2.19 Folsom Prison Blues

Title	Folsom Prison Blues
Episode #	Season 2, Episode 19
First aired	April 26, 2007
Directed by	Mike Rohl
Written by	John Shiban
On IMDB	Folsom Prison Blues
Outline	Sam and Dean engineer their own arrest in order to hunt in a haunted prison.
Monster	Vengeful Spirit
Timeline
Location(s)	Little Rock, Arkansas (Green River County Detention Center)
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Synopsis

Deacon, an old marine buddy of John Winchester, asks Sam and Dean for help. Not long after a disused cell block was re-opened, something supernatural started killing people in the Green River County Detention Center, where Deacon is the warden.

The boys get themselves arrested so as to get inside the jail. Their arrest is complicated, however, by the arrival of FBI Special Agent Victor Henriksen, who has continued tracking the boys since the bank heist they were involved with in Milwaukee. Mara Daniels, the public defender appointed to the brothers, reviews their case and is immediately suspicious that they have been wrongly accused of many crimes.

Inside the prison, Dean fits right in, drawing on his extensive knowledge of prison life from movies such as The Great Escape. When a fight lands Dean in solitary, he gets to witness the supernatural killer firsthand when it attacks another prisoner. Sam discovers that a notorious killer, Mark Moody, was killed in the old cell block and traces of his blood may be tying the spirit to the prison. After winning cigarettes playing cards, Dean trades them for lighter fluid. Combined with the salt supplied with their meals they have the means to banish the spirit. Dean picks a fight with a con called Tiny, allowing Sam to slip away to the old cell block and torch a blood-soaked mattress.

Recovering from their wounds in the prison infirmary, Dean is attacked by the apparition of a nurse. He manages to ward it off with some salt, but the ghost kills Tiny. Sam and Dean finds out that the ghost belongs to Nurse Glockner, who used to kill prisoners in the infirmary and who was later killed herself during a riot. Dean tries to get Mara Daniels to find out where Nurse Glockner is buried, assuring her of his innocence and insisting that this would be the best use of her time, but she refuses. Dean argues with Sam that they must stay in the prison until they get the information and finish the job, but Sam insists they follow through with their pre-planned escape. They start fighting and one of the guards hauls them away.

The guard turns out to be Deacon. Mara did the research as Dean requested after all, and Deacon hands over the information on where she is buried. As arranged, Deacon helps the boys escape to the Impala which is waiting outside the jail. After the escape, Henricksen interrogates Deacon and finds out that Daniels passed information to the boys, which she reluctantly reveals. Meanwhile the boys are in a cemetery salting and burning Nurse Glockner’s remains. The FBI arrive, only to find they have been sent to the wrong cemetery.

Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Victor Henriksen
• Calvin Reidy
• Deacon Kaylor
• Mara Daniels
• Dolores Glockner
• Tiny
• Randall

Definitions

• Acting in Unison
• Costumes & Disguises
• Dean's Police Record
• Fights
• Hugs
• Impala
• Salt
• Sam & Dean's Arrests
• Sam's Police Record
• Serial Killers
• Table of Death
• Vengeful Spirit

Music

• "Green Onions" by Booker T. & the M.G.'s

(plays at the beginning when Dean and Sam get into prison)

• "Rooster" by Alice in Chains

(plays at the end of the episode)

Quotes

Sam: I hate this plan, Dean.
Dean: Yeah, I got that the first ten times I heard it.

Dean: Well, it’s about time. I’ll have a cheeseburger. Extra onions.

Henriksen: You think you’re funny.

Dean: I think I’m adorable.

Henriksen: See? That’s what I kept thinking as I was searching for your asses all over hell and gone. Your dad taught you well. The way you cover your tracks and after Milwaukee the way you... vanished. Near went nuts trying to find you. Ask him.
Reidy: He near went nuts.

Prisoner: You’re mine, baby!
Dean: Don’t worry, Sam. I promise I won’t trade you for smokes.

Sam: Dean. This is, without a doubt, the dumbest, craziest thing we've ever done. And that's in a long, storied career of dumb and crazy.
Dean: Calm down. It's all part of the plan.

Randall: Why are you inside, kid?

Sam: 'Cause I got an idiot for a brother.

Randall: That'll do it.

Dean: Hey, sorry about the things I was saying earlier. I can't really tell you why, but I had to get you angry. So, uh... Anyway, sorry.

Tiny: It's okay. Truth is, I have low self-esteem issues. My old man treated me and my brother like crap, right up till the day he died.
Dean: How'd he die?
Tiny: My brother shot him.

Dean: Okay.

Dean: Her name was Glockner. She worked here as a nurse in the '70s. Now, I need you to find out everything you can about her, but, most importantly how she died and where she's buried.

Mara: Are you nuts? Do you have any idea the kind of trouble you're in here?

Dean: I have a vague notion.

Deacon: Your lawyer left this for you.

Dean: Heh heh. Would you look at that. Man, I am freaking velvety smooth.

Sam: You want to, maybe, open it up after, you know, you're done patting yourself on the back?

Dean: You know, I almost wish I could see Henriksen's face.
Sam: Really? 'Cause I'd be happy if I never saw him again. I mean, we're not really out of the woods yet, Dean, you know?

Trivia & References

"Folsom Prison Blues" is the name of a Johnny Cash song.

Randall appears to be reading a pulp magazine titled The Apollo Gate by Kit Marlett in his cell at the beginning of the episode.

Dean: I call this one my Blue Steel...

Blue Steel was the name of a modeling pose belonging to the really really ridiculously handsome Derek Zoolander in the movie Zoolander.

Dean: Wait, who looks better, me or Nick Nolte?

When Nick Nolte was arrested for drunk driving in 2002, his mug shot showed him with wild hair and wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

The "Green River County Detention Center" is fictitious and probably represents a Close Security state prison. The name "Green River" may be in reference to the Creedence Clearwater Revival song Green River.

Dean: Yeah, that guy moves a little faster than I thought. Look, all we gotta do is find this ghost, put the sucker down... then grab ourselves a couple of teardrop tattoos.

In prison, teardrop tattoos signify that an individual has murdered someone, or has had someone close to them murdered. It originated with gangs in California. In this episode it could be taken as a reference to an old movie of Johnny Depp's, called Crybaby, where his character received a teardrop tattoo when he was in prison, as a representation of his attitude towards crying - he would only cry one tear when something bothered him and that was it.

Dean: It's 100 percent sure. I wouldn't have gone if it wasn't. I mean, come on, man, this place has all the signs of a haunting. Innocent people are dead. Four so far.

Sam: Yeah, innocent.
Dean: You from Texas all of a sudden? Just because these people are in jail, doesn't mean they deserve to die. If we don't stop this thing, people are going to continue to die. We do this job wherever it takes us.

A reference to the fact that Texas has the highest rate of executions in the United States. Possibly also an allusion to the fact that both Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles are from Texas.

The population of the cell block and exercise area where the Winchesters stay is predominantly white, which is odd, considering that racial segregation was banned in most United States prisons in 1968, and the 2000 U.S. Census figures stated 52.9% of the Arkansas state prison population was Caucasian, 44.5% was Black, and 7.2% was Latino.

Lucas: You talking to me? Are you talking to me?

Dean: Great, another guy who's seen Taxi Driver too many times. Yeah, I'm talking to you. Trust me. Let it go.

"You talking to me?" is a much quoted line from Robert De Niro’s character Travis Bickel in Taxi Driver.

Dean: I wish I had a baseball.

Lucas: What? What'd you say?
Dean: I said, I wish I had a baseball.
Dean: You know, like... Steve McQueen.

In The Great Escape, when sent to solitary Steve McQueen's character Hilts bounces a baseball against the wall.

Dean: That's the Sammy I know. Come on, man, you're like Clint Eastwood from Escape From Alcatraz.

Escape from Alcatraz features Clint Eastwood as Frank Morris who escapes from Alcatraz prison.

Sam: The problem is, if even if we do find something, how are we gonna burn it? We don't have any accelerant.

Dean: It’s a good thing I’m like James Garner from The Great Escape.

In The Great Escape, James Garner’s character Hendley is the scrounger who ingeniously gets all the items needed for the escape.

Dean: I'd like mine al dente.

Al dente means to have pasta cooked firm to the bite.

Randall: Yeah. Story was Glockner had it out for cons and she did this, uh, Charles Bronson thing with a hypodermic. Anyway, that was the rumor. Nobody ever proved anything.

A reference to the vigilante role of Charles Bronson in the movie Death Wish.

Sam: We got to move it. If Henriksen gets to the lawyer...

Dean: I thought she couldn't say anything – you know, that whole lawyer-client privilege thing.
Sam: The privilege doesn't apply, Dean.
Dean: So she'll talk?
Sam: She has to.
Dean: Oh, that's freaking super.

Ethical guidelines for attorneys would prevent Mara Daniels from revealing what Dean told her. Attorneys may reveal confidential attorney-client communications if the attorney reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm; note that the attorney may, but is not required to do so, even under those circumstances. The only crime likely to be committed in this episode was grave desecration, which does not qualify.

Sam: Thought we were screwed before?

Dean: Hell yeah, I know. We gotta go deep this time.
Sam: Deep, Dean? We should go to Yemen.
Dean: Not sure I’m ready to go that deep.

In episode 4x15 of Friends "The One With All The Rugby," Chandler pretends his company is transferring him to Yemen in order to avoid a scary ex-girlfriend.

Deacon and John were in the Marines together and served in Vietnam, although Deacon seems to know all about the world of the Supernatural too, so it stands to reason that they kept in touch. Alice in Chains "Rooster," the song played at the end of the episode, is about soldiers who served in Vietnam.

Minutiae

Jensen celebrated his birthday (March 1) on location at a prison during filming for this episode. At the beginning of the day, the 50 extras dressed as prisoners sang Happy Birthday to him in the yard. (source: Season 2 DVD and Blu-ray.

Kurt Evans, who played agent Calvin Reidy, also played Marnie's Husband in 11.01 Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire.

Clif Kosterman, who played Tiny, also played Wrecking Ball Calhoon in 11.15 Beyond the Mat. Clif also works as a driver/bodyguard for Jared and Jensen.

Chris Nowland, who played Contractor #1, also played Chester Lew in 8.06 Southern Comfort.

Garwin Sanford, who played Deacon, also played Supernatural producer Jim Michaels in 6.15 The French Mistake.

Three months pass by, after the first kill in prison, before Dean and Sam break into the Arkansas Museum of Anthropology. Current exhibitions include Mesoamerican Art, Pre Columbian Life and Colima Unearthed.

Obviously anticipating his belongings being confiscated in prison, Dean is not wearing his amulet or rings when arrested.

When the mugshots are taken, Dean's height appears to be 6'3" because he tilts his head back (in profile, he stands just over 6'2" tall), while Sam, who is slouching slightly, stands at 6'5" and the crown of his head reaches 6'6" in the profile shot. Jensen Ackles is actually 6'1" (1.83m), while Jared Padalecki is 6'4" (1.93m).

Some of the charges laid against Dean are mail fraud, credit card fraud, grave desecration, armed robbery, kidnapping, three counts of first-degree murder, and breaking and entering.

Sam and Dean are placed in the newer B Block. Sam's cell number is B309; Dean's is B310.

When Dean stands up, hands full of cigarettes to trade them for a lighter, he shouts out, "Hey fellas, who's ready to deal?" You can see Jared grinning and mouthing the lines along with Jensen.

The mugshot taken of Dean in this episode can be seen several times over future episodes. Most recently, it was the picture used on a wanted poster for an alternate timeline Dean in 14.13 Lebanon.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 2.19 Folsom Prison Blues (transcript)
• Casting sides for Deacon Kaylor
• Casting sides for Mara Daniels
• Casting sides for Randall

Promotion

• Promo

Episode Meta

• SPN Heavy Meta Season Two Meta Index
• 2.19 Folsom Prison Blues: We Pay Our Debts by bardicvoice (April 2007); archive link
• Bond, Silvia. 2008. "Folsom Prison Blues" Season 2, Episode 19. Pink Raygun, December 23; archive link, spn-heavymeta