Skin - Recap

In St. Louis, a man tortures a woman inside of a house. The police move inside, guns drawn, and look for the man. They find the woman and free her, and she gestures toward the neighboring room. The police go inside and spot the man trying to get out the window. They order him to drop the knife and he turns: it's Dean, covered in blood.



One week, earlier, Sam and Dean pull over for gas. As they refill, Sam checks email messages from his friends at college. Dean accuses him of lying to them. but Sam insists he isn't going to cut everyone out of his life. Sam then finds an email from a friend, Rebecca Warren, who says her brother Zach has been arrested in St. Louis for the murder of his girlfriend. Dean doesn't want to get involved, but Sam insists and they're soon off to St. Louis. They visit Rebecca at her parents' home, and she explains that Zach came home and found his dead girlfriend Emily, bound and gagged. When he called the police, they arrested him. Emily explains that the police have a security tape from a camera across the street, that shows him in Emily's house at the time of her murder. However, he was at home with Rebecca, drinking beer. Sam volunteers to help and claims that Dean is a policeman. Dean plays along and Rebecca goes to get the keys. When she's gone, Dean insists it's not their kind of problem, but Sam notes that they've investigated based on less.



Rebecca takes the brothers to Emily's house and explains that a week ago, someone broke in and stole some of Zach's clothing. As they look around, the neighbor dog barks constantly and Rebecca explains that he wasn't vicious until Emily was killed. Dean still isn't convinced it's a supernatural problem, but agrees to look at the security tape. Rebecca already has the tape, which she stole from the police.

A being that looks just like Zach watches a married couple, Alex and Lindsay, as Alex leaves for work. As "Zach" watches, his eyes glow.

Sam, Dean, and Rebecca watch the security tape, which shows Zach going into the house. Rebecca has hired an expert to confirm the tape is quick. Sam notices something and has Rebecca get them some beers, and then points out that the "Zach" on the tape briefly has glowing eyes. They wonder if there's some kind of doppelganger involved.

Alex returns home and calls to his wife, saying that his flight was cancelled and he tried to call. He notices blood and follows the trail into the next room, where Lindsay is tied up and bleeding. As he frees her, she begs him not to hurt her any more and is clearly terrified of him. Alex hears someone else in the house and goes to investigate. He comes face to face with... himself. His doppelganger knocks him unconscious.



Dean and Sam go to Emily's house and Sam points out that the killer must have left out the back. The police didn't investigate because they didn't think the killer left. Sam finds a blood trail but it quickly ends. They notice an ambulance driving by and follow it to Alex and Lindsay's house. The police are taking Alex away, and a bystander explains that Alex apparently killed his wife. Sam checks the garbage while Dean talks to the police and confirms that Alex claimed he was driving home when Lindsay was attacked, and he saw his doppelganger afterward. Dean figures it's a shapeshifter and Sam has found a trail that suddenly ends. They realize that the shapeshifter escaped into the sewers. Descending, they find a discarded skin-like substance and realize the shapeshifter sheds its skin to take on a new form.



They return to the surface and get silver bullets to shoot it through the heart. Meanwhile, Rebecca calls Sam and reveals that she checked with her lawyers, who confirmed that Dean isn't a police detective. She doesn't believe that they're trying to help and hangs up. Dean overhears and says that her reaction just proves he was right about having to avoid any normal friends. The brothers go back down into the sewers and eventually find the creature's lair. The shapeshifter, still wearing Alex's form, sneaks up on them, attacks Dean and injures his arm, and runs away. It slips outside and Sam goes in pursuit but loses it. Sam and Dean split up to search but are unable to find the creature. They go back to the Impala, but Sam is unaware that the shapeshifter has taken Dean's place.



Back at the car, Sam begins to suspect something and asks about a case that John worked. Shape-shifter Dean corrects him and opens the trunk, but Sam draws a gun and demands to know where Dean can be found. He notes that his shoulder isn't hurting any more. Dean/Shapeshifter dares him to pull the trigger and then knocks him out with a tire iron. Sam wakes up tied to a post in the creature's lair. Shape-shifter Dean beats him and says that he doesn't want to know where Dean is. It then demonstrates that it can read minds and knows all of Dean's thoughts and memories. It talks about how Dean is jealous of Sam, and resentful that John left and forced him to take care of John. The creature then says that it's going after Rebecca.



Rebecca answers her door and finds "Dean" on her doorstep. He asks for a second chance to explain things.

Sam realizes that Dean is tied up in the lair.

Shape-shifter Dean tells Rebecca that a shapeshifter impersonated her brother, and that it may have grown up as a hated freak until it learned how to take on a human form.

Sam and Dean break free and get to the surface, and head for Rebecca.

Shape-shifter Dean explains that all the shapeshifter wants is someone to love it. He reaches for Rebecca, who tells him to go. Instead, Shape-shifter Dean leans forward and whispers in her ear, and she snaps at him. When she tries to call the police, Shape-shifter Dean ties her up. After he tortures her, Shape-shifter Dean explains that it's hard for him because he likes her, but he has to do what he has to do. The police break in and find Shape-shifter Dean as it tries to escape out the window. It throws the knife at one of them and runs across the yard, but is wounded by a shot. Down in the sewers, Shape-shifter Dean transforms back, removing its skin.



Sam and Dean hear about the attack on Rebecca on the news. They realize they have no weapons, and go to the Impala, figuring it's at Rebecca's. They arrive but the police spot them and the brothers are forced to flee. Sam tells Dean to run while he holds off the officers, and Dean reluctantly leaves. The next morning, he gets to the sewers but ignores Sam's advice to stay out of the sewers. Dean follows the creature's shed skin and goes to the lair, and finds... Rebecca, tied up.

Sam goes back to Rebecca's house and talks with "Rebecca." Once his guard is down, the Shapeshifter knocks him out.

Dean frees Rebecca, who explains that the creature abducted her and took on her form.

At the house, Shape-shifter Dean ties up Sam and explains that he plans to murder him. Dean will then be wanted for murder and hunted the rest of his life. He stabs a knife into the counter and Sam kicks him away and uses the knife to cut himself free. They fight and Shape-shifter Dean gets the upper hand, choking Sam. However, the real Dean arrives with Rebecca, and shoots the creature in the heart with silver bullets. He considers his dead duplicate and then takes his necklace back.



Later, Sam and Dean prepare to leave. Rebecca notes that nobody at college knows what Sam does, and wonders if it's lonely. Sam says it isn't so bad, and that it's family. They share a hug and Sam promises to call... eventually. As they leave, Sam explains that "Dean" tampered with the security tape and framed Zach, and the police will have to release him. As they drive away, Dean apologizes because Sam couldn't have a normal college life. Sam admits that he didn't fit in there, and Dean promise that he'll be there for him no matter what.



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