Supernatural - 1x9 "Home" Rewatch
Added 2024-01-14 09:23:05 +0000 UTC
Comments
I'm so far behind, I'm not even gonna comment on this episode (that I love so much). I'm just gonna share an anecdote: on the show I'm on, one of the actors got cast in a Scream movie, and the show wouldn't let him do it (contract) -- even though they totally could've made it work. I'm just sayin', we don't know who or what Loretta Devine unavailable. (Maybe she herself didn't see the flying back and forth from LA to Vancouver working out. Who knows? I don't.) So I'm just gonna sit back and keep enjoying her whenever I get her. 😌
SKK
2024-01-23 07:38:19 +0000 UTCI think the thing that turned Bobby vengeful was seeing Dick Roman constantly, it maybe elevated him. Mary didn't see anything like that in the house relating to yellow eyes. We do see some non vengeful ghosts - like in Roadkill, she's been a while but she's not vengeful - the person she accidentally killed was vengeful on her. I think its all about circumstances.
Sharon Owen
2024-01-17 11:50:12 +0000 UTCi forgot i said that! lol kidsicle hehehe
Shelley
2024-01-17 06:57:48 +0000 UTCJust like that baby was saved by his mom when the poltergeist trapped him in the fridge, Sam also was saved by his mom (Mary's ghost) when the poltergeist trapped him in the house, I love parallels 🥰
Hasnaa
2024-01-16 18:20:50 +0000 UTCOh Shelley you made me laugh when you said that about John at the end. He's been searching for the truth for 22 years now, what's wrong with him! It's great to see you getting so much out of the rewatching experience. Loretta Devine was doing a ton of tv shows and films at the time, I think she was just generally too busy to commit to a show which was unsure whether it would be recommissioned from season to season early on. When we find out more about ghosts, the idea that Mary has been a ghost for the past 22 years becomes wild indeed. How has she not become a vengeful spirit? It took Bobby about five minutes. Jess was killed (on Azazel's orders) by Sam's friend Brady who was possessed by a demon - we find that out in 5.20, when Brady reveals that he contrived for Sam and Jess to meet so he could kill her and traumatise Sam as Azazel was worried Sam was getting too soft. This is the first appearance of a monkey of doom - then a carved monkey appears in the roadhouse in s2 and pops up over the seasons from time to time – the last time we see it, ominously, is at the roadhouse in heaven in the finale.
Jay
2024-01-15 13:07:19 +0000 UTCThe bug phobia is a big factor for some of us!
Jay
2024-01-15 10:59:57 +0000 UTCLol also same about the phone call, I was just about to say that I remember that being the moment when I went "oh boy". For me that scene was the moment of realisation that Dean was my fave (well at least for that point of the show, since I already knew about Cas and that he would be my fave in the greater scheme).
BexFangirl
2024-01-15 08:54:25 +0000 UTCI honestly never understood the hate Bugs got. I mean it's far from my fave, but I don't think it's a bad episode per se.
BexFangirl
2024-01-15 08:51:38 +0000 UTCHave you ever read Sheila O'Malley's review of this episode? She's a fellow Dean girl and also writes professionally for Ebert. Her takes are pretty legendary, and help me understand things that I may not have. But I also admit that I enjoy a multitude of different perspectives. It's the through lines from everyone that weave and connect the most. That's where the truth is always found. https://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=78978
Vel
2024-01-15 07:39:39 +0000 UTC"I think the "truth" he's talking about at the end is what exactly happened to Sam. I think he knows it's a demon who killed Mary and has discovered the link to the gifted children and is unsure what this means for Sam's future. He left Dean abruptly because he didn't want to worry him about Sam before he had all the facts." This was always how I read things as well. I think it's also discussed that John does not want the proximity of his hunting YED to affect the safety of Sam and Dean. IIRC this was in Shadow...
Vel
2024-01-15 07:26:20 +0000 UTCIMO: For us to understand John's POV, emotional arc, and character plot points, we have to go into later episodes to give clarity to his decisions for the earlier episodes, WHICH IS WHY IT IS SUCH A PAIN IN THE NECK storytelling - such a whiplash ... Narratively speaking and not taking into account the "John is a douchebag" for not talking to his sons because that certainly muddies the plot arc there, to provide clarity, the thing that works for me is that John is hiding and/or hunting YED and being hunted in return, so he turns off his cell phone because that thing enables GPS tracking. That is why he didn't take calls from his sons. In Scarecrow he called them using a pay phone kiosk. Why the elaborate subterfuge when he can easily use his cell if no bad things are happening? Dean, finally says in a later episode - Shadow, I think - and admits to himself that John is always weak around both of them - because he always puts them first and that's why John has been keeping himself away while looking for YED in the first place. Sam always wished his life was normal, but then he realized that even normal didn't mean better - in Nightmare. Because no matter what, he was meant for something more - just like all the special children. The whole point of the show's first 5 season arc is that they would always come after Sam. YES, many demons were coming after them. Freaking YED was coming after them. John just had no way of knowing that YED wouldn't come after them until 22 years later. YED didn't come to the Earth until a year pre-series, of COURSE John was going to find nothing and no, they couldn't be raised in a stable home because they had to be on the run. I read somewhere that someone wrote, in The Diary of John Winchester (sorry no link), and in S3 later it was mentioned that shortly after their death, Mary and John's friends and acquaintances were mysteriously murdered. And also the police suspected John of killing Mary. We the audience know that his wife's murder involved his son, and until the demon was dead they would never be safe. Thus why we keep passing judgment on John's life and decision-making for survival in a supernatural setting, based on a real-life viewpoint is mindboggling, imo, to say the least. In addition, when Sam meets with Luci, he shows that a bunch of his acquaintances, friends, and teachers are demons. And this despite the fact that the Winchesters constantly moved, knew about hunting, and so on.
rose mnor
2024-01-15 04:22:52 +0000 UTCThe running themes of the early episodes are about secrets. About Sam keeping his psychic vision a secret. And about John keeping a secret about Sam from him, and that he is hunting while also hiding from YED, as the trail of the latter's emergence became known. Before I go further in my comments, a clarification: In this universe, Millie and Henry Winchester reside in Normal, Illinois while John in the Pilot is in Lawrence, Kansas. And also yay, vindication for those who voted for Bugs including yours truly, lol, that Bugs' story plot is such a reveal about the boys' family relationship, and I commented this as my favor for voting Bugs in the poll. So, moving on to this episode, - Dean is no longer as worried about John imo, as compared to the pilot, because they receive from John coordinates to hunt and help people as the story proceeds, indicating that his disappearance is not foul play. - maybe the reason why John never tells his son his speculations about Sam - is to not mess with his head. Would we want to tell our child he is targeted by a demon and expect him to be ... what? - can you just imagine telling your young child (general you) that this insidious entity is targeting him as opposed to informing him when he is an adult? Sam already sorta blamed himself for the loss of his mother and he left his family to be on his own at 18. I would think that John would prefer to wait for Sam to reach proper adult age to comprehend that kind of terrible fact about himself. - Furthermore, John didn't know the whole picture yet, though he did know a lot of the gist of it. Unfortunately, the big quarrel happened and then Sam left for college, fracturing their relationship further into pieces before the reveal could happen, or maybe John didn't want to tell him at all until he managed to kill YED - why would this even matter, it is a moot point at this juncture in a greater scheme of things to consider. - at the 08:47 min mark - That is an interesting take about Dean instead of John checking on Sam at Standford. For me, I don't think Dean is lying as that statement can easily be proven yay or nae by Sam simply asking John himself, so why do it? If Dean's lying just to prop up John, what does it say about John - that he didn't love/care about Sam? If so, then why not just let Sam go? Why make such a fuss about Sam wanting to go away? Anyway, it is canon that John loves both his sons very much, so ... yeah ... And imo it can be John too because the major reason for their fight is John didn't want Sam to be alone and thus might be susceptible to the dark forces. We saw in this episode itself how John was overwhelmed with regret and his keening desire to see his sons, but he denied himself because he still could not tell them yet what was happening - they would want to know why he disappeared. - John regrets his quarrel with Sam - this is canon, so it is not out of the possibility for the narrative to say that he went to check on Sam on the fly. In this episode, we also saw his sons didn't know that he was even there in Lawrence. It is kinda his MO, not letting his sons know about things ... YED in 2.01: Why, John, you're a sentimentalist. If only your boys knew how much their daddy loved them. - Yeah this is Sam's episode but most audiences imo will always remember Dean's phonecall moment. - What is the meaning of "John could have table it?" To put aside hunting, what - indefinitely? At the 1:15:11 min mark - If I do understand correctly the meaning *Sigh* John could not table it because he knew they were targeted and to save their lives he got to learn more. Knowledge is power. If John just stays at home, do you think the demons will leave them alone? Honest question. - This episode already established that John went to Missouri almost immediately after the fire, and she told him the truth as far as she knew about it, or at least pulled back the curtain. John knew about dark forces almost immediately. - And if he thinks he could just hide his family - where can he hide them? Again, honest question. - Missouri telling John about Sam's powers manifesting now - John would have been so scared because his nightmare is unfolding right now and becoming a reality - he had suspected Sam as one of Azazel's special children for a while now. ETA: John already knows about the "special children" since Home, Question: Is "the truth" that John was looking for in "Home" the information that he knows about the special children? — sfoster1 Kripke: You're correct. "The truth" John was looking for was the truth about Sam and the other children like him. In my mind, when John shows up in "Dead Man's Blood," he knows all the secrets. He was just keeping them to himself. source link: https://web.archive.org/web/20110707052614/https://www.tvguide.com/news/supernatural-burning-questions-38374.aspx
rose mnor
2024-01-15 04:14:49 +0000 UTCSome of the highlights for Hookman from Superwiki:- - Kim Manners was asked to come in and work as a co-director on this episode, as the original director had trouble getting the "scare" across. - This episode was originally set to air after 1.02 Wendigo. Eric Kripke originally thought it might have been beneficial to air an episode about such a "classic" urban legend early in the show's run. 1.04 Phantom Traveler was aired instead. - Recycled actor: Actress Christie Laing who plays Taylor, also played Robert Johnson's Crossroads Demon in 2.08 Crossroad Blues. The role of Rich originally went to Jesse Hutch but he was replaced apparently for being "too nice". Jesse later ended up appearing in 9.02 Devil May Care as Crewcut and 15.10 The Heroes' Journey as werewolf Brad Myers. - This is the first episode in which rock salt was considered a threat to supernatural demons/spirits. It was "invented" for Supernatural by writers Ron Milbauer and Terri Hughes Burton. Eric Kripke agreed it "...was the perfect combination of occult element - salt is a folkloric repellent of evil - and the blue-collar aspect of shotguns." Some of the Highlights for Bugs:- - Eric Kripke often cites this episode as one of his least favorites in the series. When Chuck meets Sam and Dean, he asks them if they had to live through the "bugs". He laments that they were "forced to live bad writing." - Recycled actor: Tyler Johnston, who plays Matt Pike, also played the angel Samandriel in season eight. Carrie Genzel, who played Lynda Bloome, also played Linda Berman in 11.08 Just My Imagination. Anne Marie DeLuise and Andrew Airlie, who play Joanie Pike and Larry Pike, later play Janet and Henry Whitman in 15.04 Atomic Monsters.. - This is the only time we see the boys with umbrellas in the rain. Kripke explained why in a Tweet: "Kim Manners directed X-Files, where they often had umbrellas, so figured it was fine. I called him, said "the boys aren't scared of demons, but they're scared of rain?" From that point forward, a hard rule: no umbrellas. Not easy for Vancouver. - Other than Robert Singer, Kim Manners also begged Eric Kripke not to do "Bugs" - they said bugs are not scary. Some of the highlights for Home:- - The cymbal-banging toy monkey is arguably an homage: There is a short story by Stephen King titled "The Monkey," synopsis as follows: "The story centers on a toy monkey that is apparently possessed by evil. The monkey is found by children, and their parents are, for some reason, freaked out. Periodically, the sinister monkey comes into motion, predicting the death of someone. In the end, the monkey is dumped in a lake in a bag full of heavy stones, thus stopping the deaths." - The box that Jenny finds in the the basement full of Winchester photos and memorabilia and gives to the boys, is later seen in Sam's possession in The Bunker in 11.11 Into the Mystic. - Recycled actor: Don Thompson, who plays Mike Guenther, also played Sheriff Jake Miller in 8.11 LARP and the Real Girl. - When Sari tells Jenny that she is afraid of the thing in the closet, Jenny reassures her that there is nothing to be afraid of. In contrast, we learnt in the 1.01 Pilot that when Sam was nine and said he was scared of the thing in the closet, John gave him a .45. - The scene where Sam hands Ritchie to his sister Sari and says "Take your brother outside as fast as you can, and don’t look back" is a replay of the teaser for the 1.01 Pilot when John hands baby Sam to Dean and says the same words.
rose mnor
2024-01-15 04:07:33 +0000 UTCIkr!!!
Hasnaa
2024-01-14 22:58:59 +0000 UTCI absolutely love your theory about dean lying to Sam about john checking up on him in Standford, that tracks, in season 3 in the Christmas episode we get a flashback of dean lying to Sam about john coming on Christmas and leaving Sam a present when actually dean just steals a present for Sam every Christmas and lies about it, in season 5 in dark side of the moon where Sam and dean get killed and go to heaven, little dean hugs Mary to confort her after a fight with John and he tells her it's okay, mom, dad still loves you, to which Sam says you were always fixing John's messes, so it has precedence for sure. I too don't hate bugs and think the hatred for it is overblown. Yes in Season 13, Missouri repeats that line to dean saying "I'm sorry for your loses" about cas and Mary, it was a clever callback from the writers. Shelley: "I could say a comment but I won't" 🤣🤣 lmao. For me the winner of this episode is Mary, I believe she was trying to warn the family of the other spirit, it was a nice touch that her as a spirit is on fire coz that's how she died, Mary is the one who defeated the poltergeist and protect her kids, she also got to apologize to Sam which gave her peace finally 👏. With every episode the urge to just hug dean Winchester multiplies. The wasted potentials with Missouri is maddening, I love Missouri, love her interactions with dean, she could've been sam's mentor, instead we have to wait until season 12 to get a mentor for Sam in Rowena instead, sigh. The demons actually needed Sam to die at the end of season 2, it's crucial to their plans of driving Sam to the dark road of drinking demon's blood that dean sacrifices his soul for Sam and die to set Sam on that path, coz Sam only gets obsessive and dark and john like whenever dean dies, otherwise they had no chance, the only reason Sam was vulnerable enough to fall for ruby's manipulation is because dean was dead, so yeah they had to kill Sam to make him more ready to become lucifer 's vessel.
Hasnaa
2024-01-14 22:51:25 +0000 UTCThe ending of Bugs 100% ruins the whole episode for me. It's midnight and then 5 minutes later it's dawn. It's such a poorly done ending that it runs the whole episode for me. I like Home, but this Dean girl hates Missouri. She's so unnecessary rude and mean to him. I'm so glad we got Bobby instead who is actually nice and cares about both boys.
KAREN GAUCK
2024-01-14 20:41:50 +0000 UTCI thought your quote of the episode be 'John Winchester I could just slap you' by Missouri lol.
Sharon Owen
2024-01-14 19:06:57 +0000 UTCHome - I like Missouri and I think it’s fun to see her give Dean the gears, but I think she takes it a bit far. Calling Dean an amateur when she herself was wrong about the house's danger being over, isn’t a great look. I do wish we got more Missouri, and having both her and Bobby would have been nice because each boy could have had a parental figure that related to each of them more. Bobby always sort of empathized more with Dean. But, if she stayed, we might not have gotten Bobby at all. I wish Sam got to see Missouri in that later season, since she had bonded with him more than Dean in this episode. John is certainly frustrating in this episode, with him not seeing the boys, but I think calling him a coward for it is … a lot. I think people often look at John with the worst interpretation of his actions. He’s a super flawed guy, but he isn’t only bad. But I do think that if John tabled hunting altogether (or never started it), Sam and Dean would probably have gotten permanently dead earlier. It’s all very messy. I’m glad we get to see Mary here, and the boys get a sort of goodbye with her. This is Sam's first time seeing her, which is tragic since she isn’t even alive. But it has to be hard for Dean to see her here when he did know her in real life, and now his last memory of her will be as a ghost (until season 12). However, her saying sorry to Sam was very intriguing on the first watch, but now just reminds me of how much she ignores Sam when she comes back in Season 12. It’s great that Dean gets to resolve some of his issues with her, but we needed better Sam/Mary resolution. Dean's vulnerability in general and care for Sam are why early seasons Dean is peak Dean for me. He’s softer and more empathetic and open here than he is later in a lot of ways. He obviously still gets emotional in later seasons and puts up less of a front in some ways, but there’s something about him in these seasons that is sweeter to me. He becomes more jaded and angry. I think pre-Pilot, Sam sort of lumped Dean in with John as the forces in his life that were trying to control him and who he was letting down by not wanting to be a hunter. I think he knew Dean protected him a lot, and was there for him more than John, but it probably also felt a bit oppressive and isolating when he didn’t often know the whole story of what was going on. It’s wild that Sam knew so little that he didn’t even know Dean was the one who saved him when Mary died. It makes sense why Sam felt like the hunting life wasn't even "his life" in a way, aside from obviously wanting to get away from the violence of it all. I think this episode is a very real start to Sam's changing perception of Dean. One thing I do love about Sam over the series is seeing him grow. He learns about the things Dean has done for him over the years, or he remembers but them from a new perspective, and it informs how he acts with Dean going forward. It only takes him one season to learn what Dean already feels, and what John needed 22 years to learn: revenge does not trump everything, and family (Dean, in particular) is more important. I am so sad that Scarecrow didn’t get onto the rewatch list, as it’s one of my favorites from Season 1.
Sare
2024-01-14 18:32:56 +0000 UTCI really like your John commentary here.
Sare
2024-01-14 18:08:00 +0000 UTCEpisodes like this one, with Dean's call to John for help broke my heart, and are why I was a Dean girl in Season 1, and I think Season 2, on my first watch. I didn’t stay a Dean girl because Sam really grows on me over the series. I became more of a both brothers fan, who tends towards being a little more Sam-leaning in mid to late seasons. Hook Man - I think this episode is just okay. The standout for me from thus one is that we are already seeing Sam put up walls because he thinks he’s cursed, and he doesn’t want to get hurt again by getting close to anyone. This is particularly sad to me when we see that Sam had a group of friends at Stanford. He wanted to to be social more than Dean in the early days, but from here on Sam keeps most people at a bit of a distance. And it takes Sam years to stop thinking of himself as inherently wrong in some way. Bugs - I fully agree, Bugs is not actually a bad episode, it’s just a bit weak in the execution. This episode has fantastic brother/family stuff, and overall significance to the greater story. I actually like bugs more than most other episodes to that point in the season (except for the Pilot and Skin). I don’t actually think Dean was lying about John checking in on Sam at Stanford, though I can see why you might think he was (he gets called out as a liar, after all), but, as we see in Home, John did come to check on the boys, but he didn’t let them know he was there. It’s in his MO to to check on Sam, especially considering he probably knew something was up with Sam by that point (with his connection to Azazel). I really feel for Sam with the family dynamic that the Winchesters had because while Dean was given too much responsibility and had to grow up too fast (things that were definitely not fair), Sam was the outsider in his own family. John and Dean were more of a team, even to the point of Dean taking John's side most of the time (even if he didn’t actually agree), and even now, Dean calls out Sam for being difficult, more than conceding that John could be too harsh. However Dean might have actually felt about things, all Sam could see was a dad who was disappointed in him and a brother who protected him, but mostly took his dad's side. He was so out of the loop that he didn’t even know Dean was the one who carried him out of the house the night Mary was killed. Very isolating. I’ll comment more on Home after I finish the episode, by replying to myself.
Sare
2024-01-14 18:03:36 +0000 UTCBugs isn't a bad episode - the only thing that's the issue is the very short night. It was midnight when the bugs started and it was sunrise not too long later. That's the biggest issue people have with it - that and people with a bug phobia
Sharon Owen
2024-01-14 17:57:54 +0000 UTCLove this reaction! Missouri is just one of those "what if" characters that drives me nuts. I want to see the alternate universe show where she stayed on, even though I love Bobby too. Maybe there's a good fanfic out there exploring that. I've never hated John. It may be due to my own experience with a crappy father, but when I see him I see a very broken man who obviously loves his children and is trying to do right by them, albeit poorly. I think the "truth" he's talking about at the end is what exactly happened to Sam. I think he knows it's a demon who killed Mary and has discovered the link to the gifted children and is unsure what this means for Sam's future. He left Dean abruptly because he didn't want to worry him about Sam before he had all the facts. He also probably knew Dean would go to Sam in that scenario and that both of them would be safer together. IDK maybe I'm giving him too much credit but I don't think he wanted to involve the boys so that they'd never have to know about Mary's deal and potentially tarnish her memory. This obviously changes later in the season as John meets up with them and realizes that they are already being targeted by Azazel's demons and that he can't shelter them from the bigger picture anymore.
Abigail
2024-01-14 17:32:48 +0000 UTCjust like with your first reaction to this episode, i loved this reaction as well.. this episode is one of my all time favorites and so is your original reaction to it! in the original one, i lvoed when you called the little boy getting in the fridge a kidsicle! and i loved your reactions to everytime when Missouri would put Dean in his place! lol.. this reaction was just as great with you remembering the episode as it went on! great reaction again with this episode!!
Leticia Pierce
2024-01-14 15:31:57 +0000 UTCGreat Reaction Shelley 😄 so much fun! Thank you! -I love that you saw the cage opening motif and the parallels the little boy and Sam here. I hadn’t seen it that way before but the ‘juice junky’ phase always struck me as an odd inclusion and I just wrote it off as a way to lure the boy into the fridge but the phrasing is far too odd and specific and I loved your parallels! -One thing that I think gets missed in the big reveal that John is in Missouris house is that John knows about Sam’s powers here in Home. Missouri isn’t talking to herself, she is talking to John when she says how powerful Sam is and she is surprised Sam couldn’t sense John. And John shows no surprise at this powers ‘revelation’ because he already knows something about Sam. So is the ‘Truth’ that he is searching for here - which is stopping him going to the boys - is it just about hunting Azazel for revenge or is it more about what Azazel plans for Sam and how it is already effecting Sam? -Also a thing to note here is that we typically think of John as having a very black and white hunting ethos about Monsters, but we see here that he doesn’t hate Missouri for having supernatural abilities, she is clearly his friend and mentor. So we know that John doesn’t automatically hate all psychic abilities (like Dean’s reactions might imply) and so it’s unlikely any mistrust of Sam is purely about the psychic thing. (Also gives thoughts about Deans initial black and white hunting ethos being a product of raising a too young child in that life, combined with a stoic distant father, rather than just simply inheriting pure bigotry from John.) -You said Dean avoiding Lawrence meant that the boys wouldn’t have found John because that’s where he was. I didn’t get the impression that John had always been in Lawrence, he was busy chasing Azazel but I think he came when Dean called. But he’s doing his lurking trick. That’s why I don’t think Dean lied about John checking on Sam in Stanford. It matches John’s lurking MO. I think John does care, but I think he is fighting with himself not to show it because The Mission Must Come First. So he checks on them from a distance but doesn’t let himself get close. Also themes about him not being able to show the feelings he has inside. I think he suffers from chronic stoic outer shell bullshit but I think inside he does care very much. On the other hand Dean will always put caring for Sam over The Mission no matter what. It’s Dean’s biggest strength and his biggest weakness. The logical stance to take might be somewhere between the two ethos’s, but how murky it must be to try and find that stand point when you are in the thick of the shit 🤷🏻♂️😄 -Loved your reaction here and absolutely feel the same about Missouri. Also agree it could have been so awesome for her to Mentor Sam. Wonder what that might have done for his psychic powers journey! Enjoy Asylum and scarecrow - lots of digging into the boys relationship in both. And lots of YED hints to keep in mind as we meet Meg for the first time in Scarecrow. I’m looking forward to Faith afterwards for the Dean deep dive but I think Sacrecrow is the better myth arc episode 😄
MidnightSilver
2024-01-14 13:44:53 +0000 UTC
