Nightmare

Summary
The brothers pose as priests to gather information at a house visited by sudden death - a death Sam saw in a dream. But precognition may be just the start of supernatural powers Sam suddenly possesses.

Recap
In Saginaw, Michigan, a man pulls into a garage but the garage door closes behind him by itself, the car doors lock, and the car starts pumping out exhaust fumes and the man can’t turn it off. The man dies of monoxide poisoning…and Sam wakes up from the dream he’s been having of the man’s death. He wakes up Dean and insists they have to head to Michigan. Going from the license plate he saw in his dream, he sends the police to the owner, Jim Miller, and gets the address. Two hours later they arrive…and find Dean’s warning was too late – Jim Miller is dead.

Sam is convinced something, some spirit, murdered Jim Miller, even though everyone thinks he committed suicide. . The next day they visit the house pretending to be priests and meet his brother, Roger. They talk to the dead man’s wife, Alice, who reveals their son Max found him. While Dean checks out the house for possible spirit manifestations, Sam talks to a stoic Max. Dean finds nothing and the house’s history shows nothing either. At the hotel that night Sam begins to have excruciating head pains and gets a vision of Roger Miller at his apartment. He “sees” a window open, Roger closes it, and then it reopens by itself. Roger tries to close it without success, and when he sticks his head underneath it the window comes down, decapitating him.

The brothers head for Roger’s address and intercept him outside his apartment, but he ignores them and goes into his security apartment. They break in to the side door and run up the fire escape…but get there just too late. Again, there’s no signs or traces of ghostly activity and Dean suspects the family itself is cursed. They visit Max who has nothing to add except something at their old house. They talk to a neighbor at the old house who reveals Joe and Roger both beat Max regularly while the stepmother did nothing. The neighbor reveals Max’s mother died in a car accident, and then Sam is overwhelmed by another vision of Max confronting his stepmother about how she didn’t stop them. Max levitates a knife and kills her with it.

Sam partially sympathizes with Max because of what he went through and their shared psychic abilities. He asks Dean to let him handle it since he’s not comfortable with killing Max, even though Dean is okay with it. They arrive at the house as Sam’s vision starts to come true, and they bust into the kitchen, interrupting Max. They ask Max outside to talk with him but he notices Dean’s gun and, catching on, seals the house and pulls away the gun. Sam tries to get through to him and get Max to let Dean and Alice to leave, and Max agrees they can talk alone. Dean takes an injured Alice out while Sam tries to convince Max not to kill his stepmother and Max reveals his dad was still beating him just a week earlier. Max talks about his mother died in the nursery with a baby Max…pinned to the ceiling and burned to death.

Sam reveals that’s how his mother died and that they must be connected in some way. Their psychic abilities manifested at the same time but Max’s are further along. Max refuses to let it go and shuts Sam into a closet. Then he goes after Dean and Alice, drawing his gun on Dean. When Dean blocks Max from shooting his stepmother, Max shoots him through the head…and it becomes clear it’s another of Sam’s visions. He concentrates and telekinetically opens the closet to see the same scene play out. Sam busts in and appeals to Max, who realizes he can’t fix anything…and shoots himself.

Later Alice provides a cover story to explain what happened before breaking down at the loss of her entire family. Sam realizes it was their father that helped stabilize them both, and wonders if the demon is after Sam and Max both. Sam reveals he used his own telekinesis to get out of the closet. Sam wonders if Dean is concerned about him getting out of control like Max, but Dean assures him that as long as he’s around, nothing bad will happen.

Characters

 * Dean Winchester
 * Sam Winchester
 * Max Miller
 * Jim Miller
 * Alice Miller
 * Roger Miller

Featured Supernatural Being

 * Special Children (Max Miller)

Featured Music
"2+2=?" by Bob Seger

"Lucifer" by Bob Seger

Continuity

 * Sam is having visions about the future which occured in the Pilot when Sam dreamt of Jessica's death.
 * Sam also tells Dean his secret which he wouldn't tell Dean in Bloody Mary.

Quotes
Sam: "We're not gonna kill Max."

Dean: "Then what? Hand him over to the cops and say, 'Lock him up, Officer. He kills with the power of his mind.'"

Dean: "Our family's not cursed ... we just have our dark spots."

Sam: (chuckles) "Our dark spots are pretty dark." Dean: "You're...dark..."

Sam: "Well, don't look at me like that."

Dean: "I'm not looking at you like anything ... but I do gotta say you look like crap."

Sam: "Nice ... thanks."

International Titles

 * Finnish: Painajainen (Nightmare)


 * French: Télékinésie (Telekinesis)


 * German: Albtraum (Nightmare)
 * Italian: Incubi (Nightmare)
 * Polish: Koszmar (Nightmare)