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'''[[Recap/{{Supernatural}} Recap]] of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''''\\
'''Season 1, Episode 2:'''

!Wendigo
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1-02-wendigo-supernatural-8273928-1280-720_8632.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"I think he wants us to [[PassingTheTorch pick up where he left off]], you know, saving people, hunting things. The [[FamilyBusiness family business]]."--Dean to Sam]]

->'''Roy:''' You're rangers?
->'''Dean:''' That's right.
->'''Haley Collins:''' And you're [[PaperThinDisguise hiking out in biker boots and jeans]]?
->'''Dean:''' Oh, sweetheart, I don't do shorts.

Written by Creator/EricKripke, Ron Milbauer, and Terri Hughes Burton.

Directed by Creator/DavidNutter.

Airdate: September 20, 2005.

Sam and Dean follow coordinates their father left for them to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Creek_Wilderness Lost Creek Wilderness]] and end up helping to rescue a lost camper.
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Following coordinates left to them by their father, Sam and Dean wind up in the woods in Colorado with a group of hikers as they stumble across a [[Characters/SupernaturalMonstersAndSupernaturalBeings wendigo]]. Sam is still grieving for [[Recap/SupernaturalS01E01Pilot Jessica]] and suffering nightmares. Dean teaches Sam that helping others and saving people can provide some relief for his anger, as they work to save [[Characters/SupernaturalOtherHumans Tommy Collins]] and get to know his sister and brother in the process. Dean seems [[FlirtingUnderFire very interested]] in getting to know his sister, Haley Collins. However, they do not find their father, and they realize their father left them the coordinates because [[TakeUpMySword he wanted them to continue hunting]] and [[ParentalAbandonment not to help them find him]]. While the wendigo kills the group's forest guide and kidnaps Dean and Haley, they and Tommy are successfully rescued and the wendigo is killed by Dean with a flare gun.

!!Body count:
For this episode = 3 humans and 1 wendigo.

For the series so far = 6 humans; 3 ghosts; 1 wendigo.

!Tropes:

* AbandonedMine: The wendigo's lair.
* ArcWords: It's the first appearance of the often-quoted saying "Saving people, hunting things--the family business."
* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The coordinates left by John Winchester (35, -111) actually point to Arizona. The Lost Creek Wilderness Area in Colorado is around 39.3, -105.5.
* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: Sam claims that "wendigo" is a Cree word that means 'evil that devours'. In actuality, the name is wiindigoo in the Ojibwe language (which is likely the source of the English word): it's wīhtikōw in Cree. The Proto-Algonquian term that both come from was *wi·nteko·wa, which probably originally meant "owl".
* BearsAreBadNews: Played with. No bears appear in the episode, although the wendigo attacks are blamed on bears. Sam even notes that there's ten or more grizzly bears in the area, as a reminder that they have other things besides the wendigo to worry about.
* BigBad: The wendigo in the woods.
* BigBrotherInstinct:
-->'''Dean:''' You okay?
-->'''Sam:''' Yeah, I'm fine.
-->'''Dean:''' Another nightmare? ''[Sam clears his throat]'' You wanna drive for a while?
-->'''Sam:''' Dean, your whole life, you never once asked me that.
* BigDamnHeroes: Dean saving Sam and the rest of the Collins family.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Actually PlayedStraight, with Brad the camper being the first to die.
* BlatantLies: Sam pretending he's fine.
* CannibalismSuperpower: The wendigo is a [[ImAHumanitarian humanitarian]].
* ChekhovsGun: Or, in this case, Chekhov's {{Flare Gun}}s, which were stolen by the wendigo early in the episode.
** The M&Ms Dean pulled out of his pocket end up [[TrailOfBreadCrumbs leading the way]] to the wendigo.
* DontGoInTheWoods
* DeathByPragmatism: Roy. To be fair, it was pragmatism of the {{wrong genre|Savvy}}.
* DistressedDude: Tommy.
* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: Eating human flesh transforms a person.
* FloorboardFailure: Ben and Sam fall through a shaft and into the wendigo's lair.
* GasLeakCoverup: The survivors go with the grizzly bear story.
* GeometricMagic: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Roy:
-->'''Dean:''' He's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put.
-->'''Roy:''' Inside the magic circle?
* GirlOfTheWeek: Haley for Dean.
* GunTwirling: Dean waves the two flare guns around despite having just been hung up by his wrists.
* ItCanThink: Well, of course, since it's a wendigo, not a grizzly. One particularly clever stunt, though, is updating the old KEEP OUT sign protecting its lair with a modern sign that warns of toxic waste.
* JerkAss: Roy. To be fair, Dean's not exactly making an effort to be nice.
* JumpScare
* JustEatHim: Luckily, the wendigo strings his food up alive to "store" it, instead of just eating or killing it.
* KillItWithFire: They kill the wendigo with ''flare guns''.
-->'''Dean:''' Guns are useless, so are knives. Basically...we've got to torch the sucker.
* {{Mangst}}:
-->'''Sam:''' How do you do it? How does Dad do it?\\
'''Dean:''' Well, for one, them. ''[looks at Haley and her brother]'' I mean, I figure our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little bit more bearable. ''[long pause]'' And I tell you what else helps. Killing as many evil sons-of-bitches as I possibly can.
* MolotovCocktail: Sam finds it broken, apparently having been smashed before Dean had a chance to light it.
* MoodWhiplash: "[[TearJerker You said roses were lame]]" to ''Film/{{Carrie|1976}}'' ShoutOut to Music/{{Foreigner|Band}}'s "Hot Blooded". Ow, my neck.
* NeckSnap[=/=]VerticalKidnapping: Roy's death.
* PosthumousCharacter: Jessica. She had to die for us to find out her last name (off the grave marker).
* RainOfBlood: Roy's body in the tree.
* RedOniBlueOni: Dean's the Red to Sam's Blue. Most of the time.
-->'''Dean:''' You wanna tell me what's goin' on in that freaky head of yours?\\
'''Sam:''' Dean--\\
'''Dean:''' No, you’re not fine, you're like a powder keg, man. It's not like you. ''I'm'' supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?
* RegularlyScheduledEvil: People go missing in the woods every 23 years.
* RescueSex: Lampshaded but averted (Haley does give Dean a [[SmoochOfVictory grateful kiss]] on the cheek).
-->'''Haley:''' So, really, I don't know how to thank you. ''[Dean grins]'' Must you cheapen the moment?
-->'''Dean:''' Yeah!
* RiseFromYourGrave: Jessica's [[Film/{{Carrie|1976}} hand reaches out of her grave]] and grabs Sam, but it is revealed to be a [[AllJustADream nightmare]].
* ScreamingWoman: Haley Collins.
* ShoutOut:
** The guys are playing ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime Hunters'' on the Nintendo DS.
** Tommy Collins is reading ''Literature/TheHeroWithAThousandFaces'' by Joseph Campbell, which {{Foreshadow|ing}}s TheHerosJourney the brothers have before them.
** Dean makes a couple of cartoon references when talking about wildlife:
--->'''Dean:''' Uh-huh...what kind of furry critters do you hunt?\\
'''Roy:''' Mostly bucks, sometimes bear.\\
'''Dean:''' Tell me...uh, WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}} or [[WesternAnimation/YogiBear Yogi]] ever hunt you back?
** Ben Collins likens the process of becoming a wendigo to what happened to the [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty Donner Party]].
** Sam's nightmare, where he dreams of laying flowers on Jessica's grave, only for her hand to pop out of the grave and grab him, is a reference to Sue's nightmare at the end of ''Film/{{Carrie|1976}}''.
* SoleSurvivor: Shaw with the [[EveryScarHasAStory claw-shaped scar]].
* StabTheScorpion. Roy and Dean are arguing and getting on each others' nerves when Roy violently grabs Dean's shoulder...to stop him from walking on a BearTrap.
* StrippedToTheBone: The leftovers in the wendigo's lair.
* ThickerThanWater: The Collins siblings, mirroring the Winchester brothers.
* TrailOfBreadCrumbs: Trail of [[ProductPlacement Peanut M&Ms]], which are "better than breadcrumbs", as the brightly-colored sweets stand out more.
* UnwillingSuspension
* [[CaliforniaDoubling Vancouver Doubling]]: For Blackwater Ridge.
* WasOnceAMan: The wendigo.
* {{Wendigo}}: The MonsterOfTheWeek.
* WhileYouWereInDiapers:
-->'''Roy:''' You, protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you good night.