7.07 The Mentalists
| |
| Title | The Mentalists |
| Episode # | Season 7, Episode 7 |
| First aired | November 4, 2011 |
| Directed by | Mike Rohl |
| Written by | Ben Acker Ben Blacker |
| On IMDB | The Mentalists |
| Outline | Although things are still tense between them, Sam and Dean team up when psychics start dying in Lily Dale. |
| Monster | Ghost |
| Timeline | A week and a half since 7.06 Slash Fiction |
| Location(s) | Raleigh, North Carolina Lily Dale, New York |
| « Previous Episode | Next Episode » | |
Contents
Synopsis
Dean and Sam have been apart for a week and a half when Dean, currently in Raleigh, North Carolina, hears about the weird deaths of two mediums in the famously psychic town of Lily Dale, New York. He drives there in a stolen Dodge Challenger and, posing as an FBI agent, visits the scene of the second murder. Afterwards, he goes to what passes as the town's diner, Good Graces Cafe, and runs into Sam, who's also on the case. Despite Sam's obvious discomfort, Dean takes a seat at his table and talks him into working the case together.
While they're in the cafe, a woman sees them and thinks they're the serial killers who went on a crime spree two weeks ago. They assure her that they aren't and her friend, the spoon bender Nikolai Lishin, approaches and tells her that Sam and Dean are obviously FBI agents in town to investigate the murders. He gives them his card and tells them to call if they need anything. After they leave, Sam reviews his notes on the case with Dean. Imelda Graven was killed first, brained with her own crystal ball, and then Grandma Goldy was stabbed in the neck by her own planchette during a séance. From the pictures that Sam shows Dean, they can see that both women are wearing the same necklace. Apparently, it was willed to Grandma Goldy after Imelda's death.
They go to question the medium Melanie Golden, Grandma Goldy's granddaughter, and learn that all of Grandma Goldy's personal effects went to Jimmy Tomorrow, the owner of The Emporium. When they ask about the necklace, Jimmy says it contains a jewel known as the Orb of Thesulah and is very rare. They use their FBI badges and claim it as state's evidence so that they don't have to pay for it, but Sam quickly deduces that it was made in Taiwan and isn't a cursed object. Before they can come up with a new theory, Nikolai Lishin is killed when he's impaled by a batch of forks and knives that he'd been preparing for his bending trick. When they go to his apartment, Chief Bramberg tells them that the tip line is ringing with people claiming that his killer was a ghost or an ogre. They also learn that before he died, Nikolai claimed to have a vision of his own death. While they're still at the scene, Dean gets a call from Melanie Golden.
Melanie heard about Nikolai's death vision, and she's just now heard a voice message that her grandmother left her in which she relates her own death vision. In the message, Grandma Goldy said that the lights flickered and the room got cold, and Dean and Sam immediately think that they're dealing with a ghost. When she asks them what's going on, they tell her that ghosts are real and then admit that they're not really FBI agents.
Shortly after this revelation, Melanie's friend Camille Thibideaux has a death vision of her own, and Melanie brings Dean over to her house so that he can help. He notices a hidden camera in her living room, and they watch the footage from when Camille had her vision. On the tape, they can see a ghostly woman appear behind Camille and put her hands on her head, seemingly giving her the vision of her death. Melanie recognizes the woman as someone she's seen in an old photograph at the Lily Dale Museum of Curiosities.
At the museum, they see a picture of Kate and Margaret Fox, and the museum curator tells them that they were among the founders of Lily Dale. According to the curator, Kate was troubled but a great performer who could levitate objects and foretell deaths, while Margaret was not a natural physic and did not have her sister's charisma. Both sisters are buried in the Lily Dale cemetery, and after Sam turns to go, the curator grabs Dean's arm and gives him a message from Ellen. She's concerned about him and wants him to tell someone "how bad it really is," or she'll "kick his ass from beyond."
As they're leaving the museum, Dean confronts Sam about his feelings towards him. Sam is still upset that Dean lied to him and killed his friend Amy, but Dean is adamant that what he did wasn't wrong and that he was only doing what Sam couldn't; killing a monster that murdered four people. He also says that he was going to tell Sam about Amy, but he wanted to wait until Sam was more mentally stable. Sam doesn't say anything, and they go to the cemetery to dig up Kate and burn her bones. After they salt her body, her ghost shows up and tells them that they need to listen to her. Before she can say anything else, though, Sam throws a match in her grave and dispels her spirit.
They call and tell Melanie that the ghost is taken care of, and she tells Camille the good news. Camille is still nervous, though, so Melanie offers to let her stay with her for a few days. When they go back to Camille's house to get her things, Margaret Fox's spirit appears and attacks Camille. Melanie calls Dean in a panic, and Sam tells her to get salt from the kitchen and use it against her. When they run out of salt, he tells her to find something iron. Melanie picks up the poker from the fireplace, but Margaret knocks her down with a dresser and kills Camille in front of her.
Dean and Sam realize that Kate was just trying to warn people about her sister by giving them visions of their own deaths, and since they couldn't realize it sooner because Sam was trying to rush the case, they have no way of knowing who the next victim will be. Melanie tells them that Margaret's spirit was focused on killing Camille and that she was enjoying herself. They go to dig up Margaret's grave even though it's still daylight, but when they open the casket, it's empty. This leads them to believe that somebody stole her bones so that they can manipulate her spirit and make her kill people. When Dean sees the flyer for the Lily Dale festival again, he notices that their first three victims — Imelda, Grandma Goldy, and Nikolai — were the main headliners at the festival, so they investigate it as a possible motive.
They go to visit Melanie again, and she reveals that Camille was supposed to take Nikolai's place at the festival following his death. Melanie herself is likely to be asked to take her grandmother's spot, so Dean stays with her in case she's the next target while Sam goes back to the Emporium. He asks Jimmy if anybody has purchased an ashwood altar lately, and Jimmy tells him that someone did and paid with a credit card. He gives Sam the address and Sam leaves immediately. When he arrives there, however, he finds a Lamaze class in progress — there are no necromancers in sight.
Dean and Melanie are setting up a protective salt circle when Sam calls to tell that Jimmy's the necromancer, having sent him on a wild goose chase. As they talk, Margaret shows up, and Dean tells him to hurry up and take care of Jimmy while they hold off Margaret.
Sam rushes back to the Emporium, but Jimmy is gone. He finds and breaks into Jimmy's apartment, where he sees Margaret's skull on an altar. He picks up the skull, and Jimmy sneaks up on him and holds a gun to his head. When he hands the skull back to Jimmy, Sam uses the opportunity to grapple with Jimmy and take his gun off him.
Sam holds Jimmy at gunpoint and asks him about his binding spell. Jimmy tells him that the spell is unnecessary because Margaret wants to help him, and then reveals that both he and Margaret are real psychics, angry at all the famous charlatans because they're good performers without any real talent. He uses telekinesis to get the gun away from Sam and then points it at him. Sam asks him where the bones are, and his body language gives away that they're in his bedroom. Sam asks him if they're in the bedroom, and Jimmy is startled. The gun goes off, barely missing Sam. He then tries to convince Jimmy that what he's doing is wrong, but he refuses to see reason. When Jimmy looks back at the bedroom again, Sam quickly pulls out his own gun and shoots him in the chest, killing him.
Meanwhile, back at Melanie's house, Dean has finally run out of rock salt shells. Margaret throws him across the room and then starts choking Melanie. Before she can kill her, though, Sam finds her bones on Jimmy's bed and salts and burns her.
The next day at Good Graces Cafe, Sam and Dean are bantering and seem in a much better mood. Melanie shows up, and Sam goes outside to give her and Dean some time alone. She thanks Dean for saving her life and tells him that Camille's death isn't his fault. After they say their goodbyes, Dean goes outside to find Sam putting his things in the trunk of the Challenger.
When Dean asks what's going on, Sam says that they should just take one car. Dean is surprised, but Sam says that he understands why Dean killed Amy. Still, he doesn't want Dean to lie to him. He knows that Dean isn't sleeping and that he's drinking too much, and he thinks it's because he feels regret for killing Amy. Dean says he felt guilty lying to Sam, and the reason he's upset is because he's been having a hard time trusting anyone since Castiel. In the Impala, Sam's still wondering how Nikolai bent his spoon, but Dean shrugs it off as they leave Lily Dale together.
Characters
- Sam Winchester
- Dean Winchester
- Jimmy Tomorrow
- Melanie Golden
- Camille Thibideaux
- Kate Fox
- Margaret Fox
- Ellen Harvelle
- Grandma Goldy
- Nikolai Lishin
- Elijah B.
Definitions
Music
- "Knockanore Hill" by Ian Duncan Antony Clarke & Simon John Painter (CPM / Carlin)
- (plays in the Good Graces Cafe)
- "Thar Desert" by Adam Francis Routh & Patrick David Wilson (Bruton Music)
- (plays when Sam barges in on the Lamaze class)
Quotes
Dean: What the hell did he say to me?
Sam: Yeah.
Dean: Ugh. I can't believe he was boning her.Sam: Can't imagine.
Trivia & References
- Bananas Foster is a New Orleanian dessert made with bananas, vanilla ice-cream, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, rum, and banana liqueur.
- The Powerball is an American lottery game offered by 45 states.
- The X-Files TV series featured FBI agents Mulder and Scully who investigated the paranormal.
Sam: I was thinking split up and canvass.
- Miss Cleo was an American psychic and actress who was frequently seen on US television from 1997–2003. In her infomercials and commercials, she used an obviously fake Caribbean accent and claimed she was from Jamaica (she and her parents were born and raised in the US). Eventually, she and the Psychic Readers Network were sued by several states and the US Federal Communications Commission for fraud and deceptive advertising. Here is a video of one of her commercials.
Melanie: She wrote a few books. And Imelda was on The Nate Berkus Show twice. So, yeah, I guess they were doing pretty well.
- The Nate Berkus Show was an American talk show that aired between 2010–2012.
- This is probably a reference to The Magic 8 Ball. It is a toy used for fortune-telling or seeking advice, manufactured by Mattel and developed in the 1950s. One of 20 answers inside a standard Magic 8 Ball is 'Reply hazy try again'
- A reference to the movie Chinatown which ends with the line Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.
Minutiae
- Missouri was the psychic who first told John Winchester about the existence of the supernatural, and later helped the boys in 1.09 Home.
- Pamela Barnes of course lost her sight when she saw Castiel's true form and was later killed by a demon in 4.15 Death Takes a Holiday. She was last seen enjoying 'one long show at the Meadowlands' in Heaven.
Sides, Scripts & Transcripts
- 7.07 The Mentalists (Transcript)
- The Mentalists script (Production Draft)
Promotion
- Jim Michael's live tweets during the broadcast
- Episode Title
- Plot details by TVGuide
- Synopsis
- Promo pics by ksitetv
- Additional promo pics
- Promo clip and Extended Promo clip
- Webclip
- Sera Gamble introduces the episode
