Halt and Catch Fire Recap

Billy has a rude exchange with Trini, after which Trini orders Janet (by name) to get out of the truck. Janet hesitates in confusion, but Trini repeats the order. Frightened, Janet gets out of the truck. But when Billy tries to do the same, the doors lock him in and the car accelerates forward, sending him over the bridge and plummeting to his death.

EPISODE:
At the bunker, Sam has returned from a visit to see Castiel. When Dean asks if they made any progress, Sam tells him that Cas may be closing in on Cain somewhere in Illinois. Sam’s plan is to find Cain and force him to tell them how to get rid of the Mark. But Dean challenges him, insisting that if Cain knew how to get rid of the Mark he would have done it for himself long ago. Sam insists that their plan is worth a try, but Dean thinks their efforts are futile.

Sam wants to discuss the issue further, but Dean breaks the conversation off, telling Sam that he found them a case – a teenager in Iowa who claims that a possessed truck killed her boyfriend.

Dean and Sam head to Iowa. Dressed as feds, they arrive at a college campus to question Janet, who recounts her story for them, including telling them that the car got cold and that Trini malfunctioned. When the Winchesters ask if Billy had any enemies, Janet tells them Billy was driving his brother’s truck. The brother died in Afghanistan, but he and Billy were not on good terms when the brother died. When the Boys ask where Billy’s brother is buried, they learn that the body was destroyed by an explosive device and was never recovered or buried. The Boys also learn that the truck Billy was driving was his brother’s most treasured possession and Billy got it when his brother died.

Later that night, the Winchesters break into the police impound lot to look for the truck. When they find it, they notice ectoplasm inside the truck and the EMF meter reacts, indicating spectral activity. They presume that the ghost of Billy’s brother was angry about his estranged brother driving his truck, so he took vengeance. They salt and burn the truck.

Elsewhere, a college coed (Julie) at a sorority house is in her room sending selfies to her boyfriend. As she sits at her computer, she gets a social media note from someone she doesn’t know. The anonymous “friend” accuses her of lying. When Julie asks what she lied about, the reply is “810. I know. You’ll pay.” This clearly means something to Julie, because she is suddenly frightened, deletes the conversation, and shuts down the computer.

The computer comes back on by itself, so Julie unplugs it and shuts it off again. As she’s doing this, the room becomes cold. As Julie watches, the computer comes on again and “810” repeats itself across the entire screen.

Frightened, Julie tries to leave the room, but the door locks by itself, locking her in. As she struggles with the door, the cord from her computer snakes itself across the room toward her, wraps itself around her neck, and strangles her to death.

The next day, the Winchesters are again on campus interviewing a local police detective. She tells them that Julie’s roommate, Delilah, found the body, but there were no signs of forced entry and the room was locked. The Winchesters also learn that most of the other residents of the sorority house have left campus for spring break, but that Delilah has given the police her roommate’s passwords so they can continue their investigation.

After the detective leaves, the Winchesters search the room. They again detect EMF – coming from the computer this time. They suspect ghost activity, but realize that ghosts usually anchor themselves to a thing or a place. They also realize that both murders were machine-related, so that might be a connection – although they can’t figure out how the ghost is jumping from one machine to another. Sam takes Julie’s laptop.

Outside, the Winchesters, still posing as feds, interview Delilah. They learn that she knew Billy, so she was connected to both victims, but Julie never knew Billy’s brother. When Sam asks if Julie had any enemies, Delilah hesitates before saying no. Dean gently confronts Delilah about the implications of lying to them, but she maintains that she is telling the truth.

Later, the Winchesters are talking in the cafeteria while Sam hacks into Julie’s laptop. Sam finds the deleted conversation that happened right before Julie died. They try to figure out what “810” means, but can’t come up with anything except three addresses in town that have 810 in the address. They decide to stake out one of the locations.

Later, the Winchesters arrive at 810 Downs Drive. As they arrive, they see a woman leaving the house carrying a large garbage bag. They decide to follow her and realize she’s walking to the corner of her street, where a makeshift memorial site has been created out of flowers. She is gathering the flowers into the garbage bag when the Winchesters approach her, still dressed as feds.

We learn that the woman’s husband was killed at that location in a car accident nine months earlier. The flowers – always left by the same stranger -- are a constant reminder of her loss, so she throws them away. When the Winchesters ask her to describe the stranger who leaves the flowers, she gives them Delilah’s description.

Back at campus, Dean calls Delilah, but doesn’t reach her. And Sam learns that the woman’s dead husband, Andrew Silver, was killed as his widow (Corey) described. However, Mr. Silver’s body was cremated, so there would be no remains to salt and burn if he is the ghost. And the Boys can’t find a connection between Mr. Silver and the murder victims. They also can’t figure out how Andrew is haunting his victims.

Later that night, Delilah is at a room in a fraternity house, talking to her friend, Kyle. She is panicking because a federal agent (Dean) has called her three times, so she realizes they must suspect a connection between her and the deaths. She tells Kyle that they should “come clean”, but Kyle seems unimpressed and tells her that’s not going to happen. Delilah thinks they are being cursed, but Kyle tells her that it’s just a coincidence. He threatens her – warning her to keep her mouth shut. Distressed, Delilah leaves.

Alone in his room, Kyle is listening to music (fairly loud music) while chatting with an anonymous person online who says she wants to hook up. When he asks where she is, he hears a knock at his door. But when he opens the door, there’s nobody there. When he steps back inside his room, the door slams shut by itself, and his phone rings. When Kyle answers the phone, an angry, male voice demands “What time is it?!” Kyle looks at his clock and notices that it’s 8:10 PM. As this is happening, his stereo suddenly gets louder. One of Kyle’s housemates bangs on the door to ask him to turn the music down, but Kyle can’t hear him. Kyle starts bleeding from his ears, eyes, and nose as the nose level increases enough to kill him. As the music gets seven louder, the windows explode, Kyle’s eyeballs explode, and he drops dead.

Later that night, Dean and Sam are in Delilah’s room questioning her. The girl is clearly afraid and wants to cooperate now. Dean reports that the clock in Kyle’s room stopped at 8:10, right before his brain exploded from the loud music. The Winchesters tell Delilah that they know she’s the one leaving the flowers at the car crash site, and they urge her to tell them the truth about how Andrew Silver died.

As Delilah is talking, we see a flashback: Delilah tells the Winchesters that nine months ago, the four of them (Billy, Julie, Kyle and herself) were driving at night. Billy was driving his brother’s truck, but they were all texting, talking, and distracted. Because Billy was not paying attention, the car drifted into oncoming traffic. Andrew Silver’s car was heading directly at them and had to swerve to avoid hitting them. Silver’s car hit a telephone pole. He was injured, but clearly still alive. Delilah urged Billy to call 911, but Billy didn’t do anything. As they were all sitting there, a power line fell onto Silver’s car and the car erupted into flames. Julie and Delilah screamed, and Billy sped off. While Billy was driving, Delilah tried to call 911, but Billy took her phone, telling her that he already had a DUI and a suspended license, and he would go to jail if she reported what happened. Nobody else in the car stood up to Billy, so they all left Silver to die.

Delilah cries, telling the Winchesters that she thinks she’s next to die, because she’s the only one who was in the car that night who is still alive. As she’s talking and crying, the Winchesters make salt lines at the doors and windows, and they create a salt circle around a chair for her to sit in. They explain to her that the vengeful spirit of Andrew Silver killed her friends and is coming for her next. Dean stays with Delilah while Sam goes back to the crash site to try to figure out how the ghost is moving around.

Later, Sam is at the crash site and realizes that the power line where the car crashed is connected to the wifi tower across the street. He surmises that the ghost is using the wireless signal to move around.

Back at Delilah’s room, Delilah confesses how guilty she feels about what she did. Dean tells her that he has made more mistakes than he can count, and many of them haunt him. He says he does his best to make things right, and maybe she should, too – by coming clean about what she did and asking forgiveness. As they’re talking, Sam calls and tells Dean what he found. He suggests that they turn off all the routers in the building and get as far away from wifi as possible, to make it harder for the ghost to get to them. Meanwhile, Sam goes to Mrs. Silver’s house to talk to her.

At the Delilah's room, Delilah says she doesn’t know where the building’s routers are. As she and Dean are talking, the room gets cold and the lights flicker. Suddenly, the burned face of Andrew Silver appears on Delilah’s laptop and cell phone screen. Dean smashes the devices with a crowbar, but the ghost appears on his own cell phone screen. He smashes his phone, and he and Delilah race to the building’s basement, where the wifi signal is poor. In the basement, Dean creates salt lines at the windows and doors, and waits with Delilah.

At Mrs. Silver’s house, Sam is talking to her about her husband. We learn that Silver’s ghost started contacting his widow online shortly after his death. At first, Corey thought someone was playing a cruel joke. But the person knew things that only Andrew would know, so Corey came to believe that it was him. She continued communication with him because it helped her cope with her grief and it was almost like having him back. She knew he was a ghost, but she didn’t care. After a time, the tone of their communications changed and it was clear that her husband’s ghost was focused on revenge. When the college kids started dying, she thought it might be Andrew, but she didn’t know what to do, since she couldn’t report a ghost murderer to the police. Mrs. Silver also knew that revenge is what brought her husband back; and if she tried to stop him, he might leave for good.

In the sorority house basement, Dean and Delilah suddenly hear a muffled cell phone ring. They realize that there’s a cell phone in the cushions of an old sofa, and that the ghost has used that phone to get into the basement room. Dean tries to smash the phone, but it’s too late. The ghost knocks him across the room and grabs Delilah by the throat to strangle her. Dean recovers and hits the ghost with the crowbar. The spirit dissipates, but the door is locked, so the spirit won’t let them escape. Out of options, Dean starts trying to reason with the ghost. He texts Sam for help (using the phone he found) while trying to distract the ghost and convince him to move on where he will find peace.

Suddenly, the ghost appears and attacks Dean. As he’s strangling Dean, Sam calls on the phone and puts Corey on. Corey talks her husband into giving up his quest for revenge, telling him that she loves him and it won’t bring him back. She tells him that it’s time for both of them to let go. The ghost releases Dean and dissipates.

The next morning, Dean and Sam take Delilah to Corey’s house, giving them a chance to talk. As the Winchesters sit in the car outside, Dean tells Sam that he’s done trying to find a cure for the Mark. He says that his peace is working cases and helping people, and that’s all he wants to do. He tells Sam that the appreciates his efforts and Cas’ but he believes that the answer to his problem rests with him, and that he can’t keep hanging onto false hope. He says that he’ll keep fighting until he can’t anymore. Sam seems stunned, but doesn’t say anything as they drive off.