Rearview Review: Supernatural 10.18 “Book of the Damned”

“Book of the Damned”

10.18
Writer: Robbie Thompson
Director: P.J. Pesce
Air Date: April 15, 2015

By WEDNESDAY

THEME

We must be ruthless to attain our desires.

PLOT & CHARACTERS

UNHAND IT

A black ninja figure hurries into a smoky alley. Two men pursue. The ninja pulls her hood off.
It’s Charlie! One of the thugs takes out a “Jack Sparrow” compass and watches it spin.
The men pull guns following the compass point.
One man begins searching the dumpsters.

He opens a lid. Charlie jumps out stabbing him in the throat.
She leaps at the other man and slashes his hand. He drops his gun, but oddly, he chuckles although Charlie has her sword at his chest.
Charlie demands to know who he is and why he’s following her.
The man responds, “I ain’t following you. I’m following what you got in your bag there.
That don’t belong to you, girl. Belongs to my family.”
Charlie mocks his southern accent and asserts, “Finders, keepers.”
The man tells her she doesn’t need the Book and can’t read it. Charlie’s annoyed by his condescending attitude.
He’s been tracking her across Europe. Even if he’s defeated, his family will continue the quest.
Charlie notices a tattoo on his wrist. While she’s distracted, he grabs her sword.
She flees, but not quickly enough; a bullet pierces her side.
She escapes through a fence.
The man shouts after her, “You can’t run forever little girl!”

KNEE JERK

Castiel TURNS OFF THE RADIO cutting off Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic.” Metatron is upset,
“Really? That song is a classic. Yeah I hear you. I do. And you’re right. Inclement weather on the day of your nuptials
and the wrong cutlery at inopportune times is hardly ironic. But it sure is catchy. Yeah, fair point. Can’t argue taste.
But since I became human, it’s just so strange. All these feelings, you know? I mean, I can feel music.
Like that last song, ‘Sussudio.’ I don’t even know what it’s about and I love it. I always enjoyed lyrics, words, stories.
Gives me goose bumps. And goose bumps – don’t even get me started on those. Creepy! And yet, arousing.”
Castiel calls Sam and asks bluntly, “Can I just kill him now?”
Sam advises Cas to hang on because they need to get his grace back.
Metatron’s offended; they are discussing him in front of him. “You know I can hear you, right?”
Sam informs Cas he’s found nothing on the Mark.
Metatron whines, “I don’t know why you’d want to cure that little firecracker now. He’s finally interesting.”
Castiel punches Metatron in the face.
Sam pretends it’s a wrong number and hangs up when Dean enters the library.
Metatron finds that funny. Castiel punches him in the face again.

ALL EARS

Dean tells Sam all about the Mark being a curse, Rowena being Crowley’s mother,
and her attempt to kill him for causing Crowley’s weakness. He also apologizes for not telling Sam about it sooner.

The phone rings. Dean answers, “Winchester Accounting. How may I help you?”
It’s Charlie and she’s in trouble. Dean puts her on speaker.
“I got shot. Did you know dental floss works great on stitches? I only passed out
twice, and I’m pretty sure my wound is now minty fresh.” She can’t go to the hospital because some “southern fried
D bags” are after her and “The Book of the Damned.” She tracked the book to a Spanish monastery.
The Friar who buried it noted that the book was for undoing any kind of damnation there is.
“We translate this thing, I think we can get the Mark of Cain off you, Dean.”
They’re excited by the discovery but Charlie needs to hide from the men who belong to a “family” and sport a tattooed family crest.
They’re somehow tracking the book. Sam tells her get “off the grid.”
There are “Hunter cabins,” compliments of Bobby, scattered around where she can hide.
Charlie tells them to bring snacks and the MOL decoder rings.
“This book is old and scary, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”

CHEST

Packing hurriedly for a road trip, Dean finds a box which is warded, lead lined and will take the book “off the radar.”

TOES

“The Boys are Back in Town” by Thin Lizzy rocks the Impala.

Sam TURNS OFF THE RADIO. Dean objects.
He was enjoying it and is filled with hope for the first time in a long time.
“We’re due for a win, okay? Overdue. I’ll tell you another thing, if this actually does work,
we’re gonna take some time off… And I’m not talking just like a weekend in Vegas
or sitting in some crap motel watching ‘pay per porn.’ No, I’m talking about a beach.
Drinking Cervezas, go for a swim, mingle with the local wildlife.
When was the last time either one of us was on a beach?”
Sam admits, “Never.”
Dean smiles, “Sand between our toes, Sammy. Sand between our toes.”
He cranks the song back on.

MOUTH

An enormous serving of waffles, whipped cream and berries is relished by Metatron, while Cas glowers across the Diner table.
“Mmm! O. M. Me!” Metatron gushes, fascinated by the human experience of eating. “I mean, you used to be human.
Don’t you miss all this?” Castiel does not “miss digestion” or “indigestion.”
Waxing poetic sentimental mush, Metatron continues to work on Castiel, “Not that.
I mean, don’t you miss the feeling of all this? Like the taste of these waffles. The sound of a child’s laughter.
Look at us. We’re a couple of angels who’ve touched not only the divine, but the mundane. You and I have a lot in common.”
Castiel knows what he’s attempting to do and warns him, “Don’t.”

NO’S, NOSE & KNOWS

Metatron pouts, “Can’t we be besties?” Castiel says no, because Metatron killed his friend.
Metatron excuses this, “Oh, pffft. Dean is fine, mostly. Can’t you get past that?”
Castiel’s frustrated. They’ve visited three safe houses, “and all of them are empty.
So either you’ve lost my Grace, or you’re stalling.”
Metatron doesn’t deny it, “Can you blame me? The minute I hand over your Grace, I’m dead.”
Castiel has no sympathy. Metatron brought this on himself.
Metatron has problems digesting his waffles and needs to use the boy’s room.
He holds up his handcuffed wrists and Castiel must assist him.

They pass a trucker (Patrick Sparling) in a red hat who has an angel blade in his jacket.

FACE 2 FACE

Charlie wakes up, with a post it note stuck to her face, to see visitors. They hug.
She updates them about the book: “700 years ago, a nun locked herself away after having visions of darkness.
After a few decades she emerged with the book. Each page is made out of slices of herown skin written in her blood.
It’s been owned and used by cults, covens, and the Vatican had it for a while.
There’s a spell inside for everything: black mass, dark magic, end-of-times nastiness.”
(Book is like the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis “Evil Dead” series.)

While she’s talking, Dean holds the Book.
As he turns pages, the Book whispers, a heartbeat is heard (MOC) and eerie music plays.
Dean seems to teleport away from them lost in the book. Sam breaks the spell, “Dean? Dean!”

PHALLUS

Dean, stunned by the Book’s power, thinks it’s not, “a good idea that I touch this. I’ll go get the rest of our crap.”
Charlie’s alarmed by his behaviour.
Sam reveals Dean’s “not getting better. He’s trying to cover; but, we need to find that cure, fast.”

BACKUP

Outside the diner, Metatron apologizes for the mess and being “lactose intolerant.”
The Trucker interrupts, “This really must be my lucky day. Two birds, one blade.”
He draws a blade as does Castiel. He’s an “angry cupid” who wants vengeance on them for corrupting heaven.
“It’s never gonna be the same!” Cupid shoves Castiel down and attempts to stab Metatron.

Castiel tries to save Metatron. In the ensuing struggle, Cupid loses his blade and falls with Castiel.
Atop Castiel, Cupid grabs Castiel’s blade to stab him.

Metatron stabs Cupid from behind with the lost Blade.
Castiel picks up his blade. Metatron turns over the Angry Cupid’s blade.
Metatron figured he owed Castiel one. Grumpily, Castiel affirms “This changes nothing.”
Metatron is gob smacked by his thanklessness, “You’re welcome.”

BRAINS

Charlie shows Dean a sketch of the tattoo.
“The douche clan. Got it. Well this is everything the Men of Letters had on occult families, so there should be something…”
Sam discovers the dialect is Sumerian but unreadable. Charlie suspects it’s coded.
Sam’s frustrated, “An entire book of unreadable text that’s also in code. Great.”
Dean challenges them, “And you call yourselves nerds. Come on. You got this.”
Charlie’s eager to “Alan Turing,” “De-crypt this bitch.”
Sam notices Dean staring at the Book and puts it in the lead box.

Jacob Styne (Jeff Branson) made it to Charlie’s telephone booth.
His compass is not working. He complains to his goon (Patrick Sparling),
“Damn it. She found a way to hide the book. ..It was on this road.
She was on this road. Send the boys up and down the way. See if anybody saw her.”

Metatron hid Castiel’s Grace in a library, “Nobody goes to libraries anymore. It’s the safest place in the world.”
Castiel can “feel” his Grace but can’t locate it. “Where is it?”
He pushes Metatron in a chair and squeezes his bullet shot knee.

“I don’t know, I swear! I had another angel hide it, even from me. Ah!
You know, in case someone tries to torture the information out of me! Case in point!”
Metatron told an “angel to hide some clues in some of my favorite books.”
He opens a book and reads a clue, “What is the maddest thing a man can do?”
Metatron has no clue. “I’ve only been a man a day. The answer to the riddle will lead to another book.
And inside that book, you’ll find your Grace. We’re gonna work this out together, okay? Teamwork.”

Charlie can’t crack the code but Dean’s found information about the Styne family.
“Talking multi-generational, centuries old wrong. The Styne family.
Men of Letters’ files have them dated back to the early 1800’s.
They used spells to create disease, to destabilize markets.
Hell, they even helped the Nazis before they came into power, and they profited from all of it.”
Charlie compares them to “supernatural DuPonts.”
The Stynes got their spells from “a book of ‘unspeakable evil’which they lost nearly a hundred years ago.”
Dean also informs them the “way the book works, is WHEN YOU USE IT, THERE IS A NEGATIVE
REACTION. I’M TALKING BIBLICAL NEGATIVE. Dark magic always comes with a price. We know that.
We’ve been down that road before.” But that’s not all that’s been bothering Dean.
He feels the book has been “calling out to the Mark. I can hear it like it’s alive. It wants me to use it, but not for good.
Look, I wanted it to be the answer too, okay? I really did. But we have got to get rid of that.”
Charlie asks if he’s giving up and Dean says no. He will fight the Mark “as long as I can until….”

ABOUT FACE

Sam interrupts, “Until I watch you become a demon again? Until then? I can’t do that. I won’t do that.”
Dean suggests locking him in the bunker. Charlie notes it won’t solve anything.
Sam wants to translate the book. “If there’s a cure, we’ll do it and deal with the consequences later. I can’t lose you.”
Dean asks, “You change your mind on that, cause that’s not what you said last time.”
Sam says, “You know I didn’t mean that.”
Dean maintains “this is my cross to bear, Sam. Mine. And that book is not the answer.
Now we got to destroy it before it falls into the wrong hands, and that includes me.
I’m gonna go for a drive. Charlie, we forgot to pick up your snacks. We’ll figure out another way.
And Sam, I’ll get my vacation. But not today. Not like this.”

BLOOD

Back in the library, Metatron likes their team, “Kind of like a buddy comedy, without the comedy.”
Castiel says it’s without “the buddies,” too. Metatron reminds him of the dynamic duo action at the diner
but Castiel views that as unfortunate. “No more of our brothers and sisters should die.”
Metatron’s annoyed with Castiel for spouting the “company line like anyone cares. Like we’re actually a family?
When what we really are, are a bunch of glowing lights filled with self-loathing, or delusions of grandeur. Or both.”
Castiel tells him to shut up.
Metatron refuses. “No! If I’m gonna die, I want answers. Like, who are you now? Like, you’re obviously not an angel of the Lord.
And what about all of this walking the earth like Caine from “Kung Fu” crap? Cleaning up Heaven’s messes.
How many more rogue angels are there out there? And, what are you gonna do once you’re done with all that?
Go back to Heaven? Please. The angel formerly known as Hannah has restored order up top.
Smoothest it’s run since God cut the ribbon on the pearly gates. So tell me, Castiel, truly, what is your mission now?”
Castiel tells him to shut up and keep looking. He moves to another aisle.
Metatron dips his hand into his bloody knee wound and draws sigils on the books.

The sigils glow. Castiel falls coughing. Metatron rounds the bookcase to see Castiel,
“Poor Castiel. Swam so far just to drown in shallow waters. Isn’t it ironic? Don’t ya think?”

WINGS

Charlie asks Sam what Dean meant by “his changing his mind.”
Sam explains he was willing to close the gates of hell despite losing his own life. Dean kept him alive.
Sam resented this. He told Dean he would not interfere if Dean wanted to die. Charlie exclaims “Brothers.”
She then draws a parallel between her choice of a hunter’s life with Sophie’s Choice. 
Sam reflects back    to when Dean pulled him away from law school to hunt.

For a long time he thought one more job and he’d get back to his life, but now he realizes,
“this is my life. I love it. But I can’t do it without my brother. I don’t want to do it without my brother.
And if he’s gone, then I don’t….”

Metatron continues his quest while Castiel fades.
He reads a clue, “‘What two things do you need to succeed in life?’ Ignorance and confidence.”
Castiel sees the clues are quotations.     
Metatron chides Castiel, “So, did you and S amateur hour really think I wouldn’t have a back-up plan?”
He opens a book revealing the Demon Tablet.
Castiel reaches “Don Quixote.” His Grace vial falls out.
“The places I’ll go with this, and your Grace.” Metatron hurries away when he sees Castiel with his Grace. “Well, one out of two ain’t bad.”
Castiel knows the answer, “What’s the maddest thing a man can do? Let himself die.”
He opens the vial and his Grace flows in.

He rises an angel with a halo and severely damaged wings.

HANDS UP

Inside the gas station, Jacob wipes the cashier’s blood from his knife. “God just don’t build to last, does he?”
Dean enters and makes a bee line for a six pack. “Afternoon, sir.”
Dean says “Howdy,” adding two packs of gummy bears, “there we go.”
Jacob rings it in. “$15.75.” Dean notices Jacob’s tattoo.
Jacob asks, “You heading home or you just passing through?”
Dean answers, “Just passing through.” He glances in the mirror to see the dead cashier.

He comments, “Must get awful lonely out here all by yourself.”
Jacob responds “Oh, I get by.”
Dean pulls a gun, “Don’t move. Hands where I can see them.”

BUTTS

Jacob throws the change in Dean’s face.
A goon grabs Dean from behind. Jacob wonders who Dean is and then notices the Mark.
“Well, hello there. Where’d a back road nothing like you get their hands on something like that?”
Dean growls, “What’s it to you, Mr. Styne?”
“My friends call me Jacob.”
“Well, I ain’t your friend.” Dean sneers.
Jacob chuckles and quickly puts it together. Dean’s buying treats for a red haired girl
and they’ve hidden the Book in a “Lead lined number.”
Dean claims to not know what he’s talking about. Jacob explains Dean’s appearance is not a coincidence.
“See, The Book of the Damned, it wants to be found. It wants to come home. ..You want to use it to get that gift off your arm,
don’t you? Power is wasted on the weak. Now the book can remove that Mark. But you
mess around with that, you’re gonna do far more harm than good.
So, why don’t you do the right thing here, boy, and tell me where that book is.”
Pretending to give in Dean drops his head mumbling, “Yes, sir, I’ll tell you.”
Jacob gloating over his capitulation moves in closer, “One more time. I didn’t hear you.”
Dean head-butts him in the face, head butts the guy behind him, and dives for his gun.

On the floor, he fires up at the goon. He boot and butt scoots backwards as he empties an entire clip.
(Head shot Dean! Head shot!)

Finally, the goon falls. Dean reloads and rises.
Jacob’s gone. Dean’s cell phone is smashed.

GUTS

Dean rushes into the cabin.
The Stynes “found me. Those douches are all jacked up, too.” 
“I emptied a full clip into one of them before the son of a bitch went down.”
Dean throws holy oil into the fire and demands the Book be burned. “There’s a cure
for the Mark in the book. But it comes at a price. We got to destroy it.”
(Does the Mark fear the Book?)
“It’s calling to the Mark. It wants me to take the book and run away with it. Burn it now.”
They hear the Stynes and pull their guns.

Two Styne goons crash through the windows taking on Dean and Charlie.
Sam goes to the box to remove the book. Charlie stabs her goon. Dean takes care of his with a chair.
Jacob smashes through the door. Sam throws a wrapped book into the fire. Dean fires on Jacob,
but Jacob keeps heading for Sam and grabs him by the throat, “You silly boy.” Dean keeps firing at Jacob.

Sam stabs Jacob and he collapses. A book burns in the fireplace.

BACK

Castiel relates to Sam what happened, “Should’ve just killed him. Who knows what he’ll do with that tablet.”
Sam’s happy Castiel has his grace back. Castiel’s glad the Book’s destroyed.
(Two against the world.)

Charlie carries in groceries. “We’re back, bitches!” Sam introduces Cas to Charlie and they hug.

She expected him to be shorter and asks if he can cure Dean. Castiel admits he can’t.
Charlie asks if he can fix her carpel tunnel. He cures it and her bullet wound.
Charlie’s impressed, “Did we just become best friends?”
Dean, the pizza man, enters from above.

EYES

Cas lies saying he got his Grace back from Hannah’s intervention and assistance.
“Behind Blue Eyes” plays while Cas and Charlie play Paper fortune teller. Dean laughs with his mouth full.
The moment looks like fun until we see the anguish on Sam’s face.

MONTAGE/FLASHBACK: Sam talks to someone over a restaurant table.
“I don’t trust you and I never will. But, I need help and this is right in your wheelhouse.”
He opens the box revealing the Book of the Damned.

Re-watch the ending that flips it all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZtL0h5SmkY

THE SCRIPT

GREAT MOMENTS

Cas gets his Grace back. Charlie hugs Castiel. Dean goes live action hero on Jacob.
Metatron is right: he and Cas make a great “buddy comedy” team.

PLOT ADVANCEMENTS

The script moved the plot. Sam has a solution for the Mark. The Styne family is
introduced. Metatron is on the loose.

REPAIRS

This episode appeared to be another attempt at patching up omissions in this season
and previous seasons.

FLAWS

DENSE

The script was HEAVY with EXPOSITION (Styne family, the Book) and explanatory BACKSTORY
(The creation of the book, what’s going on in heaven, Sam’s explanations.)
The script was dense with PONDEROUS ALLUSIONS to World War II and literature. Too Much.

SHOW. DON’T TELL.

Instead of being shown, the backstory of the Book,
which would have made for an interesting episode, we are told.
The same goes for the Styne family. Why are we getting backstory now?

GLITCHES HIGHLIGHTED BUT NOT REPAIRED

The sample script page above doesn’t show it but, Sam had a role with dialogue, a stabbing, and some behind the scenes subterfuge. (On the script page he “LOOKS” at Dean.)
 Sam’s character was ignored this season, but his wasn’t the only one without an arc.
This last ditch attempt to right a wrong made the wrong stand out more.
Also, Sam never said any of these things to his brother and they desperately needed to have this conversation.
Once again, it was tabled to a later date. Why bring up the flaw and then shuffle it away again?
Nothing was resolved.
Sam deserved better treatment and this little patch HIGHLIGHTED the problem rather than doing the character justice.     
          Trying to fix a mistake is not a flaw. Trying to fix it and failing to do so, is.

This script pointed out issues of sloppy writing and fandom complaints, but they were UNRESOLVED, or added new concerns:

The script set up future episodes but hindsight reveals colossal wasted potential
and UNDERLINED the mistakes made in Season Ten.

(We finally get a glimmer of Rowena’s purpose, but nothing can excuse the whole
“Mommy Dearest” Oedipal crap we suffered through to get to this point.)

This script is NOT responsible for all the mistakes of Season Ten
but it certainly drew attention to them.

ISM’s

Bitch = 4 Douche = 3
Bechdel test = Major Fail

“Sophie’s Choice” is about a Polish woman forced to choose which
of her children would live and which would be sent to the gas chamber.
Charlie equates her career choice with this choice.
Trivializing Sophie’s Choice is absolutely horrendous.

Another female icon was dissed here. Alanis Morissette and her song “Ironic.”
One can certainly feel free to criticize the song choice for the final scene, “Behind Blue Eyes.”
Despite the clever photo match up to characters,
the song is known for advocating sympathy for White Supremacy and Aryan race groups.
This is especially creepy given the previous allusions in this episode to concentration camps,and Nazis.
What were they thinking?

PRODUCTION

The exclusion of Dean working out at the beginning (cut scene) was a wise choice.
It had no purpose in this episode other than SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION. Wise call.
However, these shots should have been deleted:
BAD SHOTS
Sam’s wince…that shoulder!

Jensen’s cold symptoms:

Campbell River Store Sign (Vancouver)

Sam’s Red Cone

DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHY

P.J. Pesce / Serge Ladouceur

Special Shots

KICK IT FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY

Interplay of High/Low Angles
(Twin cabin window jumps were awesome. Not shown here)

SET

Watch Misha’s tour of the Library Set.

PROPS

SOUNDTRACK

Re-watch for “zoom out on Dean” and “BOOK SOUNDS” (And Baby!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhdnRw5NTqo

SFX

BEST PERFORMANCE

Congratulations  buddy comedy team!
Misha Collins & Curtis Armstrong!

FROM THE REARVIEW

 

Exterior Cabin was also used in “The Things They Carried”

THANKS TO

Supernatural Wiki
KissThemGoodbye
IMDB
TUMBLR GIFS: SPN 10 x 18
STORIFY: Book of the Damned Live Tweets
BUDDY TV Promo Pic: CAS/MET 
SPN On The Set LIVE JOURNAL  PHOTO JAPB
“JapB BY BABY” PINTEREST Whitney Baierl