Wendigo (Blackwater Ridge, Colorado)

Here’s the continuation of the journey: Supernatural Idioms – Season One, Episode Two.

(You can find more information on the show here).

After the recent dramatic events, Sam is not his usual self: he’s having recurrent nightmares, is on edge and uncharacteristically inconsiderate and impatient, as he just wants to find his father and be done with the chase. The two brothers continue to follow their father’s track and go to Colorado, where a young girl is worried for her brother: Tommy has gone camping in the woods with a couple of friends, and Haley hasn’t heard from him for some time. Local authorities do not take her seriously, but Sam and Dean suspect that something evil may be at work.

“Dude, you’re cheating”. “No, you just suck”.

Tommy and his friends are playing, the one’s who’s losing tells the winner: “You aren’t playing fair”, and the latter replies “No, you are a bad player”.

A pistol

A very energetic, active and enterprising person. Dean has already guessed, from the ranger’s way of speaking, that Haley is not easily stopped and intends to actively take part in the search for her brother.

Are you cruising for a hookup?

Are you just wandering around in search of a sex partner? This is one of several remarks that tell us Sam is really tense. Dean is the rude one, usually!

We all keep pretty close tabs on each other

keep (close) tabs on somebody/something = to watch someone or something carefully to check what they are doing. Haley, Tommy and Ben are alone, as their parents have died, so they have to look after each other.

Here’s the clincher

A clincher is a fact, argument, or event that settles a matter conclusively.

She’s not just gonna sit this out

She’s going to take action, she’s determined to do something (Dean means Haley is certainly going to take part in the search for her brother).

We keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend

We’ll keep our eyes open, we’ll be on the lookout. Fuzzy predator because a wendigo (a mythological creature from the Algonquian folklore) is a cannibal spirit.

Apparently, this is all the Park Service could muster up for the search

muster up = gather or bring together. Haley doesn’t seem to think much of the two brothers, as they are both very young and (apparently) inexperienced.

It wants to cut us off so we can’t call for help

Cut someone off = (in this case) isolate and prevent someone from leaving a place, meeting others or receiving something they needs, such as power, water or, as in this case, connection.

You’re like a powder keg, man. It’s not like you

Dean tells Sam he’s like a barrel of gunpowder (ready to explode), and this is unusual for him.

He wants us to pick up where he left off.

Dad (Dean says) wants us to resume the work he had interrupted

All that anger… You can’t keep it burning over the long haul. It’s gonna kill you.

Over the long haul = forever, over a long period of time. This is funny, Dean telling Sam not to keep his anger burning. Look who’s talking! But as he said just now, it’s not like him. Dean knows very well he’s the angrier one, usually, and although he often teases Sam for his sweetness and calm character, I guess he’s got used to rely on it as a sort of balancing factor to ease his own rage. In addition to being worried about his brother, he now feels uncomfortable and off center.

I figure our family’s so screwed to hell…

I think that because our family is in such a hopeless situation (helping others sort of makes up for it in part).

Inside the magic circle?        

In games and digital media, the “magic circle” is the space in which the normal rules and reality of the world are suspended and replaced by the artificial reality of a game world. Roy is making fun of Sam and Dean here for believing in the supernatural, he’s implying they’re acting as if they were playing a game.

You know I’m in

You know I’m willing to participate

We gotta torch the sucker

We have to burn this evil thing

Flare guns

A flare gun is a gun primarily intended to send a distress signal or for illumination. These guns can also be used as deadly weapons, although it’s not their main intended function. In the case of a wendigo, it seems to be the only thing that can kill it.

We’ll never outrun it

We cannot run faster than the Wendigo

Must you cheapen the moment?

(Haley to Dean). Cheapen the moment means to turn an important or emotionally significant moment into something cheap, i.e., shallow or less valuable.

And 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.