Supernatural 9.07 -Bad Boys
Posted by
Vanessa Chaffee
site-winchesterbros.com
Before we get into this recap let's
talk about the "Previously". The only
thing it was missing was a clip from
After School Special, because what is
a flashback without a flash of Brock
Kelly? Aside from that, this
"Previously" was basically might as
well have been called "That's it,
that's the show".
And now the "Now".
Upstate New York. Adolescent boys
running around at night, tripping over
their own feet while trying to escape
from... another boy who is way
smaller than them. They aren't
scared; they're just playing that
version of Hide-and-Seek that's
really Hide-because-we-don't-
actually-like-you-and-Seek. The boy
they're hiding from, Timmy, is
searching the barn for them when a
grown up actually appears. The adult,
Jack, yells out that the boys need to
pack it in and get indoors, they better
beat their feet or he's gonna beat
their butts. His threat dies on his lips
as the air turns frigid and the
dormant tractor parked nearby turns
on. He screams as it bears down on
him, driven by no one. He stops
screaming when it picks right
through him like a bail of hay.
In the bunker, Sam is having one of
those rare moments to himself and
does what any 30 year-old, red-
blooded male does when faced with
this place all to himself: he picks a
worn copy of The Marvelous Land of
Oz by L. Frank Baum off the
bookshelf and sits down for a page
through. His story time is interrupted
by the buzzing of a phone.
Remember when Dean's phone
played Smoke on the Water instead
of just vibra-buzzing? Song ringtones
should become a thing again.
Sam is pretty sure the person on the
other end of the call has the wrong
number, because no one named "D-
Dawg" lives there. Except that he
actually does. Dean Winchester
comes bounding through the room to
take over the phone call. After he
hangs up, Sam naturally wants to
know what that was all about. Dean
refreshes Sam's memory about the
time they were 11 going on 12 and
16 years old and spent two months
apart; Sam at Bobby's and Dean
apparently lost on a hunt while John
went off on a Rugaru hunt, but what
really happened was Dean in all his
teenage invincibility and arrogance
lost the money John left them for
food in a poker game.
He's gotten way better since then.
He shoplifted some sandwich fixings
because job #1 is make sure you
follow the care and feeding of Samuel
Winchester rule book. Unfortunately,
teenchester Dean was not as slick as
he is now, got pinched and ended up
at a halfway house for delinquent
boys. Now Sonny, the guy that ran
the farm, needs Dean's help. Which
means that Dean has kept in touch
with this dude, behind Sam's back all
this time. Sam wants to know why no
one told him before now, Dean says
that it was their dad's idea to lie and
eventually the lie became the truth.
Okay, now hold on. Let's set aside
the fact that up until a few years ago
the boys had never heard of a Rugaru
and now suddenly John was hunting
one almost 20 years ago and
neglected to jot in all down in the
journal his sons have studied front to
back, lather-rinse-repeat since
season 1? Whatever, I'll let that slide.
What I can't wrap my head around is
that we're supposed to believe that
Dean was MISSING ON A HUNT at 16
and super smart Sam Winchester,
who already had a gun to protect
himself from the thing in the closet,
just accepted that? Never mind that
Sam and Bobby never once acted like
they lived together for two months in
the spring of '95. Somehow, Sam
spent 8 weeks cooped up with Bobby
and Bobby's fantastic collection of
books, but what? Forgot? Blocked it
out? And don't even get me started
on Dean using his real first and last
name and John allowing it.
Anyway, the swing up to the
Kaaterskill Falls region to see what's
going on. Sam is confused, their dad
could track anything yet he couldn't
find his son at a farm down the road
from Allegra Goodman, but Dean
corrects him real quick: John knew
where he was and left him there to
learn his lesson. Sam is about to
rage against the machine, but Dean
stops him; he lost the money, it was
his lesson to learn, his peg or two to
drop down from.
As they discuss this outside the
farmhouse Timmy, the be-speckled
odd-duck, creepily watches them
from an upstairs window. Because
that's what children do in the horror
genre.
The woman that answers the door
when they knock, Ruth, isn't really
sure what to make of them. Dean
says they're friends of Sonny's,
which for her translates to prison
thugs. She lets them in reluctantly,
but not before making them take
their shoes off at the door. No way
she's letting a couple of ex-cons
muddy up her floors. Sam is
unimpressed with the newly acquired
inference that Sonny's done a tour or
two behind bars. Dean pulls him
back, considering they were
previously wanted by the FBI (twice),
have run credit card scams for years,
murdered people and played their
respective parts in the apocalypse
they hardly have a sock-footed leg to
stand on.
Upon entering the living room, Dean
spies an old, ratty couch and stares
off into the distance in its general
direction. Flashback to teenage Dean,
cuffed and sulking on the same
couch. The deputy that dragged him
there says his dad won't come for
him, they can't keep him in county
because he's a minor, but the judge
is on a fishing trip and hasn't been
home for a few days, figures Sonny's
Boy Depot would be a good parking
place for the kid. I'm sure the
pulsing black eye he has might also
have something to do with him not
wanting to babysit his snarky charge.
He does get the last word, so to
speak, because he leaves Dean
handcuffed and walks away with the
key. No worries, Sonny can pick a
lock before you can say Sam
Winchester is the best lock picker in
the lower 48.
While he frees Dean from is shackles
he spies a trail of bruises running up
and down Dean's forearms and
wrists; concerned he asks if the
officer did it, Dean scoffs. He asks if
his father did it and Dean puts that
assumption directly to bed. In an
unusual flash of honesty Dean tells
Sonny a werewolf did it. Sonny
doesn't press the subject. Dean
wants to know what kind of a place
this is, Sonny tells him it's for boys
like him to learn the value of hard
work and responsibility. Huh. These
are hardly new concepts to Dean
take-your-brother-outside-fast-as-
you-can Winchester.
The flashback fades out to adult
Dean with a fond half-smile
threatening to emerge. Sonny comes
in, a little more weathered and
leathered, but still the same dude.
He's wearing plaid, so he's gotta be
good people. He gives Dean a run
down of Jack's death and tells them
that weird stuff has been happening
around the farm: flickering lights,
slamming doors, all the classic haunt
markers. The brothers split up, Sam
upstairs, Dean to the grounds.
Dean heads out to the barn to give it
a once over with his trusty EMF
meter. The detector definitely detects,
but despite Dean's taunting, no
ghosts appear. He does, however,
find Timmy quietly lurking around.
Dean asks him what he's doing in
the barn alone and Timmy explains
that he and his caped crusader
action figure, Bruce the Monster
Smasher, are monster hunting. Dean
accepts this. What he doesn't accept
is the weaksauce handshake Timmy
offers up upon introductions. Dean
can't let this kid go out into the
world with a wishy-washy nice to
meet you and teaches Timmy how to
shake hands like a man. Good
advice, Winchester. The beautiful
thing about Dean Winchester is he's
pretty much always been tough and
at the very least fringe level cool, but
the thought of mocking a frail oddball
like Timmy never even crosses his
mind.
Meanwhile, Sam is poking around
upstairs and finds an old bed with
familiar sigils carved into the
bedposts, he crouches down and
sees that Sonny gives the boys that
stay there a sense of ownership by
labeling the beds with masking tape
strips with their names on them. Sam
starts pulling strips off and eventually
he gets what he was looking for:
Dean W.
He doesn't get much time to mull it
over before his inner ghost detector
pings, but it's just Ruth. She's
praying. Praying that the ghost that's
haunting them will move on. Well
that saves Sam from having to
convince her or lie to her. Leave it to
a catholic to already believe, that's
how we roll. She tells Sam about the
old owners of the farm, how the
husband went all Mahogany on
midnight meat train on his wife
because he thought his wife had
been sleeping with Jack. The guy
spent the rest of his life in prison.
The rest of his life has ended and as
far as is concerned he came back
from the grave to end Jack's.
That night, while the boys head to
the grave in question for a good ol'
salt and burn, Sam's inquisitive
nature takes hold again and he asks
Dean why their dad would want to lie
to Sam about this time in Dean's life,
was it really that bad. Dean shrugs it
off, no one snuck into his bed
unwanted at night, no one gave him a
Bender family Christmas present and
no one gave him the mommy dearest
motivational treatment so as far as
he figures it was a win-win-win.
Ave Maria plays while Ruth takes a
nice, warm, relaxing bath. When the
air goes cold and the plastic curtain
asphyxiates the life out of her it's
way less nice. Sonny hears her
screaming and tries to barge in to
help her, but the door won't give. So
much for that salt and burn.
Sam and Dean, none the wiser at this
point, stop at a diner on their way
out of town. Sam says he's fine with
a quick stop at the Shakeshack, but
Dean insists on them getting the
best banana pancakes on the east
coast. Pretty sure the pretty waitress
might be part of an ulterior motive.
Sure enough, we get a flashback of
teen Dean and Sonny celebrating
Dean's one-month anniversary on
the farm. He's doing well, Sonny has
some concerns about Dean carving
occult symbols into his bedposts and
being shady about his past, but he's
getting solid grades, has a place on
the wrestling team. Stability looks
good on him. The young waitress
that comes to take his order seems
to think so, too.
In the present, Dean is making some
serious eyes at the grown-up version
of Robin the waitress. She's drawing
a blank. He gives his name and she
dimly recalls him being one of the
many, many boys to cruise through
Sonny's over the years. Dean
reminds her that he used to get
guitar lessons from her mother.
Yeah, well, so did a lot of boys. In
fact it influenced Robin so much that
in memory of her mother she does
the same.
Swing and a miss and a miss and a
miss, Winchester. Thoroughly
embarrassed, Dean bolts. Sam, ever
the smug little brother totally wants
the story, but Dean remains mum.
Thankfully, he's saved by the bell,
it's Sonny calling to tell them about
Ruth. Great for Dean, kinda a bummer
for Ruth.
Sam and Dean head back to the farm
to see what they missed. The only
info Sonny has is that he couldn't
open the door despite there being a
no lock rule on the farm, which must
be really fun for a bunch of hormonal
teenage boys, and that Ruth's ever
present rosary is missing. Dean goes
off to question a few of the boys and
finds them bullying a cowering
Timmy. Knowing what it's like to take
care of a geeky lil boy, he regulates
on the two and gives Timmy a few
pointers on how to stand up to the
Johnny Lawerences and Fred
O'Bannions of the world.
Sam takes a guided tour of the place
and finds Sonny's wall o'
achievements. On that wall is a
certificate for Stone Cold Dean
Winchester - Wrestling Champ. You
think you know a guy. While Sam
rolls this over in his brain Regina
George and Nancy Downs are tending
to then lawn. Guess what turns up in
the mower blades? That's right
Ruth's rosary. Guess who's dumb
enough to stick his hand up in the
blades and make hand salad? Right
again. And if you guessed Timmy
was watching from the window give
yourself yet another pat on the back.
Speaking of pats on the back, why is
there a corpse-y hand on Timmy's
shoulder?
For our next flashback, Dean walks
into the living room and sees present
day Robin tuning her guitar while she
waits for Timmy to come start their
lesson. He remembers sitting on that
same couch, telling Robin how he
had dreams of becoming a rockstar
or a mechanic (that sound you hear?
The sound of millions of Dean
Winchester headcanons getting
validated). Dean tells her that cars
are amazing things, complicated
puzzles that you put together and
then send off into the world never to
think about again. Sounds kind of like
hunting in a way. He tells her that he
doesn't want to go into the family
business and she commiserates, she
doesn't want to take over her father's
diner.
Dean also remembers Robin giving
him his very first kiss. Maybe that's
why he thinks he's Batman...
Dean pulls himself out of the memory
and tells Robin he doesn't have time
to explain but she needs to trust him
that she has to get the hell outta
dodge. Now why would she trust
Dean Winchester again? Dean is
pumped that she remembers him,
because man, what a blow to a guys
ego that your first love doesn't
remember making out with you
constantly for like a month straight?
That's like six years in teenager
time.
Once again, he reiterates that now is
not the time for a round of I-bailed-
on-you-and-this-is-why and tries to
usher her out of the house, but
whatever's got its grip on Timmy
isn't not on board with that. The
temp drops, the doors jam and
Timmy is sorry but he can't control
it. Sam rushes in to explain what he
discovered in the barn, but Dean just
wants Sam to get out to safety, too
bad the door slams shut in Sam's
face trapping him inside with the
other three. Quickly they sprinkle salt
around Robin and try to figure out
what to do.
The darkness, the flickering lights,
the frozen breath, the EMF meter,
grave digging, salting the earth,
burning the bones, the seasoned and
toasted grave not being the real
culprit, Dean's amulet. It's like 2006
all over again and I just want to roll
around in it forever.
Sam knows that the ghost is Timmy's
mother. Timmy tells them that his
mom died saving him from their car
crash, she pushed him out right
before the all shark vs. oxygen tank.
He was alone and scared and his
pain called out to her spirit and
she's been protecting him from
danger ever since, but being dead
and bitter has really done a number
on her sanity and she's just
punishing people left and right, pretty
soon she's going to off someone just
for telling Timmy "thanks" instead of
"thank you". Timmy's gotta let her
go, has to make her understand that
he can take care of himself and that
she can rest. It's hard, and Dean
gets that, but he tells Timmy
sometimes you gotta hurt the ones
you love in order to look out for #1.
Which is interesting on a few levels.
For one, it kind of brings Dean
selfishness about Sam to the fore.
Making sure Sam is safe and alive
isn't just about taking care of Sam,
Dean will do whatever it takes, even
if the risk is hurting Sam or being
hurt by Sam to keep Sam around.
Because that's what Dean wants. On
the other hand we also learn that
Sam was the reason Dean chose to
leave the farm when John finally
came for him. Sonny was willing to
fight for Dean to stay, and let's be
real, with the way the writers have
ret-conned John's character over the
past couple years Sonny would have
had one hell of a compelling case.
But as Dean gazed out of the
window, school dance ready and full
of young love, all he saw was his
little brother hanging out the Impala
window in oversized flannel and that
was it. He said it best himself, there
is nothing, past or present, that he
would put in front of Sam.
As they leave the farm, it all falls
together for Sam that this wasn't a
punishment for Dean, this place had
been salvation. This was the place
that would have set Dean on a path
of normality. And he gave it up for
Sam. Then, now and always. Not only
does Sam get this, he appreciates it
and appreciates Dean all over again.
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