12.04 American Nightmare
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| Title | American Nightmare |
| Episode # | Season 12, Episode 4 |
| First aired | November 3, 2016 |
| Directed by | John F. Showalter |
| Written by | Davy Perez |
| On IMDB | American Nightmare |
| Outline | After a woman dies from what appears to be stigmata wounds. Sam and Dean investigate a devout religious family living off-the-grid, who are hiding a dangerous secret. |
| Monster | Gail Peterson |
| Timeline | |
| Location(s) | Mason City, Iowa Pleasant Valley, Missouri |
| [[{{{prevep}}}|« Previous Episode]] | [[{{{nextep}}}|Next Episode »]] | |
Contents
Synopsis
In Mason City, Iowa, bells ring as a woman walks bleeding into a church, her body is shaking as the blood drips from her hands and feet, she cries out as she is whipped by an invisible presence while she approaches the front of the chapel where the father stands and looks at her in horror. She is speaking in tongues, and crying out, which frightens the others in the pew before she collapses that the father’s feet and dies.
Entering under the guise of the clergy, Sam and Dean approach the front of the church introducing themselves as Father Penn and Father Deniro. Father Cantos doesn’t want to talk about it as they question him about black smoke or sulfur but the father questions what kind of priest they are. Dean replies with “the old-fashion kind.”
Dean steps out to make a call, and while speaking to Cas finds out what’s going on with him but asks to be kept informed as he goes along. With a second to spare between the call and Sam coming back, Dean sends out a text to Mary: “Hey mom, just checking in. Is MOM still ok or weir? Should I call you Mary?” He leans against the car and shakes his head, stating out load that “I’m a 13-year-old girl,” before Sam arrives. There’s nothing on Angel Radio so the rogue demon is out but Dean finds out that Cas is “chumming it up with Crowley” and that they are hunting Lucifer and they are actually having some luck at it, but now Lucifer is now Vince Vicente. Dean’s dislike for the man is evident but Sam states that “It was the 80s” with a bit of admiration and that his “third album was kind of not horrible” to which Dean gives back in classic fashion “I hate you so much right now.” But getting back on the subject of the woman in the church Sam finds out that the words were Aramaic and that it means “Save me, Oh God.” “Save me from what?” Dean questions but they are off to the next clue.
At the Medical Examiner’s office, Sam questions Dean on why he is so “cranky” to everyone but Dean moves onto the findings to which Sam recognizes the Stigmata. “Bingo,” Dean answers, but it gets weirder as the report states that her skull was filled with a goopy mush. They find that they have nothing and decide to focus more on the case than on Dean’s obvious “Dr. Phil crap!”
At Child Protective Services, they find Beth, who was assistant and a Wiccan, which puts her instantly on Dean’s radar, but with the standard questions they find that Olivia had a lot of enemies being in the profession she was. Dean really thinks that Beth is the one who did it and Sam wants to make sure before Dean goes off and just shoots Beth.
At Joe’s Market that night, a young man is taken over in the same way as Olivia. On scene that morning, Dean finds out that everything is the same. Contacting Beth, they find out that the family “the Petersons” that Olivia was working with at the time live “off the grid” and that they used to have a daughter, Magda, who died of pneumonia because they wouldn’t let the doctor help her, they said it was “God’s work.” So with “weird, creepy, off-the-grid, Children of the Corn people”, Dean is all in.
Out on a back road, the Sam and Dean find themselves dressed as Child Protective Services. They pull up to a gated drive. On the way to the house, Sam tries to defend Mary by reassuring Dean that Mary will be back but Dean is set on the fact that Mary doesn’t answer her phone and that she took money and wasn’t answering her cell phone. He believes that she bailed.
Using the ruse of being the new case worker, they meet Abraham and Susan Peterson, who ask if they boys know God. Dean replies “oh, yeah, we’re besties.” Abraham asks if one of them would help him with something. When the scene cuts away, we see the black motorcycle pull up to the back of the Impala, check out the plates and drive away. Dean helps Abraham and Elijah with the wagon wheel, and he finds out that he used to be a computer programmer before moving to the county. Abraham and Gail didn’t want the materialistic world for their kids, so they made the change.
Inside, Sam looks at pictures of the family and listens to Gail as she explains that Abraham used to work 80 hours a week, that the kids were on meds, and she was in a car accident and she almost died. She was so hopped up on pills that she couldn’t take it. When things were at their worst, God came to her and told her to live a life of simplicity and he would take away the pain so they moved.
Sam lets her know that “Ricky” the delivery boy is also dead, but when she shows no emotions Sam becomes upset and he asks about Magda. He tells her that God didn’t kill her daughter, she did, which is when Abraham steps in, asking them to leave.
Back at the Impala, Dean believes that Beth is at fault for this but Sam wants to look into a vengeful ghost so they decide to split up, making it a bit of an unfriendly competition.
Back at the farm, Gail watches Elijah with the horses before she goes back into the house, but we move onto the basement where singing can be heard. Laying there on the cold floor before an altar, we find a young woman, whip marks on her back in a torn dress, living like a prisoner. Gail enters the basement and confronts her daughter, the one that everyone is believed to be dead, and accuses her of killing Olivia and Ricky. Magda denies it, but Gail tells her that the Devil is in her, that the He works through her and that Magda needs to confess her sins. As Gail grabs a bible and starts to read from the pages, Magda repeats what she hears and we hear the sound of whips across her back as an invisible force lashes against the girl.
Cut to night and Sam makes his way through the barn at the Peterson residence, looking for some sort of EMF but he’s finding nothing. He ducks down into a stall and listens as Abraham and Elijah talk about Gail being with Magda, hurting her but Abraham tries to convince Elijah that Gail is doing God’s work and if anyone had found out about her, they would try to take her away and that would never happen. Abraham implies that they couldn’t let that happen. “Magda is their cross to bear.”
Dean arrives at the office to confront Beth, asking how she likes her new gig, gun ready behind his back, but he finds out that she hates it. As he listens to complain about being the boss, he finds that she never wanted the job so he tucks the gun away.
Sam watches from the window as Gail continues to torture Magda but his cell phone goes off and he ducks away from the window. Telling Dean that Magda is still alive, Dean questions what is really going on but Sam is confronted by Elijah with a shotgun and never sees the bat coming as Abraham swings at him from behind, knocking Sam out.
Dean can’t get a response from Sam as he races back to the Impala and speeds out of the parking lot.
Sam wakes up in the basement with Magda singing. He asks her if she’s Magda Peterson and she tells him that she’s the Devil. She confesses to having abilities, but Sam can relate. He wants to see what she can do so Magda makes the cross levitate.
Sam admits that he used to have vision and could make things move but he doesn’t believe that he has them anymore, that it didn’t make him evil, it made him who he was and she tells him that if that was the case, than he is evil too. She tells him that she liked the Olivia and Ricky so she prayed that they could help but when they reached out to them, they never came. Her mother said that she killed them.
Sam tries to convince her that she can learn to control her abilities but Elijah and Abraham come down and bring them up to the dinner table, tying Sam to the chair. Sam finds out that it was Magda’s abilities that caused the accident that sent them on the path to the place where they are now. Gail blames everything on Magda.
They pray over dinner and Abraham takes the first bite, but before Elijah takes the first bite, Abraham starts to foam at the mouth. Gail has poisoned the food so that they can enter Heaven as a family. Sam tries to get Elijah to not eat the food and Magda send the spoon across the room using he powers. In an attempt to kill Magda, Elijah steps in front of the blade that Gail holds, killing the boy. Magda turns the blade on Gail but Sam begs her to not kill her, that she could control it, she didn’t have to be the monster that they told her she was and Magda lets Gail go, as the knife drops to the floor.
Ambulance and police surround the residence as Gail is lead away in cuffs, spouting off how Magda is the devil, even as she is put in the back of the police car. Magda sits at the ambulance as Beth tells Sam and Dean that there is an aunt in California that will take her, with a lot of land and time for her to be able to adjust. They agree that it will be best for her and Beth pulls Dean aside as Sam assures Magda that she will be able to control her powers but it will take time, but if she needs anything she can always call him.
Sam and Dean stop to reflect on Mary coming back and then suddenly leaving and Dean admits that he agrees, she needs some time and that he’ll try and be better at it. Dean checks his messages. Mary has texted back that her phone had died, Mom was fine and to tell Sam that she loves him too. They get in the car and drive off.
At a bus stop, we see Magda headed towards the bathrooms. She passes by a black-clad figure, the same one that had stopped to check out the Impala and she never notices him until it’s too late. With two shots fired from the silenced gun, we see that Magda is lying on the bathroom floor, dead. The cellphone in hand of the man with a cross rings and Mr. Catch confirms that he has “cleaned up” the Winchesters’ mess.
Characters
- Sam Winchester
- Dean Winchester
- Mr. Ketch
- Abraham Peterson
- Gail Peterson
- Elijah Peterson
- Magda Peterson
- Beth Roberts
Definitions
- Aliases
- Aquarian Star
- Costumes & Disguises
- EMF
- Hugs
- Impala
- Men of Letters
- Mr. Ketch's Motorcycle
- Palm Readers/Psychics
- Pie
- Sammy
- Table of Death
- Telekinesis
- Telepath
- Unconscious
- Witches
Music
- "Golden Dunes" by The Budos Band
- (playing on iPod as Ricky Copeland is killed)
- "Down in My Heart" by Paloma Kwiatkowski
- (sung by Magda Peterson as Sam and Dean leave the Peterson home)
- "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" by Paloma Kwiatkowski
- (sung by Magda Peterson as Sam comes to)
Quotes
Dean: Yeah. Good news, there's nothing on angel radio and Heaven's still on lockdown. So rogue angel is out.
Sam: Bad news?
Dean: Oh yeah. Yeah, we're besties.
Gail: Yes.
Sam: She didn't have to die. She was sick, if you had taken her to a doctor.
Gail: God does not-
Magda: That's not my name. I'm not Magda. I'm the Devil.
Magda: You can do that?
Sam: Yeah, and you thought our family was crazy.
Beth: She has a ranch. Lots of wide-open country.
Sam: I hope so. I mean Magda didn't know what she was doing, she had no idea. I think she deserves a second chance. What did Beth want?
Dean: She gave me her number. Her personal number.
Sam: You were gonna shoot her.
Dean: Yeah. Kinda weird, kinda hot.
Sam: Hey, did you mean what you said back there?
Trivia & References
- In the '90s rock music radio stations used the tagline "Rock. Nothing but Rock." -- which people quickly parodied as "Nothing Butt Rock." Butt rock became slang for bad rock music - which of course varied depending on your tastes! It can be assumed with Sam being a fan of Bon Jovi and Vince Vincente, that his musical tastes veered more towards '80s hair/glam metal growing up, which is in contrast to Dean and John's classic hard rock and heavy metal tastes.
Dean: That Carl paints quite the picture. What can do that?
Sam: I got nothing.
Dean: Me neither. Well, maybe we should focus on the case and less of the Dr. Phil crap.
- "Dr. Phil" is a reference to TV personality and relationships advice guru Phil McGraw.
Sam: What?
Dean: What? The Wicked Witch of the West in there. Miss 'positive energy,' wanted a bigger office, did a little hoodoo. Boom. I say we put a witch-killing cap in her ass and call it a day.
- The Wicked Witch of the West is an evil witch from the Oz books by Frank Baum. She also appeared in the episode 9.04 Slumber Party.
- Children of the Corn is a story by Stephen King (and subsequent movie franchise) about a town where children kill their peers on their 19th birthdays as a sacrifice to an evil deity who lives in the cornfields.
Sam: Well, you know sometimes families do better with a little time apart.
Dean: Yeah, who? The Mansons?
- The Manson Family refers to the followers of cult leader and murderer Charles Manson.
- "Papist" is disparaging term for Roman Catholics typically used by sectarians.
Minutiae
Posted by VFX compositor Alexandre Boucher. Top image shows how VFX erased the blood mechanisms seen in the bottom image.
Special effects makeup by Celine Godeau.
