Scenes I Love . . .

Next scene finds the boys in Nebraska. Dean’s scouting the local newspapers while Sam’s checking online for leads in neighbouring states. But pickings are slim, and it seems Dean’s still trying to hook Sam up with Sarah from “Provenance”:

DEAN
(Smirking) Hey you know we could just keep heading east. New York. Upstate.
We could drop by and see Sarah again. Huh? Cool chick man, smokin'. (he whistles)
You two seemed pretty friendly. What do you say?
https://supernaturalwiki.com/1.20_Dead_Man%27s_Blood_(transcript)



Is show trying to tease us with the idea that there’s still hope for Sam and Sarah? (Spoiler alert: there isn’t.)

SAM
Yeah, I dunno, maybe someday. But in the meantime, we got a lot of work to do Dean, and you know that.
(Ibid.)

I doubt I noticed the subtle little nod back to the pilot in that line when I first watched this episode, but now that “we’ve got work to do” has become a major catchphrase for the brothers, it’s hard to miss.

Dean acknowledges Sam’s point but with a sigh and an eye roll. Maybe he was hoping to distract Sam from “the work”. We’ve seen evidence in recent episodes that he’s lost enthusiasm for hunting, and maybe now he regrets (allegedly) dragging Sam back into it and wishes he could restore the apple pie life his younger brother had been trying to build back then.

Sam finds a case in Colorado of a man killed in a suspicious bear attack/robbery and when he mentions the name, it strikes a chord with Dean who quickly searches through John’s journal:

SAM
You think it's the same Elkins?
DEAN
It's a Colorado area code.
(Ibid.)

It’s a small thing, but I’ve always found it interesting. Do you think Dean just happens to know the Colorado area code? Or does he know the codes of all the states, because that would be quite a feat. I mean, my country only has six states and two territories, and I know the codes of . . . maybe three of them?

Yeah, you’re right. I’m probably over thinking this. Still, my head canon is that he has indeed memorized the area codes for all fifty states, and this is another subtle nod to his oft-underestimated smarts.

Or, it’s just convenient to the plot. Whatever 😉

There’s another backward nod when Sam finds a salt ring round Elkins' door, like the one in John’s motel room in the pilot.

SAM
Hey, there's salt over here. Right beside the door.
DEAN
(flicking through ELKINS' journal) You mean protection against demon salt, or 'oops I spilled the popcorn' salt.
SAM
It's clearly a ring. You think this guy Elkins was a player?
(Ibid.)

The journal is just like John’s except we’re told it dates back to the 60s. Meanwhile we discover the cabin is being watched by a creepy figure in the shadows.

Sifting through the detritus from the fight, Dean notices scratches on the floor. “Death throes, maybe?” Sam suggests, but Dean’s not so sure. He rips a sheet of paper from a notepad and lays it over the scratches, using the sticky blood residue to secure it in place on the floor (ew).

Smart Dean is being smart again. 😊

Shading over the page with the pencil reveals the message in the scratches.

You know, I hate to nitpick . . . (Oh, who am I kidding? I loooove to nitpick 😉) but I gotta ask, when did Elkins get the opportunity to scratch a bloody message into the floor? Last time we saw him he was pinned to the desk by two burly vampires and, though we didn’t actually see his death, the screams over the blackout certainly implied it. I mean, I reckon that guy was dead. But that’s just a guess on my part. 😉

Nevertheless, Dean hands the recovered message to Sam who identifies the three letters and six digits.

They make a great team, don’t they? 😊

The figure of John Winchester seems to be haunting this scene like a spectre . . . rather like that creepy figure watching the cabin, in fact . . .