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3.02 – The Kids Are Alright

Details

3.02 – The Kids Are Alright

DETAILS

Writers: Sera Gamble
Director: Philip Sgriccia
First aired: First Aired: Thursday October 11, 2007

Dean (Jensen Ackles) pressures Sam (Jared Padalecki) into visiting Cicero, Indiana, so he can visit an old flame named Lisa (guest star Cindy Sampson), he had a tryst nine years ago. However, Dean is stunned when he meets not only Lisa again, but also her 8-year old son Ben (guest star Nicholas Elias), who bears a striking resemblance to him.

However, Ben soon goes missing and Sam and Dean discover that a Changeling, a demonic parasite, is snatching kids from the small town and assuming their form. Meanwhile, Ruby (Katie Cassidy) makes contact with Sam and reveals some startling information about his mom.

Phil Sgriccia directed the episode written by Sera Gamble.

 

Recap/Review

RECAP/REVIEW

Recap by smallville-29

“The Kids Are All Alright”

Intro “Then” featuring clips from All Hell Break Loose pt2, and The Magnificent Seven. “Now” We start out with a early 30’s mom walking outside, a few seconds later her daughter shows up. Apparently the parents have split and the daughter wanted to come home to her moms because there are “monsters” at her dads house. Dad drives away mad, We see something went behind the mom and daughter before they go inside.

At Dads house he is working in his garage at 1:00am and when he goes to leave his saw turns on. (there is no safety cover on it) He walks over looks at it and turns it off, Before he gets out of the garage the saw turns on again, this time something comes out from behind his car and pushes him on the saw, Dads dead.

“Supernatural Opening Title”

Sam is talking to Bobby about a way to save Dean, Dean walks in and Sam hangs up.. Then Sam lies to Dean about who/what he was talking about. Dean wants to go to Cicero Indian. Hands Sam the newspaper, headline “Man dead in Tragic Home Accident” Sam doesn’t think threes anything “Supernatural” about it, Dean tells him that nearby a yoga teacher “Lisa Braden” lives near there, and they had a fling 9years ago. Dean says It’s his “Dying wish” Sam replies “How many dying wishes do you get?” Dean answers with “As many as i can squeeze out”

We cut to the “Cicero Pines Motel” Sign. Dean drops Sam off and heads to go find Lisa. Dean goes to her house and knocks on her door, She answers and is very surprised to see Dean. She tries to hint that shes busy, But Dean invites himself in. We learn that threes a party going on for Ben her 8 year old son.. Who is very excited he just got a ACDC CD for his birthday. A few of Lisa’s friend, and real estate agent are talking about the story Lisa told them about the “crazy semi-illegal” nights Dean and Lisa had.

Dean goes to hang out with Ben who is happy because it’s “like hot chick city out there” Dean is really starting to wonder if Ben’s his kid, He trips over a few things and runs to go ask Lisa.

Lisa and the Mom(from the beginning of the episode) are talking in the kitchen the mom tells Lisa that her daughter Katie might not be Katie, Lisa offers help but the mom doesn’t want it and leaves, Dean comes and and tells Lisa that he meet Ben. He hints his age to Lisa trying to figure out if Ben is his, She says no. Dean sees the mother leave with Katie and he notices them cause they look disturbed.

Sam is eating at the hotel when the blond from the premier (Ruby) sits down and says “Hello Sam.”

Commercial #1

Ruby starts to eat Sam’s food, Sam ask about the knife she has, She wont tell him were she got it. He asks why shes following him… And shes says “the whole anti-Christ thing, you know generation of sickic kids” he ask “how do you know” and she tells him “I’m a good hunter”

She starts talking about Mary and all her friends, She realizes that Sam doesn’t know much and she tells him to look into his moms pals and then they will talk again, She hands him a cell phone.

Dean calls Sam and tells him that threes a job in this town, a bunch of people have died in a weird manor.

Mom wakes up and sees her daughter Katie, Mom is starting to freak out when in the mirror she sees Katie as a burnt person.

Sam is investigating the freak accidents as a Insurance agent. He notices that the victims daughter looks a little freaky, and that the mom has a burn on the back of her neck. Sam leaves.

We cut back over to Katie and her mother is having neck pains, She goes to the bathroom to look at it and Katie almost breaks the door down cause she wants to see her mom, The mother is freaked, Saved by the bell.. The real estate lady shows up asking if they want to sell there house, they say no and she leaves a gift basket.

Dean is at the park and he sees Ben, they sit down together and start to talk, Dean ask if everything is OK, the kid shrugs and says that he lent his game to a friend and that the friend is a bully. Ben walks over and ask for the game back, Dean gives him the thumbs up. The bully’s challenge Ben to take the game back and Ben then kicks the lead bully in the nuts and takes his game back, Dean laughs. Lisa shows up mad as heck at Ben for kicking the kid, She then realizes that Dean had him kick the bully. She grabs Ben and leaves, Ben runs back and hugs Dean.

Dean notices that there are kids at the park that are acting weird, We cut over to Katie and her mom. Katie wants ice cream so they get in the car, Katie’s mom sees a burnt little girl in the mirror (Katie) and decides she can’t take it any longer she jumps out of the car and lets it roll into the lake with Katie in it, Mother starts crying on shore.

The mother gets home and walks into her kitchen and she sees dripping she looks up and Katie is sitting there all wet, She says “Hi mommy, can i have ice cream now?”

Commercial #2

Sam is working on his laptop when Dean walks in saying threes something wrong with the kids, Sam agrees. He says there “changelings” what they do is feed on the moms, they take the form of the real kids, and kill the dads so it’s just them and the moms, they also hide the real kids underground and fire kills them. Dean wants to check on Ben so they go over to Lisa’s house… Dean wants them to get out of town and he gives them a credit card… Deans name isn’t on the card so they wont go. Dean realizes that Ben has been taken. and a changeling is in his place, Dean realizes that in the scenes of the crime there wasn’t blood that had been left but red dirt, They go to a house that is being made, threes red dirt outside. The house is being sold by the real estate lady from early on.

They look around. Dean finds the kids in a cage down stairs up stairs the real estate lady finds Sam, Sam looks in the mirror and she looks burnt, shes a changeling.

Commercial #3

She yells at Sam to leave, Sam pulls the torch out and shoots it at her, She appears to be gone.

The fake Ben is about to eat his mom, Dean is trying to get all the kids out, Ben takes the lead and starts to lead them out of a window Dean broke. Sam tells them that the real estate lady is a changeling, She comes down stairs and one of the kids scream. Fake Ben along with other kids from the street are trapping Lisa along with all the other moms…. Dean and Sam are getting there butts kicked by the changeling, Deans hits her in the face with a brick and Sam gets the torch, BURN BABY BURN.

All the changeling kids disappear after the real estate lady gets torched.

Commercial #4

Sam and Dean bring Ben back to Lisa she thanks them and then Lisa and Dean go inside, Dean tells her everything that happened. Shes kinda freaked but happy, Dean ask if shes sure that Ben isn’t his and she said she had DNA tested and it’s not Deans. Dean is really actually Sad, He says that he wont be here forever and he wants to leave something behind that’s more then a car, she tells him that if is wasn’t for him Ben would be dead and that is something he will be leaving behind, Saved people. She tells him he could stay and for while, But Dean says he has things to do. They say goodbye and Dean leaves.

Sam is back at the hotel and is looking into his moms friends he finds out that they all died, Sam and Ruby are talking “there all dead” he says, he starts to ask who she is.. “JUST TELL ME WHO YOU ARE” he yells, she says “OK” and blinks, HER EYES ARE BLACK, shes a DEMON. Sam runs for holy water and she says “don’t be raciest” and he ask what she wants, and she says she wants to “help, and she can if he trust her” Sam ask “what happened to my mother”, “that’s what I’m trying to figure out” she replies.

She says “she wants to help him from time to time, and if you let me threes something in it for you” Sam says “What could you possibly..”
“I could help you save your brother” she replies.

END OF SHOW.

In what totally carried over every inch of momentum from last weeks season premiere “The Kids Are Alright” hit the stride perfectly combining the Scary/Humor level and is arguably the best episode to date.

Review by Gaelic

3.02: Kids are Alright

Holy. Crap. So much to say about one episode. I’m going to forget most of what I thought because this is a stream of consciousness review written after one viewing, so suffice it to say that I thought it fantastic and I have VERY high hopes for this season.

First, this season is a helluva lot more visceral with the killings and the deaths. When the dude went back to the saw a 2nd time in the opener I thought “somewhere Kripke is rubbing his hands and cackling: and you guys thought the dude with his fist in the garbage disposal was bad… you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

The writers and producers and the Krip himself have said that they are making a mini horror movie each week, and with the exception of a few epis in Season 1 that had me reaching for a pillow, this is literally the first one that full-on scared me. The only thing that saved me from sleeping with the light on tonight was the rather unfortunate choice for music during the climatic fight/defeating the changlings scene. That was minorly ridiculous. But… kinda welcome, too, because then I could actually watch without my fingers over my eyes.

Kids are creepy. No, wait. Slow moving, steady-eyed, expressionless kids that say “Mommy” way too often are creepy. Add jagged teeth to gaping maws and eyeless sockets in a mirror reflect and my skin was crawling. My friend stared balefully as I shredded her pillow. Almost. The SawBlade Widow with the shiver-inducing brunette daughter just broke my heart with how scared she was… and when she let the car roll into the resevoir (which — nice choice, because there is a resevoir in Cicero… I’ve been on it) all I could think was “It can’t be that easy…”

When she came home, bent and broken and weeping, I was chewing on my lip… waiting for it… and I wasn’t disappointed. Having that girl sitting there, calmly asking for ice cream, resevoir water dripping from her was scarier than all that had gone before. Nice F/X in this one, really–changling girl feeding off of mom was as gasp-worthy as the twisted face of the loving wife as she walked out of the room in Crossroad Blues.

So, bravo on the plot, the baddie, and the extra’s. The show is starting to feel, to me, like it’s really taking on a stride. We have the new delimma of Dean’s one-year and how that’s hitting him in various and sundry ways, Sam’s deserperate search not only for a way to save Dean but for information about himself, and Ruby… but I’ll get to that in a sec.

Sam: I am growing increasingly fascinated by Sam this season, and I never saw that coming. He’s actually starting to turn into a person for me — which may sound cruel, but prior to this his only appeal had been (for me) in how he related to Dean. Now, starting with this search to save his brother from “burning forever in Hell” coupled with getting to the truth about the teaser of his life the YED showed him is giving his character a depth that has me leaning toward the TV rather than relaxing back into the couch when he’s onscreen.

How hilarious was his lame “ordering a pizza” cover when Dean nearly busted him talking to Bobby about a demon code translator thingy? The dialog was tripped over perfectly. The way he is attacking this search is so ontrack with the character we’ve come to know — pouring over books, taking copious notes, exhaustive searches of the Internet. College boy at his finest. And his intrigue with Ruby (who had some Dean-worthy one-liners, man… french fries are like deep fried crack? HA! Nice!) and her knife and her purpose… I had teased myself with spoilers a bit, but not much about Ruby (who, by the way, hasn’t actually SAID her name to Sam — and has Dean even SEEN her?? He knew she saved Sam, presumably because Sam told him since he was busy drowning Lust in the bathtub, but he hasn’t seen her yet, right?) so when she told Sam to check into his mom’s friends, my own personal Spidey Sense started to tingle.

Sam’s search for information about his mom’s friends was impressive — that boy sure can lie — and his encounter with Ruby in the motel while Dean was taking care of business had me leaning forward once more. Gotta say, though, I did NOT see the black eyes coming. I thought that if anything she wasn’t exactly human. Full-on demon? Holy. Crap. And now I’m intrigued. But I’ll get to that in a sec. Sam’s pretty darn lucky that she IS on his side because it took him half of forever to pull that industrial-sized flask from his duffel (that thing was massive… where did he get that, Sam’s Club? HA! Sam’s Club. I crack myself up.). And, after another Dean-worthy crack about Sam being racist, she said the one thing that gave him pause. She can help him save his brother. *raises eyebrow*

Dean: I am the last person to say anything bad about this character. He’s my hero, plain and simple. I just have one hope: that they ease off on the “dying wish” dialog. I don’t know why that bothered me except that it slid smoothly into the moment right after Sam hid his search for an “out” of the deal that wouldn’t end up with both of them dead. Okay, that aside, Dean made me laugh, made me cheer, and broke my heart tonight. How incredibly adorable was he at the birthday party, trying to figure out which way to go as the Desperate Housewives chewed him up with their eyes, observing Ben and when you saw him do the math in his head that it was Ben’s 8th birthday and he practically slid down the stairs I guffawed.

The way he moves his eyes — taking in things that you don’t even realize he’s noticing until it’s revealed (like the red dirt at the only house on the block that wasn’t completely built) — is fantastic. His quick grin and the moments of pause he allowed himself this episode alternately warmed me and chilled me. I liked Lisa — she was pretty and looked normal. I liked that she remembered him in one second — even 8 years later (oh, and speaking of that… quick reveal at the beginning when we found out that Sam and John had hunted together… alone… without Dean… I gotta say I was pleasantly surprised to hear that…). A guy like Dean would be hard to forget.

I like how quickly he took to Ben — but after Lucas and Michael (and obviously Sam) we knew he would. I had a quick chuckle when Lisa grabbed his arm and hauled him off the bench to read him the riot act for teaching her boy to fight. Sorta. (Aside: “You are in big trouble Dean Winchester! Now, take your clothes off and go to my room! I am going to teach you a lesson.”) But when Ben ran back to hug him… guh. Heart in throat. I love how he picked Ben up when he was getting the kids out of the cages and how Ben worked to get the kids out while he and Sam were getting their assess handed to them. And that was some pretty hefty fighting. Ouch! Sam stepping smoothly in front of Dean with the blow torch to snuff the realtor lady was nicely played.

But the moment that did it for me was the look of disappointment on his face when Lisa confirmed that Ben wasn’t his. Not that he could have stayed (as he kept asserting, “It’s not my life…”) but when he said that he would have been proud to be Ben’s Dad… they’re trying to kill us. I just wanted to hug him… that quick grin he gave her as he left was one of the saddest things I’d seen in awhile. We know he would be a great dad. He already raised one kid, right? And I think this is taking us one step closer to reality crashing down on Dean’s shoulders. The things that he can’t have — has never been able to have. The life he could have led but didn’t and now will never get a chance to. The crash is coming… maybe not until mid-season, but they are building toward it and until then, we get to enjoy that boy eat up ever scene he’s in.

Ruby: So… demon, huh? Interesting. She obviously has her own agenda. I mean, it’s not new — perceived baddie doing good. Angel and Spike anyone? But… demons don’t have souls, so… there has to be something in it for her. And she knew exactly how to play Sam. And she’s going to drag this “I can help you save your brother” out as long as she can… and now, I’m very intrigued. I already thought I’d like Bela because she supposed to be a mercenary, not a hunter, but prior to the last 5 mins of this episode, I wasn’t too intrigued with Ruby. I’ve changed my mind.

General: So here’s what I wonder… how long will Sam keep the big secrets from Dean? Big secrets like “I have demon blood in me, mom recognized the demon over my crib, all mom’s friends and relatives are dead, oh, and I’m working with a demon to save you from a demon…” Not only that, how long is Dean going to be distracted by his last wishes before he notices that something is up with Sam? And does Sam still have powers? He thinks he doesn’t, and I was with him until something Ruby insinuated made me wonder if it was more than just YED influence. Also, this stuff Sam’s finding out about how “it’s all about him”… Dean needs to know that, too! Talk about shaking him to his core…

Okay, I know I missed stuff, but that’s stream of consciousness for you.

 

Guest Stars

GUEST STARS

Recurring Role:Katie Cassidy (Ruby)

 Guest Star:
Margot Berner (Katie)

Nicholas Elia (Ben Braeden)

Cindy Sampson (Lisa Braeden)

Alberto Ghisi (Humphrey)

Kathleen Munroe (Diana)

Megan Bowes (Neighbor Girl)

Desiree Zurowski (Annette)

Todd ThomsonDaniel Brodsky (Neighbor Boy)

Michelle Grigor (Neighbor Girl)

Mitchell DuffieldSusie Wickstead (Realtor)

Stacy Fair

Gallery

IMAGE GALLERY

Episode Stills

Episode Screen Captures

 

Videos

TRAILER/CLIPS

Promo

Music

MUSIC

If It Ain’t Easy by Steve Carlson [Instrumental]

Moment of the episode: Played when Dean abandons Sam at the hotel, and also while he’s driving to Lisa’s.

 40,000 Miles by Goodnight City.

Quotes

QUOTES

Dean: (points to large kid with Ben’s game) Is that Humphrey? The one that needs to lay off the burgers?

Ben: (about the moon-bounce) You know who else thinks they’re awesome? Chicks! It’s like hot-chick city out there!

Dean: What? Someone had to teach him to kick a bully in the nads.

Sam: How many dying wishes are you going to get?
Dean: As many as I can squeeze out.

Sam: Why are you following me?
Ruby: I’m interested in you.
Sam: Why?
Ruby: Because you’re tall. I love a tall man!

Dean: Y’know how I never mentioned my job? This is my job.
Lisa: I so didn’t want to know that.

Sam: So let me get this straight. You want to drive all the way to Cicero just to hook up with some random chick?
Dean: She was a yoga teacher. That was the bendiest weekend of my life!

Sam: (trying to cover up his phone call) Oh, I was just ordering pizza.
Dean: Dude, you do realize that you’re in a restaurant?
Sam: Yeah! Oh, yeah, yeah… (lamely) I just felt like pizza, y’know?
Dean: Okay… Weirdy McWeirderton.

Sam: You’re a demon!
Ruby: Don’t be such a racist.

Dean: Come on, smile, Sam. God knows I’m going to be smiling after 24 hours with Gumby girl. (chuckles) Gumby Girl… does that make me Pokey?

Dean: Hey. So, I, uh, met Ben. Cool kid.
Lisa: Yeah.
Dean: You know, I couldn’t help but notice that, uh, he’s turning 8. You and me… you know.
Lisa: You’re not trying to ask me if he’s yours?
Dean: No. No, of course not. He’s not, is he?
Lisa: What? No.
Dean: Right.

Lisa: Ben may not be your kid, but he wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for you. That’s a lot, if you ask me.
Dean: You know, just for the record, you got a great kid. I would have been proud to be his dad.

Dean: We’ll just drag the kids, lay them out, torch them in the front lawn. That’ll play great with the neighbors.

Ben: No, don’t go over there. Only bitches send a grown-up.
Dean: You’re not wrong.
Ben: And I’m not a bitch.

Ruby: (eating a french fry) Ummm, these are amazing. It’s like deep fried crack. Try some.

Sam: Why would you possibly want to help me?
Ruby: I have my reasons. Not all demons are the same, Sam. Not all of us want the same thing. Me? I wanna help you from time to time. That’s all… If you let me, there’s something in it for you.
Sam: What could you possibly…
Ruby: I could help you save your brother.

Trivia

TRIVIA

  • The man in the newspaper article Dean shows Sam looks nothing like the man who was actually killed.
  • Ben’s full name is Benjamin Isaac Braeden.
  • When Dean is entering the development, where the children are at, the sign says “Sold Out” but when Sam and Dean go to the house where the children are being held in cages the sign in front of the house says “For Sale.”
  • Katie’s mom is reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.
  • Injoke: When Sam is trying to find out about Mary’s friends, he asks about a Robert Kamble who died on the 19th of July 2001. July 19th is Jared Padalecki’s birthday.

 

ALLUSIONS

  • Ruby: Generation of psychic kids, you know, yellow-eyed demon rounds you up, Celebrity Deathmatch ensues…
    Celebrity Deathmatch is a wrestling parody on MTV that pits Claymation celebrity figures against one another. The show is known for its exaggerated violence and gore, with contestants suffering grotesque injuries, and the loser almost always meeting a very gruesome death.
  • Ruby: Ding-dong the demon’s dead.
    This is referencing to the 1939 childrens classic The Wizard Of Oz. Where in the end, everybody sings “Ding-dong the witch is dead.”
  • Dean: Come on, smile, Sam. God knows I’m going to be smiling after 24 hours with Gumby girl. (chuckles) Gumby Girl… does that make me Pokey?
    Refers to the Clay-mation animated characters of the show Gumby, which first premiered on the Howdy Doody Show in 1956 and aired on NBC beginning in 1957. It had a total of 233 episodes over a 35 year period, as well as a 1995 feature-length movie adaptation.
  • Ruby: Doesn’t change the fact that you’re special, in that Anthony Michael Hall ESP vision kind of way.
    Referring to the USA Network TV show, The Dead Zone, starring Anthony Michael Hall as a man who can see the future by touching someone. Based on the novel by Stephen King.
  • Title
    Referencing the Peter Townsend song that was featured on The Who’s album My Generation (1965). It was later used as the basis for a rockumentary film about the band in 1979.
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Episode Schedule

Thu, Oct 10 15.01 - Back and to the Future - Season Premiere
Thu, Oc 17 15.02 - Raising Hell
Thu, Oct 24 15.03 - The Rupture
Thu, Nov 7 15.04 - Atomic Monsters
Thu, Nov 14 15.05 - Proverbs 17:3
Thu, Nov 21 15.06 - Golden Time
Thu, Dec 05 15.07 - Last Call
Thu, Dec 12 15.08 - Our Father, Who Aren’t In Heaven
Thu, Jan 16 2020 15.09 - The Trap
Thu, Jan 23 2020 15.10 - The Heroes' Journey
Thu, Jan 30 2020 15.11 - The Gamblers
Mon, March 16 2020 15.12 - Galaxy Brain
Mon, March 23 2020 15.13 - Destiny's Child
Thu, Oct 08 2020 15.14 - Last Holiday
Thu, Oct 15 2020 15.15 - Gimme Shelter
Thu, Oct 22 2020 15.16 - Drag Me Away (From You)
Thu, Oct 29 2020 15.17 - Unity
Thu, Nov 05 2020 15.18 - Despair
Thu, Nov 12 2020 15.19 - Inherit the Earth
Thu, Nov 19 2020 15.20 - Carry On - Series Finale

* This Schedule might change as new info come.

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