RearView Review: Supernatural 10.09, “The Things We Left Behind”

 

“The Things We Left Behind”
Season 10 Episode 09
Writer: Andrew Dabb
Director: Guy Norman Bee
Air Date: December 9, 2014

BY WEDNESDAY

THEME

Things we leave BEHIND sometimes catch up to us no matter how many WALLS
we build to keep from feeling the consequences, guilt, remorse, and pain.
To be left BEHIND, or to feel the abandonment of parents, leaves irreparable scars.
True family is there when we NEED them and without ulterior motives.

PLOT AND CHARACTERS

SHADOWS

Bloody and bewildered, Dean gazes to his left.
Muted, gamer-worldly, filtering exposes two dead men, shirts saturated in blood.
Dean’s gory hand still slickly grips the hilt of a drenched blade.
A seated dead man, in a hat and coat, bows his head.
A dead woman, tells a bloody tale. Her blonde hair trails on the filthy cement cell floor.

Dean’s shocked bloody face grasps his depravity and guilt; then, it fills with sorrowful anguish.
Finally, his face reveals a tortured surrender to the truth. A blood soaked man lies on his back.
Dean again looks to the seated man in the hat. An incongruous lamp shines pinkly. Dean is desolated.

                                          Dean wakes in his bunker bedroom fully clothed lying on his bed. The lamp is on.                               
                                                      It was a dream. He looks at the Mark. Could he have done that?                                                         
Memory, or dream, or premonition…? (All 3)
His face reveals dread.

ANOTHER CELL

Marching to another cell, an officer (Glenn Williams) escorts a defiant blonde, (Kathryn Newton)
with racoon eyes, down a corridor of the Pontiac, Illinois, Youth Transition Center. She warns him,
“Get your hands off me, perv. I’ll sue your ass.” Ignoring her, the officer notifies the Administrative Social
Worker, of her shoplifting. Sandy (Jennifer Copping) assigns 48 hours of isolation.
As the girl punches a WALL, Sandy informs the unit’s Officer (Ronald Thompson), their client is              
 “One of our frequent flyers. Claire Novak.”

Still feeling residual anger, Claire weakly punches a bag with damaged hands. The Officer announces her
father’s visit. Claire’s eyes leap with hope. She remembers Castiel, “not her father.” Castiel enters.
Expectantly, Claire rises. Castiel announces, “I’m not your father.” Claire’s hope dies, “Those are the first
words you ever said to me, remember?” Claire asks if her father’s still alive “in there.” Castiel informs her, and
any other doubters, that Jimmy Novak is long gone to heaven. The vessel was “ripped apart on a subatomic
level by an archangel.”

Claire accuses Castiel of taking “everything” from her. Now, he “can get the hell out.” Castiel wants to make
amends for hurting her. Claire informs him that a few months after their last meeting, her mother “took off.
Dropped me off at my grandma’s and went to go ‘find herself.’ I guess she’s still looking. After my Gran died,
I didn’t have anyone, so I bounced around to different foster families. Places like this.”
If Castiel’s sincere about helping, he can help her escape. He needs a tie.



PRETEND DAD

Castiel loosens his tie in Sandy’s office, raising the ire of Claire who re-adjusts it, “Now,
you look like a dad.” Sandy waves Castiel to reseat himself when she enters and gets right to the point
about his custody of Claire. “You vanish, for years. No contact, not even a Christmas card. Why come back now?”
Castiel, assuming Jimmy’s voice, declares he was “traveling.” Claire adds for “work.”
Sandy skeptically asks what his job is. Castiel fights “certain deadly threats to humanity.”
Claire cleverly LIES, “He’s an exterminator.” Sandy asks for a tip for bed bugs.
Castiel blows it by replying with a wink, “You should sleep tight and not let them bite.”
The ruse is over.
Claire is sent pouting to the hall while Sandy informs Castiel of an important parenting rule,
“She doesn’t need a friend; she needs a father.”
Application for custody: denied.

LET’S PRETEND

Diffusing the nightmare, every light in the Bunker Library is on, except the one BEHIND Dean.
He watches the Three Stooges on his lap top. Sam delivers a grilled cheese to Dean who gloms onto it
like it somehow will satisfy the Mark’s hunger of the Mark. Sam asks how he’s feeling.
Dean LIES, “Better than ever.” Desperate for distraction from the truth, he asks Sam to watch.
After a side-long look at the Mark, Sam, wanting to believe, joins in ignoring the THING
in the room. They eagerly escape, pretending it’s old times. If only…

BAR BREAK WITH DAD

Awake, Claire’s fully clothed on her bed in the cell. Castiel breaks in to break her out. Claire follows
Castiel, stepping over the unconscious Officer. Showing some conscience, she asks, “Is he?”
Castiel informs her, “He’s sleeping.”

ANOTHER CELL
Rowena (Ruth Connell) chained to a WALL, watches Gerald (Viv Leacock) shove a demon into
the cell. “Sit. Stay. Good dog.” Rowena begs Gerald. She needs to talk to her son. “Tell him I’m sorry …”
 Gerald slams the door BEHIND him.



LEFT BEHIND

In Sharky’s restaurant Claire eats fries and ketchup. Castiel suggests eating a vegetable.
Claire LIES, “ketchup’s a vegetable.” Using some of the worst teen vernacular ever, Claire notes
Castiel has changed from being “super stuck-up and a dick” and she “just wanted to punch him in his stupid angel face…”
but, now, “you’re nicer. And kind of a doof. Castiel says he was on a self-assured righteous path but now he realizes,
“there is no righteous path. It’s just people trying to do their best in a world where it’s far too easy to do your worst.”
Claire says she doesn’t need a baby sitter and after breaking her out, they are “Even Steven.”
Castiel wants to stay together. Claire pretends to agree, excusing herself to use the washroom. As Castiel heads to pay,
Claire collides with him stealing his wallet. She runs to wave down a ride. Castiel, in a familiar endearing way, selects
a magazine and treats for Claire, informing the cashier, it’s for a “teenage girl” who is “urinating.”
He discovers his missing wallet. Out on the street, Claire has a ride. Castiel does not catch up.
He’s left BEHIND.

 

HELP A BROTHER OUT

Sam and Dean meet Castiel outside Sharky’s. Dean doesn’t think Cas’ dilemma qualifies as an emergency.
“An emergency is a dead body, okay? Or a wigged-out angel, or the Apocalypse, take three.
Some chick bolting on you is not an emergency. That’s every Friday night for Sam.”
Cas insists that even though she “rolled” him and ran, he NEEDS to know she’s safe. “I NEED your help”
Sam agrees to visit the Youth Facility while Dean stays in case she comes back,
and to feed the hungry Mark.



Dean takes Castiel’s cheeseburger, having finished his own, speculating that Cas is “having a midlife crisis.”
Castiel responds, “I’m extremely old. I think I’m entitled.” Dean advises him,
“The people you let down, the ones you can’t save. You got to forget about them.” (Leave them BEHIND.)
It’s the opposite of what Dean does, but he’s not a “role model.”
Castiel disagrees. He asks how Dean is. Dean LIES, “I’m great!” Castiel doesn’t believe him.
Dean admits there’s still the Mark.

Dean recalls his dream and has trouble refocusing on their conversation.
“Cas, I NEED YOU to promise me something.” Cas says, “of course.”
Dean explains, “If I do go dark side, you got to take me out. Knife me. Smite me.
Throw me into the freakin’ sun, whatever. And don’t let Sam get in the way, because he’ll try.
I can’t go down that road again, man.
I can’t be that THING again.”

 

CONFESSIONS IN HELL

The new prisoner tries wriggling out of her chains. Rowena says that won’t work.
Hearing her Scottish accent, the Demon snaps, “I didn’t ask you, Braveheart.”
Rowena laughs, and imitates William Wallace, “Freedom!” Rowena engages in “Small
talk, darling. Just passing the time.” She discovers they’re topside.
The Demon was smuggled up for a “bloody” favour.
Crowley will torture her for details about her Houdini act.
Rowena confesses her sin is being a “horrible mother.”

MOMMY ISSUES

In Hell’s throne room, Crowley agrees. “She was a horrible mother! Did I tell you the time she almost
traded me for three pigs? Three! I was an attractive child. I could juggle. I was worth five pigs, at least.”
Gerald confesses his own mother, “used to burn me with cigarettes.” Crowley callously responds,
“Nobody cares, Gerald. And don’t get me started about the name. ‘Fergus.’ It sounds like a venereal disease,
and not the fun kind.” Gerald offers to kill Rowena for him.
Crowley has his “reasons” for not “ending her.”

CATCHING UP

Back at the Y.T.C. Sam gains information from Sandy. Claire’s smart with “a big heart.”
Claire was kind to a boy named Dustin who works at the Weiner Hut.

DADDY ISSUES

Claire turns over “Dad’s” wallet to her fake dad, Randy (Roark Critchlow). Weiner Hut Dustin (Jake Guy) observes.
Claire denies knowing James Novak. Randy, exploiting Claire’s need for a dad, wants money.
Salinger, a loan shark, is coming to collect. He dangles a solution requiring a minor. Randy hoped Claire would pay
her own debt by stealing, but she let him down. (Lay on the guilt.) “Come on. One last family meal.”
Claire insists on saving their “family.”

WEINER SNITCH
Outside the Weiner Hut, Sam and Cas ambush Dustin, who claims he isn’t Dustin.
Cas slams him against a brick WALL.
“Yes, you are. And you’re going to tell me where Claire Novak is. Now!”
Dean strolls out eating a hot dog, advising Dustin, “I’d do what he says.”
Dean gives Sam a thumbs up for the hot dog. Sam’s a little disgusted.

HELD UP
At the Gas n’ Sip, Claire cases the store, failing to notice the cameras.
She checks her gun and hides behind ketchup. She flashes back to Randy’s advice.
Claire watches a customer exit, before approaching. Castiel grabs her arm.

SORRY’S NOT ENOUGH

Outside, Claire walks away. Castiel asks Claire to wait. She snaps, “Screw you!”
Dean interrupts, “Whoa, hey, Miley Cyrus. Settle.”
Claire turns on Dean, “Eat me, Hasselhoff!”
Sam tries to calm her down, needlessly introducing themselves. “We’ve met, remember?” Claire glares back.
(Those were dark times.)
Cas scolds her for wrongfully stealing. Claire’s outraged, “You want to talk to me about wrong? You killed my dad.
Is that “wrong” enough for you?” When Cas moves to convince her, she pulls a gun. Cas indicates that won’t hurt him.
“Fine!” She turns the gun on Sam and Dean who raise their hands protesting.
Claire asks, “Why? Like you don’t have it coming? You stood there while this monster took my dad.
I used to pray to you, Castiel. Every night. I would beg you to bring him home safe.”
Castiel admits, “I know.” Claire’s aghast.
Castiel says, “I’m sorry.”
Claire refuses his apology, “No. You feel guilty. There’s a difference.”
Sam and Cas try to dissuade her from returning to Randy who uses her to steal. She doesn’t
believe that because “When things got bad, and they got real damn bad, he was there
when no one else was. He’s my family. And you’re just, you can go to hell.”
Claire walks away.

SORRY’S NOT ENOUGH

Gerald escorts Rowena to Crowley. Rowena compliments Crowley for achieving King.
“I always knew my boy was meant for big things.” Crowley remembers differently, “You said I would die in a gutter,
covered in my own sick.” Rowena was merely motivating him. She asks how he died but he ignores her,
“The point is, you hated me. You said you’d be back in a flash. Then you disappeared. I was eight years old. Eight!”
Rowena thinks Crowley’s being “dramatic” and he had a father, “You were just conceived during a winter solstice orgy,
and it’s not like I was taking names. I had a disagreement with the locals and when they set their hounds on me, I had to
leave!” Rowena coos, “We have a second chance. We can be a real family again, Fergus.”
Oddly, Crowley maintains he already has a family. (?)  Rowena’s skeptical, too. “Who? The demons?
Any one of them would stab you in the back.” Crowley asks, “And you wouldn’t?” Of course she wouldn’t, “Because we’re family!
We’re blood! You can trust me. …if you want to keep me locked away, then so be it… understand that I’ll always be your mother. …
I’ll always love you.” Rowena kisses him.
(Will he fall for this? Remember his words, “I just want to be loved!”?)

BAR BREAK WITH DAD

There’s no time for a lei, but Dean orders “three whiskeys” in a Tiki bar.
(Tiki: carved figurine representing the first man on earth or, Adam, father of Cain and Abel.)
Cas realizes Claire “was right. Who am I to tell her how to live her life?” Dean argues, “Well,
somebody needs to. …The girl just about knocked over a Gas n Sip. She’s got issues.” Sam doesn’t think Cas
can make amends. “Jimmy was her father… to some people, that’s everything, you know?”
Castiel never knew his father, “He was distant, to say the least.” Cas asks if they loved their father.
Dean responds, “With everything I had.” Sam agrees, “It wasn’t always easy, but yeah.” Dean admits,
“We know John Winchester isn’t going to win any #1 Dad awards, but damn if he wasn’t there
when we NEEDED him.” Sam encourages Dean to tell the story about another bar in NY. Their father hated New York
but showed the boys the sights. Later, while he slept, Dean snuck out to the CBGB.
Dean was underage and in trouble with a bad crowd who got him very drunk, abnormally quick,
“and I feel like I’m going to puke forever. And right about that time, I hear him. ‘Dean Winchester!’ My old man.
I don’t know how, but he found me. And now I’m really freaking out, because he’s just standing there,
not saying anything. I look around, and everybody else is freaking out, too. In fact, nobody’s even looking him in the eye.
And finally, this one guy with, like, a safety pin through his nose and a ‘Kill Everything’ tattoo looks up
and he says, ‘Sorry, sir.’ To John friggin’ Winchester.”

Castiel understands, John saved Dean. Dean agrees, “Yeah, and you know what he got for that? Me whining about
how much he embarrassed me. Me telling him that I hated him. …he looked at me and said, ‘Son, you don’t like me? That’s fine.
It’s not my job to be liked.‘” Sam, eagerly finishes his brother’s sentence, “It’s my job to raise you right!”
Cas asks, “Do you think Claire’s in trouble?”
Dean’s opinion: “She’s hanging out with a guy named Randy. She’s in trouble.”
Dean orders another round.

PIMPS & PEDOPHILES

Claire finds Randy surrounded by Salinger (Thomas Newman) and his goons. Randy asks for the money.
When Claire shakes her head, a goon pulls a knife on Randy. Claire pulls a gun but is quickly disarmed.
Salinger tells Claire that Randy’s a “pile of crap” and “not worth it.” Claire spits in Salinger’s face which strangely amuses him.
Claire is taken to her room. Salinger admires her. “She’s got fight. I like that. I married the last girl that spit in my face.” (?)
Randy owes 5,000 from bets. Salinger will cancel the debt for Claire. Randy refuses, “Claire’s like family to me.”
Salinger knows he’s trying to increase her value, “I know the con, all right? You find some kid with Major League daddy issues
and then get her to steal for you. Cut the proud papa act. I’ll make you a good deal.”
Randy reveals this to be true by saying, “Like I said, Claire’s family. 
 So it better be a damn good deal.”

BACKUP PLAN

The kiss didn’t work. Gerald hustles Rowena back to her cell.
Desperate, Rowena accuses Gerald of smuggling demons topside. The Demon confirms Rowena’s accusation.
Gerald claims they’re lying and pushes Rowena against the WALL, choking her.
Crowley orders Gerald to stop but he continues enraged. Crowley again warns Gerald to stop.
Finally, Crowley knifes him in the back of the neck. Crowley justifies, “I said, that’s enough, Gerald.”
Leaving, he stops in the doorway, covered with a web of shadows, “Coming?”
Rowena gratefully rushes to follow him. The Demon calls after, “You said that if I lied, you’d get me out of here.”
Rowena pauses, “Oh, and I will, darling. I’ll be back in a flash.” (Well, we know what that means.)
The Demon’s left BEHIND.

RESCUE
Salinger invades Claire’s bedroom to claim his 5000 dollar investment. He locks the door and stands in front of her,
“You really are a pretty one.” (Understatement) Claire kicks him in the groin, making a rush for the door.
Salinger pulls her back. She screams. Below, a goon opens the door to Cas who lifts his hand
propelling the man backwards. Cas and the Winchesters enter.

                                         Sam and Dean hold the men at gunpoint while Cas follows Claire’s scream.                         
                                                Her door flies open startling Salinger. Claire takes advantage and starts kicking him.                             
       (You go, girl!)  
 Cas heads her downstairs. Claire knows Randy pimped her out. “Randy?” He stares down.
Dean tells Sam and Cas to get Claire out. They leave.

REAR-GUARD ACTION
Dean warns the goons to “Back up. Don’t be as dumb as you look.” Dean’s almost out. Salinger shuts the door. 
Dean turns and is smashed with a bottle. Dean kneels bleeding.
Mark of Cain memories flash before him. He shakes his head to clear the montage.
Dean warns them, “You guys don’t want to do this.”
Salinger laughs and kicks Dean’s head.

And Sam leaves the house, trusting that Dean’s shouldered the rear-guard for their retreat, like countless times before.
Sam hears the door close. He’s so confident Dean’s two steps behind, he doesn’t turn his head to check.
He hears Cas comforting Claire. Any second Dean will appear, getting in on his left, as always.
Shouting! Noise! Slo-mo, Sam spins to his left. Dean? Dean!
He left Dean BEHIND. He left Dean and the       
THING BEHIND.

KILL EVERYTHING
Sam bursts into the carnage where Dean kneels.

Sam falls to his knees clasping Dean’s face. “Tell me you had to do this.”
Dean, nearly catatonic, responds like a helpless child, “I didn’t. I didn’t mean to.”
Sam’s insists on hearing more lies, “No. Tell me it was them or you!”
But, what does self defense matter? It wasn’t Dean’s fault. The moment Dean was kicked in the head,  he checked out.
The Mark of Cain took over feeding its hunger and, when sated, left a traumatized Dean to deal with the consequences.
Claire screams.
A pedophile, a pimp, some nasty bottom feeders died. No loss, and not the casualties here.
Nor, was it the further inevitable loss of trust in men by Claire.

The true tragedy was the Brothers’ loss: all their hopes and peace of mind.

THE SCRIPT

Parental Abandonment and the scars on THOSE LEFT BEHIND is insightfully explored by Dabb.
Poor Claire and Crowley forever trying to fill the void.
Dabb continued Berens’ quest to fix mistakes. Imagine what he could write if he didn’t have to RECTIFY
THINGS THAT WERE LEFT BEHIND.

Dabb revisits Castiel’s wrongful acquisition of Jimmy Novak’s vessel and the fallout from stealing a man from his family
and destroying him. R.I.P. Jimmy Novak. Dabb revisits the killing of Samandriel. When Castiel killed him (Season 8),
it was to protect his single minded pursuit of what he believed was right. Nothing’s changed.
Castiel seemed fully capable of killing another Weiner Hut employee in another quest to do right.
Castiel’s tie returned.
Strangely, Castiel was completely out of touch with the Mark and didn’t know if the boys loved their dad.

Dabb reconsidered John Winchester’ parenting skills and the unjustified ‘hate on’ some fans have for him.
He wove in new canon about a heartwarming rescue which Dean and Sam had woven into legend.
That they were in a Tiki bar, named for the first father, relating a story about their father in a bar, was beyond brilliant.
John Winchester, a tortured man with FAITH, LOVE, and shouldered the OBLIGATION TO SAVE OTHERS FROM EVIL.
He passed this to his sons. What more can anyone ask of someone?
See video by Charmax: “Deus Ibi Est” (God is Here)

Deus Ibi Est-John Winchester Loving Father

Fans criticized this episode for not meeting Midseason Finale expectations. (Netflix users won’t care)
Dabb cleverly did repairs, inadvertently highlighting how horribly long it took to get there.
The lacking arcs for Crowley and Castiel, for which there’s no excuse, moved forward.

Memorable GREAT LINES. (See bolded text). Claire’s dialogue was off.
Dean’s line about “Miley Cyrus” isn’t original. Ackles used it at JibCon-14 on a demanding hostess.

Very beginning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANdAxWthgA0

It was fun to see the Weiner Hut, Gas n’ Sip, and to revisit Pontiac, Illinois, Dean’s burial place,
and Novak home town. The addition of a justifiably rebellious teen girl added humour and new depth to
characters, while representing a new generation of fans. Claire’s struggle paralleled both Crowley and Dean.

COMPLEX, EXPLORED, INSIGHTFUL,TIGHT WRITING.

DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHY

Guy Norman Bee /Serge Ladouceur

Heavily Detailed. Impressive!

LAMPS/LIGHT MOTIF

Lamps for symbols, and to enhance characters and plot. Dean slept with the light on.
Hell’s lamp was out. Claire’s name means “light,” etc.

WALLS

BARS/CAGES

BARS/SHADOWS

Claire’s legs form her own bars in shadow. Curley struggles under a barred window.
His shadow wrestles with some THINGelse.

SHADOW WEB

Crowley caught in Rowena’s web.

SET DESIGN

Jerry Wanek Awesome details!
Mark of Cain appears on stained glass windows, floor of Randy’s house, and Tiki.

TIKI        BAR!

(Can You Find S.E. Hinton?)

RELATABLE MOMENT

Terrible teen magazines…burn them all!
(Good Reproduction BTW)

BEST PERFORMANCE

Tough decision, but Misha has been much missed.
Congratulations Misha Collins!

FROM THE REARVIEW

 

Viv Leacock (Gerald) played Pete Hensley 4.15 “Death Takes a Holiday”
Jennifer Copping (Sandra) played Mrs. Caldwell 3.08 “A Very Supernatural Christmas”
Roark Critchlow (Randy) from “Days of Our Lives” with Jensen.

 

THANKS TO

Supernatural Wiki
Behind the scenes Jerry Wanek
Home of the Nutty Screen Caps