Last episode ended with a cliffhanger, with Sam’s memories busting out from behind the mental wall that Death put up to keep them hidden. This episode begins about a minute later with Dean slapping Sam awake. He seems groggy and has a headache, but is otherwise little the worse for wear. Kind of an underwhelming resolution to a cliffhanger.

Cut to a janitor cleaning a science lab who, it appears, is murdered by the anatomy mannequin that normally hangs in the lab.

Once Dean lays down the law on no trips down memory lane for Sam, they begin investigating the janitor’s death. Their only lead is some funky electromagnetic readings at the science lab, focused on the anatomy dummy that Dean can’t help but pull bits and pieces off of … but they quickly get a break in the form of another murder, this time at a clothing factory.

Again, Sam’s electromagnetic scanner again goes haywire, giving him an idea. “Wait, that anatomy dummy you were molesting at the lab.”

“Excuse me?” Dean replies.

“What if that’s what this is about?”

Cautiously, Dean asks, “What exactly are you accusing me of?”

So the working theory is some kind of ghost that can possess mannequins somehow, prompting Dean to say, “I don’t like the way Kim Cattrall‘s looking at me.” The major flaw in the theory is why these attacks would take place in totally different towns, not even next to each other. Sam’s research leads to discovering that there was a female factory worker, Rose, who disappeared over a year earlier.

Dean has been dodging calls from his ex, Lisa, and Sam finally forces him to answer it. It turns out to be Lisa’s son, Ben, who has been trying to get in touch because something is wrong with his mother. She’s locked in her room, rarely leaves, won’t talk to him. Reluctantly, Dean takes off to deal with the situation, leaving Sam to continue the investigation.

Sam quickly learns that the dead janitor used to work at the factory, too. He questions people at the factory, finally finding a guy, Johnny, who “looks nervous” and clearly knows more about Rose than he’s letting on. He’s on the phone with someone, panicked, when he gets attacked in the factory … but rescued by Sam at the last minute.

It turns out that the victims had all been part of a practical joke gone awry. The victims (along with a fourth guy) had tricked Rose into thinking she had a secret admire, luring her to an apartment where she discovered that her admirer was a mannequin. When she’d tried to run, one of the men had grabbed her by the arm, forcing her to stumble and crack her head on a table. She died and they hid the body … which means that Sam now has a body to destroy. (Although he destroys it with 20 minutes left in the show, so I’m thinking there’s more death on the way.)

Dean arrives at Lisa’s only to discover that she isn’t in trouble. In fact, she has a date … which is why Ben called. “We’ve been Parent Trapped,” Dean declares. Dean and Lisa have a heart-to-heart where she says that every time the phone rings, there’s a small chance it’s him, but a big chance it’s Sam calling to say he’s dead. Every time she thinks she’s over Dean, he shows back up. What does he want? He doesn’t have an answer to that.

He’s even more stumped when trying to explain it to Ben. “My job turns me into someone who can’t sit at your dinner table,” he explains. He wants Ben to have the chance at a normal life.

Ben turns it around on him, hitting one of Dean’s weakest nerves, the family loyalty button: “You say family’s so important, but what do you call people who care for you, who love you even when you’re a dick? You know you’re walking out on your family, right?”

Back on the case, Johnny gets home … and things get even weirder. He comes into his room to find his girlfriend on the bed. They’re packing up and moving on, tonight. He takes her hand as he talks to her. “I love you. You know that.”

Did I mention that his girlfriend, the one to whom he is speaking, is a life-sized sex doll?

It turns its head to look at him, which seems to come as a surprise. (You would think that someone who’s declaring their love to a sex doll wouldn’t be surprised by much.)

Sam figures out that he didn’t destroy all of Rose’s remains … because at 16 she gave her kidney to her sister. He meets up with Dean, who quips, “So, that the girl with the haunted kidney?”

Since they can’t burn the kidney (the sister kind of needs it), they decide to go the hoodoo route, casting some kind of spell that will suppress the ghost. Rose’s ghost doesn’t like this, so she possesses the Impala and tries to run Dean down. Instead, it crashes through a storefront. A piece of glass impales the sister right in the kidney, killing her. As she dies, Rose’s ghost manifests just long enough to apologize before flashing out of existence.

Overall, this case ended bittersweet, not really something that they can clearly chalk up to being in the win column.

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• Episode 6.10 – “Caged Heat”
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• Supernatural Season 1
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