‘Supernatural’ Season 12 Episode 13 Recap: Family Feud

Supernatural Season 12 Episode 13
Jared Padalecki as Sam, Ruth Connell as Rowena, Theo Devaney as Gavin McLeod and Jensen Ackles as Dean in ‘Supernatural’ (Photo: Dean Buscher © 2017 The CW Network)

Over the years, the Winchester brothers have dealt with more than their share of ghosts. In Supernatural season 12’s 13th episode, we see the boys deal with one that shouldn’t have had unfinished business at all. We see the ghost’s first victim in a flashback to six months prior as a woman is getting ready for bed. While brushing her teeth, a shadowy figure walks past the door, unbeknownst to her. We see the closet door in her bedroom close, waiting for something to happen when the woman opens the door to hang up a shirt. Nothing is there though. When she climbs into bed, starting to fall asleep, there is a moment of quiet before hands come through the bed, grabbing her and squeezing until she pops.

Back to current day, Dean (Jensen Ackles) is just getting off a call from Castiel (Misha Collins) at the bunker and fills Sam (Jared Padalecki) in on the lack of success at tracking Kelly and Lucifer’s spawn down. Sam has at least found a case for them to work on. A teacher was found in the parking lot of a museum with his tongue ripped out and his insides crushed. So, they decide to call Mary and see if she wants to join them in the hunt.

Mary (Samantha Smith) has her own excitement happening as she puts down a rougarou with a strange gun emitting a high-pitched sound. The camera pans out and she hasn’t only killed one, but a group of them, and Mr. Ketch (David Haydn-Jones) has been timing her. As he comments on a job well done, Mary gets a call from Dean who is clearly under the impression that she is just taking a break and resting after the Ramiel thing. She declines joining them on this case then confesses to Mr. Ketch that they have no idea she is working with the British Men of Letters.

Mr. Ketch had already guessed that and when he takes her back to her hotel, he suggests she disengage herself from her sons for a while. This advice is not appreciated; nothing stands between her and her family. Yet Mr. Ketch points out that she changes when she talks to her boys, she’s softer, weaker. But when she fights, she is one of the toughest hunters he’s ever seen. Mary remains silent and he continues, saying she knows he is right…and he thinks it scares her.

Dean and Sam head out on their own to investigate the death. On the way, they find a story about the woman who was killed six months earlier, another teacher as it turns out. They also chat about their mom who Dean feels is hiding something. However, Sam says that she just needs some time; this life wasn’t her choice.

More events unfold at the museum as the Winchester boys make the drive. A troop leader leaves his group for the bathroom. The lights begin to flicker, the stall doors begin to shake, then the mirror and water freeze over right before he is attacked.

The hunters go into FBI agent mode as they arrive at the museum and speak to the manager. She’s understandably freaked after having two deaths in two days at the museum. Asking about new objects, they find out three new exhibits have been uncrated, giving them a place to start. The EMF meter goes crazy but evidently that is not unusual for a museum. One of the new items piqued Sam’s interest, a figurehead from an old ship that sank a very long time ago. As Sam reads off the details from the museum’s description, Dean remembers the ship. It was the one Gavin, Crowley’s son, was supposed to have died on.

As a reminder, during the Abaddon fiasco, she had gone back in time and grabbed Crowley’s son to use him as leverage in their war. It didn’t work, since he and Crowley didn’t have the best of relationships. However, the man was left in our time to live out his life despite the concern of what consequences there would be for changing the past.

Speaking of Crowley (Mark Sheppard), we find him with Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) chained to a chair by some specially made restraints. The current King of Hell is adamant that the Devil will break and call him master at some point. Lucifer may have brute force, but Crowley feels he is smarter. Apparently, when Rowena did her spell to help Sam and Dean expel Lucifer from the President, he’d added his own little flavor which had returned his spirit to his old vessel, now improved and stronger, instead of his cell.

Of course, Lucifer finds this all quite amusing. All this work just to get what Crowley hoped would be some sort of revenge. No matter what, he will never bow to Crowley. Taunting him more, the fallen angel says he will never even see his downfall coming. During the process of poking at the demon, Lucifer reveals that his child is still alive, a total surprise to Crowley. So when he gets a call from Dean asking for a favor, he angrily scolds the hunter about letting Kelly get away without getting rid of the child and says that until they take care of that situation, he isn’t going to be helping them.

Well, being refused help by Gavin’s father, Dean and Sam bring in the next option: Rowena (Ruth Connell). At first, she’s not interested in helping since they already owe her for helping with the President and they haven’t given her all the details yet. Dean promises that if she does help, they have something she’ll really like, changing her mood easily.

After tracking Gavin down, they pay him a visit where he’s living a normal life. The man is afraid they are there to hurt him but they ask about the ship and introduce him to his grandmother. This family has some of the strangest reunions. Anyway, Gavin (Theo Devaney) goes with them to the museum and has a moment of sentimentality at the sight of the figurehead. When asked who was on the ship, he lists off several people including a teacher. There is the tie-in, but who is doing the killing?

Looking through the other items that went along with the figurehead, nothing rings a bell for Gavin until he gets to a picture of a locket. He had given the necklace to Fiona, his girlfriend, but she wasn’t supposed to have been on the ship. Apparently, that wasn’t correct and he figured that after Abaddon had come and taken him, Fiona must have assumed he went straight to the ship and snuck on board.

This leads Sam and Dean to the suspicion that Fiona is most likely the ghost, especially when the locket has disappeared from the museum. Speaking to the museum manager again, the woman is confused how the item could be missing from a locked case. They don’t explain but instead ask about other classes that had visited the museum in the last couple of days.

We’re then taken to the Pembroke Day School for Girls where a couple of teachers are having a quiet evening…at least until the lights start flickering. The women get up and look around at the curtains blowing behind closed windows and the mirror freezes over. One teacher is attacked and the other runs into another room, closing the door and putting a chair in front of it. Ghosts don’t really use doors though, and the remaining teacher seems to be in big trouble until Dean kicks open the door, shooting the ghost with rock salt.

Fiona won’t be gone for long and they know it. Therefore they come up with a plan of having Gavin perform a type of séance to speak to his love. She appears for him, first in her ghostly form then shifting to how she looked when she was alive. She feels Gavin abandoned her and wasn’t there to protect her. She’d hidden in the boat, and when she was found the crew mocked her and then forced themselves upon her. Even the teacher was horrible, telling Fiona she deserved what the crew did to her for throwing herself at Gavin. In her eyes, teachers don’t really care and now they would all pay the price. She then disappears again, ending the conversation.

With so many items and Gavin for her to latch onto, destroying the locket doesn’t seem like a solution. Unfortunately, the only thing that could truly rid them of Fiona was to make sure she didn’t end up a vengeful spirit in the first place. This means sending Gavin back to his original time, to die his intended death. Surprisingly, Gavin is accepting of this idea. He’s been alone in this time and he loved this woman. It’s the right thing to do.

Crowley chooses that moment to show up, saying there is no way his son is going back to die. Gavin argues back and Crowley wants to know why he called him there then. It was to say goodbye. Stubborn as he is, the Hell King doesn’t back down on his opinion. Rowena pipes up, saying the young man isn’t like them. He still believes in things and should do what he feels is right. Crowley moves to stop Gavin from going with the Winchesters but is instead frozen in place by his mother.

The three go back to the bunker and set up the spell which would take Gavin back. The brothers thank him, telling him he is a good guy. Gavin just says he hopes this is for the best and the spell is begun. Instead of him disappearing in a flash, Fiona in her pretty spirit form appears next to him. Gavin also turns into a spirit and the two dissipate.

Sometime later, Sam and Dean check out the news, finding no murdered teachers now. History has righted itself. Mary also shows up, bearing burgers and beers, immediately forgiven for being gone so long with those gifts. However, she confesses to them that she has been working with the Men of Letters. They are surprised and a little hurt, what with their history with the Brits. Mary tries to explain that they can learn from them and save a lot of people. Dean is angry while Sam says they have their way of hunting and it works; they don’t trust these guys. Mary is silent so Dean asks where this leaves them. Mary replies, “The same as always: Family,” and asks to be heard out.

We find Rowena sitting at a bus stop when Crowley shows up, stating what she did wasn’t right, even for her. He insists there was a spiteful reason she sent her grandson to his death and wants to know what it is. With a smile, Rowena claims it was the right thing yet also admits it was payback for making her kill the child she loved more than him to remove the Mark of Cain. She did it so he would feel the loss of losing a child, too.

This episode of Supernatural also gave us some brief glimpses of Kelly, now growing larger with Satan’s child. We see her followed and attacked by angels and rescued by a demon. Not just any demon though, Dagon, a Princess of Hell. Kelly is a bit panicked afterward, especially finding out that the ones she thought were good wanted her dead while a demon saved her. Dagon explains that not all is black and white, the child is innocent. And he could, in fact, save them all. She swears to protect Kelly and her son. The episode ends with Lucifer still captive but pleased, sensing that his child is safe under Dagon’s watch.