‘Supernatural’ season 12 episode 14 recap and spoilers: ‘The Raid’ brings back the Alpha Vampire, BMoL tries to recruit Sam and Dean

"Supernatural" season 12 episode 14 "The Raid" -- Samantha Smith (Mary Winchester), Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester) and Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) The CW Television Network

“Supernatural” season 12 episode 14 was strong on Winchester angst, with Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) asking their mum Mary (Samantha Smith) to leave the bunker for working with the British Men of Letters. The alpha vampire has also made an appearance.

Recap and spoilers for ‘Supernatural’ season 12 episode 14 ‘The Raid’ follow. The episode aired Thursday in the US on The CW. The show airs Mondays on Eleven in Australia.

Dean has stopped calling their mother “mum” after Mary revealed that she has been working with the BMoL for months. “Cas almost died!” Dean countered when his mum tried to explain, referring to 12x12 episode where Castiel (Misha Collins) was speared by archangel Gabriel’s lance. Mary hadn’t even confessed yet about her true role in that mission.

Dean then told Mary to scram, with Sam, who was equally disappointed but less aggravated than Dean was, agreed that their mum should leave the bunker.

As Mary continued working with BMoL’s Mr Ketch (David Haydn-Jones) in hunting down vampires, she made an “urgent” plea to Sam, who met with her outside the BMoL’s temporary base. Mick Davies (Adam Fergus) greeted them inside, trying to recruit Sam in their operations. Apparently, someone higher than him and Mr Ketch wants to recruit Sam and Dean, but the brothers considered them as enemies.

The Alpha Vampire (Rick Worthy), the very first of his kind, then raided the headquarters with other vampires. He wanted Mick to call his bosses and leave America’s vampires alone. That, of course, was the opposite of the BMoL’s goal, which was to exterminate all vampires in the US.

Sam, who earlier found out that Mary stole the Colt from Ramiel’s house and gave it to the Men of Letters, got hold of the famous gun and threatened the alpha vampire with it. It is said that there were only five creatures that the Colt can’t kill, Lucifer being one of them. The Alpha claimed the Colt couldn’t kill him, but this proved to be just a bluff.

Sam didn’t have a bullet in the Colt, though with a little dramatic act from Mick and distraction from Mary, he was able to insert the precious bullet in the gun and kill the Alpha Vampire with it. The Colt can only work with the bullets Samuel Colt made for it, and the BMoL didn’t have any of it. However, Sam knew and subsequently told the BMoL the ritual for making another bullet.

Dean and Mr Ketch

While Sam was with Mary in the BMoL base, Dean reluctantly allowed a visiting Mr Ketch inside the bunker. The Man of Letter was trying to talk Dean into joining their group, but Dean was having none of it. However, out of boredom, Dean agreed to join him in hunting vampires for one time.

They only found one vampire, though, because the rest were raiding the BMoL base. They found out from the vampire that her friends were hunting the hunters.

Sam joins the fancy bookkeepers, Mary is Dean’s mum again

Dean has begun calling Mary mum again after when they reunited. He admitted that although he “really, really don’t like” Mary’s decision to help the British Men of Letters, he just has to get used to it because they are both adults.

Sam, on the other hand, has joined BMoL. He may not agree with the fancy group’s way, but they get the job done.

‘The Raid’ review

Sam Winchester is killing it… literally. First he killed Ramiel, and then it’s the Alpha Vampire. It’s time the younger Winchester gets to be the hero this season. With both Men of Letters and hunters in his blood, he is the perfect mix of both. He is super intelligent (e.g. he recited the ingredients for the Colt bullet spell from memory) and highly skilled physically. The British Men of Letters were right; Sam, as well as Dean, is the perfect recruits in their organisation.

When Dean earlier said Sam needed to choose a side and not play peacemaker all the time, Sam showed that he was indeed capable of doing that. It might appear out of character for him to actively agree on another hunter’s execution, but it was just Sam finally taking a firm stand against those who try to harm his family. The hunter was a traitor who almost got him and his mother killed, and so Sam was allowed to be cruel to him.

The scene in which Sam killed the Alpha with Mick and Mary’s help was so cleverly executed and brilliantly directed. It proved that hunters and Men of Letters may clash opinions and methods from time to time, but they are all still in sync with one another when it comes to killing.

That said, they could have left the Alpha Vampire alone. He was basically harmless to them. True that he started the whole vampire race, but, like Ramiel, he also just wanted to be left alone.

Mary isn’t a perfect mother, which was perhaps a surprise to many since she has been put on a pedestal from day one since her death. But her choices and actions just show that she is truly a Winchester. Every single member of its family has done at least once what she did. And they were all forgiven in the end.

And as she has pointed out, she also isn’t just a mother. She has an identity of her own, and she doesn’t have to lose that just because she became a mum. It’s good that Dean has finally seen that.

As for the British Men of Letters, for an organisation that boasts of high-tech equipment and thoroughly researched plans, it has very ill-prepared members. Its temporary headquarters has only a handful of weapons and embarrassingly weak security system. Its members were basically useless in actual battle without their muscle guy, who went away to court Dean. And as the episode showed, not everything’s well inside the organisation. The disharmony among its members may be its downfall.