Let’s all talk about Yellow Fever (S4 E6)
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This one has so much of what makes Supernatural good. Of course all of Dean being scared is funny because it’s 100% against his brave/macho usual self. But it’s fun how it also brings out the honesty. “Who does this?!” their lives suck! It’s insane! I loved that part where Dean was suddenly like, “Nope! I’m out!” and wants to walk away.
BUT, the story was so sad. Mentally deficient man…innocent…dragged to death by a jealous husband and turned into a vengeful spirit. So the man was an innocent victim but in order to banish his ghost they had to terrify his poor spirit AGAIN by dragging him AGAIN?! I thought that was particularly cruel and twisted and though it was great to see them working with Bobby (Sam needed to as Dean was mostly useless), it was a very dark story.
Of course Jensen made it very funny. He’s so good at comedy and Jared is a great straight man to Jensen’s comedy as Sam. Perfect. The way Sam rolls his eyes but is pretty patient with Dean, considering. He really takes the case on himself and takes the lead.
I have to admit I watched this a few weeks ago and never commented so I know I’m probably forgetting a bunch of good stuff!
PigNaPoke? Remind me? I’ll comment again then.
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Oh! The main point of the whole thing!!!! Dean’s fear about Sam possibly going “dark” with his powers. In his fear-induced state when he sees Sam with yellow eyes…and when they flash again at the end, AFTER he’s out from under the ghost sickness???? Bobby did say that illness tends to hang around, so I guess that’s what that was, but I remember on first watch I thought “Oh crap…now Dean has some kind of insight or something.” But it was really just Dean’s fears manifesting. Very effective and unsettling though. Made me start to wonder a bit about Sam on first watch. And then Dean, of course, says NOTHING to Sam about seeing that; saying everything is fine. Ugh.
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Another one I absolutely LOVE.
Jensen is PERFECTION here! The amount of emotions he conveys with his face alone is ridiculous. And when he uses his entire body, like running out of the factory or away from the tiny dog etc. he has a Charley Chaplin-esque classic slap stick vibe that is hard to pull off in a fun and not silly way.
Dean’s building paranoia and fear is easily felt as an audience member just because Jensen is such master at pulling us in.
Love how Dean is at first very subtle “not-Dean” with walking the other way from the “scetchy teenagers”, driving slow and not crossing traffic and then it’s building to odd behavior like not eating the donuts and sleeping in the car before the deadly fear of the snake and his scream about the cat takes over. Sam’s reactions to all of it are also priceless. I love that he’s not making fun of Dean but staying rather silent and looking at him with a mix of concern and amusement.
I thought the story idea was fresh and exciting. YES, it’s a ghost story, and has a super sad back story with Luther being bullied, misunderstood and killed in such awful way, but the way Sam figures out how they can solve the case is clever and new.
I never entirely understood if Bobby was right and there was a Japanese “Buroburo” ghost involved spreading the sickness and how that related to Luther? WAS Luther the buroburo? Why would a midwestern white guy turn into a Japanese fear ghost? OR did the horrible way Luther died CREATE the buroburo ghost so what we saw taking Luther’s shape was infact not HIS spirit but the fear ghost?
But in the end, it didn’t matter that much. I still loved everything else about the episode.
The final scenes where Dean is basically slowly dying of a heart attack are REALLY tough for me to watch and for once I am very glad for the back and forth cutting between that and Sam’s and Bobby’s action at the lumber mill. I wouldn’t want to watch all of Dean’s panic in one piece.
I am with you JBB, I found the hallucination Dean has of Sam with the yellow eyes and choking him really disturbing as well. It very much drove home the point about how worried Dean is about Sam turning dark side, probably partially because he is scared he’d have to do something about it….
We also learn through Lilith’s form here that Dean DOES remember Hell and that he’s been down there for 40 years!!! Important fact, packed into a scene where it could easily be overlooked.
And then there is the last scene where Dean doesn’t tell Sam the truth about what he saw, which always makes me sad and anxious as it keeps building on the expanding distance between them. UGH. I didn’t and still don’t like seeing them at hidden odds with each other!!
One of my favorite episodes of all time. In typical SPN fashion….it has LOTS of layers.