Recap of Supernatural
Season 12, Episode 3:
The Foundry
When a crying baby leads to death in a mysterious abandoned house, Mary, Sam, and Dean decide to investigate. Meanwhile, Castiel's hunt for Lucifer leads him, begrudgingly, to partner up with Crowley.
Writers: Robert Berens
Director: Robert Singer
Body Count
For this episode: 2 humans, 7 ghosts
For the series so far: At least 1281 humans (of which 19 were witches), 1126 angels, 188 demons, 71 vampires, 59 ghosts, 36 Jefferson Starships, 22 gods, 19 zombies, 17 werewolves, 10 hellhounds, 8 Bisaan, 7 shapeshifters, 7 skinwalkers, 6 changelings, 5 djinn, 5 reapers, 4 dogs, 4 ghouls, 4 Leviathan, 3 Khan Worms, 3 Thule, 2 Amazons, 2 arachnes, 2 kitsunes, 2 rugarus, 2 vetalas, 2 zannas, 1 banshee, 1 cat, 1 crocotta, Death, 1 deer, 1 dragon, 1 fairy, 1 familiar, 1 lamia, The Mother of All, 1 nachzehrer, 1 okami, 1 phoenix, 1 pishtaco, 1 Purgatory creature, 1 qarin, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 shojo, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, 1 soul eater, 1 Titan, 1 wendigo, The Whore of Babylon, 1 wicked witch, and 1 wraith.
Tropes
- And I Must Scream: Rowena curses Lucifer so his vessel will disintegrate and banishes him to the ocean floor, where there are no replacement vessels to be found.
- Atrocious Alias:
- While on the road hunting for Lucifer and posing as an FBI agent, Castiel introduces himself to people as Agent "Beyoncé". Crowley discovers him and suggests he could be "JayZ". Later, Castiel introduces him as "Agent Z".
- The Winchesters aren't much better: Mary introduces herself as "Special Agent Shirley Partridge" and her partners as "Agents Cassidy and Bonaduce."
- Bait-and-Switch: After Castiel introduces himself as "Agent Beyoncé" and Crowley as "Agent Z," Vince's sister shuts the door in his face. At first it appears she saw through them as obvious fakes, but is shown on the phone to her brother a few seconds later. Turns out she bought their ludicrous names, and is just freaked out that there are Feds at her door.
- Call-Back:
- Mary fighting off ghost possession to keep from killing Dean mirrors John Winchester doing the same against demon possession in season 1.
- Mary feeling 'obsolete' after returning to life is quite similar to how Benny felt after returning from Purgatory.
- Deadpan Snarker: Cas, of all people, seems to have finally grasped sarcasm.
- Death Glare: Cas to Crowley, for much of the episode.
- Distracted by My Own Sexy: Castiel, who has never seemed to pay any particular attention to his vessel outside of his brief time as a human in season 9, spends a rather long time fixing his hair and tie in the side mirror of a truck prior to talking to a witness in a case.
- The Dog Bites Back: Lucifer really should have known better than to trust a witch he tried to kill once before and treated like a disposable object.
- Enemy Mine: Rowena makes it clear that if and when Team Free Will has a chance to put Lucifer back in his cage, she'll be willing to help.
- Ghostly Chill: Exaggerated with a ghost that literally freezes peoples' hearts.
- Idiot Ball: Yeah, Lucifer, trust the very powerful witch you've been treating like a slave and an object and who you have literally killed before to work her mojo on you. Good call.
- I Gave My Word: Apparently the reason Lucifer cures Vince's sister.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Rowena cowers to Lucifer's every threat and begs him to have mercy on her pitiful soul, but destroys his vessel and banishes him to the bottom of the ocean at the first opportunity. Apparently, she was just biding her time and waiting for an opening.
- Leaving You to Find Myself: Mary at the end of the episode.
- Put on a Bus: Both Mary and Lucifer — Mary leaves the boys to find herself and Lucifer is banished to the bottom of the ocean by Rowena.
- Red Herring: The ghost children are not what's killing people. The ghost of a father gone mad with grief who killed and trapped them is. The children were trying to call out for help and warn the victims.
- Status Quo Is God: Sam has been rescued, the boys are back in the bunker, Castiel and Crowley are off on a road trip to find Lucifer, and Mary has decided to go splitsville to find herself.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Cas to Crowley.
- Took a Level in Badass: Rowena has gone from being kind of a Super Loser and a joke in season 10 to being able to single-handedly cripple and banish Lucifer himself to the bottom of the ocean with only two well-chosen magic spells.
- Underestimating Badassery: Despite describing her as a powerful witch himself, Lucifer did not seem particularly wary of Rowena's power. Probably because he is the devil and spent most of last season with her demon son on a leash. He seems to have learned the hard way.
