Recap of Supernatural
Season 1, Episode 22:
Devil's Trap
You shoot me in the heart, son!
The storm's coming, and you boys, your Daddy—you are smack in the middle of it.
—Bobby Singer
Written by Eric Kripke.
Directed by Kim Manners.
Airdate: May 4, 2006.
Sam and Dean seek out the help of an old friend, Bobby Singer, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
, where the demon Meg manages to find them.
To get some help after their father is abducted, Sam and Dean visit Bobby Singer, an old family friend who runs Singer Salvage Yard and a low-rent "mission control" for hunters in the field. Meg tracks them down, but in coming after the brothers she gets caught in Bobby's "devil's trap", a pentacle within a circle with a series of symbols, all of which work together to trap certain supernatural creatures. Once Meg is captured, they realize that Meg Masters is actually an innocent young woman who has been possessed by a demon from Hell. The brothers and Bobby exorcise the demon from Meg, but without the demon's power she succumbs to the injuries she received falling seven stories in Chicago. She is able to give them John's location before she dies.
The brothers travel to Jefferson City, Missouri, to rescue their father and retreat to a cabin to regroup, but it turns out that the Yellow-Eyed Demon is now using John as a meatsuit. As he tortures Dean, John temporarily manages to regain control and begs Sam to use the Colt, killing him and the Yellow-Eyed Demon at the same time, but Sam can't bring himself to do it and shoots John in the leg instead. The demon flees, and the brothers are taking John to the hospital when the Impala is run off the road by a trucker possessed by one of the Yellow-Eyed Demon's servants.
Body count:
For this episode = 2 humans and one demon.For Season 1 = At least 142 humans; 11 ghosts; 3 vampires; 1 demon; 1 god; 1 rawhead; 1 shapeshifter; 1 shtriga; 1 wendigo.
Tropes appearing in this episode:
- All in the Eyes: Yellow Eyes gets this treatment throughout the torture scene.
- Almost Dead Guy: Meg Masters.
- And I Must Scream: Meg Masters was partly conscious while possessed. She can inform Dean where his father is.
- Badass Bookworm: Bobby Singer, who has stacks of books throughout his home.
- Berserk Button: Meg hits two of Dean's: his dead mother and his captured father.Meg: Jeez. You kiss your mother with that mouth? Oh, wait, I forgot, you don't.Dean: [yelling] You think this is a frigging game? Where is he?! What did you do to him?Meg: He died screaming. I killed him myself.
- Big Badass Rig: The semi.
- Big Brother Instinct: Dean shooting the demon who was beating Sam.
- Black Eyes of Evil:
- Meg's eyes flash before the demon is exorcised.
- The eyes of the demons in the apartment flash.
- The fireman, the man in the crowd, and Tom, all have their eyes flash as they attack the Winchesters.
- The driver of the semi.
- Blessed with Suck: The Yellow-Eyed Demon confirms that the reasons for Mary and Jessica's deaths was that they interfered with his plans for Sam.
- Blood from the Mouth: Meg and Dean.
- Boom, Headshot!: Dean shoots the demon Tom with the Colt.
- Cliffhanger: The season ends with our heroes unconscious and covered in blood.
- Consummate Liar: Meg insists that John is dead.Meg: You just won't take "dead" for an answer, will you?
- Daddy's Little Villain: The demon that was possessing Meg Masters.
- Death Seeker: John and Sam.Sam: We want to kill this demon. You used to want that, too. Hell, I mean, you're the one who came and got me at school! [Dean scoffs] You're the one who dragged me back into this, Dean. I'm just trying to finish it!Dean: Well, you and Dad are a lot more alike than I thought, you know that? You both can't wait to sacrifice yourself for this thing. But you know what? I'm gonna be the one to bury you. You're selfish, you know that? You don't care about anything but revenge.
- Demonic Possession: Bobby says that by the summer of 2006 there'd already been 27 demonic possessions, while he usually only hears about maybe three or four a year.
- Diabolus ex Machina: The semi driven by a demon.
- Diegetic Switch: "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival is playing on the radio of the Impala before the crash, and continues as the camera pulls away.
- Dies Wide Open: Meg Masters after the demon inside her is exorcised.
- Disappeared Dad: John is captured by the demons.
- Downer Ending: The episode ends with the Impala being t-boned by a semi, rendering John and Sam unconscious and exacerbating Dean's injuries. (It could have been worse; this was to have been the ending for the series if it hadn't been picked up for another season.)
- Down in the Dumps: Bobby lives at Singer Salvage Yard.
- Dying as Yourself: Meg Masters.
- Electromagnetic Ghosts: The EMF meter starts to squeal outside the apartment with the demons.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:Yellow-Eyed Demon: What? You're the only one that can have a family? You destroyed my children. How would you feel if I killed your family? [he smiles at Dean] Oh, that's right. I forgot. I did. Still, two wrongs don’t make a right.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Rumsfeld starts barking when Meg arrives.
- Evil Gloating/"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Lampshaded by Dean.Dean: Listen, you mind just getting this over with, huh? 'Cause I really can't stand the monologuing.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Once the Yellow-Eyed Demon is revealed, the voice becomes lower than John's normal voice.
- Geometric Magic: The protective circles or devil's trap.Bobby: Hell, yeah. You get a demon in—they're trapped. Powerless. It's like a Satanic Roach Motel.
- Hollywood Exorcism: Lampshaded by Dean.Dean: Oh we're going for it, baby—head spinning, projectile vomiting, the whole nine yards.
- I Lied: Dean sends the demon back to Hell, even after she gives them John's location.Meg: You son of a bitch, you promised.Dean: I lied!
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: The brothers fighting their possessed father.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Dean hits Meg across the face.
- Kick the Dog: It is implied that Meg kills Bobby's dog when Bobby looks out the window and sees only the broken dog chain.
- Kill Us Both: John asks Sam to shoot him while the demon is still inside him. He refuses.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: Dean.Dean: Killing that guy, killing Meg. I didn't hesitate, I didn't even flinch. For you or Dad, the things I'm willing to do, or kill, it's just, uh...it scares me sometimes.
- Magical Incantation: Sam chanting in Latin, which sends the demon back to hell.
- Meat Puppet: The actual Meg Masters.
- Mercy Kill:Dean: And we're gonna put her out of her misery. Sam, finish it.
- Mind over Matter: The Yellow-Eyed Demon slams the brothers against the wall and takes the Colt. He then starts tearing Dean apart using telekinesis.
- Monster Lord: The Yellow-Eyed Demon is not vulnerable to holy water in the same way as his Evil Minions.
- Motion Blur: The movements of Meg's body right before the demon is exorcised.
- Oh, Crap!:Bobby: I'll tell you something else, too. This is some serious crap you boys stepped in.
- One Bullet Left: Of the 13 bullets made by Samuel Colt, 5 are left in the case when Elkins opens it. One of these is used to kill Luther in "Dead Man's Blood" (S01, E20), and another is used in "Salvation" (S01, E21) when Sam shoots at the Yellow-Eyed Demon in the nursery. One is used in this episode to kill the demon Tom, when he is beating Sam, and the penultimate bullet is used to shoot a possessed John in the leg.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Sam shoots his father in the leg.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Dean knows his father would not be proud of him, and would instead be angry he had wasted a bullet.
- Overlord Jr.: Tom, the demon.
- Parents in Distress: John.
- Possession Burnout:Bobby: You said she fell from a building. That girl's body is broken. The only thing keeping her alive is that demon inside. You exorcise it—that girl is going to die.
- Quick Nip: Bobby, who shares with Dean.Dean: What is this—holy water?Bobby: That one is. [holds out the other flask] This is whiskey.
- Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: The final scene was designed for this if the show wasn't picked up for another season, to give closure the only way possible.
- Sadistic Choice:
- The choice between letting the demon continue to possess Meg or killing Meg by exorcising the demon.
- "You kill me, you kill Daddy."
- Shock and Awe: The lightning visual effect when the Colt is fired.
- Shout-Out: Bobby's dog is named Rumsfeld.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival plays cheerily over the final scene.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: John's eyes flash and turn yellow after the brothers realize he's possessed.
- Super Smoke:
- The demon after it is exorcised from Meg Masters.
- The Yellow-Eyed Demon after John is shot in the leg by the Colt.
- They Were Holding You Back:Yellow-Eyed Demon: You want to know why? Because they got in the way.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!Dean: Where’s our father, bitch?
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: Key of Solomon.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Meg.Meg: That's kind of a turn-on—you hitting a girl.
- Torture Always Works: Meg reveals John's location.
- Unlikely Hero: Hello, Bobby Singer. A working-class junk dealer who lives in a salvage yard and wears a trucker's hat is also a world-class hunter and expert in ancient lore.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Bobby and John.Dean: Bobby, thanks. Thanks for everything. To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure we should come.Bobby: Nonsense, your Daddy needs help.Dean: Well, yeah, but last time we saw you, I mean, you did threaten to blast him full of buckshot. Cocked the shotgun and everything.Bobby: Yeah, well, what can I say? John just has that effect on people.
- Weaksauce Weakness: A line of salt keeps the demons in the closet.
- Worst Aid: They do get a point for calling 911, but...
- They move Meg, who fell 7 stories, without stabilizing her neck.
- They then give her water to drink despite the fact that she likely has internal injuries.
- No attempt is made to resuscitate her. They don't even check a pulse.
- Would Hit a Girl: Initially appears Justified as Dean thinks Meg is solely a demon. Turns out to be a Subverted Trope: after Bobby informs Dean that there is an innocent girl trapped with the demon in the body, Dean no longer strikes her.
