Supernatural Hiatus Hunting: 4.16, On The Head of a Pin

 
Dean gets to the point. He wants to know what’s going on, why is Uriel suddenly barking the orders? Castiel admits his superiors began to question his sympathies, aka his closeness with people in his charge. In other words, you Dean. He’s showing emotion, which are doorways to doubt, which can impair his judgment. Yep, Data, ST:TNG. Dean tells Castiel, “You don’t want me doing this, trust me.” Castiel, being the feeling android, I mean angel, he is responds “Want it, know, but I’ve been told we need it.”

Dean starts to fall apart a little. ”You ask me to open that door and walk through it, you will not like what walks back out.” Castiel understands. ”For what it’s worth, I would give anything to have you not do this.” Dean closes his eyes and accepts he really doesn’t have a choice. The directing on this scene is outstanding, the way they go back and forth between the two profiles, drawing out the greatest possible heartache of both these men. It’s the Kim Manners school of directing, and Mike Rohl gets an A. 

Dean enters the room with a cart, and chained up Alastair starts singing Fred Astaire’s “Cheek To Cheek.” Smartass. Christopher Heyerdahl is a fantastic, very creepy Alastair in this one, more so than last week, and he was great then. I heard he does a lot of evil parts, and the man is a master of his craft. Dean pulls back the cover to reveal the implements of torture, and Alastair laughs at him. He finds the true absurdity of the situation. ”They sent you to torture me?” Dean has his game face on, and demands to know a name of who’s killing the angels. ”Do you think I’ll spill my guts?” Alastair asks. ”Oh, you’ll spill your guts one way or another,” Dean admits, “I just didn’t want to ruin shoes.” We know from past episodes that Dean wisecracks the most when he’s terrified. Given all the clever lines with Uriel and Alastair so far, he must be out of his mind in fright. 

Alastair taunts some more, telling Dean he’s too scared to do this. ”I’m here, aren’t I?” Dean says. ”Not entirely,” Alastair replies. ”You left part of yourself back in the pit.” Remember that for later. Dean holds firm, and starts going through the instruments. Alastair taunts more, understanding that Dean would want payback for everything he did to him. Dean shows no reaction. ”How about all the things I did to your Daddy.” That gets Dean’s attention. Oh Dean, you are so out of your league.

Meanwhile, back at the crappy motel, Ruby walks in. Avert your eyes! That’s the scariest thing we’ve seen yet. Ruby can still smell the angels, and isn’t too happy about dealing with them again. Sam gets right to it, he needs her to tell him where they took Dean. Ruby doesn’t understand what the big deal is. Dean slices up Alastair, the angels get the goods, everyone’s happy. Sam knows the problem though, and he’s worried. “He can’t do it. He can’t the job done. Something happened to him downstairs Ruby. He’s not what he used to be, he’s not strong enough.” Ruby says, “And you are.” Sam is determined. ”I will be.”

 
Tell me Sam, how do you know this about Dean? We know you aren’t wrong, but is it brotherly intuition or your freaky psychic stuff? Either way, if you’ve known this all along, then your words during the confrontation in “Sex and Violence” were true. It’s good to see you wanting to cover your brother’s back this time, but ouch.   
   

Back to Dean, and this is where the scenes cut back and forth in wild succession. If you have a hard time keeping up, you aren’t alone. Alastair talks about how John was on his rack for close to a century, and he offered John the same thing he did to Dean every night, he’d put down his blade if John would pick up one. John never budged, and Alastair admits he was made of something unique. But then came Dean and “daddy’s little girl” broke in thirty. Dean is drinking whiskey by this time, doing his best to ignore the taunts. The angels gave him whiskey? They took him away so fast it’s not like he brought his own bottle. Even Ruby demanded sobriety from Sam.

Alastair goes straight for the core. ”Just not the man you’re daddy wanted you to be, huh Dean?” Dean goes on with his work, and Alastair so aptly says “Now we’re getting somewhere.” You are indeed, for even I see the small cracks in Dean just through the flare in his eyes and his tightened jaw. 

Dean grabs the holy water and pours, and Alastair isn’t impressed. ”Grasshopper, you’re going to have to get creative if you want to impress me.”   That’s a Kung Fu reference for those that didn’t watch it in reruns on cable. I’m sure only a fraction of us actually remember it airing in the 1970’s. It came on past my bedtime though, so I’m not that old! Dean really tries a speech of his own, talking about how he dreamt over and over again this moment. He’s got a few ideas, including putting the holy water into a needle. He comes up to Alastair and announces, “Let’s get started.” 
 

Castiel waits outside in the warehouse, listening to Alastair’s screams. His head dramatically turns toward the camera and he’s not happy. 

The camera swipes across the “implements of destruction” and up to Dean’s face. He’s apprehensive, toughens up and turns around. He asks Alastair if he wants more of the stuff, for there’s plenty left. Alastair has a clever answer. ”Go directly to Hell. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.” Dean actually smiles. Watch that, for we don’t see too much of that this episode.

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