Pie

Dean savors some pie in 5.15 Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.

Pie entered the Supernatural idiom in 1.11 Scarecrow, where the townsfolk of Burkitsville, Indiana annually sacrifice young couples to a pagan god who resides in a sacred apple tree. The couple are fed pie before their sacrifice. As Dean is held captive and prepared for sacrifice, Dean exclaims: "I hope your apple pie is freakin’ worth it!"

After 1.11 Scarecrow it became widespread fanon that Dean loves pie - long before he fatefully asked Sam to get him some at the beginning of 2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part One:

Dean: Hey, see if they've got any pie. Bring me some pie. I love me some pie.

Where's the pie?

The running gag relating to Dean's pie love, is that Dean rarely gets to eat his pie.

• 1.11 Scarecrow: In Burkitsville Indiana Scotty's Cafe serves apple pie made from the towns apple crop. "We’re famous for our apples. So, you gotta try this pie." he tells a couple who the townsfolk will later try to kill. Dean orders a piece of the pie. Later when Dean is tied up as a sacrifice, he yells the now classic line ""I hope your apple pie is freakin’ worth it!"

• 2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part One: Dean asks Sam to get him some pie from a diner while he waits in the car. Once inside, Sam is taken by demons and transported to Cold Oak, with the other Special Children.

• 3.05 Bedtime Stories: When a young couple, Ken and Julie, are lost in the woods, they come across a sweet old lady who invites them inside her house to rest. Ken sees pie cooling on her windowsill and accepts her invitation despite Julie's reservations. Once they've eaten a fair amount of the pie, it is revealed the pie was poisoned, and the old lady kills Ken with a butcher's knife while he lies on the floor unable to fight her off.

• 3.16 No Rest for the Wicked: When Lilith kills her host's grandfather, he literally falls face first onto a piece of pie.

• 4.01 Lazarus Rising: When Sam and Dean are in a diner following Dean's resurrection, Dean orders pie. Unfortunately, the pie is brought to them by a possessed waitress, and Dean is unable to enjoy it. After their confrontation with the demons in the diner, Dean leaves money to pay for the pie.

• 4.02 Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester: When faced with a pile of research on angels, Dean demands of Sam, "You're gonna get me some pie!" When Sam returns sans pie (due to encountering Ruby), Dean complains, "Dude, Where's the pie?"

• 5.15 Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid: Karen Singer finds baking makes life as a zombie easier, and fills Bobby's house with pies. On one of the few occasions Dean gets to eat pie, it's baked by a zombie.

• 5.16 Dark Side of the Moon: In Heaven, Dean and Sam relive a memory from when Dean was four years old. Mary makes him a sandwich with a glass of milk and then has a brief argument on the phone with John. Dean goes to comfort her, and Mary hugs him and says "You are my little angel. How ‘bout some pie?" This may be a clue to the origin of Dean's love of pie, and his associations between pie and comfort.

• 5.19 Hammer of the Gods: Mercury tells Dean after checking in that the hotel has "the best pie in the tri-state area." Sam also warns Dean that they should leave the motel while eating at the buffet:

Sam: We should hit the road, Dean.

Dean: In this storm? What, it’s, it’s–

Sam: It’s Biblical, exactly. It’s friggin’ Noah’s ark out there and we’re eating pie.

• 6.04 Weekend at Bobby's: Bobby's neighbor Marcy Ward brings him a ginger peach cobbler. Marcy, after some exposure to Bobby hunting, decides against dating Bobby, who never gets to eat the pie because he keeps getting interrupted.

• 7.02 Hello, Cruel World: A TV ad for Biggerson's announces they now have a homemade pie bar - like a salad bar but for pies!

• 7.03 The Girl Next Door: While laid up with his broken leg, Dean asks Sam to go on a food run. When Dean asks, "Where's the pie?" Sam says, "You got cake, that's close enough, right?" Dean does eat from the piece of cake and passes out on the couch, leaving it unfinished.

• 7.05 Shut Up, Dr. Phil: Dean is in the motel room, about to eat a cream pie, when Sam comes in and presents him with some chickens feet that they require to combat the witches. They have not been refrigerated due to a power blackout, and Dean is put off his pie.

• 7.22 There Will Be Blood: Dean is devastated to learn that the modified corn syrup the Leviathan are using to make humans docile and obese is in nearly all his favorite foods, including pie.

Dean: "Roman acquires..." What's SucroCorp?

Sam: They make food additives, namely high-fructose corn syrup. That crap is in – well, it's in just about everything – um, soda, sauces, bread.

Dean: Don't say "pie."

Sam: Definitely pie.

Dean: Bastards.

• 8.09 Citizen Fang: At the Gumbo Shack, Dean asks Elizabeth for some pie, but she is out of what he wants. "You’re out of pecan? Story of my life," says Dean. Martin Creaser is later seen at the Gumbo Shack eating a piece of pie, before he takes Elizabeth hostage.

• 8.19 Taxi Driver: Dean brings takeout from Biggerson's for himself and Kevin Tran, including a slice of pie. The paranoid Kevin grabs a tray and retreats to the storeroom. Dean moans "That's my pie!"

• 8.20 Pac-Man Fever: Charlie Bradbury comments: "I will pick us up some grub, and unlike you Sam, I will not forget the pie" referring to Sam's long history of failing to get Dean his pie as requested, a fact she obviously read in the the Supernatural books. Notably, Charlie also fails to get Dean any pie.

• 8.22 Clip Show: At the Convenience store, Castiel buys things he knows Dean likes: beef jerky, beer, a copy of Busty Asian Beauties, toilet paper. He tries to buy pie, even going as far as threatening the convenience store clerk, but of course to no avail, continuing the running gag in which Dean never gets his pie.

• 9.03 I'm No Angel: Dean buys pie that Sam complains about. It does not appear that Dean gets a chance to eat the pie.

Sam: Look at these chemicals. Do you even read the label?

Dean: No. I read "pie." The rest is just "blah, blah, blah."

• 9.12 Sharp Teeth: Dean is given pie (baked by Sister Joyce and reputedly famous through the "Badger State") with lunch by a pack of werewolves. Although we don't see him eat it, Sam later says "They gave you lunch; they gave you pie".

• 10.03 Soul Survivor: In between giving demon Dean purified blood injections, Sam goes to Dean's bedroom where he spots a half eaten piece of pie.

• 10.22 The Prisoner: When Crowley goes to a diner looking to make a deal with the cook, he is seen eating a slice of pie.

• 11.08 Just My Imagination: The number of the house Sparkle was murdered in was 314. Pi.

• 12.02 Mamma Mia: Dean finally gets some pie, when Mary brings him a blueberry pie after they have had dinner.

• 12.05 The One You've Been Waiting For: Sam brings a pie home from the store for Dean, but Dean is too distracted to eat it, opting instead to get a pie later after having killed Hitler.

• 13.08 The Scorpion and the Frog: When the Winchesters arrive at Smile Diner to meet with the Crossroads Demon Barthamus, Barthamus offers Dean a slice of cherry pie. After Barthamus leaves, Dean begins eating the pie, earning him a look from Sam.

Pie as metaphor

In the 1.01 Pilot when Dean confronts Sam about running away from the way they were raised, he accuses Sam of wanting an "apple-pie life." As opposed to the hunting life, an apple-pie life seems to be the ideal, normal American existence. The phrase "apple-pie life" and even just "apple pie" itself is used in later episodes to refer to normality.

• 4.22 Lucifer Rising: when it seems like Dean has given up on Sam, Bobby gives him a talking to.

Bobby: Are you under the impression that family's supposed to make you feel good?! Bake you an apple pie, maybe? They're supposed to make you miserable! That's why they're family!

• 5.12 Swap Meat: when Sam is returned to his own body, he confides in Dean that life as a normal kid "sucked ass."

Sam: All that apple-pie, family crap? It's stressful. Trust me, we didn't miss a damn thing.

• 5.22 Swan Song: when Sam is preparing to say yes to Lucifer, he makes Dean promise that he won't try to get him back from Lucifer's Cage. He wants Dean to find Lisa and try to live a "normal, apple-pie life."

• 6.08 All Dogs Go to Heaven: Dean is sick of soulless Sam trying to act normal, and he tells him that he doesn't buy his act:

Dean: You say you're "just folks," yeah? That - that you like baseball and apple pie, or whatever. But truth is, I don't know what you are, 'cause you're not Sam.

• 6.11 Appointment in Samarra: Death tells Dean "What do you think the soul is? Some pie you can slice? The soul can be bludgeoned, tortured, but never broken, not even by me."

Pie and Sex

"Eating pie" is a euphemism for cunnilingus, so it's probably appropriate that Dean loves pie. A lot. (see below for possible cake predilection).

Cake & Pie and Dean's Sexuality

The appearance of Dean eating cake in season 10, has been taken as an indicator of his embracing his subtextual sexuality. This is based on popular meme used to explain bisexuality based on dessert preferences and is used in fandom in relation to Dean’s (fanon) bisexuality.

• Fan art meta on cake/pie and Dean's sexuality by consulting-cannibal December 2013.
• An example of fannish cake/pie meta by oh-so-pleasant from March 2014.

On the fanfic archive AO3, the tag Cake & Pie as Metaphors for Dean's Bisexuality has been made a synonym of the tag Bisexual Dean. Works and bookmarks tagged with Cake & Pie as Metaphors for Dean's Bisexuality show up in Bisexual Dean's filter.

Though it has to be said, much like how pie is slang for a woman's vagina, cake is considered slang for a woman's nice round and large "booty."

Sweet Cherry Pie

The song "Cherry Pie" by Warrant is referenced more than once:

• 4.14 Sex and Violence: Dean's idea of a siren song:

Sam: It's more of a beautiful creature that preys on men. Entices them with their siren song.

Dean: Let me guess. "Welcome To the Jungle." No, no... Warrant's "Cherry Pie."

• 5.13 The Song Remains the Same: The song plays during Dean's dream. Two strippers, one dressed as an angel and one dressed as a demon, give him a private dance to the lyrics:

She's my cherry pie

Cool drink of water

Such a sweet surprise

Tastes so good

Make a grown man cry

Sweet cherry pie, oh yeah

She's my cherry pie

Put a smile on your face

Ten miles wide

Looks so good

Bring a tear to your eye

Sweet cherry pie

• 10.02 Reichenbach: The song is playing while Dean is attempting to enjoy himself at a strip club. When the stripper doesn't take to kindly to his attitude, the bouncer attempts to intervene and is promptly beaten by Dean.

Pie as Harbinger Speculation

It's okay; Sam just Fell on pie.

Throughout the course of the series, the appearance of or reference to pies appears to foreshadow some threat or danger. This is similar to the use of oranges in The Godfather movies. In almost every episode where pie is shown or referenced, a character or several characters die. Of course this could be said of nearly every Supernatural episode!

• 1.11 Scarecrow - The travelers and the townspeople.
• 2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part One - The other special children and Sam.
• 3.05 Bedtime Stories - The two brothers (Emmett and Jack) the young hiker (Ken), the old lady, the girl in the coma (Callie), and the crossroads demon.
• 3.16 No Rest for the Wicked - The grandfather of the little girl possessed by Lilith, and Dean.
• 4.01 Lazarus Rising - The pie is brought out by a demon, and two of the demons in the diner die after exposure to Castiel.
• 4.02 Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester - The hunters.
• 5.15 Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid - Multiple deaths of humans and zombies.
• 5.19 Hammer of the Gods - The hotel guests, the pagan gods, and Gabriel.
• 6.04 Weekend at Bobby's - Marcy Ward is menaced by an okami, and Bobby feeds it through a wood chipper.
• 7.02 Hello, Cruel World - Castiel, boys' swim team, Dr. Gaines, Madeline Hackett (Sheriff Mills' roommate), several hospital staff.
• 8.09 Citizen Fang - Martin Creaser
• 12.04 American Nightmare - Abraham Peterson and Elijah Peterson
• 13.08 The Scorpion and the Frog - Grab, Luther Shrike and Barthamus. Barthamus is the one that provided Dean with the pie which he actually manages to eat.

The relationship of 4.01 Lazarus Rising and 5.15 Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid to the theory is somewhat unusual. In the former, while the demons are a threat, and are dispatched, the pie might also reference the greater and more serious 'threat' revealed in the episode: angels. In the latter, most of the people destroyed in the episode are already zombies. However, it can be debated either way: the zombies in the town, including Bobby's wife who was making the pies, are already dead and had to be killed again. And at least three humans did die in the course of the episode. It is also possible that the large number of pies foreshadow the appearance of Death, the Horseman of the Apocalypse. It is revealed at the end of the episode that Death raised the zombies. Later, in 5.21 Two Minutes to Midnight, it is discovered that Death likes Chicago pizza, which is sometimes referred to as 'pie'.

It could be argued that there is always some danger around the Winchesters, and the pie theory is not infallible - plenty of characters have died in Supernatural - some several times (i.e. Dean in 3.11 Mystery Spot) - without any reference to or appearance of pie.

In 13.08 The Scorpion and the Frog, the Crossroads Demon Barthamus provides Dean with a slice of pie that he actually gets to eat. Barthamus is one of the characters killed in the episode.

Cake - The Other Baked Good

There have been occasions when Dean has been tempted by cake:

• 3.02 The Kids Are Alright: Dean is seen eating birthday cake with a young Ben Braeden at his birthday party.
• 7.03 The Girl Next Door: While laid up with his broken leg, Dean asks Sam to go on a food run. When Dean asks, "Where's the pie?" Sam says, "You got cake, that's close enough, right?" Dean does eat from the piece of cake and passes out on the couch, leaving it unfinished.
• 7.06 Slash Fiction: Dean ask Sam to buy him something that "rhymes with songs songs" i.e. Ding Dongs which a small chocolate cake with a creamy center.
• 10.12 About a Boy: A 14-year-old Dean snacks hungrily on a slice of cake while he is held captive, but then claims he doesn't care much for it on account of it being "too dry" and Tina pointing out that it was probably poisoned beforehand.
• 10.15 The Things They Carried: In a police station, there is a birthday cake on the desk. The police officer offers cake to Sam and Dean, but Sam declines on their behalf. Dean looks disappointed, and sneaks a fingerful of icing.

See also

• Food
• Fell on pie