10x19 The Werther Project Review

Part one: Summary

After a chat with Rowena, Sam learns that he needs the Codex to read the Book of the Damned and looks through the Men of Letter’s files to learn its location. Sam discovers that the Codex was placed inside the Werther Box and sealed with a spell that has caused a few deaths in the past. Dean ends up tagging along thinking this is a case so Sam comes up with an excuse about their responsibility as legacies. After tampering with the box, the boys are trapped in suicide inducing illusions but Dean prevails because the Mark wants him alive. Together, the brothers give the box enough blood to survive and open the box and get the codex. In the end, Sam traps Rowena with the Book and the Codex to ensure she can't use it for anything else than to get the mark off of Dean’s arm.

Part two: Review

This episode uses the Codex and the Werther Box as an excuse to explore the Winchester’s relationship at this point in time and their motivations individually. We revisit the motif of one brother going behind the other’s back in attempt to save him. Sam is going to great lengths to get the Mark off of Dean’s arm despite Dean’s express forbiddance of using such means. Sammy has hidden the Book of the Damned from him and is now seeking the help of Rowena to read said book. Through their previous engagement with the Book, Dean knows that the Mark has an insatiable craving towards it and that the Book of the Dammed also requires extreme sacrifices to gain something else so he concludes that theres nothing good the Book can offer. He thinks he’s seen the last of it when Sam supposedly burns the book and destroys it. Instead, Sam keeps it secret from Dean and decides that any sacrifice is worth it so save his brother.

Later on Sam’s guilt speaks to him in the form of Sally’s ghost, emphasizing the flaws in his intentions but his will wins over in the form of Rowena. The curse on the box sees that guilting Sam won’t lead him to suicide so it changes its method to encouraging his plan to do anything to save Dean, even if it means bleeding himself out to retrieve a Codex for a Book he doesn’t even know will save his brother. 

Dean, on the other hand, has no idea what actually going on and thinks Sam’s odd behavior is due to the fact that Sam thinks he’s a “diseased killer puppy” who can’t be trusted. Dean blames himself first and foremost for the Mark on his arm and his suicidal thoughts stroll in with a cajun accent and a memory of Purgatory. Benny says everything running through Dean’s mind; He’s a time bomb and he can't expect Sam and Cas to take care of him when the time comes. He knows that they love him too much to kill the mister if they think theres even a glimmer of hope so it’s up to him to finish the deed. The only thing that saves him in that moment is his greatest burden, keeping him alive. When he comes to and realizes what Sam is doing, he selflessly bleeds himself out to sate the Box and save Sam. 

This episode and the Box serve to remind the viewers that the Winchesters are recklessly protective of each other; a fact the fandom really doesn't need reminding of.

Part three: Questions, problems, concerns

While I’m willing to excuse this episode for what it is— a filler episode— and commend the screen time Rowena gets, I think the story was poorly executed and carelessly put together. The first flaw I noticed is the backstory for the Werther Box. A girl goes down to do the laundry and decides to break down a wall because she’s throwing a tantrum? Even if this is supposedly the work of the Box, why now? If the motive of the box is just to have blood then why spare her? Supposing that the Box sparing the one who comes into contact with it is a product of the curse then why, when Sally explains how her Aunt died, did it spare her and not her Aunt when her Aunt was the one who “went downstairs”? And why, if the Box was for some reason sparing her all this time, did it decide to kill her when the Winchesters showed up? This story leaves more questions than answers in its supposed explanation of the “conflict” of this episode.

Another problem I had with this episode was its portrayal of the former Men of Letters. I may be wrong but from my impression, the Bunker was a hidden lair used in the case of some sort of disaster, not a regular meeting place among the elite in the Men of Letters. It seems like that entire scene was an excuse to make the transition shot from flashback to Sam and while I think that’s a great shot, it was careless to make the story fit the medium instead of the other way around.