Supernatural S01E05

Supernatural: The Remington Files
GM
Lisa
Air Time
Intermittent
Next Episode
Season 4, Episode 1
(November 2011)
Characters
Team Remington Scott Remington · Marcus Remington Amanda Grey A Dose of Doctors Dr. Alexander Airy · Dr. Richard Magnum The X-Files Ciaran Brennan · Jon Clarke Razik Ericson
Supporting Characters
Áine Ni Seachnasaigh Gabriel, aka Loki
Deceased Characters
Archangel Raphael
Episodes
Episode Guide · Synchronizing Serials
Resources
Contacts · Lore Index John Remington's Journal Aunt Agatha's Book Supernatural Ritual Compendium Roman Rite 1999 English Edition

Episode 5: Hell Hounds On My Trail

In apologies for Marcus having to go with Dr. Airy to the proctology conference, Scott took him and Amanda to fulfill Marcus' lifelong dream of seeing a race at the Brickyard in Indianapolis. After the race, they got lost looking for gas and wound up on a dirt road when a man hit their windshield. The man, a geeky looking guy named Alan Mills, was being chased by a large biker dude with Hell's Angels leathers on... and who happened to be shooting lightening out of his fingertips "like Emperor Palpatine." Scott swung the Cuda around, Marcus manned a shotgun, and Amanda opened a back door to pull the hapless geek in the car. The hunters quickly surmised that Alan had sold his soul and was being pursued and decided distance was the best route. Driving in shifts, they set off for Salt Lake City.

En route, Alan explained that he sold his soul to rescue his Silicon Valley business after the .com bust in 1996. Most contracts are good for ten years, and he's been on the run from the demons since 2006 when they started coming to collect. He's taken out a few and thinks he knows a way to contain the demon chasing him so that it can be exorcised, if the hunters are willing to help. Having performed a containment ritual on the hunter eidolon, they felt pretty confident that they could hole up, lay some devil's traps, and let the demon come to them.

The group checked in to a Mormon run motel (crosses over the beds, illuminated like the Temple itself, no Magic Fingers!) to hunker down for the night. They laid salt and blessed the water sprinklers and started researching items needed for the containment ritual. Scott looked up cemeteries for some needed grave dirt, and churches for Marcus to stock up on holy water. Right as he did so, there was a crash as the Hell's Angel from Hell burst through the window and tumbled to the ground, going straight for Alan.

The demon attempted to push Scott up against a wall to be out of the way on his path to Alan but only succeeded in knocking him back a few steps. Alan went flat, low crawling under the beds to get out of the way and to the door. Marcus got up and held a lighter up to the sprinklers to get them to tun on, and Amanda, face to face with the demon, stepped forward with her athame. Scott dove for the shotgun and the biker demon used a stun gun on Amanda, who recovered and cut the wires with her athame. A few shots of rock salt later, and Amanda getting hit with electricity like Luke Skywalker in ROtJ, and some splashes of the the blessed pipe water, Scott began to read an exorcism while Marcus used his fists. Unfortunately, he knocked the demon out of the biker dude with huge sparks of electricity instead of black fog. before Scott could finish the exorcism, leaving an unconscious and big man... who fell over on Alan. Marcus went to help get him off of Alan to see a brief flicker of black eyes... from Alan.

Marcus quickly asked a stunned Alan to get some salt out of the Cuda and tossed him his keys. With him safely out of the room, he explained what he saw and the trio drew a devil's trap using Amanda's lipstick in the bathroom, covered it with a rug, and concocted a plan to lure Alan in to the trap, question, and probably exorcise him. Just as they were finishing, they heard a car start - the Cuda!

The brothers rushed out after Alan while Amanda pointed a knife at and then comforted the battered biker. Marcus jumped on the car as Alan tried to pull away but couldn't hang on. Scott jumped on the conveniently left chopper of the biker with equally conveniently left keys in the ignition. He stopped to let Marcus hop on and they chased down the stolen car. The chase ended with the car swerving and blowing out the front right tire - something both Alan and the demon would later claim was unintentional, like the car did it on it's own.

The brothers pulled the demon/Alan out of the car. Marcus kicked him around while Scott held the shotgun. The demon took it like a man, saying he deserved it, apologized for taking the car, and said Alan's highly attuned flight responses (must've been teased bad as a kid!) had kicked in beyond his control. Even better, he would gladly go back with them to answer their questions.

In questioning, they learned the demon's name to be Raum, he was a demonic bounty hunter, after an escaped soul- the one who came out of the biker. The soul belonged to a Chinese General ("General Kim Chee? General Kim Jong Mao? General Dim Sum?") who was going by "a better name" these days for all the rape, pillage, and torture he let his armies commit back in the Han (or was it Tang?) dynasty. He was a nasty sonofabitch and even worse now. He borrowed Alan for his hacking skills to track down the Chinese general, but was, in turn, caught with his pants down by being in such a weak and vulnerable host. He said he was willing to grant a favor to the boys, so long as it was in his power, for their help in catching and exorcising the big bad electric boogie. Heck, the guy was powerful enough to will his way into a salted room. He should go back into the Pit. Raum promised to leave Alan as soon as it was done with no trouble. Well, the boys were at least able to agree to the first part of taking out General Mu Shu, but left open the terms on the offered deal for doing it.

Meanwhile, Amanda and the biker, who really was a Hell's Angel and a CPA named Bill Coogan, convinced the authorities that a kid strung out on PCP had bust through the window and run off after attacking the girl and her brothers with a stun gun. Bill saw it on his bike and came to help. The boys had gone to chase him down while Bill stayed to help Amanda. They bought it, cleared out the place eventually as the boys, with the demon, returned to the scene. The motel moved them to a room upstairs and Bill left Amanda his card, telling her he owed them a favor for getting the demon out of him.

The Remingtons explained the situation to Amanda, and Raum asked if anyone knew a way to help divine where the demon general might have run off to find a new vessel and recover. Amanda volunteered her skills, on the condition that they rest the night. The boys took turns on watch while the demon read through the motel room's copy of the Book of Mormon for the lolz. In the morning, Amanda performed a ritual to tap into her clairvoyance and saw that the demon was hiding out in the body of a trucker near a run down circus out on the salt flats near the lake. A little internet research showed the circus remnants of a set that was abandoned for a B horror movie called "Carnival of Souls" and the location near a now popular music pavilion that was once abandoned and also used in the film. Amanda comments that it would be great to put a devil's trap over the whole thing, which sparks an idea in the boys. The boys ask Raum/Alan if Alan has a lot of money at his disposal and concoct a plan to rig a devil's trap under a helicopter and fly over the demon. Megaphones are purchased. Raum expresses worry that it won't tip the demon off, so the boys ask him (as Alan) to hire the pilot to do some flybys over the area before they attach the devil's trap to get him accustomed to its presence. Marcus, Scott, and Raum convince the pilot that they are bounty hunters.

The unlikely allies fly out again to the old circus set. Amanda identified a maintenance shed as the location where the demon was hiding and she and Scott get out and hid around the corner of a fun house. To lure the demon out, Raum takes the megaphone in the chopper, hands a set of Amanda's ear plugs to Marcus and tells him to use them under his headset. The demon speaks into the microphone with a sound akin to electric static that makes Scott's ears bleed down on the ground. Amanda seems less effected, and spots their mark come out into the open with a shotgun. Raum explains that he was using the infernal language of hell to call the demon out, and with a cry of "He's armed and dangerous!" Marcus leans out with his rifle and ordered the pilot to fly directly over their mark.

The trick works. The demon is caught in the devil's trap and is dragged along the salty dirt as the helicopter flies overhead; the demon can only try to electrocute the helicopter in a weak attempt to throw it off or crash it to give him an opportunity to will his way out of the trap. Scott and Amanda get on their megaphone and start reading the exorcism. Marcus whips out a copy and gets on the megaphone Raum used to help as well. Before long, blinding electric sparks fly out of the trucker and dissipate into the clouds; the demon was exorcised.

Up in the helicopter, Raum pats Marcus on the shoulder, gives him his thanks and says he owes him one, anytime for getting that demon off HIS trail, but he's "got a flight to catch." Black fog starts to pour out... and then goes right back in as, well, he's over the devil's trap under the helicopter. Oops. Realizing they've been played, again, Marcus springs into action. It turns into a battle of wills as Marcus begins to re-recite the exorcism. He calls on the megaphone for aid, but they only get about 3/4 of the way through before Raum says, "I'm an Earl of Hell, but nice try, kid." The demon wills his way out of Alan and out of the devil's trap, leaving in a cloud of familiar black smoke.

Eventually Alan shakes it off and offers the trio both his thanks and anything he could do to help them out, apologizing for getting them involved. Amanda, sensing a theme, asks him for his card, and ups the owed favors to three. Alan drops them back off at the Cuda and takes off in the helicopter, wishing them well, and saying he's happy since he has his wife back now - whether dead or estranged, this was the favor he got for helping Raum.

A little post event research showed the mysterious electric demon as being a tsayid, a kind of demonic bounty hunter who are none too bright but are dogged in pursuit of their mark. Generally they won't hurt others unless they stand in their way. Those that do become future marks. The word tsayid comes from the Hebrew for "hunter," similar to the Arabic name the hunters remember: Sayyad.

According to the 1583 Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, Raum is indeed an earle of hell, was of the order of thrones (i.e. a fallen angel), knows things past, present, and to come, is loyal like none other to his host vessel (a change for a demon) and when not destroying cities, reconciles friends and foes. Interesting guy. The 1904 Goetia also gives his symbol, so by giving his name, he gave the trio his business card too.

In a cut seen at the end, Raum is seen possessing an art dealer and flying to Cabo. He had his next escape entirely planned.