The Third Man

The Third Man is the 3rd episode of Season 6.

Synopsis
Sam and Dean call Castiel for help when they investigate a case about several dead police officers who seem to have been killed by the plagues of Egypt. Castiel confirms the staff of Moses was used to kill the cops and tells Sam and Dean that Heaven is in a state of chaos and God’s weapons have been stolen. The three head off to find the thief and come face to face with an old enemy.

Plot
The episode starts out with a scene in the police locker room where a police officer starts bleeding all over his body and eventually falls on the floor and completely turns to blood and chunks of flesh. Dean wakes up from a dream he was having about Lisa and drives off towards where Sam was. Meanwhile, Sam pays off a hooker and informs Dean about his whereabouts. In another part of town, a police officer sitting in his car dies from furious boils that cover his entire body both on the outside and the inside. Sam and Dean arrive at the morgue and takes a look at the body of the cop and are horrified by the scene. They hurry off to see the eyewitness to the first murder and find that he's acting strange. He shuts the door on them and Sam is forced to knock the door open. The cop says that "God wants them dead" because of Christoper Burch. The three of them had planted a gun in his car and they shot him. He dies and Sam lifts his cap to find locusts inside his head chewing their way out.

Sam and Dean return their room and they try making sense of the events. They agree that they resemble the Egyptian plagues. Dean calls out to Castiel while Sam says it's of no use because he had been trying to contact Castiel for nearly a year. Suddenly, Castiel appears and tells them the he has a connection with Dean which makes both Sam and Dean angry. Castiel waves off their complaints by telling Sam that he has no idea who pulled Sam out of Hell. Castiel tells them that there is a civil war going on in Heaven between supporters of Raphael and Castiel. Raphael wants to continue with the Apocalypse as planned and Castiel is against it. He informs them that God's weapons were stolen amidst the chaos and needed to be found. They leave for Mr. Burch's house and find him cutting out the newspaper articles about the dead cops.

They ask him why he's killing cops and then Mr. Burch's young son appears. Aaron Burch tells them that he got the staff of Moses from an angel in exchange for his soul. Castiel kidnaps Aaron and perfroms a painful ritual (to which Dean resisted and Sam agreed) and gets the name of the Angel: Balthazar. Then, suddenly, one of Raphael's men appears and thanks Castiel for the name and they start fighting, resulting in the both of them falling out of the window and the angel disappears. Castiel finds Balthazar's location with a ritual and the three of them leave for where Balthazar is. They arrive at a large mansion and they make their way in. Castiel meets Balthazar and asks him why he is doing what he is doing, to which he replies that he did this because he could and that he was following Castiel's footsteps of rebellion. Balthazar also tells Castiel that he was followed, and it shows outside that Raphael and his men have reached the mansion. As his men are taken down by Sam and Dean, Raphael fights with Castiel. Raphael completely dominates the battle, and is about to finish off Castiel, until Balthazar appears and uses a crystal that turns Raphael's body into salt. After refusing to return the weapons to Castiel, Dean traps Balthazar in a circle of holy fire and tells him to return Aaron's soul. Balthazar does so and tells them that they have no idea how powerful a soul is. Castiel removes the circle and tells Balthazar that they are even now and Balthazar leaves.

At then end of the episode, Sam and Dean have a long conversation about how Hell was for both of them. Sam tells Dean that they were different and that their times in Hell didn't bother Sam as much as it bothered Dean.

Major Characters

 * Dean Winchester
 * Sam Winchester
 * Castiel

Minor Characters

 * Raphael
 * Balthazar
 * Lisa Braeden

Featured Supernatural Being

 * Angels

Trivia

 * Antagonists: Balthazar, Raphael and the Angels
 * There are several possible references in the title:
 * This is the third episode of the sixth season
 * Three men are killed by plagues, but the Winchesters meet only the third man
 * The movie The Third Man, starring Orson Welles and written by Graham Greene, concerned post-World War II Vienna and the chaos that was created following the end of the war and the division of the city into different zones of influence. Power, supplies, and weapons were fought over by different parties jockying for influence, much the same way that the powers of Heaven have been scattered and are being fought over by different parties. The third man of the title was a man who had formerly seemed good, who turned evil as he saw the wealth and power to be gained by doing so, much the same way that Castiel's former angelic friend turned rogue in this episode, and former friends became enemies
 * A reference to the three wise men of who brought gifts to the son of God in the nativity story; Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar, who brought gifts gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Myrrh, the gift which Balthazar brings in most versions of the story, is mentioned by Castiel as an ingredient in the spell he uses to find Balthazar's location.


 * At the start of the episode, Sam pays off a hooker. This represents a large (backwards?) step from in Season 4, Episode 1 "Lazarus Rising", where Sam states "No, dude. I don't pay" referring to Ruby (thought by Dean to be an unknown woman Sam had picked up) who had just exit the room. This could also be the first hint that Sam is different after being in the cage.
 * Despite the staff being called "The Staff of Moses" in the Old Testament, it is actually Moses' brother Aaron who performs the miracles.

Quotes

 * Dean Winchester: Now I lay me to sleep, I pray to Castiel to get his feathery ass down here.


 * Castiel: "What is all this? What are you doing?"
 * Balthazar: "Whatever I want! This morning I had a menage a ... What's french for twelve?"


 * Castiel [about Dean]: I believe the hairless ape has the floor.
 * Castiel to Sam: What part of "I don't know" escapes your understanding?