12.03 The Foundry

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Title The Foundry
Episode # Season 12, Episode 3
First aired October 27, 2016
Directed by Robert Singer
Written by Robert Berens
On IMDB The Foundry
Outline Mary, Sam and Dean investigate a case where the sound of a crying baby led to the mysterious death of a couple. Meanwhile, Castiel teams up with Crowley in the hunt for Lucifer.
Monster Ghost
Timeline
Location(s) St. Paul, Minnesota
Lebanon, Kansas
Cleveland, Ohio
Sagamore Hills, Ohio
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Synopsis

A young couple in St Paul, Minnesota, are walking in a shopping district near a new housing development. The woman hears a baby crying from across the street in an abandoned house. She follows the cries inside, and in a crib finds an old doll. The man comes as she is leaning over the crib. Before they can leave, the door slams shut and they scream as an unknown something comes after them.

Mary is sitting in the Bunker library reading John's journal in the middle of the night. Cas comes in and she asks him how long it took him to feel as if he fit in, belonged here. He tells her still isn't sure he does, but that she does belong. As she readies for bed, Mary stares at herself in the mirror awhile before beginning to cut her hair.

In the morning, the boys are at the kitchen table. Cas comes in and tells them he is off to Cleveland in his search for Lucifer because he feels he is the reason Lucifer escaped. Mary joins the boys for breakfast and says she found a hunt in Minnesota – victims whose hearts were frozen after entering an old abandoned house.

They head out, and stop for gas and snacks. Dean introduces Mary to several beef jerky flavors, having a mother-son bonding moment. As Dean starts up Baby, Born to be Wild is playing, a little loud. Sam, in the back seat, tries to tell Dean to turn it down, but before he can get his point across, Mary leans over and cranks it up. Dean, happy, peels out and they drive off toward the case.

Cas is interviewing Tommy, a member of rock star Vince Vincente's band. Tommy tells Cas that Vince physically threw him from the room, and that he had strength like an MMA fighter, or like he was 20 again. He's sure it wasn't Vince. Cas asks Tommy to call him if he remembers anything else and gives him a card. The rocker scoffs, "Ok... Agent Beyonce." As Cas leaves the lobby, passing by the bar, Crowley calls out to him, "Guess that makes me agent Jay Z."

Mary and the boys are at the coroner's office, where he explains the victims' hearts were literally frozen. The boys note a frostbite burn in the shape of a handprint on the corpse.

Crowley tries to sell Cas on hunting Lucifer together. He wheedles, reminding him that they haven't tried to kill each other in ages, and they handled the Darkness together well. Crowley tells Cas he has a lead, an address to check out for Vince's sister.

Mary and the boys head to the abandoned house. They all have EMF meters and are checking the place out. Mary turns away from the boys, heading into the bedroom. She sees the crib and checks around it. As she approaches the crib, she sees the light above it flickering. She notices the sudden drop in temperature just before she uncovers the doll in the crib. The door slams shut as she pulls the blanket back, and she calls out. The boys can't get in to to her. Finally Dean shoots the lock and as they finally break in, a child ghost grabs Mary's arm and she gets the frostbite burn mark. Back at the motel, Sam and Dean are both working on laptops, and they scoff when Mary suggests they head out to knock on some doors, canvas the neighborhood, work the case. Sam and Dean explain that now, they can find out most of what they need on the internet.

Cas and Crowley arrive at the home of Vince Vincente's sister. She slams the door in Cas's face and immediately calls "Vinny," telling him federal agents are looking for him and he's in trouble. Crowley and Cas enter the house through their own means, and Cas is able to tell that she was recently healed. Crowley notices an abandoned wheelchair and deduces that she has been healed to walk again. He threatens to undo the cure, but Cas stops him. Cas explains to the woman that it wasn't Vince who healed her, it was something ancient and evil. She admits that he'd acted strangely, coldly, while he was there, and then mentions that he'd had a red-headed "groupie" with him. Crowley tells Cas they need to go to Vince's cabin in Sagamore Hills, Ohio.

At a cabin in the woods, Vince/Lucifer is checking his reflection. He asks Rowena, chained in the front room, if she has any beauty spells in her witchy brain. His vessel is starting to wear out. He wants Rowena to make the vessel permanent, strong enough to hold him. He threatens to break her neck again and tear her head off if she refuses.

Back at the motel, Sam suggest the children's spirits are mylings, from Scandinavian lore. Mary disagrees, saying that she didn't think the little boy wanted to hurt her, he was scared. Sam and Dean still think they're dealing with vengeful child spirits, and they will need to salt and burn the bodies. As Mary turns to talk it over, she grows lightheaded for a minute and stumbles, seeing visions of the last moments of her earlier life as well as of the little boy who grabbed her. Sam and Dean suggest she stay back at the hotel and get some rest while they hit the cemetery to look into the children's bones. After the boys leave, Mary makes some calls and is able to track down the former owner of the house and find out all about the death of a 4-year-old boy there. His mother describes a scar on his cheek and it confirms for Mary that Lucas Kellinger was the ghost who grabbed her.

Sam and Dean are at the cemetery, digging up the children. They discuss whether their mother is struggling versus simply adjusting. Sam's worried, but Dean cuts him off. He just wants to be happy with her return. Sam explains his worries that she is turning to hunting to avoid dealing, and tells Dean it's a family trait. The boys return to the hotel, but when they get there, Mary is gone. They check the room – no sign of struggle and no note. Then, Sam sees the weapons bag is missing.

Mary's gone back to the house on her own. She sees Lucas and, leaving the duffel bag in the entry, follows him deeper into the house, down to the basement. Lucas tells her he's cold. Her cell rings – it's Sam calling. Mary tells the boys she is at the house but before she can explain more, the signal goes out and the boys rush out from the room to head to the house.

At the cabin, Rowena is painting sigils onto the chest of Lucifer's vessel, explaining her spell will make it last. As Rowena completes the spell, he realizes something is wrong and she tells him she accelerated the decay, making him age super-fast. She waves her hands and he vanishes.

Mary is in the basement with Lucas and asks what is keeping him there. He tells her, "he is" and points out an area of wall. The ghost of a man comes forth. Mary recognizes him as one of the homeowners, Hugo Moriarty, but when she tries to confront him about killing all the children, he chokes her. Sam and Dean arrive at the house as she falls, and when they try to help her she tosses Dean aside. Sam sees ectoplasm leaking from her eyes and figures out Mary’s been possessed. Mary is able to fight the spirit off briefly, long enough to tell Sam to check the basement. Then the spirit takes over again and she comes after Dean. He can't bring himself to shoot her with the salt gun, but when she turns away from Dean to go after Sam in the basement, Dean wraps her up in iron chains. Sam rushes down to the basement. Lucas is there, pointing again to a section of the wall. Sam knocks a hole in the wall and finds a body, which he salts and burns, and the spirit is forcefully ejected from Mary. With the killer gone, the spirits of all the dead children are freed too and each glows brightly before ascending up out of the house.

Crowley and Cas enter Vince's cabin and find Rowena on the patio. She tells them she double-crossed Lucifer and sent him to the bottom of the ocean. While she refuses to actively work with them, she says that if they corner him and need her help, she'll be there.

As they come back to the Bunker, Dean tells Mary she kicked ass, and she was right about the kids, though they still didn't know what Moriarty's motive was. Mary tells him she does. She says that when Moriarty possessed her, she was able to see his story and the strength of his grief. Dean tries to reassure Mary, telling her "It's ok, you’re home now," but she tells him no, she's not home. Mary explains that she is grieving for baby Sam, her little boy Dean, and John. To her, she was just with her family, in Heaven, but now they're gone. "Every moment I spend with you reminds me of every moment I lost with them." She thought hunting would clear her head, but it didn't work. She says that she loves them, but that she needs some time alone. She takes her duffel and leaves.

Characters

Definitions

Music

  • "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf
(playing on the radio in the Impala when Sam, Dean and Mary hit the road; also played in 7.23 Survival of the Fittest)

Quotes

Mary: Castiel? After you left Heaven, when did it start to feel like... Like you fit? Like you... belonged here?

Castiel: Well, I'm still not sure I do.
Mary: Yeah.

Castiel: Mary... You do belong here.
Crowley: Bumping into each other. Working the same leads. What are the odds, Cassie? Fate brought us together.

Castiel: Not interested.

Crowley: Why not? We made a somewhat effective team against Amara. It's been months-I mean months-since we last tried to kill each other. We've both got very, very good reasons to want Lucifer dead. Besides... While you were gabbing with Vince's second fiddle, I was ransacking his room. Found these. Postcards from his beloved sister Wendy. Oh lookie here, an address and everything. Worth a look?
Castiel: I should have known there was something you weren't telling me. Rowena.

Crowley: So, Mother and I had an unfortunate, if not rather embarrassing, run-in with Lucifer. You're just mad because you're only my second choice for a Lucifer-hunt team-up.
Castiel: No, actually I think it's sweet. I thought your motivation was ambition and revenge, but now I know you just wanna save your mother.

Crowley: It's not about saving her. Lucifer has made off with a colossally powerful witch, who by the way is the only person alive who can slam him back in the Cage. He will either kill her, control her, or she will offer her services to the biggest bad in town, in order to save her neck, like she always does. Do any of those sound like particularly good outcomes to you?
Sam: Look I'm happy too, Dean, I am. I'm overjoyed. But, there's something about her, I mean something's going on with with her.

Dean: Yeah. She's adjusting.
Sam: No, she's struggling. I mean she's trying to bury herself in hunting to avoid dealing.
Dean: And how do you know that?

Sam: Years of personal experience. I don't know, man. Like mother like sons.
Rowena: A druidic glyph. I'm using a hybrid spell of my own devise – Book of the Damned and Celtic magic. It should give your vessel the resiliency and strength of the mightiest tree.
Lucifer: Oh. There's a woody joke in there somewhere.
Lucifer: Decapitation is far too merciful for you, ginger bitch!
Rowena: Until you forced me to get back in the game, I tried to forget about Lucifer. I loathe him, and I loathe that I had any part in letting him out of the pit he belongs in.

Castiel: So you'll help us then?

Rowena: Good God no. That whole FBI pantsuit look? Not my hex bag. But if you get Lucifer cornered and find yourself in need. I'm there.
Dean: And, um, listen, apologies if me and Sam hijacked or sidelined you in any way. I mean, this was your case, you know? And you kicked ass, again.

Mary: I kicked ass? You saved me, I-

Dean: Yeah, but you were right. You know, those kids were innocent. I mean hell, we didn't even know what Moriarty's deal was.
Dean: Mom it's okay, alright. You're home now.

Mary: No. I'm not. I miss John. I miss my boys.
Sam: We're right here, Mom.
Mary: I know. In my head. But I'm still mourning them as I knew them. My baby Sam. My little boy Dean. Just feels like yesterday we were together in Heaven, and now I'm here, and John is gone and they're gone. And every moment I spend with you reminds me of every moment I lost with them. And I thought hunting, working, would clear my head...
Sam: Mom, what are you trying to say?

Mary: I have to go. Sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I just need a little time.
Mary: I love you. I love you both.

Trivia & References

Dean: All right. So what have you found on Her Majesty's Secret Suck-bags?
A reference to the James Bond story, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Dean: Of course she's shaky. She hasn't been on this planet since Jane Fonda was wearing leg warmers.
Actress Jane Fonda helped to start the aerobics craze with her early '80s workout videos and books.
Dean: A lot of things have gone to seed since you were here. But the variety in snack food flavors is not one of them.
"Gone to seed" refers to the stage in a plant's life where it stops blooming and begins producing seeds. The phrase denotes something that is past its prime.
Tommy: Look... I been around all stripes of Vince, all right? Drunk Vince, depressed Vince, megalomaniacal 'I'm a golden god' Vince. The Vince who threw me through that door... that wasn't him.
"I'm a golden god" is a reference to this scene from Almost Famous. The phrase was originally coined by Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant.
Castiel and Crowley use the aliases "Agent Beyoncé" and "Agent Jay Z." A reference to the singer and rapper, respectively. Mary uses the alias "Agent Shirley Partridge," Dean uses "Agent Cassidy" and Sam uses "Agent Bonaduce," a reference to the Partridge Family. Which starred David Cassidy, who is the father of Supernatural alum Katie Cassidy.
The motel room the Winchesters stay in, the Royal Funk, with its purple color scheme and the symbol in the motel room partition, is a tribute to the late Minnesota native Prince who died on April 21, 2016. The merged gender symbols in the partition, which typically represent heterosexuality, are a reference to the symbol Prince adopted as his name in 1993. The symbol itself was a combination of the male and female gender symbols, and was dubbed "the Love Symbol."
Lucifer: You got any beauty spells locked up in that witchy brain of yours? Huh? I thought this one would last a bit longer before going all Keith Richards on me. This vessel hopping's getting old. Just as I get used to limitations in one meatsack, I gotta cut bait and jump to the next flawed lump.
Keith Richards is a founding member of English rock band The Rolling Stones. Born in 1943, he has long appeared wizened and aged, possibly due to a hard life of drugs and rock and roll.
Rowena uses the ash of a Hawthorne tree when drawing the druidic glyph on Lucifer's chest. In Celtic tree astrology, one of the things the Hawthorne tree represents is the idea of duality, an outward persona which belies a different inner persona -- much like angels taking vessels.
Lucifer: Red, what did you do?!

Rowena: Sped up the decaying process, my Lord. You thought Keith Richards was bad? Try Iggy Pop.

Punk musician Iggy Pop looks like he has had an even harder life than Keith Richards.
Crowley is seen reading a Superman comic in which Superman was framed for the murder of his friend, and the people of the planet turn their backs on him. The cover features Superman in chains.

Minutiae

Filming Locations: Map of known filming locations. The cemetery scene featuring the salt and burn was filmed in Queen's Park, New Westminster, and featured a headstone for Winifred N. Optican, a tomb visible in Greenville Cemetery where Mary's grave is located in 2.04 Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.
Gwenda Lorenzetti, who played Cheryl Kellinger, previously played Susan Bishop in 5.11 Sam, Interrupted.
When Lucifer possessed Vince Vincente in 12.02 Mamma Mia, he took the guise of Vince's dead partner Jen, and said he was an angel and promised that if Vince invited him in, they would be together. In the "Then" recap for "The Foundry," an additional line of dialogue is heard where "Jen" says that together they can help heal his sister, a line not heard in the previous episode.
As Dean leaves the store with a bag of jerky he walks past, and takes appreciative note of, a motorcycle. The bike, a British Norton Commando, may belong to Mr. Ketch.
With three Winchesters on the road, some things change. In the car, Mary rides shotgun, while Sam is in the backseat. In the "Royal Funk Motel" the three share a room - a roll away bed is seen although no indication is given of who slept there.
The deer's head appears in Vince Vincente's cabin.
When Mary is possessed, she pushes Sam to the ground and chokes Dean. Dean then proceeds to say "You have to fight this." This is a parallel from 1.22 Devil's Trap where similar events occur and Dean says to John, who is possessed, "Dad! Dad, don’t you let it kill me!"

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

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