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Recap / Supernatural S 09 E 11 First Born

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Recap of Supernatural
Season 9, Episode 11:

First Born

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5ae039065e7f3ea48373939126b72044.jpg
But you have to know with the mark comes a great burden.
Written by Robbie Thompson.

Directed by John Badham.

Air Date: January 21, 2014.

Body Count:

For this episode: at least 26 humans and 2 dozen demons.

For the series so far = At least 1087 angels, 990 humans (of which 8 were witches), 160 demons, 51 vampires, 49 ghosts, 36 Jefferson Starships, 21 gods, 19 zombies, 10 hellhounds, 7 skinwalkers, 6 changelings, 5 djinn, 5 shapeshifters, 5 werewolves, 4 dogs, 4 ghouls, 4 Leviathan, 4 reapers, 2 Amazons, 2 arachnes, 2 kitsunes, 2 rugarus, 2 Thule, 2 vetalas, 1 cat, 1 crocotta, 1 dragon, 1 fairy, 1 familiar, 1 Khan worm, 1 lamia, the Mother of All, 1 okami, 1 phoenix, 1 Purgatory creature, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 shojo, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, 1 Titan, 1 wendigo, 1 whore of Babylon, 1 wicked witch, and 1 wraith.

Tropes:

  • Affably Evil: Cain.
  • Badass Boast: "You're good, but I'm Crowley."
  • Biblical Bad Guy: Cain.
  • Cain: Winchester brothers found Cain, who owns the "First Blade", a magical sword who kills Abbadon (the Big Bad then). Here, Cain explains to Dean about why he killed Abel in the first place: he wasn't talking to God, he was talking to Lucifer. To save his brother, Cain made a deal: his soul in Hell in exchange for Abel's in Heaven. Lucifer agreed if Cain killed Abel himself. Cain did with the First Blade and was transformed into the first Knight of Hell and trained the rest.
  • Call-Back: Cain had been mentioned previously by Michael in "The Song Remains The Same" (S05, E13) and by Castiel in "The Man Who Would Be King" (S06, E20).
  • Deal with the Devil: Cain made the first. In order to ensure that Abel would go to Heaven, Cain had to kill him before Abel accidentally made a Deal with the Devil himself. In return, Cain was made a powerful demon.
  • Hidden Purpose Test: Dean understands Cain is testing him, but he doesn't know why. At the end of the episode, he also reveals that Crowley was testing him too.
  • Homoerotic Subtext:
    • Crowley makes copious inuendos about both Sam and Dean.
    • Tara's reaction to Dean showing up with a Demon is also laden with innuendo. She calls Dean pretty and makes it clear how disgusted John Winchester would be to see Dean working with Crowley.
  • Horrifying the Horror: Crowley is terrified of Cain.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: The reason Cain killed Abel in the first place.
  • If I Can't Have You…: Abaddon says this word-for-word to Cain in the flashback.
  • Interspecies Romance: Cain and Colette
  • Love Redeems: Cain stopped doing Hell's work because he fell in love with a human named Colette. Of course, he started out of love for his brother.
  • Mayfly–December Romance: Colette (human, maybe in her twenties) and Cain (a demon who has been around possibly since millennia and is nearly immortal). Granted, the problem does not come up, since Cain accidentally kills her.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Cain activating his Mark.
    Crowley: They're all trapped in there.
    Dean: With him.
  • Retired Badass: Cain.
  • Sense Loss Sadness: Having regained angelhood, Castiel is disappointed to find that his Super-Senses cause him to taste every molecule in his peanut butter and jelly instead of just the sandwich itself.
  • Shout-Out: Tara reads the first album of Locke & Key.
  • Take Me Instead: Abel was talking to Lucifer, not God. Cain couldn't bear to see his brother get corrupted by evil, so he offered Lucifer his own soul instead, so that Abel could go to Heaven. Lucifer agreed, on the condition that Cain send Abel to Heaven himself.
  • Offscreen Teleportation: After Dean and Crowley spot him the first time, Cain uses the time to teleport behind them
  • Too Dumb to Live: Tara shoots out her devil's trap rather than use a pen, and forgets to repair it after Dean and Crowley leave.
  • Unholy Matrimony: Apparently Cain and Abaddon used to be a couple, and she was very bitter about the breakup.
  • Xanatos Gambit: The entire trip to Cain's is one on the part of Crowley, including his ruse of being deathly afraid of "the father of murder". When Dean figures this out, he's pretty pissed, especially since it resulted in Tara getting killed.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Crowley, of all characters, tells Dean that nobody hates him more than himself:
    Crowley: Your problem, mate, is that nobody hates you more than you do. Believe me, I've tried.

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