Metamorphosis - Recap

A captured demon taunts Sam and Ruby, the ones who captured it. They demand to know Lilith's whereabouts but it refuses to talk and instead taunts Sam about sleeping with a demon. Angry, Sam uses his psychic abilities and forces the black demon essence from the human host body. They're unaware that Dean is watching them from hiding, having gone to the address that Castiel provided. Sam and Ruby tend to the human host and he tells her that the headaches from using his powers are gone. Dean steps out of the shadows and asks what's going on. He quickly realizes who Ruby is in her new host body and attacks her. She fights back but Sam calls them off each other. Ruby gets the human host out of the building and Dean leaves, furious.

Sam goes back to their hotel where he finds Dean packing to leave. An angry Dean punches Sam, then punches him again, and asks what he's been doing. Sam explains that he's been exorcising demons with his psychic abilities, and it's safer than an exorcism ritual. Dean warns that using demon-based abilities is a slippery slope and Sam doesn't know what he's doing. When Sam insists he's doing good, Dean warns him that Castiel has told Dean to stop Sam, or the angels will on behalf of God. They're still arguing when an old friend of the family, a Hunter named Travis, calls Sam and asks them to come to Carthage, MO, to deal with a man named Jack Montgomery.

In Carthage, Jack is putting away his third steak for supper and asks his wife Michelle for more food. Later he is brushing his teeth in the bathroom when he suddenly convulses in pain. The bones beneath his skin shift on their own, but when Jack looks at himself in the mirror everything is back to normal... for the moment.

As they drive to Carthage, Dean tells Sam about his trip to the past. When Sam mentions the Yellow-Eyed Demon forcing him to drink its blood as a child, Dean realizes he didn't say anything about that. Sam sheepishly admits that he's known about it for a year but didn't tell the truth to Dean about that, either.

Jack goes to the kitchen to get a midnight snack and soon starts eating all the meat in the refrigerator, cooked and uncooked. The Winchesters are watching him from across the street and figure something is definitely going on. Back at the hotel, they find Travis meeting for them. He explains that Jack is a Rugaru, a demon that starts human and then mutated into a flesh-eating monster with a preference for humans. He explains that once a Rugaru eats human flesh, it transforms complete. Travis has been following Jack because the Hunter killed Jack's father, who was also a Rugaru. The condition/curse is passed on genetically, but Travis waited to see if Jack might have been spared. Now that Travis has learned that Jack bears the curse, he needs the brothers to help him deal with him.

Michelle is preparing supper when she slices her finger and blood drips all over the table. Jack stares at it and licks his lips, then comes to his senses and runs out, frightened. He goes to a bar and sees a drunk guy hitting on an attractive girl. Jack tells the man to back off and when the guy throws a punch, Jack grabs the fist and snaps the hand bones. Horrified, Jack runs out into the night.

Travis and Dean are preparing blowtorches since fire is the proscribed way to kill a Rugaru. Sam comes back from the library to reveal that legends claim that some Rugaru never transform if they never taste human flesh. Travis is skeptical, noting every Rugaru he's ever met turned flesh-eater. Sam thinks they should talk to jack and tell him what's going on so he has the knowledge to fight his impulses, but Travis disagrees. Sam leaves, angry.

Jack goes back home and apologizes to Michelle, who eventually comes around. Aroused, he starts to make love to her on the kitchen counter but starts biting at her neck. She throws him off and demands to know what he's doing. Confused, he runs out of the house.

Dean and Sam are driving to Jack's home and Dean wonders if Sam can go through with killing Jack if they have to. Sam wonders why Dean is questioning his commitment and Dean notes that he might be getting emotionally involved. Sam tells is brother that he's been lying to Dean because Dean has been treating him like a freak. Sam admits he does feel like a freak but he wants to use his abilities to do something good. He wants Jack to have the same chance. Dean finally agrees they should talk first and they go to Jack's home where the man is outside. They try to explain what's happening and Dean warns that they'll have to take care of it if Jack can't restrain his impulses. Jack, angry, tells them to leave.

Later, Jack is walking around the neighborhood rather than going home to face Michelle. He sees a woman undressing in front of her bedroom window and climbs up. Sam and Dean, who have been tailing him, go upstairs from inside and burst in, only to find the woman alone. She screams and they quickly back out before she can call the police.

Jack, having resisted his flesh-eating impulse, comes home only to find Michelle tied up. Travis knocks him out from behind and ties him up. When Jack wakes up, Travis apologizes and says there's nothing he can do: Jack will eventually transform. He also forces Michelle to tell him what she said when he broke in: that she's pregnant. Now that the Rugaru curse will be passed down to the son, Travis has no choice but to kill them both. He prepares to set the house on the fire and Jack goes berserk, breaking free and attacking Travis. He breaks the Hunter's arm and then rips out a chunk of his neck and severing the jugular. He looks up at Michelle, covered in blood and now fully transformed. He goes to her... and unties her. She runs outside, telling him to stay away, and Jack goes back to feeding on Travis' corpse.

Sam and Dean arrive and see Michelle leaving, and go inside. They follow the blood trail to where Jack has dragged Travis' corpse... and then the Rugaru ambushes both of them and knocks them out. Sam wakes up in a closet while Jack has an unconscious Dean laid out on the table. Sam tries to get through to the still-human part of Jack but the latter realizes there's no hope of him going back to what he was, or having a normal life with his wife and unborn child. Sam tries to tell Jack he knows what he's going through, while using a coat hanger to get the closet door open. He bursts out just as Jack is losing control and preparing to feed on Dean. Sam has no choice but to use a blowtorch and burn Jack to death.

Later, as the brothers are driving away Dean tells Sam that they had no choice and Sam had to kill Jack. He admits Sam's psychic abilities scare him, but he demands an explanation. Sam finally says that he has no choice but to deal with his abilities, and Dean promises he's got his brother's back. Sam says it’s not necessary: he's no longer going to use his brothers, because he feels it's the right decision.


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