Hang on to Your Life

Season	Episode
1	8

Series

The Winchesters

Airdate

January 24, 2023

Written by

Nic Chatree Sridej

Directed by

Amyn Kaderali

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Hang on to Your Life is the eighth episode of season 1 of The Winchesters. It premiered on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 on The CW.

Summary[]

Official episode synopsis for Hang on to Your Life from The CW:

A TIME FOR HEALING – With some intense emotions still lingering after their high stakes recovery mission, Mary (Meg Donnelly) and John (Drake Rodger) stay close to home to watch over a newly returned Samuel Campbell (guest star, Tom Welling). When Latika (Nida Khurshid) and Carlos (JoJo Fleites) split off to investigate the death of a musician, Carlos is forced to face a part of his past he has been avoiding. Millie (Bianca Kajlich) spends time helping Samuel recover from his injuries and learns a little more about the Men of Letters. Amyn Kaderali directed the episode written by Nic Chatree Sridej (#108). Original Airdate 01/24/2023. Every episode of THE WINCHESTERS is available to stream on The CW App and CWTV.com the day after broadcast for free and without a subscription, log-in or authentication required.

Plot[]

Characters[]

Main cast[]

Meg Donnelly as Mary Campbell
Drake Rodger as John Winchester
Nida Khurshid as Latika Dar
Jojo Fleites as Carlos Cervantez
Demetria McKinney as Ada Monroe (credit only)
Bianca Kajlich as Millie Winchester

Guest stars[]

Tom Welling as Samuel Campbell (special guest star)
Richard Speight Jr. as Loki
Jake Etheridge as Jericho Kid

Co-stars[]

Jonathan Horne as Brock Billings
Carlos Antonio as Bartender
Anthony Frederick as Roadie

Members of the band:

Billy Moran as Sweet Johnny High-Pockets
Mike Borja as Sir Richard Furlong
Stephen Norton as Hot Karl
Rob Benedict as Tango (credited as "and introducing Tango as himself")

Additional[]

Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester (uncredited; narrator and photograph only)

Featured supernatural beings[]

Akrida (Akrida Queen, mentioned only)
Deities (Loki)

Continuity[]

It's revealed that Dean Winchester is the unknown man who gave the letter from Henry and the Men of Letters key to John in the first episode. He can be seen climbing into the Impala in the background of one of Samuel's pictures.

Trivia[]

This episode aired on Dean’s birthday.
The kiss that John and Mary shared last episode is explored more in this episode, and they have their second kiss.
Carlos's stage name is revealed to be "Rivers Gemini".
Carlos performs the song "Hard Times Come Again No More" by Mavis Staples.
Rob Benedict is a band member playing during Carlos's song. It's unknown if Benedict is there as just a cameo with his Louden Swain bandmates (Billy Moran, Mike Borja, and Stephen Norton) or if he is portraying his Supernatural character.
- He can best be seen behind Carlos at the end of the episode as he sings.
The Akrida anti-possession tattoo is revealed this episode.
It's unclear if it's actually Loki in this episode or Gabriel who took on the persona of Loki for millennia as the Trickster with even the pagan gods believing Gabriel to be Loki as seen in Hammer of the Gods.
- However, it may actually be Loki as his appearance is more similar to the one of Loki himself as seen in Unfinished Business than Gabriel's when he was pretending to be Loki. Although he speaks mostly in the more normal tone that Gabriel use, Loki also briefly uses the more gruff tone seen in Unfinished Business.
One of the sigils researched by Brock is the anti-possession tattoo.

Quotes[]

"Treat her more like a daughter and less like a soldier." - John to Samuel

"For someone your height you're very loud." - Loki to Mary

"Play some Sabbath!" - Latika cheering on Carlos

Samuel: You mean to tell me, my daughter's teaching family secrets to a son of a MOL man?
Millie: A mole man?
Samuel: Men of Letters, M-O-L. They're buried underground with all their books, while hunters are out there getting their hands dirty. Or worse.
Millie: And for the record, if it wasn't for my MOL man of a husband, you, your daughter and my son would all be dead by now.

Samuel: I'm thinking that a lot more changed than I realized. When I first met Carlos, he was a feral kid with a knack for hunting and getting into trouble, and Lata, she was terrified. She was content to read about what we do in the safety of the library. It's only been a few months since I've seen them, but now look at them.
John: Well, it's all because of Mary. She brought us together. She didn't get that from me.

John: That's impossible.
Mary: What?
John: I know this guy. This is the guy that gave me my dad's letter when I got back from Vietnam. Do you know him?
Mary: No.
John: Then how is he in the background of one of your dad's photos?
Mary: I don't know. Who the hell is this guy?