Supernatural S04E03

The Hunters get a call from an old contact, Jose Lopez, who worked at the Los Angeles Botanica that they visited for help on the haunted set case and later for supplies during the Cult of Mouse in Disneyland case. Jose has since opened his own little botanica, Best Botanica Westwood, getting clientele from both nearby UCLA and an upper class set, as the business has been booming with Hollywood and LA elite clients. He calls up Jon Clarke to share he might have a case, and one with potential money involed, as a wealthy couple came in for some routine blessings, but the wife keeps returning, frustrated and in need of spiritual cleansing. He thinks it's a cursed object, but not responding to his remedies. He asks the Hunters for help, and they agree to travel to LA.

After arriving in LA the Hunters visit Jose and learn from him that the husband of the couple is a very famous actor named Jaime Sonoro, really good and well-loved in Mexico, but is stuck playing in telenovelas. He's working on something involving sharks that needed a water tank and wave machine, which had broken, so the studio worked out a deal to use one up here. Jaime is nicknamed the Rooster, or El Gallo, if the Hunters do any looking for information. Jaime's wife Elena kept coming back in and saying that an object wouldn't be cleansed or go away. He's tried several remedies for her but to no avail.

The Hunters think they can handle a standard cursed item with a curse box at a minimum but want to know what Elena has done and talk to her if possible. Jose explains that he doesn't have her phone but does have their address - everyone knows they are staying at the Castillo del Lago, on Mulholland in the Hollywood Hills, the first and most iconic home in that area. They get the idea to go under the guise of a delivery from the shop, and Jose puts together a box of useful items for them to try to deliver. They also look up basic photos online of the Sonoros to help recognize them.

Razik beats the other Hunters to the location on his motorcycle while they have to fight through traffic. The home itself has a small private drive and a 2m high white wall, gate, and security. The drive is immediately opposite a popular pull out space for tourists to take photos with the Hollywood sign above a park that leads down to Hollywood Lake, a reservoir. The early arrival enables Razik to explore some windy side roads and get an angle on the backyard, where he sees three kids playing on the grassy lawn next to a pool. A woman in an apron calls them in for dinner and he sees at least one or two other adults in the house. Razik establishes an overwatch for the operation from this vantage point.

While the other Hunters park at the overlook, Scott takes the box in the 'Cuda and attempts a delivery. He's successful to get in the gate, and finds security - and Elena - waiting for him at the motor court. He notices cameras everywhere, though if there are other measures, he isn't sure yet. The security guard steps in to check the box before handing it to Elena. She looks in it hopefully but becomes dismayed. She asks Scott if there were any messages or instructions from Jose, and Scott makes up a message to trust a group of contacted outside experts who could help her out. Elena asks where are they, and Scott asks when she would like them. "Last week," she responds as she turns to leave. Fortunately, Scott manages to grab her attention so that Elena realizes he is one of those people. Putting two and two together, she asks the security guard to let him in, and Scott gets a pat down.

Inside the house, Elena first leads him to a secluded study with heavy cloth on the walls. The sound is muffled, and good for keeping their conversation from filtering to others in the house. Scott explains that while they are not Santeros, he and his associates have expertise in these matters. Elena explains that the matter in question is really a book, a rotten book supposedly about Jaime's family, the Sonoros, though she refuses to touch it now or read it. Jaime has become obsessed with it, and is using it for inspiration on a new script. It's all bad news though, and she's tried purification rituals and cleansing rituals on it, the house, on them. She's even tried to burn it in the fireplace with salt and herbs and it came back, intact, within hours. She's tried taking pages and stuffing it down the garbage disposal but, again, they appear back in the book. She see's even the smallest waiver from Scott, grabs him by the hand, and takes him to the office the book is kept in.

Of course, Razik sees and reports this to the others, but thinks Scott might be getting some action instead of what happens next.

Between being pressed up against a lovely woman and the scent of the book as the door opens, Scott's stomach nearly flips over, but he manages to hold it together. It does smell of rotting meat or fish, and looks like it is falling apart and belongs in a dump, but it is completely intact. Even his terrible lack of Spanish still gets the cover across, "The Ignomious History of the Sonoro Family from Antiquity to the Present Day, by Maria Gaspar Rocha de Quiroga, Published 11783, Sevilla, Espana." He takes a couple of photographs of pages, most importantly the forward, the head of the last section, and the final pages. Elena warns him that her husband will be home soon and that he should go, but to come back tomorrow since he only has a few days of shooting left. The family will leave and return to Mexico City at the end of the week.

Scott is able to share his findings with the others, but since there is a notable lack of Spanish between them, and the language is complex from the time period it was written in, they send the forward to Jose, who is shocked. Jose translates that the story of the family supposedly goes back to Cain and Abel, and the family has been marked with evil ever since. Between the forward and translations made the next morning (with gas masks on), the family's appearance and names may have changed as they traveled into Europe and then to New Spain, but they have a lust for gold and violence, with lords, brigands, soldiers, and conquistadors all playing roles. The author seems determined and obsessed in some ways too, changing from a neutral 3rd person to a 1st person "I" narration. They also find a recurring theme of shadows, maybe following around the Sonoro, and wonder if there is a creature involved. They also find a bookmark in the back with a short record of the delivery and contact information for the Antiquarian bookshop. The Hunters have Jose call to speak with the bookshop while they do investigating of their own. A wide variety of contacts are thought of for information, but most are dismissed.

Meanwhile, Elena shows them Jaime's script is called "El Tragabalas," meaning the Bullet Swallower, and he's based it on a family ancestor who had been a brigand. He got the name after being shot in the face and surviving, having swallowed the bullet. There are songs written about him, corridos and ballads. Reports said that he had died, but he may have just slipped into a quiet retirement and became a local legend for his generosity and rescues in the area. The problem is Jaime is using the book for inspiration and his father, Antonio, is set firm against doing either.

While they are observing and strategizing, Aine checks out the house. She reports back that the number of occupied rooms is different from the number of people mentioned on the tour, short by one. Elena has said that the household currently consists of Herself, Jaime, their three children, Jaime's father Antonio, Remedio, nanny Ignacia, the security guard, and a chef who comes in once or twice a week. But who is Remedio?

When questioned, Elena draws blanks when asked when Remedio joined the household. She shows off the bedrooms on tour and nothing seems amiss, like she has already shown off Remedio's room, but there isn't one for him. The Hunters question gently realizing she has had some memories blocked or mental alteration. The security guard's responses are similar. This points them to either Remedio being some sort of manifestation of the book or, more likely, his own entity, and one that can alter mental perceptions. They ask about any electronic disturbances, which yields a negative, and ask the guard to show them footage from the home. Eventually, they find some footage of Remedio and the family. While the kids play in the main living room, the electricity flickers but pops on pretty quickly. The family mostly continues like nothing is amiss, but Antonio glares at Remedio. Antonio knows something about him, then.

Jon Clarke calls Chuck, who is pretty confident they aren't dealing with a glawackus, the Northern Devil Cat, but could be angels or witches. Scott ultimately calls Nascha Ghost-wind, who also helps narrow things with that ability down to people and things that can manipulate reality: angels, some high-level demons, tricksters, small gods, reapers, and the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. None of these are comforting. She suggests asking Airy about some of those.

Meanwhile, Ciaran, Razik, and Aine investigate the house and look for signs of curse removal and ritual objects, just to see if her memory wasn't made up on having tried these. They find confirmation in burnt-up candles, smudge sticks, and the like. Airy, however, tries to salt and burn the book himself. He succeeds, but the book does return later in the evening.

When they get the translations back from Jose, Scott asks him his ideas. Jose agrees that those are possible. From his standpoint as a santero, there's a variety of beliefs from African loa/loah belief and Catholic syncretism. Both beliefs in spirits and angels and demons involve riding or possession; something may be following him around or possessing someone else to be in a body. Jose shares his conversation with the bookshop owner, as well. She stated that the book was passed down in her family. According to her family lore, the original author died after writing the book and thinks it killed her. The author's children had the book published and kept one copy for themselves. It's been getting worse over the centuries and she wanted it out and looked up the head of the Sonoro family, found Jaime's house in the upscale Pedregal neighborhood of Mexico City, and delivered it to him. There was never any sale.

Before long, Antonio, Ignacia, and the children return home and the Hunters try to speak with Antonio. Antonio is angry, but Jon's arguments and Ciaran's persuasiveness convince him that they are on the same side and trying to help. They push him enough to share about the family curse and Remedio. At some point, the family had been cursed and tends to be evil. Sons in the family line get offed success and riches and have a perfectly long lifespan of 100 years. Most take the offers and become evil in their hearts, which sounds a bit like doing a deal with a crossroads demon. At the end of their life, they can be taken or passed down to the next generation. However, Antonio is insistent that his father Juan has been living apart and trying to lead a good life, as has he. He has no wish to pass the curse on to his beloved grandchildren, and Jaime has no clue what is going on. He recalls that when his grandfather died, he met (or was able to see) Remedio for the first time. Remedio visits maybe once a year, but really should be more concerned with Juan than Jaime. It's nowhere near Jaime's time and he has no idea why he is here or also what Remedio is. He never knew the book existed, and has no need to read it, but Remedio came shortly after the book arrived. The Hunters convince Antonio to at least read the forward so that he can have some confirmation and know as much about his family as possible. Reading that the curse goes back so far, and may be related to the first murder is validating to Antonio.

The Hunters now have Antonio on board to confront Remedio. Elena does not have the whole story, and still has mental blocks about Remedio, but has enough wits to promise to distract her husband as much as she can so that they can talk to Remedio.

Jaime and Remedio arrive home, and Jaime is in great spirits. Jaime accepts pretty much everything Elena says to introduce the Hunters as friends from a project she had worked on years ago. He is in too good of spirits to notice anything amiss. After he sees the children off to bed, Elena announces wine and appetizers, and the whole group moves towards the big kitchen with its massive island. Dinner will come soon.

Ciaran takes the opportunity to pounce on Remedio by asking, "So, what's it like being a reaper? Moving people on and all that?" etc. Remedio calmly retorts back, "What's it like having someone who should've moved on already as a companion?" Ciaran and Remedio have some brief banter in which Remedio confirms his nature, and while caught off guard, wouldn't be surprised if someone like Ciaran (who sees dead people) or Airy (as a vessel) could identify him as a reaper. (There may be something to this.) Although the open was witty, they Hunters proceed with caution as Remedio would have to be one of the oldest reapers under Death. When confronted about the family, Remedio shares that he had screwed up. He describes wandering, and to him, he'd see something about if it was someone's time written on their forehead (not actual writing, but reminds the Hunters of other marks, like the mark of Cain, etc.). Remedio says he came across a baby that had, for all intents and purposes, the equivalent of "In arrears" or "past due" written on his little cherubic face. Remedio met his first moral quandary: how could a baby, who had lived no life yet, be not just his time to go, a sad thing enough, but past due on sins? The Catholics on the team bring up Original Sin, and Remedio nods, like yes, but worse. Much worse, even. The whole family line was due for early collections. Remedio wondered if it would be possible for the baby to have a normal life, a virtuous life, a redemptive live even. He let the baby live. Remedio can't imagine Death being happy about it, or not knowing, but imagines that his action, for some reason, was overlooked purposefully for the sake of experiment, or to protect Remedio it was never talked about.

As Antonio listens, Remedio confirms that the book is, as they were coming to theorize, a visual collection or metaphor for the family sins over all of time, and the author's family is connected. While the Hunters thought for a moment that it might be the same family, Remedio clears up that the families are just forever interconnected with each other, although certainly at one point, there weren't that many families to entwine, implying that these are direct descendent of the children of Cain. Cain himself has not been involved and is off the radar, though the Hunters learn from Remedio that the story has a bit of a twist: Abel was not talking to God, he was talking to Lucifer. Cain offered himself up to the Fallen as a replacement to go to Hell for his brother to go to Heaven instead. Lucifer accepted Cain's deal on the condition that he slay his brother and send him to Heaven himself. The blade he fashioned out of a donkey jawbone, the First Blade, is as connected with Cain as the Mark Lucifer gave him. Cain did indeed have a long life, and an attempt at family several times, but was eventually killed and turned into one of the most powerful demons. At some point he repented heavily and killed off most of the demons he helped train to murder. Since then he's been off the radar - except for one or two notable instances.

The Hunters push the story back to the book, and if it's a threat, and why Remedio is here now. The book is a bit like the painting in The Picture of Dorian Grey, and probably not a good idea to harm - but it should be stored properly so that the Sonoros and de Quirogas can live free of it. Antonio asks why Remedio is here and not with his father, Juan, but Remedio explains with some real sorrow that Juan had been killed, before his time. He suspects it was the bookseller, as she would have tried to give it to the eldest Sonoro first, but the families cannot tolerate each other, things turned for the worst, and Juan Sonoro would up dead, without a true completion to his 100 years of penance. He came to the family right after, really to find out what had happened and protect them if needed. Remedio watched the book be delivered to Jaime, and although the de Quiroga left, he did not know what the effect of the book would be, and had to stay. Antonio admits that a part of him would happily pay someone like Jon (to the other's chagrin) to eliminate the other family - the ability to make evil choices is always so close.

Their conversation is interrupted by Jaime himself, as he finally shares the good news: they wrapped shooting today, his script was green-lit, and he is planning on returning the family to Mexico early! Tomorrow!

Hearing this, the Hunters realize they need to get the book out of the house tonight. They work quickly:

Antonio goes to help distract Elena and Jaime. Remedio stays out of the equation. Ciaran convinces Aine to try lifting the book and tossing it out the window. Jon sneaks through the house behind them as backup. The book makes it outside though Aine vomits up ectoplasm in the process - it doesn't want to be touched by her, but she is quite powerful. Jon notices that she had triggered a silent alarm in opening the window, and they need to get out quickly. Fortunately, Antonio and Elena argued with Jaime about leaving so early when the kids wanted to go to Disneyland. The security guard ran to them first to make sure they were okay before clearing the rooms. There are shouts when the book is discovered to be gone, and the Hunters leave to the sound of Jaime's cries.

Later, the Hunters would work to construct a curse box, but also consider where it should be stored - or who would best look after the book. Airy, however, feels something stir within him, and a tug on his faith, like there should be something he could do - or should be able to do - if only he. had Raphael at his side. He tries to heal the book on a Hail Mary of a chance. Light emits from his hands, and the book is mostly recovered - back to square one at least. Rather than being rotten, the book looks normal, new even. It now has plenty of room to record sins... but more importantly, reflects better the efforts of the Sonoro family to live good lives.

Team Free Will, indeed.