2.19 Folsom Prison Blues

Title	Bad Day at Black Rock
Episode #	Season 3, episode 3
First aired	October 18, 2007
Directed by	Robert Singer
Written by	Ben Edlund
On IMDB	Bad Day at Black Rock
Outline	A rabbit's foot brings both good and bad luck to Sam and Dean, and the other players trying to obtain it.
Monster	Rabbit's Foot
Timeline	Three weeks after 3.01 The Magnificent Seven
Location(s)	Black Rock, Buffalo, New York Queens, New York
[[{{{prevep}}}|« Previous Episode]] | [[{{{nextep}}}|Next Episode »]]

Synopsis

Sam tells Dean about his encounter with Ruby, without sharing the information she gave him about the deaths of Mary's friends. Dean is angry that Sam didn't kill the demon, while Sam insists that they can use her to get information about the demons they are battling, as well Dean's deal with the crossroads demon.

A hunter called Kubrick visits Gordon Walker in prison. He informs Gordon of his discovery that, contrary to Gordon's belief, Sam was trying to keep the Devil's Gate in Wyoming from opening. Gordon states that he doesn't believe Sam is even human, and he must be killed. A phone call on John's cell phone alerts Sam and Dean to a break-in at a secret lock-up their father kept. Upon investigating they find a weapons cache, memorabilia from their childhood, and curse boxes, one of which is missing.

They use security footage to track the thieves, Wayne and Grossman, who have opened the box and found a rabbit's foot inside. Wayne was shot when he tripped a booby trap John had rigged in the lock-up. His luck changes for the better after he touches the rabbit's foot: his neighbor turns out to be an ex-Army medic who can tend his wound, and he wins at cards.

After Sam and Dean take the rabbit's foot, Wayne’s luck changes again -- this time for the worse -- and he is killed when he slips on a bottle and is impaled on a BBQ fork. Sam calls Bobby and tells him about the foot. Bobby reveals that the rabbit's foot brings the person who has it good luck but when it is lost, the person will die within a week. Bobby promises to research a way to destroy the curse. Sam starts getting lucky – a set of scratch and win cards yields thousands of dollars, and he finds a gold watch. When he and Dean enter a restaurant, they win a year’s worth of free food. However, when a waitress spills coffee on Sam, she uses the opportunity to steal the foot.

Sam’s bad luck starts immediately, and he slips and falls outside the restaurant. They return to the thieves' apartment and interrogate Grossman about who hired them to steal the rabbit's foot; he gives them the name "Bela Lugosi." Dean phones Bobby who tells them that Bela is Bela Talbot, a woman who knows much about the world of the supernatural and steals supernatural items for wealthy clients. Meanwhile, Sam’s bad luck continues as he steps in gum and then loses his shoe down a drain.

With a lead on where to find Bela, Dean leaves Sam at a motel with strict instructions not to move. In Queens, Dean breaks into Bela’s flat and manages to steal the rabbit's foot from her. A series of coincidences have helped Kubrick and Creedy track Sam down and they capture him, but just as Kubrick prepares to shoot him they are foiled by Dean.

Bobby has supplied the boys with a ritual to destroy the rabbit's foot and its curse. Dean scratches a few more winning tickets, and then just as they prepare to burn the foot, Bela arrives. She demonstrates she is not only a thief but also ruthless and a good shot, when she first threatens Dean and then shoots Sam in the shoulder. Dean distracts her and then tosses the foot to her. Bela catches it, and becomes cursed. Resigned, she hands the foot over to be destroyed. She leaves, but not before stealing Dean's winnings.

Returning to Gordon, Kubrick now believes that he is on a mission from God to kill Sam. Even though Gordon obviously disbelieves this, he enlists Kubrick's help in planning his escape.

Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Bela Talbot
• Bobby Singer
• Gordon Walker
• Kubrick
• Creedy
• Wayne
• Grossman

Definitions

• Acting in Unison
• Aliases
• Bela's Car
• Bela's Cat
• Biggerson's
• Bobby's Hats
• The Colt
• Curse
• Curse Box
• Cursed Object
• Dean's Amulet
• Fetishes
• Holy Water in the Face
• Hoodoo
• Hunters
• Idjit
• Impala
• John's Cell Phone
• John's Journal
• John's Lock-up
• Ouija Board
• Photo Album
• Rabbit's Foot
• Singer Salvage Yard
• Table of Death
• Unconscious

Music

• "Women's Wear" by Daniel May

(plays in the diner when Bela spills Sam's coffee; also played in 2.05 Simon Said)

• "Vaya Con Dios" by Les Paul and Mary Ford

(plays when the boys go to the thieves' house to get info on Bela)

Quotes

Gordon: You think I'm crazy? I told you there was a war coming – six months ago. Take a look around. It's here. Now I'm telling you this boy is a part of it. Track him down, Kubrick. You'll come to see it too. Sam Winchester must die.

Dean: Because demon, that's why. I mean the second you find out this Ruby chick is a demon you go for the holy water! You don't chat!

Sam: No one was chatting, Dean.

Dean: Oh yeah? Then why didn't you send her ass back to Hell?

Kubrick: Don't play with my Jesus.

Dean: Man...

Sam: What?
Dean: Just Dad. You know him and his secrets. Spend all this time with the guy and it's like we barely even know the man.

Sam: Well, we're about to learn something.

Sam: No way! That's my Division Championship soccer trophy. I can't believe he kept this.
Dean: Yeah... It was probably about the closest you ever came to being a boy. Oh, wow! It's my first sawed-off. I made it myself. Sixth grade... Holy crap. Look at this, he had land mines... Which they didn't take. Or the guns. I guess they knew what they were after, huh?

Sam: I lost my shoe.

Dean: So you're only out for yourself, huh? It's all about number one?

Bela: Being a Hunter is so much more noble? A bunch of obsessed, revenge-driven sociopaths trying to save a world that can't be saved?
Dean: Well, aren't you a glass half-full?

Bela: We're all going to Hell, Dean. Might as well enjoy the ride.

Dean: What the hell is wrong with you?! You don't just go around shooting people like that!

Bela: Thanks very much. I'm out one and a half million, and on the bad side of a very powerful, fairly psychotic buyer.

Dean: Wow. I really don't feel bad about that. Sam?

Sam: Nope. Not even a little.

Kubrick:You were right about everything. Sam Winchester is more than a monster. He's the adversary.

Gordon: And what was it that convinced you?
Kubrick:God led me to him, and His will is clear.

Gordon: Okaaaaay... That's great. Glad to have you on board. But, uh, first things first. We gotta get me the hell out of here. 'Cause like I told you before, Sam Winchester must die.

Trivia & References

"Bad Day at Black Rock" is the title of a 1955 film starring Spencer Tracey as a mysterious stranger who arrives in a small town in search of someone and ends up changing life in the town forever. It is also the title of episode 1x06 of The A-Team.

Kubrick: It's true. A Devil's Gate was opened in Wyoming. Big. St Helen's big.

Mount St. Helen's is an active volcano in Washington State, that last erupted in 1980.

Kubrick's name is possibly a reference to movie director Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick directed The Shining, one of Dean's favorite movies.

John Winchester used the alias Edgar Cayce, a renowned American psychic from the first half of the twentieth century, who is considered the antecedent of the modern New Age movement.

An upside-down horseshoe can be seen hanging above the door in Grossman's apartment. Hung with the ends pointing up, a horseshoe is a regarded as a good luck talisman because it holds luck in, but hanging it upside down allows all the luck to pour out, cursing the owner with bad luck until the horseshoe is rehung.

Kubrick drives (and lives in) an RV. On the rear left side it has three stickers: "How would Jesus drive?", "Don't make me come down there - God" and "Bethlehem or Bust."

John's lock-up has many visual references to a scene in the film The Silence of the Lambs where in Clarice Starling investigates Hannibal Lecter's storage facility and discovers a severed head in a jar. Similar items can be seen in both including stuffed birds, animal skulls, and a red and blue flag draped over a coffin/hearse.

Dean: Curse boxes? Th – they're supposed to keep the evil mojo in, right, kinda like the Pandora deal?

Pandora's box (which was actually a jar) is a story in Greek mythology about the first woman - Pandora - who is given said jar as a gift and told not open it. Out of curiosity she does, which leads to her releasing evil unto the world.

Wayne and Grossman are playing poker as Sam and Dean are sneaking into the apartment to get the rabbit's foot. Wayne gets four kings, and later on says he got two royal flushes in eight hands. The odds of getting a royal flush are 649,740:1, four of a kind 4,165:1.

Dean: Don't worry, Bobby'll find a way to break it. Until then I say we hit Vegas, pull a little Rain Man. You can be Rain Man.

Rain Man was a 1988 movie starring Tom Cruise as Charlie with Dustin Hoffman as his autistic-savant brother, Raymond. During the film, Charlie uses Raymond's mathematical genius to win at the casinos in Vegas.

The pseudonym Bela gives - Lugosi - is a reference to Bela Lugosi, an actor from the early 1900s who most infamously played Dracula.

Bela Talbot's is a reference to Larry Talbot, also known as the Wolf Man, the title character of the 1941 Universal film The Wolf Man, where he was portrayed by Lon Chaney, Jr.

Creedy: We didn't even have to touch you. You just went all spastic, and knocked yourself out? It was like watching Jerry Lewis try to stack chairs!

Jerry Lewis, best known for his stand-up act and movies with Dean Martin in the 1950s and '60s, was renowned as an exponent of physical comedy.

Kubrick: But, as it turns out... I'm on a mission from God.

A reference to the famous "We're on a mission from God" line from the film The Blues Brothers.

Dean: I'm Batman!

Sam: Yeah. You're Batman.

Batman aka the Caped Crusader is a superhero created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger for DC Comics in 1939. His secret identity is as millionaire Bruce Wayne. Unlike many superheroes, he does not possess any special powers, but is renowned for his physical abilities and his use of gadgets and technology. Batman also featured in a 1960's camp pop TV series, and a series of blockbuster movies.

This may also be a reference to a Seinfeld scene where Kramer relates to Jerry and George how he fights of a mugger to save a woman's pinky-toe. His fight with the mugger is in a ridiculous fashion similar to how Dean fought off Kubrick and Creedy. As Kramer is telling his story, George says "You're Batman." To which Kramer replies, "Yeah, I'm Batman." Here is a link to the scene: Kramer Fights Off a Mugger.

Dean: Say goodbye, wascawy wabbit.

A reference to Elmer Fudd's famous term (and pronunciation) for Bugs Bunny.

Dean: Oh don't go away angry, just go away.

Probably a reference to the Motley Crue song "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)."

Minutiae

This is the first episode we find out the name of the demon helping Sam - Ruby

Sam wears the same jacket he was wearing when he was stabbed by Jake Talley.

The thieves' license plate is Connecticut CTC-880.

Inside John's storage container Sam and Dean find Sam's 1995 Division Championship soccer trophy and the first sawed-off shotgun Dean ever made (in 6th grade).

Sam and Dean win a year's supply of food to Biggerson's. The same chain later features in 5.14 My Bloody Valentine, 6.06 You Can't Handle the Truth, 7.09 How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters and 8.21 The Great Escapist.

The flash from the photo taken at Biggerson's causes the check Sam and Dean receive to read, "FREE... FOR ONE YEAR," instead of "FREE FOOD FOR ONE YEAR". This may be a reference to Dean's crossroads contract, because of which he is only free for one year.

In the final scene, Dean's "son of a bitch" was ad-libbed. You can see Jared break character and laugh.

When Sam says 'I lost my shoe' it may be paying homage to iconic and much loved TV series The Sopranos. In Season 3 Episode 11, filmed in 2001, characters Paulie and Chris are chasing after a guy. Paulie falls over. When Paulie catches up to Chris he says "I lost my shoe' and shows Chris his socked foot'.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 3.03 Bad Day at Black Rock (transcript)

Promotion

• Promo