Recap – “Like A Virgin”
Sam sits in front of the computer frustrated, and his look says it all. He just wants someone to tell him the truth. After a few more seconds tortured Sam goes for plan B. He closes his eyes and looks upward. “Castiel, uh, I’m back. So if you’ve got a minute, Sam stops there and looks around. We know as soon as he looks behind him Castiel will be in front of him. Sam turns around to the sound of flapping wings. There he is! Castiel is all serious. “Sam, it’s so good to see you alive.” Sam’s as stunned to see Castiel as Castiel is to see Sam. Cass comes closer and goes for the hug. Sam sees this coming and, sits down to avoid it? What all hugged out there Sammy?
Castiel stands confused where a hug was supposed to be but isn’t. Sam gives Cass a line that he would hug him but- “It would be awkward,” Castiel says finishing the sentence. Yes, but I see what Sam’s doing here. This is the clear cut sign that Sam’s soul is back. He’s talking to Castiel with the intent to deceive and he’s feeling too guilty to give a hug. If he was still RoboSam, he would have hugged. Oh, that’s so backward, but hey, these have never been normal character dynamics. Now Sam can go through with the lie. He acknowledges it was a crazy year and that Bobby told him everything. “Frankly, I’m surprised that you survived. I was begging Dean not to do it,” Castiel says, obviously not catching onto the fact he’s being played. Sam agrees with that. “You know it’s a miracle it didn’t kill you.” Sam is still trying to play along but we can tell he’s just waiting for the answer.
Luckily, he doesn’t have to wait long. “So how does it feel?” Castiel asks. Sam asks “What?” Okay, punchline time. “To have your soul back of course.” Close up on Sam, and this is the precise second where he plays it cool on the outside but we see his heart drop into his stomach on the inside. Oh boy, I don’t think he saw that bombshell coming. “Right you mean because I was walking around with no soul.” Sam turns away and struggles to come up with a good answer and we can only imagine how bad he’s getting ripped to shreds on the inside. “Really good Cass, I’m real good.” Right, that’s why your eyes are getting glassy now. “You know, I’m just hazy on a few of the details though. You think maybe you can walk me through?” He even gives the puppy dog eyes! I’m assuming this is where Cass realizes Dean hasn’t told Sam anything and that doesn’t surprise him so he does. I just love the way Jared did this scene. So subtle yet so heart crushing! Again, it’s saying so much with so little.
Back to Dean and his rock drama. He walks in with a determined look and a duffel bag. Dr. Visyak is clearly not happy. She tries to stop him. “I don’t like this at all. You do realize this is the single most valuable artifact you have ever touched.” Dean doesn’t care, it’s the only weapon they have. Honest Dr. Visyak, this is where you should have had him tossed and guards placed at the door. Killing the evil creature has always been Dean’s number one priority. So Dean goes for the smooth talk. He knows what he’s doing, he learned it from Bobby. “You want me to kill that dragon or not?” She does, but her bad feeling has huge merit. Dean’s “trust me” isn’t assuring, especially when he goes to his bag and pulls out a brick of plastic explosive. “You rocks think you’re so smart.” Really lady, you’re going to let him do this? Kiss your priceless artifact goodbye!
The scene fades to a little later and Dean has the charges strategically in place all around the rock. Me thinks this is a bit too much explosive for a rock of this size. Also, shouldn’t she be clearing out her other priceless items, just to be safe? Dean rolls out the wire to the other room, boasting “Welcome to the 21st century.” Dr. Visyak in the background is still upset but not stopping him. The doors close and she technically says goodbye to the love of her life. Dean braces the door, gives her a smile of assurance and presses the trigger. That is one large boom for such a small room! She’s lucky he didn’t destroy the house. Dean opens the door, there’s dust and debris everywhere, and the rock is successfully broken apart. The sword is still in it’s place just waiting to be pulled out. Dean’s swagger again is confident as he goes for the sword. He pulls it out only to get a nice piece of broken sword. I wondered if this was when he’d tell her he knows an angel that could put things together. Nah, his next line is better. “You’ve got insurance for this, right?” Judging by Dr. Visyak’s stunned silence, I don’t think it matters. Funny, but I’m still amazed Dean got away with that.
Sam is now holding the broken sword. “What are we supposed to do with this thing, give it a booster shot?” Dean acknowledges they’re going to have to get a little closer, that’s all. Sam hands the sword back and they go through the map of the sewer. They have a starting point! Dean’s all ready to go and Sam hesitates, wondering if now is the time for a talk. He decides otherwise and they’re off. Don’t worry Sammy, you’ll get your chance.
I don’t mind this sewer scene, for nothing gets as gross as the sewer in “Skin.” I’m actually grateful they spared us. We only know it’s a sewer because Dean complains about the smell. They have been there for hours and have found nothing. “What if dragons like nice hotels?” The same could be said for hunters! Sam however finds a pile of gold. Yep, dragons. Dean manages to pocket a handful before following Sam, who finds an altar with candles and a…we’ll say leather…book. “A little arts and crafty for a giant bat, right?” Then they hear voices, a woman shouting. They go on and find what we saw earlier, virgins in a cage. Sam gets the crowbar to let them out but they’re warned “he’s coming back.” No sooner does she say that, Sam and the crowbar goes flying backward.
Dean stands up and grabs the broken sword, facing off with the dragon dude from earlier. The dragon isn’t bothered by the weapon at all until Dean strikes him in the arm with it. It cuts him with a healthy gash. Now the dragon is worried. “Where did you get that?” “Comic Con,” Dean quips. Ha! Great line! They do sell fake dragon swords (and other kinds) at Comic Con. I wonder what the appeal is other than for LARPing. Dean goes for another strike but the dragon is quick and the sword goes flying. Dragon goes after Dean with burning hand, which is Sam’s cue to distract by hitting him with a crowbar. This is tag team at it’s finest!
Sam swings away with the crowbar while Dean goes for the sword. Unfortunately, it’s just an inch out of his reach. He reaches and reaches and Sam ends up in a mess with the crowbar. Dragon has grabbed it with his burning hand and the crowbar is smoldering. Sam tries to hold on at the bottom but it’s getting hotter and hotter. To make things worse while Dean is reaching for the sword he’s pulled up by another guy. It’s another dragon! The guy flings Dean across the walkway. Sam in the meantime lets go of the hot crowbar, kicks the first dragon backward and goes for the sword. Yes, being the taller dude, he has no trouble reaching it. He grabs it while Dean is getting the crap kicked out of him by the other dragon.
So, here’s Sam in the middle, having to decide whether or not to go after bad dragon #1 or save his brother with that sword. Sam slashes dragon #1 quickly, turns around and guts dragon #2, who sparks up and then dies in spectacular fashion. It makes me smile that Sam chose to save Dean. He is back! Sam pulls out the sword and goes for dragon #1 next, who disappears in a flash of wind. Ah well, at least they saved the virgins. How many of you think off camera these virgins threw themselves on their gorgeous saviors, dying to lose that purity as a thank you? Soulless Sam would have gone for it. I’m sure Dean has made it a fantasy.
What a pity Alice, I do love these recaps you write, but I understand you have a lot to do, so I’m gonna enjoy this one and you were not the only one to have fan moments of applauding or lauging a lot during the episode, I was right there with you…
Not to mention “the hug” Gosh, I wanted that hug for so long, I can’t tell you….
As usual your review is amazing.
Take care,
Clarice ; }
Sad! But I get why you don’t want to to them anylonger. They are lovely long so they must take a not nearly as lovely longer time to write.
I’ve wondered about the boys and their alcohol soaked organs as well. But then, haven’t they both died/been healed by Cas? I’m guessing (cuz I want it to be true) that the healing involved the inner damage as well. Fresh start! Longer for the boys to live!
I was wondering about how Sam would see the appearance of his new wardrobe and phone as well. Not to mention if Dean was able to delete all RoboSams number off. I’m playing pretend that Dean ‘splained as “You were asleep for a while. Thought I’d pick you up some stuff.”
Oh, and a side not on the journal scene. LOVE how far back Sam is sitting on the bed and his feet STILL touch the ground. AW! Gigantor!
I find it interesting that the Colt wasn’t brought up as a weapon of choice against the dragons. Dean said (lied?) to the Dr. that the sword was the only weapon they have, but they’ve gotta have some left over bullets from that bunch Crowley gave them. Right? Or maybe he didn’t want to waste the Colt on things that aren’t demons?
One last thing on the ep (sorry, feeling gabby) soon as Dr. Visyak made her comment about the most important artifact Dean’s touched, the thought of the Horseman rings jumped to mind.
Ok, done. Thanks for the recap Alice! Love reading them.
Awe, Alice, I understand where you are coming from but I will definitely be one of the few who will miss these recaps.
Now, as for the castles/mansions. There are actually quite a few of these kinds of places around the province. There are 2 here in Victoria in particular. Hatley Castle that many of you will know from X-Men, and Craigdarroch Castle. Both owned by the same family. Folks who got rich from coal. Over on the mainland, similar scenario, coal, lumber, pick a natural resource.
As for Sam’s clothes and cell phone, well for the cell at least, I don’t think it’s odd that Dean would have kept it around an charged up. How long did the boys keep John’s cell phones around? I would think the reason would have been the same for Dean.
And finally, the virgins. One WAS trying to open the trap door when the dragon arrived with broken arm girl. So while they were whimpering (and yes, I think it would have been nice if they weren’t quite so whiny – this is TV after all and we don’t need it to be THAT realistic – show a little back bone, will ya?) at least one of them was trying to break them out. Course they were not good on the stealth mode and Mr. Dragon hear them and heat sealed them in.
Ah well. Fun episode, great to have the brothers back together. Definitely an episode for re-watching!
Thanks again for having done all these amazing recaps Alice. Maybe come summer hellatus you could do them “special edition” for specific episodes. 🙂
Just wanted you to know, there are quite a few of us ‘lurkers’ out here who absolutely love your recaps. Understand of course if you need a break, but you will be missed 🙂
Thanks! I know there are lurkers, but being the site owner I get statistics on number of hits per article. Out of all our articles, my recaps statistically get the worst number of hits on a routine basis. These recaps take 15-20 hours per week to write. I’ve been doing them for 3 years, probably because I love writing them. However, I just can’t devote that time anymore for something that just isn’t catching on for a greater number of people. I do appreciate those that followed these and maybe I can come up with something that still goes over the key scenes in the same way but doesn’t cover the whole episode. We’ll see!
Thank you for reading these! I do appreciate the comment.
Love your recaps Alice. Too bad we won’t see them any more. I will miss that.
Aw, I read your recap everytime but didn`t comment.
What a pity, I will miss it very much. Awww!
Hi Alice what a recap! Loved it!
You know, in the part of the almost hug of Sam and Castiel, I have a different theory, I think Sam didn’t hug Cass cause he was trying to avoid Cass’s eyes, because Cass can read people’s minds looking them in to their eyes (like when Cass told Dean on [b]4.01[/b] “you don’t think you deserved to be saved” or when Cass read the Cupid’s mind on [b]5.14[/b].
I think that’s why Sam didn’t want to hug Cass for to avoid his eyes and manipulate him and ask him for the truth.
wow you really drop a bomb in the end. 🙁
Why you say that your recap don’t generate a lot of interest?, if you say that for the comments, well maybe is because you post your recap the day that the new episode is going to be aired and we are kind of anxious for the new episode, but I always read it and I usually don’t comment cause I think my English sucks and my writing too (I always had problems writing essays)… I like more the recaps that the reviews, they are really funny, you always have me giggling and laughing, you write in your recaps a lot of details (that other people doesn’t write) and are really interesting, and the way you express yourself in your writing… your recaps are [b]perfect[/b].
I was sad when I read you were not going to write more recaps, but then I remembered all the times that I was thinking: how she have time to do all this? I mean writing the review, the recap, adding things to the site, fixing it, and writing other articles, how she manage to do all this and having a job and a family and, its wow… Hey!, do you have some kind of device for to stop the time or something? 🙂
Alice, thank you so much for all this, your articles, the site, your time… Thanks
Alice, sorry to contradict you but
‘killing the evil creature has always been Dean’s number one priority’
is not a true statement. We all know that Dean’s number one priority is and always will be keeping his Sammy safe and sound(souled). 😆
This episode felt like it would fit prefectly into the first season, with all the brotherly love, John’s Journal, the forgetable MOTW (racist truck).
Sorry that you feel that these recaps aren’t appreciated. I look forward to them, but I can understand the frustration of putting in all the work and no one is reading them.
Thanks for all the hard work.
Thanks again Alice for another great recap.
I was so sad to read that this is no longer going to be a regular feature around here, I know I am not the only one to feel this way.
There are many articles on each episode now, but your recaps were really different and something special, I loved `re-watching` through your eyes. You always made me laugh and, on a few occasions, cry at the memory of a scene.
I understand that they were very time consuming, you only have to read one to see this, but I am hoping you maybe could still indulge us sometimes. Perhaps you could treat this like Jas does the Open Couch, write if an episode particularly inspires you, or maybe do a retro one like the recent IMTOD.
Whatever you decide you know you have our support and thanks for all the hard work, Love Ju
Hi Alice – I loved this recap! Agree with all of it and fangirled and laughed along with it.
I’m going to miss your recaps so much, as I look forward to them more than anything else on this site. Your feelings and thoughts along with the screencaps I enjoy immensely. (even though I really liked Lucky the skinwalker, lol)
Never could figure out how you could live your life with a family and a job and still have time to make this great site for all of us fans. Thank you for all of that and I do hope some episode inspires you to create another recap for us.
I found this site for the first time a few weeks ago, while going crazy waiting for hiatus to be over. Since then I have gone through and read as many of your recaps as I could, I absolutely love them. They saved my sanity waiting for the show to come back. I guess since this is the last one, I should take the time to say thank you for writing such awesome, entertaining recaps. I’ve enjoyed them immensely.