Nightmare Logic Recap

EPISODE:
Back at the bunker, Sam is in the library instructing a group of AU hunters about the importance of documenting their hunts, and reminding them that the more they know, the better armed they are. As Sam is talking, Dean enters the room and the other hunters look away as if his presence makes them uncomfortable. Sam dismisses the rest of the group, and he and Dean leave the room to talk.

As Dean and Sam are walking through the bunker, Sam’s cell phone alert goes off. When Dean asks what’s going on, Sam tells him that, as a safety measure, he has the AU hunters “checking in” with him regularly during their hunts. The brothers eventually end up in the kitchen, which is empty, and talk further. During their discussion, we learn that Sam has not been sleeping much, because he’s spending all his time keeping track of the other hunters, advising them about lore, and otherwise helping them. As Dean cautions his brother about the dangers of burning the candle at both ends, Sam’s cell phone alert sounds again. When Dean asks about the alert, Sam admits that Maggie failed to check in on time.

Later, Dean and Sam are in the bunker’s library. Dean has been repeatedly calling Maggie’s cell phone, but not getting an answer. As he tries again, Sam logs into the video documenting system he has set up to track all the hunters. He and Dean watch the video Maggie recorded as she entered the crypt. They see the elderly man attack her and realize she is in trouble.

Sam instantly expresses guilt over what may be happening to Maggie, but Dean reminds him that all they saw was her getting attacked by what looked like a ghoul. Dean argues that ghouls are scavengers and don’t normally eat living people; but then Sam questions why the ghoul would attack Maggie. Realizing that they need answers, Dean suggests they head to Oklahoma to find her.

When Dean and Sam arrive at the crypt in Oklahoma, it’s the next day. As Sam updates Dean on the case, we learn that the entire cemetery belongs to a single family, so the cemetery and crypt are private. Maggie came to investigate a report from some teenagers who said they were attacked by a zombie while on the property. When Dean and Sam enter the crypt to search it, they find drag marks leading away from where Maggie was attacked.

As Dean and Sam are talking, the cemetery’s groundskeeper finds them and demands to know what they’re doing in the crypt. Sam quickly lies, telling the man that he and Dean are from the local historic preservation society, and they’re in the crypt investigating the property. When the brothers ask to speak to the owners, the groundskeeper takes them to the main house.

At the main house, Dean and Sam meet Neal, who questions why two teams from the historic preservation society are investigating the house and property. When Dean and Sam seem curious, Neal takes them into a large parlor, where Mary and Bobby are already seated.

The hunters exchange brief greetings without revealing their true identities in front of Neal. They pretend that there was a “miscommunication” at headquarters, and that explains why they’re all there. Mary excuses herself and takes Sam aside to talk, while Dean continues to question Neal. Neal reveals that he is not part of the family that owns the property. He says Mr. Rawling and his family own the property, and he is Mr. Rawling’s nurse. When Bobby asks to speak with Mr. Rawling, Neal gives him an uncomfortable look…

Meanwhile, Mary and Sam are talking in a side room. Mary says that she and Bobby had been texting Maggie during her hunt, and giving her tips. But when Maggie suddenly stopped texting, Bobby and Mary came to see if she was alright. As Sam and Mary are talking, Dean calls them into the other room.

Once the group is together again, we see that they are in a large parlor that has been turned into an in-home hospice care area. We see an elderly man who is unconscious in a portable hospital bed, attached to several monitors and a respirator, and seemingly receiving blood transfusions. When Dean and Sam see the man’s face, they are shocked when they recognize him as the ghoul that attacked Maggie in the video.

Elsewhere, we see Maggie in a darkened room that looks like an attic or basement. She is shackled to makeshift rack, and we see several bags of blood hanging next to her. She seems weak and begs for someone to help her.

Back in the main house, Neal tells Dean and Sam that the groundskeeper recently found Mr. Rawling unconscious and the current opinion is that he had a stroke. As Neal is talking, a woman enters the house. Neal introduces her as Sasha – Mr. Rawling’s daughter.

When Sasha enters the room, she’s surprised to see other people. Neal explains that the group is from the national historical preservation society, but she seems unimpressed. Later, we see Maggie in a sitting room talking to Dean and Sam. Sasha says that her grandparents lived in the home, but she doesn’t know how long her father has lived there. She admits that she arrived very recently and is only there to settle her father’s affairs before his imminent death. She appears stressed and refuses to answer any more questions. She asks Dean and Sam to leave.

Outside, Dean, Sam, Bobby and Mary are standing next to the Impala talking. Bobby says the old man wasn’t attacked by a ghoul because he looked over the man’s body and didn’t find any bite marks. The group considers other possibilities – shapeshifter, demonic possession, etc. but none of their theories fit the lore. Bobby also says he sprinkled the old man with holy water, and nothing happened.

As the group is talking, it’s clear that Bobby is annoyed. When Dean asks if there’s a problem, Bobby reprimands Sam for allowing Maggie to go on this hunt alone in the first place, stating that she wasn’t ready and didn’t know what she was walking into. Bobby says that a “real” leader would’ve known that Maggie wasn’t ready to hunt alone. Mary and Dean try to defend Sam, and Mary suggests that they focus on the case. They break into teams (Mary with Sam, and Dean with Bobby) to search the rest of the grounds.

Later, Mary and Sam are talking as they search. Mary tries to downplay Bobby’s criticism, but Sam says Bobby is right. Mary tells Sam that watching him for the past several weeks has made her realize that hunting (and/or possibly being a leader) is what he was born to do. She criticizes Bobby for not seeing that. As they continue to talk, Mary confides that she and Bobby have gotten close, but Bobby is being very guarded – hunting all the time, not talking to her, etc. She knows he has something on his mind, but he won’t tell her what it is. Sam says that he’s still getting to know AU-Bobby, too; but he reminds Mary that people put up walls for a reason. He tells Mary that if she cares about Bobby, she should try to find out what’s behind his wall. As they’re talking, they come across the burned wallet (fake id cards, etc.) of another hunter hidden in the foliage.

Meanwhile, Dean and Bobby are also talking as they search. Dean reminds Bobby that Sam is doing his best, and that leading the other hunters is taking a toll on him.

As they’re talking, they come to a cabin. They go inside and Dean finds the body of a hunter. [The audience can see that the dead man is the same person whose possessions and ID cards Sam and Mary found.] As Dean searches the cabin, Bobby sees someone outside and follows him into the woods. Dean soon realizes that Bobby is gone and calls out to him. Suddenly, Dean is attacked by the same old man who attacked Maggie. The two fight, and Dean stabs the man, which makes him explode into a cloud of dust.

Dean is shocked, but before he can process what happened, Bobby returns and asks him what happened (Dean is coated in a layer of dust).

Back at the house, Sasha is in the study going over some papers. She hears strange sounds upstairs in the house, and goes to investigate. She prepares to enter the attic, but is suddenly attacked by what looks like a vampire. She falls to the floor, but whatever was chasing her has disappeared.

LATER THAT NIGHT:
Night has fallen, and Mary and Sam are talking to Sasha and Neal about what attacked Sasha. When Sasha reveals her story, Sam and Mary are forced to admit that they’re hunters and they are not with the historical society.

As the group is talking, Dean and Bobby return and report that they found a body in a cabin on the property. When Sam shows Dean the fake ID they found, Dean confirms that the man pictured in the ID photo is the dead man he found. Sam says that he believes something is killing hunters. As the group is taking, Mary asks where Bobby is. When Dean says Bobby excused himself to get something from his truck, Mary leaves to look for him.

Sasha says she is having difficulty accepting all that has happened – including the fact that there’s a dead body on their property. As the group talks, Dean tells Sam that he was attacked by the same thing that attacked Maggie, and that it looked like Sasha’s father; but Mr. Rawling has never left his bed. As Dean and Sam exchange theories about what could be going on, Sam realizes that the monster Sasha saw attacked her when she tried to enter the attic, perhaps to frighten her away from the attic. Dean agrees to stay with Sasha while Sam searches the attic.

BOBBY and MARY:
Outside, Mary arrives at Bobby’s truck, but he isn’t there. She calls for him and begins searching the area.

Elsewhere in the woods, Bobby is walking and seems to be looking for someone when he is attacked. The man who attacks him has no eyes, and during their hostile exchange, we learn that he is Daniel – Bobby’s son.

We also learn that Daniel was tortured/crucified by the angels, and he seems to blame Bobby for not coming to save him. Daniel quickly overpowers Bobby and impales him to a tree by driving an angel blade through his shoulder. Daniel prepares to use another angel blade to kill Bobby when Mary appears and draws a gun on him.

As Daniel approaches Mary to attack her, Mary shoots him several times, but nothing happens. Daniel attacks Mary and is about to kill her when Bobby frees himself from the tree and kills Daniel with an angel blade. Daniel’s body explodes into a cloud of dust.

DEAN and SAM:
While Sam searches the attic, Dean and Sasha talk downstairs in the living room. During their discussion, we learn that Sasha’s mother committed suicide when Sasha was 12 years old, and her father was often away from home on business. Although Sasha never got close to her father, she always admired him. Dean tells Sasha that it would be healthier for her to let go of the past and try to focus on what’s left.

Meanwhile, Sam finds Maggie in the attic, attached to the bags of blood we saw earlier. Before Sam can free Maggie, he is attacked by the vampire that attacked Sasha, but when Sam stabs the creature it explodes into a cloud of grey dust. Sam hastily frees Maggie.

Downstairs, Dean and Sasha enter the hospice room to check on Sasha’s father. While Sasha is tending to her father, Dean takes a closer look at the bags of blood hanging and recognizes them as the same things he saw when he was taken by a Djinn (“What is and what should never be”). He suspects Neal, and asks Sasha to go make him a sandwich (a ploy so he can confront Neal alone). When Sasha leaves, Dean confronts Neal, who readily admits that Dean is correct.

When Dean demands to know why Neal is going after hunters, we learn that Neal made a deal with Michael to do exactly that. Neal agreed to set up shop in a quiet place and kill as many hunters as possible in exchange for amplified powers bestowed on him by Michael. Now, Neal can not only read the mind of anyone he touches, but he can project people’s nightmares at them. Neal brags about how he used Maggie’s fear of vampires, and Mr. Rawling’s fear of dying alone against them to torment them. Neal, who until this moment thought Dean was still Michael and the entire visit was a test from the archangel, is surprised to learn that Michael is gone and that Dean is simply a vessel now. Neal advances on Dean and attacks him. During their fight, Neal attempts to read Dean’s mind to discover what nightmares he can use against him, but the djinn sees something so horrible that he stops and releases Dean. Dean takes advantage of the moment to overpower the djinn. Although Dean doesn’t have a silver knife dipped in lamb’s blood, he bludgeons the djinn to death with a bookend. Before Neal dies, he taunts Dean, telling him that he is just one of the dozens of traps Michael has set up to kill hunters – including Dean’s own family.

LATER:
When the next scene begins, it is daylight again and we see Dean disconnecting Mr. Rawling from all the blood bags as Sasha looks on. He tells her that her father will wake as up soon as the djinn’s poison wears off, and now she’ll have a chance to do things differently with their relationship.

When Dean and Sam arrive back at the bunker with Maggie, the AU hunters greet Maggie, relieved that she’s alright. Dean tells Sam that he should feel good about saving Maggie and being able to bring her back home.

Elsewhere in the bunker, Mary patches Bobby up and they discuss what happened. We learn that Bobby saw his son when he was talking to Dean in the woods, but he wanted to handle the situation himself without involving anyone else. Bobby also confesses to Mary that his wife was murdered, and hunting helped him and his son recover from their pain. When the angel wars started, Bobby joined the fight as a platoon leader (because of his prior military experience). Daniel was in his platoon, but they got separated, and Daniel was taken by the angels. Bobby never found his son’s body or knew what the angels had done to him. Bobby admits that he blames himself for what happened to Daniel. He also says that he assumed he’d die in the war, too, but it never happened, so now perhaps he’s trying to use hunting as a means to his eventual end. Mary tries to comfort Bobby, encouraging him to not give up on her – on them – and offering to help him find another way to live, together.

Later, Dean and Sam are alone in the war room when Mary and Bobby announce that they are leaving.

After an off-screen discussion, we learn that Sheriff Donna is allowing Bobby and Mary to use one of her cabins so Bobby can recover and they can have some time alone. Before Mary and Bobby leave, Bobby takes a moment to apologize to Sam for what he said, telling Sam that he has what it takes to be a good leader. Mary and Bobby say goodbye to the Boys and leave the bunker.

EPILOGUE:

In the bunker’s kitchen, we see Dean and Sam both on their cell phones talking to people. They are phoning Garth and all the other hunters they know, to warn them that Michael has set traps for them, so they should take precautions, like using the buddy system. They also warn the others that monsters are “different” now, so they will need to fight them differently.

After both brothers have phoned all their contacts, they talk briefly. Sam tries to tell Dean that what Michael did wasn’t his fault, but they both know those words won’t help Dean feel any better. Dean confesses that he’s been trying to move on, but now he’s not sure what’s next. The brothers agree that they don’t know how they will track down Michael and kill him, but they will keep working until they figure a way.