Anyone else have their mind blown by this episode? So many of my questions were answered and now I have a long list of new ones!

We’ve all known for a while now that hunting is in Sam and Dean’s blood. According to grandpa Samuel they had ancestors hunting vampires on the Mayflower. That’s a long line of hunters on the Campbell side but it was always interesting to me how Winchester became the powerful name in hunting. I’m not confused about how the Winchester’s started hunting, we’ve all seen the pilot. I’m interested in how the Winchester name became powerful while the Campbell name sort of fell by the wayside. We can blame it on continuity, or say that this storyline wasn’t part of Eric Kripke’s original plan but I’d rather play around with this idea a bit. What do you say?

We learned way back in season 5 that Heaven ordered Cupid to bring John and Mary together. Sam and Dean needed to be born. But I’ve always wondered why it had to be John. It could have been any man, really. I do understand that Sam and Dean wouldn’t be Sam and Dean if they had a different father but hunting was in Mary’s blood, not Johns. But it seems the people upstairs knew what they were doing. John turned out to be one of the greatest names in hunting and trained his sons to carry on his legacy. And as it turns out, John had a destiny of his own too. He may not have lived up to it in the way his father expected, but fighting evil was in his blood and he found his own way to do it.

Men of Letters, it’s an interesting concept even if it’s still a little foggy at this point. I have to admit the capes had me skeptical at first. What can I say, capes make me skeptical. But then they introduced the magic and I was all in. I want to know more about this group of elite knowledge holders that can tap into the power of their own soul. And I want to know what’s in their magical box. I’m sure Sam and Dean took it straight to the coordinates given to them and destroyed it forever, but what if they didn’t?  Could this box be the makings of a season arc? It would be a great chance to take Sam and Dean in a new direction as we find out more about the Men of Letters. Maybe they would learn a little magic? I’m not sure how I’d feel about that because I do like that they are just men, not superheroes. (Even if one of them had some short-lived powers at one point or another...) I just worry that magic would give them an advantage thereby making them less badass. I guess they already do spells, and that’s sort of like magic. What do you guys think. Would you like the show to go in the direction of the Men of Letters? Do you think Sam and Dean will start doing magic? Do you think I’m jumping to conclusions?

I really liked Henry Winchester. He had a stiffness about him, but I think that was on account of his intelligence. It seemed like he lived a regimented lifestyle, almost military-like but he was also pretty funny. He had some really good one-liners in this episode. Looks like that’s where Dean get’s his wit. He was also obviously very intelligent which must be where Sam gets it. Sam put it well calling the Winchesters the brains and the Campbell’s the brawn. Together they made the perfect cocktail of Sam and Dean. Both of them are smart, and both of them are tough but they each favor one of these attributes. No wonder Heaven demanded their existence.

I felt so bad for Henry when he realized he wasn’t going to make it back from the future. To know that John suffered thinking that his father abandoned him must have been devastating. And after reading his journal and realizing the kind of life John had, he must have felt as though he failed his son. He could have taught him things that would have made his life much less miserable. But instead John learned the hard way, like a hunter.

At first Henry was not pleased to find a family of hunters. He had a few choice words on the matter too.

Dean: “What do you have against us?”
Henry: “Aside from the unthinking, unwashed, shoot first and don’t bother to ask questions later part, not much really.”

Awkward. But he did eventually come around which I was grateful for.

Henry: “I should have known better. You’re also Winchesters. As long as we’re alive, there’s always hope.”

Did anyone else get chills from this line? I think I smell a t-shirt. I was sad that Henry had to die, but it was obvious from the beginning that he never made it back to John. And if you’re going to go out, might as well do it protecting your family. That is the Winchester way afterall.

Needless to say, I was very happy with this episode. I was worried at first because we’ve done the time travel thing before; a couple of times. And I loved those episodes so much that I worried we’d be risking it with a third attempt. But I was wrong. This episode proved that one concept can be reimagined in countless different ways without ever feeling stale. It certainly held my interest and offered new insight into Sam and Dean’s past and the ever-present idea of destiny.  

So what did you guys think of the episode? Were you as pleased as I was? Was it what you expected? Sound off below!

There were so many great lines and moments in this episode and I’m sure I missed a few so feel free to fill in the gaps!

Sam: “Tell you what, when one of us falls out of your closet you can ask the questions.”

I loved when Henry shook the handcuffs off of himself and put them on Sam and Dean. You gotta love some good old fashion magic!

Henry: “Guess the Mayans were wrong.”

Henry: “My alpha-male monkey friend.” Poor Dean...

Henry: “Demons can’t be killed by run-of-the-mill cutlery.”

Dean: “I’m a little rusty on my boybands, men of what?”

Henry: “Operator, I need delta 457.”
Dean: “Who are you not calling?”
This line literally made me laugh out loud. Great delivery by Jensen.

Dean checking out the goth chick? I didn’t know he was into that look.

Henry: “You boys ever exhume a body?”

I loved the incorporation of “As Time Goes By” from Casablanca. It was so sweet that John used to whistle the song from his music box and I loved that Sam and Dean recognized the tune as well.

The concept of the knights of Hell is a very interesting one. I wonder if Abadon was in fact the last one.

John used the journal that Henry ordered for himself. This warmed my heart.

Dean: “Your responsibility was to your family, not some glorified book club.”

Dean: “When my dad died, I couldn’t save him no matter how bad I wanted to. I don’t want that to happen to sammy ever. If there’s a chance that i can save him, I’m gonna do it. He’s my brother, he’s the only family I got.”

A devil’s trap carved into a bullet. Why didn’t I think of that?

Dean: “For a bookworm, that wasn’t bad Henry.”

Next week’s episode...all I got from that preview is that it involves a giant and some Nazis. Oh well, I like to be surprised!