#SPN 1x8

[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."

[intrn37]

I think Supernatural just made my Entomophobia even worse

[arcanespillo]

officer he is just a girl

[soullessjack]

when you don’t know who you are and you think you’re human and normal until you find out you’re not human, not normal, you’re something else entirely and whatever idea you had about yourself was fucking wrong and you can do weird unnatural things that scare you and aren’t fully controllable yet. and you just want to understand yourself and control yourself so you don’t hurt anyone and can still be the person you think you are instead whatever the truth holds for you.

and you try and use this weird new truth about yourself to try and do good and help the world you were born in and come to love so much and you’re like a hero you wanna be a hero. but the world doesn’t love you back or see you as a hero, it hates you. it doesn’t believe you’re a hero. it doesn’t know what you are , it doesn’t know why you’re here , it demands that you answer the same questions you’ve had your whole life

and instead of finding the answer you find something else . You find a way to do good and be loved and accepted and feel normal despite yourself and you think you’ve found a foothold you think you’ve found understanding at long last . You think you belong snd you think This Is Who You Are until it’s ripped the fuck away from you when finally you learn the truth you’ve been fearing yet searching so hard for. you finally have answers to the lifelong questions of who are you what are you really where do you come from and boom. You’re not a hero . You’re the very threat and danger that the world kept saying you were, kept hurting you because they thought you were.

Every single weird thing you can do has a purpose to destroy and kill and you are born to be a weapon and you can never love anything. Or be loved in return because what you are is a weapon a monster a freak a thing that should not be a thing that will never belong and is fundamentally unlovable . And you’re sorry that’s what you are. You’re so sorry that’s what you are and you hate that it’s the truth and you wish you could go back to not knowing anything at all and you wish you could stop being this fucking Thing but you can’t because it’s in your fucking blood and your DNA and your double helixes and your flesh and nerves and everything.

Your entire body and being and existence and core is made for something horrible and evil and you hate it but you can’t do anything about it except say you’re sorry and offer yourself to the gun or the altar because you still. At the point where you’ve relegated yourself to only being this thing, you still don’t want to, . The last good thing you can do at this point is let yourself die and spare the world from your own inescapable inherent biological ruinousness.

[lildoodlenoodle]

Supernatural Cover Art for 01x08 Bugs

[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

[17yearslatewithlattes]

The thing about Supernatural is. You watch what was the worst rated Supernatural episode for ages. And you go yeah that checks out!! It’s an episode that consists of CW actors twitching and flailing at nothing with a overlay of unconvincing CGI bug swarms, which manages to be disgusting and off-putting without being scary. It’s also involves an attempt to engage with America’s history of Native American genocide which! In the imaginary good supernatural would be something the show engages with deeply. But that would force a confrontation with much of the core ethos of the show, and they won’t be doing that! So instead they just do the “Indian” burial ground trope.

Meanwhile in the in-between times it explores a dynamic between brothers and their father so complex and gut wrenching it makes me want to chew my arm off, and even then it’s clear that it’s only scratching the surface, that there’s so much more complexity and exploration to come, and yeah I do want to watch 14 more season exploring the ramifications of this actually—

And then in conclusion the family-of-the-week’s father-son relationship his is healed by ?????? and also John was always doing his best and Sam’s really should apologize to his Dad because he wasn’t nice enough to John while being thrown out of the house for daring to have an identity and goals of his own :)))))))

[barren-heart]

Everyone moved on, but I’m still here

[martitheevans]

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

[supernaturalkickparty]

"okay honey?"

*slaps sam's ass*

[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 ^^

[arcanespillo]

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

[totallyunbiasedspnpolls]

BEST NEEDLE DROP IN SPN

This will probably be our toughest triad of polls KNOWN TO THE SPN FANDOM. (In our humble opinion, at any rate.) Firstly: what is a needle drop? For the purposes of these polls, a needle drop is an instance of music licensing, or music not written for (but brilliantly used in) the show. There were bunches, but we narrowed it down to our top 30, divided at random into groups of 10. The three winners of these polls will then compete for the A-1, first place, bestest needle drop in hit cult series, Supernatural. Hold onto your headphones, fandom, and LET'S GET VOTING!

NOTE: We didn't include 'Carry On Wayward Son', because come on, that just wouldn't be fair. Oh, and we used the original show selections, not whatever transpired via Netflix. Part 2 Part 3

[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

[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

[17yearslatewithlattes]

Okay so I’m not qualified for a really in-depth analysis of how the episode treats Native Americans—specifically the Yuchi community—but I think it’s worth making two points about the supposed improvements the Winchesters leave behind at the end of the episode:

a). It’s mentioned in passing that the government will be investigating the bones Sam and Dean dug up, with the seeming implication that this is a good or at worst neutral thing, with the potential to positively impact the Yuchi community. However, please observe that the episode gives no thought to what the Yuchi people might feel about the turn of events. For a really interesting and nuanced exploration of some of the issues challenging the blasé assumption that the US snatching up the bones would be a simple positive, check out this article by Grounds Richard A., a member of the Yuchi community and scholar of indigenous languages and anthropology. It explores a conversation spanning 1993 - 2010 between the International Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) and the Yuchi community, regarding whether the Yuchi would allow the HGDP to harvest and study Yuchi DNA. Spoiler alert: as of the publishing of the article, the community had not agreed to the study. (I poked around a bit but didn’t find information on whether an agreement was ever reached at a later date). 

b). The white people clearing out of the area: good. great. No new white people moving in: also excellent. But I can’t help noticing the realtor man says “I’m gonna make damn sure no one lives here again.” No one, sir? No one??? Because the way I remember it, the curse was on white people living there. And I dunno. Maybe some people. Maybe possibly? Even some specific people?? Should perhaps maybe be given the option to live there???