By: John Shiban & Patrick Sean Smith
**Spoilers**
If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.
I'm never going to be able to watch The Wizard of Oz with the dancing scarecrow the same way again now. Whenever I'm convincing someone to watch Supernatural, I always tell them to hold out until they reach this episode. Why? Because this is where Meg Masters is introduced and this is where the plot begins to take off and this is also the point where the quality of the show just started to climb up, up, up...
Another interesting thing about this episode is that Sam and Dean split up and stay separated for almost the entire story. Sam doesn't come in until the very end (when he cavalierly steals a car to run to his brother's rescue) and spends most of his time moping about bus terminals with a new blond friend named Meg Masters.
Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:
- The opener to this episode is classic horror: a young, married couple running through a dark apple orchard while some unseen foe chases after them with lots of discordant music and shaky cam. And, of course, blood-curdling screams.
- How come my hair never looks that perfect in the mornings?!
- Sam and Dean are woken up by a very cryptic phone call from John Winchester, presumably calling to make sure that his boys are okay after the asylum job.
- "How old were you when Mom died, Dean? Four? Jess died four MONTHS ago...how can you possibly know how I feel?" Ouch. Hitting below the belt there, Sammy. I guess after several months on the road together with little sleep and lots of bruises, internalizing their issues and dealing with possessions and ghosts the brothers were bound to boil over and get into a fight sooner or later. I just never expected Dean to literally leave Sam on the side of the road because of it. Is Sam going to hitch-hike? I'm pretty sure even for an armed, 6'4 Sasquatch that isn't exactly safe in this day and age.
- The town where Dean went was called Burkitsville, Indiana. Blair Witch, anyone? I got that and I haven't even seen that flick.
- I was suspicious of the townspeople right from the get-go. They were just acting too secretive and Homes & Gardens. Seriously...in all these years of sacrifices, hasn't anyone ever taken an Acting Normally 101 course?
- "You scared the HELL out of me!" Ha. Haha. HAHAHAHA! Somehow the irony of Meg saying that to Sam just struck me...
- I was getting some pretty strong Children of the Corn vibes from this episode. Children of the Corn crossed over with The Wizard of Oz. Maybe it's the way that scarecrow was strung up amidst evil apple trees...
- That scarecrow was ugly as sin. It got even worse whenever Dean inspected it and found the tattooed arm of the young husband from the pre-credits sequence who died horribly. I'm confused...does the scarecrow eat its victims, or just use their bodies to patch up its own. Is he some kind of 'If I Only Had A Brain' Frankenstein-wanna-be or something?
- Sort of reminds me of the Patchwork People from The Doctor's Wife, actually.
- Whenever Dean climbed up and got right in its face, I kept waiting for it to suddenly come to life and grab him. But it never did. And somehow that only made things worse. (It doesn't help that the wind was blowing it ever so slightly so that you could never be sure whether it was really frozen in place or just pretending.)
- And the girl-of-the-week this episode is named Emily. I approve of that...
- She's also apparently the only innocent person in the entire town.
- Sam runs into Meg again at the bus station after she ditched him along the side of the road. If two chance meetings like that haven't set your internal alarms off by this point, you need glasses.
- There's also probably symbolic about him starting to call Dean but then immediately stop whenever he runs into Meg.
- When Meg says she 'cut the guy loose' that she was riding with, she meant literally. Presumably whatever conversation she got from his blood involved her father telling her to get her butt in gear and get back to Sam Winchester.
- I love the fact that Dean seemed more upset about being run out of town and potentially ruining his Baby than he did about, well, being run out of town. He's just way too comfortable with the shady side of hunting.
- One question, though, that has been bothering me for some time now...why do the townspeople feed the sacrifices pie and insist they take an extra serving with them. Does that fatten them up for the god? Does it mark them as his next victims? Do they just really not like apples in that town?
- I have to say that all of the running and screaming in the apple orchard still scares me. Unlike last episode where the asylum had great atmosphere but threatened to become stale, this week is just full of action and movement and darkness and a creepy, CREEPY scarecrow that makes The Family's army from Doctor Who look like the Care Bears!
- "I love my parents and they wanted what was best for me...they just didn't care if I wanted it." And that just summed up many of the teenage and young adult minds world over. The only problem? It was Meg who said it...
- I should have known that Emily and Dean would end up being the ones used as substitutes for the couple Dean saved. "I don't understand. They're going to kill us?" "Sacrifice us. Which is, I don't know, classier, I guess?"
- The entire last act is just one big, long waiting game and then a chase scene after Sam rides to the rescue.
- Naughty, naughty, Sammy. Big brother and daddy taught you well!
- It was poetic justice that Emily's awful aunt and uncle were ultimately the ones to get killed by the scarecrow god. It also felt good to see Emily burn down its tree...ending the thing once and for all. I think this was the only god on SPN not to be killed by some sort of staking or decapitation.
This was a great episode and definitely the tipping point where the show really started to take off and turn into something great. The mystery and build-up was interesting, dark, scary, and a little bit twisted. The brothers were actually split up this episode, giving the two stars a bit of a break as well as heightening the tension of the episode. And then you have Meg. Strange, bizarre, stalking, murdering Meg. That creepy Bowl o' Blood phone service she used at the end made me jump a bit. Though, the song that was playing at the moment really should have tipped me off that all wasn't right. I thought she was going to pay the guy with sex...not slitting his throat. I'm still trying to decide which idea, given the circumstances, is grosser. Scarecrow had solid writing, solid characters (including one named Emily), and set up important plot elements for later in the season. 5/5.
What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?
I'm never going to be able to watch The Wizard of Oz with the dancing scarecrow the same way again now. Whenever I'm convincing someone to watch Supernatural, I always tell them to hold out until they reach this episode. Why? Because this is where Meg Masters is introduced and this is where the plot begins to take off and this is also the point where the quality of the show just started to climb up, up, up...
Another interesting thing about this episode is that Sam and Dean split up and stay separated for almost the entire story. Sam doesn't come in until the very end (when he cavalierly steals a car to run to his brother's rescue) and spends most of his time moping about bus terminals with a new blond friend named Meg Masters.
Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:
- The opener to this episode is classic horror: a young, married couple running through a dark apple orchard while some unseen foe chases after them with lots of discordant music and shaky cam. And, of course, blood-curdling screams.
- How come my hair never looks that perfect in the mornings?!- Sam and Dean are woken up by a very cryptic phone call from John Winchester, presumably calling to make sure that his boys are okay after the asylum job.
- "How old were you when Mom died, Dean? Four? Jess died four MONTHS ago...how can you possibly know how I feel?" Ouch. Hitting below the belt there, Sammy. I guess after several months on the road together with little sleep and lots of bruises, internalizing their issues and dealing with possessions and ghosts the brothers were bound to boil over and get into a fight sooner or later. I just never expected Dean to literally leave Sam on the side of the road because of it. Is Sam going to hitch-hike? I'm pretty sure even for an armed, 6'4 Sasquatch that isn't exactly safe in this day and age.
- The town where Dean went was called Burkitsville, Indiana. Blair Witch, anyone? I got that and I haven't even seen that flick.
- I was suspicious of the townspeople right from the get-go. They were just acting too secretive and Homes & Gardens. Seriously...in all these years of sacrifices, hasn't anyone ever taken an Acting Normally 101 course?
- "You scared the HELL out of me!" Ha. Haha. HAHAHAHA! Somehow the irony of Meg saying that to Sam just struck me...
- That scarecrow was ugly as sin. It got even worse whenever Dean inspected it and found the tattooed arm of the young husband from the pre-credits sequence who died horribly. I'm confused...does the scarecrow eat its victims, or just use their bodies to patch up its own. Is he some kind of 'If I Only Had A Brain' Frankenstein-wanna-be or something?
- Sort of reminds me of the Patchwork People from The Doctor's Wife, actually.
- Whenever Dean climbed up and got right in its face, I kept waiting for it to suddenly come to life and grab him. But it never did. And somehow that only made things worse. (It doesn't help that the wind was blowing it ever so slightly so that you could never be sure whether it was really frozen in place or just pretending.)
- And the girl-of-the-week this episode is named Emily. I approve of that...
- She's also apparently the only innocent person in the entire town.
- Sam runs into Meg again at the bus station after she ditched him along the side of the road. If two chance meetings like that haven't set your internal alarms off by this point, you need glasses.- There's also probably symbolic about him starting to call Dean but then immediately stop whenever he runs into Meg.
- When Meg says she 'cut the guy loose' that she was riding with, she meant literally. Presumably whatever conversation she got from his blood involved her father telling her to get her butt in gear and get back to Sam Winchester.
- I love the fact that Dean seemed more upset about being run out of town and potentially ruining his Baby than he did about, well, being run out of town. He's just way too comfortable with the shady side of hunting.
- One question, though, that has been bothering me for some time now...why do the townspeople feed the sacrifices pie and insist they take an extra serving with them. Does that fatten them up for the god? Does it mark them as his next victims? Do they just really not like apples in that town?
- I have to say that all of the running and screaming in the apple orchard still scares me. Unlike last episode where the asylum had great atmosphere but threatened to become stale, this week is just full of action and movement and darkness and a creepy, CREEPY scarecrow that makes The Family's army from Doctor Who look like the Care Bears!
- "I love my parents and they wanted what was best for me...they just didn't care if I wanted it." And that just summed up many of the teenage and young adult minds world over. The only problem? It was Meg who said it...
- I should have known that Emily and Dean would end up being the ones used as substitutes for the couple Dean saved. "I don't understand. They're going to kill us?" "Sacrifice us. Which is, I don't know, classier, I guess?"
- The entire last act is just one big, long waiting game and then a chase scene after Sam rides to the rescue.
- Naughty, naughty, Sammy. Big brother and daddy taught you well!
- It was poetic justice that Emily's awful aunt and uncle were ultimately the ones to get killed by the scarecrow god. It also felt good to see Emily burn down its tree...ending the thing once and for all. I think this was the only god on SPN not to be killed by some sort of staking or decapitation.
This was a great episode and definitely the tipping point where the show really started to take off and turn into something great. The mystery and build-up was interesting, dark, scary, and a little bit twisted. The brothers were actually split up this episode, giving the two stars a bit of a break as well as heightening the tension of the episode. And then you have Meg. Strange, bizarre, stalking, murdering Meg. That creepy Bowl o' Blood phone service she used at the end made me jump a bit. Though, the song that was playing at the moment really should have tipped me off that all wasn't right. I thought she was going to pay the guy with sex...not slitting his throat. I'm still trying to decide which idea, given the circumstances, is grosser. Scarecrow had solid writing, solid characters (including one named Emily), and set up important plot elements for later in the season. 5/5.
What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?
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