13.08 The Scorpion and the Frog

Title	The Scorpion and the Frog
Episode #	Season 13, Episode 8
First aired	November 30, 2017
Directed by	Robert Singer
Written by	Meredith Glynn
On IMDB	The Scorpion and the Frog
Outline
Monster	Barthamus
Timeline
Location(s)	Cambridge, England Lebanon, Kansas
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Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Alice aka "Smash"
• Barthamus
• Grab
• Luther Shrike

Definitions

• Alcohol
• Aliases
• Angel Blade
• Crossroads Demon
• Deals and Pacts
• Demon Smoke
• Devil's Trap
• Exorcism
• Holy Oil
• Holy Water
• Impala
• Pie
• Men of Letters Bunker
• Ruby's Knife
• Spells
• Table of Death
• Unconscious
• Warding Sigils

Music

None

Quotes

Dean: You know what 'miracles' are called from demons? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's not 'miracles.'

Sam: How about this? Let's just hear the guy out.

Dean: All right, and after that, we kill him.

Barthamus: I'm a crossroads demon, Sam. After Crowley's promotion to King of Hell, the crossroads demon. Helping people is what I do. My raison d'etre.

Dean: Well, see, here's the thing. When a demon asks us to jump, we don't say 'how high.' We just ice their ass.
Barthamus: How very Dean of you.

Dean: Look, whatever game Bart is playing, I-I-I don't wanna play it, but Sam, you know that these things don't usually go our way.
Sam: Doesn't matter. Jack is out there, in the world, and he's alone, and he's scared, and he's dangerous. And if this is our chance to find him, we have to take it.

Dean: All right, well, I've seen this movie a thousand times. Some asshat too fancy to get his hands dirty plans a job, swears it'll all go smooth, and it does until bang! And everything goes screaming off the rails, and it's our asses You know he's going to screw us over first chance he gets.

Sam: Not if we screw him over first. Listen, we want that spell, right? I mean we need that spell. We definitely don't want Asmodeus getting his hands on it. So, let's do this. Have him hand over the other half of the spell.
Dean: And then?

Sam: And then, like you said. We kill him.

Sam: Dean? Don't get dead.
Dean: You too.

Dean: I mean, there could be anything in there. Anything, right? There could be spiders. There could be the spiny blade thing Snakes. Spiders. - You don't even know, do you? - Correct. I How about this? What if I cut myself, put it on, like, a little piece of paper? We'll just wad it up and throw it in the mouth, okay? Okay.

Sam: You sold your soul.

Alice: And if I could take it back, I would. But sorry, Charlie. I can't. So here I am. And as long as I keep working for him, Bart never collects. So you gonna let me do my thing or what?
Sam: Look, it doesn't have to be that way.
Dean: You know, we could help you.

Alice: No, you can't. I gotta take care of me.

Barthamus: Let me see if I understand. You two do-gooding idiots are willing to welch on our deal. Throw away the only chance you have at finding your boy, because I killed a 200-year-old blackmailing piece of garbage, is that it?
Dean: Yeah, that. And we just don't like you.

Dean: You okay?.

Sam: Yeah, not really. Not exactly the best day, you know?
Dean: Well, it's not the worst. We did save somebody. That felt good.
Sam: Yeah. Yeah, it did. But back to square one with Jack.
Dean: We'll figure something else out. And if that doesn't work, then we'll move on to next, and then whatever's after that. We just keep working, 'cause it's what we do.
Sam: It feels really good to hear you talk like that again.

Dean: I'll drink to that.

Trivia & References

The Scorpion and the Frog is a fable in which a scorpion asks a frog to ferry it across a river. The scorpion promises not to sting the frog, rationalizing doing so would mean they would both drown. As the frog is taking the scorpion across the river, the scorpion stings the frog. Before the frog dies, it asks the scorpion why it stung. The scorpion simply replies that it was in its nature to do so.

Dean: All right, so what are we talkin'? Your favorite My Little Pony.

Sam: It's, uh, John Dortmunder. We -- we emailed about my family heirloom.

John Dortmunder is the name of a fictional character in the novels of Donald Westlake. He is a criminal whose careful plans usually go awry.

Dean: Hey, Winona. The '90s called. They'd like their shoes back.

Dean is referring to actor Winona Ryder, who was something of a style icon in the 1990's, and whom "Smash" evokes, particularly with her flower-patterned Doc Marten boots.

Luther: Ever see a 'fang of the basilisk?'

Sam: Actually, that's not, um... So, whoever sold this to you had it wrong. Uh, basilisk fangs are hollow. This is actually a gorgon tooth. Still really cool though. You know, I would love to see more of your collection.

The basilisk is a snake-like creature from European mythology. Gorgons are creatures from ancient Greek legend which resemble women with snakes for hair.

Dean: There was supposed to be a safe, not some Dollar Store Indiana Jones crap.

In the Indiana Jones movies, the titular hero often faces elaborate puzzles which must be solved in order for him to reach his goal. Indiana is also famously afraid of snakes.

Dean: Well, looks like gun beats knife, so how about you hand over the safe, and then we'll all be home in time to watch Game of Thrones.

Shrike: I'm more of a book guy.

Richard Brake who plays Leonard Shrike played the Night King in seasons 4 and 5 of fantasy TV series Game of Thrones based on the books by George R.R. Martin.

Sam: Wing it? Dean, these -- these aren't like the lasers in Entrapment. There are infinite possible combinations and pressure-released darts.

Dean: Did you just say Entrapment?
Sam: I don't know. I mean, I don't -- I don't watch a whole lot of those kind of movies.
Dean: Yeah, but you saw Entrapment?
Sam: ...Catherine Zeta Jones.

Entrapment is a 1999 heist movie starring Catherine Zeta Jones and Sean Connery. In its most famous scene, Zeta-Jones must contort her body under and over a series of laser beams in order to avoid setting off alarms during a robbery.

Dean: Whoa. Look who decided to show. Why'd you cottontail?

"To cottontail" is a phrase referencing the cottontail rabbit, and means to turn tail and run away.

Minutiae

In the Cambridge Museum, a poster can be seen advertising an exhibition called "Reflections of the Pacific" by Monique Mees. Monique Mees is the name of one of the painters on the show, and a visual artist.

The safe is branded "Fitzmartin's" and is named after Andrew Dabb's assistant Meghan Fitzmartin.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 13.08 The Scorpion and the Frog (transcript)

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