Recap of Supernatural
Season 5, Episode 9
The Real Ghostbusters
Sam: Oh, Hey, Chuck, If you really wanna publish more books, then I guess that's okay with us.
Chuck: Wow! Really?
Sam: No, not really. We have guns, and we'll find you.
Chuck: Okay, okay. No more books.
Written by Eric Kripke and Nancy Weiner.
Directed by James L. Conway.
Air Date: November 12, 2009.
Sam and Dean are called in by Chuck on an urgent case. When they arrive, it turns out that Becky from "Sympathy for The Devil" (S05, E01) called them using Chuck's phone. They have arrived at the first annual Supernatural convention. Of course, a ghost turns out to really be there...
Body count
For this episode = 1 Human, 4 ghosts.For the series so far = At least 334 humans (of which 6 were witches), 39 demons, 32 ghosts, 11 vampires, 6 changelings, 4 angels, 4 gods, 3 shapeshifters, 3 zombies, 2 ghouls, 2 werewolves, 2 dogs, 1 crocotta, 1 djinn, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 reaper, 1 rugaru, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, and 1 wendigo.
Tropes
- And You Thought It Was a Game: Conventiongoers think the ghosts are just cosplaying
- Ax-Crazy: The three children, who murdered Leticia's son and continued their scalping rampage in the present until their bones are burned. Leticia also goes crazy after her son is killed, murders the kids who did it and then kills herself.
- Cassandra Truth: Multiple ones. The congoer who sees Leticia's ghost is unable to convince his friend that it wasn't part of the LARP. Dean decided to reveal his true identity to a couple of fans and is laughed off. The ghost of Leticia's son says his mother loves him very much. Sam plays along to be nice, but the brothers know his mother killed him. Then it turns out she didn't.
- Creepy Child: The ghost orphans, very much so.
- Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: The three orphans.
- Embarrassing Ringtone: The evil spirit children trapped Sam and Dean along with many patrons at a hotel convention. To get the spirits to free everyone, Sam and Dean recruited an actress to play the ghost of the stern, turn-of-the-century school mistress (who Sam and Dean mistakenly banished earlier) to scare the ghost boys into releasing the hold on the hotel. Everything was going well until the actress' cell phone rang with a jaunty hip-hop tune. Cue her Oh, Crap! moment as the evil spirit children smiled menacingly, realizing she wasn't the school mistress and they had no reason to be scared.
- Evil Orphan: The three orphan ghosts.
- Fangirl: Sam and Dean's number one fan makes a return.
- Ho Yay:
- Invoked. There even is a panel on "the Homoerotic Subtext in Supernatural".
- Parodied with the Sam and Dean LARPers, who are later revealed to actually be a gay couple.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Sam and Dean's reaction to the LARPers.
- Jumping the Shark: Discussed In-Universe. "It's not jumping the shark if you never come back down."
- Kids Are Cruel: The three orphans were responsible for the death of another child.
- Lampshade Hanging: Done several times, as expected from one of the show's more metafictional episodes.
- Live-Action Role-Play: The fans at the convention do this. Unfortunately for them (or maybe fortunately for the more dedicated fans), there turns out to be real ghosts there.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Sam and Dean burn Leticia's bones only to realize that she was trying to stop the real Monster of the Week.
- Retcon: Becky explains that Bela actually gave the Colt to Crowley instead of Lilith. Justified in that she effectively did, and Lilith would most likely send a henchman to get one of the few weapons that could kill her. The show has also lampshaded Bela's propensity to twist the truth.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Leticia murdered the three orphan boys because they killed her son.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: A fan's reaction when he is attacked by a real ghost.
- Urban Legend: The story of the Gore Orphanage, which is the backdrop for the game. It's actually a legitimate (if complicated) legend from the Vermilion, Ohio area— which is where this episode takes place.
- Un-Canceled: In-Universe. Thanks to a wealthy Scandinavian investor, the Supernatural books can resume publication! Averted when Sam threatens to come after Chuck with weapons if he starts publishing again.Sam: We have guns and we'll find you.
- Your Costume Needs Work: The Hookman cosplayer doesn't think much of the ghost children's make up.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Leticia Gore is haunting the hotel? No problem. Sam and Dean dig up her corpse and torch the bones. Turns out those weren't the bones that needed torched...
