We opened the season 12 premiere of SUPERNATURAL exactly where we left off — with Dean seeing his newly resurrected mother in the cemetery. She takes him to the ground the moment he reaches out for her and then introduces himself. She’s disbelieving since the Dean she remembers is only four years old, but flashbacks to her death and Dean’s tale of how John and Mary met convince her quickly. She embraces him lovingly. Later Dean is telling Mary about John’s death and about how he raised them as hunters. With that done, he tells her they should head home.
Then we cut to Castiel, who is shooting through the air like a comet before punching a hole through the ground. When a passing driver tells him he’s three hours from Lebanon, Kansas he puts the man to sleep and steals his car.
Meanwhile, Toni is dealing with a wounded Sam (who has been shot in the leg), so she recruits a random vet to clean and stitch up his wound and then ties him to a chair so she and her friend can torture him a bit. He threatens to kill both women, but she just wants to know more about the Winchesters, American hunters and how they saved the sun. Toni also insists that she knows him because they’ve been watching him for years. Some of the British Men of Letters wanted to step in and assist with the apocalypse and other big crises, but the “big man” didn’t want them to interfere. Now she insists they’re “here to help” and if he answers her questions she’ll let him go. But Sam isn’t in a mood to share and he taunts her to come at him. Thus the torture begins. She later explains the difference between the British MOL and American hunters — how the BMOL are so much more organized and effective. “We are good at our job,” she claims, before telling him they should work together. He refuses, so Toni’s friend burns him.
Mary and Dean arrive back at the bunker, where she admits she knows about the MOL but thought they were just a myth. The pair immediately become concerned when they see nothing but blood at the bunker and Dean starts looking for Sam and Cas. Cas returns and Mary confronts him, but Dean stops her from shooting the angel, saying he’s a friend. Cas explains what happened and Dean uses traffic cameras to find their first lead.
Crowley, on the other hand, is dealing with the still-free Lucifer, who is burning through vessels at an alarming rate. Other demons are in touch with Lucifer, but Crowley is hot on their tail. He manages to kill the demons who laugh at him for his recent predicament and then keeps chasing his prize.
Later Cas roughs up Toni’s driver, who provides them with another dead-end lead. At Sam’s prison, Toni suggests to her friend that they try to break Sam’s mind instead of his body. Fortunately for Sam’s wound-be rescuers, Mary, Dean and Cas find the vet that helped Sam, who provides them with Toni’s number.
Sam quickly realizes something is up when he finds himself unshackled in his cell with his burned foot bandaged. Enter Dean, who calls up Toni. He wants her to hand Sam back. “When I find you, and I will find you, if he’s not in one piece I will take you apart,” he threatens her. Sam, meanwhile, is not entirely in one piece. He’s hallucinating the death of people he knew and loved, all of whom are blaming him for their death and pain. As Dean, Cas and Mary head back to the bunker to trace the call, Toni’s associate gets the jump on them. With the help of some enchanted brass knuckles she takes down Dean and Castiel, at least until Mary stabs her through the chest with an angel blade.
Back in his prison cell, a guilt-ridden Sam grabs a piece of glass and slits his own throat.
At least, that’s what we were led to believe. It turns out he tricked Toni to get her into the cell so he could choke her. But she got the jump on him and locked him up again.
Back at the car, Mary tells Dean she never wanted this life for her children. Dean tells her he understands, but this is their life and he thinks “they make the world a better place”. As they head out to find Sam, the younger Winchester brother sits in his prison.
Don’t miss the next new episode of SUPERNATURAL on October 20 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. You can watch a preview for the episode here.