Paint It Black Recap

Worchester, MA Inside a church. A congregant is absolved and leaves the confessional. As he walks down the aisle of the church, he is possessed by an invisible spirit of some kind. He grabs a candleholder with a spike on top (to hold the candle) an carries it outside, where he proceeds to commit suicide by candlestick - stabbing himself with the spike and ripping it through his body.

In hell...
A demon comes before Crowley to complain. Rowena is playing games. She has given this demon a second face on the back of his head. The demon says he can't take it anymore.

Crowley looks bored. He calls for Rowena. He says enough is enough. She tells him that she is completely disappointed in him. He doesn't get it; she's acting upjust because he didn't go begging to a bunch of witches on her behalf? She informs him that the Grand Coven is the sanctioning body for witchcraft and she cannot practice without their approval, which she currently does not have.

Crowley says he didn't realize she'd stopped performing witchcraft. She says she's only been doing parlor tricks. If she could REALLY practice, she'd be unstoppable. She's still bent out of shape because he went against her wishes and delivered the First Blade to the Winchesters, instead of helping her with her Grand Coven problems and one witch in particular; Olivette. She reminds him that she gave him life, then leaves in a flourish, breaking glass with one wave of her hand as she goes.

Elsewhere, in the Impala...
Dean is trying to guess at what this case might be. The suicide. A possession or something else...but Sam is not paying attention. He's looking at his phone and Dean guesses that he's researching the Mark. He tells Sam to get his head in the game and on the case, not on the Mark. Sam tries to pay attention, commenting that it's beenthree suicides in two weeks. Dean points out that it was more than suicide; the victims gutted themselves, slow and painful. Dean
can't figure out any link between the victims either. Sam thinks it might be a curse.

Back at the church, two young nuns are talking. One has an Italian accent. She is telling the other one about her past. She was once in love with an artist. A painter. She would model for him. He called her his muse. The American nun asks what happened. The Italian nun says she can't tell her about that right now. The American nun says they are a lot alike. That they are supposed to enter the convent for a higher purpose, but perhaps they entered it because something in both their lives overwhelmed them.

Once Sam and Dean arrive in Massachusetts....
Sam and Dean are trying to figure out how the victims are related. Dean realizes that they were all Catholic. Sam points out that there are lots of Catholics in Massachusetts. Dean says there were no hex bags found on the victims; so it wasn't a witch. He wonders if it could have been a demon. Sam points out that demons like to possess living things...why would they make a host body commit suicide? Dean tells Sam to go get the victim's phone hacked and
find out more.

Back in the church, a couple is leaving when we see one of thembecome possessed by the spirit.

Later that night, at the couple's home, the wife encourages the husband to come to bed. He says he's been working late a lot. When he turns to get something out of the fridge, she calls him a liar and stabs him to death with a pair of scissors. We see the smoky spirit leave her body and she sees what she's done to her husband; he is lying dead on the floor in a pool of blood. She screams.

Sam and Dean are investigating in the church, talking to the priest. They have apparently already questioned the wife who murdered her husband. They tell the priest that the last thing she remembers is being in the church. They ask if she said anything in the confession. Of course that is confidential and he can't say. The priest says all the victims were regulars at church.

The young, attractive, American nun appears (Sister Matthias). The priest leaves and they ask the sister about the deaths. She thinks they were suicides. Sam says he's going to go have a look around, leaving Dean with the nun.

As Dean and the nun approach the altar, she pauses to cross herself and curtsey. Dean does a funny little awkward head bow; not sure how to behave.

Dean is trying to figure out what ties the victims together. He asks if the married couple had any problems, because, apparently, when they hacked the cell phone of one of the earlier victims, it revealed that he was cheating. The nun admits that there were rumors that the husband in the most recent case may have been cheating, but the wife didn't know.

Dean asks how someone like her (the nun) ends up here. He wonders how someone quits one life for something completely different. She says she felt she had no choice because her life had become painful and hopeless. She had to find something larger than herself to focus on; a mission. She thinks Dean has no idea what she's talking about.

He tells her not to be so sure. He looks like he's really thinking over what she's telling him; like it's hitting home.

Sam re-appears after finding high EMF readings in various parts of the church. He asks the nun if there's a cemetery nearby. She says the church is built over a burial crypt. They ask her if she's seen anything strange. She is surprised that the FBI believes in ghosts. She says she does not believe in ghosts and excuses herself.

Outside the church, Dean observes that the nun was hot and he thinks she might have had a thing for him. Sam shoots him down saying, "Dean, she's married to Jesus." Dean shakes it off and turns his attentionto the case; pointing out that, so far, the common thread seems to be men doing their women wrong. Sam points out that the wife they questioned was pretty adamant that she didn't remember killing her husband. The wife didn't know her husband was cheating.

Dean wonders if she was possessed by someone who did know. He says that all of the victims went to confession and Sam wonders if the priest is involved.

Back in hell...
Rowena gives Crowley an exaggerated but sarcastic curtsey. Crowley says he's been thinking about how bad he'd feel if his reason for living (wreaking pain and havoc on earth) were taken away from him.He sympathizes with Rowena.

She asks if he's going to go to the Grand Coven on her behalf? He says, instead, he brought the Coven to her. He has found Olivette and has her chained to a chair so Rowena can do with her what she wants.

Olivette says she won't grovel in front of a witch who gave birth to a half-witch half-"non-magic" (Crowley). Rowena tells her that her personal life is none of her business. Rowena says she could have been a superstar. Olivette says that when they let Rowena in, they hoped she'd grow out of her reckless and selfish ways, but she only got worse. And now she's consorting with demons.

Rowena informs her that this is her son's palace. He's the king of hell. She informs Olivette that she is now a prisoner of "the baddest of the bad and his devoted mummy".

Back in the church, the two nuns are talking again. More about the Italian nun's past. The American nun asks if the artist is the reason that the Italian nun is in the convent. We flash back to her life...obviously long ago. Renaissance era. She says that that artist's portrait of her started his career and it was also his masterpiece. She says she confessed that she loved this artist. But he did not return her feelings. He was in love with his art. He did not love her. She
became depressed. Her family sent her to the convent to forget the man she loved. She gestures around the room which is filled with artifacts; paintings and chalices...they are all from her father's estate and she said she hasn't seen them since she was sent to the convent. Apparently the church inherited the items. The only possession of hers that survived was her journal; on the table in front of her. It's where she confessed her deepest pain. The American nun starts to say, "Loneliness is -" and the Italian nun cuts her off saying, "Yes, it is," as if she can read her mind.

Back in hell...
Rowena is beating Olivette. Olivette says that banishment was too good for Rowena. Rowena accuses her of being jealous of her talents; that she was only a threat to the Coven insofar as she was smarter and more gifted than Olivette.

Olivette says it was just blind ambition. Rowena says she'll get what she wants from Olivette, but Olivette says she can't get what she wants. The Coven is a shadow of its former self. It's been weakened by witch hunts and burnings at the stake. She says that there was a group who whipped the church and public into a panic against witches. Drove the practice underground. Took all of their most powerful relics and stored them away in bunkers. They tried to destroy the witches' world. This group? The Men of Letters.

In the church, Dean is in the confessional. He tells the priest he has to get some things off his chest. He appears to be lying poorly...telling him that he has issues with women. He says he was never loyal to any one woman and he can't take it anymore. He feels guilty. The priest suggests some prayers and hopes they will lead to some more serious reflection and soul-searching. Suddenly, Dean seems to get much more thoughtful. The priest asks if there is
anything else. Dean asks what if he doesn't want to die yet. Dean tells the priest that, basically, he always figured, with his line of work, that he'd go out in a blaze of glory; just go full speed until he couldn't go anymore; go out the same way he lived. But now, Dean thinks that death may be closer than he thought and he's thinking about the people and feelings he wants to experience differently than he has before or maybe for the first time. Dean is starting to think that maybe there's more to it than he thought. The priest says that realizing there's more to life than your own tiny world can be a frightening discovery. He asks if Dean believes in God. It can be comforting. Dean says he believes there is a God; he's just not sure he still believe in us.

Dean leaves the confessional and the ghost of the Italian nun materialized behind him.
Dean meets up with Sam, waiting for him in one of the pews. Sam asks if Dean thought anyone was eavesdropping on his confession. He was obviously trying to bait the ghost by confessing to being a womanizer.

Sister Matthias sees Sam and Dean leave and goes looking for Isabella (the Italian nun) in the storage room full of her family's estate items.

Out in the sanctuary, the priest leaves the confessional. He is immediately possessed by Isabella's ghost.

Back in the store room, Sister Matthias takes out Isabella's journal. She begins to read the rest of Isabella's story.

She reads that Isabellaplanned to destroy the painting of herself; to get back at the artistfor not reciprocating her feelings for him. When she went into his studio, she found him having sex with another woman. She repeatedly stabbed the artist in a fit of jealous rage, killing him. Sister Matthias slams the journal shut.

Sister Matthias tells Sam and Dean that she has met several restless spirits in the church, but they were harmless. Sam can't believe she is comfortable around ghosts. She says she knows there are several planes of existence and they were all harmless entities that went on to their final rest. She says that she and Isabella were friends. They had both experienced painful love lives. She never thought Isabella was connected to the recent murders. Sister Matthias explains that Isabella showed up a few weeks ago; right around the time that her family's treasures arrived from Italy, having been donated to the church (and, for some reason, shipped to Massachusetts???). Sister Matthias says she read Isabella's journal. It ends just after her trial. The murder she committed in long-ago Italy was so horrific that she was tried as a witch and sentenced to burn at the stake.

She burned, but something in the room must be tying her to this vengeful spirit existence. Dean is sure it's the journal. Sam thinks maybe the journal might hold more clues or information for them, but Dean is sure the journal is what is holding her here and they have to burn it.

In hell...
Rowena is trying to get more info. out of Olivette, but Olivette tells her she doesn't know any more. Rowena says that Olivette is afraid she (Rowena) will recover all of the stolen potions and spells; things stolen by the Men of Letters, and become more powerful than any other witch. Rowena chastises Olivette for letting the Men of Letters plunder the Coven. Olivette says the bunkers around the world are powerfully warded and there was nothing the Coven could do to stop the group. Rowena asks how she can find the Men of Letters. Olivette says she thinks the American chapter was extinguished in the 1950's. But two of the members survived. The hunters; Sam and Dean Winchester.

Rowena can't believe it's the Winchesters again; messing up her life. Rowena says it's time to end her discussion with Olivette. If the Coven is no longer powerful, then Olivette is no longer useful. Olivetter reminds her that witch-on-witch murder is frowned upon. Rowena doesn't care about the opinion of thecommunity of witches, or what's left of it. She says that Olivette ruined her life, and now she'll pay for that with her own death. Rowena begins a spell to kill Olivette, but stops halfway through, saying there are better options than killing her and giving her "the easy way out".

Back in the church, Dean and Sister Matthias are talking. Sister Matthias doesn't see how Isabella could kill people if she was tethered to the church. Dean says she could possess people, "ride" them outside, commit the murders, then return. Dean has his shotgun filled with rock salt in case she appears.

In the storage room, Sam is piling up all of the items from Isabella's family's estate. He's reading the journal as he does it. He reads that Isabella's artist requested that she give a part of herself to add to the painting. A bit of her blood to mix with the paints. The journal claims that she wanted to do this for him.

Dean and Sister Matthias search through the church with the EMF meter until it lights up.

Sam continues to read in the journal that Isabella chose not just to give her blood, but the tip of her finger which she told her artist to grind up and add to his paints. This way she would become one with the painting. Sam slams the journal shut and looks over to the pile of crated paintings leaning against the wall in the storage room.

Dean discovers the priest, gutted and lying dead on the altar.

Sam frantically read labels on boxes in the storage room, searching for the painting.

Dean runs back out to Sister Matthias, telling her Father Delaney is dead and they have to get her out of here. She gives him a hard look and smacks him, sending him flying. Sister Matthias is possessed by Isabella.

Sam pries open one of the crates with a crowbar.

Sister Matthias appears next to Dean, picking him up and holding him against the wall, choking him with a hand around his throat. She pulls out a long knife. Dean sees it and struggles to grab her wrist. Isabella (in the body of Sister Matthias) tells Dean that the priest had to die because he made it his business to forgive all of the womanizing pigs who went to confession. Dean chokes out, "Sam, burn the journal!"

Sam finds the painting of Isabella, puts it in the fireplace, and burns it.

Sister Matthias seems to weaken and back away from Dean. The ghost of Isabella blasts back out of Sister Matthias' body and begs Sister Matthias not to let Sam and Dean do this; she was her friend...then she is consumed by fire and disappears screaming.

Back in hell, there's a hamster in a cage running on a wheel wearing a miniature version of Olivette's necklace. Rowena turned Olivette into a hamster. Rowena asks Crowley about the Winchesters. Are they Men of Letters? Crowley says possibly, but his relationship with
the Winchesters is none of her business and he's not going to kill them. Rowena says, "Whatever you say," and leaves.

In the Impala...
Sam's driving, looking over at Dean who is wincing. (Maybe Isabella's ghost stuck him a little with the knife?) Sam is trying to drag a thank-you out of Dean for NOT burning the journal since that is what held the key to figuring out where Isabella's spirit was attached to this world. Dean never really says thank you, but smirks in agreement that Sam was right.

Sam brings up the fact that Dean was in the confessional for a long time. He seems rather jealous that Dean would talk to a priest instead of him. Sam tells Dean that he's got someone right there next to him to talk to. Dean doesn't reply. Sam says he heard what Sister Matthias told Dean about taking on a mission in order to hide or overcome pain and Sam knows that's kind of what Dean's doing here; hunting to deal with the Mark. Dean rolls his eyes. Sam tells
Dean that he (Sam) does not accept that the Mark is some sort of terminal diagnosis and Dean had better not be making peace with that idea. Sam says they'll find a way...it's what they do. He tells Dean to believe that. Dean reluctantly agrees. Sam asks him if maybe he can say it like he means it. Dean repeats, "Okay," but doesn't have much conviction the second time either. He doesn't believe it. Sam gives him a hurt/confused look.

Dean stares straight ahead. Not looking at Sam.