7.07 The Mentalists

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Thementalistspic.png
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

[[{{{prevep}}}|« Previous Episode]] | [[{{{nextep}}}|Next Episode »]]

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 here 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 by her own crystal ball, and then Grandma Goldy was stabbed in the neck by her own planchette during a seance. 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 Thessaly 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 Thibodeaux 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. He also says that he was going to tell Sam about Amy, but he wanted to wait until Sam was more 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 now 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 victimss—Imelda, Grandma Goldy, and Nikolai— were 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. 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 sent him on a wild goose chase and that he is the necromancer. 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 charlatans who are famous because they're good performers and not because they have 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 that's why he was upset. They leave Lily Dale together.

Characters

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

Waiter: (to Dean) You're a virile manifestation of the divine.
Dean: (to Sam) What the hell did he say to me?
Museum Curator: Those two were the exception actually. The Campbells? Got along famously. Of course that was just a stage name...they weren't actually brothers. That was a cover for their alternative lifestyle.
Museum Curator: (to Dean) I'm sorry I don't normally do this during business hours, but do you know an Eleanor or an Ellen? She seems quite concerned about you. She wants to tell you, pardon me, if you don't tell someone how bad it really is? She'll kick your ass from beyond. You have to trust someone again, eventually.
Sam: He broke my spoon.
Dean: In the bed? They were in the bed?

Sam: Yeah.

Dean: Ugh. I can't believe he was boning her.
Dean: (to Melanie Golden) Yeah. See, there's, uh, fake whoo-whoo crap, and there's real whoo-whoo crap.
Dean: [looking at a flyer] Hey, Sam, you know why I'm not going to spend my money at the annual Lily Dale E.S.P. Festival and hot-dog-eating contest this year?
Sam: Can't imagine.

Trivia & References

The title of the episode, "The Mentalists" refers to mentalism - the practice of performing what are purported to be psychic acts on stage. The title is also likely a nod to the CBS series The Mentalist, about a former con man "psychic" who uses his experience to aid police.
The episode is set in a real town – Lily Dale, New York. The town has been the center for the practice of the Spiritualist religion since the late 19th century, and is reputed to have the highest number of psychics and mediums per capita in the United States. Every summer its workshops and festivals attract thousands of visitors. It is also worth noting that Kate and Margaret Fox were real people, and purported to be mediums. The Campbell brothers, seen in a photograph, also existed and specialized in paintings and writings said to be produced by spirits. They were Allen Campbell and Charles Shrouds and were actually a gay couple who posed as brothers.
At the start of the episode Dean has takeout from Fat Mack's Bar-B-Q Rib Shack. Crowley met Sam and Dean at a Fat Mack's in 6.08 All Dogs Go to Heaven.
Sam of course once had psychic abilities along with the other of Azazel's Special Children. Sam had Premonitions of death including those of Jess, the Millers and Dean in 1.14 Nightmare and Rose Holt in 1.21 Salvation. Sam uses Telekinesis once in 1.14 Nightmare, motivated to move a piece of furniture blocking his way after he sees Dean killed in a vision. This ability is not seen again until after his training with Ruby, although we only see it demonstrated once in 5.14 My Bloody Valentine. It is also seen used in 4.15 Death Takes a Holiday, when Sam uses it against Alastair at the beginning and the demon that killed Pamela near the end.
In the Lily Dale Museum there is a poster for the Trocadero Vaudilles which is an actual poster from 1894 advertising a show featuring a strongman (Sandow) and an aerial act produced by Florenz Ziegfeld who became famous for the Ziegfeld Follies.
At 15:10 Sam introduces Dean as Agent Bourne, an apparent shout out to Matt Damon's character Jason Bourne from the Bourne Identity movies.
Dean: When was the last time we saw a real psychic? Pamela? Missouri?
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.
The last line Forget it, Sam. It's Lily Dale is a reference to the movie Chinatown which ends with the line Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.
The scene with Camille Thibodeaux and her séance recalls the Whoopi Goldberg character Oda Mae brown from the 1990 Ghost.
According to Jim Michaels Camille's house was "quick rework and cover up" of Bobby's House.
Melanie Golden says to Dean: "So The X-files is real, or you just stopped talking like an FBI agent?"
The X-Files TV series featured FBI agents Mulder and Scully who investigated the paranormal.
As tweeted by Jim Michaels "The car Sam gets into outside the class is Kevin Parks actual car. When Jared found out, he accidentally broke the door... The door wouldn't open so Jared climbed through the driver side window... That should make the gag reel..."
When Margret's bones are not in the grave, Dean says they've been "Geraldo-ed." He's referring to the TV special The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault hosted by talk show host Geraldo Rivera where an excavation into what was supposedly a vault of Al Capone's wealth turned out to be empty.
Imelda Graven willed her necklace to Grandma Goldy. Jimmy Tomorrow said it contained the Orb of Thessaly. Thessaly is a town in Greece and also name of a witch in the Sandman Comics. See Neil Gaiman for other references to his work in Supernatural.
At Jensen's suggestion, the salt used in the scene where Margaret Fox is attacking Melanie and Dean, was bottled into jars with labels designed by the Art department and auctioned for charity at Salute to Supernatural Toronto 2011 and Salute to Supernatural Chicago 2011.
Salt for sale.jpg

Minutiae

Sam and Dean had been separated for a week and a half.
In the final scene, when Sam puts his backpack in the trunk, you can see Castiel's Trenchcoat in there.
Jimmy's address is 809 1/2 main Street, Lily Dale 14752. His business card reads "Private Readings. No future too grim."
Melanie's house also appeared in 3.08 A Very Supernatural Christmas. The baseball stadium seen at the beginning of the episode was also in 6.14 Mannequin 3: The Reckoning.
The actor who played the husband in the first scene is Gary Jones, who played Chief Mst Sgt.Walter Harriman in the series Stargate SG-1

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

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