Recap / Supernatural S 08 E 03 Heartache

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Recap of Supernatural
Season 8, Episode 3

Heartache

“Really? Our king daddy monster is a stripper?” -Dean

Dean: Wow, guy goes to Purgatory for a year, and all hell breaks loose. Check this out. A jogger in Minneapolis gets his heart ripped out.

Sam: I'm guessing literally.

Dean: Only way that interests me.

Written by Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross-Leming.

Directed by Jensen Ackles.

Air Date: October 17, 2012.

Dean catches wind of a case where victims' hearts have been ripped out in a ritualistic manner. The brothers find that a suspect is already in custody, but mumbling and seemingly in a trance.

Body Count:

For this episode = 5 humans.

For the series so far = At least 823 humans (of which 6 were witches), 106 demons, 58 angels, 47 ghosts, 36 Jefferson Starships, 28 vampires, 19 zombies, 19 gods, 9 hellhounds, 7 skinwalkers, 6 changelings, 5 shapeshifters, 4 ghouls, 4 Leviathan, 3 djinn, 3 dogs, 2 Amazons, 2 arachnes, 2 kitsunes, 2 rugarus, 2 vetalas, 2 werewolves, 1 crocotta, 1 dragon, 1 fairy, 1 Khan worm, 1 lamia, the Mother of All, 1 okami, 1 phoenix, 1 Purgatory creature, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 reaper, 1 shojo, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, 1 wendigo, 1 whore of Babylon, and 1 wraith.

Tropes

• Acrofatic: The runner from the beginning is a larger man, but easily outran a younger, more fit looking runner.
• And Another Thing...: Subverted
  Sam: Just one more question...
  Woman: There is always one more question in life, isn't there? That's what I find. (ushers them out)
• And Show It to You: Which is apparently Better than Sex.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: K'uhul ajaw, Cacao, shi-jiiy. K'uhul ajaw, Cacao, shi-jiiy. Doesn't cacao mean "chocolate"?
• Babel Fish: Subverted Trope, as Dean's translation app does not recognize the Ancient Mayan language.
• Badass Transplant: ...at a cost.
• Blood Knight: Dean enthuses to Sam about being back on the road hunting demons together. Sam however feels differently.
• Cannibalism Superpower: Randa is shown eating a heart.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The detective mentions that Paul Hayes, the last person to see the jogger alive, is not Thor. This recalls Mjölnir from the auction in "What's Up, Tiger Mommy?" (S08, E02).
  • Dr. Morrrison, who translates the Ancient Mayan, previously translated a Greek script in "The Slice Girls" (S07, E13).
• Did Not Think This Through: Brick assumed his body would burn up in the crash, but it didn't.
• Dye or Die: Brick bleached his hair to form a new personality.
• Exposition of Immortality: Brick's letters show that he was alive at least 50 years ago, in the 1940s.
• Eye Scream: The scene where Arthur carves out his eye was filmed, but deemed too gory.
• Filler: Besides Sam's conversation with Dean about wanting out, nothing plot-important really happens in this one.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: The Big Bad of the episode, a stripper who received Brick's heart and is the ringleader of the transplant recipients, mentions that before she got his heart she was just a sweet, demure Georgia girl with a heart problem.
• Heart Trauma: Randa's heart transplant leaves her a different person.

• I Just Want to Be Normal: Having tasted a normal life, Sam wants it back.
• If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: Paul Hayes's green smoothie.

• Joggers Find Death: The runner in the opening scene.
• Karma Houdini: Despite Eleanor admitting that she was fully aware of Brick's human sacrifices for decades and didn't care, Sam and Dean don't even give her a slap on the wrist for being an accessory to murder.

• Literal-Minded: Dean does this to troll Sam.
  Dean: (looking at his smartphone)' Son-of-a-bitch!
  Sam: Don't tell me someone had his heart cut out here in Boulder?
  Dean: All right, I won't tell you.
• Love Letter Lunacy: The brothers find a collection of letters, written across the span of many years, from Brick to his sweetheart, Betsy.
• Mad Eye: Arthur, the police officer chanting in Ancient Mayan, has an enlarged left pupil and heterochromia.
• Madness Mantra: While Arthur's chanting is initially written off as nonsense, the brothers soon discover it's actually Ancient Mayan.
• Married to the Job: Eleanor initially says Brick was, to cover the fact that he married her when she was young enough to not have to pose as his mother.
• Mayfly–December Romance
• Mayincatec:
  • The Mayan language is spoken by millions of people today, and could hardly be described as a dead language.
    • To be fair, they describe it as Ancient Mayan. However, it's also not technically just one language as it has several branches of dialect that stem from Proto-Mayan.
  • Sam describes "torturing and killing everyone in sight" as one of the most important things to the Mayans.
  • Dean describes the Mayans as a 1000-year-old culture. Mayan civilization spans thousands of years, with clearly Mayan settlements established in 1800 BC.
• Minnesota Nice: The runner in the opening scene congratulates and offers a handshake to the heavier runner who outran him.
• Monster of the Aesop: Brick was torn between his need to be the perfect warrior/athlete and his desire to be a lover, just like Sam and Dean are torn between their conflicting desires.
• Monster of the Week: Lampshaded by Sam, who points out they should be looking for Kevin and the tablet instead of hunting monsters.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After ripping out one of the victim's hearts, Arthur realized what happened and didn't take it very well.
• No Ontological Inertia: Stabbing the heart kills off every other person with Brick's organs.
• Once a Season: This is the third season where the first episode shot was directed by Jensen Ackles. The others include "Weekend at Bobby's" (S06, E04) and "The Girl Next Door" (S07, E03).
• Parental Incest: Subverted. Sam and Dean break into the dead Brick Holmes' house and discover, to their disgust, that he apparently shared the same bed with his mother Eleanor. She was only posing as his mother. Brick Holmes (born as a Mayan named Inyo) was an immortal man who met Eleanor when she was still a young woman. She continued to age while he remained young.
• Really 700 Years Old: Along with Who Wants to Live Forever?.
• Running Gag: Morrison's help still comes with a price tag.
• Resurrected Romance: Brick's heart may have driven Randa to Boulder to be near his love, but Mrs. Holmes does not seem to embrace the OT3.
• Shout-Out:
  • Dean says he prefers the Keith Richards version when Sam plays his recording of Arthur's chant.
  • Randa says she became Xena, freaking warrior princess after the transplant.
  • Brick in his past identities competed against Alain Prost, Sugar Ray Robinson, the Boston Red Sox, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the Philadelphia Phillies.
• Tempting Fate: When spitballing ideas what might be behind the attacks, one suggestion is werewolves. Cue the menace in the very next episode.
• Themed Aliases: Agent Sambora, as in Richie Sambora, the guitarist in Bon Jovi.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: When it became clear that his lover was nearing the end of her life, Brick Holmes purposefully drove his car off a bridge.

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