kate38
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“Makes me wonder how much of Sam wanting to leave was him perceiving that Dean wanted him to stay? Just to “not do what you tell me to do”. Because once Dean tells him it’s okay with him if he goes after a different life, he comes back.”
Interesting observation, JBB. How much of Sam’s behavior was just defiance for the sake of defiance? I remember in “In My Time of Dying” right before John is going to die, Sam starts picking a fight. John refuses to take the bait and says something like “Half the time when we’re fighting, I don’t even know what we’re fighting about — we’re just butting heads…”. Your observation makes me wonder if some of Sam’s hostility toward John wasn’t necessarily about not wanting to follow orders, but may have been partly about just wanting to feel like he was making his own choices, so he intentionally wanted to go the “other” way from what was being asked of him.
Another side note, there have been a few times when Sam used Dean’s fear of abandonment against him, to try to get Dean to comply with something Sam wanted him to do. I wonder if this was one of them.
kate
This was their first big fight. I hate it when they fight ☹
One of my favorite Dean quotes from the whole series is in this episode: “Scotty, you got a smile that lights up a room. Anybody ever tell you that?” LOL!!
Question: WHY don’t boyfriends ever listen in horror movies? They NEVER hear the weird noise, they never see the scarecrow moving by itself…freaking tragic.
I always felt bad for Dean in that opening phone call with John. Dean had been looking for John before Sam joined him, and Dean was arguably closer to his father. But John was undoubtedly all pissed off after his conversation with Sam, so instead of Dean having a moment to reunite briefly with John, he probably got a gruff, barely-existent greeting and instantly had to start taking down the list of names John tried to give Sam. Every time I watch that scene, it makes me wonder how many times Dean suffered some injustice because Sam and John were angry with each other and Dean got stuck between them, trying to be peacemaker or (more likely) simply trying to live his life. Poor guy…
In retrospect, John probably knew about Sam’s psychic connection to Azazel by this point, which made his elusiveness make more sense – Sam being close to John meant endangering all of them. IF he’d told Dean and Sam everything he knew at the time, I wonder if Sam would’ve been willing to stay away as asked. I doubt it.
Along those same lines, what was the point of Meg trying to lure Sam to California, so Azazel could get his hands on him? Why the charade? She was a powerful demon, and she clearly wanted to do more harm, but Azazel was stopping her. She could’ve just nabbed Sam and dragged him to California. Why didn’t Azazel just let her? Theories?
This is one of those pivotal episodes, because at the end of this episode, just like in the Pilot, Dean cuts Sam loose, leaving Sam free to return to school or go to California, or do whatever he wants to do. In BOTH episodes, it’s Sam’s choice to return to hunting. It always bothers me when fans blame Dean for “dragging” Sam back into hunting. Nobody “drags” Sam into anything he didn’t already want to do, and in both of these episodes, Sam is the one who decided to keep hunting.
Hey, did you guys recognize the wraith from “Sam, Interrupted”?
And did you notice the editorial glitch? When Dean is getting ready to leave his interview with William B. Davis (side note: I loved Cancer Man from X-Files), if you look toward the left side of the screen, you can see a boom or possibly a mobile light being moved out of camera frame. But it still ends up in the shot. LOVE these early seasons ?. So many little “hiccups” ?
Speaking of production items, I LOVE that crane shot when the townspeople are standing in the rain under their umbrellas and the camera pans upward. That’s so effective.
kate
“Calling Dean pathetic and unthinking and being John’s “good little soldier” just following orders….And then SHOOTING HIM, TWICE???
It went too far.”
I guess the writers thought the ghost possession explanation was sufficient. I don’t think the ghost made anyone angry or murderous, but it simply amplified anger that was already there, eventually driving someone to commit murder. The cop at the beginning of the episode had been arguing with his wife, but he’d never have killed her if he hadn’t been possessed. I guess the writers were trying to subtly show us that Sam was already resentful of Dean, and being possessed by crazy Doc Ellicott is what drove him to try to commit murder. My point being that if Sam hadn’t been so perpetually angry to begin with, the ghost wouldn’t have had anything to feed on.
I agree with you that I can’t recall a time when Sam, in his right mind, would’ve intentionally shot Dean. But since he clearly spent a lot of time being angry with John and Dean, it’s not that much of a stretch for me to think that Sam’s existing emotions gave the ghost a big ole buffet of negativity to feed on.
kate
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I will never like Missouri because she was mean to Dean for no good reason. I also disliked her for lying to people who were actually paying her for psychic readings – telling them what they wanted to hear instead of telling them the truth. And I question her psychic “abilities” because she thought the house was clean when it wasn’t, which almost caused people to die. Why didn’t she get angry with Sam for not saying anything when he thought the house was still dangerous, when she snapped at Dean for simply thinking about putting his feet on the table? Her obvious bias irritated me. I remember reading that Missouri was originally supposed to be the Bobby-type character in the series, but Jim Beaver was more popular, so they went with him instead. I’m glad they did. I loved Bobby from the moment we met him in season 1. I know I’m in the minority on this, but when it comes to Missouri, I’m not a fan.
I love the scene at the gas station, when Dean tells Sam that he’s the one who carried him out of the fire. It’s clear from the beginning of the episode that Dean is clearly more traumatized by what happened to Mary because he actually remembers vivid details about that night. And Jensen was fantastic in that scene when Dean calls John for help. So heartbreaking. I also love that John came when Dean called, even though he never let them know he was there.
This episode has one of my favorite Dean-to-the-rescue scenes, when Sam is choking. That whole sequence was very well done. I always have to watch it more than once.
I thought it was an interesting Easter egg that Sam said the same thing to the little girl that John said to Dean the night of the fire “Take your brother outside as fast as you can…” Nice touch.
This was an important episode for season 1, because it’s the first time we see John (aside from the Pilot, of course), ghost Mary has that “moment” with her sons for the first time since she died, and some other important story elements were addressed, but it’s never been one of my favorites.
kate
“An infamous episode. They had legendary issues with using swarms of real bees in the final scene that stung the cast and didn’t work well on film, so after all that they still had to CGI them in…
Carrie Genzel had to withstand REAL baby tarantulas crawling all over her, wearing only underwear and pasties, in her death scene and some of the bit her on the face.”Yup. and OH HE** NO! I remember Tyler Johnston admitting in a convention panel that he really doesn’t like bugs, either. Brave kid. Like I said in my original post, if this guest star gig required that much bug interaction, I think I’d have had to let this paycheck go. LOL!
kate
I DO NOT like spiders and bugs in general, so this one had my skin crawling more than once. Nope – not going down into that hole. Nope – not gonna pick up the giant tarantula. I get that actors get paid more money for doing stuff like that, but I’d have to let that paycheck go.
I think this episode gets treated unfairly by the fandom and by Kripke. There are SEVERAL episodes worse than this one. This had an interesting story, a history lesson, and some important cautionary tales to boot. Plus, the young kid and his father had a better relationship by the end than they’d had at the beginning. When I saw this one the first time, it made me wonder if they were paralleling Sam and John; like, giving us hope that their relationship would get better. I guess in some ways it did. Anyway, I still consider this one a fun ride, but I’m used to being a statistical anomaly in the fandom.
LOVE seeing Jim Byrnes from “Highlander”! Joe Dawson was one of my favorite characters.
Unpopular opinion alert: Sam didn’t do himself any favors in this episode. We didn’t get to see very much of the earlier interactions between Sam and John. But it seems to me that Sam picked fights with John often enough for him to be partly responsible for their fractured relationship. In the brothers’ conversation at the school, Dean tells Sam that even after Sam had stopped speaking to John (and consequently, Dean), they still came by Stanford to check on Sam and make sure he was safe. As much as Dean was always there for Sam when they were kids, Sam didn’t have a problem cutting Dean out of his life for 2 years. Imagine how long the separation and alienation would have persisted if Dean hadn’t made the first move? I was encouraged that by the end of the episode, Sam said he wanted to find John so he could apologize. That gave me hope. But then Dean said that five minutes later the two of them would be arguing again, which ended up being a pretty accurate prediction.
I thought this episode did a nice job of filling in back story that ended up being important later in the season.
kate
This is one of the good ones from season 1. Just dark enough, and they made a nice effort to make it creepy. My favorite season 1 episode in that regard is “Something Wicked”, but I’ll talk about that one when we get there.
I love the invisible hookman special effects in this one! The attack on the car in the teaser was pretty cool.
I’m not ashamed to admit that the classic rock is one of my favorite things about the early seasons. And yes — ANY episode that has a Quiet Riot song is okay with me ?
Hey, Easter egg sighting! The librarian is Bobby Singer’s mother in “Death’s Door” ?
Trivia question: Name another episode when the brothers use the smell of ozone in the air to identify a spirit! I wish they’d kept some of the early season lore going into the later seasons.
I promise I won’t rant about Sam in every episode, but damn. For a person who hates being lied to, Sam had no problems whatsoever lying to his friends – including telling Becky that Dean was a cop. I get that they wanted to help Becky and her brother, but is that the best story he could come up with? Becky knew Sam was pre-law at Stanford. Wouldn’t that have been enough to gain her trust?
Aside from the family therapist in season 14, have we ever met a shapeshifter who wasn’t buckets of crazy?
Speaking of shapeshifting, did they blow the special effects budget or what? That scene when we see Dean transform is pretty impressive (and not just because of shirtless Jensen, either ;))
I thought it was interesting that the neighbor’s dog went nuts when the shapeshifter showed up; and stayed that way — like he was transformed somehow. That piece of lore fell by the wayside after this episode, but I wish they’d kept it. There were so many little tidbits from the early seasons that got discarded, like using the smell of ozone to detect spirit activity. They add such color to these stories. To me, it’s a shame they weren’t used longer.
I think this is an historic episode. Is this the first time Sam gets knocked out and tied up? LOL!
This was one of the few episodes when the music in the iTunes version is better than the music on the DVD. I think the song that plays when Dean is changing is called “Mary”. It’s one of my favorite songs from the early seasons, but it’s in the iTunes version — the song on the DVD is different.
“I really like Bloody Mary. I never saw The Ring, but “Mary” is very clearly borrowed from the girl in the Ring; the hanging hair, the unnatural crawling around…all of that.”
Absolutely! The shojo in season 7 also gave me that movie vibe, but more from the Grudge films. Hey, if you have a chance, you should DEFINITELY watch the original “Ring” (the sequel was just okay). It’s plenty creepy 🙂
One of the things I miss about the early seasons is the heavy urban legend mythology. Even I knew about Bloody Mary when I was an adolescent. I’d never EVER say her name (of course), but I recall hearing about the urban legend. I think in the version I heard as a kid, she drags you to hell. But I guess for young Catholics, everything pretty much drags your soul to hell – LOL! I love seeing the show’s spin on legends like Hookman and Bloody Mary.
I‘m probably showing my evil side, but this is one of the episodes when I didn’t really feel sorry for the stupid kids, because they kinda asked for what they got. Yes, it’s a shame the dad died, but the stupid blonde got what was coming to her. Sorry, not sorry.
I loved Dean being so protective of Sam – trying to help Sam deal with his nightmares, trying to convince Sam that Jessica’s death wasn’t his fault (although it probably was, because he didn’t warn her; probably wouldn’t have helped, but still…), and smashing the mirror and all. It’s also cool how he helped schmooze the assistant coroner, and that he won all that money gambling. I wonder if this is the episode when I started falling in love with Dean Winchester.
I love the location cameos in this one. The hospital staircase from “In My Time of Dying”, and the hospital building front have been used a few times. I guess it’s not a cameo if this is the first time we see it, though. Is there a word for that?
I think the actor who played the retired cop did an amazing job! The show really did a good job casting some of these guest stars: Constance Welch’s husband in “Pilot”, the wendigo attack survivor in “Wendigo”, the retired cop in this episode – they were all very convincing and haunting. To me, their scenes helped set the tone for the whole episode. I get that this show catered to a mostly 18 to 25 male target audience, so we needed a healthy dose of stupid young girls; but they didn’t add much to these early season episodes at all for me. The guest stars who added gravitas and credibility were the heroes for me — aside from the Winchesters, of course.
Gisa, you asked for plot armor alerts: Dean being able to single-handedly knock out TWO security guards who have night sticks and GUNS DRAWN is highly unlikely and would be considered plot armor. ?
Question: at the end of the episode, Dean and Sam are both bleeding from the eyes. I get why the curse worked on Sam, but why did it work on Dean? He didn’t kill anybody and didn’t have secrets like that. I wonder if the curse is based on whether you FEEL guilty about someone else’s death. Dean feels guilty about a metric ton of things that aren’t his fault, so that would make sense. Theories?
Speaking of secrets and guilt: Okay, Sam. It’s fine to be a priss and keep your secret. But that makes it REALLY hard on the guy who’s with you 24-7 when you keep having nightmares and having OVBIOUS signs of a problem. There was no good reason for keeping this secret. In season 2, Dean didn’t tell Sam about John’s last words because John had told him not to. And in season 7, when Dean didn’t tell Sam about killing Amy, it was because Sam was in the middle of a nervous breakdown, and Dean didn’t know if he could handle the truth. I know as the show progresses, both brothers keep secrets from time to time. But Dean (as far as I can remember) always has a good reason for keeping something secret from Sam. There was no reason for Sam to keep this secret from Dean. Sigh…
“I also didn’t like the use of the EMF detector (????) if they knew they were looking for a demon. That’s only for ghosts!”
Yeah. I attribute that to the writers needing a little more time to get their legs under themselves. When the brothers were in the hangar looking for the cause of the crash, Dean’s EMF meter went off when he approached the emergency door handle. It was only afterward that he noticed the sulfur.I’m annoyed by the inconsistency, but I suspect the writers wanted to make it harder to identify demons later in the series. They got rid of “Christo” pretty fast, and dumped the EMF tool, too.
This was a fun ride — LOL — pun fully intended 🙂
First things first — Ooh-la-la! That opening scene when Dean is sleeping is still one of my favorites in the whole series. Those peach-fuzzy legs and cheekbones to die for! And I don’t really like feet, but Dude has the most perfect toes. Okay, back to reality 🙂
Speaking of that opening scene — this is a minor thing, but I LOVE that Dean always (at least in the early seasons) takes the lid off of his coffee before he drinks it. It’s smart to SEE what you’re drinking before you drink it. I thought that was a GREAT idea at the time, and started doing that too, all those years ago. I still do it, by the way, and I’m very proud of that 🙂
I love how the same visual effects budget that gave us such uninteresting demon smoke also created a FANTASTIC plane crash when that two-seater went down. I guess they decided to blow budget on the good stuff. And it’s also possible that they hadn’t yet conceived a better graphic for the demon smoke we saw later in this season with Meg, and in season 2 when Sam was possessed.
It would’ve been nice if they’d kept some consistency between season 1 and the later seasons. Like, demons clearly don’t always leave sulfur trace, but it’s still one of the first things the boys look for when working a case. Dean also used an EMF detector to find a demon on a plane, but we never see that used again to locate demons. In fact, the show rarely even alludes to the fact that demons are a type of spirit. Anyway, it always sticks in my craw when someone raves about how “perfect” the first five seasons were. They were good, but not perfect. They were also full of hiccups (in terms of lore and plot) because it took a while for the writers to get their legs under the story. Anyway, I wish the later seasons (at least 6 – 12) got some of the respect they deserve. There was some tight storytelling there.
Speaking of production stuff, I remember watching the commentary for this one, when they talk about that long camera shot in the airplane hangar. I think Bob Singer directed this one — kudos to him. Now, whenever I watch a long shot like that, I’m impressed, because they talked how difficult it is to set up correctly, but it saves time and money in the end. They do a lot of that in West Wing, which was probably my favorite show before I fell in love with Supernatural.
This was a good one 🙂
“On a side note as to dreams. We are told they are not prophetic, but manifestations of fears larger than life and seldom have anything to do with what is realistically going on. It could have been a reflection of Sam’s guilt in having undeserved happiness.”
If Sam had not been raised as a hunter, I’d grant him this. I’m no psychologist, but you are; so for regular people, I’m sure this is true. But Sam clearly understood the implications of death omens, psychic visions and the like. To have zero visions for his entire 22-year life, then suddenly have several visions over a few days about his girlfriend burning up on the ceiling doesn’t seem like something he should’ve ignored. We can clearly agree to disagree here, but I think with Sam’s knowledge, he should’ve known better than to disregard his visions.“I genuinely believe that Michael wiped Mary’s mind. I certainly don’t believe the hideous retcon in season 12. Seeing Azazel in the nursery would have triggered a memory. Much like those who have amnesia can have memories triggered suddenly.”
Believe me, there are SEVERAL terrible retcons I’d disregard if I could. I’d never have resurrected Mary in the first place; Chuck’s disastrous character arc in seasons 14 and 15 wouldn’t have happened; and Jack either would never have existed, or he’d have been killed as a villain in season 13 or 14. However, I feel like I need to take the show at face value, and that means dealing with what they did with Mary. If we don’t disregard her retcon in season 12, then she clearly remembered being a hunter, she hunted after Dean was born, and she probably remembered her demon deal, because what hunter would forget something like that? That means she kept that terrible secret from John and unwittingly doomed her family to disaster by doing so.
“Sam had left the family business and was pursuing a normal life; whereas Dean was completely involved in that life. There is no reason to tell Jessica.”
Hello, my friend!
LOL! Yes, we’ve disagreed about Sam aplenty, haven’t we?
I wonder about this point, though. Sam often defends himself by saying he left John and Dean to go to college, so he wasn’t running away. That makes me question whether he truly would’ve stayed away forever if things had gone differently. As close as he and Dean were, and as much as Sam must have known Dean cared about him, I doubt Sam would’ve walked away from Dean forever. That means that at some point, Jessica would’ve met Dean and Sam would’ve had to lie over and over again about who Dean was and what he did for a living. (Side note, it always saddens me when Dean says that he stayed away from Sam for two whole years and never even tried to call or contact him. That must have broken his heart. He loved Sam so much…)Also, this show has always been heavy on parallels. Mary thought she’d walked away from hunting forever, so she never told John who she truly was or anything about her past. That ended disastrously for their family. Although Sam had no way of knowing about Mary’s deal at that point, I can’t help but think his secret from Jessica could only have ended as tragically.
“He lost a mom that he never really knew and left a family whose soul purpose was to fight evil while avenging his mother’s horrible nightmarish death. Dreaming that Jessica would die the same way could have been interpreted as fear of losing her too. He had no understanding that these were visions or any reason to believe they were anything but manifestations of fear.”
Shouldn’t Sam have thought it odd that 22 years after his mother’s death (which he never witnessed, so he wasn’t traumatized in the same way Dean was) and after being with Jessica for 2 years, he’d suddenly start having visions (according to Sam, several in a few days) of Jess burning up on the ceiling? I get not completely understanding what was happening, but to this day I can’t imagine why he thought ignoring those visions was a smart move.
“The thing that got me the most in this one was Dean caring about Lucas – remembering himself at his age and Mary’s death and how traumatic that was. THAT early it was the first time we (and Sam) saw that Dean was not okay even though he tried to always appear that he was okay. These early ones are sad. They do NOT save nearly everyone. There’s a lot of pain. It’s really compelling though.”
Very good point, JBB. After rewatching the early episodes several times, I got the impression that Dean never talked about the night Mary died, so Sam just assumed Dean was okay and was as “over it” as Sam was. But there were a few glimpses telling us that wasn’t the case. In the “Pilot” when Dean grabs Sam by the collar for speaking irreverently about Mary, in “Home” when Sam hears FOR THE FIRST TIME that Dean is the one who carried him out of the fire, and in this episode, when Sam learns that Dean was very traumatized by Mary’s death, but simply never talked about it and has always tried to be brave about it.
The weight this poor man has always had to carry is just mind-blowing.
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