“Supernatural’s” latest episode was an interesting, stand-alone episode. It begins in 1944 in a Nazi compound in Belarus. Two Nazi soldiers guard the front gate.Suddenly one of the soldiers is attacked and killed by a large, hulking figure. The figure then continues toward the heart of the building where a rather intense looking man is intoning a spell and works to guard a leather book. When the hulking figure breaks into the room he kills several guards and heads for the spell caster. The intense man yells “Tell your masters this is far from over!” as flames erupt and he disappears.
Sam and Dean pull up in front of a non-descript building and enter the Men of Letters’ headquarters. Sam’s giddy at the vast amount of information available at their fingertips. Dean’s more impressed with the aesthetics of the place. As Dean’s admiring a scimitar Sam admits that he thinks they might have something at the Men of Letter’s (MOL) headquarters that might help humanity.
Meanwhile in Wilkes-Barre, PA, a Rabbi (played by Hal Linden) does research in a local library. He feels he’s being followed. After the library closes he heads to the campus pub, makes a phone call, and leaves a message with a strange number for the caller telling them that’s where to look when they follow the Rabbi. He then moves toward the front of the pub inviting an unseen presence to come in. He bursts into flame. A man who has been lurking in the shadows from across the street melts away into the night.
Two weeks later, Sam happens upon a MOL file labeled “Judah Initiative.” He hands it to Dean telling him the Judah Initiative was a group of Rabbis that worked as saboteurs in WWII. The only surviving member, Rabbi Isaac Bass, died of spontaneous combustion and is their latest case.
The boys head to PA. Sam tracks down the research the Rabbi performed on the day he died. Dean questions witnesses at the pub about the Rabbi’s death. Witnesses reported the Rabbi spoke of Nazi Necromancers, people who specialize in conjuring the dead. *
While speaking with the witnesses Dean notices a young man watching him from across the bar. He heads over, flashes his FBI badge, and asks the young man why he's following him The man dismisses the claim feigning an innocent flirtation. Dean's cell begins to ring; it's Sam.
Sam says that he tracked the Rabbi's research to a book on bird watching which made no sense. Dean says witnesses agreed the Rabbi’s death was unnatural. Sam, realizing he's being followed, makes plans to meet Dean at the Impala.
Later Sam walks to the Impala and “drops” his keys. Dean slides up behind the figure watching from the shadows. “Hey, pal.” he says. The figure stands and turns. It’s the hulking figure from the compound. He picks Dean up, throws him, and then grabs Sam by the throat.
A voice rings out. “Stop.” The hulking man drops Sam. The man from the pub approaches. “What… the hell… is that?!” Sam chokes out. “He’s a Golem. My Golem.” (A Golem is a being from Jewish folklore that is artificially constructed in the form of a human being and endowed with life.)**
The young man takes the group to his house. His grandfather is the Rabbi they boys have been researching and he left Golem (played by John DeSantis) in his care. Aaron, Rabbi Bass’grandson, is the last surviving descendent of an Initiative. “The Judah Initiative?” Sam asks. Golem slides up behind them, growling,“Who are they to know about the Men of Judah?” Sam explains that their grandfather was a MOL. Golem backs off and resumes pacing restlessly.
From shadows outside of the house the same man that followed Rabbi Bass watches the group.
Aaron tells the boys that he barely knew his grandfather. His parents tried to keep him away from the man because they believed he was crazy. One year his grandfather showed up and said, “One day you’ll inherit the mantle.” A box containing Golem then showed up in his apartment. Golem shares his disappointment that Aaron doesn’t adhere to the Jewish ways. He says a strange phrase to Aaron. Golem, he tells the boys, said “Take Charge” in Hebrew – a phrase Aaron does not understand.
Aaron's grandfather spent his life talking about the Thule society. The Thule were Nazi’s, Sam says. Also Necromancers, adds Dean. Aaron says the Judah Initiative was started to fight them. Golem angrily tells Aaron to find them so that he can do his work.
Aaron tells the boys that his grandfather, sure that the Thule would kill him, left Aaron a strange number the day that he died. “QL673W38.” Sam recognizes it as a call number for a book on birds in the Library of Congress. The group heads to the library to track it down.
Sam goes to retrieve the book. He pulls it off the shelf when the man following Rabbi Bass shoots him in the neck with a dart and demands the book. Sam barely escapes. “Necromancer” he says, falling to his knees. Another dart nails Aaron in the stomach. Dean tells Golem to find the man who cast the spell or both Sam and Aaron will die. Golem finds the man and breaks his neck. Sam and Aaron immediately begin to recover.
The boys burn the man’s body, preventing him from returning from the dead. Aaron looks on in fright.
The group returns to Aaron’s apartment. Sam reviews the ledger; a log book from the Nazi compound in Belarus where magical experiments were performed on the camp’s population. Golem remembers the experiments describing them as “More horrible than words.” Sam asks Golem what it means when he tells Aaron to ‘Take Charge.’ Golem says Aaron should know. Aaron admits his grandfather gave him a Golem instruction manual but he used the pages to do drugs. Aaron asks Golem why he can’t just tell him what he needs to do. Golem tells him it’s not his place to teach the teacher and storms off into another room.
Sam then explains The Thule’s experiments. They killed people then tried to reanimate them. The last page of the ledger contained a roster of every magically reanimated Thule member. Dean asks how to kill the reanimated corpses. Sam says a head shot then the body must be burned within 12 hours or risk reanimation.
A car pulls up at the library. The intense man and his driver enter the building investigating the area where Golem attacked the man earlier. The intense man spots a bit of clay and realizes it’s Golem.
Sam and Dean do more research on the Thule society and discuss ways to take Golem down, if necessary. Aaron demands why they feel they have the right to make that decision. Dean says they don’t want to do that but will if it needs to be done. Aaron insists the Golem is his responsibility.
The door flies open. Sam hides the ledger. A group of strange men come in and pull guns on the boys. Golem rushes to protect them. The intense man enters. Golem shouts, “Eckhart!” and heads toward him. Eckhart says, “Clay of Adam, surrender yourself unto me” in a foreign language. Golem stops dead in his tracks. Eckhart tells Golem to surrender his bond to him; Golem’s mouth opens and a scroll falls out. Eckhart then moves toward the trio.
He tells Aaron he should have taken charge by writing his name on the scroll. Aaron mumbles that he didn’t realize that to which Eckhart replies, “Knowledge is power, isn’t it?”
He then demands the ledger. Sam realizes that Eckhart was the mastermind behind the experiments and keeps up a conversation with Eckhart so that Dean and Aaron can make a move and overpower him. One of Eckhart’s men retrieves the ledger and hands it to him. He lords it over the other men that he has all the power. Aaron glances at Golem, picks up a large plank, and hits Eckhart in the head with it. Sam and Dean then scramble for guns and kill the other henchmen. Eckhart stands telling Sam and Dean they can never kill all of the Thule. They shoot him in the head.
After disposing of the bodies the trio returns to deal with Golem. Aaron says his grandfather left him a duty that he must perform. He writes his name on the scroll and puts it in Golem’s mouth. Golem reanimates and then tells Aaron he took charge.
Sam and Dean return to the MOL headquarters. Sam starts an entry about the ledger to put in their collection. “…Aaron’s a member of the Judah Initiative and you’re a MOL?” Dean asks, pouring drinks. Sam makes a funny face. Dean puts a drink down before his brother, settling in with his own. They raise their glasses at one another, take a drink, and settle back to relax.
What did you guys think of this episode? Why did Sam react like he did when Dean asked if he was a MOL? What did you think of the new set?
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*Definition taken from www.dictionary.com
**See also www.dictionary.com
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