| Recap added by Journalbookbinder
Kearney, Missouri
A man (Chester) is working on his car. He's underneath it while it's up on blocks. His wife (Mary) comes out and he asks her if she can get him a beer. She accuses him of being unfaithful and asks if maybe "Sarah Alcott" could get the beer for him instead. She drops the car off the blocks, gets in, and drives over him. Blood sprays on the wall.
Sam & Dean are picking up some food. Dean says he caught a case on the police scanner. Sam wonders why he has a case and is acting like everything is normal all of a sudden when they've hardly spoken since Prentice Island. They start to talk about Benny. Sam wants to know why Benny is still alive if he's a vampire. Sam points out that Dean killed Amy, who was a monster but a monster who was trying not to feed on humans. Why is Benny different from Amy? Sam is pissed about Dean's double-standard.
Dean tries to send the conversation in a different direction; accusing Sam of turning his phone off (and quitting hunting or trying to protect Kevin) for a year. Dean says that if Benny slips up and some other hunter kills him, so be it. Sam says, "But it's not going to be you." Dean
doesn't reply.
Next they arrive at the scene of the decapitation-by-car in Missouri. Sam doesn't think it's their kind of thing. Dean tells him that, essentially, with Kevin gone and Sam sulking around, he has to look into this case.
At the scene, they run into a "Texas Ranger". It's Garth in an over-the top cowboy-like outfit. Garth is really happy to see them. They make fun of Garth's outfit. His excuse is that he looks like a funeral director in a suit (as if he looks normal dressed like a cowboy or as if this is what a real Texas Ranger would wear!).
One of Garth's 3 cell phones rings (with a horribly cheesy '80's pop song). He answers it and gives advice to another hunter about how to kill a renevant. Dean is surprised that Garth is giving advice. Garth explains that with Bobby gone, someone had to do Bobby's job and be there for other hunters. Dean is completely offended that anyone would try to replace Bobby. Garth says they'll talk about it later. Dean seems insulted that Garth is giving THEM instructions.
Sam & Dean question the son of the deceased man, named Scott (his mother, who killed his father, is currently in the hospital after the incident). Scott says that his parents were a
normal, married couple who had been high school sweethearts. His mom running over his father seemed to come out of the blue.
Sam can't find any sulphur or EMF at the crime scene. Garth reasons that law enforcement could have contaminated the crime scene. Garth then steps in some green/black goo which he tastes (!!!) and determines that the substance is ectoplasm. This case involved a spirit in some way.
Another one of Garth's cell phones goes off. The coroner tells him that the dead guy had the word "Alcott" carved into his chest; with his wife's fingernails.
They go to question the wife, Mary. She doesn't remember running over her husband. It's as if she was possessed. She only remembers "bits and pieces"; Garth starts to laugh at that (since that's essentially how her husband ended up...in "bits and pieces"). Dean shoots him a look.
Mary talks about how overwhelmingly angry she was at the time. Then, once her husband was dead, the anger was gone. They ask her about the name "Alcott" and she tells them that it is the last name of the woman who was the only other person her husband ever dated. But he only dated her for one night way back in high school.
They plan to talk to Ms. Alcott; but they get some food first. Garth asks Sam & Dean where they've been for a year. Dean tells him he was in purgatory. Garth starts using some of Bobby's expressions (like "balls"), but uses them all wrong.
Garth asks how Dean got out. Dean quickly changes the subject and asks why there are so many Southern rebel flags in the restaurant. Garth explains that Missouri was a border state and some who lived there fought on the side of the South in the Civil War and some on the side of the North. Dean's impressed and asks how he knows this. Garth tells them he went to college; then dental school. He was a dentist for "one hot minute" and that's where he caught his first case. He killed a tooth fairy for his first case.
Garth becomes emotional telling them how he had to kill the tooth fairy.
Scott is headed to see his mom at the hospital. He runs into an acquaintance (Jeff) at a
store on the way. It sounds like Jeff owes him money. He seems to become enraged when he's face-to-face with him, grabs a shovel from a display, and bludgeons Jeff to death. As he does this, green/black goo drips from his ear.
Scott looks into the store's security mirror and sees a zombie-like Civil War soldier instead of his own reflection.
Sam & Dean arrive at the site of the bludgeoning. There's the word "Sussex" in blood on the store's glass fridge door. Garth shows up. He says Scott just felt he wasn't in control of himself when he murdered Jeff. Dean notices that Garth is wearing what looks like Bobby's hat. Dean snatches it off his head. Garth looks hurt.
They view the store's surveillance video. They see an anomaly on the video; light emitting from Scott's head as he kills his friend.
Sam leaves Garth with Dean and goes to talk to Ms. Alcott. Garth & Dean try to go learn what "Sussex" means.
At Ms. Alcott's house, Ms. Alcott confirms that she & Chester went to prom together and hooked up. But that was all there was to it. She hadn't really had much contact with Mary or Chester in recent years, but Mary always seemed guarded around her. She figures she was a reminder of Chester's one betrayal.
As Sam leaves Sarah Alcott's house, he thinks back to his year without Dean. He remembers a specific time with Amelia. He & Amelia are in bed together. She tells Sam that she lost her husband in Afghanistan. She says she hasn't "let herself go" (sexually) with anyone like this in a long time; since her husband died. (editor's note: Why is Sam wearing a t-shirt after they just slept together?) Amelia talks about how everyone around her looked at her with such pity once they knew she was a widow. She couldn't take it and felt she had to get away so she left town and had been living in the hotel ever since.
Back in the present.
Garth and Dean are doing research in the hotel room. They're both drinking beer and Dean wants Garth to slow down, since the last time he was with him and he drank, it hardly took anything to get him drunk. Garth affectionately calls Dean an "idgit" with a smile on his face. Dean says you have to call someone that in an angry way, not a happy way; and tells Garth, "Don't use it if you're not going to use it right!" Garth is slightly surprised by Dean's intensity.
Garth asks Dean how he and Sam are doing. He's noticed they are tense. Dean doesn't want to talk about it and asks to get back to work. Garth offers to be there for Dean to talk to; like Bobby was. Dean yells at him that he's never going to be Bobby. Garth gets teary and tells Dean that Bobby belonged to all of them, not just Sam & Dean. All Garth is trying to do it to take what Bobby showed him and use it to help others.
Dean is somewhat put in his place and seems a bit surprised that Garth defended himself.
Dean finds out that "Sussex" is the name of a failed business that Scott and Jeff used to own together.
Dean starts to realize that the murders all have grudges in common. In Bobby's journal, Garth finds that green goo is a sign of a spectre. An avenging ghost. They are often set free when someone desecrates a grave. They find out online that the local "tomb of the unknown soldier" from the Civil War was desecrated.
Sam and Dean and Garth meet at the site of the tomb, but it's guarded by a soldier. Garth tells them that this is the Confederate Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We learn that Garth knows a great deal about the Civil War because he does Civil War reenactments every year ("once a year, every year," he says). They decide to come back at night when the guard is gone to burn the bones.
That night, they break into the tomb and find, oddly, that the valuable stuff on the body (sword, etc.) had not been stolen. The police report said there were just some kids "messing around" and that the casket was open. Sam finds a piece of string on the ground. They open the casket and salt and burn the body. Garth says they should "say something" meaningful over the remains before they burn the bones. Dean says, "We won," and lights up the body in casket.
Next we see the police station. The sheriff is asking the deputy to finish writing up his incident reports. Scott is in the cell after being arrested for killing Jeff. Scott calls for the deputy because he's short of breath and says he needs his inhaler. The deputy goes to the evidence room to get it and starts to empty out Scott's evidence envelope looking for it, but then takes out a pump-action shotgun and goes and shoots the sheriff at point-blank range telling him he should "write his own reports".
At the scene of the shooting in the police station, Sam, Dean, and Garth find more ectoplasm. The burning of the bones didn't work. Dean wonders if the spectre is attached to an object; something the vandals took. They theorize that whoever touches the object is compelled to seek revenge for even a small offense.
They find out that a second deputy took down the first deputy who shot the sheriff and that second deputy is now headed to the hospital.
They split up and Dean heads to the hospital to find the second deputy.
Sam and Garth go to the library. Garth tries to get Sam to talk about what's up with him and Dean. Garth goes into the library, leaving Sam outside on the steps. While he's out there alone, Sam thinks back to Amelia again. This time, she is leaving him in the hotel room and telling him that he should forget what she told him about her husband. She doesn't want Sam's pity. Sam says it's not pity. He's glad she told him because it helps him understand her better. She's sure he's feeling sorry for her and she doesn't want that so she leaves.
At the library, Sam and Garth try to find out the identity of the man in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
At the hospital, the second deputy is about to shoot an orderly who apparently made a bad referee call in a game he participated in sometime in the past. The rifle jams and Dean tries to jump him.
At the library, Sam and Garth learn that Corporal Collins of the Union shot and killed his brother Vance. They fought on opposite sides of the war. Vance swore vengeance on his brother with his dying breath. The librarian tells them that there is a theory that Vance is the soldier buried in the tomb of the unknown. In an old photo of Vance, Sam sees a medallion around his neck on a string.
At the hospital, the spectre-possessed deputy throws Dean across the room.
At the library, the librarian explains that soldiers back then were often given a penny to wear by their families so they could use it to buy food or whatever they needed in an emergency while away from home.
At the hospital, the spectre/deputy presses a coin into Dean's hand telling Dean that the spectre "likes him". Sam calls Dean to tell him it's a coin that's causing the possessions.
Sam & Garth come back to the hotel room. Dean is sitting on the bed with a pistol next to him and green goo dripping from his ear.
Dean stands, cocks the gun, aims at Sam and says, "you should have looked for me when I was in purgatory".
Next we see a video montage that started 3 days ago. First the vandals take the coin necklace from the corpse. One of them uses it to pay for something at the store. It's given as change to Mary who ran over her husband Chester. Then it's taken from Mary's purse by her son Scott before he bludgeons Jeff to death. It ends up in the evidence bag where the first deputy handles it before shooting the sheriff. It's picked up by the second deputy, then placed in Dean's hand.
Sam says he knows it's not Dean in there. Dean tells him to shut up. Dean start to lecture Sam about how he knows that Sam never wanted this life of being a hunter; that all Sam has ever done was deceive him. Dean starts to run through of all Sam's transgressions over the years. Dean claims he never betrayed Sam. He never left Sam to die for a girl. They start to fight. Garth steps in front of Dean's gun. He thinks the spectre won't kill him since the spectre doesn't have a grudge against Garth. Dean says that Sam left him to rot in purgatory. Sam brings up Benny and the fact that Dean had Benny in purgatory, while he, Sam, had no one while Dean was gone. Dean says that Cas let him down, Sam let him down, and the only one that hasn't let him down is Benny.
Garth tries to talk Dean down. Garth tells him fight the spectre. Garth punches Dean (and then grabs his hand in pain), and Dean drops the coin. Garth picks it up. Sam tells him not to, but Garth says he's good.
Next Garth is saying goodbye to Dean (he reveals that he melted the penny down). Dean wants to know why holding the cursed penny didn't affect Garth. Garth says that he just lets things go and doesn't hold grudges anymore and that Dean should too. Garth tells Dean that with Bobby gone, Dean and Sam only have each other. Dean needs to get over it. Garth gives Dean a hug (of course). Dean gives Garth Bobby's hat back. It seems like Dean is finally starting to let go of Bobby a little bit and realizes that other people beside he and Sam really cared for Bobby. Garth's phone rings with an MC Hammer ringtone. He gives advice to another hunter who's calling him about how to deal with a wendigo. He really seems to love his new role as adviser to other hunters. Garth drives off in his El Camino.
Sam has one more Ameilia recollection as he's washing his face after Dean beat him. He tells Amelia he doesn't pity her. He confesses to her that he lost his brother. He says that after Dean was gone, his world imploded and he ran, just like she did. She says now she pities him. She lets him in and pours him a drink. She asks if he wants to talk about it and he says yes. She says she'd like to talk about Don (her late husband) too. She starts to soften the tiniest bit and we see that they are holding hands.
Back in the present, Sam tells Dean that his girlfriend's name was Amelia Richardson. Dean tries to say he didn't mean what he said to Sam while under the control of the spectre. Sam doesn't buy it. Sam says he's always been honest, but Dean has been keeping secrets like Benny. Sam tells Dean to move on or he will. Dean actually agrees.
Sam taunts Dean by saying that he might just be the guy who runs into Benny one day and ices him. Dean says they'll cross that bridge when the come to it. There looks like there's very little trust between them. |
