Supernatural S01E03

Write up In progress

A fellow Hunter in West Virginia, firebrand Lilah Walker, invites the Hunters over for a low-key celebration - think a weekend of brews, barbecue, and bragging - to welcome back her husband Staff Sergeant Blake Walker home from Iraq. Blake joined after 9/11 when he was 19, but though he's had terrible deployments, felt duty-bound to commit and stay in. Now he's out for good, honorable discharge and all that.

When they arrive, Lilah and her bloodhound Pandora welcome them. The Walker home overlooks the valley and river. Blake complains of a headache and wants to rest up for the evening, but not before scrutinizing the new arrivals. Pandora seems loving to everyone except Blake. Everyone is eager to catch up, though. Lilah conscripts everyone into helping gather up supplies for the weekend to get the house quiet for a bit, leading to a big stop at the local Bullseye.

At the Bullseye, the Hunters meet a trio of local "big game" hunters: Brent McCutcheon, Stu Tygart, and Caleb Parker. They are worried about Brent's cousin Jasper Largent who has gone missing. Brent is humble enough to ask for help and know that something strange is afoot. Stu is mostly quiet, although he cares deeply about Jasper. Caleb, on the other hand, is immediately distrustful of the Hunter's outside opinions, made worse when seeing they are with Lilah, as Caleb (a bad seed) likely killed a cougar and Lilah works for the state's wildlife service. Jasper, as a group leader, usually kept him in check, but it's all in dissarray.

Later, Lilah's party goes off without a hitch, with local friends over to have a good time, and plenty of mingling opportunities. Blake is present, but not very sociable, but opens up about his military experiences with some of the Hunters in the kitchen. He starts with joining after 9/11, and then eventually gets to the big troubling event.

Blake found himself and his squad assigned to an unmapped area of desert about 25 miles south of the mining village of Akashat. Blake and his men came upon a structure they assumed was a dusty old mosque, but it looked like a pre-Islamic structure and didn't even have additional decoration common to Islamic architecture, like writing or minarets for the call to prayer. Usually, this would begin with gaining entrance peacefully and talking to the locals with an interpreter, but a man at the door informed them that they were trespassing on holy ground. The remoteness and unfamiliarity demanded it be called in, and Blake received orders to gather intel and a threat level for whatever was there. His command believed it was no mosque, should be cleared, and did not benefit from any protections. The people inside, a mix of Iraqi and non-Iraqi individuals, fought long and hard. Blake thought their actions seemed almost desperate to protect the temple. When night fell and the dust settled, the zealots and most of Blake's squad were dead. After the skirmish, those still alive found the name "Abu Sayyad" on the walls of the building.

While Blake was given a Distinguished service medal, he was plagued by survivor's guilt ever since. After his own injuries were healed, he was transferred to the Green Zone in Baghdad, but it was clear his time in the Army was up.

Blake refrains from sharing that he had a medical discharge. He also fails to mention some details of what was found inside. He seems a little better for the talk, but still complains of headaches and retires earlier than all of the other revelers.

Meanwhile, other Hunters ask party-goers about Jasper, for any leads on his disappearance. This brings them the attentions of Shirley MicGivern, a blonde cougar who flirts heavily with them. Shirley and Jasper had been intimate. Jasper is recalled fondly. She shares that he is a widower, and lives alone in a cabin at a nearby lake, Pinnacle Lake.

Thanks to the craziness of the night, Leslie O’Dowd, an older woman, antique store owner, thinks Amanda is pregnant and Ciaran is the father. Daisy Weston, one of the girls Scott slept with after Lilah’s party, also thinks Amanda is preggers and Marcus is the baby-daddy.

The next morning, the Hunters and Lilah go out for brunch at a local spot, Ned's Waffle Haus. Over breakfast, they learn about the disappearance of Caleb from a worried Brent. Caleb had been eager to go out to where Jasper had intended to go, even though it was approaching night, and didn't want to wait for morning to find him. Brent and Stu pleaded with him not to so that they could all go together at dawn, but they haven't seen him and his calls were not picking up.

First going to Jasper's cabin, the Hunters find that he had been collecting articles and clippings about strange goings on locally, like he was a budding Hunter about to uncover something. He hand-drew several maps of the lake area and circled a location in red ink.

Heading into the woods North of Milton, they find Caleb's Jeep and the gruesome remains of Jasper. His body is in a fire pit, but strange writing has been carved into a nearby stump. The Hunters recognize it as an ancient script but need to look up later at the house with good internet connection.

They figure that it roughly translates to "father" and "hunt." Lilah, meanwhile, comes up from the basement with a lore book, but shows that pages are missing. The only person who could have gone in there was Blake. Blake, it turns out, is also missing. On a gut instinct, the Hunters look up a translation for the Arabic place name from Blake's story, learning that it translates to "father of hunters."

This is confirmed in a talk with Tad Hogan, one of the men Blake's platoon. With the cat out of the bag, he admits that the people there were protecting something secret and terrible, willing to die for it. He explains that Blake wasn't the same after that day.

Lilah starts to fray a bit, with the prospect of possibly having to hunt her own husband. The Hunters dig into lore, looking for shadow possessions and any hope of getting it out of Blake. They come across the Ancient Greek idea of an eidolon, a shadow counterpart of the self. The eidolon from Abu Sayyad is the eidolon of the hunt, a killer that can only live in a vessel that is also a killer and will sacrifice killers to it for power. In John Remington's journal, the Hunters find information on eidolons, and removing one requires a new vessel for it to inhabit, ie another living host that matches its nature. by ritually branding the new vessel, it can be forced to stay in that vessel. They learn of a way to make containment boxes, similar to ones for cursed items. They also learn of a ritual way to keep from being possessed, by having blood-ritually consecrated communion in their mouth.

A hard debate ensues on what or who that vessel would be. The hunters worry about using themselves, or the dog Pandora, or Caleb, per Lilah's suggestion in a flash of momentary vengeance. Either way, Pandora is the secret for tracking and finding Blake and Caleb.

Caleb's phone is left in a clearing set as a trap against them. Fortunately, they detect the mine attached and save it. They find a great overlook spot with a tent and Caleb tied to a camp chair. In front is a big sacrificial pit. Stepping into the clearing provokes gunfire from above, as Blake/Abu Sayyad was in wait. Attacking Blake forces the eidolon out of Blake, and he tries several of them before Caleb, a weak of willpower sort of guy. While straining at his bonds, Lilah goes for him, but it is now an act - the Hunters reveal a prepared an elaborate box made especially for Abu Sayyad. They conduct the ritual, including rotating who is speaking to keep from being possessed, and force Abu Sayyad into the box.

Blake is relieved and thankful to be free, but knows he'll take time to recover. Lilah is eternally in the Hunters' debt for finding a way to save her husband from the eidolon. Pandora is a good dog.

Caleb Parker, now a firm believer of the supernatural, is scared onto the Straight and Narrow Trait.

Supernatural S01E03

Navigation menu

Search