Let’s Speculate: 12.12 Supernatural “Stuck in the Middle (with you)”
This week’s episode, “Stuck in the Middle (with you),” was written by Davy Perez and directed by Richard Speight, Jr. The episode’s preview focuses on the British Men of Letters storyline and begins with a man (Mr. Ketch), British accent, who looks at the camera after sipping some tea and says, “Tell me a story.” Please note that the entire episode is told in a series of vignettes that unfold the story through overlapping as well as disconnected snippets, which reveal the plot as points rather than a traditional linear chronology.
The screen shows a time, 5:20pm, and we see Sam, Dean, Castiel, Mary, and a hunter at breakfast. Dean flirts with the waitress but she has eyes for Castiel. Dean tries to teach Castiel about picking up the waitress and the guys at the table are chatting when Mary quiets them. She turns them back to the case. They’ve been called into help by the hunter, who is Wally. The waitress returns and she flirts with Castiel with a suggestive one-liner. Wally expresses his anxiety but Mary says it’s going to be okay.
The scene cuts ahead to a fight. Mary is dragging an injured Castiel into a barn. He’s asking where Sam and Dean are. The episode cuts to Wally and Sam fighting off demons. Sam kills one while another demon kills Wally. She is about to kill Sam when Dean kills her.
The episode cuts back to earlier when Mary and Wally meet up with Sam, Dean, and Castiel. The episode then traces their work to find a cabin where the case leads up to the fight we saw earlier. They are laying a trap for a demon, who shows up but can’t be killed by bullets or the demon killing knife. He goes after Castiel and locks Mary in the kitchen with them. He gets closer and his eyes turn yellow. Castiel attacks and tells her to run, which she does. The YED reboot fights Castiel and they end up outside, where YED reboot stabs Castiel with a spear. Mary shows up and hits the YED R with a car and gets out to help Cas. He can’t heal himself. She drags him to the barn that we saw earlier.
Sam and Dean meet up with Mary and the injured Castiel in the barn. Mary asks if Sam saw the demon’s eyes, which were yellow, and Sam asks her what she got them into. The episode turns back to earlier in the day, before Sam and Dean show up, and we find out that Mary is using Wally to get Sam and Dean to help her. She’s been working with the British Men of Letters and they’ve had rousing successes. The episode traces through the day again, through breakfast, and meets up again when Mary is in the house with Sam. She goes off to find a safe. She takes something that glows brightly from the safe. Upstairs Castiel is looking for Mary and finds her coming back from the basement, but she claims she was in the bathroom.
The episode jumps ahead to Mary tending to an injured Castiel, while texting with the British Men of Letters. Sam and Dean show up and Castiel tells Dean he thinks the spear was poisoned. He’s dying. Crowley shows up and tells them that they are idiots and they are all going to die. Crowley tells them that they’ve angered the Prince of Hell, Ramiel, who apparently was part of the Azazel generation of demons, replete with yellow eyes.
The episode turns back to six years ago when Crowley found Ramiel, who is one of three princes of hell. They want to be left alone. Crowley gives him the lance of Michael as a gift and the glowing object. He also promises protection to Ramiel, who in turn tells Crowley to take the throne. Crowley tells them that the lance has no cure, but Sam and Dean won’t accept that. Crowley disappears. Castiel tells them that he loves them all and that he was changed by knowing them, that they are his family. Meanwile, as they are trying to figure out how to help Castiel, we see Crowley trying to make a deal with Ramiel to help the others. Ramiel throws him into the barn and enters, whistling.
Ramiel steps into barn and is surround by the ring of holy fire, but he is not phased. Instead, he tells them that there is no cure for the wound. He tells them that he doesn’t care about any of this, not Lucifer’s kid, etc. He does say his sister, Dagon, has taken an interest. All Ramiel wants is his stuff back. Of course, Sam and Dean have no idea what he’s talking about, but Mary does. He tells them that they have thirty seconds to give him back what they stole and the clock runs out, and Mary does not offer the object back. Ramiel takes out his lance and douses the fire.
A fight ensues and Ramiel is about to kill Mary when Sam kills him with the lance. They rush to Castiel, who is dying. Crowley awakens and picks up the lance. He remembers what Ramiel told him about the lance’s power being in the rune work so he snaps the rod from the head. A bright light bursts out and Castiel is healed. Crowley disappears and the four of them take a moment to recover. Castiel wants to know what Ramiel meant about something being stolen but Dean says who knows what the crazy man was talking about. Mary looks like she’s about to say something, but instead they all decide to go home.
In the final act, Mary meets with British Men of Letters representative. She gives him an earful about putting her boys in danger. She tells him that if it happens again, she’ll burn them to the ground. He asks her for what she stole and she puts it on the table. He unwraps the item and we see the Colt.
Back in the throne room of Hell, Crowley is taking a drink while someone talks to him from a cell in the wall. The person taunts Crowley about working with the Winchesters, how eventually they will come after him. Crowley tells the dog to shut up and we see that the person is Lucifer.
I must note that I write these as the episode airs so if I miss certain points or make mistakes, I apologize. I hope you enjoyed the episode!
-Bookdal
Thoughts, Specs, Reactions, etc.
1. What were your thoughts about the episode?
2. What do you think the British Men of Letters want with the Colt?
3. What is Mary’s angle here? What was your reaction to her choice not to give over the Colt to Ramiel?
4. What do you think of Lucifer’s reappearance as Crowley’s prisoner?
5. What do you think of the princes of hell? Will Dagon appear now as we turn to the nephilim story?
6. Leave other thoughts, reactions, specs below!
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