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Jus In Bello is the 12th episode of Season 3. It premiered on February 21st, 2008.

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!

Sam and Dean break into Bela's apartment in order to get the Colt back, but she has tipped off Agent Henriksen (guest star Charles Malik Whitfield) about their whereabouts and they are arrested. While Sam and Dean are locked in a cell in Colorado, a demon breaks in and kills some of the sheriff's men and possesses Henriksen. After the guys vanquish the demon, the FBI agent realizes they were telling the truth and prepares to release them, but Ruby shows up to warn Sam and Dean that the jailhouse is surrounded by a band of demons with a powerful new leader who wants Sam dead.

Plot[]

On the trail of Bela to retrieve the stolen Colt, Sam and Dean track her to Monument, Colorado, only to find her motel room empty. Answering the room phone, Dean finds Bela on the other end of the line - already "two states away" and indicating that she has set them up. Moments later, local police storm into the room accompanied by Special Agent Victor Henriksen - Sam and Dean are taken into custody to the local sheriff's office.

WantedBello

Wanted posters at the police station.

Henriksen makes sure that the barely-staffed small office is equipped as effectively as possible for the Winchesters, keen to not allow them to escape again. He phones FBI Deputy Director Steven Groves, who insists on sending in a chopper to expedite them. Sam and Dean are placed in a small holding cell and Henriksen comes to speak with them, bantering with Dean before telling them that they will be taken to a maximum security prison in Nevada and kept there until trial, and that this is probably the last time Sam and Dean will see each other ever again.

ExGrovesBello

Sam exorcises the demon from Groves after it shot Dean.

Groves arrives with the chopper and insists Henriksen fill out a copious amount of paperwork. He visits Sam and Dean in the holding cell, and reveals that he is in fact possessed when he shoots Dean in the shoulder. Sam fights him off and begins an exorcism, which is cut short when the demon vacates the host. Henriksen and others, alerted by the noise, rush in to discover Groves is dead on the floor - but are confused by the lack of blood, and have no choice but to believe that Sam and Dean did not shoot him, though they still do not believe the Winchesters' explanation - that he was possessed.

Reidy1Bello

Agent Reidy discovers the casualties.

FBI agent Calvin Reidy goes outside to find out what's happened to the rest of the officers in the chopper, only to discover that they are all dead - throats slashed. The chopper explodes and Reidy is killed by another demon possessing one of the fallen officers.

Reidy2Bello

Reidy becomes a casualty.

Panicking, the local sheriff wants to go outside and fight, but Henriksen realizes that they are under siege and convinces them to all stay inside and barricade the doors. All communications with the outside world are down, and soon the electricity goes off also. All that remain inside are Nancy Fitzgerald (the secretary), Sheriff Melvin Dodd, Deputy Phil Amici, Henriksen, Sam and Dean.

Meanwhile, Sam attempts to patch up Dean's bullet wound. Henriksen comes to the cell and confronts them, assuming that the siege is being carried out by their allies, and unwilling to believe otherwise. Shortly after Henriksen leaves, Nancy comes to the cell. Sam manages to convince her to bring them a clean towel to dress Dean's wound; when she hands it over, Sam grabs her wrist and steals the rosary from it.

Later, the sheriff unlocks the cell and comes in - he is keen to get everyone out of the station and to safety. A possessed Henriksen interrupts, though, killing the sheriff. Sam and Dean manage to get a hold of the demon and exorcise Henriksen, using holy water made in the toilet with the aid of Nancy's rosary.

HenrExBello

Sam exorcises a demon from Henriksen after it shot the sheriff.

Following the exorcism, Henriksen believes Sam and Dean, and releases them so they can help fight off the demons outside. They put salt barriers up on the doors and windows, and Sam paints devil's traps at key entry points. Meanwhile, Nancy patches up Dean's gunshot wound. Dean goes to retrieve more weaponry from the trunk of the Impala, making it inside again just in time before a hoard of demons descends upon the building. Unable to get inside, the demons possess the locals - about thirty of them - and stand around outside the building.

Inside, Dean passes out protective charms that will prevent the others from being possessed. Sam and Dean reveal that they don't need the charms themselves as they both have matching tattoos of it, on the left side of their chests. While they wait and arm up inside, Dean and Henriksen discuss their respective lives and find they have much in common.

Ruby shows up, able to get in through a salt line damaged unwittingly by the deputy. She tells them that the demons are from Lilith, Sam's demonic rival from "the west," and tries to convince Sam that the solution is a spell she knows that will "vaporize" all demons within radius - including herself. However the spell requires the sacrifice of a virgin. Nancy volunteers but Dean is vehemently against the plan, convincing Sam instead that they need to just open the doors and fight off the hoard themselves. Exasperated, Ruby leaves.

Dean's plan is carried out successfully - Dean, Sam, and Henriksen fight the demons inside while Nancy and the deputy bar the doors behind them again, trapping the demons inside - but not before one demon escapes. An exorcism pre-recorded by Sam then plays over the office's PA, sending the demons back to hell.

In the aftermath, Henriksen promises Sam and Dean that he'll lie about what happened and say they were killed in the initial chopper explosion in order to get the law off their backs. Pleased with the outcome, Sam and Dean leave. Not long after, Lilith arrives at the sheriff's office in the form of a young girl, looking for Sam and Dean. She destroys the building and kills everyone in it - including Nancy and Henriksen. Sam and Dean later find out about it when Ruby turns up at their motel room and tells them to turn on the television, again rebuking them for not behaving appropriately under the jus in bello - i.e. "laws of war." The episode ends.

Characters[]

Main Cast[]

Recurring Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Stars[]

Featured Supernatural Beings[]

Trivia[]

  • Coincidentally, the plot of this episode is very similar to the 2010 film Legion in which the Archangel Michael comes to Earth to fight against hordes of angel-possessed people in a diner. A strange coincidence is that Adrianne Palicki starred in both Supernatural and Legion.
  • This episode marks the first time in the series that one of the brothers has performed an exorcism from memory without reading the words from a source. Dean attempted to do so in Sin City but could not recall the words.
  • When the demons were exorcised, they gathered in the ceiling of the police station and exploded, as opposed to going to Hell as was seen in other exorcisms. This effect has never been seen before or since.
  • The scene mentioned above with Dean and Agent Henriksen is a reference to the Bob Marley song "I Shot The Sheriff."
  • This episode marks the first appearance of Lilith although she appears briefly in the second season finale as demon smoke.
  • The title of the episode refers to a legal term meaning "law of war," which concerns acceptable justifications for going into a war and acceptable wartime conduct.
  • This is the only episode of Season 3 to feature all four main cast members.
  • Aimee Garcia's character, Nancy Fitzgerald, is a religious employee of police who is afraid of the Devil because she believes in his existence. Ironically, after almost 9 years, Aimee Garcia will again play a religious woman who will work for the police and deal with the Devil in another popular fantasy series, Lucifer.

Goofs[]

  • Despite the power being out at the time, the PA system still works to broadcast the exorcism.

Deaths[]

Quotes[]

  • Agent Henriksen: You know what I'm trying to decide?
  • Dean: I don't know, what, whether Cialis will help you with your little condition?

  • Agent Henriksen: I've got a lot to celebrate, seeing you two in chains.
  • Dean: You kinky son of a bitch, we don't swing that way.



  • Dean: I'm not gonna let that demon kill some nice, sweet innocent girl who hasn't even been laid!

  • Ruby: Nice try. You're not a virgin.
  • Dean: Nobody's a virgin.

Gallery[]

International Titles[]

  • German: Kriegsrecht (Martial Law)
  • Brazil: Terror na Delegacia (Terror At The Police Station)
  • Hungarian: Démonok márpedig vannak (Demons Surely Exist)
  • French: Jus In Bello
  • Polish: Prawo wojny (The Law of War)

External Links[]

Navigational[]

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