Ugh, I know, do I ever write anything in this blog these days that isn't a recap? But honestly, I've just written 4356 words in Departed and I'm on the final bit and my work hours are low and apart from eating a shit tonne of cake lately, and watching a couple of films in the cinema (Wolf of Wall Street last week, That Awkward Moment tomorrow) I haven't really done that much. Just writing. Endlessly writing. Also, I read a John Green book. Looking For Alaska. It got recommended to me by someone I met through NaNo. I probably would have hated it more if it weren't for the absolute drivel I've been reading lately. Looking For Alaska was like freaking Dickens after that slop.
So, on with the show! This one is an average length episode at 41.33. After the catch-up sequence, we go to Oasis Plains, Oklahoma. A new housing estate is being built there. We see the construction workers hard at it, building the houses and moving the supplies around the site. Near one house, a site manager is spray painting the ground. He says to his co-worker that they're building nice houses, he'd like to live there. His co-worker jokes back that he can't afford it. As the first guy agrees that they'll be expensive, his friend notices something on the ground near an old tree, and the ground seems to be shuddering violently there. The first man continues talking about the new neighbourhood, and squishes a bug on his neck. He hears a yell, and turns around to see a gaping hole by the tree.
He runs over, calling for his friend who yells back that he's trapped, with a broken ankle. As his friend gets a rope, the guy in the hole, while holding his ankle and gasping in pain he notices something moving in the hole he's stuck in. Bugs, lots and lots of bugs. He screams for help as they crawl up his body, and his friend, who is already rushing to get the rope out of the van tells him to hold on.
The friend rushes back to the hole with the rope, and shines his flashlight in the hole, almost vomiting as he looks down. The bugs have eaten him alive, his face smeared with blood.
I know, gross, right? I know these initial scenes are normally the most graphic and horrific, the tense moments to let you know where Sam and Dean are headed next. I don't have a problem with that being the formula of the show, it's a good identifier considering they live either in the Impala or in motels. But I don't get why the first guy, the one who wants the houses, was so freaking panicked about getting the rope in the first place. Okay, his friend had a busted ankle, but before his friend called for help, he was hyperventilating like he knew of the imminent bug attack. He didn't. Fucks sake, Kripke and McG, why'd you let this extra in?
We cut to a rowdy bar. Someone's leaving on a motorcycle, so you know this place is hardcore. Outside in a car, someone is reading a newspaper article covering the scene we just saw. It's Sam, who's subconsciously nodding his head to the classic rock that's playing on the sound system. Dean comes out of the building, as seen through the Impala window, laughing and waving a handful of cash around. Sam tells him that they could earn their money by taking on day jobs occasionally. Dean points out that hunting is their day job, and it leads to a morality lecture from Sam. Dean says it's how they were raised, and Sam points out they had a messed up childhood. Dean changes the subject by asking if they have a new case, and Sam explains the story. Official cause of death was Mad Cow Disease. Dean asks if it was on Oprah, and Sam smirks as he asks if Dean watches Oprah. Dean changes the subject back onto the case.
I think this gets a theme. If you hit a little too close to home, or question Dean's masculinity/sexuality? He will change the subject. He's allowed to avoid issues. You are not. You includes Sam, in this case.
And Dean totally watches Oprah.
Sam says the death is weird because Mad Cow disease can take years to manifest, but this guy lost brain function within an hour. They decide to check it out. In Oklahoma, they go to the gas company, and find the witness, Travis. Dean's cover when talking to Travis is that they're the deceased guy - Dustin's - nephews. They flatter Travis and push on with questions about Dustin's death. They don't find out anything that Sam hasn't already covered, but Travis does give them the location that it happened in.
I wrote the above on the 10th. It is now the 18th. I apologise for any inconsistencies in the duration of that week, I've seen a lot in those 8 days.
Anyway, Sam and Dean do seem to have a tendency to convince people pretty easily to supply them with information. The only instance I can think of where this doesn't happen is when they're dealing with magicians.
Back at the building site, the boys pull up and head towards the hole. They discuss what they know so far of the case, and Dean wonders if some animal ate through Dustin's brain. Sam shoots that theory down, saying the animal would have worked from the inside. Dean says the hole is only big enough for one and asks Sam if he wants to flip a coin. Sam points out that they don't know what's down the hole.
Dean - "Alright, I'll go if you're scared. Scared?"
Sam - "Flip the damn coin."
Dean - *laughing* "All right, call it in the air. Chicken."
Sam grabs the coin in mid-flight and says he's going. Dean volunteers to go, and Sam puts his foot down. They tie a hose around Sam's middle as a make-shift winch, and Sam tells Dean "Don't drop me."
That is so much macho bullshit. But they knew where each other's buttons were. Dean knew that, by calling Sam scared, he'd want to prove himself. Sam knew Dean likes to be in charge and to be slightly reckless. They're baiting each other.
In later seasons, people talk about how Sam and Dean "aren't as close as they were" but to me, it's always been evident, and this scene supports the theory, that they don't get along. Ever. There's too much between them, even at the start. Resentment and conflicting emotions and misplaced roles. If Dean were actually Sam's mother, and they still lived the Hunting life? I don't see how there'd be much difference in this show. Dean might fantasise about Fabio rather than strippers, but that might be the limit of the difference.
Later, in the car, Sam has a dead bug in his hand. He pokes it gently with his finger. Dean's reaction is to be unimpressed.
Dean - "So you found some beetles. In a hole in the ground. That's shocking, Sam."
Sam starts talking through insect behaviours, and how there were no tunnels or tracks, or other types of entry into that hole that matched an insect's pattern. He goes on to beetle's diets, and Dean interrupts to ask how many bugs were in the hole. Sam says 10. Dean says that's not enough to eat a guy's brain, and Sam bites back, saying there must have been more. Dean says it sounds like a stretch, and Sam starts listing the research they need to do on this case. Dean notices an open house in the neighbourhood and tells Sam it's a good place to start.
And again, sorry, it's been a long period between writing, it's now the twenty-third. This has taken me so long to get into, and I'm sorry. Personal reasons as per explained on my other posts.
But I want to analyse, briefly, the above section of the recap. Dean is dismissive of Sam's theory, even though Sam's pretty apt about what happened. What we don't know yet, and need to find out, is why.
As the boys walk into the open house, Dean mentions how he would be freaked out to grow up in a neighbourhood like it. Sam asks why, and Dean deconstructs suburbia to make it sound like a bad thing.
Dean - "Growing up in a place like this would freak me out."
Sam - "Why?"
Dean - "The manicured lawns, 'how was your day, honey?' I'd blow my brains out.
This coming from the guy who, at four years old, had to take on the role his mother left. And probably wasn't allowed to grieve properly, because his selfish father put the entire weight of the household onto his tiny shoulders. So now he swallows his emotions and feels like he has no one to turn to and has to play mother to Sam still, he's grown up knowing how to wield a gun and what would repel different evil incarnations. But suburbia, that's disturbing.
I actually just feel really bad for Dean, that this is his life, to the point he can't envy the idyllic life the way that Sam does. Or maybe he mocks it because it's too difficult to admit that he also wants the "apple pie life" but he's just too aware that he'll never achieve it.
Sam tells Dean "There's nothing wrong with normal." and Dean shrugs before replying "I'd take our family over normal any day."
They knock on the show house door and are greeted by the developer. He invites them in, asking if they're interested in buying property there. Dean says yes, and the developer, Larry, tells them "Let me just say, we accept homeowners of any race, religion, colour or … sexual orientation."
Welcome to the first of many, many references to Dean and Sam being a gay couple. And they wonder how Wincest came to be.
Dean jumps in to clear up the fact that they're brothers.
Because someone's uncomfortable with his sexuality. I see the way you look at your angel, I know you watch Dr Sexy, MD. Drop the act, Dean.
Sam embellishes the story, saying that their father is old and they're looking for a nice place for him to retire in. Larry gives them the spiel as they walk into the back yard, and explains that the open house is actually his new family house. He introduces his wife, Joanie, and makes bad jokes about her bigging the area before excusing himself. His wife gives her own sales patter, before yet another sales person appears, and banters with Larry's wife. The new woman, Lynda, who was second to move in, starts her own sales patter, which sounds just like Larry's.
yep, Lynda implies Wincest too. These people are kinda fake, to the point where I agree with Dean about blowing your brains out rather than living there. I'm trying not to focus on the obvious homophobia in this section, but haha, it is to laugh at gays *rolls eyes*. Sometimes, I hate how much Supernatural screams homophobia, and then I read Destiel fanfic and feel better that fans don't care how macho they try to be, Dean is clearly in love with another man. Angel. Male type person.
Come on, do you get this close to your best friend? Clearly, this is not an image from "Bugs."
Dean's reaction this time is a little better. "Right. Um, I'm going to go talk to Larry, okay honey?" and as he walks away, he slaps Sam on the butt. Sam starts to wheel round, as though he's going to hit Dean back, but stops himself to look back at Lynda.
I don't think he did that in the sports coach way. I think he did that in a 'I'm really repressed' way.
Inside the house, as Larry talks Dean through options, Dean notices a few jars with bugs in. He comments on it, and Larry says they belong to his son. Meanwhile, Lynda is talking to Sam about the steam showers and tub options, and Sam is smiling and nodding along as best as he can, while looking extremely uncomfortable about the conversation topic.
Because he's a twenty-two-year-old male fresh out of college with no real opinion of different types of whirlpool tubs. He would probably have given Jessica whatever tub she damn well wanted.
Near Lynda's hand, a huge spider is crawling. Sam interrupts her flow, and moves her out of the way, and scoops the spider up, to the disappointment of the boy who has been standing nearby, watching and smiling. Sam takes it over to him and asks if he owns the spider. The boy asks if Sam will tell his dad, and Sam asks who his dad is. The boy says Larry usually skips him out of the family introductions, and Sam reacts to the boy using his father's first name. Sam tells him it'll get better, and Larry calls out for Matthew. The boy - obviously Matthew - turns, and Larry apologises to Sam about Matthew's spider. Sam brushes it off, and Larry drags Matthew away.
Sidebar: They chose this kid because he looks a little like Sam. Remember his face, because he gets possessed by an angel in a later season.
I'd take money on who now suspects some kind of voodoo on Matthew's part, but even in season one … what are you, new?
Dean walks up to Sam, and Sam nods to Larry and Matthew, asking if it reminded Dean of somebody. They watch as Larry begins to chew Matthew out. Dean looks baffled, so Sam explains he meant their father.
Dean has a look on his face like he is going to kill Sam. Like 'don't speak so badly of your father!' sort of look, the one you'd expect from a housewife who acts like she does nothing while her husband slaves away all day to put food on the table. Sam, you just insulted Dean's first husband. And you thought your daddy issues were bad.
Dean - "Dad never treated us like that."
Sam - "Well, Dad never treated you like that. You were perfect. He was all over my case." *Dean shakes his head in disbelief* "You don't remember?"
Dean - "Wel- maybe he had to raise his voice, but sometimes you were out of line."
Sam - "Right, right, like when I said I'd rather play soccer than learn bowhunting."
Dean - "Bowhunting's an important skill."
Sam - "Whatever."
Dean is daddy's little soldier. Never thinking for himself beyond what he already knows. Sam always contested what their father did. Never more obvious than in that bit of dialogue.
Sam goes on to ask about the tour Dean had, and Dean sarcastically answers "Oh, it was excellent. I'm ready to buy." before he gets down to business, saying Sam was onto something. Dustin wasn't the first death in the area. A year ago, before the work started, one of the surveyors dropped dead. Severe allergic reaction to bee stings. They realise that bugs are the answer.
Good thing no bugs have been brought up throughout the show so far.
Guys, it's midnight, I'm tired. I should hopefully be able to wrap this up on Wednesday. Being optimistic, because tomorrow I have my nephew over and I have stuff to get, and Tuesday I'm at a charity fundraiser for my illness. And we're only 12.06 into this episode. We have 29.27 left. And this already goes on for pages! Lots of meat in this episode, clearly.
And you don't know it, but I'm back! Let's go!
The boys are in the Impala again, at night, trying to work out how so many different types of bugs could be making infestations in this one small area. Sam points out that sometimes bugs are involved in hauntings, and Dean says there's no evidence of ghost activity. Sam agrees, and then Dean speaks up that maybe the bugs are being controlled somehow. Sam says there are cases of telepathic connections between humans and animals.
*dies* Oh, this isn't funny because of Sam. This is funny because of Dean. In season nine, where he takes a potion that allows him to talk to dogs. He ends up … well, we'll see when we get there.
Dean jumps on the idea of Matt, and Sam tells Dean about the tarantula episode. Sam says it's possible, and Dean tells him to pull over. Sam asks what they're doing there, and Dean approaches the garage door, pulling it open and explaining that it's late. Sam asks if they're going to squat in the house, and Dean's answer is that he wants to try the steam shower. Sam pulls into the garage and almost hits Dean with the Impala.
And he survived after that. Dean really must love his brother, to put him before the car.
In another house in the town, Lynda walks into the bedroom. She puts the news on, where a reporter is talking about an insecticide due to West Nile Virus. We get a close up of the TV, where they attribute the problem to a large number of mosquitos. As she's watching, a spider crawls down Lynda's hair and across her eye. She switches off the television and goes for a shower. In the shower, just behind the shower head, more spiders start to crawl out. Lynda turns, and screams at the number of spiders now on her wall. She tries to run, slips on the tiling, crashes through the glass doors and begins to bleed, her blood swirling down the drain with the shower water. We see the camera pan into her room, following the trail of blood, and see Lynda on the floor, covered in spiders, clearly dead.
Supernatural can be a little dramatic with the deaths while people are still trying to work out what the hell has happened in each episode.
In the house Dean and Sam are using, Sam walks along the hallway and bangs on the bathroom door, demanding to know if Dean's ever coming out. We can hear their shower running as well. Sam lets Dean know that a police call came through on their scanner. Someone was found dead three blocks away. Dean cracks the door open, hair in a towel and lets Sam know that the shower is awesome.
Dean has a habit of being a little bit immature when Sam's really getting riled. I cannot wait for the trickster episode when he goes to town on it. It helps that Jensen is such a naturally funny person for those bits. And he looks damn hot, even if he has a purple towel on his head the way women wear them. Don't judge me.
Outside the house, the local coroners are moving a body out of the house, and Dean and Sam pull up in the car. They approach Lenny, who says that they're back early.
Also, it's raining and they have umbrellas. What are they, ninety? Why not hoodies, huh?
Dean says they're there to check out the neighbourhood again, and Sam presses to find out what's going on. Larry tells them Lynda died, but can't give more than that. He tells them it's not a good time. They wait until Larry walks away before they agree they need to get in the house, and see if there's a bug problem. They wait until the police cars have driven away before they start scaling the fence to get in. They immediately find a police outline on the floor, and see the broken door of the shower. Dean goes into the bathroom to investigate, and moves a towel out of the way. Several spiders fall out of the towel, now dead.
Dean calls Matt spider-boy, and Sam says it might be him. They drive to the school bus drop off, and wait for Matt to appear. When he does, Matt walks into the woods, away from his house. The boys climb out of the car, and follow Matt at a distance. In the woods, Matt has found another creature, and is boxing the bug up as Sam and Dean approach.
I haven't covered it, but I can tell that although Dean is going for the black-and-white 'Matt's using voodoo with his bugs' bit, Sam doesn't think it's him. It's interesting to see this in reverse, because Dean hasn't out and out blamed Matt so Sam can't deny it, whereas if it were the other way around, Sam would have already started his 'what if' questions on the presumption Matt was at fault, and Dean would have shut him down on it already. Sam never stands up to Dean when he doesn't agree, not properly (not until season nine, which I still haven't recovered from) but Dean will do so in a heartbeat. This just supports my theory on the whole 'Dean's the mom' bit, because you can't tell your parents that they're wrong. They won't ever let you.
Matt asks what they're doing out there, and Dean says they want to talk to him. Matt says "You're not here to buy a house, are you?" Dean scrunches his face up, in a way that lets Matt know that, of course they're not. Matt asks if they're serial killers.
Actually, yes. They've killed their fair share. Even discounting the undead and those who won't move on, malignant spirits etc. The tooth fairy's going to get it, witches, the humans possessed by demons, the humans possessed by angels, the Wendigo, and they always count the blood of the innocent that they weren't able to save. By definition, Sam and Dean are serial killers. But when they're killing evil incarnations … can it be wrong?
Sam laughs and says no, he's safe. Dean asks Matt about the insect thing, and if he'd heard about Lynda. Matt says yes, he heard she died that morning. Dean says "Mmm, that's right. Spider bites." Sam points out that Matt tried to scare her the day before with a spider. Matt realises they think he's culpable, and he explains it was a joke, and how could they explain the bee attack or Dustin? They give him the same bitchface, and Sam asks if he knows about those. Matt tells them that something's going on, and he doesn't know what, but it involves the insects in the area.
He leads them further into the woods, and Sam asks why he hasn't told his father about the bugs, to protect everyone already moved in. Matt says he's tried, but Larry ignores him. He's too disappointed in his freak son.
It's like Sam has a sixteen-year-old soulmate called Matt.
Sam - "I hear ya."
Dean - "You do?"
See what I mean? and Dean doesn't get it. But he knew a different John.
Sam asks how old Matt is, and when he says sixteen, Sam says in two years, something great is going to happen. College. And then he can forget his dad and live his life. Dean asks what kind of advice is that? You should stick with your family.
Dean's most repeated line ever: 'We're family, Sam.' Sam is being a major douchenozzle at this point, however. It's one thing to resent your own family for the things you've been through, it's entirely something else to recommend to someone else to ditch their family. He should have shut the hell up. Dean is going to kill him later.
The Winchesters size each other up for a moment, then, rather than arguing in front of Matt, Sam asks him how far away they are. Matt says, they're pretty close. Dean gives Sam another appraising look, and they carry on walking to the thing Matt wants to show them.
They reach a clearing teeming with bugs, and Matt explains that for AP science, he's been tracking bug populations. Dean says "You two are like peas in a pod" (In reference to AP science, on top of Sam's minor tantrum) and Sam asks Matt what's been happening. Matt says all the wildlife seems to be congregating into the clearing, all the bugs from the local area. Dean asks why, and Matt has no answer. Sam notices a mound of earth and asks about it, but Matt has no answers either. Dean walks over to investigate, and taps his foot onto a pile of earthworms. The ground immediately opens up. He pokes in the hole with a stick until he finds something hard. He reaches in, and pulls it out … and it's a skull.
And the best thing is, he doesn't even look grossed out or freaked in any way. He just kinda looks at Sam like 'and how does this fit with bugs?'
In the next scene, they drive to the local college, Sam behind the wheel. They stop, and Sam puts his jacket over the box containing the skull as they walk it into the labs. As they go through campus, they discuss the fact that there were more bones in the unmarked grave, and that maybe it is a haunting, some kind of unfinished business. Sam asks "The question is, why bugs? And why now?"And Dean points out, very helpfully, that Sam asked two questions. Dean changes the subject.
Dean - "Hey, so with that kid back there, how could you tell him to just ditch his family like that?"
Sam - "Just, uh, I know what the kid's going through."
Dean - "How about telling him to respect his old man? How's that for advice?"
Sam - "Dean, come on. This isn't about his old man. You think I didn't respect Dad. That's what this is about."
Interesting take from Sam, since he was totally projecting his own story onto Matt without considering Matt's actual situation just as much as he's accusing Dean of doing the same thing. But like I said in the first episode recap, as intelligent as Sam is, he can be truly ignorant of the world around him. He can't see that, with his advice, he was hurting Dean too. Because Sam didn't just leave John, he left Dean, and Dean never got a say in the situation. And, as it will turn out throughout the show, sometimes when Dean has a say - and increasingly, he does - he has the best ideas. May not seem like it at the time, but his intuition is impeccable. And Sam is putting the downer on him. Okay, in the above conversation, they're mentioning John, but Dean is trying to hint, without it turning into a chick-flick moment, that it's about how hurt he got too. And Sam never, ever seems to grasp that about Dean. He never sees how much he hurts him. Even at the end of The Purge, in season 9, when Sam says just about the worst thing you can say to another person.
Dean - "Let's forget it. Sorry I brought it up."
Sam - "I respected him. But no matter what I did, it was never good enough."
Dean - "So what are you saying, that Dad was disappointed in you?"
Sam - "'Was?' Is. Always has been."
Dean - "Why would you think that?"
Sam - "Because I didn't want to bow hunt. Or hustle pool. Because I wanted to go to school and live my life. Which in our whacked-out family, made me the freak."
Dean - "Yeah, you were kind of like the blonde chick in The Munsters."
Sam - "Dean, you know what most dads are when their kids score a full ride? Proud. Most dads don't toss their kids out of the house."
Dean - "I remember that fight. In fact, I seem to recall a few choice phrases coming out of your mouth."
Sam - "you know, truth is, when we finally do find Dad? I don't know if he's even gonna wanna see me."
Dean - "Sam, Dad was never disappointed in you. Never. He was scared."
Sam - "What are you talking about?"
Dean - "He was afraid of what could have happened to you if he wasn't around. but even when you two weren't talking? He used to swing by Stanford whenever he could. Keep an eye on you. Make sure you were safe."
Sorry for the huge chunk of dialogue. There is so much subtext and exposition and character-building in it. It's not relevant to the story in this episode, but for the overall arc, it's hugely important. Watching it, seeing Sam getting increasingly emotional as Dean tries to reassure him that life wasn't as bad as Sam had thought, seeing Dean trying to work out if he needed to play the teasing brother or the nurturing mother roles that he's alternated with his entire life with Sam … this is only 8 episodes into an almost 200-episode total. This is why I love Supernatural. And like I said above, Dean had a view of the whole situation, and if Sam had shut up and listened to his big brother/mother he might not have been as devastated and misunderstood as he believed he was.
Sam has a huge thing about being a freak, throughout the seasons. He refers to himself as a freak routinely, and Dean is so good at just talking him away from that feeling, but it never lasts. And sometimes, Sam doesn't help himself.
We'll learn later, but John's attempts to protect Sam are both unnecessary and unfounded. By that I mean, he's going through the motions, believing he could protect Sam and Dean from the same fate as their mother, without at first realising that Mary brought her fate on herself. And when John does learn the truth about Mary, and Sam, he realises how it was all in vein. And I don't think John ever realised how bad it got, how Sam has been surrounded by demons his whole life. How Mary's fate was sealed when she agreed to Sam's.
And the saddest bit is that Dean is the most ignorant to all of this for the longest.
Sam asks why John couldn't have told him any of that, and Dean says he could have picked up the phone too. Sam looks ready to cry, and Dean reminds him that they have an appointment.
Because Sam is close to chick-flick territory. Although, I personally think they crossed that line.
The boys are talking to a professor, lying and saying they're students in his anthropology introductory class. The professor tells them that the bones look to be about 170 years old. From the time frame and geography of the area, he guesses that they're Native American. Sam asks if any tribes settled in the area and the professor says that there's no records, but then again, Native Americans moved fairly frequently at the time. Sam asks about local legends, and the professor tells them about the Euchee tribe in Sapulpa, sixty miles away from the college, and tells them that asking there might give them better answers.
So the boys head out to Sapulpa, and we see Dean leaning out of the car talking to one of the tribesmen, and being pointed along further into the reservation, which looks run-down and slightly trashed. They enter the local diner and talk to a man playing solitaire with a pack of cards, whose name is Joe White Tree. Dean starts telling Joe that they're students at the university, and Joe says no, he's lying.
Dean - "Um, well, truth is-"
Joe - "You know who starts sentence with 'truth is'? Liars."
Dean got pwned by the old man playing solitaire!
Sam decides to take over, since Joe is clearly not going to open up to Dean any time soon, and asks if Joe has heard of Oasis Plains. Joe looks at Dean and just says "I like him. He's not a liar." before saying he knows the area. Sam asks about its history and Joe asks why they want to know. Sam recaps the disasters, and discovering the bones, and their history. Joe tells them a story his grandfather once told him, which had come from other elders as well. The tribe used to live in the area, until the cavalry showed up. The cavalry raided the village, murdering and raping tribes members. This lasted for almost a week, and on the sixth night, every person still in that village was dead. As the tribal chief lay dying, he cursed the land, so that no white person would ever tarnish it again. That nature itself would protect the valley.
So the boys know they're working with an ancient curse, and their days of protecting those living in Oasis Plains are numbered. As they leave the cafe, Sam asks when Dustin died, and Dean provides a time frame to work from "Let's see. we got here Tuesday, so Friday the 20th." They arrived four days into the six day curse. Sam gives us more of a time frame. "March 20th. That's the Spring equinox." And then realises that at the same time, every year, any white person in Oasis Plains is in danger of the curse. Larry built the land on cursed land … and they're in town on the sixth night, that night.
Of course they are. Freaking Winchesters.
Sam asks how they break the curse to save Larry's family. Dean says they can't break the curse. You have to get out of its way, and they have to tell Larry, as soon as they can, to leave.
Back in Oasis Plains, Matt is outside. It's already dark. He unzips his bag and pulls a flashlight out, shining it around his backyard. He hears a lot of insect activity and bends down to smooth out the earth, and see what's below. As he does, the ground moves, and from under his hand a mass of cockroaches appears. He heads back into the house.
Sam and Dean are racing back to the neighbourhood, Dean on the phone to Larry. He's pretending to be from the gas company, saying that there's a gas line leak in their neighbourhood, and he needs to leave. Larry asks for his name, and Dean lies, saying he's Travis (the guy in the first scene who got all emotional about rope) and Larry says he knows Travis, he's been working with him on the project for a year, and he knows it's not Travis on the phone. Dean chokes, and hangs up, and Sam grabs the phone from him.
Sam calls Matt, and Matt tells him that the backyard is full of cockroaches. Sam tells Matt to get his family out, by any means necessary, as there are plenty more bugs on the way.
Interesting theme throughout this episode. Dean is portrayed as a liar, and Sam as an honest person. But although it is a case that Dean's more prepared to cover himself, I don't think he's a dishonest person. Sam can be, because Sam withholds information constantly. And he can be plenty deceitful himself, but because he doesn't lie to get people to do what they should, he's being held up in front of the people they're trying to help as a good person. That's another running theme, because much, much later on, Dean and Castiel work a case and Dean tells Castiel he has to lie to people. When Castiel, in all his heavenly innocence, asks why, Dean tells him it's how you get people to do what you want them to do. When Castiel probes further, Dean tells him it's how you become president. But the angel - a freaking angel! - not only allows him to lie but encourages it, because he can see that Dean isn't lying to get ahead in life, or to put people down, but to save others. More on my thoughts on Dean/Castiel later (and no, not in reference to Destiel. I'll try to leave that out of it. Sometimes, it may be inevitable, but I do understand the differing interpretations of their relationship). I'm off on a major tangent, sorry.
Castiel could make Bush-level President?
Sorry, I just think they're so cute together, Destiel or not. God, I cannot wait to recap Cas.
Dean snatches the phone back and barks at Matt, "Under no circumstances are you to tell the truth. He'll just think you're nuts. Tell him you have a sharp pain in your right side and you gotta go to the hospital. Okay?" Matt agrees, and they hang up. Dean looks freaked out, but says to Sam, "'Make him listen.' What are you thinking?"
Sam doesn't say anything about it, but Dean just proved him wrong. Because they wouldn't have needed to lie to John about something like an ancient curse on ex-tribal land. John would believe that. So Dean is not applying his version of their youth to Matt's situation. He is, however, treating Sam like John would have, with that parting comment.
They pull up outside of the house, and realise that the family is still there. They go up to the door, but Larry is there before they can knock, Matt running out behind him. Larry shouts at the boys "Get off my property before I call the cops!" and Sam, and Matt, start trying to plead with him to see reason. Larry yells at Matt to go back into the house.
Matt - "Sorry. I-I told him the truth."
Dean - "We had a plan, Matt. What happened to the plan?"
Ha, right in front of Larry. "This is why I told you to lie, douchnugget!"
Sam starts trying to be the voice of reason, saying that it's already midnight, and there's not much time left. Larry passes off their theory as a 'biblical swarm' and Dean chews him out, listing the deaths of the people he'd been working with as cases to consider, as proof of what all three of them were telling him. But Larry remains a skeptic.
Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy.
Larry calls Dean crazy, and threatens Dean if he comes near any of Larry's family again.
I knew that suburban-paradise act was a crock of shit. What a skeeze.
Dean says "Well, I hate to be a downer, but we got a problem right now." and Matt once again backs him up. They carry on arguing about whether Larry would really risk his family's life with his ignorance, until Dean shuts them up to ask Larry if he can hear it? There's the sounds of thousands of insect wings swarming in the area. Larry's bug zapper goes crazy with the volume of bugs suddenly hitting it. Dean says it's time to go, and Matt notices a huge swarm coming up past the moon and the treetops. They're too late to run. Dean orders everyone into the house, and when they get there, Sam asks if there is anyone else already living in the neighbourhood. Larry says no.
Larry asks his wife to call 911 and Dean demands towels. Sam tells Matt they need to lock all windows and doors, block up the fireplace, whatever they can to keep the house secured. Larry's wife says the phones are dead and Dean says the bugs must have chewed through the phone lines. He starts stuffing the bottom of the front door with towels as the power flashes out. And then comments that they probably chewed through the power lines too. Larry runs for his cell phone, then exclaims about the lack of signal. Dean tells him he won't get one. The bugs begin blanketing the house.
They all watch the nearest window as bugs attach themselves, crawling over each other, trying to find a way in. Larry asks what they can do now, and Sam says outlast it. That's all they can do. That hopefully, the curse will end at sunrise, to which Larry asks "Hopefully?" Dean meanwhile, walks into the kitchen, and bends below the kitchen sink to where they keep their cleaning products, searching through and coming up with a spray can of insecticide. As Dean sets to work on the can, they hear a creaking in the fireplace. Sam realises the bugs are in the chimney flue, and Dean decides they all need to get upstairs, away from the fireplace. It bursts open before they can move, and they're almost instantly covered with bugs. Dean starts spraying the bugspray over his lighter, and screams for everyone to move upstairs, as he moves the can into the swarm, burning and choking the bugs.
He goes last up the stairs, walking backwards, spraying as much as he can at the swarm to keep the bugs at bay while they seek sanctuary. They all head into the attic, Dean still spraying until Sam can close the hatch. In the roof, Joanie notices dust falling from the ceiling incessantly, and they realise there's a score of termites in the wood. Dean orders them back, and starts spraying again when the roof falls through and he can see through the swarm. Sam grabs a metal sign, and Dean finds a plank of wood, and Sam covers the hole with the metal while Dean secures it with the plank. As soon as it's secure, another hole falls through, further along the roof. Dean starts spraying again, moving towards that hole, as Sam fights his way through the bugs towards Larry's family. The insecticide flamethrower runs out just as the first hole is reopened. Dean manages to squeeze a little more out of the can before shouting 'crap' and throwing the can to the floor.
He joins Sam, and the family, huddling down and trying not to freak out too much from the bugs, before they notice it getting light outside, and the swarm leaving. They look out of the hole in the roof, and watch all the bugs go.
Later, or the next day, they drive by the house again, where there is a rental moving van. Dean asks if Larry was going to avoid saying goodbye and Larry says they had good timing, because they'd be gone in another hour. They shake hands and Larry tells them that the development is on hold until the government has investigated the bones found. Larry says no one else will live there again. Sam says larry doesn't seem too upset about leaving the development, and Larry says even though it was a huge financial disaster, he didn't care, looking at Matt as he talks.
The brothers smile, and Sam approaches Matt, who's binning all his bug containers. Sam asks him why, and Matt says now, they weird him out. Sam says "Yeah, I should hope so." and they both laugh. Sam walks to the car, where Dean is already waiting, and watching as Larry talks to Matt, and Sam sits next to him, watching too.
Sam - "I wanna find Dad."
Dean - "Yeah, me too."
Sam - "Yeah, but I just … I wanna apologise to him."
Dean - "For what?"
Sam - "All the things I said to him? He was just doing the best he could."
Dean - "Well, don't worry, we'll find him. And you'll apologise. And then within five minutes you guys'll be at each other's throats."
Sam - *laughs* "Yeah, probably. Let's hit the road."
Dean - "Let's."
I didn't talk through a lot of the last bit of that. Mainly because … this is what I meant last time, about it being a funny episode. I didn't mean it was a humorous one in the way Changing Channels or Mystery Spot or The French Mistake are, but funny, strange.
They never found a solution to the problem. They didn't even look. Because there are some things that you can't change, or avoid, and it's smart to know when to cut your loses. Good life lesson.
However, it then leaves me … how did they survive? How did every single one of them last the night? On just one can of bug spray and a towel? How short was that night? I know they condensed the time it took to lock the doors and search for bug spray, to attach the lighter, and all that. It took time for the termites to eat through the wood, I get that. But it was shot in a frantic way, and the lighting was poor, so the time transition never really came through.
But I know why it's the case, that they survived and the last few minutes represent so much time. It's because, for episode eight, the case is not important. It's not. The whole episode, as you can see in the dialogue, is about how they both feel about their father and their upbringing and how they apply that to their hunting. The whole episode is setting us up for something coming soon. Because soon? John is going to reappear. We've only got a handful of episodes to see if Dean is in any way spot on about how Sam and John are going to reunite.
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