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Stairway to Heaven is the 22nd episode of Season 9. It aired on May 13, 2014.

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!

After a massive attack on the angels, Castiel calls Sam and Dean for help. As they leave, Dean's eagerness to bring the First Blade doesn't go unnoticed by Sam who is worried about the cost to his brother whenever he uses the Blade. Meanwhile, Castiel is shocked when he learns the angel that caused the attack was one of his followers and did it in his name. Dean discovers there is a conspiracy amongst Castiel's angel followers and at the heart of it is Tessa, the Reaper.

Plot[]

In an ice cream shop, in Dixon, Missouri, a child is scorned for eating a huge sundae when she proclaims that she is an angel. Then, another angel, Oren, walks in, and the shop explodes.

Sam is sleeping in his room when Dean wakes him up with loud music on his cell phone. Sam jumps up, gun in hand, and questions Dean. Dean claims to not be tired and says they have work to do. As Dean packs up weapons in the library, Sam joins him. Dean tells Sam that he talked to Castiel who says something is happening in Missouri. The Boys decide to go help, and when Dean picks up the First Blade, a concerned Sam insists that they leave it behind. After some argument, Dean agrees.

The Boys arrive at the ice cream shop where they meet up with Castiel. He fills them in on what he has found so far: six dead humans and one dead angel.

Metatron is in his library, trying on a trench coat, when Gadreel enters. Gadreel says Metatron is losing and Castiel's followers are growing. Metratron questions Gadreel's loyalty, but Gadreel insists that he serves Metatron and Heaven. Then, Metatron decides he needs to end the Castiel love fest. He has a plan.

Sam and Dean meet Hannah, Castiel's right hand angel, who tells Castiel that Josiah, another angel, is missing and that they believe him to be the mole. Since angels no longer have wings, there should be a trail, and the Boys go into research mode. Sam quickly tracks down Josiah's location on a computer. Meanwhile, another angel has found a video of the ice cream shop incident which shows Oren exposing the Enochian symbol carved into his chest, proclaiming he was doing this in Castiel's name, and knifing himself with an angel blade which causes the explosion.

After watching the video, Dean demands answers from Castiel, in front of Castiel' army. Sam insists they move somewhere private where Sam requests that they work the case. Dean wants Castiel to stay out of it, but Castiel wants to help. They decide that Dean will follow up on the suicide bomber, and Sam and Castiel will find Josiah.

Metatron meets Tyrus, a leader of an independent angel faction, at the bowling alley to try to convince him to join Metatron. Tyrus refuses, because he enjoys his independence, bowling and he hates Metatron's face. Metatron offers to create a bowling alley in Heaven but Tyrus says it doesn't compare to the real thing. As Gadreel pulls out his angel blade, Tyrus warns that if he's killed, his faction joins up with Castiel. However, he wagers his allegiance in a round of bowling, which Metatron loses. Then a suicide bomber angel, Constantine shows up and kills Tyrus in Castiel's name.

While Sam and Castiel trail Josiah, Dean questions Oren's friends. During his questioning of an angel, Flagstaff Dean discovers that Tessa is one of Oren's friends. Dean hunts her down so that he can question her.

Meanwhile, as they track Josiah, Sam and Castiel discuss Dean and their concerns for him, as well as the Angel War. They follow Josiah to Pray, Montana, where they find an abandoned warehouse. In order to enter and pass through the warehouse, they must solve some riddles and circumvent some booby traps, which leads them to a door. Castiel believes this to be the door to Heaven, however, it turns out to be a hoax set up by Metatron.

Dean captures a protesting Tessa while he calls Sam who is shocked to hear her. In the angel base, Hannah and the angels discuss Dean who promptly arrives with Tessa, which shocks them. He lets them see her brand and he puts her in a cell. Hannah and the angels questions his intentions and allow interrogation but leave the angel blade.

TessaDies

Tessa kills herself with the First Blade.

Dean continues to challenge Tessa about her choice to become a suicide bomber, which she insists was Castiel's idea. When pushed as to why, Tessa admits that she can't stand the screaming of the lost souls that can't get into Heaven, so death didn't seem so bad. Tessa tells Dean that there are more suicide bombers out there, but she refuses to give any names. When Dean pulls out the First Blade as a threat, Tessa thrusts herself into the Blade and kills herself.

Sam and Castiel return to Castiel's headquarters to find the angels have subdued Dean with duct tape. Sam calls Dean on bringing the First Blade, and they argue. They are interrupted by a phone call from Metatron. In front of all of Castiel's followers, Metatron accuses Castiel of sending a suicide bomber after him, tells of Castiel stealing another angel's grace, and then offers amnesty to all angels if they join him. The angels turn on Castiel and ask him to show loyalty to them by punishing Dean for breaking the rules and killing Tessa. Castiel refuses, and all of the angels leave.

Metatron is gloating over his manipulation of the angels and his win over Castiel when Gadreel confronts him about the "elite" unit that Metatron brainwashed into being suicide bombers. Metatron continues to gloat and to justify is actions, but Gadreel's doubt of Metatron is obvious.

Dean slashes Gadreel across the chest with the First Blade

Dean slashes Gadreel with the First Blade

Sam, Dean and Cass return to the Men of Letters bunker, where Sam again confronts Dean about bringing the First Blade. Dean claims that they are not a team, that this is a dictatorship until he can kill Metatron. Sam walks away, and Dean and Castiel move into the library where they discuss the events that just happened and their chances of winning against Metatron. As Sam returns to the group, Gadreel walks in and says he doesn't want to fight – he wants to join them. He knows that they don't trust him, but he volunteers to help them by providing all the information he has about Metatron's plans. Dean, in what appears to be an offer of friendship, holds out his hand. As Gadreel reaches to accept it, Dean pulls out the First Blade and slices Gadreel with it. Sam and Castiel restrain Dean.

Characters[]

Main Cast[]

Recurring Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Stars[]

  • Tahmoh Penikett as Gadreel
  • Erica Carroll as Hannah
  • Daniel McClelland as Oren
  • Max Kashetsky as Constantine
  • Farryn Vanhumbeck as Esther
  • Kevin O'Grady as Tyrus
  • Vaughn Jones as Josiah
  • Kaaren de Zilva as Dr. Flagstaff
  • Troy Mundle as Skeevy Man
  • Jackie Blackmore as Sheriff
  • Ryley Antoniuk as Gas Station Clerk
  • Enid-Raye Adams as Colonel Scoop's Mother
  • Owen Mason as Colonel Scoop's Son
  • Cardi Wong as Colonel Scoop's Patron
  • RJ Fetherstonhaugh as Colonel Scoop's Employee

Featured Supernatural Beings[]

Continuity[]

Trivia[]

  • The episode title is a reference to the 1971 song by Led Zeppelin.
  • When Dean wakes Sam up with the loud music he says, "Nice Reflexes. Better Hair", referring to Pac-Man Fever.
    • Nice Reflexes is a crack on Sam's lack of reflexes due to the the trials. In the episode, Dean throws Sam a beer and it goes right by him and he barely registered it being thrown at him, much less try to catch it.
    • Better hair is shot at the fact that when Sam first woke up and came in the main room his hair was messed up and Dean commented, "Man, I'm telling you, give me five minutes with some clippers and..." Sam responded by simply saying, "Oh, shut up."
  • This episode has several references to various movies including The Lord Of The Rings, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, Home Alone, and Revenge of the Nerds.
  • Lindsey McKeon expressed sorrow when she learned that her character was going to be killed off.
  • Dean refers to Tessa as an angel, leading to an unresolved dispute over whether reapers are now a class of angels or not. However this was rectified in the Season 13 episode Funeralia, when Naomi stated there are only a dozen angels left in existence with 1 or 2 on earth.
  • When Tyrus asks Gadreel and Metatron what they smell in the bowling alley and says "Authenticity!" after Gadreel answers, this is the same as what Dean said to Sam in Frontierland, after Sam steps in horse manure.
  • Metatron's operation is supposedly named after Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who killed President John F. Kennedy.

International Titles[]

  • Hungarian: Lépcső a mennyországba (Stairway to Heaven)

Gallery[]

Promotional Pictures[]

Videos[]

Supernatural_9x22_Promo_1_''Stairway_to_Heaven''_HD_Supernatural_Season_9_Episode_22_PROMO

Supernatural 9x22 Promo 1 ''Stairway to Heaven'' HD Supernatural Season 9 Episode 22 PROMO

External Links[]

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