Like a Virgin: Supernatural Recap
First things first: welcome back Supernatural! And what a return it was! The CW has been teasing us for weeks with promo teasers that got us excited for the return of Supernatural and last night’s episode delivered beyond belief.
We started out with the iconic ‘The Road So Far’ montage, a favourite among the fans, which showed us what has happened during the last eleven episodes. We saw soulless Sam, the breakdown of Lisa and Dean’s relationship, and the destruction of Crowley. Not to mention the devilishly delightful Death, who warned Sam not to scratch at ‘the wall’.
It’s been a difficult road since episode one of the new season, Exile on Main Street, with the reappearance of Sam, but with the new episode, Like a Virgin we saw the old Sam we know and love return. However, Dean’s hesitance to tell Sam the truth about the year he’d been back was a sign that Dean’s protective side was kicking in, despite the consequences.
Sam’s Soul is Back!
I think a cry of joy echoed in the Supernatural fandom when Sam emerged from a soul awakening slumber a different man than he’d been before. The emotion on both Dean and Sam’s face when they embraced was the familial bond we’ve come to love on Supernatural. The look of relief on Dean’s face and the realization that the brother he’d lost was back was instant. Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki portray the characters emotions phenomenally and deserve a multitude of praise for this episode.
Father figure Bobby, still upset that Sam tried to kill him, provides the voice of reason in this episode and tries to advise Dean, much to his chagrin when Dean refuses to tell Sammy what happened during the year he was supposedly ‘dead’. We see a clipped relationship between Bobby and Dean for much of the episode.
Winged Beast and Other Things:
Not a subject we expected to see on Supernatural but all the same, Sera Gamble injected life into the subject and the storyline written by Adam Glass and gave us fans another unapproached subject: dragons -
virgin stealing dragons to be exact.We saw Dean and Sam get back into the saddle with an investigation into the missing girls, coming up with only one survivor. However, it was revealed the surviving girl was not a virgin but was acting under the pretence. The attacker had rejected her after realizing she was no longer a virgin, leaving multiple wounds on her body and causing her to be hospitalized. Her faux purity ring was also stolen during the attack. This leads the boys to connect whatever is attacking the girls is also stealing their jewellery which leads to Sam researching and ending up on a World of Warcraft website and concluding to one conclusion: Dragons.
When Dean contacts Bobby, he insists that dragons aren’t real, but Dean asks him to look into the subject. Bobby recommends an old ‘friend’ which Dean goes alone to visit.
Dr. Visyak, a dragon expert and one time ‘thing’ of Bobby’s can’t believe a dragon has returned and informs him he needs a special sword to slay a dragon. Luckily for him, she has one in her basement. The only problem? It’s cast in stone.
There aren’t words to describe how funny the following scene was. Jensen Ackles comedic timing excels in this hilarious scene in which Dean attempts to remove the sword from the stone (Dean the Dragon slayer comes to mind). When he has no success, he convinces the Professor to let him blow up the rock. She isn’t impressed when the explosion leaves her with half a sword and room full of rubble.
The episode switches to Sam; alone in the hotel room, he calls for Castiel, who is
unaware that Sam does not know what happened in the year he was soulless. He knows something is wrong; sensing Bobby’s awkwardness and Dean’s lies, the non filtered angel arrives and fills him in on his adventures while he was an empty shell and some of what he did as Lucifer’s vessel. Poor Sam, this may send him into emo overtime.
Dean, his brother and the Dragon:
Dean returns with a broken sword and Sam, who is choosing not tell Dean he knows the truth, head to the sewers where Sam suspects the girls are being held. They find a bunch of gold jewellery, of which Dean light fingers some for himself and the missing girls...
...And two shape shifting dragons! Sam manages to kill one with the broken sword but the other disappears. The brothers arrive back at Bobby’s house and Sam chooses that moment to reveal he knows what happened during the year he was soulless. The younger Winchester apologizes profusely to his brother and promises he will put things right. Dean argues that he doesn’t want that; he doesn’t want Sam to do anything that might damage the wall Death put up in his mind to protect him. But Sam won’t budge; he feels he has to make up what he’s done.
Bobby and the boys sit down to talk about the ancient book they found in the dragons lair and they realize the book is about Purgatory. It directly relates to how to open the door to Purgatory and how to get something out.
The Mother of All:
We’re back to the dragons as they sacrifice one of the virgins, and we see the next big bad of supernatural: The Mother of All. But who is the mother? Bobby told Dean and Sam she is the mother of all. We’re presuming the mother of all Alphas, Demons or of all Evil. She scolds them for keeping her waiting and informs them they have a lot to do. She’s arrived fairly late into the season and we’re wondering just what she has in store.
Hooray, the Hellatus is over!
The opening episode of the midseason premiere sets a new tone for the second half of the season. The first half was slow, and felt like we were venturing out into new, uncomfortable territory. Sam’s return signals a return to arms between Dean and Sam, seeing their relationship slide back to what it once was. The healing toward season five of the brother’s relationship seems to have cemented their bond. Personally, I think the second half of the season will emerge as some of the greatest episodes of Supernatural we have ever seen. If Like a Virgin was anything to go by, we’re in for a wonderful ride!
Not a subject we expected to see on Supernatural but all the same, Sera Gamble injected life into the subject and the storyline written by Adam Glass and gave us fans another unapproached subject: dragons -virgin stealing dragons to be exact.
