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6.05 – Live Free or Twihard

Details

6.05 – Live Free or Twihard

DETAILS

Writers: Brett Matthews
Director: Rod Hardy
First aired: Friday, September 22 2010.

DEAN IS TURNED INTO A VAMPIRE — After a group of young girls go missing; Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) realize that a group of vampires have taken up residence in the small town. After a fight with two of the blood-suckers, Dean is bitten and turns into a vampire… Samuel (guest star Mitch Pileggi) tells Dean he can change him back but he’d have to get the blood of the vampire who turned him. Dean infiltrates the nest and runs into the Alpha.

Rod Hardy directed the episode written by Brett Matthews.

Recap

RECAP

Synopsis

During a fight with vampires, Dean is bitten and transformed. To obtain a cure, Samuel tells Dean to get the blood of the vampire that bit him. However, the vampire alpha is part of the pack that Dean must infiltrate.

Full Recap

A young girl, Kristen, arrives at a bar and shows her fake ID. She meets with the young man she met earlier, Robert, and who promised to meet her there. They talk, and he expresses his admiration for the poetry she posted on line. Kristen reaches for her journal to read him a poem, but gets a paper cut. Robert turns away and then leaves. Later, he comes back and warns Kristen that he shouldn’t be there, and that they can’t be together. He tells Kristen to run but she insists she can handle it. He shows her his fangs and Kristen says that she knew it. She starts to bare her throat, but instead he offers to show her his world. He takes her to a deserted building and another vampire, Boris, leaps out. They both attack her.

Dean and Sam are working a case, but Dean calls Lisa to tell her that he’ll be home soon. She tells him to get home and they cut off, and Sam arrives to tell Dean that seven girls have turned up dead. They meet with Kristen’s father, who tells them that she was acting strange and figures she was into something. He sends them up to her room, and they discover that she was obsessed with vampires. They search the room and find her laptop, and Sam finds e-mail from an admirer that claims he’s a vampire. They find his letter inviting her to meet at the Black Rose.

Robert and the other vampires intercept a shipment of blood, kill the guard, and hijack the cargo.

The next day, Samuel calls Sam and tells him what happened with the hijacking. They wonder why vampires are stealing blood when they already have victims, but don’t come up with an answer. The brothers go to the Black Rose and spot several likely suspects. They split up to follow them, and a vampire attacks Sam. He cuts off its head with a single knife blow.

A Goth boy is hitting on a girl in an alleyway when Dean finds him. He realizes that the boy is pretending to be a vampire to get laid, and tells him to leave. As Dean walks off, Boris attacks him and feeds him some of his blood. Sam arrives but hesitates, staring in seeming fascination. He finally draws a knife and attacks the vampire, but it flees. Sam turns to Dean, whose mouth is covered in blood.

The brothers go back to the motel and Dean is overwhelmed by the noise and the bright lights. Dean plans to have Samuel kill him when he gets there so he doesn’t transform into a monster, but then wonders why Sam isn’t freaked out. When Sam says he is, Dean says that he can hear his heart and can tell he’s calm. Dean goes to the bathroom and examines himself in the mirror, and spots the first signs of fangs growing in. Sam finally comes to investigate and discovers that Dean has slipped out the window.

Lisa wakes up in her bedroom and finds Dean standing over her. He thanks for everything that she and Ben have done for him, and then moves away from her. When she asks what’s wrong, Dean insists that he’s going to die soon and his life is violent. She wants a better answer and he grabs her and shoves her up against the wall, hearing her heart beat, and then turns away as his fangs start to emerge. He quickly goes outside into the hallway, and Ben comes out. Dean shoves him away and then runs out before he can be overwhelmed by hunger.

Samuel arrives at the motel and warns Sam that Dean is a monster… and he’s hungry. He prepares to do what is necessary, and they realize that Dean is there. He tells them that he went to say goodbye to Lisa, and admits it was a lousy idea. Samuel demands to know if he fed, and Dean admits that he didn’t. He tells Samuel to finish him off, but Samuel tells him that there’s a cure and he’s there to save him.

Samuel reveals that he has his grandfather’s journal, and it has an untested cure. He warns that it will work, but Dean can’t feed on any human blood or he’s gone for good. One of the ingredients is the blood of the Boris, the vampire who turned him. Dean prepares to go to the vampires’ nest, stun his attacker with dead man’s blood, and get back to them. He knows where they are, based on their smell. Samuel gives him a syringe of dead man’s blood and wishes him luck. Once Dean leaves, Samuel reminds Sam that they talked about the cure months ago. Sam denies it, but Samuel wonders if Sam let his brother get infected so they could find the alpha vamp they’re looking for. Sam turns it back on his grandfather, and says he’s just relieved that they can fix it.

Dean goes to the vampires’ nest and sneaks in. He comes face-to-face with Robert, who says that Boris told him to keep an eye out and welcomes Dean into the nest. He gets him stolen blood from the van and offers Dean some, but Dean claims that he killed people already. Robert warns that they don’t kill people anymore, and wants to know what killing is like. Dean agrees to tell him later. As Robert takes Dean to see Boris, he explains that they are both recruiters now. They arrive in a central chamber where Boris is coaching vampires in how to attract victims by writing poetry. He then welcomes Dean and casually assures him that if Sam or any hunter find them, they’ll easily kill them. He then explains that he’s over 600 years old, and that he recruits vampire fans. Once they’re brought in, Boris “converts” them and uses them to recruit even more. When Dean wonders who else is involved, Boris tells him that it’s their father’s idea. He promises to tell Dean eventually, and then offers him the private tour.

Boris takes Dean away, and dean tries to stab him with the syringe. He spills a drop of the blood, and Boris hears it, spins, and restrains Dean. There’s a sudden high-pitched whine and Boris collapses along with all the women in the cages, some of them muttering, “Father.” Dean finally goes down himself, and experiences a telepathic sending of young vampire twins and a bald African-American man approaching them. Dean wakes up and finds the vampires moving in. He runs for it, fighting his way out, and decapitates first Robert and then the female vampires.

Sam and Samuel arrive outside as Dean continues to hack his way through the vampires. Boris confronts him and warns that he hasn’t stopped anything, and it’s bigger than both of them. He then gestures Dean to come at him. A few minutes later, Samuel and Sam come in and find Dean, alive and standing over Boris’ decapitated body.

Back at the motel, Samuel prepares the cure while Sam asks Dean what he saw in the nest. Dean can’t answer him due to his growing hunger, and brings himself to drink the cure once it’s ready. He vomits and then remembering everything that happened to him, including the fact that Sam stood by and watched as Boris fed him his blood.

The next morning, the Winchesters are preparing to leave and Sam asks Dean what he saw in the nest. Dean doesn’t know much, but he does know that they have a psychic link with their alpha, and he’s sending them telepathic messages to recruit vampires to build an army. There’s worse: the vampires aren’t scared of them anymore.

As they prepare to leave, Dean can’t bring himself to leave a message on Lisa’s answering machine. He tells Sam that he can always count on him, and Sam agrees.

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Review

Review by Gaelic

6.05 – Live Free or Twihard – Gaelicspirit review

Stream of Consciousness, episode review 6.05

Man. Oh. Man.
The powers that be must like me tonight. Just after Show ended, a Kansas thunderstorm began to hammer us and we lost our satellite signal. Whew!
From where I sit, there is nothing I won’t buy if Dean Winchester is selling it. Seriously. No, no…seriously.

I know from last week’s comments to the ramble that there were several of you very much looking forward to this episode, some that were dreading it, and others that just take the show as it comes. So, I just want to give you fair warning. I really enjoyed the epi for some very specific reasons (and there were a few moments where I might have to go a bit shallow in this ramble) but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear other viewpoints. All are welcome.
Okay, so the previews from last week showed us that Dean would be vampirized, so all the THEN stuff with Gordon and the blood and whatnot didn’t ruin anything for me this time. Flash to NOW and we’re in a bar where the patrons sported lots of tats, piercings, interestingly colored hair, and where growly guitar music with the lyrics I’m dead repeated over and over…. Your basic vamp hangout, apparently.
A young, pretty girl who reminded me of Rachel Bilson (Summer from The O.C.) shows the bartender an obviously fake ID (the pic was of an Asian woman) and he gives her some kind of red drink. She’s looking nervously around, then glancing at her phone. She wanders through the crowd then bumps into Broody ManBoy.
“You came.”
“I told you I would.”
Okay, so this whole opening scene? *has to bite inside of cheek to keep from laughing* The writers had themselves some fun with this.
Even if you’ve never picked up a single one of the Twilight books, you can’t help but know some of the facts of the story because everyone talks about it. Doesn’t matter if you love it or hate it, you probably know that those vampires sparkle, for God’s sake, and that there’s enough emo in the series to choke a buzzard. I attempted to read the first one. I didn’t get very far. But between friends who read, parodies written about the stories, and previews for the movies, I know more than I really ever wanted to.
If you’re a Twilight enthusiast, you have my apologies. And my sympathies.
Broody ManBoy (gads, his name was actually Robert…*chortles*) looks deep into Nubile Girl’s eyes (Kristin…they didn’t pull any punches) and tells her, “Those poems you posted, they revealed who you really are….”
I think I threw up in my mouth a little.
Kristin gives herself a paper cut and licks the blood, actually saying, “I’m the clumsiest person ever.” *cracks up*
Robert turns away because he’s…sickened? Turned on? Has the munchies? He tells her he has to go and bails quickly. Later, under a full moon, we’re back at the same bar, Kristin sitting in the same booth, waiting for him.
Robert: I shouldn’t be here.
Kristin: So why are you?
Robert: I can’t stop thinking about you. We can’t be together…you think you know me, but you don’t…I’ve done…bad things…you should run….
This is about where I stopped reading the book.
Kristin tells him that she can make her own decisions. I mean, she is 17 after all. *rolls eyes at teenaged ignorance* So, Robert shows her his fang. No, seriously, he lifts his upper lip and shows her a fang. She’s all, mrroeeww, and follows him to an alley, which, sadly, has no velvet and smells like pee. Before Kristin can say Anne Rice did it better, a big scary man with LOTS of curly black hair steps out and both he and Robert go mega-fang on her and…well, Kristin ceases to be Kristin.
After our shattered glass opening, we see Dean leaning against the Impala, on the phone with Lisa. He’s telling her (with this adorable little hopeful grin) that he’s a night’s drive away and he’s thinking he’ll wrap up and head her way in a couple of days…covering his tracks, making sure he’s not followed—
Lisa: Shut up and get your ass home. I can’t wait to see you.
Aww…I so like her. I’m holding out hope for the events of this episode to not be enough to scare a woman like her off. Dean needs her. I need her to be there for him. I mean, c’mon, writers! Think about me!!! *ahem* Sorry. Where was I?
Oh, right. Dean licks his lip and grins as he tells her he’ll see her soon. *YUM* Sam comes up and is all, “What are you so stoked about?”
Dean clears his throat with a, “Nothing. What have we got?”
Covering his tracks already, it would seem.
Sam gives him the 411: six missing girls in seven days, all the same age.
Dean: Cute…hey, ice cream comes in lots of flavors, Sam.
HA! Awesome.
I don’t know why it caught my attention, but they’re staying at some place called the Del Mar Inn. I remember going to the Del Mar racetrack when we visited San Diego and it made me wonder if they were in CA (since we didn’t get a location at the opening…or did we and I missed it?). And if they were in CA, and Dean was just a night’s drive away from Lisa…well, that means they moved a fair sight away from Cicero, IN. Hmm.
Anyway, the guys head to the latest victim’s—the 7th, now—house. It’s our poet, Kristin. I’m guessing they posed as plain-clothed cops or detectives or something because they don’t suit up, however, Kristin’s dad gives them access to her bedroom because they say they’re looking for his daughter. Some “go with it” going on there, but oh, well. Kristin’s dad looks understandably distraught and says that he tried to be a good parent, but…girls are tough. You ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie, man. And mine’s only four!
The boys head upstairs to her room, thinking that maybe the dad thought Kristin was into drugs. Stepping into her red-walled, black-curtained, vampire-postered bedroom, they look around in…shock and sickened awe.
Dean: Oh, it’s soooo much worse.
Sam: Vampires?
Dean: These aren’t vampires…these are douchebags.
Sam finds her laptop (under her pillow??) and turns it on. There’s a vamp screen saver that both boys kinda pull away from.
Sam: That’s just…uncomfortable.
Dean: What is he so bummed about?
Dean (picking up a book and shaking his head): He’s watching her sleep. How is that not rapey?
My thoughts exactly.
Sam: I’ve gotta concentrate.
Dean reads from the book then scoffs: Romero?? Really?? This is a national best seller. How is that possible??
MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!!
Sam’s having no luck with the password and Dean suggests he try Laughtner (or however it’s spelled).
Sam: Wait. He’s a werewolf. How do you even know who that is?
Hello, Kettle. I’m Pot. You’re black.
Sam: How many “T’s” are there in Pattinson?
Annnnd, they’re in! Do some digging into her email and find the name of a bar called The Black Rose. They’re thinking it’s a standard-issue perv, but juuuuust to be safe, they’ll check it out.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in town, a bunch of vamps jack a blood bank van, stealing blood and killing the driver. Not cool, man.
Outside by the Impala, Sam’s on the phone with Gramps. He finds out that Gramps is 100% sure it’s vampires and that this is the 4th town this has happened in. Sam’s like, if they are getting the girls, why steal from the blood bank? Gramps is all, for the nest…duh! You could practically hear the vocal head slap. Heh.
The boys are sitting at the bar in The Black Rose, doing that cool thing they do where they have a semi-conversation while keeping their eyes constantly moving and check out their environment.
Dean: You want emo chicks we’re pretty much at ground zero.
There’s a lot of people watching going on, but Dean glances askance at Sam.
Dean: When’s the last time we had a beer together, anyway?
Aww…I had to think about that one. Unless you count Bobby’s house (which I don’t think Dean was…I think he was talking about actually going out and having a beer), well, it’s been a long, long time. Can anyone name the episode?
Made me think, though, about how different they are with each other. Dean just wants what he bellowed in the premier: his brother. Alive. *rubs heart* Sam? Well…I don’t think anyone knows what Sam wants. Even Sam. I hope we find out what’s going on inside of him soon. While I miss the fact that these two used to be so connected they could breathe in unison, I’m willing to accept that time and circumstance changes every person and every relationship (for the better or worse).
But it’s getting really hard to see things from Sam’s point of view. And while, yes, Dean is my hero, the reason he is Dean (to me) is because of his relationship with his brother. The sacrifices he made for Sam, the sacrifices he was forced to watch Sam make. The loss they both experienced, the triumphs they both shared. They’re not just two siblings like you and I have.
They have been partners. There’s a different level of dependency and trust they’ve lived with and that’s gone now and that loss is felt—by all of us. It’s been awhile since we’ve just had a beer with them, y’know?
I do still have my “just go with it, Gaelic” hat on, and I am still interested in the story they’re slowly rolling out because it’s a delicious tease. But I’m just saying…I’m worried. And not just for what we’re going to find out about who Sam is and why he is that way. I’m worried about how that’s going to hit Dean and if he’s ever going to get his brother back. And with that his balance.
Annnnyway.
All business, Sam marks a potential target with his eyes, but then Dean sees two other possibilities just down the bar.
Sam: Three of them…two of us.
One of Dean’s marks, though, turns and kisses another guy full on the mouth by way of greeting. The boys draw back in unison.
Dean: ‘Kay, make that two of them.
One of the marks starts to leave.
Dean: You go with that one, I got Bieber.
Hee. Our boy. So up on pop culture.
Sam follows his dude to a storage room. The vamp is hiding in the shadows and jumps Sam, but the vamp’s not fast enough. With impressive speed and a wicked-powerful swing, Sam decapitates his vamp. Done and done.
Meanwhile, Dean grabs his mark and pulls him off a teen Goth, telling her to skeedadle. Turns out Bieber is a fake. Not only that? He’s wearing glitter. God help me.
Fake Vamp: I only do it to get laid!
Dean: Does it work??
HA! He sends Junior on his way with an order to, “Use a condom!” and is walking back toward the bar entrance when an uber-creepy voice from the shadows says, “You’re pretty.”
*skin crawls*
Scary Vamp Guy steps out of the shadow—it’s the one from earlier with the mega-curly hair.
Dean: I don’t play for your team.
Scary Vamp Guy totally catches Dean off-guard (I blame Bieber…Dean’s head was still on the fact that wearing glitter got the guy laid) and grabs him. He throws him a good twenty feet and Dean crashes hard against a trash dumpster, slamming down on the other side. OUCH. He’s slow to get up, his vision sliding in and out of focus. Scary Vamp Guy comes closer and Dean grabs up some kind of lead pipe, swinging it at the vamp. He misses. Damn.
Scary Vamp Guy proceeds to beat the crap out of Dean, propping him up against the dumpster as he wails on him. Sam, suddenly, comes running around the corner of the building and sees this. Sees the vamp beating up Dean. He starts to move forward, but then…well, then things get very weird.
Sam stops, watching with a twisted, almost fascinated smile as Scary Vamp Guy bites his own wrist and then smears Dean’s pliant mouth with his blood. W.T.F.????
Only after the vamp’s blood has gotten in Dean’s mouth does Sam wield the machete and holler, “NO!” Scary Vamp Guy drops Dean and Sam takes a half-hearted swipe at him, but Scary Vamp Guy Spiderman-crawls up the side of a building and gets away. Dean, half-out of it, with blood smeared all over his mouth, looks blearily up at Sam and mutters, “Sammy….”
Sam just…stands there and breathes hard.
Okay, please don’t kill me, but I liked this. I know we still don’t have any answers about what the hell is going on with Sam, but up until now it’s been a bunch of wondering and interpretation and maybes and what ifs and do you supposes. This was an action by Sam that was DECIDEDLY not Sam-like. It wasn’t a “well, he wanted Dean to have a life,” or even a “maybe Hell just wasn’t the same for him.”
Sam stood there and let a vampire spill blood in his brother’s mouth and…was intrigued. All I could think was now we’re getting somewhere. I still stand firm that he IS Sam. But he’s like…he’s like Martin Sheen’s Benjamin Willard from Apocalypse Now. Nothing matters to him anymore but the mission. The war. The next battle. He’s good at fighting the war. It’s where he feels at home. It’s the only way he connects to anything resembling reality.
He’s not stupid—he knows on an intellectual level that this behavior is not “healthy” and that others will look at him in horror or anger or hurt. But his heart…just doesn’t really care anymore. And if he has to make a few sacrifices—like some members of his unit, family, team, what have you—well, it’s not like he hasn’t made them before.
I could be way off, but that’s what I saw in that weird little twisted smile that crossed his face.
Back in the motel room, Dean is being hit on all sides by over-sensitized senses. Which, for me, was kinda cool because I recently wrote something like this scene—only totally without anything relating to vampires. Every sound—from the muffled voices in the other room, to the closing curtains, to the clicking of the clock radio, to the traffic, to Sam’s heartbeat—was amplified. The lights were so bright they were painful.
I know it’s totally cliché, but Dean suffering from and fighting off the effects of the vampire blood? Totally had my blood pumping. There was something about watching him pace like a caged tiger, visibly restraining himself, his face tight, his muscles tense. He looked…both dangerous and scared to death at the same time.
Dean: Of all the ways to die, I never thought I’d be going out like this.
Sam: No one is going out.
Dean: Samuel is going to kill me because I’m going to ask him to because you won’t do it.
I wondered if Dean had asked him and Sam said no, or if Dean just assumed that Sam wouldn’t. Sam didn’t correct him, but I think that was an incorrect assumption. Even without all the “Sam is different” ruckus. I think if anyone could understand what it was like to know you were going to turn into something bad, or evil, and to want someone you love to stop that from happening to you, it would be Sam.
The scene happened too fast, really, but all I could think about was that moment in Born Under A Bad Sign when Sam handed Dean the gun and Dean just looked at him, sorrow etched in every line of his face, and pushed the gun away, shaking his head.
Sam: We can figure this out.
Dean: Why aren’t you freaked out?
Sam: I am!
Dean: I can hear your heart beating and it’s pretty damn steady.
Whoops.
Sam: I’m…trying to remain calm.
Uh-huh. Sure you are.
Sam: Samuel will know what to do.
Dean: I’m a monster. This is not a problem that you spit ball. We gotta do something before I hurt someone.
Dean wouldn’t have killed Sam, though. Nor would he have let Samuel do it. Lenore and her clan figured out how to live in peace as vampires and not kill people. He would have told Sam that they could work through it, find a way to make it work for them. No matter what he said when it was just the two of them fighting, he never truly went after Sam for drinking the demon blood. He stayed by him—tried to dry him out in the panic room, went after him to help him kill Ruby and escape Lucifer.
If the tables were turned, Dean would have said to Sam exactly what Sam was saying to him, and yet…he either doesn’t believe he’s worth “trying to figure something out”…or he doesn’t think he’s strong enough to fight it. I’m not sure which.
Sam: How does it feel?
Dean: Now? Now you want to talk about my feelings?
Sam: I mean physically.
Gracious, he’s like some kind of freaky scientist. Like he’s studying Dean. So that he can use Dean’s experiences down the road. Maybe that’s why the Campbells kept the shape-shifter, after all. To study them and learn from them.
Dean: Not good.
Dean goes into the bathroom (newsflash: vampires pee) and looks in the mirror. He looks…haggard. Just stretched and tired and scared. He sees a fang beginning to appear in his upper gums, turns on the water, and sneaks out. He goes to Lisa’s house—sneaks into her bedroom and watches her sleep for a moment.
Huh. Guess it’s a vampire thing. Angel did it, too.
Oh, and total aside…I wondered about the whole “invite me in” thing. Maybe that only applies to “full” vamps or something. Or maybe it, like all other vampire lore, is easily malleable to fit a given situation.
Lisa wakes up, startled, and turns on the light, which makes him cringe and look away. He sits carefully on the edge of her bed and says he’s sorry, but he just really wanted to see her.
Dean: I need you to know…you and Ben. Thanks. For everything.
Her image goes all hazy and too-bright and he gasps in pain and gets up. He says something I couldn’t catch—sounded like “penzing.” Any ideas? I figured it was something like jonesing or tweaking or something—basically like he really, really needed a hit.
Lisa: Explain to me what’s going on up there.
I loved that phrasing. Not “what’s the matter with you” but “what’s going on in that head of yours…what have you convinced yourself of this time….”
Dean: I can’t bring this crap home to you.
Lisa: Your work?
Dean: My life. It’s ugly and it’s violent and I’m gonna die. Soon.
This scares her and she comes closer, touching him. The sound of her heartbeat slams into him and he tenses up.
Lisa: Tell me what the hell is going on!
Dean grabs her and pushes her against the wall. His mouth is inches from hers and she’s breathing hard from fear and he’s breathing hard from need and ohmygodI’mgoingtohellforthisbut it was HOT. I know we were supposed to be all gah! He’s going to bite her! or whatever. But you totally knew he’d never bite her. It’s Dean. He’d implode before irrevocably hurting someone he loves like that. It was just…the tension and the heat and the…whew. I need a minute.
He moves away from her and mega-teeth start to show up and he chokes out that he has to go. He stumbles out of her bedroom and I said out loud, “Get out of there before Ben shows up.”
The hallway is all blurry and twisty and too-bright and of course Ben comes out of the bathroom and sees him. Dean tells him to stay back, but Ben comes forward anyway because, well, it’s Dean. But Dean pushes Ben away—rather hard, actually, into the wall—and rushes out of the house. Lisa hurries over to Ben, gathers him close, and tucks them back into her bedroom.
Meanwhile, back at the motel, Gramps is berating Sam for losing track of his brother. Sam says something I missed and Gramps is all, “He’s not himself, Sam. He’s a monster and he’s hungry. We’ve gotta be prepared to do the right thing.”
Which, it kinda seemed like Sam totally was. Hrm.
Out of nowhere, Dean says, “Told you he’d kill me when he showed up.”
Dean’s in the shadow of the kitchenette and something about his being there looking totally Bad. Ass. and slipping in unnoticed by the two hunters was just…yum. That is all.
Gramps: Did you feed?
Dean: Went to say goodbye to Lisa. Which, for the record, was a lousy idea.
Gramps: Answer the question!
Dean turns to face them and Good. Lord. The look on his face set a new standard for not to be effed with. What? You were warned. I can’t help it. Dangerous-yet-scared Dean does it for me just like wise-cracking-Dean, emotive-Dean, and grease-monkey-Dean. And almost every other permutation of Dean you can come up with. Within reason. But there was something about seeing him like this now, after we’d seen him domestic and struggling and accused by some as rusty that just revved me up.
Dean: You can relax. I didn’t drink anyone.
Gramps: Thank God.
Dean: But…I came close.
He shucks his jacket and squares his shoulders. Bracing himself for the death blow.
Dean: Do it.
Gramps comes around the table with his machete in hand, walks right up to Dean, and Sam. Does. Nothing. Nothing! Now…later we learn that Gramps is pretty sure Sam knew about there being a cure, but at the time I just gaped at him. Not even a squeak of protest. The only justification I could come up with at the time was the he really and truly trusted Gramps to take care of family, but even that felt lame because…Gramps is a hunter and he’d just said they had to be ready to do the right thing. I was just…*head spinning*
Gramps: Okay. If you insist. Or…I can just turn you back.
Dean: What?
Sam: What?
He’s so…emotionless, Sam is. Now, in hindsight, if he knew about a cure, he could have been like, “oh, right, I need to act surprised here,” but if he didn’t know, as he claimed, then what the hell, Sam?? Seriously!
Gramps: I didn’t come all this way to kill you, Dean. I’m here to save you.
Well, thank the maker. Finally, the Campbells come in handy.
Gramps has his granddad’s journal—from like…the dawn of time or whatever—and in it is a recipe for a cure for vampirism. Which, Gramps did claim he could teach the boys things their Daddy never thought of. And to be fair, poor John was behind the 8 ball when he was learning all of the hunter rules—and he didn’t have anyone to teach him the ropes. He had to seek out other hunters (who don’t exactly have their own websites or anything) and find out as much as he could while literally on the job.
Samuel Campbell comes from a long line of hunters who all passed down their knowledge and journals and all that jazz. So, sure, I could buy that there’d be a cure that none of our boys knew about before—since they were completely cut off from the Campbells while growing up.
Poor Gordon. Too bad for him, huh?
Plus…vampire lore is apparently kinda like Silly Putty. *shrugs*
Gramps tells Dean that the cure is gonna be like a bad trip and that if Dean drinks even one drop of human blood it won’t work, which Dean’s like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it. They have pretty much everything they need except the blood of the vamp that turned Dean. Which means, Dean has to go into the nest and find Scary Vamp Guy.
During this whole exchange, Sam’s just watching Dean. I can’t figure out what he’s thinking. He’s almost as hard to read these days as Cas.
Dean says he’ll go into the nest alone—Sam offers to go but Dean tells him he reeks.
Dean: You’re like…a walking hamburger.
Heh.
Dean can smell the nest, too. Which is handy since they hadn’t been able to find it before now.
Gramps gives Dean a syringe of dead man’s blood (enough to drop a linebacker and then some) and tells him good luck. Dean leaves and then Gramps turns to Sam, who is packing stuff up.
Gramps: What’s wrong with you, Sam? You knew about the cure.
Sam’s all deny deny deny.
Gramps: ‘Cause if you had known, it’s almost like you let him get turned to get him on the inside and help us find the Alpha vamp.
BINGO! Gramps gets a gold star.
No matter what Sam says next, I totally think he did exactly that. Just like he used the baby shifter as bait. He’s taking risks and chances, but he’s also calculating how they’re going to work out for the win and so far…he’s 2 for 2. Luckily. I think it all comes down to what’s missing—his heart. He’s always been really good at planning and thinking and using his noggin to get to the details and find the solutions, but the thing that always got me about Sam was his heart. His compassion. His ability to empathize and see the other side of it.
And that’s just not there right now.
Sam: You think I’d do something like that? Risk my own brother? What’s wrong with you? I’m just relieved we can fix him.
Uh-huh.
So, Dean finds the nest and sneaks in only to be caught by Robert. They share a (totally awkward) fist bump and Robert’s all, “Glad you made it, man.” He takes Dean inside and to a fridge full of bags o’blood.
Robert: You must be starving.
Dean (looking slightly sick): I’m okay. I killed soooo many people on the way over….
Heh!
Robert tells him the company line is that they don’t kill people…but he wants Dean to tell him what it’s like. They walk away but Dean is jonesin’ big time. He’s practically shaking. The get into a center area—the place looks like it might’ve been a train or bus station at one time. There is a stained glass ceiling high overhead, a balcony surrounding the center opening and a large clock that had me thinking of Back To The Future (only not that big) on one side of the balcony. Along one side of the room are a bunch of cages.
And inside the cages? All the missing girls sipping on bags of blood. Scary Vamp Guy has VampKristin perched in front of a computer writing bad poetry for him. He sends her away when he sees Dean and tells her to head back to her cage and get some blood. As she walks past Dean, she gives him an utterly mournful look. Made me feel sorry for her.
Scary Vamp Guy, totally crashing through Dean’s personal space boundaries, asks him how old Dean thinks he is.
Dean: 33?
SVG: You’re off by about six centuries.
Apparently, this is the best time to be a vamp. The young ones just eat up the romance and intrigue of it—he uses the pretty boys to get the girls and the pretty girls to get the boys…it’s a big recruitment pyramid, really. But…the whole this is run by their “Father.” Aka Alpha Vamp. Dean wants to know about the father.
SVG: Aren’t you the curious one.
Dean: You don’t know the half of it.
SVG leans in reeeaallly close to Dean and Dean has to work not to pull away.
SVG: You want the private tour, don’t you?
Dean: I thought you’d never ask.
SVG practically eats Dean up with his eyes. Annnd…now I feel slightly dirty for my overt objectifying earlier. Don’t worry. I’ll get over it.
Dean tries to jump SVG with the dead man’s blood, but a drop hits the floor and SVG “senses” it and attacks Dean, twisting his arm until he drops the syringe. I’m surprised he didn’t break his arm, really, the way he was twisting it. Maybe the whole ‘being a vamp’ thing helped. Before they can fight about the syringe, we can hear some weird whispers and SVG drops, unconscious…then the girls in the cages drop…and then Dean’s eyes roll up in his head and he drops.
He has a totally freaky-assed dream with bizarre, blonde, Stephen King’s The Shining-esque twin girls with vamp fangs having a blood tea party…white crosses…a black man with wicked-long nails gesturing to the twin girls…. *shrugs*
It didn’t make sense—and I don’t think it was supposed to. But I guessing that the black man we saw was the Alpha Vamp. And I’m also guessing that we haven’t seen the last of that freaky-assed dream.
Dean wakes up, rolls over, and his vision is all hazy and blurry, but he can see enough to realize he’s alone on the floor and SVG is opening all the cages and siccing the girl vamps on Dean. Whoops!
Dean jumps up, runs, decapitates Robert (totally nasty blood effect—nasty in a rather cool way, if that makes sense), and turns to take on the horde of girl vamps. Meanwhile, Sam and Gramps pull up near the Impala in a big A-Team-like van.
Sam: This must be the place.
Frowning suddenly, he tells Gramps (who isn’t saying anything) to shhhh and BAM! A bald vamp jumps down on the roof of the van. Inside, Dean is totally hacking vamps to pieces. I mean he is going to town—it’s like the all-go-no-quit Dean of the past when Sam accused him of being “downright scary” when he’s hunting. It was a thing of beauty, actually.
Sam kills van vamp and he and Gramps head inside.
Dean vaults over the edge of the 2nd story balcony (NICE!!) and is looking for SVG, who slowly emerges from his hiding place.
SVG: You stopped nothing. This is much bigger than you and me.
Dean says nothing—just twists the machete into a better grip. SVG does the Matrix hand beckon thing. *snort*
Gramps and Sam are sneaking into the nest and walking through all of the vamp carnage.
Gramps: Looks like your brother has some Campbell in him after all.
*growls* I know he meant that as a compliment but it had me snarling. Actually, it had me snarling because of how it sounded AND because he meant it as a compliment. This man has no idea what Dean is capable of—and he ought to show more respect, says I, if he knows even a fraction of what Dean has done between growing up a hunter, going to Hell and back, and being one of the key players to stop the end of the world. I hate how these Campbells think so much of themselves. *growls again*
Sam and Gramps get to the point of the balcony by the clock and we see Dean in silhouette just standing there, head down.
Sam: Dean? You okay?
Dean looks up. He’s covered in blood and has his food on SVG’s head.
Dean: Yeah. I’m good.
He just…looks at them. Dude cleared out the entire vamp nest on his own. Not sure anyone knows what to say about that at this point.
Back at the Batcave—er, um, motel—Gramps is mixing up the cure. Dean is holding his stomach and is in obvious pain, still covered in vamp blood. Sam is all, “What did you see in the nest?”
I wanted to thunk him on the forehead.
Dean: Sam, I can’t hear you. Your blood is so freakin’ loud…just back off!
Yeah, Sam!
Dean motions to Gramps: Gimme the damn cure.
He drinks it with a toast I totally didn’t recognize—what was that? Jewish? Yiddish? It could have been Greek for all I knew. For a moment, he doesn’t think anything has changed and then he suddenly turns and violently throws up…some kind of…black stuff. Thruterryseyes, I totally thought of you in that moment.
Sam: Is it working?
Gramps: Either that or he’s dying.
Crimeny, have they died so many times now that death really holds no dominion over them? They’re not vessels anymore—there’ no angelic guarantee that they’ll be brought back. Dead really can mean dead, boys.
Dean thrashes, his head falling back as he roars in pain for a moment and his eyes go blood-shot and his vamp fangs descend and retract. He falls to his side, writing as in his minds’ eye he rushes through all of the events of the episode, backwards. Everything from now back through the moment he was infected until he snags on the memory of Sam.
Standing in the alley.
Watching him get turned.
And doing nothing.
Finally, we see his green eye blinking. Clear—not bloodshot. He sits up, weakly, and Sam helps him, a grin on his face. Dean looks up at his brother and his expression is…wary.
They’re all packing up to go and Dean emerges from the bathroom, the blood cleaned off of him (wearing a green Henley that just about made me give up my obsession for him in grey….).
Sam: So…What’d you see in the nest?
Sweet Lincoln’s mullet! He just can’t let it go!
Dean tells them that the vamps are getting orders from the top—like a psychic thing. He sends them messages.
Sam: Saying what?
Dean’s like, it’s a recruitment drive. The Alpha is building an army. Gramps is like, well isn’t that special, but Dean tells him that’s not the worst of it.
Sam: What is?
Dean: We don’t scare them anymore.
Well. That’s going to pose a bit of a challenge in the whole beating them thing. I am totally interested in how they’re going to gear up to fight a Big Bad that laughs at the tiny little hunters. This could be really good.
Later, Dean’s at the trunk of the Impala calling Lisa. He gets her voicemail (and calls her “Leese” which I liked a lot). The message cut him off. I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to mean that she shut him down or that the message just cut him off. Either way, he didn’t get to talk to her. Which has me rubbing my heart because that? CAN’T be how it ends for them. Even if they’re not meant to be, ultimately, the writers have to have a way to wrap it up somehow BETTER than that. I mean…she’s his peace. When he thinks of home and good things and safety, he thinks of her. They can’t completely take that away from him with that one scary moment.
Maybe she’s just mad—I mean, I would be if my guy scared the crap out of me and then pushed my kid. I’d have to take some time to cool down and see around what happened to what he’d been trying to tell me when he showed up and remember what he’d been through and what I knew about him. The writers just need to bring her back and close this circle. Or keep it open. Just don’t leave it like this.
*calm down, Gaelic…it’s only the 5th episode*
Right, right. Sorry. Anyway, Sam comes out and sees him on the phone.
Sam: How’d it go with Lisa?
Dean: It didn’t.
Sam: I’m sorry.
They move to get in the car and Dean says, uber-casually, “At least you got my back. No matter what happens, I can count on you, right Sammy?”
Sam gives him a funny little, why are you asking me this, smile and says, “Of course, Dean.”
Dean’s smile and nod is like, you’re so full of sh*t.
They pull out of the motel lot to somewhat sad, ominous music and just as the credits came up, the rains came down. So, I didn’t see the previews. But, that’s okay! Next week isn’t that far away. And after the SOON peeks we saw a couple of weeks back, I’m guessing we get the whole Veritas things pretty quickly. Which, hopefully, will yield us some answers!! It’s episode 6, right? How long did we have to wait to learn that Dean was going to tell Sam The Secret in Season 2? Wasn’t it about 6 episodes?
Thanks for reading, guys. Would love to know your thoughts.
Slainte!

Guest Stars

GUEST STARS

Cindy Sampson Cindy Sampson Lisa Braeden
Mitch Pileggi Mitch Pileggi Samuel Campbell
Nicholas Elia Nicholas Elia Ben Braeden
Joseph D. Reitman Joseph D. Reitman Boris
Elise Gatien Elise Gatien Kristen
Charlie Carrick Charlie Carrick Robert
Gregory Fawcett Gregory Fawcett Kristen’s Father (as Greg Fawcett)
Chad Cole Chad Cole Driver
Aren Buchholz Aren Buchholz Faux Vampire
Jessa Danielson Jessa Danielson Faux Vampire’s Victim
Videos

TRAILER/CLIPS

Soon PreviewCW TrailerClip 01Clip 02
Space PromoSpace Sneak Peek

Quotes

QUOTES

Kristin: So your place, is there going to be velvet?
Robert: Yeah, sure.
Kristin: …This is it? But, it smells like pee.

Sam: Vampires?
Dean: These aren’t vampires, man, these are… these are douche bags.

(looking at a book in Kristen’s room)
Dean: Look at this. He’s watching her sleep. How is that not rapey?
Sam: I gotta concentrate here, Dean.
Dean: “He could hear the blood rushing inside her. Almost taste it. He tried desperately to control himself. Romero knew their love was impossible.” Romero? Really?
Sam: Dean, shut up.
Dean: This is a national bestseller. How is that possible?

(trying to crack Kristen’s password)
Dean: Hey, try Lautner.
Sam: Wait, he’s a werewolf. How do you even know who that is?
Dean: What are you kidding me? That kid’s everywhere. It’s a freaking nightmare.
Sam: Hey, how many T’s are there in Pattin- That’s it. We’re in!

Vamp Poseur: What the hell are you doing?
Dean: Open your mouth! Take those out. Take ’em out! Ohhh, for the love of… what are you, 12? Are you wearing glitter?
Vamp Poseur: I only do it to get laid, man.
Dean: Does it work? (Vamp Poseur shrugs) I’ll be damned.

Boris: You’re pretty.
Dean: I’m sorry?
Boris: I said, you’re pretty.
Dean: Yeah, sorry again, pal. I don’t play for your team.

Dean: Why aren’t you freaked out?
Sam: Of course I am!
Dean: Really? ‘Cause I can hear your heart beating, it’s pretty damn steady.
Sam: That’s cause I’m– I’m trying to remain calm.

Sam: How does it feel?
Dean: Now? Now you want to talk about my feelings?
Sam: No, I mean physically.
Dean: How do you think it feels? Not good.
Sam: Where are you going?
Dean: Bathroom, okay? Newsflash, Mr. Wizard: vampires pee!

Lisa: What’s going on?
Dean: It doesn’t matter. But I need you to know, you and Ben, just… thanks, okay? For everything.
Lisa: Dean, you’re scaring me.
Dean: (whispers) Oh, God, I’m Pattinson.
Lisa: What?
Dean: Nothing, I gotta go.

Dean: Lisa, I can’t bring this crap home to you.
Lisa: You’re talking about your work?
Dean: I’m talking about my life. It’s ugly, and it’s violent, and I”m going to die, soon.

Sam: I should come with you.
Dean: No. Dude, you reek. You’re like a walking hamburger. I got to do this solo.

Samuel: What the hell is wrong with you, Sam?
Sam: What do you mean?
Samuel: You knew about the cure.
Sam: What? No I didn’t.
Samuel: No, we talked about it months ago.
Sam: Not me. It must have been Christian or something.
Samuel: Huh. That’s strange, cause if you had known, it’d be almost like you let him get turned. Get a man on the inside, help us find that Alpha Vamp we’ve been looking for.
Sam: You’re serious? You think I’d do something like that – risk my own brother? What’s wrong with you? Look, I’m just relieved we can fix him.

Robert: You must be starving.
Dean: Uhh…
Robert: (offers a blood bag) Here you go.
Dean: I’m okay. I killed so many people on the way over here, so…
Robert: Yeah, uh, about that, company line is we just don’t kill people anymore. But you got to tell me what that’s like.
Dean: Yeah. Yeah, first chance I get I’ll show you myself.
Robert: Sweet.

Boris: And these are the best days in the last six hundred years to be a vampire. Dracula, Anne Rice, please. These stupid little brats are so horny, they’ve reinvented us as Prince Charming with a Volvo. They want a promise ring with fangs, so I give it to them.

Trivia

TRIVIA

Episode Ratings:
Supernatural
– 2.470 million viewers
– 1.4/2 HH
– 1.1/4 A18-49
– 1.2/5 A18-34
– 1.1/4 W18-34

Source

The song Bela Lugosi’s Dead by Bauhaus featured in the 1983 vampire movie The Hunger.

In the bar, Kristen trips and drops her Apple iPhone into Robert’s hand, mirroring the famous scene from the first Twilight movie when Edward catches Bella’s apple at lunch. When Sera Gamble talked at the episode at Comic Con 2010 she said ” “I was just doing a bit of work on the script today with Eric [Kripke] and he was like, ‘So what is this reference to dropping an apple?’ I was like, ‘You don’t know the dropping-an-apple thing? It’s from Twilight!’ I was like, ‘Come over here! You have to watch the promo!’

ALLUSIONS

Dean: News flash, Mr. Wizard–vampires pee.
Referencing Don Herbert, who rose to fame as Mr. Wizard, the creator and host of four science-based educational TV series. He first appeared on the air in 1951 and after the initial show was canceled after 547 episodes, went on to produce three similarly-themed television programs.

Dean: Alright, you go with Efron. I got Bieber.
A reference to teen idols/heartthrobs Zac Efron and Justin Bieber.

Dean: Hey, try Lautner.
Another reference to Twilight, in this case to actor Taylor Lautner, who plays werewolf Jacob Black.

Sam: Hey, how many T’s are there in Pattin- That’s it. We’re in!
Yet another reference to Twilight, this time to actor Robert Pattinson, who plays vampire Edward Cullen.

Dean: Alright, “MMMbop” your way out of here.
A reference to the Hanson song “MMMBop.”

Dean: Newsflash, Mr. Wizard: vampires pee!
A reference to the science-oriented children’s TV show “Mr. Wizard.”

Boris: These are the best days in the last 600 years to be a vampire. Dracula? Anne Rice? Please.
References to one of the most famous vampires and one of the most famous vampire authors in literature and popular culture. Dracula is the vampire in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which set the archetype for vampire mythology and portrayals in film, television and literature. Anne Rice, wrote vampire novels, the most famous being “Interview with the Vampire,” which were acclaimed worldwide bestsellers. Not named is Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight series.

Title:
References the vampire-themed Twilight series. It is a set of four novels by Stephanie Meyer, the first being Twilight, which was released in 2005. The first book was made into a film in 2008 with the rest of the series following: The Twilight Saga: New Moon, 2009, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, 2010, with the final installment yet to be released as of the time this episode aired. The saga follows the life of Bella Swan when she moves to Forks, Washington to live with her dad and falls in love with Edward Cullen who she discovers is a vampire. Characters Kristen and Robert are named after Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, the actors who portray the main characters in the movies.
The title of the episode is a combination of Live Free or Die Hard and Twilight. Twihard is a term for an obsessive fan of the Twilight series.

The vampires in this episode feed by drinking bags of blood stolen from a blood bank. The character Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries feeds in the same way, as does Dracula in the parody Love at First Bite.

In this episode, we learn of a Campbell family cure to reverse the vampire curse, which is entirely contingent on the person not having tasted blood yet. In the movie “The Lost Boys,” and in the story “Dracula,” it is also possible to reverse the vampire curse by killing the vampire who turned the person before he or she has tasted blood for the first time, which on a very basic level, is what Dean has to do in this episode to be healed.

There are multiple references to the Twilight series throughout this episode. The two characters who meet at the Black Rose in the beginning of the episode are named Robert and Kristen. These are references to actors Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, who play the lead roles in the Twilight movies. A large part of Robert and Kristen’s conversation at the Black Rose in the beginning is also a word-for-word copy of several conversations in the Twilight Series. Also, their mannerisms and appearances mirror and mimic those of the original actors.

The fictional vampire series in the episode includes “My Summer of Blood” by Cynthia Rose, and the books and movies Dream of the Vampires I & II. “My Summer of Blood” stars a vampire named Romero. The vampire’s name may be a reference to horror writer/director George A. Romero, whose work has frequently been referenced in Supernatural.

Spoilers

EPISODE SPOILERS

Episode Spoilers can be read HERE

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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