From MadCap's Couch - Supernatural: "Malleus Maleficarum"

Desperate Housewives... well, two of them, anyway.

So...  witches!

Kind of feels like I should have timed this to be during Horror Month 2022.

Whoops!

Malleus Maleficarum brings back the recaps and recaps harder than any recap in Season 3 has recapped thus far outside of the Season 3 opener.

We see Ruby's introduction using her knife, Bobby attempting to repair the Colt, and Dean's issues with her despite Sam saying that Ruby says she can help with his deal. Also, the vague foreshadow-y notions of Sam not necessarily being 100% Pure him after the events of All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2.

A man and a woman come home, flirt, and the woman - Janet -  suddenly finds herself losing teeth quickly thanks to another woman chanting over a ritual altar. Predictably, in an incredibly bloody fashion, she dies and the man - Paul - is left to pick up the pieces.

Presumably the next day, Sam and Dean are questioning Paul posing as CDC Agents. While Paul avoids a question about someone wanting to hurt Janet, Sam finds a strange bag left tucked up in the sink plumbing. Sam identifies it as a hex bag, the calling card of a witch. A witch that, specifically, had it out for Janet. Given that a witch can be anyone - man or woman - the two have some investigating to do.

"Damn it! I knew I should have turned my Book of Shadows on and off again!"

In the suburbs elsewhere, a woman named Elizabeth and a woman named Amanda talk, Amanda having apparently missed "book club". As Amanda comes into her house, she pulls out a turkey from the oven that is covered in maggots and worms. That night, we cut to Paul sitting alone in his car with a meal and Poison's Every Rose Has Its Thorn playing... only to be replaced by I Put a Spell on You by Screaming Jay Hawkins as Amanda casts her spell and maggots begin to leak out from Paul's burger... and his mouth. Sam and Dean rush to the rescue, Sam finding and burning the hex bag to save Paul's life, the bag itself disappearing in a ball of green flame.

Dean convinces Paul to reveal who killed Janet and tried to kill him, which of course has to be Amanda. At her home, as Amanda attempts to do the spell once more, the candles at her altar go out and lacerations appear across her arms, leading her into an incredibly bloody, gory death. Sam and Dean arrive to find the scene as is, dead Amanda and all. At first thinking that it may just be a case of witch murder-suicide, they instead find another hex bag. So this was more witch-on-witch violence than that.

Also, we're only about eleven minutes into the episode. It would have been awkward if it were over now.

Also also, Dean Winchester supports rabbits not being killed by witches. The poor little guys.

Needless to say, though, the job isn't done.

At "book club", Elizabeth comes to meet with Renee and Tammi and expresses some reservations about continuing "book club". Renee lulls her back to it by the promises of the things she can get from it and the three begin a chant over a definitely not evil altar.

The next day, Sam and Dean put on the federal agents act and question Elizabeth about the death of Amanda. Tammi and Renee show up, giving a terrifying vibe of domination (from Renee in particular, keep a note of that). Given that Elizabeth was managing a garden with a bunch of plants out of season and the records of the amazing raffles and contests that they've all won, they know that there's black magic afoot. Sam is all too keen on taking down the witches, even when Dean points out that they are human, echoing an earlier conversation between the two.

"Thanks for the bullets! Now die!"

Ruby arrives, her presence apparently able to stall the Impala in the road. She tells the boys that they need to leave and leave quickly. Dean takes the opportunity to pull the Colt on her. We get a lore dump that the black witches are getting their power from demons... and Ruby tells the boys that they are not ready to deal with this particular demon. After a heated exchange, Dean attempts to shoot Ruby and Sam stops him, the bullet flying into the air, Ruby making her escape as the boys are distracted. Back at the motel, Dean berates Sam for not killing Ruby. Sam rightly brings up Casey from back in Sin City, which Dean deflects and brings up how Sam is all too eager to solve their problems by killing.

Sam explains that he's got to be that way, change into someone who is willing to do those things in order to survive after Dean is gone. He has to be like Dean. Before that thread can be pulled on more, Dean experiences some horrific stomach pain like knives cutting him up inside. Sam desperately tries to find the hex bag as Dean begins to cough up blood. Taking the Colt, Sam goes after the coven... leaving Dean bleeding out on the floor.

He busts into the house where "book club" is going on, putting the three ladies at gunpoint. The ladies, however, insist that they know nothing of Dean or his pain... and are just trying to get Renee a lower mortgage rate.

Ruby busts in and forcefeeds Dean some foul liquid from a flask in order to save his life and tells him to stop calling her a bitch before leaving.

Sam uses his detective skills to point out Tammi as the guilty party. She was the only one who didn't get this amazing windfall of good fortune that the others did. Tammi attempts to play off being a helpless victim, but soon gives in and reveals demonic black eyes. When Sam shoots her with the Colt, she stops the bullet via telekinesis and it falls to the floor, useless. Tammi tells Sam that he's in a lot of trouble and then tosses him to a wall. When Renee tries to object to this, Tammi snaps her neck with a wave of her hand. She then berates Elizabeth for selling her soul to the dark powers of Hell in a mocking tone.

Then Tammi reveals that she's not only a demon, but knows of Sam. Specifically, the whole "Azazel's Demon Army" plan and the role he was to play in that. Tammi, unlike Casey back in Sin City is not one of the demons that was willing to follow Sam and instead pledges her allegiance to "a new leader rising in the West" who doesn't like Sam very much.

...given what we learn later, it's weird that Tammi distinctly says 'he', rather than 'she', but never mind.

"Knife to meet you again!"

Dean attempts to Leeroy Jenkins his way in and gets pinned to the wall for his efforts. Ruby pops in and attempts to sway Tammi, revealing that the two have a previous history. Ruby was one in Tammi's service when she was human. Ruby puts up a good fight, but Tammi beats her down, and then uses a fireplace poker to drive the point home further. Elizabeth ends up making her way to the altar and putting it to use, Tammi being stopped from exorcising Ruby via a spell. Sam and Dean are likewise released from their entrapment. Tammi kills Elizabeth, but then gets stabbed repeatedly by Dean using Ruby's knife, killing her outright and paying Ruby back for saving him earlier.

Frustrated and wounded, Ruby tells the boys to leave and that she'll clean up the mess, flashing the demonic black eyes at them before they relent and do so.

Back at the motel, the boys lick their wounds. Outside, Ruby comes to talk with Dean. When Dean mockingly calls her the Devil that may care, Ruby responds by saying that she doesn't believe in the Devil.

...alright, we aren't at Lucifer Rising yet, stop laughing.

Ruby reveals that what Tammi said was true, she was once human and every demon that Ruby has ever met was once one. She tells Dean that that's what awaits him in Hell, having his humanity torn away. Burned in the pit and lost forever. Dean asks her if there's no way of saving him from the Pit, and Ruby admits that she's been lying to Sam so he'd talk to her. She needs Dean's help to get Sam ready for what is to come, life without Dean and the war that is still going to be going on even when Dean is gone.

Dean asks her why she wants them to win, and she says that she isn't like the other demons. She remembers what being human is like. Dean looks away long enough for Ruby's slasher film villain teleportation powers to activate and she's gone... leaving Dean all alone in the parking lot.

Malleus Maleficarum is a pretty alright episode, though it feels weirdly rushed to get to the plot points it wants to get to. The episode dumps a lot of lore about witches, demons, and specifically the character of Ruby very quickly. As I've said previously, I'll get into a full look at Ruby during the Lucifer Rising review, so let's look at those first two things. Specifically, we know that black witches get their power from demons through pacts. Not unlike a Crossroads deal, although this seems to be a bit more long term and for more varied things. It also creates a bit of confusion, seeing as the demon makes a pact that guarantees them the souls of their witches and grants them power... but until the witch dies, it's not particularly clear what it is that the demons are getting out of it.

"Screw this, I'm gonna go bang Oliver Queen..."

The lore drop that all demons are former humans is kind of a staggering revelation, given that we know that Dean is hellbound and that that means that every demon we've seen thus far in the show is a former human. This is also a nugget that comes up more than a few times in the show going forward, so it's not merely a one-off thing done here. It'll come up in a big way in just a few episodes, though we won't know it until next season.

And, as I said, we can't really get into the Ruby things until Lucifer Rising, but we'll get there. We'll get there.

Next time, we enter into the dream world. Sam and Dean find themselves having to take on a stoner Freddy Krueger with some help from Bela. We almost get the appearance of a certain hockey mask-clad killer, and Dean has to actually come to grips with something that's been brewing in him all season...

Be there!