8.08 Hunteri Heroici

Title	Hunteri Heroici
Episode #	Season 8, Episode 8
First aired	November 28, 2012
Directed by	Paul Edwards
Written by	Andrew Dabb
On IMDB	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2426140/
Outline	Castiel wants to be a hunter like Sam and Dean, and he finds a case for them to work together, where a man's heart literally burst out of his chest.
Monster	Humans Psychics
Timeline
Location(s)	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
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Synopsis

Dean, Sam, and Castiel are at a gas station refueling the Impala. Sam is on the phone with Linda Tran, who tells him that she and Kevin are now on Garth's safe-houseboat and that Kevin is having difficulties translating the half of the God tablet they got back from Crowley. He tells her to call if they find anything. Dean asks Castiel if there's any angel chatter about the tablet, and Castiel tells him that he's cut himself off from angel communications because he doesn't want anything to do with heaven. Instead, he wants to be a hunter - he's even found a case in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where a man's heart burst out of his chest and flew 10 feet into the air. Dean says he'll work the case with him as long as he stays with them and doesn't teleport around. Castiel agrees and then asks if he can ride in the front seat of the Impala. Sam and Dean say "no" at the same time, and Castiel gets in the back seat.

In Oklahoma City, they go to see Gary Freleng's body at the morgue. He has a cookie-cutter heart-shaped hole in his chest, and the detective working the case tells them that the consensus is that Gary was on drugs. Castiel tells Dean that there are no drugs in Gary's system, and once the detective leaves, he says that he senses no EMF or sulfur and that Gary's only health problem was a recent bladder infection. Sam, who's been reading the case file, asks Castiel if he can tell that Gary was also having an affair. His friend Olivia Kopple was with him when he died, and from Olivia's statement it seems like they were meeting in the park every week to have lunch at a nearby diner. Sam suspects that they were spending less time in the diner and more time in the motel attached to it, and that Gary's wife is a witch who wanted revenge on her cheating husband.

As they leave the morgue, Sam remembers the night he met Amelia's father, Stan Thompson. He and Amelia had just moved into a house together, and Stan obviously hadn't approved of him. When he'd learned that Sam was working a maintenance job at a local motel despite going to Stanford, he'd remarked that Sam seemed like a "real fixer-upper."

They go to see Gary's wife, Deb Freleng, at her home, and Castiel tries to interrogate her. He comes on too strong, though, and Sam interrupts to ask Deb more gently if her husband may have been hiding something from her. Then the doorbell rings and Olivia comes inside, crying. She and Deb embrace, and Deb asks them what they think Gary was hiding. The hunters are confused until they learn that Deb knew about Olivia because she and her husband "had an arrangement."

in progress

Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Castiel
• Fred Jones
• Naomi
• Amelia Richardson
• Gary Freleng
• Mrs Freleng
• Dr Dwight Mahoney
• Stan Thompson
• Riot
• BOB

Definitions

• The Word of God
• Purgatory
• Psychics
• John's Journal
• Tulpa
• Angel Lore

Music

Ode to Joy from Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven.

Quotes

Dean: What's the word, Cas?
Castiel: It's a shortened version of my name.

Dean: So, what now? Move to Vermont, open up a charming B&B?

Castiel: I understand. The bird represents God, and the coyote is man, endlessly chasing the divine but never able to catch him. It's hilarious.

Castiel: I was being bad cop.
Dean: You were being bad everything.

Castiel: (to a cat he is "questioning") I'm not through with you.
Cat: Dumbass!

Dean: Alright, let's gear up. It's wabbit season!
Castiel: I don't think you pronounced that correctly.

Stan: It won't last. You are living in a dream world.

Amelia: I like it here. I like this house. I like Sam.
Stan: Sam is a mess.

Amelia: I'm a mess.....Please. Let us be messes together.

Trivia & References

The title Hunteri Heroici, is a play on the Looney Tunes cartoon convention of giving fake Latin species names to characters, for example Speedometrus Rapidus for the Roadrunner. During the the episode, there is a freeze frame where Dean is labelled as Hunterus Heroicus and Dr Mahoney labelled as Grotesques Villianus.

The tags were presented in the typeface Comic Sans, a much maligned typeface, although in this situation, very appropriate.

After writing 16 episodes with Daniel Loflin this is the first episode on which Andrew Dabb has had a solo credit on.

Big Ryan's Gas and Sip at the beginning of the episode was named after VFX Coordinator Ryan Curtis.

There are many references in the episode to the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon, a Warner Brothers cartoon that started in the 1940s adn was part of the Merry Melodies and Looney Tune series. As described in the episode its own set of rules about physics in the cartoon world source.

• The first victim, whose heart explodes from his chest, is Gary Freleng. His last name is a reference to animator Friz Freleng who created iconic characters such as Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, and Sylvester the cat.
  
• Fred Jones' name may be a reference to Merry Melodies and Looney Tune animator and director Chuck Jones, and also to the character of Fred Jones from the Scooby Do series.
  
• Dean also refers to the Animaniacs which was a 1990s cartoon series.

Brian Markinson who played Amelia's father Stan Thompson, previously appeared on 1.04 Phantom Traveler as Jerry Panowski.

Castiel's turn as the "bad cop" was an homage to TV detective Columbo from the 1970's detective series. In the show, Columbo also wore a crumpled trench coat.

Misha Collins once called Castiel "Columbo". On CW event of 5.21 Two Minutes To Midnight, Collins tweeted "The guy dressed as Columbo needs to wash his face." and "The smart looking Columbo guy seems like he's turning into a big gun fanatic. He should join the NRA. Start raising money for." (#21 and #24) - See Misha on Twitter

Dean: I don't know what we're hunting. Maybe it's a tulpa, maybe it some guy who watched too much Robot Chicken.

A tulpa is an idea that is made manifest, such as was encountered by Sam and Dean in 1.17 Hell House. Robot chicken is a stop-motion animated series that parodies pop culture.

Ben Edlund once pitched the idea of an episode with an act break from the POV of a cat, which happens in this episode. source.

The cat in the nursing home is wearing a tag with "BOB" on it - the voice of the cat was provided by Bob Singer source.

Castiel: This is happening, Mr. Jones. They're using you.

Fred Jones: As what – some kind of a damn psychic CopperTop?

CopperTop is a brand of battery made by Duracell.

Dean: Let's blow this Termite Terrace.

Termite Terrace is the nickname for the Warner Brother's animation department.

In one flashback sequence, when Sam is at the sink with Stan, he can be seen rubbing the palm of his left hand, a technique that Dean taught him in 7.02 Hello, Cruel World to connect with reality and distract him from his hallucinations of Lucifer.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 8.08 Hunteri Heroici (transcript)

Promotion

• Episode Title
• Guest star cast by Zap2It
• Photos from filming by socialitelife
• Plot spoilers from TVLine
• Plot spoilers from TV Overmind
• Promo pics by TV Overmind
• Episode promo
• Sneak Peek by Supernaturalcmm
• Video interview with Jared, Jensen and Misha about the episode by TVOvermind
• Winchester Radio's discussion of this episode