Route 666 is the 13th episode of Season 1. It aired on January 31, 2006.
Summary[]
There was something about being there... It felt pure. This episode summary is an official CW press release. It may contain errors. DO NOT CHANGE! |
Dean is contacted by his first love Cassie (Megalyn Echikunwoke), an African-American girl, who asks him to come to Missouri to investigate a string of racially motivated murders. Each murder is linked to a mysterious truck that seems to have no driver and leave no tracks. Sam is stunned to see this new side of his brother as Dean struggles to come to grips with the residual feelings he has for Cassie.
Plot[]
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
A man is driving alone in his car on an empty road at night when his radio begins breaking up. A large, black pickup truck then suddenly appears behind him and rams into the back of the car, briefly giving chase before disappearing as the radio clears up. The truck then suddenly reappears ahead of him, coming straight towards him. The driver then turns around and the truck gives chase once more before ramming him off the road, wrecking the car and killing the driver. The truck pulls up to the wreck for a moment, then vanishes.
The brothers are heading for Pennsylvania when Dean gets a call from an old friend needing help – her father died the previous night. The girl, Cassie, was an old friend of Dean's and Sam is surprised and upset that Dean told her what they do. When they arrive, Cassie and her father's friend Jimmy both work for the paper, and are meeting with the mayor about the death of her father and another black man. The mayor isn't helpful. Cassie reports that there were only one set of tracks at each site, and no signs of a collision. Cassie's mother arrives but is clearly upset. That night, the same black truck runs Jimmy off the road, killing him.
The Winchesters look into the accident the next day and Mayor Todd is still less than helpful and hints that Cassie's (white) mother can say why he isn't a racist. Later the brothers go to meet with a friend of Jimmy's, claiming to be insurance investigators, and ask about the black truck. One of the workers knows about a truck involved in the death of black men in the 60s, and hints that the townsfolk are bigoted. Dean wonders if the truck is some kind of Flying Dutchman-type ghost connected to the Robinsons, and Sam suggests Dean and Cassie resolve their unfinished business. Sam guesses that Cassie dumped Dean after he revealed their secret.
That night, Dean meets with Cassie and they argue over their old relationship before having sex.
The next morning time Mayor Todd is out in a field checking plans when the black truck pulls up. He runs and it runs him down. Cassie and Dean discuss how she was frightened by his history and shoved him away. Dean starts to make excuses and she asks him to stop... but then they're interrupted by news of Todd's murder. He was killed on the property of the Dorian family, who owned the newspaper and who one member, Cyrus, disappeared 40 years ago. Todd had the house bulldozed, and the first murder took place the next day.
That night Cassie is at home when the lights flicker and the black truck appears outside. She closes the shutters but the truck keeps lunging at the house. She calls Dean but, by the time the boys arrive, the truck has vanished. Dean believes whoever is driving the truck wants them scared, and they confront Mrs. Robinson. She confirms her husband Martin knew who the truck belonged to – Cyrus Dorian. She mentions he "died" and Dean catches the slip. She dated Cyrus and was seeing Martin secretly because of their interracial relationship. She broke up with Cyrus and, upon discovering her relationship with Martin, Cyrus became enraged. Around town, black men began to go missing and, the night before she and Martin were to be married, someone set fire to the town's church, killing a children's choir whom had been practicing inside. Cyrus then kidnapped Martin, tying his hands behind his back and furiously beat him with a baseball bat. Managing to escape his bonds, Martin disarmed Cyrus before beating him to death with the bat. Martin and his two friends then disposed of Cyrus and his truck in the swamp at the edge of Cyrus's property. She reveals that Todd was a deputy back then and, upon discovering what happened, covered it up.
That night Sam and Dean are outside the Robinson home and figure Cyrus's spirit lay dormant in the swamp until Todd's renovation plan awoke him, and they must dredge the swamp for the body. They pull up the truck and yank out the corpse, then prepare to torch it. Everything goes smoothly but then the black truck appears across the field – their plan has failed.
Dean figures the burning didn't destroy Cyrus' spirit bound within the truck, so Dean drives off to lure the truck away and tells Sam to figure out a way to burn the original truck. A chase ensues while Sam figures out something and calls Cassie. Dean is barely ahead of the black truck and Sam calls him to coordinate his location. He gives Dean directions to go to a very specific spot on a particular road, then stop. Arriving at the precise location, Dean brakes precisely and turns the car to face the direction in which he just came and the truck reappears at the end of the road, facing him. After pausing for a moment, the truck speeds towards Dean, only to shatter apart and vanish in front of him before it can make impact. Dean is at the church that Cyrus burned down – Sam figured if the ghost crossed hallowed ground it would be destroyed.
Later Cassie and Dean make their farewells, and while Cassie isn't sure they'll meet again Dean is confident they'll be together. Back on the road, Sam questions if Dean has ever considered giving it up and Dean just smiles.
Characters[]
Main Cast[]
Recurring Cast[]
Guest Stars[]
Co-Stars[]
- Ron Robinson and J.C. Williams as Martin Robinson
- Kathleen Noone as Audrey Robinson
- Dee Jay Jackson as Cyrus Dorian
- Gary Hetherington as Harold Todd
- Alvin Sanders as Jimmy Anderson
- Michael Busswood as Ron Stubbins
Featured Supernatural Beings[]
Trivia[]
- Antagonist: Cyrus Dorian.
- This is the most watched episode in the series with 5.82 million viewers on original airing.
- The title is a reference to the famous American highway, Route 66. It is also a reference to the Number of the Beast, from the Book of Revelations.
- The church being set on fire mirrors the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in 1963 in reality where four African-American girls who were part of the children's choir were killed in the bombing.
- This is the only episode when an evil spirit has been defeated due to the fact that it crossed hallowed ground. In every other episode, evil spirits and demons can enter the Church without harm.
- The CW's official summary has an error where actress Megalyn Echikunwoke is not credited as a guest star.
- This is the first time the song "Can't Find My Way Home" by Blind Faith is used in the series. The second time is the last scene in Season 9 Episode 23 "Do You Believe In Miracles?"
Errors[]
- The CW's official summary for this episode mislabels Missouri as Mississippi.
- Even though the episode was set in Missouri, a number of the vehicles shown in the episode had Mississippi number plates.
- In some of the scenes, the vehicles are shown to have both front and rear number plates. In reality, Mississippi is one of 20 states where vehicles are only issued with rear number plates, where Missouri is one of 23 states where vehicles are issued with both front and rear number plates.
- On one of the dvd extras the crew talk about having to switch up this ep. It was intended to be set in Mississippi, until it snowed in Vancouver during filming. It wouldn't snow in Mississippi at that time of year so they had to make some quick changes.
- There is no way Sam and Dean could have attached the chain to the submerged truck without getting wet themselves. However, both are completely dry.
- When Sam is telling Dean how to lure the truck to a precise spot, one instruction is to drive exactly 0.7 miles. When Dean first looks at the odometer, it reads 70098.2. When he stops, it reads 70100.9. That's more than 0.7 miles.
Deaths[]
- Clayton Solmes (mentioned only)
- Martin Robinson
- Jimmy Anderson
- Harold Todd
- Several unnamed people (mentioned only)
- Children's choir (mentioned only)
- Cyrus Dorian (Human, flashback only)
- Cyrus Dorian (Vengeful Spirit)
Featured Music[]
- "Walk Away" by The James Gang
- "She Brings Me Love" by Bad Company
- "Can't Find My Way Home" by Blind Faith
- "Paradise" by Sharif (Netflix version)
- "Line of Love" by The Minors (Netflix version)
Quotes[]
Sam: "I miss conversations that didn't start with 'this killer truck'."
Sam: (over the phone) "Church ground is hallowed ground, whether the church is still there or not. Evil spirits cross over hallowed ground, sometimes they're destroyed. So I figured maybe that would get rid of it."
Dean: "Maybe? Maybe? What if you were wrong?"
Sam: "Huh. Honestly, that thought hadn't occured to me."
(Dean hangs up.)
Dean: "'Well it honestly didn't occur to me.' I'm gonna kill him."
International Titles[]
- Finnish: Tien päällä (On the Road)
- Brazil: Rota 666 (Route 666)
- French: Route 666
- German: Route 666
- Italian: Route 666
- Polish: Trasa 666 (Route 666)
- Romanian: Autostrada 666 (Route 666)
- Hungarian: A fekete furgon titka (The Secret of the Black Truck)