Supernatural (season 7)

Supernatural (season 7)
250px DVD cover art
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	23
Release
Original network	The CW
Original release	September 23, 2011 (2011-09-23) – May 18, 2012 (2012-05-18)

The seventh season of Supernatural, an American paranormal drama television series created by Eric Kripke, premiered September 23, 2011, and concluded May 18, 2012, airing 23 episodes. The season focuses on protagonists Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) facing a new enemy called Leviathans, stronger than they have encountered so far as well as rendering their usual weapons useless.

On January 12, 2012, the season won two People's Choice Awards including Best Network TV Drama. This is the second and final season of Sera Gamble as showrunner, with Jeremy Carver taking over the role for season eight. Warner Home Video released the season on DVD and Blu-ray in Region 1 on September 18, 2012, in region 2 on November 5, 2012, and in Region 4 on October 31, 2012.

Cast

Starring

• Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester
• Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester

Guest stars

2

Episodes

See also: List of Supernatural episodes

In this table, the number in the first column refers to the episode's number within the entire series, whereas the number in the second column indicates the episode's number within this particular season. "U.S. viewers in millions" refers to how many Americans watched the episode live or on the day of broadcast.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
127	1	"Meet the New Boss"	Phil Sgriccia	Sera Gamble	September 23, 2011 (2011-09-23)	3X7052	2.01
Having gained an incredible increase in power by absorbing the souls of Purgatory (the afterlife of monsters) in the previous season finale, Castiel (Misha Collins) appoints himself the new God and sets out to right some of the wrongs in the world, but is increasingly disturbed by the entities from Purgatory that are proving difficult for him to control. Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki), Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles), and Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver) enlist the help of the demon Crowley (Mark A. Sheppard) in securing a spell to summon Death (Julian Richings) and bind him to their will so that they can use him to stop Castiel. However, Castiel intervenes and breaks the binding spell. Death decides not to punish Sam, Dean, and Bobby for binding him and instead reveals to the group that the entities Castiel is struggling with are the Leviathans, God's first creations. They had been locked into Purgatory to prevent them from eating the rest of God's creations. After Castiel finds that he has lost control of himself and slaughtered a group of people under the control of the Leviathans, he goes to Sam, Dean, and Bobby for help, and they help him send all the souls he had consumed back into Purgatory. However, the Leviathans remain in Castiel's body and assume complete control, revealing that they have killed him from within. Meanwhile, Sam struggles throughout the episode with psychological fall-out of the "wall" in his mind that had been protecting him from his memories of torture at the hands of Lucifer and Michael in Hell, having been torn down by Castiel. Sam begins hallucinating and sees Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino), who tells him that he was never truly saved from Hell; what has transpired since the fifth season finale "Swan Song" is all an elaborate illusion controlled by Lucifer designed to psychologically torture Sam by giving him false hope before dashing it.
128	2	"Hello, Cruel World"	Guy Bee	Ben Edlund	September 30, 2011 (2011-09-30)	3X7053	1.80
The Leviathans realize that they can't stay in Castiel's rapidly destabilizing body and so walk his body into the local water supply and disperse there, possessing civilians who ingest or otherwise come into contact with the water. Seeking a steady food supply of humans, they infiltrate various human establishments. When Bobby responds to a distress-call from Sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes), he discovers that one of these places is Sioux Falls General. Meanwhile, Sam continues to see Lucifer and questions if the world he sees is real or if—as Lucifer claims—he is still in Hell. Lucifer urges Sam to kill himself in order to end the illusion, but Dean helps Sam overcome his hallucinations by distinguishing between the pain of real-life and the tortures of Hell. When the brothers return to Bobby's house, they find it burned to the ground with Bobby conspicuously absent, leading them to fear the worst. The Leviathan Edgar (Benito Martinez), having been sent to kill them and Bobby, attacks them and though they manage to temporarily stop him by crushing him under a car, Dean's leg is broken and Sam doesn't respond to Dean's frantic attempts to wake him up after Edgar knocks him out with a pipe. While being carted off in an ambulance, both brothers receive a shock: Sam is still seeing Lucifer and starts to seize, and Dean learns that the ambulance is taking them to Sioux Falls General Hospital.
129	3	"The Girl Next Door"	Jensen Ackles	Andrew Dabb & Daniel Loflin	October 7, 2011 (2011-10-07)	3X7051	1.72
After being sprung from Sioux Falls General Hospital by a perfectly alive Bobby, Dean and Sam join him and lay low for three weeks while Dean's broken leg heals. In that time, Sam has still suffered hallucinations, but has kept quiet about them. While collecting food, Sam discovers the return of an unknown serial killer and takes off on his own to find her. In truth, the killer is a Kitsune, a monster who removes the pituitary gland in the brain as nourishment. Sam eventually tracks down the monster as an old acquaintance, Amy (Jewel Staite), who years ago he had a crush on while hunting Amy's mother. When Sam confronts Amy on the deaths, she reveals that she has a son who needed fresh meat in order to survive an illness brought on by harvesting dead bodies. As Amy had helped protect and defend Sam, even killing her own mother, Sam lets her go. Dean manages to catch up to Sam and get the truth to his disappearance, and urges Sam to find Amy and kill her. Sam refuses, and acknowledges Dean has been treating him like a hand grenade, and emphasizing that he is managing his hallucinations and atoning for his past actions. Dean agrees to stop badgering him, but later tracks and kills Amy in front of her son because he believes that Amy would have killed more humans in the future. Dean doesn't kill the son who hasn't killed anyone, but warns that if the son kills anyone, he will. The son promises that the only person he will kill is Dean. Throughout, the Leviathans are shown to maintain an eye on the various rocker aliases of the brothers, using the aliases to catch up to them.
130	4	"Defending Your Life"	Robert Singer	Adam Glass	October 14, 2011 (2011-10-14)	3X7054	1.69
While investigating a series of murders in Dearborn, Michigan, Dean and Sam learn that the Egyptian god Osiris is responsible for the killings. A god with nothing but revenge on his mind, Osiris is putting random people on trial for any mistakes they've made in the past and then promptly killing them if they're found guilty. Upon sensing Dean's guilt, Osiris puts him on trial with Sam becoming Dean's lawyer. But both Sam and Dean are stunned when Osiris calls a witness, someone they thought they'd never see again: Jo. Jo, however, tries to assure Dean he had nothing to do with her death. Osiris's second witness is Sam, and he again tries to convince Dean that he had nothing to do with how his life turned out. Sam then calls Dean to the stand, and Osiris then poses a question to him, "Does he (Dean) want Osiris to call the final witness? Or would he like to hear the verdict?" Dean chooses hearing the verdict, leaving Sam stunned, as he doesn't know who this last witness is. Osiris then turns Jo into a vengeful spirit and forces her to try to kill Dean, however, just before she can, Sam stabs Osiris with a ram's horn, thus saving Dean. The episode ends with Sam telling a quizzical Dean that although he (Sam) has done a lot of bad things, he has paid his dues (with Hell), hence feels no more guilt.
131	5	"Shut Up, Dr. Phil"	Phil Sgriccia	Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming	October 21, 2011 (2011-10-21)	3X7055	1.92
Sam and Dean find cases of individuals meeting gruesome deaths in Prosperity, Indiana. Several of the crime scenes, however, contain ancient Romanian coins, acting as hexed objects. The brothers learn that each victim was connected to Donald Stark (James Marsters), a wealthy businessman, philanthropist and pillar of the community. While Donald assures the brothers that the business deal he and the victims were in had nothing to do with their deaths, Sam searches the house and discovers that Donald's wife, Maggie (Charisma Carpenter), is a powerful witch who is currently separating from Donald. In the process, though, Maggie is killing people connected to 'helping' Donald set up a fling with one of the victims. Heading to Maggie's house, Sam and Dean learn that Donald's personal assistant is next, and manage to save her before Maggie's curse kills her. Later on, however, it is revealed that Donald himself is a witch, as he uses his powers to destroy Maggie's auction paintings and decapitate her best friend. When Sam and Dean realize this, they wait for the two to meet at Donald's house, then try to kill them using a spell with chicken feet. The spell fails, and Sam suggests they counsel the witches on their failing marriage to prevent them from killing Dean and himself. Although they manage to counsel the witches, they are summarily thrown around and beaten for seeming to side with the other party, until Dean is able to say that Donald never tried to have a relationship with his receptionist. The two witches reconcile their love, and Sam and Dean leave with their lives. At the hotel, however, Sam and Dean are confronted by one of the Leviathans, who had been tracking them for days. After almost killing Sam, the Leviathan is rendered unconscious by a spell from Donald, who had dropped by to save the brothers' lives (initially) from Maggie's coin curses. Sam and Dean bind up the Leviathan for transport to Bobby's, in order to determine how to defeat the new monsters.
132	6	"Slash Fiction"	John Showalter	Robbie Thompson	October 28, 2011 (2011-10-28)	3X7056	1.74
Sam and Dean are framed for a series of murder-robberies by two Leviathans that take the forms of the Winchester brothers. Bobby tries to figure out a way to kill the Leviathans using the one they had captured, while Sam and Dean take refuge with a surveillance expert, who gives them temporary identities to evade authorities. The brothers try to stop the Leviathan pair and track them across the country, discovering that the Leviathans are committing the crimes in every town the brothers have visited since Sam left college. Meanwhile, Bobby continues in the course of finding a way to stop the Leviathans, discovers that decapitation works. However, with the head in close proximity, it eventually re-attaches itself to the torso. The brothers eventually find the Leviathans in Iowa but are arrested by local law enforcement. Bobby gets a visit from Sheriff Jody Mills, who offers to clean up the cabin and cook some food for Bobby. While cleaning, however, some soapy water spills onto the Leviathan, causing serious burns. Bobby gives the hostage Leviathan's severed head to Jody, telling her to dump it. Soon after, Dean, given a phone call, contacts Bobby and manages to learn how to at least stall the Leviathan. The local sheriff eventually helps Sam and Dean when he sees the Leviathan eating one of the officers and turning into Sam and Dean. Sam, in an interrogation room, is confronted by the Leviathan Dean, who reveals Dean's killing of the kitsune, Amy. Dean and the sheriff manage to decapitate the Sam Leviathan, and then the Dean Leviathan shortly after, keeping the heads with them to prevent re-attachment. Afterward, however, Sam confronts Dean about Amy's death, telling him he can't talk to him right now, leaves Dean and sets forth alone. Meanwhile, one of the Leviathans, disguised as an FBI agent, contacts his superior - a man named Dick Roman - about the recent failure. Crowley then appears to Dick in an effort to build a partnership, but Dick harshly turns Crowley down, considering demons to be even more pathetic than humans, and hinting that he wouldn't mind wiping them off the face of the Earth.
133	7	"The Mentalists"	Mike Rohl	Ben Acker & Ben Blacker	November 4, 2011 (2011-11-04)	3X7057	1.84
Sam and Dean randomly meet each other when they separately start on the same new case, and realizing it would be easier to work together, reconcile to solve it. They discover that an angry spirit is killing off resident mediums in Lily Dale, New York, the most "psychic" town in America, but with a town full of people claiming to be summoning spirits, they have some trouble finding the true medium who's controlling the ghost. Sam and Dean believe they've found the ghost, Kate Fox when they find her giving visions of people's deaths to them, however, the killings continue after they put her to rest and they realize she was actually trying to warn people as her sister is the true ghostly culprit. While Dean holds off the ghost, Margaret, Sam locates the psychic, Jimmy Tomorrow, a pawnshop owner. Sam is forced to kill Jimmy in self-defense, but is able to salt and burn Margaret's bones and put her to rest, saving Dean and her future victim. Sam and Dean reconcile their differences over Dean killing Amy and leave town, once again hunting together.
134	8	"Season Seven, Time for a Wedding!"	Tim Andrew	Andrew Dabb & Daniel Loflin	November 11, 2011 (2011-11-11)	3X7058	1.85
While Sam deals with someone from his past, Dean is forced to team up with a laid-back hunter, Garth, and ends up in a bizarre situation. It has been a few months of work and Sam and Dean are on their annual trip to Vegas, however, Sam leaves Dean to go camping. Dean gets a text from Sam on his cell that asks him to come to a church, and finds that Sam is getting married to Becky Rosen. Dean is surprised and worried that Sam might not be thinking straight, but he also finds another piece of disturbing news; people in the town are dying "freaky deaths". As it turns out, Becky has been giving a love potion to Sam, obtained from a demon in disguise of a Wiccan, who is making deals and calling them in early. However, as this demon is making a deal with Becky, Sam, Dean and Garth come busting through the door. The demon is trapped, but reveals that he has a minion named Jackson who frees him and the two gain the upper hand until Becky manages to kill Jackson with Ruby's Knife, after which the Crossroads Demon is overpowered. Before Dean can kill him, Crowley arrives, having been alerted to the demon's plans by Jackson. He tells Dean that he will rip up any deals made by his rogue demon, and in exchange he wants to take the rogue demon back to hell "to make an example of him." He tells them about Dick Roman and the reason that they haven't recently faced any demons is because they have been too busy hunting down Leviathans, whom he has started to hate. In the aftermath, Sam and Becky get an annulment and Sam points her towards Garth as a new love interest.
135	9	"How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters"	Guy Bee	Ben Edlund	November 18, 2011 (2011-11-18)	3X7059	1.55
Following up on a possible sighting of the 'Jersey Devil', Sam, Dean and Bobby attempt to figure out what monster is out killing campers in Hammonton, New Jersey, while staying off the grid to avoid being tracked by the Leviathans. During their research, Dean tries a new Turducken burger at a local burger joint, after he and Sam interview the forest ranger, who seems rather unfazed about the recent killings. The three hunters decide to hunt down the creature, coming across the remains of another ranger who went missing recently. Calling in the 1st ranger, he is also taken by the mystery creature; the creature is eventually shot by Bobby. The hunters soon learn that the monster is actually a vicious, hyperadrenalized human-zombie. As they discover this finding, Dean exhibits similar 'stoned' symptoms as the forest ranger had. Eventually, Sam and Bobby realize that the cause behind Dean's mind-dulling (and that of most of the burger joint patrons) is the Turducken sandwich, which ends up secreting a grey substance similar to what was within the hyper-zombie. Following the meat to the supplier, the hunters inadvertently discover the base of operations for the Leviathans. It is discovered that the Leviathan were working on a food additive designed to render humans complacent and mindless, potentially for ease of world domination. However, the leader, Dick, appears and closes the project down because the adverse side effects - zombified humans - made headlines, which is something Dick wants to ensure does not happen to keep humans in the dark about their presence. He also dispatches the lead scientist Leviathan, Dr. Gaines, by placing a bib around his neck, and forces Dr. Gaines to eat himself. Bobby, watching everything, is then attacked by another Leviathan and brought to Dick, who reveals that he plans on eating Bobby in the future, but plans to use him to lure in Sam and Dean. The brothers break into the facility and free Bobby, spraying down the Leviathan with Borax to incapacitate and stall them. They then make their escape, with Dick attempting to shoot at the van. Seemingly safe, the brothers discover, to their horror, that Bobby has been shot by one of Dick's bullets.
136	10	"Death's Door"	Robert Singer	Sera Gamble	December 2, 2011 (2011-12-02)	3X7060	1.89
Bobby spends the majority of the episode in a coma, making his way through a network of his own memories, while a reaper follows him in an attempt to secure Bobby's soul. Aided by a representation of his old friend Rufus, he learns that in order to break free of the dream state he must confront and relive his own worst experiences. It is revealed that shortly before he was forced to kill her, Bobby broke his wife's heart by refusing to have children, motivated by a fear of becoming like his own abusive father. Bobby is determined to get a cryptic combination of numbers to Sam and Dean in the real world, and eventually confronts his memory of the night he, as a child, shot and killed his violent father. Telling the memory of his father that he ended up with two wonderful sons and that he did not allow the childhood abuse to ruin his life, he manages to emerge from his coma long enough to write the numbers on Sam's hand, upon which his heart stops. Inside Bobby's head, he relives one last memory of a night with Sam and Dean as the dream world around him fades away, and the reaper tells him to make a choice: to let his life go, or stay, and become a ghost. The reaper's watch ticks ominously as the screen cuts to black.
137	11	"Adventures in Babysitting"	Jeannot Szwarc	Adam Glass	January 6, 2012 (2012-01-06)	3X7061	1.82
The episode airs a few weeks after Bobby's death, Dean has now become obsessed about hunting Dick Roman, and leaves no stone unturned in doing so, even asking help from Frank Deveraux. Another problem, in the form of Krissy (Madison McLaughlin), forces them to divert their attention. Krissy is a kid whose father is engaged in the hunt. She calls Bobby's phone after her dad fails to show up. Dean, hell bent on capturing Dick, fails to see the importance in helping her, while Sam realizes that Krissy needs immediate help and decides to help Krissy find her dad. However, this mystery might hold some dangerous implications for Sam, whereas Dean and Frank come to bond over their respective tragedies. Sam ends up captured by the monsters and Dean, after realizing he's in trouble, rushes to his rescue. Things degenerate into a hostage situation, but Krissy kills one of the monsters, allowing the Winchesters to gain the upper hand and kill the other. Following the advice of the brothers, Krissy's father decides to leave the life so she can have a normal life.
138	12	"Time After Time"	Phil Sgriccia	Robbie Thompson	January 13, 2012 (2012-01-13)	3X7062	1.55
Sam now is forcing Dean to back off, if not stop from his obsession on Dick Roman, and get more focused on doing their usual jobs. They find an unusual case involving similar murders that happen every few years in various places, eventually linking them to Cronos, the Greek Titan of Time (Jason Dohring). However, as they chase him down the alley, Dean accidentally "hitches a ride" on Cronos, who drags him back to 1944. While Dean pairs up with Eliot Ness (Nicholas Lea), who is a hunter as well, Sam pairs up with Sheriff Mills, in finding a way to bring Dean back to the present and kill Cronos. Dean is able to get a message to Sam. After tracking down the girl that Cronos fell in love with who's now an old woman, Sam and Mills learn that Cronos grabbed Dean and disappeared at 11:34, so they plan to summon him from that particular time. Dean and Eliot get a stake that can kill Cronos and reveal the truth to the woman he loves. Sam summons Cronos as he tries to kill Dean and Eliot tosses him the stake as he goes. In the present, Sam kills Cronos with the stake, but he warns that their future is filled with black ooze [it refers to the Leviathans] and that the Leviathans are everywhere. He tells them to enjoy oblivion.
139	13	"The Slice Girls"	Jerry Wanek	Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming	February 3, 2012 (2012-02-03)	3X7063	1.72
Sam and Dean investigate a case in Seattle, Washington where the victims’ hands and feet have been severed and each have been branded with a strange symbol. While Sam does some research at a local university, Dean heads to one of his favorite places to investigate - the town bar. Dean strikes up a conversation with a local named Lydia (Sara Canning), and the two go back to her place. Sam discovers the symbol on the bodies is a sign of Amazon warriors, who according to the myth were turned into monsters by their goddess. Eventually, Dean's night of promiscuity with the woman he met in the bar (The Cobalt Room), leads to a daughter being born to her, who is destined to kill her father. When she confronts Dean, he hesitates in killing her, however, Sam does it for him, reminding him of what he said after he killed Amy.
140	14	"Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie"	Mike Rohl	Andrew Dabb & Daniel Loflin	February 10, 2012 (2012-02-10)	3X7064	1.88
Sam and Dean investigate strange happenings in Wichita, Kansas where childhood fears are coming to life. They eventually figure out that the deaths happen to those parents who ignore their children. Interrogating the employees of the local Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie, Dean discovers a hidden basement with a ritual setup while Sam is chased by monster clowns. One of the store's employees, Howard, confronts Dean and reveals that after his brother's drowning as a child, he became obsessed with helping kids and punishing bad parents as he blames his own parents for his brother's death. He is using the children's fears against parents he sees as terrible and sent the clowns to kill Sam as he's getting too close to the truth. In the end, Dean is able to turn Howard's own fears against him with the ritual, summoning the ghost of his dead brother who drowns him, causing the clowns to disappear.
141	15	"Repo Man"	Thomas J. Wright	Ben Edlund	February 17, 2012 (2012-02-17)	3X7065	1.74
Four years ago, Sam and Dean helped a woman named Nora (Nicole Oliver) exorcise a demon in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho that was systematically killing women in a small town. They managed to save the postal worker, Jeffrey (Russell Sams), while vanquishing the demon. However, the return of the same M.O. of killings prompts the brothers to return to town to determine if the demon has returned. While investigating the murders, the brothers visit Jeffrey, whose life had taken a tailspin into a psych ward, though he is now in a halfway house under guardianship. Jeffrey remembers a list of women whom the demon decided to kill, and Dean leaves to find the demon's hideout, while Sam tries to keep an eye on the next victim. However, Sam starts to see Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) again and continues to mock Sam, complaining about boredom and causing terrifying illusions to get Sam to talk to him. Dean and Jeffrey end up finding the demon's old hideout, as well as Nora's son, who is being held captive. It is revealed that Jeffrey, having harbored a serial killer nature, desperately wishes to reunite with the demon who possessed him so as to continue killing and becoming even more powerful, and required Dean's blood for the power summoning spell. Sam, eventually accepting Lucifer's help, finds this out by threatening Nora, who was forced to help Jeffrey when she learned her son was kidnapped. Jeffrey is successful in summoning the demon, though it chooses to possess Nora's son, stating that it succeeded in turning Jeffrey into a killer, and Jeffrey did not need him anymore. Sam intervenes and manages to trick the demon into stepping into a Devil's trap, while Dean kills Jeffrey, who was intending to stab the demon. Nora exorcises the demon from her son and the brothers return to the motel to rest. However, Lucifer appears again, and begins to force Sam to hallucinate hellfire, stating that by letting him help Sam, Lucifer now has a much firmer grip on Sam's mind.
142	16	"Out with the Old"	John Showalter	Robert Singer & Jenny Klein	March 16, 2012 (2012-03-16)	3X7066	1.73
After a ballerina is found dead from dancing herself to death in Portland, Oregon, Sam and Dean look into the case and discover the ballet slippers she wore were cursed. While collecting the slippers, Dean touches the slippers, and begins to be drawn to them, much to his embarrassment (as the slippers attracted those interested or practiced in ballet). Before the slippers take their hold, Sam and Dean find the antiques dealer who sold the slippers, and multiple empty curse boxes, as he had sold three other cursed objects. The brothers race to retrieve the cursed objects, although they fail to save one woman, who drinks steaming water from a cursed tea kettle and kills herself. After locking away the cursed objects, the dealer reveals that his mother collected the objects (presumably being a hunter), and was recently killed in a car crash after selling her store to a realtor named Joyce, who has recently been buying up several properties in town. Getting the paranoid Frank to dig into the company and its subsidiary, Dean discovers that it is a Leviathan front. Meanwhile, Sam, tired from forced sleep deprivation due to Lucifer haunting him, inadvertently attracts the attention of Joyce's assistant, George, while getting a coffee. George then follows Sam to the antiques dealer. The Leviathans then set up a trap, forcing the dealer to say he touched a cursed object to lure the brothers to the store. Once there, the monsters attack the brothers. However, George, tired of Joyce's belittling behavior and reckless impatience, subtly aids Sam and Dean in beheading Joyce, gleefully planning to eat her. Due to their shock, George briefly describes to the brothers that the only real way to kill a Leviathan was to eat them (or force them to eat themselves, via 'bibbing') and that in this situation, he means them and the people of the town no harm. Sam and Dean then discover that the properties were bought to make way for a research center dedicated to curing cancer, bewildering them as to why the Leviathans would be helping humans. Heading to Frank's trailer with the cursed objects, the brothers find the trailer wrecked on the inside, with blood sprayed everywhere.
143	17	"The Born-Again Identity"	Robert Singer	Sera Gamble	March 23, 2012 (2012-03-23)	3X7067	1.63
Lucifer has driven Sam to the point of mental breakdown, because of which he is now committed to a mental institution. Dean promises Sam to find a cure to this illness and calls every hunter in the diary. However, no hunter is able to help him. When he gets up, and moves to get a beer, the diary is thrown onto the floor and a card falls from it, with a number of the hunter who can help him. The hunter eventually leads Dean to a faith healer named Emanuel, who fixed his injuries and encourages Dean to get in touch with him. When Dean goes to meet with Emanuel, he finds that the Demons are also interested in this healer, and are searching for him. Eventually, when Dean does find Emanuel he discovers him to be Castiel. Castiel has no memory of his past life as an angel and now works as a faith healer. Dean convinces him to come with him to heal Sam of his mental break down. However, along the way, Meg shows up and asks to be a part of the trip. Once they reach the hospital, they find it covered by demons. Castiel kills the demons, and along the way, gains back his memories. However, the guilt of his actions make him leave. Dean stops him and convinces him to try and save Sam. While in the hospital, Sam meets with a woman, who is haunted by the ghost of her dead brother. Her brother is stuck on Earth and cannot move to his afterlife. Sam asks this woman if she has any of her brother's objects. She tells him about her bracelet, which has his blood on it. Sam asks the woman to create a circle of salt. While they are in it and about to burn the bracelet, her brother shows up and is about to harm them. Sam then burns the bracelet, giving the girl freedom from her brother's ghost. However, his actions lead to him being taken for electroshock therapy where the orderly turns out to be a demon who tortures him. Castiel finds him in time to save him, but fails to heal him. He does the next best thing: transfers Sam's madness and experience in Hell, to himself. So while Sam is released, Castiel stays in the hospital plagued with the visions of Lucifer. Meg takes up a job in the hospital, to support Castiel, and look after him.
144	18	"Party on, Garth"	Phil Sgriccia	Adam Glass	March 30, 2012 (2012-03-30)	3X7068	1.78
The episode begins with a death/murder of a teen, caused by an unknown monster in Junction City, Kansas. Then a hunter (Garth) (DJ Qualls) is shown getting out of his car. Garth at first believes it's the ghost of a local legend and torches her bones, however, to his surprise, there is still another dead body reported, hence he decides to call Dean for help. Dean is surprised when he gets a call from Garth asking for the brothers’ help on a case. Sam, Dean and Garth investigate the case, and find out through a translator that the monster is targeting the children of the owners of a local brewery. They find out that the owners had removed one of their partners, who wasn't in favor of selling the brewery. This partner, Dale, had literally been the brain behind the company, and loved the company like his own child and upon being removed from his position, had taken his own life. They then find out, that before he died, Dale had harnessed a Shōjō (猩猩, a Japanese Sea Spirit), by placing it in a spell box and sending it as an apology to his old partners, making sure that once the box was open, it (the Shōjō), would kill their children. Eventually, Dean kills the Shōjō, with a blessed (by a procedure carried out at the back of a restaurant), samurai blade. Another important story is that of Bobby's ghost. Bobby has been making his presence felt in the last few episodes, first by dropping the card that led Dean to the hunter who knew Castiel/Emanuel, and from then on helping Dean whenever he gets stuck. For instance, when the Shōjō knocks the blade out of Dean's hand, it immediately glides back into his hand. Sam tells him it's just his mind playing tricks on him, as Sam had done a Ouija Board, and had no response. However, Garth, Dean and Sam both find that whenever an EMF meter is put next to Dean, it lights up. Eventually, when they are about to leave the motel they were staying in, Dean goes back to get Bobby's flask that he left behind. It is then shown that Bobby is present through the flask, but Dean's inability to see him saddens him greatly.
145	19	"Of Grave Importance"	Tim Andrew	Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming	April 20, 2012 (2012-04-20)	3X7069	1.57
Sam and Dean get a call from Annie Hawkins (Jamie Luner), an old hunter friend, asking for help on a case in Bodega Bay, California. When they arrive in town, they find out Annie has disappeared. They trace her last whereabouts to an old abandoned house that is haunted by a powerful ghost. Unknown to them, the ghost of Bobby is following them around, having tied himself to his old flask that they carry. He finds the house populated by mostly mindless ghosts and the spirit of Whitman Van Ness. Bobby discovers the ghost of Annie and the two try to solve the murders. They discover that Van Ness murdered all these people and trapped them in the house, but Bobby gets pulled away when the boys leave before he can learn anything else. Having finally learned how to properly use his ghostly abilities from an arrogant ghost named Haskel Crane, Bobby is able to leave Sam and Dean a message that Annie is trapped and that he is still with them. They return to the house where the ghost of a prostitute named Victoria lets them know about Van Ness before he destroys her. Sam and Dean head off to find and destroy Van Ness' bones with the ghost following them after he ties himself to an object he places in Sam's pocket. Bobby and Annie manage to discover the bodies of all the victims and plan to burn them to put the ghosts to rest. However, after Van Ness attacks them, Dean destroys the object and Van Ness returns to his house where he tries to destroy and absorb Bobby. Just in time, Dean burns Van Ness' bones, destroying him. They return to the house where Bobby is now visible to the Winchesters. Bobby leads them to the remains of Van Ness' victims, including Annie, and they burn them, putting them all to rest. Dean, however, is furious that Bobby stayed as it's unnatural and he should've moved on. Bobby, furious, disappears, but listens invisibly in the boys' backseat as they discuss the situation, unsure how to handle it and how it will turn out.
146	20	"The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo"	John MacCarthy	Robbie Thompson	April 27, 2012 (2012-04-27)	3X7070	1.61
Lead Leviathan Dick Roman acquires Frank’s hard drive that contains sensitive information about the Winchesters and gives it to an unsuspecting brilliant hacker named Charlie (Felicia Day) telling her that she has 3 days to crack the encryption or she is fired. At the same time, Bobby appears to Sam and Dean and explains the Leviathans' great plot which he learned before Roman killed him: everything they're working towards is to turn humanity into the perfect food source for as long as the Leviathans exist. As Charlie hacks the drive, it automatically sends an email to the brothers letting them know what happened and its location from a GPS tracker on it. Charlie successfully hacks the drive, but learns the truth about the Leviathans and Roman from reading Frank's files on them and then witnessing her boss, Pete (David Stuart), get eaten and replaced by a Leviathan. She runs from her job and encounters Sam and Dean who track her down and they team up together to have Charlie infiltrate Dick Roman Enterprises, erase Frank's drive and hack Dick's files so they can learn his plans. She succeeds, learning that what Dick had recently been looking for in archeological sites has been found and Sam and Dean retrieve it and replace it with a Borax bomb. Dick realizes her betrayal and attacks her, but Bobby (who tagged along with her through his flask) and the boys rescue her, but Bobby attacks Dick and displays signs of becoming a vengeful spirit worrying Sam and Dean as there's no returning from that. Charlie goes into hiding while Roman worries about the Winchesters figuring out the tablet they stole from him.
147	21	"Reading is Fundamental"	Ben Edlund	Ben Edlund	May 4, 2012 (2012-05-04)	3X7071	1.66
Sam and Dean break open the clay tablet they stole from Dick Roman causing a storm from which lightning strikes teenager Kevin Tran (Osric Chau) and causes Castiel to wake up. Meg calls them and they arrive to find Castiel awake and with his memory intact, but insane. Castiel explains the tablet they found inside the clay is the Word of God, information from God written out on a tablet by Metatron, the celestial scribe, but he lacks the ability to read it. At the same time, Kevin is driven to drive to the hospital where he steals the tablet before Sam catches him while Dean tries and fails to get answers from Castiel. Kevin displays the ability to read the tablet which contains information about the Leviathans, but has a hard time with it and two angels arrive to take him away, explaining that he is a Prophet chosen to interpret the Word and that he needs to be taken away to learn to do that. When they try to kill Sam and Meg, Castiel intervenes, but when they still refuse to stop, Dean banishes all three angels. The group make their way to Rufus' Cabin where they ward themselves from angels and have Kevin set to work on translating the tablet while Meg sneaks out and kills two demons that followed them. This draws the angels' attention, but when one tries to kill Castiel, Meg kills her. The other angel allows Kevin to finish the translation before taking him away, but upon his return home, the two angels with him are killed by a Leviathan waiting for him. Sam and Dean discover that the tablet contains instructions on how to kill a Leviathan: "a bone of a righteous mortal washed in the three bloods of the fallen." The first is a fallen angel and Castiel gives them a vial of his blood before disappearing.
148	22	"There Will Be Blood"	Guy Bee	Andrew Dabb & Daniel Loflin	May 11, 2012 (2012-05-11)	3X7072	1.58
Dick forces Kevin Tran, the prophet chosen to read the Word of God to translate the Word for him by threatening his mother. Bobby reveals to the Winchesters that the blood of the remaining fallen, the Ruler of Fallen Humanity and a Father of Fallen Beasts refers to Crowley and an Alpha. They summon Crowley, but he refuses to give up his blood until they get the other items needed, directing them to the Alpha Vampire who escaped before Castiel could kill him. Along the way, they learn that the domesticating substance has been added to corn syrup and is now everywhere, with people now acting very dumb. Arriving at the location Crowley gave them, they find a bunch of vampires dead from feeding on infected humans and a young woman named Emily who claims that the Alpha kidnapped her as a little girl. With Emily's help, they locate the Alpha, but leave her and the flask behind at a hotel, as Bobby is showing greater signs of becoming a vengeful spirit. After Emily reveals herself to be loyal to the Alpha and seeing Dick on TV, Bobby possesses a maid and heads off with the flask to get revenge on Dick. Sam and Dean are captured by the Alpha who refuses to cooperate due to a deal with Dick, but when Edgar arrives, he has them locked up to hear what Edgar has to say. Edgar reveals that the Leviathans have betrayed the vampires and are using the fact that they and other monsters feed on the infected humans to wipe out all monsters. He tries to kill the Alpha, but Sam, having broken free, decapitates Edgar. Grateful to Sam and Dean and recognizing they have a common enemy, the Alpha gives them his blood and they leave only to find Bobby gone and realize he's likely lost to them. Meanwhile, Dick summons Crowley into a Devil's Trap, telling him they have a lot to talk about.
149	23	"Survival of the Fittest"	Robert Singer	Sera Gamble	May 18, 2012 (2012-05-18)	3X7073	1.56
Dick speaks to Crowley about a deal: in exchange for giving the Winchesters the wrong blood, Dick will give him and his demons Canada to do whatever they want with as long as they leave America alone. After going through an extensive contract, the deal is struck. At the same time, Sam and Dean break into the crypt of a group of nuns and steal a bone of one they feel is righteous enough for the weapon. Hacking into Sucrocorp's security cameras using what Charlie taught them, Sam and Dean spy on Dick, but discover that through the arm of the real Dick Roman, he has had many other Leviathans take on his form in order to protect himself and they can't tell which is which. Bobby, still possessing the maid arrives to get his revenge on Dick and when Sam tries to stop him, nearly strangles him to death before he regains control of himself and leaves the maid's body. At the same time, Kevin breaks free and discovers that Dick plans to poison creamers to kill off all skinny people, but is recaptured afterwards. Sam and Dean unsuccessfully summon Crowley while Meg arrives with Castiel who reveals that he discovered that his entire garrison has been destroyed and if any angels have survived, they are in hiding. Crowley arrives and is furious to see Castiel, but after realizing he's insane, gives them his blood and explains the deal Dick made with him, assuring them that this is really his blood. He also reveals that Cas, who refuses to fight anymore, can help them kill Dick. Castiel refuses to help and after he disappears to get the game Twister, Meg explains that due to him having the Leviathans inside of him, Castiel is able to tell them apart and will be able to identify the real Dick Roman. Bobby returns, but is now having trouble controlling himself and asks Sam and Dean to burn his flask. They do so, promising Bobby that they will finish Dick, but not out of vengeance. Afterwards, Castiel agrees to help and Dean has Meg crash the Impala into Sucrocorp to attract the guards' attention while he, Sam and Castiel sneak in. Meg decapitates the guards, but is captured by demons working for Crowley. Sam rescues Kevin who explains to him Dick's plan to kill the skinny people and the two head off to blow up the lab. Dean and Castiel confront Dick in the lab, but when Dean stabs him through the heart with the weapon, it fails to kill him. However, Dean reveals this to be a trick and while Castiel holds Dick in place from behind, stabs Dick through the neck with the weapon, killing him. However, Dean and Castiel disappear and Crowley betrays Sam, taking Kevin and planning to become the next major threat. Crowley also has an army of demons in the building dealing with the remaining Leviathans located there now that Dick is dead. Dean and Castiel find themselves in Purgatory surrounded by monsters and Castiel disappears on Dean.

Production

The series was renewed for a seventh season on April 26, 2011, and remained on Fridays at 9:00 pm (ET).

The CW announced on August 20, 2011, that the season would be increased to 23 episodes, up one episode from the 22-episode pickup the series had previously received.

On January 11, 2012, it was announced by the executive producer of the show, Robert Singer, that there was another cliffhanger ending planned for season seven.

Reception

Critical reception to the season has generally been mixed. It received a positive review from the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where it was reported as having a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 8.8/10 based on 5 reviews. However, one criticism from reviewers was of the lack of an emotional link between the Leviathans as a whole and the Winchester brothers, an element which had been present in previous seasons. The lack of threat from the monsters was also noted as a downside to the season, though the portrayal of James Patrick Stuart as Dick Roman, using corporate mannerisms and charm mixed with his own self-confidence, was pointed to as a high point of the story arc.

The overturn of Mark Sheppard's character Crowley at the final moments of the season, was very surprising for the critics. Crowley's successful separation of the Winchester brothers by taking advantage of Dean's imprisonment in Purgatory and the kidnap of both Kevin and Meg was a good cliffhanger going into the next season, opening up many possibilities and questions. Another well-received point was the return of the Impala at the end of season, much to the appreciation of the fans, and Misha Collins' portrayal of the resurrected and traumatized Castiel, which brought a new element to the chemistry between the brothers.

External links

• Official website
• Supernatural at IMDb
• List of Supernatural season 7 episodes at TV.com
• Supernatural at epguides.com