Wishful Thinking

Wishful Thinking is the 8th episode of Season 4. It aired on November 6th, 2008. 

Summary
A wishing well is discovered to be the real thing when a girl's teddy bear comes to life, someone wins the lottery and a local geek gets a beautiful girlfriend. But Sam and Dean realize disaster waits in the wings in this town where reality and fantasy are blurred.

Recap
An invisible being encounters a woman, Candace, in the showers of the Cascade Women's Fitness Center. Candace throws her towel at the wall and ends up accidentally draping it over the invisible figure, which awkwardly greets her. Candace screams.

Elsewhere, over shots, Dean rebuffs Sam's questions about remembering Hell, and denies flat-out that he can. He is, however, eager to investigate the shower-spirit case. At #1 Lucky Chin's, a restaurant in Concrete, Wa., Candace tells Sam about her ghostly encounter (for his book, tentatively titled Supernatural). Rather than harming her, the spirit knew her name and helped her when she fell, begging her not to tell its mom. Dean finds no EMF at the site, but he and Sam do come across a man claiming to have been attacked by Bigfoot -- a well-known hoax. They can't explain the huge tracks they find in the woods, though, which lead to a raided liquor store. A little girl on a bike, Audrey Elmer, drops off a box full of alcohol and porn, along with a "Sorry" note. While passing by Winchesters, Busty Asian Beauties magazine falls to Dean's feet from the girl's box. Sam and Dean follow her home, and are surprised when she tells them that her teddy bear is responsible for the damage. The girl's teddy is big, real and can talk -- and it's in the midst of an existential crisis, holed up in the TV room crying at news reports. Audrey tells Sam and Dean that she wished for him at the Wishing Well at Lucky Chin's.

They visit the restaurant, and Dean tests the well by wishing for a sandwich. Dean's wish comes true. Posing as health inspectors, they clear the restaurant and drain the fountain. Dean asks Sam if he's tempted to make a wish, to reset his life so he could be normal again. Sam says he wouldn't, but if he did, he'd ask for Lilith's head on a plate, bloody. They notice an ancient coin at the bottom of the fountain, which refuses to budge. Dean goes on research duty, while Sam heads to the women's health center to scold the pervy teen who wished for invisibility.

Back at the hotel, Sam finds Dean being sick in the bathroom. The wishes, it turns out, turn bad, because the coin is cursed. It depicted Tiamat, the Babylonian dragon deity of primordial chaos, and it has been known to wipe entire towns off the map with the trouble it causes. The only way to stop it is to find the first wisher, the one person capable of removing the coin and turning off the well.

Dean wakes from a fitful nap, dreaming of Hell. Sam confronts him, about the nightmares and his increased drinking. Dean deflects the questions, and deduces the first wisher: Wes Mondale, a nerdy guy announcing his surprise engagement to the beautiful Hope Lynn Casey. At his house, Wes confesses that his grandfather found the coin while a soldier in North Africa in World War II, but he told Wes never to use it. Now that it's working, Wes is reluctant to undo his wish, but Sam and Dean convince him, with some helpful threats. Near the well, they see Todd, a small kid with super-strength, terrorizing a group of bullies. Dean tries to talk to him, but gets beaten up for his troubles. At the restaurant, a lightning bolt strikes Sam, thanks to Hope wishing that no one take away her love for Wes. Wes removes the coin from the fountain, reversing all the wishes in town. Hope doesn't even remember his name now. A dejected Wes leaves Sam with the coin.

Later, Sam meets Dean at a pier, confirming that the coin's been melted down. Before they leave, Dean confesses something: he's been lying to Sam, and he does remember everything that happened to him in the Pit. When Sam tries to get him to talk about it, so he doesn't have to deal with it on his own, Dean refuses, telling Sam that there's no way to make him understand. Sam doesn't know what to say. So Dean slowly walks away, and Sam follows him.

Characters

 * Dean Winchester
 * Sam Winchester
 * Audrey Elmer

Featured Supernatural Beings

 * None

Continuity

 * Sam is struck by lightning and killed. In "Everybody Loves a Clown", Ash had said, "You ever been struck by lightning? It ain't fun."

Trivia

 * The shower scene in the episode teaser references the famous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, in which Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is brutally stabbed and left to die.
 * When Todd flips over the car, he starts yelling "Kneel before Todd". This is in reference to the Superman character Zod, who tells everyone to "Kneel before Zod" in order to show his superiority over others.
 * When Deans says "Run Forrest Run" this is a reference to the movie Forrest Gump.
 * The actress who played Hope Lynn Casey in this episode, Anita Brown, co-starred with Jensen Ackles in the The CW series Dark Angel. She played the title character in the episode titled "Gill Girl." She also played the shapeshifter victim Lindsay in "Skin" in Season 1.
 * Audrey's teddy mades an appearance in the short Supernatural Shake.

Quotes
Sam: Yeah, and florists on the side. Dean: Plus FBI. And on Thursdays we're Teddy Bear Doctors. Dean: Women. Showers. (He slaps some money on the table) We have to save these people. Kid: I got him. Dean: Run, Forest, Run. Sam:Well psh, you wanted to save naked women. Dean: Damn right I wanted to save naked women.
 * Wes: Aren't you the guys from the health department?
 * Sam: Yeah, just the typical UFO sightings & one possible vengeful spirit. Here check this out. Uh... Up in Concrete, Washington, eyewitness reports of a ghost that has been haunting the showers of a women's health facility. (Dean chokes on his beer) The victim claims that the ghost threw her down a flight of stairs. I can see you're very interested.
 * [Group of kids run past chasing a boy]
 * Dean: I gotta tell ya, I'm pretty disappointed.