Recap / Supernatural S 05 E 15 Dead Men Dont Wear Plaid

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Recap of Supernatural
Season 5, Episode 15

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

Dean: Digger? Who gave you that name?

Digger: I did.

Dean: You gave yourself your own nickname? You can't do that.

Digger: Who died and made you queen?

Written by Jeremy Carver.

Directed by John Showalter.

Air Date: March 25, 2010.

When the dead start coming back to life in Bobby's hometown, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Sam and Dean want to stop them, but Bobby refuses because his wife Karen is among those who have returned.

Body count

For this episode = 16 zombies and 2 humans.

For the series so far = At least 377 humans (of which 6 were witches), 61 demons, 33 ghosts, 19 zombies, 11 vampires, 9 hellhounds, 6 changelings, 5 angels, 4 gods, 3 shapeshifters, 2 ghouls, 2 werewolves, 2 dogs, 1 crocotta, 1 djinn, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 reaper, 1 rugaru, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, 1 wendigo, and 1 wraith.

Tropes

• As the Good Book Says...: The passage on the Horseman Death from Revelations.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: A different take with Dean back-to-back with Bobby in his wheelchair.
• Boom, Headshot!: The typical way of dealing with this set of zombies brought back by Death on Lucifer's command.
• Brick Joke: Digger isn't really the town drunk; it's Bobby.
• Camera Abuse: The camera lens gets splattered with zombie blood.
• Creepy Child: Sheriff Mills' son becomes this after he goes full zombie and eats her husband.
• Despair Gambit: Why Bobby's wife is brought back—either the zombies will kill him, or having to kill his wife a second time will break his spirit.
• Dramatic Thunder
• *Drool* Hello
• Horror Hunger: When the revived people began turning into zombies, they start getting hungry.
• Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Death. Not actually seen, but the zombies rising is "the dead walking the earth" from Revelations.
• Hunting "Accident": One zombie avenges his own death, which was made to look like a hunting accident.
• Impersonating an Officer: Doesn't work if the sheriff knows your voice.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Bobby states that Karen has this since she apparently doesn't have any memories of Bobby killing her when she was possessed. However this is averted as Karen reveals to Dean later on in the episode that she does remember, she just doesn't want to cause Bobby any more pain.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: "Awesome. Another horseman. Must be Thursday."
• The Lost Lenore: Karen is this to Bobby, as he truly loved her and misses her.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Bobby lies to the Winchesters and, when they find out the truth, drives them from his house at gunpoint.
• Our Zombies Are Different: While Supernatural has already shown their own version of zombies the ones in this episode are remarkably different from the ones established in the series lore. They have no reaction to silver, have no marks on their bodies, and rise from their graves even if their bodies were cremated (as in Karen's case). While they start out normal, in five days' time they slowly go feral and turn into more traditional zombies that need to be put down via headshots.
• Portent of Doom: The dead rising from their graves is a sign that Death has put in an appearance.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Sheriff Mills.
• Revenge: The first zombie kills the man who murdered him via a "Hunting "Accident"".
• Revenant Zombie: The resurrected townsfolk are virtually human in behaviour and appearance, with the only souvenir of their dirt naps being Undeathly Pallor. This stint doesn't last long, however, as eventually they all start devolving into run of the mill animalistic cannibals after five days of being (relatively) normal.
• Rise from Your Grave: The first scene of the episode is Clay Thompson escaping from his grave and going after the man who killed him. According to Bobby this actually happened fifteen times before Sam and Dean show up.
• Resurrection Revenge: A clear-cut case with Clay Thompson, who was murdered by Benny Sutton in a Hunting "Accident". As a result, the very first thing that Clay does upon rising from his grave is track down Benny, break into his trailer and kill him in turn.
• Shoot the Dog: Dean resolves to kill Bobby's wife, but Bobby does it himself at her invitation when she realizes she's turning.
• Shout-Out:
  • "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
  • "I'm not gonna leave Bobby at home with the Bride of Frankenstein."
  • "So he goes Full Metal Jacket on us?"
  • The title "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" could be a shoutout to the Bailey School Kids book series, whose titles are all in the format "(monster/mythical being) don't (mundane human action, usually "wear type X apparel")", although it's just as likely to be a shoutout to the Steve Martin film Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
• Staking the Loved One
  • Bobby has to.
  "She was the love of my live. How many times do I have to kill her?"
  • Subverted with Sheriff Mills' son who can't bring herself to do it. Sam does it for her.
• Tempting Fate/It Can Think
  Dean: It's all right; they're idiots. They can't pick a lock.
  [zombies stop banging on the door and start fiddling with the lock]
  Bobby: Don't you ever get tired of being wrong?!
  Dean: I'm making this stuff up as I go along. Sue me.
• Tragic Monster: All of the zombies are this since they start out with the same memories they had when they were alive before turning into monsters. Karen takes the cake though as all she wants is to give Bobby some peace but she is well aware of what's happening to her and eventually asks Bobby to kill her before she kills him.
• That Thing Is Not My Child!: When the sheriff sees her undead child with the intestines of her husband.
• Undead Child: What the sheriff's child became.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: There's a bit of a debate between the brothers and Bobby over whether the resurrected dead should count as zombies.
• Zombie Apocalypse: The dead rising from the grave and rejoining families is really Death's work, and by extent Big Bad Lucifer's; it's part of the Apocalypse.