2.01 In My Time of Dying

Title	In My Time of Dying
Episode #	Season 2, Episode 1
First aired	28 September, 2006
Directed by	Kim Manners
Written by	Eric Kripke Brad Buckner Eugenie Ross-Leming
On IMDB	http://imdb.com/title/tt0829063/
Outline	In the aftermath of the car crash, the surviving Winchesters go to the hospital, where one is stalked by a Reaper while another must consider sacrificing himself to save the others.
Monster	Reaper
Timeline	2 November 2006 -?
Location(s)	Shiloh County; Sioux Falls, South Dakota
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Synopsis

The Winchesters are injured and unconscious following a collision between the Impala and a semi-trailer. The truck driver is possessed by a demon, and advances on the car but Sam brandishes The Colt and the demon flees.

The family is taken to hospital, where Dean, as he tries to find Sam and his father, discovers he is on fact a disembodied spirit. He discovers Sam in a hospital room where Dean’s body lies comatose. The prognosis is not good; the doctor tells Sam they do not know if Dean will survive.

John is sends Sam to retrieve the Colt from the trunk of the Impala, and obtain some items that John claims are to provide protection from The Demon. Sam meets Bobby at a wrecker’s yard, where Bobby doubts that the the Impala can be salvaged. When Sam fiercely counters that it can be repaired, with Dean’s similar state in mind, Bobby agrees to tow the car to his place. Sam hands over John’s shopping list, and Bobby reveals that the ingredients are used for summoning demons.

Back at the hospital, Sam confronts his father over his lie while Dean’s spirit watches in dismay. With the energy generated by his frustration, Dean manages to smash a glass but suddenly he dissipates, as his body has gone into cardiac arrest. Sam rushes to his side and watches tearfully as the doctors work to revive Dean. Dean sees an apparition over his body that he attacks. As it disappears, Dean’s heart starts again.

Dean encounters another spirit wandering the hospital, Tessa, who appears to be in a similar state to Dean. As a code blue is called, Dean rushes to see the apparition present again as a young girl dies and he realizes that it is a reaper who is taking the spirit of people as they die – a natural process.

Sam tells John that he has sensed Dean’s presence, and he is determined to contact him. After he leaves, John makes his way to the hospital basement, where he performs a summoning ritual, despite having promised Sam that he would do nothing until Dean recovered.

Sam returns with a Ouija Board, which he uses to communicate with Dean, who informs him that a reaper is after him. Sam rushes to john’s room, but finding him gone, he takes the journal to research lore on reapers. Dean reads over his shoulder, and when he reads that reapers can take human form, he realizes that Tessa is in fact the reaper.

When Dean confronts Tessa, she admits her true nature, and explains that Dean’s choice is either to stay as a disembodied spirit, and become the type of vengeful spirit that he hunts, or pass from this world with her.

Meanwhile, John has successfully summoned the Demon who is surprised that John doesn’t want to kill it, but rather to deal with it for Dean’s life. As they barter, John reveals that he knows about the Demon’s plans for Sam. Finally the Demon agrees to return Dean to his body, in exchange for the Colt and John’s life – and soul.

Just as Dean is about to reveal his decision to Tessa, she is overtaken by The Demon, and Dean returns to his body. John and Sam are at his bedside as he recovers, Sam and John arguing as usual. John tells Sam he is sick of arguing, and sends Sam to get him some caffeine. While Sam is gone, John tells Dean how proud he is of him, and how he regrets that the burden for caring for the family has always fallen to Dean. After asking him to look after Sam, John whispers a secret to Dean which obviously shocks him. John then leaves to face the Demon.

As he is returning with the coffee, Sam finds John collapsed on the floor of his hospital room. He and Dean watch in anguish as, despite the doctor’s efforts, their father dies.

Characters

• Dean Winchester
• John Winchester
• Sam Winchester
• Bobby Singer
• Tessa (Reaper)
• The Demon - later known as Azazel
• Trucker

Definitions

• Out of body experience ^PoD
• Conjuration ^PoD
• Acacia ^PoD
• Oil of Abramelin ^PoD
• Spirit Board ^PoD
• Sigil of Azazel ^PoD
• Reaper

Music

• Ted Nugent – Stranglehold (played during the opening recap sequence)
• Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising (playing on the radio immediately after the car accident)

Quotes

Spirit!Dean: Come on, Sam... Go find some Hoodoo priest to lay some mojo on me, I'll be fine.

...

Sam: Look, if the doctors won't do anything, then we'll have to, that's all. I don't know, find some Hoodoo priest and lay some mojo on him.

Sam: [sees the wrecked Impala in the junkyard] Oh, man... Dean is gonna be pissed.

Spirit!Dean (to John): I've done everything you've ever asked me. Everything. I have given everything I've ever had. And you're just going to sit there and you're going to watch me die? I mean, what the hell kind of father are you?

Sam: [trying to communicate with Spirit Dean using a Ouija board] Dean, are you here?
Spirit!Dean: God, I feel like I'm at a slumber party. Alright Sam... this isn't going to work. [moves the marker on the board] I'll be damned.

Sam: That stuff from Bobby, you don't use it to ward off a demon, you use it to summon one. You're planning on bringing the demon here, aren't you? Having some stupid macho showdown

John: I have a plan, Sam

Sam: That's exactly my point! Dean is dying, and you have a plan! You know what, you care more about killing this demon than you do saving your own son!

Sam: Dean, are you here? I couldn't find anything in the book. I don't know how to help you. But I'll keep trying, all right? As long as you keep fighting. I mean, come on you can't, you can't leave me here alone with dad, we'll kill each other, you know that. Dean, you've got to hold on. You can't go, man, not now. We were just starting to be brothers again. Can you hear me?

Tessa: You saw my true form and flipped out. It kinda hurts a girl's feelings.

Tessa: It's an honorable death, a warrior's death.

Spirit!Dean: I think I'll pass on the seventy two virgins, thanks. I'm not that into prude chicks anyway.

Tessa: That's funny. You're very cute.

Spirit!Dean: I'm not going with you, I don't care what you do.

Tessa: Well, like you said, there's always a choice. I can't make you come with me, but you're not getting back in your body, and that's just facts. So yes, you can stay. You'll stay here for years, disembodied, scared. Over the decades it'll probably drive you mad, maybe you'll even get violent.
Spirit!Dean: What are you saying?

Tessa: Dean, how do you think angry spirits are born? They can't let go, and they can't move on, and you're about to become one. The same thing you hunt.

Yellow-eyed Demon: …You know the truth, right? About Sammy? And the other children?
John: Yeah. I've known for a while.

Tessa: It's time to put the pain behind you.

Spirit!Dean: And go where?

Tessa: Sorry, I can't give away the big punchline.

John: You know, when you were a kid, I'd come home from a hunt, and after what I'd seen, I'd be, I'd be wrecked. And you, you'd come up to me and you, you'd put your hand on my shoulder and you'd look me in the eye and you'd... You'd say "It's okay, Dad"

Trivia & References

The Title Card has changed from the green of Season One. "Supernatural" dissolves out of flames, with the second "A" having the form of a pentacle.

Events follow on directly from the events of 1.22 Devil's Trap.

Over the PA in the hospital we can hear "Paging Dr. Kripke", a reference to the series creator, Eric Kripke.

Dean is not wearing his amulet during this episode

When Dean tells Sam "Give me some ghost whisperin' or something," he is referring to the TV series Ghost Whisperer.

Sam: (arguing with John) Go to hell!
Possibly foreshadowing John's bargain with Azazel and his literal going to Hell as a consequence of the deal. Or it could just be a figure of speech.

Dean: Dude, I full on Swayze'd that mother."
Dean is referring to actor Patrick Swayze's role in the movie Ghost. Sam and Dean later learn how to move physical objects and fight as astral projections in 4.15 Death Takes A Holiday. Tessa also appears in this episode.

The character Tessa is a reference to Neil Gaiman's character "Death", of his Sandman series of graphic novels.

The name on John's medical insurance is "Elroy McGillicuddy". This is a reference to I Love Lucy - 'McGillicuddy' is Lucy Ricardo's maiden name. Could also be a reference to Elspeth McGillicuddy, a character in the Agatha Christie novel 4.50 from Paddington (also known as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw)

The title of the episode is also the name of a Led Zeppelin song. See The Meaning of Episode Titles.

Filming location: The flight of stairs in the hospital Dean comes down while searching for somebody to tell him what happened to his brother and father in the car crash were used a couple more times in Supernatural, namely in 1.05 Bloody Mary and 1.11 Scarecrow.

The symbol John draws on the ground is the Sigil of Azazel.

Tessa is a reaper, but is very different to the one seen in Faith.

The doctor who is called to the room where the little girl is dying is paged as Dr Kripke.

Tessa explains that angry spirits are those who have refused to go along with their reaper. They remain trapped on earth, unable to communicate or move on and it eventually drives them insane.

Dean is in room 3751.

Tessa: What are you, some new agey guy?

Dean: You see me messing with crystals or listening to Yanni?

Yanni is a Greek composer and keyboardist known for his "new age" music style.

Tessa: Stage three: Bargaining.
Tessa is referring to the Kübler-Ross model which describes the five stages of grief : Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Despression and Acceptance.

Dean: I think I'll pass on the seventy two virgins, thanks.
In Muslim belief, a martyr is promised 72 virgins after his death if he dies as a warrior. Zachariah tells Dean Paradise will give him two virgins and 70 sluts (total of 72 women) in 4.22 Lucifer Rising

Sam: It's [the Reaper] here naturally. There's no way to stop it.

Dean: Yeah, you can't kill Death.

Dean is wrong, as we later find out in 4.15 Death Takes a Holiday that it is possible to kill Death.

Minutiae

• John Winchester is pronounced dead at 10:41am

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• Sides for Tessa
• Transcript as aired (pdf)
• 2.01 In My Time Of Dying (transcript)

Promotion

• Episode Stills
• Episode Promo: New Season