Things I Love About SPN Season 1: Scarecrow #4
Supernatural, Season 1
Episode 11, “Scarecrow”
Teleplay by John Shiban
Story by Sean Patrick Smith
Directed by Kim Manners
Continued from #3
Warning: image heavy post
Episode 11, “Scarecrow”
Teleplay by John Shiban
Story by Sean Patrick Smith
Directed by Kim Manners
Continued from #3
Warning: image heavy post
Despite the young couple’s reservations, and the townsfolk’s machinations, Dean rescues the prospective victims from death by scarecrow and the next scene opens with Sam at the bus stop, and a phone call between the brothers is already in progress.
It’s a clever device because we don’t know who made the first move. We’re not meant to know; we’re meant to imagine a universe in which it’s possible for both of them to call and be connected at the exact same moment. The dramatic intent is that we should understand there has been no moral victory or defeat on either side, only the mutual desire to reconcile fulfilled.
Sam asks whether the scarecrow killed the couple, and Dean’s response highlights another reason for this episode’s title.
Back before the dangers of phoning while driving were publicized.
(Don’t try this at home, kids!)
On one level “Scarecrow” is a direct response to Sam’s accusation in the previous episode that Dean has no mind of his own, and to any lingering perception that Sam is the smart one of the pairing and Dean is the scarecrow to his Dorothy. The Burkitsville job establishes for the audience that Dean does indeed have a brain and is perfectly capable of working a case by himself. He’s figured out through observation that he’s dealing with a pagan god, from the annual cycle of the killings and the fact that the victims are couples (indicating that it’s a fertility rite). He notes that the locals are feeding up the couple before sending them to the orchard, which constitutes the ritual last meal given to sacrificial victims. All of this demonstrates his thorough knowledge of the lore, and in the absence of Sam’s laptop he has his own method of conducting research: simply trawling local colleges to find experts with relevant expertise that he can utilize.
Then comes the moment in the conversation that I truly love, when the brothers exchange apologies and egos. Sam offers Dean an opportunity to ask him to come back,
Then comes the moment in the conversation that I truly love, when the brothers exchange apologies and egos. Sam offers Dean an opportunity to ask him to come back,
which Dean graciously declines.
“You were right,” he says. “You gotta do your own thing. You gotta live your own life.”
It’s almost like a variation on the old “Gift of the Magi” story: each brother is willing to sacrifice his own needs for the others’ greater good.
It also proves that Dean does, after all, have a mind of his own, independent of his father’s orders, and he admits – almost – that he wishes he had the courage to act on it.
“You’ve always known what you want. And you go after it,” he says. “You stand up to Dad. And you always have. Hell, I wish I—anyway….I admire that about you. I’m proud of you, Sammy.”
So, perhaps Dean is less like the scarecrow, and more like the cowardly lion who wishes he had the nerve. (In point of fact, I think he's actually Toto, but that’s another story.)
At the close of the phone call, Meg gets up and sits next to Sam. “Who was that,” she asks:
SAM: My brother.
MEG: What’d he say?
SAM: Goodbye. (They exchange a look.)
http://supernaturalwiki.com/1.11_Scarecrow_(transcript)
MEG: What’d he say?
SAM: Goodbye. (They exchange a look.)
http://supernaturalwiki.com/1.11_Scarecrow_(transcript)
And when he turns toward the camera, his eyes look suspiciously dewy:
The college professor is played by an old mate of Kim Manners from his days on The X Files: William B. Davis, aka the Cigarette Smoking Man. When we first see him, he’s descending a grand looking staircase with Dean.
Is this what community colleges look like in the US?
The ones I’ve been to were usually in prefabs.
The ones I’ve been to were usually in prefabs.
We often see Sam and/or Dean descending staircases, especially in the early seasons:
From "The Pilot", "Bloody Mary" and "In My Time of Dying"
Symbolically, they serve to imply that the brothers are perpetually descending ever deeper into the underworld, like Dante descending through the nine levels of Hell in The Inferno.
Dean asks about the ancestry of the Burkitsville townsfolk and the religions they might have imported, and the professor reveals they hale from Scandinavia. Cut to him opening a huge book on Norse mythology.
In modern popular culture we’re familiar with the aristocracy of the Norse pantheon (Thor, Odin, Loki etc,), recently popularized by the Marvel movies and properly known as the Aesir, but the significant pages in this tome refer to the Vanir, a lower order of gods responsible for the mundane activities such as commerce and fertility. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vanir)
Dean is quick to spot an illustration that looks like a scarecrow and helpfully reads from the text:
“The Vanir were Norse gods of protection and prosperity, keeping the local settlements safe from harm. Some villagers built effigies of the Vanir in their fields. Other villages practiced human sacrifice. One male, and one female . . . This particular Vanir, it’s energy sprung from the sacred tree?”
He speculates that burning the tree might destroy the god, prompting the professor to remind him, “son, these are just legends we’re discussing”.
Dean agrees and thanks the man for his help then turns to leave the room but, as he opens the door, he walks straight into the sheriff’s rifle butt.
Turns out Cigarette Smoking Man was in on the conspiracy all along. Guess we should have seen that coming . . .
Nice drop, Jensen. Nice camera angle too!
Ultimately, Dean is captured because Sam isn’t there to fulfil his true role of having Dean’s back. It dramatizes the true importance of the partnership beyond the superficial appearance of Dean being ‘the brawn’ and Sam be ‘the brains’. Just as it is Dean’s job to be a protective shield to Sam, it is Sam’s job to have Dean’s back.
(s1e2)
In the absence of Dean, Sam’s soul comes under attack from demons; in Sam’s absence, Dean suffers physical injury and captivity.
Before we move on from this scene, there’s just one more thing I noticed in passing that I found intriguing, and perhaps significant. There’s another illustration we’re shown quite prominently just before Dean spots the scarecrow:
It appears to be a rather nasty pictorial of a reverse crucifixion that, for some reason, reminded me of the Hanged Man card from the Tarot pack. Given the context, the association may not be as random as it might seem since some practitioners connect the card with Odin. Here’s an interesting entry I found courtesy of Google:
The Hanged Man is the only Tarot card visibly based on a mythological figure.
He is Odin, the Norse god who hung from the World Tree for nine days to earn
the knowledge of the Runes. Of all the cultures who embody the search for knowledge in their myths, only Odin carries out his quest without moving, at least in the physical sense. The true quest is seeking within, not without. This may be confusing at first, but only because the Hanged Man is the card of the paradox.
The Hanged Man's mysteries are some of the oddest yet most enlightening
the Tarot has to offer, and they cannot be learned by searching for lessons
in the physical world - you must turn within.
https://www.ata-tarot.com/resource/cards/maj12.html
Given the prominence of the Tarot in the next episode, “Faith”, I thought it might be worth drawing attention to this illustration as a possible example of subtle foreshadowing on the show’s part.
I hope you've enjoyed this latest slice of "Scarecrow". Did you love the phonecall as much as I did? Are there any SPN characters you think are like the characters in The Wizard of Oz? Did you suspect the professor was part of the Burkitsville plot? As always, I look forward to hearing all your thoughts on these scenes.
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