4.06 Yellow Fever

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Title	Yellow Fever
Episode #	Season 4, Episode 6
First aired	October 23, 2008
Directed by	Philip Sgriccia
Written by	Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin
On IMDB	Yellow Fever
Outline	Sam and Dean have 48 hours to stop a supernatural affliction from killing Dean with fear.
Monster	Buruburu
Timeline	October 2008
Location(s)	Rock Ridge, Colorado
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Synopsis

Why is Dean running for his life from a beribboned Yorkie?

The boys are examining the body of Frank O'Brien, a healthy 44-year-old marathon runner who died of a heart attack after two days of intense fear and paranoia -- the third such death in town. Sam and Dean insist on an autopsy, but the coroner can find nothing wrong with the body, aside from a number of scratches along Frank's arm.

The eccentric Sheriff Al Britton, a good friend of Frank's, confirms that Frank had been acting strangely, as does Mark Hutchins, Frank's reptile-loving neighbor and the last person to see him alive. Dean seems more than usually unnerved by Mark's menagerie of pets. Mark tells them that Frank had been a bully in high school, but that he "got better," especially after the suicide of his wife Jessie in 1988.

That evening, Dean's strange behavior escalates; he sets off an EMF detector, proving that he's "haunted." A call to Bobby diagnoses Ghost Sickness, in which a spirit literally infects a person with fear, which intensifies until the victim's heart gives out. Bobby also theorizes that if the ghost that started the infection is destroyed, the sickness should clear up.

In the hotel room, Dean begins to hallucinate, and unexpectedly coughs up a wood chip. Sam realizes that the symptoms are trying to communicate something about the original ghost. They investigate the abandoned Cassity & Sons Lumber Mill, where they find an ID card for Luther Garland, along with a number of drawings of Frank's wife Jessie. When the ghost of a hulking man appears and machinery starts to move on its own, Dean cuts out back to the Impala in terror.

The official police file says that Luther Garland died of "physical trauma." At the Peaceful Pines Assisted Living home, John Garland, Luther's brother, tells a different story. Luther was "the town freak," but Jessie O'Brien was kind to him, and he became infatuated with her. When she vanished, Frank O'Brien came after Luther, chained him to his truck and dragged him up and down the road in front of the mill. No law enforcement mounted an investigation. Sam and Dean realize the victims are experiencing Luther's death in slow motion. The lack of remains -- and the impossibility of a simple salt-and-burn -- set Dean off more, who rants about the insanity of hunting, panics and flees from the Yorkie, which he mistakes for a Hellhound.

Back at the hotel room, Dean's hallucinations grow worse. He sees Sam's eyes turn yellow, and he imagines Sam telling him that he wants to give in to the influence of his powers, while Dean goes back to Hell.

Bobby meets Sam at the wood mill with two hours to go before Dean's heart is set to give out. Bobby reveals that he is fluent in Japanese, and identifies Luther as a Buruburu which can be killed with fear. Sam lures Luther out of hiding by destroying his drawings of Jessie O'Brien. He then wraps an iron chain inscribed with a spell word around Luther's neck, while Bobby drags him behind the Impala until he dissipates -- a "terrible" plan that both dislike, but which they feel is their only option.

While Sam and Bobby are trying to catch the ghost, Dean is alone in his room and hears hellhounds. Sheriff Britton breaks down the door, and is crazed and convinced that Dean and Sam will turn him in for his complicity in covering up Luther's murder. His heart gives out before Dean can reason with him.

As Dean reaches for a bible he finds on the floor, Lilith appears to him in the guise of the little girl from 3.16 No Rest for the Wicked. She tells him that he does remember his time in Hell -- four months like 40 years. When Dean asks why he was infected, Lilith tells him that he knows, and that he must listen to his heart. When Luther is dispatched, ending the infection, Lilith disappears, as do the scratches on Dean's arms.

Later Sam asks Dean how bad his hallucinations and fears got by the end. Before Dean can tell the truth, he sees Sam's eyes flash yellow. Dean says he saw howler monkeys, thus not revealing the truth.

Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Bobby Singer
• Lilith
• Sheriff Al Britton
• Luther Garland
• John Garland

Definitions

• Ghost Sickness
• Buruburu
• Alcohol
• Yorkie
• EMF

Music

• "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor

Quotes

Sam: Dude, where are you going? That was our hotel.

Dean: Sam, I'm not gonna make a left-hand turn into oncoming traffic. I'm not suicidal. (EMF starts buzzing) Did I just say that? That's kind of weird.
Sam: You hear something?
(Sam pulls EMF from his jacket and points it at Dean, causing all five lights to turn on and the buzzing to get louder. He then points it at himself, which turns the lights off and stops the buzzing.)
Sam: What the hell?
(Dean sees that the EMF is only responding to him.)

Dean: Am I haunted? Am I haunted?!

Sam: It's ghost sickness.

Dean: Ghost sickness?
Sam: Yeah.
Dean: God, no.
Sam: Yeah.

Dean: I don't even know what that is.

Sam: How are you feeling?
Dean: Awesome. It's nice to have my head on the chopping block again, I almost forgot what that feels like. It's friggin' delightful.

Dean: (when Sam tries to hand him his gun) Oh, I'm not carrying that. It could go off. I'll man the flashlight.

Dean: (Sam opens a locker and a cat jumps out. Dean screams a high-pitched wail) Whew! That was scary!

Sam: You must have hated Frank O'Brien.
John Garland: I did for a long time, but life's too short for hate, son. Frank wasn't thinking straight. His wife had vanished, he was terrified. A damn shame he had to put Luther through the same, but that's fear. It spreads and spreads.

Trivia & References

Rock Ridge, Colorado is the fictional setting of the Mel Brooks parody Western Blazing Saddles.

Sam and Dean introduce themselves as FBI agents Tyler and Perry - Steven Tyler is Aerosmith's singer, Joe Perry is their guitarist.

Mark: Don't be scared of Donny. He's a sweetheart. It's Marie you gotta look out for. She smells fear.

Mark's snakes are named for teen idols and famous siblings Donny and Marie Osmond.

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The episode contained a small coda/outtake called "A Supernatural Surprise" after the credits started to roll, in which Jensen lip-synched to Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger". Originally, Sam interrupts Dean by drumming on the car's roof, but when Jared omitted Jensen's cue, this happened instead.

Dean's reference to the 'Outbreak Monkey' refers to the 1995 film Outbreak where a monkey spreads a deadly infection in a small town in America.

Sam: You can speak Japanese?

Bobby: 君なんか生まれる前から、ずっとだよ。 (Since before you were born)

As explained on his MySpace page, Bobby speaking Japanese was Jim Beaver's idea, as Jim is fluent in Japanese.

For the first time ever, Eric Kripke made a statement after the episode clarifying that Dean wasn't infected because he was a dick, but rather that he was someone who used fear as a weapon - an important clue to the revelation in 4.10 Heaven and Hell about Dean's activities in Hell.

Al Britton: (Sheriff) Hell's bells, Linus have you seen my...(sees Sam and Dean) Who are they?

Hells Bells is the name of a song by the band AC/DC. It's said to be about dragging a soul into Hell, a prominent plot point in seasons 3 and 4 of Supernatural. Hell's Bells is also another name for a hallucinogenic plant called, Datura [1] which can cause the sufferer to become unable to discern fantasy from reality and cause bizarre or possibly violent behavior.

Minutiae

Sam and Dean stay at the Bluebird Hotel, initially on the fourth floor, and then Dean insists they move to the first floor.

Link to maps used during the shooting of the episode

The deputy sheriff is named Linus.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 4.06 Yellow Fever (transcript)

Promotion

• Episode Promo: 4.06 Yellow Fever
• Kripke previews Yellow Fever
• Behind the scenes photos by the LA Times [Broken Link]
• How the "Eye of the Tiger" segment originated
• Jensen sings "Eye of the Tiger"
• Supernatural the show to watch by the Chicago Tribune
• Kripke clarifies whether Dean is a dick, and a missed plot point in Eclipse Magazine