(CARNIVAL MIDWAY, MEDFORD, WISCONSIN) - There are big crowds, a fire-eater, rides, and many clowns. As their daughter is laughing at the clowns, a man tells his wife that clowns have always creeped him out, but she whispers, "She likes them." One clown, standing alone, waves to the girl, and she waves back, smiling, then points him out to her parents--but the clown is gone. "What are you trying to do, scare your father?" he mother asks, grinning. The child is puzzled, but on the way home, spots... read more (CARNIVAL MIDWAY, MEDFORD, WISCONSIN) - There are big crowds, a fire-eater, rides, and many clowns. As their daughter is laughing at the clowns, a man tells his wife that clowns have always creeped him out, but she whispers, "She likes them." One clown, standing alone, waves to the girl, and she waves back, smiling, then points him out to her parents--but the clown is gone. "What are you trying to do, scare your father?" he mother asks, grinning. The child is puzzled, but on the way home, spots the same clown on the side of the road. Mom, asleep, wakes up. "You missed him," the daughter says, disappointed. At home, unable to sleep, the girl rises from bed, looks out her window and sees the same clown standing on the lawn. She runs downstairs, waves to him, he waves back, and unlocks the door to let him in the house. She takes his hand and leads him inside. read less

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Dean and Sam watch over the burning funeral pyre of John Winchester, Sam crying, Dean stoic. "Did he say anything to you. . .anything?" asks Sam. "No," lies Dean, "nothin'." (BOBBY'S) - Dean lies under the Impala, working to put her back together. "Road to Jambayla" plays on the radio. Sam offers to help. "You under a hood--I'll pass," says Dean. Sam asks if he needs anything else. "Stop it, Sam," says Dean, "I'm OK, I promise." Sam's concerned that Dean hasn't talked about Dad since they got to... read more Dean and Sam watch over the burning funeral pyre of John Winchester, Sam crying, Dean stoic. "Did he say anything to you. . .anything?" asks Sam. "No," lies Dean, "nothin'." (BOBBY'S) - Dean lies under the Impala, working to put her back together. "Road to Jambayla" plays on the radio. Sam offers to help. "You under a hood--I'll pass," says Dean. Sam asks if he needs anything else. "Stop it, Sam," says Dean, "I'm OK, I promise." Sam's concerned that Dean hasn't talked about Dad since they got to Bobby's a week ago. "You're right," says Dean, "C'mere, I want to lay my head gently on your shoulder--maybe we can cry, hug, maybe even slow dance." "Don't patronize me!" orders Sam, "Dad is dead, the Colt is gone and it seems pretty damn likely the demon is behind all this and you're acting like nothing happened--say something--say anything!--hell, don't you want revenge?--all you do all day is sit out here, buried under this damn car!" Dean points out that revenge sounds good, but they have no idea where the demon is or how to make heads or tails of Dad's research--when they do finally find it. . .oh, the Colt's gone, but they'll find another way to kill it--we got nothin', so the only thing I can do is work on the car. Sam found one of their father's old phones and cracked the voicemail code. There's a message from a woman named Ellen who urges John not to be stubborn--"You know I can help you, call me." The message is four months old, and there's no mention of her in Dad's journal, but Sam ran a trace and got an address. Dean suggests they check it out. Dean, humiliated driving a "soccer mom's" van, arrives at Harvelle's Roadhouse. They call out, "Anybody here?" Receiving no response, they lock-pick their way in. The sounds of bugs being killed by a zapper is the first thing they hear, and they find a man sleeping all twisted up on the pool table. Sam guesses that isn't Ellen. Sam goes to check the back. Dean finds himself with a gun pressed into his back. "Oh, God, please let that be a rifle," he says. "No, I'm just real happy to see you," says a pretty blond, "don't move." "Copy that," says Dean, "you should know something, miss--when you point a rifle at someone, you don't want to put it right against their back--it makes it real easy to do. . ." He turns and grabs the rifle from her hands. ". . .that." She punches him in the face and takes back the rifle; Dean calls, "SAM! Need some help in here," cradling his nose. Sam enters, a woman holding a gun on him. Hearing their names, the woman realizes they're the Winchester boys. "Son-of-a-bitch," she says, "hey, I'm Ellen--my daughter, Jo." Dean gets an ice pack for his face. "You called our Dad, said you could help," he says, "with what?" The demon, of course, she says, I heard he was closing in on it. Was there an article in the DEMON HUNTER'S QUARTERLY that I missed?--who are you, how do you know about all this?" asks Dean. "I just run a saloon," explains Ellen, "but hunters have been known to pass through, now and again, including your dad, a long time ago--John was like family once." Dean wonders why John never mentioned them before. "You'd have to ask him that," says Ellen. "So why do we need your help?" asks Dean. "Don't do me any favors," she says, "if you don't want my help, fine, don't let the door smack you in the ass on the way out--but John wouldn't have sent you if. . ." She realizes John didn't send them, and gulps when she sees them exchange sad glances with each other. "He's all right, isn't he?" she asks. "No, he isn't," says Sam as Dean covers up with the ice-filled rag, "it was the demon, we think, just got him before he got it, I guess." Ellen and Jo look at each other a moment. "I'm so sorry," says Ellen. "It's OK," says Dean quickly, proudly, "we're all right." "Really," says Ellen, "I know how close you and your dad were." "Really, lady, I'm fine," says Dean, closing in on belligerent. If you can help, says Sam, we can use all the help we can get. We can't, says Ellen, but Ash will--ASH! The guy sleeping on the pool table wakes up. "Closing time?" he asks. "That's Ash?" asks Sam, unimpressed. "He's a genius," Jo assures him. He's no genius, insists Dean, he's a Lynard Skynard roadie! Ash likes Dean. "Give him a chance," urges Jo, collecting glasses from the bar. Dean hands over a year's work of John's work--"See what you make of it." "This crap ain't real," says Ash, "ain't no one can track a demon like this." "Our dad could," says Sam. Ash is impressed with the signs and omens--if you can track these, you can track this demon--crop failures, electrical storms--ever been struck by lightning--it ain't fun? Ash can do this, but he needs 51 hours. Dean tells Ash he digs his haircut (a mullet). Ash proudly flips it. "All business in front, party in the back," he says, and walks into his office. That gives Dean time to focus on Jo's pretty, sashaying butt. Sam notices a folder Ellen's got behind the bar. It's a case she was going to give to a friend of hers, she explains, but she hands it over to Sam. Dean asks Jo how her mother got into this stuff. Through my father, she says--he passed away. I'm sorry, he says. It was a long time ago, says Jo, I was just a kid. Sorry to hear about your Dad, she says. Scratching his head, Dean says he has 51 hours to waste, and gazes at her speculatively--"Maybe tonight we should. . .you know what, never mind--wrong place, wrong time." She figured he was trying to hit her with some cheap pickup line; "Most hunters who come through that door think they can get into my pants "with pizza, a six pack and side one of Zeppelin 4." "What a bunch of scumbags," says Dean. Not you, she says. I guess not, he says, looking down, probably acknowledging, to himself, at least, that was exactly how he planned to bed Jo. Sam calls his brother over to show him the "killer clown" case, and while Dean thinks it's ridiculous, they go. On the way, they go over the info--kid is left unharmed, parents murdered, family went to the Cooper carnival that day. The girl said she saw the clown vanish into thin air. Dean teases Sam, "I know what you're thinkin'--why did it have to be clowns? You didn't think I remembered, did you? You still bust out cryin' whenever you see Ronald McDonald on the television." "At least I'm not afraid of flying," says Sam. "Planes crash!" says Dean. "And apparently, clowns kill," counters Sam. They note that there were similar murders in 1981, the Bunker Brothers Circus, three different times, three different locales--cursed object, perhaps, that the carnival is carrying around with it? Dean asks why Sam jumped on this case, since he's hell-bent-for-leather on searching for the demon who killed Mom and Jess. Sam feels taking this job is what Dad would have wanted them to do. Dean has no response to that, at least not one he care to voice. (CARNIVAL) - A boy, Evan, more interested in working a hand-held video game, follows his father through a scary fun house. Various creepy things pop up. Dad says, "At your age, this would have scared the pants offa me." Evan isn't interested, but when he sees a clown waving at him, he's afraid. "Don't be afraid of clowns," says Dad, "they're your friends." That night, Evan awakens Daddy: "You were right!--He is my friend!" His son is holding a clown's hand. Dad sits up in bed with a cry of horror. The clown grins. read less

Sam and Dean pull up to the carnival Midway. A female midget clown stares up at Sam. "Did you get her number?" asks Dean after she walks off. Dean reports two more murders, parents ripped to shreds the previous night; they had been at the carnival and the killer was a clown. Sam says looking for a cursed object is like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles. They'll just have to scan everything with EMF, says Dean. Inconpicuous, says Sam sarcastically. Noting a help wanted sign, Dean sugg... read more Sam and Dean pull up to the carnival Midway. A female midget clown stares up at Sam. "Did you get her number?" asks Dean after she walks off. Dean reports two more murders, parents ripped to shreds the previous night; they had been at the carnival and the killer was a clown. Sam says looking for a cursed object is like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles. They'll just have to scan everything with EMF, says Dean. Inconpicuous, says Sam sarcastically. Noting a help wanted sign, Dean suggests they blend in. They ask a blind man slinging knives into a bullseye if he's seen Mr. Cooper. "Is that a joke?" the man asks, taking off his sunglasses to reveal sightless eyes--"You think I wouldn't give my eyeteeth to see Mr. Cooper, or a sunset, or anything at all?" "A little help here?" asks an embarrassed Dean. "Not really," says Sam, grinning. A midget enters, offering "Barry" help. "This guy hates blind people," says Barry, incensing the midget. Dean insists he doesn't, calling this "A little misunderstanding," which further pisses the midget off. Sam laughs. "Can someone tell me where Mr. Cooper is--please?" asks Dean, desperately. The brothers sit down to be interviewed, Dean forcing his brother into a clown chair. Mr. Cooper tells them they've picked a bad time to join them, with the murders being attributed to their carnival. They try to lie their way through the interview, claiming to have done a little bit of everything on the carney circuit, but Dean fesses up that they are inexperienced but need the work--and Sam has a thing for the bearded lady. (Nasty look from Sam.) Cooper shows them a photo of his daddy, ("You look just like him," says Sam), who ran a freak show, until they were outlawed in most places, forcing the deformed into hospital and asylums--this place is a refuge for outcasts and always has been--folks that don't fit in nowhere else--but you two, find girls, have 2.5 kids--live regular! Sam leans forward and assures him, firmly, that they don't want regular--"We want this." Outside, Dean quizzes him--was he just saying that to Cooper, or did he mean it?--I thought once the demon was dead and the fat lady sang, you'd head back to Wussy State? Sam admits he's having second thoughts--"Dad would have wanted me to stick with the job." Given that Sam always did what Dad DIDN'T want, Dean finds this hard to believe, and he's angry--when did this change? "Since he died," says Sam, "You have a problem with that?" "No, I don't have a problem at all," says Dean sarcastically, and walks away. We see scenes of people having fun at the carnival on rides, walking with stuffed animals they won, etc. Sam, wearing a red Cooper Carnival jacket, picks up garbage and has his EMF meter tucked inside. He enters the Fun House and holds the meter up to all the creatures popping up--a bit scary, but nothing on the meter. He calls Dean, who, laughing, says, "Whatsamatter, you sound like you just saw a clown." No, Sam just saw a real human skeleton in the Fun House and wonders what if the spirit is attached to its own remains--check it out. Barry, the blind guy, grabs Dean's arm. "What are you doing here?" he demands. "Sweepin," answers Dean innocently. "Bull," says Barry, "what were you talkin' about--skeletons?--what's EMF?" Dean notes his hearing is out of control. We're a tight-knit group, we don't like outsiders, says Barry, and take care of our own problems. "We got a problem?" asks Dean. "You tell me, you're the one talkin' about human bones," says Barry. read less