John declared: “This ends now. I’m ending it. I don’t care what it takes.” And, to quote another badass warrior, almost every word in that sentence is wrong.
Pre-show notes
Oh, John, you beautiful, badass bastard.
Salvation was the episode where I fell hopelessly in love with John Winchester. It’s his smart strategy, walking into what he knows is a trap, but so well prepared. It’s his joy in the hunt. And before that, the heartbreak of losing old friends.
The other half of the story – following Sam and Dean in their attempt to save a woman destined to die like Mary and Jessica, is in some ways more significant. Certainly for the ongoing saga,
Episode notes
The episode starts with a recap of every significant event in the season. Man, that music takes me back!
Next we are in Minnesota, where Meg walks into a church and starts a conversation with the priest before revealing herself as a demon and cutting his throat. There are a couple of things that stand out for me. Pastor Jim says “Salvation was created for sinners.” There’s an obvious irony in speaking words of salvation to a demon, but this is a principle that’s going to matter a lot in later seasons. Let’s put a pin in it for now.
Here’s the other exchange that matters: realising Meg is a demon, Pastor Jim says she can’t be on holy ground. Meg replies, “Maybe that works in the minor leagues, but not with me.” The idea that there are ranks of demons, with different abilities or powers is hardly new, but it’s the first time we’ve encountered it in Supernatural. It’s going to be important.
We’re back in Colorado, where John is finally coming clean with his sons about his search for the demon that killed their mother. He has uncovered a trail of similar fires, all centred around a six-month-old child. Sam, of course, instantly makes the connection and is taking a bit too much of the blame on himself. John’s taking on his share of undeserved blame, too: “I’ve never gotten there in time to save…” he tells them, finally revealing that he’s been trying to get ahead of the demon, to get to a victim before they die. It makes sense – that’s pretty much the only way he’s going to get his hands on the demon itself, but there’s more here. This isn’t just about killing the demon. John truly wants to save those unknown victims. He’s uncovered a pattern of signs that crop up about a week before one of these fires. And they are beginning again, in Salvation, Iowa.
As they reach the town, John gets a call telling him about Pastor Jim’s death. John’s first response is anger, a depth of fury that says a lot about their relationship, even if they haven’t spoken for a while. But he cuts that off, turning his focus to the hunt. But as he turns back to his truck, we see how deeply the news has affected him. This was someone John cared about, and it’s at least crossing his mind that Jim was murdered because of John’s hunt. We can see he feels the weight of it. There’s no bargaining in John’s stages of grief, though: just a cold determination to get the job done.
“This ends now. I’m ending it. I don’t care what it takes.”
John
It affects Sam and Dean, too – we see the boys both shocked and upset by the news.
Now we get to see John employ the same tricks Sam and Dean do on a hunt. He’s visiting a hospital, and has a fake ID all ready, identifying him as some kind of medical professional. Dean and Sam are also investigating. Sam has completed his assignment and as he leaves the building he has a vision of a woman in a child’s nursery. Following the clues from his vision, he locates the house and sure enough there’s a woman with a baby. He introduces himself as a new neighbour and learns that the baby, Rosie, is exactly six months old. The news affects Sam deeply – naturally – but he can’t warn her without sounding crazy. The vision returns and it conveniently includes a clock which stops as the demon appears.
Sam has no choice but to tell his father about his visions. John is pissed off that Dean didn’t tell him about this sooner, and Dean protests that John hasn’t exactly been picking up his phone. Nonetheless, they now know exactly when and where the demon is going to be.
They are interrupted by Sam’s phone ringing. I’m a bit surprised Sam answers it, given how important this hunt is to all of them, but he does, and of course it’s Meg. She demands to speak to John, She reveals that she killed Jim, and now she’s with another of his friends, Caleb. She wants the Colt. When John denies knowing anything about it, she kills Caleb, and threatens to continue killing his friends, unless he hands over the Colt.
John agrees, and Meg gives him a very tight deadline and a place to meet. She tells him to come alone, which is the universal bad-guy code for this is a trap. Not that John hasn’t figured that out anyway. John has been willing to risk lives in the past – we know he used his own kids as bait at least once – but this is different. Maybe it’s the difference between risk and certainty, or maybe John is just getting to the end of his endurance. Maybe both. But he’s going to do what he can to stop Meg’s killing spree. He’s going to walk into her trap.
The brothers, of course, are less than keen on this plan. John will take an antique Colt to the meet and hope Meg doesn’t know what the real Colt looks like. He says he only needs to fool her for a few hours, and it’s Sam to catches on: John is walking into the trap so his sons can go after the demon.
“I want to stop losing people we love. I want you to go to school. I want Dean to have a home. I want Mary alive. I just…I just want this to be over.”
John
John doesn’t want much, really, but it’s the order in which he puts the wishes that breaks my heart. The first three are at least possible. John knows he can’t have Mary alive, and at this point I think he knows the fight will never be over. It will end for him, but he’s leaving it to his sons.
Their parting has a very fatalistic tone. John thinks his boys are going to die confronting the demon. Dean, at least, thinks John is going to get himself killed fighting Meg.
Now this is it. This is why I love John. Despite the impossible deadline, John reaches the warehouse early. He has time to plan. He finds a water tower and blesses the water, dropping a rosary in there for good measure, kinda like a holy tea bag. He’s checked the passageways and knows his exit routes before Meg shows up.
Meanwhile, the brothers are waiting outside Monica’s home, and Sam is doing the goodbye speech. It’s cheesy and Dean calls him on it.
Meg’s brought backup. John puts on a show of reluctance, the hands over the fake gun. She hands it to her backup, who promptly shoots Meg. It’s not going to kill her. John insists he never tested it, and it’s the real thing. But he’s only buying a little time. When he runs for it, all that pre-planning works for him. And you can see how much fun he’s having. That smile when the holy water stops Meg in her tracks – that’s pure joy. And it’s just a glimpse of why John has such a towering reputation.
Dean is trying to call John, who isn’t answering his phone – again. But there’s no time to dwell on it because the car fills with static, lights flicker. The demon is coming. The brothers head into the house. Naturally the homeowner thinks they are burglars or worse, and their presence is what sends Monica into the nursery, where she finds the demon standing over the crib. Sam bursts in with the Colt, but the demon vanishes as he pulls the trigger. They get Monica and the baby out as the crib bursts into flames.
John thinks he’s safe, but no such luck.
Back at the motel, Dean is still trying to call John. Sam is pissed off that he didn’t get to kill the demon. Dean is talking some sense into him: they all want to kill the demon, but the mission isn’t worth their lives. Revenge isn’t worth it.
“The three of us – that’s all we have. And it’s all I have.”
Dean
That’s the core of who Dean is. Despite their earlier goodbye, he’s not prepared to lose his family. Dean tries John’s phone again, and this time it’s Meg who answers. She tells him he will never see John again.
Let’s talk about demon ranks
Ars Goetia, the third book of The Key of Solomon names 72 demons who were captured and controlled by Solomon, and thus can be summoned by lesser magicians following his direction. The demons are ranked by power: Kings, Princes, Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Knights and Presidents (and below that, a host of regular demons not relevant in Ars Goetia). Other sources include other ranks. Note Kings is plural: Satan is a king, not The king of Hell (according to Solomon, at least).
So, let’s say that the demon the brothers encountered in Phantom Traveler was of relatively low rank. It makes sense: that demon was essentially following the same pattern over and over, like a ritual. Holy water caused it pain and Sam was able to exorcise the demon even though the circumstances weren’t exactly ideal. Meg must rank above that because she could walk comfortably on holy ground. Her short-lived brother would have to be her equal or perhaps higher in rank since Meg deferred to him. Holy water affects them both.
We are going to meet other demons over the seasons more powerful than Meg. I don’t recall the ranks ever being clearly defined in Supernatural canon – though they may have been after I stopped watching. But for now, since the Key of Solomon is canon, I’m going with that. So somewhere between Knight, which I’m presuming is Meg’s rank, and King, the various holy weapons available to hunters – holy water, exorcism, blessed objects – cease to be effective. But the whole point of the Key of Solomon is to provide the spells and sigils that can compel even the Kings, if the magician is powerful enough. So my working theory is the key variable, other than power, is age. It makes sense that something which predates Christianity would be unaffected by Christian weapons.
Demon signs
John says he had found a pattern of signs that show up just before one of these nursery fires. In this episode, it makes perfect sense: the demon is powerful, so signs would logically show up when it makes an appearance. John, we already know, is something of a master at putting together a pattern of events over months or even decades. So this would be something he could track.
Except it doesn’t make sense in hindsight. We are going to learn that there are a lot more “special children” than there were fires, and that the demon visited all of them. So why are there signs only where there are fires? If there are signs at every place where the demon visited a child, there would be too many for John to discern the pattern.
And why were those same signs in Palo Alto when Jessica died – there was no child, and (we will learn in season five) it wasn’t the same demon who killed her.
So it doesn’t add up.
Dean
Dean’s man pain gets quite irritating in later seasons, but in season one it’s new and heartbreaking. The Winchester men are nearing the end of a hunt they have effectively been working on for 22 years. John seems content that he may not survive the fight, as long as he can take the demon down with him. Sam is almost eager to throw away his life for the cause. Dean is the one who sees the other side of that recklessness and is terrified of losing the people he loves.
Time to talk about Wincest…
Supernatural fandom was somewhat notorious for its slash fiction. It’s taboo enough to “slash” two male characters, but two male characters who are brothers, or father and son – for many in fandom at the time, this wasn’t acceptable. And yet the show itself makes it a possibility because these men do have a messed up relationship, their lives are built on transgression, and in moments like this episode, where Dean actually says out loud what he’s feeling, it’s not that hard to squint and see the love that dare not speak its name. Not everyone will squint that way. I was a slash fan long before Supernatural, but I didn’t slash the Winchesters until this episode. This was where I saw it in Dean and Sam.
In Devil’s Trap, I saw in my beloved John.
