It’s the midseason finale for Supernatural, meaning they want to leave us with big events to eagerly wait for over the next month and a half. Season 12 episode eight continues the plot of all the destruction Lucifer can do when he doesn’t even have a plan. It beings in a church, where a priest is listening to a story on the radio about a recently deceased man. He quickly shuts it off when his elder enters the office, telling him to stay focused on God’s work. The younger man agrees, then gives his condolences as he knew the archbishop was friends with the man who had died. After a response lacking much emotion, the archbishop walks out of the room and down the hall. As he makes the trek, each crucifix on the wall that he passes turns itself upside down and the man’s eyes glow red. Interesting choice, Lucifer.

Next we go to Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) as they meet Castiel (Misha Collins) and Crowley (Mark A. Sheppard) at a morgue where they all look at the body of another vessel Lucifer burnt out quickly. This leads them to some internet research about the man where they find a picture of the deceased with the archbishop. Only there’s a difference between the previous photos of the holy man and the most recent pictures…he’s missing the large cross he always wore around his neck. Quickly putting it together, they have a suspicion of who Lucifer is now residing inside.

When they get to the church, it’s dark and empty. The office is the first room they make it to, where their flashlights reveal that there’s been a struggle and they find the priest, battered and nearly dead. He has enough strength at least to tell them that he’d seen the crosses turn as the archbishop had walked by and that they had tried to perform an exorcism. Dean and Sam continue searching the building and discover several others killed in gruesome and violent ways. The search ends when instead of finding Lucifer, they find that this vessel has also now lost its use and the devil is long gone.

We are then taken to a man praying in his bedroom while a man appearing to be a bodyguard is in the living room. As the prayer goes on, the man says yes and he’s taken over. Lucifer seems quite pleased with this new vessel and begins to speak to the spirit of the man, Jeff. The fallen angel had made some promises to the man in return for his agreement, which included helping people and doing good deeds. Obviously, he didn’t really know who he was agreeing to be a vessel for.

Hearing Jeff’s voice from the other room, the bodyguard walks into the bedroom in time to overhear Lucifer (David Chisum) saying he needs personal details so people will truly believe that he’s the President of the United States. What?! He may not have a plan but he is sure thinking big! Of course, the man we now realize is a secret service agent doesn’t live long after that.

The next morning, we see the body being wheeled out and the “president” telling a story to the group in his living area about finding the agent collapsed on the floor. The head of the secret service states that the man died of a brain hemorrhage. His inner circle asks him to pray and it’s clear this is a normal request, so he’s forced to hold a Bible that burns his hand and fakes his way through a prayer to his Father. It’s good enough to suffice for the group, and one woman who works for him comments that he always knows the right thing to say.

Later, we see Lucifer rather bored in a meeting with his staff. But afterward, the woman from before, Kelly, asks another advisor to give them a minute. The next thing we know, Lucifer and the woman are in his bed having a post-coital conversation. Kelly wants to make their relationship public, even though the public might not be happy about it due to their positions. She mentions that he had been lonely since his wife died and makes it clear that she has a lot of faith and trust in him and wants to have a full life with him, kids and all. Lucifer appears rather pleased by this statement.

Meanwhile, Crowley pays a visit to the head of the secret service whose soul Crowley apparently owns. The woman shares the story of what happened with the president that morning, stating the death was anything but natural. He then returns to the rest of the group with the news that he believes Lucifer is now in the president. News which they are understandably not thrilled about.

Back at the place where the president is staying, he calls for his main secret service agent, Rick, and tells him that two disturbed individuals have plans to assassinate him. When asked why, Lucifer states, “Because I’m Satan.” He quickly fixes it by saying that the men think he is and the president wants the threat eliminated. Rick wants to bring in more help but he insists on keeping it within the secret service only.

Back to our guys hunting this bad man, we see Sam calling someone but quickly hanging up when Castiel walks into the room. Instead, he returns to his computer and they get back to work trying to figure out how they are possibly going to get to the President of the United States and deal with Lucifer. At this point, they know they need to bring Rowena in to help.

Flashing to the woman, we can tell right away that she’s in the process of being dumped – for an heiress, even. Crowley shows up in time to hear his mother and the man arguing. The now ex-boyfriend sees him and assumes that he’s the driver being waited for. After asking what’s going on and getting the story, Crowley snaps his fingers and makes the man, well…explode. Rowena (Ruth Connell) is covered in blood and guts but is immensely touched by the sentiment.

At the bunker, Castiel begins to shake, and cries out as a major headache hits him. The Winchester brothers rush in to see what happened, finding out that angel radio is going crazy. A presence has been felt, one of the offspring of an angel inside a human. They immediately figure out it has to be Lucifer and try to track down who the woman could be.

In the Impala, the brothers and Castiel drive toward the house where the president is staying, but are pulled over by secret service agents. They attempt to use their FBI badges, but these guys have been told about them. They know their names and that the badges are fake. A fight begins, one that our boys definitely don’t win. Castiel gets out of the car to help, but Sam and Dean tell him not to do anything.

Everyone pauses as another car pulls up calmly. A man steps out, raises a grenade launcher, and destroys their car. He then tells Castiel to erase the memories of the agents and lectures the Winchesters about what they’ve gotten themselves into this time. Only then does he get around to introducing himself as Arthur Ketch from the British Men of Letters.

Away from the scene of the fight, Mr. Ketch explains that he showed up because Sam had called Mick, who we met previously and had wanted to work with the hunters. Apparently, when Sam hung up they figured the boys must be in trouble, and they were right. He understands why they wouldn’t necessarily trust his group but he’s there to help, although he does make it clear he’s just doing his job too. In order to show them the types of things Dean and Sam could learn from the group, he shows some of his “toys” such as a new way to kill vampires and an orb to make exorcisms easier and faster.

This gives the Winchesters an idea to use the exorcism orb to try and get Lucifer out of Jeff’s body. As they come up with their plan, Crowley has also been able to find out who the girlfriend is too. So he pops in to see her, teleporting her out away from the house and to a hotel room where the guys are staying. The next part is a challenge; explaining to Kelly that Jeff is possessed by the devil, that she’s pregnant with Lucifer’s child, and that she should help them. It’s not easy, but when Castiel grabs a Bible and tells her to put her hand on it, the book begins to burn and then burst into flames. Now she’s convinced. Some bad news though, Lucifer knows she’s pregnant and was thrilled that he’d finally created something himself.

Returning to Lucifer, we see him take a call from Kelly. At first, his expression is positive, yet whatever she says makes that quickly go away. A short time later, he and the secret service agents arrive at the motel where Lucifer stays in the car while they go search the room to make sure it’s safe. The group is hiding in the adjoining motel room and are nearly found until Castiel makes the doors appear to open into a closet and uses his Jedi powers to convince the man that no one is there except Kelly. Satisfied that the room is safe, the agent goes back to the car and deems it safe for the president to go in.

Lucifer finds Kelly in the room and asks what she’s doing, to which she responds that it’s as she said on the phone. She can’t have the baby. This infuriates Lucifer and he immediately becomes violent, strangling her. At that moment, Sam exits the bathroom and uses the orb along with the necessary words to work it. There is a reaction in both the orb and Lucifer, but right then it’s impossible to tell whether it will actually work on him or not.

In the other room, Rowena performs a spell to help the process. Between her magic and the orb, Lucifer leaves the body and Jeff falls to the floor. Hurrying to check on the man, the president is found to still be alive, but he’s unconscious and not looking so good. Sam and Dean tell Castiel to get Kelly out of there, through the other motel room, and the boys are left there alone. Dean is surprised, yet pleased, and thinks they officially got Lucifer. Sam doesn’t look totally sure as he saw part of the spirit escape through a heater vent, but he agrees anyway.

Outside, the secret service agents seem to come out of a trance and burst into the room as Sam and Dean are trying to wake the president. It doesn’t look good, however, and the Winchesters are arrested. Again.

Having left with the woman, Castiel has no idea the arrest has occurred and takes Kelly to a diner, presumably to wait for our boys to meet up with them. Kelly excuses herself to go to the bathroom but something clicks in her mind as she makes her way there, causing her to sneak out instead and leave in a cab. Once she’s officially on her way to who-knows-where, she calls Castiel, stating she can’t get rid of the child; it’s hers.

So, now we wait until the end of January to see where all this goes. Dean and Sam are in cuffs and on their way to what will surely not be a vacation and Lucifer’s child is on the way. Well, we have a while to speculate. See you then. And happy holidays!