In this episode we find Dean and Sam dealing with deals made with the devil, so to speak, as they track down a female demoness taking the souls of people so far gone they are willing to do anything to get back on track.
The episode starts out in a juke joint at night; the atmosphere is moody with low lighting, the air hazy with smoke and reeking of cheap perfume and alcohol. Working class black patrons are dressed their best for a night out as they sit nursing drinks, but mostly listening to the best damn blues guitarist in history.
Greenwood Mississippi, August 16, 1938
Staring at the bluesman onstage, a 26 year old black man wearing a pinstripe suit, raked fedora, and radiating confidence as his fingers effortlessly pull at the strings of his guitar, is young and pretty Sadie. She watches him with the awe of a woman at a rock concert and he returns her attention with a knowing smile.
We close on the bluesman, lost in his music, when beneath the rhythm we hear the click, click, click, like claws on a hardwood floor. The bluesman hears the sound as well and opens his eyes, darting his gaze around but sees nothing. He returns to his music, thinking that he must be imaging the sound. The clicking sound resumes, an animal pacing restlessly, and the bluesman opens his eyes again, this time in fear as his fingers drift over the string on autopilot. It is clear that nobody else in the room can hear this sound. The audience, however, is starting to notice is odd behavior as Sadie looks up at the stage in concern. Suddenly the bluesman stops playing as a big, dark shadow erupts past the window. It is the shadow of some kind of large animal. He stops playing abruptly and lets the cigarette fall from his mouth as the audience erupts into confused murmurs. The bluesman tries to fight back his rising panic when he suddenly sees the shadow again through the window, coming closer to the stage. He freaks out and rushes off stage, heading straight for the door.
On a dark road a few moments later we see the bluesman walking, carrying the guitar by the neck as he steals panicked glances over his shoulder, listening for the noise. For awhile all he hears are his own footsteps, then that sound again, something rustling in the brush. The bluesman stops, listens, but hears nothing. He resumes walking and the sound resumes as well. This continues, he stops, it stops, he starts, it starts, when suddenly he hears a low canine growl and the bluesman panics again, dropping his guitar, running full out.
The bluesman hurls himself into his house and locks the door just as the animal throws itself to the door, clawing and scratching. The bluesman backs away in terror and falls to his knees as the animal continues its assault on the door. The animal stops scratching and starts throwing itself at the door, eventually breaking through as the chair smashes into pieces and the door flies open revealing---
Sadie, standing there with two men who just broke down the door, scanning the room worriedly and her eyes widen when she sees the bluesman, his hand wrapped around a bottle as his body convulses in a massive seizure. She runs to the man and sees the bottle, yelling at one of the men to get a doctor. The second man takes off as she pries the bottle from the bluesman’s hand and gives it to the first man. She begs the bluesman to stay with her and he grabs her sleeve. “Dogs” he says but Sadie doesn’t understand, so he tries again. “Black dogs” he says again, but this is met with more confusion as Sadie begs Robert Johnson to stay with her, but he is gone, his eyes rolling up into the back of his head.
We go to Mississippi dirt crossroads at night, ten years earlier, as the bluesman, younger now with a guitar strapped across his back and an anxious gleam in his eyes falls to his knees in the dirt, just as his song says. On soundtrack in the back we hear, “I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees. . .” and Robert Johnson begins digging in the dirt with his fingers, dropping ritual items into the hole he’s just made. He covers the hole with dirt, sprinkling hoodoo powder over it in a circle. He waits and nothing happens, as the song fades away to the silence of the night. Finally he takes out his guitar and starts playing, horribly out of tune with unsteady hands; the end result would make ears bleed. He gives up and stands, turns around to see a beautiful woman standing behind him.
Bluesman- Holy—
Beautiful Woman- Holy? Not in the least.
(Her eyes flash red, revealing that she is a demon, and the bluesman steps back but then steels himself)
Beautiful Woman- What can I do for you?
Bluesman- I wanna, I want you to make me the best bluesman ever lived.
Beautiful Woman- I bet you do. You’re pretty awful. (then) I’ll require a payment.
We watch from the distance as the woman leans in, speaking to the bluesman in low murmurs before he nods. She puts a hand on his cheek and we get close again in time to hear her say,
Beautiful Woman- Then we’re agreed.
As the bluesman wonders if they’re supposed to shake on it she pulls him in for a hot kiss, way better than a handshake and the bluesman doesn’t mind at all. As she pulls away she deliberately touches his hand where it grips the neck of his guitar and a shock runs through him as he looks at the guitar with new understanding. He moves his fingers over the strings, ready to play, looks up to find the woman is gone and he is alone on the crossroads as he begins to play.
In the present it seems that the Winchesters have already caught onto what’s happening as Sam narrows it down for us by stating—
Sam- So Robert Johnson sells his soul at the crossroads, records a bunch of killer songs about it, and the legend just keeps growing. I mean, everyone’s heard his story, right?
Dean- Well, he was important. Jimmy Page had a shrine to the guy.
Sam (thoughtful)- Basically, without him none of the music you like would even exist.
Dean- Yeah. I’d be forced to listen to all those angry chick singers you’re into.
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