The Song Remains the Same

The Song Remains The Same is the 13th episode of Season 5. It aired on February 4th, 2010. 

Synopsis
Anna goes back in time to kill John and Mary Winchester before they can conceive Sam knowing that if Sam was never born then Lucifer won't be able to use him as his vessel. Castiel sends Sam and Dean back to 1978 so they can stop Anna, and the two brothers are reunited with their parents. Mary recognizes Dean as a hunter since he visited her in the past once before but tries to keep the truth from John.

Recap
The angel Anna has escaped from prison in Heaven and is planning on killing Sam in order to prevent the Apocalypse. She visits Dean in his dream and asks him and Sam to meet her, but instead of the brothers she encounters Castiel, who doesn't believe she has escaped but suspects there is something she is not telling them. Anna seems very evasive and disappears without revealing much of her plans. Later, Castiel meets up with the Winchesters and tells them that Anna has traveled back in time to kill Mary and John Winchester and stop them from conceiving Sam.

The three also travel to the past, which weakens Castiel considerably. When knocking at their parents' door, Mary recognizes Dean from his earlier visit and tells them to leave immediately, suspecting something bad is bound to happen. John, however, is thrilled to meet "relatives" from Mary's side of the family and invites them in. Anna poses as John's employer and calls him at home, telling him to come to the garage he works at. After arriving there, he is attacked by Anna. The brothers and Mary come to rescue him, and Sam is able to drive Anna out of the building by using a magical sigil. They flee to a shelter, where Dean has a conversation with Mary, in which he reveals that he and Sam are her sons and that she has to leave John in order to prevent her sons from being born. Suddenly, Anna and a younger Uriel rush into the house, fight the Winchesters and manage to kill Sam. Just as Anna is about to kill Mary, the archangel Michael, having possessed John's body, enters the room and smites Anna. He reveals that Cain and Abel are the brothers' ancestors and that their destiny as Michael and Lucifer's true vessels has been set since those ancient times. He then revives Sam, erases Mary and John's memory and sends the brothers back to their time.

Back in 1978, a heavily pregnant Mary sets an angel figurine above the soon-to-be-born Dean's crib. John asks where she got the idea, and Mary says it just came to her. After John leaves, Mary feels "quite a kick there", and muses if this means Dean is "a troublemaker already". She tells the boy that "angels are watching over you" and the episode ends.

Characters

 * Dean Winchester
 * Sam Winchester
 * Mary Winchester
 * John Winchester
 * Anna Milton
 * Castiel
 * Uriel
 * Michael

Featured Supernatural Being

 * Archangels
 * Angels
 * Demons

Featured Music

 * "Cherry Pie" by Warrant
 * "Life's Been Good" by Joe Walsh
 * "The Creeper" by Molly Hatchet
 * "Chevy Van" by Sammy Jones

Continuity

 * Uriel was last seen in On The Head Of A Pin.
 * Ironically, he is enlisted by the same angel who killed his future self.
 * Anna Milton was last seen in When the Levee Breaks.
 * This is the first episode to feature the Archangel Michael.
 * The failed attempt to kill Lucifer with the Colt is referenced in this episode.
 * Previously in the season four episode "Heaven and Hell," the Winchesters worked to save Anna from being killed by Uriel and Castiel. Ironically, in this episode she knowingly and deliberately takes actions that will result in the two not existing.
 * Michael states the odds that John and Mary would fall in love and have Dean and Sam are more based on fate than chance. The following episode would reveal that the union of Mary and John was so important that a cupid intervened to make sure the boys were born.

Quotes
Castiel: I do not understand that reference. Castiel: It's true. Dean: So she's gone all Glenn Close, huh? That's awesome. Castiel: Who's Glenn Close? Dean: No one. Just this psycho bitch who likes to boil rabbits. Sam: So, the... the plan to kill me--would it actually stop Satan? Dean: No, Sam, come on. Sam: Cas, what do you think? Does Anna have a point? Castiel: No. She's a... "Glenn Close." Sam: Uh, the truth. Dean: What, that their sons are back from the future to save them from an angel gone Terminator? Come on, those movies haven't even come out yet. Uriel: Always happy to do some smiting. Dean: Because I got to believe that I can choose what I do with my... unimportant little life. Michael: You're wrong. You know how I know? Think of a million random acts of chance that let John and Mary be born, to meet, to fall in love, to have the two of you. Think of the million random choices that you make--and yet how each and every one of them brings you closer to your destiny. Do you know why that is? Because it's not random. It's not chance. It's a plan that is playing itself out perfectly. Free will's an illusion, Dean. That's why you're going to say yes. Sam: This is what? Dean: Team Free Will. One ex-blood junkie, one dropout with six bucks to his name, and Mr. Comatose over there. It's awesome. Sam: It's not funny. Dean: I'm not laughing.
 * Dean: Awesome. Six degrees of Heaven Bacon. (References 'Six degrees of Kevin Bacon' )
 * Dean: So, what? You're like a DeLorean without enough plutonium?
 * Dean: Really? Anna?
 * Dean: What exactly are we gonna march up there and tell 'em?
 * Anna: I need you to kill some humans.
 * Michael: And you think you know better than my father? The one unimportant little man. What makes you think you get to choose?
 * Dean: Well... this is it.