S06.E16: ...And Then There Were None

[Guest]

Eve, the Mother of All, unleashes a new monster upon the world: a black worm-slug that can enter the brain and force people to kill. Sam and Dean join forces with Bobby and Rufus and track it to a cannery, only to discover that Gwen and Samuel are also there looking for the monster... and none of them know who the monster is inside.

 

 

[DittyDotDot]

Ugh, not even the death of Grampy Campbell makes this episode all that endearing to me. Oh wait, we need a little musical interlude here...

 

Ding, dong. Grampy's dead, Grampy's dead.

Sam went and shot him in the head.

A worm brought him back and Bobby fried his brain.

Three cheers for how I'll never have to see him again.

 

Sorry about that, sometimes you just gotta break out in song though. ;)

 

 

Anyhoo, as I was saying...not in love with this episode, but I do rather love seeing Rufus again--too bad they went and killed him, though. Sigh. Another episode that could have answered a few questions about Grampy Campbell and Soulless Sam, but sadly it was more important to keep the mystery going. Sigh again. Bobby and Rufus past angst over something I just don't plain give a crap about was really unnecessary, IMO. Sigh times three. Kahn worm was, I don't know, not interesting, boring a big old snooze fest. Yet another sigh.

 

I just keep telling myself the next one is better and only a few more episodes and S6 will be over and S7 is far better anyway.

 

Good to end on: Rufus is a given. Grampy Campbell is dead--another given. Hmmm...oh, I do like the scene at the end over Rufus's grave. I like how Dean is believes they are all good. I like the idea there'd be an end to grudge holding and forced conflict. Um, yeah, I know what show I'm watching...it's a nice thought anyway. Oh, I have it now: Sam and Dean kicking open that door together was a genuine thing of beauty. ;)

[GirlyGeek]

I actually like this one, and, while I don't like to see characters die for good, it IS good to see real consequences from tangling with monsters.  And it was time for Gpa Campbell to go.  Though, really, the whole season could have gotten to the same point without him (and I love Mitch Pileggi).  And while maybe not realistic, it was nice that Dean didn't spend half the episode whinging about shooting whats-her-face.  He was 'possessed', and I don't need to hear him feel bad about something he had no control over, so I'm glad they moved on (shove it down and move along, Dean, lol.  So very healthy)

I liked the worm thingy and it was a fun and action-y episode.  I agree with the door kicking in, too  ;)
The end scene is great and while I know the sentiment doesn't last (ugh), it was good to see and hear from Dean, especially because of Sam's response ("Some of us have pulled a lot of crap, Dean").  

[Dobian]

This episode sure borrowed a lot.  the Wrath of Khan worm, like was said.  The electroshock test kind of like what Kurt Russell did in The Thing.  Bobby not only still alive but standing on his own after he was electrocuted so long that his guts were liquefying and blood was oozing out of his nose, was about an 11 on the suspend disbelief meter.  I also didn't need the made-up grudge between Rufus and Bobby that was never explained and that really didn't have a point except to give Dean a reason to give his "no more grudges" speech.  So it was just a plot device and nothing else.  But a fun episode despite it all so what the hell.

[mertensia]

Eh, they'd hinted at something that happened in the past that pretty much ended Rufus and Bobby's hunting together so I see it as continuity.

[Hanahope]

Definitely sad to see Rufus die.  Of course, no one is gone forever in the Supernatural-verse, there's always a way to bring them back.  Still, it was tough.  I didn't mind Grampa Campbell dying as much, though.  He was never very nice to his grandsons.

So why didn't they burn Rufus like they do with all other hunters?

And you know, considering how much Dean and Sam bring each other back from the dead, I'm a bit surprised they don't try harder with some of their friends.

[DittyDotDot]

21 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

So why didn't they burn Rufus like they do with all other hunters?

I thought it was because, as we learned, Rufus was Jewish. Still though, a hunter's funeral is really the only safe way to go. ;)

[Hanahope]

7 minutes ago, DittyDotDot said:

I thought it was because, as we learned, Rufus was Jewish. Still though, a hunter's funeral is really the only safe way to go. ;)

Oh, the way they said it, I thought it was a joke.

[DittyDotDot]

17 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

Oh, the way they said it, I thought it was a joke.

Well, there was a joke there, but Rufus is indeed Jewish. 

As a side note: I ran across this on supernaturalwiki.com some time back and found it interesting: http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/index.php?title=Rufus

Quote

In the book Supernatural: Bobby Singer's Guide to Hunting Bobby explains that in Omaha, he and Rufus needed a get-away driver and even though Rufus forbade Bobby from doing it, Bobby called in Rufus's daughter and she wound up getting killed.

I always wondered who exactly Rufus had lost and why he couldn't forgive Bobby. A daughter makes a lot more sense than a lover. Wonder if that explanation was cut from the episode or something made up later for the book?

Edited May 25, 2017 by DittyDotDot

[Hanahope]

I suspected it must have been family, and yeah, a child makes perfect sense for the "I'll never forgive you" .  That kind of thing is hard to forgive.

[DeeDee79]

I'm mostly indifferent to this episode with the exception of Rufus's death ( no not Rufus!!! ) but the X-Files enthusiast in me was gleeful at seeing Skinner & Mr. X sharing a scene together :)

[bettername2come]

I wish we had gotten more episodes of Bobby and Rufus hunting with Sam and Dean. But sadly, a big crew of hunters tends to mean one of them won't make it through the episode. Dean aiming the gun at Samuel all "Welcome to next time" is a beautiful piece of continuity that I appreciate more because of the compilation in the Dean thread with it. Poor Gwen. "Bobby, you got a cranial saw in the car?" "Of course." That he dumpster dove for. This show. "Why do you keep talking about herpes?"   Aw, I didn't remember that Rufus had shown up when Bobby had to kill his wife. That's a good friendship origin story. By Supernatural standards I mean. 

[gonzosgirrl]

12 hours ago, bettername2come said:

I wish we had gotten more episodes of Bobby and Rufus hunting with Sam and Dean. But sadly, a big crew of hunters tends to mean one of them won't make it through the episode. Dean aiming the gun at Samuel all "Welcome to next time" is a beautiful piece of continuity that I appreciate more because of the compilation in the Dean thread with it. Poor Gwen. "Bobby, you got a cranial saw in the car?" "Of course." That he dumpster dove for. This show. "Why do you keep talking about herpes?"   Aw, I didn't remember that Rufus had shown up when Bobby had to kill his wife. That's a good friendship origin story. By Supernatural standards I mean. 

This was great, and a prime example of how the storytelling is improved immensely by simply remembering little details like this. So much story told with just four words. Makes me hate the LOL!Canon-ness of recent seasons even more. And I'm glad that Dean didn't actually kill him. Even if it had happened under the influence of the worm, it would have been yet another thing for him to live with. It doesn't seem to get a lot of discussion that Soulless Sam killed Samuel without being infected. It was self-defense, but I was left wondering if he wouldn't have just shot him dead anyway, because he threatened to tell tales about Sam's soulless adventures. Also wonder if (future seasons spoiler)

Spoiler

It will ever come up, should they get Mary back. She knows Sam lost his soul, but that could be a pretty awkward conversation right there.

[DittyDotDot]

1 hour ago, gonzosgirrl said:

It doesn't seem to get a lot of discussion that Soulless Sam killed Samuel without being infected. It was self-defense, but I was left wondering if he wouldn't have just shot him dead anyway, because he threatened to tell tales about Sam's soulless adventures.

It was Sam who killed Samuel, not Soulless Sam. This was after Sam got his soul back and didn't remember much of his year of soullessness. In fact, Sam was wanting Samuel to tell him about his soulless adventures, but Dean shut it down pretty quick since the last time Sam went exploring he ended up basically comatose for a few minutes.

[gonzosgirrl]

1 hour ago, DittyDotDot said:

It was Sam who killed Samuel, not Soulless Sam. This was after Sam got his soul back and didn't remember much of his year of soullessness. In fact, Sam was wanting Samuel to tell him about his soulless adventures, but Dean shut it down pretty quick since the last time Sam went exploring he ended up basically comatose for a few minutes.

You're right, I'd forgotten this was post re-souling! Mea culpa.

[RulerofallIsurvey]

I like how Sam is genuinely happy to see Rufus again.  I like Bobby, but sometimes his curmudgeoness (yes, I just made up that word) is a little too much.  Rufus is also curmudgeonly, but in a different manner, so they compliment each other nicely.  I agree with @bettername2come that I wish we'd seen more of the four of them hunting together.  

Nice detail I remember noting the first time I watched too: going through the factory, Dean is in the lead, then Bobby and Rufus in the middle and Sam is the rear guard.  But when they come upon Gwen, Sam immediately skirts around Bobby and Rufus to the front, like those two old guys need protecting - even though they're armed.  Lol!  

I like the Dean "welcome to next time line".  Too bad he didn't actually get to kill him like he promised.  

Was it wrong that I laughed when Rufus stuck his finger in Dean's ear?  "Why don't you buy me a drink first?" "Second date".  I think they were all pretty stupid to allow Samuel to put his gun in the bag last though.  Even if he wasn't infected then, I wouldn't have trusted him.  And then they all check for goo.  I love little moments like that on the show.  

The engineer in me is seriously irritated and cringing at the wires twisted together and still 'shocking' people.  Cause if they'd really touched the hot and neutral (and did I also see the green ground in there?) together, they'd have created a short circuit and at the very least tripped the damn breaker.  Worse, in an old place like that, with inadequate ground fault protection, they probably would have caused a ground fault immediately and pretty much blown up whoever plugged that suicide cord in and then set the place on fire and killed the rest.  Don't do this, people!  All they really had to do to give it a semblance of authenticity was have the black and white wires separate and touch them both to the person.  

I like the bit of continuity in a later season with the bottle of Blue Label.  

[Katy M]

13 hours ago, RulerofallIsurvey said:

I like the bit of continuity in a later season with the bottle of Blue Label.  

It was also mentioned in Rufus's first appearance. Bobby told Dean to bring a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue.  I love little consistencies like that.

[Iju]

dangit, of course when i adore rufus he has to die. OF COURSE. rip, i'm so pissed i can't say much more about this ep.

[The Companion]

Internal dialogue in my head. Damn, with Rufus, Bobby, Sam and Dean, this is a real dude fest. Oh hey, it's Gwen. I wonder if she will do something cool. Oh and she doesn't know what grandpa did. Interesting, maybe she will end up independent. A woman raised to be a hunter as a recurring character could . . .  And she is dead. 😆 RIP Gwen. We hardly knew you. Seriously. 

The worm was squicky and I felt for the poor non perv truck driver who killed his family. Also yay for Grandpa Campbell's demise. 

I ultimately felt like it didn't exactly tread new ground and I will miss Rufus, but it was an okay episode.

[Katy M]

2 minutes ago, The Companion said:

Internal dialogue in my head. Damn, with Rufus, Bobby, Sam and Dean, this is a real dude fest. Oh hey, it's Gwen. I wonder if she will do something cool. Oh and she doesn't know what grandpa did. Interesting, maybe she will end up independent. A woman raised to be a hunter as a recurring character could . . .  And she is dead. 😆 RIP Gwen. We hardly knew you. Seriously. 

Did the episode title clue you in:)  We're lucky Bobby survived.  I can't remember if I said this before, but Jim Beaver did a great job convincing me he was possessed by something.

[The Companion]

28 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Did the episode title clue you in:)  We're lucky Bobby survived.  I can't remember if I said this before, but Jim Beaver did a great job convincing me he was possessed by something.

It should have. Heh.

[MagnusHex]

Aside from the fun and games of The French Mistake, the ending to this episode is easily my favorite scenes from the season so far. This is what I watch Supernatural for. I've accepted that we aren't gonna get movie-budget monsters here, so the next best appeal for me from the show is the human drama, and Supernatural does it decently this episode for me, and it only works if you've been following the show for a while. Dean's words that subtly forgive Sam for his misdoings were beautifully acted. Almost brings a tear to my eye to see how far the show has come from season 1.

Shame about Mr. X Rufus though. I really liked his character and his camaraderie  with Bobby and the brothers. When they teamed up in this episode, it really felt like a team of veterans doing what they do best: hunting monsters, saving lives, family business. There's just a sense of satisfaction from following these characters for so long and see them excel. Sure, we had a casualty, but with Eve, I feel like the stakes are high enough that it justifies it. I wasn't that impressed with Eve's introduction a few episodes ago, but I like what I'm seeing here so far, with the mind games and the Thing alien homage. It's neat and an effective psychological way to portray monsters with a TV budget.

Skinner Grandpa Samuel Campbell's departure is... whatever. I liked his return initially, but making him a full villain just made him kinda boring to me. I like my Skinner ambiguous in his morals but leaning on the side of being an ally. I feel more bad about Gwen 'coz she's the only person I like from Samuel's team.

The MotW is whatever. I've seen Ice from The X-Files, but that's forever ago. I also haven't seen Wrath of Khan (working my way there), so any complaints that it's a rip-off are lost on me.

3.5/5

Not a bad episode and has more than a few enjoyable parts due to the character history.

[FlickChick]

12 hours ago, MagnusHex said:

I also haven't seen Wrath of Khan (working my way there), so any complaints that it's a rip-off are lost on me.

Do find a way to see "Wrath of Khan" - IMO it's the best of the original Star Trek movies with "Save the Whales" a close second. I agree about the end of the episode - it's a real heart breaker softened with Dean's forgiving words, great Ackting, and beautiful photography.

[DeeDee79]

12 hours ago, MagnusHex said:

The MotW is whatever. I've seen Ice from The X-Files, but that's forever ago.

It's similarities to Ice is one of the reasons why I enjoyed this episode. It didn't have the same spooky feel IMO but it advanced the Eve plotline and showed what she was capable of. I wish that they hadn't killed Rufus but I was fine with getting rid of the rest of the Campbells.