Supernatural‘s ninth season started off with a bang with a topsy-turvy premiere. Read our recap and share your thoughts with fellow fans.
So what happened in tonight’s Supernatural season 9 premiere?
Credit: The CW
- We open the episode in Sam’s head. It turns out he’s in a coma with internal burns and his life is, according to a doctor, “in God’s hands.” Since God is an absent father, neither the audience nor Dean thinks that’s good enough.
- Dean resorts to praying for help in the hospital chapel, so we know he’s desperate. When Castiel does not answer, Dean prays to the angels at large, which puts a target on his back.
- In Sam’s head, he has manifested Dean as the part of himself that wants to live and Bobby as the part of him that wants to die. We flailed when we saw Bobby, too, even if he wasn’t real.
- Cas, now human though he can still hear angel radio, wanders down a road and is almost hit by a car. He is injured then gets a ride to a gas station where he meets an angel named Hael.
- Dean has Crowley in the trunk of the Impala. Priceless.
- Dean is attacked by an angel, the first of many looking for Castiel because Dean is his keeper. Dean is rescued by Ezekiel, the wounded angel played by Battlestar Galactica alum Tahmoh Penikett.
- Castiel and Ezekiel have history. Ezekiel says he believes in Castiel and, by extension, the Winchesters. Castiel also vouches for him. Cue us swooning.
- Cas tries to convince Hael that the angels will find the opportunity to do what they want on Earth. Apparently Hael also made the Grand Canyon the last time she was here. So there’s that.
- Bobby sways Sam toward giving in and dying. “What you call dying, I call leaving a legacy,” he says as he reminds Sam of all the good that he’s done in life. We’re not crying at this point, it’s just allergies.
- Cas calls Dean and tells him that Metatron tricked him and stole his grace. Dean tells him to go to the bunker alone. However, Hael is having none of that and knocks Cas out when he tries to leave.
- When angels appear at the hospital, Dean leaves Sam in Ezekiel’s care and the hospital goes boom.
- Hael has separation anxiety at the idea of Cas leaving so she abducts him. She’s planning to take his vessel since it’s strong and the fall was his fault anyway.
- Back in Sam’s head, Bobby leads Sam to a cabin and tells Sam that he’ll be waiting for him with a couple of cold ones. Nope, still allergies. Dean, however, appears and stabs Bobby, making him disappear.
- When Sam says he has nothing left to fight for, Dean punches him and says he can’t help Sam if Sam’s not willing to fight for himself. Sam says that what he wants is in the house. Dean disappears and there’s a branch in our eyes.
- When Sam enters the cabin, our favorite Horseman, Death, stands at the fireplace and greets him: “Hello Sam, I’ve been waiting for you.”
- In the hospital, Dean manages to banish the angels who attacked him, but Ezekiel is too weak to help Sam. The only hope is to heal him from the inside — by possessing him. We’re not quite sure how that works with Sam being Lucifer’s chosen vessel and all, but hey.
- Dean says he needs some indication that Sam’s condition is bad enough to consider possession, so Ezekiel shows him what is going on in Sam’s head: Death tells Sam that he came himself because — and we may never be over this — he considers it an honor to collect the likes of Sam Winchester. Sam then asks Death to promise that his death will be permanent. Death agrees.
- On the angelic road trip, Cas sees that Hael is not buckled in, so he forces the car to crash. Hael is brutally injured but refuses his help. She says the angels want his head and threatens to tell them where he is. Cas kills her with an angel blade.
- Back at the hospital, Ezekiel assures Dean that the possession will allow him to heal both Sam and himself. Once the healing is done, he will leave. However, Dean knows that Sam will never give his consent. After all, the last time Sam said yes, it was to the Devil and that didn’t exactly work out well. Ezekiel, knowing his audience, counters that Sam will say yes to Dean.
- Dean appears in Sam’s head just as Death plans to take Sam. “There ain’t no me if there ain’t no you,” he appeals to his brother and the audience melts at the brotherly moment. Sam apparently does as well since he agrees to whatever Dean is proposing — only for Dean to morph into Ezekiel.
- Later a doctor finds Ezekiel’s vessel in Sam’s bed, but he’s clueless. Meanwhile, Dean and Ezekiel-in-Sam leave the hospital. Jared Padalecki once again plays an angel and we kind of love it. Ezekiel says that he will need to stay in Sam’s body while they both heal and that Sam doesn’t need to know.
- Dean considers telling Sam but Ezekiel says that Sam will eject him if he finds out, which would be fatal. Dean decides to keep it a secret and Ezekiel offers to erase Sam’s memories. Oh Dean, more secrets.
- Elsewhere, Castiel walks into a laundromat and, to many a fangirl’s delight, strips his bloody clothes to wash. But he has human needs now, so he steals some clean clothes and uses his remaining coins on food and water. So long, fair trench coat.
- We return to the Impala as Sam wakes up. No Ezekiel to be seen. Dean asks what he remembers and Sam replies that he remembers the church, feeling like crap, and the angels falling. The episode ends in a callback to the pilot as Sam tells Dean, “We’ve got work to do.”