Supernatural Recap: "The Things We Left Behind"

Written by Shae

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, I love how this show throws back to its past. This episode is no different. This episode, we got answers to some serious cliffhanger questions. What happened to Jimmy’s family? Was Jimmy still alive? What’s going on with Castiel and his whole ‘looking up Jimmy’s family’ thing?

Well, seems Claire is in a home for troubled youths. She sure seems troubled…though last we left her she had a mom…supposedly, she still does. Mom just decided it best to go find herself; leaving Claire with a grandmother that died. Since, Claire has been living on the street and doing pretty much anything she can to survive. Filled with anger, it’s no surprised she’s in trouble. Just how much, well, that’s a different story.  Castiel finds her and visits her in the home, only to be met with hate. Claire remembers exactly who he is. Of course, saying “I’m not your father” The second he sees her isn’t really helping, since that’s the first thing Castiel said upon meeting her in general. While Claire expresses her unadulterated hate for our angel, he tries his hardest to explain things. We all might have guessed this, but it’s finally been confirmed that Jimmy is dead. Has been for a long time. I’m not sure what I expected, really. Cas has been killed and brought back just as often as the Winchesters…

Trying to be the good guy, Castiel helps Claire escape the home. She then turns around and runs away from him. Who’re you going to call when your vessels daughter runs away from you? The Ghostbusters! Or, well, the Winchesters, which are kind of, not really, the same thing…right? Seems Sam and Dean are willing to help….and by willing I mean completely reluctant. Seems Dean is having nightmares of murder that he’s not telling anyone about and that makes him short tempered, while Sam is trying to make sense of all this. Cas is family, though, and family helps family. While Dean stays to help Cas check out the scene where he and Claire last were together, Sam goes to the home and sees if he can’t dig up some more dirt on where Claire might be.  Alone, Dean makes Cas promise him something. Dean knows the Mark of Cain is still trying to control him, and he refuses to be that monster again…he makes Cas promise that if he slips up, if the Mark starts taking over too much, that Cas will ‘put him down’. He knows Cas doesn’t want to, even knows Sam won’t let the angel, but he needs to make sure he doesn’t turn into a demon again.

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With that awful thought, things skip right along as if your feels don’t matter. Sam finds out that there’s a kid Claire knows from the home, and they find out where he works. All while Claire ends up at a house, where a guy named Randy is waiting. According to him, she’s short. Short for what? The cash he owns some loan shark. And this is a great life lesson in to not getting involved with loan sharks. He talks Claire into robbing a convenience store for the rest of the money. As she’s about to, Castiel and the Winchester’s stop her. And the biggest ass-chewing ensues. I have to say, I’ve never been so torn in a fictional argument before. Claire has a valid point, and well, so did Cas…it’s heart breaking on so many levels. Claire leaves them, getting back to the house just in time to see Randy surrounded by the loan sharks. While she’s dragged away to another room, a deal is made. The rest of Randy’s debt vanishes if Mr. Tough-Loan-Shark-of-Doom gets Claire. 

How’s the creeper going to turn that down? Cas, Sam, and Dean, get there in just enough time, of course. And Claire isn’t horrifically raped, but instead saved by the very angel she hates. After getting a few, well deserved kicks, in she leaves with Castiel and Sam while Dean holds the guys off. These guys, however, aren’t giving up without a fight…and before we all know it, Dean’s nightmare has become a reality, literally. Kneeling and covered in blood, Dean is vaguely aware of the dead bodies around him. Sam frantically tries to rationalize that Dean did this in self-defense…but they both know he didn’t.

What all does this mean for our Moose and Squirrel? Sadly, we only get a teaser until January 20th. Does that feel like an eternity away to anyone else? It feels like torture for me. But, we at least got to see Crowley and his mother team up. Which, if you ask me, is a worse idea ever thought up.

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