Winchester Workplace Catastrophies

Hello! It is I! A very VERY bored demon accountant who got hold of a scrying spell (long story don’t ask) and I decided to start keeping a counter on the amount of times these Winchester boys everyone is obsessed with fail miserably at their jobs! And then I thought, hey, other people might find this as funny as I do, so why not PUBLISH my notes? That’s what this is about! I check in almost every night on my smoke break so near-daily updates. I can’t wait to see how this ends :D

- Yay vampires!

- Sam and John’s relationship is so complicated and fun like aaaa

- I just love how dramatic it is when the vampires walk in like “ohhoho we’re the villains rawr” it’s so funny

- But also *nice* leather jacket. Kinda reminds me of Ruby’s

- Okay Elkins is like kinda relatable ngl. I too am a paranoid hermit

- They LITERALLY jumped him

- The Colt is genuinely so beautiful I love it

- “It looks a hell of a lot like dad’s”, “yeah, except this dates back to the 60s” okay now I’m imagining what it was like for John as a new hunter. Like we obviously know this goes back a long, LONG time, and that Mary was a hunter and John’s own father was a man of letters—not that he knew that—so he entered this preexisting space that is NOT kind to newcomers (which is one of the few instances where that is fair), built up a whole network, and became INFAMOUS. He’s known as one of the best and he wasn’t even raised on it. I wanna see failed hunts, I wanna see him think he’s insane until he meets his very first real hunter. I think it’d be so fun lol

- I know I’ve mentioned it a million times at this point but I always LOVE the sets in this show. They’re just…really good, and I especially love the motel rooms with papers everywhere and the hunter’s cabins strewn with books and beer bottles—it’s just so maximalist in a way I just really really like and makes it clear thought and care were put in. As cool as the bunker is, it’s one thing g I mourn because CLEARLY they’re really good at doing messy, maximalist, reference-heavy sets, and maybe there’s a practical reason they talked about somewhere or I’m stupid, but it’s be nice to see at least a little more personalization from the guys. We get a little from Dean, but Sam clearly decorated at least a little back in college, and idk, I feel like Jack especially would have fun making his space his own or leave little trinkets lying about the common areas. Cas probably would be the only one to not really do any of that sort of thing idk

- Both of them jumping when John knocked on the glass gets me every time. Honestly it even jumpscared me lol

- “Vampires? I thought there was no such thing?” Oh crap that’s right! I completely forgot they didn’t even know about them until this episode, dang. They’re in like every episode moving forward lol

- I’m sorry but the idea of a little group of vampires having a little party on the side of the road and eating the people that drive by in the middle of the night honestly sounds like fun. Heck, I’d join them /silly

- “I love this shirt…:(“ aw let the guy live his shirt is cool, if a little garish

- Oh no way they didn’t hit that guy. No amount of slamming on the breaks would stop them THAT fast orz

- Dean falling asleep and Sam just sitting next to him while John listens to police radio in silence in the dark is just a very particular feeling to me

- Dean waking up like he’s completely forgotten where he is every time is adorable, frankly

- “Just— follow me.” Ah yes, old habits die hard. Ordering your kids around like usual lol

- I want John’s coat :(

- And of course, Sam asking valid questions and being shit down and told basically to “shut up and follow directions” as per usual as well

- Maybe I’m overanalyzing, but something something Sam asking for proof that they’re on the right track and John handing the fang to DEAN instead something something trust

- “Hey Dean, why don’t you touch up the car before you get rust. I wouldn’t have given you the damn tho g if I thought you were gonna ruin it” okay yes, heavyhanded, but also if I were in Dean’s place I would strangle him on the spot for that one—dad or no.

- “It’s just the way he treats us like we’re children” see I’m 100% on Sam’s side here, I’m sorry. There have been a few authority figures in my life, such as teachers, who infantilized me and just barked orders and never answered questions and, safe to say, I was in detention for “””back talking””” a lot. I would have thrown hands if I didn’t feel like dealing with the extra hassle and I still stand by that 😭

- “Revenge isn’t worth much if you end up dead” good advice. A smart vampire. I’d say the Winchester’s could learn a thing or two, but they don’t tend to stay dead for long, so I suppose it doesn’t matter lol

- Honestly Luther has this whole vibe going on that I kinda dig idk

- “Pull off the next exit”, “why.”, “because he thinks he caught the trail of the vampires”, “how.”, “I don’t know, he didn’t say”. This conversation right here just encapsulates the whole situation, doesn’t it? I guess that’s why it’s the last straw.

- Completely justified fight ngl

- “You like to watch? Huh?” Yeah as if this isn’t some weird forced voyeurism thing

- Does that go in the palm slicing counter or not? It’s not for a spell or anything so I guess not

- Toxic yuri /j

- I will never get over the creepy piano background music they use when things are tense it just does something to my brain I love it so much. Favorite score in the soundtrack I think idk

- Yippie Samuel Colt mention

- Something about the way the scene where they’re sneaking into the nest is shot from below and backlit with the bright sun outside and dark interior is really cool to me

- Okay but those hammocks look super comfy

- Another instance of what is DEFINITELY overanalysis, but I just want to point out that John went for the Colt, Sal tried to save the girl, and Dean went to lookout and defend. Somthing about roles and priorities.

- Leaving Sam and John alone in a room is never the…best idea

- I’m not gonna quote anything here, but if you know the episode, you know what scene I’m talking about when I say: I freaking love John as a character. I like to make fun of him and I think he was a horrible father who definitely abused his kids and had plenty of opportunities to be better that he didn’t take, but he loves his family. He taught his kids well. He did what he thought he had to. And his motivation and his methods may be off, but I do think he means well. And he loves them. And that makes the whole thing even more complicated. I think Supernatural just…does a good job of making their characters feel human. They’re not perfect. They make mistakes and dumb decisions and most of the time the consequences are catastrophic. They fight and they have questionable motivations and are blinded by self interest and justify their decisions like there’s no tomorrow and they love each other. And they care for the people around them and they make the world a better place and they make up and they learn and they try to do better and it’s just…so good.

- I like that, as John goes on, Sam approaches the desk and sits down. It’s a really good way to show visually that he’s actually listening and willing to hear his dad out. John doesn’t get up or push him away, either.

- “We’re not different. Not anymore” it’s honestly true. Dean is practically the mirror image of his dad, and so is Sam. Sam just has all of those INNER traits that make them butt heads so often. All three of them are wildly different people, obviously, but it’s always interesting to see what traits they took from their parents and the people around them as they grew up.

- “Hey dad…what ever happened to that collage fund?”, “…spent it on ammo”. I gotta say, them laughing about that heals a part of me I think lmao

- Dean Winchester, professional grave desecrator

- “Dad, all due respect, but that’s a bunch of crap” YES DEAN FINALLY

- It’s ALWAYS Sam who’s the hostage fr

- “Yeah, but we saved your ass”, “you’re right”, “I am?”

Sam gets kidnapped: 0 (total: 5)

Sam head trauma: 0 (total: 26) he did get choked pretty badly, but I opted not to count it

Dean gets thrown: 0 (total: 9) John’s turn this time

Dean breaks furniture: 0 (total: 9)

- Stop “previously on Supernatural”-ing me I’ve seen this episode five times /silly

- Oh that’s really similar to the prayer I was taught as a little kid, which went: “now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul will keep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul will take”, which if I’m not mistaken is closer to the traditional version?

- Unrelated, but I currently have My Friends Over You by New Found Glory stuck in my head and it’s kinda funny to have the creepy ambiance of the show going while my head is yelling “YOUUUUU WERE EVERYTHING I WANTEEEED BUT IIIIII JUUUST CANT FINISH WHAT I STARTED”

- I’ve always kinda liked the “what if your childhood fears were REAL” episodes of spn (and Dr. Who, actually) because I think the concept can be taken in a lot of interesting directions. I don’t remember this episode super vividly but I guess we’ll see lol

- “Because I’m the oldest, and that means I’m always right”. Sam, immediately reverting back to 12: “no it doesn’t!”

- Although it’s a completely different kind of situation, something about the music, and Sam’s calm observation—especially double checking the time with Dean—of “so where is everybody” while the camera pans back to the nearly deserted playground gives me SUCH strong Dr. Who vibes. Maybe it’s because I take any minuscule detail of everything ever and make it about Dr. Who but-

- Dean writing “bikini inspector” on a fake ID and *also* making Sam use it is insane 😭 and dumb like dude what if someone DOES look close lmao

- I will never shut up about Sam he’s so adorable and the absolute DEATH glare he gives Dean after the whole fiasco is just wonderful lol (100% the reaction Dean was gunning for)

- I really like both of their suits :D Dean’s tie and Sam’s blazer in particular. Jared looks amazing in brown, and Jensen looks so so good in red I’m being so serious

- Okay while NORMALLY it’s super weird and paranoid to be spooked by an old lady turning to look at you as you walk down the hall—upside down cross or not—Dean is 1000% a paranoid person, and it wouldn’t be too far a stretch to be a little suspicious based on past experiences lol

- The rotting wood where the handprint is was SUCH a fun little detail and I love it

- Mini Dean!

- Thundercats mention

- I paused for a bit to talk to my friend on Discord, and I paused it right on the shot of the Impala on the side of the road before it transitions to the guys investigating the bedroom, so I got a nice few minutes of admiring Baby for a bit. I love that car. I’ve always liked old Impalas, and that model—ESPECIALLY in black or red—is just so so gorgeous. Oh I could yap forever honestly but 10/10 way to spend time

- More flashbacks! I really like these. they make me sad and nostalgic.

- Okay I could absolutely over analyze this scene for way too long, but TL;DR Dean giving Sammy the last of the Lucky Charms is innocuous in itself, but that’s just one more little thing he wanted for him that he gave up for Sam. They both suffered a lot in different ways, and I think this episode in particular is one that gets pointed to often as an argument for “see Sam doesn’t even remember all of this so he wasn’t neglected and had a happy childhood”. This isn’t the place for me to debunk that, but I don’t think that was the point of this at all. 1) we’re seeing this all exclusively through Dean’s perspective. It’s a Dean episode. These are Dean’s memories focusing on Dean and how HE felt. He’s expected to follow orders. He’s expected to be perfect. He’s suspected to be a good substitute parent and a good apprentice and a good future hunter and also stay out of the way and shut up. He’s expected, basically, to give up everything but his desert protect his family and kill things—and we see how well that turned out. Even the small joys he doesn’t fight on. Sam wants the cereal even though Dean was saving it? Sure. It’s just another thing. It’s interesting to see these more mundane things stick out in Dean’s mind. To Sam, this was just another day. But they’re in this together. Sam gives him the little prize as a compromise. It’s the little things, is what I’m trying to say. They’re both very sweet and deserved way better than they got :(

- Sam purple dog shirt!! :DD (the way he sits on the bed is so cute)

- Another thing I find interesting is how when Dean mentions remembering how to kill the thing because of something John said, Sam seems to feel…almost left out? And Dean almost sounds bitter. Just different perspectives

- “An old person, huh? In the hospital? Woah” see this is why Soulless was so sarcastic and dry. Sam is just like it and the removal of any sort of filter let him truly go wild XD

- I like the old lady she’s fun

- I genuinely adore how much they get to goof off and LAUGH the past few episodes

- “I can promise you, it’s not your fault, okay”, “it’s my job to look after him” obvious parallels are obvious. Here we see Dean doing the thing where he entirely disregards himself to try and protect Sam

- Dean driving her to the hospital is genuinely really sweet. He’s always twice as motivated as soon as siblings or kids are involved

- He’s so OBVIOUSLY suspicious of the doctor (for obvious reasons)

- Return of the dog shirt!!

- Whoop whoop guilt complex

- Ugh dude it HURTS still to see John yelling at Dean for leaving. Sure, he SHOULD have stayed, and it was dumb not to, but he’s also a CHILD, and clearly this stuck with him well into adulthood

- Also, unrelated, but Dean is especially gorgeous in this scene

- “He just…looked at me different, y’know? Which is worse. Not that I blame him” oh OUCH. Yeah, he’s right on that one..

- “You were just a kid”, “don’t. Don’t..” gonna cry now

- “You’d do anything for your little brother?”, “…yeah”, “…me too” this episode just gets me, man

- “Hey Dean…I’m sorry”, “for what?”, “I know I’ve given you a lot of crap for followin’ Dad’s orders but…I know why you did it” SEE

- Taking your eyes off it before you’re 100% sure the things dead is so dumb

- Sam is always getting choked out I swear

- Very uncomfortable scene, but the little roll he does to get up is really cute. And his SWEATER PAWS hehe

- See the thing is, I would never put it past this show to have the kids die, anyway so yippie for alive children

- “I better get going before he hotwires the car and drives himself” a little mirror image of Dean in every way

- “Sometimes I wish I…wish I could have that kind of innocence”. It only gets worse and you only stray further from the innocence and purity you so desperately want and will never attain, Sam, don’t worry. You will be defiled and defile yourself in ways you can’t even imagine until you’re barely recognizable and it’s agony for all of us <3

Sam gets kidnapped: 0 (total: 5)

Sam head trauma: 1 (total: 26)

Dean gets thrown: 1 (total: 9)

Dean breaks furniture: 1 (total: 9)

- YAYAYAYAYAYAY WOOHOO YAY YIPPIE I like this episode (you will be hearing those words a million times once I get to season 3)

- The fact that even before the twist was revealed I saw the graffiti and was like “woah Blue Öyster Cult :0” when I first watched this one is…something. Everyone go listen to their song Astronomy. It’s my personal favorite

- Sammyyyyyy he’s so cute ugh it’s not fair

- Peak sibling behavior lol

- “We’re not KIDS anymore *Dean*” >:( as if you don’t cave to the prank war IMMEDIATELY. I really wish they’d have kept doing that kind of thing

- Once again I reiterate how much I love the background music in this show. That guitar riff started going and I was immediately mentally back in the car with my dad /pos

- “Pentecostals” 😭

- I like when, for these sorta comedy ones (they did it again in…Tall Tales, right?) where they rapidly switch between people giving statements with varying levels of energy and believability and contradicting each other

- Also the girls hair is AWESOME

- “And kinda hot…! You know…I’m a dead sort of way”

- I love the record storeeeee it reminds me of my old favorite record store, which unfortunately shut down…:(

- I live the detail of Dean checking out Point Of Know Return, which if you didn’t know, is the Kansas album that has Carry On My Wayward Son on it. I have the exact same record! I’ve always loved the cover with the boat

- Sam immediately knowing when different sigils were used down to the date <33 *

- *”this is exactly why you don’t get laid :|” dude you’re BOTH massive nerds /pos /aff

- But also seriously, if you’re going to go through ALL this effort, wouldn’t you…do your research? I suppose the logic is that VERY few people (other than Sam) would notice, but like…idk I tend to agonize over the smallest of details to get them as accurate as humanly possible in my own work, no matter how inconsequential (to the best of my patience and ability), so perhaps it’s a me problem

- YIPPIE GHOSTFACERS they’re so silly

- I will never get over how IMMEDIATELY passive aggressive Dean gets with these guys. And Sam’s smirk after going “EMF? :0” like it’s just hilarious to them. And why wouldn’t it be?

- “I’m sorry, that pot we smoked gave the the giggles” in another universe, we got a full season of Ghostfacers lol

- Aw dude I love them. I’ve said it so many times and I’m not gonna stop

- Poor girl’s got some absolute garbage friends

- I FORGOT ABOUT THE OMINOUS CHICKEN FEET

- I mean…I GUESS she could have passed out, which makes this point irrelevant (disregarding the fact that a full-length strangulation scene would be really dark, potentially dangerous, and way too long for TV lol) but like…she died/passed out REALLY fast

- Heck yeah ghostfacers

- “Who you gonna call” is WILD

- Dean canonically being a böc fan is very important to me I need you to understand this their music jas so many metaphors that fit him so well. And Cas too. And also I like böc and they’re not mentioned in chows or moves like Metallica or Led Zeppelin despite their popularity and that’s sad. It just…needs more cowbell, you know? (/ref I’m so sorry I had to)

- See, knowing his past and future patterns of behavior, I still half expected Dean to try and taste whatever was in that jar, but instead he dares Sam to lol

- CUTE RATS AWEEE Dean being grossed out by them is why I’m a Dean hater /j

- I love how this episode almost feels like a slasher flick

- One of the few motels they’ve stayed in that actually looks kinda okay lol. Cheesy, but kinda fun

- I would wear Sam’s shirt lowkey. I like the blue and brown stripes a lot

- This whole Tulpa concept is so fun I wish they’d played with it more

- See honestly going into an abandoned house and making it look haunted sounds like an absolute BLAST. Unfortunately, in the spn-verse it gets you in trouble REAL fast

- Man rip Sam with the whole itching powder thing. I feel bad for him but he’s really cute in this whole scene

- “Sex…with GIRLS ahaha”

- What would Buffy do is a fair philosophy

- The smiles on their faces as the guys follow after them like “waitwaitwaitwhatwhatwhat thing about Mordecai” gets me every time. They’re so unserious. I love this little plan of theirs to change the legend it’s so silly

- “Slow your roll, buddy, they’re gonna know we’re excited”

- “If you pull that string one more time, I’m gonna kill you” I will never get over their dynamic or these dumb little quips it makes me so irrationally happy

- They’re so petty I love them. Hearing the both laugh makes me realize how little they even SMILE in later seasons, though :(

- The stupid fish thing being used to lure the cops kills me lol. It also means they just straight up stole it from the restaurant, unless there’s a store next door that sells the exact same things. Which is as unlikely as it is weird

- “But then our server crashed” ghost hunting via internet has its flaws, kids

- “Come get it ya ugly sonofabitch” Sam you’re insane ily

- YEAH FIRE

- BURN IT TO THE GROUND

- “Mordecai can’t haunt a house if there’s no house to haunt” I mean…Dean has a point I guess lol. And Sam’s worried responses don’t really hold up if you consider that if they DID kill the tulpa…how would anyone…know? Wouldn’t they keep believing in him, making him effectively unkillable? If anything, burning the house would help. Idk, I should do more research on tulpas. They’re really interesting, and maybe the writers are pulling from something I’m unfamiliar with. Or maybe they wanted an excuse for Dean to be impulsive and Sam whiny lol

- At the risk of sounding even more like a pyromaniac, the fire is genuinely so beautiful and I like how the shot kind of lingers on it, especially after the comment of “out of all the things we’ve hunted, how many of ‘em d’you think only existed ‘cause people believed in ‘em?” I like the quiet scenes like that a lot

- Two things: one, Sam tricking the ghostfacers into thinking they got a film deal is hilarious and two, the lawn flamingos. I’m glad they’re important enough to take with them lol. And the dead fish.

- I think Dean would actually like ttrpgs. And Sam would make a GENUINELY amazing DM and have a BLAST doing it. I need to write/draw that, now…

- I love these two so much…

Sam gets kidnapped: 0 (total: 5)

Sam head trauma: 1 (total: 25)

Dean gets thrown: 0 (total: 8)

Dean breaks furniture: 0 (total: 8)

- Lowkey eating pizza rn

- I genuinely love Meredith’s sense of fashion

- The zoomed out, high angle shot with the shadow of a figure looming out as she runs is so fun. Especially with the very cinematic wind and wet asphalt lol

- Sam being a theater kid mention!! I will never shut up about this it’s very important to me

- “Hard earned money”, “you think credit card fraud is easy?” Dean’s humor feels so 80’s action movie meets family sitcom and I love it

- I’m so brainrotted that I see their uniforms, I don’t think of the actual job they apply to, but rather 10-Minute Power Hour

- The broken chain bolt detail is really cool. It’s subtle, and doesn’t linger too long to be ham fisted but effective

- The blood splatter thing is a little out there, but still cool! And a testament to how smart Dean is

- Shoutout to “you mind doing a little thinking with your upstairs brain, Dean?” Because my mom laughed at it when we watched this one together

- Meg time!!

- Aaaa she’s such a good actress!! I think Sam knows that something is DEFINITELY off, but I imagine he wants desperately to believe he has a friend—and not only that, a likeminded one. One that was able to comfort him and that he can relate to and seems to genuinely like him, you know? He’s told her more than almost anyone else when it comes to his relationship with Dean and John, so (especially keeping in mind this is angsty, moody, kind, and not-yet-broken-down season 1 Sam) I’m sure he wants to be optimistic. So the first meeting, sure. The second? Way too fishy.

- And now they’re fighting

- Sam stalking girls again

- Nah because Dean trying to set his brother up and give advice—however jokingly—only to be hung up on is pretty much exactly how I feel whenever my roommate describes their…well, you know lol (aspec Sam canon fight me)

- I really like Meg 1.0’s hair

- Lighting in the elevator shaft is scrumptious

- Also DANG the arm strength Sam has to have for this is truly baffling to me and my noodle limbs

- Dun dun duuuuun

- “So Sammy’s got a thing for the bad girl” running theme there, my guy. Not that your taste is any better /aff /pos

- Clicky gun sounds yay!

- Aw I forgot Sam genuinely wanted to go back to school “once this is all over”. Well, too bad, buckaroo the world is gonna end a few times first. “It’s never gonna BE over. There will be others. There’s always something to hunt” and he’s right. Just endless one after another. And even during MULTIPLE biblical apocalypses, they have to deal with spirits and werewolves and zombies. The hunt never ends.

- The genuinely concerned, innocent, confusion in Sam’s voice as he says “because you wanted to find the thing that killed mom”. It’s like he’s never even considered any other possibility, and why would he? Dean isn’t usually open with stuff like this, and Sam is always so blinded by his OWN goals and interpretations of the world, that he wouldn’t have noticed any subtle hints in the first place. Dean just wants a family. He just doesn’t want to be alone. Part of this is the normal, healthy need for connection that he’s CONSTANTLY deprived of (for instance, John was never really a father, and instead a military Sargent). People he doesn’t have to (though he does all the time) lie to. Part of it, I think, is that he isn’t safe when he’s alone with his thoughts. He doesn’t know what to do with himself if he isn’t looking out for someone else in some way. There’s also the issue of Dean’s rose-tinted glasses when looking at their childhood. What he sees is “well, at least we were together” whereas Sam, especially in the early seasons, has a clearer view, even if it’s still clouded by “Dean was the favorite”. I believe part of this comes from the complicated thing of “Sam thinks John preferred Dean because he got more attention (positive or, more likely, negative), and Sam was belittled for being independent” and Dean sees it as “Sam was coddled and didn’t have to deal with the hard stuff, but that’s okay because he was protected. I’m okay being the glue in this family at the expense of my own well being so that we can be together because I desperately need to be able to reassure myself that you’re both okay”. Both correct, in some ways, and wrong in others.

- “Dean when this is all over, you’re going to have to let me go my own way” [Fleetwood Mac intensifies]

- I’m gonna be late turning in my homework because of this show but it’s so worth it

- Yippie blood! And bruises! The makeup team always does really good job

- Instance four billion of being tied up. You’d think they’d learn, but no

- Dean’s complete and utter confidence that John isn’t going to save them is devastating

- Instance four billion of Sam specifically getting sexually harassed by a demon. “Oh we can still have fun. I’m a little tied up right now” is insane, though. Commitment to the bit at its finest

- YEAH GET HER SAM WOOHOO

- Ooooh so many mixed emotions from one of the angriest families ever. Mmmmmm

- I know it’s the most obvious thing ever, but it really just gets me how Dean immediately walks in to hug his dad, and Sam steps past him to stand next to Dean

- John as a character really interests me because of how morally grey his actions are. I probably shouldn’t talk about it too much here, but TL;DR: he truly believes what he’s doing is right, and he goes about it in the way he knows how. What he did to Sam and Dean was wrong, but it WAS done out of love. He cares for them, even though it’s just textbook abuse at this point. He’s a good man and an awful father, and you see a lot of him through his sons. I can see why he and Mary got along. In a perfect world, I think John definitely could have been a wonderful parent, and I’m DEFINITELY not saying what he did wasn’t a choice. It very much was. But at the end of the day, he loves them, and they turned out pretty great, all things considered lol

Sam gets kidnapped: 1 (total: 5)

Sam head trauma: 2 (total: 24)

Dean gets thrown: 3 (total: 8)

Dean breaks furniture: 1 (total: 8)

Palm cutting: 0 (total: 0)

- I love this kids little dragon figurine! It kinda looks like one of my own lol

- GODZILLA VS MOTHRA THIS KID HAS PEAK TASTE (also Dean, don’t diss the original it’s also amazing. I will say, I don’t really care much for modern Godzilla. I think people kind of forget the core themes and all the CGI makes it lose its charm idk)

- Cat jumpscare!! Sam’s little smile after is really cute. It makes sense for him to be on edge, though. Especially considering what happens lol

- “Sam Winchester”, “like the rifle?” Before I even knew really anything about Supernatural, their names always stuck out to me. That was one of my first questions, too, and even after just the first episode I was like “ah yes, makes sense”. I have this beautiful Winchester folding blade (they make knives and ammo as well as firearms. I actually don’t think I’ve ever used a Winchester gun? My Dad favors S&W or Beretta, usually. And I don’t get the chance to take the rifles for a spin enough to remember what he has) with brass detailing and one of their bullets on a keychain, but now it just makes me think of Sam and Dean XD

- That cage is so dog kennel-y oof

- “I’ll be damned…they’re just people”

- Idk what exactly it is about the lighting in the prison basement, but there’s a handful of shots of Sam in the cage that are genuinely so pretty and artsy I kind of want to paint one

- Dean is practically never fully transparent about anything ever, but when his brother is in danger and he’s panicking it’s clear to everyone how earnest he is about it, if that makes sense? Like how he convinced this cop to help him out because she can tell he’s not going to give up and this is way more important than he’s letting on. Well, besides the fact that she’s still RIGHTFULLY suspicious and runs the badge number. Obviously she doesn’t know the full story and all, but it would be REALLY weird for her not to take any precautionary measures and all

- Despite Sam’s best efforts, he just gives off such strong “Sammy” vibes that some people just immediately default to it lol

- Obvious trap is obvious and oblivious guy is oblivious

- I just genuinely adore the concept of this episode like a family of rednecks hunting people for sport? 10/10 very fun very classic slasher flick vibes, has so much potential to be genuinely horrifying

- Dean falling for the most obvious trick in the book, unfortunately for Kathleen

- “Demons I get. People are crazy”

- As cheesy as it is, I’m a big fan of “jaunty tune contrasting a gruesome scene”. Some people might say it’s overdone, and that’s fair, but I eat it up.

- The bones rattling together when Dean brushed against them was such a nice sound

- Teeth jar!! :DD

- This set is so cool

- “He’s right behind me, isn’t he?” Ahh

- Very fun exploration of the darker side of hunting. Obviously, this is exaggerated, but kinda like the Winchesters, this is a close-knit fantasy on the outskirts of society, doing things that are messy and illegal. Hunting. The difference, of course, is hunting what and why. However, at the beginning, before all of the world-ending stuff that pushes the show into its secondary theme of humanity and perseverance, one can have a lot more empathy towards monsters. We don’t know too terribly much about them, and the main motivation for hunting them is vengeance rather than survival (though I’m not saying the whole “saving people” part doesn’t come in, otherwise they’d have no reason to go out of their way). So while these two cases are extremely different, one could see the argument that, had things gone different, they could have ended up like this. Dean sort-of does, with the mark of Cain. Sam sort-of does when he’s soulless. Idk it’s kind of a cool contrast on top of being your average “people can have more capacity for violence than monsters” thing. I mean, as much as monsters kill and enjoy it, outnumbering humans and using them as food, we do the same for animals. If deer were on the same level of intelligence and sophistication as humanity and we still did the same thing, some of us would say they would be in the right to kill is back. This is turning into a whole mess now and I’ll stop be I can tell I’m not making any sense

- Dean just looks so good covered in blood. Most people do (well yk in fiction and all but I shouldn’t have to specify that) but it just specifically suits him in particular. This spans Wendigo have some of my favorite Deans lmao

- “Eat me. Wait nononono you actually might” that’s the kind of humor that keeps getting you punched. But hey, I’m always down for a bit of cannibalism so have at it, honestly

- Ah, making him choose between Kathleen and Sam instead of making him be the animal is just so good on so many different levels. Especially since they plan to just shoot them both in the cage just— MMM

- 34:46 when they burn Dean’s shoulder (and his whimpering after) <33 /nx

- YEAH GET HIM SAMMY FIGHT WOOHOO

- I love how slow and quiet it is while they hunt Sam. It would have been so easy to go full-throttle and make it fast and cool and action-packed but the slow stalking and silence is just so much more effective

- YEAH GO KATHLEEN

- That roll from Sam was so good. And they do their own stunt work so extra yay for Jared because that was SMOOTH

Sam gets kidnapped: 1 (total: 4)

Sam head trauma: 0 (total: 22)

Dean gets yeeted: 2 (total: 5)

Dean breaks furniture: 3 (total: 7)

- Woohoo Psychic Sammy Shenanigans!!

- pretty car…

- Pretty car kills a guy

- OH OH THE DUDE ON THE RADIO TALKING ABOUT BIBLES AND SALVATION IS THAT THE SAME GUY?? Ugh I can’t remember his name off the top of my head but it is, isn’t it? It’s bothering me so much that I can’t remember ughhh

- Mmm the lamp turning into the headlight was a really good transition

- Oh, don’t worry Sam, it gets worse

- Honestly they make the priest outfits work

- Awe Sam’s little flinch when he touches the coffee mug. I actually wonder if that was intentional or if the coffee was just hot because I have done that way too many times lol

- Dean is enjoying this a little too much I think lol

- Max is doing a REALLY good job of being totally not suspicious /sarc

- Listen I KNOW it gets repetitive but I just need to comment that Sam’s hair looks really good when he does the whole priest thing. Just- swoop

- Okay dang I completely forgot about the………whatever that gadget is. Neon green lasers and all. What kind of Dr. Who gizmo is that

- I usually hate anything kinda asmr-adjacent but I love the clicking sounds the guns are making while Dean cleans them

- As a frequent migraine-haver Sam is really real for that

- My screen froze right before the guy got decapitated :|

- Speaking of, an image like that has to be permanently burned into Sam’s brain

- Oh Dean no it freaks you out almost as much as it does Sam

- Parkour!

- Dean your family is SO cursed.

- “Our dark spots are pretty dark”, “…you’re…dark…:/“ the early seasons really let them be dorky twenty-something’s and I love it

- Sam and his chronic illness symptoms will always be special to me

- Aaaaaaaaaaaand the “Dean resorts immediately to killing anything supernatural and Sam himself is pretty supernatural so now we can’t just shoot at everything that moves because things have gotten a lot more grey and there’s morality involved and Dean sucks at making hard decisions and sticks to black and white thinking while Sam’s overly empathetic and has a raging guilt complex” plotline begins

- See I’m not justifying murder but Max has a point

- Oh dude the parallels. As far as we know, John didn’t canonically like physically abuse his kids or anything, but even if it wasn’t the same, Sam can DEFINITELY relate to being neglected, controlled, and feeling entirely helpless. And then obviously the mom thing :DD

- DUN DUN DUUUUN

- “Your abilities—they started six, seven months ago?” Oh for crying out loud I can’t bear someone say those numbers without dying a little inside anymore

- Ooooh scary floating gun

- Ngl the first time the scene where Dean (haha rhyme) gets shot played out I was so confused before it was revealed that it was a vision. Very fun trick on the audience 10/10

- Also MASSIVE blood splatter very fun

- I still can’t believe Sam moved that entire massive piece of furniture and then they just kind of forget about it and never use it again. Sure, he was panicked and maybe adrenaline had something to do with it, but he’s in these kinds of situations ALL the time and it’s just like…never a thing that could have come in handy or been super cool?

- Oh dude that messes a person UP. And then, of course, Sam blames himself.

- “We’re lucky we had dad”, “he could have gone a whole different way after mom”, “all things considered, we turned out okay. Thanks to him.” Very true. Unfortunately.

- “As long as I’m around, nothing bad is gonna happen to you” stooooop I’m gonna cryyyyy

Sam gets kidnapped: 1 technically (total: 3)

Sam head trauma: 2 I’m counting the headaches because they seem pretty gnarly (total: 22)

Dean gets thrown: 1 (total: 3)

Dean breaks furniture: 0 (total: 4)

- This is the first episode I’m watching on my new laptop and I’m having to use Apple’s default DVD player because I haven’t finished setting up VLC properly yet orz

- Oh I LOVE when scenes open with a radio broadcast!!

- KILLER GHOST TRUCK

- Aw man I watched this one the first time with my little brother and our mom and we kept talking about how corny it is /pos

- 10/10 exploding car

- The Impala is so pretty…ugh…dream car…mmm…

- The aggressive revving of the truck after it kills a guy is taking me OUT

- Oooh I like Cassie’s belt buckle

- Sam try not to antagonize your brother challenge level impossible (it’s completely justified let them be petty <33)

- Pitching this episode had to be crazy. “Okay so like…a racist killer ghost truck”

- “Everybody’s gotta open up to someone sometime”, “yeah well I don’t. It was stupid to get that close” I forgot he just says it so blatantly. Oh Dean, the things a therapist could glean about you the moment you enter a room. What a closed off open book of a man, honestly.

- “You were in love with her”, “oh wow…she dumped you” *proceeds to stare off into space*

- Every scene with Cassie and Dean is so excellently awkward

- YES CALL HIM OUT (I say, as if I don’t do the exact same thing)

- Okay yeah I get it they’re both so pent up and have definitely spent a few sleepless nights yearning and wondering about the what ifs and they both lame each other and heat of the moment after so much is happening in their personal lives they just start going at it. I can’t say I understand, but scenes like that are so interesting to me because of the emotional implications and the whole juxtaposition thing idk. Also camerawork goes crazy and it’s tame enough I don’t feel like I have to skip while still getting the feelings across

- “We should fight more often”, “absolutely” I rest my case

- Woohoo unhealthy relationships

- Okay so I have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, it makes a LOT of sense for the ONE person Dean was ever vulnerable with to be someone he had to leave behind with their relationship in ruins, and he never EVER talks about her, and then they awkwardly reunite only to fall back into those habits. And I genuinely love that from a character perspective. HOWEVER for the story? It feels super out of the blue. I get why they did it and like I said, it’s very in character for Dean, but…just throwing out “hey here’s a really interesting detail that carries a whole lot of baggage and gives you a lot of insight into Dean continuing to justify his own unhealthy thought patterns/coping skills (the one time he truly tries to be vulnerable and fell in love it ended with rejection and miscommunication) and a character that could totally effect more if woman in this show weren’t treated as disposable” and then never mentioning her again? Or at least very very sparingly feels like an…odd decision. It’s one of those cases where as a writer you have to think “okay, this is how it would happen realistically, but for the sake of the audience, I’m gonna bend a few rules”, in my opinion

- Anyway, the tits on this man /pos /nx /silly

- EW WET MOUTH SOUNDS

- Cassie has such cool outfits

- The revving will never not be funny to me

- This is really random but like Sam’s shirt

- I can’t speak on whether the topics in this episode are handled well or not (I am what you might call a saltine cracker /silly) but I do think everyone gave a really good performance during the whole exposition scene :D

- Sam continuing to essentially go “Dean and Cassie, sittin’ in a tree; K-I-S-S-I-N-G” is a very sibling thing of him to do

- “I don’t know, figure something out!” New tagline for this show, honestly

- Insane plan, frankly. I love when Sam just makes something up or does something reckless without even thinking it could possibly go wrong and when it works out he’s just like “yeah :D I have no idea what I’m doing and you could have died. You’re welcome! :3”

- The absolute trust Dean has in Sam to just sit there while it runs at him is astounding

- “What if you were wrong?!”, “oh, huh. Honestly, that thought hadn’t even occurred to me” Sam you over confident son of a gun /pos

- The almost-whimper of “oh it honestly didn’t occur to you. I’m gonna kill him” rip Dean

- “I’ll see you, Cassie. I will” stop lying to yourself, Dean

Sam gets kidnapped: 0 (total: 2)

Sam head trauma: 0 (total: 20)

Dean gets thrown: 0 (total: 2)

Dean breaks furniture: 0 (total: 4)

- Opening shot looks like an old horror movie!!

- Obviously I know what happens, but it really is the simplest of things that can get even someone like Dean killed. Even when he’s ACTUALLY dead in the end, it’s a simple accident. And here, the first time, it’s just a heart attack. A tragic accident.

- (Side note, I pause to write these notes because I type kind of slowly, and Sam’s very annoyed-looking face is taking up the entirety of my laptop screen. It’s like he’s judging me)

- The way Dean insists on being so casual about his own death…like he’s not allowed to be freaking out. Probably because a) he’s a hunter. He’s desensitized to this kind of thing, and probably been told his whole life that it’s a dangerous gig, and to die on the battlefield is to at least die with honor and b) he thinks he needs to be calm and collected for Sam’s sake (even if that’s definitely just making Sam more anxious because he’s a hypocrite who wants Dean to be open and honest about things)

- Don’t see Dean in hoodies much but they suit him

- If I were on a set this windy I’d be ruining every shot by shaking or batting my hair out of my eyes lol

- The shot of them waking into the tent church reminds me so much of a scene from a different show and I’m so upset I can’t remember what it was called

- One little tidbit of this show I don’t see talked about a whole lot is Sam’s faith in the context of the show. I wouldn’t say he’s *particularly* religious or anything, but he tells Dean he prays every day, he believes in this faith healer, he talks about angels and everything and then when it’s no longer “blind faith” and he knows there are angels and a higher power, it’s corrupted. It hates him. And even that belief that “sometimes good things do happen” is ground into a fine powder and shoved down Niagara Falls because that last thread he was holding to that the world was good and things happened for a reason was violently ripped away. I imagine (perhaps there was a line about this I forgot and am now subconsciously pulling from) that really further pushed his thought pattern of “I’m evil, permanently tarnished, fundamentally unlovable and unholy”. Not to make a Dean episode about Sam or get really theological on you lol (I’m only nine minutes into the episode and I’m already giving you word vomit)

- Main character privilege getting you called up after a snarky comment. I say things like that all the time and all I get is told to can it /silly /lh

- That random, very office-like zoom for a split second at about 10:59/43:14 caught me so off guard for some reason lol

- I forgot he just straight up puts his hand on Dean’s face

- It just dawned on me that my spring

- break is over and I have to actually go to class in the morning. Fs in the chat for Apple and everyone else who has school in the morning /silly

- “Why do you deserve to live more than my daughter” just…gonna sit with that one for a sec

- Oh my stars the faint guitar riff of Don’t Fear (The Reaper). Okayokay first off I’m so happy they reference Blue Öyster Cult more than any other piece of media I’ve ever seen but second, if y’all like that song I’d highly HIGHLY recommend Godzilla and Astronomy :DD also absolutely banger song for this episode it makes me so happy. I was actually blasting it in the car earlier lol

- Speaking of, all the cool shots with the bridge instrumental in the background before it amps up for the vocals as the Reaper closes in is just- MMM

- (I’m sorry I bring up the music so often but I’d go so far as to say I’m a classic rock fan to rival Dean Winchester in some aspects lol)

- So Sam just…has a tarot deck on hand, I guess. Makes sense, actually

- “We can’t kill death” girl you’re not gonna believe this-

- See that’s actually really cool and realistic deduction! The dust being so thick means anything recently moved will be super obvious. Very effective :D

- Yeah…tough choice. If you stop it, she’ll die, and if you don’t, the other guy will. Effectively putting *Dean* in a situation where he has to choose who lives and who dies. Yummy parallels

- “You deserve it a lot more than me”

- Bro can climb fast

- Shoutout Sam being able to fit through that window. That’s impressive lol

- This one had such a grim ending it’s really cool

- “We did the right thing here, didn’t we?”, “of course we did”, “well it doesn’t feel like it”. I guess that’s always the thing, isn’t it. No one can truly know for absolute certain in cases like this

- “I guess when you have faith, you can just have them when the miracles happen, you have to have them when they don’t”

- “You know, I’m not much of the praying type but…I’m pray for you” just need to highlight this. Make of it what you will.

Sam gets kidnapped: 0 (total: 2)

Sam head trauma: 0 (total: 20)

Dean gets thrown: 0 (total: 2)

Dean breaks furniture: 0 (total: 4)