Things I Love About SPN Season 1: Scarecrow #2
Supernatural, Season 1
Episode 11, “Scarecrow”
Teleplay by John Shiban
Story by Sean Patrick Smith
Directed by Kim Manners
Continued from #1
Warning: image heavy post
Next morning Dean drives into Burkitsville and we see him open his phone and pull up Sam in his contact list, but he changes his mind and doesn’t call him.
Dean’s list is basic; it lists his contacts in alphabetical order. (On the “Then and Now” podcast it was mentioned that the names on the list - apart from Dad and Sam - were all poached from the SPN art department crew.)
Dean approaches a man he presumes to be the the owner of "Scotty's Cafe" and introduces himself as John Bonham.
"Isn't that the drummer from Led Zeppelin?" Scotty asks. To the best of my recollection, that’s the only time Dean is challenged on one of his rock aliases.
And the rock allusions continue according to Superwiki:
While Burkittsville is a fictional location, the two towns Dean checked before Burkittsville - Scottsburg and Salem - are real towns in the southern part of the state. Nearby is Seymour, the birthplace of John Cougar Mellencamp who released the album “Scarecrow” in 1985.
http://supernaturalwiki.com/1.11_Scarecrow
When Dean asks after his “friends” that went missing in the area, the man brushes him off in a less than friendly manner, prompting his sarky comment:
“Scotty, you got a smile that lights up a room. Anyone ever tell you that?”
Beam me up, Scotty. :D
He has more luck at the Jorgeson’s store where the girl from the teaser (their niece, Emily) remembers the tattoo when Dean shows them the missing poster. Following their directions out of town, Dean comes across the orchard and finds the creepy scarecrow, which turns out to be wearing tatt guy’s skin. Ew.
Returning to town, Dean questions Emily further and discerns that the townfolk have another young couple on the hook. Emily makes an interesting observation about the town:
EMILY: Everybody’s nice here.
DEAN: So, what, it’s the, uh, perfect little town?
EMILY: Well, you know, it’s the boonies. But I love it. I mean, the towns around us, people are losing their homes, their farms. But here, it’s almost like we’re blessed. (DEAN nods.)
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.11_Scarecrow_(transcript)
It’s a clue that the scarecrow is somehow protecting the town, of course, but it’s also a subtle reference to the political zeitgeist at the time. Like the dig in “Dead in the Water” about the lack of federal funding for the dam that will eventually destroy the town, here the writers are drawing attention to the widespread hardship people are suffering in the contemporary economic climate. It’s by no means the only political comment in the episode.
Meanwhile, Sam is hiking along a road. He’s walking backwards, presumably hoping a car will come along so he can hitch a ride. When he turns, he sees a girl sitting by the side of the road. We are to understand he didn’t notice her before because he had his back to her, of course . . .
But let’s take another look at that road: it’s absolutely straight and the flat, open countryside presents no real visibility obstructions for miles. Just how long was Sam walking backwards for? O_O
The song she’s listening to on her Walkman is “Puppet” by Colepitz, which has some interesting and perhaps relevant lyrics:
. . . You better get your kids inside
A storm is beginning
Yes, I think it's true - they're using you
Yes, I know that it's true - they are using you . . .
How does it feel to be a puppet?
I know how it feels to be a puppet . . .
And so we have the introduction of Meg, SPN’s longest running female character.
Looking back now, knowing who she is, we can almost admire the crafty tactics she uses to rope him in. To get his attention, she opens with the word she knows will needle him, but does it in a playful, flirty manner.
“You are hitchhiking,” she points out.
“Well, so are you,” Sam retorts. The irony, of course, is that she’s almost admitting that she’s untrustworthy herself, but she’s using reverse psychology: by feigning distrust of Sam she distracts him from questioning her credibility and makes him eager to win her over instead.
Not that any of us had any reason to harbour suspicion about her, any more than Sam did. I mean, we all instantly liked the cute, flirty girl, didn’t we?
Sam’s right about the van guy, though. What kind of jerk sees what looks like a couple hitch-hiking and only offers a ride to one of them? o_O
When Sam finally reaches the bus station, he’s told the bus to Sacramento doesn’t run until the next day, so he finds himself checking his phone. His contacts are also a selection of show characters and names drawn from the SPN crew but, unlike Dean’s, his contacts aren’t listed alphabetically. So how are they prioritized? Does his list imply that, at one time at least, Rebecca Warren (whom we met in “Skin”) and a couple of random dudes were higher priority to Sam than Dean was?
He brings up Dean’s mobile and his thumb is moving hesitantly toward the call button when
Fortuitous timing, huh?
Sam closes his phone when he sees her, otherwise I’m pretty sure he would have called Dean.
“What happened to your ride?” he asks.
“You were right,” she acknowledges. “That guy was shady.”
I love Sam’s little eyeroll and smile that, without actually saying “I told you so”, totally says “I told you so.” Again, psychologically, Meg allowing Sam that little victory gets him onside.
“I cut him loose,” she concludes.
It’s a comment that means nothing to us on the first view but, in retrospect, we can enjoy the little bit of dark humour there when we recall how Meg cuts another driver at the end of the episode. It’s implying that “shady van guy” came to a similar bloody end, but it’s a joke we can’t appreciate until we see the episode a second time. It’s another one of those moments that demonstrates the writers were anticipating viewers would watch episodes more than once.
I hope you've enjoyed this second slice of "Scarecrow". What did you think of Meg when she first appeared? Did you like her? Did you suspect her? As always, I look forward to hearing your own thoughts on this and any other impressions on the episode. Please click here to continue to the next segment.
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