The Great Supernatural Rewatch Project - Hell House
Sept 25, 2017 18:53:01 GMT -5
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Post by luxshine on Sept 25, 2017 18:53:01 GMT -5
General disclaimer: I hate the Ghost facers. Hate them with the burning passion of a thousand suns. If there’s any secondary character I want to see dropped into a volcano, are the Ghost facers. Any other character that I dislike? I want them put on a bus, given their happy ending and just be happy and alive away from the screen. But these two? I hate. I hate the concept, I hate the names they gave them, because more than an homage, they feel like a mockery of precisely the kind of people they were expecting to WATCH the series (Specifically, Buffy male fans. Ah, the irony, it burns), and presents a really, really disturbing precendent of the relationship TPTB will end up having with the fandom in general. I am putting this up front because I realize that due to my bias, it will be a bit difficult to focus on the brothers when I am cringing every time I see the two idiots. But I will do my best.
That said, let visit a Hell house.
General stuff
Every time I see the THEN segment, I end up finding new interesting things that I didn’t notice the first time around. This time is how the scenes are cut within the text. What I mean is this, we start with John putting Sam in Dean’s hands and the “take your brother outside and don’t look back” line. That line? Has no names. Immediately afterwards we have two lines of text: Their mother mysteriously died. And… Sam crying in front of Jess gravestone. However, if you are a casual viewer? You have no idea that the baby was Sam, MUCH LESS that the gravestone is Jess. In fact, it could be easily believed that Sam is crying in front of MARY’s gravestone. Then, we have Now, two brothers… are on a quest to find their missing father. And scenes of Dean giving exposition about John and the mission, to be interrupted with Sam’s “I got to find Dad. It’s the only thing I can think about”. SANS any mention of Jess. Jess is, by this point, a non-entity. A true fridged woman, who no one even remembers. And, thanks to the magic of editing, now Dean looks like someone obsessed with the hunt, while Sam is the caring, family-oriented brother.
Funny how that pretty much lines up with the fanon that Sam is empathic. It is something we get told… by editing. And reinforced every week, despite the actual episodes showing otherwise.
In any case, it’s time to meet our doomed young adults of the week. Who are doing the most stupid thing ever, visiting a haunted house and talking about all the rumors around it. Seriously, I can get why people do it in OUR world, but in the Supernatural world where people die so often? Yeah, no.
So we move to the brothers, and Dean takes a picture of Sam with a spoon in his mouth, starting a prank war that is as annoying as out of character. Why I call it out of character? Well, because we NEVER AGAIN see them pranking each other, and we never ONCE saw them play even small jokes on each other before. This is it. The one episode written by Trey Callaway (he never wrote for SPN again) is the only episode where we get a prank war.
It also has a line that makes me think that someone has never in his life used Nair. That shit is nasty, but in order for it to actually burn hair? You need to leave it on at least for 15 minutes. Which is a lot longer than a kid takes to wash their hair. Not only that, it smells pretty bad so I don’t believe anyone would even confuse it with shampoo in the quantities needed to leave someone bald. Oh, and it’s expensive. So while I accept as canon that sometime before Sam turned 18 Dean put Nair in his shampoo, I also think that’s a very stupid thing.
Also, here we have a problem that I am putting here in the general stuff rather than in the violence parts. Sam’s tone is annoyed, yes, but the fact that he says “We’re not going to start that crap up again.” Means two things: One, he is as much part of the prank war as Dean is. This is the one thing in which they are actually acting like brothers. Two: we have no idea who escalates from harmless ‘make you wake up in panic’ to potentially blinding ‘Strange chemicals in Shampoo’ (I still think the idea of Nair in shampoo is idiotic, but if that thing gets in your eyes, we’re talking hospital stay at the very least. IF you are lucky).
Now, I can’t judge this theoretical prank wars of the past (Since they are never referenced and we are not privy to context, say, who started it, who escalated it, why did it escalate and how did it escalate. I mean, as far as we know it could’ve been a misunderstanding) however, THIS particular prank war will be checked as it comes. On itself, it will be considered in both ends as friendly brother banter. The second any of them escalates it into something personal crossing already stated boundaries, then we will move it to emotional violence, or, if it could cause actual bodily harm, violence. Hopefully, it won’t get to that point. In any case, before Sam starts yelling about the prank war, Dean DID apologize. It was Sam the one who didn’t let go.
They move from the subject of pranks (And again, what is so “pranky” about putting a spoon in your open mouth? I obviously have no reference point for prank culture), and into the current hunt case. It looks like an actual prank, especially since Sam’s only real lead is the “hellhoundslair.com” site, which Dean immediately scoffs at.
Sam, however, decides to criticize Dean’s decision to let John go alone, by means of defending the reason why they have to take this hunt. And THAT one is uncalled for, as the addition of “it was a mistake” makes clear that he blames Dean for it.
Anyway, they interrogate the teenagers and they find that nothing in their stories match, except from who brought the guys to the house. A friend who works for a record store –classic vinyl, which Dean is very interested in- named Craig. Craig tells them the story while Dean is still looking at the albums. Craig is pretty good at telling a horror story, by the way. I hope the actor got work doing something more than “I heard the story from a guy who knows a guy”.
Finally, the brothers decide to go to check the house themselves. It is pretty depilated, creepy even in the daylight. However, Dean’s EMF is not quite working (I miss that EMF), so they enter the house. The house is covered by signs and sigils, but one stands out… one that Dean is sure he recognizes from somewhere, but Sam doesn’t.
By the way. There’s this little tidbit of dialogue as they are in the house that was really, really hard to tally:
It is Dean’s putting down Sam’s intelligence, which would usually go on the emotional violence tag and be tallied as Dean making fun of something Sam does. And reading the transcript, I HAD tallied it as such, since similar putdowns by Sam are counted for him. However, rewatching the scene over and over I realized that there was one big difference between how Sam reacted to this, and, for example, how Dean reacted to being called dumb last episode: here, Sam grimaces and rolls his eyes; he is not offended by Dean’s words, and in fact, looks like he’s thinking “how did he survived without me, since he can’t open a book to save his life”. While when it happened to Dean, Dean immediately closed off and practically said “yeah, you are right, I am an idjit” by admitting he didn’t find the information off a book. And because of that difference, I am not tallying this scene. Same as I haven’t tallied when Sam calls Dean’s habits and Dean answers with an honest smile.
As they keep checking the house, they hear a noise and end up face to face with the bane of my existence, the Ghost facers. (I am aware they are not Ghost facers at this point. But I refuse to call them by their names, so Ghost facers it is)
While Sam plays dumb, Dean uses his own EMF to set off the readings on the Ghost facers EMF. It is obvious they dislike them from the get go.
(it is a great acting from Jared and Jensen, by the way, they are one moment away from laughing)
After a quick visit to the library, they discover that the whole story was fake so they decide to leave.
Sam pranks Dean by changing the music on the Impala. Since at this point of the show Dean didn’t had quite a close relationship with Baby (I think she didn’t even had a nickname from the fandom back then), I am not counting this as Sam crossing a boundary, and we are still in brotherly banter level.
Another group of really, really stupid teenagers go to the house that night. Only this time one of them is not that lucky and gets hung and killed in the rafters. So… now the brothers have a case.
Dean immediately looks guilty and declares they may have missed something, so they decide to go and check that night. Except that now the house is being checked by the cops and the two ghost hunters are also there. Dean and Sam use the Ghost facers as distraction, so they manage to enter the house without problems.
(By the way, Dean’s distraction is Ghostbusters’ trademark “Who you’re gonna call?”. Which means that Ghostbusters exists in Supernatural. Which means they should’ve recognized the names in the first place)
We learn that Dean prefers Ghosts to rats, seconds before they are faced with Murdoch’ spirit who is apparently immune to rock salt.
As they exit, they find the Ghost facers, who are promptly arrested.
Back at their motel, Dean is still trying to figure out where he saw the symbol, while Sam researches the legend.
There is another jab from Dean to Sam here, about how Murdoch only goes after girls thus it explains why it went after Sam, but not why it went after Dean. I am counting this one, even if I am not putting it under emotional violence, since I am not sure if Sam’s annoyance is at the jab, or at the case that makes no sense (So erring on the side of caution and tallying it), but it is also the first time Dean uses a clearly gendered jab towards Sam. There’s no real malice against Sam (Dean is also quite annoyed at the case itself) but it is something to take in account for the future, since it is a general accusation against Dean, that he is a misogynist who only uses gendered insults. Not adding a new tally just yet, but making a note that it started here, with a one-shot writer.
In any case, Dean finally figures out where he has seen that symbol before, so the brothers are out of the motel again.
The logo is from a Blue Oyster Cult album, and so Dean figures out that it all started with Craig, who admits that he and his cousin made up the original legend and painted all the symbols in there, but he now is feeling horribly guilty since a girl died. But he does mention that some of the symbols came from his cousin’s theology books, which doesn’t explain much.
Back to the hotel for one great fanservice scene for all Jared’ fans, and Dean putting itchy powder in Sam’s pants. A bit annoying, but still within the realms of brotherly banter. Same as Sam telling Dean he’s not getting gifts in Christmas because he’s a bad person. We’re in season 1, that one had no bite and it’s something a brother may say without meaning it.
In any case, Sam finally figures out it’s a Tulpa. And that is really bad news since everyone believes in the website story, that keeps changing. Tulpas, by the way, are amazing and I wish the guys faced another one. One based on the Winchester Gospels. And unfortunately, that means going to talk to the Ghost facers again.
(as an aside… the Ghost facers are nerds. They are Buffy fans. Are we REALLY going to believe that they wouldn’t have gotten their hands on the Winchester Gospels? That is going to bug me forever)
The Ghostfacers are even worse this time than they were before. I don’t blame the Winchesters for not explaining everything right away and fool them. The scene is a bit weird. It seems as if Sam thinks of the plan to fool them on his feet, but then, they had the death certificate.
So the brothers sit to wait for their plan to work, and Sam gets even with Dean by gluing his hand to a beer bottle. There’s a bit of a dialogue from Dean that always made me wonder about the whole prank war, by the way
We know that yes, Sam is really tense. He has had a really bad year just because he is a Winchester. And his girlfirend died, not that anyone has mentioned her in a while. So, I do wonder if this line is the writer’s way of telling us that this whole prank war was just a way for Dean to try and get Sam to unwind a bit, enjoy life as much as he used to, rather than just… brothers pranking each other for no reason.
It is a good question, that I wish someone had asked when it was still relevant.
Also, while in real life glueing someone to anything is horribly painful –and Dean does complain about his hand- I am not counting it as bodily harm as it is somewhat easy to fix and not really painful. It is still normal hollywood brother banter (and still more plausible than the Nair in the shampoo. That thing bugs me. I even checked snoopes and it seems no one has actually any proof of the thing. Since, you know, Nair stinks)
In any case, using a prop that annoyed Sam to no end, the brothers go back to the house (I love back when they actually hid from cops) and it all starts going downhill when the Ghostfacers appear.
Oh, and Murdoch too. Unfortunately, it seems that the servers crashed before the legend could change so while the Ghostfacers are trying to escape from Murdoch (who horribly don’t kill them), Sam goes and distracts the monster while Dean is throwing gas around the house. Interesting thing here is that again, Sam takes the role of the hero, saving innocents, while Dean takes the role of the sidekick.. except that burning the house was NOT Sam’s plan. In fact, once they’re out, Sam expresses absolute disbelief that it would work (something that, unfortunately, bears more discussion. And I was so happy this epsiode was almost clean)
And we end with Sam confessing that he actually called them faking to be a producer, while Dean put a dead fish in their backseat. Now, let’s just be honest, Sam’s prank was a lot meaner as it pretty much left the guys homeless when they realized there was no producer, but for the sake of humor (and because I HATE the Facers) I will say “Good for Sam”. And with that, we end Hellhouse.
Violence
No violence between the Winchesters. Well, no real violence. I already ranted a lot about the prank war, but up until Sam’s glue bottle, none of it ended in actual physical damage. And the glue damage was mostly due to Dean’s impatient as experience tells me that a lot of hot water and time CAN separate something you accidentally superglued to your hands.
Emotional Violence
This episode surprised me. I remembered the prank war which made me sure that I would end up with at least five pages in this section alone. But seeing them again… none of the pranks are really mean spirited, and despite the fact that fandom took the Nair in the Shampoo Bottle comment as pure gospel as it is repeated in a lot of fics, the actual prank war we see is balanced. We get two Dean pranks, two Sam pranks, and then truce as they find a common enemy.
I already ranted a lot about the Nair in the Shampoo bottle thing and how it makes no damn sense, but I will add one last thing: Sam never hunted with Dean alone before the series. All their pre-Stanford hunts were with John. Are we really going to believe that John Winchester of all people tolerated a prank war between his sons? Or that Dean would start one in the months of John’s absence where he is officially Sam’s caretaker? I mean, really, WHEN were these supposed prank wars going on?
Unfortunately, there is one thing I do need to tally here. It is small, and it happens right at the end of the episode in an episode where both brothers were pretty much in the same page and working as equals. And is this:
Jared’s acting was weird during this episode. For example, he acts really annoyed seconds before the glue bottle thing, but I thought that was so Dean wouldn’t suspect the glue thing. But here? He is dismissing Dean’s solution right away. He’s talking to Dean as if Dean’s ideas never, ever work. It is a clear put down to Dean’s intelligence that I could have let pass (in fact, I considered against talling it, and it was only because of the general context of how often this happen that I ended up adding it) if it wasn’t because we just had LAST episode where Sam did the same, and similar comments in EVERY SINGLE episode up to this. There hasn’t been an episode where I don’t write the sentence “Sam puts down Dean’s intelligence”.
More importantly, due to the fact that the writers never remember continuity? Dean ends up being right. They have never returned to face Mordechai (Whom I kept calling by his first name, Murdoch) or even a Tulpa. This was a one off, and burning down the house WORKED.
Secrets, Lies (and their consequences)
No secrets and Lies! Which is a good cause for celebration considering the current controversy about season 11.
Speeches and Apologies
Dean’s immediate reaction after Sam wakes up angry at the prank is to say he is sorry. It is short, it is quick, but it happens. So, yeah, it counts. And it counts because he is sorry, he is saying he is sorry, and we know exactly why he is sorry for. There’s no ambiguity, or justification. Just a Sorry.
Final Tally
This is a true filler episode. It adds NOTHING to the season arc, to the brother’s growth, or to anything. In fact, it’s the first filler that is not even focused on the brothers. Or the monster of the week. We spend more time with the Ghost facers than in the case itself given how we keep going back to the Facers and what will happen to them. So yeah, before Charlie, before the bad backdoor pilot for the spinoff, before the endless episodes for the guest stars… we had the Ghost Facers. Who got to stay and who are as for Season 11 the only recurring characters who have survived from season 1. Not Meg, not Bobby, no. The Ghost facers. And I really, really wonder why given how writers politics work and that their creator is pretty much out of the Crew probably the second he handed this script.
And yet… I can see why this episode may be better remembered by many. Since it’s the first one where Dean and Sam actually ACT like brothers and not like Caretaker and ward. This is the kind of relationship that I read in a lot of fics, where the fact that Dean was pretty much Sam’s defacto Dad never comes up.
Of course, Trey Callaway had an excuse. Back in season 1 that parentification issue was not really hammered down in the first 17 episodes. Because the FIRST episode where we get to see Dean as Sam’s parental figure is precisely the next one, Something Wicked.
Numbers (or the TL;DR summary)
(Episode/Total so far)
Times Dean has lied to Sam or to a loved one: 0 / 0
Times Sam has lied to Dean or to a loved one: 0 / 3
Times Dean has been caught in a lie: 0 / 0
Times Sam has been caught in a lie: 0 / 1
Times Dean has hit Sam in anger: 0 / 1
Times Sam has hit Dean in anger: 0 / 3
Times Dean’s lies or secrets have caused someone’s death: 0 / 0
Times Sam’s lies or secrets have caused someone’s death: 0 / 1
Times Dean has abandoned (Or wanted to abandon) a hunt in the middle for his own needs: 0 / 0
Times Sam has abandoned (Or wanted to abandon) a hunt in the middle for his own needs: 0 / 6
Times Dean forced Sam to do something: 0 / 0
Times Sam forced Dean to do something: 0 / 6
Secrets kept by Dean: 0 / 1
Secrets kept by Sam: 0 / 1
Times Dean has blamed Sam for something: 0 / 0
Times Sam has blamed Dean for something: 1 / 3
Times Dean has apologized with words to Sam: 1 / 3
Times Sam has apologized with words to Dean: 0 / 1
Times Dean has respected Sam’s boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 6
Times Sam has respected Dean’s boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 0
Times Dean hasn’t respected Sam’s boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 0
Times Sam hasn’t respected Dean’s boundaries and / or rules: 0 / 10
Times Dean has made fun of something Sam does or has: 1 / 6
Times Sam has made fun of something Dean does or has: 1 / 27
Times we focus on Dean’s needs: 0 / 0
Times we focus on Sam’s needs: 0 / 4
Arc episodes dedicated to Sam: 0 / 6
Filler episodes dedicated to Sam: 0 / 5
Arc episodes dedicated to Dean: 0 / 0
Filler episodes dedicated to Dean: 0 / 3
Arc episodes dedicated to both brothers (or to none): 0 / 1
Filler episodes dedicated to both brothers (or to none): 1 / 2
Dean’s Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 1
Sam’s Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 2
That said, let visit a Hell house.
General stuff
Every time I see the THEN segment, I end up finding new interesting things that I didn’t notice the first time around. This time is how the scenes are cut within the text. What I mean is this, we start with John putting Sam in Dean’s hands and the “take your brother outside and don’t look back” line. That line? Has no names. Immediately afterwards we have two lines of text: Their mother mysteriously died. And… Sam crying in front of Jess gravestone. However, if you are a casual viewer? You have no idea that the baby was Sam, MUCH LESS that the gravestone is Jess. In fact, it could be easily believed that Sam is crying in front of MARY’s gravestone. Then, we have Now, two brothers… are on a quest to find their missing father. And scenes of Dean giving exposition about John and the mission, to be interrupted with Sam’s “I got to find Dad. It’s the only thing I can think about”. SANS any mention of Jess. Jess is, by this point, a non-entity. A true fridged woman, who no one even remembers. And, thanks to the magic of editing, now Dean looks like someone obsessed with the hunt, while Sam is the caring, family-oriented brother.
Funny how that pretty much lines up with the fanon that Sam is empathic. It is something we get told… by editing. And reinforced every week, despite the actual episodes showing otherwise.
In any case, it’s time to meet our doomed young adults of the week. Who are doing the most stupid thing ever, visiting a haunted house and talking about all the rumors around it. Seriously, I can get why people do it in OUR world, but in the Supernatural world where people die so often? Yeah, no.
So we move to the brothers, and Dean takes a picture of Sam with a spoon in his mouth, starting a prank war that is as annoying as out of character. Why I call it out of character? Well, because we NEVER AGAIN see them pranking each other, and we never ONCE saw them play even small jokes on each other before. This is it. The one episode written by Trey Callaway (he never wrote for SPN again) is the only episode where we get a prank war.
It also has a line that makes me think that someone has never in his life used Nair. That shit is nasty, but in order for it to actually burn hair? You need to leave it on at least for 15 minutes. Which is a lot longer than a kid takes to wash their hair. Not only that, it smells pretty bad so I don’t believe anyone would even confuse it with shampoo in the quantities needed to leave someone bald. Oh, and it’s expensive. So while I accept as canon that sometime before Sam turned 18 Dean put Nair in his shampoo, I also think that’s a very stupid thing.
Also, here we have a problem that I am putting here in the general stuff rather than in the violence parts. Sam’s tone is annoyed, yes, but the fact that he says “We’re not going to start that crap up again.” Means two things: One, he is as much part of the prank war as Dean is. This is the one thing in which they are actually acting like brothers. Two: we have no idea who escalates from harmless ‘make you wake up in panic’ to potentially blinding ‘Strange chemicals in Shampoo’ (I still think the idea of Nair in shampoo is idiotic, but if that thing gets in your eyes, we’re talking hospital stay at the very least. IF you are lucky).
Now, I can’t judge this theoretical prank wars of the past (Since they are never referenced and we are not privy to context, say, who started it, who escalated it, why did it escalate and how did it escalate. I mean, as far as we know it could’ve been a misunderstanding) however, THIS particular prank war will be checked as it comes. On itself, it will be considered in both ends as friendly brother banter. The second any of them escalates it into something personal crossing already stated boundaries, then we will move it to emotional violence, or, if it could cause actual bodily harm, violence. Hopefully, it won’t get to that point. In any case, before Sam starts yelling about the prank war, Dean DID apologize. It was Sam the one who didn’t let go.
They move from the subject of pranks (And again, what is so “pranky” about putting a spoon in your open mouth? I obviously have no reference point for prank culture), and into the current hunt case. It looks like an actual prank, especially since Sam’s only real lead is the “hellhoundslair.com” site, which Dean immediately scoffs at.
Sam, however, decides to criticize Dean’s decision to let John go alone, by means of defending the reason why they have to take this hunt. And THAT one is uncalled for, as the addition of “it was a mistake” makes clear that he blames Dean for it.
Anyway, they interrogate the teenagers and they find that nothing in their stories match, except from who brought the guys to the house. A friend who works for a record store –classic vinyl, which Dean is very interested in- named Craig. Craig tells them the story while Dean is still looking at the albums. Craig is pretty good at telling a horror story, by the way. I hope the actor got work doing something more than “I heard the story from a guy who knows a guy”.
Finally, the brothers decide to go to check the house themselves. It is pretty depilated, creepy even in the daylight. However, Dean’s EMF is not quite working (I miss that EMF), so they enter the house. The house is covered by signs and sigils, but one stands out… one that Dean is sure he recognizes from somewhere, but Sam doesn’t.
By the way. There’s this little tidbit of dialogue as they are in the house that was really, really hard to tally:
SAM
And after his time too. That reverse cross has been used by Satanists for centuries but this sigil of sulfur didn’t show up in San Franciso until the ‘60s.
DEAN
(Staring at SAM) That is exactly why you never get laid.
And after his time too. That reverse cross has been used by Satanists for centuries but this sigil of sulfur didn’t show up in San Franciso until the ‘60s.
DEAN
(Staring at SAM) That is exactly why you never get laid.
It is Dean’s putting down Sam’s intelligence, which would usually go on the emotional violence tag and be tallied as Dean making fun of something Sam does. And reading the transcript, I HAD tallied it as such, since similar putdowns by Sam are counted for him. However, rewatching the scene over and over I realized that there was one big difference between how Sam reacted to this, and, for example, how Dean reacted to being called dumb last episode: here, Sam grimaces and rolls his eyes; he is not offended by Dean’s words, and in fact, looks like he’s thinking “how did he survived without me, since he can’t open a book to save his life”. While when it happened to Dean, Dean immediately closed off and practically said “yeah, you are right, I am an idjit” by admitting he didn’t find the information off a book. And because of that difference, I am not tallying this scene. Same as I haven’t tallied when Sam calls Dean’s habits and Dean answers with an honest smile.
As they keep checking the house, they hear a noise and end up face to face with the bane of my existence, the Ghost facers. (I am aware they are not Ghost facers at this point. But I refuse to call them by their names, so Ghost facers it is)
While Sam plays dumb, Dean uses his own EMF to set off the readings on the Ghost facers EMF. It is obvious they dislike them from the get go.
(it is a great acting from Jared and Jensen, by the way, they are one moment away from laughing)
After a quick visit to the library, they discover that the whole story was fake so they decide to leave.
Sam pranks Dean by changing the music on the Impala. Since at this point of the show Dean didn’t had quite a close relationship with Baby (I think she didn’t even had a nickname from the fandom back then), I am not counting this as Sam crossing a boundary, and we are still in brotherly banter level.
Another group of really, really stupid teenagers go to the house that night. Only this time one of them is not that lucky and gets hung and killed in the rafters. So… now the brothers have a case.
Dean immediately looks guilty and declares they may have missed something, so they decide to go and check that night. Except that now the house is being checked by the cops and the two ghost hunters are also there. Dean and Sam use the Ghost facers as distraction, so they manage to enter the house without problems.
(By the way, Dean’s distraction is Ghostbusters’ trademark “Who you’re gonna call?”. Which means that Ghostbusters exists in Supernatural. Which means they should’ve recognized the names in the first place)
We learn that Dean prefers Ghosts to rats, seconds before they are faced with Murdoch’ spirit who is apparently immune to rock salt.
As they exit, they find the Ghost facers, who are promptly arrested.
Back at their motel, Dean is still trying to figure out where he saw the symbol, while Sam researches the legend.
There is another jab from Dean to Sam here, about how Murdoch only goes after girls thus it explains why it went after Sam, but not why it went after Dean. I am counting this one, even if I am not putting it under emotional violence, since I am not sure if Sam’s annoyance is at the jab, or at the case that makes no sense (So erring on the side of caution and tallying it), but it is also the first time Dean uses a clearly gendered jab towards Sam. There’s no real malice against Sam (Dean is also quite annoyed at the case itself) but it is something to take in account for the future, since it is a general accusation against Dean, that he is a misogynist who only uses gendered insults. Not adding a new tally just yet, but making a note that it started here, with a one-shot writer.
In any case, Dean finally figures out where he has seen that symbol before, so the brothers are out of the motel again.
The logo is from a Blue Oyster Cult album, and so Dean figures out that it all started with Craig, who admits that he and his cousin made up the original legend and painted all the symbols in there, but he now is feeling horribly guilty since a girl died. But he does mention that some of the symbols came from his cousin’s theology books, which doesn’t explain much.
Back to the hotel for one great fanservice scene for all Jared’ fans, and Dean putting itchy powder in Sam’s pants. A bit annoying, but still within the realms of brotherly banter. Same as Sam telling Dean he’s not getting gifts in Christmas because he’s a bad person. We’re in season 1, that one had no bite and it’s something a brother may say without meaning it.
In any case, Sam finally figures out it’s a Tulpa. And that is really bad news since everyone believes in the website story, that keeps changing. Tulpas, by the way, are amazing and I wish the guys faced another one. One based on the Winchester Gospels. And unfortunately, that means going to talk to the Ghost facers again.
(as an aside… the Ghost facers are nerds. They are Buffy fans. Are we REALLY going to believe that they wouldn’t have gotten their hands on the Winchester Gospels? That is going to bug me forever)
The Ghostfacers are even worse this time than they were before. I don’t blame the Winchesters for not explaining everything right away and fool them. The scene is a bit weird. It seems as if Sam thinks of the plan to fool them on his feet, but then, they had the death certificate.
So the brothers sit to wait for their plan to work, and Sam gets even with Dean by gluing his hand to a beer bottle. There’s a bit of a dialogue from Dean that always made me wonder about the whole prank war, by the way
DEAN
(snickering) Come on man, you need more laughter in your life. You know you’re way too tense.
(snickering) Come on man, you need more laughter in your life. You know you’re way too tense.
We know that yes, Sam is really tense. He has had a really bad year just because he is a Winchester. And his girlfirend died, not that anyone has mentioned her in a while. So, I do wonder if this line is the writer’s way of telling us that this whole prank war was just a way for Dean to try and get Sam to unwind a bit, enjoy life as much as he used to, rather than just… brothers pranking each other for no reason.
It is a good question, that I wish someone had asked when it was still relevant.
Also, while in real life glueing someone to anything is horribly painful –and Dean does complain about his hand- I am not counting it as bodily harm as it is somewhat easy to fix and not really painful. It is still normal hollywood brother banter (and still more plausible than the Nair in the shampoo. That thing bugs me. I even checked snoopes and it seems no one has actually any proof of the thing. Since, you know, Nair stinks)
In any case, using a prop that annoyed Sam to no end, the brothers go back to the house (I love back when they actually hid from cops) and it all starts going downhill when the Ghostfacers appear.
Oh, and Murdoch too. Unfortunately, it seems that the servers crashed before the legend could change so while the Ghostfacers are trying to escape from Murdoch (who horribly don’t kill them), Sam goes and distracts the monster while Dean is throwing gas around the house. Interesting thing here is that again, Sam takes the role of the hero, saving innocents, while Dean takes the role of the sidekick.. except that burning the house was NOT Sam’s plan. In fact, once they’re out, Sam expresses absolute disbelief that it would work (something that, unfortunately, bears more discussion. And I was so happy this epsiode was almost clean)
And we end with Sam confessing that he actually called them faking to be a producer, while Dean put a dead fish in their backseat. Now, let’s just be honest, Sam’s prank was a lot meaner as it pretty much left the guys homeless when they realized there was no producer, but for the sake of humor (and because I HATE the Facers) I will say “Good for Sam”. And with that, we end Hellhouse.
Violence
No violence between the Winchesters. Well, no real violence. I already ranted a lot about the prank war, but up until Sam’s glue bottle, none of it ended in actual physical damage. And the glue damage was mostly due to Dean’s impatient as experience tells me that a lot of hot water and time CAN separate something you accidentally superglued to your hands.
Emotional Violence
This episode surprised me. I remembered the prank war which made me sure that I would end up with at least five pages in this section alone. But seeing them again… none of the pranks are really mean spirited, and despite the fact that fandom took the Nair in the Shampoo Bottle comment as pure gospel as it is repeated in a lot of fics, the actual prank war we see is balanced. We get two Dean pranks, two Sam pranks, and then truce as they find a common enemy.
I already ranted a lot about the Nair in the Shampoo bottle thing and how it makes no damn sense, but I will add one last thing: Sam never hunted with Dean alone before the series. All their pre-Stanford hunts were with John. Are we really going to believe that John Winchester of all people tolerated a prank war between his sons? Or that Dean would start one in the months of John’s absence where he is officially Sam’s caretaker? I mean, really, WHEN were these supposed prank wars going on?
Unfortunately, there is one thing I do need to tally here. It is small, and it happens right at the end of the episode in an episode where both brothers were pretty much in the same page and working as equals. And is this:
DEAN
Mordechai can’t leave the house, we can’t kill him – We improvise.
DEAN holds up his lighter, flicks it, and throws it back into the room. It bursts into flame and the boys run outside.
SAM
That’s your solution? Burn the whole damn place to the ground?
DEAN
Well nobody will go in anymore. I mean look, Mordechai can’t haunt a house if there’s no house to haunt. It’s fast and dirty but it works.
SAM
Well what if the legend changes again and Mordechai is allowed to leave the house?
DEAN
Well – well then we’ll just have to come back.
Mordechai can’t leave the house, we can’t kill him – We improvise.
DEAN holds up his lighter, flicks it, and throws it back into the room. It bursts into flame and the boys run outside.
SAM
That’s your solution? Burn the whole damn place to the ground?
DEAN
Well nobody will go in anymore. I mean look, Mordechai can’t haunt a house if there’s no house to haunt. It’s fast and dirty but it works.
SAM
Well what if the legend changes again and Mordechai is allowed to leave the house?
DEAN
Well – well then we’ll just have to come back.
Jared’s acting was weird during this episode. For example, he acts really annoyed seconds before the glue bottle thing, but I thought that was so Dean wouldn’t suspect the glue thing. But here? He is dismissing Dean’s solution right away. He’s talking to Dean as if Dean’s ideas never, ever work. It is a clear put down to Dean’s intelligence that I could have let pass (in fact, I considered against talling it, and it was only because of the general context of how often this happen that I ended up adding it) if it wasn’t because we just had LAST episode where Sam did the same, and similar comments in EVERY SINGLE episode up to this. There hasn’t been an episode where I don’t write the sentence “Sam puts down Dean’s intelligence”.
More importantly, due to the fact that the writers never remember continuity? Dean ends up being right. They have never returned to face Mordechai (Whom I kept calling by his first name, Murdoch) or even a Tulpa. This was a one off, and burning down the house WORKED.
Secrets, Lies (and their consequences)
No secrets and Lies! Which is a good cause for celebration considering the current controversy about season 11.
Speeches and Apologies
Dean’s immediate reaction after Sam wakes up angry at the prank is to say he is sorry. It is short, it is quick, but it happens. So, yeah, it counts. And it counts because he is sorry, he is saying he is sorry, and we know exactly why he is sorry for. There’s no ambiguity, or justification. Just a Sorry.
Final Tally
This is a true filler episode. It adds NOTHING to the season arc, to the brother’s growth, or to anything. In fact, it’s the first filler that is not even focused on the brothers. Or the monster of the week. We spend more time with the Ghost facers than in the case itself given how we keep going back to the Facers and what will happen to them. So yeah, before Charlie, before the bad backdoor pilot for the spinoff, before the endless episodes for the guest stars… we had the Ghost Facers. Who got to stay and who are as for Season 11 the only recurring characters who have survived from season 1. Not Meg, not Bobby, no. The Ghost facers. And I really, really wonder why given how writers politics work and that their creator is pretty much out of the Crew probably the second he handed this script.
And yet… I can see why this episode may be better remembered by many. Since it’s the first one where Dean and Sam actually ACT like brothers and not like Caretaker and ward. This is the kind of relationship that I read in a lot of fics, where the fact that Dean was pretty much Sam’s defacto Dad never comes up.
Of course, Trey Callaway had an excuse. Back in season 1 that parentification issue was not really hammered down in the first 17 episodes. Because the FIRST episode where we get to see Dean as Sam’s parental figure is precisely the next one, Something Wicked.
Numbers (or the TL;DR summary)
(Episode/Total so far)
Times Dean has lied to Sam or to a loved one: 0 / 0
Times Sam has lied to Dean or to a loved one: 0 / 3
Times Dean has been caught in a lie: 0 / 0
Times Sam has been caught in a lie: 0 / 1
Times Dean has hit Sam in anger: 0 / 1
Times Sam has hit Dean in anger: 0 / 3
Times Dean’s lies or secrets have caused someone’s death: 0 / 0
Times Sam’s lies or secrets have caused someone’s death: 0 / 1
Times Dean has abandoned (Or wanted to abandon) a hunt in the middle for his own needs: 0 / 0
Times Sam has abandoned (Or wanted to abandon) a hunt in the middle for his own needs: 0 / 6
Times Dean forced Sam to do something: 0 / 0
Times Sam forced Dean to do something: 0 / 6
Secrets kept by Dean: 0 / 1
Secrets kept by Sam: 0 / 1
Times Dean has blamed Sam for something: 0 / 0
Times Sam has blamed Dean for something: 1 / 3
Times Dean has apologized with words to Sam: 1 / 3
Times Sam has apologized with words to Dean: 0 / 1
Times Dean has respected Sam’s boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 6
Times Sam has respected Dean’s boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 0
Times Dean hasn’t respected Sam’s boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 0
Times Sam hasn’t respected Dean’s boundaries and / or rules: 0 / 10
Times Dean has made fun of something Sam does or has: 1 / 6
Times Sam has made fun of something Dean does or has: 1 / 27
Times we focus on Dean’s needs: 0 / 0
Times we focus on Sam’s needs: 0 / 4
Arc episodes dedicated to Sam: 0 / 6
Filler episodes dedicated to Sam: 0 / 5
Arc episodes dedicated to Dean: 0 / 0
Filler episodes dedicated to Dean: 0 / 3
Arc episodes dedicated to both brothers (or to none): 0 / 1
Filler episodes dedicated to both brothers (or to none): 1 / 2
Dean’s Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 1
Sam’s Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 2