Recap: Supernatural “Yellow Fever”
Old man reminisces and the ghost (Luther) was a gentle yet misunderstood freak for a man. Another comparison to Sam perhaps? What happened to the days when the monster was just very bad? Luther had a crush on Jessie and was killed by Frank because of fear and misunderstanding. Sam listens to the tale with that out of control hair and those dewy eyes of sympathy, while Dean manages to control his angst to take in the story, but he’s rattled by it. ”That’s fear. It spreads and spreads.”
It all makes sense to Dean now, he’s getting Luther’s road rash and the swallowed wood chips. Dean is experiencing his death in slow motion. They can’t burn the bones either, because Luther was roadhauled and his body is all over the road.
Time for Jensen to go all out, channeling his best Bette Davis (insert your own Oscar winning actress here) and pushing Dean into a grand diva diatribe with flying colors. Oh my God! To be a writer penning that speech! He must have studied every dramatic Hollywood script over the last 50 years and picked the most over the top moments. I’ll just write it all down. It’s that good.
“You know what screw this”¦What are we doing? (Sam: We’re hunting a ghost). A ghost? Exactly, who does that”¦Us right, and that’s exactly why our lives suck. I mean come on, we hunt monsters. What the Hell? I mean normal people they see a monster and run but not us no, no, no, we search out things that want to kill us, yeah huh, or eat us! You know who does that? Crazy people. We are insane. And then there’s the bad diner food and, and the skeevy motel rooms and the truck stop waitress with the bizarre rash, I mean who wants this life Sam, huh, seriously? Do you actually like being stuck in the car with me eight hours a day every single day? I don’t think so. I mean I drive too fast and I listen to the same five albums over and over and over again and I sing along and I’m annoying I know that and you, you’re gassy. You eat half a burrito and you get toxic and I mean you know what (tosses Sam the keys), you can forget it”¦Stay away from me Sam okay, because I am done with it. I am done with the monsters and and and the hellhounds and the ghosts sickness and the damn apocalypse. I’m out, I’m done, I quit.”
Sam lets out the most appropriate grunt of frustration and by the stunned look on his face, he’s just figured out how bad this is. Dean leaves, hears a growl and the fun music from other episodes plays. There’s our homicidal Yorkie. She means business!
Back at the motel room a traumatized Dean tries to recover from his dog ordeal. Sam comes in relieved to see him, but it’s all gloom for Deano. There’s less than four hours on the clock. ”I’m gonna die Sammy.” ”Yeah, you are.” Sam replies, all cold and wicked. ”You’re going back.” Dean is confused. ”Downstairs Dean, Hell.” What’s interesting is the picture and sound only get distorted from this point forward. So, did Sam really say those things or was it Dean’s hallucination? Who knows, but the mind games are fun!
The rest is definitely a hallucination, and the other “Yellow Fever” is revealed. Sam confesses it’ll be a relief. Yellow eyes flash and he says Dean has been a pain in his side. Dean jumps, Sam uses the hand of doom to throw him against a wall. This may be a hallucination, but I’ve always wanted to see that. I’m going to consider this wish granted! Dean thinks Sam is possessed, but Sam sets the record straight. ”No one’s possessing me Dean. This is what I’m going to become. This is what I want to become. There’s nothing you can do about it.” He flashes yellow eyes and starts choking Dean. Loud heartbeats again, but then the real Sam snaps Dean out of it. Awesome!
I’ve said it before, I’ve said it again. I adore this show’s ability to jump from very funny to very chilling in a heartbeat. As all of you have probably guessed, evil Sam freaks me out. I think he’s more frightening that any monster this show has produced. To see that part of Sam buried deep in Dean’s subconscious and now I’m really scared for him. Poor Dean! If that’s what’s in his head, no wonder he’s frightened of Sam and what’s inside him. What’s even more surprising is part of him thinks Sam will want to become evil. That’s disturbing.
It’s Bobby! My offers still stands, BTW Mr. Kripke. I’m still willing to come out to Vancouver and paint Bobby’s Chevelle. Better yet, make it a fan contest. Sam now has wisely left Dean behind, saying he’s “home sick.” Bobby hands Sam a book in Japanese, and we learn Bobby can read that too! Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic, and now Japanese? Not bad for a junk dealer. I guess that makes sense for anyone that reads Dilbert, since the smartest guy in that strip is the garbage man. Bobby found the ghost they’re looking for a Boru Boru. I have no idea if I spelled that right, and Google search is coming up empty too. This spirit is born of fear, so they can kill it with fear. Sam asks, “How in the world are we going to do that?” Come on Sam, you’re supposed to be the smart one.
Sam and Bobby here were both very calm even though Dean had two hours to live. It was all business. Bobby is usually cool under pressure, but to see him and Sam both in this mode, it was strange. Not that it didn’t make sense. Since they both already lived the horror of Dean dying and going on without him it’s understandable, but very interesting to see.
Sam calls Dean, who’s disturbed by a Gumby episode. I’d be disturbed and I don’t even have ghost sickness. Sam assures him everything will be okay, they have a plan. He hangs up, and Bobby quips “this is a terrible plan”. Sam can’t argue, but he asks if Bobby has anything better. Bobby admits defeat and Sam goes into the sawmill alone.
Back to Dean, who hears the hellhounds, but the sheriff busts through the door instead. He thinks Dean is out to get him, and Dean sees the bloody arms and concludes he’s sick. They fight, and fight, and fight and fight and fight, and then Dean watches the sheriff have his heart attack o’ death. Yep Dean, you’re next.
Luther won’t come after Sam so he realizes he has to make Luther mad. He starts tearing up the pictures of Jessie. You know, the 20 year old ones in an abandoned mill that are in decent shape. The equipment goes off, and Luther creeps up behind Sam. Damn, Luther is huge! He’s much bigger than our Sasquatch. He one ups you in the freak category Sammy.
Back to Dean, the sound of heartbeats getting louder, he’s scratching his arm and losing it. He hears Sam’s voice “you’re going back, and it’s about damn time too” coupled with an evil laugh. Man is he messed up. Or maybe not! He clutches onto a bible and he closes his eyes like he’s silently praying. Wow, that’s awesome! Dean finds faith after all. Let’s hope that was for real and not part of his complete out of character behavior.
It’s not enough though, for evil little girl from “No Rest For The Wicked” arrives to play the role of Lilith. She tells him it’s time to go back now. No surprise that this is Dean’s deepest fear. It should be! Dean says she isn’t real, but he’s not doing a great job of convincing himself. ”Four months is like forty years in Hell. Like doggy years. And you remember every second.” What’s terrible is judging by Dean’s look he does remember, and that’s when the heart attack starts to hit him. Okay, I’m definitely freaked out now.
Dean still goes for the “you’re not real” thing, but Lilith taps into that thought too. ”You’re still gonna die. You’re still gonna burn.” PAY ATTENTION RIGHT HERE. ”Why me, why’d I get infected?” Deans asks AND LILITH REPLIES, “Silly goose, you know why Dean. Listen to your heart.” She chants these annoying ba-booms and we go back to Sam who’s getting his ass kicked by a gigantic ghost. Back to the ba-booms which are getting louder, and then back to Sam who pulls a chain out of the dust and wraps it around Luther’s head. He yells to Bobby to punch it and Bobby’s behind the wheel of the Impala. He drives it! How cool is that?
Luther gets dragged behind the Impala just like before, and we cut between that and Lilith shouting her annoying ba-booms even louder. Then she pushes Dean over the edge and his heart stops. No, Dean! A few seconds later Luther disappears into dust and Dean gasps a huge breath, coming back from his brief moment of death. I wonder if he saw Hell again? A few seconds in Hell is like…oh never mind. His arms are okay, but he stays sprawled out on the floor of the motel, still too shaken. Something tells me some damage was done here.
OK, here is a bit on the Buruburu for you (you were close). http://theshadowlands.net/ghost/japanese.html
I too found the combination of calm, cool and collected Bobby and Sam a bit…unusual. The lack of urgency was quite noticable to me.
Also, I had a thought about the ghost sickness. In a few other sites, some folks said they didn’t believe that Dean would act the way he did, even frightened that much. Perhaps so but he was actually haunted by the ghost sickness – so perhaps some of that was actually Luthor?? Like Dean was haunted by Luthor himself in total freak out mode?
Anyhow, It was a very entertaining episode all the way around – I loved it.
Cheers
Tigershire
Thank you! I wondered about that, but the time for research was limited this week. I was hoping someone would educate on this. Unfortunately, my Japanese is a little rusty! 😀
Great fun! Does anyone know what the music is that Dean is running from the cute dog at the start? They’ve used it before in all the seasons but only ever the guitar riff bit. It’s driving me crazy!
So, Alice, I want to know – why was Dean picked instead of Sam? Because of what he had done in Hell? :ugeek:
So, Alice, I want to know – why was Dean picked instead of Sam? Because of what he had done in Hell? :ugeek: