THEN: Lilith returned to Supernatural all grown up and wanting to have sex with Sam as part of a deal to stop breaking the Seals. That didn’t happen, but we did find out that a prophet named Chuck has seen the future, and it’s not so good.
NOW: A woman is terrified in her house so she locks herself in her bedroom. Too bad for her the monster is under the bed and it drags her down. While being taken, she knocks over a picture frame. A picture frame containing a photo of…John Winchester!
Elsewhere, Sam and Dean wake up from a night of sleeping in the Impala, and you’ll be happy to know Sam is dedicated to dental hygiene, brushing his teeth on the side of the road. A call comes in on one of John Winchester’s old phones, and Dean answers it, telling the kid on the other end that John has been dead for two years. The kid says he’s John Winchester’s son.
Sam wants to give this kid, Adam Milligan, a chance, but Dean is certain it’s a trap. They agree to meet with him at Cousin Oliver’s Diner. For those of you too young to remember The Brady Bunch, Cousin Oliver was a distant relative the show brought in during the later seasons who was hated by fans and generally regarded as the moment the show jumped the shark.
To test Adam, Dean puts Holy Water in the water glass and replaces the cutlery with real silver silverware. Adam arrives eager to meet his brothers. He passes Dean’s tests and talks about all the great times he used to have with John, but as soon as he brings up when John taught him to drive the Impala, Dean calls it quits and leaves.
Still, Dean goes to Adam’s house for proof, namely a photo of Adam and John at a baseball game. Dean is hilariously ticked off that Adam got the dad he always wanted. He rolls his eyes as only Jensen can.
Now for the standard background research: In 1990 when John allegedly fathered this child, a spree of missing bodies occurred so John showed up to help the local sheriff (also now missing) to hunt down the demon responsible.
Dean notices something on the ground and finds a vent under the bed. He and Sam play Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who goes in, and Dean loses. They should’ve played Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock, and I’ll be sending a Virtual Gift and a shout-out in my next article to the first commenter who recognizes that reference.
He crawls around until he finds some dead person chunks, which is their sign to leave. Adam follows his brothers to their motel to ask what’s really happening. Against Dean’s advice, Sam tells him the truth about hunters and monsters, and Adam is fine with believing it. Dean goes off on his own while Sam takes Adam under his wing. Uh oh, do I smell dissension in the Winchester brotherhood? By which I mean more dissension, because this whole season has been leading up to a Sam vs. Dean battle royale.
In the motel, the lights go out and Sam and Adam run away from the mystery demon, but it’s lurking under the truck and drags Sam down until Dean arrives to put some shotgun shells into it. They surmise that the demon is going after everyone John Winchester knew in town.
In a reversal of attitudes, Dean now wants to protect their little bro by dropping him off at Uncle Bobby’s, but Sam wants to use Adam as bait for the demon, since they know he’s what it wants. Sam trains Adam in the ways of the hunter, happy to finally get the chance to play big brother.
Sam starts teaching Adam that hunting is the only thing in life and that he can’t have friends anymore. Ironically, it’s Dean who tries to argue with this, saying that a few years ago when John told Sam the same thing, Sam left for college. This is the perfect example of how much these two characters have changed over the course of the series.
Dean goes off on his own to the cemetery to find a tunnel leading to the demon’s underground lair. He hears the demon coming, so Dean shoots the tunnel until the cave collapses and he’s stuck inside. He tries using his cell phone, but I guess he’s not on the Verizon Network, because there’s no signal.
Adam and Sam salt up the house, but that work is useless since Adam’s mother calls out for him. She’s in the kitchen, and while Adam is happy to see her, Sam knows she’s not real and orders his brother to kill his mom. It’s tense, but Sam insists she’s a demon. Then Adam turns to Sam and says, “I know” before knocking out Sam. I certainly jumped out of my seat after that amazing twist.
At the same time, Dean in the cave finds Adam’s dead body, proving that this really is a demon. Adam and his mom tie Sam to a table and begin feeding on his blood. Sam wakes up and reveals that they’re Ghouls, scavengers who typically feed on the dead. Ghouls are able to take the form of the last person they ate, so while these two look like mother and son, they’re actually brother and sister, the children of the demon John Winchester hunted and killed in 1990.
They’re loving Sam’s demon-enriched blood, cutting open his veins and pouring his blood into bowls for later. For my money, this is the grossest thing the show has ever done because this is one of my vomit triggers, so I had to recap most of this scene with a pillow over my face.
Dean miraculously finds his way out of the cave and comes to his brother’s rescue. Sam shouts out that they’re Ghouls, which means headshots are the way to kill them, so he takes out the mom and then proceeds to beat the living tar out of his faux brother. After the Ghouls are dead, Dean unties Sam.
That night they burn Adam’s body because, despite this Ghoulish twist, it turns out Adam really was their brother after all, before the Ghouls killed him. In other words, everyone who predicted Adam really was the third Winchester brother was correct, as were all the people who believed it was a trap.
In tribute, Dean admits that he’s impressed by Sam because he’s more like John Winchester than Dean could ever hope to be. Dean may dress like him and act like him and like the same music, but based on their tough personalities, Sam is definitely his father’s son. Sam accepts this, but he isn’t sure if it’s a compliment. For that matter, neither am I.
Next week on Supernatural: Castiel is called back to Heaven, leaving his body back to its previous owner. So Castiel fans will be happy.
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
