Title Scarecrow
Episode # Season 1, Episode 11
First aired 10 January, 2006
Directed by Kim Manners
Written by John Shiban
Outline Sam and Dean argue and part ways; Dean to a hunt in Indiana, and Sam seeking John in California.
Monster Vanir
Location(s) Burkittsville, Indiana
Timeline four days between 8-15 April, 2006
Sam and Dean's father sends them to a small town where the citizens sacrifice couples to a pagan god which manifests through a scarecrow. However the two argue and go their seperate ways. Dean goes to the town in Indiana, and Sam, to another hunt... for their dad.
.
Music
* Creedence
Clearwater Revival - Lodi
* Bad Company – Bad Company
Trivia
This episode is supposed to have taken place in Burkittsville,
Indiana. The movie "The Blair Witch Project" is supposed
to have taken place in Burkittsville, Maryland.
When Sam first meets Meg in the bus depot, the song Lodi by CCR
can be heard playing in the background.
Quotes
Dean:
All right, look, I know how you feel.
Sam: Do you? How old were you when Mom died? Four? Jess died six
months ago. How the hell would you know how I feel?
Sam: So, Dad is sending us to Indiana to go hunting for something
before another couple vanishes?
Dean: Yahtzee. Can you imagine putting together a pattern like
this? All the different obits Dad had to go through? The man’s
a master!
Dean: You’re a selfish bastard, you know that? You just do
whatever you want. Don’t care what anybody thinks.
Sam: That’s what you really think?
Dean: Yes, it is.
Sam: Well, then this selfish bastard is going to California.
Sam: You trust shady van guy and not me?
Meg: Definitely.
Dean: Actually, I'm on my way to the local community college.
I got an appointment with a professor.. you know, since I don't
have my trusty sidekick geek boy to do all the research!
References
Vince: [seeing the Scarecrow] Check it out. If I only had a
brain...
A reference to the Scarecrow character from The Wizard of
Oz book and movie. All the main characters in Oz lack something
they wish for The Wizard to give them; in Scarecrow's case, it
is a brain. The line itself is from the famous 1939 movie musical,
in which Scarecrow and the others sing "If I Only Had a Brain"...
Dean: Hi, my name’s John Bonham.
Scotty: Isn’t that the drummer for Led Zeppelin?
Stacy: Sweetheart, that’s what sacrifice means. Giving up
something you love for the greater good. The town needs to be
safe. The good of the many outweighs the good of the one.
Possibly a reference to lines from Star Trek II: The Wrath
of Khan:
Spock: Were I to invoke logic, however, logic clearly dictates
that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
Kirk: Or the one.
Dean: Let’s just shag ass before Leatherface catches up.
Leatherface is the main villian of the horror series Texas
Chainsaw Massacre. The reference is likely due to the fact that
skin from the victim at the start of the show was found grafted
to the arm of the scarecrow. Leatherface would often make masks
out of the faces of his victims, stated in the 2001 remake because
he hides a degenerative skin disease.
Others...
* This episode is set in Burkittsville, which was also the
name of the town in which The Blair Witch Project was set.
* The urban legend of this episode (immigrants bringing their
old gods to worship in a new country) seems to be influenced by
the plot of the Neil Gaiman sci-fi novel American Gods, in which
the deities of ancient mythology (Odin, Loki, Thoth, etc) are
remanifested and recruited to fight the New American Gods. Kripke
has said he is an avid fan of Gaiman's work.
There are 6 references to the movie The Wizard of Oz:
1) The Scarecrow,
2) An "If I only had a brain" quote
3) a "into the cellar!" moment
4) apple trees;
5) the girl's name of Emily - "Em" for short and the
same name as Dorothy's aunt;
6) Emily living with her aunt and uncle.