Supernatural Idioms season one episode one – Pilot (La caccia ha inizio) – Lawrence, Kansas / Jericho, California

At last! Supernatural Idioms, Season one, episode one. We’re on the road! I’ve wanted to do this for ages, and I’ll be honest: you’ll find sometimes I speak of the show characters as if they were people I know, friends, in actual fact.  (You can find more information on the show here).

Anyway. In this first episode, we see the roots of Sam and Dean’s “family business”: one night of twenty-two years before, their mom was killed in an attempt to save Sam, who was only six months old, from some unknown evil.

Since then, their father has spent his whole life trying to track down the monster that killed his wife, at the cost of saddling his older son Dean with too much responsibility. Dean has grown up in the shadow of his father, taking care of and watching out for his little brother (even when he’s stopped being “little” and has become, literally, a giant), as well as “hunting things, saving lives”: the family business, in fact.

Sam has been trying to get out of that life for years, Now, he’s engaged to the beautiful and sweet Jessica and intends to graduate and live a “normal” (or rather “safe”) life. When their father disappears, he reluctantly accepts to help Dean, thinking it will be just for a couple of days, but…

You got him?

Are you taking care of him?

Baby fussing over monitor

Babbles of a restless baby demanding attention, heard through a device in their parents’ room

Here’s to Sam and his awesome LSAT victory

Sam is with Jessica and other friends, including Luis. Jessica proposes a toast for Sam, who’s been admitted to Law School with “scary good” scores (174 out of 180, which actually seems to make him a sort of nerd). In other words, Sam’s victory calls for a drink. We begin to know Sam as a straight-A student, who “acts all humble”, i.e., is not a bragger, but you can see he’s very proud of his results and feels pleased at his girlfriend and other people’s compliments. Actually, Jessica seems to reassure him a lot; mainly because he’s not so self-confident, and he’s a bit anxious too. A very likeable young man, all in all, who, despite his being so serious and result-oriented, is very popular with the other students.

So, there you go. You are a first-round draft pick

An expression used in basket and other sports to indicate excellent players, who are chosen by the best teams.

I got a shot at a full ride next year

A full ride is an offer by a college or university to pay all costs for the studies of a person with great ability. In this case, Sam hopes to be accepted at Stanford, (a shot is a possibility, a chance), and his saying so confirms what we’d suspected about his priorities at this time of his life (and about his character, too).

How’s it feel to be the golden boy of your family?

How is it to be the most successful, admired and popular member…? Luis is obviously convinced that Sam’s family must be very proud of him. (I would be gloating, he says); and Sam’s answer is, once again, revealing. They don’t know, he says, and it sounds like they don’t care. A lot is left unsaid here. We can guess this is one of the reasons of Sam’s being so keen on studying. He has to prove himself in something very far from his family’s values, but he’s also disappointed and sad because it doesn’t matter to them. As we will soon learn, they’re actually mad at him, for having left. We can sense that there’s something missing, some unresolved issue, but this remains just a feeling, for the time being at least, as nobody openly speaks of this.

We’re not exactly the Bradys

The Bradys was a sitcom, I think Sam here means they’re not “your typical American family”; Luis replies “and I’m not exactly the Huxtables”, from another show with Bill Cosby, which probably means something like “we all have our issues”.

And you’re gonna knock them dead on Monday

You will impress them: one of Jessica’s encouraging phrases.

“What would I do without you?” “Crash and burn”.

Fail completely and spectacularly or even fall from grace. Jessica’s answer seems casual, but in hindsight, all her words are oddly filled with forebodings and hidden – as well as creepy – meanings.

You scared the crap out of me

You frightened me badly. Dean has just entered Sam’s house at night, clearly in the hope of taking him by surprise, which he has, although not entirely.

That’s ‘cause you’re out of practice

Dean lets us understand that Sam was trained as a “hunter” (a monster hunter, that is) too, although he’s not been hunting for some time now.

You know, I gotta tell you, you are completely out of my brother’s league

Dean is saying Jessica is too good for Sam. Again, we have a very quick and yet deep insight into Dean’s character: unlike his brother, he’s outwardly self-assured, aware of his own attractiveness, and yet he cannot help flirting with any woman he meets, even with his brother’s girlfriend, which is, of course, a sign of inner self-doubt. In this case, we can also guess that he’s doing so on purpose, to annoy Sam. The look she gives him tells us she’s not fallen for it. Soon afterwards, Dean treats her as if she was just decorative, and he cannot talk with Sam in front of her, which actually makes Sam (and Jessica) really mad.

So he’s working overtime on a Miller-Time shift

Miller time is from an advertising campaign for a brand of beer, but it’s now a colloquial expression meaning all the work is done, and it’s time to relax. So, to ” work on Miller time” means work long hours and/or very hard.

He’ll stumble back in sooner or later

The whole choice of words is meaningful. Dean is worried about their father’s absence. Sam is not, and he’s also resentful, as he feels his father’s never been there for him where he needed him. Once again, none of this is actually “said”, which is amazing, I think, because it’s untold, and yet clear as day.

You can’t just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you

You can’t force entry in my home and expect me to leave and come with you.

You’re not hearing me, Sammy

You don’t understand.

I swore I was done (hunting/doing something)

I’d never do that again, I was finished with it

You kidding me?

Are you joking?

“Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?” “I’m 26, dude”.

Sam is clearly making fun of his brother (although gently, as is in his nature) for being sort of a daddy’s boy, never questioning their father’s decisions.

We can, once again, easily guess a scenario here: the night of his mother’s death was the last time Dean was ever in his father’s arms. From then on, he had to look after “Sammy” until this latter decided to leave for college. Dean loves his brother dearly and feels responsible for him (he feels responsible for everyone and everything, actually, and that’s part of what makes him always angry). He’s also embittered though, because he had to grow up too early and never had a chance to choose his own life. All he’s ever done is try to live up to his father’s expectations, and now he feels Sam has betrayed him and sees him as ungrateful and even selfish (something Sam certainly is not).

Two-lane blacktop

Blacktop is an asphalt street, but “two-lane blacktop” is also a road-movie starring singer and songwriter James Taylor. Supernatural is full of movie and music references.

He’s vanished, completely MIA

MIA = Missing in action, so, just another word for “disappeared, nowhere to be found”.

Started happening more and more, so dad went to go dig around

To investigate, try to get information on an event, a person, etc.

You know there’s EVP in that?

Electronic voice phenomena (human-sounding voices from an unknown source)

Not bad, Sammy. Kind of like riding a bike, isn’t it?

Something you never really forget, even if you stop doing it for a while.

I slowed the message down and ran it through Goldwave

I processed the message through the Goldwave audio editor.

I have to get back first thing Monday

I must be back by early morning on Monday

Skip it

Forget it, put it off to another time, or don’t do it. Dean has usually a rather rude way of speaking, and he clearly shows here he doesn’t give a damn about his brother’s “career”.

It’s my whole future on a plate

My future depends on it.

Law school!

Dean looks at his brother as if Sam was the freak (well, Dean actually thinks he is): patronizingly, and almost as if he was feeling sorry for him, even a bit contemptuous perhaps; but a little jealous too.

He’s probably got Jim, Jack and Jose along with him

He’s taken some alcohol with him and maybe he’s drunk now (Jim Beam and Jack Daniels are whisky brands, and Jose Cuervo is a tequila). Where Dean is always making jokes mainly to “keep his game face”, Sam is sweet but sharp-tongued, he doesn’t usually try to be funny, but his remarks often hit very close to home. He’s also a bit overcritical, or, as Dean puts it, a stickler.

I miss it, my dad’s gonna have my ass

He’s going to roast me, he’ll be mad

Hunting is not exactly a pro-ball career

You don’t make a lot of money out of this job

It’s the greatest hits of the mullet rock

Rock from the ‘90s, the favorite of uncool people (especially middle-class white workers). Mullet is a hairstyle in which the front is cut trim, but the back is long, left wild and often uncut, or, however, longer than the front.

House rules, Sammy. Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cake hole

The driver chooses the music, the front-seat passenger shuts his mouth. Considering that Sam is there to do Dean a favor, at this point I’d have left him to stew in his own juice, and it really is a testament to Sam’s patience that he didn’t turn his back right away. I mean, in this episode, Dean is so irritating, it’s difficult to see how Sam can put up with him. He improves over time though. In addition to all the untold matters, Sam is probably well aware that the snappy remarks are just part of the shell, behind which Dean hides his emotional side, and is also beginning to understand how lonely his brother’s life is.

Check it out

Look here

That is exactly the kind of crack police work I’d expect out of you guys

Crack means excellent, but Dean is obviously ironic here.

So, this is where Constance took the swan dive

Take the swan dive = die by jumping off a high place

Sooner or later, you’re gonna have to face up to who you really are

Face up to = accept.

Cat’s eye shells

Shells of a specific type of Snail found off the coast of Thailand that people use for good luck, especially travelers and fishermen.

 Dad’s figured it out.

Figure out = discover, solve or understand something; fathom

Jerk /bitch

This is a private joke between Sam and Dean. Here, it seems to signal that the tension is beginning to ease. I kind of like the fact that you can use “bitch” for a man (possibly only for a man nowadays). It probably refers to Sam’s sharp wit and fussiness, just like “jerk” refers to Dean’s dubious sense of humor and the fact that he tends to deliberately play the fool in tricky situations.

Dude, five-0

Slang for “the police are here”.

They kind of spotted me

They’ve detected / located me

Ted Nugent

A singer-songwriter and guitarist. When they use false identities, Sam and Dean always choose names of actors, singers or members of (usually rather famous) rock bands.

We’re talking like misdemeanor kind of trouble or squeal-like-a-pig trouble?

Is it just a minor offence, or something really serious? Squeal like a pig is a reference to Deliverance, with Ned Beatty, who has a horrible experience in the film, so it means “really big trouble”.

A whole lot of Satanic mumbo-jumbo

Language or ritual causing or intended to cause confusion or bewilderment

I leafed through this

Leaf through something means to quickly turn the pages of a book, magazine etc., without reading all the contents.

What little I could make out, I mean, it’s nine kinds of crazy

The little I’ve understood is completely crazy

That should do it

Should be sufficient

If we shag ass, we can make it by morning

If we leave immediately, we can be there…

Well, this is all for Supernatural Idioms Season One Episode One. See you next time for the second episode!

This post is part of the English Language category and of the Nerdy Passions category.