Hunt Initiation Log (Season 4)

The purpose of the Hunt Initiation Log is to track the source of the hunts Sam and Dean Winchester undertake. Sometimes they find hunts themselves, sometimes other characters give them information. Some episodes are more personal, with no clear hunt. This provides one more means of analyzing the characters. For example, it reveals that while Dean is the quintessential hunter of the family, Sam actually more often instigates the hunts, and that Sam gradually takes a more active role in that regard.

The Hunt Initiation Log has been divided up into seasons due to length:

• Hunt Initiation Log (Season 1)
• Hunt Initiation Log (Season 2)
• Hunt Initiation Log (Season 3)
• Hunt Initiation Log (Season 4)
• About the Hunt Initiation Log

4.01 Lazarus Rising

Comments: Dean wakes up in his own grave, four months after he was sent to Hell. After digging himself out and finding Bobby, he tracks down Sam - who is staying in a hotel with a girl not far from where Dean was buried. Dean is livid, thinking Sam has done something to get him out of Hell, but Sam assures him that's not the case - he's hunting migrant demons. Dean and Bobby decide to summon whatever pulled Dean out of Hell, while Sam continues to hunt the demons (trying to learn the same thing).

Dean gets a point for initiating the hunt to find whatever pulled him out; Sam gets one for being on a hunt before Dean and Bobby show up.

Initiator/Method: Dean/John's journal; Sam/tracking omens

Tally for 4.01: Dean 1; Sam 1

Tally, season to date: Dean 1; Sam 1

4.02 Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester

Comments: At Bobby's bidding, the boys investigate a hunter who has gone off the radar - an oddity, according to Bobby. They discover that she has been brutally murdered in her own home. Further investigation reveals that other hunters in the area have been killed in the same way.

Aside: This is an interesting hunt, because while Bobby definitely initiates it, it is Castiel who reveals what the MotW is (Lilith, with the raising of the witnesses). Whether this will become a regular occurrence is yet to be seen.

Initiator/method: Bobby/phone call

Tally for 4.02: Bobby 1

Tally, season to date: Dean 1; Sam 1; Bobby 1

4.03 In The Beginning

Comments: Castiel sends Dean back in time (and space) to Lawrence, Kansas, 1973. There, Dean learns that his dad was a Trekkie, his mom was a hunter, and he was named after his grandmother. Castiel tells him to "stop it," though he is not very clear about what "it" might be. Dean introduces himself to young John Winchester and the Campbells as "Dean Van Halen," and tells the Campbells that he is also a hunter. Samuel Campbell doesn't trust other hunters and refuses to let Dean help him investigate a haunted farm, taking Mary instead. Dean beats them to the farm and soon realizes it's not a haunting - it's the Yellow-Eyed Demon who is making deals left and right, planning to collect in ten years.

When Castiel returns Dean to the present, he shows him where Sam is, with Ruby, depossessing a demon. Once again, the angel bids him to "stop it."

Initiator/Method: Grandpa Samuel/research; Dean/his own knowledge (gleaned from John's journal)

Tally for 4.03: Dean 1; Grandpa Samuel 1

Tally, season to date: Dean 2; Sam 1; Bobby 1; Grandpa Samuel 1

4.04 Metamorphosis

Comments: Dean and Sam's altercation regarding Sam's use of his powers is interrupted by a phone call from a hunter named Travis. Travis has information about a hunt and wants the boys to investigate it. They aquiesce and head to Carthage, Missouri, to check out this supposed rugaru.

This hunt is reminiscent of the early Season One hunts, where John sent the boys messages about hunts he wanted them to investigate.

Initiator/Method: Travis/phone call

Tally for 4.04: Travis 1

Tally, season to date: Dean 2; Sam 1; Bobby 1; Samuel 1; Travis 1

4.05 Monster Movie

Comments: The boys investigate a "black and white" case involving movie monsters, a kickass lady, and Oktoberfest. This hunt unequivocably belongs to Dean, from the cheesy silver screen format to the Big Lebowski reference to getting the girl at the very end. It's too bad there's no awards for the damsel saving herself, because Jamie certainly deserves one.

Initiator/Method: Dean/newspaper research (presumably)

Tally for 4.05: Dean 1

Tally for season: Dean 3; Sam 1; Bobby 1; Samuel 1; Travis 1