Recap of Supernatural
Season 4, Episode 15
Death Takes A Holiday
Written by Jeremy Carver.
Directed by Steve Boyum.
Air Date: March 12, 2009.
When people stop dying in Greybull, Wyoming,
Sam and Dean need the help of Pamela Barnes to break the veil, defend one of the 66 seals, and protect the Reapers.
Sam and Dean investigate and discover that the local Reaper is missing. They figure out that killing two Reapers is one of the 66 seals, and get Pamela—the blind seer—to turn them into ghosts, so they can try warn the Reapers and stop them being killed.
As ghosts, they meet Cole Griffith, a kid who was meant to be taken by the Reaper but got left behind when it was kidnapped. He teaches them how to fight and disappear in a quick training montage.
Tessa, Dean's Reaper from season two, reappears.
Finally the boys track down the demons. It was Alastair, and he manages to kill one of the Reapers, but the boys save Tessa.
In the real world, Pamela gets attacked by a demon, who stabs her. She manages to bring Sam back, and he deals with the demon. Pamela can't die yet, however, because Tessa still isn't reaping.
Castiel appears to Dean, and tells him they finally had a victory. Cole moves on to the afterlife, and because Tessa is reaping again, Pam just has time to bring Dean back before she dies.
Body count
For this episode = 3 humans, 1 ghost, and 1 reaper.For the series so far = At least 298 humans (of which 5 were witches), 27 ghosts, 21 demons, 10 vampires, 6 changelings, 3 gods, 3 shapeshifters, 3 zombies, 2 werewolves, 2 dogs, 1 crocotta, 1 djinn, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 reaper, 1 rugaru, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, and 1 wendigo.
Tropes
- Ambiguous Situation: Tessa states that with her return, the people in Greybull will start dying again, but she doesn't outright state whether this means that she'll reap Jim Jenkins and the cancer patient, the two men who would have died but ended up surviving due to her absence.
- Since Pamela does die, it's obvious they will too.
- Astral Projection: Because living humans can't see Reapers, the brothers use this to transform themselves into spirits.
- Attack on the Heart: Jim Jenkins was shot in the heart by the mugger.Dean: And he's not a doughnut?
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: Castiel capturing Alastair.Dean: What the hell?Castiel: Guess again.
- Call-Back: Dean's met Tessa before.
- Continuity Nod: Dean is still upset by what Sam said to him while under the poison of the siren.
- Covert Pervert: Pamela whispers the return code in Sam's ear: "You have got a great ass."
- Death Seeker: Dean has been missing Tessa/Death throughout seasons 2 and 3.
- Death Takes a Holiday
- Falling Chandelier of Doom: Used a bit less dramatically than usual, but has the same effect.
- Foreshadowing: "If you think you have good intentions, think again."
- "You know, he doesn't ride a pale horse, but he does have three amigos."
- Go into the Light: Cole Griffith is persuaded to move on.
- Good Is Not Nice
- Hiding Behind Religion: Sam and Dean pretend to be writing for a Christian Blog.Jim Jenkins: Now, you two said you were bloggers?Sam: Yes, sir. Floored by the Lord dot com.Dean: All of God's glory fit to blog.
- Homoerotic Subtext: Dean tests his new intangibility by shoving a hand into Sam's chest.Dean: Am I making you uncomfortable?Sam: Get out of me.Dean: [pulls out his hand] You're such a prude.
- If I Had a Nickel...Reaper: You don't remember me.
- Immortality Field: Greybull, Wyoming became one because the Reaper in charge is missing.
- Intangibility: Due to being a spirit.
- Killed Off for Real: Pamela.
- Mind over Matter: Ghosts can move objects and touch people and other ghosts by concentrating and willing it to happen.
- Not What It Looks Like
- Power Perversion Potential: Dean suggests spying on women in Victoria's Secret.
- Quieting the Unquiet Dead: The Winchesters convince Cole's ghost to leave with a friendly Reaper by showing him that he's making both his mother and himself unhappy by haunting her.
- Remote, Yet Vulnerable: Demons attack the Winchesters' bodies while they are occupied with stopping Alastair.
- Shoot the Dog
- Shout-Out:
- Dean's quip of "All of God's glory fit to blog" is a reference to the motto of the New York Times.
- When Sam suggests Dean should take an aspirin, Dean calls Sam House.
- Sam asks if they are going to just swing in and save the friendly neighborhood reaper?
- Pamela calls Dean Chachi.
- Dean tells Pamela he would love to be kicking back with a cold one, watching Judge Judy.
- Cole calls Sam Haley Joel, referencing his role in The Sixth Sense.
- Sinister Scythe: Death's Scythe is used to kill Reapers. In a subversion, it's a gardening handtool.
- See You in HellSam: Go to Hell.Alastair: Oh, if only I could. But they just keep sending me up to this Arctic craphole.
- Summoning Ritual: Sam attempts to summon the ghost of Cole Griffith, but is interrupted.
- Take That!: "Yeah, well, Joe the Plumber was a douche."
- Took a Level in Badass: Sam can now see off Alastair.
- "Uh-Oh" Eyes: That roll over in his head. Completely.
- The Wild West: Sam and Dean stay in the Broken Saddle Motel.
- You Can See Me?
