10.06 Ask Jeeves

Title	Ask Jeeves
Episode #	Season 10, Episode 6
First aired	November 18, 2014
Directed by	John MacCarthy
Written by	Eric Charmelo Nicole Snyder
On IMDB	Ask Jeeves
Outline	When Dean and Sam discover that Bobby is the beneficiary of a deceased heiress, they pose as Bobby's next of kin and become embroiled in a whodunit murder mystery.
Monster	Shapeshifter
Timeline
Location(s)	New Canaan, Connecticut
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Synopsis

A butler is talking to two maids, one named Colette and the other Olivia. Their employer, Bunny LaCroix, has just passed, and her family will soon be arriving at the manor for the funeral and the reading of the will. The butler, Phillip, sets them to work, asking Colette to select Bunny's attire for the burial. As Colette does this, she tries on a pearl necklace of Bunny's and admires it. Suddenly, Bunny herself appears and stalks towards the girl. Colette steps back, unknowingly edging towards a balcony. Bunny grabs the necklace and rips it from Colette's neck, causing the girl to fall over the balcony and land, dead, in the foyer. Phillip arrives at the commotion, and looks up from Colette's body to Bunny's figure in horror. He asks her "What have you done?"

Meanwhile, Dean and Sam are at a motel. Dean is fixing the Impala's turn indicator when Sam exits holding two tiny cups. After commenting about the cups' size, Dean suggests that, since there is literally no monster activity on their radar, they should take a detour to Connecticut, where a friend of Bobby's has died and his (or his next of kin's) presence is requested. When they arrive, they are met by a group of Bunny's proud, haughty family members who have no idea who Bobby is. Two of the women, however, instantly take a liking to Sam, and ask them to stay -- the funeral is over, but the will is being read tomorrow.

Phillip then takes the boys aside and privately gives them what was bequeathed to Bobby, as the family, dubbed WASPs by Sam, are greedy vultures in Phillip's opinion, and would no doubt try to stake claim to the object. When the boys open it, they realize it is a pendant inset with rubies and diamonds. However, when they get it examined, the jewels are revealed to be fake, and the pendant a key. The boys return to the manor to find out what it is a key for. Unbeknownst to them, one of the family - Bunny's brother, Stanton - has been beheaded by Lance, Bunny's late husband, after he insulted a portrait of her in his room. His "child bride," Amber, witnessed the whole thing and is convinced it was a ghost.

Sam and Dean are under suspicion by the resident police officer, and are forbidden from leaving the house. Dean suspects a vengeful spirit after they question Amber, and goes to investigate the house while Sam questions other family members. In his investigation, Dean discovers a book on a shelf whose spine matches the pendant's shape. He pulls it to reveal a locked door. Using the key, he enters, seeing, among several other objects, a lead pipe and a length of rope. He picks up the pipe and ascends the stairway to find a dusty room that appears to have been lived in by a child. He also finds Olivia, who tells him that Phillip locked her and Colette away so she wouldn't have to lie to the police, and that Colette's body (also in the attic) was hidden here. Dean asks if Colette was also killed by Lance's ghost, and Olivia tells him it was Bunny's.

Downstairs, Dean and Olivia join Sam (who is playing cards with the two older women, Beverley and Heddy). Dean tells Sam that they are Hunting two ghosts, and suggests they talk to Phillip, since he is the only one who truly knows what is going on. They ponder why Bunny would want Bobby to have a key to her attic, and why Phillip is covering the ghost-Bunny's murder. They split up, Dean going to question Phillip and Sam to investigate the Manor, during which Beverley propositions him. Meanwhile, Dean questions Phillip about his actions, not before picking up a wrench to arm himself. Little does he know, Sam is also investigating the house. He picks up a knife and finds Phillip's body, a knife in his back. Phillip admits to Dean that he did hide Colette's body, out of loyalty to his former employer. Dean then receives a text from Sam, stating that he has found Phillip, who is dead. Before he can ask the fake Phillip what is going on, Dean is suddenly attacked by the fake Phillip, and thrown across the room. When he recovers to try and pursue him, Dean finds shapeshifter skin in Phillip's suit. They are not hunting ghosts, but a shifter.

Sam arrives at the scene, shortly before Olivia, who freaks out. The boys swear they didn't kill Phillip, and ask if there is any silver. Olivia gives them silver butter knives, and all three of them handle them to prove they are not shifters. Sam goes to test Beverley and Heddy, and ends up sitting between them, being forced to flirt with them in order to test their skin with the butter knives in his sleeves. Dean, meanwhile, hears noise coming from a cupboard, and, after picking up a candlestick to use as a weapon, opens the cupboard to find Stanton's widow, Amber, and Bunny's great-nephew, Dash, kissing. He tests them with the silver and, after neither of them burn, they all return to the main living room, where Sam eagerly jumps up away from Beverley and Heddy, who are still fawning over him. He shudders as Dean says no one was burned, and then they remember they didn't test the policeman who arrived to investigate Stanton's murder. Suddenly, they hear Olivia's scream and rush to find the policeman's body - he was drowned in a toilet. Amber and Dash announce their love, and after suspicion is batted about between family members, they begin to suspect that Sam and Dean are the murderers, as no one has died at their family functions before, even though they can barely stand each other. Dean tries to explain, but Dash grabs a revolver from the dead policeman's holster and threatens the boys. He locks them in an office.

The brothers try to break out, Dean trying to force the door open with the butter knife, in which they discover that the knives are fake silver, and that's why no one was burned. Meanwhile, the family is arguing again as they wait for the cops to arrive, and they come to the conclusion that Sam and Dean are gay murderers, "Like Leopold and Loeb...only hotter". Olivia enters the room, and Heddy orders her to call the police. Olivia refuses, and reveals herself to be the killer. Sam and Dean, in the office, see on the CCTV feed that Olivia is holding the family at gunpoint with the policeman's revolver. She reveals herself as Bunny's illegitimate daughter, and states that she loved Bunny dearly, as Bunny loved her. She also explains that she lived in the attic, that Phillip was the only one who knew, and he let her out of her attic room after Bunny died. She admits that Colette's death was accidental, she just wanted to scare the girl because she had been stealing, and that she killed Phillip because "he turned on [her]" by locking her up again after she killed Stanton. She then says that, lucky for her, the "cute dumb one" (Dean) let her out.

Meanwhile, after frantically searching the office, the brothers find a hidden arsenal, complete with guns, and they shoot the door of the office. The family hears the shot, as does Olivia. Sam enters the room with a gun of his own, and Olivia shoots at him. They run to the kitchen and take shots at each other. As they hide from each other, Olivia states that killing Sam is the next best thing to killing Bobby, and she tells Sam that Bobby killed her father, a shifter, after the shifter killed Lance. Only because Bunny begged for Olivia's life did Bobby not kill Olivia too, and he only spared her on the condition that she be locked away. Bobby also agreed to take care of Olivia after Bunny died, and that was why he was given the pendant-key. Sam says that being a monster is a choice, to which Olivia replies that choice was made for her a long time ago.

By this point, Sam has a clear shot, but does not take it. Olivia gloats, saying he has no silver bullets. But then Dean shows up and shoots her dead. After she falls to the ground, clearly dead, Dean still takes seven extra shots. Later, the family calls the police, leaving the manor. Dash tells them that, aside from the pendant, Bunny left everything to Olivia. Dean then gives Dash the pendant. Dash says Bobby must have meant a lot to his Aunt Bunny, he asks how he can repay the brothers. They reply that the best thing to do is forget them.

As they drive off in the Impala, Sam asks Dean why he took so many extra shots at Olivia, after she was clearly dead. He is concerned that it is the work of the Mark of Cain, but Dean insists that it was just because Olivia was his first kill since being cured from his demon-ness, and he was anxious. Before Sam can protest, Dean switches on his music, loudly, preventing conversation. Nothing more is said as they drive off into the night.

Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Bobby Singer
• Olivia
• Phillip
• Heddy
• Beverley
• Stanton
• Amber
• Dash
• Detective Howard
• Colette
• Bunny LaCroix

Definitions

• Acting in Unison
• Alcohol
• Curse
• Donuts
• Impala
• Mark of Cain
• Monsters
• Sammy
• Shapeshifters
• Silver
• Silver Bullets

Music

• "Für Elise" by Ludwig van Beethoven

(plays when Sam and Dean ring the door bell at Bunny LaCroix's manor)

• Arabeske in C major, Op. 18 by Robert Schumann

(playing as Sam and Dean meet Bunny's family)

• "Bust a Moby" by Robert de Fresnes (Reliable Source Music)

(plays as Sam & Dean get in the Impala and leave the LaCroix estate)

• "Travelin' Man" by Bob Seger

(plays at the end of the episode)

Quotes

Dean: Anyway. Road trip? Maybe Bobby earned us some beer money.

Sam: Wow, think we're a little underdressed? I mean, the fed threads are in the trunk.
Dean: Are you kidding me, for once we don't have to wear suits. You're lucky my waistband is not elastic.

Stanton: Beverley saw you sexting at dinner.

Amber: Bev doesn't know what the hell she's talking about, I was texting my Mom.
Stanton: An emoticon of a peeled banana?

Amber: She likes fruit.

Dash: Well Sam, I'll let you in on a little secret. We don't really like each other... But then what family does?
Sam: Mine does. For the most part; it's just my brother and me.

Dean: We're dealing with two vengeful spirits, that Bunny had a bee in her bonnet as well.

Sam: Husband and wife tag-team killer ghosts.

Dean: Gotta keep the marriage alive somehow.

Sam: We're not the bad guys, Dash.
Dash: I beg to differ. You're wearing flannel.

Olivia: I'm not the maid.
Heddy: That explains the dust.

Olivia: After Bobby killed my father, he came after me. Mother pleaded with him to spare me. He agreed under one condition.

Sam: That she keep you locked up.

Olivia: Mother told the family she lost the baby, and she locked me in the attic. But she stayed devoted to me until the very end. Even got Bobby to promise to take care of me if anything happened to her.

Sam: Olivia, you don't have to do this, being a monster is a choice.
Olivia: That choice was made for me a long time ago.

Sam: Dean, what was that all about back there?

Dean: What are you talking about?
Sam: I mean, all those extra shots after the shifter was already dead. What was that?
Dean: I don't know. Target practice?
Sam: Come on man, I'm serious. Are you sure it wasn't, I don't know, demon residue or something to do with the Mark?
Dean: No, none of that.
Sam: Right. Look man, I gotta be honest-

Dean: Oh my god Sam, it was my first kill since I've been back. You know, I got a little anxious, I just wanted to make sure it was done right. Plain and simple. Why am I even explaining this to you?

Trivia & References

Ask Jeeves was a question/answer based search engine founded in 1995. Jeeves is also a name that is most associated with butlers, the name having become prominent through its use in the series of short stories by P.G. Wodehouse, which were adapted into the ITV series Jeeves and Wooster.

The episode is in the style of a "whodunit." Novels in this style were popularized between 1920 and 1950 by writers such as Agatha Christie, G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers and Ellery Queen. In these stories, there are many twists and turns with clues revealed throughout. The stories often took place in a manor house. The board game Clue is based on the format, and players must use deductive reasoning to guess the the identity of a murderer, the location and the murder weapon. Shortly before the episode aired, in November 2014, a Supernatural version of Clue was released.

Dean: So, any leads on the scanner or the interweb?

Sam: Nothing, not even a cat up a tree.
Dean: So right when we're ready to jump back into it goes radio silence.
Sam: Murphy's law.
Dean: Well, Murphy's a douche.

Murphy's law is the belief that "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

Dean: Bobby had secrets man, like loving on Tori Spelling. If he only knew Dean cheated on her.

Bobby let it slip to Dean that he is a huge fan of Tori Spelling in 6.06 You Can't Handle the Truth, when Dean was affected by Veritas. Dean at some point tells Sam about this, and Sam uses the info to prove to Bobby he is real when he is attempting to break him out of Hell.

Amber: Where’s Colette?

Phillip: She quit. Poor dear was so distraught over Mrs. LaCroix’s passing. Went off to find herself.
Heddy: Ashram in India?

An ashram is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Hindu society.

Dean: 'Charmed, I'm sure.' What are these people?

Sam: I think they're called WASPs.

WASP stands for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. The term is used to denote wealthy white Americans of English Protestant ancestry.

Dean: Don't worry, Alfred, we know which one the shrimp fork is... kind of.

Alfred is the name of Batman's butler.

Phillip: I presume you gentleman left something behind, I'll check the front closet for burlap.

Dean: I got news for you Mr. Belvedere, the jacket's canvas.

Mr. Belvedere was an 1980s TV comedy about an English butler who takes a job with an American family.

Sam: I'm sorry to interrupt, but who's guilty?

Heddy: The town slut, Amber. She killed Stanton.
Dash: And what's her motive Murder, She Wrote?

Murder, She Wrote was an Emmy award-winning murder mystery series that ran from 1984 to 1996, and starred Angela Lansbury.

Dean: All right cold spots it is, you stay here and keep an eye on Mrs. Peacock and, uh Colonel Mustard. I'll sniff around.

Mrs. Peacock and Colonel Mustard are characters from the board game Clue.

Planted throughout the episode are weapons that are found in the game Clue, see photos of the weapons here:

• Dean comes across a lead pipe and some rope before entering the attic, he ultimately chooses the pipe before entering. A copy of the game Clue is also seen in the attic.
• Dean picks up a monkey wrench when entering Phillip's room.
• Sam picks up a knife in the kitchen, Phillip was also killed with a knife to the back in the kitchen.
• When Dean hears a noise in the closet of the bar, he picks up a candlestick.
• Dash takes the revolver from the dead body of Detective Howard. Olivia, after revealing herself to be the killer, attempts to use it to kill her family and Sam.

Sam: Now what does the butler have to do with all this?

Dean: Because he locked them in there. Now I don't know why, but he's covering for the spooks. He's acting as their Renfield.

Renfield is an antagonist from Bram Stoker's Dracula. In the novel, Renfield is an inmate at the lunatic asylum and under the control of Dracula, and is compelled to do his bidding.

Beverley: Well, well, well, what do we have here? What'cha doing snooping these halls? Up to no good? Why don't we get up to no good together? You know they say women just get better with age, like a fine wine or a cheese.

Sam: I-I, um, I'm lactose intolerant, so...

Jared Padalecki is actually lactose intolerant.

Dean: Cut the crap, Wadsworth. What are you doing hiding dead maids in secret rooms?

Wadsworth was the name of the butler, played by Tim Curry, in the film adaptation of Clue.

Dean: Guess we can rule out the butler did it.

"The Butler Did It" is a literary trope that describes what some consider lazy mystery writing. It first surfaced after the publication of Mary Roberts Rinehart's 1930 novel The Door.

Heddy: Look how long his fingers are...

Beverley: Well that's nine inches!

There has been research that links finger size, specifically the ration of the 2nd to fourth finger, to penis size. See also Padacock.

Sam: Grey Gardens cleared.

Grey Gardens is a documentary that follows that lives of reclusive mother and daughter socialites, both named Edith Beale, who lived at Grey Gardens, a derelict mansion in East Hampton, New York.

Dean: Well, we got a floater.

A floater refers to a drowned poo which floats in the toilet

Heddy: Amber has motive, she killed the detective because she knew it was just a matter of time before he figured out she killed Stan.

Dash: Bravo, Rizzoli! You solved the case! Wanna weigh in Isles?

Rizzoli & Isles is the name of a TNT crime drama which began in 2010. It centers on Maura Isles, a medical examiner, and police detective Jane Rizzoli. They're friends and together they solve crime.

Dash: Ohh. The old lady doth protest too much. You're only pointing the finger to distract from your own guilt, and you probably got Baby Jane to help.

"The old lady doth protest too much", is a reworked line from Hamlet; the actual line is "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

Baby Jane is the titular character in the 1962 movie Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? which was based on a book of the same name. Jane is an aged movie star who has a deeply bitter and antagonistic relationship with her sister, Blanche.

Heddy: I knew those boys were trailer trash the moment they rolled up in that American made.

Beverley: Not to mention homosexuals.
Heddy: Homosexual murderers -- like Leopold and Loeb.
Beverley: Only hotter.

Leopold and Loeb were two wealthy University of Chicago students who kidnapped and murdered a 14-year-old boy by the name of Robert Franks in 1924. Their story was told in the 1948 movie Rope by Alfred Hitchcock and in 1992 in the movie Swoon.

Dash: Then where have you been hiding all these years?

Olivia: The attic.
Amber: Like in the movie.

Reference to Flowers in the Attic, which is a story about children born of an incestuous relationship, who are hidden away in the attic of a wealthy relative.

Dash: Bobby must have really meant something to Aunt Bunny, how can we ever repay you?

Dean: You know what? Just forget we were ever here.
Dash: You saved our lives, I want everyone to know what heroes you-
Dean: Look, pal, the fact that we pulled your bacon out of the fire is nobody's business. Hey, I'm serious, Izod, put a pin in it, or we'll come back for your preppy ass.

Izod is a clothing company that produces dressy-casual clothing and sportswear for men and women.

Minutiae

Kevin McNulty, who played the butler Phillip, previously played Roy Le Grange in 1.12 Faith.

Doug Abrahams, who played Detective Howard, previously played Eddie in 4.13 After School Special.

Matthew Harrison, who played Stanton, previously appeared in 3.04 Sin City.

The "Then" recap of events for the episode cycles through the various monsters that the Winchesters have fought, foreshadowing the whodunit nature of the episode.

The original music in the episode is composed by Jay Gruska, and is in the style of a 1940's whodunit movie.

The episode was dedicated to James A. MacCarthy, the father of director Johnny MacCarthy, who died while the episode was being filmed.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 10.06 Ask Jeeves (transcript)

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