Recap of Supernatural
Season 7, Episode 2
Hello, Cruel World
- Hallucifer: End it? This? You not knowing what’s real, the paint slowly peeling off your walls, come on, man, this is the sweet spot! Why would I end it? Not like we got HBO in the Pit. All I got is you, floating over the coals with half a hope that you’re gonna figure it all out. There’s only one way to figure it out, Sam. It’s up to you. It ends when you can’t take it anymore.
Written by Ben Edlund.
Directed by Guy Bee.
Air Date: September 30, 2011.
After throwing around Dean and Bobby, Castiel's vessel begins to break down. Dean realizes that the beasts cannot remain within Castiel's body without destroying it, and as a result, the Leviathans disperse into the local water supply nearby. Possessing different people and establishing a base at Sioux Falls General Hospital to maintain a food supply, the Leviathans hint at further plans, a boss, and the importance of maintaining discretion to prevent unwanted attention. Meanwhile, as Sam, Bobby, and Dean attempt to discover the Leviathans' whereabouts, Sam continues to be tortured by visions of Lucifer, slowly coming to believe that the world he sees is not reality.
Body Count:
For this episode = 1 angel and 6 humans.
For the series so far = At least 694 humans (of which 6 were witches), 88 demons, 55 angels, 36 Jefferson Starships, 34 ghosts, 26 vampires, 19 zombies, 14 gods, 9 hellhounds, 7 skinwalkers, 6 changelings, 5 shapeshifters, 4 ghouls, 3 djinn, 2 Arachnes, 2 dogs, 2 werewolves, 1 crocotta, 1 dragon, 1 fairy, 1 Khan worm, 1 lamia, the Mother of All, 1 okami, 1 phoenix, 1 Purgatory creature, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 reaper, 1 rugaru, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, 1 wendigo, 1 whore of Babylon, and 1 wraith.
Tropes:
- All Therapists Are Muggles: Even Dean is willing to consider professional help for Sam, who points out that there's little they can do except drug him.
- And I Must ScreamEdgar: Why can't they scream?Dr Gaines: Oh, I severed their vocal cords. A delicate procedure, but very doable.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The Leviathans burn down Bobby's house.
- Big Bad: Name-dropped.
- Buffy Speak: "Protein-ate."
- Call-Back: To Dr Sexy, M.D.
- Chekhov's Gun: Sam's cut on his hand from the last episode. Dean later puts pressure on it to hurt him, helping him realize what's real and what isn't.
- Cliffhanger: Bobby is missing, possibly dead, and a wounded Sam and Dean are being taken by ambulance to the hospital run by Leviathans as a food factory.
- Dead Hat Shot: After the Leviathan destroy Cas' vessel, the only thing left of him is his trademark trenchcoat which floats at the edge of the lake.
- Deadly Doctor: The Leviathans take over a doctor so they can discreetly get human organs for food.
- Death of a Child: A child is the first to be possessed by the Leviathans.
- Despair Event Horizon: When Dean thinks Bobby might have been killed, he leaves a message on Bobby's answering machine saying he's going to kill himself and Crazy!Sam if it's true.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: The Leviathans are stopped from finishing off Dean and Bobby because Cas' body is about to explode from holding in all the Leviathans at once.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Oh, Bobby, you never even learned her name?Bobby: Who is this?
Jody: It's Jody. Jody Mills.
Bobby: Jody?
Jody: Sheriff Mills.
Bobby: Gotcha. - Eldritch Abomination: The Leviathans.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Doubling as a *
Genius Bonus. Right before Sam's hallucination of Dean reveals that he isn't actually Dean, they walk into what looks like an office building door that reads "Morningstar Endeavors, Ltd." with a logo of an inverted five-pointed star. In Latin, Lucifer's name means as "light-bringer" or "the morning star," and the inverted pentagram is incorporated into the Sigil of Baphomet, which is the official insignia of the Chuch of Satan. - Gun Stripping: For once, not a good sign.
- Hearing Voices: And not just voices, but Lucifer himself.
- Hypocrite: Dean gets angry at Sam for pretending to be okay when he's really not, because they already have enough on their plate, and he doesn't want Dean and Bobby to worry too much about him. Bobby tells Dean he is essentially doing the same thing, and we see that Dean isn't fine at all when Dean calls Bobby when they find his house destroyed.
- Immune to Bullets: Even silver shotgun pellets.
- Impersonating an Officer: Bobby tries to use an FBI badge, but the Leviathan recognises him from when they possessed Castiel.
- Lamprey Mouth: The Leviathans.
- Left the Background Music On
- Made of Iron: Edgar survives having a car dropped on his head.
- Never Found the Body: Castiel. Doesn't look like there was much of a body left to find.
- Nothing Is Scarier: We don't see the Leviathans in their natural form at first, only Gory Discretion Shot and Shadow Discretion Shot.
- Not Quite Dead: Edgar.
- Office Golf: Lucifer is pretending to play golf...with a fire poker.
- Power Incontinence: Cass's vessel is still breaking down at the start of the episode, so the Leviathans take a rain check on killing Dean and Bobby, and head out to get new bodies.
- Post-Rape Taunt: Hallucifer tries to convince Sam he's still in the Cage as Lucifer's bitch "in all senses of the word".
- Sanity Slippage: Continued from the last episode. It culminates in Sam hallucinating Dean driving him to an office building (which was actually Sam driving himself to an empty warehouse).
- Sarcasm-Blind: The Leviathan possessing a little girl channel surfs to an episode of Dr. Sexy, M.D. and hears a character sarcastically say that surgeons can cut open any body they want. This leads her to take over Dr. Gaines.
- Shout-Out:
- To One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Bell Jar.
- Dean references A Beautiful Mind when talking about Sam's mental condition.
- Silver Fox: Dr. Gaines.
- There Are No Therapists: Discussed. Sam believes that therapists won't help.
- Titled After the Song: The episode title seems to be a play on Pink Floyd's song "Goodbye, Cruel World" from their album The Wall.
- Tragic Keepsake: Dean keeps Castiel's trenchcoat.
- You Have Failed Me: Averted; it looks like the two Leviathan who drew attention to themselves will be killed, but Edgar just beats them up and puts them to work in the hospital.
