Winchester-Journals.net :: Episode 2x02

Episode 2x02 - Everybody Loves A Clown

Vital Statistics

Original Air Date: 5th October 2006
Production Code: 3T5502
Writer: John Shiban
Director: Philip Sgriccia

Official Episode Description

Sam and Dean listen to a message on John's cell phone from a woman named Ellen and decide to track her down. They are shocked to discover Ellen runs a road house that also serves as a gathering place for hunters like themselves. Meanwhile, at a small town carnival, a clown is persuading children to let them into their home so he can murder their parents.

Summary

A young girl sees a clown that no-one else can while she is at a carnival with her parents. Late that night, at home, the girl opens the door and lets her new friend, the clown, into the house.

Sam and Dean are watching as a funeral pyre burns their father's body. Sam asks Dean if John said anything before he died, but Dean says no. A week later and the boys are in Bobby's junkyard, Dean working on the Impala. Sam asks if Dean is okay, and Dean snaps back that he's fine and he wishes people would stop asking. They argue, with Sam wanting revenge and Dean wanting to just get on with his life. Sam reveals that he has managed to hack John's voicemail and has found a saved message. They listen to a woman named Ellen who says that she just wants to help him. The boys wonder why John would have kept the message for four months. Sam traces the number to a location and they go off to investigate.

Taking one of Bobby's cars, they pull up outside the Roadhouse, a bar out in the middle of nowhere. Picking the locks, they get inside and start looking around. Suddenly, Dean finds himself with a shotgun pointed at him and Sam ends up with another gun pointing at him. The gun's owners are two women who turn out to be Ellen and her daughter, Jo. They were friends of John's and, as soon as they realised who the boys were, they let them go. Sam and Dean tell them that John is dead. Ash, who has been asleep on the pool table, is woken up and believes he can help track the demon using John's research. He tells them to give him 51 hours.

Ellen shows Sam some newspaper cuttings about a murdered couple whose surviving child blamed a clown who turned invisible. Wanting to do what his father would have expected, Sam drags Dean along on the hunt. They end up at the carnival where the family had been before they were killed. When they get there, they find another couple have been killed again who were at the carnival. Trying to blend in while they search around for any indication of a cursed object, they convince the owner to give them jobs. They notice a little girl pointing at a clown none of them can see, so they follow the family home, fearing they will be the latest victims. Sure enough, the clown turns up and the little girl invites him in. The boys storm into the house and shoot at the clown, which appaears to be solid and therefore not a ghost. The family wake up and scream at the boys, who make a quick exit.

Sam phones Ellen for advice and she suggests an Rakshasa - a race of ancient Hindu creatures who can make themselves invisible. They feed on human flesh and can only enter a house when they have been invited. They also live on beds of dead insects, so the boys head back to the carnival to look for a bed of bugs. WhileSam sneaks into the owners room to investigate, Dean goes to try and find a dagger made of pure brass which can kill the creature. He visits the blind knife thrower, but while there, he discovers that the knife thrower isn't blind at all - he's actually the Rakshasa. Avoiding a few thrown knives, Dean rushes outside to find Sam. Still being chased by the creature, they run into the funhouse where they quickly get seperated. Not having a brass dagger, Sam quickly improvises by pulling a brass pipe from a pipe organ.

With Dean pinned to the wall and being attacked by the creature, Sam tries to attack it, although the invisibility is causing some problems. He eventually succeeds and the creature is destroyed. They head back to the Roadhouse and Ash tells them that he hasn't managed to track the demon yet, but a computer programe he wrote will enable him to search for the signs of the demon's return. As soon as something happens - his computer system will alert them. They thank Ash and Ellen and they boys go back to Bobby's where Dean continues to work on the Impala. sam comes over to talk to him, confessing that he's not coping too well with their Dad's death and he believes that Dean isn't coping either. Wordlessly, Sam leaves. Dean stands there for a moment until all the anger and rage and pain starts flowing out of him. Taking a crowbar, he starts smashing the Impala - taking out all of his anger at John on his beloved car.

Notes

Sam is afraid of clowns and Dean's phobia of flying is mentioned again.
Dean and Sam have been staying at Bobby's for at least a week since they cremated John.
Ellen's husband was a hunter, which is how she got involved in their world. She owns the Roadhouse which has become an unofficial place for hunters to hang out.
Ash may look like a roadie, but he's actually an MIT student who has a genious level understanding of computers.
The episode has a dedication at the end to Peter Ellis, who was the director of the episodes Bloody Mary and The Benders. He died in April 2006.

Cultural References

He's a Lynyrd Skynyrd roadie.
Ash is dressed like a typical rocker. His appearance would fit perfectly well at a Lynyrd Skynryd concert!
Most hunters come through that door think they can get in my pants with some... pizza, a six pack, and side one of Zeppelin IV.
Zeppelin IV is a nickname for the fourth album by the band Led Zeppelin. The actual title is , which has no actual translation.
You still bust out crying whenever you see Ronald McDonald on the television.
Ronald McDonald is the spokes-clown for the McDonalds fast food restaurant chain. He is also probably the most recognizable clown ever.
Check it out. Five-oh.
This is the second time in the show that Dean has referred to the police as Five-oh, taken from the popular 80's TV Cop Show, Hawaii 5-0.
I'm on it like Divine on dog dookie.
This is a reference to a John Waters film, Pink Flamingos, in which infamous transvestite Divine eats dog faeces.
M.I.T.?
It's a school in Boston.
MIT is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is probably the most prestigeous university for subjects such as mathematics, sciences and computers.