7.03 The Girl Next Door

Title	The Girl Next Door
Episode #	Season 7, Episode 3
First aired	October 7, 2011
Directed by	Jensen Ackles
Written by	Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin
On IMDB
Outline
Monster	Leviathans
Timeline	Immediately following 7.02 Hello, Cruel World
Location(s)	Sioux Falls, South Dakota Whitefish, Montana Spokane, Washington
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Synopsis

Directly following 7.02 Hello, Cruel World, Dean wakes up in Sioux Falls General Hospital just as his broken leg is being set. He tells the nurse that he and his brother have to leave as soon as possible, but she tells him that he's not going anywhere. Dean struggles, but falls unconscious.

When Dean next wakes up, his right leg is in a cast, and Bobby is entering his hospital room. Dean remembers the nurses saying that Sam was being taken for an MRI, so Bobby goes to find him while Dean gets dressed. Their plan is to meet at the ambulance dock. Dean, though he's high on morphine, stumbles there on crutches, narrowly avoiding the Leviathans that are there posing as staff. The Leviathan impersonating Dr Gaines receives a call alerting him to the Winchesters' arrival at the hospital, but he is too late to stop Bobby from driving away in a stolen ambulance with Dean and an unconscious Sam.

Three weeks later, Dean and Sam are in Whitefish, Montana, in an old cabin that belonged to Rufus. Bobby brings Dean the keys to the Impala and then tells them both that a lot of hunters have been encountering the Leviathans. They're like Shapeshifters, but they bleed black goo and like to eat people, and so far nobody's found anything that can kill them. While they talk, Sam spaces out, but grabs his scarred palm to snap himself out of it. Dean is concerned that Sam's not all there, but Bobby tells him that his brother is healing and that he has to trust him. He leaves to go round up a couple of book stashes that he had hidden outside his house, and Dean sends Sam out for food and snacks.

At the general store, Sam notices a newspaper with the headline Ice Pick Killer Strikes Again. He adds the paper to his purchase and charges it all to a credit card with the name Lemmy Kilmister. Meanwhile, at the credit card company, an employee is alerted to the transaction. He immediately calls Edgar and alerts him that Sam and Dean have made a purchase in a shop in Montana.

Back at the cabin, Sam waits until Dean is asleep to read the newspaper story about the "ice pick killer." He flashes back to 1998, when he was doing research and advising Dean and his father, John, over the phone about a kitsune in Lincoln, Nebraska. Apparently, kitsune look human, but sprout claws so that they can tear into their victims behind their ears and feed on their brains. They need a steady diet of human pituitary glands to survive. Something similar is killing people nearby, and Sam decides to investigate it on his own. When Dean wakes up, Sam is gone in the Impala. Dean calls Bobby, who tries to calm him down, but Dean is frantic. He saws off his cast early so that he can go after him.

Near Bozeman, Montana, Sam sits in the Impala in a parking lot by a park. Another car pulls up and parks nearby. As he waits, he remembers meeting a young girl, Amy, at the library where he was researching kitsune back in 1998. She rebuffed his advances until he fought off two other boys who were harassing her. She then invited Sam back to her house, where she examined his swollen eye and then brought him a cold beer. In the fridge, unseen by Sam, were jars holding brains. As they talked, Sam and Amy found that they both had a lot in common, and they kissed. Back in the present time, Sam stalks a young woman as she moves through the woods. She seems to be stalking someone herself, and Sam grabs her before she can attack. It's Amy. She remembers him and tries to defend herself, but Sam is sure that she's the "ice pick killer" and that he just interrupted her hunt. She won't explain herself, and Sam is unwilling to trust her, but before he can do anything she uses her superior strength to knock him unconscious.

Back in 1998,

Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Bobby Singer

Definitions

• Singer Salvage Yard
• Leviathans
• Pie

Trivia & References

The Girl Next Door is a term used to describe a cultural stereotype of a young woman who is good natured and fits accepted cultural norms of femininity. It is the name of many songs and movies, however the one that most closely fits this episode of Supernatural is a Japanese erotic animated movie (ie hentai) of the same name in which a man is haunted by the memory of a young woman who helped him when he was injured as a child. This may be a shoutout to the fact that in 7.01 Meet The New Boss Dean is watching "Asian cartoon porn"

Jensen announced at Asylum 6 2011 that he would direct an episode Season Seven. As happened in Season 6 when he directed 6.04 Weekend At Bobby's, the episode would be the first one shot, to allow Jensen time to prepare, but would be the second one to air. Pre-production started on June 26th and shooting on July 6th.

• Jensen talks about directing the episode at Comic Con 2011

• Jared talks about being directed by Jensen (at around 13.40) at Nerd HQ at Comic Con 2011

After Jared teased on tweeter that he had the first two scripts for season 7 and asked who wanted him to fax them a copy. @CariAnn923 was the first to respond, and Jared did fax her the front page of the script to be shot by Jensen. Portion of the script Jared faxed to @CariAnn923

Pic of Colin and Jensen during filming tweeted by Colin

This is the fifth episode in which the part of a younger Sam has been played by Colin Ford. The only episodes in which young Sam was not played by Colin were 1.18 Something Wicked, when the character was played by Alex Ferris, and 5.22 Swan Song, when the character was played by Nathan Smith.

Dean: Hey, ground control. Sam!
A reference to the David Bowie song, Space Oddity.

Amy is going by the alias 'Amy Pond' which is the name of the companion of the eleventh doctor in Doctor Who

A credit card customer, David Righton, calls to report strange activity on his account. $775 was charged to a Mistress Magda on May 27, 2011.
Chuck called a Mistress Magda in 5.22 Swan Song.

Minutiae

A scene from the episode was previewed at the Supernatural Panel at Comic Con 2011

TV Commercial: My Bloodiest Valentine in hell-a-vision 3D.
A commerical for this movie plays while dean is asleep on the couch. Jensen played Tom Hanniger in My Bloody Valentine 3D

The store clerk in Whitefish Mt. Gas & Sip is wearing a Batman: Under the Red Hood T-shirt when Dean questions him.
Jensen Ackles voiced Red Hood in Batman: Under The Red Hood.

One of the kids outside the library in the flashback is played by Nico McEown who played Lucas Barr in 1.03 Dead in the Water

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 7.03 The Girl Next Door (Transcript)

Promotion

• Title and character spoilers from SpoilerTV
• Casting news by Zap2it
• Jewel Staite confirmed as guest star by TV Overmind
• Filming location identified by @susangittins
• On Set pics of Jensen and guest star by Susan Gittens
• Tweet from a Colin Ford
• Photos of Jared and Jensen on set
• Interview with Jewel Staite
• Fan report of her day on the set by Janine Shahinian
• Picture of Colin Ford with Jensen
• official Synopsis
• Promo pics from ksitetv
• Promo clip, Webclip #1 and Webclip #2
• Interview with Jewel Staite about the episode by TV Guide
• WinchesterBros exclusive interview with Leslie Hopps DeSchutter (Amy's mom), WinchesterBros exclusive behind the scenes photos