It’s the big 100th episode of Supernatural, so buckle up, because it’s a ride that features shocking returns, decisions, betrayals, sacrifices and a major death. Or have fans have come to expect, just another episode of Supernatural.
We start in a bar where a recently out-of-work man plays Patsy Cline’s “The Man Upstairs” on the jukebox. He chats with Zachariah, who’s drowning his sorrows over how angry he is at the Winchesters, complaining about all the “pig-filthy humans.” Zachariah’s boss, Michael, shows up in the form of the piercing angel noise and blinding light that breaks bottles and kills the other patrons. He’s ready to die, but Michael has other plans and just like that, Zach is back in business. Kurt Fuller could not possibly be any better at balancing that fine line between comedy and evil.
At Mike’s Travel Inn (a clever inside joke referring to Michael) Dean packs up his Earthly possessions, writes his Will and prepares to say “Yes” to Michael. Sam shows up to Room #100 to stop him. Sam tries to talk Dean into not walking away, and he even apologizes, saying that he was wrong every time he left his family. It doesn’t work, so Sam resorts to Plan B, calling in Castiel to zap Dean to Bobby’s house.
Dean still doesn’t see any other option, so Bobby pulls out the big gun, literally. He whips out a gun and bullet and says that he plans to kill himself with that bullet every day, but he doesn’t because he promised Dean he would never give up.
Right then Cas gets an angel migraine because “Something’s happening.” He transports himself to the middle of a forest where he finds something moving under the ground. He’s attacked by two angels but during the fight he takes their angel-killing daggers and uses them to murder the bad angels. He goes back to the dirt and discovers someone is trying to crawl out of their own grave.
Is this another zombie? No, it’s Sam and Dean’s half-brother Adam from last season’s “Jump the Shark.” I guess coming back from the dead and crawling out of your own grave runs in the family. Cas brings him back to Bobby’s place and since they know the angels want Adam for something, Cas instantly imprints the Enochian hiding symbol on Adam’s ribs (I’ll leave the Biblical implications of that action to more scholarly fans).
Adam wakes up and he recognizes Sam and Dean because the angels warned him about them. He wants to see Zachariah, which is a bad sign. Adam explains that the angels told him he was supposed to be Michael’s vessel and kill Lucifer, which Cas thinks is possible since Adam comes from the same bloodline.
Sam, the only person thinking rationally, has some concerns. “After everything that’s happened, all that crap about destiny, suddenly the angels have a Plan B? Does that smell right to anybody?” No Sam, no it’s doesn’t. It’s almost as ridiculous as Sam and Dean having a brother they never knew about.
Adam doesn’t care, he just wants to leave, but Sam is still trying to find a way to stop Lucifer without letting Michael win. He appeals to the fact that they’re family, but Adam has bigger daddy issues than Sam and Dean put together, so the appeal of blood isn’t so powerful.
Sam, Bobby and Cas are stuck trying to keep both Adam and Dean from running away to say “Yes” to Michael. Sam and Dean have a heart-to-heart where Dean almost busts into some Gavin Degraw, claiming that he’s tired of not being who he’s supposed to be. Then he drops a bombshell on Sam: the real reason he wants to say “Yes” is because he doesn’t have faith in Sam and he’s certain Sam will eventually give in to Lucifer.
Damn you Dean, for breaking Sam’s heart and breaking mine, although I’ll admit that with Sam’s spotty track record vis-Ã -vis doing what the demons want, I can understand where Dean’s coming from.
Later Dean lures Cas into Bobby’s Panic Room, where Dean is being held, and he presses the Anti-Angel symbol he drew on the wall to send Cas far, far away. This gives Dean the chance to escape and run away to find a prophet on the street who’s the real deal. Dean wants to get a message to the angels, but instead he gets Cas, who proceeds to beat the ever-loving crap out of Dean. It’s brutal, but it’s fantastic to see Cas being a total bad-ass this week. He takes an unconscious Dean back to Bobby’s.
But now Adam is gone because Zachariah came to him in his dream like Freddy Krueger and convinced him that Sam and Dean will never care about him as much as they care about each other because they “are psychotically, irrationally, erotically co-dependent on each other.” So Zachariah takes him to Heaven’s Waiting Room that Dean was trapped in at the end of last season, the lavish and ornate room full of beer and cheeseburgers, because Adam and Dean are the same person, gastronomically speaking.
Unfortunately, Adam learns from Zachariah that, as Sam correctly predicted, he’s not really Michael’s vessel, just a “clammy piece of bait” to get Dean. Adam is a bit upset that he was used, so Zachariah tries to perk him up, but the best he can come up with is, “You happen to be the illegitimate half-brother of the guy we DO care about.” This is the night when Dean will finally say “Yes,” so to celebrate, Zachariah starts causing Adam physical harm for no reason whatsoever.
Back at Bobby’s, Dean is handcuffed in the Panic Room. Sam is there for yet another heart-to-heart, only this one is a lot more uplifting. Cas knows that Adam is in Heaven’s Waiting Room, so Sam’s plan is to bring Dean because there are too many angels protecting the room. Everyone else thinks bringing Dean is a bad idea because he promises that he will say “Yes.”
Sam isn’t so sure, because unlike his brother, Sam has unlimited faith that his brother will always do the right thing. Why? “Because you’re still my big brother.” It’s the kind of chick flick moment that makes Supernatural so beloved.
Cas, Dean and Sam all head to Van Nuys, California, because Heaven’s Waiting Room is actually located in a shed inside an abandoned muffler warehouse. I guess appearances can be deceiving. Cas will dispense with the five angels protecting the room so Sam and Dean can find Adam. It’s most likely a suicide mission, but Cas is fine with that because he doesn’t have the same faith in Dean that Sam does.
Cas goes in and immediately kills one of the angels in his third fight scene of the episode. That’s when the four other angels surround him, but Castiel has a plan: he rips open his shirt. No, he’s not going to attack them with his perky nipples, he’s used a box cutter to carve the Anti-Angel symbol into his chest. He presses it and zaps himself and the four other angels far, far away. God only knows what happens after that, because that’s the last we see of Cas in this episode.
Sam and Dean go in and find the shed. Dean enters Heaven’s Waiting Room and finds Adam, who does his best Admiral Ackbar impersonation, warning that “It’s a trap!” Zachariah shows up, and after he quickly prevents Sam from attacking him, he gets to have a nice chat with Dean about how everything is working out just as Michael predicted.
Dean can’t stand seeing his two brothers getting hurt, so he begs Zachariah to stop and he promises to say “Yes” if Zachariah calls Michael down. He does some Enochian chant and after Michael is called, Dean reveals that he has a few conditions.
First, he wants all the people that he loves to be safe. Second, when Michael arrives, he wants him to disintegrate Zachariah. It’s a bold move that puts Zachariah on edge. He’s certain that Michael won’t kill him, but even so, Dean will. He pulls out the angel-killing dagger and jams it into Zachariah’s skull.
Hell yeah, Zachariah is dead! Part of me will miss him as a villain, but since Dean killed him in as awesome a way as possible, it’s still great. Unfortunately the room is still shaking as Michael is fast approaching, so Dean, Sam and Adam only have a small window to escape. The piercing sound and white light arrives as Sam and Dean get out of the room, but the door shuts and Adam is trapped inside.
Dean tries to get back in but he can’t. The sound and light go away, Dean opens the door, but now the inside just looks like an empty shed. Adam is nowhere to be found. So by the end of the episode, both Cas and Adam are MIA, which bodes very poorly for them.
In the Impala, Dean reveals the reason he didn’t say “Yes” after all. The decision was made when he looked at Sam, writhing in pain on the floor, and all he could think about was how Sam actually brought him there and Dean couldn’t let him down. He goes on to apologize because his little brother isn’t a “snot-nosed kid anymore,” and if Sam can have faith in Dean, “the least I can do is return the favor.” So Dean says “Screw destiny,” because they’re going to deal with Lucifer the Winchester way.
And that’s how you do a 100th episode featuring a major character dying, huge action and fight scenes, and a ton of emotionally powerful and important milestones in Sam and Dean’s relationship. After an entire season of painfully depressing endings, “Point of No Return” ended with something very unusual: hope.
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
