10.13 Halt & Catch Fire

Title	Halt & Catch Fire
Episode #	Season 10, Episode 13
First aired	February 10, 2015
Directed by	John F. Showalter
Written by	Eric Charmelo Nicole Snyder
On IMDB	Halt & Catch Fire
Outline	Sam and Dean are on a hunt that involves a vengeful spirit killing college students through electronics and the internet.
Monster	Vengeful Spirit
Timeline
Location(s)	Spencer, Iowa
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Synopsis

In Spencer, Iowa, a young couple, Billy and Janet, are on a date. They ask Trini for the nearest Taco Town and she gives them directions. The directions lead to a washed out bridge. Trini then tells Janet to get out of the truck, but she does not allow Billy to exit. The truck then drives off the bridge killing Billy.

The Boys are hanging out at the Bunker while Cass is looking for Cain. Dean wants to find a cure for the Mark of Cain, but in the meantime, he has found a case. Sam and Dean head for Iowa. The arrive at a college campus where the interview Janet. She claims that the truck had a mind of its own and that the truck belonged to Billy's brother who died in Afghanistan. Sam and Dean then go to the salvage yard where they salt and burn the truck.

Meanwhile at a sorority house, another girl, Julie, is on social media. She receives a request to chat from someone who says she “knows” about “810”. Julie shuts off the computer but it comes back on. She unplugs it but the computer screen fills with “810”. Julie tries to leave the room, but the door locks and the computer power cord chokes her to death.

Sam and Dean return to the college campus to investigate the second death. They know that they are dealing with a vengeful spirit, but they don't know who the ghost is jumping from one machine to the next. Julie's roommate, Delilah Marian, doesn't provide any useful information.

While Dean enjoys lunch in the cafeteria, Sam researches Julie's social media sights. He finds nothing, but when he goes through her deleted files, he finds the chat with the mysterious person from the night before and they wonder what 810 means. They decide it is an address.

At one of the 810 addresses, Sam and Dean find a flower memorial. Corey Silver is there and she is the wife of the man who died at the site in an accident. She is tired of seeing flowers there and she believes that a college girl is leaving the flowers. Corey describes Delilah.

At the campus, Delilah is talking to Kyle, and she is concerned that Billy and Julie were killed. Kyle says it is a coincidence, and that Delilah needs to keep her mouth shut. Delilah leaves and Kyle plays with his smart phone. A prank call scares Kyle and then his clock radio goes to 810. Kyle's speakers are turned up and the high decibal level leads to his death.

The Boys decide that the victim of the car accident, Andrew Silver, is the ghost. However, he was cremated and they don't know what he could be tied to, so the Boys question Delilah. She tells them about the night of Andrew Silver's accident. She explains that Billy was driving and that Billy, Kyle, Julia, and Delilah were all playing with their phones. Billy lost control and ran Andrew Silver off the road where he hit a utility pole. Delilah wanted to call 911, but when wires broke and caused the car to catch fire, Billy drove off. He refused to call the police because he was driving on a suspended license. Sam and Dean explain that Delilah is being hunted by a ghost.

Dean stays with Delilah, while Sam goes to the site of the accident. Delilah tells Dean that she feels guilty. Dean sympathizes because he has made more mistakes than he can count but he does his best to make things right. Maybe the way for Delilah to make it right is to tell the truth about what happened.

While at the accident site, Sam finds that the lines that killed Andrew link to a wi-fi tower and so Andrew's ghost is using the internet to travel. They can't kill the internet, but Sam has an idea. Dean has to keep Delilah safe while Sam implements the plan. When Andrew's ghost arrives, Dean begins smashing all the electronics in the room, and then they decide to go to the basement where there is no wi-fi.

Sam arrives at the home of Andrew Silver. When he starts to explain to Corey, she already knows there is a problem. She has been talking with Andrew online. She knows it is crazy, but she was happy to have her husband back. However, as time passed, Andrew changed and become focused on revenge. She suspected Andrew when the college kids started dying.

While in the basement, Dean finds a lost phone in the couch cushions. This allows Andrew to appear and begins to choke Delilah. Dean uses an iron bar to dissipate Andrew. When the doors are locked trapping Dean and Delilah, Dean starts talking to Andrew saying that he has a right to be pissed but the blood fuels the rage. He then texts 911 to Sam. Sam calls back and puts Corey on the phone. She talks to Andrew's ghost and convinces him that this is all wrong. She gets him to move on.

Sam and Dean take Delilah to Corey Silver's house because she wants to tell the truth about the accident. As Sam and Dean watch her enter the house, they talk about choosing peace. Dean says his peace is helping people and working cases. Dean cannot live on false hope that they will find a cure for the Mark of Cain. Sam doesn't want Dean to stop fighting and give up. Dean insists that he will not give up, that he will fight, and when the time comes, he will go down swinging.

Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Delilah Marian
• Andrew Silver
• Corey Silver

Definitions

• Aliases
• Ectoplasm
• EMF
• Salt
• Sammy
• Vengeful Spirit

Music

• "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise" by The Avett Brothers

(playing the car of the couple in the teaser)

• "64 Recliffe Gardens" by Hazelden

(playing while Julie is chatting with "PrincessElsa8")

• "Work, Breed, Consume" by Against Empire

(playing in Kyle's room; death by decibel)

• "Take Me to Church" by Hozier

(playing in the car during Delilah's flashback to the car crash)

Quotes

Dean: What did Cas say?
Sam: Good news, bad news. Bad news, he discovered riverboat gambling. Good news, he thinks he might be closing in on Cain.

[Dean notices a pair of college girls]
Dean: Sorry I ever made you leave. [Dean notices another college girl] God they're everywhere.

Dean: Alright, so big brother didn't getting along with little brother, was pissed off he was driving his baby. I get it.

Sam: What are you saying, if you died and I drove your car, you'd kill me?

Dean: If you stunk her up with taquitos, probably.

Sam: Now I'm going through her deleted files.

Dean: You can do that?

Sam: Yeah. I mean nothing ever really gets deleted from the internet. You knew that right?

Dean: 'Liar. I know you'll pay.' Well, this Princess Elsa's a bitch.

Dean: I've made more mistakes than I can count. Ones that haunt me day and night.

Delilah: So how do you deal?

Dean: Whiskey. Denial. I do my best to make things right, whatever they may be... For you maybe it's, maybe it's coming clean. You know finding a way to ask for forgiveness, but not breaking the bank at your local florist, I mean real forgiveness. You can't just bury stuff like this, you gotta deal with it.

Sam: I mean it makes sense Dean, we're all just a bunch electrical impulses, right? So whenever Andrew died, his pulses just transferred to another current. You gotta get Delilah somewhere safe, turn off all the routers in that sorority.

Dean: Oh yeah, sure Sammy we'll just kill the internet. Wait, can we?

Sam: No, no not really.

Dean: Andrew listen to me, you have every right to be pissed. But take it from me, the more you kill the crazier you'll get, the blood fuels the rage. So it looks like to me you got two choices: you could keep killing, and become something you don't recognize; or you can move on, 'cause that is the only thing that will give you peace. So it's up to you man, pain or peace.

Sam: Looks like Andrew wasn't the only one who chose peace.

Dean: Yeah, looks like. Think I'm gonna follow his lead too.
Sam: What do you mean?

Dean: My peace is helping people, working cases. That's all I wanna do.

Sam: So this is it, you're just gonna, you're just gonna give up?
Dean: No, I'm not going to give up. I appreciate the effort, okay I do. But the answer is not out there, it's with me. I need to be the one calling the shots here, okay? I can't keep waking up every morning with this false hope... I gotta know where I stand or else I'm gonna lose my freaking mind... So I'm gonna fight it, till I can't fight it anymore. And when all is said and done, I'll go down swinging.

Trivia & References

"Halt & Catch Fire" is a reference to the computer machine code instruction that will cause a computer to stop functioning. There is also a TV series of the same name.

Sam: What in the world?

Dean: A croisookie.
Sam: A croisookie?
Dean: Yeah, it's the new cronut.

Launched in 2013, a Cronut is a croissant-doughnut hybrid pastry invented by Dominique Ansel and trademarked by his Bakery in New York City. The Cronut became an instant hit and sparked the "Cronut Fever." The croisookie is a take on the crookie -- a half croissant, half cookie dessert.

Janet Novoselic and Sam and Dean's FBI aliases Cobain and Grohl are all references to the band Nirvana.

Janet: You're Gen X. Right.

Dean: Okay so, Trini and everything else in the truck went all 'Christine.'
Janet: Who's Christine?
Dean: It's a Gen X thing.

Christine is a novel by Stephen King about a car possessed by supernatural forces.

Gen X is the common abbreviation for the generational label Generation X used in a "Western World" context to refer to those born between the early 1960s and the early 1980s.

Sam: So you think we're dealing with a ghost in the machine?

This is a play on the phrase "the ghost in the machine" which refers to the concept that at times primitive parts of the brain such as those responsible for anger can overpower the higher, logical functions.

Sam: I hit up Julie's Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Instachat, Snapchat, AIM. Nothing but posts on rush and Fifty Shades of Grey -- the movie not the book.

The Fifty Shades of Grey movie opened the same week this episode aired.

Sam: So PrincessElsa8 is not some crazed cyber killer. She is a third grader from Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin, who's obsessed with Frozen. And was she was fast asleep when the Instachat occurred.

Frozen is a 2013 animated movie which centers around the Princess Elsa. It is one of the top grossing movies of all times.

Delilah: So you're like Ghostbusters?

Dean: Sure.

Ghostbusters is an 1984 comedy-horror movie about a team of guys who catch ghosts.

Dean: You know this might be a Shocker situation. The paper said he died from the collision, but Delilah says he died by electrocution, so maybe that's how he's surfing, he's using the power lines as a conduit.

Shocker is a 1989 horror film by Wes Craven. In it a convict by the name of Horace Pinker makes a deal with the Devil to turn him into pure electricity after he is executed by electric chair, allowing him to possess and kill others. Horace Pinker was played by Supernatural alum Mitch Pileggi.

Dean: Alright, so how the hell are we gonna deal with the Lawnmower Man?

The Lawnmower Man is a film in which a mentally disabled man is the unknowing subject of an experiment using drugs and virtual reality. The experiment increases IQ but also causes murderous rage.

Minutiae

Live tweets from the cast and crew during the episode.

Barbara Kottmeier, who played Corey Silver, previously played Candace Armstrong in 4.08 Wishful Thinking.

Sam's cell phone number is (785) 555-0197.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 10.13 Halt & Catch Fire (transcript)

Promotion

• Synopsis