A werewolf attack leads to a case that seems like it was written with the Winchesters in mind. And maybe it was, because the boys are still not free of the heavy hand of Chuck. With dangerous premonitions haunting Sam, it feels like the only way the Winchester story can end is bloody.
Note: This recap may contain spoilers!
Before we kick off, I do want to point out some nostalgic items that made me smile throughout the episode. I enjoyed the brotherly banter at the start, with Dean pretty much dying over his encounter with the ghost pepper jerky and Sam’s amusement at his plight. And I loved that we got another glimpse at the old Agent Hamill and Ford badges, once again going in as US Wildlife Service. They were babies way back in Season One and have changed so much.
We start with a pretty straightforward case. Three college-aged girls are out camping in the woods of Black Forest, Colorado before one by one they are attacked by something lurking outside their tent. While the official story is a mountain lion attack, neither the sheriff nor the girl, Ashley, believes that to be true. It was a man named Andy May, a monster, and from the description he is indeed a werewolf. With two dead and one traumatized, it’s up to Sam and Dean to stop the creature before Ashley becomes the third victim.
The case itself was almost too easy, as Sam pointed out, and he was right. It was also very heavy-handed in the story it told. Andy and his brother Josh were werewolves with a dead father and no one else to depend on. And Josh pretty much forced Andy to attack humans, despite the latter not wanting to. With Ashley being kidnapped from right under Dean’s nose and a final showdown at the brothers’ cabin, it always had to end with Andy and Josh dying. But what I didn’t expect, and what Sam and Dean were meant to witness, was the sacrifice of brother versus brother. Andy knew that his brother had turned into a monster and there was no saving him, so he did the only thing he could – killed Josh before taking his own life.
It’s an ending that Sam and Dean seem destined to recreate themselves, going by the visions or nightmares Sam keeps having. Over and over again, the evil turns of their past get dredged up. This time around, we saw two such incidents. First nightmare, while Sam was in the car on the way to the hunt, we got Sammy dressed in his Lucifer white suit and Dean trying to kill him by shooting him in the head with the Colt. Too bad it didn’t work, and in retaliation Sam sets Dean on fire, killing him. The second nightmare Sam had to go through was when he was knocked out during the cabin fight. He is attacked by Dean in the bunker and he sees that his brother has the Mark of Cain on his arm right before Dean’s eyes go black and he stabs Sam with the First Blade.
The pieces finally start coming together with the resurrection of an old enemy. Ashley is actually Lilith in disguise. God brought her back from the Empty so she could be rescued and seduce Dean in hopes of gaining the Equalizer. Chuck wants the gun back and he’s willing to pull out all stops to get it. That’s when the truth finally settles on the boys. Chuck is not gone, they are not free. God is still pulling the strings and manipulating them like puppets, just as he’s always done, and he only has the one ending in mind. One brother must kill the other. It’s written and Chuck wants it played out. And now that we saw Lilith acquire and then destroy the Equalizer, their hope of defeating Chuck went way down. It seems hopeless.
But there might be a glimmer of hope, if they can figure out how to use it. Sam’s been seeing all those bloody endings through his nightmares, but that might mean he is inside Chuck’s head thanks to the bullet wound they share. So, how can they use this information to their advantage? There’s no easy answer to that. Right now, Dean’s fed up, not sure what to do, and very tired of continuously going nowhere on the hamster wheel that is their life. Either they keep running until they die or Chuck gets bored and kills them. Sam wants to fight back, and I want them to as well, but what that plan might be is still eluding them. They have to do something else Sam’s nightmares will become a permanent reality.
Rating: 5 / 5 Stars
Screencaps by SupernaturalWiki
