#[I can only hope the spell was interrupted/reverse because of what Collector did

[sepublic]

Watching and Dreaming Trailer!!!

Oh my god. OH MY TITAN.

OKAY OKAY!!! Lemme analyze in as close to a chronological order as possible…

We start right off where For the Future ended, with the Collector attacking our found family of Luz, her friends, and Camila! We also see that Luz finally gets to reunite with Eda and King, only to be interrupted by an angry Collector, who is being particularly freakish!

We see Gus and Willow in their regular outfits inside a room with a bunch of puppets, including Amelia and Terra, the Bard teacher, etc.! So it seems that Luz goes off to reunite with Eda and King, while her friends and possibly Camila access the puppets, possibly finding a way to free them! Speaking of…

Lilith has been turned into a puppet! So I imagine the Collector sends his spies to where Eda, Lilith, and King are, causing her to be transformed. It’s not the first time she’s become a puppet, so perhaps King and Eda relay the knowledge of how to undo becoming a puppet, which must’ve been utilized on Lilith during the timeskip!

LUZ IS DRESSED LIKE BELOS?! And at his castle?! She mentions something about ‘waking up’ so I think it’s a dreamscape…? We see her look through an old photo and even a nightmare version of the Conformatorium, likely calling back to the first episode! It’s all coming full circle…

RAINE AND BELOS MIND BATTLE!!! Belos sheds off even more of himself to hold back Raine as he crawls to his throne room…

Okay. A part of me thinks it’s a dream, but another part of me think it’s real life, and Belos is using the giant heart in the throne room, which the trailer reminds us of, to… Well, we see a shot of Eda and King outside, surrounded by a dark-green ‘coral’ that resembles hands and has Belos eyes. I’ll be frank, I think Belos is using the heart and he’s planning to possess it, because it’s the Titan’s heart; Thereby infecting the entire Boiling Isles with himself!

He remarks as Raine how things will be ‘easier’ than he thought while holding a lone star… Could just be a set piece symbolic of his hold over the Collector, but what if that IS the Collector? What if we start with the Collector attacking our protagonists, they incapacitate and talk them down, just for Belos to attack from behind and take their power! And then flee to his castle to possess the Titan’s heart?

So if it IS real life, why does Amity advise Luz wake up from a ‘dream’? Why is Luz dressed like Belos? Are they in HIS mindscape, in the Titan’s? Did Belos use the Collector’s reality-manipulating powers to dress Luz as his heir and protege, to hammer in his insistence on their parallels? 

We see Bump, Derwin, Morton, Boscha, and Mattholomule petrified, right below the bridge leading to Belos’ castle. God I hope this can be reversed with the Collector’s power, or maybe it is a part of a nightmare sequence. Maybe it’s part of an elaborate illusion Belos has laid over the place, reflecting Luz’s worst fears back at her, not unlike what Gus did in Labyrinth Runners to Adrian and even Hunter!

And the puppet strings, around Luz’s friends? Reset to their old selves, almost mocking their attempt to grow? Saying they’ll never change, which particularly hurts given Willow’s recent arc no less? And Luz uses Light, her signature spell, her first one that started it all, presumably to defeat Belos!

I think the story goes as… Collector VS Luz, Eda, and King. The kids go off to the puppet room and free everyone, probably running into Odalia since she’s a loose thread. The Collector is talked down, but at a vulnerable moment Belos jumps in to take their power. He then flees to his castle, planning to possess the isles itself with this power, our protagonists follow chase.

Belos casts a powerful fear illusion (lowkey a jab at Gus for doing the same to him in King’s Tide), and tries to infect the heart but Raine fights back; The puppet effect was reversed but they’re still possessed, or at least partially. Eda and King also navigate a nightmare labyrinth, and Luz eventually fights back after Amity encourages her, before she and the others are pulled off by I guess Belos? 

Oh god. Oh Titan. Oh Titan oh fuck we’re screwed. And we still have to talk about the dude in the in-between! Luz seems to be entering it, possibly her establishing a portal with King’s help, which might lead to finding this dude, either a Titan or Titan Trapper, and freeing him! It’s all coming together, it’s all full circle and I see why it’s called Watching and Dreaming now…!

[vicsmusehub]

[ WHAT IN THE FUCKING TAP DANCING CHRIST WAS THAT?! DANA IF YOU KILLED RAINE AND LILITH I SWEAR TO GOD!! ]

[shirtlesssammy]

13x08: The Scorpion and the Frog

Then: 

A bunch of stuff happened. This is just a pretty picture of Dean. You’re welcome.

Now:

Cambridge, England

7:45 on a Friday

A dodgy acting woman enters a museum and proceeds to make her way to a vault in the basement.

She tries entering a room with a passcode, but doesn’t seem to have the right code, so she goes in the old fashioned way --busting it open. Man, pilates really does work. She grabs what she came for, but not before getting caught by a security guard. It appears our thief is a demon and she smokes out to possess the guard.

Once outside, if the smoke possession didn’t convince us hijinks were in action, the strategic light across the eyes and billowing night fog should really tip us off. Another dodgy demon meets the security guard and takes the mysterious documents. The security guard wonders how Asmodeus will reward them --with an angel blade to the heart, my friend. Then demon #2, let’s call him Barthamus, calls Dean! On speed dial.

At the bunker, stressed-out Dean is over cleaning his gun, when Sam walks into the kitchen. Sam’s got no news on Ketch, no news on Jack, and -get this- is the one talking to Cas. I love the speculations out there that say Asmodeus has to talk to Sam because Dean would know in a second.

Anyway, Dean gets his call from Barthamus, where Bart indicates he has info on Jack. They should meet him at Smile Diner.

On the way to the diner, Dean clarifies his stance on the meeting. “You know, after Crowley, I told myself no more demons.” Lololol, this is a gem of a statement. Yes Dean, we know you had your Summer of Love with Crowley, and that you did extraordinary things to triplets together. Let those demons go.

Once at the diner, Bart tries kissing up to the brothers by offering Dean pie and calling Sam the smart one.

He also has a spell to track Jack. He tells them he’ll be in touch and takes off. Dean eats the pie. Sam does research, and finds out the spell checks out. Dean’s reluctant, but Sam convinces him to work with Bart.

They meet up with Bart and his associates, Smash -a safecracker extraordinaire- and Grab-a demon who can bypass supernatural security.

“What is this, a heist? Hold up...is this a heist?” Yep.

Their target is Luther Shrike, a collector of supernatural objects, who has a trunk of Bart’s. Bart would get it himself, but he needs the blood of someone who’s been to Hell and back: Dean. At first I was confused since both brothers have been to hell and back, but a nice Twitter exchange with Meredith Glynn, the writer for this episode, makes it clear why it had to be Dean.

Bart makes it clear to the brothers that if they don’t take his deal, he’ll contact Asmodeus. The brothers take the deal. Shrike will never see them coming!

Shrike, getting a visit from one of Asmodeus’s minions, sees them coming.

The night of the great heist, Sam pulls up to Shrike’s house in the Impala (Dean and Smash hidden in the backseat). Uh, way to go undercover dudes? Don’t tell me the Impala isn’t instantly recognizable by anyone related to the supernatural.

Dean and Smash head their separate way from Sam, who heads to the main house to talk with Shrike.

While working on a Grab summoning spell, Dean and Smash bond over Jolt Nerve Damage.  It’s like she’s the little sister he never wanted. Once Grab arrives, he tells Dean that the vault is cloaked, but Dean is a vault compass, and with a simple spell his arm is leading the way.

Back inside, Shrike pours Sam a glass of homemade gin while they talk over his collection. Judging by Sam’s face it’s DELISH. He shows Sam his prized “fang of basilisk.” Sam picks it up… Great. Yes. Get your finger oils all over priceless artifacts, Sam. Though Sam correctly identifies it as a gorgon tooth...so I’ll overlook it. So will Shrike, as it turns out. He asks to see what Sam brought from his family collection. Sam opens the box and OH MY GOD it’s Ruby’s blade. I mean. Maybe this is less precious in a world full of angel blades but DUDE. The stakes are suddenly raised.

Meanwhile, Dean is still trapped in the comic relief portion of the evening, walking around with his dowsing-rod-arm leading the way to the vault.

They find the vault hidden in a cellar and after some cajoling, Dean leads Smash down to find the safe. First they’ve got to get through the blood-hungry door.

Up in the house, Sam starts to wrap up the deal with Shrike. Clearly nervous because he’s been far less of a distraction than he’d hoped to be, Sam agrees to whatever the terms of payment he can get. Shrike pulls out a big stack of money, then says, “We both know you’re not really here for this.” Sam tries to play dumb and Shrike picks up the demon killing knife and attacks Sam. The knife gets knocked away YES but Shrike picks up a shotgun NO. Sam knifes Shrike but it does nothing. “As long as I’m on my property I can’t die.” He picks up the fossilized gorgon tooth and knocks Sam out.

Back with adorable comic-relief-Dean, he faces down the Most Perilous Peril. He’s got to stick his hand in the stone mouth on the door. His hand gets pinned by some seriously cool machinery and Dean gets his blood sugar test done, satisfying the door that he’s human.

Wounded only by a finger prick and the scorn of a young woman, Dean leads the way inside the vault.

Inside is an Indiana Jones level booby trapped hall with trigger plates set into the floor that set off poisonous darts. (I’m just going to sit for a minute and picture Wanek’s face when he got the script.) Dean Bean being the bestest in all the land sees the dart fly in slow motion towards Smash. He pulls her back just in time.

So this turns out to be a little hitch and they pause to ponder the problem. Grab shouts down to the clubhouse to check on their progress, when Shrike sneaks up on him and kills him with the demon blade. There goes one chess piece. Shrike surprises them in the vault and Smash knees him and races past him to the door. Nicely done, lady! Good survival skills, there. Dean Bean’s left alone with Shrike. “Awesome.”

Señor Sweatervest confronts Dean and it’s a regular gun v. knife-wielding-immortal fight, Dean firing fruitlessly into his chest until Sam interrupts. (Interrupting Sam to the rescue!) Sam drops that Shrike’s immortal and Dean punches his lights out. “Good thing he’s got a glass jaw,” Dean says. RIGHT???? <3

After the commercial break we cut back to the Winchesters and Shrike. They’ve tied him to a post and ordered him to help them...and then they’ll let him go. Shrike’s not willing to help them crack the riddle.

Smash (aka Alice) races for the gate where Bart’s waiting. She begs to do another job - any other job - rather than go back and face certain death in the vault. He’s unwilling to renegotiate her deal, however. Aw, she made a deal with the King of the Crossroads. :(

Back at the vault the Winchesters scratch their heads over the puzzle. Dean proposes just...flying by the seat of their pants. Sam’s shocked. SHOCKED.

“These aren’t like the lasers in Entrapment,” Sam protests. Hmmm. HMMM.

“Did you just say Entrapment?” Dean asks, glad to catch Sam enjoying pop culture like the rest of us. Sam hatches an idea.

They load up Shrike in a cart and push him right through the middle of his booby trapped hall. He makes the whole run and soaks up all the poisoned darts. Good job, kids. Sam and Dean ponder the safe when Smash shows up. She’s ready to finish the job and stay alive and outta Hell. She pulls out a stethoscope and cracks the safe in less than a minute. 

The Winchesters grab the trunk and head out the door where they discover that Shrike’s gone missing. “Who cares? Let’s blow this pop stand.” They load up the Impala and head for the hills. On the road they’re confronted by Shrike in a anger-red pickup. Dean does some fancy reverse driving while Sam shoots out the tires.

Shrike tells them they’re working for pure evil and they learn his story. Shrike sold his soul to save his son but his son died from an accident a few years later. When the hounds came to collect, he made a new deal. He’d located Bart’s bones and threatened to burn them if the hounds ever came for him again. “You’re on the wrong side,” he tells them and before we can fall into too much introspection a machete slices Shrike’s head clean off. It’s Bart! Man, he’s good at sneaking up on people.

“You never should have left the house,” Bart tells a now quite dead Shrike.

Bart pays Alice then pulls out the second half of the spell for the Winchesters. Sam and Dean decide to renege on the deal...and Bart grabs Alice. He threatens to snap her neck before he goes up in flames. Reluctantly they hand over the trunk to Bart. Bart sends Alice to pick up his trunk and she apologizes to them.

“You gotta take care of you, right?” Dean asks, his EYES TELLING A WHOLE OTHER STORY. There’s a lighter in the bones… Alice understands Dean’s woo woo mystical eye language and lights the bones on fire. Alice is saved but the spell goes up with Bart (no thanks to Sam’s roundly mocked fire-putting-out skills).

Cut to a bus station. Alice thanks the Winchesters, tells them she’ll see them around, and heads for the bus. “Hey Alice,” Dean says. “Stay weird.” <3 <3 <3

Back at the bunker the Winchesters debrief and decompress. Dean’s looking on the positive side of life these days and consoles Sam. They saved someone, they’ll figure out another way to find Jack, and the world will keep on truckin’.

En-Quote-Ment:

Hell Street, Hell Avenue, just Hell really.

“The famous Winchesters!” “Some random demon.”

You’re a real pain in the pitchfork. And the halo.

Twinsies.

I’ve seen this movie a thousand times.

Hey Winona. Nineties called. They want their shoes back.

This is all on you, hand puppet.

There was supposed to be a safe and not some dollar store Indiana Jones crap.

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