Bad Day at Black Rock
Original Air Date 10/18/2007

Sam and Dean come into possession of a rabbit's foot that belonged to their dad, but it's not necessarily good luck, because if it's lost, death follows within a week.

Notes

Writer

Ben Edlund

Director

Robert Singer

Guest Stars:

Lauren Cohan
Jim Beaver
Sterling K. Brown
Jon Van Ness
Michael Massee (Kubrick)

Other Guests:

Hrothgar Matthews (Grossman)
Christian Tessier (Wayne)
Stephen Dimopoulos
Forbes Angus
John F. Parker

Filming Locations:

Crescent Beach
Denny's on Marine
Powell & Raymur

Completely Useless Trivia:

Dean and Sam have now both been shot in the left shoulder

Review

It's true I was a little disappointed with the season 3 premiere, but so far the season has been like a staircase - every episode sets the bar a little higher than the last. This week is no exception. Intended as a comic relief episode it certainly did the trick, although in my opinion it's little early in the season for it. Funnier than Hell House. As good as Hollywood Babylon. Wackier than Tall Tales, and that's quite a feat! I laughed the whole way through, and much of the reason for that is because of Jared's brilliant acting. It's no secret that I find Sam to be a bit. frilly? Dainty? Perhaps "overly happy" would be more apt. This episode allowed him to play the hapless damsel to the full extent of his ability, and I'd say he did a masterful job! I'm thrilled to see that they are able to poke fun at themselves once in awhile.

"I'm Batman". Who knew two little words could contain so much glee?

The episode opens with the introduction of a new hunter, Kubrick, as he visits Gordon in prison. Kubrick brings Gordon up to date on the situation with the Devil's Gate, and Gordon presses him to find and kill Sam Winchester. I am very pleased to see Gordon's acclimation to prison life. The dead look in his eyes indicates that he is falling back on his hunting skills to endure the situation, and he appears to be losing any shreds of humanity that may have remained. I predict he will emerge a hardened and soulless man who shows no mercy and who will have a single mission in life; kill Sam Winchester.

We pick up pretty much where we left off with Sam and Dean. Ever the big brother, Dean lectures about the dangers of trusting a demon. His position is that Sam should have killed or exorcised Ruby rather than continue the discussion. Sam defends himself saying that rather than trust her, he plans to use her. Particularly since she may be able to help get Dean out of the deal he made. She has intel that they need, and Sam intends to find out as much as he can before getting rid of her. The fight is interrupted by a ringing cell phone, which turns out to be their dad's cell in the cubby. Sam answers and finds that "Edgar Casey" has a storage unit that was just broken into.

Inside the storage locker they find a plethora of their childhood memorabilia, land mines and other weapons, plus several shelves holding curse boxes. According to Sam, a curse box is emblazoned with powerful binding symbols to keep a magic item contained within. Problem is, one box is missing.

Wonderful cut here, from where Dean says "maybe they didn't open it." directly to Grossman saying "Come on man, let's open it!" It's a not-so-subtle reminder of the inherent stupidity of criminals.

Back in their apartment, the two thieves argue about the curse box. Should they turn it over to "her" or open it and sell the contents themselves? Grossman finally decides to go ahead and open it, but all he finds inside is an old matted rabbit's foot. Wayne, who got a shoulder full of buckshot when he tripped a booby-trap at the storage unit, picks up the foot for closer inspection. The eerie whoosh on the soundtrack lets us know that he managed to activate the magic associated with the object and things are about to radically change. Sure enough, within seconds there is a knock on the door and a neighbor complains about the noise they're making. As luck would have it, the neighbor was a medic when he served in Vietnam and can patch up Wayne's shoulder with no questions asked.

As the two thieves amuse themselves playing poker, with Wayne winning hand after hand after hand, Dean and Sam pull up outside after finding a security camera that captured an image of the car the thieves were driving. The hunters enter quietly, sneaking up behind the pair and catching them completely unawares. Problem is, Wayne is too lucky to be taken easily. In a moment of distraction when Dean looks over to the rabbit's foot on the table, Wayne shoves him away. Dean drops his gun, which fires on impact sending a ricochet bullet in Sam's direction knocking his gun from his hands as well. To make things worse, when Sam goes for his gun he is knocked backwards into Dean who falls roughly to the floor. Wayne gets Dean's gun and while aiming at Sam manages to knock Dean across the jaw and back to the floor. Sam, who is down and being strangled by Grossman, manages to grab the rabbit's foot which infuses him with the luck magic. Now it's a whole new ball game. He breaks the stranglehold and sends Grossman flying across the room. Wayne still has Dean's gun and now aims it directly at Sam's chest. He pulls the trigger but the gun jams. When Wayne tries to clear the chamber he steps backwards and trips over the broken table behind him, falling backwards and hitting his head on the floor. Out cold. Meanwhile Grossman has managed to get Sam's gun and intends to use it. Problem is he uses the bookshelves above him to pull himself to his feet. You guessed it; bad luck bug releases the shelves from their mounts and drops the assortment of hardcovers on his head. Also out cold. The gun goes flying - directly into Sam's hand. This whole scene was awesome, filled with a nice blend of action, humour and more humour, but I'd have to say what adds that extra something is the sound track! The organ music is priceless and really sets the tone for the episode.

Not one to believe in coincidence, particularly since his gun NEVER jams, Dean buys a stack of lotto scratch tickets to test Sam's luck. First one wins them $1200. Sure wish I had a rabbit's foot like that.

Wayne wakes up first and tries to rouse Grossman, kicking a beer bottle into the kitchen in the process. Still groggy, he saunters to the kitchen to splash his face with water. First he clears the sink of clutter, putting the few items into the drain board. Wouldn't you know it, one of those seemingly innocent items is a barbecue meat prong. I think we can all see where this is going. Sure enough the prong lands with the nice, long, sharp tines pointing outwards. Refreshed from the water, he turns again to Grossman, but one short step finds the beer bottle beneath his foot and he goes flying backwards. We might hope that the poor guy simply falls backwards and cracks his crown on the edge of the sink, but the sound of him choking on his own blood tells us what we expected all along. Grossman gets up to find his friend held upright by the meat fork which now protrudes from his mouth via the back of his skull. Gross, man!

Sam checks with Bobby, who has always known about their father's storage lockup and the rabbit's foot. Bobby informs him that although a side effect of the cursed foot is to bring good luck, it's intent is to kill. The luck only stays good as long as the foot is in the owner's possession. If it's lost, the luck turns severely bad and death soon follows. Sam, who somehow manages to find a gold Rolex while on the phone, is disturbed by this news but his brother is distracted by the $15,000 they've won on the scratchers. Stopping for a quick lunch break, the two go into the nearby Biggerson's Grill. Instead of a quick lunch, they find they're the one-millionth customer and have just won free food for a year at any Biggerson's Restaurant. Dean is in hog heaven.

After his conversation with Gordon, Kubrick has called every hunting contact he has putting out the word about Sam Winchester. A bit of a Jesus Freak, Kubrick lives in a large RV with statues, paintings and bumper stickers depicting Jesus in various styles. I have to say, the "He is always watching" statuette is very cool, it's concave face appears to change from full face to profile as it's turned, with the eyes always alert and watching. It's both cool and creepy at the same time. Creedy, the partner in this little endeavor, is hungry and wants some real food instead of the canned slop Kubrick has on hand. He recommends a nearby restaurant and offers to look up the online menu so Kubrick can have a look. He pulls up the Biggerson's web page and wouldn't you know it - one-millionth customer Sam Winchester's picture is up on the site. Ironically, it took the restaurant webmaster the same amount of time to load up the photo as it took Sam to lose the rabbit's foot. Well, not "lose" so much as "allow to be stolen by the smokin' hot waitress chick who is obviously evil since she pays too much attention to you when big brother DEAN WINCHESTER is sitting across the table"! You should know better Sammy. Here's a little refresher:

Rule #1 - Dean always gets the smokin' hot chick.

Rule #2 - if Dean is not around when you meet the smokin' hot chick, she will pretend to be interested in you only until Dean arrives.

Rule #3 - If Dean doesn't arrive fast enough for her, she will drop you like a cold stone and go to find Dean on her own.

Rule #4 - Dean ALWAYS gets the smokin' hot chick!

Comprende?
Ah, but she's good. We have a logical explanation for her interest in Sam in this particular instance. You see, Dean ate his ice cream too fast. His hand is up in the classic "brain freeze" pose and it's blocking his sculpted good looks and his enticing eyes from the view of the waitress. She must have known that as a woman she would be unable to resist the charms of the great Dean Winchester, and therefore she waited until the ultra-cold ice cream she served him took effect and forced him to temporarily block his face. This gave her just enough time to bat her eyelashes at Sammy, snag the rabbit's foot and get out before Dean could recover and turn the full power of his charisma in her direction. Wow. She's good. Really good.

So Sam, having lost the foot now has the worst luck imaginable. Spilling hot coffee in his lap he jumps up from his seat just in time to knock a large tray out of a waiter's hand. Realizing the hot waitress has stolen the foot and is getting away, the two boys race outside. Sam isn't as graceful as expected though, and just a few steps out the door he has already slipped and fallen. Hard. Still loving the organ music here that plays a nice southward slide then stops dead, mimicking Sam's fall perfectly. With only one place to turn, they go back to Grossman and demand the name of the woman who hired him to steal the foot. They find him mourning the loss of his friend and drinking buddy Wayne with a bottle of tequila and the solemn strains of "Vaya con Dios" playing softly in the background. Sam can't even walk a foot into the room without falling with a loud crash, but that might have something to do with the horseshoe mounted wrong-way-down over the door. Then again, Sam doesn't need any help with tripping. Dean takes it in stride, not even bothering to turn at the ruckus, a clear sign that this is not an unusual phenomenon. It's cool how Dean, on the hunt and deathly serious, has the trademark shadows falling across his face. While Grossman and Sam are both well lit, Dean has a subtly sinister feel that, along with his steely voice, demands he be taken seriously. It's one of the things I love about this character; he knows how to enjoy himself, but when it's time to go to work he's all business. Grossman senses it too and tells him that the woman gave him the name Lugosi. Dean calls Bobby, while deftly stepping over a heaping wad of still-moist gum, who puts Lugosi together with the name Bela, a well-known mercenary. (For those who may not know, Bela Lugosi was a pioneer of the early horror genre, playing Frankenstein's Ygor, as well as the original "Mummy".) Bela Talbot is a thief who specializes in procuring supernatural and enchanted items. Bobby promises to find her and get back to them with a location. Dean turns to find Sam looking forlorn. He has managed to step in the gum that Dean missed, and while trying to dislodge it on a grate he also managed to drop his left shoe down the storm drain. Yet another example of excellent acting from Jared. He has taken the usual feel of the character - that Sam isn't a natural born hunter like his brother and has to work much harder at it - and amplified it a hundred fold. We're left with a stumbling, bumbling brother whose somewhat limited hunting skills are now completely overshadowed by his two left feet. Dean knows what he's doing though, and he confines Sam to the nearest hotel room with specific instructions not to touch anything. Don't move from the chair, don't touch the light switch, don't even scratch your nose. Like saying "don't think of pink elephants", Sam now has an overwhelming urge to do just that, and within 20 seconds has already scratched the offending appendage.

Despite Bela's security measures, Dean easily enters her home and catches her by surprise. Not to be outdone by her earlier show of stealth, Dean also manages to snag the rabbit's foot off the counter right under her nose by maintaining solid eye contact that demands her full attention. By the time she realizes he has it in his possession, it's too late to do anything about it because his good luck trumps her loaded gun.

Back at the hotel, Sam is on his best behavior but his best still isn't good enough. The air conditioning unit must be on some sort of program mode, because it kicks in of it's own accord. The wheezing rattle lets Sam know that it's not working as it should, and soon smoke is drifting out of the unit. Reluctant to touch it, Sam stands at a safe distance trying to decide what to do. The decision is made for him when the unit sparks and flashes, and flames start licking at the drapes. Grabbing the comforter off the nearby bed, Sam tries to smother the determined flames. Just when he thinks it's over, a telltale golden glow lights up the right side of his face, and when he looks down he sees his jacket is on fire. He smothers that with the curtain but trips in the process, pulling the curtain down and knocking himself out. As luck would have it, Kubrick and Creedy happen to be walking by at that exact moment and are treated to a front-row seat of Sam's drama. Kubrick sends a quick prayer of thanks heavenward, and the two go in to claim their prize.

Kubrick tells Sam of how he began this quest at Gordon's request but now he realizes that he is actually on a mission from God. Ever since Sam's luck turned bad he has been waved before Kubrick's eyes like the red flag before a bull. Kubrick is convinced that this is God's way of telling him he's on the right track and that Sam's future is in his hands. He now believes that Sam holds the key to winning the fight against the demon horde and if he is tortured enough perhaps he'll share some tactical information. As threatens Sam with a gun pointed at his temple, Dean sneaks up behind them and announces his presence. Kubrick appears to be holding all the cards and tells Dean to put down the gun for his brother's sake. Dean doesn't seem to mind, putting his gun down on the nearby table and picking up a ball-point pen in exchange. As Kubrick, filled with confidence in his control of the situation, turns his gun to Dean, Dean nonchalantly tosses the pen which miraculously lodges itself in the barrel of the revolver. Creedy charges but Dean simply shrugs him off and he hits the wall with full force, knocking himself out. His next weapon of choice is the TV remote which he throws at Kubrick. A perfect hit straight to the temple and Kubrick is also down for the count. Dean is amazing. Dean is Batman.

Bobby has managed to find a spell to dispel the magic of the rabbit's foot, and Sam and Dean go to the cemetery to perform it. Bela, who has otherworldly contacts to tell her where the foot is at all times, has found them once again and intends to stop them. Dean is still confident in his good luck and uses the same speech that worked on Grossman, saying she won't shoot anyone. What Dean fails to realize is that his extreme good luck does not negate Sam's bad luck. While Bela is unable to hit Dean, she can't miss Sam. She proves this by putting a round into Sam's left shoulder. Fortunately for us all, Dean is a quick thinker. When she orders him to put down the foot, he tosses it in her direction causing her to automatically reach out to catch it. Now that she will also be affected by the bad luck curse if she tries to sell it, she's much more willing to see it destroyed. Dean and Sam can't feel too badly about her lost income since she has made their lives so difficult, and they're so happy to see her out of their lives that they don't even notice as she blatantly removes the winning lottery tickets out of Dean's jacket pocket. $46,000 down the drain.

As I said in the beginning, this is a really excellent episode. Beautifully acted on everyone's part, it was a relatively painless introduction to Bela and had the added bonus of showing us Kubrick and Creedy who will clearly be a problem in the future. I just hope they don't go the obvious route of evil catholic priest style stereotypes. I'm hoping they take the high road and allow Kubrick to miraculously turn up that one valuable piece of information that nobody else can get, and leave us wondering whether or not it actually came from God. That would be cool.

Jensen and Jared also did a brilliant job. Dean is still on his "live life to its fullest" kick, enjoying every moment of everything he does. I'm curious to know how long this false sense of freedom will last. When he falls, he's going to fall hard and I don't see how he will be able to function once the reality of his situation really sinks in. Sam is really starting to come into his own this season. Now that he's past the worries that the YED's plan instilled in him, he can put the idea of an evil destiny behind him and start to create his own future. First things first though, and his main priority is to break his brothers deal without losing his own life in the process. Will he succeed? Only time will tell.

I think what really made this episode sing (pardon the pun) is the soundtrack. The 70's retro organ music was a campy touch that really set things off, and it was consistent throughout the episode. This show really uses the soundtrack to its full extent, as it does with light and shadow. The same way it differentiates hunter Dean from vulnerable Dean by giving the hunter a dark and shadowy palette but exposing the vulnerable inner man to bright, almost glaring sunlight, it also keeps a musical set of themes running in the background that delicately suggest the mood. Like the jungle sounds of the YED, which always warn us of danger, the quiet strains of Dean's theme let us know the hunter we love is about to get into more trouble. It's not something I often comment on, but it's a touch that I quietly appreciate in every episode.

So here's to another job well done to all those involved in bringing this great show to life. I know it's only the third episode, but I'm sure this will be in my list of top favourites for the season. Beautifully balanced and well executed, not to mention hilarious, it's a fine example of all that is good in the Supernatural universe.

Bad Day at Black Rock Original Air Date 10/18/2007