Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis is the 4th episode of Season 4. It aired on October 9th, 2008.



Summary
Sam and Dean find that a family man is turning into a flesh-eating monster, and they argue about killing him.

Full Synopsis
Sam and Ruby are holding a demon captive. Sam demands information on Lilith's whereabouts, but the demon simply responds by taunting Sam. Sam uses his psychic powers to exorcise the demon and send it to hell. The man who was possessed survives, and Sam is helping him when Dean appears. Following Castiel's directions (given at the end of In the Beginning), Dean has seen everything. He is shocked to find out that the woman with Sam is Ruby, and he attacks her with the demon-killing knife, but Sam intervenes and orders Ruby to take the man to hospital.

Back at the hotel room, Dean starts packing to leave. Sam confronts him, and Dean responds by punching him - twice. Dean is angry that Sam is using his powers, but Sam responds that he has been saving people, and that after Dean died, he kept fighting the only way he could. Dean tells him that Castiel warned Dean to stop Sam or he would. They are interrupted when Sam's phone rings, with information on a case from a hunter called Travis.

On the way to meet Travis, Dean tells Sam about his trip back in time and what he learned about their parents. He is shocked to find out Sam has known that he was fed demon's blood as an infant, for over a year.

In Carthage, Missouri, the boys observe Jack Montgomery, a seemingly normal guy, until he starts ravenously consuming raw meat. Travis, who knew the Winchesters when the boys were young, tells them that he killed Jack's father, who was a Rugaru in 1978, but that he did not know that Jack's mother was pregnant at the time, and that she later put him up for adoption. Sam does some research and insists that it might be possible for Jack to resist the transformation into a rugaru.

As they travel to talk to Jack, Dean charges Sam with over-identifying with Jack. Sam orders Dean to stop the car. He tells Dean how hard it has been, living with the knowledge that he is contaminated with demon blood, and that he is trying to make the best of it.

The boys try to talk to Jack, but he orders them to leave. They trail him, and that night see him about to attack a woman, but he resists his urges and heads home.

Travis, without consulting Sam and Dean, has broken into Jack's home, and holds his wife Michelle hostage and learns that she is also pregnant. When Jack arrives, Travis overpowers him and ties him up, intent, though regretfully, on burning them both alive. Jack breaks free and attacks Travis, whom he kills by eating from his neck, completing his transformation into a monster. Travis' body is eaten until there's little left but the bloodstain.

Sam and Dean arrive and a fight ensues that leaves Dean unconscious, and Sam locked in a closet. Sam encourages Jack to resist his urges as he tries to break out - using a coat hanger rather than his powers. But Jack can't resist and is about to eat Dean as Sam escapes and incinerates him.

In the Impala, Dean apologizes to Sam for being hard on him, but Sam responds by saying he doesn't want to talk about it anymore. He says he has made a choice, not for Dean or God but for himself, to stop using his powers.

Featured Supernatural Being

 * Rugaru (first appearance)

Featured Music

 * Hound Dog Taylor and The HouseBreakers - Phillip's Theme

Continuity

 * This is the first episode where Dean refers to Castiel as "Cas."
 * The episode continues shortly where the previous one left off, with Castiel issuing a warning to Dean about Sam.
 * Though Sam claims he is giving up his powers, it is later shown this is not true.
 * 23 minutes into the episode, the Impala is shown with the "KAZ 2Y5" license plate from the early seasons. This is most likely a goof caused by editors using a shot from earlier in the series, as in the very next shot Sam and Dean are wearing different clothes.
 * Jack's struggle mirrors Sam's: both have an inner nature that pushes them to do bad things, but prefer to be good. The similarity ends there, however. In Jack's case, he can barely control the urge to eat human flesh, to the point that he almost has no choice. In Sam's case, he has the free will to stop drinking demon blood and working with Ruby, but chooses to. This comes to haunt him at the end of the season when he unwittingly completes the last seal that frees Lucifer and begins the apocalypse.

Quotes
Dean: "Sam loves research. He does. He keeps it under his mattress with his KY."

Sam: "We need to talk." Jack: "About?" Sam: "About you. About how you're changing." Jack: "Excuse me?" Dean: "You're probably feeling your bones moving under your skin. And your appetite's reaching, you know, Hungry, Hungry Hippo levels. How am I doing so far?"

Jack: "Are you guys listening to yourselves? You sound like you're—"

Dean: "Let's skip the whole 'You guys sound crazy!', shall we? You're hungry, Jack. You're only gonna get hungrier." Jack: "Hungry for...?" Dean: "Long pig. A little 'Manburger Helper'—may have crossed your mind already." Jack: [disbelieving] "...No. No." Sam: "It doesn't have to be like this, Jack. You can fight it off. Others have." Jack: [still disbelieving] "No." Dean: We're not gonna lie to you, though. It's not gonna be easy. You're gonna feel like an alcoholic swimming around in whiskey. But I'm tellin' you, you gotta say 'no'. Or..." Jack: [belligerent] "Or what?" Sam: "You feed once, and it's all over...and then we'll have to stop you." Jack: "...'Stop me'?" [belligerent] "My dad, did, uh...somebody 'stop him'?" Sam: "...Yes."

Trivia

 * Jack Montgomery resided in Carthage, Missouri, the same town that Lucifer later choses to conduct the ritual to summon Death (Abandon All Hope...).