9.12 Sharp Teeth

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SPN912.jpg
Title Sharp Teeth
Episode # Season 9, Episode 12
First aired January 28, 2014
Directed by John Showalter
Written by Adam Glass
On IMDB Sharp Teeth
Outline Sam and Dean locate Garth after months of him being gone, only to find out he's a werewolf and part of an apparently human-friendly pack.
Monster Werewolves
Timeline Six months after 8.20 Pac-Man Fever &
Two weeks since 9.10 Road Trip
Location(s) Grantsburg, Wisconsin
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Synopsis

In Wisconsin, at night, a farmer shoots at a person who is in his herd of cows. The farmer pursues him through the woods, until the man runs onto a road and is hit by a car.

Having picked up a report on the police alerts, Sam visits a hospital and finds Dean also has picked up the same alert, and is at the bedside of Garth. Dean is about to inject Garth with adrenaline to wake him up, but Sam does the job with a slap to Garth's face. Garth says he was on a hunt but, as the boys push for more information, Garth seems to become very ill and runs to the bathroom.

While Garth is indisposed, the brothers briefly fill each other in on what has been happening — Sam tells Dean about Castiel getting rid of Gadreel's grace that was inside him, and Dean tells Sam about getting the Mark of Cain. They then realize that there is no noise in the bathroom and investigate to find Garth has absconded.

While Dean goes to check the hospital security tapes, Sam visits the farmer who tells him a series of animals have recently been killed and their organs taken. Dean finds pictures of Garth getting into a car on the security tape, but lies to Sam about it. However, he runs into Sam as he is on the phone and Sam calls him out on the lie. Dean insists they shouldn't work together, and Sam agrees to move on after this job.

Tracking the owner of the car, Sam and Dean find Garth in an apartment. A woman werewolf — Bess attacks them, and Garth reveals that not only is she his wife, but he is a werewolf as well! Garth describes how he was bitten by a werewolf while on a hunt six months previously. He was going to kill himself when Bess found him. She took him into her pack, which is led by her father. Bess herself was born a werewolf. Garth tells the Winchesters that the pack only eats animal organs and doesn't attack humans. Dean in particular is doubtful, but agrees to visit the pack and see for himself.

Dean is greeted by Bess' stepmother, Joy Meyers at a house where he finds Garth playing piano for the pack, which is singing a Christian hymn, led by Garth. Over a lunch of raw meat (although Dean gets cooked steak and pie), the Reverend Jim Meyers explains that they are peaceful. Dean notices they all wear a silver bullet around their neck, and Bess explains that it's to remind them of their vulnerability. After lunch, Garth is upset that Dean is still skeptical as to the pack's benign ways and is also saddened to hear about Kevin's death.

Sam meanwhile visits the local sheriff, Pat, who assures him that the members of the reverend's congregation are pillars of the community. That night, he calls Sam and Dean to the site of a deer slaying. However, it is a ruse and Pat, who is a werewolf, attacks them and is killed in the fight. On examining the body, Sam and Dean find him wearing a bullet with "Ragnarök" inscribed on it. Dean remembers that this is part of the apocalyptic legends of Norse mythology.

Sam goes to Garth's apartment, find signs of a struggle, and calls Dean to tell him Bess and Garth are missing. Sam is then overpowered and taken captive.

At the pack's church, Dean finds a book about Ragnarök, but Reverend Jim arrives to explain that it was linked to a cult called the Maw of Fenris that believed in werewolf domination over humanity, but his pack no longer subscribed to these beliefs. When Dean tells him about Pat's attack and the inscribed bullet and that Garth and Bess are missing, the Reverend realizes who may be behind it.

Sam wakes up in a barn where Garth and Bess are held by Joy, Russ, and Joba. Joy reveals that they are part of the the Maw of Fenris, a cult dedicated to bringing about Ragnarök. Joy plans to murder Garth and Bess and frame Sam and Dean to turn the pack against humanity. Garth pleads for Bess' life and struggles against his restraints to no avail. However, at the last minute, Dean breaks in, after killing Russ and kills Joba and Joy.

Afterwards, Garth offers to return with Sam and Dean and use his werewolf powers to aid in hunting, as he feels responsible for Kevin's death. Dean tells Garth to remain with the people he now considers family. Dean then invites a surprised Garth to give him a hug which he happily does.

Dean drives Sam back to his car but, as Sam is about to leave, Dean apologizes for how he behaved when he left Sam two weeks previously. Sam says that he feels he can't trust Dean, and that the way they each see their relationship has changed radically. Dean suggests that if they get back to hunting, things will get better. Sam agrees, but argues that being family doesn't make things automatically better — in fact, it's at the root of their problems. So he agrees to return as Dean's hunting partner, leaving their relationship as brothers unresolved.

Characters

Definitions

Music

  • "Bringing in the Sheaves"
(sung during Reverend Jim's choir practice)

Quotes

Garth: Aah! Aah! Aah! Dean? Sam? What is this? A hospital? Wait. Am I in Heaven?
Dean: All right, take it easy, Garth. You're in Wisconsin.
Dean: ...so Garth's a hunter. If he wants to stay gone, he's gone.

Sam: We got nothing?

Dean: Well, what can I say, Sammy? We lost this one. Send me a postcard.
Garth: All right. We've all gotten off on the wrong foot here. So let's do things right. Boys... this is Bess... my beloved. And, Bess, that's Dean. Now, he could start a fight in an empty house, but deep down inside, he's just a big ol' Teddy bear. And Sam here -- Sam can be a bit insecure at times, but for good reason. Bless his heart.
Garth: Yeah, because you two came busting in here like a house on fire. Guns waving, the jawlines and the hair -- it's very intimidating! What'd you expect? Dean, no one wants any trouble. You got my word on that.
Dean: Don't you guys say some sort of a grace or something?

Reverend Jim: We're more spiritual than we are religious. We believe, much like the American Indians did, that nature and man are one.

Dean: Yeah, really worked out well for them.
Garth: Look, amigo... I know this is all looks nuts, but I found it. Love and a family? Who cares where that comes from?
Sam: Look, I'm just saying, this wouldn't be the first time we came across a friendly monster. Or a-a family of friendly monsters -- whatever this is.
Dean: Well, Ragnarök is not just a Bible story to these nut jobs. It's an action plan -- human extinction, total and complete werewolf domination.

Sam: And...what? This is the -- the ground-zero for their movement?

Dean: Freakin' Wisconsin, man. Well, time for Reverend Jim to go down.
Garth: Um...I know this may sound a little crazy, but... Maybe I could come back and hunt with you. I mean, with my werewolf mojo, we'd have an advantage.

Dean: Yeah, look, Garth --
Garth: No, Dean. I want to make this right. I never should've left you guys, especially Kevin. Kevin was my friend. Friends don't do that.
Dean: Well, hey, you said it -- you know, who cares where happiness comes from? Look, we're all a little weird, we're all a little wacky -- some more than others -- but...if it works, it works. You got something here. Okay? Even though they are werewolves. Or lycanthropes -- whatever. Don't let that go. Okay? You'll never forgive yourself. Besides, somebody's got to live to tell this damn story someday, and who better than you? Now shut up and come here.
Garth: Really?

Dean: Hurry up before I change my mind.
Dean: Listen, that night that, uh... you know, we went our separate ways -

Sam: You mean the night you split?
Dean: Fair enough. I was messed up, man. Kevin was dead, and I…I don't know what I was.
Sam: Okay.
Dean: Hell, maybe I still don't. But uh, I know I took a piece of you in the process, and for that… somebody changed the playbook, man, you know? It’s like what’s right is wrong and what’s wrong is more wrong... I just know that when... when we rode together…
Sam: We split the crappiness.
Dean: Yeah... so...
Sam: Okay.
Dean: Okay.
Sam: But something’s broken here, Dean...
Dean: I am not saying it's not. I'm thinking we need to put a couple of "W"s on the board and we get past all this.
Sam: I don't think so. No, I wish but… we don’t see things the same way anymore, our roles in this whole thing. Back in that church, talking me out of boarding up Hell? Or tricking me into letting Gadreel possess me? I can’t trust you. Not the way I thought I could. Not the way I should be able to.
Dean: Okay, look. Whatever happened, we are family. OK?
Sam: You say that like it’s some sort of cure-all, like it can change the fact that everything that has ever gone wrong between us has been because we’re family.
Dean: So what -- we're not family now?

Sam: I'm saying, you want to work, let’s work. If you want to be brothers... those are my terms.

Trivia & References

Sharp Teeth is the name of a 2007 verse novel about werewolves by Toby Barlow.
Sam: He’s a skinny, Ichabod Crane-looking kind of guy.
Ichabod Crane is a character in Washington Irving's 1820 story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, who is described as a school teacher who is very thin. This shoutout is a particular reference to the Fox TV series Sleepy Hollow. Orlando Jones, one of the stars of the series, often live-tweeted during the airing of Supernatural, and he and Supernatural writer Robbie Thompson talked about writing a crossover series called SuperSleepy.
Dean: Anything on Gadreel?

Sam: Actually, yeah. Turns out he left some grace in me before he bolted.
Dean: You know how wrong that sounds, right?
Sam: Wouldn't worry about it, Cas took care of it.
Dean: I've been gone for two weeks and you're like an episode of Teen Mom!

Teen Mom was a reality TV series which followed teenaged mothers.
Sam: What happened to your arm?

Dean: It's a gift from Cain.
Sam: Like... the wrestler?
Dean: I wish! That would be awesome.

Kane is a professional wrestler with the WWE.
Dean: Crowley and I found him, and he gave me this so that I could eighty-six Abaddon once and for all.
Eighty-sixing is a slang term for getting rid of a person.
Garth: Guys, it's not what you think, we don't hurt people.

Dean: No, you just go all Wolverine on cattle.

Wolverine is a Marvel Comics character known for his retractable metal claws.
The werewolf congregation is singing the American gospel hymn "Bringing in the Sheaves." The song was sung by Lefty Enright (played by Dennis Hopper) in the 1986 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2.
Reverend Jim: The powers that be brought this beautiful, compassionate, amazing woman into my life.
The Powers That Be is the name of a TV show in which Eve Gordon, who plays the Reverend's wife Joy Meyers, had a major role.
Sam: Truth be told, I am more interested in murderers and X-Files-y stuff.
The X-Files was a TV series about the investigation of the paranormal.
Dean: C'mon man, I know you drank the Kool-Aid.
"Drinking the Kool Aid" has become a phrase meaning to be brainwashed, particularly in relation to religion and cults. It refers to the 1978 death of 918 followers of the Reverend Jim Jones in Guyana. The congregation was convinced, and sometimes forced, to kill themselves by drinking Kool-Aid laced with cyanide.
Sam uses the alias "Agent Perry," which could be a reference to either Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry or former Journey lead singer Steve Perry.
Dean: Oh, what? Sheriff Andy Taylor here wasn't good enough for you?
Sheriff Andy Taylor was the small town sheriff played by Andy Griffith in the eponymously titled The Andy Griffith Show.

Minutiae

Before this episode, the last time Garth was mentioned was in 8.20 Pac-Man Fever, when Dean tells Sam that Garth is out hunting for Kevin, who has disappeared.
Sam is driving a blue 1972 Dodge Dart Demon, with Kansas plates.
Sarah Smyth, who played Bess Fitzgerald, previously played a Nurse in 5.08 Changing Channels.
Garth was bitten by the werewolf six months previously outside Portland, Maine.
Peter Benson who plays Sheriff Pat previously played police officer Walter Kelly in 1.10 Asylum.
According to Ragnarök as interpreted by the Maw of Fenris, the end of the world -- specifically of humanity -- will be triggered when Odin is killed by the wolf Fenris, leaving the werewolves as the dominant species. Odin himself alludes to this in 5.19 Hammer of the Gods, when he says:
"There's no Armageddon. Everybody knows, when the world comes to an end, the Great Serpent Jormungandr rises up, and I myself will be eaten by a big wolf."
However, Odin was killed by Lucifer in that same episode.
The illustration on the webpage Dean finds entitled 'Norse Mythology - End of Days' is a depiction of the final stage of Ragnarök, Asgard burning from 1905 by Emil Doepler.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

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