6.05 Live Free or Twihard

Title	Live Free or Twihard
Episode #	Season 6, Episode 5
First aired	October 22, 2010
Directed by	Rod Hardy
Written by	Brett Matthews
On IMDB	Live Free or Twihard
Outline	Sam and Dean investigate a rash of disappearances involving teenage girls, they soon discover the girls are being lured by a vampire. During the hunt Dean is turned into a vampire, Samuel tells Dean that he can change him back, but he'll need the blood of the vampire who turned him.
Monster	Vampires
Timeline	October 17th, 2010
Location(s)	Limestone, Illinois Battle Creek, Michigan
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Synopsis

Sam and Dean investigate the disappearance of seven attractive girls, all in their late teens, in the small town of Limestone, Illinois. When they go to the home of the latest victim, Kristen, they find out that she had an obsession with vampires. Her room is a shrine to the recent trend of vampire movies, television shows, and books. Once they crack her laptop's password (Pattinson), they discover that she met someone online who claimed to be a real vampire and was supposed to meet him at a club called "The Black Rose." They're not sure that the online stranger was a real vampire, but Samuel seems certain that vampires are involved. The disappearances in Limestone follow a pattern: this is the fourth town where kids have gone missing and a blood bank van has been jumped and the blood stolen. In this town, the driver of the blood bank van was found with his throat ripped out.

Sam and Dean go to "The Black Rose" and try to pick up the vampires' trail. Sam follows one suspicious man down to the basement of the club while Dean follows one outside to the alley. The man that Dean followed was just pretending to be a vampire to get girls, while the man that Sam followed was a vampire. Sam decapitates him and goes outside to find Dean, who has since been attacked by a real vampire named Boris. Instead of rushing to Dean's aid, Sam watches as Boris feeds Dean his blood, turning him. Sam then runs forward to prevent Boris from taking Dean with him to his nest.

Sam and Dean go back to their motel, where Dean is overwhelmed by his new hypersensitivity to light and sound. Dean wants Sam to kill him, but Sam refuses, saying that he's sure Samuel can help them. Dean goes to the bathroom alone and, after examining his new fangs, leaves out the window so that Sam won't stop him. He immediately goes to his house to see Lisa, who wakes up to see him standing over their bed. He thanks her and Ben for everything, and his behavior worries Lisa, who tries to get him to explain what's going on. He throws her against the wall and is overwhelmed by the sound of her heartbeat. He turns and tries to leave when his fangs extend, but Ben comes out of his room and, though Dean tries to warn him away, he advances. Dean throws him against the wall of the hallway and shouts at him before leaving. Lisa pulls Ben to her in fear as Dean goes.

When Dean gets back to the motel in Limestone, Samuel is there with Sam. Samuel tells them that the Campbells have a possible cure for vampirism written in Samuel's grandfather's journal, but it can only be used if Dean doesn't drink any human blood. Samuel and Sam will gather most of the ingredients for the cure, but Dean has to get the blood of the vampire, Boris, who turned him. Dean insists that he will go into the vampire nest alone: he can sense where they are and he's sure that Sam would just attract attention because he "reeks" like "a walking hamburger." Samuel gives Dean a syringe of dead man's blood to use against Boris, and Dean leaves. Once they're alone, Samuel confronts Sam about his apparent knowledge of the cure. He's worried that Sam purposefully let Dean get infected so that he could get inside the vampire nest and help them capture an Alpha vampire they've been looking for. Sam denies everything, but Samuel doesn't seem convinced.

Dean enters the vampires' nest and runs into Robert, the vampire who lured the latest missing girl Kristen to be captured by Boris. Boris has been using attractive men as "recruiters" to bring young women to his nest to be turned, and he wants to use Dean in this capacity. Boris is not the Alpha vampire, but he is over six hundred years old, and he has been given orders to amass large numbers of vampires. Dean tries to get the jump on him, but Boris senses the dead man's blood and stops Dean before he can inject him. Suddenly, all the vampires are overcome by visions sent to them from the Alpha Vampire. When Dean wakes up from his vision, Boris sets all the vampires in the nest on him, but Dean kills them all with a large machete before killing Boris himself.

After they have Boris' blood, they use it to create the cure for vampirism that Dean needs. Dean takes the cure and is overcome by visions from his time as a vampire. In them, he sees the moment that Sam stood back and watched him be turned. He says nothing about it when he wakes up cured, however, only mentions that the vampires are amassing an army and that they no longer seem afraid of hunters.

Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Lisa Braeden
• Ben Braeden
• Samuel Campbell
• Alpha Vampire
• Boris
• Kristen
• Robert

Definitions

• Aliases
• Alpha
• Dead Man's Blood
• Impala
• Monsters
• Sammy
• Unconscious
• Vampires
• Vampire Cure

Music

• "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus

(plays in The Black Rose while Kristin searches for Robert)

• "Stolen Voices" by Witchman feat. Rosanne

(plays in The Black Rose while Kristen and Robert talk about her poetry)

Quotes

Robert: Let me show you my world.

Kristin: Edgy. So... your place... is there gonna be... velvet?
Robert: Yeah. Sure.

Kristin: This is it? But... it smells like pee...

Dean: But I was thinkin' that, uh, I'll wrap up here, and, y'know, make sure I'm not followed... I'll have to take side streets, and I'd have to come at night--
Lisa: Will you just shut up and get your ass home? I can't wait to see you. This phone thing's getting old.

Dean: Ah, these aren't vampires, man, these... these are douche bags.

Dean: Look at this. He's watching her sleep. How is that not rape-y?
Sam: I gotta concentrate here, Dean.

Dean: Well, you wanted Emo chicks, I think we hit Ground Zero. Thank you. You think she wears all that rubber to the beach? When was the last time we had a beer together, anyway?

Boris: You're pretty...

Dean: I'm sorry?
Boris: I said... you're pretty.

Dean: Yeah, sorry again, pal. I don't play for your team.

Samuel: What the hell's wrong with you, Sam?

Sam: Whaddya mean?
Samuel: You knew about the cure!
Sam: What? No, I didn't.
Samuel: But we talked about it months ago.
Sam: Not me. Must've been Christian or something.
Samuel: Huh. That's strange, cuz if you had known, it'd be almost like you let him get turned. Get a man on the inside? Help us find that alpha vamp we've been looking for?

Sam: Are you serious? You think I'd do something like that, risk my own brother? What's wrong with you? Look, I'm just relieved we can fix him.

Dean: Sam, I can't hear you -- your blood is so frickin' loud, okay? Just -- just back off. All right, gimme the damn cure. L'chaim...

Dean: Uhm... well, I'm still trying to work through it, but, uh... I'm pretty sure they're not figuring anything out on their own. They're getting their orders from the top... where to go next, everything.

Samuel: Top, as in...?
Dean: Their Alpha. At least, that's what I think it is. They've got some sort of psychic thing happening. He sends 'em, uh... I don't know -- messages?
Sam: Saying what?
Dean: Honestly? Recruitment drive. Their Alpha's building an army.
Samuel: Well, that's comforting.
Dean: That's not the worst.
Sam: Then what is?

Dean: We don't scare them anymore.

Dean: Yeah. At least, uh... yo got my back. No matter what happens, I can always count on you, right, Sammy?
Sam: Yeah. Of course, Dean.

Trivia & References

The title of the episode is a combination of Live Free or Die Hard and Twilight. Twihard is a term for an obsessive fan of the Twilight series.

There are multiple references to the Twilight series throughout this episode. The two characters who meet at the Black Rose in the beginning of the episode are named Robert and Kristen. These are references to actors Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, who played the lead roles in the Twilight movies. A large part of Robert and Kristen's conversation at the Black Rose in the beginning is also a word-for-word copy of several conversations in the Twilight series. Also, their mannerisms and appearances mirror and mimic those of the original actors.

The song "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus was featured in the 1983 vampire movie The Hunger.

The name of the bar in this episode is "The Black Rose." There are multiple references to the Black Rose throughout culture, art, and music, but in the context of this episode, it can be interpreted in two different ways: First, it's the name of a BDSM organization based in Washington D.C. Notice that many of the patrons at the bar are wearing leather outfits. Second, although black roses do, in fact, exist in nature, they have taken on multiple symbolic meanings in literature, politics, and vernacular language.

In the bar, Kristen trips and drops her Apple iPhone into Robert's hand, mirroring the famous scene from the first Twilight movie when Edward catches Bella's apple at lunch. When Sera Gamble talked at the episode at Comic-Con 2010 she said, “I was just doing a bit of work on the script today with Eric [Kripke] and he was like, ‘So what is this reference to dropping an apple?’ I was like, ‘You don’t know the dropping-an-apple thing? It’s from Twilight!’ I was like, ‘Come over here! You have to watch the promo!’[1]

When Kristen pricks her finger, and Robert averts his eyes because of the temptation, it is a reference to Bram Stoker's Dracula.

The vampires in this episode feed by drinking bags of blood stolen from a blood bank. The character Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries feeds in the same way, as does Dracula in the parody Love at First Bite.

The fictional vampire series in the episode includes My Summer of Blood by Cynthia Rose, and the books and movies Dream of the Vampires I & II. My Summer of Blood stars a vampire named Romero. The vampire's name may be a reference to horror writer/director George A. Romero, whose work has frequently been referenced in Supernatural. It might also be a play on the name "Romeo."

The triptych painting on Kristen's wall is an illustration by Spanish artist Victoria Frances.

Dean: This is a national bestseller. How is that possible? Hey, try, uh -- 'Lautner.'

Sam: Wait -- he's a werewolf. How do you even know who that is?
Dean: Are you kidding me? That kid's everywhere. It's a freakin' nightmare.

Another reference to Twilight, in this case to actor Taylor Lautner, who plays werewolf Jacob Black.

Sam: Hey, how many T's are there in 'Pattins-' That's it. We're in! Ha! All right.

Yet another reference to Twilight, this time to actor Robert Pattinson, who plays vampire Edward Cullen.

Dean: All right. You go with Efron, I got Bieber.

A reference to teen idols/heartthrobs Zac Efron and Justin Bieber.

Dean: I'll be damned. All right, mmmbop your way outta here. Go, go!

A reference to the Hanson song "MMMBop."

Boris: I said... you're pretty.

Dean: Yeah, sorry again, pal. I don't play for your team.

Playing or not playing "for your team" is a phrase used to denote a person's sexual preferences. The "team" terminology for a person's sexual preference was most famously used in the Seinfeld episode "The Beard."

Samuel: That's my grandfather's journal. Cure's an old Campbell recipe, kind of like the soup. No one's tried it since God knows. What I hear... this stuff is a bad trip.

Samuel had referenced the infamous Campbell's Soup which bears an uncanny resemblance to his family's last name. It was an urban myth that soup can cure the common cold.

Sam: Where you goin'?

Dean: Bathroom, okay? News flash, Mr. Wizard: vampires pee!

A reference to the science-oriented children's TV show Mr. Wizard.

Dean: Oh, God, I'm Pattinson.

Another reference to Twilight actor Robert Pattinson, and the fact that his character Edward Cullen would stare at Bella Swan like a creep.

In this episode, we learn of a Campbell family cure to reverse the vampire curse, which is entirely contingent on the person not having tasted blood yet. In the movie The Lost Boys, and in the story Dracula it is also possible to reverse the vampire curse by killing the vampire who turned the person before he or she has tasted blood for the first time, which on a very basic level, is what Dean has to do in this episode to be healed.

Boris: You're off... by about... six centuries? And these are the best days in the last six hundred years to be a vampire. Dracula? Anne Rice? please. These stupid little brats are so horny they've reinvented us as Prince Charming with a Volvo. They... You -- you go out and you get them, and you bring 'em home to me.

References to one of the most famous vampires and one of the most famous vampire authors in literature and popular culture. Dracula is the vampire in Bram Stoker's Dracula, which set the archetype for vampire mythology and portrayals in film, television and literature. Anne Rice, wrote vampire novels, the most famous being Interview with the Vampire, which were acclaimed worldwide bestsellers. Not named is Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight series.

Minutiae

This episode was produced sixth but aired fifth.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 6.05 Live Free or Twihard (Transcript)

Promotion

• Episode title
• Set Photos by Jking/INFphoto.com
• Set Photos SpoilerTV
• Fan Report of Filming by The Dean Team
• Fan Report of Filming with Pics Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 by elsiecat
• Set Photos from SpoilerTV
• Set Photos from SpoilerTV
• Synopsis from SpoilerTV
• Promo Picss from SpoilerTV
• Space Promo
• Sneak Peek #1
• Sneak Peek #2
• Sneak Peek #3

Episode Meta

• Ardeospina. 2010. A Visual Review -- Live Free or Twihard. The Winchester Family Business, October 27; archive link
• 6.05 Live Free Or TwiHard: I’m A Monster by bardicvoice (October 2010); archive link
• Bond, Silvia. 2010. What is Sam's Deal?: "Live Free or Twihard" Season 6, Episode 5. Pink Raygun, October 26; archive link, spn-heavymeta
• Chan, Suzette. 2010. Supernatural Talk: Tarts talk about 6.05: Live Free or Twi Hard. Sequential Tart, December 6; archive link, spn-heavymeta