Nightmare - Recap

In a quiet suburban neighborhood in Michigan, a man pulls into his garage and the door closes by itself. The doors lock and the engine starts up, pumping out monoxide fumes. The man is unable to shut off the engine and quickly starts to choke, and soon collapses, dead...

And Sam wakes up from his dream. He wakes up Dean and says that they have to go right now. As they drive, Sam poses as a detective on the phone and has the local police check out the license plate he saw in his dream. Dean figures that it's just a nightmare, but the police confirm that the car belongs to a Jim Miller in Saginaw. They arrive at the house where the police are already checking out what appears to be a suicide. They talk to a neighbor, who insists that Jim wasn't the suicidal type. Sam wonders what the point is having dreams of people dying when he can't stop them, and insists that something trapped Jim in his car and killed him. Dean admits that he's worried about Sam, and figures they can check it out in the morning and talk to Jim's wife and son. When Sam notes that they won't want to talk to them, Dean has an idea.



The next day, Dean and Sam pose as priests and visit the Miller home. Jim's brother Roger lets them in, but isn't thrilled to have priests there. Jim's wife Alice apologizes for him and invites them in for coffee. Dean determines that Jim didn't have a history of suicide, and that her son Max found Jim's body. Sam goes to talk to Max, while Dean confirms that she hasn't had any of the problems associated with hauntings. Sam talks to Max, who says that he's living at home while saving up to go to school and has no idea why his father killed himself. Dean goes upstairs to use the restroom and checks for infrared cold spots. Sam comes up and Dean informs him that there are no signs of supernatural infestation.



Back at their hotel, Sam confirms that there are none of the normal indicators of a haunting based on the house's location. He suddenly gets a severe headache and then has a vision of Roger arriving at his home, unaware that someone is in his apartment. The window by itself and Roger goes to close and lock it. When he turns around, it unlocks and opens by itself. Roger tries to close it without success, and sticks his head out to get a better look. The window comes down on his neck, decapitating him. Snapping out of his vision, Sam tells Dean what he saw. They drive to Roger's address and Sam worries that his visions are getting more intense, and happening when he's awake. He wonders why he's connected to the Millers, and Dean says that they'll figure it out, and that it isn't freaking him out.

The brothers pull up as Roger enters his apartment. He locks them out and ignores their warnings, and they go around to the back to find an entrance. They break down the gate and go up the fire escape, only to arrive too late as Roger is decapitated. Dean takes a look inside, but finds nothing. Back on the street, Sam says that he saw a dark shape in the apartment stalking Roger. They wonder if Jim and Roger got involved in something that put a curse on the family, and they need to help Max as the next male Miller. Sam admits that he can sympathize with Max because he feels like the Winchesters are also cursed.



Back at the Miller house, Dean and Sam talk to Max, who says that Jim and Roger used to be close, and Roger was their neighbor at their old house. They ask if Max remembers anything unusual involving Jim and Roger, and Max wonders why they're asking. After a second's hesitation, Max insists that everything was fine. As they leave, the brothers figure that Max lied to them about their old house. They go to the old neighborhood and talk to a man who lived across the street. He wonders if Max was okay, and says that Jim was a mean drunk who constantly beat his son. Roger did the same thing, and the boy's stepmother ignored the entire thing. Max's real mother died in a car accident. Sam starts to get a headache and Dean quickly gets him away. As they go back to the car, Sam has a vision of Max confronting Beth and demanding to know why she didn't stop Jim and Roger from beating him. Max telekinetically lifts a knife and directs it at her, draws it back, and then rams it forward through her head.



Sam tells Dean what he saw, and they wonder if Max is psychic. He's been connecting with Max, and figures that he's connected with him because they both have psychic abilities. Dean insists that Max is a monster, but Sam refuses to let Dean kill Max. He insists that Dean follow his lead, and Dean agrees but goes in armed.

In the house, Max confronts and prepares to use the knife. Dean and Sam burst in before Alice can see what her son is doing, and they ask to talk to Max alone. He agrees, but catches a glimpse of the gun under Dean's jacket. He telekinetically closes the door and shutters, and yanks the gun out of Dean's hand when he draws it. When Alice tries to get through to her stepson, Max slams her into the counter, knocking her unconscious. Sam explains that he had a vision of Max killing Jim and Roger, and describes what Max was going to do to Alice with the knife. He insists that he was drawn there to help Max, but Max believes that no one can help him. Dean refuses to leave Sam alone with Max, but Sam insists and assures Max that he's in charge. Max agrees to give Sam five minutes, and Dean takes Alice upstairs.



Once they're alone, Max says that it will stop once he kills his stepmother, who was part of his being beaten. He explains that his father and Roger were still beating him as recently as a week ago. Jim got drunk and beat Max for the first time in a long time, and Max couldn't leave with the knowledge that they'd still be out there, and he'd still be afraid. Sam admits that he didn't have a father who hated him the way that Jim hated Max, and Max explains that his mother died in Max's nursery during a mysterious fire, pinned to the ceiling. Sam tells Max that what Jim said is real, and that it happened to Mary Winchester the same way. He realizes that they're somehow connected, and that Max's abilities started at the same time that his did, seven months ago. Sam figures that they were chosen for something, and says he and Dean have been hunting for the creature responsible. He asks Max to let them all go, but Max refuses, saying that he still has nightmares of being afraid. Sam warns him that the nightmares won't end once Max kills Alice, and he'll become as bad as they were. Max says he's sorry and then telekinetically shoves Dean in a closet and blocks it with a heavy cabinet.



Dean is tending to Alice's wound when Max comes into the bedroom, closes the door, and telekinetically shoves Dean into the wall. he then draws Dean's gun and prepares to telekinetically shoot it at Alice. Dean intervenes, but Max says that it's not about him. When Dean refuses, Max shoots him in the head...



... and Sam's vision ends. The cabinet blocking the closet door slides back.

Dean tells Max that he'll have to go through him to kill Alice. Sam barges in and says he can help Max, but the killing has to stop. Max agrees... and then turns the gun around and kills himself.

Later, Alice gives a phony story to the police, claiming that Dean and Sam are family friends and she doesn't know where Max got the gun. The Winchesters leave and Sam wonders if he could have done something to get through to Max. Dean tells him not to torture himself because max was too far gone and they were 20 years too late. Sam admits that if things had been a little different, they could have had the same thing happen with John.

Back at the motel, Sam wonders what the demon responsible for his gifts and Max wants with them. Dean figures that the demon would take Sam if he wanted him, without all the games. In response, Sam explains that he used telekinesis to move the cabinet, but he can't control it. Dean figures that Sam has one thing helping him that Max didn't: Dean. He promises that nothing bad will happen to Sam as long as he's around. As they leave, Dean suggests they go to Vegas to clean up using Sam's premonitions.



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