Supernatural Season 7, Episode 4 recap: Can Sam defend Dean’s life?

Dean’s life is on the line and Sam needs to play lawyer to save it. Is it possible? Here’s a look back at Supernatural Season 7, Episode 4.

I always thought “Defending Your Life” came a little later in Supernatural Season 7, but here we are. Season 7, Episode 4 sees Dean’s life on the line when he runs across Osiris. Sam needs to use his skills learned during Stanford to save his brother, but is it possible?

Three victims suffering strange fates

It all starts with the Winchesters heading to a town where a man was hit by a car and killed. That wouldn’t usually sound strange, but the guy was in his apartment building, on the 10th floor. Yeah, something ghostly, right?

More from Supernatural

• Jensen Ackles and The Winchesters cast kick off #SaveTheWinchesters campaign
• Will The Winchesters be saved? (Can Supernatural fans save the prequel?)
• Did The Winchesters get renewed? (Is The Winchesters season 2 happening?)
• Is a new episode of The Winchesters on tonight? (March 14, 2023)
• The Winchesters Season1 finale explained: Did it connect to Supernatural?

It turns out the guy had been at AA and was 10 years sober. What had happened 10 years ago? He’d back over a 10-year-old girl on her bike, and the Winchesters theorize that the guy was drunk and still felt guilty for it at the time. The Winchesters salt and burn the child’s bones, thinking it over.

However, then a second man dies in an unexplainable way—ripped to shreds by a dog that nobody saw or heard. When the Winchesters examine the body, Sam finds red dirt on the guy’s shoes. That same dirt was found on the first victim.

The Winchesters head to a nearby apple farm, but before they can get there a man runs in front of the car. This man, Warner, has just been released from jail, where he served 30 years for killing a liquor store owner and wife. Warner explains that he was in a strange courtroom.

Watch your favorite shows on fuboTV: Watch over 67 live sports and entertainment channels with a 7-day FREE trial!

Sure enough, at the apple orchard barn there are “weird symbols.” Warner sketches the symbols, while the Winchesters deliberate whether they have the right to judge someone for things they did in the past.

Bobby is able to figure out what the symbols mean. They’re from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. There’s only one god the Winchesters are dealing with: Osiris. He can see directly into the heart of the human and weighs the person’s guilt. If there’s more than a feather’s weight of guilt, he will kill the person.

Sam wants to hunt Osiris down, but Bobby suggests the two get as far away from the town as possible. However, that’s not exactly easy with Dean at the bar where two of the victims were last seen. Dean is flirting with the bartender and is later snatched by Osiris.

When Sam gets to the bar, Dean’s cell phone is close to where red dirt is found. Sam knows exactly where his brother is.

Defending Dean’s life

At the orchard, Dean is tied to a chair in front of Osiris. The minute he learns that Dean is going on trial, Sam insists on defending his brother. Osiris agrees to limit the witnesses to three, with the first being none other than Jo Harvelle.

While on the stand, Jo refuses to tell Osiris that Dean is responsible for her death. Sam manages to get her to tell the truth about how she always wanted to be like her father. Just as Jo tries to say something to Dean, Osiris banishes her.

Sam is the next witness, but Sam makes it clear that he doesn’t blame Dean. Sam knows that Azazel would have killed Jessica in some way to get him back into hunting.

However, it turns out that it’s not about convincing Osiris of the truth. Dean is the one who needs to stop feeling guilty. So, Sam wants Dean to take the stand. There, Dean shares that he doesn’t feel guilty. Sam makes it clear that feeling guilty about events he couldn’t predict would be ridiculous.

However, there’s one other witness for Osiris still to call. Dean remembers Amy Pond, who he killed in the previous episode. It’s clear that this is the guilt weighing him down, and Dean can’t stand to see Amy on the stand. So, Dean wants Osiris to skip it.

Naturally, Osiris finds Dean guilty in his heart. Dean is sentenced to death.

Saving Dean’s life

With Dean’s life now on the line, the Winchesters need to find a way to save him. Dean is resigned to death, but Sam isn’t goingto let that happen. Bobby has a way to help.

Osiris can’t be killed but he can be banished for a few hundred years if stabbed with a ram’s horn. Dean is ordered to remain in the circle of salt. Just as Sam leaves, Jo appears.

However, Jo isn’t there for good intentions. Osiris is controlling her, making her turn on the gas ready to blow him up the way she was blown up.

I will point out an inconsistency here. All the victims had been killed the way their victims were. Jo didn’t die from being blow up. She bled out after being ripped apart by a hellhouse. Unless she’d only passed out when Ellen pressed the button to blow them both up. Or unless it’s because it’s the way Dean thought Jo had died.

Anyway, I digress. Dean tells Jo that what she’s doing is okay. Dean should have thought about Jo and Sam. They were just kids and shouldn’t have been on the hunts.

While Jo and Dean talk, Sam manages to get a ram’s horn and heads to the bar, where Osiris is picking up his victims. He stabs Osiris with the ram’s horn, just as Jo is about the light the lighter and blow Dean up. She is able to drop the lighter, caress Dean’s face with the salt circle blown away from a smashed window, and then disappear.

At the very end, Dean wants to know why Sam was never put on trial. Sam admits that he doesn’t feel guilt. The past is in the past and he did his time in Hell. It really is as simple as that.

What did you think of Jo’s return? How did you feel when Sam admitted to no longer feeling guilt? What did you think of Supernatural Season 7, Episode 4? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Like SPN Hunters on Facebook for more Supernatural Season 7 throwbacks and updates straight to your feed.