‘Supernatural’ Mid-Season Finale Review: “Citizen Fang”

‘Supernatural’ season 8 scares up its ninth episode of the season in mid-season finale "Citizen Fang,” as Dean tries to exonerate Benny when Sam and Martin Creaser (Jon Gries) believe him responsible for a string of vampire murders, while Sam remembers dealing with the return of Amelia's husband.

Last time’s ‘Supernatural’ episode “Hunteri Heroici” saw Sam and Dean enlisting Castiel (Misha Collins)’s help in investigating a series of bizarre deaths that appeared to be the product of cartoon physics, while Sam remembers a shocking turn during his time with Amelia  So, what does the latest season 8 episode bring?  Will the Winchesters finally be able to rid the world of Crowley’s demonic scum, once and for all yet?

Read on for your in-depth recap of everything you need to know about ‘Supernatural’ season 8 episode 9, “Citizen Fang!”

Living under the name “Roy,” Benny works at a Louisiana café along with a young waitress named Elizabeth, whom all the customers seem to fancy.  An apparently-released Martin Creaser eyes him from a booth, tailing him after he leaves the café later.  Martin follows Benny into the woods and investigates the sound of a scream, only to trip over one of the patron dead bodies, killed by a vampire attack.

Having been alerted by Martin, Sam explains the incident to Dean, including that he’d enlisted a released Martin to tail Benny for the past week.  Dean is understandably incensed, but agrees that a dead body near Benny’s location is a worthy reason to investigate.  The boys meet up with Martin, who seems eager to make the kill, but Dean demands a few hours on his own to confront Benny himself.  Admitting that some things are hard to see clearly, Sam flashes back to his time with Amelia, as they wrestle with what to do now that Don has returned.

At the café, Dean flirts with Elizabeth to learn that “Roy” has gone to a nearby lake for the day, and leaves him another message.  Elsewhere, Benny ignores the message, and overlooks yet another dead body.  Dean finds Benny burying the body the next day, and Benny explains that a vampire from his past named Desmond has been leaving bodies in an effort to convince Benny to rejoin his nest.  Benny hoped not to bring Dean in on it, wanting to defend his life in his old hometown, one that keeps him honest and close to his great granddaughter Elizabeth.  Dean agrees to hold off Martin and Sam, so long as Benny stays out of the fight and allows the hunters to go after Desmond.

Roger again balks at Dean’s insistence on sparing Benny, and even Sam admits Benny’s word isn’t much to go on.  Unexpectedly, Roger knocks Dean out, and Sam reluctantly follows on the hunt for Benny.  The commotion sends Sam into another memory of Amelia’s husband confronting him at a bar, seeming surprisingly levelheaded as he insists they respect whatever choice Amelia makes between the two of them.  Dean wakes and frees himself from the restraints, warning Benny of Martin and Sam, while out on the road Sam gets an emergency text from Amelia and races off, leaving Martin behind.

Dean finds Benny near a local warehouse, and the two enter looking for Benny’s tormentor Desmond.  Desmond manages to get the drop on Dean for a short while, but true to his word, Benny decapitates the vampire and helps Dean to his feet.  The pulsating wound on Dean’s neck gives Benny hunger pangs for a moment, but he shakes it off.  Realizing that he won’t be able to stay in the life he’d set up while other hunters come looking, Benny resolves to do one last thing.

Sam frantically tries to reach Amelia by phone, flashing back to a memory of packing up to leave, and telling her that she and her husband deserve another chance.  Back in the present, Benny eyes his great-granddaughter from outside the diner, and thanks Dean for not giving up on him before driving off.  Dean calls Martin to let him know the hunt is off, but Martin sets his sight on a new target: Elizabeth!  The menacing hunter calls Benny himself, threatening his offspring if he doesn’t return to face him.

Benny arrives back at the scene, finding Elizabeth tied up, and tries to talk Martin down.  Martin sheds just enough of Elizabeth's blood to drive Benny close to overwhelming vampiric hunger, though he manages to keep it in check.  As Elizabeth pieces together that they’re somewhat related, Benny lays his head on the counter for Martin to collect, though the scene cuts out before we see its end.

While Sam arrives at Amelia’s house to find her and Don in no signs of danger, Dean gets a call from Elizabeth asking him to return to the café.  Dean finds a shaken Elizabeth outside, and a trail of blood that leads inward  to Martin’s dead body.

Later, Sam calls Dean from a bar, having realized that Dean sent the false distress text in order to keep him away from Benny.  Dean assures him that the matter is resolved, even with Martin dead by Benny’s hands, but Sam hangs up in anger before Dean has a chance to explain what Martin had done to deserve it.  As Sam turns around to leave the bar, he finds Amelia standing before him, having seen him outside her home earlier.

Well, we're relieved to see that Amelia has finally shown up in the present, if only to stop the distracting flashbacks or debunk the rumors that the character has been in Sam's head all along.  Once again, Dean's relationship with Benny proves to be the more interesting thread of the season to follow, especially now that he's gone (somewhat) rogue after exonerating himself in the first place.  The relationship between the Winchesters has only lower to go for the moment, but we'd like the current season more if it could connect its various arcs more neatly.  Here's to the January return!

Did you get your fill of spooky ‘Supernatural’ action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us again in January for an all-new episode recap of ‘Supernatural’ The CW!