The Things They Carried Recap

As the scene opens, we see a woman hanging upside down by her ankles, with her hands bound and her mouth gagged. A figure approaches her, and the woman begins to struggle. As the figure gets closer, we can see that he/she/it is wearing combat boots, but everything else is in shadow. The figure places a large bucket underneath the struggling woman and cuts her throat, collecting her blood into the bucket. As the woman bleeds to death, the figure (which appears to be male) collects some of her blood in his hand and seems to drink it.

EPISODE:

It is nighttime at the bunker, and Sam is alone in the library researching the Mark of Cain on his computer. When Dean enters the room, Sam suddenly slams the computer shut, but not before Dean sees that he was looking at something. Dean teases Sam about watching pornography, and as Sam denies it, Dean lets the incident go, telling Sam that he found them a case.

The woman we saw hanging upside down was apparently in the military and trained in martial arts, but Dean reports that she ended up with all her blood and organs drained and the marrow sucked from her bones. Sam is reluctant to take the case, but won’t say why, so Dean ignores Sam’s objections and says they’ll leave in a few minutes.

In the car, Dean catches Sam doing more Mark of Cain research on his phone and confronts him about it. Dean insists that they have already researched the Mark and there is no way around the inevitable end. He tells Sam that he wants to move on and keep working until he can’t anymore, and he’d like Sam to be there with him. Sam doesn’t agree or reply, but simply looks away.

The Winchesters arrive in Fayetteville the next morning. Wearing their fed suits, they arrive at the local police station and ask about the murder. The sheriff tells the Winchesters that the case is already closed, and that the soldier was killed by a Special Forces officer named Rick Willis. The murderer apparently left his dog tags by the woman’s body, and his finger prints were at the crime scene. When Sam asks the sheriff if Officer Willis is in custody, the sheriff reports that the man drank gasoline and set himself on fire. The sheriff comments that Willis' suicide is the third one the community has seen in 6 months.

As the Winchesters leave the police station, they lament the fact that their theories (rugaru or a god) don’t fit because there are no teeth marks on the body and a god wouldn’t have set himself on fire.

Later, the Winchesters are at officer Willis’ home talking to his widow.

The woman doesn’t deny that her husband committed the murder, but she insists that he came back from his recent deployment “changed”. When the Winchesters ask if the woman noticed anything like mood swings or other strange behavior, she reports that her husband seemed ravenously thirsty in the days before his death. She says that she caught him drinking from a garden hose and drinking bath water. She also reports that his skin had gotten so dry it bled and cracked. Soon after, he stopped talking and stopped behaving like himself.

When Dean asks where Officer Willis was deployed, the widow replies that those details are classified, so she doesn’t know. She adds that she was recently talking to Jemma Verson, the wife of a team member (Kit Verson) who worked with her husband. Jemma reported that her husband also came back “different”, and she thought they might be dealing with the same thing.

Later, the Winchesters are at Kit Verson’s home interviewing his wife.

She reports that whenever Kit is deployed, it always takes him a while to get back to himself when he returns. When the Winchesters ask to speak to Kit, Jemma reports that Kit went out the night before and has not yet returned. She admits that she is worried, because that’s unusual for him. When Sam asks if Kit has seemed excessively thirsty, Jemma seems surprised that Sam asked about that detail, but confirms that it's true.

As Dean and Sam are leaving Jemma’s house, they run into Cole Trenton. Cole reports that he and Kit have been friends since they were children, and Jemma called him because she’s concerned about Kit. Cole tells the Winchesters that Kit is a good man. At first, the Winchesters are reluctant to tell Cole that Kit may be involved in their case, but as the three continue talking, the point becomes obvious. Sam and Dean ask Cole to stay out of their way and let them work the case, but Cole insists on joining them. Not only does he have connections in military intelligence that could be helpful, but he doesn’t trust the Winchesters to not kill his friend. Reluctantly, the Winchesters agree to work with Cole. However, Cole doesn’t accept the premise that Kit may already be turning into a monster and may not be who he once was.

Later that night, we see Kit stagger into a convenience store. He begins opening bottles of water and drinking them. When a clerk confronts Kit, he attacks the young man, cuts his throat, and begins drinking his blood. Horrified, the other clerk calls the police.

Elsewhere, Dean, Sam and Cole continue working the case. Dean reports that there are no demon signs in the area, so that kills their other theory. As they’re talking, Cole receives an encrypted video from his friend in military intelligence. It seems that Kit, Rick and the rest of their team were sent to rescue a prisoner being held at a cemetery in Najaf. As the three watch the helmet-cam video, it appears to show Kit and his team entering the cemetery, and confronting and killing enemy soldiers. The team finds the prisoner they were looking for crouched on the ground. But when they approach him, he seems crazed and attacks them. The video ends abruptly as the attack is happening. Cole tells the Winchesters that the “official” story is that the prisoner was killed by guards. The trio realizes that whatever made the prisoner attack Kit’s team may also have affected Willis and now Kit. As the three are talking, Sam receives a phone text message about the attack at the convenience store, so they leave to check it out.

At the convenience store, the clerk who witnessed the attack has given a description that matches Kit's. As Cole and the Winchesters are talking, Cole gets a call from Jemma who heard the news story about the convenience store attack and wants to know if Kit was involved. Cole tries not to answer Jemma's questions, but Jemma begs Cole to help Kit if he can. She also tells Cole about a hunting cabin Kit sometimes used when he needed some time alone. She suggests to Cole that he might have gone there. Cole agrees to check out the cabin and ends the conversation with Jemma.

The Winchesters discuss how they can track Kit down, but Cole doesn’t mention the cabin to them. Instead, he tries to convince them that Kit needs help – not a bullet. The Winchesters remind Cole that Kit may not be human anymore, and say that they may not be able to get him through this alive. Cole relents (too easily) and tells the Winchesters that he will stay with Jemma while they search for Kit. The Winchesters take Cole back to Jemma’s house, where his jeep is parked from earlier in the day. The Winchesters leave as Cole walks toward the house.

As soon as Cole thinks the Winchesters are gone, he gets back into his jeep and heads to the cabin Jemma told him about. Realizing that Cole has deceived them, the Winchesters follow him.

Cole arrives at the cabin first. He finds the door open and knows Kit is there. He searches for Kit, but instead finds the floor littered with dead mice, drained of blood. As Cole continues searching, Kit suddenly attacks and overpowers him, pinning Cole to the floor. As this is happening, we see a large Khan worm slither out of Kit’s mouth and into Cole’s.

By this time, the Winchesters have arrived and are outside. Dean and Sam enter in time to see a second worm slithering out of Kit’s mouth and trying to infect Cole. Sam pulls Kit off of Cole, and Dean kills the Khan worm as it tries to escape. Kit runs off into the woods. Unfortunately, Cole is now infected.

Dean runs into the woods after Kit, but loses him. Inside the cabin, Cole tells Sam that something slid down his throat and he can now feel the thing moving inside him. As Sam tries to keep Cole calm, Dean returns and the trio realizes they need to figure a way to cure Cole before he turns into a monster.

Dean and Sam recount their last encounter with a type of Khan worm (Season 6; “And Then There Were None”) in which killing the infected person caused the worm to evacuate the body. They also recall that electricity made the parasite leave. As they’re talking, they also realize that they still need to find Kit before he kills someone else. They hope that if they can find a cure for Cole, they may still be able to save Kit. Sam leaves to find Kit, while Dean stays at the cabin to try to save Cole.

Dean and Cole:
As Dean and Cole connect two car batteries to jumper cables so they can electrocute Cole to drive out the Khan worm, Cole becomes reflective, commenting about how the parasite turns normal people into killers, and about how Dean and Sam spend their lives fighting monsters that most people wouldn’t even be able to comprehend, and most people don’t even know they’re being saved from monsters every day. Cole admits that he regrets having tried to kill Dean, and he points out the irony that if he’d been successful, there wouldn’t be anyone to save him now. Dean brushes the comments off and prepares to go ahead with the procedure.

Cole leans back on a reclining chair and Dean shocks him with the jumper cables. Cole groans in pain, but the parasite doesn’t come out. They repeat the procedure, but it doesn’t work. Cole insists on going again, but Dean expresses concern that Cole might die. Cole persists, so Deal continues -- against his better judgement. The repeat shock stops Cole’s heart. Dean revives him, and refuses to continue with the plan.

Sam and Jemma:
While Sam is on his way to Jemma’s house to see if Kit shows up there, Dean calls him on his cell phone. Dean reports that the shock treatments didn’t work, and at the moment they don’t have another plan. They surmise that this Khan worm is likely a different species from the last one, and Dean urges Sam to hurry.

Dean and Cole:
Back at the cabin, Cole is discouraged that their plan didn’t work. He and Dean try to figure out another way to drive the worm out. Cole comments that the parasite dehydrates the host, and he admits that he’s already thirsty. As they talk through the possibilities, they surmise that if Cole becomes too dehydrated, the parasite will leave him to seek out another host. They decide to turn the cabin into a steam room to try to get the worm to evacuate. Dean seals up all the exits and loads the fireplace with wood, creating a large fire.

Sam and Jemma:
Before Sam arrives at Jemma and Kit’s house, Kit gets there. Jemma sees Kit drinking water from flower vases and tries to talk to him. He attacks her and forces her backwards into a chair. As he holds her still, we see the worm try to crawl out of his mouth and infect her like it infected Cole. As Jemma screams, Sam rushes in just in time to save her by breaking a glass vase over Kit’s head and knocking him out.

Dean and Cole:
At the cabin, Cole is becoming rapidly dehydrated and uncomfortable. Dean and Sam are talking on the phone, updating each other on what has happened. Sam has Kit (who is still unconscious) tied to a beam, but realizes he could wake up at any moment. When Sam suggests that he might have to kill Kit, and Dean may also have to kill Cole, Dean says that is a backup plan, but he wants to see if they can avoid that. He urges Sam to hang tight, realizing that they don’t have much time.

After Dean hangs up, he and Cole talk briefly. The room is getting hot, to Dean reluctantly drinks bottled water to avoid becoming dehydrated himself. Hungrily, Cole watches Dean drink.

Sam and Jemma:
As Sam and Jemma wait to see if Dean’s plan will work, Sam tries to explain to Jemma what has happened to Kit (and previously to Officer Willis). Jemma confirms that she saw the creature Kit was trying to pass to her; Sam confirms that the worm is a monster, and says that the same monster turned Kit into what he currently is.

Dean and Cole:
Back at the cabin, Dean and Cole are both sweating, and Cole is becoming desperate for water. He asks Dean if his father had a monster inside him when Dean killed him. Dean confirmed that Cole’s father was no longer human when Dean killed him. Cole wonders what his father felt like as he was turning into a monster. He also tells Dean that he understands why he had to kill his father; and he asks Dean to kill him if he turns into a monster. Dean tells Cole to stop talking about dying and focus on fighting harder. Realizing that he’s getting desperate, Cole asks Dean to tie him to a chair. When Dean tries to do that, Cole attacks him and tries to get to the water. Dean knocks the water out of Cole’s hands and pulls a gun on him, but Cole knows Dean won’t shoot him.

Cole says he can’t fight any longer, but Dean insists that he must fight, and he must keep thinking about returning to his wife and son. Cole confesses that all he can think about is killing Dean and drinking his blood, which confirms to Cole that he is truly turning into a monster.

Sam and Jemma:
Jemma realizes that the things Sam is saying are unbelievable and she asks who he is. Sam explains what hunters are, but Jemma still has difficulty believing the whole story. Jemma says that no matter what happens, Kit is still her husband, but Sam reminds her that Kit tried to kill her, so he’s not the man he once was. Sam urges Jemma to believe him, and says that Dean and Cole are working on a cure that might save Kit. Sam begins dialing Dean’s cell number to check in with him, but as Sam is dialing, Jemma notices that Kit is no longer tied to the beam.

Sam draws his gun and prepares to search the house, when the power goes out.

Together, he and Jemma search the darkened house. Suddenly, Kit attacks them. He knocks Jemma aside and goes after Sam, who drops his gun temporarily. As Sam and Kit wrestle for the gun, Sam’s cell phone begins to ring. It’s Dean calling him…

Dean and Cole:
While Cole continues watching Dean hungrily, Dean calls Sam on his phone. While Dean’s back is turned, Cole attacks him. Cole chokes up the Khan worm, and Dean pushes Cole aside and kills the parasite. Realizing that their plan worked, Dean immediately calls Sam to report that they can save Kit. Unfortunately, it’s too late. Sam was forced to shoot Kit dead, and we see Jemma cradling her dead husband’s body.

EPILOGUE:
As Cole prepares to leave the cabin, Sam assures Cole that he’s sorry they couldn’t save Kit. Cole agrees and says that he understands. Cole tells Sam that the “official” report will be that Kit went crazy and attacked his wife, forcing her to shoot him.

As they’re talking, Dean comes out to the cars and loads his gear into the Impala’s trunk. Cole thanks Dean for keeping him strong and saving him, and he says goodbye to the brothers, joking that he hopes to never see them again.

Once they are alone, Dean tries to comfort Sam, insisting that he shouldn’t blame himself for what happened to Kit. Sam says he can’t help it feeling guilty, but Dean reminds him that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, the person still dies. As Sam considers his brother’s words, he realizes that Dean is talking about himself and how Sam won’t be able to save him.