Recap / Supernatural S 08 E 16 Remember The Titans

Previous: Supernatural S 08 E 15 Mans Best Friend With Benefits
Next: Supernatural S 08 E 17 Goodbye Stranger

Recap of Supernatural
Season 8, Episode 16

Remember The Titans

Cas, you got your ears on? Listen, you know I am not one for praying.

"Really, Sam? Trash-talking a god? Seriously?"

— Dean

Written by Dan Loflin.

Directed by Steve Boyum.

Air Date: February 27, 2013.

While waiting to hear back from Kevin about the next trial, Sam and Dean head to Great Falls, Montana, to investigate a possible zombie. Sam and Dean are at the police station, pretending to be FBI agents, when a John Doe is brought in dead from a grizzly bear attack. The State Trooper is convinced this is the same man he saw dead on the side of the road who got up and walked away. While Dean and Sam are in the morgue, the wounds fade from the body of the John Doe, and he opens his eyes and gets up. He tells them that he dies every day and returns to life after a few hours. This has been happening to him since he was found on the side of a mountain in Europe around 8 years ago. He goes by the name of Shane, but does not remember his real name or anything else before his rescue from the mountain.

That night, a mysterious woman in leather with a silver blade attacks Shane, and he is able to fight her off even though she easily neutralizes Sam and Dean. Shane then dies off a heart attack. While Sam and Dean are waiting by his side for Shane to resurrect, a woman named Hayley knocks on the door of the motel. Hayley explains that she is looking for the John Doe suspected of being a zombie in the newspaper. It turns out that she met Shane when she was trapped on the mountain by an avalanche. They became close, but after she witnessed him die and resurrect, she freaked out and left. She later gave birth to his son, Oliver, who started dying every day a couple of months ago.

The brothers realize Shane is actually the Titan Prometheus, and that Zeus is behind the curse afflicting him and his son. Sam also realizes the woman who attacked Prometheus in the motel room was Artemis, Zeus' daughter and the goddess of hunters. They summon Zeus and trap him in order to get him to remove the curse from Oliver, but Zeus refuses to help unless they release him from the trap, which the desperate Hayley does. However, Zeus has no intention of helping Oliver and tortures Prometheus with lightning while Sam and Dean are captured by Artemis. Sam plays on the fact that Artemis loves Prometheus and convinces her to stand up to her father and demand he release Prometheus and Oliver. When he refuses, Artemis shoots an arrow at Zeus, but Zeus pulls Prometheus in front of him. The arrow hits Prometheus, who pushes the arrow through his body and into Zeus. Both Prometheus and Zeus die, but Oliver is released from the curse of dying every day.

Sam confesses to Dean that he is afraid that he might die trying to close the Hell Gates, but still does not tell Dean about the fact that he has been spitting up blood. Dean prays to Castiel, asking for protection for his brother, but Castiel does not answer.

Body Count:

For this episode = 1 god and 1 Titan.

For the series so far = At least 876 humans (of which 7 were witches), 121 demons, 59 angels, 48 ghosts, 43 vampires, 36 Jefferson Starships, 20 gods, 19 zombies, 10 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 Thule, 2 vetalas, 1 crocotta, 1 dragon, 1 fairy, 1 familiar, 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 Titan, 1 wendigo, 1 whore of Babylon, and 1 wraith.

Tropes

• Abandoned Warehouse: Where they summon Zeus.
• The Ageless: Zeus, Artemis, and Prometheus don't age, since they're gods and Titans.
• Aggressive Negotiations: Dean warns Hayley that you don't 'ask' a god for anything, you demand it. When Zeus refuses to cooperate, the Winchesters and Shane are fully prepared to walk off and leave him bound, but Zeus convinces Hayley to break the Devil's trap, saying he will cure her son. Sure enough once free Zeus fails to keep his promise, as he intends using her son for revenge on the father.
• Amnesiac God/Amnesiac Hero: Prometheus/Shane.
  Shane: My real name isn't Shane. It was given to me because...I don't know, people had to call me something.
  Sam: Okay. So, then, what happened to you?
  Shane: Got pulled off a mountain in Europe. They said that I got caught in an avalanche. I don't remember anything from before the rescue.
• And Your Little Dog, Too!/Revenge by Proxy: Zeus is delighted to find out that his curse also affects Prometheus' son and that Prometheus will suffer while he watches his son's deaths.
  Zeus: I must admit, I could never have conceived such a horrible fate for such a beautiful child. Just goes to show, we must all leave room for happy accidents.
• Animal Motifs: The Eagle of Zeus (Aetos Dios), which ate Prometheus' liver.
• Ass Shove: When Sam and Dean believe Shane is the victim of a witch's curse, Dean says Sam gets to go "full cavity for the hex bag".
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Zeus in his black suit and tie.
• Badass Longrobe: Dean in his monogrammed bathrobe.
• Bears Are Bad News: Trooper Jack doesn't track Shane into the woods. He explains to Sam and Dean that this is because it's "grizzly country", which he wouldn't hike through unless he had a bazooka. Shane ends up getting mauled to death by one, which is why he shows up in the morgue.
• The Big Board: The Mission Control in the Men of Letters' library has a map of the United States with notes on the wall and the table has a world map with red and black discs on it.
• Blood from the Mouth: Sam continues to bleed from the mouth in this episode, as he did in "Man's Best Friend With Benefits" (S08, E15). Near the beginning he spits out a whole bunch into a sink.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Dean says "balls" when Artemis slams him against the wall. This was a favorite exclamation of Bobby Singer.
• Brain Food: Mentioned when Sam and Dean think they're dealing with a zombie.
  Dean: [looking at the article] Nothing about brain munching?
• Calling the Old Man Out: Artemis to her father, Zeus.
  Artemis: You were once my father. Now you're someone else.
• Can't You Read the Sign?: On the wall of the warehouse where Zeus tortures Prometheus with lighting is a sign that says, "Danger 1000 volts".
• Classical Mythology: Zeus, Artemis, and Prometheus are center stage in this one.
• Climbing the Cliffs of Insanity: Hayley and her friends wanted to climb a mountain in Europe, but there was an avalanche and she lost her friends.
• Continuity Nod:
  • When discussing zombies, Sam reminds Dean that Karen Singer, Bobby's wife, did not eat brains in "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" (S05, E15).
  • Dean says, "Remember what Bobby said, hmmm? Woodchipper beats everything? Yeah, well, so does grizzly bear." Actually, it was Rufus who said something like this in "Weekend At Bobby's" (S06, E04).
  Rufus: So you just happened to have a bamboo dagger blessed by a Shinto priest laying around?
  Bobby: Woodchipper.
  Rufus: Oh, okie dokie. Woodchipper. That pretty much trumps...everything.
  • Dean mentions Sam's description of Shane as someone who "has Jason Bourne fighting skills, dies a lot, and has a history with violent women" also describes Sam. Sam dies in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One" (S02, E21), "Wishful Thinking" (S04, E08), "Sympathy For The Devil" (S05, E01), "The Song Remains The Same" (S05, E13), and "Dark Side Of The Moon" (S05, E16). Sam's love interests include two demons (Meg and Ruby), a werewolf (Madison), a kitsune (Amy), and a woman unconsciously directing a vengeful spirit against those she considers immoral sinners (Lori).
  • Sam mentions how Bobby, Rufus, and Prometheus did not choose death, but it still happened. Bobby dies in "Swan Song" (S05, E22) and "How To Win Friends And Influence Monsters" (S07, E09). Rufus dies in "...And Then There Were None" (S06, E16).
  • The theft of a fulgurite from a "one-percenter" was in "Meet the New Boss" (S07, E01).
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Shane's many deaths.
  Trooper Jack: Dead as dog poop. Guts pecked out, face frozen. People don't walk away from that. Zombies do.
• Cunning Linguist: Kevin, from Sam's point of view, if not Dean's.
  Dean: It's a book. Read it.
  Sam: Just a guess, but translating an ancient language with zero help might be more difficult than we think.
• Cute Mute: Oliver stopped talking after he started repeatedly dying when he turned 7.
• Dark Action Girl: Artemis.
• Death of the Old Gods: Zeus blames Prometheus for being the reason that he and the other old gods aren't believed in anymore.
• Detectives Follow Footprints: Averted Trope, as Trooper Jack does not follow the single track of footprints in the snow because they lead into grizzly bear country.
• Deus Exit Machina: Castiel does not answer Dean's prayer.
• Death by Irony: Discussed. Sam notes to Dean that they're being led to their deaths by Artemis, who's the Greek goddess of hunters.
• Do Not Trash Talk Cthulhu: Sam tells Artemis she's "not really worship-worthy anymore, having lost a step and all".
• The Dragon: Artemis does whatever Zeus orders, including hunting down Prometheus. Even though she loves Prometheus. Sam eventually convinces her to turn against Zeus.
• Drugs Are Bad: A couple of pot dealers became nervous about Shane living too close to their crop, and shot him twice.
• Drunk Driver: The guy drinking from a beer bottle and falling asleep at the wheel before he swerves off the road in the teaser.
• The Easy Way or the Hard Way
• Emerging from the Shadows: Artemis' appearance in the motel room.
• Everything's Deader with Zombies: Subverted Trope, with Dean, and likely many viewers, being disappointed by the absence of a Zombie Apocalypse.
  Dean: I gotta say, I am a little disappointed.
  Sam: Yeah, 'cause you wanted to shoot zombies.
  Dean: Damn straight I wanted to shoot some zombies.
• Everything Is Online: Within a minute of starting his search Sam has found the burial locations of worshipers of Zeus.
  Sam: All right. Listen to this. Greek pagans two towns over. Best part? They have an obit page with cemeteries.
• Everything Trying to Kill You: Avalanche, sexual intercourse, pot dealers, drunk driver, grizzly bear, and Artemis.
• Eye Awaken: Shane/Prometheus.
• Eye of Newt: For the summoning ritual they need frozen energy from the hand of Zeus and the bone of a worshiper.
• Fatal Attractor: Sam tendency to attract dangerous woman is lampshaded yet again; sure enough we have Artemis purring "I like you" while holding a knife to Sam's throat after he sasses her.
• Fate Worse than Death:
  • Dying every day with no knowledge of who he is.
    Shane: Look, I don't know what I am, okay? I don't know who I am. All I know is all I do is die, so if you want to shoot me, shoot me. Just promise me you finish the job, 'cause I can't take this anymore.
  • Then having to see his son experience the same fate.
• Fictional Document: Translations From the Journal of Drakopoulos was written by a Greek hunter who once trapped Zeus. His journal was translated and preserved by the Men of Letters. The pages that can be seen while Dean researches a way to summon Zeus seem to deal with the life of Pythagoras.
• 555: The phone number on the coroner's report for Detective C. Brown, who reported the death of the John Doe who was mauled by a bear, is 555-1087.
• Forgot About His Powers: Prometheus, as Shane does not know he is a Titan.
• Foreshadowing: Artemis is initially happy to see Shane but then is upset when he does not remember who she is when she appears in his motel room, hinting at the fact that she is in love with him.
• Geometric Magic:
  • The Aquarian Star surrounded by the Greek letters lambda, psi, phi, and pi, are on the cover of Translations From the Journal of Drakopoulos. The Aquarian Star was also seen in “In The Beginning” (S04, E03) and "As Time Goes By" (S08, E12). This book contains a circle within a circle divided by golden angles and a golden spiral.
  • The sigil used to trap Zeus has an infinity sign in the middle.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: Zeus blames the Greek gods' loss of power on humanity becoming more independent because of Prometheus' gift of fire.
• Grave Robbing: Prometheus and Sam dig up a grave to take a bone from a worshiper of Zeus.
  Sam: We need a bone, so I dig.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Oliver is a human/Titan hybrid. He inherited the "dying every day" curse from his father, Prometheus.
• Harmful to Minors: Hayley shields Oliver's eyes when Zeus attacks his father.
• Hazmat Suit: Three gas mask hangs by the sink in the Men of Letters' library.
• Healing Factor: Shane recovers from all his injuries upon resurrecting.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Artemis dressed in black leather.
• Heroic Suicide: When Prometheus gets impaled by one of Artemis's god-killing arrows, he drives it further into him (thus killing himself) so it will impale Zeus too, who is standing behind him.
• High-Heel–Face Turn: Artemis betrays her father Zeus because she is in love with Prometheus.
• Human Shield: Prometheus serves as this for Zeus.
• Hypocritical Humor: Possibly unintended by the writers, but Dean says, "Trash-talking a god, Sam? Really?" when Sam is goading Artemis to probe her weak spot, completely ignoring how Dean himself had previously taunted and insulted an entire roomful of people-eating gods to manipulate them (with Sam silently panicking) three seasons ago in "Hammer of the Gods".
• Idiot Ball: Hayley releases Zeus from his containment in the hope that he'll undo the curse on her son, nullifying any leverage the Winchesters had over him. He sends the Winchesters off to their deaths, tortures Prometheus, and promises to torment Oliver too.
• Immortality Hurts: Prometheus's doesn't seem to age to begin with, but his additional form of immortality is the result of a curse placed on him by Zeus. He's forced to die every day until Zeus either lifts the curse or dies.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Prometheus pushes Artemis' arrow through his body and into Zeus.
• Impossibly Cool Weapon: Artemis' blade is able to kill immortals.
• Impostor-Exposing Test: Shane is cut with a silver blade and made to drink holy water. Dean put Sam through similar tests in "We Need To Talk About Kevin" (S08, E01), the brothers put their grandfather through them in "As Time Goes By" (S08, E12), and they tried to test Portia with a silver blade in "Man's Best Friend With Benefits" (S08, E15) before she objected.
• I Resemble That Remark!: Dean's response to Sam trying to figure out what "Shane" is.
  Sam: What do we know that has Jason Bourne fighting skills, dies a lot, and has a history with violent women?
  Dean: I dunno...you?
• Jerkass Gods: Zeus, chiefly.
• Kill the God: Zeus, the Greek King Of Gods, and Shane/Prometheus, a proto-god/Titan, are killed off.
• Kill the Ones You Love: Artemis accidentally shoots Prometheus.
• Knight Templar Parent: Prometheus says saving the world does not mean anything if he can't save his son.
• Kryptonite Factor: For Zeus, wood from a tree struck by lightning.
• Lame Pun Reaction: While they're looking through the Men of Letters' documents to find info on the case, Dean comes across a book on an Ancient Greek hunter named Drakopoulos (literally "descendant of dragon"), and notes to the group that it loosely translates to "dragon penis". Nobody laughs.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Shane can't remember anything from his life more than seven years back and doesn't know he's Prometheus or that he's a Titan.
• Like Father, Like Son: A couple of months ago Oliver started to die every day like his father.
• Lonely Funeral: Only Dean, Sam, Hayley, and Oliver watch Prometheus' body burn on the funeral pyre.
• Luke, You Are My Father: How Hayley and Oliver come into the story.
• Mangst: Sam reveals his concern that he might die while trying to close the hell gates.
  Dean: Stop the sullen emo crap, alright? You’re not gonna die like Prometheus.
• Mind over Matter:
  • Artemis throws Sam and Dean against a wall with her telekinetic powers. Twice.
  • Zeus causes Prometheus to fall to his knees by extending his fingers. Zeus then makes a fist and Hayley starts to choke.
• Mundane Solution: Hayley tells Dean they don't have to steal a fulgarite, as they're available for sale in New Age shops. Dean tries to cover his embarrassment.
• Naked First Impression: When Hayley found Shane, his clothes were torn off.
• No One Should Survive That!: Shane/Prometheus.
  Sam: Montana state trooper, 20-year vet. Checked his pulse. Saw his insides spilled out all over the place. Pronounced him dead with a capital "D".
• No Ontological Inertia: The Winchesters hope that killing Zeus will lift the curse he put on Prometheus. Since Prometheus doesn't resurrect after killing both himself and Zeus, it seems to have worked.
• Occult Detective: Trooper Jack is surprised the FBI would be investigating zombies.
  Trooper Jack: Since when have the Feds started tracking zombie activity?
  Dean: We don't track zombie activity because there's no such thing as zombies.
• Odd Job Gods: Sam mentions Artemis' role as goddess of hunters.
  Sam: So, you know who this is, Dean, walking us to our deaths?
  Dean: Don't know. Don't care.
  Sam: It's our god, Artemis, the goddess of hunters.
  Dean: Oh, that's fascinating.
  Sam: See, she's who we'd pray to for courage when hunting the Gorgon or the Minotaur.
• Oh, Crap!: When Trooper Jack recognizes Shane in the photo from the coroner's report.
• Our Gods Are Different: Zeus is responsible for placing the curse on Prometheus. He and his daughter Artemis are some of the few gods who seem to have survived. Zeus possesses his lightning power, Artemis teleportation and telekinesis, they don't age, and are killable.
• Our Titans Are Different: Shane is revealed to be Prometheus, a Titan from Greek legend. He is forced to die every day and then resurrect, can procreate with humans, and is killable.
• Out with a Bang: Shane has a heart attack during sex with Hayley.
• Picky People Eater: The eagle who devours Prometheus's liver, but leaves the rest of his body untouched.
• Power Crystal: Fulgurite, or frozen energy from the hand of Zeus. Dean is surprised to hear that it can be purchased in crystal shops and had proposed committing a B&E to obtain it.
• Prayer Is a Last Resort: Dean prays to Castiel out of concern for Sam and worry about Castiel's absence.
  Dean: So, for all that we've been through, I'm asking you—you keep a lookout for my little brother, okay? Where the hell are you, man?
• Proud Scholar Race Guy: Dean seems to have accepted his legacy as a Man of Letters and takes pride in it.
  Dean: It's a secret society. This is actually their lair. We're legacies.
• Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: When Sam and Dean go to investigate the dead body, which may be a zombie, Trooper Jack tells them to "aim for the head".
• Rescue Sex: Hayley and Shane after they make it off the mountain.
• Resurrective Immortality: Prometheus has this ability. It's more a curse than a blessing, since he is forced to die every day forever until the curse is lifted.
• Ride the Lightning: Zeus appears from a bolt of lightning.
• Rite of Passage: Sam concludes that Oliver starts dying after his 7th birthday because this age marks one of the first Greek rites of manhood.
• Sadly Mythtaken: An interesting example in that it justifies itself. In mythology, Artemis is known specifically for being a virgin goddess who takes her vow of chastity very seriously, while in the episode, her characterization almost entirely revolves around her deep romantic love for Prometheus. Fans cried foul on Artemis's show characterization being the opposite of that from mythology, but Sam references her reputation as a chaste virgin in the episode and realizes it's actually a result of how closely she guarded her secret love for Prometheus from everyone - Greek poets who would pass on legends of the gods included - for fear of Zeus finding out she'd fallen in love with his most hated enemy.
• Secret Relationship: Artemis keeps her feelings about Prometheus a secret because her father would not approve.
• Self-Made Orphan: Subverted. Artemis tries to kill her father Zeus, but he moves Prometheus in front of the arrow. Prometheus kills Zeus along with himself by driving the arrow through Zeus as well.
• Shock and Awe: Zeus, being the Greek god of lightning and thunder, naturally has this power.
• Shout-Out:
  • The Eagle eating Prometheus' liver in the teaser recalls these lines from Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus.
    The hound of Zeus, the tawny eagle,
    Shall violently fall upon thy flesh
    And rend it as 'twere rags; and every day
    And all day long shall thine unbidden guest
    Sit at thy table, feasting on thy liver
    Till he hath gnawn it black.
  • Trooper Jack uses the Police Radio call sign 7-Mary-4, which was Francis "Ponch" Poncherello's call sign in CHiPs.
  • Dean refers to Kevin as "Brainiac".
  • Dean mentions Dawn of the Dead when it seems like they're dealing with a zombie.
  • When Shane tells Dean that he resurrects from the dead, Dean calls him a "real-life Kenny".
  • Dean asks Shane if he has "tiger blood".
  • After Shane chases off Artemis, Sam asks what person has "Jason Bourne fighting skills, dies a lot, and has a history with violent women". Dean snarks that this describes Sam himself pretty well. In The Bourne Identity, James Bourne is found in the Mediterranean Sea with amnesia, but has many skills, including the ability to fight.
  • Dean compares Artemis, who has black hair with bangs, to a Xena-wannabe.
  • Sam says Prometheus "Ocean's 11ed Mount Olympus".
  • Hayley calls Sam and Dean "Ghostbusters".
  • Dean says that last time they needed fulgurite they stole it from a one-percenter.
  • Sam mentions Homer, Herodotus, and Hesiod to Artemis, and that she probably never told them that she was in love with Prometheus, to hide this from Zeus.
  • Dean makes a reference to the father played by Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Vacation.
    Dean: Yeah, well, you promised, okay? You promised to live a long, Clark Griswold life full of prostate exams and colonoscopies, all right?
• Sins of Our Fathers: Oliver is punished because his father gave fire to humanity.
  Zeus: [to Prometheus] Your boy is going on the mountain.
• Snow Means Death: Prometheus' body is covered in snow when found by the police officer in the teaser.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Oliver has the blond hair and big blue eyes of his father.
• Summoning Ritual: Dean tosses a match into a copper bowl that presumably contains the fulgurite and the bone of a worshiper of Zeus.
• Supernatural Aid: Prometheus stole fire from Olympus after Zeus revoked humanity's ability to make fire.
  Sam: Zeus decided to revoke humanity's ability to make fire so we couldn't cook, couldn't stay warm, couldn't see in the dark.
  Dean: Sounds like a monster's paradise. And this guy made it right for us?
• Technicolor Death: Zeus is surrounded by lightning bolts as he dies.
• That Was the Last Entry: Translations From the Journal of Drakopoulos just ends, leaving it unknown if his ritual worked or if he survived his encounter with Zeus at all.
• Themed Aliases: Dean identifies himself as Agent Bonham, as in John Bonham, the drummer of Led Zeppelin, while Sam is Agent Jones, as in John Paul Jones, the bassist of Led Zeppelin.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Zeus seeks revenge on Prometheus because he believes that his gift of fire to humanity lead to the downfall of the Greek gods.
• Throat Light: Zeus after he is impaled on Artemis' arrow.
• Unkempt Beauty: Hayley (and Shane too).
• Viking Funeral: Prometheus' body is wrapped in white sheets and burnt on a funeral pyre.
• Villains Never Lie: Averted with Zeus.
• Villain Teleportation: When Shane stops Artemis from killing him, she and her knife vanish into smoke. She later vanishes with Zeus' dead body in the warehouse.
• Waking Up at the Morgue: When Sam and Dean go to investigate the dead body in the morgue, Shane reanimates when their backs are turned, and walks off. They notice in time, and grab hold of him. Shane mentions that it has happened to him before.
• Weekly World News: Sam shows Dean a supermarket tabloid in this style with the headline "Human Road-Kill Turns Zombie". The headline of the article under this is "Showdown in the Arctic: Polar Bear Attacks Nuclear Submarine!"
• Would Hurt a Child: Zeus makes it quite clear that he will inflict the same fate on Oliver as the one he placed on his father Prometheus.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: The State Trooper is entirely willing to believe he's encountered a real-life zombie.

---