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2.07 – The Usual Suspects

Details

2.07 – The Usual Suspects

DETAILS

Writers: Cathryn Humphris
Director: Mike Rohl
First aired: Thursday November 9, 2006.

Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) investigate the murders of a lawyer and his wife who claimed to have seen a ghost right before they died. However, after local detectives Ballard (guest star Linda Blair) and Sheridan (guest star Jason Gedrick) uncover the Winchesters’ records, they arrest the brothers for a double homicide before they are able to find the ghost.

When the ghost begins to visit Ballard, she begins to wonder if the tale Sam and Dean are telling her could be true, and if she might be the next to die.

Cathryn Humphris wrote the episode directed by Mike Rohl.

 

Recap

RECAP

Baltimore, Maryland

At a police station, Detective Peter Sheridan goes over a suspect with multiple aliases. As he goes in to talk to a prisoner, SWAT agents lead by Sheridan’s partner Diana Ballard close in on a hotel room. Sheridan talks to his suspect about his torture and murder of a woman in St. Louis, and warns him the woman who died in St. Louis wasn’t the only one. It turns out he’s talking to Dean, while Ballard arrests Sam in the hotel room.

Sam wants to know why Ballard is holding them and she notes that Sam disappeared for a while and reviews his background. She notes that Dean apparently faked his own death in St. Louis and they’re digging up his background and exhuming his corpse in St. Louis. She notes they caught Dean at the scene of another mother woman’s murder in Baltimore, Karen Giles. Sam finally talks about how another dead man, lawyer Tony Giles, was a friend of John’s and they came to investigate when they heard about how he died.

Dean and Sam figure out that the killer left no traces at the murder scene and visit his wife Sarah, posing as insurance investigators. She says that Tony had a vision of a woman standing at his bed. Ballard points out they were spotted at the crime scene and supposedly asked them to get something from the office. The brothers break into the office to check out the murder scene and find that he typed the name Dana Shulps repeatedly and Sam spots the name outlined in his breath on the desk. They turn up nothing on the name and Sam (slowly) breaks into Giles’ computer. Dean gets bored and goes back to Karen’s place to check up on her. Ballard points out that Dean left him to commit the murder and they got a 911 call of Karen saying someone was in the house. It turns out Karen saw the woman at her window and then her printer started printing out the name Dana Shulps. The mysterious woman confronts her while Dean arrives at the house. He comes in and finds Karen dead with her throat cut and the printer with Dana Shulps name on it. Two policemen arrive and find him over Karen’s body and they take him into custody.

Ballard meets back up with her partner Sheridan and notes that the two brothers’ stories match, and all they have is circumstantial evidence without a confession. It turns out Sheridan was a friend of Tony Giles and the two partners are having a secret romantic relationship. Separately, both Dean and Sam try to work out what “Dana Shulps” might mean, while Dean’s public defender Jeff Krause arrives. With his help Dean figures out that it spells out a street name, Ashland, near the station. He tells Krause to get hold of Sam while Ballard’s computer starts typing out the words “Dana Shulps.”

Krause starts to meet with Sam but Ballard sends him back to Dean, who has decided to confess. Krause advises him not to but Dean makes a statement and “confesses” that a vengeful spirit is responsible for the deaths and he’s not involved. He talks about what they know about Ashland but Sheridan is disgusted and accuses him of the murders and claims a shapeshifter murdered the girl in St. Louis. Sheridan has Dean taken away and then they go back to discover Sam has escaped.

Ballard goes to the rest room where all the faucets turn on by themselves and the words “Dana Shulps” form in the mist on the mirror. The ghost appears, its throat cut, and advances on Ballard before disappearing.

Ballard wants answers from Dean about the ghost and he talks about how they’re created by a violent death. He notices a bruise on her wrist, the same that he saw on Karen’s corpse. Dean sends her to the place where Sam is holding out and Ballard tells him what she saw. Sam shows her some photos he came up with and one of is the ghost woman, Claire Becker, who disappeared 8-9 months ago. She was arrested twice before her death for selling heroin and Sheridan and Ballard worked in vice. Ballard doesn’t remember her and Sam says they should go to check out her place and to salt her bones and put her spirit to rest.

At the apartment, Sam and Ballard check out the place but Becker’s ghost appears and advances on Ballard reaching for a window. Sam arrives and Becker disappears, and they check out the window which has “Ashland Sup” written on it–the full anagram of “Dana Shulpa.” Sam scans the place and finds her corpse, with bruised wrists and a cut throat. Ballard recognizes a necklace on the corpse as a custom-made piece of jewelry that she also has: Pete gave it to her.

Sam realizes that Becker was trying to warn the victims, and Pete was the one who killed the Giles couple. Ballard talks about how some heroin went missing a year ago but they never figured out who did it, but they need a fence like Becker.

Sheridan is extraditing Dean back to St. Louis himself while Ballard and Sam figure out what’s up and go to intercept him. Sheridan pulls off on a deserted road and hauls Dean out of the van, then prepares to kill him why “trying to escape.” Ballard and Sam arrive and Ballard tells Sheridan it’s over. Sheridan confesses that he killed Becker when she wanted more money, Tony was laundering the money, and Karen knew about it from her husband. Sheridan appeals to Ballard’s love for him and she appears to consider, then shoots him in the leg. He still manages to attack her and grab the gun, but Becker appears and distracts him long enough for Ballard to shoot and kill Sheridan.

Come dawn, Sam assures Ballard that Becker is now at rest and she says she can get the Baltimore charges dismissed. She can’t do anything about the St. Louis charges but agrees to let them conveniently escape and they go to get the car, why wondering why Ballard looks so familiar…

 

Guest Stars

GUEST STARS

Linda Blair (Det. Diana Ballard)
Jason Gedrick (Det. Peter Sheridan)
Shannon Powell (Claire Becker)
Andy Stahl (Jeff Krause)
Diana Dutra (Policewoman)
Keegan Connor Tracy (Karen Giles)

Videos

TRAILER/CLIPS

Trailer

Music

MUSIC

No music in this episode.

Quotes

QUOTES

Ballard: How did you get those? Those are from crime scenes and booking photos.
Sam: You have your job, I have mine.

Dean: Pee break? So soon? I think you might wanna get your prostate checked.

Sam: Wow, I’d say we’ve officially crossed over into weird.

Ballard: Unless… I just happened to turn my back, you walked away, I could tell them the suspects escaped.
Sam: Wait, are you sure?
Dean: Yes, she’s sure, Sam

Sam: You know, I think this is bothering me.
Ballard: Well, you are digging up a corpse.
Sam: No, not that. See, it’s pretty par for the course, actually.

Ballard: Sam, you seem like a good kid. It’s not your fault Dean’s your brother. We can’t pick our family.

Krause: I’m with the public defenders office. I’m your lawyer.
Dean: Oh, thank God. I’m saved.

Dean: What do you think, Scully, want to check it out?
Sam: I’m not Scully, you’re Scully.
Dean: No, I’m Mulder. You’re a red-headed woman.

Krause: Do you understand how serious these charges are?
Dean: I’m handcuffed to a table. Yeah, I get it. Humor me

Sheridan: Talk directly into the camera, start by stating your name for the record.
Dean: My name is Dean Winchester. I’m an Aquarius, I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women.

Sheridan: We can pin the whole thing on him. No trial, nothing, just one more dead scum bag.
Dean: Hey!

Sam: Anthony Gyles’ body was found right about here. (reads) “Throat slit so deep, part of his spinal cord was visible.”
Dean: (whistles) What do you think? Vengeful spirit, underline “vengeful”?

Sam: I needed some time off. To deal. So, I’m taking a road trip with my brother.
Ballard: How’s that going for you?
Sam: Great. I mean, we saw the second largest ball of twine in the continental U.S. Awesome.

Trivia

TRIVIA

  • When the detectives interrogate Sam and Dean, there is no lawyer present.
  • When Sam and Ballard are in the motel room, just before they are about to leave Sam is seen putting his arm into his jacket then having his jacket in his hand again.
  • When Sam and Ballard are in the place on Ashland Street, they move a shelf and they see ‘Ashland Sup’ on a window, and then follow it to where we see it shadowed on a wall. However, the wrong parts are shadowed. If the letters are solid, like they appear on the window, everything else around it would be lighted, not the letters, like they appear on the wall.
  • When Sam brings Dean coffee, Sam sits down and takes a sip of the drink. In the next scene the cup is no longer at his mouth but on the table.
  • When the female cop is reading Sam his file, Sam leans against the wall and crosses his arms, but in the next scene, he crosses his arms again.
  • Linda Blair is credited as Special Guest Star.

 

ALLUSIONS

  • Dean: No, I’m Mulder. You’re a red-headed woman.
    Dana Scully and Fox Mulder were the two main characters in the cult hit TV show, The X-Files. They were FBI agents who investigated the paranormal and the unexplained.
  • Dean: Time-Life: Mysteries of the Unknown. Look it up.
    Referencing the popular series of books released by Time-Life chronicling all manner of supernatural and unexplained phenomena, including scientific and psuedo-scientific theories.
  • Dean: I’m not joking, Ponch.
    Referring to the TV show CHiPS, which ran from 1977 to 1983, and followed two motorcycle officers. One of the main characters was Frank “Ponch” Poncherello.
  • Dean: Go to the first motel listed in the yellow pages. Look for Jim Rockford, that’s how we find each other when we’re separated.
    Referencing the TV series The Rockford Files, starring James Garner as private investigator Jim Rockford.
  • Dean: You remember “redrum.”
    A reference to The Shining, the original 1977 Stephen King novel and the two subsequent movie adaptations. In it the boy Danny tries to write out the word “murder” but scrambles it as “redrum.”
Forum

Forum

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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