Recap of Supernatural
Season 6, Episode 12
Like A Virgin
Written by Adam Glass.
Sam: So, what kind of thing likes virgins and gold.
Dean: P. Diddy?
Directed by Philip Sgriccia.
Air Date: February 4, 2011.
Young women with no apparent connection have been disappearing from Oregon; after discovering that all of them are virgins, the brothers conclude that dragons are responsible.
Body Count:
For this episode = 1 human, 1 dragon.
For the series so far = At least 440 humans (of which 6 were witches), 77 demons, 33 ghosts, 26 vampires, 19 zombies, 14 gods, 11 angels, 9 hellhounds, 7 skinwalkers, 6 changelings, 5 shapeshifters, 4 ghouls, 3 djinn, 2 werewolves, 2 dogs, 1 crocotta, 1 dragon, 1 fairy, 1 lamia, 1 okami, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 reaper, 1 rugaru, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, 1 wendigo, 1 whore of Babylon, and 1 wraith.
Tropes
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The dragons make use of one.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: The Loch Ness Monster exists, but there's no way dragons do.
- Big Bad: The dragons that are kidnapping virgins. It's revealed that the dragons are trying to open a portal to Purgatory to let Eve out and needed a suitable virgin vessel for her.
- Continuity Nod: Sam calls Dean out for stealing Penny's diary much like he did for Dean's theft of Angela's diary in "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" (S02, E04).
- Cutting the Knot: Using explosives to remove (some of) the sword from the stone."We're just going to have to get a little closer, that's all."
- Dragon Hoard: Dean finds a small pile of gold items that the dragon has been collecting. He can't resist helping himself to it.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: Dramatic music plays as Dean tries to yank out a Sword In The Stone, only for the air to escape from the band as he fails miserably. The music cranks up again as Dean has another go. Nope, he still can't get it out.Oh, son of a bitch, that's really on there!
- And then Dean blows up the stone, causing half of the sword to pop out.
- Gentleman and a Scholar: Name-dropped by Dean in sarcastic reference to Bobby.
- Girly Girl: Opening kidnapping victim Penny Desertine is a shy woman who is still a virgin at the age of twenty-two, and not for religious reasons. Dean compares her to a kid, citing the pink and flower-embroidered decor, immaturely decorated diary, and teddy bears in her bedroom.
- Noodle Incident: What did Bobby do to piss off Dr. Visyak? The implication seems to be she's his New Old Flame.
- Oh, Crap!: Dean's facial reaction to Castiel describing Sam's soul as feeling like it had been skinned alive.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: Beautifully parodied with dramatic music and posing.
- Our Dragons Are Different: They can apparently transform into the usual flying reptile, but this is only seen as a shadow during the The Teaser. On-screen, the dragons take human form, and instead of breathing fire they can emit heat from their hands.
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According to Adam Glass, there was going to be a line in the episode where one of the dragons tells Dean this:Your army was defeated and your kingdom burned to the ground - who are you going to tell your king did it? Me a man, or a sixty foot, fire-breathing serpent snake from Hell?
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- Shout-Out:
- Sam searches the Internet for "fire", "claws", "flying", "stealing virgins", and "gold" and is consistently directed to World of Warcraft fansites.
- When Dean is taking to Dr. Visyak, he makes a reference to twelve-sided dice. Twelve-sided dice (d12s) are commonly used in Dungeons & Dragons.
- "Mother of what? Mother of Dragons?"
- "Could you make a few calls?" "To who? Hogwarts?"
- "Dad never wrote anything about dragons. I promise. I'd remember if I read The Neverending Story in there."
- "Great. Back to the lore." "Which says what? That they live in Middle-earth?"
- Sure, Let's Go with That: When Sam mentions to Cas that Bobby "told [him] everything", Cas assumes that this means Sam knows about his being soulless for the past year-and-a-half. As such, Sam plays along, asking Cas to fill him in on some of the details that he's "hazy" on. However, this trope is actually subverted because Bobby did no such thing; Sam lied to get Cas to reveal this info.
- Squick: The boys' In-Universe reaction to the book being made of human skin.
- Titled After the Song: "Like A Virgin" by Madonna from the album of the same name.
- Virgin Sacrifice: Opens Purgatory, lets out the "Mother of All", and gives her a body.
- With touches of Appease the Volcano God, since the virgin is thrown off a cliff into a fiery crevasse.
- Vow of Celibacy: The victim who escapes the dragon wore a purity ring as a symbol of her promise not to have sex until she's married. Sam and Dean realize that she escapes being kidnapped because she'd broken that promise.
- The Un-Hug: Castiel goes to hug Sam, who balks and avoids it.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Doubles as a Continuity Nod back to season two:Dean: Penny's diary.
Sam: Did you steal that from her room?
Dean: I love that you even ask me that.
Sam: And why wouldn't I?
Dean: ...no reason.
