Mommy Dearest

Season	Episode	Overall
6	19	123

Series

Supernatural

Airdate

April 29, 2011

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Mommy Dearest is the 19th episode of Season 6. It aired on April 29th, 2011.

Summary[]

There was something about being there... It felt pure.

This episode summary is an official CW press release. It may contain errors.
DO NOT CHANGE!

Sam, Dean, Bobby (guest star Jim Beaver) and Castiel track Eve (guest star Julia Maxwell) to a small town in Oregon. The guys discover the townspeople have been converted to demons, but surprisingly, they all appear to be dying. When they finally do meet Eve, she decides to torture the brothers by bringing back their mother, Mary Winchester (guest star Samantha Smith), as a demon.

Plot[]

Two students, Todd Marshall and Ed Bright, leave a bar and find Eve waiting outside for them. They don't know who she really is, and she simply touches Ed and walks by as veins briefly spread across his face. Eve goes into the bar and locks the door behind her. One of the patrons notices blood on her dress and asks if she's okay. Eve approaches and kisses him, and the same pattern of veins spreads on his face. As Eve walks through the bar, touching more people, the first man goes berserk. The patrons begin attacking and biting each other while Eve picks up a drink and watches in satisfaction.

Bobby and the brothers load up five shotgun shells with the phoenix ashes, and Dean reveals that he got some on him and it didn't do anything to him. They speculate if that means it is powerless, and realize they have to find Eve first. Castiel appears and admits that Eve is shielded from angels, so Sam suggests that they find a friendly monster to help them. Castiel goes out and finally locates Lenore, the "friendly" vampire that they met several years ago. Recognizing them, she tries to run away from them but is cornered though they assure they won't hurt her, even telling her of Gordon's eventual fate of turning into a vampire and him getting decapitated, which somewhat pleases her.

They ask her about Eve, and Lenore says that she is staying far away from her. She warns them that Eve influenced the other members of her nest, causing them to go out to kill, and explains that everyone gives in eventually. Dean suggests that she tell them where Eve is, and Lenore warns that Eve can see through her. Sam appeals to her better nature, saying that Lenore can't want the entire planet dead, and Lenore tells them that Eve is in Grants Pass, Oregon, and Eve knows that they're coming for her. However, Lenore says that she needs something; she asks them to kill her because she's exactly like the others, and she fed on a 16-year-old girl. Sam hesitates, but Castiel reaches forward and burns her dead with a touch.

Castiel teleports Bobby and the Winchesters to Grants Pass, but find nothing amiss. They go to a diner and Bobby accesses the police department computer base, and finds nothing. Castiel tries to teleport away to search the town and realizes that he's blocked. Bobby learns that Ed Bright's doctor, Silver, called the CDC. Dean and Castiel go his office and discover that he's disappeared. As Dean picks the lock of the office, they spot blood on Silver's shed and finds Ed Bright's corpse inside. Dean prepares to burn it.

Bobby and Sam go to Silver's home and confirm that the house is empty, and that he had a wife and two sons. They run into the local sheriff and claim to be FBI agents, and the sheriff says that he's there to see if Silver is sick. Bobby successfully bluffs the sheriff into putting out an APB back at the station. Dean and Castiel arrive and Castiel points out that Ed Bright is in a nearby house. Sam and Dean break in and find several Ed Brights. Most of them are dead, but one of them is dying. He says that he's not dead, and they check his ID and confirm that he's Marshall Todd, Ed's friend. Marshall asks if they all look like Ed, and they assure him that he's hallucinating. He tells them that they were at a bar, gives them the address, and says that a girl in white was there. Marshall dies before he can say anything further.

The four men go to the bar and find everyone dead. One of them is a vampire but has a wraith spike, and they realize that Eve is creating hybrids. As the person discovering them, Dean names them Jefferson Starships. Bobby concludes that they have all burned out. As they talk, the sheriff and his deputies arrive and arrest Sam, Bobby, and Castiel, while Dean hides behind the bar.

At the sheriff's office, Sam catches a glimpse of the officers in the surveillance mirrors and realizes that they're Starships. They start to fight back and Dean arrives in time to kill all of them except the sheriff. They capture him and take him to an interrogation room, but he refuses to answer Bobby's questions. They hear a banging noise outside and realize that more Starships are attacking. Sam and Dean go to investigate and find Silver's two children locked up in a cell. The Winchesters free them and the brothers introduce themselves as Joe and Ryan. Ryan, the younger one, won't talk and Joe explains that his brother can't talk since they came for them. Dean says that they'll free them as soon as they confirm they're human.

Sam and Dean bring Joe and Ryan back to the office, give them food, and ask them what they know. Joe explains that the creatures were holding them for food. Dean promises that he'll take the boys to their uncle, fifteen miles away, but Castiel calls him aside and says that they have to worry about the greater purpose. Dean refuses and tells him to wait while he and Sam get the Silver brothers to safety. As they drive, Joe watches over his little brother as Dean looks on.

At the sheriff's office, Castiel tells Bobby that it was a bad idea letting Sam and Dean go. Bobby warns him that no one lets the Winchesters do anything, and suggests they interrogate the sheriff again.

Sam and Dean drop the Silver brothers off with their uncle and then leave.

The sheriff warns Bobby that Eve can see them through him. Castiel asks for five minutes alone with the creature and Bobby reluctantly agrees. Bobby then waits in the office and hears the sheriff screaming. Castiel comes out and tells Bobby where Eve is holed up, and tells him to call Sam and Dean with the information.

Dean and Sam return and discover that Castiel has decapitated the sheriff. They each take one shotgun shell and go to the diner where they were earlier. Dean says that he and Sam will go in to draw Eve out, and Castiel and Bobby will back them up. The brothers go inside, walk past the customers, and sit down. Sam uses his camera and confirms that everyone in the diner is a Starship. Eve, dressed as a waitress, offers them food and they realize who she is. The Starships lock the doors, draw the blinds, and relieve Sam and Dean of their guns. She realizes that they have phoenix ash and tells her minions to destroy the guns, and then explains that she's not there to fight. When they ask what she wants, Eve explains that she preferred the original arrangement, where hunters and monsters had a balance. But then Samuel and his people started abducting her children, and she pushed back.

When Dean and Sam don't believe her, Eve takes on the form of Mary Winchester to emphasize her point about a mother's love. Dean tells her to kill them and be done with it, but Eve says that she wants Crowley, who's not dead. She explains that he's still abducting her children, and he's using their souls as power, siphoning off her supply. If she can't stop Crowley, then she'll convert everyone on Earth to bolster her forces. Grants Pass is her laboratory to build the perfect monster. Eve admits that there were a few failures, but she's perfected the process. Smiling, she tells them that she used the brothers as the ultimate test: Ryan was one of the creatures.

Joe's uncle finds Joe dead on the floor, his neck ripped out. Ryan comes out, covered in blood, and Joe comes back to life. The two creatures attack the uncle, killing him.

The brothers are less than thrilled that Eve has played them. She offers them a proposal: they bring her Crowley and she lets them live. Dean immediately refuses, and Eve points out that he has no other options. Her creatures bring in Castiel and Bobby, and Eve explains that she's far older than any angel and she knows how to negate his powers. She repeats her offer, sweetening the pot by promising not to kill Bobby and Castiel, but Dean again refuses. Though Sam is hesitant to provoke Eve, Dean states that after spending the past few months working for a demon, they aren't going to work for monsters and dares her to kill them. Eve says that she'll turn them instead and Dean still refuses, saying that even if she beats him with a wire hanger, he still won't cooperate. She grabs him and says not to test her, and Dean tells her to bite him. She does, but then falls back, gagging, as Dean explains that he drank the phoenix ash down with whiskey. They watch as Eve burns up from the inside and collapses to the ground. The creatures start to attack and Castiel, his powers restored, destroys them all and then heals Dean's neck wound.

Dean immediately insists on going to save Ryan and Joe. Disgusted, Castiel agrees and teleports them to the house, and they find the uncle, dead. Joe and Ryan are in the basement, dead, and Sam finds traces of sulfur, indicating that demons are responsible. Dean and Sam tell Castiel what Eve told them about Crowley, and the angel says that he'll look into it immediately and teleports away. Once he's gone, Bobby wonders how Castiel screwed up, and suggests that Castiel let Crowley get away. Dean doesn't believe it, but Sam isn't so sure.

Castiel goes to the diner and finds Crowley waiting for him. Crowley says he's tired of cleaning up after his messes.

Characters[]

Main Cast[]

Recurring Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Jim Beaver as Bobby Singer
Mark Sheppard as Crowley (uncredited)
Amber Benson as Lenore
Samantha Smith as Eve and Mary Winchester

Co-Stars[]

Featured Supernatural Beings[]

Angels
Crossroad Demon (Crowley)
Demons
Dragons (mentioned only)
Fairies (mentioned only)
Jefferson Starships (Joe Silver, Ryan Silver, Ed Bright)
Khan Worms (mentioned only)
Part-Leviathan (Eve)
Phoenix (ashes)
Seraph (Castiel)
Shapeshifters (mentioned only)
Vampires (Lenore)
Wraith (mentioned only)
Arachne (mentioned only)

Continuity[]

Lenore last appeared in "Bloodlust".
Crowley last appeared in "Caged Heat", in which he was believed to be killed.
As confirmed by Dean, it has been two months since the events of "Caged Heat".
This is the first episode in which the brothers meet Eve face-to-face. She had earlier sent the Khan worm to convey a message to them. This is also the only time they meet, as they kill her in this episode.
Crowley and Castiel's alliance is revealed to the audience.
Lenore referenced Gordon Walker, a hunter who believed all supernatural entities were evil and had tried to kill her nest even though they didn't feed on humans. Sam and Dean tried to pacify her by briefly describing how they'd killed Walker years ago.

Trivia[]

Antagonists: Eve, Crowley, Castiel and the Jefferson Starships.
The episode was originally given "Trail of the Dead" as a tentative title. Trail of the Dead is the moniker of an American alternative rock band from Austin, Texas. Both of Sam and Dean Winchester's actors, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, hail from Texas, although neither from Austin (Padalecki was born in San Antonio and Ackles in Dallas).
Although Eve is the titular character of the episode, fans speculated the return of either Mary Winchester or Ellen Harvelle (who had reappeared several episodes earlier) before "Mommy Dearest" aired. Their hunch was proved partially correct when Eve shapeshifted into Mary while talking to the latter's sons at a diner.
- The title is a reference to "Mommie Dearest," a tell-all autobiography and later film by Christina Crawford, who details an abusive childhood at the hands of her mother, actress Joan Crawford.
- A particularly infamous scene in the movie is when Joan beats her daughter with a wire hanger for having one in her closet; Dean references this when he tells Eve, "Beat me with a wire hanger, the answer's still no."
Eve's nametag bears the name "Angela".
Mark A. Sheppard (Crowley) was uncredited in this episode to preserve the twist that his character was still alive.
This was not the first time an antagonist disguised herself as a waitress to surprise the Winchesters; Bela Talbot did it in "Bad Day at Black Rock" to discreetly steal the rabbit's foot from Sam, and a possessed waitress directly confronted them (much like Eve) in "Lazarus Rising" to interrogate Dean on how he escaped Hell.
Dean described Eve as the wicked witch. The Wicked Witch would eventually appear in a later episode.
We see Bobby using a computer for the first time in this episode (and complaining about it being a tablet, as opposed to one that "has buttons", although technically it has digital buttons).
Castiel almost died in this episode by one of the Jefferson Starships, as he couldn't tap into his grace due to Eve rendering him mortal.