The Winchester Brothers are at it again! Episode 12 is here and ready to rock and roll! So, what kind of interesting case do Sam and Dean bring you today?
Episode 12 takes a dive into the deep end of the spectrum. The episode starts off with Dean running into a house. He and Sam are focused on saving two kids from a monster. Dean, unfortunately, gets electrocuted quite badly. He ends up in the hospital and is told he had a month at most to live. Sam starts to panic about how to help Dean. Eventually, his search to find a healer for his brother leads Sam to a man named Roy Le Grange. A blind, religious man who is a self-proclaimed faith healer.
Sam convinces Dean to go with him to the faith healer. Dean reveals that he’s not one of those people who likes going to church every Sunday. In fact, he shows a great reluctance to go even up to the faith healer when the man calls him up. Regardless, Dean goes up and is “healed”. Not before he sees a strange creature as he falls to the floor Roy’s hands on his head. Even stranger Dean seems to be the only person who sees it.
So, the brothers do some investigating. They find out that Le Grange’s healing abilities are not all their cracked out to be. Le Grange’s wife has leashed a reaper to do her bidding. What happens is the reaper steals the life of anyone Le Grange’s wife deems unimportant. Once the life is stolen, it’s given to whoever Roy is “healing” and allows them to live instead. It’s a transfer of life.
What makes this episode interesting is the questions it brings up. Dean faces his mortality, and, in fact, is perfectly fine with it. He’s willing to walk to stagger to his grave with a huge grin on his face. While Sam and Dean are trying to break the spell, Dean also faces a huge dilemma. He meets a beautiful young woman he takes an immediate liking to. The mother of the woman is mad Dean was healed before her daughter was. It turns out the daughter has an inoperable brain tumor. Mother and daughter have attended every service given by Roy Le Grange just so the daughter can receive her healing.
It makes it even harder for Dean because he doesn’t believe in God or a higher power. He feels as if the world has been completely abandoned. While the episode is not too heavy on the action, the emotions brought up in this episode are very sensitive issues.
The brothers do end up defeating the wife by breaking the spell. The reaper steals her life before disappearing. Dean then meets with the daughter one final time. He tells her he doesn’t believe in God, but she’ll pray for her. It’s a bittersweet ending that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Dean and Sam can’t justify the reaper stealing life, but Dean also feels guilty for not being able to let the reaper steal life one more time so the daughter can live.
It’s a tough call for the Winchester brothers. This episode just goes to prove that the life of a hunter is not always glamorous. Even when the brothers do save the day, they don’t always come out on top as the winners.