Sam, Interrupted - Recap

In Ketchum, Oklahoma, Susan Fletcher is a patient at the Glenwood Springs Psychiatric Hospital. The head doctor, Fuller, is talking to her about the death of her son in a home fire. When he asks if she’s getting sleep, Susan insists that she can’t go to sleep, because that’s when the monster that killed her hospital roommate Annie comes. When Fuller wonders if she’s hallucinating, Susan admits that she can see her dead son, but she knows he’s not real. The monster, on the other hand, she knows is real. Fuller insists that Annie’s death was a suicide and that Susan has created the monster to protect herself from her own guilt.

Susan is taken back to her room, where she looks at pictures of her son. The lights go off for the night and she is locked in. However, she hears heavy breathing coming from the air vent. As she watches, the screws come loose and fall to the ground. She yells for help but the nurses ignores her . Susan pounds on the window in her cell door, and the patient across the hall, Ted, notices her. As he watches, she’s suddenly yanked backward by some unseen attacker. A little later, the nurse checks on Susan and discover that she’s dead, an apparent suicide.

A few days later, Sam and Dean arrive at the hospital. Dean wants to check Sam in, telling Fuller that he’s depressed because he believes he caused the Apocalypse. He then starts talking about how they hunt monsters and fight demons, and travel with an angel. Fuller has them both locked up, just as they planned so that they could get inside the hospital and meet with Martin Creaser, a former Hunter and current patient who once saved John Winchester’s life.

Fuller’s assistant, Karla, gives them a thorough examination. Afterward, they compare notes and Sam worries that Dean is covering up his grief about the death of Ellen and Jo. Dean insists that there’s no feelings for him to cover up and he walks away to find Martin. When they locate him, he admits that something is going on but it’s too big for him to handle in his current condition. There have been five deaths at the hospital in the last four months. Each one appears to be a suicide, but Martin has heard the other patients talk about a monster. Fuller interrupts to tell them that Sam and Martin are due in morning group therapy. When Dean follows them, Fuller says that he’s too co-dependent on Sam and he’ll attend the afternoon session.

In therapy, Ted wants to talk about the monster. Fuller tries to shut him up but another patient chimes in. Ted tells her to stop helping him, because she’s making things up and he isn’t. Fuller continues to insists there aren’t any monsters and threatens to have Ted locked up if he doesn’t stop talking about monsters.

Dean is busy playing checkers with himself when his doctor, Dr. Erica Cartwright, comes to talk to him. He refuses to answer her questions unless she answers some of his. While he asks if she’s seen any supernatural signs, she asks him about his drinking and his lack of long-term relationships, and then switches the topic to John.

Depressed by the conversation, Dean goes back to his room and runs into Sam. Dean is eager to go but they have to talk to Ted. As they leave, a female patient, Wendy, comes up to Dean and kisses him long and soundly. She slaps him on the butt and goes, and Dean has second thoughts about leaving right away. Sam warns him that it wouldn't be right.

That night, the Winchesters go to Ted's room, but hear him scream. An irritated Sam snaps at Dean as he tries to pick the lock on the door, and they get inside to find Ted, hanging dead from a ceiling pipe, another apparent suicide.

The next day, the brothers sneak into the morgue and find that there's a hole in Ted's skull going all the way to the brain. Dean stands watch while Sam cuts open Ted's skull with a bone saw and discovers that it's been sucked dry of all fluids. Dean spots an approaching nurse and comes back in to warn Sam. When the nurse comes in, they can't explain themselves so Dean drops his pants and yells "Pudding!"

The Winchesters meet with Martin, who believes that they're dealing with a wraith. He shows them a sketch and explains that the touch of silver causes burns and can be used to kill the creature. Martin explains that a wraith can pose as human, but its true image can be seen in a mirror. They wonder why it would hide in a psychiatric hospital, but realize that a place filled with disturbed individuals would be the perfect hunting ground since no one would believe anyone who saw it.

Dean stands in the hallway and checks people in the corridor mirror. Dr. Cartwright comes over and asks what he's doing, and Dean tells her what is going on. She doesn't believe him but wonders why he's the one who has to save everyone. Dean admits that no one else is dumb enough but Dr. Cartwright wonders how he can live with that kind of burden. As Fuller walks by, Dean sees him in the mirror and realizes that he's the wraith.

That night, Sam steals silver-plated scalpels and gives them to Martin and Dean. Wendy comes b but this time she kisses Sam and wants him immediately because he's "larger" than Dean. When she leaves, they try to convince Martin to go with them. He insists that he can't because of all the stress and admits that he used to think he was invincible, just like Sam and Dean do, but he learned better in Albuquerque.

Dean and Sam check Fuller's office and find his car keys, and realize he's somewhere in the building. They split up to search, and Sam finds Fuller. Flying into a rage, Sam cuts the doctor's arm and then throws him to the ground. He goes berserk when two orderlies try to restrain him, and throws them off. He prepares to kill Fuller, but Martin arrives just in time to point out that Fuller's arm isn't burning from the silver.

Sam is drugged and locked in his room. Dean visits him and Sam wonders if Dean is going insane and imagined seeing Fuller's reflection as a wraith. However, he tells Dean that he loves him no matter what because he's his brother. Dean admits he might have made a mistake but assures Sam he'll find the real wraith.

Late, Dr. Cartwright finds Dean and asks if he's still hunting for the monster. He insists there's nothing wrong with him, but Cartwright doesn't believe it and points out that he can't deal with the guilt. She then gets very specific, telling him that it's his fault that he got Ellen and Jo killed, and he failed to kill Lucifer. Cartwright tells him that he's a failure and always has been, and there's nothing he can do. Realizing that she's not a doctor, Dean yells at her. An orderly notices and comes to ask what he's doing. Dean tries to point out Cartwright, but the orderly says there's no one there. Cartwright smirks in triumph and says that he's imagining her, and that he's really gone crazy. Dean staggers away as everything around him twists and distorts. When he looks at the reflections of the staff and patients, he sees that everyone is a wraith. Dean runs to an exit and tries to get out, but collapses, sobbing.

Sam asks to meet with Fuller. He apologizes to the doctor but refuses to incriminate Dean. However, Sam does say that he no longer believes in monsters. Fuller says that his real problem is that he's full of anger. Sam realizes that he's right and asks for a second chance. Fuller agrees to let him go back to the day room under supervision. However, if Sam has another outburst, Fuller will have him sent to a facility for violent patients.

Sam goes to the day room and finds Dean, who is nearly comatose. Dean accuses Sam of causing all of their problems because of his arrogance. The other patients surround Sam and accuse him of killing them, and Sam lashes out in a rage... unaware that he's flailing at thin air. The orderlies restrain him and Dean stares blankly at the scene.

Later, Dean talks to Martin and tries to tell him what's going on. Something or someone is driving them insane, and Dean figures that it's the wraith. Martin admits that it could have that power and they try to figure out how the wraith got to both Sam and Dean. They figure that Wendy exchanged bodily fluids by kissing them and drove them insane with some kind of infection. They leave and Dean is careful to avoid stepping on the cracks. A scream rings out and the two men go to investigate. They find Nurse Karla standing over a female patient, a bone spur extending from her wrist. In the nearby mirror, her true face is revealed. Karla attacks them and starts choking Dean, but Martin slashes her with a scalpel. Her hand burns and she runs away.

Martin confirms that Karla's victim is barely alive. He tells Dean to go after the wraith while he tends to the patient. Karla sends two orderlies to deal with Dean and Martin. Martin holds them off while Dean escapes and follows the wraith's blood trail down the hallway. Dean staggers down the hallway, everything twisting around him, and manages to find the wraith... in Sam's room.

Karla is visiting the tied-down Sam and boasting that it was easy to defeat them despite their reputation. She uses the hospital as a restaurant to feed on the over-stimulated brains of the patients. When Sam accuses her of driving him insane with rage, Karla says that she just stimulated what was already there. She extends her bone spur and prepares to feed, but Dean arrives in time to attack her. She slams him into the wall and prepares to drive the spur into his brain. Dean grabs it and breaks it off. When the wraith falls back in agony, Dean stabs her with the scalpel. She dies and the brothers recover their sanity.

The Winchesters escape the hospital and flee into the woods, where they've hidden the impala. As they prepare to leave, Sam suggests that the wraith was right. He's always been consumed by rage: at John, at Dean, at the monsters they hunt. Dean admits that he might be right, but that they can't simply give up or stop hunting. He tells Sam to do what they've always done: bury it and move on. Dean insists that it's the only way they can keep going and not end up like Martin. He wonders if Sam is with him, and Sam tells him that he is.

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