Shadow is the 16th episode of Season 1. It aired on February 28th, 2006.
Summary
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There was something about being there... It felt pure. This episode summary is an official CW press release. It may contain errors. DO NOT CHANGE! |
While investigating a mysterious death in Chicago, Sam and Dean run into Meg (guest star Nicki Aycox), who is thrilled to see Sam again. The brothers soon discover Meg is behind the murders and attempt to catch her. Unfortunately, Meg is one step ahead of them and unleashes shadow spirits on the brothers to ambush them. Sam and Dean realize the trap isn't for them, but for their father (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).
Plot
Chicago, Illinois
A young girl, Meredith, is walking through the streets and enters a deserted alley. Her iPod goes dead and a wind kicks up. She freaks out and starts to run as a shadowy figure appears behind her. She gets to her apartment and locks herself in, setting the alarm system. She starts to get comfortable, when the shadow enters her house, creeps up behind her, and rips through her chest.
One Week Later
Dean and Sam show up dressed as security alarm repairmen to investigate the murder, the second one in two months. A landlady provides some information on how the place was locked up and the alarm was still on, and how Meredith was cut up into pieces. Sam thinks it's "their kind of gig" and Dean picks up EMF. Dean has also checked with the police and found out Meredith's heart was missing. They suspect a spirit and Dean manages to lay out a symbol with masking tape from the carpet – a symbol they don't recognize.
Later at the bar where Meredith worked, Dean and Sam compare notes. The two victims have nothing in common as far as they can tell. They're interrupted when Sam spots Meg, the girl he met in "Scarecrow". She talks about how she didn't make it to California and ended up in Chicago. She's not impressed with Dean, berating him for dragging Sam around the country, but Sam covers. Sam gets her number and they agree to meet later. But after they leave, Sam is suspicious and Dean is upset. Sam insists there's something up with her - it's too coincidental. He watches her while Dean goes to check up on her history and research the symbol.
Later, they touch base and Dean determines it's a Zoroastrian symbol which represents a Demon of Darkness, a Daēva, which has to be conjured by an experienced sorcerer. However, Meg's history shows she's clean. After Meg leaves her apartment and enters an abandoned factory, Sam sneaks in by climbing up the freight elevator. He gets to the top just as she returns, and sees her conduct a ceremony with a silver goblet at an altar. She speaks to someone warning that the brothers are in town, and is told to wait for the entity at the other end. After she leaves, Sam enters the room and finds the altar with the Zoroastrian symbol.
Sam compares notes with Dean and brings him up to speed. Dean reveals there was a connection between the two victims – they were both from Lawrence, Kansas, where the brothers are also from. Dean figures they need help and leaves a message for their father. As they prepare to head out, they discuss what they might do after destroying the demon responsible for their history. After some tension, Dean insists Sam needs to go off after it's over, but for him it'll never be over. Dean confesses that he wants them all three to be together as a family. Sam warns that when it's over, Dean will have to let him go his own way.
At the factory, the brothers climb up the elevator again as Meg prepares her ceremony. They sneak in but she cheerfully calls out to them and invites them in. She says she was waiting for Sam, and then the Daēva strikes, knocking them both unconscious.
They wake up bound and Sam concludes the whole thing was a trap to lure them in, but Meg reveals it was a trap to bring in their father. She knows he'll come to rescue his boys and that the room is filled with Daēvas. She comes on to Sam who starts to respond, but Meg catches on that it's a distraction for Dean to free himself and confronts Dean. But that's a distraction for Sam to cut himself free with his own knife. He knocks Meg down and destroys the altar, and the Daēvas appear and haul Meg out a window where she falls to her death. They go back to their hotel room... where their father is waiting for them.
They have a brief reunion and John reveals he knows about the demon and that it knows he'll kill it, but he has to do it alone for now. He explains that he plans to actually kill the demon, not just exorcise it like hunters do to all demons, though he doesn't know how he'll kill a demon yet. They share a hug, but then the Daēvas strike, attacking them all. Meg is shown to be nearby, alive and uninjured, and has an amulet she uses to control the Daēvas.
The family is seconds from death when Sam manages to grab a bright flare and dispel the Daēvas. They stagger out into the street where Dean insists that John leave them because he's vulnerable with them around. John and finally Sam reluctantly agree and they part. As they leave, Meg sees them go.
Characters
Main Cast
Recurring Cast
Guest Stars
Co-Stars
- Lorena Gale as Landlady
- Melanie Papalia as Meredith Jane Allen
- Nimet Kanji as Passerby
Featured Supernatural Beings
- Demons (Meg and Daeva)
- Prince of Hell (Azazel, unseen)
- Werewolves (mentioned only)
Continuity
- John Winchester previously appeared in Scarecrow.
- Meg previously appeared in Scarecrow.
Trivia
- Sam and Meg meet again. Last time they met was in Scarecrow. Sam mentions this to Dean in the episode itself.
- This is the first time werewolves and their hunger for human hearts is mentioned, although actual werewolves won't appear until the next season.
- Sam and Dean find and reunite with their father.
- John reveals he plans to kill The Demon though he doesn't know how to kill a demon yet as hunters only exorcise them. This is the first mention of the idea that a demon can be killed on the series, something that is later proven to be possible and is done much more often than an exorcism.
- There is an inside joke when Meg mentions that she met something Michael Murray, and Sam answers, "Who?". In real life, Jared Padalecki (Sam) and Chad Michael Murray know each and worked together on the set of Gilmore Girls. They are even good friends to date.
- This is the last episode to air Tuesday Nights on The WB.
- When Dean talks with Sam on the phone, he tells him that the Zoroastrian symbol they found was from around 2000 years before Christ; in reality, Zoroastrianism was founded just sometime before 6th century BCE.
- Just before the death of Meredith, on her voicemail a friend of hers says something along the lines of "I know the last guy ripped your heart out" right before the shadow ripped Meredith's heart out.
- The CW's official summary has an error where actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan is not credited as a guest star.
- This is the first time John and Dean meet since the start of the series, and the first time John and Sam have met in person for several years. John appeared in the Pilot with young Dean and baby Sam but in all other episodes to date, he's been in another location to Sam and Dean and/ or on the phone to them.
Deaths
- Meredith Jane Allen
- Several unnamed people
Featured Music
- "You Got Your Hooks In Me" by Little Charlie And The Nightcats
- "Pictures Of Me" by The Vue
- "The New World" by X
Cultural References
Dean: You know, I've gotta say Dad and me did just fine without these stupid costumes. I feel like a high school drama dork. What was that play that you did? What was it - Our Town. Yeah, you were good, it was cute.
- Our Town is a three act play about a town's citizens in the early twentieth century spanning the years between 1901 and 1913.
Meg: So, you better call.
Sam: Scout's honor.
- A reference to Scout Law, with the first law being "A Scout's Honor Is to Be Trusted." It has taken to meaning an honorable promise.
Meg: Oh, I did. I came, I saw, I conquered. Oh, and I met what's-his-name, something Michael Murray at a bar.
Sam: Who?
- Meg quotes Julius Cesar's famous words "Veni, vidi, vici." Meg is also referring to Chad Michael Murray who starred in the TV series Gilmore Girls and the movie House of Wax alongside Jared Padalecki.
Quotes
- Dean: "Next time you wanna get laid, find a girl that's not so buckets-of-crazy, huh?"
- Dean: "What are you gonna do?"
- Sam: "I'm gonna watch Meg."
- Dean: "Yeah, you are."
- Sam: "I just wanna see what's what. Better safe than sorry."
- Dean: "All right, you little pervert."
- Sam: "I think there's something strange going on here."
- Dean: "Yeah, tell me about it. She wasn't even that into me!"
- 'Dean is showing Sam the bartender's phone number he received.]
- Sam: "Do you mind doing a little bit of thinking with your upstairs brain, Dean?"
- [Later, when they're leaving the bar and talking about Meg.]
- Dean: "Maybe you're thinking a little too much with your upstairs brain, huh?"
International Titles
- Finnish: Varjo (Shadow)
- French: Daeva
- German: Tödliche Schatten (Deadly Shadows)
- Italian: Ombre (Shadows)
- Polish: Cień (Shadow)
- Romanian: Umbra (Shadow)
- Hungarian: Az árnyék (The Shadow)
- Spanish: Sombra (Shadow)
External Links
- "Supernatural: "Shadow" Review", IGN review.