|| Supernatural Online Reviews 9x11 Updated Page-5| - Page 3

9.08 'Rock and a Hard Place' recap
on Hey, Don't Judge Me
Hartford, South Dakota. A young
waitress locks up at work and leaves
a homeless man, Slim, a styrofoam
container of leftover food. Then
proceeded to walk to her car, in the
dark with out her keys at the ready.
Female safety 101, dearie. She's
frightened; she trips and stumbles
her way to shelter underneath her
vehicle. Of course, whatever is
stalking her easily lifts it right up,
engulfs her in blue light and then
drops her off into a sewer hidey-
hole.
Over in the bunker, Sam is asleep
mid-cereal. Sam's sleepy, Kevin's
cracked from trying to crack the
tablet and Dean is hungry. Last week
I was wondering if Sam's random
yawn in the morning meant
something specific, well clearly it
does. In a swift bought of stealthy
exposition we learn that Sam has
already told Dean about Crowley's
sanguine itch and Dean plans to use
it as leverage. Sam continues to
yawn. Apparently no matter how
much rest and fuel he gets he never
seems to hit green on the battery
bar. They're interrupted by a phone
call from our most favorite sheriff,
Jody Mills. She says she's got
something they might wanna look
into and explains about Slim seeing
someone heavyweight the vehicle to
nab the girl.
And they're off. They make it fast
enough that Jody's is still at the
crime scene. That Impala is pretty
much a TARDIS.
Jody reviews the vics with the boys,
the waitress and three others. All
abducted in bizarre strongman ways.
The only connection: they are all
members of Good Faith Church.
Unlike Bad Faith Church, these
members are intensely intense. The
boys think it may be an angel thing.
Way to ease Jody into the info, guys.
Dean tells her not to worry, angels
suck eggs anyway and they head off
to question Slim. He tells them what
he knows, bright blue light, kinda
fiery, but not, then poof! girl gone.
Dean slides him what I hope was at
least a $20 and thanks him for his
time. Blue light means it's not an
angel, so square one it is: the
church.
The brothers try to finagle a bit of
info out of the church lady, Bonnie,
but all she knows is that the
members were all part of the
church's chastity group, Abstinence
Purifies Us. Sam asks if maybe they
could sit in on a group session, but
alas it is members only. Sam
volunteers them both to signup and
she happily bounces over to grab
them purity pledge forms to sign.
Dean, in a rare bout of honesty, tells
her that he's already done did that
and there's no going back. Funny
statement from the one man in
existence that was literally a born
again virgin. Bonnie hesitates for a
second, but tells them that if they are
committed to saving themselves for
marriage, then their chalkboard is
erased. Between the blue fire and the
chastity promises they're thinking
it's dragons again, because dragons,
duh. So the boys scratch out their
autographs, with their real names,
and hand back the forms. I assume
Bonnie somehow already knows
they're brothers, because the same
last names thing kinda gives off a
"we're already married" vibe.
Meanwhile, our waitress, Honor,
remains in the sewer, terrified and
alone. Or not so alone it seems.
Back at the APU meeting, Sam and
Dean are asked to share why they've
chosen to unstamp their V-cards.
Sam says it's because whenever he
sleeps with someone it goes really,
REALLY badly. As a member of the "I
creepily know everything about my
brother's sex life club" Dean
confirms that this is disturbingly
accurate. Dean, on the other hand
graphically details just how much he
likes sex. Wow, the group is sexually
aroused, Commander. However, you
can also infer that he finds the
wham-bam lifestyle slightly
unfulfilling, there's almost never a
second date for Dean Winchester.
As the group breaks up, Dean's eye
catches on a member, Suzy. He asks
Sam if she looks familiar to him, but
Sam just blows off Dean's sleaziness
in favor of talking to Bonnie. He
shows concern for the missing
members and Bonnie is pretty much
smitten by the white knight act, but
not smitten enough that she's going
to ignore that one of the members is
stuffing a napkinful of cookies into
her purse for later. Because that's
obviously what's we chubby girls do,
steal cookies from church
gatherings. Yeah.
Bonnie goes to head that off and
Sam is left to face, Tammy our purple
prose-writing zealot. She's not a big
fan of Honor's, I mean, Honor BUYS
the cookies she brings to group. How
hard is it to mix up a homemade
batch of peanut butter blossom
cookies, I ask you? Not hard at all, I
answer you. Homemade cookies save
you from hell. That and not having
sex after signing a chastity
agreement.
Dean and Suzy are talking in a
corner. He's trying to figure out why
he recognizes her, but she doesn't
know him. She is willing to talk him
though this born again virgin thing,
she is the after all the chastity
counselor. She's all about the
confiding, but Dean's pretty sure he's
getting laid. Sam is eye-rolling his
brother's antics. I mean, signing your
name on something doesn't really
matter when you're legally dead
anyway, right? Dean takes off with
Suzy while Sam goes back to the
motel room to see what Jody has
dug up.
Turns out that all four victims broke
their chastity vows. There goes the
dragon theory. Again, Sam, ease
Jody into the whole list of non-
humans, don't just toss names out
all willy-nilly. Sam tries to call Dean
to fill him in, but he gets
voicemailed. Repeatedly. Sam
occupies himself by getting to know
Jody better by asking really personal
questions. He asks her about the
rival church she attends, but it isn't
quite like this one. She's not there
for anti-sex vow of any kind; she
goes for solace, for comfort.
Considering she lost Bobby and then
went on an unfortunate blind date
with the King of Hell, she's not
exactly rolling in cuddles. Sam says
he gets it, but Jody disagrees; Sam
and Dean have each other. Sam
doesn't disagree and I'm once again
feeling kinda shaky about Sam, Dean,
Sam n' Dean.
Over at Suzy's, she's shedding her
hoodie and making herself
comfortable and Dean's thinking he's
in like Flynn. Except a tearful Suzy
just misses her friends desperately
and wants Dean to pray with her.
Fun. Dean continues to blow off
Sam's phone calls to all his cell
numbers, until Suzy excuses herself
to take a powder. Unfortunately, he
doesn't bother to list to Sam beyond
"not dragon", because he's found
Suzy's secret stash of DVDs and
figures out why he knows her. She's
"Carmelita" from Casa Erotica.
Okay. Back up. Then why didn't Sam
recognize her? We know he watches
Casa Erotica. Maybe the brothers
make sure they don't cross po*n
storylines.
Suzy is embarrassed, but Dean
assures her that he's seen bad
before and she ain't it. He basically
attempts to give her the confidence
to not be feel bad about her past,
because here's nothing inherently
evil about her previously chosen
profession. She digs that and gives
him a private screening.
Dean Winchester has now bedded his
favorite b-movie actress and his
favorite po*nography actress. Way to
work the bucket list, Dean. Of course,
you never stay dead so there's really
no rush.
Meanwhile, Honor and the other vics
are having some issues. Additional
issues. The blue light is coming for
them one by one.
Afterward, however, as Dean is
leaving they are knocked out by a
blue flames to the face. Which was
expected. What I didn't expect was to
see that Suzy was wearing shoes.
Why did she get redressed to that
level in her own home? That's just
weird.
The sewer crew is really cracking up
now, we've got one girl almost
literally climbing the walls and
nibbling on her fingers. The blue
light comes back but instead of
taking one of them, it just drops off
Dean and Suzy. Dean wants to know
where they are, the captives tell him
that they're in hell, Dean thinks that's
adorable. He tries to find a way out,
but they others think HE'S adorable
for coming in and trying to take over,
as if it never occurred to them to try
the hatch before. Neil is rapidly
figuring out that whatever's after
them takes the weakest link and
considering Honor is hobbling
around they may as well offer her up.
Dean's not having it, if anyone's
getting plated it's gonna be Neil.
Honor is honored that Dean is
protecting her honor. It's pretty much
like a scene from The Hole.
Right on schedule Sam is starting to
get worried about Dean. It's been
over an hour and as far as Sam is
concerned that's way longer than
he's gonna give Dean any credit for.
Good call, Sam. He and Jody cavalry
up and head to Suzy's. The place is
upturned so obviously Dean was here
for more than 5 minutes. Sam finds
the discarding Casa Erotica DVDs and
does the math, 1 Dean + 1 po*n star
= chastity vow broken. The go back
to the motel room to research and
Jody continues her researching and
discovers that their culprit may is
Vesta, a god that secures 6 virgins to
keep its light lit, however the virgins,
biological or spiritual, have to
maintain their virginity for 30 years.
Mess that up and get buried alive.
Not only has Vesta ruined the
afterglow, but she also stole Dean's
phone. Luckily he carries a spare.
Meanwhile, Sam does some more
math and figures out where the
victims are being held. Check out the
big brain on, Sam. Jody tells him
they just need a stake of oak with
virgin's blood on it and they got this.
Sam offers up his own blood, but
Jody figures lack of actions speaks
louder than purity pledges. They
decide to go to the church and ask
Tammy for some of hers. They ask
nicely enough, but Tammy is not
okay with their Satan-pagan ideas.
So Jody punches her in the nose,
not only did it feel good, but also
noses bleed like the dickens.
Dean is still trying to dig their way
out and by the time Jody and Sam
get to the manhole, the brothers are
able to try to teamwork their way into
and out of this. Of course, this is the
time of the episode where Sam gets
knocked unconscious.
Well, that's a BINGO for someone,
I'm sure.
Jody is left to face Vesta all on her
own, and surprise, surprise it's
Bonnie the church lady. She's got
Jody strapped to her sacrificial table
while she expositions us to death.
The thing about the liver was
interesting, though I would've gone
with kidney then, but whatever. After
her evil dude speech she stabs Jody
in the chest, but Jody is no weakling,
she's lying there valiantly trying to
work the oak out of her self.
Speaking of valiant efforts, Dean is
still trying to unscrew his way out of
the bunker. Metaphor or cheap joke?
Debatable.
Next on Vesta agenda is Sam. But
he's not a palatable meal since
apparently his liver is shot. His
whole everything is shot. Vesta can't
even figure out how he's not grilled
up as a steak side dish right now.
Sam is rightly perplexed. Why do
goddesses keep figuring out what's
up with him and throwing it in his
face? No time to ask her though,
Jody comes through in the clinch
and gets Vesta right in the ticker.
Time to pack up and head home.
Dean is folding his shirts neatly when
Sam brings up what Vesta revealed.
Dean assures Sam that it's gotta be
the remnants of the trial and that
they'll figure it out. Much like some
people, Sam wants to know why
they're always trying to figure out
what's wrong with Sam. Maybe
what's wrong is Sam. Dean isn't
even trying to hear that. Dean's about
to crack and tell Sam about his
angelic pacemaker, but Zeke flares
up and tells Dean that boy howdy is
that a bad idea. Sam comes back and
Dean fumbles another lie to try to
placate him. In the end, both brothers
are emotionally drained and broken.
Was Dean out of character in this
episode? Was he a regression? Was
he piling escape on top of bravado?
Tough to know. What we do know is
this is coming to a head. FINALLY.
Written by: Vanessa Chaffee

SUPERNATURAL: "ROCK AND A HARD
PLACE" REVIEW
by ign.com
Tonight's episode seemed as if it
was going to be about angels, but
nope, instead it was about the
Roman goddess Vesta. As far as
standalone stories go, it was
entertaining enough. Any time they
have a new big bad to fight it's
intriguing simply because it shows
there are still new villains to battle.
But even with the fresh evil, most of
the episode felt sleepy and by the
numbers.
The highlight of the episode was
watching Dean in the abstinence
purity group. His new name is Dean
the Oversharer. Sure, they may have
gone for the obvious jokes, but they
were still hilarious, and Jensen
Ackles really sells them. They have
the ability to keep Dean's quips and
jokes at a not-annoying level. It's no
small task and again, the fact that
Ackles nails comedic timing helps
make it possible. Much of fandom is
probably wondering what exactly
Suzy did with the tacos.
Other than the virgin jokes, it was
nice to see Sheriff Mills again. Her
character shows how a civilian can
get brought on board, come along for
the ride, and eventually be the one
who figures things out and save the
day. She kicked butt. Plus, seeing
her makes me think of Bobby.
Vesta wasn't anything special,
though. The blue flame affects were
cool, but she was pretty much the
standard single note, single purpose
evil-doer. Nothing memorable
happened there except she pointed
out that Sam is damaged goods. Her
comment made him open his eyes.
Finally.
We did see progress with the Ezekiel
line, thankfully. It's long overdue for
Dean to try to tell Sam the truth and,
even if he got shut down by Ezekiel,
it meant a lot that Dean's heart was
in the right place. I can't believe it
didn't happen sooner. Does anyone
else wonder if the healing is
working? There were just enough
comments about Sam looking and
feeling tired that it's not clear if Zeke
is hurting or helping. It doesn't look
like he's "almost done," despite what
he said.
Supernatural is usually so on its toes
that it's noticeable when they swing
and miss. The overall path and
execution of the story tonight had
humor, but it lacked the spirit we're
used to seeing in the series. There
were some jump out and grab you
moments, but the only real surprise
was how Ezekiel turned on to keep
Sam from learning the truth. That
was incredibly interesting but not
enough to carry the episode's long
stretches of people sitting around
waiting for something to happen.

'Supernatural' Review: "Rock and
a Hard Place" - ScreenCrush
Supernatural ' season 9 summons its
eighth episode of the year in "Rock
and a Hard Place," as Sam and Dean
investigate the disappearances of
several youths within a purity group,
working with Sheriff Jody Mills (Kate
Rhodes) on the case.
Last week's Supernatural' episode,
"Bad Boys ," saw Dean returning to a
boys' home he spent time at as a
teenager, now haunted by a vengeful
ghost, so what does the eighth
season 9 episode bring? What
strange and unexpected challenges
will the Winchesters face next?
Read on for your in-depth recap of
everything you need to know about
Supernatural' season 9 episode 8,
"Rock and a Hard Place"!
In Hartford, South Dakota, a young
woman named Honor closes up shop
at a restaurant, leaving a meal for a
homeless man before heading to her
car. After dropping her keys under a
truck and crawling to retrieve them,
the woman is astonished to see a
figure wreathed in blue flame lifting
the truck, only to knock her
unconscious, and toss her in a pit
elsewhere. Meanwhile at the Men of
Letters base, Sam notes how he
seems unable to "charge his battery"
with sleep, while Dean fields a call
from Sheriff Jody Mills about the
mysterious disappearance.
After the boys arrive, Mills informs
them that the girl's disappearance is
one of several related to the Good
Faith Church group, which she
herself has attended after
experiences with Bobby and Crowley.
After talking to the homeless man
about Honor's disappearance, Sam
and Dean visit the church and
infiltrate a purity group the victims all
attended, agreeing to become born-
again virgins with the group's leader
Bonnie. Meanwhile, Honor awakens
underground and explores her dark
surroundings, as figures move about
in the dark.
Sam and Dean attend the purity
group's meeting, though Dean
predictably over-shares his sexual
prowess, and finds something
inescapably familiar about the group
leader Susie. Sam questions another
girl from the circle, Tammy, though
finds no information of value, while
Susie invites Dean back to her house
to borrow some books about
reclaiming his purity. Sam returns to
the hotel with Mills, where the pair
realize that those kidnapped had
broken their purity vows, rather than
remained virgins, ruling out Sam and
Dean's theory about dragons as the
culprit.
Dean attempts to set the mood over
at Susie's house, but winds up
saddled with a load of books instead.
A bit of snooping reveals the source
of Dean's familiarity with the woman
however, who used to appear in
some of Dean's favorite po*n films.
Susie claims to have put the life
behind her, but when Dean espouses
his love for her work, the two decide
to break their purity vows together.
Awhile later, the pair leave the home,
but wind up taken by the same fiery
blue villain.
Dean and Susie are thrown into the
underground room with Honor, as
well as the other past victims, who
have been deprived of any food and
water. Meanwhile, Sam and Sheriff
mills realize what happened to Dean
and Susie when they find her
apartment trashed. A bit of further
research reveals that the culprit is
most likely Vesta, the Roman
goddess of the hearth, who
frequently had virgins sacrificed in
her honor, burying them alive should
they break their vows.
Dean manages to call Sam with
broken reception, though the sound
of a train in the background gives
Sam and Mills a clue to their
location. Borrowing a bit of virgin
blood from Tammy for a weapon to
defeat Vesta, Sam and Mills arrive to
a train-adjacent farmhouse, where
Dean and the others have been kept
below ground. Before they can free
the group however, Vesta attacks,
revealing herself as the purity
group's organizer, Bonnie.
With Sam unconscious from the fight,
Mills attempts to taunt Vesta over
her lack of followers in the modern
day, to which Vesta explains how
she'd adapted by eating the livers of
lapsed virgins, the purest remaining
parts of their bodies. Sam wakes up
and attacks, accidentally hitting Mills
with the stake, though when Vesta
goes to cut out his liver, she points
out the poor condition of Sam's
body. Before Vesta can react
however, Mills stabs her through the
heart, killing her just as Dean
managed to free the group from
underground.
After the boys say goodbye to Sheriff
Mills, Sam wonders if his body has
been permanently ravaged by the
trials. Dean finally breaks, preparing
to tell his brother the truth about
what happened, before Ezekiel
interjects and claims he'll only need
to remain within Sam's body for a
short while longer. Sam regains
consciousness, to which Dean
changes his tune and urges his
brother to have faith for the moment.
OUR REVIEW:
Last week, we espoused the virtue of
"Bad Boys" for taking what might
have been an otherwise-retro
Supernatural' story, and adding just
enough twists of new and nostalgia
to craft an entertaining hour amid the
current non-starter narrative. Sadly,
the same can't be said of "Rock and
a Hard Place," which follows the all-
too-familiar season 9 formula of Sam
and Dean expositing the reasons for
Kevin and Crowley's absence before
being called away, and investigating
a case with more camp than kick.
Cue an ending action sequence, an
expository appearance from Ezekiel,
rinse, repeat.
If nothing else, Jensen Ackles once
again proves himself the star
comedic player of the season, getting
plenty of mileage out of Dean's more
devious behaviors amid an overtly
ludicrous assembly of supporting
players. Nothing much about the
purity group, or the telegraphed
villainy of Vesta really registers (did
the previously-on segment really
remind us of dragons' sole season 6
appearance, for the lone purpose of
understanding that misdirect?), much
as Sheriff Mills' reappearance adds
relatively little to the proceedings,
save for a few brief snippets of
nostalgia.
"Dog Dean Afternoon" seems to have
broken the bank for season 9s filler
quota, even as some would espouse
its tongue-in-cheek tone to have
been a high-point of Supernatural"s
more comedic aspects, while here it
becomes all the more apparent when
an episode like "Rock and a Hard
Place" splits the difference between
humor and horror. Our only real ties
to the increasingly thin season 9
narrative came at the end of the hour
with Dean's willing admission of
Sam's true state, though once again
Ezekiel emerges to stall any
development for the time being. Had
we spent more time with Zeke as an
independent character to begin with,
the brief asides could potentially
carry a more menacing weight,
though for now they remain a symbol
of season 9s labored wheel-
spinning.
All in all, a few chuckles to be had,
with some intriguing visuals here and
there (Honor's taser torch being a
particular standout) though very little
of substance to digest heading into
the midseason finale next month.

TV Recap: 'Supernatural' Episode
908 - 'Rock and a Hard Place
In This Episode...
Jody Mills calls the boys up about
four sudden disappearances in her
otherwise quiet town in South
Dakota. Witnesses reported seeing a
bright blue flame at the time of the
kidnappings. So the Winchesters roll
into town and find that the only
connection between the victims is
that they were all members of the
Good Faith Church. A visit with
church leader Bonnie reveals that all
four victims were members of APU:
the Abstinence Purifies Us group.
Dean mocks it lightly ("You can't
unring that bell") but Bonnie doesn't
get it. In the end, Sam and Dean sign
the purity pledges and apparently
become born-again virgins.
The APU meeting is led by a pretty
blonde named Suzy, who Dean thinks
looks familiar; Sam just thinks he is
trying to use that as a line to hit on
her. The Winchesters are the only
two men in the meeting, which leads
to the inevitable "why do you want to
reclaim your virginity?" questions.
Sam's reason is that every woman he
has been with has not ended well.
Dean has a harder time coming up
with a reason and starts talking - in
detail - about all the reasons he
loves sex. The girls in the group are
getting turned on, and Sam motions
for him to cool it.
After group, Dean goes over to Suzy,
ostensibly to hit on her. She offers
him individual counseling (for real -
she is a "virginity counselor,"
whatever that is) and invites him over
to her house to check out some
virginity books. Naturally Dean takes
her up on this offer, but when they
get there, she starts crying about her
missing friends and asks Dean to
pray with her. It doesn't help matters
that she takes off her sweatshirt and
reveals an awesome pair of tits. She
loads him up with chastity books and
heads to the bathroom. Dean finally
answers a call from Sam, who has
been trying to reach him all
afternoon. But Dean is distracted
when he sees a po*no in a not-quite-
closed drawer. This is where Dean
recognizes Suzy from - she used to
be a po*n star.
The reason that Sam has been
frantically calling Dean is to warn him
that it is not virgins who are being
taken; it is virgins who broke their
purity pledge. Honor, the most recent
victim, was having an affair with her
pastor; the other two victims were an
engaged couple who gave in to
temptation.
It would take a pack of wild dogs
gnawing Dean's junk to get him to
stop hitting on Suzy at this point. He
confesses he found out her dirty
little secret. Suzy changed her name
and moved to put her past behind
her, but she doesn't seem too upset
at being found out. It doesn't take
Dean long to get her into bed. When
they are done, Dean says goodbye,
but when he opens the door, he and
Suzy are knocked backwards by a
blinding wave of blue flames. When
they wake, Dean and Suzy are in the
same underground bunker that
Honor, Neil, and Barb are locked in.
Pastor Fred was in there too, but he
was starving to death and the blue
flame whisked him away.
Meanwhile, Sam and Jody have done
more digging on this blue flame.
Jody has determined they are dealing
with Vesta, the Roman goddess of
the hearth. Virgins were presented as
sacrifices to keep her flame alive. If
the "offerings" broke their vows of 30
years of celibacy, they were buried
alive. Dean manages a brief call to
Sammy, but the reception is terrible
(he is underground, after all) but it is
enough to know Dean is alive,
underground, and may be near a
train. (Sam hears a whistle in the
background.) Sam and Jody scope
out the town and decide that Dean is
probably at an old farm. The only
weapon that will kill Vesta is an oak
stake rubbed with the blood of a
virgin. Sam offers up his blood, but it
needs to be from a real virgin. They
hit up the church and ask for blood
from another APU member, Tammy.
She rants about how they are pagans
and Jody punches her in the face.
Blood = got.
Jackpot. Sam finds a metal hatch in
the ground and bangs on it - Dean
responds. He can't do much else, for
Vesta uses her blue flame to knock
Sam out. She then turns her
attention to Jody, and we see who
Vesta is: Bonnie, the church leader.
This should surprise no one. Bonnie/
Vesta isn't happy that she has to
take born-again blood (it's not as
pure as real virgin blood) but she
takes what she can get. She prepares
to stab Jody, but Sam wakes and
lurches at her, causing Vesta to stab
Jody anyway, but her attentions are
now on Sam. She tries to eat his
liver (her favorite part of a body) but
finds Sam is essentially dead inside.
"What is wrong with you? It's like
you are held together with duct tape
and safety pins." She is distracted
enough that Jody manages to free
herself and stake Vesta.
By way of wrap-up, Sam is very
concerned about the "dead inside"
comment from Vesta. Dean tries to
blow it off as blowback from the
trials, but Sam is not easily swayed.
He thinks this is just the way he is
now. Dean can't stand seeing his
brother like this and seems ready to
tell him. Zeke appears and urges
Dean not to do that. "He isn't ready.
I promise it won't be much longer."
Zeke recedes, and Dean backtracks.
"If something is wrong, it's not your
fault. We will deal with it." Dean
looks heartbroken.
Dig It or Bury It?
I appreciate this episode if only for
the "making fun of born-again
virgins" aspect. I do not understand
that whole phenomenon. Maybe it is
because I am not religious. Maybe it
is because the whole idea of virginity
is such a vague notion and means
something different to everyone. Or
maybe it is just because Supernatural
takes such a hilariously blasphemous
take on everything. Whatever, I
enjoyed it immensely, but I am very
ready for the maudlin "what's wrong
with Sam" crap to be over with. It's a
broken record.
Prophecies?
Next week is the last episode of the
year. The angel war begins, and Zeke
appears to be taking over Sam.

Supernatural: "Rock And A Hard
Place" The A.V. Club
So obviously, Supernatural has some
gender issues it needs to work out.
By this point in the show's run, the
major manifestations of those
problems are familiar"the
Winchesters' overuse of the word
"bitch," the way almost every female
character (give or take a Charlie) is
either a love interest for one of our
main characters (even Sheriff Mills!)
or a villain/demoness/bitch, and
those characters' marked propensity
to be killed as either a sacrifice to
Sam and Dean's character
development or a cheap means of
raising the stakes or emotional
impact of an episode. For the regular
viewer who cares about this sort of
thing (and you should), it's easy
enough to watch the show and know
that these things are part of the cost
of doing business, so to speak. And
this season has actually been decent
enough about this sort of thing (one
of the reasons I really hope Charlie
comes back soon-ish). But "Rock
And A Hard Place" hits all of the old
favorites, as well as some new ones.
Let's start by talking about virginity.
Society's treatment of virginity as
simultaneously something pure and
to be aspired to (generally for girls)
and something to be ashamed of,
particularly for men (see: The 40
Year-Old Virgin) is frustrating in a lot
of ways, chiefly because whatever,
why are we so interested in the sex
lives of other people? And, hooray,
the possession of virginity (real or
"reclaimed") is central to the
episode's main plot, since our
victims are all part of a church
focused on renewed pledges of
abstinence. The monster (Vesta, an
ancient Roman goddess) requires
virgins to serve her and punishes
those who break their pledge by
feasting on their livers (it's the only
purifying body part left, besides the
kidneys!). So, of course, to
investigate the church Sam and Dean
renew their virginities. "Rock And A
Hard Place" treats the fact that Sam
and Dean take the pledge as funny
by itself, because, lol, virgins! So
funny! The Winchesters obviously
don't take the pledge seriously, and
the show doesn't either. Not that
people should choose to be virgins,
but it's frustrating that the existence
of virgins at all is pretty much the
whole joke here, which means that
not only is this story not great in its
treatment of virginity, but it's also
not funny.
The important characters in the
abstinence group (all female) are
literally a moralizing harpy (Tammy
the poet) and a po*n star (Susie).
Tammy complains to Dean about the
evils of Honor (she only brings Oreos
to the meetings!) and claims she's
going to Hell like a vindictive,
stereotypical shrew who just gets
punched in the face. Susie is
paraded around for Dean (and us) to
leer at before he discovers she's a
po*n star . Then it turns out that
Susie has tried to break from her old
life as a po*n star (who keeps all of
her old DVDs around why?), but Dean
manages to seduce her in a matter of
minutes. Yes, Jensen Ackles is a
very attractive man (his riff on how
great sex is was decently funny),
and, yes, lots of Supernatural
episodes have female characters that
exist solely to be love interests for
Dean, but his rapid conquest here
just seems kind of insulting.
Compare Susie to the show's
treatment of Robin last week. Robin
may have largely existed as a love
interest for Dean, but she also had
her own stuff going on and was part
of a larger story about children
becoming their parents. Pretty much
the only good moment for Susie here
is when she tells Dean how much
she'd missed sex, because sure, sex
is fun, but then she feels really bad
about breaking her pledge and
disappears at the end of the episode.
The saving grace here is the return of
Sheriff Jody Mills, one of
Supernatural's strongest and
longest-lived female characters. For
a while, Mills was a love interest for
Bobby, so she hasn't escaped the
show's gender problems entirely. But
she's competent and reasonably
well-developed, and Kim Rhodes
gets to play her as kind of a badass.
Mills gets to kill Vesta herself, and
her conversation with Sam about her
renewed interest in church, even
without the abstinence pledge, is
easily the best part of the episode.
Hopefully, she'll be around more
often, both as an older, partially
parental figure and as a woman who
can roll with the boys. But here,
she's mostly relegated to the
background, which makes it harder to
take her role seriously. It doesn't
help that Vesta is a pretty terrible
villain. Lindy Boothis very good at
playing both the confused and ditzy
church leader and the villainous
Vesta, but she doesn't overcome the
mediocre writing and is dispatched
as practically an afterthought. I'm
generally not a huge fan of the pagan
god episodes of Supernatural"they
tend to just complain about not being
worshipped any more and show up in
not very nice-looking areas with an
extremely small scope for their
plans. Maybe it's a childhood love of
mythology thing, but I just hate the
thought of Greek and Roman gods
playing small-time with just a few
souls.
Worse still, there's almost no tension
for the entirety of the episode. We
get glimpses of the non-virgins in
some sort of dungeon, but we have
no idea where they are or why and
don't have any investment in any of
the guest characters, particularly
since the identity of the monster is
kept secret for almost the entire
episode. This tactic only really works
if we actually care who the villain is,
or at least enjoy the journey, and we
don't get much of either here. And
the fighting amongst the prisoners is
absolute general issue. Pretty much
everything not focused on Dean's
sexytimes is filler, except for the
revelation that Vestais only after
virgins who break their chastity
vows. This is a nice twist, even if it
means that there are no dragons
(which I was pretty excited about),
but it's not enough to redeem how
boring a lot of the episode is.
Normally, I'd try to steer clear of
spending so much time talking about
Supernatural's problems with women,
but there has to be something else to
focus on in the episode, and not only
is there not much here, but the
crappy sex stuff is the main focus of
the plot.
And as a reward for making it
through that part of the episode:
more Zeke stuff! Sigh. When Sam
decides that his "health" problems
(have we actually really seen any of
that since the premiere?) are his fault
after being told he should be dead by
Vesta, Dean decides seven episodes
too late that Sam "deserves to know"
about Zeke's presence in his body,
only to be told off by Zeke himself.
As annoying as the ongoing
Winchester secret-keeping is, Dean
actively wanting to tell Sam the truth
while being stymied by Zeke (who
can take control of Sam's body at
any time so he never learns about the
angel's presence) is a much more
interesting dynamic for this story. But
I have a hard time taking this
change, which seems just in time for
Zeke to assume a more villainous
role (also sigh), seriously. I'm just
concerned that, like Mills' presence
in a weird, boring episode that
regresses the show's treatment of
women, it's too little, too late.
Stray observations:
Thanks for indulging my
complaining about the show's sex
and gender issues. It's not
something I like talking about a
lot, but it's pretty much the whole
point of this episode and is just
incredibly frustrating when so
many other things the show does
are so fun (or could be).
Even with this week and that Oz
mess, this has still definitely
earned the lead spot for my
favorite post-Kripke season of the
show.
Way to tease us with a ton of
Crowley in the "Then" segment
and then not show Hopefully
Human Crowley.
Next week looks nuts. That is al

Supernatural: What'd You Think
of "Rock and a Hard Place
Another week, another case-o'-the-
week on Supernatural. The show has
given us a virgin-obsessed episode
once before, but it was kind of not-
good, and this time, Sam and Dean
got in on the action by signing some
surprisingly binding chastity
agreements. So while I wouldn't
exactly call "Rock and a Hard Place"
the best that Supernatural has to
offer, the episode did have at least
two things going for it: confirmation
that Dean Winchester is a s**tty s**t,
and confirmation that Sam
Winchester wholeheartedly believes
in the power of his Death Peen. OH.
ALSO KIM RHODES . So I guess that's
three things. I was so scared that the
show was finally going to kill her off,
as it tends to do with characters who
don't suck. And by "so scared," I
mean "actually worried enough to sit
up straight, fingers poised over the
keyboard to be pissy about it on
Twitter." Congrats on dodging that
bullet, Supernatural. <3
"Rock and a Hard Place" was filled
with echoes (huge, thundering
echoes) of Season 6's "You Can't
Handle the Truth," wherein a goddess
who'd fallen on hard times since her
followers mostly forgot about her
took matters into her own hands and
started wracking up a body count.
That brought the Winchesters to
town, at which point she
conveniently dropped some plot
advancement on Sam's head in the
form of reminding him that he's a
freak, but like, an actual freak, and it
freaked her"the immortal-ish
supernatural being of impressive
power"the hell out. In "You Can't
Handle the Truth," it was Veritas's
inability to force Soulless Sam to tell
the truth that sent us down the
oops-Sam-is-still-kinda-in-hell path.
This week, Vesta"who had a habit of
dressing like an Emma Pillsbury
knock-off"tried to eat Sam's liver
(with fava beans and a nice chianti, I
hope), only to back way all slow and
terrified when she realized that
Moose was all dead inside. Literally.
That's... well, I don't actually know
how many weeks that is of ALMOST
EVERYONE saying weird, alarming,
concerning stuff to Sam about his
freak status. I'd say that the endless
teasing is getting hella old, except
that we kinda-sorta-almost made
some progress in that department,
not just with Sam finally getting with
the program, but also with Dean
finally starting to acknowledge that 1)
what he'd helped manipulate Sam
into doing was nine kinds of effed
up, and 2) maybe, just maybe,
trusting the angel you knew for like
ten seconds to possess your super-
Satan-vessel brother was a bad idea.
Virgin jokes and Sheriff Mills being a
badass are great and all, but if we're
exclusively looking to discuss the
plotty things in "Rock and a Hard
Place," it's best to just skip to the
episode's last five minutes or so,
where Dean came this close to telling
Sam about Ezekiel and I was SO
EXCITED and then... Ezekiel popped
in and reminded Dean that without
him, Sam is, like, super-dead, so
maybe he should STFU and just let
Sam have his chronically low self-
esteem. You can have an emotionally
stable Sam or you can have Sam
with a pulse, but don't get greedy,
Dean.
Yeah, so I'm just gonna go ahead
and add Zeke to the ever-growing
pile of Dicks With Wings. The
ambiguity was fun for awhile, but
unless next week's mid-season finale
(ALREADY?) has a looot of
surprises in store, I'm thinking that
the is-he-or-isn't-he evil storyline
has reached its intended conclusion.
I ain't even mad, Supernatural, I'm
just excited to finally be going there.
After a string of what were ultimately
just a bunch of standalone episodes
"even last week's ode to crappy
Winchester childhood didn't add
much to this season's arc, despite
being a great and timely Dean
Winchester character study"it's time
to get back to the big picture. We
haven't seen Abaddon or
Bartholomew in weeks, and srsly,
how long are we gonna keep Crowley
chained up in the basement of the
Batcave? Get on with it already!
CASE NOTES
- Dumb Winchester Sighting: Since
when do we use our real names
during investigations, boys?
- 50 Shades of Dean Winchester
trolling the virginity club miiight just
belong on the list of greatest
Supernatural comedic moments ever.
(I really like lists.)
- Did anyone else think "E.T. phone
home" at the sight of Vesta's glowing
finger?
- Was Dean getting genuinely
philosophical about Casa Erotica , or
was he just being a pig? Idk. I mean,
I wouldn't put it past Dean to form an
emotional attachment to a po*no
series. But I also wouldn't put it past
Supernatural to assume that po*n
stars are all nymphos who will totally
ditch the virginity vows they've built
their shiny new po*n-free lives
around as soon as a super-hot dude
rolls into town.
- "Sex Is a Racket and God's Ball Is
in Your Court."
- So how's this whole Ezekiel thing
going to play out?

from hypable.com

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Supernatural season 9, episode 8 "Rock and a Hard Place" aired tonight. Check out our recap below.

So what happened in Supernatural season 9, episode 8 "Rock and a Hard Place"?

Supernatural 9.09 - Holy Terror
by hey dont judge me
When I tell you that I am writing this
recap while eating my feelings I want
you to understand that it's not
hyperbole. I will be taking breaks
between paragraphs to shovel green
chile mac n' cheese, corn pudding
and a pile of pumpkin pie mixed with
pecan pie into my face. I feel like
after watching this episode I've
earned this mass of carb-laden
calories.
And so we begin.
Caribou, Wyoming. A van full of
Melody Ministry Glee Club
harmonizers rolls up to the Round
Em Up biker bar. It goes down pretty
much like Kai and Silk's crews in
Romeo Must Die , except not
everyone walks away from this
skirmish. Eleven angelic songbirds
walk in and eleven walk back out to
lyrics telling us thirteen is a lucky
number. Not for the bikers it seems.
Catholicism WOW campaign fun fact:
Eleven is the number of disorder and
incompleteness, falling one above
and below Divine Order and Divine
Government. We'll follow up with the
eleven deadly ones soon.
Dean and Sam are cruising down the
highway, on their way to check out
the angel massacre. Wait. Nope. Not
Sam. Zeke. Zeke and Dean are
discussing the current progress of
Sam's patchwork quilt insides. Zeke
is also not on board with them
heading out to investigate angel
shenanigans, he's adamant about
angel auras putting him and, by
literal proxy, Sam in danger. Before
Dean can continue the conversation,
Zeke whiplashes back into Sam. Sam
who is wondering how 50 miles
passed in the blink of an eye. Dean
tries to distract him with more talk of
how the trials did a number on him.
Sam argues that Dean's reasoning is
getting threadbare. Dean reiterates
his previous points and all but plays
the entire Eurhythmics' discography
in lieu of further discussion.
Okay, number 1, any time someone
says "would I lie to you?" they're
lying, and number 2, um... Dean? You
and your brother have lied to each
other for like years back. This is not
a comforting statement.
Anyway, Sam and Dean pull up to the
bar and flash their badges, only to be
told that another Fed has beaten
them to the scene. Uh-oh. It's
always a pain in the ass to get faux-
verified as faux-SAC by a faux-
director, but there's no need in this
case, the other agent at the scene is
Castiel. In a suit. With kinda bitchin'
hair.
Sam looks strangely proud of Castiel,
Dean looks suitably worried. Castiel
reminds Dean that he still had the
fake badge Dean gave him (oh really?
Do you Castiel? You've been
conveniently tucking that away just in
case? How very eagle scout of you)
and figured it was time for him to
help clean up the angel mess he
helped create. It's Sam's turn to be
worried; didn't Castiel leave them
because the angels were on his ass?
Dean steamrolls over this
conversation, but Castiel steamrolls
right back. He's ready to get the
band back together, the Team Free
Will reunion tour. As he walks off
proudly Ezekiel flashes to the fore
and gives Dean an eerily accurate
version of a patented Sam
Winchester's bitchface #81.
Meanwhile, the angel factions are
having a meet up. Seems the sing
sweet nightingale angels work for a
thug life angel named Malachi, the
messenger of the four letters. Tablet
allusion, mayhap? Maybe. Right now,
he's just a ruffian with a rank in
Bartholomew's way. Unfortunately,
Bart way too busy with his steadily
growing number of followers to deign
to attend this powwow himself, so he
sent Allison (post-Claire makeover,
obviously) to chat with Bender about
the angelic civil dust up. Malachi is
not okay with the disrespect this
shows, and he's not really feeling
her attitude either, they reach an
impasse so he settles it by angel
blading her and her henchmen into
bright flashes.
At another bar, one less murder
mayhem and more open for
business, the three faux-Feds sit at a
table with a round of beers. This is
Castiel's first alcoholic imbibement
as a human being and apparently it
only takes half a beer before he's
tipsy and telling the brothers how
stoked he is to work with them again.
As long as, y'know, it's cool for him
to work with them and all. Sam is
confused; OF COURSE it's okay.
Dean feints left and tells Castiel that
he was making an alright life for
himself, why mess that up? Castiel
throws some of Dean's old wisdom
about destiny back in his face. After
some dudebro backslapping about
hot reaper April, Castiel stumbles off
to grab the next round. While he's
away, Zeke takes the opportunity to
tell Dean to that he has to give
Castiel the boot. Again.
In an interesting twist, Dean actually
stands up to Zeke a bit. He wants to
know why Ezekiel is so afraid of
being found, Zeke claims it's
because choosing to help the
Winchesters put him in poor standing
with certain factions. That's a no-go
in Dean's eyes; Castiel is in negative
standing with 100% of the factions
yet here his is, doing what he has to
do. Whatever, Zeke's getting cheese
fries. While he's gone, Castiel, the
most awkward angel in the garrison,
who now knows how to order
brewskis and knows the human
custom of clinking beer bottles
together to emphasis a point when
just weeks ago he didn't even
understand the mechanics of
brushing his teeth, has out of
nowhere suddenly picked up the
ability to sense human discomfort
and asks Dean why he gets to
twitchy when the subject of Castiel's
sabbatical from them comes up.
Dean explains that he made a choice,
Sam or Castiel, and yeah, it sucked,
but it is what it is. Sam comes first,
always.
Outside the bar, Zeke runs in to our
old pal Metatron. Only Metatron
knows something Dean don't know:
Ezekiel died in cast out, never even
made it past the fall; the angel
wearing this Winchester is actually
Gadreel. Gadreel had been
imprisoned in Heaven because he's
the dumbass that wasn't keeping a
close enough eye on the Garden of
Eden and let the snake slither in. You
had one job, Gadreel.
Catholicism WOW Campaign fun fact:
Gadreel is mentioned in the second
book of Enoch, he is said to be the
angel that taught man the art of
warfare. Flipside of that is that it
calls into question the assertion in
the first book of Enoch, which states
that the one who taught man the
ways of warfare was... Azazel.
Gadreel maintains that the allowance
of evil into the Garden was not his
fault. He was framed. Or sleeping.
Something. Metatron doesn't care,
he's decided that an empty Heaven is
a lonely Heaven and he'd like to
rebuild it just like God wanted it, but
with an elitist twist. Is Gadreel in?
We don't know because the next
scene we're right back in the bunker
researching. Sam and Dean find out
that the biker gang that bit it was
born again, they're Boyle's Boys.
Sound familiar? This means the
goody-goody glee angels are worse
than the badass biker brood. Yikes.
Speaking of which, the head soprano
in addressing a group of woodland
retreatists, getting them all prepped
to get angel vessel violated when all
of a sudden Bart's band of
backscratchers rush in and take
them out, tit-for-tat.
Next morning, Metatron and Gadreel
are having a follow-up meeting, they
talk about how screwed up humans
are (especially the highly
dysfunctional Winchesters). People
are exhausting. Metatron makes
Gadreel an offer, to restore him as
his second in command in the new
Heaven, of which Metatron would be
the hair club president. Gadreel
seems wary.
Back in Caribou, Castiel is at a loss
and falls back on all he knows:
prayer. Except, he's never been the
one dialing before. He tries
everything, traditional Christian,
Buddhist, Muslim, the gamut, but he
feels like no one is listening. Until
someone answers. Then knocking
savior at his door is Muriel, she's an
angel that doesn't want to choose
sides, doesn't want to fight.
Yeah, yeah, that's what Lucifer said,
too.
Anyway, she's tentatively agreeing to
help Castiel, when Malachi's minions
steal them away for another rousing
round of torture the ex-angel. Castiel
tells them nothing because he has
nothing to tell. Malachi doesn't
believe him and kills Muriel in front
of him. Doesn't change the fact that
Castiel knows nothing. Malachi
leaves him with Theo, a master
torturer. Turns out though, that Theo
is just an opportunist; he teamed up
with Malachi because he thought he
was a better option than
Bartholomew, but Malachi went
guano and now he figures that
Metatron and his new Heaven are the
way to go. Castiel sees this as an
opportunity to manipulate him, to get
Theo to unshackle him. It works. And
then Castiel slices his throat and
inhales Theo's grace. Well, that was
unexpected. So much for the life and
times of human!Castiel...
Meanwhile, Sam, Dean and Kevin are
looking into the campfire massacre.
Dean pushes Kevin, tells him the
sands are funneling and it's time to
get the translations translated.
But instead of everyone continuing to
work Sam goes for a stroll, Dean
wanders the bunker hallways and
Kevin makes a sandwich. Before
Dean has a chance to track down
Sam (and really, if we're going to be
violating Sam's agency on a
constant basis, can't Dean just chip
him like a dog and make it easier on
himself?) he gets a call from the
newly graced Castiel. From a
payphone. Again. How very 1994.
Next he'll get a pager and Dean can
beep him whenever he needs him.
Castiel quickly runs down his update:
captured, tortured, must be Tuesday,
escaped, got some grace, and oh
yeah, found out Ezekiel has been
dead since the fall?
And now it's time for Dean to once
again play his least favorite game:
"Who's in My Brother?"
Dean rushes to Kevin and tells him to
backburner the translations, what he
needs is a spell that can suppress
an angel's consciousness within its
vessel long enough to communicate
with the person that owns the
meatsuit. Kevin is dubious, but Dean
spins a halfway decent lie about why
it'd be a good thing to have in their
back pockets. Oh, NOW you can lie
believably, cause man, have you lost
your subterfuge touch this year.
Gadreel's walkabout leads him back
to Metatron. He's made his decision;
he will join him as general. Metatron
isn't a newbie though, he's got some
Godfather in him and knows loyalty
must be proven. He needs Gadreel to
take out a major player that can get
in the way of his takeover. Gadreel
doesn't really want to but agrees and
Metatron hands him a one-name hit
list.
Gee, I wonder who this jerkface
wants off'd?
Inside the bunker it seems Kevin
came up all aces and found a spell.
They paint up the wall and get ready.
Dean has underestimated Kevin's
intuitiveness and observational skills,
Dean asked for a theoretical spell to
use on random vessels they may
come across, yet he and Kevin just
paint-by-numbers'd the bunker
storeroom. Kevin Tran wasn't
advanced placement for nothin'.
Dean asks Kevin what he asks of
everyone, to just trust him, but here's
the thing, and there's really no way
around it, every time Kevin (or
anyone really) trusts Dean
Winchester they become an object
attached to another object by an
inclined plane wrapped helically
around its axis.
Every. Single. Time.
Dean resents that, not every time .
Dean heads into the storeroom and
finds Sam conveniently in there,
stacking bottles of beer. He triggers
the spell and hurriedly tells Sam
about the angelic invasion in his
body. Sam is pissed and Dean gets
that. He pours out his heart and soul
to Sam, telling him he made a
command decision because he did
what he had to do. Sam doesn't
accept that and bolts. Dean tries to
stop him and catches a fist to the
face. He's down and Sam's gone.
Dean recovers quickly and takes off
after Sam. He makes it just in time to
see Kevin's soul get burned out and
get angelically adhered to a pillar.
Unable to move, he realizes that he's
been talking to the angel, not to Sam
the whole time. Gadreel overheard
Dean and Kevin chatting about the
spell. He's pretty pleased with his
Sam Winchester impression. He gave
Dean the puppy-dog look and Dean
bought right into it. And Gadreel is
sorry, he is so sorry, but he did what
he had to do.
He leaves Dean with Kevin's body
and Dean breaks. He's utterly alone.
He's caused Kevin's death. He
caused Kevin's death by Sam's body.
Five years ago Dean saw into a future
that showed him the paths he and
Sam would walk if they didn't deal
with the Lucifer and Michael situation
appropriately. In that version of 2014
Dean would lose Sam to an angel
that would take over his body,
leaving Dean with nothing.
No matter what you do, you always
end up here.