Supernatural Recap S9E17: Mother’s Little Helper

Milton, Illinois. Mrs. Young returns home, and her husband isn’t happy to hear that meatloaf is on the menu again. She works all day, and she wishes he were more understanding. She beats him with a candlestick, to death. Her students are going to be so disappointed.

Dean’s lack of sleeping put Sam in the driving seat. He’s found a case online about the first grade teacher killing her husband over meatloaf. Dean thinks she snapped, and Sam thinks possession. Dean tells him that he can go alone. Sam sees that Dean has been obsessive since he killed Magnus, looking for answers. So far, they’ve found nothing. Dean wants it all to end, and Sam leaves him with his demons, and a bottle of whiskey.

Sam talks with the local police. He tells Sam that he found Mrs. Young, Karen, sitting next to her husband and a pool of blood. Sam asks if he noticed anything odd, like the smell of sulfur, or something wrong with her eyes. Nothing seemed out of place other than the dead body. They go in to see Karen, and she’s written on the walls with her blood, and killed herself. For two normal people, their deaths are shocking to the police. Sam phones Dean, and Dean hesitates to answer. Sam tells him that there was no signs of demonic possession, but Sam is sticking around. Sam asks how research is going, and Dean tells him its going, and promptly hangs up. Cain warned him there was a price to pay with the mark, and he’s paying it now. Dean makes a call, but hangs up before its answered.

A guy hitchhikes, after fighting with his mom. A friendly face, Mr. Richie picks him up, and then murders him. Okay, so he didn’t murder him, it just sounded like he did. Sam is having dinner at a diner, Billy comes in, and uses his hands to eat some food. The waitress tells him that his mom raised him better, and when she suggests that she’s going to call his mother, he grabs her arm to stop her, and stabs her. Sam intervenes with a well placed elbow to save her.

At the jail, Mr. Richie sits in one cell, writing on the walls with his blood, Billy sits banging his head against the bars. All of the people are locals, nothing really linking them together. The officer leaves, and Sam tries dousing him with a little holy water. He’s not a demon. Billy says he’s doing it because he can. Sam places a little call in to dean, who’s working on a decent bar tab. Sam tells him that there are more people with the crazy symptons, where little things are setting them off. Sam thinks back, they’re acting like he was when they were soulless. Dean gives him a half-hearted theory, but Sam needs more from him, he needs his help. Dean can’t pull himself away from his search for Abaddon. Crowley notes that he’s treating Sam like his wife, lying to him, which makes Crowley his mistress.

Sam overhears a woman telling an officer that the demons are back again. He’s not taking much stock in her claims, but Sam offers to help her out. Julia gives him a simple explanation, they came to Milton. She notices that he doesn’t bat an eye when she says demons, unlike everyone else in the town. She concludes that he must be one of the Men of Letters, telling him that they came in 1958. He didn’t know they were ever there. She says that it was different there, she was different.

In 1958, Julia was a nun when Granddaddy Winchester came, posing as a priest from the office of inquisition, and Josie pre-Abaddon is with him.

Dean racks up the pool balls, and asks Crowley what he wants, but Romeo isn’t spilling. Dean must have gotten a case of the butt dialing. Last time the two spoke, Dean promised to deliver Abaddon, but Crowley notes that its unlikely she’d be anywhere near the dump Dean is hanging out in. Crowley asks what is going on with Dean, he’s been flip flopping in indecision, he asks what it felt like to kill Magnus. Dean tells him not half as good as it’ll feel when its in his. Crowley likes Dean’s dirty talk. He thinks the blade made him feel powerful, youthful, and scared. Dean doesn’t exactly deny it, and Crowley tells him not to try to scam a scam artist.

Julia tells Sam that they at first gave false names before revealing themselves to be Henry and Josie. He of course knows both names. Sam asks what they were investigating. She tells them Sister Mary Katherine killed two people before jumping from the bell tower. She took them to the Mother Superior. She read over their letters, and opened the abbey to them, making Julia their guide. Sister Mary Katherine’s sleeping quarters is the first stop, and Josie has some childhood resentment towards nuns. Henry tells her she needs to let go of the pettiness. He has enough worries without her old traumas. He doesn’t think they should be in the field, but she thinks the on job learning is good for them. It’s the last mission before they become full members. He worries it may be a selfish endeavor on his part, he worries about his family, something she wouldn’t understand being single and childless. Julia brings them to the room. The blood still stains the wall. They see a pre-enochian symbol on the wall, a crest for the Knights of Hell. It doesn’t ring a bell to Josie, but it does to Henry, and its trouble.

Sam asks what the Knights of Hell were doing there. Julia isn’t sure what she saw, she tells Sam that they weren’t allowed out of their rooms after 10pm. She read a book in bed, when a noise disturbed her. She went to check it out in the hallway, following the sound to see her fellow sister possessed, dragging a body. A nun knocked her out. When she woke up there was others tied up around her, and a few empty chairs. She prayed, as the nuns dragged people back behind a door screaming and god did not answer her but Henry and Josie did. They threw holy water on some, and began to exorcise the demons, all except one was subdued. The demon would not leave one. When Henry continued with his exorcism she knocked him out, and remarks on the folly of hunters. Josie counters that they aren’t hunters, but chroniclers. The nun cannot believe her ears, a woman among the Men of Letters. She decides she wants to trade up from the body she’s in, into Mr. Dreamy. Josie offers up herself for Henry, saying that people underestimate women, her body would be more useful. But the demon sees the truth, Josie loves Henry. She crushes Josie’s hopes telling her that Henry loves her too, like a sister. Josie still asks for Henry to be spared, giving her permission. Abaddon can take what she wants, and she wants everything. Josie is possessed by Abaddon. The other nun remarks that she’s going to study the men of Letters, and she will for now. Abaddon tells the nun to play dead and she does. Abaddon runs to Henry, telling him that they destroyed the demons, and he warmly embraces her.

Julia doesn’t know what Abaddon was doing in that room, but she knows that it’s happening again. The St. Bonaventure convent, though supposedly closed, has a modern van.

Crowley likes the rundown bar and all, and he apologizes for mentioning that Dean was scared, but notes that Cain gave him the mark for a reason, and Dean has been acting like he lost his Knufflebunny. Dean tells him that he’s a hunter, that he’s nothing like Cain. Crowley thinks he’s been sipping on the Delusion koolaid. He’s a lot like Cain, and Dean’s problems are his problems. As Crowley goes to water the lilies, Dean has more flashbacks of Magnus’s words. But some shifty actions from another bar patron gets his attention. The man pulls out a knife, and dean stops the hunter. He tries to reason with him, to not use a knife in a demon fight. Dean tells him that when the demon is done with him, he’s going to go after his family and everyone he’s ever known. Dean’s words sink home, and Jake walks away. It’s leaving time Dean tells Crowley.

Sam heads out to the convent, lurking around with a flashlight. The convent looks pretty abandoned, but the van is parked out front.

Crowley finally comes out of the bar. Demons don’t pee, and Dean tells him to find a better excuse when he’s shooting up. Crowley’s sobriety was thrown to the wayside with little soul searching. He points out that it takes a junky to know a junky and asks how bad Dean wants to get his hands back on the precious. Ha! The lines tonight have been on point! Dean tells him that all he wants is to kill Abaddon, what happens with the blade doesn’t matter. What he wants, what he feels doesn’t matter, this is the chance for them to kill Abaddon. Dean tells him the deal remains, he finds Abaddon, Crowley brings the blade, it’s a date. Dean stalks off, and Jake reports in. He thought he was made, but Dean did what Crowley thought he would, and saved him. Bromance intact, Crowley thinks Dean is ready.

Sam searches the convent. Its a dusty, abandoned mess of course. Blade in hand, Sam continues down to the basement. There is a row of shiny jars. Mr. Richie attacks Sam, but he stabs him in the gut, killing the demon. Sister Agnes disarms Sam tossing him aside before he can break the soul jars. Before people flocked to the churches, so stealing souls was easy, now she has to resort to riding in a smelly van, and springing on prey. They’ve been stealing souls to take over hell. If Abaddon can’t convince the demons, she’ll make new ones. She’s turning souls into demons. Sneaky, sneaky. Abaddon is making a demon army, unbeatable and loyal only to her. Sam notes at this rate, it’ll only take a couple, millions of years. Agnes isn’t the only one with this type of operation, and she wants Sam to join the cause, she just needs to rip the soul out of his boy. He starts the exorcism, but Agnes gets him in a choke hold. Luckily Sam is a smart cookie, and he plays the incantation from his phone. Agnes is forces to release Sam to go after the device when he throws it still playing. Sam manages to get to his blade, and drive it into Agnes, expelling her. He releases the souls, and the first one goes back home into Billy’s body. He looks confused by where he is. The other souls sparkle by, looking for their homes, they look lost as well.

Sam stops Julia to ask her a question. She tells him she doesn’t date anyone under 65 jokingly. Sam asks why she didn’t warn Henry about Abaddon. She confesses that she became a nun because she wanted to help people, but they never prepare you how to act in the face of true evil. When Henry and Abaddon prepared to leave Abaddon told everyone it was important to not say anything they saw to anyone, singling out Julia. She says that it was her single regret, shortly after she left the order. Sam thanks her for telling him her story, it saved people today.

In the car, Abaddon asks if Henry is okay. He’s better than okay. They saved lives, made a difference. He thinks their calling is noble, and he feels like a fool for doubting it. Josie feels like a whole new person. Abaddon looks at Julia one more time as they drive away.

Sam returns home, and finds Dean still plugging away. Sam takes a case file, and pulls up some table. He tells Dean he was right, about finding Abaddon ASAP. Sam tells him that she’s mining souls to create an army.