2.11 Playthings
Title | Playthings |
Episode # | Season 2, Episode 11 |
First aired | January 18, 2007 |
Directed by | Charles Beeson |
Written by | Matt Witten |
On IMDB | Playthings |
Outline | Sam and Dean investigate two strange deaths at a small Connecticut inn run by a single mom whose young daughter plays with an imaginary friend. |
Monster | Ghost |
Timeline | |
Location(s) | Peoria, Illinois Pierpont Hotel (Cornwall, Connecticut) |
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Contents
Synopsis
Sam and Dean investigate a series of mysterious deaths at the Pierpont Inn. The inn is run by a single mother Susan who is planning to sell the inn. Also living at the inn is the manager's young daughter Tyler, Susan's mother Rose, and the elderly bellboy Sherwin. Tyler has an imaginary friend named Maggie.
While they are there, another murder causes Sam intense guilt, and he gets drunk and makes Dean promise to fulfill John's final order - to kill Sam should he turn evil.
While investigating, Sam and Dean at first suspect Rose of engineering the murders using voodoo, after discovering voodoo symbols on the property and evidence that she had come in contact with such folklore. However, when they sneak into the upper levels of the inn to speak with Rose, they discover she has suffered from a stroke and therefore doesn't possess the faculties to practice Voodoo. Discovering Sam and Dean in her mother's room, Susan demands they leave the inn.
Sam and Dean return to the inn in secret, however, saving Susan's life and convincing her there is something supernatural going on when she nearly becomes a victim herself. They discover that Maggie is in fact a ghost of Susan's aunt, Margaret, who drowned in the inn's pool when she was a girl. The mysterious deaths started occurring when Rose had a stroke, and thus was no longer able to keep Maggie's ghost from the inn using Voodoo protection.
Maggie's motives appear to be that she doesn't want the family to leave the inn, as it means she will no longer have Tyler as a play mate, and to keep Tyler with her together, attempts to drown Tyler in the inn's swimming pool. Before she can complete the murder, Maggie is called away from the pool by Rose, who trades her life for Tyler's, offering instead to stay and be a ghost and playmate for her sister instead.
Sam rescues Tyler from the pool, and shortly thereafter they discover Rose dead, having made the deal with Maggie.
Characters
Definitions
Music
- "Voodoo Spell" by Michael Burkes
- (plays when Sam is looking for Ava)
Quotes
Sam: Well, you are kind of butch. They probably think you're overcompensating.
Dean: What?!
Sam: You're bossy. And short... (chuckles)
Dean: Are you drunk?
Sam: Yeah, what do you wanna do, poke her with a stick? (Dean nods) Dude, you are not gonna poke her with a stick!
Dean: Listen sister, that car didn't try to run you down by itself. OK? I mean, I guess it did, technically, but the spirit can...
Trivia & References
- Scooby-Doo - A long running cartoon series about four friends and a dog nameded Scooby-Doo who hunt down ghosts and the supernatural. Daphne was a sexy red-head.
- The line “How 'bout a nice greasy pork sandwich served in a dirty ashtray?” is one of the most famous lines from the '80s movie Weird Science.
- “Boomin' Granny” is a song on the Beastie Boys album Beastie Boys Anthology: The Sounds of Science.
- Reminiscent of the twins' famously creepy line in The Shining, "Come and play with us, Danny. Forever and ever and ever."
Dean: Well, I'm not dying, OK? And neither are you.
- Dean, wrong on both counts. See Dead...or are they?.
Minutiae
Sides, Scripts & Transcripts
- 2.11 Playthings (transcript)
- Shooting Script for Playthings
Promotion
- Episode Stills
- Episode Promo: 2.11 Playthings
- Cut You Down. A promo clip set to Johnny Cash's "Cut You Down" was released over the Christmas hiatus in the lead-up to the screening of 2.10 Hunted on January 11, 2007. Produced in black and white, and set to the Johnny Cash's "Cut You down", it contained scenes from upcoming episodes 2.10 Hunted, 2.11 Playthings, 2.12 Nightshifter and 2.13 Houses of the Holy. In June 2007, this promo won two awards at the annual Promax/BDA Promotion and Marketing Awards : a gold award for Use of Library Music for a Promos and a silver for Drama Program Promotion.