Supernatural Wiki

The Winchesters season 1 is currently streaming on The CW and HBO Max.

READ MORE

Supernatural Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Supernatural Wiki
618Frontierland

Frontierland is the 18th episode of Season 6. It aired on April 22nd, 2011.

Summary[]

Dean Purgatory Blade.png There was something about being there... It felt pure.

This episode summary is an official CW press release. It may contain errors.
DO NOT CHANGE!

While searching for a way to defeat Eve, Dean stumbles upon Samuel Colt's (guest star Sam Hennings) journal in the Campbell library. Realizing Samuel might have the answer to their problems, Sam and Dean ask Castiel to send them back in time so they can meet the man himself. While Sam is a bit reluctant to time travel, Dean is beside himself with excitement to return to the Wild, Wild West.

Plot[]

On Sam's hunch, he, Dean, and Bobby find the Campbell Family's library hidden under Samuel Colt's study. They search Samuel's books for a way to defeat Eve, and Bobby eventually finds a mention of a "Mother" that can be burned by phoenix ashes. Never having heard of a real phoenix, they continue to search until Dean finds Samuel Colt's journal. There is an entry under March 5, 1861, in which Samuel mentions shooting a phoenix in Sunrise, Wyoming, leaving a pile of smoldering ash. Dean is convinced that they need to go back in time to 1861 and gather the ashes so that they can defeat Eve.

Dean prays to Castiel, but another Angel shows up instead. She introduces herself as Rachel, Castiel's lieutenant, and she shows disdain for Sam and Dean. After a few moments, Castiel appears and dismisses her. They explain their plan to Castiel, and he agrees to send Dean and Sam back to March 4, 1861. He can only allow them 24 hours, though, or they will be trapped in the past.

Once they appear in Sunrise, Wyoming, Sam sets the timer on his watch for 24 hours. They walk into town and see a man, Elias Finch, about to be hanged in the town square. A judge reads him his sentence—apparently, Elias killed his wife—and then he is put to death. Sam and Dean are disturbed, but they follow the town's sheriff as he leaves the square and heads to the prison. There, they pose as law enforcement officers and question him about Samuel Colt, but he hasn't heard of him. He sends them to the saloon to question the owner—Mr. Elkins—who is an old man who apparently knows everything.

At the saloon, Dean starts to see that life in the Old West is less romantic than he thought: it's dirty, the whiskey is terrible, and the saloon women are less than healthy. Mr. Elkins tells them that Samuel passed through town about 4 years ago, but hasn't been back since. Rumors are that he's building a railroad stop about 20 miles away in the middle of nowhere, and Sam and Dean surmise that he's currently working on the giant Devil's Trap that surrounds the Devil's Gate in southern Wyoming.

As they're talking, a prostitute named Darla approaches and tries to seduce Dean, but the judge who read Elias his sentence—Tye Mortimer—shows up and takes her upstairs. Moments later, they hear her scream, and they rush up to find Judge Mortimer burned to ashes. Darla swears that it was Elias' ghost that killed him. The sheriff disputes that, pointing out that ghosts don't leave muddied bootprints on the floor. Thinking that they botched Elias' hanging, the sheriff declares his intent to rally a posse and string him up right this time. That night, after finding Elias' grave empty, Sam and Dean discuss the possibility that the phoenix isn't a bird at all, but the man, Elias, who wants revenge on the three men that killed him: Judge Mortimer, the sheriff, and the sheriff's deputy. They decide to split up, Dean staying behind to join the sheriff's posse and hunt down Elias, and Sam going to find Samuel.

Meanwhile, in the present time, Rachel confronts Castiel about what he's doing in order to beat Raphael. According to her, it's unacceptable what Castiel has become, and she pulls out an Angel Blade. She manages to pierce his flesh, but not kill him, and he pulls out his own Angel Blade and defeats her. Wounded, he travels to Bobby's house, puts an angel banishing sigil on the wall with his blood, and collapses.

In town the next morning, Dean shows up at the saloon, ready to form up a posse and go after Elias. Nobody shows up to join him, however, and soon the burned body of the sheriff is found. Mr. Elkins takes the star from the sheriff's body and pins it on Dean, congratulating him on his new position. After his promotion, Dean goes to find the deputy. The man is packing a suitcase, determined to escape "Elias' ghost," but Dean tells him that he won't be able to run forever and that he needs to play his part: as bait.

Meanwhile, Sam finds Samuel's cabin. Samuel has just used the Colt to kill two demons that wanted him to open the Devil's Gate, and he immediately splashes holy water on Sam to make sure that he isn't a demon as well. Sam tells him that he's a hunter from the year 2011, and that he needs Samuel's help. Samuel is skeptical, so Sam hands him his cell phone, a Blackberry, and Samuel is immediately convinced. Sam then tells him that—according to the copy of Samuel's journal he's carrying—Samuel kills a phoenix in three hours, and Sam needs the ashes to kill a monster he's hunting. Samuel tells him that he's no longer hunting and that he lost the gun gambling, but Sam knows that he's lying, and confronts him. Samuel eventually admits to having the gun, but tells him that no matter what his journal says, he's not going to be killing a phoenix. Sam realizes that he's going to have to kill the phoenix himself, and demands the gun.

In the present time, Castiel tells Bobby the truth: given his own injury, he won't be able to retrieve Sam and Dean from the past. The only way he can get enough power to save them is to touch Bobby's soul; the risk is that he might cause Bobby to explode.

Back in 1861, Dean locks the deputy in a cell, and when Elias shows up, he demands that Dean open the cell. Dean refuses and then tosses an iron nail at him. When Elias reflexively catches it, his hand burns, and Dean confronts him with the truth: as a monster, Elias is vulnerable to iron, which is why he couldn't escape his iron shackles before he was hung, and why now he can't open the cell that the deputy is in.

Elias realizes that Dean is a hunter, and so, in an attempt to win him over, tells him why he was put to death. Although a phoenix, Elias was married to a human woman that he loved. On a visit to town, she was assaulted by the deputy, and when Elias came across them, the deputy shot both him and his wife. Elias' wife died in his arms, but Elias was unable to die, so the deputy, the sheriff, and Judge Mortimer pinned his wife's murder on him and tried to put him to death. Elias states that seeing the trapped and scared deputy behind bars pleases him, and that he saved the best for the last. Moved by the story, Dean questions the deputy if it's true, which the latter nervously confirms with a shrug. Dean insults the deputy, but is still resolved to kill Elias, so Elias grabs a gun from a nearby holster and shoots the deputy through his cell bars. Dean jumps out of a window to escape Elias' gunfire, and is on the run when Sam appears with the Colt in hand.

In the future, Bobby puts a belt between his teeth and Castiel prepares to touch his soul...

Sam gives the Colt to Dean, and he goes into the town square and calls for Elias. It's a duel at high noon, and both men stand ready before drawing their weapons lightning-fast. Elias misses, but Dean hits him with a bullet from the Colt, killing him. They're almost at the 24-hour mark, as Sam reminds him, and Dean rushes forward to try gather Elias' ashes when Castiel suddenly pulls them back to the future. Back in Bobby's house, Dean stares at the empty bottle in his hand, stunned.

Bobby and Castiel are still recovering when the doorbell rings. Sam answers it to find a young man from a courier service. He has a package for "Sam Winchester." The young man is curious about the package because it's been around "forever" and was supposed to be delivered to Sam at this house specifically on this date. When Sam hears that the package is from Samuel Colt, he takes it and closes the door in the courier's face without signing for it. Back in Bobby's study, he opens the package while Dean, Castiel, and Bobby look on. First, he finds his cell phone—the Blackberry is dirty and cracked—and second, he finds a note from Samuel Colt. In it, he tells Sam that he found Sam's address and the current date from his "thingamajig," and that he thinks Sam will find the "enclosed" useful. Sam digs through the packaging and pulls out a glass bottle full of ashes: Samuel gathered the phoenix's ashes and delivered them to Sam from 150 years in the past.

Characters[]

Main Cast[]

Recurring Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Stars[]

Featured Supernatural Creatures[]

Continuity[]

Deaths[]

Trivia[]

  • This episode's antagonist is Elias Finch.
  • This episode was tentatively entitled "Gallows Pole" before being officially named "Frontierland". "Gallows Pole" is an old folk song whose most famous version is by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, one of Dean's favorites. Gallows Pole is also the name of a now-disbanded German power metal band, and an Austrian 70's hard rock band.
  • Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles (Sam and Dean's actors) repeatedly said at conventions that they always wanted to do a Western.
  • The time-travel in this episode is paradoxical, with Dean and Sam being the cause of the future that brought them to the past. (Even if Samuel Colt took the credit for it, Dean was still the one who killed the phoenix.)
    • The exact phrasing in the diary is that the "gun killed a phoenix" without stating who wielded the weapon. Sam and Dean simply assumed it had been Samuel Colt who fired the shot.
  • Samuel Colt told Sam that he wasn't ready to use the Colt yet, when the fact is that Sam had used it several times already (albeit, in respect to his own personal timeline, rather than the actual chronological timeline.
  • At the saloon, Sam and Dean ask the owner, Mr. Elkins, about the whereabouts of Samuel Colt. Later on the Colt would end up with Daniel Elkins, before a couple of vampires kill him for it, only to be killed by the Winchesters.

Cultural References[]

  • The final scene in the episode is a hats-off/tribute to the ending in the film Back to the Future Part III (1990).
  • Bobby says that he and Castiel can't leave Sam and Dean in Deadwood. Deadwood (2004-2006) was a Western TV series that Jim Beaver (Bobby's actor) acted in before Supernatural.
  • The opening title card for this episode resembles that of the opening title card of the Western TV series Bonanza (1959-1973).
  • When Dean—newly appointed as the town's sheriff—arrives at the sheriff deputy's cabin, Dean greets the deputy with "Candygram for Mongo." This is a quote from the Western film Blazing Saddles (1974), said by the sheriff.
  • Dean gave Sam the cover name "Walker." This is a reference to the title character Cordell Walker in the TV series Walker, Texas Ranger (1993-2001). Many of the stars who have appeared on Supernatural have made guest appearances on Walker. Jeffrey Dean Morgan (John Winchester's actor) also guest starred on that series, as Jake Horbart in the final season's episode Child of Hope, Steve Railsback, who played Joseph Welch in the pilot episode, played Jerry Lee Stark in the third season episode The Guardians, and Sam Hennings, who played Samuel Colt in this episode, played T.J. Brody in the seventh season premiere episode In Harm's Way, Pt. 2. Coincidentally, Jared Padalecki (Sam's actor) was later announced to play Cordell Walker in the series' CW reboot, Walker (2021-), which aired in January 2021.
  • Dean begins to say "Yippee-ki-yay, motherf–" This is an iconic quote from the film Die Hard (1988), said by Bruce Willis's character.

Quotes[]

  • Samuel Colt: "I'm either too drunk or not drunk enough."

  • Castiel: [looking at Dean's poncho] "Is it customary to wear a blanket?"
  • Dean "What are we looking for?"
  • Bobby: "Anything that'll put a run in the octomom's stockings."

  • Dean: "'Cause you know me, I'm a posse magnet. I mean, I love posse. [pause] Make that into a T-shirt."

  • Castiel: [about Bobby's soul] "I need you to let me touch it." 
  • Bobby: "Touch it?"

International Titles[]

  • Brazil: Terra de Fronteira (Frontier Land)
  • German: Sie leben mit dem Tod (They live with Death)
  • French: Les Mystères De L'Ouest (The Mysteries Of The West)
  • Hungarian: Az utolsó 24 óra (Last 24 hours)
  • Polish: Na szlaku (On the Trail)

External Links[]

Navigational[]

Advertisement