On the Head of a Pin - Recap

Castiel arrives at a parking lot where some great cataclysm has turned over cars spread devastation. After silencing the car alarm, he goes to the center of the lot where a woman dress in white is lying dead. There is a sword wound in her chest. Castiel says goodbye to his “sister” and then disappears. The police arrive and approach the corpse, which is surrounded by a silhouette of wings burned into the tarmac.

After Pamela’s funeral, Dean and Sam are driving back to their hotel. Sam tries to tell Dean what he has planned next but Dean doesn’t care. He insists that they got Pamela killed by involving her in their problems, and is tired of their friends dying. Sam tells him to snap out of it and get angry, not tired.

The brothers enter their motel room and find the angels Castiel and Uriel waiting for them. Uriel is unimpressed by Dean’s anger, and shuts down Castiel when the other angel tries to sympathize. Uriel, clearly in command, tells the Winchesters that a demon has killed seven angels but they don’t know which one. Now that they have Alastair captive, they want Dean to interrogate him. Dean refuses but Uriel and Castiel simply teleport him away.

They take Dean to an abandoned manufacturing plant where Alastair is contained within a devil’s trap. Dean tries to leave but Uriel refuses to let him pass. Castiel asks for a moment alone with Dean and Uriel grudgingly agrees, saying he’s going to seek revelation. Castiel tells Dean that his superiors are beginning to doubt the former’s commitment because of his awakening sympathies. Dean warns Castiel that if he goes in to torture Alastair, they won’t like him when he comes out. Castiel sympathizes, saying he’d give anything if Dean didn’t have to do it.

Dean goes into Alastair’s room but the demon is unimpressed, singing and mocking him. Dean simply starts preparing his torture instruments. When he’s unable to get through to Dean through mockery and accusations of cowardice, Alastair takes a different tact, revealing that he also tortured Dean’s father John.

Ruby arrives at the motel and Sam tells her that Dean isn’t strong enough to get the job done. He insists that he is, however.

Alastair describes how he tortured John, who never broke. A stone-faced Dean advances on Alastair with a hypodermic filled with holy water. Alastair’s screams echo as Castiel listens outside.

Ruby performs a ritual to locate Dean, assuring Sam that the angels don’t believe anyone would try to spy on them. A strung-out Sam says that he needs something, and Ruby tells him it’s okay. She gets on top of him on the bed, then cuts herself on the arm and Sam sucks at the blood.

When the syringe fails, Dean takes the demon-killing knife and coats it with holy water. Although Alastair is in great pain, he continues to taunt Dean, asking if the act of torture will give him closure. Dean admits there’s no going back and moves in, as above a water valve moves by itself. Water from the valve drips down on the outline of the devil’s trap.

Outside, Castiel looks up as he realizes that Anna has arrived. She explains that she created a duplicate of her human body. Castiel warns her that he is under orders to kill her but4 Anna is unimpressed. She insists that forcing Dean to torture isn’t God’s work. Castiel insists he can’t question God’s orders, but Anna wonders if the orders indeed came from God. She points out that Castiel is starting to doubt and suggests they work together. He insists that he’s nothing like her and tells her to go.

Alastair is holding out against Dean’s torture, and boasts that Lilith chose Dean in particular. Dean responds by pouring salt into his mouth. After the demon recovers, he explains that when Dean broke, the first person they had him torture was the first Seal. They were unable to break John, but Dean proved much easier. Dean walks away, turning his back on the demon as he listens. Alastair mocks him, pointing out that when the Apocalypse arrives and Lucifer walks the Earth, it will be because of Dean’s contribution. Dean turns to discover that the devil’s trap is broken and Alastair is free.

The demon smashes Dean repeatedly until he collapses. Castiel arrives and plunges the demon-killing knife into Alastair’s shoulder, missing the heart. Castiel twists the blade telekinetically but Alastair pulls it out, grabs Castiel, and slams him onto the hook. Alastair begins the incantation to send an angel back to Heaven, admitting he doesn’t have the power to kill Castiel for good. Castiel begins to glow but Alastair is suddenly slammed into a wall. Sam uses his powers to hold the demon in place and demands the name of the angel-killer. Alastair refuses to name the killer and Sam increases his hold. Finally Alastair breaks and admits that he doesn’t know who the killer is: it’s not a demon. Alastair boasts that all Sam can do to him is send him back to Hell, but Sam reveals that he’s powerful enough to kill demons once and for all. He concentrates and destroys Alastair once and for all, as Castiel looks on.

They get Dean to the hospital and Sam demands that Castiel heal him. Castiel says he can’t and apologizes, saying he made the devil’s trap himself and it shouldn’t have been breakable.

Castiel goes to see Uriel, who is in an empty park meditating. Uriel says that he’s received revelation that they’re to stop their hunt for demon. He believes something is wrong in Heaven, and Castiel wonders if God is even involved. Uriel refuses to be gutted and disappears.

Later, Castiel calls out to Anna to meet with him. She arrives and warns that he will suffer even more as he questions orders and sympathizes with the humans. Castiel asks her to tell him what to do, but Anna tells him that he has to think for himself. As she leaves, Castiel notices a nearby drinking fountain and its water valve.

Castiel goes back to the manufacturing plant and examines the water valve that leaked water onto the devil’s trap. Uriel appears and asks if Castiel is ready to fight with him. Castiel, realizing something is up, points out that no demon could have broken the trap. He asks Uriel for the truth, and Uriel admits that only an angel can kill another angel. He draws a sword and tells Castiel that his plan was for Alastair to escape, kill Dean, and escape, thus taking the blame. Uriel is furious that God created humans, who have supplanted the angels in His affection. He plans to raise Lucifer, who also refused to bow before humanity. Uriel asks Castiel to join with him, but Castiel attacks his former partner. Uriel quickly gets the upper hand and prepares to kill Castiel. However, Anna arrives and stabs him in the back, killing him once and for all.

At the hospital, Dean wakes up to find Castiel at his side. Castiel tells him what happened with Uriel and that Dean did break the first seal. The angels laid siege to Hell to stop him but failed. When Dean wonders why they still need him and raised him from Hell, Castiel explains that according to the prophecies, only the man who began the opening seals can stop them. Dean doesn’t understand and Castiel admits he doesn’t know how Dean can stop the Apocalypse either. Dean, crying, tells Castiel to find someone else: he’s not strong enough.

Share this article with your friends