2.14 Born Under a Bad Sign

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2-14 Born Under a Bad Sign.jpg
Title Born Under a Bad Sign
Episode # Season 2, Episode 14
First aired February 8, 2007
Directed by J. Miller Tobin
Written by Cathryn Humphris
On IMDB Born Under a Bad Sign
Outline After receiving a frantic call from Sam, who has been missing for over a week, Dean races to his brother's side.
Monster Meg
Timeline
Location(s) Twin Lakes, Wisconsin
Otter Creek, Iowa
Duluth, Minnesota
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
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Synopsis

The teaser starts with Dean speaking on the phone with Ellen. Sam has been gone for a week. Suddenly, he gets a call from Sam. Dean hurries off and finds Sam dazed and covered in blood. Sam tells Dean the blood isn't his and that he doesn't remember a thing.

Together, the boys follow a string of clues to try and discover what happened to Sam during the missing days. They happen upon a storage unit for which Sam has the key. When they open it, they find a stolen car, and inside the car, a bloody knife on the floor. Clues lead them onward to a gas station where a startled worker demands that Sam leave. Apparently, while Sam visited during the missing week, he began chain smoking and downing beer, even throwing the bottles at the worker's head, a revelation that confuses Dean. The brothers find themselves at a house and inside they find the corpse of a hunter, Steve Wandell. They watch the security videos in silent horror, seeing Sam grapple with Wandell before slitting his throat.

Dean is thrown off by what has happened, and they worry that Sam might be turning evil. Back at the motel, Sam asks Dean to make good his promise to kill Sam should he turn evil. Dean cannot bring himself to kill his brother, saying, "I'd rather die." To which Sam says, "You'll live to regret it," before knocking his brother unconscious. Dean rouses in the morning when the hotel staff kicks him out. He traces Sam's phone to Duluth, Minnesota. Sam has found Jo, in her own equivalent of a road-house. He starts to come onto her and she resists. He knocks her out.

When she awakes, she is bound to a pillar. Sam tells her that, "My daddy shot your daddy in the head," in a sing-song voice, revealing that John killed Bill to put him out of his misery. Just before Sam can do any more, Dean bursts in, and Sam pleads again for Dean to kill him, or else Sam will kill Jo. Dean is unable to go through with it, turning away from an angry Sam who shouts that Dean would rather let innocents die than face life without his brother. Dean suddenly turns around, splashing the contents of his flask on Sam.

It is holy water and it sears Sam, who is revealed to have been possessed by a demon. Demon-Sam escapes through the window and Dean gives chase. The demon taunts Dean that its plan all along was to push Dean far enough that he'd kill Sam and that it'll use Sam's body to find and kill every hunter it can. The chase finally ends on a dock, where demon-Sam shoots Dean, who falls into the water. Thinking him dead, demon-Sam leaves.

Jo frantically tries Dean's cell, before finding him wounded but alive. She fixes him up, taking the bullet out of his shoulder. Jo quietly asks if demons ever tell the truth, to which Dean replies that they can occasionally if they know it will get to a person, but Jo refuses to reveal anything more than that. She offers to help, but Dean forbids her to follow.

Demon-Sam turns up at another hunter's home, Bobby Singer. Bobby lets Sam in and offers him a beer, toasting to John Winchester. As Demon-Sam drinks up, he suddenly collapses, smoke coming out of his mouth. Bobby reveals that he'd mixed the beer with holy water and tells him, "Don't try to con a con man" before knocking him unconscious.

Demon-Sam wakes later to find himself in the center of a devil's trap. Dean is already there, and Bobby starts the exorcism. The demon inside Sam snarls viciously at the chant and Dean tells it that no matter what kind of plans that the Yellow-Eyed Demon has in store, Dean will not let anything happen to Sam. The demon laughs at him and says that it being there has nothing to do with the "Master Plan". Bobby's incantation fails to expel the demon, which gleefully begins its own incantations. Bobby finds a binding link on Sam's arm, which effectively locks the demon inside of Sam and neither he nor Dean know what to do next. Meanwhile, Demon-Sam's incantations affect the devil's trap on the ceiling, cracking it to pieces and finally allowing the demon access to its powers again.

Sam turns back to Dean, eyes now black, and flings both him and Bobby using telekinesis. He pulls himself free from the chair and starts to give Dean a beating, punching him viciously and squeezing his injured shoulder. The demon reveals itself to be the same one that possessed Meg, who has crawled out of hell, bent on getting her revenge. Meg tells Dean that no matter how much she tortures him, it's nothing compared to the way Dean tortures himself over losing their father and over potentially losing Sam. Before she can strike Dean again, Bobby grabs Demon-Sam's arm and burns the mark on Sam's forearm with a hot iron rod, destroying the link. Sam screams as the demon exits him and escapes via the fireplace.

Later, the two are sitting at Bobby's place nursing their wounds when Bobby informs them that Steve Wandell has been murdered and that his hunter comrades are out looking for blood. He tells the boys to keep their mouths shut about it. Bobby also gives the brothers charm amulets to prevent future possessions before Sam and Dean hit the road again. Along the road, Sam reveals to Dean he was awake for some of the things that Meg did in his body; he was even awake to watch Steve Wandell being murdered by his own two hands. He also rebukes Dean for not taking action and killing him when asked, as this could have been the moment their father warned Dean about before his death. Dean tells him that John told him he'd either have to save Sam or kill him and he will definitely find a way to save Sam in the end.

Characters

Definitions

Music

  • "Ashes to Ashes" by Tarbox Ramblers
(plays when Demon!Sam enters the bar)
  • "The Crystal Ship" by The Doors
(plays while Demon!Sam talks to the tied up Jo)
  • "Back on the Road Again" by REO Speedwagon
(plays at the end of the episode, while they talk about everything that has happened)

Quotes

Dean: Sam, what the hell happened?
Sam: Dean. I don't remember anything.
Sam: What if this is what Dad warned you about?

Dean: Hey, whoa, whoa, come on man, let's not jump the gun here. We don't know what happened. We've just got to treat this like, like any other job. What's the last thing you remember?
Sam: Just me and you, just, in that motel room in West Texas, going out to grab some burgers, and...
Dean: West Texas? That was, that was over a week ago.

Sam: That's it. Next thing I knew I was sitting here. Bloody. Felt like I'd been asleep for a month.
Dean: What's going on with you, Sam? Hm? 'Cause smoking, throwing bottles at people, I mean, that sounds more like me than you.
Sam: Dean, the yellow-eyed demon, you know he has plans for me. And we both know that he's turned other children into killers before, too.
Dean: No one can control you but you.
Meg/Sam: Well, Dean's more like my father than I am, but h... Boy. You're really carrying a torch for him, aren't you? I'll take that as a yes. It's too bad. (SAM is smiling tightly.) 'Cause see, Dean, he likes you, sure, but not in the way you'd want. I mean, maybe as kind of a... a little sister, you know? But -- romance, that's just out of the question, he -- he kind of thinks you're a schoolgirl, you know? I'm not trying to hurt you, Jo, I -- I'm telling you 'cause I care.
Jo: That's real kind of you, Sam.
Jo: Our Dads were in California: Devil's Gate Reservoir. They were setting a trap for some kind of hellspawn. John was hiding, waiting, and my Dad was bait.

Sam: That's just like John. Oh, I'll bet he dangled Bill like meat on a hook. Then what?
Jo: The thing showed up. John got too eager, jumped out too soon, got my Dad exposed, out in the open. The thing turned around ... and killed him.

Sam: Hmm. Not quite.
Sam: You see, Bill... was all clawed up. Was holding his insides in his hands. He was gurgling and... praying to see you and Ellen one more time. So my Dad... killed him. Put him out of his misery like a sick dog.

Jo: You're lying.
Sam: I'm not. It's true. My Daddy shot your daddy in the head...
Jo: How could you know that?

Sam: I hear things.
Meg/Sam: How? You can't hurt me. Not without hurting your little brother. See, I think you're gonna die, Dean. You and every other hunter I can find. One look as Sam's dewy, sensitive eyes? They'll let me right in their door.
Meg/Sam: What'd you do?!
Bobby: A little holy water in the beer. Sam never would have noticed. But then, you're not Sam are you. Don't try to con a con man.
Dean: Dude, you -- you like, full-on had a girl inside you for like a whole week. That's pretty naughty.

Trivia & References

"Born Under a Bad Sign" is a reference to the song and album of the same name by blues musician Albert King.
Dean: You checked in two days ago under the name Richard Sambora. Of course, I think the scariest part about this whole thing is the fact that you're a Bon Jovi fan.
Demon-Sam checked into his motel room as Richard Sambora - a reference to Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora. Dean's comment on being disturbed that this suggests Sam is a Bon Jovi fan is arguably a reference to the fact that Jared Padalecki starred in a film with Jon Bon Jovi, Cry Wolf. Though he mocks the idea of Sam listening to Bon Jovi, Dean later admits in 3.16 No Rest for the Wicked that "Bon Jovi rocks - on occasion."
Clerk: What, am I speaking Urdu?

Sam: Look, I'm really sorry if I did anything --
Clerk: Tell your story walkin', pal. Popo will be here in five.

Urdu is a language historically associated with the Muslims of the region of Hindustan. Popo is slang for police officer.
Dean: Holy... Either this guy's a Unabomber...

Sam: Or a hunter. Dean, I think I killed a hunter.

The Unabomber (real name Ted Kaczynski) was infamous for his mail bombings that he sent to several universities and airlines from the 1970's to the 1990's.
Dean: Hi, um, so sorry to bother you, but uh, my son snuck out of the house last night and, uh, went to a Justin Timberlake concert. (pause) What? Yeah. No, Justin is quite the triple threat. Uh, anyway, he's not back yet, and, and I'm just, I'm starting to worry.
Justin Timberlake: Renaissance man who is "quite the triple threat" e.g. sings, dances, acts. The phrase originated in football where it refers to a player who excels at running, passing, and kicking.
Dean's account with the A-line Mobile Phone Service is under the name Dean J. Mahogoff. "Jack Mahogoff" is a wordplay related to masturbation used in pranks (sound it out real slow!), according to Urban Dictionary. This is the same alias as Dean's credit card in 2.11 Playthings.
Throughout the dock scene of this episode the call of a loon can be heard. The loon is the Minnesota official State Bird.
Dean mocks Jo for playing REO Speedwagon in 2.05_Simon_Said (because the lead singer "sings from the hair") yet REO Speedwagon is playing on the radio after he says goodbye to her at the end of this case.

Minutiae

One of the driving shots during this episode seems to be the same footage used in 1.04 Phantom Traveler with digital alterations.
Screencaps from 1.04 (top) & 2.14 (bottom)

Sam's cell phone number is 1-785-555-2804.
Sam was in room number 109 of the motel.
Steve Wandell had a daughter who, presumably, didn't live with him.
Jo is working at "The Sandpiper" bar in Duluth.
As far as Jo is aware, John and Bill were in California. Bill was bait for the hellspawn and when John got too eager, the hellspawn killed Bill. Sam tells her that Bill was injured, but not dead, and John killed him to put him out of his misery. Whether this is true or not is unclear.
When Dean's cell phone rings, of course it has a classic-rock-song-style ringtone. The song that plays sounds quite similar to the intro of the 1967 song Sunshine of Your Love, by the band Cream.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

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