Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire

Season	Episode	Overall
11	1	219

Series

Supernatural

Airdate

October 7, 2015

← Previous	Next →
Brother's Keeper	Form and Void

Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire is the season premiere of Season 11. It aired on October 7th, 2015.

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!

Picking up where the finale left off, Sam and Dean must deal with the Darkness that has been unleashed. Castiel deals with the effects of Rowena's (Ruth Connell) spell and recalls his brutal battle with Crowley.

Plot[]

The Darkness had been unleashed as dark clouds unto Earth. Sam and Dean, quickly take refuge in their Impala. When the Darkness engulfs the car, Dean suddenly finds himself standing in a field inside the turbulent black clouds, unaffected by them. Suddenly, a beautiful woman appears, her back to him. He calls out to her, and she slowly turns her head to gaze at him over her shoulder.

At the same time, Sam wakes up, surprised when his brother is not next to him. His memory brought back on how the Impala got its tire stuck in a pot hole when they tried to escape the smoke. When it reached the car, Dean instantly disappeared, and Sam was knocked out.

Sam finds Dean, unconscious and face down in a field of flowers about a mile away from the Impala. When he comes to, Dean has no recollection of how he disappeared from the car or landed in the field. The only thing he remembers is seeing the mysterious woman. Dean tells Sam, "She saved me." Sam asks, "Who?" Dean: "The Darkness." Dean tells Sam that she thanked Dean for setting her free, and they discuss for a while who she is, which one of them actually set her free, and how she got there. Dean states that, regardless, they have to put her back, whatever it takes, because she is evil.

Somewhere at a farm, Castiel takes refuge inside a chicken coop, still under the attack dog spell placed on him by Rowena. All he remembers after he was bewitched was he attacked Crowley, struck him down and stabbed him in the back. However Cass realizes that Crowley is still alive, as Crowley slipped out of his meatsuit before Cass stabbed him. One of the farm owner's son finds Castiel and confronts him. Castiel tries to warn the boy, but as he aims at the angel, Castiel wrestles with him, and the gun goes off, alerting his family and forcing Castiel to flee.

The boys arrive at a nearby town and find that the road is quiet with dead bodies strewn everywhere. While they are investigating, a road worker shows up and attacks them. He is shot down by Deputy Jenna Nickerson, who demands that Sam and Dean "show some skin", because one of the signs of the infected people (rabids) is black, bulging veins on their throats and bodies. Jenna relates to Sam and Dean that she was helping a family that was under attack and had to kill many of the infected people, causing her to get injured when she sought cover. Dean decides to take her to nearby hospital so she can get her wound treated.

At the hospital, they find more bloodied dead bodies everywhere. When Sam checks one of the hospital wings, he finds one of the rabids attacking a door. Before he can act the rabid suddenly dies, and Sam finds a man, Mike Schneider, inside with a baby.

Dean is stitching Jenna's wound when he remembers another part of his conversation inside the black cloud with the Darkness. The woman told Dean that she hadn't felt this peaceful in a very long time, and that she liked being there with him. Dean told her that he knew all about her from Death. Surprisingly, the Darkness said she didn't know who Death was and that Death didn't know her, either. Suspicious, Dean asks, "Are you saying I shouldn't kill you right now?" The Darkness replies, "Am I saying that? Or are you?"

Somewhere in the suburbs, Crowley possesses a woman named Marnie, but doesn't appear to have the ability to call his minions to him, so decides to do things the old fashioned way and use blood to communicate with his minions, taking a tire iron out of Marnie's car trunk. When Crowley enters the house, he finds that Marnie's husband and their best friends were discussing something for Marnie's birthday, an orgy. Crowley is game for this and puts down his tire iron.

Back in the hospital, Mike tells the story of his baby's birth during which the child's mother died just before a truckload of infected people arrived at the hospital attacking everyone. Sam notices black lines on Mike's neck. While Dean wants to kill Mike before he fully turns, Sam and Jenna are against it. As they are arguing, Mike decides to make a deal, he will leave the hospital and find somewhere to hide while he waits for the infection to run its course and kill him, but only if Jenna saves and cares for his daughter. Jenna agrees. Mike leaves and a truck full of rabids arrives at the hospital.

While Sam and Dean argue about whether they have to kill the infected or wait until they die, Castiel calls after praying to his angel brothers and sisters to help save him from the spell. He asks if Dean is okay and tells the boys that Rowena fled with the Book of the Damned and Nadya's Codex. Sam asks about the Darkness but Cass doesn't know anything. At that point two angels appear, and Cass tells the Winchesters he may not see them for a while.

As Sam, Dean, and Jenna try to leave the hospital with the baby, Dean reiterates that he wants to shoot their way through, but Sam says they need to stop doing things in the same manner they have historically used. He argues they need to try to focus again on saving people – all the people. He believes they can find a cure for the infected. Dean is initially reluctant but finally agrees to follow Sam's plan. While Dean gets Jenna and the baby out, Sam acts as a decoy to draw the infected away. When Dean and Jenna almost get to the exit door, they are confronted by Mike who, just before he dies, tells them the name of the child: Amara.

Meanwhile, in the suburb, Crowley has summoned two of his minions to pick him up at the woman's house in the aftermath of the orgy. He resumes possession of his old body, and the minions inform him that the Darkness has been released. Believing that it was only a myth, Crowley shrugs it off, but one of his minions persists, nervously saying that all of Hell heard screaming sounds from Lucifer's Cage, as if Michael or Lucifer himself was trying to warn Hell about this incident.

As Sam hides in a supply closet from the rabids, he gets attacked by a nurse who was already in the closet. He kills her but infected blood gets in his mouth as he does so. Within moments, the other rabids break down the door. As they approach him, however, they sense he is already infected and leave.

While stopping at a gas station so that Jenna can change Amara, Dean calls Sam to ask how his part of the plan is going. Sam only tells him that he is still looking for the cure, and Dean responds by saying that he will take Jenna to her grandmother's, and then he will return to help Sam clean up the town.

Dean has another flashback to the woman he spoke to inside the Darkness. He asks why she hasn't hurt him, and she replies, "For the same reason you'll never hurt me." She reveals the Mark of Cain on her chest and tells him that they will always be bound to each other. She explains that they each have already helped the other, and that, no matter what, they always will.

As Jenna changes baby Amara, she finds a tiny birthmark on Amara's chest – the Mark of Cain.

Characters[]

Main Cast[]

Featured Supernatural Beings[]

Angels (Efram, Jonah)
Archangels (Michael and Lucifer, mentioned only)
Crossroad Demon (Crowley)
Demons (Jervis, Demon Minion)
Horseman (Death, mentioned only)
Knight of Hell (Cain, mentioned only)
Primordial Entity (The Darkness)
Rabids (Rabid Road Crew, Mike Schneider, Rabid Nurse, Sam Winchester)
Seraph (Castiel)
Witch (Rowena MacLeod; mentioned only)

Continuity[]

This episode continues from where Brother's Keeper ended.
With the episode picking up from where the Season 10 finale ended, this will mean that Brother's Keeper, Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire, and Form and Void made up a three-part episode.
Castiel is still under the effects of Rowena's Attack Dog Spell.

Trivia[]

The episode was watched by 1.94 million viewers and got a 0.9 rating.
With this episode (the 219th episode overall of the series) Supernatural becomes The CW's longest running series.
This episode is named after the song "Out of the Darkness" performed by Moxy.
The episode title is a play on the phrase, Out of the frying pan, into the fire, denoting a situation going from bad to worse. It also refers to the release of The Darkness.
Sam's heartfelt speech to Dean in the hospital invokes the sentiment of a quote Dean himself once told Sam, the iconic "saving people, hunting things, the family business" from Wendigo.
This episode marks the first time since their imprisonment that both Lucifer and Michael have actively sought to communicate with the world from within their cage.
This is the first episode Dean doesn't have the Mark of Cain on his arm since Road Trip.