Supernatural Rox
 

Dead Man's Blood
Original Air Date: 04/20/2006

To obtain a mystic gun capable of destroying the demon that killed their mother, Sam and Dean must team up with their father John and face off against vampires.

Notes

Writer

Cathryn Humphris
John Shiban

Director

Tony Wharmby

Guest Stars:

Brenda Campbell (Beth)
Warren Christie (Luther)
Terence Kelly
  (Daniel Elkins)
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
  (John Winchester)
Anne Openshaw (Kate)
Sean Tyson (Trucker)
Dominic Zambrogna (Bo)

Other Guests:

Filming Locations:

Completely Useless Trivia:

Synopsis

Episode opens with Daniel Elkins in a roadside pub writing in his journal. The waitress serves him, then explains to a nearby regular that "crazy old Mr. Elkins" lives alone in a cabin in the woods, and only comes out for meals and to write in his journal. Four tough looking people enter the pub, ask for Jack Daniel's, and seat themselves at a nearby table. When the waitress turns back to Mr. Elkins, he's gone and the back door is closing behind him. Cut to his cabin in the woods, he pulls in and hurries to the door. He gets inside and shoots the locks closed again. Relieved, he turns on a lamp and realizes he's not alone, Kate is standing in the room! She smiles and says "It's been awhile. Gotta say you look old" Elkins pulls a bowie knife and throws it at her chest, then runs upstairs. Kate pulls out the knife and calls "you can do better than that!" Elkins runs into the den, bolts the door and moves a heavy cabinet in front of it. Then he goes to the safe and fumbles with the combination lock. He gets the safe open, pulls out an antique case with a Colt revolver inside. He grabs the pistol and loads the ammo while Kate tries to break down the door. Then there is a crash and two more bikers come smashing through the skylight. They grab Elkins causing him to drop the gun just as Kate bursts through the door. Kate picks up the gun and examines it. "Nice gun. Wouldn't do much good, of course" then, "boys, we're eating in tonight." Terror flashes across Elkins' face. Camera exits cabin to sounds of slaughter echoing through the night…

We find our boys in a diner, looking in the paper and on the Internet for their next hunt. They don't have much luck finding anything until Sam mentions the name Elkins. Dean recalls that he's heard the name before, and finds a listing with a phone number in their father's journal. They opt to check it out, and drive to Manning, Colorado. Once inside Elkins' cabin, they examine the cluttered interior for clues. One room has clearly been the site of a struggle, and in it they find a journal remarkably similar to their father's. Dean notices scratches in the floor, and takes a rubbing. They determine that it's information for a postal drop, so they go and recover a letter that Elkins left with the initials JW on it. They are in the car discussing whether or not to read it, when John Winchester appears and climbs into the back seat. Relieved to see him, the boys hand over the letter and John reads it, finding out that Elkins has been in possession of the demon-killing Colt revolver for years. John's demeanor turns to urgency and he tells the boys they have to pick up the trail as soon as possible. Not understanding, the boys question him until he explains that it was vampires that killed Elkins, and that they now have the gun. He continues to explain that vampire lore is mostly incorrect, sunlight won't burn them, crosses don't repel them and a stake through the heart can't kill them. Beheading is the only way.

Meanwhile, we see the four young vampires at the roadside. One lies in the road to stop an oncoming car, and when the driver gets out, he finds himself looking into a mouth full of extremely sharp teeth! He and his passenger are taken captive by the vampire pack. John hears the call on his police radio and recognizes the signs of a vampire attack, so he and the boys drive out to the scene. While talking to the police he finds a vampire tooth, which he shows to a touchy Sam who has already started to question John's methods.

In the vampire's lair we are introduced to Luther, the leader of the pack and Kate's mate. She presents him with the two captives and shows him the loot she took from them and from Elkins. She explains that she caught Elkins' scent earlier and made him suffer for what he did to Luther's family. Luther is angry to hear this, explaining that they have to be careful as others like Elkins will recognize the signs and come after them. She apologizes for her bad judgment as Luther notices the gun. He holds it with reverence, recognizing it from long ago. She tells him that Elkins died with it in his hands, to which Luther replies that it's no ordinary gun.

Sam and Dean are following their father down a back road, on the trail of the vampires. Sam is angry at how John treats them like children, not willing to discuss his reasons or theories, just expecting them to jump to his every order. Dean tries to explain how in their line of work there isn't always time for discussion, that they have to be ready for anything at a moment's notice. When Sam asks if it bothers Dean that John waltzes in and takes over their investigation, Dean answers no, as long as it gets the job done. Angry that John has given yet another order, Sam guns the engine and pulls around their father's truck, skidding to a halt in front of it, blocking the road. They all get out and Sam and John start arguing. Sam wants more information regarding John's ideas about the vampires. John wants Sam to shut up and obey:
John "Get back in the car"
Sam "no"
"I said get back in the car"
"Yeah, and I said no."
Dean steps in and tries to stop them from arguing, and Sam turns back to the car, muttering "this is why I left." John hears, and begins a tirade of his own.
"That's right. You left. Your brother and I needed you, and you left"
"Yeah, well you're the one who said don't come back. You're the one who closed the door!" Both are shouting, John has Sam by the front of his shirt, anger flashing in his eyes. Dean steps between them, breaking John's hold and shouting "that's enough! Both of you, stop it!" Sam turns back to the car, and John looks as though he might follow. Dean, standing firmly in his path says in an iron hard voice "that means you."

Back at the vampire's lair, Luther and Kate are sharing a moment of passion. Ginny, still tied up, has no choice but to watch. Noticing her discomfort and fear, Kate and Luther decide it's time to welcome Ginny home. They cut Kate's arm and she sucks up some of her own blood. She then injects it into the terrified girl's mouth, thereby making her a vampire.

Having shelved their anger for the time being, Sam, Dean and John look on as Bo returns to the lair. (Please pause for a moment here to note Luther's kick-ass Corvette! The greatest car of all time, the '66 Corvette Stingray Sport Coupe makes the Impala look like grandpa's station wagon. Lookin' cherry with it's robins-egg-blue paint job and the teardop rear window shining in the sunlight, the '66 'vette is where it's at. Ahh, but I digress…) John explains that they will all be asleep, but watch out because they might wake up. He also takes a moment to reveal the story behind the gun. It was made for a hunter back in 1863, and it can kill anything, including the supernatural. The threesome then enter the lair, careful to be quiet in the old building. Dean, in an uncharacteristic moment of clumsiness, kicks over a beer bottle and in his surprise bumps into the bottom of Bo's hammock, nearly waking him. He reassures himself that Bo will not wake up, then continues on to find a locked room with several captives bound and gagged inside. He attempts to pop the hinges from the door as Sam finds Ginny and begins to untie her. John, meanwhile, has found the gun draped over Luther and Kate's bed and is carefully trying to make his way over to it. Ginny awakens as Sam is working on her bonds, and lets out an otherworldly scream, waking all the vampires at once. Our three heroes race out the door and through the woods, giving us a moment of tension when John does not immediately follow. He catches up and explains that the vampires will wait until dark to come after them, and that once they've caught a person's scent, it's for life. When Dean asks what to do next, John sends him to the nearest funeral home.

Sam and John wait anxiously in the hotel for Dean's return. Sam is worried that it's taking too long, that something has happened. John takes the opportunity to open a dialogue with his son. He tells Sam how he started a college fund the day Sam was born, and continues on to explain that this is not the life he wanted for his children. When Sam left for college, all John could think was that he would be alone and vulnerable. He had simply wanted to prepare the boys for life in an evil world, and that somewhere along the line he had forgotten what it means to be a father. He then makes a comment that he and Sam have nothing in common, to which Sam laughs and explains that because they both shared a tragic experience, John with Mary and Sam with Jessica, that they probably have more in common than most people. They then share a companionable moment of understanding that is cut short by Dean's return from the funeral home. He has brought a bottle of dead man's blood taken from the corpses he found there.

Night falls, and Dean is under the hood of his car checking wires. "Car trouble?" Kate asks, appearing behind him with another vampire. She offers him a ride, to which he responds "No thanks, I draw the line at necrophilia". She backhands him across the face, then picks him up by the cheeks, saying "I always like to make new friends". She gives him a long, uncomfortable looking kiss, and is still holding him when we hear the sound of arrows whizzing through the air. An arrow tip protrudes through her chest, and Sam and John come out of the trees to survey their work. She mocks them, saying "it barely even stings", but the other vamp keels over and John explains that they're soaked in dead man's blood, which is like poison to vampires. Kate also keels over, and the boys take her away while John dispatches the second vamp.

The three are in the woods, Kate tied to a tree, fire burning with herbs to mask their scent until they're ready. John tells the boys to do their job and then clear out, to which the boys respond that they're not leaving without him. Sam, sensing the underlying currents ask if he will be meeting up with them after he gets the gun, to which John remains silent. Taking this as a no, Sam insists that they shouldn't be treated like children. John says that they are his children and he's just trying to keep them safe. Dean points out that if safety was his primary concern, he wouldn't be sending them on hunting trips. John explains that the demon is different and he doesn't want his boys to get hurt. Dean jumps in saying "what if you get hurt, and we could have done something about it?" John has no answer for this, so he restates his order for them to clear out as soon as they're done cleaning out the nest.

Up on the highway, Luther has just heard the news that Kate is missing, when he hears John's truck and senses her proximity. They stop the truck and demand Kate's return. John pulls her out of the truck by the rope she's tied with, and demands the gun or he'll kill her. Luther agrees, and places the gun on the ground. John picks it up, but Kate has by now regained her strength and she breaks free of John's grasp at which point Luther lunges, flinging John into the truck headlights, knocking him out. Just as we're sure all is lost, we hear the sound of arrows striking home, and two of the vampires fall to their knees. Dean grabs John's fallen machete and turns to Luther, who has grabbed Sam and is holding him in a choke hold. "Drop it or I'll break his neck". Dean pauses for a moment, but realizes he's out of options so he drops the machete. Luther, still holding Sam, makes the statement that vampires have as much right to live as everyone else, to which a now recovered John replies "I don't think so." And fires the Colt, hitting Luther squarely between the eyes. Luther falls slowly to the ground in a truly inspired feat of special effects, and Kate, realizing that her mate is gone, grabs Ginny and drives away.

The boys are back at the hotel room packing up, when John enters. "so boys" he says, "you disobeyed a direct order back there." Sam immediately answers "yes, sir" but Dean responds with "we saved your ass." John realizes this is the case, and agrees to fight the demon together as a family, and we end this very dramatic episode with shots of our two heroes looking both satisfied and grateful.

Review

This episode was clearly leaning towards the showdown between John and the demon. It is much darker than we're used to, with very few of Dean's now familiar flippant remarks and a solid wall of tension between Sam and John. I was relieved to see Sam's irritability with his father's attitude, as I had half expected them to have a happy and stress-free reunion even though they had barely spoken in the past few years. I'm glad the writers emphasized the underlying tensions that caused Sam to leave in the first place. The reconciliation scene was particularly well done. Neither party actually admitted they were wrong and neither had to apologize, they just took a moment to look at things from the other's point of view and that was enough for now. Sam got to show us his girlie little lips that I always think make him look like a 12-year-old. I've only seen him purse them like that once before, I'm happy to say. They make me want to pinch his cheek like an old auntie would… On the flip side, I felt that Dean was a little left out of the loop. John sent him out for the blood and when he came back with it, John again sent him off to treat the arrows without even so much as a 'well done'. It was reminiscent of the prodigal son story, with a reconciliation of the younger son but the older brother saying 'what up wi' dat? Why don't I get to chow down on the goat you been saving?' Well, you know what I mean.

I have to say, I complained bitterly about Dean's over-the-top attitude in Provenance last week, but I really missed it this week. How about a happy medium next time? I'm glad that Dean stood up to his father in this episode. I think that if he hadn't explained his childhood experience to Sam in Something Wicked, he wouldn't have been able to stand up to John now. Telling the tale and getting it out in the open was like lancing a boil; it's finally able to heal and Dean is able to move past it.

The vampire explanation was an interesting twist. How everything we see on TV is a crock; a stake through the heart doesn't kill them, they won't burn up in the sun, etc. It was a nice way to tell us that this isn't an ordinary show, that they have the real skinny on supernatural beings and we should just trust that they're always right. I think it took a lot of courage to say that everything people learned from Buffy is a load of BS. The only thing I didn't really like were the fangs. There were just too many teeth!

The scene between Kate and Dean was a lot of fun. I particularly liked her line "I always like to make new friends", emphasis on 'make'… Dean is so good at staring into the face of danger and choosing to moon it or flip it the bird. (Metaphorically speaking, of course!) Like when he snuck up behind Bo and said "boo!" before slicing off his head. I could have done without Kate's lip pinching, though. It looked like a very unpleasant kiss. Of course, I guess that was the point!

It freaked me out how much Dean looked like David Hasselhoff in his Baywatch days, when he saw Luther had Sam by the throat. He stopped in the crouch, machete in one hand, the other held out in front, serious look on his face, cleft in his chin, all I could think of was DH whenever he was up against a bad guy. Creepy.

Okay, one final thought for this episode. The CG effects when Luther was shot with the Colt were superb! I loved every second of it! The flash of his skull behind his face, foreshadowing his mortality. The headlights behind him bathing him in an unwordly aura which allowed us to see the puff of his dark soul departing from his body. The way the tiny bullet hole darkened into a deep pit of atrophied flesh, reminding us that his body is centuries old. The look of sheer incredulity on his face as he stared at the inconceivable; death, and found that it's name was John Winchester. I loved it all! Big round of applause to the CGFX guys. (We're not worthy! We're not worthy!)
 
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