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Recap of Supernatural
Season 3, Episode 2:
The Kids Are Alright
Ruby: I'm interested in you.
Sam: Why?
Ruby: Because you're tall. I love a tall man, and then there's that whole Anti-Christ thing.
Written by Sera Gamble.
Directed by Phil Sgriccia.
Airdate: October 11, 2007.
Dean visits an old flame in Cicero, Indiana
, who has a kid he suspects might be his. While they're there, Dean and Sam discover that the neighborhood is being overrun by changelings.
Body count
For this episode = 1 human and 6 changelings.For the series so far = At least 211 humans, 15 ghosts, 6 changelings, 5 demons, 5 vampires, 2 shapeshifters, 2 werewolves, 1 djinn, 1 god, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 shtriga, 1 wendigo, and 1 zombie.
Tropes
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Apparently, one-night-stands with biker boys in leather jackets was Lisa's type.
- Bad Liar: Sam tries to cover up his conversation with Bobby about breaking Dean's deal by claiming to be ordering pizza...while sitting in a restaurant.
- Black Eyes of Evil:
- The blonde hunter's secret, which means that she is a demon, not a hunter.
- The changelings also have these when their reflection is seen.
- Blatant Lies: Sam tells Dean that he was on the phone ordering pizza—in a restaurant.
- Bloody Handprint: Subverted. The marks that Sam thought were blood are actually red dirt.
- Brain Bleach
- But Now I Must Go: Despite a grateful Lisa asking Dean to stay longer if he wants, Dean knows it's best if he just leaves, as Lisa and Ben don't want someone who'll be dead in a year.
- Cat Scare
- Changeling Tale: Played for horror. A child is switched with a changeling so that it can feed on the parent.
- Creepy Child: Subverted. Those aren't the real children.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Two of Lisa's friends drool over Dean this way.
- Everything Is Racist: Being suspicious of demons is apparently racist now, according to the blonde, who finds Sam's reaction to The Reveal offensive.
- Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Actually, Snide-But-Useful Stalker Demon, thank you very much. She says that she's different from other demons and wants to help Sam find out what Yellow Eyes wanted with him; if Sam lets her, she'll even tell him how to save Dean from Hell.
- Generation Xerox: Ben might not be Dean's biological son, but Dean has ever reason to suspect otherwise given the boy's Dean-like qualities and not just with his taste in music and love of cars. His bravery and leadership during the escape from the changeling implies that he'd make a great hunter. Averted thanks to Dean's actions later in the series.
- Groin Attack: Dean's advice to his probably-not-son on how to deal with bullies.
- Has a Type:
- For Lisa, it was rough-and-tumble biker types like Dean.
- The blonde snarks that she has a thing for tall men like Sam.
- KidAnova: Ben. It's one of the many traits that make Dean think he's his child.
- Heinousness Retcon: Upon being prompted to investigate them by Ruby, Sam discovers that Azazel had his mother's family, the Campbells, massacred to the point where he can't find any members who are still alive. Come season 6 and suddenly there are quite a lot of living Campbells, with them being able to pull together at least a dozen or so members, and at least two being specially stated to be the brothers' third cousins. At no point does either brother ask how they survived or even bring up the massacre.
- Kid Hero: Ben calmly assists with getting the children out.
- Kill It with Fire: This is how you kill a Changeling, which then vanishes completely. Killing the mother changeling immediatelly kills all the changeling children, too. Pretty acceptable, given that the alternative would be Sam and Dean hunting down and torching a dozen "children".
- Lamprey Mouth: All changelings have this, and it can sometimes appear in a mirrored surface.
- Leave No Witnesses: Sam discovers that the Yellow-Eyed Demon killed all of Mary Winchester's friends to cover something up.
- Luke, I Might Be Your Father: Dean is not Ben's father... probably.
- Mama Bear: Lisa does not want Dean around because he might be a bad influence on Ben. She furiously orders him away when he teaches Ben to hit other kids (albeit to fight back against a bully). Saving Ben also turns out to be the key to her heart. When Dean returns the real Ben to her, Lisa softens up considerably and invites him in for a beer.
- The Mirror Shows Your True Self: A changeling's true appearance appears in a mirror.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: The blonde demon handwaves Sam's knee-jerk wariness of her, telling him that not all demons are the same and some want different things. She does not explain yet why she is so different from them, though, or why she wants to help Sam.
- New Old Flame: Lisa is introduced as a girl Dean spent a week with years before the first episode. Sam's lack of knowledge of her is explained away as Dean having gone off a trip by himself while Sam stayed behind with John. In the episode, Dean wants to go back to Lisa to have a little reunion (read: sex) with her before his untimely demise.
- Nightmare Face: The changelings have one of the most nightmarish faces one will ever see on television or the movies, with black eyes and the lamprey mouth. Cue
Nightmare Fuel. - No Ontological Inertia: Killing the mother changeling kills her children.
- The Reveal: The blonde is a demon.
- Shout-Out: "Yeah. Generation of psychic kids, Yellow-Eyed Demon rounds you up, Celebrity Deathmatch ensues. You're the sole survivor."
- Stalker with a Crush: Sam tries to confront the blonde on why she's been following him. She deadpans "Because you're tall. And I love a tall man." Of course, it turns out to be a little more complicated than that.
- That Thing Is Not My Child!: Once Lisa sees the fake Ben's changeling reflection, she realizes it's not him and tries to get away from him.
- Trademark Favorite Food: The blonde likes French fries. A lot.Blonde Girl: [eats a French fry] These are amazing. It's like deep-fried crack. Try some.
- Troubled Child: The little girl at the beginning begs her mom not to make her spend the night with her father.He's mean! And there's monsters! Please don't make me go back there!
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Ben. He acts like a sixteen-year-old when he's eight, or rather, he acts like Dean would at sixteen. This is despite the fact that Dean had an extremely burdened and neglected childhood filled with trauma and Ben has been raised by a loving mother. The behavior is never remarked on as inappropriate or even that untypical.
- Would Hurt a Child: The mother changeling feeds on children.
