Recap / Supernatural S01 E16 "Shadow"

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Recap of Supernatural
Season 1, Episode 16:

Shadow

These things are shadow demons, so let’s light 'em up!

Sam: I mean, what are you gonna do when it's all over?

Dean: It's never gonna be over. There's gonna be others. There's always gonna be somethin' to hunt.

Sam: But there's gotta be something that you want for yourself...

Dean: Yeah, I don't want you to leave the second this thing's over, Sam.

Written by Eric Kripke.

Directed by Kim Manners.

Airdate: February 28, 2006.

Meg lures Sam and Dean to Chicago, Illinois, in an attempt to capture their father.

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The brothers investigate a series of mysterious deaths in Chicago, Illinois, where all the victims are from their home town Lawrence, Kansas. While investigating, Sam runs into Meg, whom he met when he decided to strike out on his own because he was tired of following his father's orders. Sam thinks this is too great a coincidence, but Dean's research reveals that Meg Masters does appear to be the woman from Andover, Massachusetts, she claims to be. His research also uncovers that the murders are committed by shadow spirits called daevas. Sam trails Meg and discovers that she is responsible for summoning the daevas. When they confront her, it's revealed that the whole thing was a trap to lure out their father John. Sam and Dean manage to turn the daevas against Meg. When they return to their motel room, they find John waiting for them. The daevas attack again and the Winchesters barely escape. Dean realizes that them staying with John puts them all in greater danger, since John drops his guard around his sons, so John leaves on his own.

Body count:

For this episode = 1 human.

For the series so far = At least 132 humans; 9 ghosts; 1 god; 1 rawhead; 1 shapeshifter; 1 wendigo.

Tropes:

• Accidental Pervert: Sam, when his surveillance outside of Meg's apartment includes watching her in a black bra.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Sam gets four deep gouges in his left cheek from the daeva and Dean gets slashes in the middle of his forehead, just missing his eye. Next episode, no scars.
• Big Bad: Meg, the one controlling the daevas to lure in Sam and Dean and set a trap for John.
• Bound and Gagged: Sam and Dean play the role of distressed dudes, complete with bloody wounds.
• The Bus Came Back: Meg and John.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Meg Masters.
  Sam: You killed those two people for nothing.
  Meg: Baby, I've killed a lot more for a lot less.
• Catchphrase:
  • Dean says "awesome" to the bartender.
  • We find out where Dean got his other catch phrase when John Winchester calls the demon he is hunting a scary "son of a bitch".
• The Casanova: Dean.
  • With Amy, the police officer:
    Sam: So, you talked to the cops?
    Dean: Uh, yeah. [smirks] I spoke to Amy, a, uh, charming, perky officer of the law.
    Sam: Yeah? What'd you find out?
    Dean: [dreamily] Well, she's a Sagittarius. She loves tequila, I mean—wow. Oh, and she's got this little tattoo—
    Sam: Dean!
  • With the bartender:
    Dean: I talked to the bartender.
    Sam: Did you get anything? Besides her number?
    Dean: Dude, I'm a professional. I'm offended that you would think that. [Sam gives him a knowing look] All right, yeah. [chuckles and holds up a napkin with her number on it]
  • But not with Meg, which may be the first clue that she is not what she seems.
    Sam: I think there's somethin' strange going on here, Dean.
    Dean: Yeah, tell me about it. She wasn't even that into me.
• Continuity Nod: Meg Masters talks to her "father" using a goblet of blood, as we saw her do after killing the truck driver in "Scarecrow" (S01, E11).
• Conveniently Placed Sharp Thing: Both Dean and Sam have hidden knives they use to cut through their ropes.
• Dark Is Evil: We only see the daevas as shadows.
• Destination Defenestration: Meg by the daevas.
• Electromagnetic Ghosts: Or demons in this case.
  • Meredith's iPod stops working when the daevas approach her.
  • Dean's EMF meter beeps repeatedly at the apartment of the first victim.
• Face-Revealing Turn: Subverted when the figure in the motel room turns out to be their father instead of another villain.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Meg takes advantage of Sam while he is tied up.
• Feigning Intelligence: Dean tries.
  Sam: How'd you figure that out?
  Dean: Gimme some credit, man. You don't have the corner on paper chasin' around here.
  Sam: Oh yeah? Name the last book you read.
  Dean: [pause] Yeah, I called Dad's friend Caleb, he told me, all right?
• 555: The phone number Meg gives Sam is 312-555-0143.
• Foe Romance Subtext: Meg is the first of many bad girls Sam will have a "thing" for.
• Get a Room!: Dean mutters this when Meg tries to seduce a bound Sam and Sam pretends to go along.
• Guns Are Worthless: Lampshaded by Meg.
  Meg: You know, that shotgun's not gonna do much good.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Meg gets thrown out of the window by the daevas she had been controlling. Subverted in that she lives through the fall.
• Hot as Hell: Meg Masters.
  Meg: Come on, Sam. There's no need to be nasty. [leans in to whisper in his ear] I think we both know how you really feel about me. You know, I saw you watching me—changing in my apartment. Turned you on, didn't it?
  Dean: Get a room, you two.
  Meg: I didn't mind. I liked that you were watching me. Come on, Sammy. You and I can still have a little dirty fun.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Dean just wants his family to stay together.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Sam, on the other hand...
  Sam: What if this whole thing was over tonight? Man, I'd sleep for a month. Go back to school, just...be a person again.
• Insult Backfire: In Sam's defense, he still does not know Meg is a demon.
  Sam: Go to hell.
  Meg: Baby, I'm already there.
• Killed Off for Real: John Winchester's plans for the demon.
  John: It knows I'm close. It knows I'm gonna kill it. Not just exorcise it or send it back to Hell—actually kill it.
• Kryptonite Factor:
  • For the Winchesters, it is family.
  • For Meg, it is the beings she tried to control.
  • For the daevas, it is light.
• Layout of a Season: The 16th episode of any season is usually pretty dramatic, and often a season game-changer. This one has Meg being revealed as a villain and the brothers finally reuniting with John, albeit briefly.
• Locked Room Mystery: Meredith's death.
• Lured into a Trap: The Winchesters.
• Man Hug: John hugs his sons.
• Not Quite Dead: The Winchesters should have double-checked to make sure Meg was truly dead before going back to the motel.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Meg and the Winchester brothers, or so she says.
  Meg: I'm doing this for the same reasons you do what you do—loyalty. Love. Like the love you had for Mommy—and Jess.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Meg's incantations at the altar.
• Red Herring: The victims being from Lawrence, Kansas. Invoked by Meg to get the boys on the case.
• Running Gag: Sam being called "pervert".
• Shadow Discretion Shot: Used for when anyone is attacked by a daeva. Justified in that beyond censorship, the daevas can only be seen as shadows.
• Shout-Out:
  • Sam was in a production of Our Town in high school.
  • Dean congratulates Meg for capturing them and says "it's Miller time".
• So Much for Stealth:
  Meg: Guys. Hiding is a little bit childish, don't you think?
  Dean: [to Sam] Well, that didn't work out like I'd planned.
• Speak in Unison: Sam and Dean do this twice:
  • When Sam gets back to the motel after trailing Meg:
    Dean and Sam: Dude, I gotta talk to you.
  • And when their Dad asks if Meg was the bad guy:
    Dean and Sam: Yes, sir.
• Smug Snake: Meg is very much one.
• Terms of Endangerment: Meg calls Sam "baby" while she's got him tied up and in peril.
• There Are No Coincidences: Sam's take on Meg showing up in the bar:
  Sam: You don't think that's a little weird?
  Dean: I don't know, random coincidence. It happens.
  Sam: Yeah, it happens, but not to us. Look, I could be wrong, I'm just sayin' that there’s something about this girl that I can't quite put my finger on.
• Wham Episode: A lot of what the show has been building up to comes to fruition in this episode. Sam and Dean find their father but he has to leave for their own safety. The thing that killed their mother and Jess is revealed to be a demon and John is looking for a way to kill it. Lastly, Meg is revealed to be alive despite falling out of a seven-foot story window and being seemingly killed.
• You Need to Get Laid: Dean to Sam.
  Dean: Now, why don't you go give that girl a private strip-o-gram?
  Sam: Bite me.
  Dean: No, bite her. Don't leave teeth marks, though—[Sam hangs up] Sam?
• Zoroastrianism:
  • Daevas were false or rejected gods.
  • The symbol of a Z with a central circle does not appear to be an ancient sigil for daevas, but a newly-created symbol by restored Zoroastrians who accept converts.