Recap added by Journalbookbinder-
30 years ago in Ireland.
A young family with a new baby in the crib. The father has "Will you Still Love Me Tomorrow" on the record player and starts to dance with his wife who just came home. The wife tells her husband that it's good to see him smiling. He says "I'm trying."-
The baby starts to cry, but the husband says he hears something else. He hears screaming. The wife seems to know what's going on and starts to gather supplies to mix up some kind of spell.
The husbands starts violently bashing his head into the wall as the wife mixes furiously. A screaming figure of a woman materializes in the room with glowing eyes and open glowing mouth. The husband beats his head against the wall until he's unconscious and the screaming woman hovers over him, extending her tongue. -
The wife yells at the specter to get away from her husband, but the thing throws her against the wall. The attention of the entity is then drawn by the crying baby and it floats towards the crib.
The wife grabs a piece of broken glass from the floor, cutting her own palm and bleeding into the bowl of ingredients to complete the spell. When the ingredients mix, the screaming woman vanishes.-The mother struggles to make her way over to the baby in the crib to tell her it's okay. The baby has a small trickle of blood coming from her ears and the mother collapses to the floor.-
****
Present day; inside the bunker...
Sam's having nightmares. Everything Lucifer told him in the cage is rolling around in his head. He remembers Lucifer saying that if he (Sam) wants to beat the Darkness, he's going to have to be ready to watch the people he loves die. His eyes fly open. He gets up to go clean guns.-
Dean wanders in in his bathrobe and asks if Sam's okay. Sam says he is, but Dean's not convinced since Sam hasn't left the bunker in days. Dean thinks he may have found them a case. A resident in a retirement home was found dead with his head bashed in with all the windows and doors locked. Dean tries to get Sam interested, but Sam seems focused on the
gun cleaning. Dean tries to sell it; it's only 15 minutes away from the bunker. Sam asks what about the Darkness and what about Cas, since they haven't heard from him. Dean says Cas will be fine, like always. They have zero on Amara at the moment.-
****
Next ,we see Cas, who is really Lucifer, feeding the birds and watching children at a park. A well-dressed man spots him and looks at him suspiciously. Cas/Lucifer decides to take a walk on a nature trail and the man follows him. (It's really funny that he's humming "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" here). The man following him takes out his angel blade. -
Cas/Lucifer senses he's behind him and can't believe he picked a park that has an angel in it. The angel says he sensed him. The angel goes to stab him, and Lucifer says he comes in peace. He heard that the angels tried to smite Amara and it didn't work. He says he's here to save them all. "Lucifer ex machina." -The angel says the Darkness cannot be destroyed, but Lucifer can be and he lunges at him with his angel blade from behind. Cas/Lucifer snaps his fingers and the angel explodes into a red mist. Lucifer wipes some of the spattered angel blood from his face and muses that that's the problem with the rank and file angels; no vision. He licks the blood from his finger and continues on his walk.-
****
Elsewhere...
Sam and Dean pull up to the retirement community and look around.-Sam can't believe it's an old folks' home. It seems a bit more to him like some kind of a resort. Dean chimes in "It's awesome." Dean points at a sign advertising "Early Bird Specials - reserve your tomorrow today" with an image of an embracing older couple. He asks if maybe he and Sam should make a reservation. Sam replies flatly that they should be so lucky to live long enough. They head inside.
Dean talks to a man who appears to be the manager. He heard the victim say "get it out of my head" before he used the pass key to get into the resident's room. The manager found him with his skull bashed in and blood everywhere. No one else was in the room.-Sam goes to take a look at the crime scene while Dean continues to talk to the manager.
There's a large pool of blood on the corner of a stone fireplace. Sam takes out the EMF meter. It alarms.-
An older lady walks past Dean and the manager, reading her mail. The manager introduces her as Mildred, one of the residents. Dean politely nods. Mildred gives him an enthusiastic "good morning" which Dean recognizes for what it is; she's hitting him. She walks past, never taking her eyes off Dean. Dean tries to continue the conversation with the manager.-
Dean asks if the manager is always there all night. The manager says he's actually been living at the retirement home since his wife left him...broke up with him by text message. He got back at her by sending her the poop emoji. Dean rolls his eyes at that. Now the manager is just wishing she'd get back together with him.-
Dean asks the usual questions; strange sounds or smells or cold spots. The manager says no, but Harold (the victim) DID have some enemies.-
Back in Harold's room, Sam's snooping around and finds a bunch of pill bottles in Harold's dresser. He takes them to show Dean and informs Dean that Harold was stealing the other residents' Viagra. Dean responds "That's a real dick move, huh?"; amusing himself with his comment more than Sam. -
Sam's getting EMF hits all over the building; many people must have died there.-Dean's been going over the files that Arthur (the heartbroken manager) gave him. Files of everyone who has died. They find a Jake Townsend who filed a formal complaint against Harold, but it wasn't over Viagra.
(At this moment, Dean, without Sam noticing, pockets a bottle of Viagra inside his jacket...writer Robbie Thompson said Jensen ad-libbed this; it's completely hilarious.)
Jake filed a formal complaint against Harold for stealing his pension checks. When Jake died, his family tried to sue, but it never went anywhere. Sam thinks maybe Jake hung around as a vengeful spirit and ended up killing Harold.-
****
Next scene, they are in the graveyard digging up Jake's grave. Sam questions ("Dude?") why Dean isn't also digging and Dean tells Sam "You've got this." They start talking. Dean says, "So, no retirement (for them) huh?" Sam reminds him that Dean's the one who has always wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, preferable WHILE the Bon Jovi song is playing. Dean wonders if maybe Sam is thinking that "blaze of glory" will happen sooner rather than later. He wants to know if Sam's okay.-Sam says he's not okay. Being so close to Lucifer again brought stuff up; stuff he thought he'd forgotten about. Dean asks if he wants to talk about it and Sam says no, he doesn't. Dean tells Sam that Lucifer is never getting out of the cage again (as far as he knows, Rowena locked him back up) and Sam is never going back. Period. So, case closed.-Just then, Sam's shovel hits the casket and Dean says this case is closed too. They salt and burn the body.
Dean says it's nice to be back on the case; to get their minds off things. Sam seems to be in a hurry and just wants them to burnt he body so they can go home. Dean can tell they aren't on the same page as they watch the body burn.-
****
Back at the retirement village, Mildred runs into Arthur the manager in the lobby. He grabs his head, asking if Mildred can hear that. It sounds like screaming. The lights flicker. Arthur sees the ghost-like woman floating down the hall towards him, wailing. Mildred looks in the same direction and sees nothing. Arthur yells "get it out of my head!". Mildred insists she can't hear anything. Arthur runs to the window and starts banging his head against the glass until it breaks and he falls forward to his death. -Mildred finally sees the ghostly woman fly past her, through the window, and down to the ground where it hovers over Arthur's body and appears to be feeding on him. It looks up at her with black eyes and Mildred screams.-
****
Later...
Sam and Dean are questioning Mildred. She tells them what she saw. She doesn't think they'll believe her. Dean reaches out and takes her hand to reassure her; telling her they'll believe her. She puts her hand over his and holds on, not letting go. He realizes she is holding on a bit too long and tells her he'll need his hand back.-Sam is amused, but also notices a cleaning woman watching them.
Sam goes to talk to the woman. He asks if she knows anything about what happened to Arthur. She says she's sorry, she wasn't workingthat night. By her speech, Sam can tell she is hearing impaired. He enunciates carefully so she can read his lips.
She tells him that she wasn't working when Harold Miller died either. Sam tries to sign "thanks", but gets it wrong. She corrects him. Sam apologizes, saying he only took a few classes in sign language in college. She replies that most people don't know any and she appreciates that he tried.-The cleaning woman excuses herself and Sam goes to talk to Dean about what this might be. Not a ghost. Ghosts don't feed on people's broken-open heads. -The cleaning woman is watching them, reading their lips, seeing that they're saying "feeding time".-
They want to know what the creature ate from the heads of the victims. Sam finds out that part of victim Harold's frontal lobe was missing. Dean says that fits with banshees. Sam thought banshees were good. Dean says that in fairy lore, they are; they warn people of pending death, but there are other kinds of banshees. They drive their prey crazy until the break their own heads open. Only the victims can hear them and they travel through mist; allowing them to get into locked rooms. They only prey on the vulnerable. (Harold had a hip replacement and Arthur was broken-hearted.) They hunt in one place until it's picked clean. Sam asks how they kill it. Dean replies "gold blade" and since he doesn't have one in the trunk, he's going to head back to the bunker to get one. He tells Sam to stay behind and figure out who living there is most vulnerable; who is likely the next victim.-The cleaning woman watches Dean drive away.-
****
Back at the bunker...
Dean hears a clatter when he walks in. He draws his gun. He searches out the sound and finds Cas (Lucifer) tearing through some files. Cas/Lucifer apologizes. He says he's looking for a spell; something to draw Amara out.
Cas tells Dean that he had Amara in his sights and she was hurt; he should have ended it. This is news to Dean. Cas/Lucifer is evasive when Dean asks for more details.
Cas says he just can't find anything in the files to help. Dean says he understands; SAYING you're going to kill her is one thing, but actually doing it is something totally different. Cas/Lucifer asks what Dean means by that. Dean admits he's had two shots at taking out Amara and he failed both times. Cas/Lucier wants Dean to tell him everything.-
****
At the retirement community, Sam knocks on Mildred's door. Mildred invites him in and asks where his partner is. Sam says his partner will be back soon. Mildred invites Sam to sit down and offers him some tea. He declines the tea. Sam confesses that he and Dean aren't FBI; they're brothers and they hunt monsters. Mildred says she knew it; they're too cute to be FBI.
She knows what she saw was real. Sam shows her an illustration of a banshee; she says that's what she saw.-Sam has found out that Mildred has a heart condition that might make her vulnerable enough to interest a banshee. He says he and Dean will protect her. She needs to rest during the day though because they might be facing the banshee once it gets dark.
Before he leaves, Sam asks Mildred if she knows a housekeeper named Marlene who is deaf. Mildred says that Marlene is on vacation right now. She says she has a granddaughter who is deaf and would love to have some practice with sign language, so if Sam finds a staff member who is deaf, she'd like to know about it.-
Sam know something must be up with the cleaning woman. He follows her into a laundry room. He sees a sigil painted on a water heating tank. "Marlene" yells "Hey!", cuts her own palm, and slaps it against another symbol painted on the glass on the opposite wall. -
This pins Sam against the water heater. She walks towards him holding the knife. She tells Sam she thinks their FBI cover is clever; to cover up their kills. She read Dean's lips when he mentioned "feeding time". She knows the thing doing the killing is a banshee, so she is coming at Sam with a gold blade. Sam puts up his hands defensively, telling her who he and Dean really are and trying to convince her that they're all hunting the same thing. -
He asks her to test him, so she slices his palm with the gold knife. It appears she's going to point the blade at Sam's throat, but instead she scrapes some paint off the symbol behind him (some kind of human devil's trap?) so he is no longer pinned there.-They still look a bit wary of each other.
Sam holds his cut hand and introduces himself as Sam Winchester. She tells him her name is Aileen and that the banshee they are hunting killed her parents. (Back in Ireland; it killed her parents and caused her to become deaf from the banshee screaming.) She says a hunter (Lily) found her in her crib back then, ears bleeding.
Lily raised her as a hunter. She has Lily's journal with information about the banshee. Lily tracked it her whole life but never found it. Aileen says that Lily trained her more than raised her, but she died when Aileen was 16. At least she died of cancer. Sam asks if she's been working alone ever since. Aileen says she prefers to work alone; she has trust issues. Sam holds up his cut hand and says, "I know". Aileen smiles.-Sam asks if Aileen's biological mom was a hunter or a witch. She says no, but her father was part of this secret, debunked organization.
Sam ventures, "The Men of Letters?". She says yes, how did Sam know? Sam says he and Dean are like her; legacies.-
****
Back at the bunker...
Dean is gathering up the gold knives he needs. He tells Cas/Lucifer that he tried to kill Amara, and Cas/Lucifer fills in that Amara and Dean are somehow connected by the Mark. Dean says it's more than that. Cas/Lucifer asks, "Attraction?". When Dean looks at Cas, he looks supremely guilty, like maybe he hit the nail on the head. Dean knows it's bad. He's apologetic. He says that whatever it is; an attraction, a connection...it scares him. He doesn't know if he can stop it or resist it.-
Cas/Lucifer puts his hand on Dean's shoulder (Dean looks at it kind of skeptically, or maybe gratefully that he's finally been able to tell someone). Cas/Lucifer says it scares him too but he promises they'll find out what this is. He thinks that this connection with Dean may help to draw Amara out. You can see the wheels turning; that Lucifer wants to use Dean as bait.-
Dean gets a call. It's Sam. He asks Dean to look up Edward Durbin II in the Men of Letters files. He's there. Inducted in 1939. Aileen's telling the truth. Her grandfather was part of a small Men of Letters delegation that was sent to Europe.-
On the other end of the line, Sam is talking and pacing while Mildred and Aileen sit on the couch together. They are signing to each other. Mildred's saying she has dibs on the other guy (Dean) and Aileen can have the tall one (Sam) because she (Mildred) isn't much of a "mountain climber" anymore (!). Aileen signs, asking if Mildred is sure she doesn't want both.-
Sam explains to Dean on the phone that, back in Ireland, Aileen's father had just lost his job, making him vulnerable. Her mom only knew a few basic spells; enough to banish the banshee and save Aileen's life. Sam figures they will use the same Celtic spell on the banshee that Aileen used to trap him, then they can kill it while it's trapped. He figures it will come for Mildred that night, since she is vulnerable.-
Dean says he doesn't like using Mildred as bait. Sam teasingly asks Dean if he's worried about her. Does this mean Mildred has a shot with him? Dean says, well, he always had a "thing" for Blanche on Golden Girls, "Don't judge what you don't understand, Sammy".
Sam says he's not judging; he was more into Sophia. Dean says he can see that. -Sam says he doesn't like using anyone as bait, but this is what they have. -
Before he leaves, Dean asks Cas/Lucifer to keep their discussion about Amara to himself. Cas/Lucifer tells Dean that the next time he faces Amara, he won't be alone.
Cas smiles a very "Lucifer" smile as Dean leaves.-
****
At the retirement home...
Aileen and Sam are painting the Celtic sigils on the walls in an empty apartment. She critiques Sam's work as "not bad". Now they wait.-
Aileen admits that she's nervous. Sam tells her that revenge isn't going to bring her parents back. She admits she never knew them, other than pictures. But they're her family. Sam asks what happens after she gets her revenge. She doesn't know. Her mother was a lawyer; she might like to follow in her footsteps. Sam chuckles. He tells her he was studying law at Stanford when his brother came and got him so they could get their revenge. She asks if they've been hunting together ever since. Sam says he wouldn't do this without his brother. He's at his back every step of the way, even when he lets him down.-Sam looks thoughtful for a second, then the door opens and Dean walks in, duffle bag full of supplies. Sam introduces Aileen to Dean. Dean has a gold blade for everyone; even Mildred; he asks where she is. Just then she enters the room. -
Mildred pulls Dean to the side saying she wants to show him something. They sit down on the couch. There's a lovely sunset outside the window. Mildred says her apartment has the same view. She pays more for west-facing, but it's worth it. Dean says the view is "not bad". Mildred says it's almost as gorgeous as he is. Dean kind of looks over his shoulder to Sam for help, but Mildred keeps talking. She wants to know when Dean last watched a sunset without waiting for a monster after. She says she hopes this isn't her last sunset.
Mildred is skeptical that the spell and sigils will work. Dean assures her that it will. That everything will be fine.-
Dean asks what Mildred did before retirement. Patsy Cline tribute band. Dean is surprised. He asks if she ever misses life on the road. She says no, she had her fun. She asks if he wants to know the secret to living a long and happy life. He very seriously says yes, yes he does.
She tells him to follow his heart and the rest will figure itself out. That's what she did. She knew when it was time to retire and she loves it. Dean admits that this retirement home wasn't what he expected. She says she likes it there and would like to be able to enjoy it a little longer. Dean promises that she will.
Dean points out that her hand is still on his knee. Mildred offers to "move it up". Dean says, "Okay," and hurriedly gets up from the couch (this entire scene is quite sweet; Mildred is never treated as the butt of a joke. Thank you for that, Robbie Thompson!)-
When Dean stands up, he hears a faint scream and he asks if Mildred hears it. She says no...and catches on that this might be the banshee. Dean calls for Sam. The lights flicker. Mildred tells Sam this is exactly what happened to Arthur.
Suddenly, the screaming banshee with gray skin and glowing eyes and mouth appears, rearing up, hair flying. Everyone in the room can see it.-It disappears for a second and re-appears behind Aileen. Aileen goes to take a stab at it, but it throws her into a bookcase.
-
Sam gets one slice in to one of its arms before he is also thrown.-Dean starts banging his head against the wall to make the noise stop. Mildred tries to stop Dean, but Aileen struggles up and points Mildred to the sigil on the wall. -The banshee is closing in on Dean who continues to bang his head. Mildred cuts her own hand and presses her bloody palm to the sigil. The banshee is throw backwards against the opposite sigil and held there. Aileen gets to her feet, grabs the gold blade, and stabs the banshee who vaporizes with a shriek.-Sam runs to Dean, holding is bloody head.
Sam, tears in his eyes, signs "thank you" to Aillen for saving his brother.-
****
Later...outside the retirement home...
Sam asks how it felt for Aileen to get her revenge. She admits that it felt like just another kill. She'll never get her parents back. Sam asks if she's going to go to law school. She says no, hunting is her life now. Sam offers to help if she ever needs it. He says she should "drop a line" even if she just wants to hang out. She points out that he can't call her though (deaf!). They both smile.-Th
Mildred and Dean walk outside and she asks if he and Sam will behitting the road. Dean says yes and Mildred says it wouldn't have worked out between the two of them anyway. Dean asks "Why not?" She says she can tell that Dean is "pining" for someone else. (Yikes! Amara!) She tells him to follow his heart. She's jealous of whoever it is. Dean claims he's definitely single and ready to mingle. Mildred replies that he knows where she lives.-
As Sam and Dean walk away, Aileen and Mildred sign to each other. "They look even cuter walking away."-
****
Back home at the bunker...
Sam's sitting at the table in the kitchen. Dean walks in and Sam does a fabulous no-look toss of a beer over his shoulder to Dean who catches it effortlessly. Dean sits down across from Sam.
Sam asks if Cas is gone. Dean says "guess so". Sam wonders what Cas was doing in the bunker anyway. Dean says Cas was looking for lore on the Darkness. Dean admits there was something a little "off" about Cas. Sam says something always seems a little "off" about Cas. Maybe being that close to Lucifer got to Cas too. -
Sam tells Dean he's right. Getting back on the job helped. Sam looks thoughtful and is quiet for a moment, then tells Dean that when he was within the cage with Lucifer, he showed him a
highlight reel of his biggest failures in life. Dean breaks in telling Sam that Lucifer was messing with him; that's what Lucifer does.
Sam wants Dean to stop talking and let him finish. -
Sam tells Dean he should have looked for him when he was in Purgatory. He should never have stopped and he's never forgiven himself for it.-
Dean tells him he's forgiven Sam. That's in the past. What's done is done. All that's ever mattered is that they're together.-
Dean asks Sam if he'll be able to sleep tonight. Sam says he thinks he can. He asks Dean if he'll be able to sleep. Dean says his head is still ringing, but it's nothing some good music can't wash out.-
Before Sam leaves, he pauses and turns around. He still can't figure it out. If banshees go after the vulnerable, why did it go after Dean?-
Dean tells Sam he's overthinking it. He says the banshee was going after Mildred, saw Dean's gold blade, and went after him out of self-defense.-Sam doesn't look like he totally buys it.
When Sam leaves, Dean looks very anxious. He's knows he's vulnerable because of his feelings for Amara.-
****
When Sam's alone in his room, he pulls out a box that looks to be full of stuff that's most meaningful to him. A photo of him and Dean as kids, a photo of him and Dean and Mary, the stage prop amulet that was used in the Supernatural musical, and what might even be Dean's old silver ring. He smiles and puts a brochure for the retirement home into the box. His wish that they'll live long enough to retire (this was such a lovely and sweet scene). He closes the box and pats the lid.-
****
Dean lies down in bed, arms crossed.-
****
Sam gets into bed and turns out the light.-
****
Dean can't sleep. He sits up and looks like he's trying to figure out what the hell he's going to do about this thing with Amara. |
