Heaven And Hell

Dean: They sliced and carved and tore me in ways that you- Until there was nothing left. And then suddenly, I would be whole again, like magic. Just so they could start in all over. And Alastair, at the end of every day, every one, he would come over and he would make me an offer to take me off the rack if I put souls on. If I started the torture. And every day I told him to stick it where the sun shines. For thirty years I told him. But then I couldn't do it anymore, Sammy. I couldn't. Then I got off that rack, God help me I got right off it, and I started ripping them apart. I lost count of how many souls. The things that I did to them.

Sam: Dean... Dean, look you held out for thirty years. That's longer than any one would've.

Dean: How I feel, this... inside me, I wish I couldn't feel anything, Sammy. I wish I couldn't feel a damn thing.

Written by Eric Kripke.

Directed by J. Miller Tobin.

Air Date: November 20, 2008.

Castiel and Uriel are all ready to fight their way through the Winchesters to get to Anna when, poof, they disappear. Anna smeared her blood on a mirror, making a very effective angel-vanishing rune thing.

The boys take her to Pamela. Remember her? Castiel burned her eyes out? She's still on the ball, however, and helps Anna remember what's really happening. Turns out Anna was an angel who fell from heaven. To do so, she had to cut out her Grace, which apparently is like cutting out your kidney with a butter knife.

Ruby, Sam, Dean and Anna go look for the Grace, because that will turn her back into an angel. The demons are still after them, so they can use Anna to hear angel talk, and the angels are after her to kill her for disobeying orders. The only safe option is to go back to being an angel, though she doesn't want to. Dean comforts her in the backseat of the Impala.

Ruby tries to cut a deal with Alastair, saying she'll give him Anna if he leaves her and the boys alone. He decides to torture her instead.

Uriel tells Dean if he doesn't give up Anna, they'll kill Sam. Anna understands, and faces it bravely, but kisses Dean first. Castiel, who "likes Dean", looks grumpy about this. She's about to be killed when the demons show up, a bloodied Ruby in tow.

The demons and angels have a showdown, the angels win, Anna steals her Grace back and Alastair disappears with her as she transforms back.

Dean finally tells Sam about Hell. It's not pretty.

Body count

For this episode = 3 humans and 2 demons.

For the series so far = At least 285 humans (of which 5 were witches), 21 demons, 25 ghosts, 10 vampires, 6 changelings, 3 gods, 3 shapeshifters, 2 werewolves, 1 crocotta, 1 djinn, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 shtriga, 1 wendigo, 3 zombies, 1 rugaru, and 1 dog.

Tropes

After Action Patch Up: Blink and you miss it, but while Sam and Dean are talking about Anna near the beginning, you can see Ruby and Anna sitting together and Ruby fixing up Anna's slit wrists. That was nice of her.
A Shared Suffering: Dean can relate to Anna's angst re: her father.
Angel/Devil Shipping: Dean In-Universe.
Angel in Human Form: Anna.
Angel Unaware: Anna is revealed to be a literal example. She is made aware in this episode via hypnosis.
Apologetic Attacker: Castiel is sorry that he has to kill Anna and apologizes to her for it before he and Uriel are about to execute her. Anna, however, doesn't buy that he's genuinely sorry because she knows angels can't truly feel.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Anna, much to her displeasure.
At the Crossroads: The site where Ruby burns her hex bag and lets Alastair find her.
Auto Erotica: Dean, Anna, and the Impala.
Big Bad: Alastair, Hell's grand torturer, who wants Anna to interrogate. There's also Castiel and Uriel, who have been ordered to kill her.
Bound and Gagged: Not to stop her screaming, but to prevent Ruby leaving her body while she's being tortured.
Brain Bleach: The image of Bobby in a trucker's cap and banana hammock is seared into poor Sam's brain.
Call-Back: Disturbingly, Anna's behavior with Dean is just like Ruby's with Sam, including the sex and You Are Not Alone speech. Later Uriel hints that Anna is using sex to manipulate Dean just as Dean suggested Ruby was doing to Sam.
Category Traitor: Ruby is evidently considered one by Alastair.
Ruby: I just came to talk.
Alastair: 'Bout what? 'Bout how a demon is protecting an angel? We really must revoke your membership.
Cold-Blooded Torture: Dean was torn apart every single day in Hell, only to be made whole the next morning so it could happen all over again. After thirty years, he broke, and took Alistair's offer to become the torturer instead. It's implied this is the beginning of the path to losing humanity and becoming a demon.
Covert Pervert: Even blind, Pamela knows Sam has been checking out her rack. Not that she's any better, working out that it's Sam from his tight ass.
Pamela: You could bounce a nickel off that thing.
Couldn't Find a Pen: Anna slits her wrists and uses her own blood to draw a symbol on the mirror that forces Castiel and Uriel away. It later turns out that the sigil she uses always requires blood when drawn.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Sam, Dean, and Ruby don't really hold their own against Castiel and Uriel. Man, Sam and Dean are having awful luck against their enemies lately, aren't they?
Deal with the Devil: When she learns that Anna can't protect them without her missing Grace, Ruby tries to make one with Alastair: Anna for the safety of herself and the Winchesters. It backfires on her when Alastair decides to just capture her and torture the info out of her instead. It is revealed at the end of the episode that she had just been doing her part in Sam's plan.
- At the end of the day, every day, of being torn apart in Hell Alistair would make Dean an offer: he gets off the rack if he becomes a torturer in turn. After thirty years of unceasing torture, Dean took the deal.
Disappears into Light: Anna and Alastair go out with a bang. A big, glowing, eye-searing bang.
The Dreaded: Ruby is far more worried about Alastair chasing them than even the angels, and that's saying something. She has VERY good reason to feel this way.
Face Death with Dignity: At the barn, Anna resigns herself to being executed by Castiel and Uriel when Dean tells them where they are. She tells them just to make it quick. Subverted when her execution is put on hold by the angels and demons fighting.
Fallen Angel: Anna. Inverted because she is actually much nicer than her un-fallen counterparts.
Fertile Feet: An oak tree grows where Anna's Grace fell to Earth.
Foreshadowing: For the season finale and also Season 5. Uriel claims Anna is worse than Ruby. By the end of the season, it turns out that both Uriel and Ruby were Moles and actually had the same endgoal and loyalty to the same entity (Lucifer), effectively putting the on the same side even if they weren't working together and didn't know each other's true motives; in contrast, Anna truly did oppose Lucifer and the Apocalypse, which would've made her Uriel's enemy even if she hadn't fallen. Also, while Ruby uses the brothers, she doesn't attack them and is dispatched quickly when her betrayal comes out; Anna tries to kill Sam and then tries to erase the entire Winchester family form history, and defeating her takes up an entire episode that ends in them having to Summon Bigger Fish, making her pose a more powerful and direct threat to the brothers than Ruby did.
Get It Over With: Anna orders Castiel and Uriel, her former subordinates, to make her death quick.
Glass Eye: Well, not glass (they're plastic), but Pamela now has fake eyeballs to replace the real ones she lost.
Gory Discretion Shot: When Alastair is carving Ruby up with her own knife, all you see is blood dripping into a sink.
Have You Seen My God?: Only four angels have even seen God, and Anna isn't one of them.
Heavenly Blue: When Anna gets her Grace back.
Humans Are Bastards: Dean can't believe that Anna gave up the power and perfection of being an angel for the misery of being human. Anna lists all the things that humans have: love, loyalty, sex...
Dean: You've got me there.
Hypocritical Humor: "Name-calling. That really hurt my feelings, you sanctimonious, fanatical prick."
I Have Your Wife: Uriel manages to strong-arm Dean into giving Anna up by threatening to kill Sam. Subverted when it turns out that Dean giving up Anna's location was all part of the plan. Whether Dean would have actually given up Anna for Sam or not is left ambiguous.
I Will Only Get You Killed: Anna approves of Pamela getting away from her and advises Sam, Dean, and Ruby to do the same, because she believes that they will only get into more trouble if they stick with her. Dean refuses because, in his words, they're not that smart.
Identity Amnesia
Informed Flaw: The way Anna describes the angels, as emotionless "Perfect...like a marble statue. Cold...no choice...only obedience", to explain why she decided to become human contradicts how we actually see the angels act in the very same episode.
Irony:
- Anna's life is saved from angels by Alastair and other demons. Willingly too, averting Nice Job Fixing It, Villain, though they only did so because they had even worse planned for her.
- Pamela tells Anna she's helping because she wants to stick it to the angels. Turns out Anna is an angel herself.
It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Dean asks Anna if she's still Hearing Voices. She replies that the angels are completely quiet. Dean looks worried.
Kick the Dog: While Castiel knocks out Sam with just a finger touch, Uriel enjoys pounding on Dean.
Last Kiss: When Castiel and Uriel are about to kill her, Anna kisses Dean to show that she forgives him. It turns out that this is the last time that they will ever kiss and probably the last kiss that Anna herself ever has.
MacGuffin: Anna's Grace.
Mad Artist: Ruby calls Alastair "Picasso with a razor".
Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: When Anna was little, she insisted that Rich Milton wasn't her real dad. When Sam and Dean find out about it, they enlist Pamela's help to get the adult Anna to remember what she meant by that in the hopes that it might shed some light on why she's so special. Anna remembers that her real dad is God and that she herself is a Fallen Angel.
Meaningful Name: Anna's last name, Milton, is revealed to be one. She's a Fallen Angel, and John Milton wrote Paradise Lost.
Modesty Bedsheet: Anna removes all her other clothes but keeps her bra on when having sex with Dean.^note
Mysterious Parent: Anna's real father, who turns out to be God Himself.
Must Not Die a Virgin: Played with. Anna isn't going to die but she won't be human anymore and, apparently, angels can't have sex. Well, she did list sex as one of the things she likes about being human.
Mystical Pregnancy: Amy Milton was infertile, but when Anna tore out her Grace and fell to Earth, she suddenly conceived a child (i.e. Anna). Whether Rich Milton is Anna's biological father (who had sex with Amy and contributed his sperm to Anna's conception) or not is left unclear.
No Body Left Behind: Alastair's entire being is destroyed by Anna's Grace...or so Sam and Dean think.
No One Gets Left Behind: Due to her fear of Alastair and the angels, Ruby suggests that they subvert this trope and leave Anna to fend for herself. Sam shoots the idea down, though, playing the trope straight.
No-Sell: Alastair is also immune to Castiel's smiting powers. He even begins to do a reverse exorcism on Castiel, but he's only able to do so since Uriel is killing his helpers. Two angels versus one demon, even Lilith, would be a short fight.
Offing the Offspring: Since falling, Anna has had a lifelong fear that her father (God) was going to punish her for disobeying by killing her. Given God's actual feelings on humanity and free will, though, He'd probably be extremely proud of her.
Our Angels Are Different: How different is expounded on a little bit here; they become human(-ish) if they lose their Grace, which Anna describes as "pure creation" (it even made a centuries-old oak tree within months of landing on Earth).
Political Overcorrectness: Dean boasts of Bobby's panic room, with salt-coated walls that can keep out demons. Ruby, standing outside the room, adds, "Which I find racist, by the way."
Prophet Eyes: Pamela's plastic eyeballs are completely white, making them look similar to Lilith or Alastair's. She acknowledges this, but says it's good for business because it makes her look "extra psychic".
The Reveal: Dean finally tells Sam what happened in Hell.
Scar Survey: Anna puts her hand over the scars that Castiel's handprint left on Dean's arm. Given the position they're in at the time, ohh, did the fangirls squeal.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Pamela's reaction to Anna revealing she's actually an angel. Of course, it's justified, seeing as how the last angel Pamela came into contact with burned her eyes out of her sockets.
Shout-Out:
- The hand against the foggy window as per Titanic (1997).
- Anna's last name, Milton, given her role as a fallen angel, could be a shout-out to John Milton, author of Paradise Lost.
Soul Jar: The oak tree at the site of Anna's Grace's landing is where her Grace is stored. Uriel takes it before she can get to it and stores it in a vial around his neck. She just ends up nabbing that instead.
Stars Are Souls: Anna and her Grace's fall to Earth looked like meteorites.
Summon Bigger Fish: Sam's entire plan. He pits Alastair and the angels against each other. At one point, he even calls it Godzilla fighting Mothra.
Torture Technician: Ruby describes Alastair as the Grand Inquisitor downstairs. Later, she herself gets on the receiving end of his "talents" while Strapped to an Operating Table.
Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Sam came up with the idea of Dean and Ruby giving away Anna's location to angels and demons so that the two sides would be too busy fighting each other to zero in on them. Of course, since the audience didn't see him telling them that, it just looks like they both betrayed Anna up until the aforementioned plan is actually brought up on-screen.
Unusual Euphemism: "You cut yourself a slice of angel food cake."
We Will Meet Again:
Uriel: This isn't over.
Dean: Oh, it looks over to me, Junkless.
Wham Line:
Anna: I'm an angel.
Written-In Absence: Bobby, who is apparently in the Dominican instead of at his house, where most of this episode's action takes place at.
Year Inside, Hour Outside: The four months Dean spent in Hell were actually more like 40 years because time is different there.
You Are Not Alone: Said verbatim by Anna when she tells Dean that he has people who want to help him whenever he is able to talk about what happened in Hell. Which is a fraction less heartwarming given that Ruby said exactly the same thing to Sam before making out with him.
You Watch Too Much X: Dean's mind immediately jumps to a Pizza Boy Special Delivery scenario when Sam says that Anna believed her human father wasn't her real father—Sam tells Dean he watches too much porn. A later scene veers even closer to the related trope This Is Reality:
[Sam, Dean, Anna the angel, and Ruby the demon are driving in the Impala. Dean looks at Anna and Ruby in the backseat, amused]
Ruby: What?
Dean: Nothing. It's just an angel and a demon, riding in the back seat. [chuckles] It's like the setup to a bad joke. Or a Penthouse Forum letter.
Sam: Dude. Reality...porn.
Dean: You call this reality?

Recap / Supernatural S 04 E 10 Heaven And Hell

Heaven And Hell

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Recap / Supernatural S 04 E 10 Heaven And Hell

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