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'''[[Recap/{{Supernatural}} Recap]] of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''''\\
'''Season 1, Episode 8:'''

!Bugs
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bugs_5457.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: This shower is awesome.]]

->'''Dean:''' Hunting's our day job. And the pay is crap.\\
'''Sam:''' Yeah, but hustling pool, credit card scams. It's not the most honest thing in the world, Dean.\\
'''Dean:''' Well, let's see. Honest...fun and easy. ''[thinks about it]'' It's no contest. Besides, we're good at it, it's what we were raised to do.\\
'''Sam:''' Yeah, well, how we were raised was jacked.

Written by Rachel Nave and Bill Coakley.

Directed by Kim Manners.

Airdate: November 8, 2005.

Sam and Dean investigate a series of bug-related attacks in a housing development in [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed Oasis Plains]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma Oklahoma]].
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The Winchester brothers decide to investigate after reading about the mysterious death of a gas company worker which was blamed on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creutzfeldt%E2%80%93Jakob_disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease]]. They pretend to be considering homes to buy for their father and attend an open house, where they learn there was another mysterious death of a surveyor which was blamed on an allergic reaction to bee stings. They also meet the family of Larry Pike the developer, including his son Matt, who collects bugs and tries to scare the realtor, Lynda Bloome, with a pet tarantula. When Lynda Bloome dies from spider bites, Sam and Dean initially suspect Matt. However, Matt shows them that insects and worms seem to be congregating in the area of the housing development. This leads them to the discovery of skeletal remains, which are thought to be Native American. They speak to Joe White Tree on a nearby reservation, who tells a story about a Yuchi tribe village, which was wiped out by American Calvary when they refused to relocate and the curse that was placed on this land by the village leader.

Sam and Dean realize the Pike family will all die if they stay in their home in the housing development and try to convince them to evacuate. When this fails, they all take shelter in the house, but the bugs come down the flue. Dean holds them off by spraying bug spray and lighting it on fire. They manage to make it to the attic, but eventually the termites eat through the roof. As the bugs start to swarm, the sun rises and the bugs leave. The Pike family moves out of the house and the father and son seem to have a better understanding of each other. Sam is also more determined to find his father as he has a new perspective on their past misunderstandings.

!!Body count:
For this episode = 2 humans.

For the series so far = At least 113 humans; 5 ghosts; 1 shapeshifter; 1 wendigo.

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!Tropes appearing in this episode:

* AerosolFlamethrower: Dean turns the can of bug spray into one.
* AffectionateNickname: Dean refers to the first victim as "Uncle Dusty" to [[{{Masquerade}} establish himself as a relative]] and get information from Travis.
* BeeBeeGun: The death of the surveyor and the bees that are summoned to attack on the 6th night.
* BeetleManiac: Matt enjoys BugCatching and knows a lot about beetles. After the experience with the bugs at the end of the episode, not anymore.
* BlatantLies: "Anybody who starts by saying 'truth is' is lying."
* BugsHeraldEvil: PlayedWith; the bugs themselves ''are'' the evil by way of a death curse, but there is no true villain of the episode.
* CallingTheOldManOut: Sam bonds with Matt over their desire to do this. By the end of the episode, they both reconsider the need to.
* ChalkOutline: Tape outline of where Lynda Bloome's body was, next to her high heels, towel, blood smears, and broken glass.
* CreepyCockroach: The roaches swarming the yard.
* CueTheSun: A particularly absurd use of it, as ten minutes of screen-time that seemed to play out more or less in real-time takes us from midnight to sunrise.
* {{Curse}}:
-->'''Sam:''' If we don't do something, Larry's family will be dead by sunrise. So how do we break the curse?\\
'''Dean:''' You ''don't'' break a curse. You get out of its way. We've gotta get those people out ''now''.
* FanDisservice: Lynda Bloome's spider-infested shower.
* FinalSolution: How the American Calvary dealt with the Yuchi tribe.
-->'''Joe White Tree:''' As my grandfather put it, on the night the moon and the sun share the sky as equals, the cavalry first raided our village. They murdered, raped. The next day, the cavalry came again, and the next, and the next. And on the sixth night, the cavalry came one last time. And by the time the sun rose, every man, woman, and child still in the village was dead.
* FriendToBugs: Matt truly seems to like the bugs and treats them as pets until he is nearly killed by the bugs.
* GasLeakCoverup: Attempted by Dean to get the Pikes out of the way of the curse. Larry doesn't buy it; he knows Travis and he knows that Dean ''isn't'' Travis.
* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: The deaths always start on the Spring Equinox and last for 6 days.
* HustlingTheMark: Dean wins a handful of cash playing pool at the Loading Dock bar.
* InHarmsWay: Dean claims to be most comfortable with this type of life, while Sam [[IJustWantToBeNormal wants to be normal]].
-->'''Dean:''' Growin' up in a place like this would freak me out.\\
'''Sam:''' Why?\\
'''Dean:''' Well, manicured lawns, "How was your day, honey?", I'd blow my brains out.\\
'''Sam:''' There's nothing wrong with "normal".\\
'''Dean:''' I'd take our family over normal any day.
* IndianBurialGround: The housing project is built on the Yuchi burial grounds, which was cursed after an American Calvary [[RapePillageAndBurn Raped, Pillaged and Burned]] the tribe, leaving no survivors after six days; those who live on the grounds during the spring equinox will be killed by insects.
* ImprovisedWeapon: Flamethrowers made from bug spray and matches.
* MagicalNativeAmerican: Joe White Tree seems to have ancient wisdom and the chief of the exterminated village created the curse. And then he disappears back to central casting once he's served his role.
* MistakenForGay: And so starts the RunningGag that the [[HeterosexualLifePartners Winchester brothers]] typically counter with "[[SiblingTeam We're brothers]]".
-->'''Lynda Bloome:''' Well, let me just say that we accept home owners of all race, religion, color, or...sexual orientation.
-->'''Dean:''' Right. Um, I'm going to go talk to Larry. Okay, honey? ''[smacks Sam on the butt]''
* NightmareFetishist
* NobodyCallsMeChicken:
-->'''Dean:''' Huh. Looks like there's only room for one. You wanna flip a coin?\\
'''Sam:''' Dean, we have no idea what's down there.\\
'''Dean:''' ''[picks up a nearby coil of rope]'' All right, I'll go if you're scared. You scared?\\
'''Sam:''' Flip the damn coin.\\
'''Dean:''' ''[chuckles and takes a coin out of his pocket]'' All right, call it in the air... chicken.\\
''[Dean flips the coin. Sam grabs it in midair]''\\
'''Sam:''' I'm going.
* NumberOfTheBeast: The days it took for the Calvary to annihilate the resident tribe was 6 days.
* PhonyNewscast: A MediaScaremongering story runs about spraying insecticide for mosquitoes carrying West Nile Virus just before Lynda Bloome gets into the steam shower.
* PsychoShowerMurderParody: Lynda Bloome's steam shower, complete with ToplessnessFromTheBack and BloodIsSquickerInWater.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: While hundreds of bees were used to film the scenes of the bugs swarming, the bees did not show up well on film and were added with CGI, [[SpecialEffectFailure sometimes rather obviously]].
* RedHerring: Matt, the kid who loves insects and tried to scare Lynda.
* ScaryStingingSwarm: The first victim, who is not shown, is indicated to have died to bee stings.
* SchmuckBait: Dean pulls this on Sam.
* ShoutOut:
** Dean reveals that he watches ''Series/TheOprahWinfreyShow''.
--->'''Dean:''' Mad cow. Wasn't that on ''Oprah''?\\
'''Sam:''' You watch ''Oprah''?
** Sam compares the ability to control bugs to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_%281971_film%29 Willard's]] ability to control rats.
** Dean makes a reference to "[[Series/{{Lassie}} that whole Timmy-Lassie thing]]".
** Dean compares Sam to "the blonde chick in ''Series/TheMunsters''".
** The swarms of insects in the sky and the bugs swarming in to a house are reminiscent of ''Film/TheBirds''.
* SoftGlass: Averted, as this is a particular trope show creator Erik Kripke is said to hate. The realtor Lynda smashes through her glass shower door in a panic trying to get away from the insects swarming her bathroom. Sure enough, it's not the insects that kill her, but bleeding out from the glass that lacerates her body.
* SpidersAreScary: DoubleSubversion. Sam picks up the pet tarantula and returns it to Matt before it can frighten Lynda Bloome, but she is later attacked and killed by spiders in the shower.
* TermiteTrouble: Termites eat through the roof.
* WhiteSheep: Sam.
-->'''Sam:''' I respected Dad. But no matter what I did, it was never good enough.\\
'''Dean:''' So what are you saying? That Dad was disappointed in you?\\
'''Sam:''' Was? Is... and always has been.\\
'''Dean:''' Why would you think that?\\
'''Sam:''' Because I didn't ''want'' to bow hunt... or hustle pool. Because I wanted to go to school and live my life, which, in our whacked-out family, made ''me'' the freak.
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