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Recap / Supernatural S 08 E 18 Freaks And Geeks

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Recap of Supernatural
Season 8, Episode 18

Freaks And Geeks

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"I saw a way to make the future better, but to get there I had to do something hard." —Victor

Dean: They're hunters now. You don't just walk away from that. There's only one way out of that, and you and I both know it ain't pretty. Maybe they'll be different. Or maybe if we shut that hell hole once and for and all, those three can have a real life.
Sam: Maybe they won't be the only ones.

Written by Adam Glass.

Directed by John Showalter.

Air Date: March 27, 2013.

Sam and Dean investigate the death of two women with their throats ripped out in Conway Springs, Kansas. Posing as FBI agents, they find out that the local police have surveillance footage of three teenagers beheading a vampire. Dean recognizes one of the teenagers as Krissy Chambers, who left the hunting life after Dean helped her kill a Vetala in order to rescue her father and Sam. Sam and Dean track her down in a hotel, where she has tracked a vampire with her two friends, Josephine and Aidan. Krissy manages to drop the vampire with a dart filled with dead man's blood, and the vampire begs for help before Josephine beheads him. Krissy explains that her father was killed by a vampire and she is hunting the nest of vampires that killed her father and the families of Aidan and Josephine. They were taken in by Victor Rogers, a hunter Sam and Dean once worked with on a rugaru hunt. Victor is training them to be hunters, but still seems to be giving them a well-balanced life with a home and regular school. Sam seems drawn to the possibility of balancing hunting with a normal life, but Dean suspects something is not quite right.

Dean finds out that the vampire they killed was Jimmy Day, a veteran who returned from Afghanistan one month ago. Josephine's family was killed three months ago. Dean also discovered that the man in a hoodie who checked in to the hotel room where they found Jimmy was interested in a deserted lodge. When Deann goes to this lodge he finds a newly-made vampire who is in pain as she has not fed and has no idea what's happened to her. The teenage hunters arrive at the lodge, where Victor told them they would find the vampire that killed Krissy's father. Dean manages to convince them that the newly-made vampire may be innocent, and that they should try to help her instead of killing her. Back at Victor's house, Sam notices the blue van that they had previously seen Jimmy Day running towards before he was caught. Sam tells Victor, who knocks Sam out. When Sam wakes up he is tied to a chair, and Victor explains that he has been working with a vampire named Seth to make a better generation of hunters. After Victor scouted the teenagers, Seth killed their families so that they would be motivated to be hunters. Victor intends to have Seth kill Sam, and leave his body for the teenage hunters to find, further fueling their need for revenge.

Dean and the teenage hunters return and confront Victor and Seth. Seth manages to grab Aidan, but Josephine stabs Seth while Krissy shoots Seth with dead man's blood. Krissy then points her gun on Victor and dry-fires it as she names his crimes. Victor is overwhelmed by guilt and pulls a gun from his boot, shooting himself in the head. They use Seth's blood to cure the newly-made vampire from the lodge. Dean wants to take Krissy to her aunt in Cincinnati, so she can have a normal life. Krissy wants to stay with Aidan and Josephine, and she says they won't go looking for trouble, but if any monsters come around, they will be ready. Dean agrees to this and tells them Garth will come by to check on them. Dean also tells Sam they need to close the Hell Gates so the kids have a chance at a normal life. Sam hopes they won't be the only ones.

Body Count:

For this episode = 3 vampires and 1 human.

For the series so far = At least 886 humans (of which 7 were witches), 130 demons, 59 angels, 48 ghosts, 46 vampires, 36 Jefferson Starships, 20 gods, 19 zombies, 10 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 Thule, 2 vetalas, 1 crocotta, 1 dragon, 1 fairy, 1 familiar, 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 Titan, 1 wendigo, 1 whore of Babylon, and 1 wraith.

Tropes

  • Alas, Poor Villain: Jimmy Day, a soldier recently returned from Afghanistan-turned-vampire. His near-victim mentions that he was in tears and apologizing when he tied her up, and he later fearfully begs Josephine for his life.
  • And This Is for...: Krissy to Victor.
  • Anywhere but Their Lips: As a farewell, Dean offers a fist bump, but Krissy kisses Dean on the cheek instead.
  • The Artful Dodger: Krissy.
  • Badass Bookworm: Josephine is a National Merit Scholar as well as a hunter. She is reading a trig textbook at the breakfast table.
  • The Bait: Krissy in the teaser, which she lampshades.
    Krissy: That was close. Next time one of you can be the bait.
  • Blood Magic: A vampire who has not fed can be cured by drinking a mixture containing the blood of the vampire who made them.
  • Bond Villain Stupidity: After tying Sam to a chair, Victor waits for him to wake up from his head injury to explain his plan, allowing enough time for Dean and the teenagers to return.
  • Breather Episode: Only in Supernatural would an episode about a man who murders families to create orphans he can turn into child soldiers be considered something a little Lighter and Softer.
  • The Bus Came Back: Krissy, who was last seen in "Adventures In Babysitting" (S07, E11).
  • Can't Stay Normal: Krissy.
    Krissy: For a while it was amazing. We had dinner every night at a table. We watched TV, went on walks, even went to the mall.
    Dean: And then?
    Krissy: And then the past came a-knocking. I woke up one morning and found him dead, his throat ripped out.
  • Character Development/Sanity Ball: Dean has always wanted to protect others as a hunter, but this episode really highlights his development, which started in "Bloodlust" (S02, E03) and led to him befriending Benny the vampire.
    Dean: Hunting isn't all about killing and revenge.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The blue van that pulls up in the teaser and which Dean later points out after chasing Jimmy Day.
  • Child Soldiers: Victor's plan was to create these. It looks to have worked pretty well.
  • Continuity Nod:
  • Cover Identity Anomaly: The Kansas driver's license Krissy uses is a laminated white card with a green bar on the top. The actual Kansas driver's license issued in 2010 is blue with a second ghost portrait and a picture of the state capitol building in the background.
  • Crowbar Combatant: Aidan grabs a crowbar to use as a weapon in the teaser.
  • Cruel Mercy: Krissy refusing to kill Victor, so he can spend the rest of his life alone. Victor's response is to shoot himself.
  • Cut Apart: The scene of Aidan unlocking the hotel room with the vampire inside cuts to a door opening to reveal Sam and Dean entering the room where Krissy is.
  • Cryptic Background Reference: Sam and Dean met Victor on a rugaru hunt in Spokane, Washington several years ago.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: Victor's family was killed by a wendigo.
  • Damsel in Distress: Connie Bound and Gagged on the hotel bed with Tears of Fear and running eye makeup.
  • Defensive Failure: Dean snatches the gun out of Aidan's hand, releases the magazine, and clears the chamber.
  • Depleted Phlebotinum Shells: Darts filled with dead man's blood.
  • Destination Defenestration: The vampire in the teaser breaks the car window and drags Krissy out of it.
  • Dies Wide Open: Victor.
  • Disposing of a Body: They wrap up Jimmy Day's body separately from his head, both in plastic sheets, and put him in the car trunk.
  • Don't Go in the Woods: Seth picked up a pamphlet for Conway Springs Lodge—which is in a forest—at the hotel and uses the camping lodge, which is closed for the season, as the setting where the teenagers find the newly-made vampire.
  • Driven to Suicide: After Krissy spares him so he can live with his guilt alone, Victor shoots himself in the head.
  • Everybody Owns a Ford: Once again a Subverted Trope in Supernatural, with the teenagers driving a 1981 AMC Concord station wagon.
  • Everything Is Online/Hollywood Hacking: Krissy is able to hack into the security footage of an ATM and hotel to identify a vampire.
  • Evil Mentor: Victor.
  • False Roulette: Krissy dry-fires her gun at Victor, naming his crimes, and then drops the bullets she removed from the gun at his feet to symbolize his victims.
  • Fantastic Slurs: "Vamp" and "blood banger".
  • Faux Affably Evil: Victor appears fatherly and well-meaning.
    Dean: I never trust a guy who wears a sweater.
  • Frame-Up: Victor fakes surveillance camera stills to make a newly-made vampire appear to be the vampire that killed Krissy's father.
  • Girlfriend in Canada: Lampshaded when Aidan teases Krissy.
    Krissy: I told you, I have a boyfriend.
    Krissy: Because we only Skype.
    Aidan: Right, and, let me guess, he also lives in Canada?
    Krissy: You know, he does, actually. A small town called Kiss My Ass.
  • Girl with Psycho Weapon: Josephine carries a rifle and wields a machete.
  • He's Got a Weapon!: Krissy yells "gun" when Victor pulls a gun from his boot.
  • Home Sweet Home: Victor lives in a charming home painted blue with white trim, a porch, trimmed hedges, and stained-glass windows.
    Dean: Not what I'd call a compound.
  • Hostage Situation: After Seth grabs Aidan, Victor tries to get Krissy to let them leave.
  • Hiss Before Fleeing: The vampire Jimmy Day in the hotel room.
  • Hungry Menace: Dean says that a newspaper account of "two young women found near the freeway with their throats ripped out" sounds "vampy" to him.
  • Idiot Ball: As noble as it was to give Victor a case of Cruel Mercy, even if they had put Garth on his tail, what would have stopped him from trying this again sometime down the line? Given how much of a Knight Templar he had become, Victor's suicide was the only thing that prevented this from definitely happening again.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: Victor's justification includes making the world safe for children.
    Victor: We have to do what we can to survive. But I wouldn't expect you to understand. You're not a father. You don't know what it's like to hear the cries of your children dying.
  • If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Subverted. At the end of the episode, Dean pulls Aidan aside...
    Dean: Aidan. Listen, there's something I want to tell you about Krissy...
    Aidan: Oh, I know, you'll kill me if I hurt her, Blah, Blah, Blah...
    Dean: No, no. No, she'll kill you. [pats Aidan on the back] Good luck.
  • Imposter Forgot One Detail: Sam knows something's off when Victor's "security footage" doesn't have a timestamp on it.
  • Informed Ability: Victor says Aidan is very fast, which seems odd given that Dean is able to take his gun and Seth is able to grab him.
  • In the Hood: Seth the vampire wears a hoodie. He pulls down the hood to dramatic music after parking the van near Victor's house.
  • Jurisdiction Friction: Dean insists the Sheriff call off the APB and give them the security footage of Krissy and the other kids while pretending to be an FBI agent.
    Dean: Why do you think we're here? You just crossed streams with a federal investigation. Now I suggest you cooperate, call off your APB, or you're going to find yourself in a world of hurt.
  • Just a Kid: Dean wants to protect Krissy and the other teenagers from a hunter's life.
    Dean: Well, look, I am sorry to rain on your parade, but you are way too young to be doing this.
    Krissy: You're never too young to kill monsters, especially the ones that kill your family.
  • The Ketchup Test: Aidan touches the blood outside the hotel room and then rubs it between his thumb and finger.
  • Little Miss Badass: Krissy.
  • Machete Mayhem: Aidan and Josephine wield machetes.
  • Make-Out Point: Fuller Point, where you can park overlooking a dam.
  • Mangst: Sam tries to get Dean to talk about mind-controlled-Castiel nearly killing him in "Goodbye Stranger" (S08, E17):
    Dean: What, like my feelings?
    Sam: If that's what you want to talk about, sure.
    Dean: Okay. I'll tell you what. Why don't I go get some herbal tea...
    Sam: Okay.
    Dean: ...and you can find some Cowboy Junkies on the dial...
    Sam: Eat me, Dean. [gets out of the car]
    Dean: ...and you know what? We'll just talk it out. [Sam slams the car door] Good talk. [gets out of the car] Nay, great talk. Very healthy!
  • Manly Tears: Aidan cries after he beheads the vampire in the teaser.
  • Master of Unlocking: Aidan and Dean make short work of locked hotel room doors using lockpicks.
  • Memento MacGuffin: Krissy believes the woman in the fake surveillance photo killed her father because she is wearing a necklace which had belonged to her father and had been an anniversary present from her mother.
  • Metallicar Syndrome: A big blue van is even more conspicuous than Dean's baby.
  • Moe Greene Special: Krissy shoots Seth in the eye with a dart filled with dead man's blood.
  • Motivational Kiss: Aidan tries to start this tradition, but is shot down.
    Aidan: Hey, how about we start a new tradition, and before each job, we give each other good luck kisses?
    Josephine: How about I punch you in the throat instead?
  • The Mountains of Illinois: When driving to the camping lodge in Kansas, Dean drives up a hill and through an evergreen forest.
  • My Car Hates Me: After the unseen monster throws open the hood and the grinding of metal is heard, Aidan tries unsuccessfully to start the car in the teaser.
  • Obviously Evil: Seth is very creepy and delights in the evil he has done, creating an obvious contrast between him and the newly-made vampires.
  • One-Steve Limit: Another Jimmy, Jimmy Day, and another Victor.
  • Opposed Mentors: Dean shows the teenagers a different way to be a hunter: focusing on helping others, rather than the revenge-motivated way Victor took.
  • Orphan's Ordeal
  • Pistol-Whipping: Victor knocks Sam out by striking him with his gun from behind.
  • Precious Photo: Victor shows Sam the photo of his family he carries in his wallet.
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Winchester's hunter friends.
    Victor: Come on, guys. I know your friends. Martin was insane. And somebody obviously dropped Garth on his head when he was a baby. And I know you two loved that Bobby guy, but he was a barely-functional alcoholic.
  • Really 17 Years Old: Krissy has a Kansas driver's license in her name with the date of birth as 10/12/1988.
    Clerk: You're 25?
  • Recruit Teenagers with Attitude
  • Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: Decapitation of vampires.
  • Replacement Goldfish: The kids are clearly this for Victor, whose own children were ripped apart by a wendigo.
  • Returning War Vet: Inverted Trope, with Jimmy Day becoming a victim instead of a hero within a month of returning from Afghanistan. Although he did get a parade.
  • Revenge Before Reason: Josephine beheads Jimmy even though he denies any knowledge of killing her family.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Krissy bribes the hotel clerk when he realizes her ID is fake. The boys get info out of the same clerk by paying more than she did.
    Clerk: You're 25?
    Krissy: [puts two $20 bills on the counter] Actually, I think I'm 40.
  • Serial Killer: The local sheriff dubbed the recent murders of two women under 21 "The Lady-Killer Murders", believing it to be the work of a serial killer, but found it strange that the victims were drained of blood.
  • Shaky P.O.V. Cam: The low-light footage from the cameras mounted on Aidan's and Josephine's heads.
  • Shout-Out:
    • When Sam wants Dean to talk about how he feels, Dean suggests they find some Cowboy Junkies on the dial.
    • Dean describes Krissy as "sneaking out in the middle of the night to go hunt monsters with The Apple Dumpling Gang".
    • Dean says the teenagers were caught on Candid Camera.
    • Aidan accuses Josephine of "putting salt" in his game, a phrase popularized on The O.C..
    • Dean says Jimmy Day was Usain Bolting it to the blue van.
    • Krissy makes a reference to the X-Men.
      Dean: Wait. So, what are we talking here? Some sort of kids' school for hunters?
      Krissy: Don't be such a dweeb, okay? We're not the X-Men.
    • Dean said he expected Victor's home to be "a little more Lord of the Flies, less Huxtables".
    • Victor compares his children to The Beatles.
    • Dean calls Victor and his children The Brady Bunch.
    • Victor says the next generation of hunters will be stronger, faster.
  • Shut Up, Kirk!: Victor is not interested in Sam's opinion or Dean's.
    Victor: [to Sam] I don't need to justify my actions to you, or your self-righteous ass of a brother.
  • Snuff Film: Dean compares the surveillance footage of the beheading at Make-Out Point to a snuff film, and is worried and upset to see Krissy starring in the footage.
  • So Proud of You
    Dean: I'm proud of you.
    Krissy: Shut up before I punch you.
  • Social Services Does Not Exist: Victor was allowed to take in three unrelated children with no difficulty. Dean leaves three teenagers to live by themselves. While it is mentioned that Josie is going to be turning 18 in a few months, this does not solve the problem about what would happen with guardianship of the other two minors, who will presumably still be going to school and trying to pay the bills.
  • Stages of Monster Grief: None of the newly-made vampires get beyond the first stage, denial.
  • Stupid Evil: Seth is helping make more Vampire Hunters, which doesn't seem like a good idea for a vampire.
  • Superhero School: Victor's strategy to create better hunters.
    Sam: So, these kids go to school, like school-school, real school?
    Victor: Yes, and they're doing incredibly well, considering all they've been through.
    Dean: Okay, so how does this work? What, after soccer practice and—and the bake sale, they chop vampires' heads off?
    Victor: Well, yeah. I think a balanced approach is best. Don't you?
  • Super Window Jump: Jimmy Day leaves the hotel room by jumping through the closed window.
  • Surveillance as the Plot Demands: The closed-circuit TV camera installed at the local make-out point and the security footage of the other vampire suspects. The second part is justified, as it turns out Victor created the footage of the other vamp suspects. The first part is explained by the officer, who says they put them up for security, since there's a lot of teenagers making out there.
  • Talking the Monster to Death: Krissy does this to Victor.
  • Tap on the Head
  • Teenage Death Songs: "I'll Surely Die" by The Rubens, which plays over the teaser, is a current version.
  • Terror at Make-Out Point: Subverted Trope, with the couple making out in the car with steamed-up windows actually serving as vampire bait for a trap.
  • They Were Holding You Back: Victor killed the families of each child to make them hunters.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Seth brags about killing the families of the armed teenage hunters right in front of them.
  • Tranquillizer Dart: Krissy drops both Seth and Jimmy Day with dart filled with dead man's blood.
  • Troubling Unchildlike Behavior
  • Two Girls and a Guy: Krissy, Josephine, and Aidan.
  • Unwanted Rescue: Sam and Dean go to find Krissy, and when they do, she is not exactly thrilled.
    Krissy: [pointing a gun at Dean] What are you two doing here?
    Dean: Saving your bacon, that's what.
    Krissy: Does it look like my bacon needs saving?
  • Vampiric Draining: The two women found near the freeway were drained of blood.
  • Villains Want Mercy: Jimmy Day begs for help before he is beheaded. This non-vampiric behavior convinces Dean that something is wrong.
    Dean: Vampires don't beg for their lives, they attack.
  • Weakened by the Light: The newly-made vampire begs Dean to turn off the lights because they hurt her skin.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Dean objects to killing Victor, despite his guilt, because he is a human.
    Dean: We don't kill people.
  • The World Is Not Ready: Krissy argues that maybe it would be a good thing for people to know about the supernatural so they can defend themselves. Dean argues against it, saying it would cause mass panic.
  • Would You Like to Hear How They Died?:
    Seth: And they all screamed and begged for mercy, especially the little ones.
  • Young Gun: Krissy, Josephine, and Aidan.

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