Episode nine – Home (Lawrence, Kansas)

Supernatural Idioms – Season one, episode nine.

Jenny, a young widow with two children, has recently moved to live in the old house where Sam and Dean had spent their childhood in Lawrence, Kansas. Her little daughter Sari is afraid of something and doesn’t like the house at all. In the meantime, Sam is having nightmares that seem to indicate Jenny’s family is in danger. In Kansas, Sam and Dean meet Missouri, a psychic their father was seeing soon after the fire, and they get closer to unveiling the mystery that surrounds their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance.

 Any of these things blowing up your skirt?

Dean is trying to attract Sam’s attention, find a job he may be interested in, but Sam has just had another nightmare and is miles away. Sam has seen something in his dream that tells him they have to go back to Kansas. Dean’s answer, “Ok, random, where that come from?” shows he’s not convinced at all and thinks his brother is blurting out random nonsense.

Come again

Usually it just means “can you repeat, please?  In this case, it also implies disbelief. The truth is, as it soon becomes clear, that Dean does not want to believe Sam, he hates the very idea of going back home, but he knows Sam’s right, and he knows they will have to face whatever’s there. Dean remembers some details of that fatal night of twenty-two years before that Sam is going to hear from him for the first time.

“You gonna be alright, man?” “Let me get back to you on that”.

Sam knows how difficult this return is for Dean. He’s always asking this kind of questions to everyone, including Dean, it’s his tender side. Dean usually reacts as if all he wants is to be let alone, but Sam’s warmth is what holds him together: it allows him to apparently brush the tenderness aside, and secretly take strength from it. Like in this case, where his reply means “I’ll answer you later”. Or, in other words: “yes, I’ll probably cope, I’ll be alright, but I’m not now”. Later on, that same day, Dean will sneak away from Sam to call his father, at a loss what to do, but not wanting him to see how fragile and “soft” he can get when their past is involved.

I needed a fresh start

I needed a change in my life, needed to start over/anew. Jenny’s answer is a bit evasive as she does not want to talk about her private life.

Flickering lights

Flicker is a directly visible change in brightness of a light source which can be due to fluctuations of the light source itself, or to external causes such as rapid fluctuations in the voltage of the power supply, etc.

Sink’s backed up

Blocked

We just gotta chill out

We have to relax, not let things upset us, calm down, go easy

If he did (have a theory about what killed our mom), he kept it to himself

Dean means their father refused to share his theory (if he had one) even or talk about it.

I’ll get out of your way

I’ll stay away from the area (and let you do your work). Here Jenny is talking to the plumber.

Whatever sticks out in your mind

Anything you remember or can’t (easily) forget, something that remains firmly in your memory. Sam and Dean are talking to Mr. Guenter, who used to own a garage together with their father (and is now the sole owner).

He doted on those kids

He loved his children very much, gave them a lot of attention, was extremely fond of them (Mr. Guenter is still talking about John and how he cared for Sam and Dean).

He wasn’t thinking straight

He could not think rationally or calmly as he was overwhelmed by emotion/grief, he wasn’t using good judgment

Cold banging

having sex (without emotional involvement)

And you were one goofy-looking kid too

(You have become a handsome man) and yet you looked silly/funny as a kid.

Boy, you see me sawing some bony tramp in half?

Missouri is saying that being a psychic does not mean she is some sort of amateur magician or conjurer

I can’t just pull facts out of thin air

from nothing, without any information to rely on

I drew back the curtains for him

I revealed, or cast light on, certain fact, details etc. that he ignored

Forgive this boy, he means well, he’s just not the sharpest tool in the shed

He’s a bit slow, not very intelligent. Dean is usually seen as the least intelligent of the two, and Sam surely is more sharp-eyed and perceptive, although Dean is also smart in other ways.

But hear me out

Listen to me

I just can’t quite make out the second one

make out something/someone to see, hear, or understand something or someone with difficulty: I couldn’t make out what he said. Missouri is saying there are two spirits in the house, one of which is more mysterious.

A few other odds and ends

miscellaneous articles, various things

Don’t cuss at me

cuss = curse

Missouri did her Zelda Rubinstein thing

Zelda Rubinstein was am actress mostly known for her roles as an eccentric medium

Don’t you boys be strangers

Missouri is asking Sam and Dean to keep in touch.

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

This is all for Supernatural Idioms – Season One, Episode Nine. The tenth one, tomorrow!