Project SPN Rewatch: Hunted

(As I mentioned in my post announcing this rewatch project, there will be spoilers!)

Season Two, Episode Ten: Hunted

Image episode summary from Wikipedia:

Dean reveals that before their father died, he told him that he has to save Sam if he can, or else kill him. A distraught Sam forgives Dean for not telling him, but goes to the Roadhouse to try and find more psychic children like himself. Ash's search only finds a young man named Scott Carey, but he was murdered a month earlier. Sam heads to Lafayette, Indiana to investigate, and is followed by a young woman named Ava Wilson (Katharine Isabelle). Like Sam, she has premonitions, and foresaw Scott's death. She has also been having visions of Sam being killed in an explosion. The two steal Scott's file from a psychiatrist, and learn that he spoke to Azazel and was told about an army of psychic children being used in an upcoming war. The vampire hunter, Gordon Walker, who learned from a demon about Azazel's plans, then tries to kill Sam, but Dean stops him just in time, though ending up his prisoner. Sam remembers Ava's vision, and avoids explosive traps set by Gordon. He saves Dean, and police arrest Gordon due to an 'anonymous call' made by Sam. The brothers later go to check on Ava back in her hometown of Peoria, Illinois, but find her fiancé dead, with sulfur on the windowsill pointing to a demonic abduction.

This episode starts with a guy, Scott, talking to a psychiatrist. Scott tells him he started getting migraines a little over a year ago, then he could start to do stuff. He has some kind of ability: he touches something and he can electrocute it if he wants (oooh another of the demon’s ‘special kids’!!). He did it to the neighbour’s cat, apparently.

This is a really really really cool use of music in this scene.

The doctor doesn’t seem to believe Scott, but when Scott offers to shake on it, the doctor won’t take his hand.

Scott says that he didn’t want to kill the neighhour’s cat but ‘he’ wants him to – the yellow eyed demon who comes to him in his dreams and tells him to do awful things. Scott says no, he doesn’t want to. This demon also tells Scott that he has plans for him.

Then we see Scott walking out in the street at night, looking around behind him, going to his car. Hmm, someone’s there – Scott calls out hello and keeps walking. As he unlocks his car door, he sees someone in the reflection. He turns around, and gets stabbed!

What a twist – it kind of seemed like the doctor was going to die.

Now we’re back at the boys’ scene by the river, picking up where we left off last episode. Dean is telling Sam about what their father told him before dying.

(“Before Dad died, he told me something about you…”)

Dean: “He said that he wanted me to watch out for you, take care of you.”

Sam: “He told you that a million times.”

Dean: “This time was different. He said that I had to save you.”

Sam: “Save me from what?”

Dean: “He just said that I had to save you, that nothing else mattered. And that if I couldn’t, I…”

Sam: “You what, Dean?” [ok Sam, tone it down, he is clearly trying hard to tell you something that isn’t easy for him to say!]

Dean: “I had to kill you.”

OH SNAP! Again, John Winchester for Father of the Year! [sarcasm]

Dean: “He said that I might have to kill you Sammy.” [the use of Sammy here has me all emotional!!]

Sam “Kill me? What the hell is that supposed to mean?” GOOD QUESTION SAM!

Dean: “I don’t know.” He can’t even look Sam in the eye.

Sam: “I mean, he must have had some kind of reason for saying it, right? I mean, did he know the demon’s plans for me, am I supposed to go dark side or something? What else did he say, Dean?”

Dean: “Nothing. That’s it, I swear.”

Sam: “How could you not have told me this?”

Dean: “Because it was Dad, he begged me not to.”

Sam: “Who cares! Take some responsibility for yourself, Dean! You had no right to keep this from me!” Uh oh, Dean is starting to make angry face. But I agree with Sam here!!

Dean: “You think I wanted this? Huh? I wish to God he’d never opened his mouth! Then I wouldn’t have to walk around with this screaming in my head all day!”

Sam: “We’ve just gotta figure out what’s going on then, what the hell all this means.”

Dean: “We do? I’ve been thinking about this, I think we should just lay low, at least for a while, be safer. Then that way I can make sure…”

Sam: “What? That I don’t turn evil? That I don’t turn into some kind of killer?”

Dean: “I never said that.”

Sam: “Geez, you’re not careful, you will have to waste me one day, Dean.”

Dean: “I never said that! Dammit Sam, this whole thing is spinning out of control. Alright? You’re immune to some weirdo demon virus, and I don’t even know what the hell anymore. And you’re pissed at me and I get it, that’s fine, I deserve it. But we lay low until we figure out our next move, okay?”

Sam: “Forget it.”

Dean: “Sam, please man. Hey please. Just give me some time. Give me some time to think, okay, I’m begging you. Please. Please.”

Sam nods.

WELL! What a conversation! I feel like Dean’s confession about what their father told him was a long time coming. I’m glad that’s out in the open, and I totally understand why Sam is pissed off that Dean kept that from him. I don’t know if Dean realizes that as scared as he is about what’s happening to Sam, Sam is also scared.

Cut to Sam leaving what I assume is the motel. He jimmies open a car and drives off! Where is he going???

Sam goes to some house in the middle of nowhere. This does not look good. Abandoned? What the heck is he up to without Dean?

This place is creepy for sure. Sam breaks in to the old building. It’s a dump. Oh no it’s a trap!!

Sam hit a trip wire and basically blew up and DIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But wait! That was some girl’s vision!! (As an aside, I recognize this girl from various Canadian television shows.)

So someone is out there having visions of Sam’s death! This can’t be good.

Back at the Roadhouse! Hopefully Ellen isn’t too mad at them still. It sounds like Sam really did take off though, if Ellen is getting calls from Dean about him. But it appears that Sam is at the Roadhouse without Dean.

Oh no it turns out Jo is gone too, and Ellen hasn’t seen her in weeks. Apparently Jo has decided to keep hunting, but Ellen said not under her roof. And so Jo left.

I really really really love getting to see Ellen and Jo again.

Ellen doesn’t think John Winchester forgave himself for what happened to her husband (and Jo’s dad). Sam asks what happened but she changes the subject, asking instead why Sam came. He says he needs help.

Sam tells Ash he’s looking for info on other kids/psychics. Sam thinks they can find some if they start by checking nursery fires. Ash found 4 people nationwide who fit the profile (born in 1983, mother died in nursery fire).

That’s Sam, Max, Andrew, and another name: Scott, from the beginning of this episode. We’ve seen Max and Andrew in other episodes. It’s been a month since Scott was killed. Sam leaves for Indiana to follow the case but Ellen says she has to tell Dean where he’s going; Sam says Dean means well but that he can’t protect him from needing to find out who he is.

Sam is looking into Scott’s murder. Sam talks to Scott’s dad, pretending to be a high school friend, and learns that Scott had headaches, got depressed, paranoid, and had nightmares. He locked himself in his room for days. Sam goes upstairs to check out his room and finds lots of prescription medicine. Sam notes the doctor’s name on the pill bottles. He then finds art in Scott’s closet of the yellow-eyed demon. Yikes!

Sam heads back to his motel but he’s being watched. It turns out to be the girl who had the vision of his death – Ava – and she’s come to warn him. She tells Sam that he’s in trouble, talks to him about her dream/vision (which all started with headaches and nightmares a year ago; then she saw Scott’s death in her dream about a month ago; then she found a story on his death in the paper and realized that she saw his death before it happened). Sam asks how Ava found him: she saw motel stationary in the dream and Googled the motel, which turned out to be real, so she wanted to warn him.

Sam tells Ava that there are other ‘psychic’ kids with visions/abilities and that they must be connected. But Ava’s mother is alive – she doesn’t fit the pattern.

Meanwhile Dean is on the road, and gets a call from Ellen. She says she’s heard from Sam but she promised not to tell Dean where he is. Ellen then tells Dean where Sam is (Lafayette, Indiana).

Ava wants Sam to leave town before he blows up but Sam wants to figure out what’s going on with him, her, and Scott. They’re part of something and he needs to figure out what. Ava is getting married in 8 weeks and she says she’s a secretary, not a part of anything; if Sam wants to stay there and die, fine.

But, asks Sam, doesn’t she want to know why it’s happening? Isn’t she scared? If she leaves now, she might never know the truth. Sam could use her help.

Ava agrees to help Sam. She goes to the same doctor that Scott saw, while Sam goes peeping for Scott’s file. They later listen to the tape from Scott’s session with the doctor (we heard the session at the start of the episode).

Dean rolls into the motel parking lot looking for Sam and sees him through the window. Then he sees Ava and loves that Sam is getting with a lady (which of course turns out not to be the case).

On Scott’s tape, he tells the doctor that the demon tells him that there’s a war coming, and the people like him are going to be the soldiers. Everything’s about to change.

Suddenly the window is being shot at! Oh snap, it’s Gordon – remember him?? The hunter that Sam didn’t like? Dean shows up and kicks the gun away from Gordon, saying he’ll kill him if he tries to hurt Sam.

Gordon knocks Dean out. Sam goes up to the roof with Ava but Gordon and Dean are long gone. Sam finds the shell casings. He tries to call Dean, telling Ava they need help.

Dean answers, Sam tells him where he is, and Dean says he knows, he talked to Ellen. It’s a real funky town. He says Sam ditched him; Sam says there’s someone after him. He asks Dean where he is, and Dean says he’s staying at 5637 Monroe Street and tells Sam to come meet him. Sam says sure and hangs up.

Then Sam tells Ava Dean’s in trouble – and he knows because Dean used a code word (funky town). Someone’s got a gun on Dean.

We see that Dean is tied to a chair in the dump we saw in Ava’s vision. Dean tries to talk to Gordon, who says this is not revenge, and it isn’t personal. He isn’t a killer. He’s a hunter. Sam is fair game.

Sam wants Ava to leave, out of harm’s way. But she says he’s walking right into her vision. Sam says it doesn’t matter, it’s his brother. Sam tells ava to go back to her fiancé, to go home where she’ll be safe. She asks Sam to call when he gets Dean to let her know everything is all right.

Gordon tells Dean that he was doing an exorcism, teenage girl, low level demon, and she muttered something about a coming war. Well that got Gordon’s interest. The girl the demon was possessing didn’t make it (the implication is that Gordon tortured her for information). But the demon told Gordon they have soldiers, humans fighting on hell’s side, for the coming war. They’re psychics. Then the demon said that he knew one of the soldiers – Sammy Winchester.

Dean tells Gordon that this is moronic. Gordon says he knows about Sam’s visions. He did his homework, made sure it was true. Dean has his roadhouse connections, Gordon has his. It’s how he found Sammy in the first place. A month ago, he found another one – SCOTT. Gordon is the killer!

Gordon says they – the psychic kids – are all going to be killers and they all have to be taken out. He knows Dean found a way to tip Sam off that he was in trouble.

So now Gordon is waiting for Sam. He knows he’ll come to mee Dean and check the place out first and come in the back, where Gordon has set up a couple of tripwires (just like Ava’s vision). He apologizes to Dean, but says for what it’s worth, it will be quick.

Dean tries to talk Gordon out of it, but Gordon says one day Sam will become a monster. Dean asks how a guy like Sam becomes a monster and Gordon says he’s not sure, but he will. Dean yells that Gordon doesn’t know that. This totally speaks to Dean’s own fears about Sam’s abilities and what it all means, what could happen. Gordon says it’s Sam’s destiny. He’s sympathetic, he knows Dean loves his brother and this hurts. And remember, Gordon did kill his own sister after she became a vampire. Gordon gags Dean’s mouth and tells Dean that although it would have wrecked John Winchester, if it came down to it, he would have had the stones to do the right thing (i.e. take Sam out). Is Dean saying that he isn’t the man his father was?

Sam arrives, and it’s just like in Ava’s vision, with him creeping around the place, seeing Dean tied to the chair with Gordon sitting guard. He goes around to the back and picks the lock. Gordon hears him at the door.

Sam goes in and Gordon waits. We hear the first explosion and Dean freaks out. Gordon knows to wait and see. They wait for the second explosion and it’s a big one. Dean is pissed. Gordon apologizes and goes to check on Sam’s remains. There’s a smoking shoe!! But Gordon wants to see the body. But Sam didn’t blow up! He puts a gun to Gordon’s head and Dean hears that Sam is alive. He struggles to get out of the chair.

Sam and Gordon fight. Fight fight fight! Gordon knocks Sam down and stands over him with a knife, telling him that he’s no better than the filthy things he hunts. But Sam knocks Gordon away before he can stab him, and starts hitting him, then stands over him with a gun. But Sam won’t kill Gordon, no matter how much Gordon taunts him, calling him Sammy, saying to show Dean the killer he really is. Instead, Sam knocks him out. “It’s Sam.”

Sam goes to Dean and unties him. Dean immediately checks on Sam to make sure he’s ok, and goes to Gordon but Sam stops him, says he’ll be taken care of.

They leave the house and Gordon comes out after them, firing at them. The boys run and hide but Sam says to wait. Suddenly the police show up and stop Gordon, telling him to drop his weapon and get down on his knees. The boys watch from their hiding spot as Gordon is handcuffed. The cops examine Gordon’s car and find his stash of weapons (which any good hunter has). It isn’t looking good for Gordon. “Anonymous tip,” Sam tells Dean. But you know this isn’t the end of Gordon coming after Sam.

Dean calls Ellen, pissed that someone at the roadhouse told Gordon where to find Sam. Ellen tells Dean that the roadhouse is full of smart hunters, good trackers with their own connections who could have put that together, but that Ellen, Ash, and Jo are not disloyal and didn’t tell anyone about Sam.

Sam tries to call Ava but leaves another message for her – trying to tell her that he and Dean are okay but it sounds like Ava hasn’t been answering her phone.

Dean tells Sam not to take off like that again. So where to next? Dean wants to go somewhere else, saying he’s sick of the job, they don’t get paid or thanked. Sam says he’s a hunter, it’s what Dean was meant to do. Dean doesn’t believe in destiny – at least not Sam’s destiny, Sam says.

Sam tells Dean that he tried to run before, to California (school! Pilot callback!) and look what happened. They can’t run from this life and he can’t protect Sam. But Dean says he can try.

Sam is going to keep hunting and whatever’s coming, he’s taking it head on. If Dean wants to watch his back, he’ll have to stick around.

“Bitch.”

“Jerk.

Sam tries to call Ava again but still no answer. He has a bad feeling. They decide to go check out her place.

Cut to Ava’s place, with Sam and Dean going in. There doesn’t seem to be anyone home. Then they find blood and her fiancé dead in bed, and sulphur on the windowsill (window open)! A demon has been there. Sam sees her engagement ring lying on the floor. What does it mean?? Stay tuned!

Overall thoughts:

This was a really good episode! I always like seeing Gordon come back, because he’s such a good foil for Dean and Sam. And this episode connected in a big way to the overall story arc.

Lore:

Nothing really, other than demons I suppose.