7.09 How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters

Title	How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters
Episode #	Season 7, Episode 9
First aired	November 18, 2011
Directed by	Guy Bee
Written by	Ben Edlund
On IMDB	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1995124/
Outline
Monster	Leviathans
Timeline
Location(s)	Wharton State Forest, The Pine Barrens Hammonton, New Jersey
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Synopsis

Something kills and eats a camper in the Wharton State Forest, and Dean, Sam, and Bobby squat in an abandoned house while they investigate that and a number of missing persons reports. Dean complains about their living conditions over the last few weeks, but Bobby is insistent that they need to follow Frank Devereaux's advice and stay off the grid while the Leviathans are after them. Dean, though, is fed up and points out that the world is always on the verge of ending—maybe it wants to end. Bobby tells him not to think about it.

Sam's research uncovers conflicting reports about a creature dubbed the Jersey Devil hiding in the forest, so their first stop is to interview a park ranger. Chief Ranger Rick Evans meets them at a Biggerson's Restaurant, and they question him about the state police's conclusion that a bear is behind the camper's death. As he eats a Turducken sandwich, he tells them that a bear wasn't behind it. Also, he and his assistant, Phil, have been finding partially eaten animal remains in the woods for a while now. When Rick mentions that he hasn't seen or heard from Phil in a while, Sam asks Rick if Phil could be missing. Rick is strangely unconcerned—just says that he should probably report it and continues eating his sandwich.

Bobby arrives at Biggerson's from the morgue and tells Dean and Sam that the wounds on the camper's body don't seem to have been caused by a Leviathan, a werewolf, or a wendigo. They take a break for lunch, and Dean happily devours his Turducken sandwich as Sam fills Bobby in on what they learned from Ranger Rick. They decide that something weird is definitely going on and that they need to search the woods themselves. Before they go, their unaccountably aggressive waiter shouts at his manager and storms out.

Once in the woods, Bobby's hunting and tracking skills quickly lead them to Ranger Phil's mangled body hanging from a tree. They call Ranger Rick, who arrives at the scene after dark and again seems strangely calm and disconnected. He uses his radio to call for backup just before he's snatched by something fast moving. Bobby, Dean, and Sam raise their weapons, but are too slow. Bobby urges them to turn off their flashlights and then closes his eyes to better hear the sounds the creature makes as it starts to eat Ranger Rick. Eyes still closed, he shoots his .30-30 rifle up into the trees... and hits his target.

What falls out of the tree is a thin man with a strange blue tint to his skin and clouded eyes. He appears to be dead from Bobby's single bullet, but, once they get him back to their base of operations, he revives and jumps up to attack. They pump him full of bullets until he falls dead, and then Dean pulls a wallet out of his pants. According to his ID, he was once a 235 lb. man named Gerald Browder.

While Dean watches, Bobby and Sam perform an impromptu autopsy on Gerald's body and are disgusted by the procedure, which uncovers a strange blue goo throughout his body, disturbing stomach contents, and an extremely swollen adrenal gland. Dean is unaffected, however, and insists on heading back to Biggerson's Restaurant for dinner, where he orders another Turducken sandwich. As Bobby and Sam research Gerald on Sam's laptop, Dean seems unconcerned. Instead, he's strangely intent on his sandwich. When Sam and Bobby look around the restaurant they realize that everyone else is just as focused on eating Turducken sandwiches, and Sam snatches Dean's so that they can leave to investigate what's left of it.

Back at the abandoned house, Dean is irritated that Sam and Bobby won't let him eat his sandwich. He says that he feels fine—great, even. For once he's not upset about Castiel or the Leviathans because he just doesn't care anymore. Sam says that he sounds stoned, and Bobby points out that he's acting just like Ranger Rick and the rest of the dinner crowd at Biggerson's. They're still arguing when the half-eaten Turducken sandwich suddenly erupts with blue goo.

Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Bobby Singer
• Dick Roman
• Dr Gaines
• Edgar
• Susan
• Ranger Rick Evans

Definitions

• Leviathans
• Biggerson's Restaurant
• Zombie

Quotes

Dean: This is stupid. Our quality of life is crap. We've got Purgatory's least wanted everywhere and we're on our third "the world is screwed" issue in what, three years? And we've steered the bus away from the cliff twice already!

Sam: Someone's got to do it.

Dean: What if the bus wants to go over the cliff?

Dean: We'll make sure this is not just some backwoods crackhead who likes to roll glampers.

Bobby: What the hell's a glamper?
Dean: Sam?

Sam: A high-end camper. TV, A/C, Wifi. Back to nature—zero inconvenience.

Brandon: Sidewinder soup and salad combo goes to Big Bird. TDK Slammer to Ken Doll. And a little Heart Smart for Creepy Uncle.

Dean: It's funny, I couldn't give two shakes of a rat's ass. Is that right? Do rats shake their asses or is it something else?

Dean: I think you pissed off my sandwich.

Trivia & References

The episode title is a play on the famous book How to Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie first published in 1936.

Olivia Cheng who played the Leviathan Susan used the Supernatural Wiki to research the role: "Thanks for starting page for me on @SuperWiki, that's what I browsed to research #Supernatural before shooting... I caught up on #Supernatural through your contributions, I didn't know what a Leviathan was when cast.Source

Bob Singer did the voice over on the Soothing Nature Sounds recording Source.

Sam: Motel 6 just ain't leaving the light on anymore.

Motel 6 is a major chain of budget motels with more than 1,000 locations in the United States and Canada. Its tagline "We'll leave the light on for you" has been a part of its advertising campaign since 1988.

The beer Dean drinks is called MargieKugel Beer. Made by the Art department it is named after Jerry Wanek's mother combined with a local Wisconsin beer Linenkugel. Source

A Turducken is a dish in which a chicken is stuffed inside a duck which is stuffed inside a turkey. Each bird is first boned, and then the entire thing is roasted.

Ranger Evans: You can call me Rick. Ranger Rick.

Ranger Rick is a children’s nature magazine that is published by the National Wildlife Federation for 7–12-year-olds, as well as the title character of the magazine.

Bobby: You don't shoot Bambi, jackass. You shoot Bambi's mother.

Bambi is a 1942 animated Disney movie about a young fawn called Bambi, whose mother is killed by hunters.

Brandon: Sidewinder soup and salad combo goes to Big Bird. TDK Slammer to Ken Doll. And a little Heart Smart for Creepy Uncle.
Big Bird is a very tall, very yellow, avian character from Sesame Street. See Sam's height for other references. Ken is boyfriend to Barbie, known for his plastic good looks.

Dean: Of course, the sketch looks more like a Chewbacca head.

Chewbacca aka Chewie, is a Wookie who is friends with Han Solo in the Star Wars universe.

Sam: Okay, so whatever turned Gerry Browder into a Pumpkinhead - and is currently turning Dean into an idiot --

Pumpkinhead is a vengeance demon which possesses a corpse dug up from a pumpkin patch in the 1988 horror movie of the same name.

Bobby: He's sleeping it off. Tryptophan coma. Tryptophan coma is the nickname given to the sloth and sleepiness experienced by many after Thanksgiving lunch. Turkey is (falsely) believed to contain very high tryptophan levels, said to work as a sedative. This episode aired just before Thanksgiving 2011.

Bobby: Now, you get a case of the Anne Sextons, something's gonna come up behind you and rip your fool head off. Anne Sexton was a poet known for writing about her emotional issues and distress. She committed suicide in 1967.

In order to tell Sam and Dean who Dick Roman is, Bobby shows the boys a news feature titled "The Rise of Dick" Watch it here.

* Live tweets from Jim Michaels during airing.

Minutiae

The author of second article on Jersey Devils that Sam shows to Bobby is Dr. Kara Schwandt. Kara Schwandt was the set decoration office coordinator for Season 1 and one episode of Season 2.

According to Sam, Mitchell Rayburn's wife is missing, but she's quoted in the Camping High Season Harshed by Human Burrito newspaper article as saying "I'll never get over it. We were so excited to camp in the outdoors together, enjoying nature. And then nature ate my husband."

The first two folders that Bobby takes out of Dick Roman's briefcase are labelled "NRA Speech" and "TED Conference."

The red points on the map on Roman's desk appear to be marking Madison, WI and Cleveland, OH.

The hat Bobby was wearing when shot, had not appeared in any previous episode. See Bobby's Hats

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 7.09 How to Win Friends And Influence Monsters (Transcript)

Promotion

• Guy Bee to direct
• Episode Title
• HQ promo pics by ontd_spnparty
• promo Images by ksittv
• Promo clip