"Folsom Prison Blues"
Robin's Rambles by Robin Vogel
At the Green River Detention Center, an old cellblock is re-opened. They feel cold air, wind blowing, and something invisible escapes. An inmate is in his cell, reading. He grows scared when, at 10 PM, the clock stops, lights flash, buzz and go out. He starts calling to a guard for help. Watching on monitors, a guard notes that it's Randall, again, who keeps insisting someone is out there. The guard orders him to turn off his light and go to sleep. Randall does as told. All the lights in B-block are shut off. A ghostly woman follows the guard, but when he feels a presence and turns, no one is there. He finds himself breathing cold air and the cell door closes on his arm. He screams as someone comes at him. . . Randall is gazing out of his cell. What does he see?
Deacon, a friend of John's from his Marine days needs a favor. Dean is willing to go to extreme measures to help him out, including breaking into the Arkansas Museum of Anthropology and getting caught by the cops so they can become prisoners in a jail being haunted by a ghost. Although Sam lets his brother know he is not thrilled with this plan, Dean feels that they owe Deacon on John's behalf, so off to the Green River Detention Center they go. Dean does his "Blue Steel" pose for his photos and asks if he looks better than Nick Nolte, seemingly enjoying himself immensely.
What he doesn't count on is FBI Agent Hendriksen, who learns of their arrest and bears down on them with hurricane force. Surprised they were caught by a simple motion detector, he's got both Dean and Sam on murder, grave desecration and a bunch of other charges. They're going to be expedited and Henriksen is delirious over it all, because he went NUTS trying to find them! Mara Daniels, their attractive lawyer, stops Henriksen's ranting and says she must speak to her clients. She assures them she can keep them in this jail for one week before they're extradited to other states for trial, which is all Dean cares about.
Sam and Dean, chained to other prisoners, get off a bus and enter the prison yard. "You're mine," promises one man, while others whoop and yell and probably get the same mind pictures of the brothers that I do. That super-handsome Sam and Dean manage to avoid being raped here is probably the most unrealistic aspect of this episode, but it is the CW and they can't let that happen, can they? It IS hilarious when Dean promises not to trade Sam for smokes, though, and they do look yummy in prison orange jumpsuits.
As Sam and Dean are led into separate cells, Dean tries to call top bunk, but his roomie tosses his toilet paper and blanket up there, sealing his ownership. Sam's roommate is taller than he is, and he later tells Dean he stares at him in a way that makes him very uneasy. Dean promises they'll find and dispense with the ghost here, get teardrop tats, then escape-100% sure-now, four are dead so far. People from prison, points out Sam, insinuating that they deserved what they got. What are you, from Texas (inside joke, both J's are Texas boys) all of a sudden? demands Dean-this is for Deacon, he saved John's life, like Dad, we're loyal and we pay our debts.
In the cafeteria, Dean likes the food, Sam hates it. They believe they're dealing with the spirit of one Mark Moody, who died of a heart attack 30 years ago in the old cell block and probably got out when it was recently re-opened. Sam accidentally bumping into a guy named Lucas as he's leaving results in Dean getting into a fight with him, kicking him in the nuts. "Are you talkin' to me?" the guy demands, and Dean wonders if they have a TAXI DRIVER fixation here. One of the guards sticks his billy club under Dean's chin and puts both "Winchester" and Lucas in solitary. Another inmate makes a throat-cutting gesture of death to poor Sam, boding ill for his future.
Solitary has a tiny peephole in-between allowing Dean and Lucas to talk to each other, but when Dean wishes they had a baseball to play with, Lucas wishes for a baseball bat to bash in Dean's skull. Realizing he's breathing cold air, Dean warns Lucas to stay very still, but the other man, screaming, finds himself looking into the ghost's evil eyes. The ghost does something to him that turns Lucas' face all veiny, and to Dean's horror, he sees him die.
Mara tries to talk to Henriksen about inconsistencies in the Winchester cases; she talked to a cop in Baltimore who swears up and down these boys saved her life and helped her catch a killer. And there's a witness to your bank robbery in Milwaukee, she swears Sam and Dean saved her life." All Henriksen seems able to absorb is that where the Winchesters go, people die. "Grownups are trying to get some work done here, so if you don't mind," says the FBI agent. Mara walks out, but you know he's going to pay for treating her with unprofessional disrespect.
Sam mops the bathroom with Randall, the guy who saw what happened to the guard. Playing the excited newbie, explaining he's here because he's got an idiot for a brother, Sam learns that Mark Moody died of a "heart attack"--after he was beaten by guards, and there was so much blood, Randall, on cleanup duty that night, could barely sop up all of it.
Out in the yard, Dean plays poker with other inmates and wins tons of cigarettes, ideal prison currency. Sam explains that Moody killed Lucas, and he has a plan that requires Dean to do something dangerous, but he needs salt, matches and accelerant. Dean holds out his winnings. "Who's ready to deal?" he shouts. Later, at dinner, Dean requests his spaghetti al dente, but gets the same pasta slopped on his plate as everyone else. He sits down with Tiny (played by Jared and Jensen's real-life bodyguard, Cliff), and asks him if he's this fat because of his thyroid or self-esteem issues. They're donuts, not love, he tells him. Tiny hits Dean, who tries to hit back, but it's as if Tiny's made of steel, and Dean's punches have no impact.
As the guards join the fray, Sam uses the distraction to shimmy through a pipe and into the kitchen, where he grabs salt.
The same guard who sent Dean to solitary jabs him in the stomach with his billy club and sends him and Tiny to the infirmary.
Sam finds the bloody mattress he's searching for and tosses salt, accelerant and a match on it, watching it burn.
In the infirmary, Dean apologizes to Tiny who admits that he DOES have poor self-esteem; his father was a terrible man, so bad, his brother killed him. Dean sees a hideous, ugly nurse coming toward him. She presses her hand over his heart, trying to stop it, but he grabs a salt packet from a nearby tray and tosses it at her, warding her off. She slithers after Tiny, who has no protection, and kills him. "GUARD! calls Dean desperately.
The brothers discuss the facts-it's not Moody, but a nurse haunting the prison. They're supposed to leave the prison tonight, Sam reminds him, so they don't have time to investigate this new lead. They question Randall, who demands two packs of Dean's hard-won cigarette stash. Nurse Glockner was a bitch who used to kill cons with deadly hypos. They would go to her, get shots and have mysterious heart attacks. That's all Randall knows. Apparently this nurse was a vigilante, killing cons she felt deserved it, or guards on the take. Sam uneasily points out how well Dean fits in here. Dean says they have five hours before they're supposed to leave, so when his lawyer comes to visit, he asks her to get him information on Nurse Glockner-who she was, where she's buried. Mara is perturbed-he and Sam are in huge trouble! Trust me, begs Dean, I'm not a monster, look at me-am I guilty?-we're not bad guys. She stares at him hard, and whatever she sees convinces her. . .of something.
Out in the yard, the brothers argue-Sam refuses to give this another day, they're sticking with the plan! "Screw you!" they order each other. Dean tells Sam to leave without him. They start to physically fight and are taken inside a building by two guards, one of whom tells the other to take off. We think this guard is going to beat the hell out of them, he looks that furious, but he grins-it's Deacon! Dean thanks Deacon for beating the holy hell out of him, but Deacon reminds him he had to make it look real. It wasn't Moody, as they had thought. Dean and Sam start arguing again, but Deacon has a letter for them from their lawyer. Dean claims he's velvety smooth for the way he handled Mara. The letter states Glockner was killed by prisoners during an uprising at the facility. They can salt and burn her bones now that Mara provided them with the names of the cemetery where she's buried. "Your daddy raised you right," says Deacon, hugging them both. He opens a panel in the wall--their escape route. Dean asks him where he wants it-they have to make it look "realistic." Deacon points to his face: Dean punches him hard. Lights out!
The brothers reach the Impala just as the prison alarm goes off. They speed away.
Henriksen grills Deacon, who outlines the brothers' day. He doesn't have a clue where they went, Dean knocked him out!
Sam tells Dean Mara has to tell the truth about their whereabouts; they have no protections under attorney-client privilege.
Mara tells Henriksen the name of the cemetery where the nurse was buried, Mountainside, and it's soon flooded with FBI agents bearing flashlights and guns, Henriksen leading the way.
Sam and Dean dig up Glockner's grave. At the prison, the clock stops, Deacon breathes cold air. Glockner appears and sends him flying across the room!
Henriksen and his team, flashlights and guns in hand, search frantically for the Winchesters spreading out across the cemetery.
Glockner hovers over Deacon, pressing her hand to his heart. "You let them go!" she screeches. His face starts getting veiny.
Sam and Dean throw a match into Glockner's casket. Her body explodes into flame. She disappears from the prison, too, leaving Deacon gasping for breath, but alive.
Henriksen can't find the Winchesters because Mara sent him to the wrong cemetery. They're at Green Valley, not Morningside. That's what he gets for treating her with such disrespect.
Sam says they're going to have to run to Yemen to escape how screwed they are this time. They race off in the Impala.
Comments
1. Definitely a character I would love to have them bring back, alas, 'tis likely not to be.
2. Or, the various judges would be recommending thousands for a long stay in the loony bin.
3. Deacon is another character they could bring back. He seems to be one of the few 'civilians' who knows what's really going on that hasn't been killed.
4. Plus she was real pretty. Hey, I need eye candy too, dammit.
5. An intended insult, but as Dean showed, a compliment in a way. Did these guys make mistakes? You bet. But they "aren't from Texas, all of the sudden." I think showing that humanity comes easier for Dean, but at the end of the day, Sam shares it too. But given his personality, he's less open immediately to such sentiments.
6. I wouldn't invite her to any parties.
1. Mara was a smart and beautiful lawyer and I loved the way she screwed over the supercilious FBI guys. She can come back any time and be welcome in my living room.
2. If the Winchesters ever came to trial I would hope that the people they saved would come forward on their behalf, but could we really believe that the judge and jury would buy the supernatural reasons for their activities? Or would they just end up in a mental health facility? Hope we never have to find out.
3. I didn't suspect who Deacon was the first time I saw this episode. I liked him too. Him too I would like to see return if only the next time we see him he remains in one piece, as the writers seem to love to kill off returning favourites. Nurse Glockner was a creepy weirdo nasty spirit.
4. Mara was great. She looked at things with an unbiased opinion and came to a conclusion to trust Dean.
Unlike Henriksen who was blind sided by his prejudice and pride because the boys had fooled him once before. He obviously had never investigated the testimony of the witnesses that came forward whose lives had been saved by the boys.
5. I laughed at Sam's comment about Dean fitting in well at the prison, because I could see it myself. He seems to be able to fit himself into almost any situation he finds himself in. He seems to live in the moment and makes the best of it no matter what. Sam is not wired to approach things that way. So the contrast is highly amusing, for instance Dean enjoying the prison food while it seemed that Sam didn't eat anything the whole time they were there, which would be impossible. Funny when Dean resented having to give up the cigarettes he had won to find out about Glockner.
6. It's a wonder Nurse Glockner got away with her shenanigans for so long unless the authorities were turning a blind eye. No wonder the prisoners whacked her when they got the chance.
I'm always happy when I get to Hollywood Babylon and Folsom Prison Blues in my round robin watching of my dvds. I know at least for these 2 episodes my angst meter will not be breaking any records.
I liked Deacon alot, and since they kill alot of returning characters, I hope he stays gone so he'll live to see another day in paradise, I mean prison
Mara was lovely too. Sassy and she had good intuition about people. She really saved our boys so, she's totally on my good side. And I hope she doesn't return either for reasons mentioned above
And Alice in Chains. Oh man, it fit perfectly in that last scene. So amazing.
Ps. I love the little smirk Dean gives when Deacon asks him to make it look real (punching Deacon). WIN
Loved it!