Supernatural – The Thing

By: Stacy Miller

Portsmouth, Rhode Island 1925. Men wearing robes are chanting in Latin while a woman dressed in a flapper outfit is lead to an altar. She shackled and strapped onto a table. “No please,” she begs as one of the men lights a match into a bowl and it glows purple. Then, a purple rift splits in the ceiling and a tentacle comes down. The woman screams.

In the present day at the Men of Letters bunker, Sam (Jared Padalecki) is sleeping. Ever the teasing big brother, Dean (Jensen Ackles) sticks post-it notes that read ‘Dum Dum,’ ‘Kick Me,’ ‘Ass Face’ and ‘I’m Stupid Ask Me’ to his brother’s shirt. Sam wakes up and tells Dean that he finally found something about the Seal of Solomon. He reads from a book in which Solomon asked his priests to bind his seal. The book also mentions a jewel of the cosmos. Dean is frustrated that they have the blood of a holy man and fruit from the Tree of Light but not the Seal of Solomon. So, it’s back to the archives where Dean is less than excited about the thought of more books.  Sam passes a mirror and finally notices the post-it notes on the back of his shirt. “Are you kidding me,” he says annoyed. But arguing with his brother about the prank will have to wait because Dean found information about the Seal of Solomon in a Men of Letters file from 1917 in which it talks about a jewel the glowed with an unearthly light. The Seal of Solomon is revealed to be located at a Men of Letters Chapter House in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

Sam and Dean drive to Rhode Island and find the chapter house. They enter through an old drain pipe which has a Men of Letters symbol carved on it. Inside, the brothers find more books. Dean sees old photos, one of which is of Sandy Porter (the girl from the teaser). Suddenly, Sam and Dean hear a woman cry for help. The rush to the direction of her voice and find her strapped to an altar. The brothers ask how long she’s been done there.  Dean immediately recognizes her and asks “Are you Sandy Porter born in 1903?” Sandy (Magda Apanowicz) replies yes.

Ketch (David Haydn-Jones) comes to see Asmodeus (Jeffrey Parise) but is told by a guard (Lee Page) that Asmodeus is busy. “Then why did he call me?” Ketch asks. “You can ask him yourself when he’s free which he is not,” the guard answers. So, Ketch has to sit and wait and asks for some reading material.

Sandy can’t believe that she was trapped down there for almost a hundred years. “This is what a car looks like now. Or should,” Dean says pointing out The Impala. “And this is a phone and camera,” Sam tells Sandy handing her his smartphone. Ms. Porter can’t believe these changes.

Tired of waiting, Ketch walks to Asmodeus’ throne room where he finds him extracting Gabriel’s (Richard Speight Jr.) angel grace. Ketch asks Asmodeus why he called him there. Asmodeus reminds Ketch that because he works for him, Ketch will come when he calls him even if he doesn’t need him. Ketch reminds that he isn’t one of the help; he’s a freelancer.

Sam and Dean take Sandy to a diner where the waitress Joanne (Enid-Raye Adams) takes their orders and comments how Sandy is practically skin and bones and asks when was the last time she’s eaten. A worker at the diner calls a woman and tells her they have a problem. Sandy explains that she was held captive by people who called themselves the Men of Words. “Men of Letters,” Sam corrects. Sandy continues that then men were chanting then there was a rift in the ceiling and it came. “They were using me to feed the monster,” Sandy tells Sam and Dean.

Back at throne room, Ketch tells Asmodeus that The Winchesters’ pet angel was just in the holy land looking for ingredients for a spell. “And you didn’t tell me?” Asmodeus asks. “You didn’t ask,” Ketch answers. Asmodeus reminds that a good worker doesn’t wait for the boss to ask the questions, he provides the information. “I don’t think you understand the nature of this relationship,” Asmodeus says. Ketch tells Asmodeus that he pays him and he delivers. That’s the wrong answer. “I own you,” Asmodeus tells Ketch. “You don’t own me. If that’s how you feel, we’re done here. Good day,” Ketch says preparing to leave.  But Asmodeus won’t tolerate the disrespect and gives Ketch a beating for sassing him (Asmodeus) while Gabriel watches from his cell.

The worker in the diner drugs the food, which Sam dives right in eating. Soon, the diner is overtaken by men in robes. Sam passes out while Dean fights the men off. A hood is thrown over Sam’s head and he is dragged out of the diner. “They took my brother, I’m gonna get him back,” Dean tells Sandy.

Meanwhile, the hood is removed from Sam’s head. “Who are you?” Sam asks the man and woman standing in from of him. The man Marco Avila (Ivan Wanis-Ruiz) and his sister Ophelia Avila (Tiffany Smith) explains that Sam took something of theirs and they want it back. Sam took “the monster” more like a God. “How did you find the chapter house?” Marco asks. Sam says that he is part of the secret organization known as the Men of Letters. Marco and Ophelia explains that there grandfather Diego was with the Men of Letters too. But Diego fought in World War I and after everything he saw there, he went crazy. Diego sought to create a better world and thought opening a rift into a new one was the answer. He summoned an old God. But the God became out of control and had to be starved and locked away. But he (Sam) released it. “Sandy?” Sam asks shocked.

Asmodeus injects himself again with Gabriel’s angel grace. He says that Ketch thinks he is operating by a Men of Letters code and forgets that he works for him (Asmodeus). When Asmodeus looks into Ketch’s eyes all he sees is that Ketch is looking for redemption, which he is never going to get. “Men like us can’t be redeemed.”

Sam can’t believe that Sandy is a God. “Why didn’t you kill it?” he asks Marco and Ophelia. They explains that they’ve tried but she can’t be killed.  And all she wants to do is eat and breed. They’ve been starving her for years. “Once she gets food in her belly, we’re all dead,” Ophelia tells Sam.

Meanwhile, Sandy feeds on Buck (Sean Depner), one of the diner patrons then turns her attention to Dean. Ketch opens the cell door and frees Gabriel. “Consider this a rescue,” Ketch tells Gabriel as they make their escape. “All of this would have been faster if you had just kept your bloody wings,” Ketch says.

Sam, Marco and Ophelia return to Kippy’s Diner.  Sam looks for Dean and learns from Joanne that his brother went to check on Buck. Ophelia tells Sam that if Sandy fed on his brother, they would have found him outside with the dead. So, if she’s not interested in feeding on Dean, she’s probably going to breed with him.

Meanwhile, Dean finds himself strapped to the table at the Men of Letters Chapter House. He learns that the real Sandy has been dead for years and she is a God and that her mate didn’t make it through before the rift was shut. “That’s tragic, it’s like a Hallmark Movie with tentacles,” Dean says. Because Sandy likes Dean’s face, she tells him that she’s going to allow him to be her mate’s host. She takes out a box containing the Seal of Solomon and starts chanting. The rift opens in the ceiling and a tentacle appears around Dean. But Sam, Marco and Ophelia arrive. Sam shoots at Sandy, who taunts that she can’t be killed. Dean uses a pocket knife to stab the tentacle and cut the Seal of Solomon off from around Sandy’s neck. Dean tosses it to Ophelia who finishes the spell. Tentacles pull Sandy into the rift in the ceiling and she disappears into the other world. Ophelia gives Dean the Seal of Solomon and warns him that when he opens the door it only saves open for twenty-four hours. “Be careful, you never know what’s on the other side,” Ophelia tells Dean.

Back at the Men of Letters bunker, although they have the Seal of Solomon and fruit from The Tree of Life, they still need Archangel grace. Ketch appears with a gift: Gabriel. He knows they need the Archangel grace for their spell. All he asks is that they protect him from Asmodeus. Ketch wants to move into the Men of Letters bunker. Although Dean hates Ketch, he’ll do anything to get Mary and Jack back. Dean tells Sam that he’s going to go over to the other world but he wants Sam to stay there in case something goes wrong or he runs out of time, Dean will need Sam to figure out a way to bring him back. Ketch tells Dean that he is coming with him. Since Asmodeus will be hunting him on this Earth, it’s better if he’s on another one. Sam can’t believe that Dean would rather Ketch come with him. “I don’t care if he dies,” Dean tells Sam. The spell is performed and Dean and Ketch go through the rift.