Line #104 Recap/SupernaturalS01E06Skin


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4
5	'''[[Recap/{{Supernatural}} Recap]] of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''''\
6	'''Season 1, Episode 6:'''
7
8	!Skin
9	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/supernatural-skin_1212018633_9778.jpg]]
10	[[caption-width-right:350:Me? I know I'm a freak. And sooner or later, everybody's gonna leave me.]]
11	->'''Dean:''' I really wish things could be different, you know, I wish you could just be Joe College.
12	->'''Sam:''' Nah, that's okay. You know, truth is, even at Stanford, deep down, I never really fit in.
13	->'''Dean:''' Well, that's 'cause you're a freak.
14	->'''Sam:''' Yeah, thanks.
15	->'''Dean:''' Well I'm a freak, too. I'm right there with you, all the way.
16
17	Written by John Shiban.
18
19	Directed by Robert Duncan [=McNeill=].
20
21	Airdate: October 18, 2005.
22
23	Sam's college friend is framed for murder in UsefulNotes/StLouis, Missouri.
24	---------------
25
26	Sam and Dean go to St. Louis to investigate a murder at the behest of Becky Warren, one of Sam's college friends. Her brother Zach is accused of killing his girlfriend and there is forensic evidence to prove it, but Becky insists that he was with her when the murder took place. Sam and Dean uncover a [[Characters/SupernaturalMonstersAndSupernaturalBeings shapeshifter]] who takes on Dean's form and attacks Becky.
27
28	!!Body count:
29	For this episode = 2 humans and 1 shapeshifter.
30
31	For the series so far = At least 109 humans; 4 ghosts; 1 shapeshifter; 1 wendigo.
32
33	----
34	!Tropes appearing in this episode:
35
36	* AxCrazy: The shapeshifter involved is taking people's faces and killing their families ForTheEvulz, and quite [[ColdBloodedTorture sadistically too.]]
37	* ATeamFiring: The SWAT team.
38	* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Sam and Dean pursue their quarry into a sewer large enough for them to stand upright, occasionally walk abreast, and a spacious lair for the shapeshifter. Large rusty pipes and large amounts of moisture complete the expected look of an ancient underground despite the episode being set in St. Louis, MO.
39	* BigBad: The shapeshifter who framed Sam's friend.
40	* BluffTheImpostor: Sam and Dean are hunting a shapeshifter. They [[LetsSplitUpGang split up]], and when they go back to the car Sam asks Dean something about a mission done by their father. Dean seems to give the right answer, proving that he is himself. Except that the shapeshifter can access the thoughts of the person it is mimicking and actually ''had'' copied Dean. Sam still sees through it when "Dean" uses the arm the real Dean had injured.
41	* BodyHorror: A shapeshifter is killing people, and Dean theorizes that shifting involves shedding his previous skin. Late in the episode, we see him shift. Dean was right.
42	* BusmansHoliday: While it's not really a "holiday", Sam and especially Dean didn't expect that helping one of Sam's friends would end with hunting a monster.
43	* CaptainObvious: Sam, pointing to bloodstain. "Blood."
44	* ClearMyName: What Sam and Dean are trying to do for Zach. They succeed when all the shapeshifter's crimes are pinned on Dean. Police figure that Dean tampered with the video recording of Zach at the crime scene.
45	* ColdBloodedTorture: The shapeshifter ties its victim up, tortures her with a knife, and leaves her either to die of her injuries or be rescued by a third party.
46	* CriminalDoppelganger: A shapeshifter impersonates people close to the victims while committing his crimes so that they'll take the fall instead of him.
47	* EvilDetectingDog: One of the first clues that something supernatural might be involved is that the dog next door has become vicious since the attack.
48	* FakingTheDead: The dead shapeshifter is indistinguishable from the real Dean.
49	** AttendingYourOwnFuneral: Dean muses that he missed the opportunity to do this.
50	* FanDisservice: Dean seducing Becky? [[FanService Fine]]. A shapeshifter pretending to be Dean seducing Becky as a prelude to brutalizing and murdering her, not so much. Followed by the shapeshifter removing its skin, complete with werewolf-esque writhing and screaming.
51	* {{Fingore}}: As part of its transformation, when the shapeshifter starts shedding its skin we see its fingernails start popping out in graphic detail.
52	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Dean's line about how many chances he will have to see his own funeral foreshadows his [[DeathIsCheap repeated deaths and resurrections]].
53	-->'''Dean:''' You know, I gotta say--I'm sorry I'm gonna miss it.
54	-->'''Sam:''' Miss what?
55	-->'''Dean:''' How many chances am I gonna have to see my own funeral?
56	* ForTheEvulz: The shapeshifter's motivation.
57	* {{Frameup}}
58	* FreudianExcuse: According to the shapeshifter, he has one. Though it still doesn't excuse his acts.
59	-->'''Shapeshifter!Dean:''' Maybe this thing was born human but was different, hideous and hated...until he learned to become someone else.
60	* AFriendInNeed: Sam is willing to travel back 400 miles to see if there is anything he can do for his college friend when he hears he has been accused of murder.
61	* GenderBender: The shapeshifter posing as Becky before it knocks Sam out and tries to kill him.
62	* GlamourFailure: Seeing "Zach"'s eyes flaring when caught on camera is what convince the brothers they are dealing with a shapeshifter.
63	* GlowingEyesOfDoom
64	* GrievousBottleyHarm: How shapeshifter!Becky knocks Sam out.
65	* HeroWithBadPublicity: Illustrates the fact that when the Winchester brothers [[WalkingDisasterArea show up at the same time horrific events occur]] it makes them [[TheScapegoat targets for law enforcement]].
66	* HowWeGotHere: Opens with "Dean" about to murder Becky.
67	* IconicItem: Dean retrieves his amulet from the dead shapeshifter and is upset that it drove his baby, the Chevrolet Impala.
68	* IJustWantToHaveFriends
69	* IShallTauntYou: The shapeshifter to Sam.
70	* KubrickStare: Shapeshifter!Dean gives one to the SWAT team.
71	* LetsSplitUpGang: The brothers, while looking for a shapeshifter. What could possibly go wrong?
72	* LivingADoubleLife: Sam [[{{Masquerade}} does not tell his college friends]] about hunting because he does not think [[TheWorldIsNotReady they would understand or believe him]].
73	* [[TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife The Masquerade Will Kill Your Social Life]]: One of the reasons KeepingSecretsSucks.
74	-->'''Dean:''' Look, it sucks. But with a job like this you can't get close to people. Period.
75	-->'''Sam:''' You're kind of anti-social, you know that?
76	-->'''Dean:''' Yeah, whatever.
77	* MetaphoricallyTrue: Sam didn't exactly tell his friends what he was doing with his brother.
78	-->'''Sam:''' I tell them I'm on a road trip with my big brother. I tell them I needed some time off after Jess.
79	-->'''Dean:''' Well, so you lie to them?
80	-->'''Sam:''' No, I just don't tell them...everything.
81	-->'''Dean:''' Yeah, that's called lying.
82	* MonsterModesty: The shapeshifter takes off Dean's [[ShirtlessScene shirt and jacket]] but not his pants to shed its skin.
83	* {{Mutants}}: The shapeshifter suggests this is his [[SuperHeroOrigin origin]].
84	-->'''Becky:''' Well, what is it? Like a genetic freak?
85	-->'''Shapeshifter!Dean:''' Maybe...evolution is about mutation, right? So maybe this thing was born human but was different, hideous and hated...until he learned to become [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse someone else]].
86	* PainfulTransformation: And disgusting. To transform, the shifter has to, in essence, ''rip off'' its old form, including having all its teeth fall out (or be ''pulled'' out if they won't go quietly).
87	* PantsPositiveSafety: Sam tucks the gun Dean gives him into his waistband.
88	* RapeDiscretionShot: After Shapeshifter!Dean fails to seduce Becky, he chases her through her house, holds her down, and ties her up while she's screaming. The scene quickly cuts away, then cuts back to a bloodied, carved-up Becky tied to a chair. [[FridgeHorror It's never stated outright, but given how it acts it's not too much of a stretch to imagine that he raped her (and possibly his other victims)]].
89	* SerialKiller
90	* {{Shapeshifter}}
91	* ShapeshifterBaggage
92	* ShapeshifterGuiltTrip: One of the many examples in the show.
93	-->'''Shapeshifter!Dean:''' I am your brother. See, deep down, I'm just jealous. You got friends. You could have a life. Me? I know I'm a freak. And sooner or later, everybody's gonna leave me.
94	-->'''Sam:''' What are you talking about?
95	-->'''Shapeshifter!Dean:''' You left. Hell, I did everything Dad asked me to, and he ditched me, too. No explanation, nothing, just poof. Left me with your sorry ass.
96	* ShirtlessScene: That quickly becomes a [[{{Squick}} skinless scene]].
97	* ShoutOut:
98	** Becky makes a reference to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooters Hooters]].
99	-->'''Sam:''' Hey, [[AffectionateNickname Bec]], can we take those beers now?
100	-->'''Becky:''' Uh, sure.
101	-->'''Sam:''' Hey, ah, maybe some sandwiches, too?
102	-->'''Becky:''' What do you think this is, [[FanServiceWithASmile Hooters]]?
103	-->'''Dean:''' ''[quietly]'' I wish.
104	** Dean compares the shapeshifter's ability to [[ExpositionBeam download thoughts and memories]] to a [[TheSpock Vulcan]] mind meld from ''Franchise/StarTrek''.
105	* SilverHasMysticPowers: You kill a shapeshifter with a silver bullet to the heart.
106	* SuperDickery: The opening scene with "Dean" torturing a sobbing, bloodied woman with his knife.
107	* TemptingFate: When Dean finds his car. "Ah ha! There she is! Finally, something went right tonight!" Cue the police cars.
108	* TooDumbToLive: Why doesn't the shapeshifter just kill Sam, the guy who's been hunting him down, right away either of the two times he has him captured?
109	* TraitorShot
110	* {{Tuckerization}}: When Sam is checking his cell phone, a text message from Jerry Wanek can be seen. [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0910822/ Jerry Wanek]] is the Production Designer for ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. The name Jerry Wanek was [[RunningGag previously seen]] as Dean's alias on his U.S. Department of Homeland Security ID in [[Recap/SupernaturalS01E04PhantomTraveller "Phantom Traveler" (S01, E04)]].

Context Recap / SupernaturalS01E06Skin