Recap / Supernatural S 08 E 07 A Little Slice Of Kevin

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Recap of Supernatural
Season 8, Episode 7

A Little Slice Of Kevin

Castiel meets the new boss

"You can't save everyone, my friend. Though you try."

—Castiel to Dean

Written by Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross-Leming.

Directed by Charlie Carner.

Air Date: November 14, 2012.

With the Trans still on the run, Crowley starts gathering up the other potential prophets in hopes that one of them will be able to translate the Word in his possession. He finds out the name of the prophets by torturing a captured angel, Samandriel. Tired of hiding, Linda hires a witch to help her and Kevin make more demon bombs. Of course, the witch, Delta Mendota, betrays them to Crowley, who captures Kevin. Meanwhile, Castiel returns from Purgatory, claiming not to know how he got out. Castiel rejoins the Winchester brothers to rescue Kevin and the future prophets after Mrs. Tran asks for their help and delivers a demon she captured. Castiel does rescue Kevin from Crowley despite not yet being at full power, but the tablet is broken and Crowley escapes with a piece. We find out that Castiel never planned to leave Purgatory as he felt he belonged there as punishment for his actions, and was delivered from Purgatory by a group of angels led by Naomi, who are using Castiel and compelling him against his will and without his knowledge to gather information about the Winchesters.

Body Count:

For this episode = 7 demons and 9 humans.

For the series so far = At least 837 humans (of which 6 were witches), 113 demons, 58 angels, 48 ghosts, 42 vampires, 36 Jefferson Starships, 19 zombies, 19 gods, 9 hellhounds, 7 skinwalkers, 6 changelings, 5 shapeshifters, 5 werewolves, 4 ghouls, 4 Leviathan, 3 djinn, 3 dogs, 2 Amazons, 2 arachnes, 2 kitsunes, 2 rugarus, 2 vetalas, 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

• Ascetic Aesthetic: The room Naomi summons Castiel to.
• Aside Glance: The possessed teacher briefly looks straight at the camera when she's checking if anyone's watching her snatch a kid.
• Ask a Stupid Question...: Dean to Aaron's teacher.
  Dean: Can you think of any reason why somebody would want to harm him? Um, any enemies?
  Mrs. Hagar: Enemies? He's five.
• Back from the Dead: Castiel, again. Sort of. He wasn't actually dead.
• Blood from the Mouth: The first prophet Crowley kills.
• Blood-Splattered Innocents: After Kevin refuses to translate the tablet, Crowley makes a future prophet explode, showering Kevin and the other future prophets in her blood.
• Bucket Booby-Trap: Kevin's mother uses his trick with the holy water previously seen in "We Need To Talk About Kevin" (S08, E01).
• Bus Crash: It is implied that Chuck is dead, as there can only be one prophet at a time. But, then again, considering just whom it's hinted He may be...
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Samandriel.
  Crowley: Keep him on ice. We've only just scratched the surface with this one.
• Can't You Read the Sign?: After Crowley cuts off Kevin's finger, the Winchester brothers and Castiel pass a sign that says "Beware: Sharp Edges Keep Fingers Clear".
• Celestial Bureaucracy
• Chekhov's Gunman: Sam suggests they search for Metatron, who was previously mentioned in "Reading Is Fundamental" , and will go on to become the true Big Bad of Season 8.
• Cliffhanger Copout: In this case a Justified Trope due to Dean's memory being an Unreliable Narrator.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: When we first see Crowley, he's wearing a white butcher's apron and is in the middle of torturing Samandriel for information on the prophets.
  • Mutilation Interrogation: Kevin refuses to translate the Word for Crowley so Crowley cuts off Kevin's finger.
  • Torture Always Works
• Continuity Nod: Scott Carey also had a poster for the Vancouver band New Town Animals on his wall in "Hunted" (S02, E10).
• Conveniently Interrupted Document: The broken tablet.

• Crazy-Prepared:
  Kevin: We've got hex bags that make us invisible to demons. We've got demon traps painted everywhere. I've got a sigil tattooed on my arm. If we just keep moving we'll be fine.
• Cute Witch: Delta Mendota (Hot Witch from Kevin's perspective).
• Distracted by the Sexy: Kevin is checking out Delta's ass as she walks away, only to get a Dope Slap from mum.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Castiel is not back at full power.
• Elemental Powers:
  • Power of the Storm: Aaron is carried away à la Dorothy.
  • The Frog Master: Frogs overrun a river when a bus driver disappears, recalling Moses' second plague in The Bible.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: A mailman disappears and the earth splits open, similar to the punishment of the families and followers of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in The Bible.
  • Hostile Weather: A man in Rome disappears on a subway during a mysterious hailstorm. This recalls Louis Le Prince's disappearance on a train to Paris.
• Encyclopedia Exposita: The tablets on Leviathans and on demons are found to be part of a larger compendium.
• Epunymous Title
• Evil Smells Bad: Mrs. Hagar smelled sulfur when she woke up from being possessed.
• Evil Teacher: The teacher, Mrs. Hagar, who takes Aaron to the bathroom to clean off the finger paint and whose eyes flash black.
• Failure Knight: Dean.
  Dean: [to Castiel] I don't need to feel like hell for failing you, okay. For failing you like I've failed every other Godforsaken thing that I care about!
• Faith–Heel Turn: Castiel's doubt is lampshaded.
  Benny: [to Castiel] Aren't you guys all about faith?
  Castiel: Not particularly.
  Benny: [as they see the portal open] Oh, ye of frigging little faith.
• Fake Memories: Self-inflicted: Dean remembers losing his grip on Castiel while leaving Purgatory. At the end of the episode, Castiel reveals that instead, he pushed Dean away and told him to go, choosing to stay behind.
• Feigning Intelligence: Krista pretending the tablet has the Declaration of Independence carved into it.
• Fingore: Crowley convinces Kevin to read the Tablet for him by cutting his finger off.
• Game Changer: Crowley uses these exact words when Kevin asks what he's looking for in the tablet.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Cas pulls this off to freak out Crowley.
• Holy Hand Grenade: Sam blows away the demon guards with an anti-demon bomb.
• Good Is Boring: And so is God, according to Crowley.
  Kevin: [reading the tablet] The next is..."the demonic influence on the collective tapestry of the soul."
  Crowley: Blah blah blah. Doesn't anyone ever edit this stuff? So far, as a writer, God's a snooze. No fun at parties, I hear.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Castiel uses these against Crowley.
• Idiot Ball: Mrs. Tran trusting a witch and being surprised when she betrayed them to Crowley. Sam and Dean's reaction says it all.
• I Have a Family: Dennis Adams.
• Instant Costume Change: A filthy, unshaven Castiel in tattered clothing walks into the bathroom and comes out his usual immaculate, confident self.
• Insult Backfire: Mrs. Tran misses her mark when she tries to shame Delta, the witch.
  Mrs. Tran: Listen, you little skank. In the service industry, you always deliver the goods, then you get paid. Even hookers know that.
  Delta: Hmm. Says you. See, my sister's a hooker. So, hookers get paid first, and then you get the goods. Look, I'm not the one with demons on my ass. You want to renege on our deal, it's fine by me.
  Mrs. Tran: Kevin, bring me my purse. Your mother must be so proud.
  Delta: She is. Of course, with my sister, the bar ain't real high.
• Kill It with Water: Mrs. Tran attacks the demon with a Super-Soaker full of holy water.
• Language of Magic: Dean tries to explain away Sam saying an exorcism, by saying it's a code that would keep the teacher from revealing anything under Enhanced Interrogation Techniques. While this may seem just as implausible as Demonic Possession, this explanation may have fit better with Mrs. Hagar's world view.

• Lightning Reveal: Castiel in the window.
• Limited Wardrobe: Castiel is back in the trench coat with the blue tie.
• Longing for Fictionland: Castiel in Purgatory.
  Castiel: I missed television.
• Mood Whiplash: Castiel's Friendship Moment with Dean is interrupted when he's suddenly brought to Naomi's presence.
• Mouth of Sauron: Metatron, who is named as the 5th Archangel, Scribe of God, along with Michael, Lucifer, Gabriel, and Raphael.
• My Beloved Smother: Mrs Tran isn't happy about the skanky teen witch flirting with her son.
• The New Rock & Roll/New Media Are Evil: Delta became a full witch after her band broke up.

• Obviously Evil: It appears that Mrs. Tran has the Idiot Ball this week, when she enlists a witch who is willing to kill to destroy demons.
• On Three:
  Crowley: So, on the count of thee...one, two...[plunges the knife into Samandriel]
  Samandriel: [screams, panting] What happened to three?
  Crowley: I Lied. I do that. Just give me the other names.
• Our Angels Are Different: Castiel mentions that he is a seraph, yet is less powerful than the archangels. In Christian lore, seraphim are the most powerful angels and archangels are one of the least powerful.
  • Actually, that depends on which version of Christian lore you follow. In many cases, the archangels are above all other angels in the hierarchy.
• Post-Victory Collapse: Despite Dean's insistence that he's not strong enough just after returning from Purgatory, Castiel ports into the room with Crowley and Kevin and, by opening his wings and turning on his Glowing Eyes of Doom, intimidates Crowley into zapping out. Once Crowley is gone, he immediately ends up on the floor, worn out from only a few seconds of using his power.
• Properly Paranoid: Linda Tran douses her son in holy water every time he returns to their hideout. He's getting rather annoyed by this.
• Punk in the Trunk: Linda Tran shows she's still got it when she brings along a demon prisoner to her meeting with the Winchesters.
• Rushed Inverted Reading: Krista with the tablet. Though since she couldn't actually read it anyway, it's entirely possible she was just pretending to buy time.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Krista, to make Kevin read the tablet.
• Self-Serving Memory: Dean's memory of failing to save Cas, because of his habit of blaming himself for everything, including things that aren't his fault.
• Shout-Out:
  • The opening scene is at the Randy Raccoon Preschool.
  • Mrs. Tran finds a witch on Craigslist. When the witch wants more information, she reminds her that there are no questions asked in the Casual Encounters section.
  • Delta has a poster for the Vancouver band New Town Animals and the musical Brigadoon.
  • When Castiel tries to thank Dean in case he does not make it out of purgatory, Dean tells him to "save the Hallmark".
  • When Castiel and Crowley pull out their archangel blades, Crowley describes it as "all very West Side Story".
• South of the Border: Future prophet Maria.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Dean sees Castiel appear, then disappear, by the side of the road and in the window. When he sees him in the mirror, the "bye" part isn't there.
• Stock Quotes: Inverted
  Crowley: This hurts you more than it hurts me.
• Survivor's Guilt: Dean for leaving Castiel behind.
• Themed Aliases: Agents Roth and Malloy, as in the first and third singers for Van Halen: David Lee Roth and Mitch Malloy.
  • Bonus points for the real name of the person they're interrogating being Ms. Hagar, as in Van Halen's second singer: Sammy Hagar.
• These Hands Have Killed: When Dean asks Castiel about how he got out of Purgatory, Castiel has no explanation, but makes a seemingly unrelated comment on the dirt covering his clothes and body. Given the fact that Castiel did not feel he deserved to leave Purgatory, this comment was likely a reference to his sense of guilt.
  Dean: And that—that was it?
  Castiel: Yes. [pause] Oh. I'm dirty.
  Dean: Yeah, well, Purgatory will do that to you.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: According to Crowley, the passage about closing all the Hell Gates qualifies the tablet as Things Man Was Not Meant to Know.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • Dennis Adams asks the King of Hell for One Phone Call, as if Crowley was a local cop. Crowley makes him vomit blood and die.
  • Instead of killing Mrs Tran with a snap of his fingers, Crowley leaves it to his mook. The moment he teleports away, Tran is squirting the demon in the face with holy water and stuffing him into a protection-warded trunk.
• Unwanted Rescue: Castiel explains why he did not escape Purgatory with Dean:
  Castiel: It wasn't that I was weak. I was stronger than you. I pulled away. Nothing you could've done would've saved me because I didn't want to be saved. It’s where I belonged. I needed to do penance. For the things I did on Earth and in Heaven.
• Wanderlust Song: "We Gotta Get out of This Place" by The Animals which is playing when we first see Dean driving while eating Peat's Classic Chips.
• Who You Gonna Call?: Linda calls the Winchester brothers when Crowley captures Kevin.
• Wicked Cultured: Crowley wipes the blood of the future prophet off his face with a handkerchief with a "C" monogram.
• Wild Wilderness: Dean passes a sign for Twin Pines Resort being held by a carved wooden bear on his way to Rufus' cabin in Whitefish, Montana.
• Wrong Genre Savvy:
  • The abductees initially assume that Crowley is an alien.
  • Despite her recent knowledge of the supernatural, Linda Tran doesn't realise you can't trust a witch.
• You Can Barely Stand: Castiel is severely weakened just after escaping Purgatory, clearly tired out by actions he can perform easily when at full power. This doesn't stop him from going Super Mode on Crowley to intimidate him into releasing Kevin.
  Crowley: You're bluffing!
  Castiel: You wanna take that chance?
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness
  • Crowley orders Kevin's mother killed on the spot, as he doesn't need her to force Kevin's hand with a roomful of alternate prophets.
  • Kevin knows that Crowley will kill him anyway once he has translated the tablet.
  • Dean stabs the demon after he brings them to Crowley's hideout.
  • Averted with the angel Crowley is torturing. Even though he appears to have given up all useful information, Crowley orders him "put on ice" because he may still be useful.
• You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost: Lampshaded by Sam.
  Sam: You look like you've...well, I was gonna say "you look like you've seen a ghost", but you'd probably be stoked.