Supernatural Hiatus Hunting: 4.03 “In The Beginning”
Dean asks Mary what he said outside. Nothing, just that he liked her. Then she realizes that might be bad. Uh, yeah, considering your son becomes the Antichrist, or at least an Antichrist, it’s bad. Red flag alert! Grandpa gives Dean a compliment and says he was wrong about him. That right there is the give away. Just like with John in “Devil’s Trap”, improvement in people skills is a clear cut sign of possession. Dean tells him they need to talk alone, so back at the house, Dean gets honest with Granddad, letting him know that Mary dies sometime in the future. “So what, are you some kind of psychic too.” Oh, that hits Dean in a raw spot. How many of us thought he’d respond, “No, but my brother is.”
Dean decides its time to come clean with Grandpa. After giving the this is going to sound massively crazy disclaimer, he spells it all out. “Mary is my mother, and I’m your grandson, and I know what the Hell I’m talking about.” Samuel needs more. “My real name is Dean Winchester. I was born on January 24, 1979. My parents are Mary and John Winchester.” He goes on to reveal Mary gets killed by a yellow-eyed demon in 1983, and he thinks what happened tonight is how it caught her scent. He needs to stop it now.
Mary goes running into John’s arms, very distraught. Um yeah, good reason. She begs him to get her out of there, so he does.
Back to Dean and Grandpa, and Dean is trying to convince him he’s not making this up. Samuel says his body is aching to put him six feet under, but there’s something about him he can’t shake. He believes Dean. Oh yeah, he’s possessed. Stubborn old hunters don’t turn that easy. Another big sign he’s possessed he wants to see the colt, also like possessed John in “Devil’s Trap”. Dean reluctantly pushes it away from Samuel, saying nothing personal, but he should have drawn the gun on him instead. Too late, yellow flashes in Granddad’s eyes and Dean goes slamming into a wall. I’m dying for the day when Sam slams Dean into a wall with his mind. Can it happen at least once? They have a fight and boom, into a wall! That would be so cool.
Here is where Mitch Pileggi reinforces why he’s an acting God. He switches character fast and picks up the mannerisms of Yellow Eyes in convincing fashion. That’s versatility. With creepy delight he figures out that if Mary is Dean’s mom could Dean be one of his psychic kids? Damn this is getting good! He smells Dean and finds he isn’t, but then asks if it’s a sis. Or a bro. Oh there’s the reaction he was looking for. He’s pleased to see his plan worked out.
He goes further into the ultra creepy territory by in so many words saying how hot Mary is. She’s my favorite. Continuity! He told Sam he was his favorite in “All Hell Breaks Loose”. Throw that in with the red tape comment and the continuity fairy is doing back flips right now. Yellow Eyes tells Dean he makes the deals not for the soul of the dealmaker, but for their children. He’s going to go to bleed into the mouth of Dean’s sibling and turn the child into a powerful being, a master race. Who’s taking bets that Sam won’t be able to hide the fact that he knew about the demon blood when Dean tells him? Who’s taking bets Dean tells him? At least Dean finally knows and as expected, he’s not taking it well.
Dean’s got the crazy eyes of anger going while asking why Yellow Eyes needs someone to lead his demon army. Dean’s got it all wrong, the plan is much bigger than that. End game. Yellow Eyes won’t reveal what that is though and boasts he’s covered his tracks very well. Now for the huge treat; classic, angry, over the edge Dean with clenched teeth daring Yellow Eyes to look into my eyes you son of a bitch, because I’m the one that kills you. No wonder Castiel busted him out of Hell. Hot, sexy, tough guys like that are great muscle for your team.
Yellow eyes plunges the knife into his meatsuit, essentially killing Grandpa Sam. Too bad, I loved him. That’s probably why he had to die. Grandma is next, for she screams when the knife goes in, so Azazel goes after her and does her in courtesy of a neck twisting. Who’s dying to see Sam learn neck twisting with one hand swipe trick? You remember Sam, the brother not appearing in this film. Dean breaks free, grabs the colt, but Yellow Eyes is gone. Dean realizes he’s after Mary. Anyone not on the edge of their seat by now? Anyone have fingernails left? Anyone breathing? Anyone wondering why Azazel left without the colt?
Hey, it’s throwback Thursday on TWFB. This continued a run of great episodes in Season 4. Much of the speculation in the article is very reasonable given what was known at this point, but in hindsight, not much was known 😉 And Alice was spot on about Ruby. When I first watched the epsiode, the Pinto did look strangely out of place but didn’t realize they were that far off. I guess they couldn’t go with an earlier Pinto because they had all caught fire and were destroyed by rear-end collisions 🙂
Usually not a big fan of time travel episodes but this one was great; everything we learned “fit”, and made sense; none of it felt like a retcon and you saw how big YED’s plans were. We got some great history on the Campbell family, and Dean talking John into buying the Impala was a nice touch. Otherwise, Sam and Dean would be cruising around in a 1964 VW Bus.
It is an important episode to fill in missing information and nail down the canon. I still get the emotional responses to the events even though I have seen where the whole story goes. It was important to miss Sam as it verified that the show is about both brothers and their journey. The subsequent return to John and Mary’s time with Sam and Dean gives Mary another chance to save Sam, but Michael takes away that possibility thus letting us know that he too is not so savory a character. The reintroduction of Samuel in season 6 was planted here as well. MP does a skillful acting job despite the season being uneven, but back to this episode.The lessons we think the episodes are about are often not the ones that we are left with at the end. Castiel’s head turn and comment about Sam are a turning point for Sam as well as Dean and how he views his brother. I forgave the Pinto error a long time ago. I loved seeing the Impala purchase. Baby is an important symbol in episodes that came after this one…especially season 5. She purrs.