Supernatural - 1x18 "Something Wicked" Rewatch
Added 2024-01-24 07:35:45 +0000 UTC
Comments
I don't think John used them as bait either, as he was in panic mode at the end. If he used them as bait he would have been calmer as he would have expected it. In my mind John always wanted to protect Sam and Dean from physical harm, but in doing so instilled emotional issues onto them instead.
Sharon Owen
2024-01-25 01:15:32 +0000 UTCYep. I always thought this was the reason Dean followed orders. I also think this is the reason John leaves them far away in different towns to a monster in the future/leaves them with Bobby and Pastor Jim.etc - because he doesn't want to risk his kid's lives near monsters (until they're old enough to hunt them anyway). But in doing so, it causes emotional issues and Dean's abandonment issues. I do think John maybe knew something about Sam - or maybe he just assumed because of the location of the fire - in sam's nursery. So he was more protective of Sam and drilled into Dean to look after him.
Sharon Owen
2024-01-25 01:08:55 +0000 UTCI never thought they were out of food in all the times I've watched the episode. They were just at the end of the lucky charms. Dean was mad, as any parent is, because Sam said he wanted Spaghettios and then after Dean made it, he said he wanted Lucky Charms. Dean would not have thrown out the spaghettios if there wasn't any other food. I also don't think John used them as bait. I think he just kept them nearby and the Striga went after them when he caught wind of John. If John was using them as bait he would have been there earlier, like Sam and Dean were with Michael.
KAREN GAUCK
2024-01-24 20:48:54 +0000 UTCGreat episode to watch on Dean's birthday! Notice that Dean and Sam told Michael what he was letting himself in for and when he said no at first, they accepted it. If you go with the idea that John was using the boys as bait, it's not an option he offered Dean. I'm not convinced the writers knew the plans for Dean/Michael and Sam/Lucifer - Kripke was supposedly against introducing angels until the writer's strike cut short s3 and left Dean in hell. One of the directors on Rob and Rich's podcast said something about having 4 seasons, not 5, mapped out in the early days, and certainly at this point in s1 they didn't even know if it would get a renewal for s2, and most of s1 is a lot more MotW than mytharc.
Jay
2024-01-24 19:03:06 +0000 UTCThe Dr. Looks familiar probably because Adrian Hough has been in what seems like a million shows. He was also in the S8 episode Freaks and Geeks.
Vel
2024-01-24 17:36:20 +0000 UTCProvenance is a great episode
AdoptDontShopPets
2024-01-24 16:46:59 +0000 UTCI am currently reading the supernatural comics for the first time, I had them saved in my tablet for years but I never sat down to read them until couple of days ago, there are 4 comics each comic is 6 issues, I finished half of them so first 2 comics are done, and I have to say almost all of your john questions are answered there, the comics are prequels to the show and they focus on john, Sam and dean are young children in them, the comics are written by Eric kripke himself so it tells you when and what exactly did john know about Sam and what he's meant to be, as the number 1 john hater, it really helped me hate him a bit less and made me hate chuck even more, the comics show you that john really tried to give Sam and dean that normal life by giving up on his search for yellow eyes and settle down in a new town and having a regular job himself but demons just kept coming for Sam, he tried leaving Sam and dean with friends but demons would kill those friends to get to Sam, they keep trying to kill John and take Sam to raise him themselves to be the perfect vessel, it's truly a miracle that john lived up till the beginning of season 1 at all, I would love for you to read the comics as soon as possible but selfishly I would love a reaction to them so I would prefer to wait and get a reaction or at least discussion instead of you just reading them on your own, not sure if people would find that enjoyable or boring but I definitely would watch you read page by page and discuss it, each issue is a 24 pages comic so it's not that long but it's full of wtf moments, my jaw dropped at a lot of things and I only finished half of them
Hasnaa
2024-01-24 16:45:34 +0000 UTCAbsolutely that is a perfect parallel to Sam and dean using Michael as bait, also in season 2 we learn that john used Jo's dad as bait and got him killed so yeah he does that
Hasnaa
2024-01-24 16:32:11 +0000 UTC"In the episode dialogue, Dean tells Sam that Dad will be back tomorrow." Dean also says that he left the motel because it was "the third night." So yeah at that point in the flashback John was coming back tomorrow, but he'd been gone for multiple days. And there wasn't an indication Dean was in constant contact with John during that time, suggesting John just said "I'll be back Monday" (or whatever day it was) and dipped.
Laurel
2024-01-24 16:05:49 +0000 UTCMan. Such a good episode for the boys, but John is just The Worst. Leaving his 9-year-old to look after his 5-year-old for THREE DAYS (going on FOUR, actually) would be bad enough, but Pastor Jim is only three hours away?? Why didn't John leave the boys with him?? It clearly isn't that John's too proud or whatever, because he did that anyway after the striga attack. Not to mention blaming Dean, which we both saw and heard from Dean himself — "he looked at me different." Horrible. I'm really sad Provenance didn't make the cut, it's one of my favorite episodes :( Shoutout to Sarah, who is fucking amazing. Tbh she's one of the reasons I never got back into the show, because they killed her off. She had so much potential, even just as a loose end, yet she was fridged. Thanks I hate it.
Laurel
2024-01-24 15:58:36 +0000 UTC- When Young Dean said they ran out of Lucky Charms I took it to mean the box was finished - not that they didn't have the money to buy another one. Dean then went to play arcade games later, they need money for those, don't they? So he has money for games but not for another box of Lucky Charms? He even threw away the food that Sam didn't want, so for me it doesn't support the logic that they were wanting for food. - Since we see the happenings through Dean's eyes we don't know what John did on this hunt. Does it say in the flashback scene, that John was hunting the Striga? Then that leaves the Shtriga with enough time and knowledge to find out it is being hunted or a hunter is in town, by whom, and try to take their child next. It would not be out of conjecture to say that it would come to target Sam. - Dean only knew that the Striga targeted siblings in the present time. Sam found out the cycle of reappearance of the Striga going back years (every 15 to 20 years it hits a new town) after research in the library and on how to kill it. It then can be deduced that John didn't know this pattern, as in the journal there was no mention of it and no mention of how to kill it - there was a scene relating this omission to the audience by Sam. So if it was not in John's journal, can we then canonically say that in the flashback sequence, John was actually hunting the Striga? Maybe he was hunting something else. Because why wasn't there any entry on it? These scenes have meaning. And using his kids as bait when he didn't know exactly how to kill it? or we are assuming that that was because of the parallel between Michael and his brother Asher? or because we want John to be? Is the episode's narrative saying John is the asshole for leaving his kids or are we the audience saying that? - And Pastor Jim was about three hours away. I would agree, John canonically left them alone. The amount of time probably increased as the boys got older. I expect if John was hunting in the same town as the motel where they stayed he probably didn't hire a babysitter (he did hire one in 5.12 Swap Meat). He would instead trust that Young Dean could babysit Sam and contact him if necessary. In the episode dialogue, Dean tells Sam that Dad will be back tomorrow. - John also checked in with the boys regularly, frequently enough to have their own established code. The boys knew what to do if John didn't come back in time. Even when Dean was 26 in the Pilot, he knew something was wrong because John hadn't checked in "in a few days". If John made a point of checking in with his 26-year-old son every day or so, he's definitely going to check in with them more frequently when they were younger. - John being there in the nick of time - for one, Dean tells Sam that Dad will be back tomorrow, so John came back early. For another, I took that as a plot choice for dramatic effect, and as a setup for the next scene and the arc establishing the reasons for Young Dean's arc character journey (in regards to John) going forward. Especially when, ... all those things that John said to Young Dean - he was talking about himself. That he left his fucking kids to fend for themselves. It was his guilty feelings. It had to be. Of course, how can he not blame himself - he is the father. He was just PROJECTING it onto Dean at that moment. I don't even know if Dean realized that - I know he didn't realize that when he was a kid but I don't even know if he realizes it now as an adult. And because of this, a hundred and ten percent agreed that John is the biggest asshole. ... and perhaps John gave this to Dean specifically so that Dean could finally close the book on this monster ...
rose mnor
2024-01-24 13:54:03 +0000 UTCEven the headcanon that I’m about to explain isn’t true, leaving your NINE YEAR OLD son for at LEAST three days, to look after your 4 or 5 year old son and NOT LEAVING THEM WITH ENOUGH FOOD!!!! And also instilling in Dean that it is HIS RESPONSIBILITY to take care of Sam????? Incredibly shitty A little heartbreaking headcanon that a lot of ppl share about this episode: why didn’t John take them to bobbys or pastor Jim? We know he’s done that a lot and I think the facts we know about the show are that by this time (Dean being nine) they had met both Bobby and pastor Jim. But this is a case where a monster is going for a children and their siblings so dean and Sam are perfect for the monster. John could have put them in a motel out of town or further away but he didn’t. Then when the monster finally comes for Sam, John is there IMMEDIATELY??? what a coincidence! John just happened to come home at the exact time? I don’t think so. It makes a lot more sense for John to have purposely put them up in that motel to use them as bait, intending for the monster to go after Sam, Dean to stall it by shooting it and then John come in and kill it. When that didn’t go to plan because Dean happened to not be there, John got pissed at Dean and blamed him and of course Dean took that blame. This is also not out of character for John as we know from several things said throughout the years and also canonical moments that we see, that John regularly used Dean as bait. We even get Dean saying that his dad used to make him “pull the whole wide eyed hitchhiker” thing as bait. That frame near the end of John protectively hugging Sam while glaring at Dean??? Sums the whole thing up
Kit
2024-01-24 12:00:26 +0000 UTCLove the look back at their childhood and seeing that Dean following every one of dad’s orders is more than him idolizing his dad. It’s really a trauma response from this case in his childhood. My favorite line from this episode is “I was sleeping with my peepers open!“ ROTFLMAO Not the most consequential, just the most fun for me. Other things of note: (1) the actress sitting on the bench in the park when they first get to the town, comes back later in the role of the angel Hannah. (2) the fandom is split on whether in the flashbacks, John was using Sam and Dean as bait to catch the Striga, as a parallel to the present day where they use Michael as bait. I love that the show gave us a Dean episode and then follows it up next with a Sam episode in Provenance. Now for 1x20 Dead Man’s Blood, be sure to be on the lookout for Jenny, who eventually reappears briefly in 15x20. Yep…not killing the whole nest in 1x20 ends up being Dean’s downfall in 15x20.
AdoptDontShopPets
2024-01-24 10:26:38 +0000 UTCI have watched this episode quite a few times as I love the character insight stuff but this is the first time I spotted Hannah (angel from later seasons) as the young mother!
Kim Rigg
2024-01-24 10:03:13 +0000 UTCI remember when I first watched this season I considered this my fave episode. Also: Happy birthday, Dean! XD
BexFangirl
2024-01-24 09:58:02 +0000 UTCThanks for another fun reaction 😄 Random point about this episode: Sam is wearing the Purple dog shirt (that shirt has a cult following 😂😁) This ep is another ok monster for me but I love the flash backs - the poor boys left alone, not enough food, Dean a too-young parent. (Dean said the case was 17 yrs ago so he is only about 9 here, Sam maybe 5.) I definitely think John could have salvaged some of Dean’s emotional trauma if he had talked to him after and said it wasn’t his fault. But like you say we have no indication that ever happened, plus John isn’t good at talking about things! And Dean internalises all the blame, it’s very heartbreaking! As for the Case - I do like that it’s the first witch we see even if it isn’t a typical witch. But we start assuming it’s an old lady but it turns out to be a male doctor - nice gender expectation subversion. For the upcoming episodes; Provenance - MOTW haunted picture but I love the deep dive into Sam’s trauma about letting people in. Deadman’s blood - we get the colt and I love how we dig into the John Sam friction with Dean stuck in the middle So really looking forward to rejoining you for Salvation and the end of season big push. (First time I ever watch it wasn’t until those last 2 episodes that I knew I was gonna be hooked forever 😄)
MidnightSilver
2024-01-24 09:40:51 +0000 UTC
