Jul 28
SAM WINCHESTER IN EVERY SPN EPISODE (108/327)
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SAM WINCHESTER IN EVERY SPN EPISODE (108/327)
Weekend At Bobby’s is such a good episode for many reasons but let’s talk about how Crowley definitely had a boner when Bobby beat him at his own game
108/327 (KO-FI♡)
S6E04, “Weekend at Bobby’s”
This is how I feel when i hit a paywall article for some obscure shit i wanna read
how tf did I miss this line
𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐀 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 - 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞
PAIRING : dean winchester x original female character
STORY SUMMARY : in series masterlist
CHAPTER WARNINGS : age-gap. pining. teasing. underaged flirting. language. violence. gaslighting. gun play. murder. description of death.
A/N: i’ve had this series replaying in my mind for over a year. i’m so happy to share with everyone and i hope you enjoy it as much as i do. i’ve got big plans for this story! thank you all for your support, feedback (preferably good) is always appreciated!
check out the teaser if you haven’t already.
Maricela’s POV
I’ve known the Winchester brothers for four years now. I was fifteen when they visited Kenosha, Wisconsin, on a hunt for a Lamia. I remember hearing the roar of the Impala’s engine pull into the gas station before it drove to the opposite side of the pump I was using. The motor’s purr cuts just before the drive’s side door creaks open, freeing a tall and handsome specimen. Once he reappeared from behind the pump, I did a double take. I couldn’t help but stare at the man who wielded the most beautiful green eyes, trying to place where I’d seen them before. The longer I studied his chiseled face, the more familiar it seemed.
The man noticed my gaze and turned to look at me. He gave me a small smile, and I realized what I had been doing. I tear my attention away while my cheeks begin to heat, embarrassed.
“I’m sorry,” I say, focusing on the ground. “You just look really familiar.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” his deep voice responded. “I’m not from around here.”
I nodded, taking in his words, but felt in my gut that he wasn’t telling the entire truth. Instead of thinking too hard about it, I push it to the back of my brain and look at his sweet ride.
“Pretty nice car you got there.” I compliment.
“Thanks,” he says before flashing me a charming smile.
I was instantly mesmerized by him. I had no intention of ceasing our conversation in hopes of becoming closer to him while I had the chance. Who wouldn’t do the same? Regardless of any age difference.
He looked away and stared into the distance, getting lost in his head. I clear my throat before speaking again.
“What year is it?” I ask, trying to keep the conversation alive.
“‘67.” He answers proudly.
I ask, genuinely curious, “What kind of engine does it have?”
A slow smile spreads across his face as if the question doesn’t get asked often. He nods for me to follow him, and I smile as my plan succeeds. He pops the hood from inside the car before walking towards the front of the Impala. As I pass the driver’s side door, the man sitting inside gives me a tight-lipped smile. I give him one in return, then turn my attention back to the gorgeous man as he props the hood.
“Impressive. Let me guess—this baby pushes out 460 hps.” I comment, staring at the redone engine.
“461. How did you...?” He trails off. I catch him staring at me in my peripheral vision. I turn to the attractive man and can’t help but smile even wider at the amazement shining bright in his eyes. He thrusts his hand out and says, “I’m Dean.”
I take his hand and squeeze, giving him a firm handshake. “I’m Mari.”
“Ma-dee...?” He repeats in question.
I giggle at his uncertainty and nod at the correct pronunciation of my Spanish name. “Yes, sir.”
“What’s a girl like you know about engines?” He smirks, leaning against his now-closed hood.
“I know a thing or two.” I shrug nonchalantly. I heard the gas pump jerk, indicating that my tank was full. “I should get that.”
I turn to walk back before his voice stops me.
“Hey, uh—you wouldn’t happen to know where the nearest motel is, do you?”
“Wow, Dean, I’m flattered, but I like to be ‘wined and dined’ before we sixty-nine.” I causally joke.
His eyes widen with shock as the blush rises to his cheeks, his jaw dropping slightly. I found it arduous to keep my smirk hidden after his overt reaction. His head shakes violently, his hands rising in defense before speaking.
“What? No, I didn’t mean—I don’t want to—Not that you’re not—” His green eyes quickly skim every inch of my body. “I’m not saying you don’t look good ‘cause wow—but I just—”
This man, who exudes confidence, getting so flustered over my words was unexpected. I couldn’t help but stop his self-torture with a laugh.
“I’m just fucking with you.”
Relief washes over his features before letting out a large breath. After a chuckle, he says, “You’re good, really had me going there.”
“Well, if you’re this easy to rile up with words, I can only imagine how well you’d respond to actions.” I smile at the vulgar things I had in mind.
To say I surprised even myself with my comments is an understatement. I have never been confident enough to speak to any guy like this. Let alone one this jaw-droppingly sexy, but he definitely brought that side out of me.
A mischievous smirk plays on his lips as he gets closer. “You’ve got a dirty little mouth there, sweetheart.”
“You going to clean it out for me?” I say seductively before sinking my teeth into my bottom lip.
Dean’s eyes widen again, but he tries covering it with a huge grin. He opens his mouth to reply but gets cut off by the man in his car attempting to mask the words “jail bait” with a cough. I can’t help but laugh; he wasn’t wrong. The man standing in front of me turns red once more.
“Why don’t I give you those directions?” I offer, hoping to ease the awkwardness.
He nods, giving me a shy smile. He thanked me after I gave him the information.
“No problem.” I walk to my car and grab the nozzle from my gas tank. I put it back into its machine while he does the same. “I hope to see you around.”
He winks before I slip into my front seat. I smile at his small but powerful gesture and pray the last words I spoke to him become true.
And they did, just not in the way I would’ve imagined. What I didn’t expect was to see a monster—a real monster—attack someone important to me. Two FBI agents tracked me down in my hometown for an interview. And just my luck, the agents happened to be the gentlemen I met earlier. Their faces were just as surprised to see me as I was them.
A knock sounded on the front door. I pause my movie before surreptitiously peeking out of the living room window that faces the street. My eyes widen as I see a familiar classic car parked outside my house. My heart rate spiked, knowing that the Impala could only belong to the man I met just the other day. Panicking, I push myself off the couch and run to the bathroom.
I look in the mirror and see a nightmare staring back. My eyes were red and puffy, and my hair was in shambles. I heard another knock, but this time louder. With no time to run a brush through my bird’s nest of hair, I groan in frustration. I drag myself out of the bathroom before the rapid pounding begins against the front door.
“Coming!” I yell while combing my fingers through my thickly tangled brunette curls.
I stand just before the door and take a moment to breathe. After straightening the sweats I chose to lounge in, I curse myself for not being presentable at a time like this. I suck in a breath before reaching for the door handle, bracing myself for the judgment and embarrassment that was guaranteed to come my way. In one quick motion, I swing open the wooden door to see the two familiar, tall, handsome men standing before me.
Their eyes became wide as they recognized who I was. I self-consciously sink into my hoodie, shy from their attention.
“Mari...” says Dean, just as surprised to see me.
“What are you guys doing here?” I ask, confused.
“We’re uh, we’re FBI agents. Just came to ask Maricela a few questions.” The gentleman with long hair answers. “Is she home?”
“That’s me,” My eyebrows knit together. “Wait a minute, you’re FBI agents?” I ask, not believing them as I eye up their suits.
“Yes.” Dean and I locked eyes, and I could tell from his facial expression that he was hiding something.
“Let me see your badges.” The words spilled out of my mouth.
They exchanged a look as if they didn’t know what to do. They fumbled over their words before I cut them off.
“Well,” I cross my arms. “Let’s see it.”
“Look, I don’t think we need to—” Dean starts.
“Then you’re not coming in. Plain and simple.” I sass, standing my ground to the suspicious strangers.
Sighing in defeat, they pull their badges from their inner suit pockets. I push my glasses up the bridge of my nose before taking their badges for a closer look. My eyes thoroughly examine their IDs, noticing an off detail, realizing why they were, or at least Dean was, hesitant about showing their badges. I hand them back before recrossing my arms.
“So... Jimmy, huh?” ‘Dean’ looks at me in confusion before the realization dawns upon his face. “I recalled you introducing yourself as ‘Dean.’”
“Well, uh...” I see him struggle for an excuse. “I go by my middle name. Each time someone called for ‘Jimmy,’ my dad and I didn’t know who they were referring to. So yeah, I—uh, I go by Dean.”
I give him a ‘you’ve got to be joking’ look. He clears his throat and smiles, trying to play it cool.
“Right...” I stare at his face, hoping to magically remember where I knew him from—other than the day we met. Knowing my luck wasn’t great, I brushed it off once again.
“May we come in?” Mr. Robert Plant asks.
With the faintest nod, I step aside to let them pass. Once they were in, I closed the door and led them to the living room. They settled on the couch and nervously smiled at me as I sat across from them.
“Are your parents home?” ‘Dean’ asks.
I shake my head. “No, they’re not. But I’d rather get this done and over with, so please make this quick.”
They nod before starting. “All right, tell us how you knew the victim. Then, walk us through what you saw last night.”
I take a shaky breath, trying to steady my nerves. “Luke and I had been friends for a while. I had the biggest crush on him. I figured he only liked me as a friend, so when he asked me to dinner, how could I have said no? He wanted to drive down to Kenosha and try this new restaurant.”
“So, it was a date?” ‘Dean’ questioned.
“I guess you could call it that. Everything was going great until I stepped away to use the restroom. When I came back...Luke was with another girl.” I replay the awful memory. “She was all over him. I was furious! Why ask me out, then allow some random chick to finish our date? It just didn’t make any sense. But I refused to stay and watch, so I left...”
My voice began to waver as the emotions I felt the night before came rushing back.
“I called my best friend to come pick me up. While I waited, I decided to go back and confront him, giving him a piece of my mind. That’s when I found him...” I hesitate, fearing they wouldn’t believe the truth of what I witnessed.
I didn’t expect them to, especially since the local cops didn’t. For two sole reasons: 1) Who ever listens to the crazy person who says monsters are real? 2) I was a minor, and no one takes you seriously if you’re under the age of 18—even then.
“Found him..?” ‘Dean’ asks, sitting at the edge of his seat. My eyes found his, and just for a moment, I felt safe in the comforting pools of green.
My lips part, contemplating what to say next. Hesitation got the best of me, so I settled on; “Dead.”
They nod, taking in my statement. “You told the police you saw a monster kill Luke.”
I give a dry laugh before nodding in agreement, my gaze wandering. “Yeah, I did.”
“Is there anything more you can tell us about this so-called ‘monster’ you saw?” Robert questions.
“What’s the point? You’re not gonna believe me. No one else does.” I shrug.
“Hey,” ‘Dean’ made it a point for me to make eye contact with him before saying, “We just want to help. So, try us.”
I bit the inside of my cheek while frantically searching his beautiful green irises for clarity. His brows furrowed, woven with hope yet silently pleading to trust him. So, with a deep breath, I confessed. “When I went back, he—uh, he was on the ground, and she was...eating him. She looked human, but her face—it changed.”
“Changed? Changed how?” Robert eagerly inquired.
“I swear it warped into something snake-like.”
The men exchanged glances before fixing their attention back on me. “How did she escape?”
“She heard other people coming near us and ran off. I tried running after her, but she turned a corner and was gone. I called the cops but not before seeing the huge gaping hole in Luke’s chest.” I numbly say as I stare off into thin air, as his lifeless and mutilated body flashes behind my eyes.
“All I know is whatever that thing is, ain’t human. She’s a monster, and I swear, she’s gonna get what’s coming to her.” I seethe.
After persuading me to tell the truth, they tried convincing me what I witnessed, what that monster did to my friend, wasn’t real.
“Look, Mari,” ‘Dean’ started. “Forget what you think you saw, all right? Cause monsters aren’t real. The sooner you realize that the sooner you can cope with your loss.”
“My partner’s right. It’s easy to think that some—” Robert lifts his fingers to add air quotes. “—‘monster’ could be responsible for your boy friend’s death, but the FBI can assure you, there’s no such thing. In certain traumatic events, the witness can alter reality the more they try to remember what happened. It could just be that you have an overactive imagination. It happens all the time, especially in kids. I think that’s what’s going on here.”
I glare at them in disbelief. How dare they come into my house and feed me lies—telling me I have an ‘overactive imagination.’ As natural as breathing, I begin expressing my anger.
“I don’t care who you are—I know what I saw. This thing will continue to kill people until it’s caught. So why don’t you quit wasting your time selling me something I ain’t buyin’ and find the damn thing!” I say each and every word louder than the last, anger fueling the fire they only fanned higher.
Silence fell between us. It was evident that my outburst caught them off guard, but I couldn’t care less. Time and energy were being wasted by trying to convince me otherwise. I take a deep breath and collect my thoughts before getting up from the couch to walk out of the living room.
“Now, if there’s nothing else you need from me—” I say while opening the front door. The men take my hint and begin walking towards me. Robert delivers a stiff smile before walking out of the house, leaving me alone with ‘Dean.’
“Thank you for your time.” He mutters before exiting my home.
“Hey, Page,” I called just after he walked down the porch steps. He pivots to meet my gaze. “If you don’t find this thing, I will.”
With a nod, he turns back around and heads for his car. As soon as they drove away, I threw myself into research. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I knew these two from somewhere.
I soon found myself down a rabbit hole.
“Oh shit...” I murmur, finding what I was looking for but not what I expected. Then, it all dawned on me.
Sam and Dean Winchester.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That’s where I knew them from. They came in January of 2007 and took hostages in a bank before escaping, dressed as SWAT agents. They were a huge story, especially since they were wanted for other heinous crimes. Those of which included—credit card fraud, breaking and entering, disturbing a crime scene, impersonation of law enforcement, assaulting an officer, breaking out of jail, mass murder, kidnapping, arson, grand theft auto, grave desecration, and lastly, desecration of corpses. I felt sick to my stomach, knowing I was alone with them. Yet, all I could think about was what they wanted and why they didn’t hurt me if they had such a rap. My mind kept racing and racing until I made a plan.
After an hour, I had a theory on what kind of monster killed my friend. So, I decided to confront the mystery men and pray they really were here to help. After changing, I traveled down to the city where they stayed.
I pulled up to the motel and braved myself with a deep breath before exiting my car. I clutched the gun in my purse as I walked over to their room. With determination, I knocked on their door. My heart hammered against my rib cage, wondering if what I was doing was a mistake. Dean opened the door, and his eyes instantly widened. I brush past him and walk into the middle of the room while taking a quick scan, ensuring it was just us three before turning to face them. Without wasting a beat, I jump into business.
“I know who you are,” I assert with as much confidence as my voice could muster. “Sam and Dean Winchester.”
Their faces dropped at the mention of their real identities.
“Now,” I begin. “I want the truth. Who are you.”
“Well, if you know our names, you should already know who we are,” says Sam.
“I read what the articles wrote about you, even what law enforcement officials have tried charging you with before you were ‘killed.’ Yet, here you are: alive.” I take the loaded gun out of my purse and aim at the brothers. “So tell me, who are you.”
The men raised their hands in surrender, no doubt startled to see me wield a deadly weapon. What’d they expect? That I’d walk into the lion’s den unarmed? I might be foolish, but I’m not stupid.
“Woah, woah. Mari, put the gun away. It’s not a toy.” Dean said, taking a step closer.
“No shit, Sherlock.” I steady my trembling hands. “Now, somebody better start talking, or I’ll start using this thing.”
“Okay! Okay!” Dean shouts after hearing the click of the safety release from the trigger. “We’ll tell you. Just please, put it down.”
I hesitate but lower the weapon at a 45-degree angle, not ready to put it away completely. “You’re right. I’m Dean Winchester, this is my brother, Sam. But we’re not what everyone says we are. We’re...we’re hunters.”
My brows narrow in confusion. “Hunters?”
“We hunt monsters. We try to save as many people as we can. It’s our family business.”
I take a deep breath before saying, “I thought you said monsters weren’t real.”
The brothers seemed to relax when I put the safety back on before shoving the gun back into my purse.
“We had to. It was for your own good. You’re too young to learn about the things that go bump in the night.” Dean says before sitting at the table near the window, across from Sam.
“I appreciate it, but I can make that decision on my own.”
“If you really want to know, it was a Lamia that killed Luke,” Sam says, trying to ease the tension between his brother and me.
I nod. “Yeah, I know.”
Sam furrowed his eyebrows. “You know?”
“Yeah,” I pull out the folded paper I printed earlier. He gets up from his chair, walking closer so I can hand it to him. “I did some research and came across it. Figured it could be a possibility.”
“So why did you come here?” Dean asked.
I shifted my eyes to meet his. “Because if those allegations were true, you would’ve killed me. And you didn’t... You came to me, looking for clues to—to help. Bad guys don’t do that.”
I watch as his eyes soften. He gives me the tiniest smile before nodding.
“Now, how do we kill this thing?” I ask.
“No, no, no.” Dean gets up from his chair and walks over.
“What? I’m going to help you kill it.” I declare.
“I don’t think so, sweetheart.” He quickly towers over me. “Leave it to the adults.”
“You don’t scare me, Dean Winchester,” I say confidently.
The truth is, I was—just a little. His lips parted as if he was going to say something back but he didn’t.
“I think it’s best if we take care of this,” Sam interjects.
I fought with them long and hard until I finally wore them down. They agreed I could come with them as long as I stayed out of the way.
We ascended the steps of the church and pushed the heavy doors open. The men led the way before stopping in front of the altar. I gasped once I saw the priest's dead body lying on the floor with his throat cut open.
“Damn it!” Dean cursed. “She got to him first.”
“What do we do?” I ask, frightened.
“Call Bobby,” said Sam before the Lamia made her way from the back room.
Dean whipped out his phone and dialed whomever Sam referred to.
“What’s another way to kill a Lamia?” he eagerly asks. He looks to the priest lying at his feet before saying, “It didn’t pan out. What’s Plan B?”
While Dean took instructions, the Lamia charged toward us. She dodged Sam’s punch before grabbing his clothes and flinging him across the room. He hit the pillar before shouting for his brother. Ignoring me, she runs over with supernatural speed and snatches him away from the column that kept him upright. Dean sprints to the back room just before the Lamia throws the tall man to the floor like he was nothing.
She then straddles him, wrapping one hand around his neck before hissing. Her fangs and forked tongue were on display, just like they were the first time I saw her. Fear freezes me in place, trapping me in the memory of Luke’s murder. She uses her unoccupied hand to press her fingertips against Sam’s chest as if she were going to plunge it into his body. He tries prying her hands away with no luck. The monster begins to dig her quickly, growing claws into the man, forcing out a pained cry. The sound of his torture pierces through my comatose state, snapping me out of it.
Without second-guessing, I feel my body rush towards the monster, tackling her off the youngest Winchester. I quickly crawl over and grab the knife near Sam. I stand, holding the large blade in front of me. She pants heavily as a slow smile spreads across her face. The same one that burned in my memory that fateful day.
That was enough for me to lunge the large knife at her. She quickly dodged and tried attacking back, only for me to do the same. I finally land a strike on her arm, slicing her skin open. Yet, just as fast as it appeared, I watched her heal. The sudden realization that she couldn’t be weakened easily had hit me like a truck. She took the opportunity to jump me, knocking the knife out of my hand. We wrestled on the floor before her strength dominated.
“I remember you.” Her voice spoke. “You’re the girlfriend.”
“Shut up.” I hiss while trying and failing to push her off of me. Her taunting laughs echo off the church’s walls.
“I’ve got to say, your boy toy tasted amazing.” She adds to the torment. A fresh set of tears fills my eyes. I turn my head and see the knife not too far away. I look at her again while I reach for the knife. “Don’t worry, sweetie. He didn’t suffer...that much.”
My fingertips lightly grazed the edge of the handle. With one last stretch, I grasped onto it, and with one swift motion, I jammed the blade into the monster’s throat.
“I said—” Her eyes widen in shock before I yank the knife out. “Shut up!”
She stumbled off, allowing me to get away. I push myself off the ground and run towards Sam, still lying on the floor.
“C’mon.” I pull him up with all my strength before shifting some of his weight onto me.
We stumble to the back room where Dean was with the Lamia on our asses. Once we were in the kitchen, Dean tossed what seemed to be herbs out of the bowl he held at the evil creature. She flinched as if it had stung while Dean pulled the stove away from the wall. The monster fixed her eyes on the older Winchester, ready to pounce. I threw myself in her path before she—very easily— flung me out of the way. I groaned in pain as I tried to sit up. Sam followed my actions, only for him too to be cast aside.
“Fire in the hole!” Dean shouted before lighting the gas that seeped out of its line.
We watch as the Lamia burns to a crisp while listening to her violent shrieks. Once she was dead, Dean cut the gas, putting out the fire. My chest rises and falls, trying to calm down yet attempting to register everything that just happened. Dean walks in front of me and offers me a hand. I hesitantly accept before he pulls me off the floor.
“Are you all right?” he asks.
I nod with reassurance before Sam walks over to us. “I’m fine.”
“It’s over now.” Dean rubs my back. “She can’t hurt anybody else.”
After the hunt, they took me out to dinner. It was less eating, at least for me, and more them giving me the talk about all that is dangerously real in the world. It goes without saying I became a hunter that day. Once I turned 18, I made it a full-time job. As much as Dean hated the fact that I fell into hunting and as much as he tried to stop me, I would help them on cases if we were near one another. After hunts, we always found time to hang out. They became my closest and most trusted friends, family even. We were always there for each other, especially at our lowest. Sam was the big brother I never had, while Dean was the crush I never seemed to get over.
Since the day I met him, my feelings for the older Winchester have only grown stronger. Each moment spent with him was bittersweet, knowing I was so close yet so far away from where I craved to be. But anything was better than nothing at all. Even with Sam’s year-long encouragement, I refused to tell his brother how I felt in fear of rejection. The timing was another reason I hadn’t confessed my undying love as each Big Bad became worse than the last. Things got a little more complicated when every angel fell from Heaven only to receive worse news when I called Dean to question ‘The Global Meteor Shower.’
“Mari,” Dean's hoarse voice spoke. “It’s Sam...He’s in the hospital.”
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Crowley. Sold his soul. To make his dick bigger.
Crowley you are never allowed to make fun of anyone ever again. Like that automatically makes you lose any argument ever. All anyone has to say is “yeah well at least I didn’t sell my soul for an extra three inches” and there’s nothing you can say to that. You lose. Holy shit.
Supernatural Revisited 6x04 Weekend at Bobby's
It took quite a while, but here is finally a good episode of Supernatural. Though not a perfect episode, it is the most I have enjoyed this show for a long time. Of course I have a few small criticisms, but they did not stop this being a lot of fun. Jensen also made his directorial debut with this episode and, in my amateur opinion, he did a great job. In total, he directed six episodes of the show, with the final being 15x04 Atomic Monsters, but for some reason never took on a more permanent role as producer on the show.
Perhaps one of the things which made this episode work so well is the focus on somebody who is not Dean or Sam. The show has been struggling to find its feet again this series, so having Dean and Sam be supporting characters in this one provided an opportunity to do something fresh, fun, and interesting. In doing so, it also allowed Bobby to become a more 3D character with an actual life outside being Dean and Sam's crotchety mentor figure. Having Crowley finally return, and as King of Hell no less, livened up proceedings, especially considering he has not yet been reduced to just another idiotic demon. His presence also allowed the Bobby's Sold His Soul plot to be wrapped up before the story moves on. This is the kind of thing which would have happened in Buffy and I appreciate the continuity.
To briefly summarise, the episode focuses on Bobby's attempts to get possession of his soul back from Crowley after Crowley used a weaselly loophole in the contract to keep said soul. While doing this, Bobby has to juggle coördinating other hunters, researching for Dean and Sam's hunt, as well as dealing with Rufus and an 'okami' while trying to eat his peach pie. Bobby learns from a demon that Crowley's birth name was Fergus Rodric Macleod. By using this information and the help of Crowley's son's ghost (thanks to Rufus), Bobby tracks him to a graveyard in Caithness, northernmost Scotland. This episode establishes that burning a demon's bones vanquishes it in the same manner as ghosts, as demons are essentially just ghosts anyway. Dean and Sam fly to Scotland to locate and dig up Crowley's bones, and Bobby uses this leverage to force Crowley to give him his soul back.
A thought which occurred to me when writing my notes is that there is a very good change Crowley was a native speaker of Scots Gaelic, as the area of Scotland he grew up in had a strong Gaelic presence during his life. If so, this might also account for the fact that he speaks with a London accent rather than any kind of Scottish accent as one might expect. Monolingual speakers of Celtic languages are almost non-existent nowadays, but would have been fairly common a few hundred years ago. If Crowley was therefore a native Gaelic speaker and learnt English later in life, it makes sense he does not have the same accent his mother Rowena does.
Rowena's accent is a modern Falkirk accent, the same as her actress Ruth Connell's, but Falkirk is in the south of Scotland roughly equidistant between Glasgow and Edinburgh. This is quite a long way from her home is Canisbay in Caithness, the aforementioned Gaelic-speaking area where Crowley grew up and was buried. If Rowena were a monolingual Gaelic speaker in her youth, she might have learnt to speak English further south and learnt to imitate those accents. She could have been bilingual or monolingual English/Scots-speaking, however, and changed the way she spoke as time went by. I doubt that even 100 years ago people in Falkirk spoke exactly the same as they do now. From much further south in Britain, my natural accent is slightly different than my mum's (and her sister's) natural accent, even though she is from a village only two or three miles outside my hometown. If I were to compare the way I naturally speak with a native resident of Shrewsbury from 100 years ago, it would be very difficult for outsiders to believe we are from the same place.
The point of that was to illustrate the work Rowena might have had to put in to avoid sounding like a relic from hundreds of years ago. Whatever his linguistic background as a child, it would have taken some work to keep up to date like she has. In contrast, Crowley was not afforded the same unbroken time on Earth, but rather got whisked away to Hell where he would have been surrounded by myriad languages, accents, and dialects from everywhere through time. It would have been extremely difficult to hang onto his 'native' accent in such an environment. Even in the real world, I occasionally catch myself pronouncing something in an American way if because of all the American media I consume, even though I am extremely aware of my language use. It is understandable that Crowley's accent would be so different than his mum's given all that happened to them since she abandoned him.
Or a simpler explanation could be that Crowley's London accent is something he has chosen to put on like a costume, and if he wanted he could easily switch back to whatever Scottish accent is his natural one.
Although once again, I cringe every time a character from Britain says something no British person would naturally say. Crowley did not go 'to grade school' as we do not have 'grade schools' in Britain. We just have schools. I am aware that the characters have been all over the world and might have spent far more time in America than they ever did in Britain in life, but it really does read as American writers either not knowing or not caring to learn the differences between the two varieties. This is not restricted to Supernatural, but is also an issue in Dead Boy Detectives for example, both the show and the graphic novels. It drags me out of the viewing experience and reminds me I am watching or reading a character written by somebody with insufficient knowledge of their characters. The first few Dead Boys comics written by Neil Gaiman were fine; a few Americanisms here and there since he has lived in America since the 80s, but nothing too eye-catching. Then others took over and I could tell instantly they were Americans from the sheer proliferation of out-of-character phrases and words. Edwin would never say 'What's gotten into you?' for example, but rather 'What's the matter with you?'
It got so bad that, in a fit of exasperation, I once put the volume down and thought 'Americans just shouldn't write British characters'. We are very different peoples both in character and language, and I am yet to find an American writer who has written a convincing British person. Their understanding of Britain seems to be entirely based on stereotypes, caricatures, and exoticisation. Thank Allah George (Edwin) was anal about removing as many Americanisms from his dialogue as he could spot in Dead Boys scripts, but even so some things slipped under the radar. Charles would never say 'Not for nothing...' nor would he talk about how his friends were beating on somebody. 'Beating on' is specifically American and Canadian. Charles would say his friends were beating the Pakistani guy up. ...Neither of them would be talking about a 'backpack', they would just call it a bag, and 'mate' comes out of Charles mouth way too often because the writers think it sounds 'Bridish'.
I am aware that the differences between varieties of English can seem trivial to second-language speakers, and most North Americans would not notice and would not think it matters, the result is that the language use feels fake and inappropriate to the characters, and makes the graphic novels and the show feel inauthentic.
Anyway, since the overlap between linguists and Supernatural fans is probably fairly small, I will move on, but expect a reprise of this when the god-awful British Men of Letters is introduced.
In her review, Paula commented on Dean and Sam having distant Scottish ancestry through Mary, i.e. Mary Campbell. She wondered whether it is possible that, since Crowley was born in Scotland shortly after some of the Campbells moved to America on the Mayflower, he might be distantly related to Dean and Sam. Not nearly enough information is given about either clan's ancestry to draw any conclusions, but there is a non-zero chance, small though it may be. However, assuming the ancestors who were 'beheading vampires on the Mayflower were Campbells (and we have no reason to assume they were), they are from southwest Scotland whereas the MacLeod clan is from the western Highlands and Hebrides. A character in a novel I unfortunately have to start again from scratch is a Gaelic speaker from Stornoway, Lewis, and belongs to the MacLeod clan.
However, Lewis is the other side of the country from Caithness where Crowley and Rowena MacLeod are from. So it is possible that Crowley and Rowena are very distantly related to the Winchesters, but if you go back 400 years in the British Isles and Ireland, everybody ends up being fourth and fifth cousins once or twice removed (no, that is not inbreeding). I have a half-Welsh, half Roma gypsy student in Finland with a very uncommon surname. I also had a Gaelic teacher with the same highly uncommon surname who is American but whose grandmother was born on the ship from England to Canada. Both my student and my teacher originate from the same part of Britain and share the same uncommon surname, so they are possibly not-too-distantly related to each other, even though they have never met and live on opposite sides of the world. Even my own parents might share a great-great-great-great grandmother from a village in northern Wales about two hundred years ago. Which demonstrates the fact in a country with a relatively stable population over several centuries, a native from any given area will be distantly related to a native from the same area through at least one set of their 5x great-grandparents.
But on to the monsters of the episode. Much is made in this episode of monsters not being where they are supposed to be; the 'okami' whom Bobby kills with the woodchipper is a Japanese 'okami' which supposedly never appears outside of Japan, and Dean and Sam likewise hunt a lamia which supposedly never appears outside Greece. What exactly classifies as 'Greece' is not explained. If monsters only generally turn up in areas appropriate to their folklore and mythology, then lamia would only turn up in what is now Greece. However, this also implies that once upon a time lamia would have appeared in Anatolia which had huge Greek settlements until the Turkish invasion and colonisation of Anatolia. Even up until the end of WWI, there was a significant Greek population in Turkey, so would there have been lamia there too?
If not, this might imply that monsters in the Superverse behave more like animals in our world, in which case it would indeed be surprising to find a specifically Greek or Japanese monster in America, but not unheard of. After all, the Finnish Natural history Museum has a small population of recluse spiders which hitched a ride in a shipment from South America and have set up home since. There is even a population of scorpions in a town in southeast England which travelled with a shipment of marble from Italy over 100 years ago. Am I rambling? The point is given the ease with which monsters can travel across the world in the 21st century, it should not be too weird for humanoid monsters to get on an aeroplane across the ocean.
Of course, monsters in the Superverse are acting weird this year, and the appearance of Greek and Japanese monsters in America is supposed to be a part of this. ...But a 'Vanir' i.e. a god from Norse mythology appeared in 1x10 Scarecrow, and gods from loads of mythologies appeared in 5x19 Hammer of the Gods so is it really that strange? And then there was the Slavic leshi which appeared as Paris Hilton is 5x05 Fallen Idols. The show is once again telling us one thing but showing us another.
In the show's defence, the writers at least restrained themselves from once again taking ideas straight from Neil Gaiman. In American Gods, gods exist because people believe in them, and different versions of gods can exist in different places in the world. They are essentially like tulpas which were introduced in Supernatural 1x17 Hell House.
European gods exist in the America of American Gods because European settlers took their ideas and beliefs to the New World with them. It has been about twelve years since I read American Gods, but unless I am mistaken the prologue is about Norsemen from Greenland landing in Vinland and finding that Odin was there too. The Norsemen's belief in Odin had brought a new version of him to life in the New World. In modern times, there is the American 'Mr Wednesday' (Wednesday = Woden's Day, i.e. Woden = Odin) and the Icelandic Odin who are both Odin but not the same person.
(Apparently this scene also made it into the American Gods show. The scribe also looks a lot like the actor who played Raphael in Supernatural. I am not a huge fan of the scene: it gives away Mr Wednesday's plan right at the beginning, and why on Earth would they sacrifice to Odin in the hopes of a fair wind? Would that not be more Njörd's jurisdiction, since they are sailors? Gaiman's version of Norse gods always strike me as rather flanderised, but this scene felt like somebody has taken that to an extreme.)
One of the best parts of this episode is definitely the return of Rufus. He adds a lot of comedy to the episode and his relationship with Bobby is one of the best in the show. if Dean and Sam were like Bobby and Rufus, what a show this would be. But Rufus is not just a comedy relief character in this episode: he gets Bobby the ring he needs to summon Gavin's ghost and get information about where Crowley's bones are. It really is a shame Rufus's time on this show is growing short.
And before moving on from Rufus, there are now two prominent actors from The X-Files in supporting roles in the show. Mitch Pileggi (Samuel) was Assistant Skinner, and Steven Williams (Rufus) was Mr X. If only Kim Manners had survived his cancer...
Speaking of the late Kim Manners, in the book The Essential Supernatural (page 18), Jensen mentioned Kim's having encouraged him to direct the show, and of his years of paying attention to Kim's directorial style. He also said in the same section that he had been reading the script with a director's eye since series one. Due to my lack of a director's eye, I cannot point out anything specific in Jensen's directorial style which reminds me of Kim's, but Paula praised the brutality and lack of sentimentality in the episode. I noticed a lot of movement in the cameras, and particularly enjoyed only ever seeing the shadow of the lamia, including when it was killed. This implied violence and gore without showing it, a style of horror which I feel works better than showing loads of blood and guts.
Slight sidetrack, but I have recently watched the 2017-2019 version of IT after realising when watching Welcome to Derry that I had forgotten a lot of what I read in the book in 2011. I found that the horror in the films (especially in IT: Chapter One) works better than the show because it is less explicit (which incidentally feels more like Stephen King). While I am enjoying the prequel series Welcome to Derry, I find that the more explicit violence and gore demystifies Pennywise and reduces the horror to just shock and grossness. A scene in last night's episode (1x07 The Black Spot) where Pennywise eats a man's severed head was so OTT that I almost found it funny like My Bloody Valentine.
The point of that aside was that Jensen's choice to only have the lamia's shadow shown was a good idea, and also reminded me of the scene in Gremlins when Billy's mum hears noises in the house and the gremlin's shadow is shown against the wall. ...Which is of course inspired by Nosferatu, but moving on...
Generally speaking, this was a good episode for Bobby. Had I seen more of this Bobby earlier on, I might have actively liked him at some point. I recently watched 7x10 Death's Door for the first time in about four years, and I had completely forgotten the reason why Bobby did not want to have children and that telling Karen (his wife) that was one of his biggest regrets. That really should have come sooner to flesh Bobby out. But at least in this episode he gets to be an actual person with a life.
However, the parts of Bobby I dislike made an appearance at the end of the episode. Dean calls Bobby late at night to voice his concerns about Sam, but since Bobby is busy with other things he is not free to listen to Dean uninterrupted. This then elicits a very out-of-character line from Dean to the effect of Bobby was being a bit selfish and that not everything is about him, whereupon Bobby proceeds to prove that in fact, yes, it is all about him and everybody else better shut up and let Bobby bitch because only Bobby is allowed to have problems. Last series he would not stop yammering about being in a wheelchair, now he gripes about having sold his soul. Bitch, bitch, bitch.
My problems with this are several. first up is how out of character it is for Dean to whine about Bobby being 'selfish' etc, and this can be chalked up to Andrew Dabb once more writing Dean as if he were Xander writing about Angel. Second is Bobby shouting at Dean and Sam (primarily the former) as if they were recalcitrant teenagers caught smoking rather than men in their 30s dealing with real-life, serious adult issues (primarily the former, IDGAF about Sam's soul because what even in a soul in this show?) and being messy like real adults. Third is neither Dean nor Sam giving out in retaliation. Bobby is not their dad and they are not naughty little boys, so why does neither of them call Bobby out for being the same kind of whiny little bitch he accuses them of being (primarily the former).
One thing I find frustrating about this show is the unwillingness of characters (especially Dean) to have actual ugly adult arguments. They certainly have their fallings out and disagreements, but this is almost always Cas or Sam blaming Dean for something and Dean saying 'Yes, this is my fault entirely. I apologise, even though I didn't do anything, so please don't leave me because I can't bear to be abandoned by people who treat me like turd.' For once Dean should clap back and give somebody a verbal bruising. Oh wait, is that not what happened at the end of series 14, and beginning of 15? Yeah, and yet he was still made out to be the bad guy.
Compare this with Buffy where all the main characters bitch and give out at each other at different points of the show. Sometimes they gang up on somebody (usually Buffy herself, e.g. 3x02 Dead Man's Party or 7x19 Empty Places) but she gives as good as she gets. The writing does not reduce her to a punchbag. In fact, in spite of being friends with Willow and Xander, she holds a certain grievance with them for years which finally comes out towards the end of the show in 7x05 Selfless. 'Kick his ass.' Such writing.
All of this is to say that Dean should have clapped back with a 'I'm sorry your feelings got hurt. Now such it up, princess' before ending the call and refusing to pick up the phone for a while. That would feel real, not like the writers trying to get a laugh out of the audience at the protagonists' expense.
The fourth issue, and one which likely slips under most viewers' radar more than the first three, is the fact that Dean actually tried once more to open up to somebody and get help with his troubles, only to get shot down and shut up again. Far be it from me to sound as if Dean is the only character in the show I actually care about, but given he spent the last year grieving the loss of his last surviving family member (who is Adam?), the disregard the rest of the cast has for his wellbeing is shocking. Why am I supposed to be rooting for these guys again?
In the hopes long-time readers do not think I sound like a broken record, this also puts me very much in mind of the issue I have raised many a time, that being the fact that nobody listens when men talk about our issues. 'Men need to talk more', they say, as if the idea of talking about problems is alien to men (clue: it isn't) and that the rest of humanity is just waiting with bated breath for us to tell them what is wrong so that they can rush to our aid. Pfft, please. Nobody cares, nobody is listening, and nobody is coming to help.
Other than that, Bobby was actually enjoyable in this episode. Jodie also made a reappearance as the town sheriff and played an important role in getting Rufus out of jail so he could help Bobby. Unfortunately, she will not be making much of an appearance for a little while. Bobby's new neighbour Marcie almost made her first and only appearance in the show as she tried her hardest to get Bobby into her knickers. I liked her, and she brought a different energy to the show which, unfortunately, was doomed to be short-lived.
The other monster in the episode is a werewolf-like creature from Japanese folklore. The okami is a yo-kai i.e. spirit or supernatural being who can take human form. The okami is also knows as okuri-inu meaning 'escort wolf', and it is known to stalk, attack, and eat travellers in the countryside. It can also keep travellers safe from harm if treated right. Like other yo-kai, or elves and the like in Germanic folklore, they are seen as creatures to be respected and given gifts in order to win their favour and keep them happy and benefit from their good-will, but best avoided and treated with caution.
None of this information is presented in the episode, nor does it elaborate on the fox yo-kai kitsune which will appear in 7x03 The Girl Next Door, so the viewer will be forgiven for not having a clue what an okami is. Paula was nonplussed and thought they meant 'kami', and I only found out what I wrote above by spending ten minutes on wikipedia. None of the folklore surrounding the okami is also used in the show, except the need to stab it seven times in the chest with a certain kind of wood which might be the show's own invention. This is fine, and perhaps time constraints necessitated the bare-bones nature of this subplot, but my few minutes reading about the okami informed me that they can be placated with gifts of food such as rice, beans, or salt. It might have been nice to see Bobby try to keep the okami away and keep Marcie safe with folksy methods like that to actually justify including the okami specifically rather than any other monster which could have been killed with a wood-chipper.
One of the things I appreciated about Dead Boy Detectives was that the characters did not solve all their problems with violence, but instead had to use their brains a bit more. Even the final conflict in 1x08 The Case of the Hungry Snake was solved using quick thinking. A bit more of this from Supernatural would have been to its benefit.
One last comment is that the characters really do not care any more about demons' vessels, i.e. the people possessed by demons, and have not for a long time. Paula remarked that Bobby had to kill his wife because she was possessed by a demon, but in this episode he blithely burns the demon's host body along with the demon. That woman's family and friends are probably never going to know where she went or what happened to her but this is all just brushed under the rug.
In spite of my critique and criticism here and there, I did enjoy this episode a lot and would definitely rank it among the show's best. It reminded me rather of Buffy 3x13 The Zeppo which is entirely from Xander's perspective.
You can read more of my analyses here:
Series 1
Series 2
Series 3
Series 4
Series 5
Series 6
Sundry
You can read Paula’s review here and Demian’s here.