Recap of Supernatural
Season 8, Episode 9
Citizen Fang
Written by Daniel Loflin.
Directed by Nick Copus.
Air Date: December 5, 2012.
Sam gets an old friend, Martin Creaser, to start keeping tabs on Benny in Carencro, Louisiana
. When a civilian dies of a vampire attack in proximity to Benny, Martin calls in Sam and Dean, and tells them that Benny has been going by the alias of Roy. While Dean is skeptical, he hears Martin out, and requests some time to do some investigating of his own; Martin is resistant, but Sam agrees to give him time. Sam thinks about Amelia, and how complicated things became after Don reappeared.
Dean goes to a diner Benny has been working at and asks the owner, Elizabeth, if she's seen "Roy"; Elizabeth says he left recently to go fishing. Dean leaves after giving Elizabeth his number and asking her to call if she sees him again. Dean finds Benny, who is burying a second victim. Benny says he's not the one killing people; rather, a rogue vampire, Desmond, is trying to start a new nest, and tried to recruit Benny. When Benny declined, Desmond started killing people in an attempt to blackmail Benny into joining. Benny swears he has not been preying on people, using Elizabeth, his great-granddaughter, as a motive to stay clean. Dean believes him, but Martin and Sam do not; as Dean and Sam argue, Martin knocks Dean out, and he and Sam leave Dean handcuffed and unconscious as they go after Benny.
When Dean comes to, he calls Benny, and warns him about Sam and Martin; Benny says Sam doesn't scare him, but Dean is adamant. He suggests that Benny lie low while Dean goes after Desmond but Benny insists on coming, saying he knows where Desmond is hiding. Later that night, Sam and Martin go to where Benny had been camping, only to find he's cleared out. Sam gets a text from Amelia, telling him to come quick and that it is urgent; Sam leaves Martin, and goes to Amelia. Sam tries calling Amelia, but the number is unavailable. Benny and Dean go to Desmond's hideout and split up. Dean runs across Desmond, who gets the better of him, scratching his neck and sampling the blood. Before he can start feeding, Benny kills Desmond. Benny notes the wound on Dean's neck and becomes hungry, but resists the urge and walks away. Dean joins him outside, where Benny remarks that his life here is over. Dean agrees, telling him to go deep underground, lest he attract any more attention.
Sam goes to Amelia's house, searching the place for trouble. However, looking in through a window, Sam sees that Amelia is perfectly fine, relaxing with Don, and leaves. Benny and Dean part ways once more. On the road, Dean calls Martin, telling him that the situation has been neutralized and he shouldn't go looking for Benny. Martin tells Dean that he is leaving and not to worry about him. A little while later, Benny gets a call from Martin from Elizabeth's phone. Martin tells Benny to meet him at the diner. Benny goes to the now-closed diner and finds Martin and Elizabeth inside, Elizabeth tied to a chair. Benny pleads with Martin to let Elizabeth go, but Martin refuses, goading Benny and trying to reveal Benny's true identity to Elizabeth. He cuts her neck in an attempt to draw out Benny's hunger, but Benny again manages to keep control, and asks Martin what he wants. Martin says he wants Benny's head; Benny lays his head on the counter in offering, apologizing to Elizabeth, and Martin moves in to attack.
Out on the road, Dean gets a call from Elizabeth, who begs him to come to the diner. Dean arrives, finding Elizabeth, traumatized and covered in blood, on the porch. He enters the diner, seeing that the place is trashed and blood is everywhere, and finds Martin with his throat ripped out. Benny is nowhere to be found.
Sam is at a bar; he tries the number Amelia's text came from. The call goes to a phone in the Impala's glovebox. Dean answers, and Sam, angry, deduces that it was Dean who sent the text. Dean admits that he switched out Amelia's number in Sam's phone with a burner, just in case. Sam asks if the case is closed, and if there were any casualties; Dean tells him Martin is dead. Dean tries to tell Sam what happened, but Sam refuses to listen and hangs up. Sam gets up to leave, but when he turns around, he sees that Amelia has found him at the bar.
Body Count:
For this episode = 3 humans and 1 vampire.
For the series so far = At least 844 humans (of which 6 were witches), 113 demons, 58 angels, 48 ghosts, 43 vampires, 36 Jefferson Starships, 19 zombies, 19 gods, 9 hellhounds, 7 skinwalkers, 6 changelings, 5 shapeshifters, 5 werewolves, 4 ghouls, 4 Leviathan, 3 djinn, 3 dogs, 2 Amazons, 2 arachnes, 2 kitsunes, 2 rugarus, 2 vetalas, 1 crocotta, 1 dragon, 1 fairy, 1 Khan worm, 1 lamia, the Mother of All, 1 okami, 1 phoenix, 1 Purgatory creature, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 reaper, 1 shojo, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, 1 wendigo, 1 whore of Babylon, and 1 wraith.
Tropes
- Asshole Victim: Martin is ultimately this to Benny.
- Audible Sharpness: We hear a metallic sound from the bushes before Martin finds the customer from Guidry's Cajun Cafe with his throat cut.
- Back for the Dead: Martin, from "Sam, Interrupted" (S05, E11).
- Bar Brawl: Averted, contrary to Sam's expectations.
- Big Eater: Dean.
- At the Lost in the 50's Drive-In Diner.Sam: We got to get.Dean: Can I at least finish my burger?Sam: We got a vamp kill, Dean—Carencro, Louisiana.Dean: Huh. It's been a while since I've had some étouffée.
- And at Guidry's Cajun Cafe.Dean: Actually, I already know what I want.Elizabeth: Let me guess—gumbo?Dean: Was gonna be the gumbo till I saw... [points and clicks his tongue] ...pie.Elizabeth: Well, the special's pecan.Dean: 'Course it is. Let's do that.Elizabeth: Bad news.Dean: You're out of pecan. Story of my life.
- Lampshaded by Benny.Benny: You've lost a step, friend. You need to lay off the junk food.
- At the Lost in the 50's Drive-In Diner.
- Big "NO!": Elizabeth as Martin's about to kill Benny.
- Blood Magic: Dean tries to inject Desmond with dead man's blood to weaken him.
- Blood-Splattered Innocents: Dean drives up to see Elizabeth sitting on the porch, covered in blood.
- The Bro Code: Dean has an Oh, Crap! moment on realising he inadvertently made a pass at Benny's great-granddaughter.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Sam puts Martin in his place when he starts talking about how their father would disapprove.Sam: [pushing Martin against the wall] You listen to me. I brought you into this. I can bring you out just as easy. So the only thing you're gonna be inclined to do is shut up and follow my lead.
- Chekhov's Gun: Dean gives Elizabeth his phone number and she calls him when she needs help.
- Clear My Name: Benny and Dean are attempting this for Benny.
- Cliffhanger: Sam is about to leave the bar when he runs into Amelia, who has followed him there.
- Continuity Nod: Dean knews Amelia's full name because Sam told him in "Southern Comfort".
- Crazy-Prepared: Dean switched out Amelia's number on Sam's cell phone with a burner a while back in case he needed it.
- Curse Cut Short: Dean does not deliver his entire Catchphrase.Dean: [after Desmond is beheaded] Son of a... [looks up at Benny] Took you long enough.
- Dies Wide Open: Martin.
- Disposing of a Body: Dean finds Benny burying the second victim.
- Distress Call: Both Sam and Benny are manipulated by others using the cell phone numbers of women they care about.
- Dean lures Sam away from the fight with a fake text from Amelia.
- Martin lures Benny to the fight by calling him on Elizabeth's phone.
- Evil Gloating: Subverted Trope, when Benny cuts off the monologue along with Desmond's head, but lampshaded by Dean.Dean: You're not gonna talk a lot, are you? I've been dealing with crazy...all day.
- Face Death with Dignity: Subverted; Benny lays his head on the counter for Martin to chop off, but it's just a trick to get him out from behind his hostage.
- Flashback Stares: Sam continues to suffer from these.
- Foreshadowing: Which, oddly enough, also serves as a Call-Back to "Sam, Interrupted" (S05, E11).Martin: I can't believe I left my cell on the bus. Wife says I'd lose my own head if it wasn't screwed on.
- Frame-Up: How Desmond tries to recruit Benny.
- Heartbeat Soundtrack: To emphasize Benny's craving for blood.
- I Have Your Great-Granddaughter
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Don and Sam agree to abide by Amelia's decision on who she will stay with. But then Sam decides to leave anyway, thinking her husband deserves a chance to be with her again.
- Left the Background Music On: "Feel Alright" by Steve Earle plays while Dean is driving in the Impala, and he starts singing along. When he gets the call from Elizabeth, he turns it off.
- Machete Mayhem:
- Benny beheading Desmond.
- Dean refers to hunters as "machete-swingers".
- Master of Unlocking: Dean makes short work of the handcuffs and it didn't look like they left him so much as a paperclip.
- Modesty Bedsheet: Played straight and subverted. In a flashback, we're given an "after" scene between Sam and Amelia, where the camera slowly pans across a trail of clothes littered across the floor to the bed... where Sam is wearing a t-shirt, presumably some type of bottoms, and has a sheet pulled up to mid-torso. Amelia has bare shoulders and has a modesty sheet tucked around her chest and it seems to be implying from their harsh breathing and heavy sighing that they're engaging in post-coital cuddling, but seriously?
- Morality Pet: An Invoked Trope for Benny, who uses Elizabeth to keep him from attacking humans again.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Sam's plan to have Martin follow Benny, and Martin's threatening Elizabeth, forces Benny to feed for the first time since Purgatory.
- Dean's plan to send Sam a fake distress call means he's not there to stop Martin from going off the rails.
- Nightmare Face: Martin tries to force Benny to reveal his Game Face to Elizabeth, but he turns away and restrains himself. Presumably however she saw it when he attacked Martin (which is likely why Benny is starting to shed Manly Tears beforehand).
- Not What It Looks Like:
- Dean comes across Benny burying a corpse.
- Dean tries to explain how Martin is dead, but Sam just hangs up in anger.
- Occam's Razor: Martin's argument for Benny being the killer.Martin: Look, man, you—you ever hear of Occam's Razor? "Keep it simple, stupid"? It's not that complicated.Dean: There's a lot of holes, Martin.Martin: Holes? The only holes we should be looking at are in the vic's neck.
- Papa Wolf: Benny to his great-granddaughter, Elizabeth.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title plays with Citizen Kane.
- The Power of Love/Power of Trust: Benny compares Dean's ability to keep him from killing to the redemption he found with his dead lover, Andrea.Benny: [to Dean] With Andrea gone and you hunting again, seemed like the right time for a homecoming—you two being the only ones who keep all my ducks in a row.
- Ragin' Cajun: Benny and Elizabeth.
- Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: How to kill a vamp.
- Shout-Out: Dean tells Benny that Sam and Martin will kill him even if he is collecting for the March of Dimes.
- Single Tear: A tear can be seen forming when Benny lays his head on the counter.
- The Masquerade Will Kill Your Family Life: Benny just wants to live in peace near Elizabeth. Being a vampire with all kinds of people after you complicates this.
- Tap on the Head: Dean goes out when Martin punches him on the side of the head.
- Thicker Than Water:
- Right now, this appears to be a Subverted Trope for Sam and Dean, as Dean trusts the word of a vampire over the instincts of his brother (who's instincts are wrong).
- Elizabeth did seem to have the ability to keep her great-grandfather Benny's hunger in check...until Martin threatened her.
- Traveling at the Speed of Plot: Sam manages to get from Louisiana to Kermit, Texas◊ in a few hours, a feat that by all rights should take no less than twelve.
- Underestimating Badassery: Dean is more worried about Sam than Martin, whom he regards as crazy and over-the-hill. So Dean sends Sam on a wild goose chase, not thinking of what Martin might do without someone riding herd on him.
- Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Dean compares it to a witch hunt.
- Warm Bloodbags Are Everywhere: Benny's struggles, especially after Desmond scratches Dean's neck and Martin cuts Elizabeth's neck.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Having Martin keep tabs on Benny seems like either a bad idea or a dreadfully immoral one. For one thing, Martin has been out of the hunting game for quite some time, during which he willingly checked himself into a psych ward. Seeing as Sam's whole reason for having Martin track Benny is because he thinks Benny is pulling a fast one on Dean, it seems almost like Sam is treating Martin as a disposable means to see if Benny is willing to kill people just to blend in.
- It gets worse: Sam and Dean both know the details of the incident that prompted Martin to check himself into a psych ward. It wasn't clear to viewers at the time, but it was clearly stated and shown that it left Martin with a crippling fear of blood. He couldn't even say the word "blood" without stammering and flinching. And in this episode, it's ridiculously heavily implied that vampires played a role in Martin's traumatizing event...which ought to make him second only to Gordon on the list of people never to call in the event of morally ambiguous vampires.
- Where Did We Go Wrong?: Martin seems genuinely upset by the decisions made by his friend's children.Martin: Glad your dad wasn't around to hear that. He'd have a mind to take you both out the woodshed and show you what's what. Half inclined to do it myself.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Benny tries to go back to his hometown.
