The Thing Recap

DEAN and SAM:

At the bunker, Sam has fallen asleep at the table in the war room. Dean sneaks into the room and, as a practical joke, puts rude Post-it notes on Sam’s back. Sam wakes up and Dean pretends nothing is happening; he makes small talk to distract Sam, who has been researching the Seal of Solomon. He found some cryptic information about the Seal being “unearthly”, but nothing indicating where it can be found. The brothers lament that they have searched all the books in the bunker’s library, and haven't found anything, so they head to the bunker’s archives to search there.

In the archives, Dean finds evidence that the Men of Letters found King Solomon’s treasure. Sam, meanwhile, discovers the Post-it notes and is annoyed, but he quickly focuses on the new information. Apparently, Solomon’s treasure was found and excavated in 1917 in what is now modern-day Israel. The collection of items included a crystal that “glowed with an unearthly light”. The Winchesters surmise that the description must refer to the Seal of Solomon. The records show that the Seal was taken to a Men of Letters chapter house in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, so they head there to investigate.

When the Winchesters arrive in Portsmouth, the building, which looks like a warehouse, appears to be abandoned. However, they find an Aquarian star on a manhole cover and realize that their key opens the lock at the center of the symbol. Realizing that they have discovered the secret entrance to the facility, they enter.

They find the neglected and cluttered library/archive and begin searching for anything about the Seal of Solomon. As they’re searching, Dean finds some old photographs that look like they were taken in the 1800s and early 1900s. One of the photos is of the woman we saw being chained to the altar at the beginning of the episode.

Dean turns the photo over and notices writing on the back. The woman’s name is Sandy Porter, and she was born in 1903. The inscription doesn’t say when the photo was taken.

As they’re searching, Sam finds some files on Solomon, but when he removes the documents from the shelf, some other books fall to the floor, which makes a loud noise. Suddenly, the Boys hear a woman calling for help. They rush toward the voice and find the room with the altar. They break in and we see that the same woman we saw (from 1925) is still chained to the same altar. She looks exactly the same and is wearing the same dress.

Dean asks the woman how long she’s been there, but she doesn’t know. He then recognizes her face from the photograph, and when he asks the woman if her name is Sandy Porter, she confirms her identity. The Winchesters can’t figure out why Sandy hasn’t aged or how she has survived for so long, but Sandy urgently begs to leave, so they free her.

The Boys offer Sandy a shirt for additional cover and take her outside.

They try to explain what’s going on, but Sandy can’t believe that it’s 2018 and she’s having difficulty taking everything in. They put her into the Impala and take her to a diner for something to eat.

The group arrives at the diner, sit down and begin ordering food. While this is happening, the cook (Marco) notices them and makes an emergency phone call. As he’s talking, we notice an Aquarian star tattoo on his wrist. The woman he phones (Ophelia) has the same tattoo. As Ophelia is talking to Marco on her cell phone, we can see that she is standing in the room at the abandoned chapter house, next to the now-empty altar. Marco tells her that they have a problem, and she agrees.

MR. KETCH and ASMODEUS:

Mr. Ketch arrives at Asmodeus’ lair to meet with the demon. Asmodeus has sent for him, but then makes him wait – apparently for an unreasonable amount of time. Ketch becomes impatient, so when the demon guard isn’t looking, he sneaks into Asmodeus’ throne room and finds the Asmodeus using a syringe to steal grace from Gabriel. Ketch watches as Asmodeus injects the grace into his own arm and reacts as if the effect is intoxicating.

Ketch makes his presence known and reminds Asmodeus that he sent for him. Asmodeus reminds Ketch that he works for him and ushers Ketch back outside, ordering him to wait. Ketch reluctantly complies.

Sometime later, Ketch is finally granted his audience with Asmodeus. When Ketch asks why he was sent for, Asmodeus tells him that the Winchesters are gathering ingredients for a spell. Ketch replies that he knows about the spell and adds that Castiel was recently in the holy land looking for an ingredient. Asmodeus is annoyed that Ketch had that information, but didn’t report it. But Ketch replies that he didn’t say anything because he wasn’t asked to. As the discussion continues, Asmodeus reveals that he knows the Winchesters are trying to use a spell from the demon tablet to open a portal into another dimension, and he orders Ketch to help him stop them. He also adds that one of the ingredients they’ll need is archangel grace, and Ketch makes a comment about Asmodeus injecting himself with Gabriel’s grace.

The conversation takes on a darker tone, as Asmodeus and Ketch disagree about the nature of their relationship. Ketch believes that he performs certain tasks for money, but that’s the extent of the agreement. But Asmodeus tells Ketch that he owns him, and he orders Ketch to “get in line”. Ketch replies that he doesn’t work that way, so he quits. He turns to leave, and Asmodeus attacks him, beating him savagely.

Later, we see Ketch kneeling on the floor, bleeding badly; while Asmodeus dismissively injects more of Gabriel’s grace. Ketch appears disgusted, but Asmodeus chides him, saying he shouldn’t be so “high and mighty” because he’s more wicked that any demon he knows. He berates Ketch for supposedly having a “Men of Letters” code, but then agreeing to work for a demon. He says Ketch pretends to be a cold-blooded killer, but inside he’s full of pain, fear and regret. He says Ketch seeks redemption, but that he’s irredeemable, so it’s fitting that he now belongs to him.

DEAN and SAM:

At the diner, Sandy seems very confused in general and can’t understand how she’s still alive. The Winchesters don’t have an answer for her, but they try to explain that they’re going to try to help her and keep her safe. Sandy tells them that she remembers talking to a man who said he was part of a “secret club” called the Men of Letters. She thought he was talking about a speakeasy, so she went with him. She goes on to describe how the MOLs chained her to the altar. She describes how the men were chanting, and she remembered a glowing light right before a rip opened in the ceiling. Then, a monster came through the rip. She tells the Winchesters that the MOLs were using her to feed the monster. Before Sandy can offer any further details, the waitress returns with coffee and Sandy, who is clearly upset, excuses herself to go to the ladies room.

In the kitchen, Marco watches Sandy leave. Then, we see him remove a small vial from his pocket and secretly put a few drops of an unknown liquid into the group’s food. He also removes a sickle-shaped weapon from his bag and leaves the kitchen.

While the Winchesters are alone, they quickly try to assess their situation. They apparently tested Sandy using holy water, silver, and their usual tests, and she passed every test, so they can’t figure out how she survived for 90 years, or why the MOLs kidnapped her and opened a rift. Dean also reminds Sam that all the MOLs died over 60 years ago, so they don’t know who has been keeping Sandy confined since then.

As they’re talking, the food arrives and Sam begins eating. Before Dean can start eating, another diner customer goes to the window and notices hooded figures standing outside the building. Alarmed, the man starts alerting other customers, including Dean and Sam. Dean looks out the window and sees the hooded figures. He tells Sam that they should get Sandy, but Sam passes out before he can do anything. By this time, Sandy has returned. Marco and the hooded figures attack Dean and Sandy, and a fight breaks out. During the fight, Sam regains consciousness, but is still very groggy. Marco and the hooded figures put a hood over Sam’s head and take him away. During the fight, Sandy stabs one of the attackers to save Dean, but when they regroup, they realize Sam is gone. When Dean looks outside, there are several hooded figures still surrounding the diner.

Inside the diner, two waitresses, one customer, and Dean and Sandy hastily regroup. They learn that the phone lines are dead, and nobody’s cell phone seems to work, either. Sandy checks one of the hooded figures that was killed, and the waitress recognizes him as a local police officer. In the kitchen, Dean uses available supplies to make Molotov cocktails. He plans to launch an assault to get Sam back.

Elsewhere, in a wooded area, Sam’s kidnappers remove his hood and we recognize Marco and Ophelia, who is Marco's sister. Marco and Ophelia tell Sam that Sandy is a god, but also a monster. When they ask Sam how he found the chapter house, he tells them that his family members were MOLs. Marco and Ophelia admit that their great-grandfather, Diego Avila, was a MOL until he went crazy. He’d grown weary of the violence in this world, so he tried to summon a god from another dimension to cleanse this world of hate, and start over to build paradise. Avila summoned the god, Yokoth, but it didn’t bring paradise. It possessed Sandy’s body, and ate Avila and most of the rest of the MOLs who summoned it. Then it tried to bring its mate through the rift from the other dimension. The surviving MOLs were able to bind the creature, but the larger MOLs organization disavowed the entire episode, locked and abandoned the chapter house, and disbanded the remaining members. Since then, Avila's surviving family members, including Marco and his sister, have been watching over the creature and making sure it remains locked up. Marco and Ophelia have tried to kill the creature, but they can’t. Her only goals are to eat and breed, so they figured keeping her locked up protected everyone from her. They have been starving Yokoth for decades to keep her weak; but they tell Sam that if she starts eating, she’ll become strong and they won’t be able to stop her.

Back at the diner, the hooded figures seem to have left, so the male customer (Buck) goes outside to see if they’re gone. Sandy sneaks up behind him. When Buck turns around, a large tentacle erupts from Sandy, attaches to Buck's chest, and begins sucking the life out of him. Buck screams, which brings Dean outside to see what is happening. Dean finds Sandy kneeling over the dead body, but before he can do anything, a tentacle erupts from Sandy and everything goes dark.

MR. KETCH and ASMODEUS:

At Asmodeus’ lair, Ketch is alone, nursing his wounds. He sees Gabriel cowering in a cage in the throne room, and decides to free the archangel. Gabriel is afraid and tries to scurry to the back of the cage, but Ketch steals the archangel blade and forcibly removes Gabriel from the cage. The weakened archangel can’t put up much of a fight, so Ketch uses the archangel blade to kill the demon guards and break the two of them out of Asmodeus’ lair.

DEAN and SAM:

Sam arrives at the diner, and only one waitress is still there. Sam asks her where Dean is, but all the waitress knows is that Dean came outside to check on Buck and she didn’t see him after that. Marco and his sister join Sam and notice that the ground is littered with dead bodies. They say this means Sandy has fed, but the fact that Dean’s body isn’t there means that he’s not dead. They surmise that Sandy must have taken Dean back to the altar to open the rift and bring Sandy’s mate into this world. They rush to the chapter house.

At the chapter house, Dean wakes up chained to the altar. He sees Sandy standing next to the altar and asks her what’s going on. The creature replies that Sandy has been dead for a long time. When Dean asks the creature to identify itself, her eyes flash purple and she replies that she is Yokoth, star of madness and ravager of galaxies, and mother of faceless hoardes. Dean continues engaging the creature in conversation to stall, so she continues talking as she’s assembling the ingredients for the spell to open the rift above the altar. She tells Dean that the foolish humans had no idea what was awaiting them on the other side of the rift. She and her mate, Glithor, were supposed to enter this world together; but the rift closed prematurely and her mate was left behind. She tells Dean that she will allow him to be Glithor’s host.

Sandy raises the Seal of Solomon above the altar, and the rift opens in the ceiling. Tentacles come down and try to encircle Dean. As this is happening, Sam, Marco, and Ophelia burst into the room. In the melee that follows, Dean uses a lockpick to free himself. Ophelia shouts to the others that Sandy has the Seal of Solomon; so Dean rips the Seal away from her and tosses it to Ophelia. As Ophelia holds the Seal up toward the rift and recites an incantation, the rift begins to close. The tentacles encircle Sandy and take her back through the rift just as it closes.

EPILOGUE:
At the chapter house, Sam explains to Marco and Ophelia that they need the Seal of Solomon to get their family members back. Ophelia gives Dean and Sam the Seal and tells the Winchesters that when they cast the spell, they need a guide – something that has been where they’re going so they’re sure to go to the same place instead of to a totally different dimension. She also warns the Winchesters that the rift will only stay open for 24 hours.

Later, Dean and Sam arrive back at their home bunker in Lebanon, Kansas. They discuss that they now have the Seal, the blood of a holy man, and fruit from the Tree of Life, so all they need for the spell is the blood of an archangel.

At this moment, they are shocked when Mr. Ketch emerges from the library.

He has been waiting for them. Ketch tells the Winchesters that he comes in peace, and to prove his point, he shows them that Gabriel is with him.

The Boys are shocked to see Gabriel alive. When they notice that he’s bloody and in terrible shape, they ask Ketch what he did to the archangel. Ketch tells them that Asmodeus was holding Gabriel prisoner until he liberated him. He also lets the Winchesters know that he’s aware of the spell they’re working on, and he knows that they need an archangel to complete it.

When Sam mentions to Ketch that they need archangel grace for their spell, Gabriel becomes very agitated. But Ketch quickly shows the Winchesters a vial of archangel grace that he stole from Asmodeus. He also shows them the archangel blade that he stole.

When the Winchesters ask Ketch why he is helping them, he says he needs protection from Asmodeus, whom he no longer works for. He realizes that when Asmodeus sees Gabriel gone, he will hunt him down relentlessly. Ketch says the bunker is the only safe place he could think of, so he asks if he can stay. Sam initially says “no”, but Dean accepts Ketch’s deal. He tells Sam that if this is what they have to do to get Mary and Jack back, then it’s worth it.

Later, we see Sam and Gabriel in the library. Sam is removing the stitches from Gabriel’s mouth and trying to get the archangel to talk to him. As this is happening, Dean enters the room with his gear bag. He is packed and ready to open the rift. Sam urges Dean to wait, but Dean says that they now have all the ingredients, so there’s no reason to wait. When Sam says he just needs a few minutes to gather his gear, Dean informs him that he wants to go alone. He tries to convince Sam that one of them should stay just in case something goes wrong. At that moment, Ketch enters the room, dressed in black combat gear, and tells Dean that he will go with him. He says that since Asmodeus will be searching the whole planet for him, it’s safer for him to be somewhere else. When Sam reminds Ketch that the other world is a war zone, Ketch replies that it won’t be anything new to him.

Sam is still not on board with the idea, but he reluctantly agrees to let Dean and Ketch go without him. Sam mixes the ingredients, including some of Dean’s hair (which has been to the other side before), and as he holds up the Seal and recites the incantation, the rift opens. After a terse, nonverbal goodbye between the brothers, Dean and Ketch enter the rift and disappear.