Supernatural Idioms – Season One, Episode fifteen – The Benders (Minnesota)

(you can find the previous episodes here)

A man named Jenkins is kidnapped. Sam and Dean investigate and find out this he’s the last in a long series of missing persons. When Sam goes missing too, Dean finds help from an unexpected source.

The police have not ruled out foul play

have not excluded a crime

I gotta take a leak

urinate

This is a piss-poor rescue

piss-poor = of a very low standard

Ned Beatty time, man

Jenkins is referring to a very famous scene in a 1972 film, Deliverance, in which Ned Beatty’s character was raped at gunpoint.

I ran your badge number… for accounting purposes and what have you

I checked into your badge number… for accounting purposes and various other needs

I have to take you in

take you to the police station, arrest you

Knock something loose

to free or to remove anything that limits the action of someone or something, cause something to break free

I don’t mean to press my luck

Dean says he doesn’t want to ask for more favors than he should (but…)

Let’s keep at it

Let’s continue doing what we were doing

Pull over

move to the side of or off the road

This is the first turn-off I’ve seen so far

turn-off = a junction at which a road branches off from a main road

Must be getting a little rusty there, kiddo

You are not as good as you were. Dean is surprised that some “people” (i.e. not monsters) may have defeated Sam. But the Benders are not “just people”, as he’s going to learn the hard way.

Demons I get, people are crazy.

One of Dean’s quotes I like most. I don0’t necessarily agree, but I can relate.

Sloppy

careless and unsystematic; excessively casual

Don’t sell yourself short

don’t undervalue or underestimate you, or underappreciate your good qualities

It’s not nice to marry your sister

Dean is implying the Benders are so crazy, there must have been intermarriages in the family.

You brought this down on my family          

bring something down on/upon somebody = to make something bad happen to someone, especially to yourself or to people connected with you

So you got sidelined by a 13-year-old girl?

Sidelined = prevented from playing or from doing something, stopped (Sam’s retort to Dean’s previous remark about his being “rusty”.

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

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

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Supernatural Idioms – Season One, Episode fourteen – Nightmare (Saginaw, Michigan)

(you can find the previous episodes here)

Sam’s having nightmares again, only, this time they don’t regard Jessica or people he knows, but some strangers with whom he seems to have nothing to do. When he and Dean get there, they find them already dead. Sam is worried and in pain because he doesn’t understand: what’s the meaning of these premonitions, if it isn’t to stop these events from happening? There is an answer to that, but it’s not reassuring at all.

I’m Father Simmons, this is Father Frehley.

Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley were members of the Kiss band. As we know from previous episodes, Sam and Dean almost always use names of famous actors or singers as false identities when they’re on a job

You wanna pitch your “Lord has a plan” thing? Fine… Don’t pitch it to me

Pitch = a speech or act that attempts to persuade someone to buy or do something.

Just tone it down a little bit, “Father”        

make it less extreme or intense, don’t exaggerate

Anything? Zip

Zip, like square jack, means nothing at all

He used to beat the tar out of Max

bit the tar out of sn. = beat them severely, hit them forcefully and repeatedly

How is he pulling it off?

How does he manage, how can he do it? You pull off something difficult, such as a feat, a miracle etc.

He’s gunning for a third

He’s making efforts, he’s taking steps, is going to try to kill a third person

Promise me you’ll follow my lead on this one

Promise me you’ll do what I’d to / do as I ask, follow my advice

Craps table

Craps is a dice game in which the players make wagers on the outcome of the roll, or a series of rolls, of a pair of dice. Players may wager money against each other (playing “street craps“) or a bank (playing “casino craps“, also known as “table craps“, or often just “craps“).

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

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

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SUPERNATURAL IDIOMS – Season One, Episode thirteen – Route 666 (Cape Girardeau, Missouri; soundtrack: Paradise, Sharif Line of Love, the Minors)

Cassie, an “old friend” of Dean’s, calls him when her father dies in a mysterious accident that seems to have involved a phantom truck. Sam is mad at Dean for having told her about their “job” when he had to lie to Jessica for one year and a half on what they agreed to consider the “family secret”. As it turns out, Dean has not told anyone else since, partly just because Cassie broke up with him when he tried to tell her the truth.

We’ve got some pretty rough going…

rough going = a difficult situation

Get off your soapbox, Jimmy          

stop preaching or providing advice. People who wanted to preach or provide advice to people in a public place used to stand on a wooden box to raise themselves above people to be heard and seen. Here, the mayor is speaking of Jimmy’s heated reaction to his request for discretion about Cassie’s father’s death.

What you want us to print and what you want us to sit on

To sit on something = delay in dealing with or taking action about something (Cassie talking to Mayor Todd).

I think your grief is clouding your judgment

Mayor Todd is telling Cassie (and Jimmy) they don’t see things clearly because they were too close to the victim.

My mother’s in pretty bad shape

Cassie’s mother has taken her husband’s death very badly, she’s sad but also frightened.

I wish she wouldn’t go off by herself

Go off by oneself = seek solitude, isolate oneself, walk away from other people

I’m really not up to that just now

I can’t, I’m unable to, I’m not equal to the task. Cassie’s mother tells Sam and Dean she can’t talk to them in this moment.

Jimmy meant something to this town. He was one of our best. We won’t be the same without him

All phrases Mayor Todd uses to say Jimmy was important to him and to the town.

Our best seem to be dropping like flies

Cassie is replying to mayor Todd, she says “our best keep dying”.

Doesn’t point to foul play

doesn’t indicate anything illegal or criminal

The police and town officials take their cues from you

take one’s cue from = follow the example or advice of someone

Bet she kicked your ass a couple of times

Kick one’s ass = attack and/or defeat someone decisively. Sam means that Cassie is quite a match for Dean.

It’s just an interesting observation in a, you know, observationally interesting way.

Sam, of course. Hinting at the fact that Cassie might still be interested in Dean (and he in her) in his gently humorous way.

If I’m hitting a nerve…

If this is a sensitive topic, if I’ve upset you…

Just here to dot some I’s and cross some T’s

take care of details, complete a task in a meticulous way

Keeps coming up

Continues to come to attention or consideration

You work that angle

You deal with that aspect / that part of the story

Dump

leave one’s partner, get rid of (usually in a sudden and unpleasant manner)

I was just going through his stuff

go through = search through or examine meticulously

Whenever we get… anywhere in the neighborhood of emotional vulnerability, You back off… or find any way to shut the door on me

Every time we get close, or risk to let go of our defenses and expose our feelings, you (get frightened) and step back or go away, stop being involved or however do so as to discourage me / avoid the subject, etc. (clearly, Cassie know a lot about Dean).

I’m not the one who took that big final door and slammed it behind me, and I’m not the one who took the key and buried it

I’m not the one who walked away without even looking back  (Dean’s answer).

I was totally up-front with you and you nailed me with it

I was totally honest, told you the truth and it backfired (you hurt me because of that). Still Dean talking.

It scared the hell out of me

It shocked me, frightened me very badly

Cops are stumped

Stumped = baffled, confused, puzzled, mystified

Real pillars of the town

People who support and promote the well-being of their community

I pulled a bunch of papers up on the Dorian place            

In this case, the meaning of “pull something/someone up” is to procure and open a source of information about someone or something. So, Sam is essentially saying he’s gathered information from a few newspapers regarding the land that used to belong to the Dorian family.

Stay put

remain at home, don’t leave, don’t move (Dean to Cassie)

Let’s get to it

Let’s start, let’s do it

Well. That thought hadn’t occurred to me

I hadn’t thought of it

Ever make you wonder if it’s worth it, putting everything else on hold?

Put everything on hold = stop all other activities, interrupt what you were doing, your relationships etc. We know by now Sam’s always asking these questions, he doesn’t really need an answer, he’s just forcing Dean to deal with his thoughts and emotions somehow, even without talking about them aloud.

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

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

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Supernatural Idioms – Season One, Episode Twelve – Faith (Nebraska)

Sam and Dean are hunting a raw-head, a sort of bogeyman they have to electrocute in order to kill it. Dean incurs an electric shock that causes a heart attack and has only a short time to live. Sam, desperate to find a cure, contacts a healer, Roy Le Grange, who seems to actually perform miracles. As usual, appearances can be deceiving (in more than one sense) and there are no easy choices for anyone in life/death moral/immoral issues.

What do you got those amped up to?

How much energy have you filled them with?

I want this raw head extra crispy

raw head = bogeyman. I want to deep-fry it, to make sure he dies.

I drew the short straw

I was unlucky. As usual, Dean has to put up a game face in front of everything, although his fear and distress is rather transparent. Sam, of course, is not fooled, nor is he to be sidetracked or swayed.

I’m gonna take whatever it takes to get him better

Sam is trying to reach his father and leaves him a message to tell him about Dean, trying to sound confident, he says he’ll do everything possible and impossible to save him, but at the same time, he wants him to know the situation is really serious, or he wouldn’t even have called.

I checked myself out

Dean signed to leave the hospital

Get off me

Stop touching (or bothering) me

This guy’s supposed to be the real deal

He (Roy) really heals people; they say he’s not a fraud.

He’s bilking all these people out of their money

Aaron, the man outside Roy Le Grange’s tent, is not convinced, he’s telling people he’s cheating/defrauding them out of their money; making them spend money on something useless or not worth it.

I take it he’s not part of the flock

In this case, Dean is using the expression both literally, as the “flock” who attends Le Grange’s healing prayer sessions, and to mean, appreciatively, that Aaron has not a herd mentality., he’s got a mind of his own (Dean does not believe in Roy’s healing  abilities either).

You know what I got faith in? Reality. Knowing what’s going on.

This is one of many funny/serious dialogues about what is true and what isn’t. Sam replies “how can you be a skeptic, with the things we see every day?” And Dean says “Exactly. We see them”. Like many of us, he only believes in what he can see, or so he thinks. Of course, he sees things nobody sees in reality, and has often to deal with other people’s disbelief. So, here we are somehow going into philosophical terrain: do we really believe only in what we see? Where’s the boundary? One of the most interesting point, for example, is that Dean believes in evil, but not in good.

I think you just turned me around on the subject

To turn someone around = to reverse someone’s opinion. Of course, Dean only speaks in this way to Layla because she’s a pretty girl and as usual, he can’t help flirting, even now!

Watch what you say in front of a blind man

Be careful of (what you say). Reverend Le Grange has heard Dean’s words. Dean thinks that even if the reverend really heals people, he must do it for money. Roy has probably guessed that he is also afraid to hope and even feels he has no right to hope, he doesn’t deserve to be saved more than other suffering people.

Do we have to look this one in the mouth?

Of course, this comes from the idiom “look a gift horse in the mouth”, here Sam is saying can’t you just be grateful? You’ve received a gift, you should no longer be critical or suspicious, just have faith.

I can’t shake this feeling

I can’t get rid of / escape from this feeling, I can’t stop feeling this way. Dean’s answer to Sam. Apart from his original lack of faith, we also know now that he’s seen a reaper and has reason to believe the “gift” was not really a gift, and someone else had to pay the cost. Sam doesn’t like it, but he knows if Dean has a “bad feeling”, it’s worth looking into it.

I looked into your heart and you just stood out from all the rest

Roy tells Dean he has something more, or perhaps just something different from the others. A young man with an important purpose, a job to do, Roy says. This is probably what Dean finds so difficult to accept. Later, Layla’s mother actually gives voice to his own doubts.

Hey buddy, your clock’s busted

The gym clock has stopped working at the time Marshall died (Marshall is the young athlete who died when Dean was healed).

He’s riding the whirlwind. It’s like putting a dog leash on a great white

He (Roy) is trying to control a powerful and potentially destructive force (the reaper) using something inadequate (a great white is a large and very aggressive shark, so of course a dog leash would be useless).

You keep up the good work

Continue doing this, you’re doing well, you’re doing good things (Sam and Dean are talking to Aaron). It can also be used as a good luck message (“buon lavoro”!).

May God save us from half the people who think they’re doing God’s work

I subscribe to that! Dean is saying when you think you’re punishing sin and immorality you easily cross certain lines and begin to “play God”, think you have a right to decide who deserves to live or die.

Psycho mutt  =  crazy dog (the dog’s barking because Dean is on the caravan’s roof, but the two officers don’t see it, and they think the dog is just barking for no reason.

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

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

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Supernatural Idioms – Season One, Episode eleven – Scarecrow (Burkitsville, Indiana)

John, Sam and Dean’s father, calls them for the first time in months and tells them to stop looking for him. He wants them to investigate certain strange cases of couples that went missing, all in the same place, Burkitsville. Sam wants to disobey, even more so because John has told him he’s close to finding the thing that killed their mother and Jessica. Dean disagrees and they have a bad fight, after which they split up, and Sam heads to California. On his way, he meets Meg, and they seem to take an interest in each other.

On the house

At the management’s expense (i.e., free for the customer)

What’s the catch?

What are we to do in exchange for all the favors you’re done to us, how do we repay your kindness? (Sometimes a “catch” is also a negative aspect, a restrictive condition or a task that follow something positive or very pleasant, as in: “OK, I’ve seen all the benefits, but what’s the catch?“; “The restaurant is offering free lunch, but what’s the catch?”

You’re all set

you’re ready / you have everything you need

If I only had a brain

A quote from the Wizard of Oz (the Scarecrow character). Vince, a young man who’s got lost in Burkitsville, addresses the creepy scarecrow with these words (and it’s all too easy for his girlfriend Holly to see the irony in that).

I think I’m finally closing in on it

I’m closing in on = I’m coming nearer to: John Winchester thinks he’s finally going to find the demon that killed his wife Mary. He’s afraid that the demon will be too dangerous for Sam and Dean to deal with, but he tells Sam that it’s an order and we know Sam is never willing to follow orders without question. Dean’s reaction is the opposite of Sam’s, he instinctively snaps to attention and just says “yes sir”. I’m entirely with Sam on this.

You got a smile that lights up a room

A beautiful smile that brings everybody joy; in this case, of course, Dean is ironic: he’s addressing a very unfriendly-looking inhabitant of Burkitsville.

Dude, you fugly

Extremely ugly (a combination of the words fucking and ugly). Dean is addressing the scarecrow here.

It’s the boonies, but I love it

The boonies means a remote rural or provincial area (US, informal)

It creeps me out

It frightens me, it makes me shiver

I cut him loose

Wanted nothing to do with him

And some of that pie too, while you’re at it

while you’re engaged in something related (già che ci sei)

You know, my brother could give you this puppy-dog look… and you’d just buy right into it.

Dean is admitting, in his own way of course, Sam’s insightful, sensitive nature is of help when his own tactlessness puts people on edge (so that they don’t believe him as they would believe Sam).

It’s all sipping Cristal poolside for me.

Cristal is a very famous brand of champagne. Meg is ironic. Sam’s asked her if she’s on vacation and she’s implying she’s not so well off.

You stand up to dad, and you always have… I admire that about you.

I love it when Sam and Dean meet halfway and each tries to understand the reasons of the other. Dean is being as honest as he can get about his difficulty to accept that Sam may want a different life (he goes as far as to say he’s proud of him!), and Sam’s insight into his brother’s real feelings, beyond the teasing, the rough manners and the surface bravado, makes him feel they need each other and should probably stick together. He even steals a car to reach Dean, which is really something, for Sam!

Let’s shag ass before Leatherface catches up

Shag ass = travel or depart from some place very quickly or hurriedly; Leatherface is a main character in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre film franchise (of course, Dean means the scarecrow here); catch up = reach a person who is ahead

They’ll just get away with it?

Aren’t they going to be punished?

So, can I drop you off somewhere?

Do you want me to take you somewhere, give you a lift/ a ride to some place? (Dean asks). No, I think you’re stuck with me (Sam’s reply). Stuck with = burdened with: Sam’s way to tell Dean he means to stay.

If we’re gonna see this through, we’re gonna do it together

See something through = complete, continue doing something until it’s finished. Of course, now that this is settled, Dean starts teasing again. “Hold me, that was beautiful”: but for a moment, we could see he was moved and would really have liked to hug Sam, so he has to joke to mask his feelings.

You were dead meat

you were in serious trouble

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

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

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