Supernatural “Ladies Drink Free” was written by Meredith Glynn and was directed by Amyn Kadarali, whose somewhat limited resume also includes
Private Practice. The episode features the return of Claire Novak (Kathryn Newton). Curiously, once again, Castiel (Misha Collins) is nowhere to be found. I can’t say that Claire is a character near and dear to my heart – I’ve found her petulant teen years trying and Newton’s acting underwhelming. Both were somewhat improved in this episode. It was also disappointing, however, not to have Claire’s appearance mitigated by at least getting some Kim Rhodes as Sheriff Mills.
The episode actually opens with another petulant, acting out teen, Hayden (Abby Ross) getting her brother Ben (Jordan Burtchett) killed. There’s a nice meta shout out to typical horror movie tropes, however, that makes the teaser the perfect touch for the show.
Cut to the British Men of Letters headquarters and Dean (Jensen Ackles) growing impatient as he and Sam (Jared Padalecki) wait on Mick (Adam Fergus) to brief them. There’s some good banter here between Mick and Dean – “Wow. That is some world-class repression. You really are British” from Dean as Mick declares it’s best not to dwell on what happened to his team. Mick responds “we prefer to call it a stiff upper lip.”
Mick has intel on a case in Wisconsin. Hayden’s in hospital, but it’s clear that it’s a werewolf case. Mick tells them that he’s somewhat of an expert in lycanthropy, having studied it at Kendrick’s – the BMoL equivalent to Hogwarts – according to Sam! Sam is clearly interested when Mick says that Kendrick’s is the single largest collection of occult lore in the world – “cool!”
Mick wants to tag along. Sam, reluctantly, tells Mick that maybe hunting isn’t his forte, but Mick wants to learn to be more ready next time. Dean, however, points out that you can’t train for this – you either get good fast or you get dead fast. Mick isn’t put off by Dean’s comments. Dean tells Sam that he’s in charge of babysitting.
There’s a nice discussion in the Impala on the way to the hunt. Dean is disgusted that Sam wants to listen to a BMoL podcast – ugh, research! Dean remains unimpressed by the BMoL knowledge. Mick points out that they’ve completely killed out werewolves in Britain. Sam asks if they killed them all out – even the ones who aren’t killing anyone? Mick refuses to believe that any monster can stop being a monster. Sam and Dean point out that Garth did – nothing but beef hearts! Mick doesn’t insist on winning the argument – is it possible that he doesn’t share the same rigid outlook as Ketch?
I loved that Mick had booked them into the Wild Elk Lodge and apologized for it only being a three star hotel. Sam and Dean, however, are thrilled! This is four stars above where they usually stay! I loved Sam’s surprise that they had separate rooms and Dean’s excitement over the shampoos, towels, pool, and tiny chocolates! Dean refuses to give Mick the satisfaction of letting him know he liked the accommodations and lies when Mick asked how he slept, saying he’s slept better in his baby!
Sam spent the night going through lore books – and found a plasma therapy to treat werewolves. Mick tells them it was useless and didn’t work. But then, the BMoL don’t care about curing or otherwise “coddling” monsters – they just want to find efficient ways to kill them.
When they get to the hospital to interview Hayden, Dean and Sam tell Mick to hang back – it’s difficult talking to families – but they’ve had lots of practice. Dean tells him to just keep watch. Mrs Foster (Miranda Frigon) totally shuts them down. Mick breezes in as Dr Buckingham – seamlessly following Sam and Dean’s Fleetwood Mac aliases – and the perfect British choice too! Mick examines Hayden, looking for a bite – which he eventually finds, and lies to Dean and Sam about. Mrs Foster does talk to Dean and Sam and mentions a Fish and Wildlife Agent – the same age as Hayden – and Dean immediately knows it’s Claire.
Claire has already discovered that Hayden’s story about where she was, was a complete lie and knows she was at the local dive bar. Dean gets all big brother protective when Claire mentions the bartender was “grabby.” Claire lies to them that she’s only there alone because Jody was busy with Sheriff stuff.
Mick excuses himself to turn in – Dean remarks that it’s only 5:30 – and pitch dark out too – but Mick insists that his report it due at 6. In reality, he goes to the hospital and kills Hayden with a silver nitrate injection. He tells her that he’s sorry before he starts to inject her – he’s clearly not the killer that Ketch is and is affected by Hayden’s death. She manages to scratch him before she dies.
Claire, Dean, Sam, and Mick go to the morgue to look at Hayden’s body. All of her injuries are gone. Dean wants to fight about Mick “missing” the bite, and interestingly, Claire stops them from fighting, to concentrate on the case. Dean assigns Sam and Claire to go and talk to Hayden’s friend that she was supposed to be staying with. Sam is pretty sure things aren’t ok, but Claire puts him off and takes point in talking to the “kids” who clearly won’t want to talk to an old skeever like Sam!
Dean and Mick go to the bar and talk to the bartender, Justin (Matt Visser). He tells them that Hayden came to see the other bartender, Conner (Ryan McDonell). Dean is already suspicious of Mick. He notes his reluctance to open the door – “carpal tunnel” according to Mick. When Conner doesn’t want to say what he was doing the night of the attack, Dean says it’s an easy question – look, and asks Mick what he was doing last night… Mick says, I was writing my report, and Dean follows up with “and then?” – and Mick stumbles a bit, finally saying he watched an episode of the British Bake Off.
The two leave the bar, but not before Dean threatens to break Conner’s face if he ever touches Claire again. Once out of the bar, Dean wants to know what exactly Mick did to Hayden and grabs him by the shoulder to get him to talk. Mick says he did what had to be done. Mick tells him he had orders – killing monsters is what they do!
Dean tells him that he had a choice. Mick doesn’t really believe that and wonders if palling around with demons and witches has made Dean lose sight of what the job is really about. Dean admits he used to think that, but things aren’t just black and white in the real world. Dean brings up the case of the psychic that they gave a second chance to – because it was the right thing to do. Mick calls it Dean’s “luxury.” Mick comments that they have a code – and of course Ketch killed the psychic – but Mick doesn’t tell Dean that.
Sam called Jody, who thinks that Claire is looking at colleges in Madison. Claire finally admits the truth. They tried hunting together, but Jody always made Claire stay in the car, trying to keep her safe – and make her “normal.” Claire declares she’s better off on her own – and believes everybody is happier that way. Claire tells Sam to stop treating her like a stupid kid and Sam tells her to stop acting like one, but of course, she has to storm off in a sulk, and ends up getting bitten. Her fight scene was dreadfully filmed and just plain lame.
Sam and Dean fuss over Claire, and Mick tries to help – which neither of them wants. He tells them that he understands that they are angry… and Sam tells him, they’re not angry – Mick killed a kid – “They’re done.”
Dean tries to tell Claire that she can beat it, but Claire is self-aware enough to know that she can barely keep it together on a good day. She won’t risk hurting Jody or Alex. Sam insists they might be able to cure her with the plasma therapy, but Mick says the cure was only ever tested on mice. It was possible to treat the early stages. They only tested it on a human once and the human died. Claire insists it’s her life, so she gets all the votes. Sam is onboard for trying it, but Dean only gives in when Claire insists.
Dean and Sam go for the blood of the werewolf who bit Claire for the cure, leaving Mick with Claire. Mick knows that Dean will kill him if anything happens to Claire. Naturally, Conner isn’t the werewolf – it’s Justin.
When Claire starts to feel the change, she begs Mick to shoot her. He tells her that he knows it’s his duty – and he knows a man who wouldn’t hesitate to do it – but things haven’t been so great lately… and he can’t do it. Instead, he’s going to sedate her and tie her up. The two are interrupted by Justin who knocks them both out and takes Claire.
Dean and Sam return and are not happy. Mick, luckily, put a tracker in Claire’s pocket. Justin tells her that he didn’t want to bite her, but they killed Hayden. On top of that men – clearly BMoL – killed his entire pack and they weren’t meant to be alone. Justin insists that he’s a nice guy. Curiously, he mentions that not everyone survives the change – and I don’t remember that ever being part of the werewolf lore on this show before – oops…
Justin tries to force Claire to eat a heart. Justin thinks she’s just like him – alone. But Claire finally insists that she has a family and they love her. Unfortunately, she starts to change. Dean has to fight – and knock out – Claire. Sam and Mick try to take down Justin, who knocks them down and goes for Dean. Mick manages to save Dean and then get the blood for the cure, which Dean injects. We get a thankfully brief – yet still ridiculous – glimpse of Claire going through the “cure.”
Claire, of course, survives the cure. Mick declares her a walking miracle. Dean thanks Mick for the “win.” And Mick is happy that they’re ok. Dean and Sam clarify that they’ll give him a second chance – but not a third. Claire hasn’t decided whether she’ll tell Jody the truth or not – but they promise to have her back, whatever she decides. She does call Jody and tells her that she’s hunting and she needs to do this on her own, at least for a little while.
This was definitely not the best episode of the season. There were some interesting reflections of the tension between killing and eradicating all monsters and seeing the grey area of “monsters” not always being monsters. However, this debate seems like re-treading ground the show has been over and over. It will be interesting if this is the one area that Dean and Sam can “teach” the BMoL about, but I doubt they’ll be able to change their minds, and it will most likely be the tipping point that sees the American hunters turn their backs on the BMoL once and for all. Or perhaps, Mick will go back to Britain to try to work at convincing the BMoL to this new point of view. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
