Supernatural - S12E14 - The Raid

Previously on Supernatural, “Family Feud”

Slowly but surely the British Men of Letter have sunk their claws deeper in the good ol’ U S of A, beginning with the top candidate for Mother of the Year, Mary Winchester. Things finally came to a head between her and her sons in “Family Feud” but Sam and Dean had no idea how conniving their mom had become thanks to her new line of work. No matter how far their relationship has declined, the Winchester clan will always have each other’s backs. In a surprising development, Mary’s association with the MoL may have finally swayed one of her sons to their dubious practices in combating evil.

Naturally, Dean made a stink about Mary collaborating with the “enemy” and reverted to his tried and true Silent Treatment. Ever the mediator, Sam tried to keep his family together but Dean isn’t one to properly convey his emotions. Rather, he lashed out at his brother (for the umpteenth time) and demanded he “pick a side” for once in his life instead of being a goody goody. After 12 seasons of constant berating, Sam took Dean’s bitter remark to drove off with it to the Men of Letters’ temporary compound to visit Mary. From there, we finally get our best look at how the secretive organization systematically eliminates evil in all its forms, even though their operations in America are below their usual standards. Nevertheless it is impressive: in less than three months, all but eleven vampires have been neutralized in the midwest.

The U.S. front is supervised by Mick (Adam Fergus) and supported by two technicians/spellcasters, Serena and Alton (Sunita Prasad and Kett Turton). The sole assets in the field are Mr. Ketch and Mary, until another hunter by the name of Pierce Moncrieff (Aaron Douglas) was recruited for his alleged expertise in vampires. Sam arrived in time to witness his mom and her crew put the finishing touches on Phase One… or so they all believed. The mass destruction of whole nests had stirred the ire of our dear old friend the Alpha Vampire (Rick Worthy) and like any decent father, he was going to protect his children with tooth and nail.

In the meantime, Mr. Ketch (David Haydn-Jones) went dark for a few hours to share a bottle of whisky and murderous thoughts with Dean. Say what you will about the Men of Letters’ hidden agenda and suspect behavior… if they didn’t make such a terrible first impression on the Winchesters and Castiel, it’s more than likely they’d be on the same page right now. Hell, even Dean casually admitted it to Ketch.

The lure of booze and vamp hunting was more than enough to get Dean off his ass and open his eyes to the merits of partnering with the Men of Letters. If anything, they’d give him the guidance he seemingly needs. As his contemporary Mr. Ketch revealed, killing monsters is in his blood. Dean could slowly lose his cool in the bunker while scouring the net for clues, or rely on a all-encompassing well-financed organization that could give him an abundance of targets to hack apart (for the greater good).

Let’s not forget the Brits have The Colt in their possession and thanks to Sam, the weapon is put to immediate use with the dispatching of the Alpha Vampire. In the midst of the chaos when Sam fashioned new ammo for the gun, one had to wonder if that was the entire point of Mary contacting her son. Yes, Sam visited her on his own accord and the raid wasn’t expected… but could we discount the possibility of Mick and Mary scheming to lead Sam down this path eventually?

In its final moments, “The Raid” left the Winchesters in a bind they never expected to confront. Mick and Ketch managed to lay out convincing arguments to the brothers, who cannot deny the Men of Letters’ weapons and intel have significantly improved their hunting this season. Although the MoL base would have been in ruins if it wasn’t for Sam, he recognized the overall effectiveness of the group despite the near-failure of their American offensive. The only X factor now is Dean, who remained unaware of Sam’s newfound allegiance to the Men of Letters. The Winchesters have gone their separate ways at least a half dozen times yet the appeal of becoming a super hunter may be too good of an offer to pass up, even for a surly day-drinker like Dean.

Any way you slice it, the Winchesters are damned if they do, damned if they don’t.