[S10E18] Book Of The Damned High Quality
When Charlie brings the "Book of the Damned" to Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean, the elder Winchester brother says that the book is tricking them. Each page of the book is made out of pieces of skin and is filled with spells that are written in blood. Dean says that although "Mark of Caine" is mentioned in the book, the spell comes with a price: "It wants me to use it; but not for good".
[S10E18] Book of the Damned
Dean asks his brother to destroy the book, before he does something awful, but from the promo it looks like the book is not destroyed in time. Dean is seen beating up quite a few people, including Sam.
Tropes present in this episode: Armor-Piercing Question: Metatron, of all people, gives one to Castiel.Metatron: If I'm gonna die, I want answers. Like, who are you now? Like, you're obviously not an angel of the lord. And what about all of this "walking the earth like Caine from Kung Fu" crap? Cleaning up heaven's messes. How many more rogue angels are there out there? And what are you gonna do once you're done with all that? Go back to Heaven? Please. The angel formerly known as Hannah has restored order up top. Smoothest it's run since God cut the ribbon on the pearly gates. So tell me, Castiel, truly, what is your mission now? Castiel: (Beat) You shut up and keep looking. Metatron: (sighs) Can't say I didn't try.
Chekhov's Gun: In season 9's Meta Fiction, Metatron becomes irritated when literal-thinking Castiel is unable to understand pop culture references and uses his angel powers to magically give Castiel an understanding of every book and movie Metatron has ever read or seen. This knowledge allows Castiel to solve Metatron's riddles leading to the location of Castiel's hidden grace, for which both angels were searching.
Deal with the Devil: Sam lies to Dean by telling him he destroyed the book, then brings it to Rowena and asks for her help curing the Mark.Rowena: Shall we discuss terms?
Human Resources: The book is made out of the skin and blood of the nun who wrote it, implied to give it its dark powers.
Internal Reveal: Sam is surprised to learn from Dean that Rowena is Crowley's mother, something the audience has known almost from the beginning.
Mundanger: The Styne family who reclaims the book are just human. Averted in the B-plot where Castiel faces angel Metatron.
Musical Spoiler: When the first notes of The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes" start playing as Sam, Dean, Charlie and Castiel are about to enjoy a lighthearted meal together, you know that something's up.
Shout-Out: Metatron loves the Alanis Morissette song "Ironic", which Castiel shuts off before it begins on the radio. Later Metatron gets a chance to quote it.Metatron: "Swam all this way just to drown in shallow waters. Isn't It Ironic? Don't you think?" Also ironic, is Alanis played God in Dogma.
Charlie calls Jacob Styne "Gambit" because of his accent.
Castiel finds his grace inside ''DonQuixote.
SimulacraAndSimulation is apparently one of Metatron's favorite books.
The Book of the Damned is a shout out to the Necronomicon from The Evil Dead with the whole "pages made of skin and inked in blood".
Southern-Fried Genius: Occultist and assassin Jacob Styne is an evil version.
Sam asks Lucifer, "Well, lets say you gank her. Then what?" Lucifer replies, "I dont know, move to LA and solve crimes?" This is a reference to the new TV series called Lucifer, based on a character from Neil Gaiman's comic "The Sandman," in which Lucifer takes a vacation from hell and helps cops solve crimes. Billie is also reading a Neil Gaiman book.
When Castiel materializes at the address Dean asked him to come to, Billie the Reaper is reading the Neil Gaiman comic book "Death: The Time of Your Life". It is a spin off of "The Sandman" comic series, dealing with the anthropomorphic personifications of metaphysical entities. The character of Death in this comic series has the task of collecting and escorting those who have died, a task that Reapers similarly perform. In this particular comic volume, a mother strikes a deal with Death to save the life of her son. The bargain is that Death will return at a later date, and the mother will have to take the place of her son by dying. This is ironically similar to the deals that have been made (or attempted) to various Crossroads Demons by Sam and Dean over the course of the series.
Supernatural season 9 also saw Dean become afflicted with the Mark of Cain, a powerful curse that turns him into something of a bloodthirsty killer. The Mark is so powerful it's almost impossible to get off, but hope arrives in the form of Charlie (Felicia Day) in season 10 when she uncovers the Book of the Damned. This spellbook was written by a nun named Agnes and - seemingly in homage to the Evil Dead's Necronomicon - made the pages of the Book of the Damned from her own flesh and blood and based it off visions she received.
As Charlie explains, the Book of the Damned is said to have a spell for pretty much anything, so it could be used to remove the Mark of Cain. The book is littered with useful spells like resurrecting the dead or traveling back in time and is said to have passed from different churches and cults over the centuries. While the book does eventually lead to the Mark of Cain being removed from Dean, this later leads to more problems for the Winchester duo on Supernatural. Being in possession of it also makes them and Charlie targets for other interested parties. 041b061a72