Please tell me I'm not the only one flailing like an insane person after this episode... (Goes to check LJ. Nope.)
Good grief. Sera Gamble, you have Killed me Dead. And I'm sure Kripke had a hand in that, too. I really don't want to have to wait another week to see how this plays out, but I guess I have no choice. Man, TV sucks.
Our "Then" segment revisits the Winchester boys' previous visits to the Chosen Children, including Ava, Andy, and Max. In the "Now," Dean wants pie. Then the radio acts up while playing Boston, and when it straightens out, something horrible has happened in the cafe where Sam went to not get Dean any pie. Two people are dead inside, throats slit, and there's sulfur on the windowsill. And there's no sign of Sam.
Elsewhere, Sam awakens in an unknown location. It appears to be an abandoned town. Well, abandoned except for Andy, who also doesn't know where he is. Then they find Ava locked up in one of the buildings. She doesn't remember anything from the last few months, since last she saw Sam. She doesn't know her fiance is dead. A couple more folks, Jake and Lily, join the party. Lily is bitter about her powers--she kills people when she touches them. I think I'd be bitter about that, too. Jake isn't forthcoming about his powers. Sam tells them all about the demon.
Dean hooks up with Bobby to try to track down Sam, but there's been no paranormal activity at all for him to track. Dean has Ash on the job, as well. Ash has found something, but he won't tell Dean over the phone. Dean and Bobby head for the Roadhouse.
Jake seems skeptical about the whole demonic apocalyptic war thing, and abandons the others to work things out on his own. He's attacked by a little girl demon in one of the abandoned buildings. Sam comes in and takes her out with a poker. Jake kinda believes in demons now. Based on a landmark, an old bell, Sam determines they're in Cold Oak SD, a town so haunted that everybody left it. I thought the place looked a lot like the town from "Croatoan." Same sets, maybe? Lily is next to depart the group, and she's acting kinda sneaky. I don't trust her.
Dude! The Roadhouse is gone! Looks like it was blown up. This can't be good. The place is filled with burned bodies, one of whom appears to be Ash. Ash? No! That's just wrong. I am officially grumpy about that.
Andy finds a supply of salt. They realize Lily is missing and go to look for her. They find her hanging from the windmill. Sam thinks Lily was trying to leave and the demon stopped her. Andy tries to use his powers to contact Dean by projecting an image into his head. It works, though painfully, and Bobby is able to work out where Sam is from Dean's vision of the bell at Cold Oak.
And then the YED shows up, appearing to Sam in a dream to clarify some things. He's brought everyone here for a competition--only one of them will make it out alive. The demon only needs one of them to lead his army, and he wants Sam. He treats Sam to a flashback of his life, to the night when his mother died. Sam was fed demon blood, and Sam's mother recognized the demon. Okay, there's a twist. What was up with that? Did Mary make some kind of demonic deal before Sam was born?
Jake wakes Sam up. Ava is missing. But she's really evil. She breaks the salt line and allows a demon to come in and eviscerate poor Andy. Ava plays innocent. Sam notices the broken salt line and puts the pieces together because of how he's not a complete idiot. Ava's been in the town for five months, and has been killing other gifted kids as they have appeared. She's the current demon child champion, and has greatly increased her powers. She can control demons, and brings one in to take Sam, but Jake comes in and kills her. I'm kind of bummed by this, because I really liked Ava.
And so arrives the Impala. Dean and Bobby have to leave it behind and walk the rest of the way into the town. Sam says he and Jake have to leave, but Jake proposes that Sam sacrifice himself so Jake can kill the demon, since Jake has soldiering experience in Afghanistan, plus super strength. Sam tries to convince him otherwise, to no avail. Jake attacks Sam. Sam bests him, but can't bring himself to kill him.
Dean and Bobby arrive on the scene. While Sam is distracted by his brother's arrival, Jake comes up behind him and stabs him. Sam collapses in Dean's arms.
Okay, we know Sam can't be dead--or at least not permanently dead--because there's not going to be a show without Padalecki. But I have no idea how they're going to get themselves out of this one. Judging by the previews, next week is going to be a hell of a ride. No pun intended.
Note on the music--I'm almost positive the song in the cafe was not "Stand By Your Man," but other people seem to think it was, so I'm including the link. If I figure out what it really was, I'll link to that. But the lyrics I was able to catch in that scene were not "Stand By Your Man." And they're not coming up on Google, either, so I'm stumped for the moment.
Foreplay/Long Time--Boston
Stand By Your Man--Tammy Wynette
