Man's Best Friend With Benefits

Man's Best Friend With Benefits is the 15th episode of Season 8. It aired on February 20th, 2013.

Summary
A cop who turned to witchcraft after working with the Winchesters has murderous nightmares. But when his bad dreams seem to come true, Sam and Dean are enlisted to help by the lawman's canine "familiar".

Plot
 In a St. Louis alley, a prostitute bids farewell to her john, before walking off into the night. Suddenly, a man wielding a police badge appears behind her and places her under arrest, but moments later rips out her throat! As if from a dream, the same man wakes in his bed, curling up next to his dog, before waking up the next morning to find a bloody shirt from the dream in his trash can.

The next night, Sam and Dean check into a nearby hotel after agreeing to help the man, identifying him as a former case named James who previously saved their lives. Dean continues to express worry about Sam and the awaiting trials before heading out on a beer run, while a noise at the door catches Sam's attention. Sam opens the door to find a waiting Doberman, which quickly makes itself at home on the bed. When Dean returns, Sam explains that the creature rushed in uninvited, not realizing that behind him the dog has changed into a beautiful woman.

The brothers confront the figure, who reveals herself as James' sometimes-human, sometimes-canine familiar Portia, the natural companion of any witch. The brothers are startled to find that the police officer turned to witchcraft after meeting them, but Portia insists James has only used magic for good. The brothers remain reticent to help a witch, but Portia reveals James didn't actually send for the Winchesters, rather she did, worried about his recent bouts of headaches and night terrors.

Meanwhile at the local witch bar, James meets with his adviser Spencer, worried about the worsening dreams and his recent distance from Portia.

Back at the motel, Portia explains to the boys that James believes he might be killing people through this dreams, though she hasn't been able to read his thoughts, as we see James dream-killing a local blind man. After James scolds Portia for involving the Winchester Brothers, James explains the situation to the brothers, specifically that he now seems to be finding actual evidence he performed the killings. The brothers reason he might be hexed by another witch, and agree to investigate if James is kept under house arrest, chained to the bed.

Back at the motel, Sam and Dean investigate to find that James' witchcraft enabled him to quickly rise through the ranks of his local precinct, before the brothers lapse into another argument about Dean not trusting Sam to undergo the trials.

Cooling off, Sam pays a visit to James' precinct and talks with the elder detective Ed Stoltz, who agrees to run the DNA from James' bloody shirt. Portia takes Dean to the witch bar to meet with several other practitioners, including the feisty Philippe and Spencer himself. Having heard rumors of James' actions, Spencer denies knowledge of a hex that would allow one witch to control another actions, while Phillippe reveals himself as Spencer's feline familiar. No further along, Dean learns from Sam over the phone that the blood from James' shirt indeed matches the murder victim's.

Later that night, a worrisome Portia secures James' chains to the bed, before the two become intimate, and Portia experiences James' memories of the murders. Afterward, Sam and Dean enter the house looking to kill James for his apparent actions, but Portia assures them none of James' memories contain any context outside of the actual murders, meaning the memories themselves were implanted.

As Sam pays another visit to the police station, noticing that Ed's tech employee has a large file bearing James' name outside of a locked room, Dean and Portia meet with a warlock "snitch" named Drexel. Drexel explains that the rumors of James actions have reached the witch community, and will likely force him to leave the area, or commit suicide to atone for his misdeeds. Realizing that Ed Stoltz would have motive to bring down James' career, the brothers inform James of the detective's file and secret room. With no way to break in, James drags the brothers along as an astral projection, as they enter the locked room of the police station and find entire walls of evidence, particularly sworn witness statements from Spencer's familiar Phillippe.

Upon returning from the astral plane, James incapacitates Sam and Dean, and heads off after Phillippe. James confronts Phillipe inside the witch's bar, but Phillippe insists he only did as he was told on Spencer's orders. Spencer telekinetically snap's the underling's neck, and admits to helping put together the case against James out of his own love for Portia. Once James and Portia committed the taboo act of becoming involved with one another, Spencer's jealousy got the better of him, explaining the attack. Sam and Dean arrive to intervene, but Spencer quickly incapacitates the brothers by trapping them in painful memories of the past, such as their mother's death and Sam's time in Lucifer's Cage. Portia manages to attack Spencer long enough for Sam and Dean to get a shot off, lobbing an incendiary witch bomb that destroys the attacking practitioner.

Later, Sam and Dean offer to help James and Portia, though the pair realize the mounting case and the scorn of the local witch community prevent them from staying in town. Sam and Dean say their goodbyes and head out on the road, as Dean admits to Sam that the painful memories reminded him of how much they've been through together. Dean vows to trust Sam and stand behind him for the trials, as we see Sam concealing a bloodied cough stemming from the recent physical trial.

Characters

 * Dean Winchester
 * Sam Winchester
 * James Frampton
 * Portia
 * Spencer
 * Philippe LeChat

Featured Supernatural Beings

 * Witch
 * Familiar

Continuity

 * The bad memories Spencer forces Sam and Dean to see are from Pilot, Swan Song, No Rest for the Wicked and Unforgiven.
 * Sam and Dean previously visited St. Louis in Skin and their doubles committed mass murder there in Slash Fiction. They later return in Clip Show.

Quotes

 * Dean: Don't try this at home, kids.


 * Sam: (to Dean) By the way, got to hand it to you, it's been fifteen hours since Portia mentioned her... night with James. And not one bestiality joke outta ya.


 * Dean: Man, you know that we've never actually seen this witch-killing spell of Bobby's work, right? I mean, this is not a sure thing.

Errors

 * Astral Projection in this story is very different from the Astral Projection used in Death Takes a Holiday.

Trivia

 * The actor who portrays James Frampton is actor Christian Campbell. Coincidentally, Christian Campbell is the name of a character in Supernatural.
 * The Familiar Phillipe's last name "LeChat" means "the cat" in French. His animal form is a cat.
 * The location shown for external shots of the witches' bar is the Starkman Building, 544 Mateo Street, Los Angeles(34.040312°N 118.232921°W ). The Starkman Building is also used for external shots of Paddy's Irish Pub, in the sitcom It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
 * A reference is made to the two lovers from The Twilight Saga, Bella and Edward, in which the actor Curtis Caravaggio (Spencer) played.
 * Sam and Dean willingly return to St. Louis despite John's rule of not returning to a town where they had worked a job before (Unforgiven). This is also despite the fact that Dean was briefly wanted for murder here in "Skin" and that their Leviathan dopplegangers committed mass murder in a diner. Despite this, no one seems to recognize them, not even the police who would've been looking for them after the murders. Sam and Dean also make no attempt to hide themselves from the police and approach them openly.
 * Dean is allergic to cats.