Supernatural – Twigs & Twine & Tasha Banes

By: Stacy Miller

Rock River, Wyoming.  A woman drives up to the Mountain Slumber Boarding House and goes inside.  She is startled by a woman (Linda Darlow) sitting in a chair rolling up a ball of yarn. “That’s a lovely ring,” the woman says. “And if it goes missing, I know who to blame,” the yarn rolling woman adds accusatory. The woman (obviously a witch) offers to cleanse the aura of yarn rolling woman, but no time for that as a man named Andy (Tim Carlson) checks the woman, Tasha Banes (Alvina August) into the boarding house. “So, what brings you to Rock River, business or pleasure?” Andy asks. “A little bit of both,” replies Tasha.  Later in her room, Tasha has candles lit and is performing a spell, chanting “Reveal now.”  Tasha is lead outside to a storm cellar.  She goes inside and looks around, but something impales her and she falls to the floor.

At the Men of Letters bunker, Sam and Dean (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) are discussing the events where Castiel (Misha Collins) experienced a “Super Mario Brothers” power charge and then announced that he had faith in “Lucifer Jr.” being born.  Sam tells Dean that if they want to have a shot at finding Cas, they will have to learn to think like him. Dean says that when he looked at Castiel last night, he didn’t recognize the guy looking back at him.  Sam unwraps the cloth containing the two pieces of The Colt. Dean asks whether Sam can fix it. Just then, a phone rings. It is one of Mary’s (Samantha Smith) cell phones.  Sam answers.  It is Alicia Banes (Kara Royster), Tasha’s daughter.  She called to get Mary’s help because her mother is missing, but her twin brother Max (Kendrick Sampson) thinks that Alicia is being over dramatic. Their mother isn’t missing; she’s just working a case. Alicia tells Sam that Tasha was tracking this witch in Wyoming that killed people. Max and Alicia are on their way to Rock River now.  Sam tells Alicia that he and Dean will meet up with them. After he hangs up, Dean reminds that they are looking for Castiel and don’t have time for anything else, but Sam says that Jody has an APB out on Kelly and Castiel in three states.  So, in the meantime, they can help Max and Alicia. “Their mom’s on a hunting trip and hasn’t been home in a week,” Sam says.  Dean reluctantly agrees to go.

Meanwhile, Mary’s cell phone is ringing. Mr. Ketch (David Haydn-Jones) throws water in Mary’s face.  She is bound to a chair.  But it is not Mary, it is a shape shifter that has taken Mary’s form. Dean leaves a voice mail message telling Mary about them working a case with the Banes twins in Wyoming.  He asks his mother to call him because he wants to talk about the stuff that has gone down lately. The shape shifter changes its form to Ketch.

Sam and Dean meet up with Max and Alicia.  She tells them that their mother was tracking a borrower witch who gets its power from a demon deal.  Alicia says that Max thinks she is overacting because he feels that he knows their mother better as they are both natural witches, while magic to Alicia is just “a bunch of noise.” Sam tells Alicia he knows how he feels because Dean and his dad shared a bond over hunting.  The four go to Mountain Slumber Boarding House and see a man cleaning out the cellar. Alicia smiles when she sees her mother inside. Max introduces Sam and Dean to Tasha, who thanks the Winchesters for coming even though it was unnecessary.  She asks Andy to get some rooms for her children and their friends. In Tasha’s room, she offers them some wine and tells Alicia to put on some music.  We see Tasha straighten out her finger that was twisted in an unnatural direction when she tried to open the wine bottle.

At the British Men of Letters temporary headquarters, Mary tells Ketch that she’s never seen that side of him; he enjoyed torturing that shifter.  Ketch reminds Mary that she’s not the Jiminy Cricket of the Men of Letters as they don’t need a conscious. He believes that the ends always justify the means. Mary plays Dean’s voicemail then eavesdrops on a telephone call Ketch is taking. She calls Dean and leaves a message for her son.

Dean talks with Tasha, telling her what a great job she did raising Max and Alicia. Tasha says that she got lucky and comments that children always think their parents are perfect until they grow up and realize that they are just people. Sam pulls Dean aside and shows him a flyer he found while out picking up the food.  The man they saw cleaning out the cellar earlier, Rick Walsh (Paul Logic), has been missing for a month.  Sam and Dean go to the cellar to investigate. “It smells like death,” Dean comments. They find the bodies of Andy, Rick and Tasha with their hearts ripped out.  Max comes down to the cellar and is shocked to see his mother’s dead body.

Mary finds Mick’s body and a room which displays American hunters Garth, Claire, Eileen, Sam and Dean. She then listens to the recording where Dean said that he didn’t trust Ketch. Mary calls Dean and leaves another message asking him to call her. “We’ve got a problem.” Ketch finds Mary in the room and she questions him about why she found Mick’s body in a box.  “An unfortunate werewolf accident,” is Ketch’s response. “A werewolf shot him in the head?” Mary asks sarcastically. She realizes that Ketch is a psychopath.  Ketch tells Mary that Mick and her sons aren’t capable of stopping the things that go bump in the night. Sam and Dean are sloppy, Ketch says. He has been cleaning up after them for months; he got rid of those federal agents that they allowed to live and killed that psychic girl (Magda) that they didn’t see as a monster.  Mary and Ketch have a bitter fight; Mary is a strong fighter and holds her own against the Brit.  She uses brass knuckles on him, but Ketch uses a taser rendering Mary unconscious.

Max throws the Tasha imposter against the wall, using his magic to get her to reveal what she is.  The Tasha imposter summons the Andy and Rick imposters. Max is able to use his magic to toss the Rick imposter out of a window, but the Andy imposter fights with Sam. Max and Dean find The Borrower Witch, who is the woman that was rolling the yarn.  She tells them that she made a deal with a demon and unless she can find some to take the burden of her power, at the end of her very long life she is going to Hell.  She killed Andy and Rick and made them into one of her dolls. The Borrower Witch allows Max through a vision to see how she offered Tasha the deal to take the power, but even in death Tasha refused.  So, The Borrower Witch killed Max and Alicia’s mother, ripped out her heart and transferred it into one of her dolls (which is made of twigs and twine) that has all of Tasha’s memories.  The Borrower Witch offers Max the deal: “You take my power, you take my burden. And my doll, you mother, will stay with you and your sister forever. Just one big happy family.” Dean tells Max it sucks that his mother is gone, but he can’t take the deal.  Downstairs, Sam continues to fight with the Andy doll. The Tasha doll stabs Alicia. Upstairs, The Borrower Witch offers Max her ring. “Take it and the deal is done.” As Max is reaching for the ring, Dean shoots The Borrower Witch in the heart, killing her.  The Andy and Tasha dolls disintegrate.  Dean tells Max that if he had taken that ring, the deal would have been with a demon and it would have cost him his soul.  Sam yells for Dean.  When Max and Dean go downstairs, they find Alicia dead. Max cries over the loss of his twin.  He is saddened that he could have saved them if only he’d taken Alicia seriously.  Sam and Dean tell Max that they have to get some supplies to burn the bodies.  Max says he should do it and tells Sam and Dean to get out of there. In the Impala, Dean wonders if he made the right decision by encouraging Max not to take the deal. After all, they know how it is to make a sacrifice for family. We see Max with The Borrower Witch’s ring. He reads from her spell book and transfer a twig doll into Alicia.  He then uses his powers to burn the real Alicia’s body.

Dean plays Mary’s voice mail messages. The episode closes with Mary waking up strapped to the same chair that Ketch was using to torture the shape shifter. She asks whether he plans to kill her. “We have other plans for you. Now Mary, let’s begin,” says Lady Toni (Elizabeth Blackmore) pulling out a pen and notebook.