SUSPENSE STORIES – SUPERNATURAL IDIOMS

I’ve decided to turn the various “Idioms” sections into pages, starting from Suspense Stories idioms. Hence, Suspense Stories – Supernatural Idioms. This way, I’ll post the materials as soon as I’ve got them ready, and you’ll have them all in one place, much easier to view whenever you feel like it. Also, if you are watching the series, or mean to, it will be easier for you to skip the episodes you still haven’t seen.

SUPERNATURAL IDIOMS – SEASON ONE

Episode one – Pilot (La caccia ha inizio) 

Lawrence, Kansas / Jericho, California

In this 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.

After her death, their father changed: since then, he 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 when 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 (in Italian, this would sound more or less like “vedrai che ricomparirà/si farà vivo prima o poi”).

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

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. And when his dad told him to take Sammy outside (to keep him safe), that was just the beginning, 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), but he’s also embittered 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 betrayed by Sam 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’d vanished, completely 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.

Voice muffled

not loud because of being obstructed in some way; muted.

You know there’s EVP in that?

EVP = 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

processed through the Goldwave audio editor.

I have to get back first thing Monday

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 got drunk (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. My guess is, Sam cares for Dean at least as much as Dean cares for him, even though, unlike Dean, he also wants a life for himself; but he is also beginning to understand how lonely his brother’s life is.

Check it out

used to direct someone’s attention to something. 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 (probably 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 is 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 am I really screwed? 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…

Episode two – Wendigo (Blackwater Ridge, Colorado)

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.

Episode three – Dead in the Water (Morte nell’acqua)

Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin

Sam and Dean investigate a vengeful spirit that is drowning people in Wisconsin. They meet the sheriff and his daughter Andrea, whose son Lucas has stopped talking after a shock. Dean reveals an unusual softer side, when he manages to get Lucas express his fears by sharing certain deep feelings they have in common. Lucas then shows him some drawings that will be of no little help in solving the case.

Buff

muscular and fit, well-toned

It’s sprung a leak

It’s letting water in or out through a crack or break

Pick-up line

a conversation opener, a prepared remark used to break the ice with a person (especially one you may be interested in, for romance or dating etc.).

It’s picking up its pace

it’s going faster, speeding up the rate of…

On a binge

doing too much of something, especially drink too much

It bugs me

it annoys me, makes me angry

Freaked out

frightened, very angry, upset, nervous or extremely excited

Upping the body count

killing more and more people

It’s running out of time

it has no time left, it doesn’t have long to (do or finish sth etc.)

Chalk something up to

ascribe something to a particular cause

How are you holding up?

how are you doing, how are you dealing (with a loss, something sad etc.)

Episode four – Phantom Traveler (Il fantasma dell’aria)

After a plane crash, Jerry Panowski, an old acquaintance of Dean’s, calls him because he suspects it was no accident. They find out that whatever caused this last crash is now going after the few survivors, particularly those who have a reason to fly again soon (the pilot Chuck and the hostess Amanda), so it’s very likely to cause another air disaster. Here we learn that Dean is afraid of flying and that Sam would do anything to save other people. Including getting on a plane that he knows is going to crash.

What are the odds of dying in a plane crash

How likely it is, what are the chances

I’m counting on it

I’m sure, I rely on that

Where does the day go?

It’s an expression used to say the day is almost over and you haven’t had the time to do all you had to do (or anything at all). Here, Sam is waking up Dean at 5:45 in the morning, and they both have had little or no sleep, so it’s clearly a joke.

I grabbed a couple of hours

I managed to sleep a little (this is actually not true, as Sam is still having nightmares and hasn’t been able to sleep at all for a while).

What can I say, it’s riveting TV

Riveting means engrossing, compelling. Sam’s still trying to play down the seriousness of his sleeping trouble.

It’s your job to keep my ass alive, so I need you sharp.

Dean tells Sam he wants him alert, on guard, on the job, well-awake.

It’s this job, it gets to you

It affects you emotionally, makes you angry, upset, etc.

You can’t let it. You can’t bring it home

Once it’s finished, you should take your mind off it.

So what, all of this, it never keeps you up at night?

Sam asks if Dean never happens to be so bothered by what they do as to be unable to sleep. It’s already clear that Dean’s restraint hides a very emotional nature, even if in this entire discussion about sleep, as usual, he wouldn’t admit he’s actually very bothered (just like he wouldn’t admit how worried he really is about Sam). He still must act strong, although it’s getting less and less convincing.

Practically tore our house apart

tear something apart = to damage or destroy something completely by breaking it into pieces. Jerry is talking about the poltergeist John Winchester, Sam and Dean’s father, helped him deal with some time before.

I tried to get ahold of him

Jerry tried (unsuccessfully) to reach /communicate with John.

He’s wrapped up in a job right now

completely absorbed, engrossed

Even trade

a fair trade, something of the same value. Jerry is telling Sam that even though his father John is not there, having him is just as good; and of course, Sam replies: Not by a long shot, i.e. certainly not, not even close, not by far.

Sounded like it was up your alley / right up your street

Seemed to be well suited to your abilities, tastes or interests

Cockpit voice recorder

A device used to record the audio environment in the flight deck for accidents and incident investigation (la cd. “scatola nera”).

Took off from here

take off = depart (of an aircraft)

Passenger manifest

A list of the passengers that were on the plane.

Any way we can take a look at the wreckage?

Is it possible to… wreckage is what is left of something that has been destroyed or badly damaged (the crashed plane, in this case)

Fellas, the NTSB has it locked down in an evidence warehouse. No way I’ve got that kind of clearance

NTSB is the National Transportation Safety Board; clearance is an official authorization for something to proceed or take place (the wreckage inspection, in this case). (Jerry has no such authorization).

You can’t rush perfection

If you want something done really well, you need time.

Yoked up

With very stiff muscles, made stronger, usually by drugs

Lair

a place where a wild animal lives or, in this case, a secret or private place in which a person (or a human-looking monster) seeks concealment or seclusion.

He was petrified to fly

Terrified. So frightened as to be unable to move

Look the part

Have an appearance or style of dress appropriate to one’s role or situation.

Why does that look like a busted-up Walkman?

Busted up = battered. One of Sammy’s “bitchy” remarks. Dean’s very proud of his homemade EMF meter.

This goes way beyond floating over a bed or barfing pea soup

This is very different from, is much more difficult or requires much more strength, skills, etc. Barf = vomit (the pea soup is a reference to The Exorcist)

Ratchet up the body count

Increase (the number of killings)

Hang in there

Don’t give up, chin up, buck up

We’re never gonna make it

We will never arrive on time

Our wild card

If you refer to someone or something as a wild card in a particular situation, you mean that they cause uncertainty because you do not know how they will behave. Amanda is Sam and Dean’s wild card because they don’t know whether she’s going to fly again soon or not.

Head her off at the pass

Intercept and redirect her

She’s at her house cramming for a final

Cram = study intensively over a short period of time just before an examination

Guilty as charged

You caught me, you’re right. Actually, Amanda has confused Dean for a friend of her boyfriend Vince, and he goes along with that.

It’s usually gonna be somebody with a weakness, a chink in the armor that the demon can worm through

A chink in a person’s armor is an aspect that makes them vulnerable in some way and makes it easy to harm them, although they appear to be very strong or successful: in this case, a weakness the demon can take advantage of (worm through), in order to possess a person who is temporarily vulnerable for some reason (such as Dean’s fear of flying, or Amanda’s supposed fragility after having survived a previous crash).

Wreak havoc

Cause extensive damage

Episode five – Bloody Mary (Terrore allo specchio) – Toledo, Ohio, and Fort Wayne, Indiana

Soundtrack: Bones to Dust

A little girl says “bloody Mary” three times in front of a mirror during a “truth or dare” game, and soon afterwards her father dies in a very weird way. Apparently, a spirit is at work. Other deaths follow, and it won’t be so easy for Sam and Dean to find out who this Mary is and why is she killing these people. It certainly has to do with secrets and guilt, whether misplaced or not, and Sam, who is still having nightmares about Jessica, decides that the best way to stop “Mary” once and for all is to evoke the spirit himself, much to Dean’s dismay.

Truth or dare

A game in which each player must choose between answering an awkward question honestly or dealing with a difficult task.

Do you wanna make out with Benjy Swartz?

Make out with someone kiss or have sex

Lame

boring, uncool

Is that the best you can come up with?

Come up with something produce, suggest, think of something

You mind keeping it down?

Please be quiet(er)

That’s a first for me

It’s the first time I see/say/do anything like that.

Go right ahead

Do it

See if we can find a Mary who fits the bill

A person who is suitable / exactly right /has the necessary characteristics for a particular situation. In this case, a person who may be the spirit.

I take it back. This will be very annoying

I was wrong (to say that it won’t be annoying). We already know that Sam loves research… but not when the library computers are out of order!

We could use your help

We would like/ we need (also, for instance, “I could use a drink” “their website could use an upgrade”, etc.)

It’s for the greater good

for a good purpose, it will help other people

Beats me

I don’t know, I don’t understand, I don’t get it

He was killed in a hit-and-run

A road accident in which the vehicle involved did not stop

I think I should stick around

Stick around = remain in or near a place

The NCIC = the National Crime Information Center

The United States’ central database for tracking crime-related information.

Now everybody packs it in with a few loose ends

Sam and Dean have gone to talk to the detective who worked on Mary’s case many years before: he says everybody (in the police etc.) leaves something that still needs to be explained or some unsolved cases when they retire.

It still gets me

the detective is saying the case still makes him angry, upset, or moves him after all that time.

I think he cut her up good

The man killed Mary by slashing and stabbing her.

Crazy doesn’t even begin to cover it

Charlie is trying to make her friend believe in the presence of a spirit, even if it “sounds crazy”, and Donna replies that crazy is an absolutely inadequate word/a very weak word, she clearly thinks Charlie has lost her mind.

Mary’s hard to pin down

To pin someone down means to find or get a hold of them

Episode six – Skin (Questione di pelle) 

(Saint Louis, Missouri)

Sam receives a message from Rebecca, an old friend from college. Her brother Zach is in trouble, charged with a murder which he has actually been seen committing, but, on the other hand, he was with her at the same time. Dean is not keen on going, but we have confirmation once again that sweet as he is, Sam is also strong-willed and determined (and even more so when his friends are involved) and will not take no for an answer.

Roger that

Message received

I figure we hit Tucumcari by lunch, then head south…

I think we’ll reach T. by lunch, and then we continue in the southern direction

You still keep in touch with your college buddies?

Dean has cut all ties (or rather, never had any), and he can’t believe Sam is still in contact with his college friends. A job like this, you can’t get close to people, Dean says, mainly because you can’t tell them the truth. But of course, Sam gets attached to people much more than Dean. As the seasons go on, we’ll also see that Sam tries to be honest, as far as he can be, and this usually pays off (although not always).

It sounds like the cops have a pretty good case

Have evidence enough to charge Zach with murder

Dude, what kind of people you hanging out with?

What kind of people do you know / spend your time with/ socialize with? (che gente frequenti?).

I was just crashing here for the weekend when everything happened

Crash at a place = stay at someone else’s house for the night, especially without having planned it in advance. Rebecca was at her parents’ home when Zach got into trouble.

I’m off duty now

A police officer who is not working at the moment

You’re a real straight shooter with your friends

An honest and forthright person. Dean, who is much more at ease than Sam in telling all sorts of lies, is giving him hard time, first because he is annoyed at his brother for having forced him to make a deviation, but also because he knows how difficult it is to maintain relationships in their job. Truth is, Sam is not at all sure he’ll go on hunting, and Dean knows that, and is jealous of all people his brother knows from outside the family.

There’s no sign of a break-in

There’s no sign that someone entered the house by force.

The lawyers, they’re already talking of a plea-bargain

Plea-bargain is an arrangement between prosecutor and defendant whereby the defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for a more lenient sentence or an agreement to drop other charges. In Italy we have the so-called “patteggiamento”, which is subject to different rules, though.

I’ll make it up to you

Alex is telling Lindsay: “I’ll do something good for you as I know you’re upset because I have to go away now”.

What you think this is, Hooters?

Do you think this is a restaurant? (Hooters is a restaurant chain).

Like a Doppelgänger

A spirit that looks exactly like a living person, or someone who looks exactly like someone else (same as a “dark double” used immediately before)

A trail the police would never pursue

A line of investigation the police do not intend to follow.

When a shapeshifter changes shape, maybe it sheds

To shed = to lose a covering, such as leaves, hair, or skin, because it falls off or because you get rid of it: in this case, the shapeshifter gets rid of the skin it was “temporarily using” when it impersonated someone.

This whole gig, it ain’t without perks

This job has its advantages, there are some extras that come with it

Who knows how many murders he’s gotten away with

How may times he’s escaped punishment for or the consequences of other murders he’s committed.

He sure got issues with you

The shapeshifter has a way to learn the past of the persons he takes the shape of, Dean in this case, and he tells Sam that his brother has problems connected with him, reasons to be angry.

He ditched me. Left me with your sorry ass.

Your sorry ass = your worthless self. Dean’s saying: “Dad went away (although I always did everything he asked me to) and I had to look after you”. This isn’t the first time that a demon, a spirit or another “monster” chased by the two brothers reveals a deep feeling of or a truth about either or both of them. Dean’s inner thoughts were transparent enough; the shapeshifter just makes them more explicit.

A genetic freak, a freak of nature

This word, “freak”, occurs frequently in the show, not so much to refer to someone with a physical abnormality, as to someone who for some reason does not “fit in” with ordinary people. In fact, the brothers often use it in a self-deprecating way, and here the somehow moving speech of the shapeshifter could have easily covered the unexpressed but real feeling of Dean himself. With the difference that Dean would never talk like that, especially to a girl he’s just met (and hopes to sleep with).

You mean like the Vulcan Mind Meld?

This is a reference to Star Trek; it was a telepathic link between two individuals. It allowed for an intimate exchange of thoughts.

You’re gonna put an APB out on me

An all-points bulletin (APB) is a broadcast issued from a law enforcement agency: it typically contains information about a wanted suspect who is to be arrested or investigated. Dean is telling Sam if he calls the police, they will go after him (i.e. Dean).

An anonymous tip led the police to a home… where a SWAT team discovered…

A SWAT team is a group of elite police marksmen who specialize in high-risk tasks such as hostage rescue.

First I’m gonna find out that handsome devil and kick the crap out of him

Kick the crap out of someone means to beat him very violently. Dean uses the expression “handsome devil” in a curious way here. Apart from being the title of a song of the Smiths (and we already know there are numberless musical references in the show), it usually indicates a very handsome man who is well aware of his own attractiveness (well, like Dean, in fact), but here, the fact that the shapeshifter took his own shape seems to infuriate Dean and yet to flatter him somehow. It’s a sort of cheeky self-irony.

That’s killing me

(The fact that he may be driving my car) makes me mad. This seems to hurt Dean even more than the fact the shapeshifter is “walking around with his face” and has caused him to be charged with a few serious crimes!

Everything went white

(Rebecca says): I fainted, or however, I was shocked to the point of (almost) fainting

I wound up here

I found myself here (without knowing how)

Murder in the first

Short for “murder in the first degree”: a particularly serious murder, especially one that is deliberate and premeditated (i.e. planned), and/or a murder committed against certain types of people (such as a child or, as in this case, a close relative).

“You and your brother, you hunt down these kinds of things?” “Yeah, Pretty much”.

Pretty much = nearly, more or less, almost completely.

Episode seven – Hook Man

(Ankeny, Iowa)

People seem to meet with strange, violent deaths around Lori, a pretty college girl with a rather rigid family background (her father’s a reverend). In all cases, nobody was anywhere near the victims, and the police have no clue. Sam and Dean look into the Hook Man legend, which is widespread all around the Country, but seems to have originated in Iowa.

Too Martha Stewart?

Martha Stewart is a well-known businesswoman, Lori, who is asking her friend Taylor for advice on how to dress for a date, probably means the clothes she was about to choose were too serious.

There’s a hot chick buried somewhere in there

You are attractive although you hide it (by the way you dress, your behavior, etc.).

He’s not gonna know what hit him

He’ll be shocked, taken by surprise

Your half-caf double vanilla latte is getting cold, Frances

Dean is teasing Sam for his “very customized” coffee order. Also, Sam is all for healthy food and does not share Dean’s taste for snacks and street food.

Bite me

Used for rudely telling someone that you are upset or annoyed with something they have just said or done. Sam is slightly touchier, but neither of the brothers likes irony when it’s directed to them…

A drifter passing by

A tramp, a wanderer

Our hearts go out to the family of the young man who perished

We feel sorrow or sympathy, usually for someone who’s gone through a loss.

We’re gonna do tequila shots and watch Reality Bites

Taylor tells Lori they will drink tequila (in small glasses): to “do a shot” means to drink it in one gulp (usually an ounce). Tequila shots are a bit more specific. The ritual is to lick some salt off your hand, gulp the tequila, and then bite into a wedge of lime. Reality Bites is a 1994 movie (the first feature-length film directed by Ben Stiller) with Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and the same Ben Stiller, which is said to have “captured Generation X” (The Atlantic).

I was so scared, I guess I was seeing things

Lori thinks she was imagining things or saw someone that didn’t really exist

Nice job, Dr. Venkman.

(Dean to Sam). Dr. Venkman was Bill Murray’s character in Ghostbusters

Talked the sheriff down to a fine. Dude, I’m Matlock.

Dean, who, unlike Sam, tends to boast a bit about his heroic actions and his abilities, tells his brother he’s managed to convince the sheriff to just give Sam a fine instead of arresting him. However, he has done so in a somehow unorthodox way…

Told him you were a dumbass pledge and we were hazing you

I told him you were a fool probationary member of a college fraternity and we were playing a trick on you. Essentially, Dean has “helped” Sam by making him look like a gullible greenhorn. Immediately afterwards, a “Hall Week prank” is a practical joke that people typically play during the Halloween (Hall) Week. In this case Sam, who is usually not a little touchy, seems rather amused.

Let’s find the dude’s grave, salt and burn the bones, and put him down

This may either mean put him to rest (put a baby down means put them in bed) or to kill him (although, since the “dude” is already dead and acting as a spirit, the killing takes a different meaning anyway).

Man, you’ve been holding out on me

You’ve withheld information from me, you’ve kept a lot to yourself. Dean is talking about parties and college girls. When Sam replies that this wasn’t really “his experience”, and Dean retorts “let me guess. Library, studying, straight-A’s”, as if it was something to be criticized, Sam’s look seems to say “yeah, of course, what’s so strange about it?”, and he looks around at the people supposedly having fun as if he was thinking “now, this is actually strange”. I love this man!

It was bugging me, right?

It was bothering me

Episode eight – Bugs

(Oasis Plains, Oklahoma)

Dustin Burwash, a gas-company employee, dies after falling in a sinkhole during development works in a building area. Sam and Dean talk to Larry Pike, the area developer, trying to learn more. They also meet his son Matthew, who likes insects and has a very strained relationship with his father. Matt tries to scare Lynda Bloome, the realtor, with a tarantula: when Lynda dies too, and Sam and Dean find a few spiders in her house, they begin to suspect Matt to control the bugs somehow.

Man, these are some phat houses, huh?

Phat = excellent, wonderful, terrific (part of a conversation between Dustin and his colleague Travis).

Hustling pool

To misrepresent one’s skill in (a game or activity) in order to deceive someone, especially in gambling (Dean often uses this method to raise some money).

How we were raised was jacked

Jacked = (here) broken or ruined: Sam’s still angry at the way he and his brother were brought up.

Flip a coin

Throw a coin into the air, with the outcome of something dependent on which side of the coin lands face-up.

Call it in the air… chicken

In order for a coin toss to be valid, you must call it in the air, meaning you declare, before the coin hits the ground, which side will be on top when it lands. The winner (i.e. the person who makes the correct call) gets to choose whether or not to do something, usually dangerous or unpleasant, like in this case go down the hole in which Dustin had fallen. Chicken means cowardly.

Sounds like a stretch to me

Sounds exaggerated, hard to believe, far-fetched. Sam has just found a few beetles in the hole, and rightly suspects they have something to do with Dustin’s death, but Dean isn’t convinced.

Growing up in a place like this would freak me out…I’d blow my brains out

I’d kill myself (by shooting myself in the head). We already know Dean isn’t the type to live the “middle-class (or even top-class) American dream”. Neither is Sam, for that matter, but he doesn’t know that, yet.

I’d take my family over normal any day

Any day = at any time or under any circumstances (used to express a strong opinion or preference). This is perhaps the closest to honest Dean has been about his feelings so far.

Our father is getting on in years

Is aging, is becoming old. Sam’s answer to Larry Pike’s less-than-tactful remark on the “sexual orientation” of the two brothers, which is also probably the first (but certainly not the last) reference to the possible homosexuality of the two brothers. It actually seems to be a (rather awkward) part of Larry and his staff’s selling routine. Linda, the Head of Sales, repeats it just a few minutes later, word for word. Sam and Dean’s reaction to Larry’s “gaffe” is rather different: Sam smiles, genuinely surprised, maybe amused, but not offended at all. Dean, on the contrary, takes it as an insult to his macho pride, which is his hallmark and the side I like the least. The second time, his joke seems to imply he doesn’t mind, but he clearly does.

He’s into insects

(Larry Pike speaking of his son Matt). Be into something = be interested in, like sth.

The first-name basis with the old man sounds pretty grim

Grim = unpleasant, ugly. Matthew’s answer, I’m not exactly brochure material, just like Larry’s expression when he was talking to Dean about his son’s “weird” passion, confirms the father-son tension and is something Sam can easily relate to, particularly the fact of being considered the family “freak”.

It’s no bother

No problem, don’t worry, it’s all right

He was all over my case

He was always taking action on something I did, scolding me or accusing me of something. Sam is talking about his father.

Maybe he had to raise his voice, but sometimes you were out of line

Out of line = behaving in a way that breaks the rules or is considered inappropriate.

You might be on to something

If you are on to something it means you have discovered something important

You mean, like Willard?

Willard is the protagonist of a horror film of the same title, who controlled rats, leading them to take revenge for him of people who hurt him.

Elemental

A supernatural entity or force thought to be physically manifested by occult means.

I hear you

I understand, I can relate, I see what you mean, fair enough. The following dialogue is all about Sam’s feelings, which allow him to understand Matt very well, but also prevent him from fully moving on and choosing his life for the “right” reasons, as he cannot let go of his anger towards his father yet.

Don’t sweat it

Don’t worry, take it easy. Sam tells Matt things will get better in two years, because he will be able to leave his father (to go to college).

Kid should stick with his family

Stick with = support, be loyal to. Sam’s advice to Matt has annoyed Dean who, much to the opposite of Sam, has an exaggerated sense of family obligations and family loyalty, which makes him almost blind to the sufferings it can also cause.

You two are like peas in a pod

Very similar to each other. Dean’s scathing remark targets, once again, Sam’s love for study and research (and in this case, his self-pity too)

Which in our whacked-out family made me the freak

Whacked-out = crazy, emotionally inadequate

Yeah, you were kind of like the blonde chick in The Munsters

The Munsters was an American sitcom about a family of benign monsters, whose teenage niece, as an all-American beauty, was the family outcast. The sitcom was aired between 1964 and 1966, concurrently with the Addams Family.

I seem to recall a few choice phrases coming out of your mouth

When you use a few choice words, you say exactly what you mean in an angry way.

He used to swing by Stanford whenever he could

Swing by = make a short visit to a person or place

Well, it’s a two-way street, dude

A two-way street is a situation or relationship involving mutual action or obligation. This is a typical situation in which there is not a “right” and a “wrong”. However, Sam’s dad threw him out of the house. It’s obvious that even if he was proud as Dean says, he never said so or made it clear to Sam. This is a very common situation we can all relate to somehow, probably. Sam and Dean’s dialogue is amazing, especially for their great acting, once again.

I’d say they’re 170 years old, give or take

Approximately, possibly a little more or a little less. Professor Jim Byrnes is talking about the bones Sam and Dean have found in the area. They find out the bones belonged to a Native and that about a century earlier, the cavalry massacred a tribe in that area, which is now cursed.

And you’ll apologize and then within five minutes, you’ll be at each other throats

You’ll be arguing or fighting. Sam is now willing to admit his part of responsibility (he never skips introspection), but Dean, who is also capable of insight, although less frequently, knows that all issues between Sam and their father are not resolved.

Let’s hit the road

Let’s go, let’s leave and begin our journey,

Episode nine – Home

(Lawrence, Kansas)

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 Dean 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 his brother 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) or even 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

(Missouri to Dean): (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 (as well as keen on  study and research), 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. 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 an 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.

Episode ten – Asylum

(Rockford, Illinois)

Two officers are inspecting an old asylum. They find a couple of teenagers hidden there for fun, but also something way, way worse…

You shoved me kind of hard in there

Shove = push roughly. Sam “pretended” to punch Dean to get to talk to one of the two officers involved. He probably took the occasion to retaliate after Dean’s bossy behavior of a few hours earlier. I had to sell it, didn’t I? He replies, which means “I had to make it seem true”.

Even-keeled / on an even keel

Progressing smoothly and steadily, without sudden changes; characterized by stability or consistency; stable, balanced. Sam is talking of Kelly, the police officer who went crazy after the inspection at the Roosevelt Asylum.

It was mostly smooth sailing

Easy, or without problems

Had some deep-seated crazy waiting to bust out

A hidden madness ready to explode

Three kids broke into the south wing

Break into = enter forcibly, force one way into a place

One of his friends went nuts

Go nuts = become insane, act in a way that is wild or out of control; get crazy

But if kids are spelunking the asylum, why aren’t there a ton more deaths?

Spelunking = the exploration of caves (used in a derogatory way, to indicate stupid or unprepared cave trips).

Let me know if you see any dead people, Haley Joel

Haley Joel Osment was the protagonist of Sixth Sense, the kid who saw dead people, in fact. Dean is pulling Sam’s leg because of his brother’s nightmares and supposed psychic abilities. He also uses the ESP acronym, meaning “extra-sensory perception”. This prompts Sam’s response (“dude, enough”, meaning stop it, “piantala”), but Dean sometimes just doesn’t know when to stop, and he’s also afraid of these “strange” characteristics of his brother. In addition to a dangerous spirit, in this episode Sam has to deal with his rage towards Dean and his bossy attitude (and often stinging jokes).

Twisted

Strange, mad, mentally disturbed or unsound

“What do you think? Ghosts are possessing people?” “Maybe is more like Amityville or the Smurl haunting”

They are both references to cases of paranormal activities reported by families who claimed their homes were haunted

A history buff

Someone who has an interest in the history of a particular period of time, person or place.

We’re on your dollar, Sam

You’re paying for my time, you should use it (to talk about you and not about some local incident). Dr. Ellicott’s won’t be fooled, he’s quickly realized Sam is not there for a psychological session, but to get information. He forces Sam to talk about his “road trip” with his brother, and his expression in this circumstance is priceless.

Let’s cut the bull, shall we?

Stop telling lies or avoiding a subject

Good times

Sono bei momenti (both literally and ironically)

Getting readings? Yeah, big time

Does any EMF show on the instrument? Very much, to a large extent, on a large scale

This place is orbing like crazy

Orbs are balls of light that are sometimes seen in photographs and believed by some to be ghostly entities. Sam’s saying that there’s plenty of those balls of light.

It’s probably multiple spirits out and about

Active, going out and doing things.

“This was weird”. “You’re telling me”!

You’re telling me means I’m aware of that, I completely agree (“Non me lo dire/ non dirmelo” or “a chi lo dici”). Sam has just seen a spirit, and that’s actually weird, but Sam was referring to the fact that the spirit didn’t attack him or try to hurt him. Dean replies “It looked pretty agro (angry, hostile) from where I was standing”. We have already begun to see that not all spirits are evil or hostile. Over time, the two brothers will have to learn (especially Dean), that shades of gray do exist, even when it comes to spirits and “monsters”.

“Why would anyone want a job like that?”. “I had a crappy counselor”.

This is one of many lines that say a lot in very few words. As usual, Sam’s jokes are not jokes, but truths in disguise. He’s probably still angry at his father for having brought them up as “hunters”, but of course he wouldn’t say so in so many words. At the same time, he doesn’t want to sound “heroic” and say he’s doing it to save lives. So he’s confirming he doesn’t like the “job” so much and did not exactly “choose” it, but also, in a way, that he feels he had no choice at the time (and, perhaps, has no choice now either).

This is why I get paid the big bucks

I get paid a lot of money because I’m really good at what I do (of course, Sam and Dean’s “job” is not paid, it’s one of Dean’s typical jokes)

Soak it up

Enjoy! (Dean is talking ironically to the skeleton of Dr. Ellicott (senior) , which he is going to salt and burn, and it’s a double meaning, as he is actually soaking it with petrol).

I’m not really in the sharing-and-caring kind of mood

I don’t feel like sharing an emotional moment just now.

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’ve done to us, how do we repay your kindness? Sometimes a “catch” is also a negative aspect of something that is otherwise positive or 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,

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.

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. Dean’s saying he wants to deep-fry it, to make sure he dies.

I drew the short straw

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 Roy’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 points, 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 Dean 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 him, and they think the dog is just barking for no reason).

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 knows 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.

Episode fourteen – Nightmare

(Saginaw, Michigan)

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“).

Episode fifteen – The Benders

(Minnesota)

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 = very bad, 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 remove something that limits your action, 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 don’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 under-appreciate 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”).

Episode sixteen – Shadow (Chicago)

A young woman is killed by a shadow. Sam and Dean go to Chicago and try to shed some light on the murder. There, Sam meets Meg again, almost 3000 km from California, and the puzzling coincidence begins to make him suspect that there’s more to her than meets the eye.

I feel like a high-school drama dork

Sam, always the detail-oriented one, has found two alarm company workers’ outfits, which Dean calls “costumes” because he hates dressing up for work. Sam does, too, but it’s important to him that they “look the part”. Sam’s reply, “You wanna pull this off or not?” means: “don’t you want to obtain the result?”. (Then you have to do this).

Bang-up job your company’s doing

The alarm didn’t work or was useless (the landlady says), so your company did a very bad job

The guy who killed her must have been some kind of a wack job

Must have been mad, totally crazy

Do you mind if we… give this place a once-over

Can we quickly look at or examine this place.

Knock yourself out

Do as you like, go ahead

You mind doing a little bit of thinking with your upstairs brain, Dean?

This metaphor is mainly used in child psychology. The upstairs brain is responsible for more complex mental processes, the so-called “downstairs brain” is all instincts and strong emotions. To put it simply, Sam is asking Dean not to think (only) about sex and to focus on their investigation.

I came, I saw, I conquered. Oh, and I met what’s-his-name, something Michael Murray, at the bar

I succeeded, I did all I wanted to do, and then I quickly left. Chad Michael Murray is an actor, mostly famous for his participation in various TV series. Possibly, Meg wants Sam to think she had a breakthrough in Hollywood, but the reference to meeting a then-not-so-famous actor (Sam hadn’t even heard his name), and at the bar at that, seems to imply she wasn’t so successful after all. She adds: “Anyway, the whole scene got old”, that is, it became boring, it lost interest. One may think she succeeded in what she set out to do, but that was not acting. Or maybe she wants to give the impression she’s just randomly mouthing words because she’s so happy to see Sam.

Stop dragging him over God’s green earth

Across the entire planet, everywhere. Sam had been in bad terms with Dean the first time he met Meg, he had told her more or less that Dean treated him “like luggage”, and she now tactlessly rubs it in when Sam introduces Dean to her.

We should hook up while you’re in town. Show you a hell of a time.

Again, Meg’s phrases are ambiguous. Hook up can just mean “meet, do something together”, but also has a double entendre, as “start a romantic or sexual relationship”. And “a hell of a time” may be intended as very difficult and unpleasant, or fun and exciting (or… in a more literal sense. We are talking of Supernatural, after all).

Were you bitching about me with some chick?

Bitch about something is a (rude) way to say complain, criticize. Dean is of course annoyed with Sam after Meg’s “clumsy” remarks. (he’s also a bit upset because “she’s not that much into him”).

There’s something about this girl that I can’t quite put my finger on

There’s something wrong, even if I can’t exactly say what it is. Of course, Dean jumps at the chance of a double entendre.

Better safe than sorry

It’s best not to take risks

I wanna see what’s what

I need to better understand the facts

Let me guess, you’re lurking outside her apartment, aren’t you?

Lurk means to be or remain hidden so as to wait in ambush for someone or something. Dean is implying that Sam is spying on Meg, and not just for “professional” reasons (and he’s actually right, as Sam honestly admits).

They tend to bite the hand that feeds them

Dean means it literally: the demons he’s talking about – they tend to eat the person who summons and controls them if they can.

Why don’t you give that girl a private strip-o-gram

A strip-o-gram is a striptease on delivery, often used as a gift for someone’s birthday or bachelor party, etc. In this case, Dean is still teasing Sam, who certainly does like Meg in a way, but at this point, he’s also seriously worried.

We gotta stake out that warehouse

Stake out means secretly watch a place, for instance the police can stake out a suspect’s house.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves

Act overconfidently, or before you’re ready, or focus excessively on one’s plans or on prospective future events without paying adequate attention to the present. Sam is excited at the prospect of finding “the thing that killed mom” because he wants to go back to school, live his own way. Dean, despite all he said (in the Scarecrow episode) is not ready to let him go, he wants his family to be together again, and doesn’t see a way to be a family without doing the same thing, and doing it together.

Crimp

Having a negative effect

Not very quick on the uptake, are we?

Meg tells Dean he doesn’t readily understand things

Buckets of crazy

Extremely, totally crazy

Bad guy

The villain or criminal, especially in a work of fiction.

I don’t want you caught in the crossfire

I don’t want you to get involved in this dangerous situation, trapped between two lines of fire in a conflict (John talking to Sam and Dean).

Episode seventeen – Hell House

(Richardson, Texas)

Soundtrack: Blue Oysters, Fire of an unknown origin

Quote: Kind of makes you wonder. Of all the things we hunted, how many existed just because people believed in them?

Craig and a few other teens get into a supposedly haunted house. However, something doesn’t add up. In this episode, Sam and Dean meet for the first time those who will become the Ghostfacers.

Wussy

A weak person, a coward. One of the teenagers tells the others they’re wussies because they are a nervous about getting into the house.

You afraid you’re gonna get a little Nair in your shampoo?

Apparently, the two brothers used to do pranks against each other, some time ago. Sam isn’t very much in the mood, and Dean teases him about one time when he put Nair (a hair depilatory) in Sam’s shampoo. We may have already guessed Sam pays attention to his physical appearance, and his hair in particular, although he doesn’t seem to use his looks to approach women, so far at least.

Give me the lowdown again

Give someone the lowdown = To provide someone with specific or comprehensive details about someone, something, or some situation.

This group of kids go poking around this local haunted house

Poke around = search, look around, moving things to look for something, usually in a not very careful or organized way.

String them up in the rafters

String sb up = kill them by hanging. Rafters = the parallel beams that support a roof

Cops are saying the kids were yanking chains

Yank (someone’s) chain = harass, annoy someone, give someone a hard time

Most of those websites wouldn’t know a ghost if it bit them in the “persqueeter”

A slang term for genitalia. Dean is talking about paranormal websites

There’s no harm checking this thing out

No harm (in) doing sth = used for saying that something will not cause any problems and may be helpful: There’s no harm in asking.

So I guess that’s when he went off the deep end

If you say that someone has gone off the deep end, you mean that their mind has stopped working in a normal way and their behaviour has become very strange as a result.

So much for curb appeal

The curb appeal means the qualities of a building that make it attractive, for example, to a buyer when it is seen from the street.

I think that thing’s still got a little juice in it

It’s low on power

Tagger

A person who writes graffiti using their nickname or identifying mark

I think I get the picture

I think I get what you mean, I know what you’re talking about

That is bush league

Of poor quality, second-rate. Dean refers to Sam’s “prank”.

I dare you to take a swig of this

A swig = the act of swallowing a large amount of a drink in a single action

Lie through one’s ass (usually through one’s teeth)

Tell an outright lie without remorse. Dean’s telling Craig to tell the truth this time

Took on a life of its own

Became something different, much bigger or more important than we thought, went out of control (Craig speaking).

We made the whole thing up

We invented it, there was nothing true or real about it

You could probably bitch-slap them

Bitch-slap = deliver a stinging blow to (someone), typically in order to humiliate them

Episode Eighteen – Something Wicked

(Fitchburg, Wisconsin )

soundtrack: Another day of regrets, Molly

Several kids of this little town start to suffer from a mysterious illness, which seems to “wear them out”, i.e., drain their energy. When Sam and Dean stop at a hotel, the owner’s son Michael sparks something in Dean, as his relationship with his little brother Asher is very much like Sam and Dean were as kids. When Asher gets sick…

I couldn’t find a single red flag

A red flag is a sign of danger or a warning. John has given his sons coordinates, but Sam has run a number of resources without finding anything suspicious.

All I found was a big, steamy pile of nothing

It would be a pile of “shit” (hence the “steamy” bit); but even when he’s angry or annoyed, Sam is rarely so rough-spoken as Dean.

You’re a real smart-ass, you know that?

A smart-ass is a know-it-all, Dean is telling Sam he is irritating because he behaves as if he knows everything.

The waitress thinks that the local Freemasons are up to something sneaky

The Freemasons are members of an international order established for mutual help and fellowship, which holds elaborate secret ceremonies (“Massoneria”). The waitress thinks they are preparing some (presumably illegal) scheme.

The place should be crawling with kids right now

There should be kids running all over the place; the place should be full of kids moving around = swarming with

They think it’s catching

Catching (of a disease) means easily passed on or given to someone else. A lot of parents aren’t taking their children to the park because they are anxious about the disease outbreak

CDC = The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A federal agency that conducts and supports health promotion, prevention and preparedness activities in the United States, with the goal of improving overall public health

How did you find out? Oh, some G.P. (General Practitioner). I forget his name. Must have beat you to the punch

Dr. Heidecker asks Dean how they knew there was a disease spreading in the town, as he was just about to call the CDC himself (but hasn’t done so yet). Dean says some doctor has acted just before him. (Beat someone to the punch = by a hair’s breadth):

She came down with it first

Mary was the first to catch / suffer from or show signs of the disease

I think we’re barking up the right tree

We are making the right decision, we are pursuing the right course of action, we are not mistaken. Sam is still doubtful, but we know Dean won’t budge, when Dad’s judgment is involved.

Guess he caught wind it’s in Fitchburg

I think (Dad) found out (the shtriga) is in Fitchburg. Dean thinks their father wants them to complete an unfinished business and kill, once and for all, a witch he’d already faced many years before. Actually, there is more to the story, which Dean tries to hide because it involves Sam and himself. Of course, this does not escape sharp-eyed Sam. The scene of the “Lucky charms” is amazing.

(If dad went after it) why is it still breathing air?

How come it’s still alive?

Ain’t gonna be a cakewalk

It won’t be easy

I wasn’t packing

I wasn’t carrying a gun

I’m not gonna dangle him in front of that thing like a worm on a hook.

I won’t use him as bait. Sam doesn’t want to use Michael to capture the “shtriga”. It now gets clear that this job is particularly important to Dean because he has to make up for a mistake he made as a kid, which put Sam in danger.

You’ve been hiding something from the get-go

From the beginning.

Since when dad bails on a hunt?

Bail on = give up, abandon

I was climbing the walls, man

Dean felt trapped, helpless and frustrated because he had to look after Sam, they were in a “crap room” and he couldn’t get out

Episode Nineteen – Provenance

(New York)

When a couple is murdered in a locked-up house and no prints are found, nor any murder weapons, Sam and Dean guess something weird is going on. They suspect a cursed object or something like that may be involved. A Daniel Blake is holding a private auction to dispose of all of the couple’s property. He doesn’t want Sam and Dean anywhere around, but his beautiful daughter Sarah sees things differently, particularly as regards Sam…

Hold that thought

Remember what you were about to say: used when there is a pause in a conversation for an interruption, i.e. one’s attention needs to be diverted from what a speaker was saying

Shore leave

A leave of absence to go on shore granted to a sailor or naval officer (here: a break)

I’m so in the door with this one

“Get a foot in the door” means to have a chance to do something that could lead to further opportunities, so in this case, Dean is saying that he has a chance with the girl.

It’s not that far off, right?

Dean has told the girl he wants to “hook up with” that he and Sam are Reality TV scouts looking for new talents and he tells Sam this is not too far from the truth.

Probably hook(ed) you up

I’ve probably found someone you can meet and potentially be interested in (Dean to Sam).

Could just be a garden-variety murder, not our department.

If you describe something as “garden-variety” it means it’s not special or out of the ordinary in any way, it’s just normal. Not our department = not our area of work/interest/responsibility/knowledge

Track the pattern

To study cases that are similar in some respect and find whatever they have in common, particularly a repeated and somehow regular way in which the murders are committed

Keep (one’s) eye(s) peeled (for something or someone)

To remain vigilant or carefully watchful (for something or someone). In this case, Sam is saying that their dad was waiting for another murder to happen.

I’m with you

I agree

Pickups are your thing

You’re the one who meets girls

Sometimes you gotta take one for the team

Take one for the team = willingly undertake an unpleasant task or make a personal sacrifice for the collective benefit of one’s friends or colleagues. Well, in this case it wouldn’t be unpleasant or a sacrifice at all, seeing that Sam is clearly taken by Sarah, whether he admits it or not; he just doesn’t want to “use” her to get information (and is also afraid, for more than one reason).

Welcome to the club

Used to tell someone that you understand an unpleasant situation they are in, because you are in the same situation.

It really threw me /caught me off guard

It shocked me, took me by surprise

I went into this shell

Go into (one’s) shell = to retreat into one’s mind or otherwise isolate oneself so as to avoid undesirable thoughts, situations, or interactions with people.

You didn’t have to con her…?

Con = persuade (someone) to do or believe something by lying to them.

Dean, would you get your mind out of the gutter, please?

Sam thinks Dean is inferring a dirty/sexual innuendo (as usual), while he  actually didn’t imply anything of the kind.

It’s obvious you’re into her

You like her.

Either way, it’s toast

Whether the painting is haunted or cursed, it’s however destined to be destroyed / to cause trouble

He was just screwing around

Screw (one) around = harass, manipulate, or bother one, especially in a deceptive or frivolous manner. Sam is telling Sarah that Dean is just wasting time, they are leaving soon, so it’s no use for him (Sam) to ask her out.

So you think Daddy Dearest’s trapped in the painting and is handing out Columbian neckties like with his family?

Hand out Columbian netckties = slit other people’s throats; Columbian necktie was a method of execution used in South America

You can get more time to crush on your girlfriend

Crush on someone = have a feeling of romantic love for someone, especially someone you do not know well.

Ever since we got here, you’ve been trying to pimp me out to Sarah

To throw me in her arms

I’m scared as hell but I’m not gonna run and hide either

Sarah is saying she’s afraid but she’s not going to back off / draw away from action.

I think this ghost is jerking us around

Jerk someone around = intentionally cause difficulty, try to deceive someone about something. In this case, Dean thinks the spirit is lying or making fun of them by leading them to look for a crypt or a family burial vault (mausoleum) that maybe doesn’t even exist or is, however, difficult to find without precise directions.

Mazel tov

Congratulations, good luck, it’s what Sarah tells Sam after he’s told her that they do not do this “for a living”, since they don’t get paid.

I don’t mean to be forward

Forward (disapproving): confident and honest in a way that ignores the usual social rules and might seem rude (sfacciato/a). Sarah tells Sam she doesn’t want to look brazen-faced (but there’s something she really wants to know/understand).

You lost me

I don’t get you anymore, I can’t follow what you’re saying. Sam has just told Sarah he doesn’t think it would be a good idea to go out with her… because he likes her. He then goes on to say he’s afraid, because people around him seem to die too often, so he “doesn’t let himself have feelings” for anybody as he’s scared they might get hurt.

You shut yourself off

You become isolated. Sarah tells Sam she understands very well (she had spoken of her own “warm, comfortable shell” before), but “when you shut out pain, you shut out everything else too”.

Pay dirt

Success: (Dean saying) “I found something useful / profitable”

Still think I’m a catch?

A catch = someone worth meeting and possibly starting a relationship with. Sam’s implying he isn’t such a good choice for Sarah (or any girl).

Ok, genius. Let me take my battering ram

A battering ram is a heavy beam, originally with an end in the form of a carved ram’s head, formerly used in breaching fortifications. (In Italian: ariete)

Hold something off

Resist an attack or challenge

We all got through this in one piece

Sarah tells Sam she didn’t die after all, none of them was hurt, so maybe he can afford to “have feelings” for someone.

Episode Twenty – Dead Man’s Blood (Una pistola dal passato) 

Manning, Colorado

Daniel Elkins is, apparently, only a harmless old fool. As usual, however, all is not what it seems. Sam and Dean will have to fight a band of vampires with the help of an unexpected ally: their father John.

Death throes, maybe?

The death throes of something are its final stages, just before it fails completely or ends. … If a person or animal is in their death throes, they are dying and making violent, uncontrolled movements, usually because they are suffering great pain. Sam thinks the scratches on the floor may just be due to that, but they will prove to be something entirely different.

It’s a mail drop

A mail drop (North American) is a receptacle for mail, especially one in which mail is kept until the addressee collects it.

We had kind of a falling-out

John had a disagreement or a fight with Daniel, which broke their friendship.

I thought Elkins and others had wiped them out

I thought they had killed them all (i.e. all the vampires).

You telling me you’re cool with failing into line, letting him run the whole show?

Fall into line = conform with others, follow the rules or orders and behave according to expected standards. Sam can’t believe Dean is still ready to obey his father without even thinking about it.

Somewhere along the line (also somewhere down the line)

At some point, at a certain moment during a relationship or process.

I don’t expect to make it out of this in one piece

I don’t expect to survive (get out alive, make it out of there alive)

Episode Twenty-one – Salvation

(Blue Earth, Minnesota; Manning, Colorado; Salvation, Iowa)

John has finally accepted the help of his sons in what should be the final fight with the “yellow-eyed demon” that killed Mary. The demon is going after families again, and seems to look for six-month-old babies, just like Sam was when the demon attacked them. In the meantime, Meg has killed Jim Murphy, “Pastor Jim”, an old friend of John, who is thunderstruck by the news. Turns out the demons want the colt that John found after the death of Daniel Elkins and are going to kill each one of his friends until he gives it to them.

I’ve always been a step behind it

John says he’s never been able to anticipate the demon’s moves or arrive in time to save the people it was after.

In the days before these fires, signs crop up in an area

Certain signs appear, or are unexpectedly noticed, before the demon sets a house on fire for its mysterious mission.

He (Jim) bled out

Bleed out = die from loss of blood

Could be he just got careless, he slipped up

(John is still speaking of Jim): slip up = make a careless error

Now we act like every second counts

Time is of the essence

We split up we cover more ground

We will accomplish more/make more progress/ go further if we go separate ways

I’m ending it, I don’t care what it takes

I want to finish this (beat the demon), no matter what it costs, whatever the price

Growing like a weed

Grow like a weed = grow very fast, boom, burgeon, flourish (Monika’s baby is just six months old but very big)

Think real hard, it’ll come to you

You’ll remember (Meg has called Sam and he didn’t recognize her at first)

This is the thing / That’s the thing

A phrase we use to introduce an opinion which shows disagreement or some kind of counter-argument from what another person just said, or, however, a strong statement, something you consider as a fact (in Italian: il fatto è questo /le cose stanno così ecc.)

This thing goes south, you get the hell out

If things go bad or don’t turn out as expected, leave that place immediately (Dean talking to his father).

Same goes for you

You too, you do the same (John’s answer to Dean).

We only got one move

There’s only one possible course of action

We get it before it gets them.

We catch/kill the demon before it hurts Monika’s family.

I’d feel a lot better if we were there backing him up

Supporting or helping (dad)

You’ve always had my back, you know

You’ve always been ready to support me, watch out for me, take care of me. Sam’s talking to Dean before they deal with the yellow-eyed demon. Dean, of course, snaps an angry reply, as he usually does when he’s moved and at a loss for words.

Sometimes I feel like I’m barely holding it together

I feel I may lose my sanity. Sam was risking to be carried away by his desire for revenge, to the point of not caring for his own life. This time, Dean for once “lets go” and expresses his deepest feelings without the usual restraint.

Episode Twenty-two – Devil’s Trap

(Jefferson, Missouri)

While Meg is still holding John prisoner, Sam and Dean leave Salvation to rescue him and work out a plan to kill both Meg and the yellow-eyed demon (as well as any other demon that may be around). They need help, so they visit Bobby, one of many friends with whom John had a falling-out, but he is willing to help them anyway. We meet Bobby for the first time, but he will be a recurring character in the series.

Roach motel

Anything that, upon entering it, cannot be easily left. Can be literal or metaphorical. Bobby says that a “devil’s trap” is like a roach motel for any demon.

Man knows his stuff

Sam says Bobby is very expert in the field = Also, know one’s onions: We need a handyman who knows his onions.

This is some serious crap you boys stepped in

Step into (something) = to become involved in a difficult situation or argument in order to help find a solution. So Bobby is saying the situation in which Sam and Dean are involved is really tough.

Normal year, I hear of, say, three demonic possessions. Maybe four, tops

Tops = at the most; maximum.

Storm’s coming. And you boys and your daddy are smack in the middle of it.

Smack in the middle of something = Right in the middle or most central part (of something).

First Johnny tries to pawn off a fake gun, and then he leaves the real gun with you two chuckleheads

Pawn off = to get rid of or pass off usually by deception: palm off. Chucklehead = a stupid person (Meg talking to Sam and Dean).

Lackluster

Lacking in vitality, force, or conviction; uninspired or uninspiring.

Gotcha

I have got you (used to express satisfaction at having captured or defeated someone or uncovered their faults).

Hit it, Sam.

(Dean talking): Hit it = Start something  or begin doing something.

We’re going for it

We’re going to do anything we have to in order to get what we want/need (Ci puoi scommettere/ Andremo fino in fondo)

Head-spinning dizziness.

If your head is spinning, you are confused or dazed, or shocked, you feel as if you might faint: The figures in this tax return make my head spin

The whole nine yards

Everything possible or available, the whole lot

Put someone out of their misery

End the suffering of a person or animal in pain by killing them; (fig.) release someone from suspense or anxiety by telling them something they are anxious to know.

You better hurry up and beat it

Beat it = hit the road, run, leave, go away

That gun is our only leverage

Leverage = advantage, a resource you can use to obtain something better

This sucks out loud

It’s really bad, I just can’t bear to watch or hear it

We couldn’t have found a more out-of-the-way place to hole up

To hide, to escape and stay in a safe place

That’s not what bothers me

It’s not what makes me feel bad (Dean speaking)

I didn’t even flinch

To flinch is to react to something bad, dangerous etc. by wincing, pulling away, or cringing, to pull away suddenly or recoil when something frightens or hurts you. In this case, Dean is saying he didn’t hesitate to “kill” a demon that was threatening Sam’s life, although he knew the demon was possessing an innocent man.

You watch out for this family

You make sure that nothing bad happens to us

A neat trick

Something really good (un bel colpo)

He’s gonna tear you apart

Tear something/someone apart = destroy, pull someone into pieces

Two wrongs don’t make a right

A saying that exists in Italian as well: due errori/ingiustizie non fanno una cosa giusta

They got in the way

The yellow-eyed demon is telling Sam that his mother and his girlfriend Jessica were just there, they interfered with the plans the demon had for Sam, and that’s why he (the demon) killed them.

You mind just getting this over with?

Just do it, put an end to this. In other words, Dean is telling the demon just kill me, I can’t stand the monologuing, i.e. I don’t want to listen to you rambling on.

But that’s all part of your M.O., isn’t it? Masks all that nasty pain. Masks the truth

It’s your habit, it’s how you function (the demon talking to Dean).

I thought we saw eye to eye on this

I thought we agreed on this

 

SEASON TWO

Episode one – In my time of dying

(Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin)

After the truck driver (possessed by a demon) hit their car, Sam, Dean and their father are taken to hospital. Sam and John are more or less ok, but Dean is in a bad way and fighting for his life (quite literally: he desperately tries to reach Sam mentally and actually attacks a couple of spirits, although he’s apparently unconscious and in a coma).

Significant passenger space intrusion

PSI is any encroachment of vehicle deformity into the passenger compartment, regardless of proximity to the occupant. (The rescues staff talking on the radio after the accident)

You look good, considering

Considering the circumstances

Go find some Hoodoo priest to lay some mojo on me

Mojo is a magic charm or spell or an amulet, often  a small bag containing magic items, related to hoodoo or voodoo. In this case, it means  a quality or some ability that brings good luck or helps you be good at something. That is, Dean is asking Sam to find someone who can use magic or some peculiar skills to prevent him from dying.

Then we just sit here with our thumbs up our ass?

Not doing what you should be doing, doing nothing. Sam needs to do something, anything, because he knows Dean is dying, and we already know neither of the brothers will accept that the other one may die. And they both have, in different ways, this “you always have a choice” or ”there’s gotta be a way” attitude, that is sometimes maddening but most often endearing and very, very human.

I’ll check under every stone

John tells Sam, I’ll leave no stone unturned, I’ll look everywhere, do everything I can

He’s like an hour out

He (Bobby) is about one hour from here.

I got it covered

Sam tells his father, I get it, I understand, I’ll take care of everything

That stuff. You don’t use it to ward off a demon, you use it to summon one.

Ward off a danger or illness means to prevent it from affecting you or harming you. It doesn’t take long for Sam  to find out that John is not trying to prevent demons from reaching the hospital. On the contrary, he wants to summon one. But since John is never clear about his aims, there’s a misunderstanding and a big fight. Sam is mad because he thinks his father’s plan is to kill the demon. John has given him reason to think that revenge is the most important thing to him, and Sam wouldn’t put it beyond his father to continuing the chase even when his own son is dying. John retorts with rising anger and even scorn.

Of course, pain and fear is behind all this, as is often the case. But basically, John and, to a lesser extent, both of his sons tend to keep things secret even when they shouldn’t, which often, not to say always, leads to fights and unnecessary anger. We’ve all been there though, haven’t we? That’s when Dean (or rather, his “dying spirit”) manages to smash a glass on the floor, and says…

Dude. I full-on Swayze’d that mother

This is a reference to the movie “Ghost” with Patrick Swayze. In that movie, Swayze’s character died and was a ghost for most of the movie. then he learned to move things, especially if a strong emotion was involved. (mother is short for “motherfucker”, i.e. that damn thing).

Out-of-body experience

Dean is talking to Tessa now. But while Dean is actually having an “out-of-body” experience, we soon learn Tessa is just a shape the reaper who’s going after him has taken. She’s still trying to talk him into accepting his fate, but he’s still not willing to, and tells her, if we “hold on” (endure, manage to deal with the situation), we can “snap right back” in our bodies and wake up.

Like he was there, just out of eyeshot, or something

As if he was just out of view, not visible (Sam is talking to his father now).

Most people in your spot would be Jell-O by now

Dean is very surprised (and perhaps begins to be suspicious too) at how well “Tessa” is taking her own bearing death.

I feel like I’m at a slumber party

A party for teenagers, typically girls, in which all the guests stay the night at the house where the party is held. Sam is trying to use an Ouija table to communicate with Dean’s spirit… and it works, because Sam is psychic anyway.

Damn straight

couldn’t agree more! Just so, absolutely

Is it after you?

(Sam asking Dean): Is it (the spirit) trying to get you?

far too laid-back for a dead chick

Dean is saying he should have known “Tessa” was not a dying girl, her talk was far too relaxed and easy-going, she didn’t seem worried at all.

You’re living on borrowed time already

You’re still living (“Tessa” tells Dean) when you should have been dead for some time now, and, however, you’re going to die soon (as Dean’s incurred fatal injuries).

Flip out

Become very excited, angry or agitated

You gotta cut me a break

Cut someone a break means to be lenient or do something that makes a situation easier for someone else.

You’re not the first soldier I’ve plucked from the field

Tessa tells Dean he’s not the first “fighter” she’s taken from the battlefield, while they were fighting.

Victory hangs in the balance

Victory depends (soldiers and human beings often think) on my staying alive, I don’t know what’ll become of this war/situation if I’m not there, something very bad may happen.

They can’t let go and they can’t move on

Tessa tells Dean if he chooses not to die, he will hang on as a spirit for years, and disembodied spirits often go crazy and become violent, because they’re neither alive nor dead.

It’s very unseemly not proper or appropriate.

Azaziel the yellow-eyed demon is talking to John now, he says trying to make a deal with a demon is something reckless and probably not “right”.

You’ve been playing dumb

Azaziel is saying John has been pretending all along he didn’t know “the truth” about Sam (although we are not told what this truth is, yet, we can only have a guess) and has said nothing about it to either Sam himself or Dean.

You still need to sweeten the pot

Increase the wager/the stakes. Make the deal more desirable to me (i.e. Azaziel).

I can’t give away the big punch line

I can’t reveal the last part of the joke / the end of the story

How’d I ditch it?

get rid of, defeat

This pit in my stomach. There’s something wrong

The pit in your stomach is in fact the place in your stomach where you (physically) experience unpleasant feelings when your are worried, upset, angry, etc.

We’re just butting heads

Having a fight just for the sake of it, express different opinions in an (unnecessarily) angry way. (John says, of his and Sam’s ways).

I put too much on your shoulders

Gave you too much responsibility (John tells Dean).

Episode two – Everybody loves a clown

(Medford, Wisconsin)

A mysterious clown appears to little children and kills their parents. In the meantime, Sam and Dean try to cope with the death of their father and their grief, each  in his own way. When they finally get back to work, they meet Ellen and Jo, and well, Dean will have to lick some other wounds… at last. Interesting first meeting with Ash too. Pain and guilt hold them both back, though. A maze of heartache and sorrow they will have to struggle together to get out of… quite literally.

(see also: http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=86650)

I hate clowns. They always creep me out.

Make me feel uneasy.

We’ve been at Bobby’s for a week now and you haven’t brought up dad once

Bring up = to start discussing a subject: Sam wants Dean to come out of his shell. Dean reacts impatiently.

Don’t patronize me

Patronize someone = Treat them in a way that is apparently kind or helpful but that betrays a feeling of superiority; to speak to or behave towards someone as if they are stupid or not important. Sam is trying to help and at the same time, he doesn’t understand or accept Dean’s way. Dean is sarcastic to him, because he can’t deal with sorrow except by taking some action, and he feels there’s nothing to do at the moment.

You making heads or tails of Dad’s research?

(not) make heads or tail of = not be able to understand. Dean is implying that Sam, like him, is at a loss about how to find or defeat the demon that killed their father.

 I cracked his (Dad’s) voice mail

Crack means the same as hack: Sam managed to get into his father’s voice mail system  to get information

I ran a trace on the phone number

track a number = to identify the source of a call

Car squealing

Squealing: a high-pitch noise a car makes when accelerating or the ear-piercing noise of brakes (in Italian: stridio).

I feel like a frigging soccer mom

A soccer mom is a typical American suburban woman with (spoiled) school-age children (her “little angels”). Soccer moms often drive a SUV, which is the reason of Dean’s vexed remark.

Look, if you don’t want my help, fine. Don’t let the door smack your ass on the way out

Leave here quickly and directly; don’t linger on your way out the door. A ruder version of “don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” used sarcastically to express one’s desire to see someone leave.

He’s no genius. He’s a Lynyrd Skynyrd roadie

A roadie is a person employed by a touring band of musicians (the Lynyrd Skynyrd, in this case) to set up and maintain equipment, etc.

These are nonparametric statistical overviews

Nonparametric statistics refer to a statistical method in which the data is not required to fit a normal distribution. Nonparametric statistics uses data that is often ordinal, meaning it does not rely on numbers, but rather on a ranking or order of sorts

I dig the haircut

I like it

It’s a police scanner. We keep tabs on things

Keep tabs on sth. = watch something carefully, monitor or observe.

It happened three times, three different locales

Locale is a place where something happens or is set, or that has particular events associated with it. Spot, place, location, setting, scene

I thought you were hell-bent-for-leather on the demon hunt

hell-bent-for-leather on something = recklessly determined, ready to do it whatever it takes (at any price)

When I was your age, this would have scared the pants off me

Would have frightened me no end, would have terrified me.

Five-0!

The term originates from the 1960’s-70’s television show “Hawaii Five–0,” about an elite force of police in the 50’th state, hence 5-0. On the show the cops would announce themselves, saying “police, five o!” And from there the term became widely adopted as a way to announce the presence of police.

Looking for a cursed object, it’s like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles.

In Italian it would be come cercare un ago in un pagliaio (a needle in a haystack also exists in English): something extremely difficult to see or find.

I guess we’ll just have to blend in.

if someone or something blends in, they are similar to the other people, objects, buildings etc. around them, and so they seem appropriate or you do not notice them

Once the demon’s dead and the fat lady sings…

the phrase usually is “it ain’t over till the fat lady sings”, so, conversely, when the fat lady sings means when it’s all over, when we’re finished with the task we are carrying out.

I’m having second thoughts

I’m starting to think about it, possibly to change my mind

And dresses up like a clown for kicks?

For kicks means for fun, or because one thinks it’s exciting

Well, don’t get all maudlin on the man

Maudlin = self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental. Sam knows Dean’s silence is not doing him any good, because he still can’t even bear to hear others talk about their father.

Sam, you spent your life slugging it out with that man

Slug it out means to fight, argue or compete over something: The companies are slugging it out in court

You’re such a stickler for details, Sammy

Be a stickler for details/rules/accuracy etc. means to think they are very important and should not be disregarded, to demand or require that they be followed by others etc.

I’ll round up the blade

Round up = collect, fetch, find it and bring it where it’s needed

It’s just been one of those days

a day when several things go wrong

You guys did a hell of a job.

A very good job

Episode three – Bloodlust

(Red Lodge, Montana)

This episode (like many others before and afterwards) is about shades of gray. That’s what Gordon, a hunter they meet in this episode for the first time, tells Dean: it’s all black and white for us, no shades of gray.

Actually, Dean will learn, over time, that the shades of gray do exist. He still has to learn that not all “monsters” are actually that; and some humans are “more monsters” than them, even when they look better. Gordon is one, as bloodthirsty as any vampire.

“If it’s supernatural, we kill it, that’s our job”, is Dean’s idea of hunting at first. But he will have to reconsider, to see things in part the way Sam does: “our job is hunting evil. And if these things aren’t killing people, they’re not evil”. When Dean fights against Gordon, he’s fighting his own “killer”, his own “sadistic bastard” part, and beginning to realize what he wants is to make the world a better place, and not just kill monsters for the sake of it.

Put the lotion in the basket

Come on, do it.  Derived from the film The Silence of the Lambs, it refers to someone who is in an extremely bad situation and must do something about it.

Living the dream

(often used ironically, like the barman in this case): doing what you want to do, living the type of life you want to live without any regrets, achieving all your goals.

Real night owls, you know?

A night owl is a person who is usually (more) awake or active at night

Rowdy

Noisy and disorderly

I’ve had to eighty-six them once or twice

get rid of, refuse to service

Show us those pearly whites

Teeth (informal)

That’s big shoes

If you have big shoes to fill it means you have to work really hard in order to live up to the high standards set by the person who had the job before you. Gordon says this because John was an extremely skilled “hunter”.

Good in a tight spot

Able to deal with difficult situations

Word travels fast

The original saying would be “bad news travel fast”, here Gordon just means that this kind of information (regarding fellow hunters) spreads very quickly.

I’m kind of a go-it-alone type of guy

Someone who lives, works or makes decisions on their own, without any help from other people. Gordon doesn’t want to work with Sam and Dean (who aren’t to be discouraged though).

I’ll buy you a drink on the flip side

On the flip side can mean “looking at a different or opposite aspect, possibility, or result”: I’ll have to work really long hours and be away from my family for long stretches of time, but, on the flip side, I’ll get the opportunity to travel around the world; in this case, however, it just means “soon“.

I’ve been itching for a hunt

I’ve been so impatient to go hunting, I wanted to do it so badly.

Another one bites the dust

Gordon is making a toast to their having killed another vampire, is celebrating his death.

I’m not gonna bring you guys down

I don’t want to depress you or ruin your evening/ your mood. Sam knows killing monsters is sometimes necessary (in this case, also to save Gordon’s life). However, decapitations aren’t his “idea of a good time”. He is gloomy, but doesn’t want to spoil Dean and Gordon’s “fun”, so he leaves, although he’s also worried about Dean, who seems to share Gordon’s  blood-thirst at the moment. Gordon will try to bring Dean to his side and make him think that Sam is the “weird one”.

Remind me to beat that buzz kill out of you later

buzzkill or buzz kill = a depressing person, a spoilsport, a wet blanket. (Not that Dean is Mr. Sunshine himself, particularly in these episodes. He just drinks his pain away. Not my idea of fun anyway, so I’m totally with Sam on this).

Tell you what. Match of Quarters for the next round

Dean is asking Gordon whether he wants to have a friendly game of chance. If Gordon accepts, the loser will buy the next round.
Dean and Gordon will pull quarters out of their loose change and compare them. Typically, the quarter with the lowest number on the date wins. If Dean’s quarter was minted in 1985, Dean will lose if Gordon’s quarter was minted in 1980. Rules may vary slightly, but this is the basic idea.

And then bummed around looking for information

Bum around = go from place to place with no particular destination, without a plan and often without much money, a job, etc.

I gotta keep my game face on

A figurative or literal facial expression denoting a mental attitude of determination or resolve in the face of an imminent and difficult task, activity, or workload.  Dean’s still keeping his “big brother” attitude and doesn’t want to show Sam his  true emotions. However, he gets it all wrong here, because Gordon just wants to “use” the hole that grief has left in his heart. He wants Dean’s pain to become anger, which will turn  him into a ruthless hunter (and killer) instead of  helping him fill that hole with something worthy, which will make him feel really better.

Allows us to get by

Get by (in this case) = survive (the vampire Lenore is telling Sam they live on cattle blood and don’t hurt humans in the hope not to get killed). In general, it means manage with difficulty to live or to do something.

You slap on this big fake smile, but I can see through it

Sam tells Dean he can act as if he’s ok, but he’s not fooling him. Sam knows Dean’s still in pain and trying to replace their father with Gordon (who really is a poor substitute for John, as little as I liked John anyway).

I say we lend a hand

I think we (should) help him

Just give me the benefit of the doubt, would you?

Sam’s telling Dean: Try to believe me or listen to what I’m saying, I deserve trust, even if we are not sure how things actually are (i.e. if Lenore and her friends are telling the truth when they say they don’t kill anyone).

He snaked the keys

Stole, took (without permission and in a sneaky way). This is what I love most about English: anything can be anything, I mean you can almost always turn a noun into a verb, or an adjective into an adverb, and so on (and vice-versa).

It’s been real

It was real fun, it was a lovely time (it is usually ironic, said when one is feeling angry or annoyed… just as Dean feels towards Gordon).

Clock me one

Knock me out, hit me (Dean to Sam).

You get a freebie

I’s free, a gift or a favor, for which you haven’t to give anything back (or rather, in this case Dean means he won’t hit Sam back if he punches him… knowing he deserves much more than that!).

I’ll take a rain check

Sam tells Dean: I’ll use your offer at a later time, on another occasion

It’s jacked everything up

equivalent to fucked or screwed up: it’s ruined everything or made things confused. Dean is saying that he now begins to see that maybe not all “things” they hunted deserved to die. When Dean starts asking questions to himself, he gets better. Should do that more often, seriously.

Episode four – Children shouldn’t play with dead things (Red Lodge, Montana)

Angela, a beautiful young girl, dies in a road accident soon after finding out her boyfriend cheated on her. It soon becomes clear that the nice, sweet Angela has turned into something really evil.

This episode, like others, particularly in this season, is about grief and the way we deal with it. Dean is, once again, restrained and Sam is getting more and more worried.    As we can easily guess, even before he actually says so in so many words, Dean feels guilty, because he’s aware that his father probably traded his own life to save his own. When he feels bad, he is always unbearable, but his brother’s pain touches his heart, and in the end, his honesty prevails.

Don’t get too excited, you might pull something

you might get hurt; you might overextend or overstrain a muscle (ironic)

The night of the accident, she walked in on him with another girl.

Walk in on someone means walk into a room where someone is doing something private or secret (in this case, Matt was cheating on his girlfriend).

She was really torn up.

Destroyed, low, down and out

Hell hath no fury (like a woman scorned)

a woman who has been rejected by a man (or betrayed, in this case) can get extraordinarily angry and vindictive.

Please just humor me

do as I wish just to keep me content, however unreasonable such wishes might be.

You’re tail-spinning, man

You’re losing emotional control, so much you risk emotional collapse (Sam to Dean).

It’s got unrequited Duckie love all over it

When someone’s best friend is blind to the feelings that they have for that person. The term references the Pretty in Pink character, Duckie, being in love with his best friend, and her being blind to it.

Enough to make her rattle like a change purse

rattle means to make or cause to make a rapid succession of short, sharp knocking sounds, such as chains clanging on metal (or like change in a purse), but also make someone nervous.

You take the cake

you are a special case, outstanding, or the best

 

Episode five – Simon Said (Strane premonizioni)

(Red Lodge, Montana REO Speedwagon’s Can’t Fight This Feeling; Spinal’s Tap’s Stonehenge)

Sam is having nightmares, or rather premonitions, once again.  They seem to be related to Andy Gallagher, a young man who can give people orders through telepathy.

Went and got yourself hustled, Ed

Ellen is implying that Ed (a customer) was trying to make easy money by playing against Jo, but underestimated her and he was the one who got a skinning, i.e. he lost a lot of money.

There’s a PBR in it for you

(Sam tells Ash) I’ll pay for a beer (PBR is a brand of beer) if you do this for me

REO Speedwagon?

It’s a rock band. Dean doesn’t like them… or didn’t, before meeting Jo.

Max Miller was a pasty little psycho

Dean is referring to the young boy who killed his father and uncle a few episodes earlier. Dean calls him an unhealthy-looking psychopath, a person who is crazy in a frightening way. Unfortunately, Sam is getting more and more afraid, due to his premonitions, of being  more closely related to  Max than he thought, possibly a potential murderer  himself. And Dean’s anxiety doesn’t help.

Collection agency flag

A red flag, either physical or figurative, indicating a dangerous situation of insolvency or disputes over debts, i.e. Andy has debts he’s not paying, he should have troubles with some collection agency (and the fact he doesn’t is suspicious in itself),

They just let him take a walk?

They let him get away with its bad debts, let him leave and do nothing about it?

There’s an address from his last W2

A W-2 form, or Wage and Tax Statement, is the document an employer is required to send to each employee and to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at the end of the year, indicating the employee’s annual wages and the amount of taxes withheld from their paychecks (Investopedia).

Andy kicks ass

He’s cool, impressive, overwhelmingly tough

How about busing a table or two, Webber?

Tracy tells Webber to clear and wipe the tables of the bar

Kind of hard to miss

You can’t fail to see it

You’re not a murderer, Sam, you don’t have it in your bones.

You’re incapable of it, you’ve not the instinct or impulse to kill

He full-on Obi-Wan’d me (also: he obi wan kenobi’d me, or more often owk’d me, pronounced like “oaked”)

The term refers to Obi Wan’s great power for mind control and extensively, to someone who tricks you into doing something you normally wouldn’t do (we know Dean would never let anyone use his Impala under normal circumstances!).

What’s up?

used as a friendly greeting and to ask someone how they are and what is happening.

Squeaky clean

completely clean, innocent, beyond reproach

This wasn’t even a head start

This gave us no advantage, was no help, we couldn’t prevent the thing you saw from happening (Sam’s visions usually allow them to arrive on time, but not this one).

Hate to kick you while you’re freaked

(Dean to Andy): I’d rather not give you more bad news when you’re already shocked (mi dispiace darti un altro colpo quando già sei a terra / scioccato).

He’s not a foaming-at-the-mouth psycho.

Dean’s telling Sam that Andy acted in self-defence,  so he is no murderer. Sam knows very well, of course, that given the right circumstances, everyone’s capable of killing someone. Revenge, justice, self-defence, fight for freedom or for an idea: each of us will probably draw the line at a different point. It’s part of knowing ourselves. But in this moment, he can’t see any shades of grey, he’s too hurt and afraid of  turning evil.

I’m calling do-over

A new opportunity to do something after a previous attempt has been unsuccessful or unsatisfactory

You mind your tongue with me boy

Speak properly and politely (Ellen is telling Dean off, treating him almost as if he were a child).

Their side holds all the cards

Our enemies are much stronger than us. Ellen is saying there’s a war, and it’s no longer just “family business”, as Dean would like to keep it. Ellen is tough, caring, direct, strong. One of the best character of the show, to me.

Episode six – No Exit

(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Ectoplasm comes out of the vent in  a house, and soon afterwards a blond girl disappears: this has gone on for a few decades, although not so often that the police “eyeballed a pattern”.  Sam and Dean go to investigate, and soon Jo joins them. She intends to act as bait, and fought with her mother Ellen  over that. The “catfight” scene is amazing, with all the innuendo. Samantha Ferris as Ellen is great, but the others are very good too: awkwardness, tension, embarrassment, sorrow, the pain and fear that becomes anger, very little of this is “said”, almost none at all, but the eyes speak a thousand words.

Bitchy

Malicious, spitefully critic

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

It’s a fictional character from the Ghostbusters franchise. One of the first hints that the series is taking a slightly comedic turn (without losing any of the suspense and of its insights into human mind, however).

Cut and run too

Made a really quick departure. The landlord refers to the previous tenant of the flat Jo wants to rent in the  building in question.

Stiffed me for the rent

Didn’t pay the rent due

Untwist your boxers

Get one’s pants in a twist means to become overly upset or emotional over something. Jo  here is telling Dean to chill out: whether he likes it or not, she’s there, so it’s best not to make a fuss about it.

I’ll flip you for the sofa

We’ll flip a coin to decide who’s going to sleep on the sofa.

I’ve had it up to here with your crap

I can’t bear this nonsense any longer, I’m fed up with it, can’t take any more of it (Jo to Dean).

Just can’t put my finger on it

I can’t say exactly what is wrong or different about a particular situation. Here, Dean is smelling something that is familiar to him, but doesn’t remember or is not sure what it is.

What’s the first thing that pops into your head (about your dad)?

The first thing you remember, or that comes to your mind when you think of him

Hasn’t found jack squat

has found zero, nothing at all (also diddly-squat, very, very little)

He folds like a cheap suit

Fold like a cheap suit = To give in on something you felt so strongly about only a moment ago. Ellen is saying that Ash was easily convinced to tell her the truth about Jo (although he had promised the girl not to do so).

Don’t beat yourself up, Dean, there’s nothing you could have done

(Sam tells Dean): don’t blame or criticize yourself.

Till hell freezes over

Forever

Angry doesn’t begin to touch it

I’m much, much worse than just “angry” (Ellen says).

Episode seven – The usual suspects

(Baltimore, Maryland)

It was inevitable, had to happen sooner or later, with Sam and Dean always faking IDs, burning bones and eye-witnessing weird and inexplicable murders, it was just a matter of time before the police went after them. Well, they would have for some time already, had they not been convinced that Dean was dead (so, faking death too, huh?).

But, I mean, you try to tell the police that in the crimes they are investigating, the killer was actually a ghost. OR a vampire, a demon, a shapeshifter, you name it… Then, however, something happens, and Detective Diana Ballard’s confidence in the results of their investigations begins to be shaken…

First I thought you were just stepping up your game

step up (one’s) game. To improve one’s performance or the quality of one’s work (Det. Sheridan to Dean).

Feel free to jump in whenever you like

(Detective Diana Ballard to Sam, while she’s reading all information they have about him and his brother): interrupt and say something yourself, if you want.

Got into Stanford with a full ride

A full–ride scholarship is an award that covers the entire cost of college. That includes tuition, room and board, textbooks, school materials, and sometimes even living costs and study abroad fees.

After she died, you fell off the grid

Literally, fall off the grid means one lives without any power lines and other utilities (heat, electricity, running water, etc.). In this case, it means to (seemingly) disappear from the face of the earth.

I needed some time off

time for rest or recreation away from one’s usual work or studies, or, as in this case, time to deal with grief.

You want me to turn against my own brother.

Turn against someone = stop supporting someone and start opposing or accusing them.

No. We already caught him cold, red handed

catch someone cold = defeat someone because they are not prepared to your attack, catch/take them by surprise/off guard and in the act, i.e., while doing something illegal.

We just need you to fill in some missing pieces

Give some details related to information we already have.

Dean’s as good as gone

very nearly or inevitably lost. In other words, Det. Ballards is telling Sam, Dean will be found guilty, no doubt; it’s as if he had already been found guilty and sentenced, for all effects and purposes.

Somebody tampered with the tapes

Made changes to, altered, damaged

We’ve officially crossed over into weird

(Sam): we’ve definitely crossed the barrier from ordinary to unusual, we’ve entered into strange territory.

Keep going, Sparky

Dean is making fun of Sam for his computer, IT and hacking skills, by essentially calling him an electrician

Let’s quit fooling around

(Det. Diana Ballard to Sam): stop wasting time

These guys are good, I’ll give them that

(Det. Sheridan to Det. Ballard): I have to admit that

We keep leaning on these guys, one of them will tumble

(Still Det. Sheridan talking): lean on somebody = to try to make someone do what you want by threatening or persuading them. Tumble = crollare

Let them stew in their juice for a bit

(Det. Sheridan again): let them  think about their  own actions or their current circumstances, let them remain alone with their (unpleasant) emotions, their thoughts, etc.

She was reaching out to me

Diana says Claire’s spirit was trying to say something, to communicate

That’s pretty par for the course

For Sam, digging up corpses is nothing unusual. Par for the course means normal, ordinary.

Tussle with

fight or engage in a struggle with

Whoever did it would need someone to fence their product

fence = receive and deal with stolen goods

It should have a LoJack

a Stolen Vehicle Recovery System integrated with law enforcement

You’re a cocky son of a bitch

conceited or confident in a bold or cheeky way.

Impound yard

a place where cars seized or towed by police order are stored and taken legal custody of.

For some reason, I could really go for some pea soup.

Dean’s way to hint at the fact that Linda Blair, who plays Det. Ballard, was the main character Regan in The Exorcist. A very famous scene in the movie involves pea soup.

Episode eight – Crossroad Blues

(Greenwood, Mississippi; Key to the highway, Big Bill Broonzy)

First encounter of the brothers with black dogs and crossroad demons. At this point, Dean has a pretty record (more precisely, he’s got a warrant and is now “officially in the Fed’s database”). Sam, on the other hand, is still clean. And, just possibly, a bit jealous, as Dean does not fail to point out.

When a couple of very successful professionals die soon after seeing black dogs chasing them, Sam and Dean try to find out what’s going on. Dean is of the opinion that they’ve made their own bed and should be left to lied in it, that is, they got into trouble themselves, so why should someone else clean up the mess for them? Sam, of course, disagrees.

They meet two of those who made a deal with the demon, George Darrow and Evan Hudson, and Dean begins to soften a bit.

So much for our low profile

(Sam): And we didn’t want to attract too much attention!

Plummeted to his death

Fell or jumped from a high place and died; also plunge to one’s death

Are a little confused as to how a wild dog could… take the elevator up and start roaming the halls of the cushiest joint in town

Roam = move about, walk without a fixed purpose or direction; cushy is here used in the meaning of “pleasant, comfortable”, and joint indicates the condominium they’re speaking of, i.e. a joint property”.

Swan dive

A form of suicide where one jumps off a high building, a cliff, etc.

He lived a charmed life.

Live a charmed life = To lead a life characterized or seemingly protected by marked good fortune or luck, without (or rarely) encountering trouble, danger, or misfortune.

He was a flat-out genius

a complete genius

Sometimes a person makes their bed and they just got to lie down in it

if someone does something wrong, bad or gets into trouble, they must take responsibility for it, try to make things right or accept the consequences. George Darrow voices Dean’s thoughts, and by doing this, he forces him to face the reasons why he was so harsh in the first place.

Should have gone for fame

I should have chosen fame (rather than talent)

I’m still broke.

have no money

I never counted on that

hadn’t thought of that, wasn’t prepared

We(’re) done for

We’re finished, there’s nothing anybody can do for us

I brought it on myself

I’ve made this (unpleasant) thing happen to me (still George Darrow talking)

You’re low on options there

You haven’t so many choices (Dean talking to Evan).

Nobody twisted my arm

Nobody forced me, I struck the deal of my own free will. Evan Hudson, even more than  George Darrow, causes Dean to relate. When Dean understands Evan has made the deal to save his wife, he’s sorry (for having been so harsh), but he’s also suddenly aware that when someone does something for another person, they are often more selfish than they like to think. Including his father, when he gave his life for him. Guess what, she’s gonna have to live without you now. And what if she knew how much it cost? What if she knew it cost your soul? How do you think she’d feel? In all this, Dean could easily replace “she” with “I”.

Claw = use a lot of effort to achieve something

I don’t like what your head’s at

(Sam to Dean); I’m worried about the state of your mental well-being

Take your best shot

Try as hard as you can, make your best move

I’ve got a soft spot for lost puppies and long faces

(the demon to Dean): I have tender feelings for unhappy people. The demon goes straight to Dean’s weakness in this dialogue, plays with it, reads his mind and finds his worst, most unhappy thoughts, his guilt.  That’s what demons do in this series, and in this case, it works great. Even though Dean wins the battle, he’s risking more and more to lose the war.

Set things straight

put things back in their natural order.

You would have never pulled that stunt if you knew

You would never have taken this risk, done something so dangerous and silly

Episode nine – Croatoan

(Rivergrove, Oregon)

Sam has another nightmare, and this time he “sees” Dean killing a man, so they go to the place he saw in his dream, to check if anything weird is happening. They find themselves trapped in a town where a mysterious virus turns normal people into murderers. One of them bleeds  on Sam to transmit the disease to him…

Ventilated him, plugged him

both mean shoot

A little too Stepford?

So obedient and perfect as to seem almost like a robot; conformist and submissive (taken from a novel by Ira Levin)

Bigtime

A lot

Whacked out of their gourds

Out of their mind, crazy

You have a neighbor called Mr. Rogers?

Dean asks Mark this question because Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was a very popular children TV show, where this Mister Rogers was a sort of “everybody’s favorite neighbor”.

It gets better

there’s more, this is not all

Shut your pie hole

Shut your mouth, shut up (Dean to Duane).

It’s your funeral

it’s unwise, but it’s your decision, do as you please (Mark to Dean, who’s going to remain with Sam although he thinks he’s infected)

You dodged a bullet

You avoided the consequences of something, had a narrow escape, In this case, Sam was exposed and yet he didn’t get infected.

I’m already starting to feel like this is the one that got away

the person who made a relationship fail or ended it

Get stuck with

have to bear

Episode ten – Hunted

(Lafayette, Indiana – soundtrack: White Rabbit, Jefferson Airplane)

This episode is one of my favorites so far. It’s mainly about destiny, personal choices, responsibility, and certain deep fears regarding who we are and who we want to be. Dean finally gets to tell Sam what their father told him just before he died. It’s been building up for a while. Sam’s psychic abilities, his nightmares, his connection with other young men and women with a similar past and similar abilities. The yellow-eyed demon, the killings. All this has increased Sam’s worries, the feeling that he may be “chosen” for something, but that that something isn’t necessarily good.

When he finally learns what his father had to say about him, Sam is really pissed. Oddly enough, his anger isn’t so much about his father’s words (which are infuriating enough, if you ask me). But as much as he understands the weight Dean had to carry until now, he is also mad at him because he has kept something like this for himself for so long. Sam feels he had a right to know; and once again, Dean did as he had been told and did not “take some responsibility for himself”.

Of course, the future is not written, although our old friend Gordon seems to think otherwise.  He “hunts” Sam as if he was a monster, forgetting that  It’s not who you are but what you do that defines you. It’s not the first time, and won’t certainly be the last, that a “hunter” turns evil in this series. It usually happens when they get too carried away by their “war against evil”, and end up using the same means as the “enemy” they are supposedly fighting.

He said that he wanted me to watch out for you

Protect you from danger

Am I supposed to go dark side or something?

Sam’s asking: am I going to give in to my dark side/ turn evil?

I think we should just lay low

Dean thinks they shouldn’t go into the matter right now, but stay out the scene and avoid danger. Sam is determined to find out more, though.

The whole thing is spinning out of control

Dean’s saying that the question of the “demon’s plan” is getting worse and worse in an unstoppable way. Hence his idea that they should “lay low” for the time being.

I figured he might

Sam has left without telling Dean where he was headed. Ellen tells him Dean called her and was very worried. Sam’s answer means “I thought he would (probably call you)”.

Sam  has in fact turned to Ellen, because where else could he go without Dean? Even though they hadn’t parted as best friends last time. But she’s smart and sensitive, and knows when it’s time to keep on about a certain issue, and when it isn’t. Here, Sam also learns that Jo has left too. I find this dialogue amazing. Ellen and Sam both have issues they don’t want to talk about in detail, and they both manage to say a lot, about blame, fault, guilt and about relationships too. Scenes with Ellen are always very good.

I wish I could blame the hell out of you boys

Ellen tells Sam, I wish I could hold you and Dean responsible for Jo’s decision, consider it your fault.

Apparently it’s my job – to make a monkey dance at a keyboard

It seems like  Ash is complaining/boasting about his being a “genius of the computer”. He’s saying everybody calls (and “exploits”) him when they need help for a difficult task.

The whole shebang

Everything, the whole thing, the whole nine yards. Ash says four people have all the characteristics they’re looking for, they meet all requirements, fit the profile completely (year of birth, fire when they were six months old etc., everything like Sam). Sam is one of them, and we’ve already met Andy Gallagher and Max Miller. The fourth one, Scott, has just been killed in Indiana. Sam goes to investigate and find out what happened.

Fuzz don’t have much

Fuzz = the police

He closed up on me

Scott’s father tells Sam his son refused to talk to him about his feelings or thoughts. He had nightmares, but his father knows nothing about what he saw in them.

I tried to get him help, but nothing took

Nothing worked, nothing came of it.

This is way off the map for me

Very remote, far away. This is Ava talking. She’s a young woman, one who doesn’t “fit the bill”, i.e. her “profile” does not entirely correspond to Sam’s, but we soon learn she’s having nightmares too, and her nightmares have the bad habit of coming true… just like Sam’s. She’s telling Sam she’s come a long way to warn him about some danger he’s in.

You think I’m a total nut job

A crazy person

Which I’m way behind on

(Ava): (I’m going to marry soon and) I’ve still a lot of invitations to my wedding to write and send.

Sam, you sly dog

A sly dog is someone who achieves a rest through cunning, or who has a strike of luck, often used affectionately or with admiration. In this case, Dean says this when he sees Sam with Ava – although the situation is not what he thinks it is.

I was planning on whupping your ass for that

Dean has gone to  help Sam, but he’s in trouble himself now. Gordon has taken him prisoner and intends to use him to get to Sam. Dean thinks Gordon wants to kill Sam because they tied him up the last time they met. Gordon says that he actually meant to “whup their ass”, i.e. beat them for that, but now he’s not seeking revenge, he just wants to kill Sam because he is a “monster”.

In a way, I think Gordon here is “acting out” the “worst-case scenario” Dean is afraid of. His father told him he had to be prepared to have to kill Sam, if he couldn’t “save” him. This, of course, is the worst of nightmares for Dean.

Your brother’s fair game

A reasonable target, someone who can rightly be criticized, attacked, etc. (in this case, killed).

I want you out of harm’s way, Ava

I don’t want you to be in danger.

Piqued my interest

Piqued = aroused. Gordon’s telling Dean that something a demon he was exorcising said about a coming war made him curious. He tortured the demon, who was possessing a teenage girl, to learn more. Thus he found out about Sam. As for the girl, she just “didn’t make it”, that is, she didn’t survive, something that doesn’t seem to bother our Gordon at all.

I’m not some reckless yahoo

A person who uses violence without reason (and Gordon is that, despite his denials).

You know the biggest kick in the ass?

(Gordon to Dean): you know what the worst thing was?

He was working up to it

He was preparing to do it, he intended to. Gordon is saying he killed Scott because he was certain to become a killer. Something like a preventive murder, in other words.

We gotta take them all out

We have to kill them all (all “psychics”, who are not, in Gordon’s view, entirely human anyway).

Sammy’s gonna scope the place first

Scope a place means to look carefully to see if there is something interesting (to see who’s keeping Dean prisoner, in this case, and grasp the situation)

Then he’ll hit the tripwire

A tripwire is a  wire stretched close to the ground, working a trap, explosion, or alarm when disturbed and serving to detect or prevent people or animals entering an area (to kill Sam, in this case).

Fall for

be fooled by, be caught in a trap or deceived

He would have had the stones to do the right thing

stones = balls. Gordon’s hitting a nerve, here. John didn’t seem to trust Sam, and Dean doesn’t entirely trust him either. He’s afraid, although he doesn’t want to admit it even to himself. And he wants to live up to his father’s expectations, show the same ruthless dedication to “duty”. But in this case, it’s not so much a question of courage (or of “stones”), as of doing the “right” thing. Which is not to kill Sam, as Dean knows better than his own father.

You had little Hitler riding shotgun

sitting next to you as you drive, travelling in the front passenger seat. An apparently tricky question Gordon asks Dean: what would you do if you met young Hitler, when he still was a “crappy artist”, but you knew what he was going to become? An interesting issue of ethics and morality.  But this is just the problem: that we cannot be certain of anything before it happens.

You’re a fine upstanding citizen, Sam.

While he could have killed Gordon without being a killer, in plain self-defense, Sam didn’t want to do that, because he was afraid it would have proved Gordon was right. In fighting with him, Sam’s fighting his own fear of being “no better than the things he hunts”. But then, by calling the police, instead of killing him, Sam’s gained a double victory over Gordon. This is what Dean is referring to with these words.

Later, Sam shows unusual irony with Dean, when at his threat “if you ever take off like that again…”, he smiles and answers “what? You’ll kill me?”. And this is really sweet on Sam’s part because it’s meant to lighten the load and somehow, if indirectly, it does. The following scenes are really touching with their told/untold emotions. These two are really great together.

Gordon should be reaching for the soap for the next few years at least

Reaching for the soap = in prison.

If they pin Scott’s murder on him

Pin something on someone = attribute the blame or responsibility for something

And if he doesn’t bust out

Bust out = escape

Whatever is coming, I’m taking it head-on

with or involving direct confrontation, face-to-face and without backing off.

Are you sweet on her or something?

Do you like her? Dean’s asking Sam if he likes Ava.

Nookie = some sex

Episode eleven – Playthings

(Cornwall, Connecticut)

Creepy gets creepier when children are involved, doesn’t it? Last time, we had left the brothers in Illinois, and the last thing we knew, they were in Peoria, Illinois, looking for missing Ava. Well, they’re still there, and Ava’s still missing at the beginning of this episode. A month has gone, though, and witty remarks aside, it’s clearly time to move on, for the moment at least.

So, Sam and Dean leave for Connecticut, to visit a supposedly haunted hotel on sale, where strange deaths are happening. Sam has his own reasons to be anxious to get back to work, as he hopes that saving people will help him to change his destiny. The episode involves, in a way, two sisters, Rose and Maggie, and has a very beautiful ending, which is at the same time hopeful and disquietingly open. The two sisters, with their separate lives and unbroken bond, have once again a possible relation to the brothers.

She just – into thin air, you know

She’s just disappeared, vanished, nowhere to be found

Not the patented Sam Winchester way… just figured after Ava there’d be, you know, more angst and droopy music…

Angst is a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general. Dean is always pulling Sam’s leg for his sensibility, although he knows better than mistaking it for weakness. But he’s really worried about Sam’s “too healthy” attitude, and not just about Ava, but about the whole “yellow-eyed demon” and “going dark side” and “might have to kill you”, thing. To this, Sam being always Sam, he just smiles to mean ok, you can tease me, but I got it, so to speak.

However, he’s actually been keeping the tension at bay for too long. Sam needs to save other people’s lives, it’s his strength and his weakness. In this moment, he just needs to do that, and when he can’t, he breaks (and gets drunk). One of the rare times his words and actions truly reveal his age: he’s very young, although he normally looks and acts older, very vulnerable in this moment, very frightened, even if used to pretend he isn’t.

Might even run into Fred and Daphne while we’re inside

a reference to Scooby Doo and to “old school haunted houses”, which is what they usually work on in the cartoon.

Quincunx

an arrangement of five objects with four at the corners of a square or rectangle and the fifth at its centre, used for the five on a dice or playing card, and in planting trees.

Five-spot

A California annual herb (Nemophila maculata) with showy flowers having a conspicuous purple blotch at the end of each corolla lobe. Blood-weed, just below, is another plant, also used for Hoodoo rites, as Dean recalls.

Make-a-go-of-it

Sherwin, the hotel factotum, tells the brothers that Susan tried to make a living out of the hotel, but it didn’t work.

You’re not gonna cheap out on me, are you, boy?

Cheap out = be cheap with money, be a miser. Sherwin is asking Dean for a tip, something Dean isn’t used to.

You are kind of butch. They probably think you’re overcompensating

Butch = having an appearance or other qualities of a type traditionally seen as masculine. Here, Sam is a real bitch. Dean’s bothered by the fact that people seem to think (once again) they’re gay. Dean later retaliates in a very mean way, in front of Susan. Yet Sam, although obviously annoyed, plays along.

Wasn’t such a gangbuster idea

Dean to Sam: (mixing different types of alcoholic drinks) wasn’t a very good idea. Sam obviously hasn’t a very high tolerance, he seldom drinks anything stronger than beer. But if Dean hoped that Sam’s request just came from his condition and that he would forget it the morning after, he’s soon disappointed. Sam is stubborn as ever, and when he’s sober again, his strength of will is back and intact.

Hoodoo’s hands-on

Requires active participation (Dean means, if Rose had a stroke, she can’t be behind the murders).

I could lug those boxes for you

Lug =  to carry or drag a heavy object (Sherwin is talking to Susan)

We don’t exactly have the time to ease you into this

to introduce the subject gently

To ward off the spirit

Prevent the spirit from harming anyone, keep it away

Run someone down

knock them to the ground

Feels good getting back in the saddle, doesn’t it?

Doing the old things again, (here  also) regaining control. (Dean to Sam).

Episode twelve – Nightshifter

(Milwaukee, Wisconsin 
Soundtrack: Renegade, Styx)

An old acquaintance, this shapeshifter. Unfinished business, we might call it, Supernatural-like. The business, alas, will remain unfinished for some time, part of it at least. This is the closest we get to comedy so far. Ronald is a great character,   also used to ridicule certain conspiracy theories about robots, UFOs, etc.

But it’s also a highly dramatic, suspenseful episode. And once again, the ending is priceless, with Henriksen looking at two of his men, naked on the floor, and half smiling in admiration, although he genuinely thinks the brothers are skilled and ruthless criminals; and the song that goes in the background… I just love all this!

As we enter the third hour of this intense standoff

(on the news): standoff = a deadlock between two equally matched opponents in a dispute or conflict.

Till it knows the take is fat

Until it can rob a lot of money. Ronald is telling Sam and Dean how the robbery went – in his own way. And he gets dangerously close to the truth, too.

Man, that has got to be the kicker, straight up

kicker = an unexpected and unwelcome discovery or turn of events. Straight up = honestly

Remand the tapes that you copied?

Remand = take in custody, (in this case) seize. Sam told Ronald that nothing strange had happened, it was “just people” who robbed the time, and then he took the tapes Ronald had recorded, as evidence. Strange that in this case, while he wanted to keep him out of danger, Sam failed to understand that this would only enrage Ronald and lead him to take impulsive actions.

I just think it’s a little creepy how good of a fed you are

I love how Sam uses his best qualities (all of them, not just his legal knowledge and general skills as a cop) to do something that is actually a good, right thing, but goes through a lot of illegal activities. Such an atypical action movie hero! Never seen such a sweet, deep and reflective (and nerdy) badass.

We could’ve at least thrown the guy a bone.

Sam’s saying they should have done something to appease Ronald, make a minor concession to him (in Italian dare un contentino).

He did some pretty good legwork

Work that involves much travelling about to collect information, especially when such work is difficult but boring.

Better to stay in the dark and stay alive

Sam says it’s better and safer for Ronald not to know the truth

Frame you for murder

Manage to get you charged with a murder another person has committed (the shapeshifter did that to Dean).

Maybe we jumped the gun on this, Dean

We acted too soon, did not think it through

Frisk them down

Check them for hidden weapons etc.

You’re calling the shots

You are in control of the situation (Dean to Ronald).

I was so scared that I was losing my marbles

was afraid that I was going crazy (Ronald tells Dean)

You weren’t exactly a smooth criminal about this

You didn’t exactly act as an expert criminal (Dean tells Ronald).

Now crazy is the only game in town

Dean tells Sam, as things are  now, doing something mad is the only option available to us

Sir, I’m very sorry but you gotta stay put

you have to stay where you are, not moving (Sam to the hostage who’s feeling sick).

It’s like playing a shell game

play a shell game = to deliberately deceive people, for example by changing things or pretending to change things, in order to gain an advantage. Dean is referring to the  fact that they don’t know who the shapeshifter is  impersonating now.

I’m gonna round everybody up

gather all of you together in one place

Let me guess. You’re lead dog now, but you’d just love my full cooperation

Lieutenant Robarts of the State police is addressing FBI Agent Henricksen with some irony, knowing the “Feds” will want to take everything in their hands now. Henricksen retorts with suitable arrogance.

What I do need is your SWAT team locked and loaded

Your specialized police officers ready and with their weapons prepared for firing

Bonnie to your Clyde

An inseparable partner in crime, as Henriksen means it. Dean says that part is true because he thinks of the inseparable soul mate part but also because he’s always seen Sam as having a very strong feminine part, so to speak.

Wacko

A crazy person

Timmy McVeigh

a terrorist (carried out the Oklahoma city bombing in 2001)

Episode thirteen – Houses of the Holy (L’Angelo Vendicatore)

While Dean is locked down and bored stiff in a hotel (he’s still wanted by the police for the robbery of the previous episode), a couple of murders are committed by people – such as Gloria and Zach – who think they’ve been chosen by angels: are they just crazy, or is there any truth in their statements?

Dean tends to brush this off as nonsense, he’s got his own ideas on what is real, and angels are not on the list. Nor are unicorns, come to that (he’s wrong in both cases, but this doesn’t matter, for the moment).

We also hear about the Archangel Michael for the first time and… well, let’s just say that “not really the hallmark-card version that everybody thinks” does not even begin to cover it.

Angels and demons are somewhat atypical in their ways. Sam himself has to go through one of several trials, when he feels he’s seen the angel himself, and the angel has “told him” to kill someone who hasn’t done anything “yet”, but they will. Indeed, this seems to echo Gordon’s words when he was ready to smite Sam, a few episodes ago, although he hadn’t killed anyone, because “he surely would”.

The brothers’ beliefs are in fact shaken more than once during the various seasons of the show. This is not the first time, and won’t be the last, that Sam has to prove himself, also to prevent his righteousness to get the best of him. He hopes that being in charge of a good purpose may save him from going dark side, but the risk is that it’s just the other way round, or rather, that the purpose is not so good as it seems.

I’m bored out of my skull

extremely bored

You mean, am I stark raving cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs?

Stark raving mad/cuckoo = incredibly crazy. Gloria is in a psychiatric hospital after she killed a stranger as she said an angel ordered her to do that, o everybody thinks she’s gone out of her mind. This is her way of asking Sam (who’s dressed up as a doctor) if he thinks that too.

Blinding light, feeling of spiritual ecstasy, the works

The works = everything needed or available, the whole lot. Sam’s reporting to Dean what Gloria told him she saw and felt.

They find people a few fries short of a happy meal

Dean says that some demons or spirits find people who are not very intelligent or mentally sound and “trick them into killing these randoms”, that is, convince them to kill someone without a reason, choosing their targets at random. Like in episode twelve of the first season (Faith), here we deal with the reasons why we believe in something (or not). As has become clear from that episode (and more and more since), Dean believes in evil, but not in good (although “good” is not the word here).

I’m going stir-crazy

Dean says he risks to get mad if he remains confined much longer.

I’m laughing on the inside

This phrase can mean that you are actually amused but don’t want to show it (for instance, because it would be rude in certain circumstances), or as in this case, that a supposed joke isn’t actually funny. Sam has such a way… he’s a darling, and sweet, but can be so bitchy, when he wants to. Here, he’s just put Dean in his place, which is not a bad thing. Dean needs it sometimes – and he knows that himself.

We have a minor T.A.

T.A. = traffic accident

Roma Downey made him do it

An angel gave him (i.e. Zach) the order. As usual, Dean uses the name of a famous personality, character etc. (an actress, in this case, who played an angel in a successful series) to indicate something that person or character represents (an angel, in this case)

It’s gone to seed a little, there’s no denying that

Sam and Dean are talking to Father Reynodls, priest of the church where the victims of the murders went. By these words, he means the neighborhood is not as good as it used to be, it need to be taken care of.

You can expect a miracle, but in the meantime, you work your butt off

Work really hard- Still Father Reynolds – he’s or Irish origin, of course.

So they’re not really the Hallmark-card version that everybody thinks?

(Angels) are not the sentimental, fluffy white-feathered things often represented in postcards. Sam’s question to Father Reynolds.

I’ve been praying my heart out… for deliverance

do something “one’s heart out” means with great effort and enthusiasm, very hard, intensely. Father Reynolds is saying he’s incessantly prayed for the neighborhood to be set free (deliverance means that) from violence.

I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a skeptic, but since when you are all Mr. 700 Club?

700 hundred club is the flagship program of a US Christian network, so it’s a bit like saying “un fan di Radio Maria”.

It is interesting that the brothers are both at risk, in a different way. Neither is “right”. They have both lost the people they loved most. Dean is embittered and disconsolate, because of that, he doesn’t believe in anything,  he feels the world is just “random , unpredictable evil that comes out of nowhere and rips you to shreds”; and Sam needs to believe in something for the same reason, in addition to his personal troubles related to the “demon” thing. His father felt he needed to be saved from some mysterious evil, and he’s still trying to figure out what this evil may be, and whether he can – and deserves to – be saved, and how. And they will both learn something in the end, not least, to better understand each other.

This feeling washed over me, you know

wash over = affect deeply, flood over, be suddenly and thoroughly felt. Sam is saying he felt overwhelming peace and grace when he saw the angel.

Séance

a meeting at which people attempt to make contact with the dead, especially through the agency of a medium.

I’ll admit, we’ve gone pretty ghetto with spell work before but this takes the cake

in this case, ghetto seems to be used just in the sense of “non-standard”. Sam tends to be precise in everything. He’s accepted to go through with this “spirit summoning” (while he still does or would like to believe it’s an angel), because he’s always the reasonable one, whatever the circumstances, and wants to know for sure before taking any action. So, now he would like to do things properly with regard to the “séance”. He’s also amused though. There’s a smile in his voice when he says “A SpongeBob placemat instead of an altar cloth?”.

Episode fourteen – Born under a Bad Sign (Le due facce di Sam)

(Soundtrack: The Crystal Ship, the Doors; Back on the Road Again, REO Speedwagon)

Sam loses his memory in this episode, and he finds himself covered in blood – not his own, apparently – in a hotel room without knowing how he got there and what he’s done in the meantime. It seems his worst fears are coming true. When he starts to remember something and to retrace his steps with Dean’s help, things only get worse, and even Dean can’t help being shocked and worried sick.

Grabs a 40 from the fridge, starts chugging.

A forty-ounce or simply forty is a glass or plastic bottle that holds 40 US fluid ounces (1,200 millilitres; 2 ¹⁄₂ US pints) of malt liquor. The pump station guy tells Dean Sam took the bottle from the fridge and drank the liquor in large gulps.

We get a couple of hours of sleep, then put this place in our rear-view mirror.

Dean tells Sam they must leave the town.

You gotta snap out of it

You must take an effort to get out of this mood, to stop thinking about this (still Dean to Sam).

Bang-up job on that

Sam tells Sam he didn’t tell him about his rage (during the last few weeks) because he didn’t want to scare him. Dean’s answer means well, if that was your reason, you failed, i.e., now I’m  really scared.

What about just one for the road?

Just one drink before leaving (Sam has just found Jo, who’s still  away from home and is working in a pub).

You’re really carrying a torch for him, aren’t you?

(Sam to Jo) You’re in love with him (i.e. Dean).

Setting a trap for some kind of hellspawn

A monster, a creature from hell. Jo’s telling Sam how things went when Sam’s father John “screwed up” and Jo’s dad was killed because of that.

Don’t try to con a con man

Bobby tells Sam he’s not to be fooled, he can easily see when something’s wrong.

This isn’t going like I pictured

Dean tells Bobby “the exorcism isn’t going like I expected, like it should”.

Right back at you

Sam’s just told Dean he “looks like crap”. Dean’s answer means “you too, I can say the same about you”.

Are looking for someone to string up

The friends of the man the demon killed are looking for someone to hang, for revenge.

Fend off

to defend yourself against something. The charms Bobby has given Sam and Dean will protect them from demons.

Episode fifteen – Tall Tales (Storie incredibili)

Walk Away, James Gang

A successful and popular professor flirts with a  girl, and later takes a nosedive from his office on the fourth floor and dies. The brothers investigate this improbable suicide and they meet the Trickster, a curious character, one of my favorites, actually. Their heads begin to spin and when they try to report the events how they went, it’s almost impossible to make anything out of their stories, and here the show gets really, really funny with all the “old married couple” bickering (and have a look at the “slow-dance with the aliens” scene: hilarious!). And Richard Speight… oooh…

Purple nurple

a cocktail

I’ve got a feisty little wildcat on the hook. I’m about to, zip, reel her in

Dean’s way to say he was about to get somewhere with a girl, to lure or seduce her

I don’t mean to cast aspersions on a dead guy…

to say harsh critical things about

Co-ed

a female student at a co-educational institution.

Why don’t you control your OCD?

(Dean to Sam): OCD means Obsessive-compulsive disorder, here, the defect of a person who’s excessively perfectionist, a stickler

Poindexter

a boringly studious and socially inept person (curious how Dean always seems to think, even at the best of times, that Sam is socially inept, while Dean’s social abilities are below zero…).

Whatever happened to Curtis he had it coming

he deserved it

It doesn’t make a lick of sense

It doesn’t make sense at all

Just your typical haunted-campus, alien-abduction, alligator-in-a-sewer gig

Dean’s way to say the situation is so strange, it must be unprecedented.

I have had it up to here with

you I’ve reached the limit of my patience, I can’t bear you any longer

If you two bothered to pull your heads out of your asses…

Bobby tells Sam and Dean: If you just paid attention to what’s going on around you, stopped being so self-absorbed that you can’t see anything else…

It’s got you so turned around

made you confused, disoriented

It knows you’re onto him

it knows you’re close to catching him, or to finding out what’s he done and make him take responsibility for it

And it’s being playing with you like fiddlers

play someone like a fiddle = to manipulate or trick someone so that they do what you want, believe what you want them to believe, etc.

Tricksters target the high and the mighty, knock them out a peg

reduce their arrogance or pride

If you catch my drift

if you know what I mean.

You’ve been a tight ass long before that trickster showed up

an inhibited, repressed, or excessively conventional person.

Before you go barging in staking the man

before you rush /storm into the room and stab him to death

Hoisted in their own petard

A phrase taken from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, meaning that a bomb-maker is blown up (“hoist” off the ground) by his own bomb (a “petard” is a small explosive device): it indicates an ironic reversal, or poetic justice. In other words, the Trickster is saying the victims deserved what happened to them, brought it onto themselves.

I dig your style

I like how you do things

Episode sixteen – Roadkill

Walk Away, James Gang

Sam and Dean try to help Molly, the victim of a road accident who’s now chased by the ghost of a farmer, killed in a road accident fifteen years before.

I swerved

I changed direction abruptly

Lost in so much pain that they lash out

hit or attack the first thing or person they see

That answer is way above our pay grade

involving a higher level of responsibility than I have, and therefore something that should be dealt with by someone more senior than me. This expression is often used figuratively to say that you do not have the knowledge or authority to decide about something

Pine for him

miss him so much

Keep someone in the dark

not telling them something they should or would like to know or something that concerns them

Episode seventeen – Heart

San Francisco, Callfornia
(Soundtrack: Look at you, Screaming Trees)

Lawyer Nate Mulligan is bitten to death, the medical examiner thinks of pit bulls, but the dead man’s heart is missing, so Sam and Dean go for werewolves. They prove right, but… let’s say Nate won’t be the only one to lose his heart. Let’s also say this episode, one of my favorites, has moved me to tears, and not just because San Francisco is the town I love most in the world.

Only on the days that end with a Y

Of course, all days end with a Y, so this means “everyday”.

Way, way off the record

The medical examiner tells Sam (who’s there as a police detective), that what’s she’s saying must not be considered as official, but as strictly confidential, not to be reported or made public in any way.

Cops are trying to keep things under wrap

Keep the results of their investigations secret

He had a few scotches and started hitting anyone in a five-mile radius

Madison, the lawyer’s assistant, is telling Sam that after a few drinks, he started making advances to any girl within reaching distance.

Covering all the bases

Dean says they’re just doing everything necessary, look into all possible scenarios, even though Nate’s death looked like an animal attack, they want to know if he had any enemies, someone who  might have had a beef with him, that is, someone who had something against him, a dispute or a disagreement with him.

Kurt got into it with Nate

engaged in a physical altercation/ had a fight with Nate

I’m gonna turn in

I’m going to bed

I know it’s a long shot

I know it’s unlikely to be successful, but I want to try it anyway.

He seemed to have a thing for her

He seemed to like her

That was smooth

This is sarcastic: smooth can mean, among other things, tactful and well-mannered, but Madison here is saying that that Dean, on the contrary, behaved in a clumsy, awkward manner.

He thinks you’re gonna get laid

He things we are going to sleep together / make love

That’s right up there with…

Usually refers to two (ore more) things that are more or less at the same level, of the same quality, etc. In this case, it means “true, you hurt me, but I’ve hurt you too, so we’re even, what you did to me was as good/bad as what I’ve done to you”.

That’s all there is to it

There’s nothing to be added, nothing more to say about it, it’s as simple as that.

Episode eighteen – Hollywood Babylon 

A set where a troupe is filming a horror seems to be haunted: crew members die one by one…

I just figured that… you could use a little R and R

Rest and relaxation

It keeps my mind off things

Helps me stop thinking /worrying about what happened, puts my mind at rest

Everyone at the studio loves the dailies

Dailies = a series of hastily printed shots from the previous day’s shooting, selected by the director to be viewed for possible inclusion in the final version of the film; rushes.

Could you get me a smoothie from craft?

A fruit drink. Craft service or craft services is the department in film, television and video production which provides cast and crew with snacks, drinks and other assistance. Typically there is one main table where the snacks and coffee are set up (which is simply called “crafty” or “the crafty table”).

PA = Production Assistant

One of the grips left that

in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, grips are technicians in the film-making and video production industries.

My big break

First day

Build (or generate) buzz

to draw positive attention and interest in something, to create interest in a product or service

Won’t that ruin the hoax

the joke, the trick

It was just nagging at us

it bothered us, made us uncomfortable

It’s a logic bump

It defies logic, it’s a leap of logic

Suits

In this context, it’s a derogatory way of talking about people in a high position who thin high of themselves but don’t actually know anything about anything (specifically, in this case, McG is referring to Brad Redding)

I just can’t wrap my head around the dialogue

It’s strange, I can’t understand or accept it.

I don’t have a 20 on Tara

Don’t know where she is (Tara is the actress playing the protagonist in the horror film)

I think she’s 10-100

taking a short break

The studio brass

the big boys, the most important people

That’s a wrap people

We’re finished (for tonight) – From film industry acronym “Wind reel and print” meaning rewind the film and print the rushes.
Said by the director at the end of a scene, indicating that everything appears to be satisfactory.
Hence; any task or event is complete.

You’re kicking ass and taking names

used in reference to someone or something that is having multiple successes in succession.

Hey, putz, I’m talking to you

a stupid or worthless person.

A run-in with a giant fan

run-in = a fight

These things don’t usually tag team

tag team; a pair of wrestlers who fight as a team, taking the ring alternately.

Everyone huddle in

crowd together, gather here

Color me guilty but that is me

“Color me…” is the same as “call me…”, so you can say color me surprised, color me confused, embarrassed, impressed, whatever.

Episode nineteen – Folsom Prison Blues  (Green River County Detention Center, Arkansas)

Sam and Dean have to investigate some weird death occurred in prison, so they manage to get arrested, but not everything goes as planned.

That’s you tax dollars at work

Two contractors are working on a cell-block that was closed and now is being reopened, so one tells the other: that it’s pointless, and “that’s how the government spends the taxes we pay”.

That’s what I kept thinking as I was searching for you asses all over hell and gone

Everywhere, all over the place (Agent Henricksen to Dean).

And after all that you get tripped up on a motion detector

make a mistake, stumble and fall (figuratively or not) Still Henricksen talking to Dean. He’s saying, after covering your tracks so well, now you’ve made such a stupid move.

In the flesh

in person (Dean to Lawyer Mara Daniels)

Your arraignment on the breaking and entering charge won’t be until Tuesday

Arraignment = a legal process in a law court where someone is accused of a particular crime and asked to say if they are guilty or not.

And considering the charges you’re facing, no judge is going to grant you bail.

Mara Daniels tells Sam and Dean no judge will release them pending further investigation or until their trial (bail is the amount of money a person charged with a crime pays to a law court, as a security to make sure they will return to court for trial).

Extradition papers have already been filed from five separate States.

Five States have requested that you be surrendered to be prosecuted or punished there.

How long can we stall extradition?

Stop, delay (es. in order to gain some time)

And that’s in a long, storied career of dumb and crazy

Storied = celebrated, often spoken of or written about; also, full of incidents.

Get a teardrop tattoo

The teardrop tattoo or tear tattoo is a symbolic tattoo of a tear that is placed underneath the eye. The teardrop is one of the most widely recognised prison tattoos and has various meanings.

Be straight with me

be honest, tell me the truth

Croaked =  died (like, a few lines afterwards: bought it)

Bash you head in

hit you on the head

What’s on your mind

What worries you, what are you thinking about

They just don’t seem cut-and-dry guilty to me

Lawyer Daniels tells Henricksen she doesn’t think Sam and Dean are definitely guilty, clearly and without doubt

That’ll do it

that would be enough, it’s a sufficient reason

It’s like picking low-hanging fruit

Dean says it’s very easy (to beat the other prisoners at poker)

This is the currency of the realm

[Cigarettes] are the most valuable thing in this place

I got a good lead

useful information

After the guards worked him over

work someone over = beat them severely. Sam’s telling Dean thata prisoner who died in the cell-block many years before didn’t actually die from a heart attack, but guards killed him.

I know you’re two tons of fun

of course, a ton of fun means really funny, but two tons of fun is a clear reference to Tiny’s weight, in addition to being slang for a fat woman who knows “how to please a man”, so to speak, so Dean is really playing with fire here.

She damn near jabbed the needle through my arm

pierced my arm (with the needle) from side to side

We’re still shy on all the intel

we don’t have all the information yet

I know it was asking a lot, but you still came through

you did it, you agreed to deal with the matter and completed the task as agreed

You are a sight for sore eyes

it’s so good to see you (Dean’s talking to the Impala)

We’re not really out of the woods yet

out of trouble

You let them get the drop on you

get an advantage over you, take you by surprise

I screwed up

I completely mishandled / mismanaged the situation (the prison director to Henricksen)

The privilege doesn’t apply

Sam’s referring to the fact that the lawyer-client privilege doesn’t apply when the client was in the process of committing or intended to commit a crime and if the client communicates with the lawyer with intent to further the crime or cover it up (in this case, the crime was escaping from prison)

You don’t come clean, I will put you on the hook for aiding and abetting

Henricksen’s telling the lawyer, if you don’t talk, I’ll get you into trouble, I’ll charge you with abetting (helping a criminal)

We gotta go deep this time

we have to go far away, to hide very well, lie low

Episode twenty – What Is and What Should Never Be

Sam and Dean are still fugitives, and they are chasing a jinn, a genie that feeds off people while pretending to fulfill their wishes, when in actual fact, it makes them live in a fake world.

When the genie attacks Dean, this latter finds himself in a reality where his mother is still alive, Sam is at Stanford and is still with Jessica, Dean himself is married to the very beautiful Carmen, but he and Sam are estranged and nobody seems to believe in the supernatural. Indeed, they all look at Dean as some freak drunkard. Sam is clearly worried about him, but his compassionate looks hurt Dean.

Most of all, Dean soon finds out that all the people he and Sam had saved are in fact dead (as they weren’t there to help them). A few cracks begin to appear in this seemingly perfect façade, while Dean starts to see strange figures…

At the same time, he wonders, not for the first time maybe, but for the first time so openly, “why me”, “why us”? “Why can’t we be happy”? although even as he’s asking the question to himself, he already knows that it’s not meant to be. I must say, the bittersweet feeling, and the “what’s-reality-what’s-a dream” thing makes this episode one of the best, in my opinion. Here, I began to really see how very good they all are as actors. And, I started to understand (and like) Dean a little more.

I’m dying to see him

I can’t wait to see him, I really want to see him

I’m thrilled you are hanging out here all of a sudden

I’m very happy to have you around

I see you started off mom’s birthday with a bang, as usual

in a very exciting and (above all, in this case) noticeable way.

What’s gotten into you?

What’s happened to you, why are you behaving in this strange way?

That’s what you said when you snagged my ATM card.

Took away, swiftly appropriated something. Apparently, even in this alternate life, Dean cannot help being a jerk, to some extent at least.

Or when you bailed my graduation

didn’t show, weren’t there

We don’t get along

we are not very friendly with each other

I can make it up to him. To everyone

fix things, remedy the mistakes I’ve made.

I’m not going to a rubber room

a room padded with foam rubber for the confinement of a violent mentally ill person.

It’s an old wives’ tale

a widely held traditional belief that is now thought to be unscientific or incorrect.

Auntie Em’

Dean is referring to Dorothy’s aunt in The Wizard of Oz in an ironic way, to express his relief to be back “at home”.

Good chance she’s gonna pull through

she’ll make it, she’ll survive.

You were such a wussy

a weak and/or fearful person

I’m glad you dug yourself out, Dean

dig oneself out = manage (with great effort) to find a solution or recover from a very difficult or dangerous situation.

Episode twenty-one – All Hell Breaks Loose – Cold Oak South Dakota

Wrapped around Your Finger

When Sam goes to buy some snack in a café and doesn’t come back, Dean goes to look for him only to find that everybody in the café is dead, and there’s sulfur smell all around. In the meantime, Sam has woken up in a strange place that looks like a western film set. There, he finds two of the “psychics” he had met in previous episodes, Andy and Ava, and then Jake and Lily, who seem to have some abilities too.

It’s not just thoughts that I can beam out, but images too

Beam out = transmit, make other people see (this is Andy, speaking about his ability)

FYI

For your information

It’s a brave new world

used to refer, often ironically, to a new and hopeful period in history resulting from major changes in society. Sam’s reply to Jake’s stunned question “Salt is a weapon?”. It  means, more or less, “our situation is entirely different from (and worse than) anything you know”.

Gear up

Sam says we need to get trained, prepare for a hard fight

Wasn’t for bad luck, wouldn’t have no luck at all

A way for Ava to say she’s unlucky

You’re the one I’m rooting for

I’m on your side, I’m your fan, you’re the best, I’m betting on you (something the yellow-eyed demon tells Sam)

I wanna give you the inside track

Give you an advantage (still the demon talking to Sam).

Honing your skills

hone one’s skill = develop, sharpen, improve, make them more effective

I had you going though, didn’t I?

I was able to deceive you, I (almost) convinced / fooled you

If you just quit your hand-wringing

distress, guilt or worry about the correct course of action

The learning curve

the rate of a person’s progress in gaining experience or new skills

The switches that just flip in your brain

new ideas, thoughts

You are quick on the draw

you’re smart, quick on the uptake, you understand the situation easily

Do the math here

try to understand, add up facts and figures in order to come to a conclusion.

Turn on me

attack me while I am off guard

Don’t play into what it wants

Don’t do as it says, it’s its game. Really smart, our Sammy. And truly good: because he knows evil, he’s tempted too, but fights against it with all his strength. He’s loyal, trustworthy, believes in sticking to principles and in playing together; also, he would rather die than kill an innocent. And this is why he’s so furious when his loyalty is repaid with betrayal.

Episode twenty-two – All Hell Breaks Loose – Part Two

Dean’s pain is almost unbearable to watch. It’s like he’s lost a son, a brother, a father and a lover, his world actually ends with Sam’s death and you sense it, you feel it, you can almost touch it. The sorrow makes him angry, that’s in his nature, but it’s not just that. You see he’s losing his mind, and yet he’s strangely cool and determined, but as a person out of his mind would be. He’s a broken man, hopelessly, devastatingly broken. His tough mask just collapses, you get to think it was actually Sam that gave him all his strength, not the other way round; he “needs” to protect Sam, now he’s lost his purpose and his life is meaningless.

Would you cut me some slack?

Dean’s asking Bobby to leave him alone, give him a break, let him have it his way.

You’re it

Azaziel (the yellow-eyed demon) is telling Jake he’s won the competition, he’s the best, the chosen one.

Been there, done that

An expression used to say you’ve already experienced the situation the other is talking about, you’re familiar and perhaps bored with it (still Azaziel to Jake)

Sometimes you have to stop and smell the roses

Take time to enjoy a particularly enjoyable moment or aspect of life.

Keep your gutter soul, it’s too tarnished anyway

The crossroads demon’s telling Dean his soul is wasted, useless, of no value, it isn’t worth having

It’s a fire sale and everything must go

when you are in distress, you are ready to give everything or pay any price

Quit groveling

Grovel = act in a way that shows how much you want to obtain someone’s forgiveness or a favour.

If you try and welch or weasel your way out, then the deal’s off

if you don’t do what you promised or try to act dishonestly in any way

Like white hot

so hot it’s giving out a white light (incandescente)

It was pretty touch and go for a while

You were suspended between life and death

Oceans aren’t boiling, frogs aren’t raining from the sky

Both biblical quotes, raining frogs were one of the plagues sent to Egypt. Dean means “therit’s not the end of the world”; which, in light of the events that will follow, is a bit of a rash statement.

The exchanges of looks between Dean, Sam and Bobby are wonderful. There would actually no need for words at all, it’s all there, already.

My eyes are swimming

I’ve read so much I can’t see nothing more

I’m shocked at this unforeseeable turn of events

Azaziel is ironic. He’s telling Jake “you’re behaving in such an obvious, predictable way, do you really think I didn’t expect that?”.

It’s your call

(Azaziel to Jake): it’s your choice, your decision

Attababy

Again, Azaziel is ironic. It means “good kid, good boy”.

I knew you had it in you

When Sam meets Jake again, everything gets to him, Jake’s betrayal, his own fears regarding the demon blood, the doubts regarding the very fact of being alive. And that’s what breaks hell loose. Azaziel, tells Sam “I knew you could do that”.

Sit a spell

Sit down, relax for a while (Azaziel to Dean). Like in the preceding phrase, Azaziel has an easy time playing with Sam and Dean’s doubts and particularly with Dean’s guilt and low opinion of himself. He thought he’d done at least one good thing, Azaziel makes him doubt that even that one was good.

SEASON 3

I think season 1 was about the building of a relationship between the (somewhat estranged) brothers, and season 2 about grief. Season 3’s focus is a bit fuzzier. The line between good and evil is less and less clear-cut, even demons are not all the same and do not want the same things. The two brothers begin to grow into more complex characters, but all in all, I’d say this is a transition season. We are waiting to see whether Dean will actually go to hell or not, and what happens next.

Episode 1 – The Magnificent Seven (Oak Park, Illinois)

After the hell’s gate has been opened, something weird has begun to happen, although not the apocalypse Dean was expecting – for the moment. However, when Sam, Dean and Bobby go to Oak Park, to investigate some omens, they find an entire family dead, with no signs of violence. They also meet Isaac and Tamara, a couple of hunters. Soon, they will realize they’re dealing with the seven deadly sins – in the flesh.

Same old same old

Bobby asks Sam what he’s doing. Sam’s answer is an informal way to mean “the usual, boring things, nothing new”.

You boys better pack it up

Bobby’s saying Sam and Dean should collect their things and leave (to catch up with him , as he’s found something).

It’s been five days and… bupkes

bupkis = nothing at all (a word of Yiddish origin)

I don’t sweat the cholesterol

I don’t worry about

The swarm’s ground zero

It’s  just the beginning, a starting point

Candygram

Candy that can be ordered by wire for delivery with an accompanying message, as on the recipient’s birthday or anniversary. (Dean, in knocking on a door)

The family that slays together…

The complete trope, most common in pop culture such as TV series, is “The family that slays together, stays together”. The meaning is that if members of a family share an activity, an interest etc., this will create a stronger tie between them. Here, Isaac means it literally, though.

Do you have any idea who we’re up against?

Who are we fighting, who are we dealing with.

I couldn’t suss it out at first

suss out = come to understand something, work something out

I don’t give a rat’s ass if they are the Three Stooges or the Four Tops

While the scene is highly dramatic, Tamara is enraged as she’s speaking about the seven demons/deadly sins that have killed her husband, there’s always something to remind us we are actually watching a show (I like that!). In this case, the reference is respectively to a comedy team active in vaudeville and TV, and to a vocal quartet from Detroit.

You burst in there half-cocked

Broke in without being fully ready, poorly prepared (Bobby to Tamara)

You think I’m gonna bow to a cut-rate, piss-poor human like you?

Cut rate, piss-poor = below standard and of very poor quality (Pride to Sam)

You look like hell warmed over

(Dean to Bobby) You seem very tired or sick

Whatever it takes to get you through the night

(Dean to Sam). The meaning in this case is “ok, if this makes you feel better”. It’s also a quote, the title of a song by John Lennon.

It’s a goose chase

(or:  a wild-goose chase): a wild or absurd search for something nonexistent or unobtainable. Dean means the deal he made with the demon cannot be broken, it’s useless even  to try

I’ve had it

(Sam to Dean): I’m tired, I won’t go on like this

I’ve been bending over backwards trying to be nice to you

Sam’s telling Dean, I’ve made every effort, tried very hard (same as “I’ve been busting my ass to…” right afterwards). Sam is determined to break his brother free from the demon deal and is mad at him because Dean doesn’t seem to care. Dean tells him he actually doesn’t want to find a way out, because if he does, Sam is going to die.

Episode Three – The Kids Are Alright  (Il mistero di Morning Hill)

(Cicero, Indiana)

While Dean’s still intent on “making the most” of the time he has left, he and Sam are also engaged in the battle with the demons that have got out of hell. They want to Indiana because there might be a case, but also because Dean wants to see Lisa, an old flame.  Little by little, they unveil a hideous plan involving the town kids. In the meantime, Sam has to deal with Ruby, another dangerous demon girl after Meg.

Gumby girl – Pokey

Dean jokes on the fact that the girl he wants to meet in Cicero used to be a yoga teacher, therefore very nimble. Gumby is an American clay animation franchise and Pokey was Gumby’s “partner in adventure”.

Not much gets by you

(Or: nothing much gets by you): You notice everything, you’re very observant (Ruby to Sam)

Episode Three – Bad Day at Back Rock

Kubrick, a friend of Gordon Walker, visits him in prison and tells him about the Devil’s Gate. Gordon tells him Sam was surely the person who caused the gate to be opened, and however he must die because he’s not “entirely human”.

There’s no solid fix on how the demons got out

Nobody knows for sure how…

The gate was popped

La porta (dell’inferno) è stata fatta saltare (come il tappo di una bottiglia di spumante, per intenderci)

Bobby’s edge is not what it used to be

Gordon means that Bobby cares for Sam and his judgment is affected by this, he’s not so sharp as he was.

As far as talk goes, Sam checks out

uses check out in the meaning of “pass close inspection”, as in That rattle made me suspicious, but the repairman said the machine checked out completely (example from here). So the sentence means “from what I’ve heard, Sam is clean, I guess we can write him off as a suspect, he’s probably innocent”.

Whoever broke in here got tagged

Sam’s saying the person or persons who entered (the storage place where John Winchester’s held a container) was hit by a bullet.

Our friend with the buckshot in him, looks like he kept walking

Although wounded, he’s still alive

Living the high life as usual

Dean’s saying John used the place to enjoy an exciting and luxurious life (ironic, of course!)

Probably the closest you ever came to being a boy

Dean bitterly remarks their father began very early to train them as hunters, so Sam’s soccer trophy is a reminder of a rare occasion on which he could do something “normal”. Dean is apparently sorry only for his brother, as he  himself seems to enjoy this life more: he certainly loves the part that involves making his own equipment, carrying very peculiar weapons and taking care of his car. On the other hand, he’s also the one who feels the burden most keenly.

It’s my first sawed-off. I made it myself.

Just goes to show… a sawed-off (or sawn-off) shotgun is a gun  with a specially shortened barrel that makes handling easier and gives a wider field of fire. And this is still Dean talking.

We got a situation here is all

We have a serious and unexpected problem, that’s all (Wayne and Grossman, the two thieves, are speaking to their friend Foster).

That was a lucky break

It really was a piece of good luck. Sam has taken a lucky charm (a rabbit’s foot) from the thief who had stolen it from John’s container, and now everything seems to go smoothly. The problem is, the good luck only stays with someone until the charm is in their hands. If they lose it, really, really bad luck will follow…

My gun don’t jam

My gun functions perfectly, never has a malfunction (Dean says), therefore, if it misfired and Sam wasn’t killed, it was necessarily out of sheer luck (which means the rabbit’s foot really works!).

That rabbit’s foot ain’t no dime-store notion

Bobby is telling Sam the charm is not a cheap fake you can find in some bazaar selling low cost goods.

Well, that clears my book

With this, I’ve finished all that there was to do (Kubrick says).

All the flukes…

A fluke is an unlikely chance occurrence, especially a piece of good luck (Dean is talking to Grossman, whose  friend Wayne has died in a horrible way after losing the rabbit’s foot they’d stolen).

That luck goes sour

turns bad

If you don’t help us stop this thing, that puts those deaths on your head

You will responsible for them, they will be your fault

A heavyweight cleansing ritual that should do the trick

A powerful purification ritual that should work, make us achieve the result we want / solve our problem (i.e., break the curse).

Good enough with the con to play us

Cunning enough to play a trick on us, deceive us (Dean’s referring to the “waitress” who stole the foot from Sam).

She knows her way around the territory

She’s very familiar with the place, knows all itineraries and can easily move through the area

Bobby got it on pretty good authority that…

If you have or get something on good authority it means you know it from a very reliable source, so you have strong reason to believe it.

You shook on 1.5

(Bela talking on the phone). Yoju confirmed the offer/ the agreement by shaking hands with me, you agreed to pay that amount.

They were very attuned into its location

Knew very well (where the rabbit foot was).

You’re only out for yourself

You do everything for yourself and nothing for anyone else (Dean to Bela).

It’s all about number one

Again, number one is a reference to oneself (in this case, to Bela), so Dean’s saying she’s acting from self-interest only.

Aren’t you a glass half-full

You really are the optimistic one, huh? (Still Dean to Bela, in reply to her remarks regarding hunters and “a world that can’t be saved”).

You were in on it

You were involved, took part in or knew about (the demons’ plan to open the gate). (Kubrick to Sam)

We’re on deck for the end game

On deck for means ready for action or work, related, in this case, to ending the world (or, for the other side, trying to save it).

Episode Four – Sin City

Elizabethville, Ohio

Sam and Dean go to Elizabethville, a former factory town, where the people have given in to heavy drinking, gambling, etc., and a couple of them have gone so far as to kill themselves or others.

And another goes postal…

Another man goes crazy… (Sam to Dean and Bobby).

It’s a half-dead factory town in the rust belt

I thought you said this was some boarded-up factory town

Bringing satin back

Can’t touch him

We got a little something-something lined up for later

I gotta hit the head, release the hostages.

I make a mean Hurricane

Too many cops here, I say we bolt

A sixer of Pabst

You boys ready for your mug shots?

Call it an educated guess

Isn’t that a buzz kill?

Everyone says he’s the brains of the outfit

Somehow I see you out in front of the pack

He hasn’t exactly stepped up to the plate

They leave them rode hard and put up wet

I’m Detective Plant, this is Detective Page

They were DOA at the scene

I wasn’t so out of it

“Out of it” means unconscious, especially as a result of taking alcohol or drugs. Julie and her boyfriend Ken were drugged by an old lady in the woods.

You cougar hound

Don’t you dare look down your nose at me

You’re a stone’s throw from being a serial killer

very close to

You’re 0 for 2

An expression from baseball, meaning you’re not doing well, you’re not going to succeed in whatever you’re doing

Aboveboard

We’ve been made

He was tried… in a kangaroo court and hanged

Aren’t you a sharp tack

This will get their tongues wagging

He’s playing hard to get

Tell me I didn’t get groped all night long with Mrs. Havisham for nothing

I can’t believe she got another one over on us

Takes one to know one

It’s rude to sneak up on people

I can wrangle up three grand

Cutting it a little close, don’t you think?

I was just chumming the water

I can’t come down

All right, listen, Wavy Gravy

If the shoe fits

Apparently, in the US, if you say a bad word, you have to put a coin in a swear jar (or ‘box’). What’s funny here is how Madge Carrigan manages to keep her “dear old auntie” manners, while… er…

With bells on

With pleasure, eagerly. Can’t wait

Someone definitely had it out for Janet Dutton

Someone… had an ugly ax to grind

That’s a curve ball

She wasn’t fooling around

A spurned lover’s hat trick

I’m detective Bachman, this is Detective Turner

I’m already sold on that Elizabeth chick

Nice dick work, Magnum

That’s what happens to witches who get voted off the island

You’re really telling me you threw in your chips with Abbot and Costello here?

Sam is trapped in a “time loop”: every day is Tuesday, and every day Dean dies in a different way.

Nothing’s set in stone

Nothing is certain or impossible to change (not even destiny, Dean says)

Must have weighted a ton, full of himself.

Someone who is full of himself is very self-important, pompously conceited. Sam plays with the words “weigh a ton” (i.e. be very heavy”) and “full of himself”.

Going after pompous jerks, giving them their just deserts

Their just deserts (yes, with one ‘s’ only, although it’s pronounced like “desserts”) means the punishment they deserve

For crying out loud, I sell ad spaces

An educated way to express anger, the meaning is more or less “for heaven’s sake”, or “damn it”.

Actually, bucko, you didn’t

Bucko means “young man”, “kid”, especially used, like in this case, in a mocking way

He said he didn’t believe in wormholes, so I dropped him in one

A wormhole is (here) a connection between separated regions of space–time. (If you’ve been paying attention to the previous seasons and episodes, this is a strong clue as to what is going on here and who may be involved in all this).

You were wacked out of it

You were really exhausted, worn-out

I’m trying to knock some sense into you

I want you to start thinking /behaving more sensibly. Bobby’s talking to Sam, who is in pieces and acting as if he couldn’t care less.

You’re Travis Bickle in a skirt, Pal

Travis Bickle is De Niro’s character in Taxi Driver. Every now and then, someone refers to a supposed “girly side” of Sam I just can’t see.

Sam and Dean have another close encounter with FBI Agent Victor Henriksen. They are under arrest and about to go to prison, but…

The episode’s title refers to the rules that govern the way in which a war must be conducted, trying to limit the suffering and the deaths caused. Which, as we will see, may imply far-from-easy ethical choices.

Where’s our usual quippy banter?

Bela’s asking Dean why they can’t go on teasing each other with the usual witty, clever, ironic or sarcastic exchanges )which, given the circumstances. is actually a teasing, ironic remark).

Everyone I could drum up with an hour notice

Everyone I could bring together

I get it you’re Mayberry P.D.

Agent Henriksen is addressing the local Sheriff, FBI-style, as if he was a virtually useless police officer in a small, almost crimeless town. Mayberry was the fictional town, in North Carolina, where the situation comedy The Andy Griffith Show (later named Mayberry R.F.D.), which was in fact based on the life of the town sheriff and of his community.

This ain’t my first rodeo

(Sheriff Todd to Henriksen): This is not the first time I’ve done this, I’m no novice and no fool,  this is not new to me and I’m competent (also a 1990 song by Vern Gosdin)

I’ll get them out of your hair and on to supermax

With your help, I’ll relieve you of the responsibility for (Sam and Dean) and soon they’ll be in a high-security prison.

Why all the sourpusses?

Dean’s ironically asking why everybody’s got unhappy, annoyed or sullen expressions.

How are we gonna Houdini out of this one?

(Dean to Sam): How are are we going to escape this time?

They’ve been a primary thorn in my ass for months

A thorn in one’s ass (or in one’s back, or flesh), like a pain in one’s ass, is something or someone who’s caused a lot of trouble or is very irritating or annoying.

Glue your eyeballs to them

(FBI Deputy Director to Henriksen): watch them with all your attention, don’t let them out of your sight

Whether Cialis will help you with your little condition?

Cialis is a prescription tablet used to treat erectile dysfunction, so it’s quite clear what Dean’s implying with his reply to Henriksen’s rhetorical question (you know what I’m trying to decide?).

What the hell. Surf and turf.

A very coarse, crude double entendre, especially for a police officer. Henriksen is telling Sam and Dean he is going to have both meat and clam for dinner, but “surf and turf” also means “two kinds of sex”, so to speak. Once again, there are strong implications regarding the supposed homosexuality of the two protagonists. Dean replies to this, in fact, when he says “we don’t swing that way”, i.e., in plain words, “we are not gay”.

I wouldn’t bust out the melted butter just yet.

(Dean to Henriksen): Don’t get too excited,  get ahead of yourself, count your chickens before they’re hatched, or  put the cart before the horse; don’t go tasting victory too soon (well, a rude sexual joke here too, but from Dean… I’ve learned to expect that).

Life sucks, get a helmet.

(Henriksen to Dean): Don’t complain, if a tough time is ahead (or you’ve gone through bad experiences), brace yourself, deal with it.

Everybody’s got a sob story

We all have something sad in our life, which we can use to make others feel sympathetic or sorry for us.

Take a gander at (something or someone)

Have a look, check it (or them) out.

Come out of the woodwork

Come out of hiding or obscurity.

I’ve gotta cut this short

I have to end this more quickly than planned, or earlier than expected

It’s gonna be a long night

We won’t have much sleep as there’s still a lot to do / there will be a lot happening tonight (possibly a reference to the Ween song of that name too).

We are like sitting ducks in here

A sitting duck is a defenseless target, a person (or thing) with no protection against a danger.

It’s kind of wild, right?

Dean here uses “wild” in the meaning of unusual and somewhat exciting. In fact, he goes on, if the demons are coming right for himself and for Sam “it’s because we’re so awesome”.

“I shot the sheriff”. “But you didn’t shoot the deputy”.

When Henriksen realizes, with a shock, he has shot the sheriff (while he was possessed by a demon), Dean answers with a quote: “I shot the sheriff” is in fact a 1973 song by Bob Marley, and in  the lyrics it says “I shot the sheriff, but I didn’t shoot no deputy”. Which explains the looks he gets from both Sam and Henriksen himself. Although it’s true (in the episode) that someone had shot the deputy too, and it wasn’t Henriksen.

You don’t poke a bear with a BB gun

You don’t use a small air rifle to shoot a bear, Dean means that Henriksen’s “arsenal” has no power at all against demons.

Sign me up for that big frosty mug of wasting my damn life

(Henriksen): You can say I deserve to receive one of those cool (said ironically, of course) mugs with “don’t waste your life” quotes.

You rocking the white-picket fence?

(Dean to Henriksen): Are you leading a perfect, protected, serene and sheltered life?

There’s big new up-and-comer, a real pied piper

(Ruby saying) there’s a new boss-to-be (in hell), someone who is likely to become a leader and has a massive following.

Episode 13 –  Ghostfacers

When the Ghostfacers are involved, Supernatural turns into comedy, or something close, anyway. They’re like the goofy, amateurish counterparts of Sam and Dean,   joking on naive beliefs, but it’s  kind of like self-mockery too. Not my favorite episodes, but funny, including the use of the light and of shaky footage, to look as if someone held the camera in their hands.

But Ed and I pretty much take the shots where we work

(Harry of the Ghostfacers): We take the initiative in deciding how something should be done, we take the decisions, tell others what to do

Spin the tyres, light the fires

Ed seems to have mixed two phrases here. “Kick the tires, light the fires”  comes from fighter pilots jargon and means prepare for the take-off, perform all pre-flight checks (or, extensively, complete all preliminary steps) to get ready. So, it can mean “come on, let’s go, let’s start”, etc. On the other hand, “spin the wheel” usually means working very hard without getting anywhere or achieving anything, means to take a chance, try something without knowing what will come of it.

Looks like we got all our ducks in a row

We’re ready / well-prepared for whatever’s going to happen

It’s a real tightrope you guys are walking

You should act very carefully, you’re on a precarious course

Had its moments

There were some good/interesting/not entirely bad parts (Sam and Dean are referring to the Ghostfacers show)

Episode 14 –  Long-distance call

Milan, Ohio

A man receives a mysterious phone call, or rather, a series of calls, and soon he shoots himself. Sam and Dean decide to investigate, although Sam is somewhat reluctant, as he still hopes to find a way to save Dean. They find out a lot of people around the town are receiving calls “from the dead”, and even Dean gets a call from thair father John…

Chasing our tails

Rushing around to not effect, doing a lot of things but achieving very little. Dean’s telling Sam they’ve tried everything regarding the deal, but they aren’t one step closer to finding a way out.

We’ve talked to every professor (…) and two-bit carny act in the lower 48

A two-bit carny act is a worthless, cheap performance by someone who works at a traveling carnival; in the lower 48 refers to all 48 contiguous continental States, therefore excluding only Alaska and Hawaii.

I’ve been right there where you’re standing right now

(Sam to Lanie Greenfield, another young victim of the strange calls from the dead): I’ve experienced the same situation you’re in now, I know how you feel.

As long as the moldy are calling the freshes…

Not exactly an idiom, but Dean’s own grimly way of making fun of odd things, dangerous creatures, thorny situations, deadly dangers and so on.

I’m staring down the barrel at this thing

(Dean): I’m in a really bad place, in a desperate situation

Episode 15 –  Time is On My Side

Erie, Pennsylvania

A man drops dead at the hospital and they find his liver’s missing (it’s been cut out, actually). (The title refers to a song by the Rolling Stones).

My man Dave Caruso’ll be stoked to hear it

When Sam tells Dean the dead man was covered in bloody fingerprints that were not his own, therefore probably the killer’s, Dean is not very excited, he thinks this would be great news for a police investigator (the actor David Caruso is best known for his roles in NYPD Blue and CSI Miami). Stoked means very excited or happy about something. But as we soon learn, the fingerprints belong to a man who has been dead for about 25 years…

Zombies do like the other “other white meat”

“Zombies actually like eating human meat”. The reference is to a very well-known (in the US) ad campaign presenting pork as “the other white meat” (an alternative to chicken and turkey).

You’re the one who’s been gung-ho to hunt

(Sam to Dean). Gung ho (or gung-ho) means “unthinkingly enthusiastic and eager, especially about taking part in fighting or warfare”.

So that kind of punches a hole in our zombie theory

Punch a whole in (a theory, an idea, etc.) means to weaken or destroy it by proving that part of it is wrong.

What you’re trying to do is chase Slicey McHackey here.

Hack means to cut or sever, and similarly, slice means to cut (into thin, often flat pieces). Once we know the person they’re talking about cuts pieces from the body of his victims, the meaning of the nickname Dean’s come up with is quite clear.

Oh, what is this, Sid and Nancy?

Sid and Nancy was a 1986 biopic based on the grim story of Sid Vicious (of the Sex Pistols) and his girlfriend Nancy, a grim story of addiction (to each other as well as to drugs) and unnatural deaths.

I know ain’t no peashooter gonna save you.

Rufus is telling Dean a gun won’t do any good, it’ll be useless against the challenge that is ahead of him.

Well, ain’t you a bucket of sunshine

The phrase “a ray of sunshine” actually indicates a cheerful person, one who makes others smile. Here, it would be ironic of course, but a “bucket of sunshine” is a nuclear weapon in military jargon, so there may be a double meaning.

Of course, that don’t fly in the courts over here

It isn’t considered satisfactory or convincing, they won’t accept that

I know we’ve hit a lot of walls

Sam’s saying they might be getting somewhere at last, although they’ve come to many  a dead end before and were often on the point of giving up.

Episode 16 –  No Rest for the Wicked

(Mainly New Harmony, Indiana)

Sam and Dean, with Bobby’s (and Ruby’s) help, are trying to find out where Lilith is and how to defeat and/or kill her, as that’s their last hope to save Dean from the famous “deal with the devil”.

Why don’t we just make a TJ run, you know?

Dean’s feeling time is running, it’s probably already too late (to save him from hell), they might as well drink beer, have fun and do nothing. TJ refers to a chain of grocery stores.

We’re cutting it close, I know.

Sam’s reply: I know there’s not much time (but we’re doing it anyway). Sam never gives up, even when all odds are against him (Dean doesn’t, either, but only when Sam is involved. We know he rather lacks self-esteem and sees himself as almost worthless). This is one of Sam’s best qualities, but risks to make him blind here. In general, we’ve learnt that the weakest spot of both is their need to protect each other. They’ll leave no stone unturned for this purpose – which can be really dangerous, not just to their own life. On the other hand, Dean’s judgment is blinded by fear (for Sam, mainly, once again) and a sense of hopelessness, so  it’s far from easy to say what the right decision would be.

That’s the whole kit and caboodle

(Bobby): this is all there is, or all we need.

There’s nothing we can’t suss out

Find out, discover (by thinking), figure out

Holster it up, Tex

Don’t take the gun too soon from its case, meaning don’t rush, take some time to think (Dean to an unusually hasty and heedless Sam).

Ain’t you just bringing down the room?

You’re making everyone else depressed, you are discouraging us (Bobby to Dean).

It’s a waste of a true-blue window,

A waste of a good opportunity

Every time one of us is up the creek, the other’s begging to sell their soul

Up the creek means in (serious) trouble, in danger. And Dean is probably right, but as we know from bedtime stories too, nothing is ever achieved by doing the right thing… You have to face your demons, in every sense.

Ruby’s just jerking your chain down the road

jerk (someone’s) chain up means to tease someone, usually to convince them of something untrue. Here, Dean’s saying Ruby wants to mislead Sam into doing something that will probably cause his ruin. The “road” down to which she wants to lead him is the road John and Dean have already taken, the one that goes to making unseemly contracts, losing their soul and going to hell.

SEASON 4

Now, we’re getting to the heart of the war. Angels are entering the field too, but if you were sure angels were the good guys and demons were the bad guys, think again. The issue is way, way hazier than that.

Episode One – Lazarus Rising

(Mainly Pontiac, Illinois)

We’d left Dean in hell at the end of the last season… we find him literally digging his way out at the beginning of this one. Apparently (almost) unharmed, but since it’s soon clear that this wasn’t Sam’s doing, who drew Dean out, and why? And what will happen next?

You’re preaching with the choir

Don’t try to convince me (Dean to Bobby): I’m already with you (i.e., I can’t understand the situation either, doesn’t make sense to me).

Then I come to 6 feet under. That was it.

Last thing I remember, I was dead and buried.

Out of the fire and back in the frying pan

The original phrase is, of course, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire”, referring to someone who goes from a bad situation to one tat is even worse. Pamela here means Dean has gotten out of the worst part, although he still isn’t out of danger.

Out of ICU

ICU is Intensive care Unit

I can either get caught with my pants down again…

Get caught with one’s pants (or BrE trousers) down means be taken by surprise, usually when one’s in a situation that can cause embarrassment or that reveals something shocking about them. Well, we can’t exactly say that Dean was taken by surprise by the demons, last time, but he probably means he wasn’t prepared, he didn’t know what to do.

Getting pretty slick there, Sam

Slick means sharp, as well as operating in a very efficient manner and effortlessly

Episode Two – Are You There, God? It’s me, Dean Winchester

Dean is bothered by the “angel” thing because as usual, he doesn’t feel he deserved to be saved and can’t believe in the existence of something good. In the meantime, hunters are being killed, one by one, apparently by the ghosts of innocent people they couldn’t save. When it gets clear that Sam, Dean and Bobby are aso haunted by the memories of people they had to kill or leave behind

I don’t like to be singled out

(Dean): I don’t like to be the object of special attention (well, we’d guessed that, at this point, despite the appearances).

No rhyme or reason

No logic explanation, no method or sense

A mile marker

A turning point, an event that mark an important time, a milestone or a sign of something.

You were hip to all this?

You were aware, you knew?

Episode Three – In the Beginning

Castiel makes Dean go back in time to meet his parents when they were young and  stop something. We don’t know what that something is, and we won’t know until the end of the episode. Let’s just say, nothing comes easy.

Episode Four – Metamorphosis

(Carthage, Missouri)

Dean finds out Sam is friends with Ruby again. Actually, Castiel has told him about it, and Dean is not just furious, he is also disappointed and afraid, for more than one reason. In the meantime, they have to deal with a man suffering from unnatural hunger. Sam manages to make Dean understand a little better what it means to have to deal with a part of yourself you can’t accept, but you can’t get rid of, either: all you can do is live with it and try not to let it get the better of you.

Do you know how far off the reservation you’ve gone?

Dean is mad at Sam for his “friendship” with Ruby, he means Sam has gone too far and is doing something utterly unacceptable. (Notice: the phrase was originally used to refer in a  contemptuous manner to Natives who left the territory they were forced to live in, and for this reason it is often considered offensive or inappropriate).

We’re as thick as thieves

As thick as thieves means really close, especially said of people who share confidences, spend a lot of time together, etc. As is often the case, Dean is ironic here, and bitterly so, because he has lately found out that Sam is hiding a few secrets, actually.

He had a hell of a case of the munchies

The munchues means hunger pangs, a very strong and unusual desire or need for food.

Jack’s headed there on a bullet train

He’ll reach that point very soon

This doesn’t get you off the hook, you know

It isn’t enough, you need to do something more if you want me to forgive you

I just wanna make sure, if push comes, you’re gonna shove

An alteration of the phrase “if push comes to shove”. which means, of the situation gets bad… (and is usually followed by a possible solution, as in “if push comes to shove, we can always sell the car” (Example from the Cambridge dictionary). Dean’s telling Sam, I want to be sure that you’ll take action, if necessary.

Episode Five – Monster Movie

(Carthage, Missouri)

Here’s the first of a few episodes in which homage to classic movies, TV series, cartoons and other genres is made more apparent. I can’t really be objective about these, I just love them. From the opening music to the opening scene, thunders, clichés and everything. The monsters too are “oldies but goodies”: Dracula, a full-on movie-time wolf man… and Sam and Dean’s faces are really priceless, throughout the episode. I’ll say it again, they (the actors, that is) are great!

Jobs don’t get much sweeter than this

Sweet here is used in the meaning of pleasant, delightful

A witness who swear up and down that it was a vampire

Swear up and down (or swear blind) means to state something  emphatically, very strongly and sincerely

About time the Winchesters got back to tackling a straightforward black-and-white case.

While Dean apparently uses the phrase to mean “a case in which there are no grey areas, where good and evil are neatly separated”, he is also referring to the fact that the episode is shot in black and white, again, to mimic old thrillers and horror films.

And then some

You could say that (again); very much so

On your own dime

At your own expense, with your own money

When I came to

When I recovered, when I was conscious again. Dean is telling a girl a somehow watered down version of his “walk through hell” (and back).

Just in the nick of time

Just in time, another minute and it would have been too late.

Episode Six – Yellow Fever

(Rock Ridge, Colorado)

Dean gets a disease that causes increasing fear, until the victim ‘s heart gives out.

Agent Tyler, Agent Perry…

These are two members of the American rock band Aerosmith.

Episode Seven – It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester

Soon before Halloween, Luke Wallace, a young man with a very ordinary life, dies by eating candy that mysteriously contained razor blades. Soon afterwards, another tragedy happens at a Halloween party. Most of all, this episode is about obedience, “necessary sacrifices”, the greater good and the lesser evil.

Don’t be a downer

A downer is a pessimistic or negative person, or someone who brings the mood down, who lessens the enthusiasm or pleasure of other people (also: a Debbie Downer).

And I don’t mean some New-Age knockoff

(Sam to Dean): knockoff means a cheap copy, an imitation, a fake product.

Witches are so frigging skeevy

Skeevy means disgusting, very unpleasant, physically or morally repulsive, distasteful, squalid (also of places, such as a skeevy hotel room, etc.).

He was so vanilla, that he made vanilla seem spicy

(Dean, referring to Luke Wallace): vanilla means so normal and ordinary as to be boring; syn.: plain, normal, regular; standard. Dean’s expression intends to emphasize this concept, meaning Luke was really a very, very common man, and above all, with not an enemy in the world.

This party blows

(Jenny to Tracy): It’s really bad, it sucks

We should just go tp somebody

Tp means to cover somebody (or more often, somebody’s house) with toilet paper, usually as a Halloween prank.

You break into the booze yet?

(Tracy to Justin) Have you found a way to get to the drinks?

Bobbing for apples is lame

(Justin to Tracy): to bob for apples means try to catch floating or hanging apples with one’s mouth alone, as a game. To say that something is lame means it isn’t fun, it’s totally uncool.

I stand corrected

(Justin, again): I was wrong

So, some witch wants to raise Samhain and take back the night?

Dean jokes about a very popular anti-violence organization, especially (although not only) focussing on sexual violence against women. In this case, “take back the night” can also mean “return its true meaning to the (Halloween) night”.

We have to hold the line

(Castiel) We have to maintain our position, resist the attack.

So you screw the pooch on some seals and now this town has to pay the price?

(Dean to Castiel) Screw the pooch (very informal, actually rude) means to make a blunder, a gross, stupid and embarrassing mistake, mess up or, with a closer expression, to “fuck things up royally” (see the Urban Dictionary, which, though, is not, usually, a reliable source if you’re looking for “how to be polite in English”. Dean, as we know by now, is not such a source himself. Here, he’s essentially telling Castiel and Uriel (two angels!) that if they destroy a town because they cannot find another way to defeat a demon, this means they make innocent people pay for their faults.

(Sam, referring to angels): I thought they were righteous. (Dean): They are righteous. I mean, that’s kind of the problem. Of course there’s nothing more dangerous than some A-hole who thinks he on a holy mission.

The word righteous means morally correct, good, even holy, but it also has a second, not-so-positive meaning, as it indicates someone who believes and shows they are morally correct (and others are not). Moral choices, Dean says (and I agree) moral choices are better made out of doubt than of self-righteousness.

Just because there’s bad apples, doesn’t mean the whole barrel’s rotten

Actually, the original saying seems to be “a bad apple spoils the whole bunch”, meaning a bad person can corrupt others. However, the modern meaning, also used by Dean here, is that if someone (belonging to a group) behaves badly, you need not be suspicious of all the others. Dean is trying to comfort Sam, here, who’s just had his beliefs shattered due to Castiel and Uriel’s words and conduct.

You gonna figure out a way to find this witch or sit there fingering your bone?

Dean’s ironically reversing the idiom “work one’s finger to the bone”, meaning to work very hard, since Sam’s actually “fingering” an old bone, part of the witch’s bone:  Dean means “are you going to sit here, just thinking, and doing nothing”?

Ok Betty Crocker, what does that mean?

Sam’s just mentioned that it would take “much more than any kitchen oven” to char (partially burn) a bone, and Dean jokingly refers to a very popular brand name and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes.

I’m tripping balls

(Justin): I’m really intoxicated

Tell him that maybe he should climb off that high horse of his

(Uriel to Sam, speaking of Dean): tell him to stop acting clever or being arrogant. Uriel also suggests that Sam should ask Dean what he remembers about hell.

Episode Eight – Wishful Thinking

(Concrete, Washington)

A cheap wishing well suddenly starts to work – but the wishes come true in a twisted way.  Dean tells Sam he actually remembers everything about hell, but doesn’t want to talk about it.

Jonesing for some hooch

craving alcohol

Kinda like a deep-woods Duchovny

David Duchovny is an actor, famous for playing FBI agent Mulder in the TV show X-Files. Here, Dean refers to another role, as a sex addict in Californication.

What is this, like a Harry and the Hendersons deal?

Here, Dean refers to a 1987 movie, in which a family take a bigfoot home with them

Lift with your legs

Sam’s teasing Dean because he can’t manage to take a coin out of the well, the phrase (actually: lift with your legs, not your back) means you should bend your legs when you have to pick up heavy objects, otherwise you risk herniated disc.

Episode Nine – I Know What you did Last Summer

Anna Milton, a psychiatric patient, leaves the unit where she’s been taken after what was, apparently, a schizophrenia episode. However, it soon becomes clear demons are after her, so there’s probably more to her illness than it seems. In the meantime, Sam, disappointed by the angels and by the somehow blurred line between good and evil, begins to see Ruby again, and explains to Dean the reason why he got so close to her, and why he still thinks she might be trustworthy,

Smoke them if you got them

(Anna to the psychiatrist): It seems this phrase comes from the time of World War Two, when officers allowed the soldiers to take a break and smoke a cigarette, if they had any. It means, do as you please, if you can.

Episode Ten – Heaven and Hell

While Anna gets more and more mysterious, Sam and Dean have to decide who their loyalty lies with, and who deserves their trust.

Try JDate

Dean tells Uriel to look for another girl (on an online dating service), because they are certainly not going to give him Anna. Uriel and Castiel intend to kill her, they say she’s “far from innocent”, but their refusal to give them more details make Sam and Dean question their reasons.

It just popped in my head

(Anna): I just thought of it, it was a random though that occurred in my mind, it came to me.

Anna may have sent the angels to the outfield, but…

The outfield is the area extending out of the diamond in a cricket or basebll field, i.e., the part of the field that is the longest distance from the batting area, so essentially Dean is saying that Anna has sent the angels far away (but only temporarily).

Any chance I can dick over an angel, I’m taking it

Pamela is a sensitive (a friend of Bobby’s) who was blinded by Castiel (although it was not entirely his fault, to be fair), and she’s still angry at all angels, apparently.

I’ll bite

I’ll ask you the question you want me to ask

We were kind of in the same foxhole

We were fighting the same enemy, we were in it together

Sister, you’re the Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup is the championship trophy of the National Hockey League, and it is the object of a number of legends and superstitions.

Pretty buff for a nerd

Ruby is saying that Sam’s intellectual curiosity  is rather strange, for someone so broad-shouldered and good-looking (I mean, brawns and brains, what more do you want from life?).

We’ll muddle through

We’ll manage somehow

This is just a little too rich for her blood

She found it overwhelming, it was too much for her (Dean to Anna, referring to Pamela)

It’s our murder one

(disobedience) is as serious a crime as first-degree murder (i.e. premeditated murder) for an angel

Don’t you go smoking out of that meat

(Alastair to Ruby): don’t try to get out of that body (demons actually let out a cloud of smoke when they leave a body they are “wearing”) and run away.

Episode Eleven – Family Remains

(Stratton, Nebraska)

While Anna gets more and more mysterious, Sam and Dean have to decide who their loyalty lies with, and who deserves their trust.

You’re running on fumes

(Sam to Dean): You are operating on very low resources or money (like a car that is running low on fuel); you are too exhausted and have no energy left. He knows Dean is working furiously to try and forget his experiences in hell, or find some relief at least, but he also knows this can’t go on forever.

Man gets hacked to death

Someone was cut to pieces, very violently and possibly with an axe or similar.

This place is gonna sell like hotcakes

It will be sold very quickly and easily (Dean, ironically referring to a house where a homicide has just been committed).

It’s a bunch of bubkes

There’s nothing of value, or interesting

Calling it like I see it

I’m just saying what I think (and I’m not apologetic about it at all)

Pick your poison

The choice is yours (or: it’s your choice). It means someone has to face two (or more) possible options, all of which are bad or unpleasant.

Knock it off

Stop it

Rent Juno and get over it

Dean’s referring to a coming-of-age film depicting the struggles and feelings of a very young girl that faces an unintended pregnancy

Criss Angel is a Douche Bag

An old magician, now almost a laughing stock, decides to perform a table of death, i.e. an escapism act, where he will be tightly bound to a table, with a number of sharp blades suspended over him, and will have to get free before they fall. The trick succeeds, but at the same time, in another place, another young magician dies, as if he had been struck by those very blades (although nobody saw them and there were no tears in his shirt). (The original title refers to a magician and illusionist who seems to be rather famous in the U.S.).

Charlier cut

A charlier cut is a method used by magicians to cut a deck of cards using one hand

A dope chance to tip my hat to the wicked cats that came before me

A great opportunity to greet/celebrate/show respect to old timers (ironic)

Cut the head off the snake

Nip it in the bud, stop a problem by aiming at the source, cut it to the roots. Sam is talking about Lilith: he’s beginning to think that if he cant beat her, whatever the cost, this might end the war, and maybe he and Dean will be able to get old and live a “normal” life.

Long enough to have shilled for Barnum

To shill means to pose as a genuine member of the audience whereas in fact you are an accomplice of a magician or similar, so as to entice others or “break the ice”.

Episode Thirteen – After School Special (La settimana della magia)

(Truman High School, Fairfax, Indiana)
(Soundtrack: Long, Long Way from Home, Foreigners)

Taylor, a high school girl, is bullied by her schoolmates, and she bullies April in turn, but April’s revenge is terrible.

Sam and Dean go to investigate in this school where they spent a short not-so-very-good time as young students (especially Dean).

The episode is about bully-ism of course, but also about empathy, and how we sometimes don’t know what’s behind other people’s behaviors. We are hurt, and hurt others, without thinking, or even thinking we are in the right. And well, through sensitive, empathic Sam, we  can learn, as part of the growing up process, that what we thought was “fair reaction” was in fact just “taking it out to” another person.

You can flunk me if you want to

Flunk means give someone a bad vote for not having met the required standard (in an essay, an exam, etc.). Sam is now recalling a conversation with Mr. Wyatt, a teacher who, a few years back, encouraged him to make his own decisions, believe in his abilities and “live the life he wanted to live”.  Dean’s joke on his “Robin Williams’ moment” a few lines after can be easily forgiven, at the time, Robin Williams was very much alive, and kicking asses. Now, the whole scene can actually be seen as a way to pay homage to him.

I’m like 21 Jump Street

Dean’s saying he is a policeman, by referring to a comedy/action film on two friends who become cops, (but are not very successful).

We took it out on each other

We made each other suffer as a way to relieve our anger, sadness or misery (Sam to Eddie/Dirk)

Episode Fourteen – Sex and Violence

(Bedford, Iowa)

After a particularly vicious murder in Iowa, the third in a short time, Sam and Dean begin to suspect a siren is involved. Turns out, sirens (or this particular siren, at least) read minds, grasp people’s most essential needs, their thirst for consideration and the holes in their lives, even when they’re actually happy and loved. So, they’re among the most dangerous creatures you can think of.

Ted’s kind of cracking the whip, isn’t he?

(Vicki to Adam): Crack the whip means make you work harder, demand obedience and efficiency

Up and at ’em, kiddo

(Sam to Dean): Get up, we’ve got to get going,  we have work to do

Sounds like Ozzie and Harriet

(Dean to Sam) Ozzie and Harriet was a radio and TV show about an ideal American family, that went on from the 1940s until the ’60s.

The P.D.

(here): The Public Defense, or Public Defender Program

They’re lining up the firing squad

They’re ready to finish you off, to

Nine Gs

Nine grands, i.e. nine thousand dollars

When I’m not slogging it through the E.R.

Slog (it, or away, etc.) means to do hard and often boring work  for a long period, E.R. is the Emergency Room, i.e. the part of a hospital where people are taken for emergency treatment

You handled the workups, right?

Sam’s asking Dr. Cara Roberts if she performed the (detailed) medical examinations usually conducted in murder cases.

Tox screen for the perps

Toxicology test to see whether the authors of the crimes had taken drugs, and to determine their type and amount

c.o.d. in the women was pretty clear

c.o.d. means cause of death

Dude, you totally c-blocked me

Dean is accusing Sam of not letting him see if he had a chance with Cara Roberts. Of course, we know it’s really hard for Dean to  accept that a woman may simply be not interested in him.

So, Wylie and Snyder fessed up, huh?

(Sam to Dean): fess up means to confess to something, to admit that one has done something wrong, to take responsibility for something.

One emptied his IRA…

His Individual Retirement Account (i.e., his retirement savings)

Let me guess. “Welcome to the Jungle”? No, no. Warrant’s “Cherry Pie”

Dean’s joking about the Siren’s song, by which they entice men, he refers to two hard rock songs (the first being a famous Gun’s and Roses hit)

So, whatever floats the guy’s boat, that’s what they look like?

float one’s boat means to appeal to or excite someone, or be what they like

Makes them go all Manchurian Candidate

Sam’s reference may be to the 2004 Jonathan Demme’s film, but a Manchurian candidate means, in general, someone who is used as a puppet and manipulated into acting in the (corrupt) interest of somone else

Supernatural STD

STD means sexually transmitted diseases. In this case, transmitted by sirens (hence “supernatural”).

Wrap you up in knots before you know what hit you

(Bobby to Sam – but speaking generally): (the siren) will make you confused, make you unable to think clearly before you even realize what’s happening.

My SAC sent me down here

SAC here means Special Agent in Charge. Agent Nick Monroe is telling Sam and Dean (who are passing themselves off as FBI agents) that he is an agent too.

We’re taking my ride

(Sam to Nick Monroe): ride here means car (like “wheels” a few lines below).

Can I level with you?

Level with someone means be honest, tell the truth, specially something unpleasant

You’ve brought your weird to the right spot. Lay it on me

(Dean to Nick Monroe): I’m the right person to help you with your troubles, let me help you

You two have a lot you wanna get off your chests

Express something you’ve held for long and that been worrying you or making you angry, guilty, etc.

Episode Fifteen – Death Takes a Holiday

(Greybull, Wyoming)

People in the small town of Greybull don’t die anymore, not even when they’re shot in the heart. Sam and Dean have to find out what’s happened to Death and to his assistants, the Reapers. In the meantime, Sam doesn’t want to tell Dean he’s accepted to

Another guy gets capped by a mugger…

Capped means shot

Can we get past this?

(Sam to Dean): “Can we stop talking about this”? Dean is still mad at Sam for something Sam told him under the “spell” of the siren. Not the Dean was immune, he almost killed his brother, so Sam could have said “can you stop being such a jerk and get on with your life”?

I know you wanna think of yourself as Joe the Plumber…

(Sam to Dean); “Joe the Plumber” was the nickname given to a Republican commentator, later used by Republicans in the 2008 presidential campaign to indicate middle-class people in general. So, Sam’s point here is that much as Dean would like to think of himself (and of Sam) as just a common people, in fact they are not.

You’ve been Soloflexing with…?

Alastair has noticed that Sam is stronger, so he suspects he’s done some secret activity alone with Ruby. Soloflexing is an exercise machine used for training alone. By extension, as a verb it means go somewhere or do something alone.

Just swing in and save the friendly neighborhood Reaper?

(Sam): A joking reference to Spider-Man, who often refers to himself as “Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man”

I’m sick of being hauled back into your… soc-greaser crap

The reference here is to a  1967 novel by  S,E, Hinton, The Outsiders, about two rival gangs: the “greasers” are the poor, young members of the working class, whereas the Socs, short for Socials, are the upper-class kids.

I guess we gotta start cramming

Cram means study very hard over a short period of time, such as before an exam. Dean is saying he and Sam will have to work hard as they intend to be transformed into ghosts, but be able to move and take action nonetheless.

Nothing like shooting blanks

One of Dean’s double entendres…

This town is off the rail

It’s in a condition that is not acceptable, it’s out of control (the Reaper “Tessa” is talking about the fact that nobody dies anymore in Greybull).

Your whole Angel-demon dance-off?

(Tessa): “Dance-off” means a competition between two or more dancers, where they have to perform increasingly better until a winner is declared: of course, Tessa is referring to the angel-demon war.

I’ll meet you back at Mr. Miyagi’s

Mr. Miyagi is the karate master in Karate Kid. Sam and Dean would need a “ghost” karate master though!

Cut it out

Stop!

Place looks like New Jack City

A reference to a 1991 crime action film

It’s a little on the nose, don’t you think?

Dean’s telling Alastair that killing death (or his assistants) with  a death sickle is a bit over-literal and unimaginative

Episode Sixteen – On the Head of a Pin

Angels are being killed, and Castiel and Uriel order Dean to torture Alastair to make him say who’s killing them. As usual, though, things are not as they seem. It’s always a matter of choices, of good intentions and bad actions, of how far is it right to go when you have to fight something you see as “evil”, etc.

They have Alastair strung up six ways from Sunday

(Ruby to Sam): Six ways from Sunday (or: to Sunday) means completely, in every way possible.

Episode Seventeen – It’s a Terrible Life

In the last episode, Dean told Castiel he didn’t want to be the “chosen one”, he wasn’t up to the job of stopping the Apocalypse and saving the world. Now he is living a new life as a junior manager in a company, while Sam is a technical assistant with the same company, and they don’t even seem to know each other. But when a couple of employees commit suicide after a very strange call from a HR Department that is not where it should be…

Save it for the health club, pal

A health club is a private club where you go to do exercise and for beauty treatments, I suppose gay men may look for partners there, the irony here is this is a conversation between Sam and Dean.

Guess they put the fear of God in him

A very standard phrase, meaning they terrified him… but also a cue.

H.R. bust your balls of something

(Sam to Ian): were they (the Human Resources department) mad at you, did they harass or nag you (to make you work so hard)?

So I can get the show on with the invoices

(Dean to Ian): I can continue, go on with

Detoxes you like nobody’s business

Dean to Sam): like nothing else, to an extraordinarily high degree or standard, like crazy. It’s fun to see Dean try keeping a healthy lifestyle, if only for a few days…

I’m on a cleanse

A cleanse means a treatment to remove impurities from your body and (re)gain health. Once again, I can’t believe I’m hearing these words from Dean…

Like Shirley MacLaine before?

Sam’s just told Dean “it’s like we’ve done this (i.e. hunting) before. Dean’s question refers to MacLaine’s well known belief in reincarnation.

Episode Eighteen – The Monster at the End of this Book

Sam and Dean find out that a man named Carver Edlund  is writing a series of books entitled “Supernatural”, which tell their story as if they were fictional characters… just another example of meta-reference, there are  a lot in the show.

The title of the episode was also the title of a children’s book by Jon Stone, where the protagonist was Grover from  Sesame Street (the children’s TV show where the Muppets appeared for the first time). But who’se the monster here?

I’m here full-frontal, dude

Dean is telling Sam that he feels naked, as their life has been exposed entirely in these mysterious books.

Episode Nineteen – Jump the Shark

(Windom, Minnesota)

Sam and Dean learn they have a half-brother, son of their father John. Dean doesn’t take the news too well, Sam seems to get along better with the boy, but he shows an increasingly ruthless and cynical side. Dan, on the other hand, seems just his usual stubborn self, but…

Jump the shark is a TV trope, it refers to a point in which a show, a film etc. reaches a peak and then starts to decline, or tries to (re)gain attention with far-fetched events. It may also have a more general meaning of a turning point. Here, it possibly refers to the presence of the third brother, but also the fact that Sam is proving to be more and more like his father: and whether this is a good or a bad turn, we will see further on…

Maybe he slipped one past the goalie

He got the girl pregnant (btw, I don’t like it when Sam begins to speak like Dean)

Why didn’t I throw paper?

Sam and Dean often play rock, paper, scissors to decide who’s dealing with the most difficult or unpleasant part of a job. Dean always loses.

I winged it

(Dean): I hit it in the arm

Sloppy Joe

A (very) dark joke, a pun playing on a very popular sandwich in the US, and poor Joe Barton, who was apparently devoured by an unknown beast.

Episode Twenty – The Rapture

Castiel appears to Dean in a dream and urges him to go to a certain place where they can meet. Sam and Dean go where he said, only to find the signs of a hard fight, Castiel gone and Jimmy, the man he was “possessing”, none the wiser about what happened.

Battle royale

a fight involving more than two combatants,  in which the last fighter wins. Also, a fight to the finish (and an action movie  by Kinji Fukasaku).

There’s a big chance you have a bull’s eye on you

You’re probably a target, someone is almost certainly after you

Jimmy McMook gives you the slip?

Probably a pun between Jimmy Novak and Steve McQueen, who starred in The Great Escape. Mook means a foolish or incompetent person, So Dean is teasing Sam for having let Jimmy get away from him.

Talk to ginormo here

Dean’s telling Anna to talk to Sam (about Jimmy’s escape). Ginormo was marked as a neologism around 2008 (a blend of giant and enormous), but doesn’t seem to have been used much since. Also, oddly enough, ginormal was reported, at about the same time, as meaning extremely normal, with nothing extraordinary at all, so maybe the pun was intended.

Don’t sugarcoat it, Sam

(Dean to Sam): don’t make it sound better than it is. It’s ironic, because Sam has just drawn a very grim picture of the future that awaits Jimmy. While Sam is actually telling the truth, it’s sad to see him lose his empathy.

It’s yo-yoing all over the place

Dean’s talking about the demon blood, telling Sam it’s pulling him  him around like a puppet, it’s controlling him entirely. Also, he dramatically swings from strong to weak and back.

Like I didn’t think you’d bring Heckle and Jeckle

The demon’s telling Jimmy she knew he’d bring Sam and Dean. Heckle and Jeckle are  animated cartoon characters, two “talking magpies”, in fact (not crows, despite the appearance). If you have a look at this article, it seems clear it is not a chance reference.

Nobody bats a thousand

Nobody is perfect or can do everything perfectly (Dean to Sam)

Sort of like a milk run

A routine mission that is expected to be entirely uneventful

Now look who landed in my lap

When something lands in you lap, it comes to you unexpectedly and without effort. The demon’s saying she didn’t expect to be so lucky as to run into Sam and Dean themselves, as demons usually have a hard time trying to get at them.

Chew me out

(Sam to Dean): scold me, yell at me, tell me off (Dean has now actually seen Sam drink demon blood, but he already knew he was doing so anyway).

Thanks for shaking a tail

For having come quickly (Bobby to Sam and Dean)

Episode Twenty-One – When the Levee Breaks

Sam has been locked in a demon-proof room at Bobby’s, until he “dries out”, i.e. he gives up his demon blood addiction. As the apocalypse approaches, though, both Bobby and Dean begin to have doubt on whether this is a good decision, both for the world and for Sam himself.

Smells like a duck

The phrase is “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck”, as an example of abductive reasoning. Now at Sam’s protests, Dean is saying, more or less, if it seems you are an addict, you probably are an addict”.

A bench-warmer seat (to the Apocalypse)

A place as a substitute, a reserve player who does not take part in the match (un posto di giocatore in panchina). Dean’s telling Sam that he and Bobby now won’t trust him to actually fight with them against the demons.

It didn’t pan out that way

(Sam to his younger self, reminding him of how much he wanted to be “normal”): It didn’t go or turn out as I wished, I tried but I wasn’t successful.

He is in over his head

(“Mom” to Sam): Dean has too many difficulties or problems to be able to cope or to deal with them.

Crank up the hell-blood regimen

Increase or intensify his demon blood.based “diet”,

I can’t bite my tongue any longer

(Bobby to Dean) I can’t stop myself from speaking, from saying what I think

I’ve found my line

(Dean to Bobby) the limit I don’t want to cross

My whole life, you take the wheel, you call the shots

(Sam to Dean): you’ve always been in control, always decided what is to be done and how it should be done.

Episode Twenty-Two – Lucifer Rising

(Ilchester, Maryland)

In the last episode, Sam seemed to imply, in leaving Dean, that he has been locked in a demon-proof room at Bobby’s, until he “dries out”, i.e. he would have nothing more to do with Dean. Turns out, the reason was he wanted to protect Dean, make him stay as far away as possible, but this is just because he’s definitely and knowingly headed down a very dark and dangerous path

Your head in the game?

(Ruby to Sam): get one’s head in the game means to concentrate, to focus

Don’t you think we’ve got bigger fish at the moment?

(Dean to Bobby): bigger fish to fry, i.e., more pressing issues to attend to, something (much) more important to do.

He would rather push him away than reach out to him

(Bobby to Dean): He (i.e. John, Sam and Dean’s father) would rather let Sam go because he was not able to support him, communicate with him. Another heart-touching dialogue, like the one between Sam and Ruby, all the more so because neither is over-sentimental, quite the opposite.

Absolutely scrumptious

Pun intended: scrumptious means gorgeous, but also very tasty, delicious.

Patty-cake, patty-cake, baker’s man…

An old nursery rhyme

The sweet life of Zach and Cass

This is a reference to a Disney Channel teen and pre-teen TV show named “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody” about two twin brothers.

Call it a green room

(Zachariah to Dean): a green room is a room in a theatre or studio where performers can relax when they are not on stage. Zach is telling Dean he has to wait before it’s his turn to play his role in the Apocalypse.

Bail on the Holodeck

A holodeck is in a room (in science-fiction, mainly) where you can experience a holographic or computer-simulated physical environment. Basically, Dean’s telling Zachariah he wants to stay grounded in reality.

That’s right up there with the Washington Generals

Dean’s talking of a basketball team, who mainly played exhibition games agains the Harlem Globetrotters, and lost virtually every time, Dean is sarcastic because Zachariah has just told him all seals but one have been broke, making the Apocalypse a very imminent threat.

It’s like A-Rod and Madonna over here

The demon talking to Sam is referring to a supposed and very talked-about (at the time) relationship between Madonna and the baseball star Alex Rodriguez (immediately after playfully appreciating Sam’s muscles).

What’s my upside… where’s my carrot

(Demon nurse to Sam): What’s in it for me, what’s the advantage to me, my reward

It’s the final run on the Death Star

The final battle (a reference to Star Wars)

You’re a… can of whup-ass

(Ruby to the demon-nurse): You’re a (deadly) living weapon

I’m gonna… hand over the wheel for a little bit

the demon is saying she’s going to give control over to the nurse “it” is possessing, a young registered nurse (the meaning of r.n., a couple of lines later).

What is black and white and red all over?

(Ruby to Sam): she’s using the darker version of a riddle based on “read” and “red” having the same sound. The traditional answer is “a newspaper”, but many alternatives exist, the darkest being “a wounded nun”, only, in this case it’s actually eight murdered nuns.

Screw this noise

(Dean to Castiel) A (rude) way to say the other person has given a stupid suggestion or said something unacceptable.

We’re on the final lap

(Ruby to Sam): we’ve reached the final stage at last (after a long wait), we are at the end of this long and difficult process.

Now is not the time to grow a persqueeter

It’s too late to show feminine feelings or sensibility. Still Ruby talking, and it’s interesting that even at the darkest point of his path, Sam is still regarded as oversentimental, or rather, he seems to make mistakes out of good intentions. This is the moment when Ruby begins to show her true colors, and maybe Sam starts to be suspicious, but alas, too late (for the time being, at least. Nowhere else is the  “never too late” phrase truer than in Supernatural!).

would you drop the friggin’ attitude?

(Sam to Ruby): please stop being so aggressively cynical, or so insensitive.

Demons on the prowl

(Zachariah to Dean): demons hunting, in search of prey.

Fait accompli

It’s already happened, or however it’s been decided and is irreversible, it cannot be changed, same as “the train has left the station”: it can’t be undone, the opportunity has passed.

Grunts on the ground

Common soldiers, cannon fodder

All it is, is Ali-Foreman

Zachariah is telling Dean  the Apocalypse is nothing more than a big fight (like the match between Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali and George Foreman).

We can’t make an omelette without cracking a few eggs

(Zachariah to Dean): Some sacrifices are necessary in order to achieve something important. The famous greater good, which is not something Sam and Dean would stand for. The concept of accepting to harm something, or rather someone, that is considered less important in order to achieve a general advantage is a tricky concept indeed. And it’s just because Sam has been risking to forget this, that he’s followed a course of action that risks to end in a disaster… but interestingly enough, there’s an archangel behind the whole plan, and he’s the most fervent supporter of the greater good doctrine.

Sam, Sam, Sam. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia

(Zachariah to Dean): It’s a quote from The Brady Bunch, a sitcom on the life of a blended family with six children. Ian, one of the girls, considers her sister Marcia a nuisance because Marcia always got the best of everything. By extension, it’s come to mean a whiny complaint by a jealous person, so in a way, Zachariah is implying that apart from being worried for Sam, Dean is actually fed up of feeling second best because of him.

Gotta toe the company line

(Dean to Castiel): you have to only say what they told you to say, conform to the rules

You shot your payload on the boss

(Ruby to Sam): Killing Lilith has drained your energy entirely

You didn’t need the feather to fly

There was no need for me to convince you or feed your anger, you did it all by yourself (Ruby, again).

SEASON 5

At last! My favorite so far.

Episode One – Sympathy for the Devil

(Mainly Pike Creek, Delaware)

So now Lucifer is back, and since he needs a vessel, in order to move around and be seen and to operate, he chooses Nick, a young man enraged by loss and grief.

Hash this out

(Dean to Sam): solve the problem by discussing it, talk about it to reach an agreement or a solution

The angels smote the crap out of him

(Chuck, talking about Castiel): they assaulted him violently

Like a water balloon of chunky soup

Chunky means very dense, and with bits and pieces of something such as vegetables etc.

Cram it with walnuts, ugly

(Dean to Zachariah): a bit like “shove it up your ass” (sorry!)

Keep it together, man

(Nick to himself): keep calm, don’t lose your head

If by some miracle we pull this off, I want you to lose my number

(Bobby to Sam): If we make it out alive, never set foot here again /never call me again

Episode Two – Good God, y’all!

(Mainly River Pass, Colorado)

While Castiel has decided to go look for God, on earth things are getting worse, with the arrival of War on a red horse… well, not a horse, exactly, but a very good substitute, and red at that. People don0t need too much encouragement to start figthing against each other…

(Spirit in the Sky, Norman Greenbaum)

You didn’t drop in just to tear us a new hole.

(Bobby to Castiel): tear someone a new one (or a new hole) means to reprimand someone or express great anger against someone

Crap doesn’t hit the fan with coffee breaks

(Sam to Dean): The forces of evil do not stop to take a break

Fall off the wagon

Lapse back into an old habit or addiction after a period of self-improvement

We’re all on the same page?

(Ellen to Dean and Rufus): Do we agree, are we all thinking in the same fashion, have we the same kind of understanding about the situation?

Episode Three – Free to Be You and Me

(Garber, Oklahoma – Greeley, Pennsylvania – Waterville, Maine)

Simple Man, Lynyrd Skynyrd

Sam and Dean have decided to separate, because Sam feels is not in the right shape to hunt and may be a danger to himself and to others. He changes identity, but you can’t escape your past…

Episode Four – The End

(Garber, Oklahoma – Greeley, Pennsylvania)

Episode Five – Fallen Idols

(Canton, Ohio)

A man finds the car of his dreams, but he soon gets killed, apparently by the car itself. But when other people die at the hand of celebrities they “worship”, it becomes clear that this is something different from a murderous car.

Waiting to rub my nose in it

Rub one’s nose (in it) means to insist or repeatedly remind someone else of something unpleasant, embarrassing etc. In this case, it’s used in the meaning of “brag about”.

Agents Bonham and Copeland

John Bonham was the drummer for Led Zeppelin, Stewart Copeland for The Police

This is like Christine?

Sam’s referring to the book by Stephen King and the film by John Carpenter, in which an evil car came alive

World’s smallest violin, pal

(Dean to Sam) stop complaining

I want you to use a fine-tooth comb

(Sheriff rick Carnegie): search thoroughly, examine everything in detail

How long am I gonna be in double-secret probation?

(Sam to Dean): In American colleges, double secret probation is the practice of placing a student on academic probation for a second consecutive term.  The probation is “secret” because only administration officials and the student know the student is at risk of being expelled. Sam’s asking how long will it take for Dean to start trusting him again

I’m trying to climb out of that hole

(Still Sam): I’m trying to cope, to get over it

Am I supposed to just let you off the hook?

(Dean to Sam): should I stop blaming you, just let you escape responsibility for what you did?

Maybe I’m on deck for the devil

(Sam): I must be ready for

We can stop wringing our hands over it

(Still Sam): stop worrying about it and start doing something/deal with/fight it.

I can get on board with that

(Dean) I can accept and participate, I agree with that course of action

Episode Six – I Believe the Children Are Our Future

(Alliance and Elk Creek, Nebraska)

A few innocent toys suddenly get much less innocent, when the stories children believe about them start to come true. Sam and Dean find a child who is- unknowingly – behind all this. He’s half human, half-demon, and Castiel wants to kill him because he’s dangerous, but Sam and Dean won’t have it.

Agents Page and Plant

Jimmy Page and Robert Plant are both former members of the rock band Led Zeppelin

OCD

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

PCP

Phencyclidine, a drug

It all spells crazy

The words related to these acronyms are all related to some sort of insanity

Please bear with me

Be patient with me, humor me, answer the question (even if they seem odd)

Hit it Mr. Wizard

Sam’s referring to the host of a TV program for children, who performed sscience experiments and was extremely popular in the 1950s and 1960s.

I will see your crazy and raise you some

Ok, you think this is crazy,  I’ll tell you something even crazier than that

Episode Seven – The Strange Case of Dean Winchester

A strange man plays poker with a few people. Some of them win, some of them lose, but it’s not a matter of money, it’s years. So, when Bobby gets twenty-five years older, Dean tries to win those years back. He succeeds, as regards Bobby, but he gets, in turn, fifty years older…

You expect me to believe you’re CDC?

CDC means Centers from Disease Control (and Prevention). Of course, Sam and Dean aren’t “really” from the CDC, but Dr. Aldrich is just surprised because they’ve arrived so promptly (which is usually not the case, apparently).

He wasn’t big on the sunscreen, huh?

Dean is looking to a dead man who should be around twenty-five but look much, much older, so he jokes about the fact that he didn’t protect his skin enough.

You come up dry, circle back to the motel in 2.

If you find nothing, if you get no results, come back to the hotel in two hours

Them’s the breaks

That’s the way things turned out, that’s just how it is, that’s life

I like the cut of your jib

(Patrick to Dean): I like your style

I was gonna say Emperor Palpatine

Sam’s referring, of course, to the Dark Lord of Star Wars

There’s an archangel there wanting me to drop the soap

Dean’s talking of Alastair, who’s waiting for him to be in a vulnerable position and then take revenge.

Episode Eight – Changing Channels

Weillington, Ohio

Supernatural is now a comedy? filmed before a live (and cheering) audience? Well, yeah, but the interesting thing is, how did they get there. This is the episode that made me fall in love with the show. And with the Trickster, too (although Dean is partly right to say what he says – but not entirely).

I’ve got a possible 187 here

187 is murder in California (as section 187 is the section of the code that defines murder), but it’s used to refer to murder even outside California especially (as in this case) as a police code.

Somebody slip a mickey in your power shake, kid?

(the Trickster to Dean): Did they put a drug in your drink? Or, in other words, are you nuts?

Endings wrapped up in a bow

The Trickster (well, whoever he is) is talking about ends of books or movies etc., where everything is nicely finished off and all the loose ends are tied up. It’s usually used somewhat derogatively about certain books or movies to suggest that the ending is overly sanitised and unrealistic (Wordreference).

Episode Nine – The Real Ghostbusters

Chuck Shurley (aka Carver Edlund) is experiencing unusual success as the writer of the Supernatural books, a fictional series about the real Sam and Dean, whose lives are exposed as if they were characters  (any heads spinning so far?). His “number one fan” Becky has organized a “Supernatural Convention”, gathering fans from all over the States. She’s even managed to have Sam and Dean turn up (without telling them what’s all about, of course). Everyone thinks Sam and Dean are just participating in the (live action role-playing) game, but  where they are, “real” ghosts, monsters and deaths won’t fail to follow…

Our plates are kind of full

(Dean to Chuck) We’ve got enough to do, it’s not like we hadn’t anything else to think about, we’ve got a lot going on in our lives.

You guys have seriously lost your grip on this

(Barnes to Sam and Dean): You are really losing control (they still think Sam and Dean are just taking the “game” a bit too seriously).

Round’s on us, guys

We are paying for this round of drinks (Dean to Damien and Barnes)

Maybe because of the high-and-tight she gave you?

The high-and-tight is a very short haircut, especially used by men in the U.S., but it also seems to refer to a kind of circumcision, and here Dean’s referring to the fact that the little boy was actually “scalped”.

Just give her the puppy dog thing

Try to convince her with your saddest, most dewy-eyed expression (Dean to Sam, of course).

Episode Ten – Abandon All Hope

First meeting with Crowley. Wasn’t love at first sight, but well, watching the episodes again, I can’t help thinking that I liked him even before I knew it. And now it also comes to my mind… is there a character, in this series, who is not “my favorite” character? Anyway, Crowley is amazing. British aplomb, with a passionate, emotional side, and in a demon at that… no, really, really, amazing.

However, all in all, this is, to me, one of the saddest, most dramatic, moving and fascinating episodes of all seasons.

Even as we speak, it’s going down

It’s happening

sent out on the grapevine

Through unofficial means, especially gossip

You two, at best, are functional morons

Idiots who, though, can be very good at something

I go on an extended vacation to all points nowhere

In all directions, and in no place at all. See what I mean? I love this man… er… this demon.

I screw the pooch

(Dean to Sam): Screw the pooch means to make a major mistake

True that

I agree, you’re right, it’s true

We’re gonna check out the P.D.

(Dean to Ellen): the Police Department

We’ve alread lost the angel up our sleeve

(Dean, referring to Castiel): The angel that was our strongest weapon, part of our secret plan

Here goes nothing

(Dean) a phrase used when you’re going to do something very dangerous, something you’re very likely to fail at, and may also imply you have “nothing left to lose”.

Episode Eleven – Sam, Interrupted

Sam and Dean enter a mental health hospital as patients, to investigate a series of strange deaths, at the request of a friend, Martin. Martin used to be a good hunter, amd although he now seems to suffer from some kind of mental disease, they know if he says something is wrong, it is worth  looking into. The title refers to a 1999 film entitled Girl, Interrupted, in which Misha Collins (Supernatural‘s Castiel) also appeared.

Silkwood shower

The reference is to the Silkwood film with Meryl Streep, and it means a very long, thorough, decontaminating and possibly painful  shower.

You know you boys think I’m a bag of loose screws

(Martin to Sam and Dean): Have a loose screw means to be eccentric or slighthly crazy, so here Martin is saying they may think is actually (very) mentally unstable.

Quid pro quo, Clarice

(Dean to Dr. Cartwright): “Clarice” is a reference to the protagonist (played by Jodie Foster) of  The Silence of the Lambs.

I just got thraped

(Dean to Sam): therapy was forced upon me (by a shrink, i.e. a psychiatrist).

So torn

(Dean to Sam): I’m suddenly uncertain, something has happened and now I don’t know how to choose between two possibilities. Dean wanted to leave the hospital as soon as possible, but even there, he’s managed to be kissed by a pretty girl, so now, he is torn…

Could be any Peter, paul and Mary in the joint

(Martin to Samd and Dean): can be anyone around here

Episode Twelve – Swap Meat

(Housatonic, Massachusetts)
Rock’n Roll never forgets, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band

Sam is clearly behaving in a very, very strange way… well, almost like a fourteen-year-old, but wait… What happened 36 hours before he appeared in that bar, and started talking to and looking at a woman as if he were a teenager?

You wanna get the lead out, Andretti?

(Dean to “Sam”): “Get the lead out” means hurry, move quickly; Andretti was a former racing-car driver and Formula-One world champion (in 1978).

You’ve seriously sprung a leak

(Sydenay to “Sam”): (here): you’ve said too much

“My bad” ain’t gonna cut it

(Dean to Gary): It’s not nearly enough

So you straighten up and fly right

“Straighten up and fly right” means begin acting in a serious and mature manner, and start doing what others expect of you, or what is right, anyway; but, of course, it’s also the title of a very famous song by Nat King Cole.

Welcome back, Kotter

Dean’s saying Sam is his old (fussy, bitchy) self again, at last, by referring to a TV show of the same title that aired from 1975 to 1979 (and starring, among others, a very young John Travolta).

Episode Thirteen – The Song Remains the Same

Cherry Pie, Warrant

Anna, the angel we met a few episodes ago, escapes from Heaven prison with shocking news. Once again, Sam and Dean have to go back in time to save their parents and avoid being “unborn”.

She’s gone all Glenn Close, huh?

Dean’s referring to a particular scene in Fatal Attraction.

Why poke the bear?

(Dean to Castiel): poke the bear means to deliberately provoke or antagonize someone (especially a violent person, or someone in a position of authority), when this is likely to cause trouble.

The number it must have done on your head

(John to Sam): do a number on = to injure, to hurt. John is saying that being raised as a monster hunter must be an experience that marks your life. The following dialogue between Sam and John “who is not his father yet” is very moving. Sam says to him the things he wished he could have said to his father before he died, and John, who , of course, doesn’t know who Sam is, is moved beyond what would be “natural” in such a situation, as if he had a feeling, but a vague and indeterminate feeling. I love these scenes, and their acting in them. Then follows a dialogue between Dean and “Michael”, after that the archangel has taken John temporarily as his vessel, and it’s amazing too, because there’s a lot about brotherhood, obedience, the right thing, destiny and choices, plans and free will…

You can’t fight City Hall

(Michael to Dean): You can’t beat bureaucracy

Episode Fourteen – My Bloody Valentine

Cherry Pie, Warrant

People seem to die for love, actually they crave love, and not just love. Food, attention… they are all hungry for something. It’s not love, it’s hunger, or rather, Famine. Drama and comedy are increasingly intermingled in the series, and I like it more and more.

Unleash the Kraken

(Sam to Dean): go and have all the fun you can get, kick the asses of anyone you meet on the way, something like that

Their good-and-plenties

The most interesting parts

Tupperwared

Closed in food storage containers

A Twinky binge

A food challenge that requires to eat as many snacks as you can very quickly

OD

Overdose

You just keep going through the motions

(Sioux Falls, South Dakota)

People begins to raise from the dead in Sioux Falls, but they don’t exactly look like zombies, just human. Many of them were beloved, and now they’re back, their families don’t want to lose them again. I may even seem to be one of the few things (or the only good thing) coming from the Apocalypse, until…

The title refers to a 1982 movie by Carl Reiner of the same title.

Heads up

Stow you baggage, Dean

And then some

Episode 23 Do You Believe in Miracles? (Una trappola per Metatron)

Now that Dean’s violent side is out of control, Sam and Castiel have been forced to lock him up, although they know it will be extremely difficult to beat Metatron without him.

Dean summons Crowley to help him, both to kill Metatron and to understand what’s happening to him. In the meantime, Castiel and Gadreel become allies and manage to enter heaven…

Ruse

A trick, a deception

You are nothing but Bernie Madoff with wings

(Dean to Metatron): Bernie Madoff is a former financier, convicted in a major case of stock and securities fraud

You draped yourself in the flag of heaven, but, ultimately, it was all about saving one human, right?

(Metatron to Castiel): To drape oneself in a flag means to pretend to do something for some noble reasons, while in fact their motive is selfish, or, however, less noble.

SEASON 10

Episode 1 – A Very Special Supernatural Special

Just what the title says: the special recaps the past events and presents the new season. I’ve realized once more that much of what keeps me glued to my seat and enthralled is not so much suspense and drama, the story, the characters, the good acting or the suspense (all of which helps, but) as the very obvious fact that they are all enjoying themselves so much.

I totally agree with jeremy Carver (the executive producer) here: I loved to hate Crowley at first, then I’ve loved to love him and still do. He’s quite the Englishman, with that wickedness, I mean, he is really, really wicked. But it’s all in his British humor and in that… what will we call it? composure, equanimity, that absolutely unperturbed way in which he says – and does – the most terrible things. He had me from the moment he kissed the old, oily banker at his first appearance. He’s… well, awesome.

But as I’ve said, they’re all great. And yes, in a show that “on paper, is so serious”, as Padalecki puts it, the funny moments are among the funniest I’ve ever seen. To keep together all these aspects, the comedy, the suspense, the drama, the family issues and love and death issues each of us can relate to… From the very beginning, I’ve been convinced that the writers, producers, authors, all those involved must be very good indeed.

The Impala is also great. Makes me want to drive it. Across the U.S. I mean, drive down every road, all of them.

I’m gonna enjoy the next five seasons very, very much.

Episode 2 – (L’anima nera di Dean)

In the last episode of Season 10, Metatron stabbed Dean. The Blade prevented him from dying, but he’s a demon now. He’s going around with Crowley and having “fun”, while Sam is going crazy because he can’t find him anywhere. The son of a “monster” Dean killed many years before finds and kidnaps Sam to force Dean to show up, but Dean refuses and leaves Sam to his fate. In the meantime, Castiel is getting worse, his borrowed grace is wearing out…

Whatever Boy Scout code you cuddled up to at night… it’s all gone

Sam won’t stop at anything to find him and Crowley. The demon woman Sam’s holding prisoner tells him he no longer has any supposed moral code to keep him together and be comforted with when he does evil things.

Episode 3 – Reichenbach (Le cascate di Reichenbach)

Sam is still held prisoner by Cole, the man who kidnapped him in the last episode. While he takes a beating to protect his brother, Dean is having a bar fight. But then, Cole’s wife calls him on the phone and Sam escapes. In the meantime, Crowley makes an offer to Dean, who can soothe his bloodthirst by killing someone who “deserves” it…

Episode 4 – Soul Survivor (Anima e sangue)

Sam is trying to “fix” Dean, even though Dean (or the demon he’s turned into) doesn’t want to be fixed.

In the meantime, Castiel is fading away, but doesn’t want to beg Metatron to give him his soul back, and even less kill another angel to steal their soul from them. Hannah is worried to him, and tries to convince him that he has to live, if for no other reason, because he’s promised to help Sam cure his brother. When everything seems lost, once again Crowley, comes to his (and his friend Hannah’s) help…

Quote: It would take a lot more than trying to kill Sam with a hammer to make him walk away (Castiel to Dean)
You realize how screwed up our lives are, that that even makes sense (Dean’s answer)

My wife kicked me to the curb

Lester (poor old innocent Lester, who did nothing but sold his soul to kill his cheating wife, but forgot to tell Sam he actually cheated on her first) is saying that his wife dismissed him, discarded him or treated him like garbage.

You were trying to get a 20 on Crowley

(Dean to Sam): get a 20 on someone means try to find out where they are, identify their position. Dean is reminding Sam of certain bad things he did himself, when he was looking for Dean. So, Dean asks, who is the monster? But Sam is like that. Loyal, for better or worse; stubborn; and ready to do what he thinks is to be done, even when he doesn’t like it. And Dean has never been too willing to admit how much he owes to his brother, even when he was a man and not a “demon”.

Funny that Dean should talk about the line between “them” (i.e., he and Sam) and the “things they hunted”, when he’s alway been much more ruthless than Sam, and never hesitated to kill and torture to arrive to a “monster” if he felt he had to.

And funny he should blame Sam (and we know he does, it’s not just the demon in him talking) for having had to watch over him and protect him (easily forgetting all the times his brother saved his life), when Dean is the one who couldn’t let Sam alone, who couldn’t be alone, and all but forced Sam to go with him in the first place.

But of course, the demon has taken away all that’s tender, and lovable, and caring in him. And only Sam can bring those parts back…

Snag

Catch or obtain

Borrowed grace does have a puny shelf life

(Crowley to his demon assistant): puny means small, weak, poor in quality, quantity or size. This is a wonderfully funny scene in an otherwise highly dramatic episode, even upsetting, at times.

Most importantly, I can debauch by your side without being a personal embarrassment

Debauch means get corrupted, indulge in sex, alcohol and carnal pleasures in general. The poor young demon who’s trying to get in good with Crowley hasn’t realized how much the King of Hell misses Dean, how he’s actually got attached to Dean (something I certainly wouldn’t have expected at first, although it had become more obvious in the previous season), much more than Dean to him, for the moment at least.

So I’m just gonna go pick him up a big old bag of crap food and stuff it in his face myself

(Sam to Castiel, referring to Dean): I’m going to find some junk food for him and fill him up with it. Throughout this episode, Sam has been acting as if he was Dean’s mother, or, at least, his older brother. After all that happened, he’s so happy Dean is “back”, himself again, and hungry again, that it’s really moving. His gentle irony shows it better than anything else.

I’m beat

(Sam to Castiel): Castiel has just reminded him that although Dean is no longer a demon, he still has the Mark of Cain, which means he’s still dangerous. Sam’s answer (rather understandably, I’d say) means: I can’t handle anything more right now, I’m exhausted, just as if I had been hit over and over again, I’m worn out.

Episode 5 – Paper Moon (Luna di carta)

Durham, Washington

(Soundtrack: Werewolves of London, Warren Zevon)

Sam and Dean have taken some time off because Dean is still recovering. But when three kills occur in the same time in a week, Dean wants to investigate the case, even if Sam is still worried that things might go “sideways”. The clues point to Kate, an old acquaintance of Sam and Dean’s, who let her go once, when she promised to “go straight”, but…

A girl after my own heart

A play on words: “after my own heart” means someone that shares your tastes, likes and dislikes, opinions etc. The girl, though, is “after” Barker’s heart quite literally, she’s looking for it to take it away.

Chowing down Sons of Anarchy

Dean’s referring to an action crime TV series centered around an outlow motorcycle club, to indicate the fact that the werewolf supposedly involved in the killings seems to have a taste for bikers (chow down is informal for “eat”).

But you can’t take whatever’s happened to us, or to you and dump it at these girls’ feet

(Sam to Dean): make them pay for the bad things we (or you) have done. Another thing I like about Sam is that unlike Dean, he takes responsibility only for what he’s actually done, and for nothing else. Dean feels guilty about everything, and is not capable of either introspection or a true sense of responsibility about specific actions, he always thinks he did right, no matter what, and at the same time, he has a curious sense of being generally unworthy. And more often than not, he actually “projects” all this onto someone else. This is so true, that at one point, he will utterly demand of Sam that he sacrifice everything to clear the mess Dean himself has created and left behind.

A little R & R…

(Dean to Sam): Some rest and recreation

Mary-Kate and Ashley

Tasha (Kate’s sister) means, of course, Sam and Dean, by referring to two twin actresses and fashion designers

Really? You gonna Monday-morning quarterback this thing?

Are you judging, criticizing or giving an opinion on something after that happened? Are you analyzing ours/my mistakes only after we/i made them?

Episode 6 – Fan Fiction

The students of a school drama course are going to stage their own (or rather, Marie’s own) version of Supernatural, which is not exactly “canon”. When the drama teacher disappears, Sam and Dean go to investigate. When another girl that with the show goes missing too, Sam and Dean try to explain who they really are, but the girls in she show don’t believe them…

Other than the Charlie Kaufman of it all, I got nothing

(Sam to Dean): There’s nothing strange, apart from these creepy changes to already creepy books (something the famous American screenwriter and director also seems inclined to do)

It might be a full-on Gallagher show…

(Marie): Gallagher is a comedian, known for “messy” shows, in which members of the audience have even sometimes been injured.

Episode 7 – Ask Jeeves  (I fratelli in giallo)

New Canaan, Connecticut

Maybe the old goat has a chip on his shoulder

(Dash to Sam): the hold man holds a grudge, is angry at the other members of his family; just like “a bee in her bonnet” referred to the “old goat”‘s wife a few lines below.

Come on in, darling, the water’s warm

(Sam to Heddy): “The water’s fine” (or warm) is a general invitation to try something (also, literally, an invitation to join the speaker in the water, such as a swimming pool or the sea). Here, Sam is playing along with Beverly and Heddy, who are “wooing” him, but it’s just to get information about the murders.

Grey Gardens cleared

Sam’s talking about Beverly and Heddy, reference is to a documentary about two upper-class women (a mother and daughter in that case, relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) who lived together in an increasingly dilapidated house for about fifty years.

I’m serious, IZOD

(Dean to Dash): Dean’s just retorting because earlier, Dash suspected him and Sam of being evil because they “wear flannel”. IZOD is a manufacturer of “smart casual” clothing.

Episode 8 – Girls, Girls, Girls

Sam and Dean find out about a “brothel” kept by demons to obtain souls rather easily. This is the first time we meet the delightful witch Rowena (Ruth Connell), who will be a recurring, and extremely entertaining character in the show.

In the meantime, Castiel and Hannah are carrying on their mission of finding angels to bring them back to heaven. But Hannah is confronted by the husband of Caroline, the woman she is “possessing”, and while she seemed, at first, even more devoted to the mission than Castiel himself, and did not consider human feelings at all, now she’s filled with doubt.

Also, Cole is still on Dean’s track. When they meet, Dean tells him something that really worries Sam and makes him understand that although he seems better now, Dean is uncapable of forgiving himself. It looks more and more like the one protecting and watching over his brother is actually Sam now, rather than Dean, as it used to be.

Lazardo’s Porterhouse, USDA prime

A Porterhouse is a steak, an impressive one, a bit like the Italian Fiorentina (but even bigger, apparently), with a rather peculiar history you can find here (in Italian); USDA is the US Department of Agriculture; “prime” indicates the best quality beef (and other meats), according to the USDA classification. Essentially, Dean’s telling Sam they are in town just because of this first-rate steak (and not to investigate a case).

They get raunchier

(Dean to Sam): Sam is teasing Dean because he is on a dating app and receives messages from girls, one in particular, who seem even too “available”, in Sam’s words. Dean admits the messages are rather “earthy”: raunchy means vulgar, obscene, uninhibited, sexually explicit.

That’s pretty gnarly, even for a demon

Gnarly means extreme, distasteful, gross

I’m evil, but that’s just tacky

Crowley, speaking about the “bordello”, with which he didn’t want anything to do, because it’s such a bad taste, cheap thing, it lacks style (I love this “man”, too)

Workers’ comp and all that

You’re a newb

She’s got deep pockets

Cottage Grove, Minnesota

If I plan to do anything else stupid, I’ll let you know

After all that’s happened, Dean’s worries are understandable, and yet, Castiel is right, he might show a little gratitude. Castiel has killed Billie to save their life, and this might have cosmic consequences, but Sam and Dean have never acted as if cosmic consequences were such a big deal, so…

At the end of the day, it’s a mom and her kid

If someone knows what is really right, beyond all appearances, that’s Sam.