#ON GOD?? WHAT IS THIS SOL DIMENSION LORE BEING DROPPED

[cynicallyscorned]

" Charles sounds like one hell of a fun guy. Damn. "

[shirtlesssammy]

Clap Your Hands if You Believe: 6x09 Recap

Then:

Souless!Sam sure looks soulful when he’s telling Dean he doesn’t care about him.

Now:

***X-FILES ALERT***

Before this recapping nerd was a Supernatural fan, I was (and still am) an X-phile. I’m pretty sure I stuck out the early seasons of Supernatural just because I knew Kim Manners worked on the show. This episode doesn’t usually ping my top 5, but it’s special.

It’s as special as the night the cold open couple was having before the boyfriend, Patrick, disappeared in a cornfield.

Literally cue knock-off X-Files theme.

Sam and Dean head to Elwood, Indiana and interview townsfolk, including Wayne Whitaker, Jr. (played by Robert Picardo. Ignore the famous character actor in the corner. Move along.) about the strange abductions. Wayne is decidedly Team UFO, the local cop doesn’t believe anything supernatural is amiss, and one nice lady believes it’s fairies! Dean is diplomatic and thanks the woman, and Sam calls her out on the ridiculousness of her stance. This episode was Peak Souless!Sam. GOLD EVERYWHERE.

Dean tries giving Sam a lesson in Souls 101, but Sam really needs to sign up for the PhD course. Sam asks if he’s just supposed to fake it? Dean, the master in this, affirms, “Yes, fake ‘til you make it.” (Here’s to Dean not needing to fake it in season 13.) And to help him out, Dean will be his Jiminy Cricket.

The boys head off to interview Patrick’s father. He’s less than accommodating to their questions, insists his son was “taken”, and tries to kick the brothers out of his clock making workshop.

His son has been missing for weeks; he’s not coming back. Dean leaves his number for the man to call them with any information. Once he’s alone, the clockmaker looks to the side --at nothing-- and asks, “Is that alright?”

The brothers split up. Sam stays to watch the watchmaker, and Dean heads to check out the crop circles. Once at the crop circle, Dean gets a call from Sam. It seems Mr. Clockmaker is just drinking his night away at the local diner. Sam wants to talk to him, and before Dean can really talk him out of doing anything, the Impala shuts off and Dean sees a glowing light from the sky. “UFO! UFO!” Sam calmly tells Dean to stop yelling. Lol. “CLOSE ENCOUNTER! CLOSE ENCOUNTER!” While Dean is screaming about empathy, Sam orders another beer. The light finally catches up to Dean, and even with all weapons drawn, Dean disappears into the bright light.

With his call cut short, Sam enjoys his beer and male gazing at the waitress. He does eventually make it to the cornfield to find his brother’s dropped cell phone.

He then finds a small enclave of UFO believers, and starts to ask questions. He finds Wayne Whitaker and asks how to “get them.”

Sparrow, another UFO enthusiast approaches their conversation, and hears Sam admit that his brother was abducted.

Sparrow: Your brother was abducted?

Sam: Yeah.

Sparrow: Oh my God.

Sam: It’s fine. I mean, I’ve had time to adjust.

Sparrow: Did it happen when you were kids?

Sam: No, like, half an hour ago.

Oh, Souless!Sam, never change. He tells Wayne that he sucks, and walks off. Sparrow follows, offering her help, and a flirty smile.

Back at the cornfield, Dean reappears screaming, with knife and gun still fully engaged. Cut to him making it back to the motel room to find Shirtless!Souless!Sammy in bed with Sparrow.

Sparrow makes her exit, but not before asking Dean about his abduction. “They were grabby, incandescent douchebags. Goodnight.” Sam senses Dean’s anger. Dean was barely gone an hour, and Sam ends up in bed with “Patchouli”? Sam corrects Dean: He’s actually been gone most of the night. And that fits with a lot of UFO lore. Sam insists that Dean tells him what happened. Dean is disgusted with his own story but admits that there was a bright, white light, and there were beings pulling him towards a table. “A probing table!” “God, don’t say that out loud!” Dean had a close encounter, and won. He’s gonna take a shower now.

The next day, Sam and Dean break down the existence of aliens.

Well, Dean does while Sam checks out the bar’s waitress. (And check out that shot: The El Sol sign is there. I get it, the title of this episode reveals it’s not aliens, but I do love the story the set design tells every week.) And this whole scene where Sam questions the correct actions of someone who just lost their brother to an abduction ---and Dean’s insistent, “Yes, you sit in the dark and feel the loss!” Sam’s final exam essay: “So you’re saying having a soul equals suffering.” (And Dean’s notes on that essay: “I’m saying it’s the only game in town.”) Bwaahh. This whole scene sums up Dean Winchester so well.

As the boys leave the cafe to research UFO lore, Dean sees a strange man staring at him through the window. Sam doesn’t see him.

Sam does research in the library, Dean does research in the motel.

For Nostalgic Science:

I know these are just mock-ups for the show, but just doing a random search on the X-Files revealed that Angelfire is still out there! Angelfire! Ah, those were the days. My X-files webpage was on Geocities, and with much relief alas, the Wayback Machine didn’t crawl it back in 1998.

Sam tells Dean that there’s a lot of lore in the library but he’ll be heading back to the motel soon. Dean continues his research, while fittingly listening to “Space Oddity”. The lights flicker off and Dean mutters, “Not again.” The door flies open to reveal a glowing orb of gold. Dean tries going for his gun, but the creature stops him, and close up Dean gets a good (“Nipples?”) look, before it takes a nice swing at Dean. In the ensuing fight, the music crescendos, and Dean nukes the little monster.

Once Sam gets back Dean triumphantly shows him his kill...only Sam can't see anything in the truly disgusting microwave. “You don't see the...EEUCH? It's right there?” Sam doesn’t see all the “Blech.” The next person who stays there is going to be eating some disgusting burritos, man.

Dean tells Sam that he nuked a little, glowing, hot naked lady with nipples and everything. Sam asks if the little lady had wings and when Dean admits he's bang on the money, Sam tells Dean that a fringe theory could fit their case. The abductions aren't from aliens – they're from fairies instead.

The Winchesters head to Marion, the crazy fairy lady's home where she sets out tea in fine china and explains the many different types of fairies. The fairy dimension is another reality and only those who have been to Fairy can see fairies on earth.

The woman says the fairies only take first born sons. Her theory? They're taken to Avalon to service King Oberon. Dean looks sobered by this revelation and asks Marion how they can “forcefully interact” with fairies. Fairies love fresh cream, hate iron and silver, and spilled sugar or salt compels them to count each grain.

Dean and Sam spot the watchmaker loading up his car with cream and follow him back to his shop where he unloads the cream, then takes off again. They split up, Sam tailing the watchmaker while Dean scopes out his shop. Dean breaks into the back and finds a shop filled with noise from...tiny toiling hands. The workroom is full of tiny workers wielding torches, using drills, and otherwise kicking some ass on the clockmaking front.

Dean leaves the store and frantically calls Sam. The shop's “freakin' full of Keeblers” and now Dean suspects that Brennan the watchmaker made a deal with a bunch of fairies. Sam approaches Brennan in the bar and compliments his watchmaking.

“Hell, if I didn't know better, I'd say you have a bunch of elves working for you.” Brennan looks up guiltily and Sam goes in for the kill, asking how he could stomach the loss of his first born son for a bunch of watches.

Back on the street, Dean spots the man in the red hat who follows him down the street, ominously...

Back at the bar, Brennan confesses to Sam that he'd desperately summoned fairies a few months ago. He ended up with a leprechaun who promised him wild success as long as they had a place to rest and enjoy “the fruit and fat of the land.” It turns out that their price was the first born. Brennan wanted to undo it, but his spell book is locked in a safe in his shop - and it’s guarded by fairies.

Cut back to Dean who's still being stalked by the man in the red hat.

Dean hides around a corner and jumps out on a man who is NOT the red hat guy. While the man’s (who has dwarfism) horrified young daughter looks on, Dean wrestles him to the ground, shouting all the while about fairies... When Sam runs up Dean is getting arrested. “You fight those fairies,” Dean yells, about 90% on the way to a total breakdown.

In the jail, the police chief interrogates Dean. Just what kind of hate crime is this? “If this gentleman were a full-sized homosexual, would that be okay with you?” Dean protests that he doesn't hate any size person – or anyone who's homosexual. Well, as it happens the man he attacked is the District Attorney for the county. Whoops…

Dean paces his cell while Sam and Brennan sneak back into his workshop. They creep to the safe, the workers all drunk on cream, and Brennan pulls out his spellbook. He begins an incantation to send the fairies back to their realm until he's suddenly stabbed through the heart. It's the great Robert Picardo! ...uh, I mean, it's the leprechaun and UFO enthusiast, Wayne.

Sam summarizes Wayne’s M.O. Fairies make a deal and settle in to stay, abducting first borns merrily. All the while, Wayne's in town stirring up UFO nuts as a cover for fairy activity. Wayne chuckles at Sam's accusations. True, true, all of them. And he's here to stay. Furthermore, Dean's marked as belonging to the fairy realm, and Sam can't actually see him if he doesn’t allow it. Wayne disappears. Neener neener neener. (Listen, do I want a follow-up episode with fairies dealing with Dean being marked for the fairy realm? Yes, yes I do.)

When Wayne reappears he tells Sam that he's “missing a certain piece right in the center.” The human soul is something that the energy-obsessed fairies can sense. They can't sense that with Sam. Wayne tells him that he could fish his soul out of hell for a price.

“There no frickin' way a leprechaun can do what angels can’t,” Sam scoffs. Au contraire, Wayne protests. Angel mojo is no match for “real magic” born from fairy. Sam doesn't bite at the deal and shoots Wayne. His iron buckshot has little effect and Wayne poofs out.

In jail Dean looks up, sensing a disturbance in the Force. He looks around to see the man in the red hat smiling at him from his prison cot. The red cap (for that's what he is) starts beating the shit out of Dean while Sam tangles in a fight with Wayne. Sam's not doing so great but has a brainstorm. He pulls out a salt bullet and pours salt all over the floor.

Wayne snarls and settles down to count the salt, giving Sam the chance to finish the spell. All the fairies, including Wayne and the red cap, disappear.

Later, on a back country road Sam and Dean share a beer. The “tiniest D.A.” has dropped the charges, letting Dean go free. Dean wonders if what the leprechaun said was true – if he could save Sam's soul.

Dean asks why Sam turned down Wayne's offer to get his soul back and Sam insists that deals are always bad. Dean asks if Sam still wants his soul back. “Sure, yeah, whatever,” is essentially Sam's response. The camera lingers on his brooding expression...

(By the way, I feel like I see this photo used as an iconic Sam/Dean/Impala image? But it's actually Dean and Soulless!Sam and that's...kinda sad actually.)

Close Encounters of the Quotes Kind:

There's something out in the corn.

Okay, if you want to add glitter to that glue you’re sniffing, that’s fine, but don’t dump your whackadoo all over us.

Third kind already? You better run, man. I think the fourth kind is a butt thing.

You just gave her the silent 'how you doin'?'

You're the one who pizza rolled Tinker Bell.

It's like Sedona, Arizona crap in here.

Fight the fairies!

Got a way of getting in back doors.