As Time Goes By Recap

Normal, Illinois.

It's raining.We're in a little boy's room with toy guns and soldiers and planes.A little boy is sleeping and a man in a fedora and trench coat (the boy's father; Henry) is tucking him in.

The boy wakes up and asks where his dad is going.He says he's going to work.The boy sees a pin on his dad's coat with a mysterious symbol on it and asks what it is.His father tells him that one day he'll tell him all about it.He tells his son he'll see him first thing in the morning and winds up a music box to play"As Time Goes By"for him while he falls asleep.The man leaves.

After awhile; the man shows up in front of a door with the same mysterious symbol on
it that he had on his pin and he gives a secret knock.Henry is let inside and sees an attractive woman he already knows; Josie.It appears they are waiting to be allowed in to attend some sort of initiation.Josie is called in by a man in a hooded robe.Henry waits outside, hanging up his coat.He hears screams coming from inside the room and rushes in to see a man on the floor bleeding from the eyes.The man pleads with Henry "not to let Abaddon get it".

Josie screams, her eyes go black, and she snaps the neck of the man reciting from a book in front of her.

Henry runs out.Josie, blood on her dress, follows.Henry locks himself in a room and starts mixing chemicals from glass bottles.Josie is searching for him, one door at a time.Just as she opens the door, Henry is drawing a symbol on the door and reciting an incantation.A light flashes and he goes through the door, landing in front of Dean.

Henry asks, "Which of you is John Winchester?"

He says he needs to know because time is of the essence.Sam says neither of them are John Winchester. Henry says, "That's impossible".He seems confused.Dean is losing patience and asks him who he is as he grabs him by the front of the coat and forces him up against the wall.

Henry tells them there's no need for violence and asks Dean to unhand him.He does.

Henry talks in a rather old-fashioned, stilted way.Henry says he thinks there's been a misunderstanding and he'll just be on his way.Sam and Dean have other ideas and Dean handcuffs Henry to the bed.Like a magician, he slips the cuffs and Sam and Dean are left cuffed to the bed instead.Dean wonders how Henry did that.

Henry is outside the hotel and is dazed by the cars, the people, the way everything looks...including the sight of a man walking a baby in a baby carriage.He walks up to
the Impala and sees the date on the license plate registration sticker; realizes it's 2013, and says he guesses the Mayans were wrong.He breaks the driver's window on the Impala and gets in to start it only to hear Dean cocking a handgun which he is pointing at Henry's head.

Inside the hotel, Henry is strapped to a chair and Dean and Sam are dousing him with holy water.Dean lets on that John is his father.The room shakes as if there is an earthquake.Henry tells them to run, but just as soon as he says it, the demon/woman Josie he was trying to escape from appears.

She laughs.She tells him he forgot to lock the door.She tells Henry to give her what she wants and she'll kill him and his friends quickly.Henry refuses.Dean aims a gun at her but she throws Sam and Dean against the wall with a wave of her hand.

Henry tries to talk to the woman inside the demon.He tells her to fight it.Dean comes up behind her and stabs her with Ruby's knife which stuns her, but doesn't kill her.Sam, Dean, and Henry run to the Impala and race out of the motel parking lot.

The hotel manager runs out as they speed away.He sees Josie and asks if she's okay.She grabs him by his coat and breathes a trail of black smoke into his mouth and asks him to show her what she's seen; the demon enters him (at least in part) in order to read his mind.She sees, through the manager's eyes, Dean and Sam checking in as well as them running to the Impala with Henry.The black smokes exits the manager's mouth and goes back into Josie's mouth.She thanks him, then kills him.

Sam and Dean pull over the Impala under a bridge as Henry goes to throw up.Sam asks if he's okay.He says he usually only enjoys literary adventures.Dean asks who the woman was.Henry replies "Abaddon; she's a demon" to which Sam says, "no kidding".They ask where she and Henry came from.Henry says the demon is from hell and he's from Normal, Illinois, 1958.

Henry says that if they can just take him to John, they'll clear everything up.Dean says that can't happen because John is dead.Henry says "no" in disbelief.Sam asks, "What's it to you?"Henry says it's everything; he's John's father.

Dean and Sam look like they're not sure what to think.

Next, Dean, Sam, and Henry are in a diner.

Sam believes that Henry really is their grandfather.Dean is more skeptical, reminding Sam that Henry left John high and dry when John was little.Sam says maybe he left their dad by mistake.Dean says John hated his father. Sam points out that John was less than father-of-the-year material himself.Dean defends John saying he was always there for them.

Henry is at least glad to be meeting his grandsons.He formally introduces himself.Sam seems glad. Dean seems unimpressed.Dean asks how they can fix Henry's problem and asks why Abaddon wasn't killed by the knife.Henry points out that demons can't be killed by "cutlery".

Henry says that at the very least you need an ancient, demon-killing knife of the Kurds.Dean says that's what the knife (Ruby's knife) is.Henry wants to know where he got it.Dean tells him a demon gave it to him, and that they've "been around this block so many times."

Sam asks if the portal Henry came through is still open.Henry says he doubts it.Why does Sam want to know?Sam wonders if they could shove Abaddon back through the portal if they can't kill her.Henry said he used a blood sigil to open the portal and that blood leads to blood; in this case, kin.

Sam asks if Henry can create the sigil again.He says yes, but he needsbunch of obscure ingredients and a week to recharge his soul.Sam says that if Henry tapped the power of his soul to do this, well, that's something only angels can do.Henry acts like Sam & Dean should know this.He asks what level they are...what level of knowledge.He says, "You're men of letters, correct?"

Dean laughs a bit.

Henry says their father, John, must have taught them "our ways".Sam says that John taught them how to be hunters.

Now Henry laughs a little.

He says that hunters are apes.Henry tells Sam and Dean that they are "legacies".Dean asks, "Legacies of what?".

Henry takes them to the door he went through to go to the secret meeting back in the 50's.it's worn, but the symbol is still carved in the door, though now it's a run-down comic book store.Henry thinks it's a trick on purpose; to make their enemies think they are no longer there by making the place appear run-down.

Dean is sick of Henry's cryptic words.

Henry does not have much regard for hunters; saying they shoot first and ask questions later.It seems Henry and Dean are about to argue but Sam steps in and reminds Henry that he and Dean are John's children.Henry says they're more than that, actually.

He says that all the men in the family were "men of letters" or "preceptors".And that Sam and Dean should have been too.He says they are "beholders" and chroniclers of all things men don't understand. Henry says that these "beholders" share their knowledge with a few elite and trusted hunters and those hunters do the rest.

Sam asks why no one has ever heard of this secret society.Henry replies, "Abaddon".

Sam asks why she attacked the secret society and Henry holds up a small box engraved with the symbol from the door.He says that Abaddon attacked during the night of his final initiation and that she was after the box.

Henry tries to use Sam's cell phone to call an emergency number.Henry thinks it works like a walkie-talkie.Of course it doesn't. Henry says he needs to find another elder.

Dean borrows the computer from the goth comic book store clerk.

Henry can't believe that a computer can be that small.

Henry gives Dean the names of several of the "elders".Sam finds out that there was a tragic fire at the society's meeting place many years ago and that all of Henry's "elders" are dead.

They decide to track down the grave or Larry Ganen that is referenced in the newspaper article.

In the cemetery:
Sam says someone wanted Henry to come to this grave. The grave has the same strange symbol on it. Henry says it's their crest, the "Aquarian Star".It represents great magic and power.Sam points out that it's on all the tombstones but Larry Ganen's.On his there's another symbol.Henry says it's the Haitian symbol for speaking to the dead.That this is the message.

He asks if Sam and Dean have ever exhumed a body.

Back at the comic book shop, Abaddon enters.She does the mind reading trick on the store clerk and learns where Sam and Dean went.The demon smiles and says she likes the clerk's "top"...she's wearing a t-shirt that says, "The devil made me do it."

Back at the grave site, Sam & Dean lift the casket out.Dean asks if Larry was a world war I vet.Henry says no.They wonder who the body belongs to.Sam reads the name of a medal on the body: Captain Thomas J Carey III.Henry doesn't recognize the name.

Sam wonders if Larry survived the attack on the fellowship hall and assumed this man's identity.Henry tells them to hurry up and cover up the grave so they can be on their way. Poor Sam and Dean; always having to do the grunt work!

Back at the hotel, Henry is whistling "As Time Goes By" and Dean recognizes the tune.John used to whistle it. Henry says that John saw "Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy" at the drive-in when he was young and it scared him to death...so Henry got him the music box that played "As Time Goes By" to help him sleep.

Sam finds it hard to believe that their dad was ever afraid of anything.

Dean finds out on the computer that Tom Carey is 127 years old and living in Kansas. This must be Larry Ganen, living under the assumed identity of the deceased Tom Carey.Dean figures that should be their next stop. their next stop.

Sam is reading their dad's journal and finds out that their dad once tortured a demon who let it slip that he made his way up the ranks working for Abaddon.Sam says Abaddon is a "night of hell".Actually, it's a "knight" of hell and Henry tells them that the Knights of Hell are hand-picked by Lucifer himself.They are the first fallen, first born demons.Henry thought arch angels killed all of them, but obviously not.Dean wonders if Abaddon is the last of her kind.

Henry asks if he can take a look at John's journal.Sam asks if men of letters used journals.Henry says he always meant to and sent away for one the day before his initiiation....judging by the inscribed letters "HW" on John's journal, this must be the one Henry sent for.

Henry says he's beginning to understand that he never makes it back to the 50's...John used his journal which he never had the chance to use because he never came back.

Sam tells him that John never saw him again.He thought Henry ran out on him.Henry says Johns was a legacy and he was supposed to teach him the Way of the Letters.Dean says John learned a different way; how to survive a lonely childhood and a war only to have his wife taken by a demon, and later John was killed by one himself.Dean says John did a lot more good than bad.

Henry says he wishes he'd been there for John, but Dean tells him it's too late for that.Henry says that's the price they pay for such great responsibility.Dean tells him his responsibility was to his family, not his glorified book club.Henry said he was a legacy and had no choice.Dean storms out telling Henry he should keep telling himself that.

Sam leaves and Henry reads all of John's journal.By the time he finishes, Sam and Dean are back and asleep in the hotel beds. Henry watches Dean and Sam sleeping in a rather touching scene.

The next morning, they wake up and Henry is gone, he left a note saying he'll fix everything.Dean thinks he'll only screw it up.

Henry tries to buy the ingredients he needs to recreate the sigil at what seems to be an herbal shop.The clerk says she doesn't have those things, but Henry says he sees the hunter's symbols on the window and he knows what she is so she should just give him what he needs so he can be on his way.

Under the counter, she cocks a shotgun at him.She asks him to leave, very politely.

He blows some chamomile powder at her and she collapses.

Sam and Dean try to find out which store in town might sell reall hoodoo ingredients.They hear on the police scanner that there was one dead at the comic book store (the goth clerk).

Sam sets off to find Larry Ganen and Dean heads out to find Henry.

Sam shows up at Larry's house under the guise of telling Larry that Henry is dead; asking what happened in 1958.

Larry tells Sam that Abaddon was hired to kill all of the Men of Letters.He survived, but was blinded.He said she didn't get what she came for; the box.Sam tells Larry she wants the box and he needs to know what it is. Larry says the box is the key to every spell every done. It contains a huge wealth of knowledge.

Dean finds Henry at the herbal shop, trying to get back to the 1950's, and stops Henry in the middle of his incantation.

Henry says he has to get back in order to not let John down...he wants to give him the life he was meant to have.Henry says he'll get back before Abaddon torches the Men of Letters hall so he can save everyone.Dean points out that will change history and then he and Sam may cease to exist.

Dean tells Henry that in spite of he and Sam being "mouth-breathing hunters", they stopped the
apocalypse.Henry says that if this goes the way he is planning, there won't be an apocalypse to stop.

Back in Larry's living room....Larry says that you can't stop Abaddon, but if Sam knows where the box is, take it to this set of coordinates and throw it in and walk away.He says it's the safest place on earth warded against all evil and impervious to
everything but the key.Sam doesn't want to destroy all that knowledge, but Larry tells him that's the price they have to pay to keep the knowledge contained in the box away from Abaddon.

Larry says, "you do have the key (the box), don't you?"

Sam says he doesn't, but his brother does.

Larry's elderly wife stands up and tells Sam he's being rude for not finishing his tea, then her eyes go black and she punches Sam.Larry, though blind, knows it's Abaddon.

She kills Larry with a knife.

Dean's phone rings.He thinks it's Sam, but it's Abaddon; back in her 1950's body and wearing the t-shirt from the comic book store clerk.

She says she wants to trade Henry and the box for Sam.Dean needs to meet her at an old processing plant.

Back at the herbal shop:
Henry still wants to go back in time and stop all of this from happening.Dean says he can't risk it with Sam's life on the line.Henry says he can't abandon John and starts his incantation again.Dean grabs him.

In the Impala, Henry wakes up.Dean apologizes for knocking him out.Dean tells him that when John died, he couldn't save him no matter how badly he wanted to.He never wants that to happen to Sam.Ever. If there's any chance he can save Sam, he'll always do it.

At the processing plant, it appears they are doing a trade.Sam apologizes as he crosses paths with Henry....Sam walks towards Dean and Henry walks towards Abaddon.Dean tells
Sam they have to go, but the door closes in front of them.Dean tells Abaddon they had a deal.She says she lied. She sticks her hand through and into Henry's stomach.Sam tries to rush back towards them, but Dean tells him to wait.

Henry, though gravely injured, pulls out a pistol and shoots Abaddon under the chin. There's a flashback to Dean and Henry in the Impala; Dean is telling Henry to slow Abaddon down and he'll do the rest.

Abaddon tells Henry to give her the box; but it's just a pack of cards.She's furious.She tries to do her mind trick on him by trying to breathe black smoke into his mouth, but it doesn't work.She's "stuck" inside her vessel and doesn't understand why.Turns out Henry carved
a devil's trap on the nose of the bullet.

Abaddon says, with satisfaction, that they didn't kill her.Dean decapitates her and says that the devil's trap on the bullet in her skull will keep her from smoking out and now they are going to cut her into little pieces and bury her under cement.She might not be dead, but she'll wish she was.

Henry says "we did it".Dean says, "You did it" and, "for a bookworm, that wasn't bad".

Henry apologizes for judging Sam and Dean so harshly as hunters.He should have known better since they're Winchesters.As long as they are alive, there is hope.He said he knows he would have been proud of John now that he's met Sam and Dean.He holds both their hands as he dies.Sam is left holding the mysterious little box and Henry, dead, in his arms.

Later...
Sam and Dean are pounding in a cross at a grave in the cemetery with "H. Winchester" carved on it.Sam says he gets it now...what cupid said years ago about how the John and Mary Winchester were meant to be...the Winchesters and the Campbells; the brains and the brawn.

Dean says he's glad Sam sees it.Dean just sees a whole lot of death in their family tree.Dean hands Sam a photo of John as a young boy with Henry.Sam comments that John looked happy. Dean wishes John could have known the truth; that Henry didn't abandon him...Henry time-traveled to save Sam and Dean.Sam wonders if it would have made a difference if John had had Henry around.Dean says John did the best he could.Sam says they all did the best they could.

Dean wonders if the coordinates of the place where they are supposed to dispose of the box will lead them to any sort of building that's still standing.Sam says they have to try; they are legacies.Dean has what looks like a proud look on his face.