After last week’s episode, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from this week’s sixth episode of Supernatural season 12. We’re all dying to know where the recently resurrected Mary is and what she’s been doing. Finally, we get some answers, including a great realization from Sam about Mary’s future this season. More on that lightbulb a bit later on.

The episode starts with a flashback to 1980 in Emerson, Manitoba. A young boy runs through the woods, trips and falls as if he’s being chased by someone or something. He is thrown up against a tree, and we see claws and gnashing teeth, a monster. Suddenly, his face is splattered with blood and the boy is free. His savior? Mary Winchester (Samantha Smith), with awesome Pippi Longstocking braids.

She takes the boy home in her shiny blue classic Chevy Camaro, straight from the early ’70s, racing stripes and all. The boy reveals his name is Asa Fox. She tells him he will be fine and he asks what it was, the thing that attacked him. Mary tells him it was a werewolf she had been tracking for a long time. Asa questions Mary, asking about her past and worries about her retiring as she tells him she is giving it up, just tying up a few loose ends. He doesn’t know who will save people like him. She ignores the question and ushers him inside after straightening his hair. Asa pulls out his camera and takes a picture of Mary getting into the car.

He keeps the photo, posting it on a corkboard. Cue a montage showing Asa starting to hunt, clipping news items about murders. He writes Mary postcards but never sends them because he doesn’t know where she is. He grows older, creating weapons that will kill monsters. He has become a hunter like Mary talked about, killing a ghost with a gun full of rock salt. He is the Dean before the Dean as we know him exists, making out with girls and journaling his experiences. The boy is now a man, still hunting. As the montage comes to an end, Asa (Shaine Jones) appears to hang himself before the Supernatural title theme. But we all know things on this show are NEVER as they appear.

Cut to Sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhoades), ready for some Netflix minus the chill on her day off. A knock on the door interrupts her plans and it’s suddenly hello Sam and Dean. They appear on her doorstep, dirty and smelly, saying they were passing through and decided to check in with her and the girls. The girls, who are at a concert, will miss out on this family reunion. Dean (Jensen Ackles) brags to Jody about his Hitler kill before they all watch a chick flick and Dean makes fun of her.

Sam (Jared Padalecki) tells on Dean, outing his erotica anime fetish. Jody leaves the room to answer a phone call while Dean awkwardly tries to tell Sam that Jody doesn’t need to know about his anime thing. A friend of hers has died and she is visibly upset. The name Asa Fox is familiar to Dean – Ellen Harvelle (Samantha Ferris) told him some great stories back in the day about what a great hunter he was. They offer to go with Jody, as support, saying they have never been to a hunter gathering. She allows them to tag along, as long as they shower before the long drive.

They travel back to Emerson, Manitoba, where his house is reverberating with music by Alice in Chains. Tons of hunters are inside, drinking and making toasts to Asa. Dean’s rep has preceded him and Asa’s friend, Bucky (Mac Brandt), offers him a homemade beer. A hunter named Elvis (Billy Wickman) runs out upon hearing Sam is there, too. Dean mentions a story of Asa taking out five Wendigos at once and it appears that Wendigo is a drinking game. Meanwhile, Sam is talking to two other hunters, a pair of twins with magical powers who had been raised by a witch – Alicia (Kara Royster) and her unnamed brother (though why he is unnamed is beyond me. Poor Kendrick Sampson – he’s super cute, too!). Elvis finds Sam and is totally fangirling because Garth (DJ Qualls) told him that Sam had been possessed by Lucifer and lived. The twins are annoyed with Elvis and Sam excuses himself.

Dean inspects an angel blade in a glass case in Asa’s office, telling Sam that Asa was a legit hunter. Dean seems to think Asa died on the job however, Sam suspects foul play. Dean tells Sam that hunting is not a job where you die in your 90s and brushes away Sam’s suspicions. Dean also warns Sam about the drinking game using Wendigo before they leave Asa’s office to rejoin the wake.

Most hunters leave the wake as the night winds down, but the few that Dean and Sam have met stay behind, trading stories about Asa. Bucky indicates that Jody and Asa had a thing, but Jody says it was just casual, claiming dating is hard. Alicia’s brother (give him a name, already!) tells the group that their mother loooooooooooved Asa. Talked about him all the time. Remember this part, folks – it will come up later.

One of the hunters, Randy (Darren E. Scott), goes to get a beer for everyone, and suddenly a hand snakes out from a darkened bedroom, a huge knife slicing Randy’s throat open, the hand then pulling him into another room. Enter a new hunter from the front door, wearing familiar brown boots – it’s Mary. Dean and Sam seem surprised, then confused. Jody and the Winchesters move away from the group to chat.

They talk about how they all knew Asa and Jody is freaked out that Mary is now alive. Awkward glances ensue, then an awkward hug between Jody and Mary. Jody then excuses herself so the trio can talk. Dean asks where she has been – Mary reveals she went to Lawrence, Kansas, and proceeded to use John’s journal to retrace and catch up on what she’s missed. Dean is angry, saying she could have asked them. Sam defends her and Mary defends Dean, saying she needed to do it for herself. She remembered Asa, wondering if he was still around since the rest of the people she knew were all dead. She found the article on his death. Dean becomes angry and says Mary will only text once a week but she will drive all the way to Canada for some guy named Asa. He walks away as Sam holds Mary back from chasing after him.

Jody stops him and asks why Dean didn’t mention Mary was back but went on and on about killing Hitler. She then gently chides him about being angry, saying she would give anything to have her husband and son back for real, but it would scare the hell out of her. What if they changed, if she changed, if it didn’t work out? She offers to be there for Dean if he wants to talk. Dean leaves the house to get some air.

Mary pulls a bottle of beer from Bucky’s stash in the kitchen and then meets Lorraine Fox (Laurie Paton), Asa’s mother. She is astonished that Mary has not aged since Asa told her all about Mary. Mary tells her it’s a long story and starts to apologize for her loss. Lorraine says Mary should be sorry because Asa became a hunter because of her. She hands Mary the box of unsent postcards, telling her that after Mary, Asa made hunting his whole life. Mary defends herself, saying she saved Asa’s life, but Lorraine is having none of it, practically spitting out that he never married, had a family or kids and now he never would. She bitterly tells Mary to enjoy the wake and walks away. Mary is shaken.

She hands the box of cards to Sam as she leaves the kitchen and tells him she saved Asa when he was a boy and takes on the guilt of starting his life as a hunter. “Everywhere I go and everything I do feels wrong,” she says. And here comes the revelation from Mary’s youngest. Sam tells her he doesn’t need an explanation from her and that he knows she needs space. He tells her that Dean is scared to lose her again, and Sam says he knows Mary won’t walk away since she saved Asa AFTER Dean was born, and after everyone thought she had given up the hunter life. He says it’s insane, but hunting is in their blood.

As they go to say goodbye to Asa, Sam and Mary see blood dripping down from the ceiling onto Asa’s body. Randy is strung up on the ceiling. They rush into the living room to tell all the hunters they need to leave, and then they smell sulfur. They tell Sam and Dean that this crossroads demon is the one who killed ASA and that this is his M.O. – hanging hunters. They attempt to leave the house, and unnamed warlock (I’ve decided to call him Lucas. Take that, Kripke.), uses his Harry Potter powers to make visible the wards in blood all over the house. They’re trapped and each starts pointing the finger at the other in hopes of revealing the demon.

Dean is outside, the only one free from the house, which has been warded against demons. The water is off, meaning any holy water they have on hand is the only holy water they will have – no more can be made. Suddenly, Billie (Lisa Berry) is there, the reaper who really wants to “collect” Dean. Billie says she just collected a fresh soul and tells him that the house is on lockdown: the people inside cannot hear him and he can’t get in.

Inside, after being marked as one who had strayed from the group, Alicia starts laughing creepily – she’s the one who’s been possessed. The demon leaves through the chimney and leaves Alicia’s body. They split up to search the house for people. Dean tells Billie to take him inside and she agrees, saying it’s a one-way ticket and Dean will owe her one – he agrees. She places him in the house.

Elvis and Lorraine claim Dean is a demon since he just magically reappeared. Elvis pulls a knife and shows his red eyes – now he’s the one possessed. He attacks Dean, but Dean starts to perform an exorcism. The demon twists Elvis’s neck, breaking it and killing him before the demon can be exorcised. The lights go out. They start to create a devil’s trap for everyone to stand in, which shows who is possessed and who is not.

Mary leaves the room and goes for the angel blade while Sam, Alicia, and Lucas create the pentagram. Jody suggests to Sam that Mary is the one possessed because Mary snuck out of the room. Jody starts to freak out, telling Sam to kill Mary, right now! Sam suspects that Jody is possessed, which is true: her eyes glow an eerie red.

Sam and Dean lunge at Jody but possessed Jody throws them across the room. Mary goes after her with the angel blade, which slices across the demon’s arm, burning her skin. The demon puts them all on the floor with a simple clap of her hands. The demon says she heard stories about the Winchesters. She says she’s been in their heads all night, the twins Alicia and Lucas were Asa’s children, come to say goodbye to their daddy (I told you, the twins’ witch mommy was going to come into play!). Lorraine hated Asa’s life so she sabotaged his gear and his car – anything to keep him from that horrible, hunter life. As for Sheriff Jody, she imagined a life with Asa.

The demon then confirms Sam’s suspicions that Asa was murdered, but not by the demon.

Bucky did something to Asa, and she is mighty angry because Asa was hers – she puts Bucky in a chokehold. The group attempts to exorcise the demon while she rambles on about what she’s learned from them and threatens Bucky. Bucky admits that he killed Asa. Mary finishes the exorcism and the demon is nothing but cinders while Jody is now safe.

Bucky confesses, saying Asa was stubborn. The demon J.L. was taunting them. While they were in the woods, Asa wanted to go after the demon, but he didn’t have the angel blade. Bucky told Asa they should go back to the house to get it, and Asa called him a coward. Bucky pushed him and Asa fell, hitting his head, dying. Bucky said he didn’t know what to do, so he made it look like it was J.L. to cover his crime. Lorraine cries as Bucky asks what his fate will be. The twins tell him they will tell everyone what he did, since he likes stories so much, and everyone will tell this story forever.

The hunters burn the bodies of Randy, Asa, and Elvis. Lorraine apologizes to Mary, saying she was wrong, now that she knows Asa had children. She goes to embrace both of her grandchildren. Mary and Jody talk about what is happening between Mary and her boys, and Jody tells her, “Mom to mom, they are good men. The best I’ve ever met.” Mary tells her that the boys are not the problem and that yes, she knows they are good men. Dean and Sam approach Mary to find out if she’s okay.

Billie then appears, saying Mary is NOT okay. She decides to call in her I.O.U. from Dean. She wants Mary. Dean is horrified. Billie reveals to the boys that Mary hates being back and describes the look in Mary’s eyes as “a dead man’s look,” saying she has seen it before, like the world doesn’t fit anymore and like she is all alone. Dean says Mary is not alone, and Billie says she is offering Mary mercy, a one-way ticket upstairs. Mary considers it, asking how it would work. “Reapers don’t kill people . . . rules.”

Dean looks scared but Sam doesn’t. Mary says she guesses that Billie will just have to wait. Dean is surprised and Billie says if anyone changes their minds, they know her name. She then disappears, as Reapers tend to do. Dean is relieved and Sam asks if this means Mary is coming home. She says yes, but she needs a little more time. Dean offers to buy her breakfast at the very least – all the bacon. They ride off together in Baby, toward all that delicious bacon.

So, after all the warm fuzzies, what does this really tell us about what’s coming? NOTHING. Because as soon as you get all happy and comfortable, you know the writers will just yank the rug out from underneath you and reveal some other plot twist or devil’s trap. I bet Mary dies next week. AGAIN.

Guess you’ll just have to tune in next week to find out what happens on episode 7, “Rock Never Dies”!