2.02 Everybody Loves a Clown

Title	Everybody Loves a Clown
Episode #	Season 2, Episode 2
First aired	5 October, 2006
Directed by	Philip Sgriccia
Written by	John Shiban
On IMDB	http://imdb.com/title/tt0829062/
Outline	After listening to a message on John's cell phone from a woman named Ellen, Sam and Dean decide to track her down.
Monster	Rakshasa
Timeline
Location(s)	Nebraska Sioux County, South Dakota Medford, Wisconsin
[[{{{prevep}}}|« Previous Episode]] | [[{{{nextep}}}|Next Episode »]]

Synopsis

Dean and Sam cremate their’s father’s remains on a funeral pyre. As they farewell him, Sam asks Dean whether John had any final words. After a pause, Dean lies, and says no.

While staying with Bobby, Dean is consumed with repairing the Impala, and refuses to discuss John’s death. Sam finds an old message on John’s cell phone and they track it down to Harvelle’s Roadhouse. Here they meet Ellen Harvelle and her daughter Jo who, to the boys’ surprise, knew their father and know all about demons. The Roadhouse is a regular haunt of hunters, and Ellen’s deceased husband, Bill was also a hunter. Another regular at the Roadhouse, Ash, offers to help analyze John’s research on the Yellow-Eyed Demon.

While waiting for Ash to complete his work, the boys investigate a series of murders that have occurred while a circus is in town. A clown has been seen in the vicinity of the deaths. The boys get jobs working at the circus, but continue to clash over how they are dealing with their grief.

When their suspicions are aroused after a little girl sees a clown her parents can’t see, they stake out the girl’s house, and manage to save her from a clown, who disappears as they shoot at it.

Sam calls Ellen, who tells the boys the creature is a Rakshasa that must be killed with a brass dagger. Suspecting Mr Cooper, the carnival owner, the boys return to the circus. The real culprit is the blind knife thrower, who attacks the boys and traps them in the funhouse. Sam manages to kill the Rakshasa with a brass pipe from the organ.

The boys return to the Roadhouse where Ash has set up a computer program to alert them to appearances of the Yellow-Eyed Demon. Ellen offers them her spare room, but they return to Bobby’s place.

Back at Bobby’s, Sam admits he is not dealing with John’s death, but charges that Dean isn’t either. As Sam walks away, Dean picks up a tire iron and with rage and grief smashes into the Impala.

Characters

• Dean Winchester
• Sam Winchester
• Ellen
• Jo
• Ash
• Mr Cooper

Music

• The Chambers Brothers - Time Has Come Today
• Three Dog Night - Shambala
• Captain & Tennille - Do That To Me One More Time

See the Music page also.

Pad of Definitions

• Pyre
• Coulrophobia
• Rakshasa
• Macabre

Additional definitions provided by fans:

• Clowns
• John's Cell Phone
• see also Jo's Blog

Quotes

Dean (to Sam): You know what? You're right. Come here. I'm gonna lay my head gently on your shoulder. Maybe we can cry, hug, and maybe even slow dance

Dean (on his minivan ride): This is humiliating. I feel like a friggin' soccer mom!

Ash (on Dean admiring his haircut): All business up front, party in the back.

Jo: Most hunters come through that door think they can get in my pants with some... pizza, a six pack, and side one of Zeppelin IV.

Dean: Planes crash!
Sam: And apparently clowns kill!

Dean (to Sam): I just think it's really interesting, this sudden obedience you have to Dad. It's like, oh, what would Dad want me to do? Sam, you spent your entire life slugging it out with that man. I mean, hell, you, you picked a fight with him the last time you ever saw him. And now that he's dead, now you want to make it right? Well, I'm sorry Sam, but you can't, it's too little, too late.

Sam (to Dean): About me and dad. I'm sorry that the last time I was with him I tried to pick a fight. I'm sorry that I spent most of my life angry at him. I mean for all I know, he died thinking that I hate him. So you're right -what I'm doing right now, it's too little. It's too late. I miss him, man. And I feel guilty as hell. And I'm not all right. Not at all. But neither are you. That much I know.

Trivia & References

• The writer of this episode John Sihban wrote for the X-Files. Ken Kramer who plays Mr Cooper appeared in three X-Files episodes (as different characters) and Chad Lindberg (Ash) also appeared in one epsiode.

• Early in the episode Dean and Sam are at Bobby's. The events of Devil's Trap occur on November 2, 2006 (see Timeline). It's debateable how long the Winchesters spent in the hospital, but they spend 1 week at Bobby's before leaving to find Ellen. [This] is what Medford looks like in November, and it is therefore possible that they have either spent several months in recovery, or the area is experiencing a very unusual warm spell.

• The town in which the Rakshasa first strikes in this episode is Medford, Wisconsin.

• A Rakshasa featured in the 1974 TV series The Night Stalker - the predecessor of both The X-Files and Supernatural.

• The most famous example of a Rakshasa-like creature in modern horror texts is Stephan King's "It", a creature that also hibernates for a stretch of time and appears as a clown.

• After the teaser Dean and Sam are at their father's funeral pyre. The way it is shot is a visual reference to the end of Return of the Jedi when Luke burns the body (or suit) of his father, Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker.

• Ash says, "I'm on it like Divine on dog dookie." This is a reference to a John Waters film, Pink Flamingos, in which infamous transvestite Divine eats dog faeces. Pink Flamingos is widely considered the epitome of Bad Taste films, and arguably it's Ash who makes this reference because he seems to fit the trash demographic Waters portrays and celebrates in his films.

• Dean's line to Sam, "You cry when you see Ronald McDonald" is considered by some to be to a fantext - gekizetsu's Letters from Sam to Stephen King. Ronald McDonald is the mascot for the fast-food restaurant chain McDonald’s

• The title card at the end is In Memory of our Friend, Peter Ellis. Peter Ellis is the director of The Benders and Bloody Mary, and died in late April of 2006.

• Jo's comment to Dean that "Most hunters come through that door think they can get in my pants with some... pizza, a six pack, and side one of Zeppelin IV," is probably inspired by the 1982 film Fast Times in Ridgemont High. Mike Damone, a character who claims to be an expert on women, recommends in his five point plan that, "When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV."

• The title of the episodes comes from a Gary Lewis & The Playboys song. See also [[The Meaning of Episode Titles].

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 2.02 Everybody Loves a Clown (transcript)

Sides

• Ellen (PDF)
• Alex (later renamed as "Jo") (PDF)
• Alex (revised) (PDF)
• Alex (revised again) (PDF)
• Miles (later renamed as "Ash") (PDF)
• Miles (revised) (PDF)

Promotion

Episode Stills