We start this episode with a flashback where we are introduced to Asa Fox. Asa was a kid when Mary saved him from a werewolf in 1980 inspiring him to be like her and become a hunter. But as Mary has said before, all hunters end up the same: dead. And Asa was no exception. Right after we seen his montage, we see him hung from a tree. Not the most intense way for a hunter to die, but the end result was still the same. The Winchester men find out about his death from their good friend Jody who met him while he was hunting, and they vow to accompany her to the wake. They have never been to a Hunter gathering aside from the ones they had thrown together, so off to Canada they go.
Unfortunately for them, the flow of war stories and memories gets interrupted when the hunters become the hunted and one of their new friends, Randy, is killed while getting a beer. But before they even find out what happened, Mary appears. Talk about shocked! The boys had no idea where there mom was, and then she appears at the house of a hunter they had only heard stories about. It was clear by the montage we saw previously that Asa was important to Mary, but it wasn’t clear if her sons knew the extent of it. Jody’s reaction to finding out that Mary was back from dead was classic, and over the top. I was just happy to see that Mary was okay. I’m not going to lie, part of me was wondering if she really was on a sabbatical of her own free will or if she was captive somewhere by one of the many people who don’t care for the Winchesters. She told them she was retracing her steps and reading John’s journal to catch up on all the things she missed while she was, well, dead.
Dean was obviously upset that Mary dropped everything when she heard of Asa’s death to go to Canada but had only sent him a few texts since she took off. I don’t blame him to be honest. He has waited decades to see his mom again, and then when she is back, she is quite distant. That has to hurt. And I also didn’t blame Asa’s mother’s reaction to Mary. She blamed her from her son’s death. After all, he did become a hunter because of her. But they had to push all that aside when they finally saw Randy the hunter, dead and strapped to the ceiling. They’re lucky two of the hunter’s with them were raised by a witch and know some magick, as they were able to see that the house had been warded, leaving them trapped inside, all but Dean. He had been outside clearing his head when it went down. One of the other hunter’s seemed to know who had killed Randy: a crossroads demon, Jael. Who had a vendetta against Asa from the sound of it.
As Dean is outside he sees Billi, the reaper he knows a little too well. She informs him that she just reaped a soul from inside. Unfortunately the ward put on the house also keeps him from getting in. This gives Billi the upper hand once again as she strikes a deal with him to get him inside. I can’t even imagine what kind of favor he will owe her for that. And after screwing her over with a deal in the past, I was shocked she would even help. And this demon, Jael is a tricky little bugger. He keeps skipping from vessel to vessel, keeping the hunter’s on their toes. They have no idea who to trust among them because at any time the demon could be among them. That’s not cool. So much for enjoying the hunter’s gathering huh?
When Jael claims the life of Elvis, I was upset I won’t lie. He seemed like such a sweet guy, desperate to connect and make friends. That makes two hunters dead now, so thank goodness Asa had all of the tools he did at his house, because the rest of them weren’t ready for the hunt. They thought they were going to a wake, not a demon hunt. And when Jael takes over Jody, we find out some very interesting news. Bucky had been the one to kill Asa, and Jael was pissed. Jael wanted that kill. But as we know, hunters only kill other hunters if they absolutely have no choice, so I was on pins and needles ready to hear his reasons. And when he confessed to pushing Asa I was shocked. An accident had claimed the life of Asa, not a hunt. But even with this revelation Mary still seemed upset, and everything still seemed so wrong to her. But even with Billi’s offer to take her back to Heaven, she declined. And with reapers unable to take lives, Billi will just have to wait for Mary to die. Giving her just one more reason to be annoyed by the Winchesters. I have a feeling Billi is not going to let go of this very easily, and we will be seeing more of her this season. After all, taking Dean’s mother away from him would be the ultimate payback that she’s been looking for for quite some time now. I’m also hoping we see more of the twin hunters. Their knowledge of magick could really help the Winchesters in future hunts. And with Lucifer still on the loose, they’re going to need all the help they can get.