Malleus Maleficarum (31 Jan. 2008)

The seemingly harmless practices of a group of neighborhood witches goes bad when one of them kills a woman. Ruby offers her assistance... but she has a few secrets of her own.

Director:

Robert Singer

Writers:

Eric Kripke (creator), Ben Edlund

Stars:

Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Katie Cassidy

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Jared Padalecki	...	Sam Winchester
Jensen Ackles	...	Dean Winchester
Katie Cassidy	...	Ruby
Marisa Ramirez	...	Tammi
Erin Cahill	...	Elizabeth
Kristin Booth	...	Renee Van Allen
Rebecca Reichert	...	Amanda (as Rebecca Robbins)
Jonathan Watton	...	Paul Dutton
Ken Tremblett	...	Ron
Robinne Fanfair	...	Janet Dutton

Storyline

When the couple, Paul Arthur and Janet Dutton, arrive home Janet mysteriously loses her teeth while brushing them and finally dies. Dean and Sam investigate the case and Sam finds a hex bag hidden in the bathroom. They note that Paul is evasive when they ask if he has an enemy. However when they save Paul from an evil spell, he tells him that he had an affair with the unstable Amanda Burns. Dean and Sam head to her house and find her dead in the middle of witchcraft paraphernalia. They soon discover that the housewives, Elizabeth and Renee Van Allen, are practicing witchcraft with the Book of Shadows for self-profit. They have formed the book club with Amanda and Tammi Benton. When Ruby saves the life of Dean, he learns that a powerful demon is leading the housewives and Sam and he are in danger.

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Plot Keywords:

demon | pulling own tooth | brushing teeth | brother brother relationship | black magic | 

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 January 2008 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kripke Enterprises, Warner Bros. Television, Wonderland Sound and Vision

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The spell book that Amanda is seen reading contains passages from The Lord's Prayer in Irish Gaelic.

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Quotes

Sam Winchester: I'm Detective Bachman, this is Detective Turner.

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Connections

References Hellraiser (1987)

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Soundtracks

"Every Rose Has It's Thorn"
Performed by Poison

User Reviews

The episode that kills my love of Supernatural

You couldn't get more offensive if you made a list of misogynistic tropes and purposely tried to write them all.

The actual Malleus Maleficarum is one of the most hateful anti-woman screeds ever written, and was used as a justification for the mass murder of actual women. This episode uses the title in fun, as if it were somehow true. (Imagine doing the same with a racist or anti-Semitic historical text!)

In history, the inquisitors were the real monsters. Here Sam and Dean take the inquisitor role without irony. What were the writers thinking?

The women in this episode are portrayed as varying degrees of stupid, shallow, greedy, and evil. And just to rub it in, we get multiple uses of words like "bitch," "skank," and "whore," most coming from our heroes' mouths. If you don't understand why this is not okay, please google "feminism 101" and read.