Let’s Speculate: Supernatural 12.16 “Ladies Drink Free”

Supernatural returns from its mini-hiatus with an episode written by Meredith Glynn called “Ladies Drink Free.”

The episode sees the return of Claire Novak and centers on an odd monster of the week during which the brothers get help from the British Men of Letters’ Mick. The episode begins with a brother and sister arguing as they walk toward home through a dark wood. The brother wanders off and his sister, Hayden, screams. He runs back to find her injured. A sound gets his attention and he turns to find something looming over him, wearing a mask. The creature growls and then tears the brother’s heart out, leaving him next to his sister.

Sam and Dean go to the British Men of Letters’ home office to get a case. Dean is not happy that Mick is late. When Mick shows up, he tells them about the case in Wisconsin with the brother and sister attack. Mick insists on joining them on the hunt and they travel in the Impala to the town. During the trip, Sam reads lore books, which he’s had access to from the British Men of Letters. Mick leads them to a three-star hotel, where he’s reserved them each a room. That wins Dean over, for a few minutes, at least. The next morning Sam tells Dean he was reading the lore books and apparently in the 1930s the BMOL were working on a therapy to cure werewolves. Mick interrupts and says it is useless. They visit the injured Hayden, and while Mick plays doctor with Hayden, Sam and Dean interview the mother outside. She mentions another investigator, a young girl who claimed to be from Fish and Wildlife services, who turns out to be Claire Novak.

The boys catch up to Claire and they meet up with her, along with Mick, at the hotel. She listens as they criticize her for hunting but then get the information she has on the guys at the bar. Meanwhile, Mick leaves them and goes back to the hospital, where he is about to kill Hayden when she transforms into a werewolf. He injects her with silver nitrate after getting attacked.

The brothers, Mick, and Claire go to the morgue to see Hayden’s body and Dean suspects Mick. They split up with Mick and Dean going back to the bar while Sam and Claire go to the school to find out more about Hayden. Sam and Claire have a heart to heart but she leaves him in the car while she goes and investigates the school, since she’s more likely to get information from teenagers than Sam. When she gets back, Sam asks why she’s lying to Jody about what she’s doing. They argue and Claire runs off, where she encounters mask werewolf guy who attacks and bites her.

As that plot unfolds, Mick and Dean interview two guys at the bar. After they get into an argument about the ethics of hunting when Dean finds out that Mick indeed did kill Hayden. Dean argues that some creatures are more complicated and need to be saved rather than killed without remorse or reflection. Mick notes that he is following orders and monsters are monsters. We see a flashback to the kid psychic from a previous episode who the BMOL killed after Sam and Dean had set her free.

Sam finds Claire and the four meet up at the hotel. They are trying to decide what to do and Claire says she has to be killed. Sam reminds them about the cure and Mick says that one person they tried it on died in agony, that it was only tested in mice. Claire says she’ll take the cure, which is being injected with the blood of the sire. Sam and Dean leave to find the sire, while Mick and Claire remain at the hotel. Claire is suffering the transformation and begs Mick to kill her, but Mick refuses. They are in the room when the masked werewolf guy breaks in. He knocks Mick out and kidnaps Claire.

Sam and Dean find an injured Mick who defends himself, saying he tried to stop the werewolf from taking Claire. They agree to go and find Claire, whom we see is being held at some cabin. The werewolf is the younger kid from the bar and he explains that he was fine until hunters with weapons he’d never seen came and took out his family. Claire is transforming but resisting him when the three guys bust down the door. Claire is in full transformation and attacks Dean as Mick and Sam take on the sire. Mick gets the sire’s blood before he kills him. They take on Claire and inject her with the blood to start the cure. They wait and watch as she suffers through the cure. Dean walks out and Sam calls him back in when it looks like Claire has died, but we see her fingernails return to normal human nails and she awakes.

The final act includes the brothers giving Mick another chance while Claire packs up her car. She says goodbye to the brothers and the final scene shows her calling Jody. She leaves a message saying she’s hunting now and on her own, which she needs to do. She rides off as music plays.

Welcome back from your mini-hiatus, Supernatural! I know your viewers are glad to have you back!

Specs, Thoughts, Reactions, etc.

Do you think Claire will be back and in what capacity?
What were your thoughts about Mick – will he become more of a danger to the British Men of Letters as he hunts with the Winchesters?
What were your reactions to the confrontations between both Mick and Dean as well as Claire and Sam?
Share other thoughts below!