The Spear Recap

It’s Christmas time in Kansas City. In the penthouse of a large, fancy skyscraper (Hitomi Tower), we initially see an elaborately decorated luxury office space, but quickly see blood and broken glass on the floor, indicating that something terrible has happened. As the scene continues, we hear screaming, so we know whatever is happening is still going on. A man dressed in a business suit runs for his life and tries to get to the elevator. One of Michael’s monsters appears, kills the man, and dumps his body down the elevator shaft.

Once the man is dead, the monster walks into a large, luxurious office and reports that the “last of them” is dead, and that – as ordered – he didn’t feed, so he’d have a large appetite for the next day. As the camera shows us more of the office, we see a young, attractive woman standing next to a large window. The man addresses her as “Michael” and she turns around.

The monster asks Michael why she chose this particular building in this particular city, but Michael doesn’t give a straight answer – replying instead that she “likes the view”.

As the scene continues, another one of Michael’s monsters (Melanie, from "Gods and Monsters") enters, followed by two other men. Melanie tells Michael that the two men are new recruits. When we see the men’s faces, we recognize Garth!

Michael tells Garth that he recognizes him because Dean knew him and Michael knows Dean’s memories. Garth tells Michael that he’s still Dean’s friend, but there’s a war coming and Garth has a wife and daughter to consider. He wants to be on the winning side, so he’s agreed to join Michael’s forces. Michael seems dubious, but temporarily accepts Garth’s explanation.

Michael again addresses Melanie, who reports that everything is “ready” for the next night, and Kansas City won’t know what hit it. Michael seems pleased.

EPISODE:
At the bunker, it is the middle of the night. Jack is sitting alone in the kitchen eating a bowl of chocolate-chip breakfast cereal when Castiel enters. Jack immediately asks Castiel to not tell Sam he’s eating the sugary cereal, because Sam has warned Jack that the cereal will rot his teeth.

As the conversation continues, Castiel tells Jack that it’s not surprising that he can’t sleep, considering everything that has happened to him. Jack admits that he’s been thinking about heaven and wondering if his mother is safe; he worries that the Empty got into heaven, and questions whether heaven is still “perfect”. Castiel assures Jack that Kelly is fine, that nothing is perfect, and that Naomi will do everything possible to protect the souls in heaven.

Jack also asks Castiel why he can’t tell Dean and Sam about the deal Cas made with the Empty. Castiel replies that Dean and Sam can know, but he thinks that they’re dealing with so much right now that he doesn’t want them to be burdened yet with that information. Castiel further tries to comfort Jack, telling him that with everything going on, there’s little chance of him being happy any time soon, so there’s no point in worrying about the deal just yet.

Elsewhere in the bunker, Sam is in the library talking to Garth via cell phone. Sam has apparently asked Garth to spy on Michael’s operation from the inside, so Garth is only pretending to Michael that he’s fighting on his side. Garth updates Sam on what he knows about Michael’s plans. Garth also reports that Michael expects him to drink a potion of blood mixed with archangel grace in order to complete the conversion into one of Michael’s monsters. Sam expresses concern about Garth drinking the potion, since they don’t know what it will do to him. Garth tells Sam that he thinks he can fake drinking the potion and spit it out. Before Sam can object, Garth hears someone approaching and hangs up the phone.

At this point, Dean enters the library and he and Sam talk. During their discussion, we learn that Sam pulled Garth out of retirement for this undercover mission. When Sam expresses concern about whether Garth will be alright, Dean tries to convince him that they’re in a good position. We learn that Naomi gave the Winchesters Michael’s location, and Dean believes that they have a good strategy with Garth on the inside.

As the brothers are talking, Castiel comes to tell them that he has contacted Mr. Ketch. In the war room, we see Mr. Ketch calling via Skype. When the Winchesters enter the room, Ketch is already talking to Jack about how he broke into a secured facility to steal the weapon they need. Apparently, Mr. Ketch has been trying to track down a Newton-D-hyperbolic pulse generator (e.g. the magic egg that they used to expel Lucifer from his vessel when he was possessing the president of the US in "LOTUS"). Mr. Ketch was able to obtain the weapon and had planned to return to the States with it. But he was so heavily pursued by mercenaries that he was forced to ship the weapon instead. Ketch tells the team that he express-mailed it to Lebanon, Kansas. Unfortunately, the package will take two days to arrive, which is too late to foil Michael’s plan.

MICHAEL
Back at the Hitomi Plaza penthouse in Kansas City, Melanie forces a nervous Garth to drink the potion. Because Michael and Melanie are watching so closely, Garth can’t fake as he’d planned and actually drinks the solution. We see Garth’s eyes momentarily glow blue as the potion takes effect.

Elsewhere in the penthouse, Michael tells Melanie that Dark-Kaia has been seen at an abandoned recycling facility/warehouse near Omaha, Nebraska. Michael orders Melanie to send a team to kill Dark-Kaia and destroy the spear. As they’re talking, Michael comments that she can “feel” all the monsters she’s turned converging on the city, taking their positions, and waiting for her order. At the appropriate time, Michael will order her creatures to simultaneously kill and/or turn every inhabitant of Kansas City. As Michael is talking, Garth is in another room, but his expression changes as if he can hear her.

DEAN, SAM, CASTIEL, and JACK
Back at the bunker, Sam learns that the package Ketch sent them is being held at a distribution center in Joplin, Missouri. The facility is closed for the Christmas holiday, so the group decides to break into the building to get their package.

As the group is talking, Sam gets a cell phone call from Garth, who updates Sam on Michael’s planned attack. He also tells Sam that Michael is sending his creatures to a warehouse near Omaha to get the spear. However, Garth doesn’t admit to Sam that he drank the potion; instead, he tells him that he faked it as he’d planned.

Later, The Winchesters, Castiel, and Jack are gathered in the war room and Sam is updating them on the information he got from Garth. The team realizes that if Michael executes his plan, there will be a bloodbath in Kansas City. Garth told Sam that Michael plans to execute his plan at midnight, so they realize that they have very little time to get to Kansas City and try to stop him.

The group decides to send Sam and Jack to get the magic egg from the shipping facility in Joplin, while Dean and Castiel go to the warehouse near Omaha to get to Dark-Kaia before Michael’s creatures find her. Their plan is to use the spear to hurt/subdue Michael, use warded handcuffs to restrain him, then use the magic egg to expel him and send him into the cage.

SAM and JACK
Later, time has passed and Sam and Jack arrive at the shipping center. Jack picks the lock so they can break in. They get the package and are leaving with it when Michael and his goons arrive. Michael’s creatures disable Sam and kidnap Jack, driving off in a black van.

Once Jack is gone, Michael turns her attentions to Sam. Michael flings Sam into the side of a truck, and melts the weapon, rendering it useless. She then knocks Sam out and leaves him lying on the ground.

DEAN and CASTIEL
Meanwhile, Dean and Castiel arrive at the abandoned recycling facility. Cas comments that Dean seems unusually upbeat -- he hasn’t complained about anything (including a broken tape deck in the Impala) during the trip and seems happy. Dean replies that he’s feeling optimistic because of how things have been going lately. When Dean comments that they got Jack back with “no strings attached”, Castiel momentarily looks like he wants to tell Dean about his deal, but he doesn’t.

They also discuss Michael and how they’re taking a big chance going after the spear. But then Dean tells Cas that Michael tricked him and kept him trapped and drowning inside his own body. He admits that he never truly understood angel possession until he was possessed himself. Dean angrily says that if they have a chance to trap Michael, they should take it; but he won’t be truly happy until he kills Michael, so he’s stoked because they now have a chance to do that.

When Dean and Cas enter the facility, they find Dark-Kaia’s camp site (a mattress and a still-warm cooking pot), but they don’t see Dark-Kaia. Dean and Cas also wonder where Michael’s monsters are. They discuss how Michael knew about Dark-Kaia’s location before Garth leaked the information to Sam, and Michael’s monsters were closer to the location, so they should’ve arrived already. Dean and Cas are puzzled that nobody seems to be around, and wonder if Dark-Kaia is already dead. But Dean doesn’t see signs of a struggle, so he doubts that Kaia has been attacked.

While Dean and Cas are searching the warehouse, Dean gets a call from Garth, who has been trying unsuccessfully to reach Sam. Dean replies that he has also been unable to reach Sam. Garth reports that Michael left moments earlier to “back up his forces”. When Dean comments that Michael’s forces aren’t at the warehouse, Garth is surprised. Dean tells Garth not to worry, but to let him know if there’s any new information. Just as the conversation is ending, Michael walks into the room and catches Garth hanging up the phone.

At the warehouse, Dean and Cas try to decide what to do and try to figure out if they were set up. As they’re talking, Dark-Kaia appears and demands to know why they’re there and what they want. Dean tells her that they need her spear to battle Michael. At first, Dark-Kaia refuses to surrender her weapon, but Dean tells her that his family is in danger and that Michael will kill them. He also tells her that thousands of other people will die, and her spear is the only thing that can stop that carnage.

Dark-Kaia considers her options, and asks Dean and Cas what they’re willing to give her in exchange for her weapon. They learn that she wants to return to the alternate universe (AU) because it’s her home. She reveals that she came to this world to escape a life of running from monsters, but it’s been the same thing here, because Michael’s monsters have continued hunting her. She also laments the facts that her magic doesn’t work here, and she doesn’t understand how this world works. Dark-Kaia asks if “the boy” (Jack) who used Kaia to open the rift can help her by opening the rift again, so she can go back. Dean lies, telling Dark-Kaia that he can, and offering to arrange that if she’ll surrender her weapon. Upon further questioning, Dark-Kaia admits that there are people in the AU that she needs to protect, so she must return. Reluctantly, she gives Dean her spear, warning him that if he doesn’t return her weapon to her, she will track him down and kill him. When Dean asks how they’ll find her, she says they should do it the same way they did this time.

Just then, Dean’s phone rings. It’s Sam calling to tell Dean that Michael knew where they were, and that he has destroyed the egg and taken Jack. As the team tries to regroup, Sam says he’ll head to Kansas City after Jack, but Dean and Cas tell him that they have the spear, so he should wait for them to arrive before he does anything. Sam agrees and tells them to hurry.

MICHAEL
In Michel’s penthouse, Jack is brought before the archangel. When Jack asks why Michael didn’t simply kill him, Michael says that Jack is currently powerless, so there’s no point. Michael taunts Jack, telling him that in the AU, he and his forces leveled Kansas City, but there was human resistance, which made things messy. This time, Michael plans to kill or turn every person in the city, so there will be no resistance.

Jack angrily tells Michael that he hates him, but Michael tries to convince Jack that they are technically family, and humans and everyone/everything else is insignificant compared with them. Michael tells Jack that he’s just a child, but in time – perhaps millennia -- he’ll get his powers back and eventually they’ll become more alike. Michael goes on to say that Jack’s loyalty the Castiel, the Winchesters, and the rest of humanity will fade over time, and the perceived differences between angels and monsters will fade, too. When Jack retorts that Castiel and the Winchesters will come for him, Michael smiles and walks out.

Down in the parking garage of Hitomi Plaza, Sam overpowers and kills one of Michael’s goons and makes it to the elevator. When the elevator arrives at the penthouse level, Sam kills Melanie and makes it to the room where Jack is being held. Sam bursts into the room and frees Jack, but before Sam and Jack can escape, Garth arrives.

Garth makes sure Sam and Jack make it back down to the parking garage. But as soon as they step out of the elevator, Garth doubles over in pain. Alarmed, Jack rushes to Garth; but Garth – now full-on monster – attacks him. Garth knocks Jack down and comes after Sam. Garth apologizes to Sam as he’s attacking him, explaining that he can’t help himself. Together, Jack and Sam are able to overpower Garth; Sam chokes him unconscious, and locks him in the trunk of his (stolen) car.

When Castiel and Dean arrive, Sam tells them that when Garth drank Michael’s potion, it gave the archangel a way to spy on them, which explains why Michael knew where they’d be. They hope that killing Michael might release Garth. Sam also says that he has called the other hunters into Kansas City in case they fail and Michael goes ahead with his plan to turn the whole city. The group heads up to the penthouse to face Michael, realizing that the archangel has set a trap for them and knows they’re coming.

Up in the penthouse, Michael patiently awaits the arrival of the Winchesters, Castiel, and Jack. Castiel arrives first. Because Michael can sense the other angel, Cas’ arrival is no surprise, but Michael believes Castiel may have come alone. He beats Castiel to overpower him, and throws Cas into the penthouse, where the rest of the group is waiting. During a brief fight, Dean attacks Michael with the spear and is able to injure him. But before Dean can kill Michael, he hesitates and we see Dean having flashbacks.

As the rest of the group watches in shock, Michael’s female vessel falls to the floor dead or unconscious and the group realizes that Michael has again possessed Dean. As they look on in horror, Michael breaks Dark-Kaia’s spear, destroying it. Michael chides the group for not questioning why he suddenly left Dean’s vessel. He goes on to explain that Dean was “resisting” him, because he was too attached to them. When Michael left Dean’s vessel, he “left the door open just a crack”, so he could repossess him when the time was right. Michael waited so he could crush and destroy Dean, so hopefully he’d be quiet and not resist. Michael tells the group that this time, Dean is buried. He casually says that now there’s nothing stopping him from executing his plan. He snaps his fingers (possibly giving the signal to his army to begin their rampage) as the camera goes black.