Episode 09×12 AKA Garth Becomes a Werewolf

Happy Wednesday, Winchester fans!

Have you been wondering where the f**k Garth has been for the past 20 or so episodes? Well, last night, the Powers that Be decided to give us an explanation, so without any further ado…

Synopsis

The episode opens with Garth running away from a farm, and being chased by an angry farmer (head canon: the farmer was yelling, “You git off mah farm!”). In the midst of escape, Garth is hit by a car and then hospitalized. Naturally, the Winchesters just happen to be trolling the police scanners of f**king Wisconsin and happen to hear about it. They arrive at Garth’s hospital room within minutes of each other, and they’re obviously still on the outs (cue my yelling at the telly: “But you don’t work without each other!”) and then the Collective Diva and I were like…where’s Cas?

Garth goes into the bathroom to take care of some business, leaving the two brothers to talk out their man pain. I was rather shocked that Dean told Sam the truth about the Mark of Cain…perhaps there is hope for the Winchesters after all. Lying won’t get you anywhere, boys, and if there’s anything we learned from season 5, it’s that you have to stick together. While the boys are talking, Garth sneaks out the bathroom window. The two use their super-sleuthing skills to track him down, but not without a little sibling rivalry along the way.

They track Garth to an apartment, and now we know why Garth ditched Kevin on the houseboat. Our perky little hunter went and got himself bit by a werewolf. Greeeaaat. He’s also got himself a wolfy wife, who reveals to the Winchesters that she’s not a bitten wolf, but a born one.

Well, that’s new.

Garth invites Dean over for dinner and hymns with the whole wolf pack (just because they’re lycanthropes doesn’t mean their devoid of morals and culture thank you very much). After a way-too-raw Sabbath dinner–thank God my church promotes vegetarianism–Dean goes looking for pie (poor baby is sad without Sammeh and just needs some pie, k?) and instead comes across some overly aggressive werewolves.

When did this become an episode of Teen Wolf?

After investigating some suspicious animal slaughters in the woods (totally suspicious when you know werewolves are around), the boys figure out that while Garth, his wolfy wife, and the good wolf reverend are all for peace and balance with humanity, other wolves are not. Now, being that they are in Wisconsin, a majority of the wolf pack are blonde and pale-as-snow, the discovery that the werewolf religion was based on Norse mythology did not surprise me in the least. In fact, I may have broken the Collectiva Diva’s eardrums when I exclaimed, “I KNEW IT!” But more on the mythology later. The good wolf reverend’s wife, and incidentally the stepmother to Garth’s wolf wife, believes in Ragnarok–the end of the world.

Now, the villain in this episode is very interesting. This season is bringing us a lot of evil female characters: Abaddon, the Reaper who tried to kill Cas, Vesta (as much as I hate to acknowledge that episode), and now a woman intent on creating a werewolf master race (because that always turns out well). We haven’t seen much of Abaddon yet this season, and I can’t help but wonder if this is foreshadowing for the Big Bad that’s yet to come.

Garth, his wife, and Sam are taken by the lycanthrope cult, and the leader plots out their murder in very specific detail. Dean swoops in (literally) to save his Moose brother the day and kills the werewolf leader and presumably this works just like the Leviathan–kill the leader and the rest will fall.

Also, where the f**k is Cas? (A throwaway line like, “he’s out searching for Gadreel” would have been helpful here, writers).

What This Episode Reveals About the Winchesters

Dean Winchester

Dean not lying to Sam about the Mark of Cain gives me hope for their relationship, but the boy has some serious guilt to deal with. At the end of the episode, Dean and Garth have a conversation about Kevin Tran’s death in which they both try to take the blame for it. Dean repeatedly says, “It’s on me,” but Garth reassures him that there’s enough blame to be passed around, that he shouldn’t have left the Prophet alone. Dean blaming himself is nothing new, but Dean wallowing in enough self-pity to drown a hippopotamus? It’s disheartening, and I’m glad that Garth gives him the hug that he so desperately needs (and asks for!)

Sam Winchester

Sam knows that he and Dean are broken. Hell, he admits it. “Everything that has ever gone wrong between us is because we’re family,” Sam says. Um, John Winchester, much? Their codependency has reached toxic levels, and Sam recognises that if they’re going to do this job–the saving people, hunting things, rescuing the world job–that they can’t do it if they continually put their dependency on each other in front of the job. It seems like part of Cas’s talk last week got through to Sam.

So Sam gives Dean an ultimatum: Do the job or be brothers. Unsurprisingly, the Winchesters drive off in the Impala at the end of the episode.

The problem with the ultimatum is this: it implies that if the opportunity to be self-sacrificing show up, Sam will take it. It also implies that he’s not going to go the extra mile to save Dean’s [sexy]ass anymore. Uh oh.

Anyone else just want to lock them in a room and let them fight it out?

The Big Picture

Let’s talk Norse mythology for a second, because A) I’m a nerd and B) it’s so relevant. Now, as a child, my great aunt used to scare me with stories of Fenrir, the monstrous wolf that, according to the Prose Edda, is supposed to kill Odin in Ragnarok. This wolf is who the lycanthrope cult worship, the church they call the Maw of Fenris. Now, we didn’t get a lot of references to the overarching plots of the season (except a short conversation about the mark of Cain) BUT if you know your Norse mythology (and I do) then you’ll know that Fenrir is the son of Loki, who in SPN world is known as the Trickster, or, more specifically, the archangel Gabriel.

Perhaps this is a hint that everyone’s favorite angel with a sweet tooth is on his way to resurrection?

Meet Garth the Werewolf

Until next week, my hunter friends, when we will meet Sammeh the yoga instructor (and all the ways the fanfic writers will imagine him to bend).

-The Collectress

Disclaimer: Images and clips used in the post are the property of the CW. All edits have been credited.