Rock and a Hard Place (9x8)

Berly and LA dig into one of Season 9's most unexpectedly hilarious episodes, and yes, the title is exactly as suggestive as it sounds.

A string of disappearances leads the Winchesters to a church abstinence group, where Sam and Dean sign up as born-again virgins (for investigative purposes, obviously). Dean's group therapy monologue alone is worth the price of admission, and the ladies of the APU would agree. The monster of the week turns out to be a goddess with a thousand years of grudges, excellent taste in cardigans, and a very specific appetite.

Jody Mills is back and absolutely not here for anyone's nonsense. Sam's mysterious health situation gets harder to ignore. And Dean keeps almost telling the truth.

There's lore, there's gore, there's a fallout shelter, and there are some truly unfortunate fingernails. You'll know when you get there.

What did you think of this episode? Leave a comment, drop us a review wherever you listen, and come find us on Patreon. We'll see you next episode, jerk. (Bitch.)

Sources:

• https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Rock_and_a_Hard_Place
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesta_(mythology)
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vesta-Roman-goddess
• https://mythopedia.com/topics/vesta/
• https://allthingsvesta.com/vesta-today

Transcript

Berly 0:01

Welcome to Dina Wrapped Nightmares, a tipsy exchange podcast, where we explore the supernatural series episode by episode.

LA 0:10

Over drinks, we'll discuss the lore, the core, and what we adore about the Winchesters and their adventures.

Berly 0:17

I'm Burley, and I'm a new fan of the series.

LA 0:20

I'm LA, and I'm here along for the pride. Now let's get tipsy. Hello, LA. Hey Burley. On the last episode, it was titled Bad Boys. It turns out when Dean was a teen, when Dean was a teen.

Berly 0:35

Oh, you poet.

LA 0:38

He got caught stealing a good old PB and J and got sent to a boys' home run by a sweet and good-looking guy named Sonny. And had his whole little soft era: wrestling trophies, a crush named Robin, guitar lessons, the works. Fast forward to Sonny calling about a ghost, murdering people on the farm, so the brothers roll up to investigate. And surprise, it's a little orphan boy Timmy's dead mom going full over protective ghost mode and bodying anyone she thinks is a threat. Dean gives Timmy a pep talk and teaches him how to give a proper handshake, too. About telling his mom to let go. And it works. Mom peacefully moves on. And meanwhile, we learn Dean ditched his soft era for none other than little Sammy. Aw.

Berly 1:29

Of course. Well, today's episode is titled A Rock and a Hard Place. Get it?

LA 1:38

Yeah, and it's especially the way you said it.

Berly 1:41

Hard. It's the eighth episode of season nine and originally aired on November 26, 2013. We start the episode in Hartford, South Dakota. A waitress named Honor is locking up her diner for the night. She leaves a little to-go tray with a gentleman who's asleep on the sidewalk. I was like, what a sweetheart. She even knows his name. She says, you know, here you go, Slim. Good night, Slim. And she's just not getting good energy from this little short walk from the diner to her car. So she pulls out her tiny little taser. Hey. I think she had something. That might make someone piss themselves, you know? Yeah. But I don't think it's gonna do a lot more than that. And then she trips a little bit and drops it and it rolls under the car. So then she gets down on her hands and knees and is crawling under her Jeep to get it, and she hears footsteps approaching her, so she just wiggles her way completely under the car and is doing her little taser again. What's that gonna do for you, right there, honor?

LA 2:40

Uh like if anything, it's just gonna draw them to you.

Berly 2:42

Right? What you doing? Well then all of a sudden, it looked like a giant dude. It did. We find out by the end of the episode it was not. Those were long legs. But those were long legs and broad shoulders. Like that looked like a giant dude lifting up the Jeep. And then there's this blue fire that comes out and engulfs her, and then it's like supernatural. I was like, what the fuck? Like I rerounded, I watched it again, and I was like, oh, okay, it's gonna be dragons again. And I was like, of all the monsters that we haven't seen in more than one episode to date, dragons is what we're revisiting. Then we're in the bunker, the men's letter bunker, and Sammy's taking a little nap. His Cheerio bowl just wore him out.

LA 3:30

Like he was that tired.

Berly 3:31

He just needed to rust his eyes.

LA 3:33

It was too much to finish a bowl of cereal.

Berly 3:36

There's a lot of fiber in there, LA. Okay. It can be a lot on some people. Well, Dean comes in, and I'm thinking he's gonna be all concerned and like maybe put his hand on Sam's back and like, are you okay? I was like, no, he just drops his bowl on the table to wake him up. Like, hey, what's going on? Sam explains that he's just he's just sleepy. I'm just a little sleepy. I needed to rest my eyes. They start catching up, talking about Crowley and is he lying about the angel thing being irreversible? I'm getting too detailed.

LA 4:09

And Kevin.

Berly 4:10

What they say about it.

LA 4:11

He's got nothing. Kevin's got nothing.

Berly 4:15

Well, he's at Jack. That's the other thing.

LA 4:17

Didn't he say he's got Jack?

Berly 4:19

Well, anyway, a little dark. Phone rings and it's Jody. I was so happy to see Jodie. She didn't die on the bathroom floor. Thank goodness. She she found Jesus afterwards, though.

LA 4:31

She did. She went and found herself Jesus. Understandable.

Berly 4:34

Is Jesus gonna show in the show? Is he gonna show up in the show?

LA 4:38

I don't know. There's angels, so who knows?

Berly 4:40

I hope he's hot.

LA 4:41

Probably will be.

Berly 4:42

Yeah. Anyway, Judy lets them know about the scene at the diner, and they're like, uh, yeah, okay, that shit sounds weird. We're on our way. While they're catching up with Jody, she lets them know that she's a part of the church and that there have been some other victims, and they're all part of the same church. Not Jodie's church. Jody's part of a different church, but the victims, there's like four of them. They're all part of the same church, and all of them had something at the scene that demonstrated that there was some superhuman strength going on, like a window frame completely ripped off the wall, or I don't remember what the other ones are.

LA 5:18

I think that there was like a witness that said they saw a blue light.

Berly 5:21

Yeah, and the blue for one of them. They interview Slim and he tells them about the blue fire light. And so they're like, Okay, well, that rules out angels. And Jody, whenever she found out they were angels, and Dean's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't get excited. They're fucking dicks, okay?

LA 5:38

Yeah. I liked when he uh said he wouldn't peg Jody for churchy.

Berly 5:45

Right. And Jody's like, um, okay, well, after Bobby and my bl my uh blind date with Crowley.

LA 5:52

Yeah.

Berly 5:53

Yeah, I need I needed a little something.

LA 5:55

Can't blame her.

Berly 5:56

I needed a little bit of faith, you know?

LA 5:58

Also, this is not important, but that little Slim character had pretty blue eyes. They were gorgeous.

Berly 6:04

I agree. They were very pretty. So the Winchesters are like, all right, so our next stop, good faith church. This is where all the victims are from. This is the only thing connecting them. Let's go check it out.

LA 6:17

And they This was too funny, by the way.

Berly 6:19

Oh my god.

LA 6:20

I loved it.

Berly 6:23

So they meet with Bonnie. She's a ginger and she's an all-pink, and she's just the sweetest little thing. Or a little cardigan. She said.

LA 6:35

Oh my god, no.

Berly 6:38

That Sam and Dean are there to to join the church. And I was surprised they gave their real names. Yeah. But I was happy they did. Because as they're talking with Bonnie, they find out that there's actually an even more specific connection between all of the victims. They were all part of the APU. Abstinence purifies us.

LA 7:00

As soon as I uh she said that, I was like, oh, this is this is gonna be good. This should be interesting.

Berly 7:06

So Sam and Dean are just like, okay, well, we want to be in the APU. Sign us up. So she gets them forms and then they're reading it, and they're like, uh-oh, this says like that we're gonna honor our virginity and our chastity. And Dean's like, can't, what did he say? Can't un unsink that ship or something like that.

LA 7:25

Something like that, yeah. Unring that bell.

Berly 7:28

Unring that bell, yeah. Yeah, he's smiling real big, and Bonnie's just like, hmm. So she says, Well, I mean, just ask God for forgiveness and make a vow of chastity, and you're gonna be virgins again.

LA 7:40

This was like another scene where uh Jensen's facial Oh my god, the way he looked throughout this whole conversation was so funny.

Berly 7:49

I mean, he was not taking this case very seriously at all the entire time. It didn't seem like and you know what? I can't blame him. Yeah. Sometimes you gotta have fun when you're hunting for four missing people from Blue Fire.

LA 8:04

And like, like born-again virgins, okay. Not a thing, not a real thing.

Berly 8:10

Well, I don't know because they signed that paperwork, and Bonnie said, Sam and Dean Winchester, you're virgins. Right. Okay, they were thrilled. Sammy was really happy about it. I loved it at the end of the episode. Whenever Jody was like, we need blood of a virgin, and Sammy was like, I'm a virgin. I don't know. Jodi was just like, um, we might need the real thing. But he was so happy.

LA 8:41

He was really excited, he was like, so it's so simple. I'm right here. I'm right here. Right here.

Berly 8:48

Oh goodness.

LA 8:50

Which can you imagine? Because like when they need that kind of shit, it's always like a an ordeal to get it. So for once he's like, it's me.

Berly 8:58

I'm the answer. I can help. Fuck, man. Well, Honor, our poor victim that we saw at the beginning, she has found herself dropped in, I don't know if it was like a bunker or the boiler room or what this was. Oh, it's a fallout, it's a fallout shelter. That's what it says here.

LA 9:18

Oh, is that oh, oh, yeah, that makes sense.

Berly 9:20

Yeah, so yeah. So she's in there and she has found the three other victims. So there's the pastor and the engaged couple who got it on before their wedding day.

LA 9:34

Which that is that the pastor that honor got it on with?

Berly 9:37

I mean, she didn't seem to care very much whenever he was. Well, that's that's why I'm asking. The whoever it was. I assumed it wasn't, but maybe it was.

LA 9:48

She's a cold hearted person.

Berly 9:49

She's a cold bitch. She didn't give a shit.

LA 9:51

Just left him on the ground.

Berly 9:53

And then whenever he was gone, she's just like, well, fuck.

LA 9:56

We didn't see, yeah, you know, he's just gone. But I mean, first of all, it's one thing she was in this group and then she like went against it and lost her virginity, but to a pastor?

Berly 10:09

I mean, we didn't see what he looked like. Well, true. But well, yeah. And what's the but hang on, what's the age difference there? Right. Maybe, maybe we should be happy that the pastor got got.

LA 10:19

Oh, that's true.

Berly 10:20

You know?

LA 10:21

Anyway, I was just I I I I immediately was like, oh, that's the guy she, you know, did it with and her vows. I was like, oh, okay, well, and then he's just gone. Like she didn't care. I guess it wasn't good.

Berly 10:37

Well, they uh the APU is having their first meeting, and they have a silent prayer at the beginning for the four victims who are missing. The prayer group leader, her name is Susie, and Dean swears that he's seen her from somewhere. She's very pretty. She's gorgeous. But he's not he's not sure where, he can't quite figure it out. So while they're praying, he's just like looking at her, staring at her up and down, and Sam's like, Dean, stop. Oh my gosh. So they have their little group, and there's this one woman, Tammy, and she wants everybody following the same rules, and just you know, she's a real stickler kind of person. She has a poem that she wants to start the group off with, but Susie is like, oh, let's do that later. Like, let's hear from our new members first. So Sam goes first, and bless his fucking heart. He's like, Um, yeah, every woman I've been with, it didn't end well. Uh I thought it for a second he was going to say every woman I've been with has died.

LA 11:37

Oh yikes.

Berly 11:39

I mean, I mean, yeah, that's his track record so far at least. And uh, but whenever he just said it didn't end well, and then Dean was like, Yeah, he's not kidding.

LA 11:51

Dean was having such a good time. He was having a blast in this group, yeah.

Berly 11:55

And again, like I said, good for him. You gotta let off some steam every once in a while. So then they asked Dean why he's in the group, and he kind of talks about laments one night stands that there's always the audios afterwards. Hang on, what were you gonna say? I was just gonna say it was like the best explanation, you know, and everybody was getting hot and bothered by it. The girl having to cross and uncross her legs and the other girl crunching her paper, you know. You know, I don't foresee me auditioning for any acting roles anytime soon, right? Like I'm not an actress. But if I do, I think I'm gonna do this monologue.

LA 12:37

Oh, you would be great at that. You would you would be even better than him, I think. Honestly.

Berly 12:43

I mean, I he could have done it even better if he was trying to put some oomph in it, but that's the whole thing. He wasn't even trying to get the reaction out of the ladies that he was getting, he was just talking.

LA 12:54

He was just in the zone, he was in it, just really in the moment. Yeah. Oh, and I was watching it, my mom was here, and she was racking up at his little explanation. Like uh in fact, like though, ever ever since the APU was mentioned through this scene, like she was locked in. It was so funny.

Berly 13:18

And I loved, like, you know, after talking about everything building and my hands all over you, gripping, grinding up into this explosion. And then he ends it with, you know, it's just all a little too sticky. I was like, oh my god, I know, I know it was so good up until that point. Are you kidding me? That was I loved it. I loved how they ended the speech because he had to come up with something to make it be like, oh yeah, this is something I don't want to do anymore.

LA 13:48

Like, right, right.

Berly 13:49

The answer to that was sticky.

LA 13:51

But for me, I was like, but but his whole little spiel was so good. Oh I know he had to do that at the end, but it was like, oh man. It's like you did so good.

Berly 14:04

It cracked me up. I rewound and watched again. I won't lie, it was fucking hilarious. Well, at the end of the meeting, Sam takes on Tammy. Like at first, he's kind of talking to Bonnie, but then Bonnie gets pissy because she sees someone stealing a cookie. But Tammy over Cookies. Oh, it was multiple. Well, how dare they? You put them out for free, okay? You don't get to put them out for free and then decide that somebody's not allowed to take them because they aren't gonna shove them in their face right that second.

LA 14:35

Right. But I mean, she she did have a stack of them, I will say, but still, I don't know. They're there for them.

Berly 14:41

Calm down, Bonnie. Yeah. But anyway, while Bonnie was talking to Sam before she ran off to take care of the cookie thief, Tammy overheard Bonnie say that honor was her favorite.

LA 14:51

Ooh, that did not go well.

Berly 14:53

Did not go well. And that triggered in Tammy. I will share every piece of information that I have about everybody with you, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome. And Sammy was ready for it. He was like, Oh yeah, let's go. Give me the tea. This is the second episode in the in a row that Sammy got the tea. Oh yeah. Ruth told him, and now honor.

LA 15:14

I have to say another funny thing with my mom. I had told her about how uh Jared's like 6'4, 6'5, or whatever. And they were the this is ahead of where we are, but he's sitting at the table with Jody when they're like researching. Yeah.

Berly 15:28

And she's like, he is big. She saw his legs because they looked so long. She's like, Oh, he is a big guy. Did you show her your picture with him? She's seen it, yeah. Okay. Does she did she connect that that's him?

LA 15:42

No, I'll probably have to show her after this.

Berly 15:44

Show her again, show her again.

LA 15:46

Yeah.

Berly 15:47

All right, so Dean was talking to Susie during this whole conversation. And Susie lets Dean know that she has a bunch of books that really helped her with her chastity vow, but they're back at her place. And she'll go get them and be right back. She's like, it's just right around the corner. And Dean's like, there's a kidnapper on the loose. I would never let you go out there by yourself. Like, I will just come with you. So Dean lets Sam know that he's going with Susie back to her place while Sam continues talking to Tammy and finding out that Tammy thinks honor was a whore. Because Honor did not stick to her vow.

LA 16:27

You mean the sweet girl that gave the homeless man mood every night?

Berly 16:30

Yeah.

LA 16:31

I mean, come on.

Berly 16:32

Susie and Dean are at their place, and of course, first thing Susie does is start taking off her clothes. I I like I said, uh, really? Really? It was subtle. But then, you know, she's collect like starting to get books together, and because she took off her sweater, of course, Dean is thinking, oh, it's on. So he like lights a candle in the room and then comes around the corner of the couch, and Susie's on the couch crying. Good on Dean for reading the room. True. There are plenty of guys who I know that would not and still would have tried. Yeah. Yeah.

LA 17:10

But his face when he saw her crying and then he looked over at the candle that he had just lit and back again.

Berly 17:15

Like he was so confused. He was like, wait a minute, this is not going the way that I thought it was going to go. But he comforted her. He he and and without he was very good. Yeah. The finger quotes comforting, like not that bullshit. Like he literally sat there and listened to her and even prayed with her and all that kind of stuff. So good on him. He's he's come a long way, our Dean. He said some things in those first few seasons that were real creeper talk.

LA 17:42

Yeah, yeah.

Berly 17:43

So it's nice to see in action that that's that's an act, you know? So they're getting the books together, and then Dean happens to see in a drawer that's cracked open that there's some Casa Erotica DVDs in her drawer. Not only are there Casa Erotica DVDs in her drawer, but that is where Dean recognizes Susie from. She was the cover, yeah.

LA 18:10

She looked good. I had to tell my mom about his uh affinity for besty Asians.

Berly 18:15

Oh my god, bestie Asian funny. Did you see the scene that they filmed from the boys as their supernatural characters?

LA 18:22

Yes. I almost said it to you, but I was like, she's probably already seen it.

Berly 18:27

I couldn't believe it whenever they brought that up. I was like, oh my god.

LA 18:30

It was funny though.

Berly 18:31

Well, Sam is trying to get a hold of Dean this entire time, calling them over and over again. He's met up with Jody and they are doing some more research. Dean and Susie give in to their primal urges. Whenever he was like, I don't blame either of them. Right? Especially whenever he started like gushing over her, being like, oh my god, like you're phenomenal. You're amazing. Like, what did he say?

LA 18:58

He was like, oh god, I don't remember the first thing he said, but then he called her Carmelita.

Berly 19:03

Yeah, Carmelita has her name from it. And then he I did think it was very sweet whenever he was saying, you know, I've seen a lot of monstrous stuff, like the stuff of nightmares, but you, your good dreams. I was like, oh, that was actually very sweet.

LA 19:17

Like, what a cute way to say it. Like, what a cute way to say it. Uh and also that it's following porn, but just adorable somehow.

Berly 19:26

It was very cute. Whatever he was like, that stuff you did with tacos. And I'm just sitting here being like, oh, you know what I do with tacos? Indigestion. Sexy.

LA 19:42

Man, I don't know.

Berly 19:43

And I was like, is that a euphemism? What tacos is he talking about?

LA 19:47

That's what I was thinking, but I don't know.

Berly 19:52

Well, as he's talking and congratulating her and letting her know how much he admired her work and how much her work has meant to him. She, of course, can't help but be reminiscing and thinking, I kind of miss it. You know, like I wouldn't mind getting uh between a rock and a hard place right now. So yeah, they give in. We don't get to see it.

LA 20:18

I mean, she's like, you're just like, so yeah, she gets in.

Berly 20:21

We get to see them, we get to see them make out a little bit, but that's it. Sam and Jody are chit-chatting and researching.

LA 20:28

I like when he asked her, Are you born again? Born again virgin? And she's like, No, I don't, I don't make promises I can't keep. I was like, good for you.

Berly 20:36

Good for you, Jody. When they figure out that the victims all broke their vows, like they're exchanging more information because Jody had gone and interviewed like the parents of the engaged couple and these other people. So they're kind of comparing notes and like, okay, so honor was a little hussy, according to Tammy and the Purity Group. And then Jody's like, oh yeah, well, the engaged couple they fucked before their wedding, and the parents heard them.

LA 21:02

I liked the the uh explanation. She was like, What did it? It was like like groans and sex noises, and I can't remember what all was.

Berly 21:11

And then crying afterwards. Yes, yes, and the guy being like, It doesn't count. It doesn't count because it what how what was the time frame? Was it it wasn't 30 seconds? It was under 30 seconds, so it doesn't count. Oh my god. So they're like, Oh, okay, so it's not just virgins, it's virgins who've broken their vow. These naughty ones, and then Sam goes, Yeah, so Dean and Susie, it's been well over an hour. They aren't answering their phones. And Jody was like, Oh, yeah, okay, yeah, we should probably go go check on them. Well, sure enough, as Dean is leaving Susie's apartment and they're being very sweet with each other and they're in their audios see a layer kind of thing, blue flame comes crashing through the door, knocks them both out. By the time Sam and Jody get there, they're gone. Now, this This scene in the shelter is definitely going to be in our gore. It was the only gory, or I shouldn't say only gory, but the most gory thing. And I could not watch it. I was cringing so bad. I almost had to mute the TV. We see Honor and all the other victims in the Fallout shelter. And the the bride to be is just scraping her nails along the brick wall because they've been down there for several days now with no food or water. And she's just like, I'm so thirsty. I'm so thirsty. And it's like the noise, and then when her nails started lifting, and she looked at her fingers and they were all like rubbed raw and bleeding, and she started to find out.

LA 22:43

And then like the nails were all cracked. Yeah. Oh yeah. It was so nice.

Berly 22:48

I was like, why'd y'all do that to me?

LA 22:50

Yeah.

Berly 22:51

I could have had some sex scene, but you decided I needed to watch this instead.

LA 22:57

Yeah, I did not like that.

Berly 22:59

Did not like it. Well, Dean and Susie get thrown into the fallout shelter. Honor goes and checks them out and just kind of fills them in. Welcome, welcome to the team, guys. We're all here except for the pastor. We don't talk about him though, okay?

LA 23:16

Yeah, don't ask.

Berly 23:19

Dean is going around trying to figure out how to get out of there. The hubby to be is kind of getting to a panicking point and like trying to tell his wife, like, we'll just sacrifice honor whenever the guy comes back because she's got a busted leg. And Dean was like, Fuck you, it's a sprained ankle.

LA 23:36

I was wondering because he was looking at her real creepy. And I kept thinking, I was like, what is he thinking? They're gonna eat her? Like, what is it? But then that's when I was like, Oh.

Berly 23:45

I thought they were like trying to figure out, like, oh good. Yeah, who who I thought maybe I was like morbid for No, we just saw her scraping the wall and sucking her own blood because she was too thirsty. I totally thought they were thinking, like, who do we think we could murder? Right. That they were like losing it, you know? Yeah. Sam and Jody go back to their hotels and they're on the internet clicking around, trying to figure out stuff. And then Jody finally lands on some lore referencing virgins and fire, and she finds out about Vesta. And it says that like 30 virgins were dedicated to her every year, and if the virgins broke their vow of chastity, they would be buried underground alive and all this other stuff.

LA 24:32

And they had to take a vow of 30 years.

Berly 24:35

Oh, that yeah, that's what it was. Yeah, they had to take a vow of 30 years. I mean, that's a long time. I don't know. Men can be really disappointing.

LA 24:42

Well, I say that, and it's like, I could I'm on my way.

Berly 24:48

And they're like, okay, this is our monster. And that's when they figure out they need like a stake dipped in the blood of a virgin in order to take the monster out. And Sam thinks he's the answer. And then Jody's like, no, no, no, no. We're gonna go get the real thing. So then they go ask Tammy, and Tammy freaks out a little bit because, oh my god, I got pans. But Jody just clocks her and takes some blood off her nose and is like, we're good. Also, luckily, Dean found a spot in the fallout shelter where he got like just a tiny bit of signal. It kept cutting out. He couldn't really talk to Sam, but Sam did happen to hear a train in the background uh whenever it was cutting in and out. So those word problems in school that you're like, oh my God, I'll never need that. Sam Winchester just proved it wrong. He figured out like the horn and the miles per hour, and like did some math in his head really quickly, and then asked Jody, like, what's five miles out of this little town? I was like, oh my god, math world problems save save the day.

LA 25:52

That's that college education he got while he was there.

Berly 25:55

Mm-hmm. Look at that. Well, Jody's like, I mean, it's all past her, except for this one old abandoned farm. Like, let's go. That's gotta be where they're at. They get out there, and sure enough, they find them pretty quickly. They figure out that they need to be looking underground. So they find the door to the fallout shelter. But uh-oh, Vesta is there. And guess who Vesta is? Our cute little innocent pink toed Bonnie from the beginning. She did excellent with the voice switching thing. Oh, yeah. Her like Vesta voice was very oh. And then when she was like, I even got a sweater set, I was like, Oh, girl, I like you. And she liked her.

LA 26:33

It was such a good transition from like looking like Miss Purity and then with her hair back and all black. Like she it was good.

Berly 26:41

It was a nice touch. She wasn't in the episode very much, but just those like scenes where we got to see her in the church versus seeing her at the farm. It was really cool. And her whole monologue about I adapted and all that. I was like, this is a fun villain. This is fun. So she knocks out Sam.

LA 27:00

I I mean, I saw as it was happening, I was like, really?

Berly 27:03

How many knockouts has it been? Again. Maybe we should. If we ever do another rewatch of Supernatural, maybe we need to do Sam knockouts instead of blood splooges. Seriously, how many times he's flown and been knocked out? Let's make it a drinking game. My God. Poor Sammy. And uh, Vesta goes for Jody, and Jody's taunting her and basically like, Oh, yeah, like you're kind of pathetic. This is kind of stupid, and she she's getting her villain monog out, and she Jody accidentally gets stabbed. Um I was I thought she was banged. And at the end of the episode, she just like has her arm in a sling, and I was like, What about the giant puncture wound in her chest?

LA 27:44

I was like, Surely she has a collapsed lung or a punctured lung at the at something. Yeah, she needs to be.

Berly 27:50

Not our girl Jody. She just pulled that steak out and goes and saves Sammy.

LA 27:55

My mom was like, Don't pull it out. Don't pull it out.

Berly 27:58

That's what he said.

LA 28:04

But I mean, normally, don't pull it out, but in this sense, she saved the day with by pulling it out and stabbing the the stabbing the bonnie.

Berly 28:14

Stobbing the bonnie. She got to the bonnie. Well, before Jody gets to the Bonnie, Bonnie is going after Sammy, and she is just like, What's wrong with you? And poor Sam. Oh, I forgot about that. This is the second monster that has said this to him so far this season. So just like, what's wrong with you? She's like, your insides are being held together with staples and tape. Like you're fucked. And Sam is just sitting there being like, What? And then Jody stabs her and kills her. So he can't even ask her, like, what do you mean? Like, nothing. Oh, poor Sam. Like, what are you like? What is going through? I would be like, What the f what? And again, this poor little baby has already grown up his whole life feeling like he's a freak. And now two monsters. Two monsters have been like, What is up with you? What are you? What is wrong with you? What's wrong with you? I'm collecting people at a fallout shoutler and letting them get to where they're practically starving and to death and then eating their livers. But what's wrong with you? And like the disgust she was looking at him with. I know poor he's that poor baby. Well, Dean has figured out that he can unscrew some screws to the lid of the fallout shelter and gets all of them out of there. He pushes open the lid just in time for Jody and Sam to be like, Yeah, we took her out, we're good.

LA 29:32

I liked his MacGyver skills that Honor came over and brought him like little like a scissor something or other from the the first aid kit, and he's like, Oh yeah, let me just undo this screw with that MacGyver style.

Berly 29:44

Scissors would make more sense. I thought it was a keychain ring, and I was very confused why that was in a first aid kit.

LA 29:52

No, I think it was like the you know, it was scissors.

Berly 29:54

You're right, you're right, you're right. See, I was not as impressed because I've probably used things like a butter knife or my keys or something like that to undo screws more frequently than an actual screw. Okay. I'm real lazy, you know? I loved it at the end. Whenever Jody's saying goodbye to them, she's like, ow. And then as she's leaving, she goes to the motel room door and she goes, Don't worry, like I'll get don't get don't get the door for me or anything.

LA 30:23

I like that too. Because they're just standing there and she one arm in a sling, carrying her bag and the other arm, and she's like, Don't help me, guys.

Berly 30:33

Don't don't worry about me. Uh but I I I'm happy that Jody is alive. I hope that we get to see more of her. Um, Charlie's off in the Wizard of Oz. And uh I I like Jody the hunter uh coming coming in. It's it's nice to see her. So Sam and Dean are packing up and getting ready to go. And Sam is just lamenting that you know something's wrong with me. And you know, what if it's not just the trials? What if it's just me? You know, like I've kind of said, this whole I'm a freak of nature coming back, all of his insecurities coming back. And Dean, of course, feels awful about this, and finally gets to a point where he decides he's going to tell him, and then boom, Ezekiel pops up. He's like, nope, no, no, no, no, no. He is not ready. You do not want to do that. And so Dean backs up and just kind of tells Sam, whatever's going on, we're gonna figure it out, we'll get through it, we'll work it out. For Bonnie to be like, what's wrong with you?

LA 31:30

You're put together with like tape and whatever. Um, but then Ezekiel's like, we're almost there.

Berly 31:36

Mm-hmm.

LA 31:37

Like it's like, are we?

Berly 31:38

It doesn't seem like we're almost there, Zeke. It seems like maybe you're using Sam's vessel to get your own strength back, and that you aren't actually doing what you need to be doing up in there, which is what I was worried about.

LA 31:50

That threw me a little bit when he popped in and said that after what she said.

Berly 31:55

Dean was still in the fallout shelter. He didn't hear what Vesta said. And knowing how these boys are, I doubt that Sam is telling him verbatim what was said. Yeah, yeah. This was written by Jenny Klein and directed by Johnny McCarthy, Johnny Mack. He's normally the first AD, I think. So gore. Like I already said earlier in the recap, the fingernails.

LA 32:22

I totally forgot about that. So when I was going through the episode, I was like, well, man, no gore. It was just her bloody nose, but I totally forgot about the fingernails. It was so uncomfortable to me.

Berly 32:31

It was so uncomfortable, it was so awful. And like I said, you could have given me a little bit of sex scene. Right. I wanted to see what Dean could do with some tacos. You know what I'm saying?

LA 32:42

Oh my god.

Berly 32:44

But no, you give me fucking fingernails instead. Ugh. Ugh. Did you adore anything about this episode?

LA 32:53

I mean, like I said, the the stuff that whole monologue of Dean and the group was so good. It was perfect.

Berly 33:01

I liked the villain. I thought I thought it was a the normally, whatever they've done, the gods, it's kind of hit or miss, but this was fun. This was a little bit more fun, I felt like I would have liked to have seen more. Yeah, I wouldn't have mind having some more of her. Yeah. Interacting with some more people or what have you. So yeah, but yeah, definitely. I mean, the the chastity scene and the the them taking the vow, them in the group. Dean uh with Susie. I thought they had really cute chemistry as well. I enjoyed their scenes together. Yeah. And you know what? Honor. Good for her. I loved it. I loved it whenever she was in the um bunker thing, and they were just sitting there. At one point, she's just like spinning her chastity ring on the table. Fuck this nice.

LA 33:51

Right. Well, what about that lore? All right, well, we're gonna talk about Vesta. She is a Roman goddess, and not just any Roman goddess. She's one of the Big Twelve, the D.E. Consentes, which is basically the ancient Roman Avengers. She's the goddess of the hearth and home, symbolizing faith, family, and domestic order. And she was recognized as the purest of all Roman deities. Often simply called matur or mother, warm, nurturing the goddess next door. In the early Roman community, fire wasn't easy to come by. So the ever burning her heart the heart. I I never know if it's hearth or hearth.

Berly 34:37

I think it's like tomato tomato, like it doesn't matter.

LA 34:40

Okay. So the ever burning hearth fire was a huge deal, publicly and privately, which gave Vesta a prominent place in both family and state worship from the very beginning. She was in your house and running the government. She's a multitasking queen. Her temple in the Roman Forum housed the ignis eternum, a sacred eternal flame that would burn for as long as Rome prospered. If it went out at any time other than the official annual renewal of March 1st, it was considered a portent of disaster for all of Rome. Her priestesses, the Vestilas, were sworn to virginity under penalty of death and were the only ones permitted entry to the temple. Her enormous power over domestic tranquility meant that all prayers began and ended with devotions to her, first and last every single time. And she held on long after Rome's glory days, even after Christianity rose, the Vestalia remained the last public pagan festival still standing. When Theodosius finally shut it down in 391 CE, the public was genuinely upset. Over a thousand years of unbroken tradition just gone. You could see why she might have some feelings about that, which, as we just discussed in the episode, checks out. Now, what if Vesta were real today? Here's the thing. Some people would say she is. Modern devotees still honor Vesta by keeping a dedicated flame in their homes because the belief is that Vesta literally resides in the fire. She is the flame. Light a candle and she's there. But let's think bigger. If Vesta were operating in the modern world, she'd honestly be thriving. She's the goddess of home, hearth, family, and domestic order, which today looks like the person who makes every house feel like a home, who lights the candles, tends the space, holds everything together. The energy is everywhere. She was also patron of bakers and millers. So yes, Vesta would absolutely have a sourdough Instagram. Probably a very aesthetic one. Lots of warm candlelight, zero drama. That tracks because in mythology, she was famous famously the least dramatic deity in the entire panthenon. While her siblings were out starting wars and having affairs, they were having fun. Yeah, they were. Vesta was home, keeping the fire burning completely unbothered. The real Vesta was gentle, pure, and beloved, basically the opposite of how we just saw her portrayed. But honestly, the supernatural version does raise a fair question. What would happen to a goddess of devotion and purity when the world stops being devoted to her? Supernatural decided she wouldn't be an unbothered goddess, but a crashed-out, liver-eating prude. And to be honest, that's fair.

Berly 37:49

She said, I'd tell you boys to stay out of trouble. But what's the point? Cheers. Cheers. Thank you for listening to Denim Wrapped Nightmares.

LA 38:00

Follow us on Twitter or Instagram, leave a review, and let us know how we can get involved in the fandom. This was fun.

Berly 38:08

Jerk. It always is, bitch.