find another way to fix the Mark.” Charlie’s concerned that Dean is just giving up, but he assures them that he doesn’t have a death wish. But Dean is always going to be Dean – he’s not willing to sacrifice others just to save himself.

Padalecki and Ackles are both terrific in this scene. Dean insists he’ll fight the Mark as long as he can. Sam presses him for what happens after Dean can’t fight it any longer. He tells Dean that he can’t stand Dean becoming a demon again – or having to “cure” him again which goes unspoken. Dean suggest that Sam just keep him a prisoner in the Bunker. Even Charlie doesn’t see that as an option. Sam begs Dean to just let them translate the book because he can’t face losing his brother. They can deal with the consequences later. Dean asks him if he’s changed his mind since last time – and they leave it hanging – prime food for Charlie’s curiosity. Dean insists the book has to be destroyed before it falls into the wrong hands, including his own. He tells Sam that he’ll get his vacation, but not this way, before leaving to get snacks. Charlie suggests that Dean might be right.

The scene between Charlie and Sam discussing the hunting life is outstanding. Both Day and Padalecki are terrific, but Padalecki even more so. Charlie presses Sam for what Dean meant. Sam tells her about the end of season eight – hence the inclusion of the angels falling in the THEN montage. It’s also significant that Cas’s grace problem also finally comes to a close here. Sam tells her they had a chance to close the gates of Hell, but that he would have had to die to do it. He was – and is – ok with that but Dean wasn’t. I loved that she completely sums up season nine in about two sentences: “He saved you. And let me guess, in doing so he did something you didn’t want and that pissed you off and you said something that hurt him.”

This leads into a discussion of “the life” which ends in tears or death – how many times have we heard Dean say that over the years! Sam tells Charlie that the way he got sucked in was by always thinking it would be just one more case. He goes right back to the Pilot and Dean coming for him and then the search to find Jess’s killer. He tells her he always thought he’d go back to law and his life. She says, “You’re the Dread Pirate Roberts of hunting.” Of course, she would draw a parallel to The Princess Bride! Loved it! And then Sam replies, “I guess I really understand now that this is my life. I love it. But I can't do it without my brother. I don't want to do it without my brother. And if he's gone, then I don't...” I think these were all words that fans of the show have been waiting a very, very long time to hear. I want to particularly praise Padalecki in this scene. He’s said many times how much he enjoys playing different Sams – demon-blood-Sam, soulless-Sam, etc – but we haven’t gotten a lot of just Sam in what feels like a long time, and he proves here why we’ve been missing that Sam. And while Dean isn’t even in this scene, it’s another wonderful brother moment.

Meanwhile, Dean runs into trouble getting Charlie’s snacks when he finds Styne behind the cash register. The confrontation between Dean and Jacob is terrific, and I’m disappointed Branson is unlikely to come back. I loved that Branson’s drawl seemed to rub off on Ackles in this scene – or was Dean just mocking him – as Charlie did by calling him Gambit? I also like how stone-faced Dean is in his denials – let’s not forget what a good liar Dean is. Some of what Styne says seems to muddy the waters a bit, however. He says to Dean that him walking in was more providence than coincidence. He seems to link it to divine intervention. He also tells Dean that the book can remove the Mark but if he messes around with it, he’ll do more harm than good. It sounds like he’s not only trying to get the book back but to dissuade Dean from using it. Are they actually trying to keep the book safely away from people? Do they view those with the book as a danger to be eliminated for the greater good? Of course, killing the innocent cashier kind of flies in the face of that theory, but still, something to think about.

Dean returns to the cabin, knowing he’s being followed and insists that they have to burn the book in a holy oil fire. He insists the price is too high and that the book is calling to him, wanting him to take it away and do very bad things. Dean and Charlie fight while Sam seems to take forever to get the book in the fire. Styne arrives and even though Dean shoots him multiple times, he still manages to get to Sam and try throttling him even as Sam stabs him. We never do get an explanation for why it takes so much to kill them. Of course, Sam took so long because he was switching the book out and didn’t burn it.

Sam lies to Cas this time as well as Dean. The final scene shows Sam with Rowena, asking for her help. He tells her, “I don’t trust him, and I never will, but I need help and this is right in your wheel house.” Presumably the “he” Sam doesn’t trust is Crowley. Given Crowley’s history with Dean, that makes sense. And it’s Dean’s information about Rowena saying it was a curse and could be removed and her being on the outs with Crowley that leads Sam to her.

Meanwhile, we have Metatron (Curtis Armstrong) and Castiel’s roadtrip running parallel. Somehow Armstrong wasn’t quite as annoying as an annoying human. I’m sure that I wasn’t alone in really enjoying Cas punching him in the face, torturing him, and calling Sam to ask to kill him. It’s impossible to ever trust Metatron given what we’ve seen him do in the past, so I didn’t fall for his “human” act. I did like that he asks Cas if he doesn’t miss the feelings of being human – the taste of food for instance. Cas denies that he misses it at all, but we know that he did because he told Sam that he missed the taste of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Metatron wants to be “besties” but Cas points out that Metatron killed his friend (Dean) which takes that off the table. Cas presses him for stalling, and Metatron, fairly reasonably, points out that once he tells Cas where his grace is will kill him. He’s not wrong. Metatron saves Cas when they are attacked by an angry Cupid. Yes. That’s ironic too.

Metatron finally takes Cas to the library where his grace is really hidden. Metatron sent an angel to hide it and to leave clues to find it. I thought this was actually a really interesting scene. And I will give credit where credit is due. Armstrong does a very good job in this episode of showing a clear distinction between human-Metatron and megalomaniac-Metatron, and we see him shift from one to the other just through his speech delivery in this scene. The scene also addresses a number of fan concerns about the entire angel storyline. It’s one of the things that feels a lot like this storyline is being wrapped up.

Metatron begins by once again trying to win Cas to his side: “We make a good team.” He says they’re like a buddy comedy without the comedy. Cas adds “without the buddies.” Cas is appalled that they had to kill the Cupid and vow that they not kill any more of their brothers and sisters. Metatron says they aren’t a family. Angels are just “a bunch of glowing lights filled with self-doubt or delusions of grandeur.” Common complaint about how the angels are portrayed on the show. Cas is the first and Metatron the second. It’s at this point that Metatron clearly sounds like Metatron again.

Like fans, Metatron wants answers before he dies. In particular, he wants to know what Cas is now. Fans would also like to know what Cas’s purpose is going forward. He’s not an angel of the Lord – Castiel’s description of himself from his first appearance – because there is no Lord. What happens when he finishes with his mission walking the earth? Surely he’s running out of rogue angels to round up. I wonder how many people watching got the Kung Fu reference – surely the demographic isn’t skewing that old! Hannah has cleaned up Heaven, so there’s nothing for Cas to do there either.  Like fans, Metatron wants to know what Cas’s mission is now.

Cas, unfortunately, doesn’t get the opportunity to answer as Metatron casts the spell he’d been writing on the books in his own blood and Cas is incapacitated. There’s a nice tidy little bit of writing as Metatron quotes the Alanis Morrisette song he’d been gushing over at the beginning of the episode: “Isn’t it ironic? Don’t you think?” And did everyone catch the voice of executive producer Bob Singer as the radio announcer? Metatron gets away with the demon tablet which was also hidden there and not destroyed. This would appear to put closing the gates of Hell back on the table while also offering a potentials source of information for a cure for Dean.

Meanwhile, Cas has been busy considering the riddle and realizes that it lead to Don Quixote. How perfect to hide Cas’s grace there! Just like Quixote, Cas seems to have been tilting fruitlessly at windmills. Given that we had a brief appearance for God earlier in the season, is it time for Cas to take up his real quest again? Finding God, and finding his real purpose? In the short term, however, Cas is able to restore what’s left of his grace – which looks like quite a lot, but perhaps it’s not possible to only fill half the container with the swirling light? However, when we see Cas’s wings, they are clearly sick – much like when we saw Gadreel’s last season. Can Cas heal back to full strength or will he remain limited going forward?

The episode ends with everyone regrouping at the Bunker, and Cas and Sam reassure each other that they did the right things. Cas thinks he should have sacrificed his grace and just killed Metatron, and it appears that Sam is now also lying to Cas. Cas and Charlie finally meet, and it’s adorable when she says she thought he’d be shorter after simply spontaneously hugging him hello. She asks if he can’t just heal Dean, but of course, this is beyond even his restored powers. He is able to cure Charlie’s carpal tunnel syndrome and her gunshot wound, however, causing Charlie to declare them best friends.

Dean arrives and is happy to see Cas now fully restored, but wants to know how it happened. Cas continues to keep Dean in the dark and says it was Hannah who got the information out of Metatron. I’m betting Dean is going to be pretty pissed when Metatron shows up with the demon tablet. We then get the second great classic rock song: “Behind Blue Eyes” by none other than The Who. It would seem logical that the blue eyes belong to Cas, but the camera never focuses on him. Just an FYI, Connell has green eyes.

      We see the four enjoying a pizza party as the song plays, but it’s clear that neither Sam nor Dean are as happy as they are pretending to be. Sam, in particular, does a poor job of pretending. As the song plays, the camera lingers on Dean over the lyrics “bad man” and over Sam for “sad man.” The camera cuts between them over “telling only lies.” Dean looks at Sam like he may suspect something is going on – Dean’s not that stupid, remember. The lyrics go on with “my dreams aren’t as empty as my conscience seems to be.” Pretty fitting given what we’ve seen these brothers do to save each other.

This episode throws a lot of balls in the air. Metatron on the loose with the demon tablet, Sam throwing in with Rowena, Castiel with his grace back – though how this helps anyone remains to be seen. I thought Day was terrific in the episode. She provided a good sounding block for Sam. She was a help to the brothers and didn’t upstage them. Day does both the comedy and drama well – and I know there is a very vocal faction of fans who will vociferously disagree with me, but there it is.

If you were wondering about the dedication to Jaap Boeker at the end of the episode, Boeker worked as a stand-in on the show for its first seven seasons and recently passed away. What did you think of the episode? Did you enjoy the brotherly moments? Do you think Sam is making bad choices in going to Rowen and keeping Dean in the dark? Do you think Dean suspects? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem

I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.