#1x8 bugs

[seanwinchester]

underrated sam outfit

[bucklebunnydean]

"I'm not exactly brochure material" says the normalest fucking boy you've ever seen. and then Sam does the "Dad was meaner to me than he was to you" routine. hello distorted perception of family relationships/normalcy

[supernaturalkickparty]

"okay honey?"

*slaps sam's ass*

[arcanespillo]

officer he is just a girl

[my-supernatural-rewatch]

Episode 8: Bugs

Dean Winchester in the Supernatural episode Bugs

There are not enough words to describe how much I hate watching this episode.

It's actually a lot better an ep than I remembered, but I hate all the...you guessed it...bugs. (Even knowing they're fake. I lost count of how many times I closed my eyes while watching this episode.)

Dean and Sam investigate a new housing development where people are seemingly being killed by...ugh...bugs.

So this episode starts with something I wish we got to actually see more of on the show...Dean walks out of a barroom after making money hustling pool. I would love to have seen more of that. I know we got a few glimpses but I think it's such a good example of Dean honing a craft, becoming expert at it, and using it to survive.

And since Dean did this, of course Sam has to take issue with how he made his money. He complains about Dean making money hustling pool and with credit cars scams and suggests they get 'day jobs.'

Dean weighs the honest ways of money versus the easy and fun ways to make money and his happy with his life choices. "It's no contest."

"Besides, we're good at it. It's what we were raised to do."

Because God forbid John took a day job once in a while.

Sam admittedly has a great reponse, "Yeah, well how we were raised was jacked."

For once, Sammy, you aren't wrong. Dean, of course, disagrees.

"Says you."

Now as time goes on we'll find out Dean pretty much agrees with Sam but right now John looms heavy over Dean and he wouldn't dare say that to his younger brother.

As an aside, the beginning of this episode has Def Leppard's Rock of Ages playing (presumably in the bar?) and it is as of now the second time we hear this song just this season. We know it comes up again in season five and I'm wondering if we hear it again between now and then (I'm not spoiling it for myself by Googling it).

Oh and another aside that's been nagging at me since I am keeping track of when Dean wears John's jacket...where do they keep all their clothes? Granted, there probably aren't a lot of them but we know they aren't in the trunk because of all the weapons and shit they keep there...and we never see anything in the back seat...so where are the clothes? Where does Dean keep all his different jackets?

On the fly, Dean comes up with the idea to stop at an open house and talk to the people in the development to see what they can find out. (This is after they flipped a coin to see who went in the dirt hole the first dead guy was found in and Sam goes in even though Dean said he would. There are bugs. It is gross.)

As they approach the house, we get another glimpse into how the show wants us to think Dean feels about family-type communities such as the one they're currently in.

"Growing up in a place like this would freak me out." "The manicured lawns. 'How was your day, honey?' I'd blow my brains out."

Of course we find out Dean truly wanted some version of this both when he gets captured by the Djinn and when he's with Lisa....

But. I. Digress.

Sam protests by saying there's nothing wrong with normal and Dean responds with "I'd take our family over normal any day."

And I believe him to a certain extent. Dean has to believe that the way they were raised was the right way because if he doesn't what does that say about him...about his father? Dean isn't yet in a place to be thinking about this stuff too deeply.

We then get our first, but not last, instance of someone mistaking Sam and Dean for a couple instead of brothers when the real estate agent and guy who created the development assumes they are together and looking for a home.

Dean is the one who explains that they're brothers while Sam stands around with a goofy smile on his face.

Once they're in the backyard, where people are there mingling for this fancy schmancy open house, another realtor mistakes them fro a gay couple and Dean plays into it but calling Sam "honey" and slapping his ass.

This episode introduced me to steam showers and to this day I so fucking want one. Just like Dean.

Sam ends up bonding with the real estate agent's teenage son and doesn't even use his fake sympathy voice. Good for you, Sam!

Sam witnesses the kid's father being an overbearing jerk to his son and comments to Dean that he reminds him of John...to which Dean takes offense.

"Dad never treated us like that."

Sam points out that John never treated DEAN like that (which we find out to not be true but in fairness to Sam we also found out that for the most part Sam didn't know how badly Dean was treated by John).

"You were perfect. He was all over my case," Sam tells Dean.

"Maybe sometimes he had to raise his voice, but sometimes you were out of line." I don't believe for a minute that Dean really believs this but I do think that Dean has made himself believe this.

Sam gives the teen a bit of advice about his dad by telling him things will get better when he leaves home for college and is out of the house and away from his father and Dean is not impressed.

"What kind of advice is that? Kid should stick with his family."

This breaks my heart. It really does. Because Dean at this point truly thinks that sacrificing your own needs and your own dreams because of loyalty to your family is the right and only path.

The things Dean could have done had John not kept him under his thumb.

Random weirdness in the episode. About halfway through it, with no explanation, no discussion about it at all, Sam is driving the Impala.

Why, Dean, why?

The brothers get a lot of time in this episode to talk.

Here's the entire dialogue between them because it's too good to summarize:

Dean: Yeah, so with that kid back there...why'd you tell him to just ditch his family like that?

Sam: I know what the kid's going through.

Dean: How about telling him to respect his old man, how's that for advice?

Sam: Dean, come on. This isn't about his old man. You think I didn't respect Dad. That's what this is about.

Dean: Just forget it, all right? Sorry I brought it up.

Sam: I respected him. But no matter what I did, it was never good enough.

Dean: So what are you saying'? That Dad was disappointed in you?

Sam: Was? Is. Always has been.

Dean: Why would you think that?

Sam: Because I didn't want to bow hunt or hustle pool - because I wanted to go to school and live my life, which, to our whacked-out family, made me the freak.

Dean: Yeah, you were kind of like the blonde chick in The Munsters.

Sam: Dean, you know what most dads are when their kids score a full ride? Proud. Most dads don't toss their kids out of the house.

Dean: I remember that fight. In fact, I seem to recall a few choice phrases comin' out of your mouth.

Sam: You know, truth is, when we finally do find Dad...I don't know if he's even gonna wanna see me.

Dean: Sam, Dad was never disappointed in you. Never. He was scared.

Sam: What are you talkin' about?

Dean: He was afraid of what could've happened to you if he wasn't around. But even when you two weren't talking...he used to swing by Stanford whenever he could. Keep an eye on you. Make sure you were safe.

Sam: What?

Dean: Yeah.

Sam: Why didn't you tell me any of that?

Dean: Well, it's a two-way street, dude. You could've picked up the phone.

Not to defend John Winchester because fuck him, but I do think there's a lot to what Dean says here. It makes perfect sense that John would be scared about Sam going off on his own when John had basically spent the first 18 years of Sam's life killing and pissing off monsters. Plus with the demon that killed Mary still kicking about, John had no way of knowing how safe Sam would be on his own.

And, John being John, instead of admitting any of that, he turned it into "if you leave don't come back" because...well, because John is a dick.

I also think Sam, who can be a dick in his own right, probably said some things to John that cut too deeply. John is much more to blame for this, always will be, but I have a feeling Dean is not exaggerating when he says Sam had a decent hand in that rift.

Both brothers look more sad than anything else during this exchange and, yes, that's John Winchester's fucking legacy.

Dean and Sam talk to a Native American man about the bugs and find out about the development being built where the American cavalry raped and then massacred an entire village Native Americans (hello Poltergiest) but he won't talk to Dean because he clocks Dean as a liar and Sam as NOT a liar.

Which, sorry dude, but your radar is a little off there. (I mean not completely but still...)

So weird shit continues to happen and the kid calls Sam for help. Sam tells him to basically convince his father about what is happening and Dean takes the phone from him and tells the kid to LIE because "He'll just think you're nuts." if he tells his dad the truth.

Spoiler: Dean is right; Sam is wrong; the kid stupidly listens to Sam.

Dean's admonishment to Sam made me laugh, "Make him listen. What are you thinking?"

Sam really IS out of practice.

Also, I feel like Dean is projecting a little bit. John wouldn't have listened to either of his sons when they were teenagers. (Hell, he doesn't listen to them as adults.)

So there is a lot more gross bug stuff and somehow they get through and now we get our final brother moment after Sam sees the real estate agent and his son in a better place after their shared trauma.

He tells Dean he wants to find John and apologize "For all the things I said to him."

When Dean asks what he's going to apologize for, Sam admits, "He was just doing the best he could."

Which is an excuse I hear from a lot of fans who defend John Winchester as a father. And, I'm sorry, but just doing the best you could is sometimes NOT ENOUGH.

Dean assures Sam they'll find him and Sam can apologize. Then he hits him with a truth bomb:

"And then within five minutes, you guys will be at each other's throats."

Some notes for posterity:

The significant music from this episode comes from Def Leppard: Rock of Ages (second appearance on the show) and Scorpion: No One Like You

The brothers pose as anthropology students when they talk to John Whitetree but he knows immediately Dean is lying. They tell the coworker of the first guy who dies that they are the nephews of the dead guy, and they tell the real estate agent that they're brothers looking for a place for their dad. (And Dean pretends they're a couple in front of the second real estate agent.)

Movie References: Sam and Dean both mention the film Willard, Dean makes two TV references with The Munsters and Timmy from Lassie...there is also the obvious nod to Poltergeist with the entire premise of the episode.

This hunt takes place in Oasis Plains, Oklahoma.

Dean wears John’s jacket in this episode.

Sam drives the Impala briefly and without explanation.

This is the only episode we see Sam and Dean with umbrellas.

Because Eric Kripke is a bit of a weirdo:

"I called [Manners], said 'the boys aren't scared of demons, but they're scared of rain?' From that point forward, a hard rule: no umbrellas. Not easy for Vancouver."

[lildoodlenoodle]

Supernatural Cover Art for 01x08 Bugs

[17yearslatewithlattes]

I drafted an absurdly long post about the brother dynamics in Bugs, but the long and short of it is: so far as I can tell at this stage, Sam is absolutely right about how fucked up John and their childhood is, he is right to rebel, to want better. But he is also an idealist who thinks he broke away from John purely by being a big strong boy, oblivious to everything Dean shielded him from, who thinks they could just stop scamming people and get by somehow without seismic shifts in their lifestyle, who turns his nose up at free food and sneaking into small luxuries like really nice shower because he still believes if you’re good and brave and walk on the white side of black and white morality you’ll come by those things honestly.

Dean is in survival mode. He won’t pass up free food because maybe he won’t get it any other way. I don’t know if he has moral qualms over the scams, but whether he does or not it’s the reality of how they survive. He defends John, defends their life, because that’s how you keep the peace. That’s how you keep the abuse from turning on you, or on your baby brother—at least, maybe it will turn less often that way. He defends them because he doesn’t have anything else, and can’t see his way to it ever being different. Because maybe if he just stands by his father and his brother hard enough, long enough, if he can somehow reconcile them, maybe they’ll finally stand by him. Maybe someone will finally stand by him.

[intrn37]

I think Supernatural just made my Entomophobia even worse

[martitheevans]

As somebody who hates bugs, not enjoying this episode so much

[bloodfreak-boyking]

when sam tells matt he only has two more years to wait until he can go to college and leave his family and dean just-

yep. completely well adjusted. definitely wouldn't chain sam to a radiator if he ever tried going back to stanford at this point

[nicotine-boi]

currently rewatching SPN cus i started watching it when i was 10 and barely conscious of life and anyway, can fully confirm the only two episodes that ever scared me was season 1x8 with the stupid fucking bugs and the clown episodes. irrational fears ^^

[bucklebunnydean]

ah we're in the racism part of the episode. featuring everyone's favorite trope, Wise and Silent Indian Guy Delivers Exposition. also what the fuck do y'all mean "relocate" use your big boy words

[fussy-sammy]

starting one of the most infamous episodes in spn history

[arcanespillo]

he is so gentle with bugs :( i love spiders and i lov him

[loosethreadsofyoursoul]

please remember to pay respects to those who came before 😔🙏

aisha hinds on the filming of 9-1-1 season 8

imdb trivia on the filming of supernatural 1x8 bugs

[supernovagifs]

Supernatural Season Masterlist

Below are Supernatural Episodes

Season 1

1x1 - Pilot

1x2 - Wendigo

1x3 - Dead in the Water

1x4 - Phantom Traveler

1x5 - Bloody Mary

1x6 - Skin

1x7 - Hook Man

1x8 - Bugs

1x9 - Home

1x10 - Asylum

1x11 - Scarecrow

1x12 - Faith

1x13 - Route 666

1x14 - Nightmare

1x15 - The Benders

1x16 - Shadow

1x17 - Hell House

1x18 - Something Wicked

1x19 - Provenance

1x20 - Dead Man's Blood

1x21 - Salvation

1x22 - Devil's Trap

Season 2

2x1 - In My Time of Dying

2x2 - Everybody Loves a Clown

2x3 - Bloodlust

2x4 - Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things

2x5 - Simon Said

2x6 - No Exit

2x7 - The Usual Suspects

2x8 - Crossroad Blues

2x9 - Croatoan

2x10 - Hunted

2x11 - Playthings

2x12 - Nightshifter

2x13 - Houses of the Holy

2x14 - Born Under a Bad Sign

2x15 - Tall Tales

2x16 - Roadkill

2x17 - Heart

2x18 - Hollywood Babylon

2x19 - Folsom Prison Blues

2x20 - What Is and What Should Never Be

2x21 - All Hell Breaks Loose (Part 1)

2x22 - All Hell Breaks Loose (Part 2)

Season 3

3x1 - The Magnificent Seven

3x2 - The Kids Are Alright

3x3 - Bad Day at Black Rock

3x4 - Sin City

3x5 - Bedtime Stories

3x6 - Red Sky at Morning

3x7 - Fresh Blood

3x8 - A Very Supernatural Christmas

3x9 - Malleus Maleficarum

3x10 - Dream a Little Dream of Me

3x11 - Mystery Spot

3x12 - Jus in Bello

3x13 - Ghostfacers!

3x14 - Long-Distance Call

3x15 - Time Is On My Side

3x16 - No Rest for the Wicked

Season 4

4x1 - Lazarus Rising

4x2 - Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester

4x3 - In the Beginning

4x4 - Metamorphosis

4x5 - Monster Movie

4x6 - Yellow Fever

4x7 - It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester

4x8 - Wishful Thinking

4x9 - I Know What You Did Last Summer

4x10 - Heaven and Hell

4x11 - Family Remains

4x12 - Criss Angel Is a Douche Bag

4x13 - After School Special

4x14 - Sex and Violence

4x15 - Death Takes a Holiday

4x16 - On the Head of a Pin

4x17 - It's a Terrible Life

4x18 - The Monster at the End of This Book

4x19 - Jump the Shark

4x20 - The Rapture

4x21 - When the Levee Breaks

4x22 - Lucifer Rising

Season 5

5x1 - Sympathy for the Devil

5x2 - Good God, Y'All!

5x3 - Free To Be You and Me

5x4 - The End

5x5 - Fallen Idols

5x6 - I Believe the Children Are Our Future

5x7 - The Curious Case of Dean Winchester

5x8 - Changing Channels

5x9 - The Real Ghostbusters

5x10 - Abandon All Hope

5x11 - Sam, Interrupted

5x12 - Swap Meat

5x13 - The Song Remains the Same

5x14 - My Bloody Valentine

5x15 - Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

5x16 - Dark Side of the Moon

5x17 - 99 Problems

5x18 - Point of No Return

5x19 - Hammer of the Gods

5x20 - The Devil You Know

5x21 - Two Minutes to Midnight

5x22 - Swan Song

Season 6

6x1 - Exile on Main St.

6x2 - Two and a Half Men

6x3 - The Third Man

6x4 - Weekend at Bobby's

6x5 - Live Free or Twihard

6x6 - You Can't Handle the Truth

6x7 - Family Matters

6x8 - All Dogs Go to Heaven

6x9 - Clap Your Hands If You Believe…

6x10 - Caged Heat

6x11 - Appointment in Samarra

6x12 - Like a Virgin

6x13 - Unforgiven

6x14 - Mannequin 3: The Reckoning

6x15 - The French Mistake

6x16 - And Then There Were None

6x17 - My Heart Will Go On

6x18 - Frontierland

6x19 - Mommy Dearest

6x20 - The Man Who Would Be King

6x21 - Let It Bleed

6x22 - The Man Who Knew Too Much

Season 7

7x1 - Meet the New Boss

7x2 - Hello, Cruel World

7x3 - The Girl Next Door

7x4 - Defending Your Life

7x5 - Shut Up, Dr. Phil

7x6 - Slash Fiction

7x7 - The Mentalists

7x8 - Season 7, Time for a Wedding!

7x9 - How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters

7x10 - Death's Door

7x11 - Adventures in Babysitting

7x12 - Time After Time

7x13 - The Slice Girls

7x14 - Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie

7x15 - Repo Man

7x16 - Out With the Old

7x17 - The Born-Again Identity

7x18 - Party On, Garth

7x19 - Of Grave Importance

7x20 - The Girl With the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo

7x21 - Reading Is Fundamental

7x22 - There Will Be Blood

7x23 - Survival of the Fittest

Season 8

8x1 - We Need to Talk About Kevin

8x2 - What's Up, Tiger Mommy?

8x3 - Heartache

8x4 - Bitten

8x5 - Blood Brother

8x6 - Southern Comfort

8x7 - A Little Slice of Kevin

8x8 - Hunteri Heroici

8x9 - Citizen Fang

8x10 - Torn and Frayed

8x11 - LARP and the Real Girl

8x12 - As Time Goes By

8x13 - Everybody Hates Hitler

8x14 - Trial and Error

8x15 - Man's Best Friend with Benefits

8x16 - Remember the Titans

8x17 - Goodbye Stranger

8x18 - Freaks and Geeks

8x19 - Taxi Driver

8x20 - Pac-Man Fever

8x21 - The Great Escapist

8x22 - Clip Show

8x23 - Sacrifice

Season 9

9x1 - I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here

9x2 - Devil May Care

9x3 - I'm No Angel

9x4 - Slumber Party

9x5 - Dog Dean Afternoon

9x6 - Heaven Can't Wait

9x7 - Bad Boys

9x8 - Rock and a Hard Place

9x9 - Holy Terror

9x10 - Road Trip

9x11 - First Born

9x12 - Sharp Teeth

9x13 - The Purge

9x14 - Captives

9x15 - #THINMAN

9x16 - Blade Runners

9x17 - Mother's Little Helper

9x18 - Meta Fiction

9x19 - Alex Annie Alexis Ann

9x20 - Bloodlines

9x21 - King of the Damned

9x22 - Stairway to Heaven

9x23 - Do You Believe in Miracles?

Season 10

10x1 - Black

10x2 - Reichenbach

10x3 - Soul Survivor

10x4 - Paper Moon

10x5 - Fan Fiction

10x6 - Ask Jeeves

10x7 - Girls, Girls, Girls

10x8 - Hibbing 911

10x9 - The Things We Left Behind

10x10 - The Hunter Games

10x11 - There's No Place Like Home

10x12 - About a Boy

10x13 - Halt & Catch Fire

10x14 - The Executioner's Song

10x15 - The Things They Carried

10x16 - Paint It Black

10x17 - Inside Man

10x18 - Book of the Damned

10x19 - The Werther Project

10x20 - Angel Heart

10x21 - Dark Dynasty

10x22 - The Prisoner

10x23 - Brother's Keeper

Season 11

11x1 - Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire

11x2 - Form and Void

11x3 - The Bad Seed

11x4 - Baby

11x5 - Thin Lizzie

11x6 - Our Little World

11x7 - Plush

11x8 - Just My Imagination

11x9 - O Brother Where Art Thou?

11x10 - The Devil in the Details

11x11 - Into the Mystic

11x12 - Don't You Forget About Me

11x13 - Love Hurts

11x14 - The Vessel

11x15 - Beyond the Mat

11x16 - Safe House

11x17 - Red Meat

11x18 - Hell's Angel

11x19 - The Chitters

11x20 - Don't Call Me Shurley

11x21 - "All in the Family

11x22 - We Happy Few

11x23 - Alpha and Omega

Season 12

12x1 - Keep Calm and Carry On

12x2 - Mamma Mia

12x3 - The Foundry

12x4 - American Nightmare

12x5 - The One You've Been Waiting For

12x6 - Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox

12x7 - Rock Never Dies

12x8 - LOTUS

12x9 - First Blood

12x10 - Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets

12x11 - Regarding Dean

12x12 - Stuck in the Middle (With You)

12x13 - Family Feud

12x14 - The Raid

12x15 - Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

12x16 - Ladies Drink Free

12x17 - The British Invasion

12x18 - The Memory Remains

12x19 - The Future

12x20 - Twigs & Twine & Tasha Banes

12x21 - There's Something About Mary

12x22 - Who We Are

12x23 - All Along the Watchtower

Season 13

13x1 - Lost and Found

13x2 - The Rising Son

13x3 - Patience

13x4 - The Big Empty

13x5 - Advanced Thanatology

13x6 - Tombstone

13x7 - War of the Worlds

13x8 - The Scorpion and the Frog

13x9 - The Bad Place

13x10 - Wayward Sisters

13x11 - Breakdown

13x12 - Various & Sundry Villains

13x13 - Devil's Bargain

13x14 - Good Intentions

13x15 - A Most Holy Man

13x16 - Scoobynatural

13x17 - The Thing

13x18 - Bring 'em Back Alive

13x19 - Funeralia

13x20 - Unfinished Business

13x21 - Beat the Devil

13x22 - Exodus

13x23 - Let the Good Times Roll

Season 14

14x1 - Stranger in a Strange Land

14x2 - Gods and Monsters

14x3 - The Scar

14x4 - Mint Condition

14x5 - Nightmare Logic

14x6 - Optimism

14x7 - Unhuman Nature

14x8 - Byzantium

14x9 - The Spear

14x10 - Nihilism

14x11 - Damaged Goods

14x12 - Prophet and Loss

14x13 - Lebanon

14x14 - Ouroboros

14x15 - Peace of Mind

14x16 - Don't Go in the Woods

14x17 - Game Night

14x18 - Absence

14x19 - Jack in the Box

14x20 - Moriah

Season 15

15x1 - Back and to the Future

15x2 - Raising Hell

15x3 - The Rupture

15x4 - Atomic Monsters

15x5 - Proverbs 17:3

15x6 - Golden Time

15x7 - Last Call

15x8 - Our Father, Who Aren't in Heaven

15x9 - The Trap

15x10 - The Heroes' Journey

15x11 - The Gamblers

15x12 - Galaxy Brain

15x13 - Destiny's Child

15x14 - Last Holiday

15x15 - Gimme Shelter

15x16 - Drag Me Away (From You)

15x17 - Unity

15x18 - Despair

15x19 - Inherit the Earth

15x20 - Carry On