4.11 Family Remains
Title | Family Remains |
Episode # | Season 4, Episode 11 |
First aired | January 15, 2009 |
Directed by | Phillip Sgriccia |
Written by | Jeremy Carver |
On IMDB | Family Remains |
Outline | A family looks for a new start in the country. But something is inside the walls of their house. |
Monster | Humans |
Timeline | early December, 2008, one month after the events of 4.10 Heaven and Hell |
Location(s) | Stratton, Nebraska |
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Contents
Synopsis
Sam wakes from sleeping in the back seat of the Impala, to find Dean researching cases. Sam complains that they haven't stopped hunting for the last month, but Dean insists they investigate a case in Nebraska, where Bill Gibson was found murdered in a room that was locked from the inside.
They arrive in Stratton, Nebraska to find the Carter family about to move into the house. Following the death of their eldest son a year ago in a car accident, Susan and Brian Carter are looking for a fresh start with their kids Kate and Danny. Brian's brother Ted is helping them move.
Sam and Dean pretend to be building inspectors and tell them the house has asbestos in the walls and a gas leak and that they should stay in a motel, but after they leave, Ted declares the house okay and the family move in.
Sam and Dean visit the housekeeper, who tells them Bill had a wife who died in childbirth and his daughter Rebecca hung herself in the attic. While both women were cremated, the boys assume a ghost must be haunting the house.
That night Danny encounters a girl - she rolls a ball to him and says he is welcome to stay, but the adults are not. Then as Kate lies in bed, she feels something licking her hand. She assumes it's the dog until the dog appears at the bedroom door.
Kate's screams alert Sam and Dean who rush into the house. They try to get the family to leave but find the tires on all the cars slashed and the weapons gone from their car. They take refuge inside a salt circle in the house, but a girl appears and attacks them, crossing the salt line and proving to be human and not a ghost.
The family rushes outside, but when they regroup, Danny is missing. While Susan and Kate hide in a shed, Ted and Dean check inside the house, while Brian and Sam check the grounds. Dean and Ted find a hidden door into the wall space, and Dean finds a space beneath the floor where the remains of half eaten rats litter the floor. While he is there, the girl sneaks up from behind and kills Ted.
While Dean swears to Brian he will find Danny, Sam reads Rebecca's diary. The diary reveals that Rebecca Gibson was raped by her own father, Bill Gibson, became pregnant, and hung herself. Entering through a hidden dumb waiter in the kitchen, Dean finds their weapons and Danny bound under the floor space. As he tries to free him, he is attacked by a boy - Rebecca's son. Dean shoots him.
Meanwhile the girl attacks Susan and Kate, until Brian arrives and stabs her. After the case, Dean says he feels pity - and empathy - for the children who were turned murderous by a life of torture. Sam remonstrates that Dean is not like them, and Dean retorts that he was worse, because he enjoyed the pain he inflicted on souls in Hell.
Characters
- Sam Winchester
- Dean Winchester
- Susan Carter
- Brian Carter – Susan's husband
- Ted – Susan's brother
- Kate Carter – the Carters' daughter
- Danny Carter – the Carters' son
- Bill Gibson
- Girl in the Wall
- Mrs. Curry - the housekeeper
Definitions
Music
- "The Charge at Feather River Theme" by Max Steiner
- (The old movie Bill Gibson is watching until the power goes out)
Quotes
Dean: Know-it-all.
Sam: What?
Dean: What?!
Sam: You said...
Dean: What?
Sam: Nevermind.
Brian: Actually I did Kate, but we decide to move anyway just to ruin your life
Sam: We could tell them the truth.
Dean: Really?
Sam: You were in Hell, Dean. Maybe you did what you did there...but you're not them. They were barely human.
Dean: No, you're right. I wasn't like them. I was worse. They were animals, Sam. Defending territory. Me? I did it for the sheer pleasure.
Sam: What?
Trivia & References
Juno is an popular and critically acclaimed movie about a teenage girl and her unplanned pregnancy.
Fonzie was the leather jacket wearing, epitome of cool in the sitcom Happy Days.
Deliverance is a 1972 movie about four city boys who go canoeing in the Georgia wilderness and are brutally attacked by locals. See Deliverance for other episodes which have quotes from this movie.
Casper the Friendly Ghost is a cartoon character which has been around since the 1950s.
Scooby Doo is a long running cartoon series about four friends and a dog called Scooby Doo who hunt down ghosts and the supernatural.
Beef It's What's For Dinner was an ad campaign launched in 1992 that encouraged Americans to incorporate beef into their diets for health. The website was launched in 2002.
Nell was the eponymous character of a 1994 movie, played by Jodie Foster, who is raised in backwoods isolation.
A reference to the case of Josef Fritzl who in 2008 was found to have held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and raped her, leading to the birth of seven children.
Minutiae
The role of the housekeeper in this episode, Mrs Curry, was played by Karin Konoval who also played the mother of the incestuous family in that X-Files episode.
Sides, Scripts & Transcripts
Promotion
- Promotional Pictures for 4.11
- Episode Promo: 4.11 Family Remains
- Fresh Episodes Promo: We're sorry to leave you hanging
- Preview of 4.11 by Buddy TV
- Preview of 4.11, 4.12 and 4.13 by the Supernatural Editing team.
- Three preview clips fro 4.11 via MovieWeb
- Interview with writer Jeremy Carver