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6.17 – My Heart Will Go On

Details

6.17 – My Heart Will Go On

DETAILS

Writers: Bret Matthews
Director: Mike Rohl
First aired: Friday, April 15 2011.

SAM AND DEAN TEMPT FATE — After Balthazar (guest star Sebastian Roche) changes history and keeps the Titanic from sinking, Fate (guest star Katie Walder) intervenes and begins killing those that would have died on the ship. Castiel (Misha Collins) tells Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) that Fate is very upset with the two of them and the only way they can stay alive is to kill her.

Mike Rohl directed the episode written by Bret Matthews.

Recap

RECAP

Synopsis

The embodiment of Fate appears to eliminate individuals who survived because Balthazar has altered history and stopped the sinking of the Titanic. However, she soon sets her sights on Dean and Sam, who have avoided their fates once too often.

Full Recap

Chester, Pennsylvania

A man opens up his garage, propping open the door. He puts down his beer and starts hammering out a lawnmower blade, but discovers the beer bottle has moved. He knocks over a jar of nails and starts sweeping them up, knocking a skateboard over. He trips on it and falls backward onto a shelf, almost impaling his eye on a pair of trimmers. A basket of golf balls falls over, he trips on them and falls beneath the door, and one of the balls hits the garage door, knocking it loose so it falls and decapitates him.

At home, Bobby is going over his books to find a way to kill Eve. Sam and Dean finally brace themselves and tell him that he has to take a break, and figure he’s taking Rufus’ death hard. Bobby insists that it’s not about Rufus and tells them to get him some Irish coffee. The Winchesters wonder what to do, and Sam suggests that they get Bobby out of the house and work the case in Chester. Three Russo family members have died in Chester in the last week. Bobby comes over and tells them to get out of his house.

Sam and Dean go out to their car, which is not the Impala, and Sam wonders if they should wait for “her.” Dean doesn’t see the point and they leave. Inside, Helen arrives and complains that Bobby smells like he’s been drinking. She says that she’s been hunting with Jo, and expresses her condolences about Rufus’ death. Ellen tells Bobby to wash up and kisses him, and points out that they’re married.

Dean and Sam check out the garage an find no sign of a ghostly presence. Sam notices thread on the floor and gold lying around. They split up to check the family records. The next day, Dean claims he works in genealogy and talks to another Russo family member, a lawyer named Shawn Russo, who says he wasn’t that close to the rest of his family. Dean tries to figure out if there was anything unusual in the Russo family history, and asks a number of increasingly bizarre the questions. He finally warns Shawn that his life might be in danger, and Shawn orders him out. As he leaves, Dean calls Sam, who says that the Russos emigrated to the U.S. in 1912.

In the office, time freezes and a blonde woman comes in and takes travel agent Anne Witting’s car keys. The travel agent finishes her car and discovers that her keys are missing. She sees them on the floor and reaches over to get them, and knocks over a vase of flowers onto the copier. It goes out of control and the woman’s scarf falls into the copier. It pulls tight, strangling her. The blonde woman comes in, crosses off a name in her book, and drops a piece of string on the floor.

That night, Dean and Sam break into the travel office. There’s no indication that Anne was related to the Russos. Dean finds the gold thread on the floor and takes it back with him to the motel. He calls Ellen, who says that there have been accidental deaths across the country. Jo and her crew are working on similar cases in California, but they haven’t found anything yet. Ellen assures Dean that she’s making sure that Bobby is getting over Rufus’ death, and says that she and Bobby discovered that all of the families came to America in 1912 on the same ship: the Titanic. There’s nothing special about it, and Dean doesn’t remember ever hearing about it. Once he hangs up, Dean checks with Sam, who also doesn’t remember a ship named Titanic. They check the records, which reveal that the Titanic made its maiden voyage in 1912, and just avoided hitting an iceberg. The first mate spotted it just in time, but Sam notes that his name is I.P. Freeley. They check a photo and confirm that it’s the angel Balthazar.

The brothers prepare a summoning spell and call upon Balthazar to appear. They ask him about the Titanic and he explains that it was meant to sink and he saved it. When they wonder why he did it, Balthazar says that he saved the liner because he hated the movie about it. When Sam points out that it’s impossible to change history, Balthazar says that there’s no more rules and he saved people. He insists that there’s only a few minor differences, like the fact that they don’t drive an Impala, and Ellen and Jo didn’t die like they did in the original timeline. Sam explains that someone is killing the descendants of the survivors, and they need to know who is responsible. Balthazar doesn’t care and teleports away.

The brothers call Bobby and explain what’s happening, and that there are over 50,000 people that could die. Bobby tells them that he’s determined that the Fates are responsible, and spin out their victim’s fate on threads of pure gold before writing it down. He figures that Fate is trying to clean up Balthazar’s mess, and suggests that the easiest way to resolve the situation would be to have Balthazar resink the Titanic. Dean objects, violently, and finally explains that if they restore history, Ellen and Jo die. Bobby tells them to make sure that the angels don’t restore the timeline and hangs up. Sam wonders what they can do to save 50,000 people, and they figure they know one person: Shawn Russo.

The next day, they watch Shawn leave his office. As they approach him, Shawn gets a phone call. He walks off, ignoring Sam and Dean at first. They finally manage to get his attention and he stops just before a car runs him over. However, as he walks away, complaining, a bus runs him over. Sam spots the blonde woman watching from a restaurant under construction. Dean wants to confront her, noting they’re not at risk, and Sam reluctantly goes along.

The brothers enter the building, unaware that time has stopped. Fate turns up the gas on all of the stoves, smiles, and restarts time. Dean’s flashlight goes out and Sam suggests that he try a lighter. It finally starts, igniting the gas… and Castiel teleports them to White Russia. He explains that Fate hates them because they averted the Apocalypse and rendered her obsolete. The angel warns them that Fate won’t stop until they’re dead, and they have to kill her to stop her. Sam wonders how they can do that, and Castiel explains that Balthazar has a weapon that will do the job and they have to draw her out. The angel says that they should draw her out by tempting fate.

Jo calls Ellen to inform her that there are thirty more people dead on the West Coast. Bobby figures that Sam and Dean can succeed if anyone can, but Ellen says that they should just resink the boat. He objects saying, that the people who are alive now would never exist, and Ellen realizes that something is wrong. She forces Bobby to tell her what they know, and he promises that they won’t sink the Titanic. When Ellen wonders if it was meant to be, Bobby insists that he needs her and Ellen says that she knows.

Sam and Dean start walking down the street, acting natural. However, they begin to realize how many things are around that could kill them, including jugglers with knives. Nothing happens and Sam and Dean wonder what’s going on. A piano drops on them and Castiel stops time. The Fate woman, Atropos, comes out and complains that she feels like crap since Castiel, Dean, and Sam destroyed her life and ruined God’s script. She has no idea what to do next, and Castiel tells her that her services are no longer required. Atropos insists that Balthazar went too far in unsinking the Titanic, and he did it on Castiel’s orders. Castiel denies it, but Atropos says that it’s about souls. Thanks to Balthazar, there are now 50,000 new souls for Castiel’s war machine. Atropos says that it’s dangerous and she won’t let him do it, and Castiel says that she doesn’t have a choice. She admits he might be right, but tells him that if he doesn’t sink the Titanic, she’ll kill Sam and Dean. He warns her not to, and asks if she wants to test him. Atropos backs down, but warns him that she has two sisters and if she dies, they’ll come after the Winchesters and Castiel can’t watch them every moment of every day. Balthazar arrives and tries to kill Atropos, but Castiel orders him to stop, and then go to sink the Titanic Time starts and the brothers disappear from where they were.

Sam and Dean wake up in the Impala at Bobby’s auto yard and realize that they had the same dream. Castiel arrives and tells them that it wasn’t a dream, and he made Balthazar go back and correct what he did so the Winchesters would be safe. Sam points out that he killed 50,000 people for them, but Castiel insists that they were never born. Dean realizes that Ellen and Jo are dead, and Castiel apologizes. He explains that they remember and no one else does, because he wanted them to understand that Fate can be fought, and freedom is worth fighting for. Dean suggests that Balthazar might be out of control, and Castiel teleports away without comment.

The brothers go inside and find Bobby asleep on the couch. They realize that Bobby will never know how good he had it, and that they can’t ever tell him.

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Videos

TRAILER/CLIPS

Promo 01Promo 02ClipSera Preview

Music

MUSIC

“One Way or Another” by Blondie
(plays over the “Sam and Dean can die at any second” montage)

“My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion
(plays when the boys wake up, and the world is back to normal)

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Quotes

QUOTES

Bobby: You know when I knew Rufus was done for? The day I met him. The only question was, who first – him or me? Now, you want to stand there and therapise, or you want to get me some coffee? Make it Irish.

 

Sam: Why would a handyman have gold just lying around in his garage?
Dean: I don’t know. There is definitely a skeleton in this family’s closet. I mean, accidents don’t just happen accidentally… You know what I mean.

 

Sam: Wait, so you saved a cruise liner because…
Balthazar: Because that God-awful Celine Dion song made me want to smite myself.
Sam: Who’s Celine Dion?
Balthazar: Oh, she’s a destitute lounge singer somewhere in Quebec, and let’s keep it that way, please.

 

Balthazar: Ah, yes. Unfortunately, there’s still an Ashton Kutcher. And you still averted the Apocalypse, and there are still archangels. It’s just the small details that are different, like you don’t drive an Impala. Yes, yes. ‘What’s an Impala?’ Trust me, it’s not important. And, of course, Ellen and Jo are alive.
Dean: Ellen and Jo? What?
Balthazar: Yes, they’re supposed to be dead. You see, I save a boat, one thing leads to another, which leads to another thousand things, and yada, yada, yada. To cut a long story short, they don’t die in a massive explosion. Mmm. Anyway, let’s agree I did a good thing. One less Billy Zane movie and I saved two of your closest friends.

 

Dean: What’d she look like?
Sam: Kind of like a librarian.
Dean: Your kind of librarian or my kind of librarian?
Sam: Well, she was wearing clothes, if that’s what you mean.

 

Sam: What did we do?
Castiel: Nothing of import – just the tiny matter of averting the Apocalypse and rendering her obsolete. I think maybe she’s a little irritated about that. And then you go and dangle yourselves in front of her…
Dean: So we’ve pissed fate off personally.

 

Sam: Poor bastard. Doesn’t even know how good he had it.
Dean: Yeah, well, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. I say we keep our mouths shut.
Sam: Yeah. I’m with you. Should we wake him?
Dean: Nah. That’s probably the best he’s felt all week.

Trivia

TRIVIA

The episode title “My Heart Will Go On” refers to the Celine Dion song of the same name which was the theme song for the 1997 movie Titanic. Jensen once did an ad for Titanic-related merchandise. The Titanic was also referenced visually in 1.19 Provenance when a newspaper is held up showing an article they are looking for in relation to the MotW. The lead story on the same page is the sinking of the Titanic. The movie Titanic is also referenced in 4.10 Heaven and Hell when Dean and Anna have sex in the Impala. The image of Anna’s hand streaking down the foggy car window is reminiscent of the iconic scene from Titanic when Jack and Rose are having sex.

 

 

Picture of Jensen with the Titanic Necklace in his hands.

 

 

This episode may also be a reference to the 2000 horror film Final Destination. In both cases, the plot involves people who managed to avoid their fated death and now are dying in other ways. Some of the death scenes in the episode are strikingly similar to those of the film. For example, the scene in which the lawyer Shawn Russo is killed by a speeding bus is very similar to the scene in which Terry, from Final Destination, dies.

 
Other Titanic references:

The episode was aired on the 99th anniversary of the date the Titanic sank.
The travel agency is called E.J. Smith, who was the captain of the Titanic.
Sam and Dean stay at the White Star Motel – the White Star Line was the name of the company that owned the Titanic.
Sam uses a Wikipedia-like site called “Marconi Pages” named after Guglielmo Marconi the inventor of radio. The radio operators on the Titanic were employed by his company and were vital in relief efforts. Britain’s postmaster-general later said “Those who have been saved, have been saved through one man, Mr. Marconi…and his marvelous invention.” Source.
From the Supernatural: The Official Companion Season 6 – everyone is drinking Astor Cola, named after businessman John Astor who died on the ship.
While Sam was researching about the Titanic, the picture “Officers of the RMS Titanic”, with Balthazar as First Mate I.P. Freely, is actually the picture of the captain and officers of RMS Carpathia which is the passenger steamship famous for rescuing the survivors of Titanic (Source).
Ellen pulls a leek out of the grocery bag. A joke because the Titanic sunk due to a leak.

 

 

The opening was very reminiscent of the opening of The Simpsons episode “Mobile Homer” where Homer gets caught under the garage door (he’s drinking beer in the garage – chases a spider, gets his head covered by spiders, then sprays bug spray in his face/eyes, trips on a skateboard and falls with his leg bent at an unnatural angle under the garage door. While trying to kill a spider by throwing a magazine at it, he accidentally hits the garage door control which triggers the door to come down on his throat several times.)

 
The first of Atropos’ victims is nearly killed by falling on a pair of gardening shears. This could be a reference to Atropos’ “abhorred shears” which she used to cut the metaphorical threads of life in mythology.

 
Dean: What, no severed horse head?

The Russos are from Calabria, an area in Southern Italy which has a mafia-like organization known as Ndrangheta. In the 1972 movie about the mafia in New York, The Godfather, a severed horse’s head is placed in the bed of a movie producer as a threat. (Although the family in the Godfather is from Sicily, not Calabria. This quote is an example of stereotyping all Italians as being involved with the mob.)

 

 

Dean: If these people are the Waltons, then why the hell are they dying?

The Waltons was the name of the eponymous family in a book movie and most famously a 70’s TV series. The family is so wholesome and nice they make the Brady Bunch look like the Mansons.

 

 

When he went back in time to stop the Titanic sinking, Balthazar went by the joke name I.P. Freely, and was the first officer. The actual first officer of the Titanic was William McMaster Murdoch, and he was in command when the boat struck the iceberg.

 
Balthazar: Oh come on. I saved people. I thought you loved that kind of thing.
Sam: Yeah, but now those people and their kids and their kids’ kids, they must have interacted with – with so many other people, changed so much crap. You totally Butterfly-Effected history!
Dean: Dude. Dude. Rule one, no Kutcher references.

The Butterfly Effect is a concept from chaos theory, where a small change in one part of a non-linear system can cause a large change in another part of the system. it was dubbed the butterfly effect from the title of the 1972 paper by Edward Lorenz “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?” Ashton Kutcher starred in a 2004 movie of the same name about a man who could travel to his own past.

 

 

Dean: Well, riddle me this – if fate’s going after the boat people, why’d she try to waste me and Sam?

“Riddle me this” is the catchphrase of the DC Comics super villain the Riddler, an enemy of Batman.

 

 

Dean: Wow. Well, might be time to take away his cable privileges. Besides, Titanic didn’t suck that bad. (Sam gives Dean a look) Winslet’s rack.

A reference to the iconic scene from Titanic, when Jack sketches a nude portrait Rose, played by Kate Winslet.

 

 

Katie Walder who played Atropos (Fate) also appeared in Gilmore Girls, including two episodes with Jared, “The Incredible Sinking Lorelais” and “Last Week Fights, This Week Tights”.

 
According to Robert Singer in an interview with EW, the writers thought about having John Winchester return for the episode.

 
In the previous episodes involving time travel – 4.03 In the Beginning and 5.13 The Song Remains the Same – the travel was a part of a contiguous series of events. That is, the going back in time was something that had always happened, and did not change events. In this episode, Balthazar says that there are “No rules” anymore, hence his ability to alter events by taking action in the past.

 
Things that are different in the timeline where the Titanic never sank:

Obviously the movie Titanic was never made!
Dean drives a Mustang which has the original plates the Impala had — “KAZ 2Y5” — until 2.20 What Is and What Should Never Be. A ’65 Mustang was Kripke’s original choice for Dean’s car: “When I was originally writing the show I wanted to give the guys an American muscle car. My first choice was a ’65 Mustang. My neighbor said it has to be a ’67 Impala, because you can put a body in the trunk. He says, ‘You want a car that, when people stop next to it at the lights, they lock their doors.'”
The Impala line of cars was not produced.
Ellen and Jo are alive.
Ellen and Bobby are married and Singer Salvage Yard is called B & E Scrap Yard. Bobby’s house appears neater than usual.
Jo leads a team of hunters.
In 2.17 Heart we learned that Sam knew Dean always played ‘scissors’ when they did Rock, Paper, Scissors, so Sam always won. Here Sam loses, although Dean still throws scissors.
In the travel agency, we see Cuba is a resort island destination – “America’s favorite holiday destination” – and Detroit was voted “America’s top city.”
Celine Dion is a “destitute lounge singer somewhere in Quebec.”
Cas transports Sam and Dean to “White Russia.” This is an old term for Belarus and may be a hint that the Russian revolution of 1917 that led to the formation of the Soviet Union didn’t occur.

Superwiki

Episode Schedule

Thu, Oct 10 15.01 - Back and to the Future - Season Premiere
Thu, Oc 17 15.02 - Raising Hell
Thu, Oct 24 15.03 - The Rupture
Thu, Nov 7 15.04 - Atomic Monsters
Thu, Nov 14 15.05 - Proverbs 17:3
Thu, Nov 21 15.06 - Golden Time
Thu, Dec 05 15.07 - Last Call
Thu, Dec 12 15.08 - Our Father, Who Aren’t In Heaven
Thu, Jan 16 2020 15.09 - The Trap
Thu, Jan 23 2020 15.10 - The Heroes' Journey
Thu, Jan 30 2020 15.11 - The Gamblers
Mon, March 16 2020 15.12 - Galaxy Brain
Mon, March 23 2020 15.13 - Destiny's Child
Thu, Oct 08 2020 15.14 - Last Holiday
Thu, Oct 15 2020 15.15 - Gimme Shelter
Thu, Oct 22 2020 15.16 - Drag Me Away (From You)
Thu, Oct 29 2020 15.17 - Unity
Thu, Nov 05 2020 15.18 - Despair
Thu, Nov 12 2020 15.19 - Inherit the Earth
Thu, Nov 19 2020 15.20 - Carry On - Series Finale

* This Schedule might change as new info come.

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