Supernatural opens outside a large, historic inn. It’s late at night, a sign squeaks harshly as it blows in the wind.
Inside, the young owner Susan (Annie Wersching) leads a man upstairs. Their conversation hints that the building has fallen on hard times, and will be closing. As Susan turns to once again head back downstairs, she looks up. Tyler and Maggie (Matreya Fedor and Conchita Campbell) sit on the ledge overhead. The young girls pout at Susan. They aren’t pleased to be moving.
Later, a scream echoes throughout the building. Tyler hurries from her room in time to see the man from the previous scene laying in a pool of blood, after apparently falling down the stairs.
Related: Check out our previous Supernatural rewatches, here.
Meanwhile, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) are pouring over information from their last case. However, Ava is missing, and clues to her whereabouts are scant. Lacking any solid leads, they take a call from Ellen. She tells them about an inn where freaky accidents keep happening. Could this be up their alley?
Later, Sam and Dean climb the stairs leading to the inn. Looking around, they discover an interesting carving on the porch. Could hoodoo be part of the building’s problem?
Inside, Sam and Dean slowly make their way around the dated inn. The rooms are cold, dark and ominous. How has the hotel managed to stay open this long? Even weirder still, why does everyone keep thinking Sam and Dean are a couple?
Continuing the investigation, the uneasiness escalates as the Winchester’s find a large doll collection in one of the rooms. Asking further, Sam learns the dolls belong to Grandma Rose (Brenda McDonald), who is in her room upstairs. However, Susan quickly shuts Sam down when he asks to meet Rose. Her mother is ill, and will not take any visitors.
Meanwhile, another man arrives to scout upcoming renovations for the building. As Tyler plays, she looks over her nearby dollhouse to find one of the dolls hanging from the ceiling. Just then, the action cuts to one of the rooms, where the contractor hangs from ceiling…
Later, Dean returns to their room to find his brother hysterical and probably a bit drunk. Sam is visibly beginning to crack under the stress. People keep dying around him. If Sam can control his destiny, he must save someone. His nerves facing his situation are racing out of control. What if he can’t save himself? He turns to his brother, begging Dean to kill him.
While Sam sleeps it off upstairs, Dean enjoys a drink at the hotel bar. Looking around, he also manages to stumble on a lead. Dated pictures of Rose line the walls. One of the images shows the young girl with her nanny. Consequently, the woman also wears a large hoodoo necklace. Could the nanny have taught her young charge the magical art?
The next morning, Sam and Dean stumble into Rose’s room to discover the elderly woman sitting comatose by a window. It seems she had a stroke. However, according to Dean, voodoo is a hands on art. As such, the killer can’t be Rose. Before they can poke her with a stick (she might be faking after all), Susan arrives. Angry at their intrusion, she kicks them out of the hotel.
Later, the tension inside the inn skyrockets when Susan snaps at Tyler. It turns out she only has one daughter. Maggie is just Tyler’s imaginary friend. Susan steps outside. Without warning, a car starts and barrels in her direction. However, Sam arrives at just the right moment and manages to push Susan to safety.
The incident finally serves to get Susan to understand. As she talks with Sam and Dean, they discover it is actually a spirit causing the deaths. They realize that Maggie isn’t Tyler’s imaginary friend. Rather, the little girl is actually communicating with a spirit haunting the property. Susan suddenly remembers a vital clue. Rose’s sister Margret drowned in the swimming pool when she was still a child. Could this be the same spirit?
They rush to the pool. Looking through the locked door, Sam and Dean see Tyler perched on the railing. However, before they can get inside, she falls into the water. Sam manages to break through the glass and quickly pulls the unconscious little girl to safety.
With Tyler safe in Sam’s arms, Maggie’s spirit disappears. Worried about being alone once the family moved, Margret committed the murders in hopes of keeping the family in the house. With nowhere else to go, Margret goes to see Rose, and the sisters share a sweet moment.
Later, as Susan returns to see her mother, she screams. Rose is dead.
As the episode comes to a close, Sam and Dean watch as Susan climbs into a taxi with Tyler. Everything is as it should be.
With everything finally taken care of, Sam and Dean climb into their car and leave. There’s a heavy moment between the two brothers. While this week has been a distraction from the subject matter at hand, the threat of Yellow Eyes hangs over the rest of the season.
Previous seasons of Supernatural are available to stream on Netflix. Season thirteen is set to premiere this fall on the CW.
A Few Notes:
- Keep an eye out for references to The Shinning throughout the episode.
- A stellar episode for Jared Padalecki, who is tackling a lot of emotional subject matter. His scene of drunken hysterics is particularly emotional, and strikes a weighty note between the two brothers.
- The repeated references to Sam and Dean being a couple seem to be laying the groundwork for the delightful “meta” episodes of the show, as well as the tongue-in-cheek analysis of the fan culture which grew popular in later seasons.
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