Fan Video of the Week: Supernatural Reflections “The Foundry”

“Loneliness is my least favorite thing about life. The thing that I’m most worried about is just being alone without anybody to care for or someone who will care for me.” — Anne Hathaway

The first word that came into my mind when the episode was over was “hurt”. That even though Mary needed to do this, she hurt her boys.

In Dean’s case, he has always feared everyone will leave him so this was like a punch to his gut. Sam didn’t want his mother to leave them either but he understood why she had to. But still it hurt. The flinch he gave out when the door closed was very telling. So for this article I actually have a very fitting song from the point of view of Dean, Sam and Castiel. It can’t get any better than the song “Hurt” from Johnny Cash.

This episode also had one of my favorite songs, “Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf, so I wanted to write more about the motorcycle and the person that is riding it,  then speculate about the song and what happened in the episode. This information has been gathered all around out there. (Editors note: We already know to whom the bike belongs to and why it was shown so bare with me. Also we know the real name of Mr. Ketch)

When Dean focused on the motorbike on the episode the fandom yelled, “conspiracy!” and speculated about the meaning of the bike. The motel room the trio was staying was a tribute to Prince. The coloring and the use of the purple funk sign from the album cover on the room divider, wall paper and the paintings made people speculate that the bike was also a part of the tribute (although the bike on the album was fairly different than the one we saw in the episode).

Most of the fans however said that the motorcycle, British Norton Commando, belonged to Mr. Ketch. This was my guess too. (Editors note: This was correct!) He has good taste in bikes. You can also connect the bike to the song that played, “Born to be Wild”. It has been used once before in the show in 7×23 “Survival Of The Fittest” and in the movie Easy Rider.

Easy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers (played by Fonda and Hopper) who travel through the American Southwest and South after selling a large score of cocaine.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it, except that we have two hunters driving around the states hunting things and saving people. Is it foreshadowing, though? Fans reminded be about the story Jensen told at a con:

It was this long, long stretch of highway with nothing but fields. Dean gets out of the Impala and hands the keys over to a stranger, and the guy hands him keys but we don’t know to what. The guy gets in the Impala and takes off and then the camera kind of turns around to reveal Dean’s got a motorcycle. Then he gets on and its super sad ‘cause I don’t have my brother so what do I need a passenger seat for? So he gets on the single seat of the motorcycle and drives off down the highway.

Or is one of them going on their own path during this season for whatever reason?

I also saw this speculation about Mr. Ketch on a few sites and heard this on a podcast too. (Editors note: He still might be supernatural and has just changed his name OR he might be a relative to this famous executioner).

John Ketch (died November 1686), generally known as Jack Ketch, was an infamous English executioner employed by King Charles II. He became famous through the way he performed his duties during the tumults of the 1680s, when he was often mentioned in broadsheet accounts that circulated throughout the Kingdom of England. He is thought to have been appointed in 1663. He executed the death sentences against William Russell, Lord Russell, in Lincoln’s Inn Fields on 21 July 1683, and James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, on 15 July 1685, after the Monmouth Rebellion. Ketch’s notoriety stems from “his barbarity at the execution of Lord Russell, the Duke of Monmouth, and other political offenders.” Because of his botched executions, the name “Jack Ketch” is used as a proverbial name for death, Satan, and executioner.

That was it for the small speculation, on to the videos!

Dean’s hurt

× everybody leaves you, dean. × made by: jυѕтcαllмeмιcнelle

Sam’s hurt

Supernatural – Hurt made by: Airbat McFly

Castiel’s hurt

Castiel Hurt (Johnny Cash) made by: Rachel T

Hurt by Johnny Cash

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that’s real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar’s chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

John R. “Johnny” Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and author. He was widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century and one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. Although primarily remembered as a country music icon, his genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal won Cash the rare honor of multiple inductions in the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame.

 

Cash was known for his deep, calm bass-baritone voice,[a] the distinctive sound of his Tennessee Three backing band, a rebelliousness coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor, free prison concerts, and a trademark look, which earned him the nickname “The Man in Black.”[b] He traditionally began his concerts with the simple “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash,”[c] followed by his signature “Folsom Prison Blues.”

 

Much of Cash’s music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption, especially in the later stages of his career.His best-known songs include “I Walk the Line”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, “Ring of Fire”, “Get Rhythm” and “Man in Black”. He also recorded humorous numbers like “One Piece at a Time” and “A Boy Named Sue”; a duet with his future wife, June Carter, called “Jackson” (followed by many further duets after their marriage); and railroad songs including “Hey, Porter”, “Orange Blossom Special” and “Rock Island Line”. During the last stage of his career, Cash covered songs by several late 20th century rock artists, notably “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails and “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode.

Quotes:

Mary: Castiel? After you left Heaven, when did it start to feel like… Like you fit? Like you… belonged here?
Castiel: Well, I’m still not sure I do.
Mary: Yeah.
Castiel: Mary… You do belong here.

Sam: Look I’m happy too, Dean, I am. I’m overjoyed. But, there’s something about her, I mean something’s going on with with her.
Dean: Yeah. She’s adjusting.
Sam: No, she’s struggling. I mean she’s trying to bury herself in hunting to avoid dealing.
Dean: And how do you know that?
Sam: Years of personal experience. I don’t know, man. Like mother like sons.

Dean: Mom it’s okay, alright. You’re home now.
Mary: No. I’m not. I miss John. I miss my boys.
Sam: We’re right here, Mom.
Mary: I know. In my head. But I’m still mourning them as I knew them. My baby Sam. My little boy Dean. Just feels like yesterday we were together in Heaven, and now I’m here, and John is gone and they’re gone. And every moment I spend with you reminds me of every moment I lost with them. And I thought hunting, working, would clear my head…
Sam: Mom, what are you trying to say?
Mary: I have to go. Sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I just need a little time.

Music:

“Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf

Minutiae & trivia:

The motel room the Winchesters stay in, the Royal Funk, with its purple color scheme and the symbol in the motel room partition, is a tribute to the late Minnesota native Prince who died on April 21, 2016. The symbols in the partition are a reference to the symbol Prince adopted as his name in 1993. The symbol itself was a combination of the male and female gender symbols, and was dubbed “the Love Symbol.”

The cemetery scene featuring the salt and burn was filmed in Queen’s Park, New Westminster, and featured a headstone for Winifred N. Optican, a tomb visible in Greenville Cemetery where Mary’s grave is located in 2.04 “Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things”.

As Dean leaves the store with a bag of jerky, he walks past, and takes appreciative note of, a motorcycle. The bike, a British Norton Commando, may belong to Mr. Ketch.

When Mary is possessed, she pushes Sam to the ground and chokes Dean. Dean then proceeds to say “You have to fight this.” This is a parallel from 1.22 “Devil’s Trap” where similar events occur and Dean says to John, who is possessed, “Dad! Dad, don’t you let it kill me!”

References:

en.wikipedia.org
supernaturalwiki.com
azlyrics.com
brainyquote.com

Cover art by: FIGHT THE FAIRIES! @Alice_Mars_Mann, Her Instagram

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