Nightshifter is the 12th episode of Season 2. It premiered on January 25th, 2007.
Summary[]
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There was something about being there... It felt pure. This episode summary is an official CW press release. It may contain errors. DO NOT CHANGE! |
Sam and Dean investigate a string of robberies with a disturbing pattern ?? in each incident a trusted employee holds up the bank then commits suicide. However, when the autopsy reports shows their actual time of death as several days before the robbery, Sam and Dean realize the shape-shifter has returned.
Plot[]
Opening Teaser - The episode opens with a breaking news story. A bank in downtown Milwaukee is being held up. Police squad cars are surrounding the building, paramedics are on the scene, helicopters flying overhead, as this is now the third hour of the hold up. The SWAT team is ready to enter, as we see the front door of the bank open up and we see a man being escorted out of the building by Dean, looking frantically at all of the cameras and police cars outside.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (One Day Earlier) - Sam and Dean, disguised as FBI agents, question two employees at the local jewelry shop about the most recent robbery. Helena had been an employee for years and the previous night she cleaned out all the display cases and the safe. Edgar, the night watchman, caught her in the act, but she managed to grab his gun and shot him in the face. She then went home and kills herself by throwing a hairdryer in the bathtub. There's no motive as to why she would do this. The cops got a hold of the security camera before any of the employees could take a look at them. Franny, one of the employees Sam and Dean interview, tries to hit on Dean and he manages to get her phone number.
Ron's House- Later that night, Sam and Dean pay a visit to Ronald Reznick's house. He's a security guard at the Milwaukee National Trust. About a month ago, a similar incident to the one at the jewelry store occurred at the bank. The guy robbed the bank and then went home and apparently committed suicide. Ron asks to see the boys' IDs. Looking at their badges and still a little suspicious, he invites them in to tell them what really happened that night at the bank. Ron starts right off by saying Juan Morales never robbed the bank. He said that the thing he let in the bank wasn't Juan. However, it had his exact physical features. Ron continues on ranting about how this is the work of a man-droid living in the sewer system, and shows them a magazine cover featuring one (actually an image of a Cyberman from Doctor Who). He shows the boys the copies of the security tapes at the bank and Juan is seen with his eyes flaring into the camera (aka "laser eyes" as Ron calls it). Trying to steer Ron away from this case, Sam gives Ron a reality check saying there's no such thing as man-droids and that the "laser eyes" is just a camera flare. Dean looks uncomfortable at flat-out lying to Ron, as he's done a lot of the leg-work for them.
Motel - Sam and Dean manage to grab hold of the tapes at Ron's house and clearly recognize that they are hunting another shape-shifter just like in St. Louis by the creature's retinal reaction to the video. Dean questions Sam about why he threw Ron off the case and Sam's response is that Ron is not a hunter and that he's just a person who stumbled across something real. If he were to go up against the shapeshifter, he'd get himself killed. Looking at a map of the sewer main, Dean points out that there's one more bank on that line that the shapeshifter might target next.
City Bank of Milwaukee - The boys disguise themselves as workers from the security system company in order to gain access to the surveillance camera, so they can find the shapeshifter. Several hours pass and still no sign of the shifter until they get a close-up shot of the bank manager and see his eyes flare at the camera. They also happen to capture Ron locking up the front door to the bank with a chain at around 12:10 AM. He then runs into the lobby, pulls out his rifle and orders everyone to the ground.
At roughly 12:34 AM the same day, Sam and Dean walk into the lobby and try to negotiate with Ron. Realizing they aren't FBI agents, Ron orders the two of them to the ground. Finding no other option, Dean comes out and tells Ron the truth about this case, that there really is something in this bank but it's not a man-droid. Dean says they need to find the bank manager because the shapeshifter is in him. Ron allows Dean to come with him, but locks everyone else in the vault.
Bank Manager's Office (A Few Minutes Later) - Dean and Ron burst into the bank manager's office only to find a layer of shed skin behind the desk. Dean explains to Ron that when a shapeshifter changes its form, it sheds the skin and now it could be anybody.
Outside the Bank - Squad cars are surrounding the building, helicopters are flying overhead, and the SWAT team is ready to enter at any minute.
Bank - The police cut off power to the bank. Sam and Dean are discussing what their next move will be. Since the cops cut the power off, they have no access to the cameras, so there's no way to tell who the shapeshifter is. It could be in the halls or the vault. But either way, they've got to find a way out of the building because Dean is wanted by the cops. Dean decides to take a sweep of the building to try and find the shapeshifter. Back in the vault, one of the security guards is apparently having a heart attack. Sam sees no other option but to phone the cops are ask for a paramedic. In one of the offices in the bank, Dean notices a crack in the ceiling. He breaks it open with the coat rack in the room and a dead body falls to the floor. Turning the body over, Dean realizes that the shapeshifter is the African American guy in the vault. Dean rushes back to the vault and he and Sam bring the security guard out to lure the shapeshifter into a trap. However, the shapeshifter manages to escape with Ron running after it. Ron unknowingly falls right into the sniper trap the cops outside have set and is shot in the back, falling to the ground dead.
Dean escorts the security guard out of the building while Sam goes after the shapeshifter. Sam discovers more shed skin and phones Dean saying it could be anyone again. Dean heads back to the vault to round up all the employees. Outside the building, the FEDS arrive on the scene. After getting everyone back in the vault, the phone rings. Dean picks it up and it's Special Agent Henriksen, who immediately recognizes Dean's voice on the phone. He demands for him and Sam to come out of the building immediately. He says it's become his job to know about the Winchesters and that he's been tracking the two of them for weeks. He knows about the murders in St. Louis and the slip up in Baltimore, and about the cheap motels and thefts. He gives Dean one hour to make a decision or the SWAT team will storm in full force.
Dean killed Robbery Shapeshifter
Inside one of the offices, Sam finds Sheri's dead body in the closet. Sam and Dean bring Sheri out of the vault and show her the dead body. When she sees it, she starts screaming and faints. Trying to decide which one is the shape-shifter, they hear glass shatter out front. The SWAT team has entered. As Dean turns around, the shapeshifter grabs him by the throat. The shapeshifter then headbutts him twice and escapes. Dean manages to catch up with it and rams it up against the walls stabbing a silver knife right through its heart.
Now the brothers need to find a way out of the bank without being arrested. Two SWAT team members order Sam to freeze in the hall, but he throws them a couple rounds of punches knocking them out. The boys get into their uniforms and leave the building. By the time Agent Henriksen arrives, all that remains are the tied-up SWAT team members. They walk down a back alley to a parking garage a couple blocks down the road where the Impala is parked. As soon as they get in the Impala, Dean admits "We are so screwed". Sam acknowledges this, and they drive off.
Characters[]
Main Cast[]
Recurring Cast[]
Co-Stars[]
- Chris Gauthier as Ronald Reznick
- Charles Malik Whitfield as Victor Henriksen
- Holly Hougham as Frannie
- Brad Turner as Robbery Shapeshifter
- Georgia Craig as Sherri and Robbery Shapeshifter
- Emy Aneke as Sampson and Robbery Shapeshifter
- Roman Podhora as Lt. Robarts
- Kurt Max Runte as Sgt. Tucker
Featured Supernatural Beings[]
- Aliens (pictured only)
- Shapeshifter (Robbery Shapeshifter)
- Werewolves (mentioned only)
Featured Music[]
- "Renegade" by Styx
Continuity[]
- This is the first appearance of Ronnie Reznick.
- This is the first appearance of Victor Henriksen.
Trivia[]
- Antagonist: Robbery Shapeshifter.
- This episode continues a series gag in which the brothers find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
- Dean tells Ronald that shapeshifters are human (aside from their disguising abilities) and are responsible for stories of werewolves, both of which are shown to be false later in the series, a fact Dean is perfectly well-aware of, since five episodes later it is revealed that he and Sam hunted werewolves as kids. It is likely that Dean was lying to simplify things for the naïve Ronald to keep him cooperative.
- The picture of the "man-droid" on the magazine cover is actually a creature called a Cyberman, from the popular British television series "Doctor Who".
- "Man-droid" is a term previously used in The X-Files episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space".
- Contains many allusions to The X Files episode "Folie a Deux," including the basic plot, (a man holding people hostage in order to protect them from a monster) and Reznick being a character's last name.
- The title of this episode is a play on the Henry Winkler comedy Nightshift (1982).
- Henriksen tells Dean, "And yes, I know about Sam, too -- Bonnie to your Clyde." He is referring to the Great Depression era bank-robbing duo, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.
- Sam and Dean walk out of the bank in S.W.A.T. gear. It is unknown why they never make use of it in future episodes despite the advantage it might give them against powerful enemies.
- The CW's official summary for this episode has a typo, where there are two consecutive question marks at the end of the first sentence, followed by a misplaced lower-case letter in the next sentence. The press release for this episode also has errors.
- The times at which some of the events take place can be seen on security camera data request in the police files in Jus in Bello.
- In the same police files, it can be seen the City Bank of Milwaukee robbery takes place on 10th of September, 2006. This places the beginning of the episode on 9th of September and the scene at Ron's House and the motel on the 8th of September, 2006.
Errors[]
- Ronald's gunshot wound (specifically, the entry and exit wounds) do not match the angle of the gun that shot him.
- After Ron is shot, he is visibly breathing.
- When Sam enters a small room containing supplies, the box on the right side can be seen moving like it was thrown (27:31 - 27:36) Probably the cameraman.
Deaths[]
Cultural References[]
Die Hard (1988)
- Dean calls Sam Agent Johnson - a reference to one of the FBI agents in Die Hard.
Terminator 2 Judgment Day (1991)
- Dean asks if he means robotic men like from T2.
Men In Black (1997)
- Ronald asks Sam and Dean if they're the "men in black".
Doctor Who (2005) (TV Series)
- Ronald holds up a magazine which talks about "cybermen" and has a picture on the cover of a Doctor Who cyberman.
Quotes[]
- Dean: I like him, he says okie-dokie.
- Sam: Dean, we're supposed to be looking for eyes.
- Dean: I'll be getting there.
- Sam: Oh yeah?
- Special Agent Henriksen: Crazy's in there, and I just hung up on him.
- Ronald: This is not a robbery! Everybody on the floor, now!
International Titles[]
- Finnish: Yön Silmät (The Eyes of the Night)
- Brazil: Caminhante Noturno (Night Walker)
- French: Le Polymorphe (The Polymorph)
- German: Der Mandroid (The Man-droid)
- Polish: Nocna zmiana (Night shift)
- Hungarian: A Bankrabló (The Bankrobber)
- Latinoamerica: Mimetista II (Mimicry II)
External Links[]
- Supernatural: "Nightshifter" IGN review