Jul 5
Demons, soccer mom vans and other things that don'
Demons, soccer mom vans and other things that don't McFly with Dean
We open our episode on something that is quickly becoming a regular occurrence in Season 4: Dean, fully clothed, sleeps on top of the covers while Sam steals away into the night.
While the first is interesting from a character standpoint – enjoy those times when the hell PTSD were still handled with subtleness and intrigue, they are not gonna last – if disappointing from a shallow standpoint, the second is flat-out mind-boggling.
Of all the possible reactions I could imagine having to a departed loved one suddenly being restored to you, let alone from the fiery depths of hell, this isn’t really one of them. Where is the super-glue? The staple gun? Even handcuffs would make sense. Where is the mirror over the mouth to check for breathing? Where is the pinching of self because you just can’t believe your good fortune?
Considering the momentousness of the occasion – after all, how many people do get their loved ones restored to them in perfectly functioning form, let alone from the fiery depths of hell? – this is the worst case of “there is just no pleasing some people”, I have ever seen.
The camera follows Sam to Ruby pulling up in car. He climbs in and confirms that he is ready. Cue Ruby’s smug smile.
And now I have to say something, Sam is not only leaving his recently restored to him brother, he is leaving him for Ruby? That’s IT, mister. You go to your room and think about what you have done and you don’t show your face for the rest of the episode, hear me? Nope, not another word. And no dinner either. It’s straight to bed for you.
Sorry, folks, you had to witness this but sometimes you have to stand firm with the little ones.
My authority thus established, we return to Dean experiencing a nightmare consisting of quick flashes of what I assume to be hell. He wakes up to a stubble-sporting Castiel sitting on his bed, shyly inquiring if Dean dreamt about him while masking the question as a little dig. Awww, they are so sweet.
I have to turn up the volume because there is a sudden chorus of “slash fic, slash fic” rising in the background.
But alas, neither does Castiel offer to lovingly tuck Dean in – under the covers – nor does Dean attempt to rip apart Castiel’s trenchcoat with his teeth. And why ever not, as, so far their relationship has already included branding and penetration with a phallic object.
Yet Castiel only touches Dean’s forehead, which puts him…
…right onto a park bench in some as of yet unspecified place with no cell phone reception. Looking around in confusion, Dean enters the diner across the street.
He doesn’t notice Michael J.Fox beating up Biff with a skateboard in the far right corner. Because if he had, things would have been as clear to any member of the audience who has seen “Back to the Future” – and well played, SPN writers because that wouldn’t McFly with any other of your shows and their diapered target demo.
A cute, dark-haired guy is sitting at the counter and Dean plops down right next to him.
At this point, I’d like to do a little inquiry towards the audience: everybody who knows what their parents looked like in younger years as well the names of their grandparents, raise your hand. :hand:
counts One.Two.Three….Fifty.
That’s what I figured. I guess at this point Dean and Sam can consider themselves lucky that John told them their own names and birthdays. I can just see that nut job keeping even THAT on a need to know basis.
There are a couple humorous bits that establish Dean having been transported to Lawrence Kansas, to a time where Sonny and Cher had not yet broken up – going by young John’s stricken look at the very prospect.
And it is young John, as hard to believe as that is since he readily answers every of Dean’s, no doubt odd to him, questions.
Finally, Dean takes a closer look at his surroundings, still not noticing Michael J.Fox who is now valiantly trying to fend off Leah Thompson. But he does realize that something is a bit odd. If not to say anachronistic.
A glimpse at the newspaper tells him it is the year 1973 and the cute kid next to him is greeted by another patron as Corporal Winchester, freshly back from Nam.
Dean reacts like everybody would in his place: totally subtly. Meaning he stares at his younger than him Dad like a freak. Young John probably only has one thought at this point: God, please don’t let my own kids turned out stoneheads like this. Ahem.
Following young John, and I totally thought they would do this thing where Dean turns a corner and young John pushes him up to the wall, demanding to know who Dean is and what he wants – well, right idea, wrong parent – but Dean is stopped by Castiel. Who sadly doesn’t push him against the wall. Again, right idea, wrong episode.
Dean makes a crack about Back to the Future, wanting to know what this is all about but only receives very vague non-explanations from Castiel.
Next up, we see young John looking to buy a car – a soccer mom van, to be specific. Dean, who has followed him, immediately faints on the spot.
He does manage to wake up in time to get himself the Impala, by making young John get the Impala. And boy, young John is kind of a pushover in this place and time.
Still, he proudly drives up with his new car in front of his girlfriend’s house.
That being a fetching lass with curly blond hair.
Dean, watching them secretly, is relieved that his father already has the right girlfriend at least and he doesn’t have to take care of that one, too.
Still watching his parents later in a diner,
Dean also remarks on the hotness of his mother. Mary, still vainly trying to bite this incest stuff in the pursqueteer before it has a chance to take over, gets the drop on him, slams him up to a wall and demands to know who he is.
Awkward.
And you know, Mary, Dean could totally call CPS on you, right?
Even more awkward is Dean noticing a bracelet Mary is wearing, one with protective symbols, realizing she is a hunter.
Dum dum dum.
The two seem to have struck a tentative cease fire, though, because we see Mary presenting Dean to her father who quizzes him a bit on hunter-stuff before Dean is invited to dinner. He introduces himself as Dean van Halen btw, foregoing another Back to the Future joke.
Also, I guess a bit of caution from the assistant director of the FBI for Mary’s father is no other than Skinner. From the X-Files, not the Simpsons.
We learn that Mary’s parents are named Samuel and Deanna Campbell. And from what we learned about them so far, we know that Mary named her first child after the parent she had the better relationship with and the second after the one she strived with. Take that as you will.
Somewhere else in Lawrence Angus and Bathseba Winchester cry for they know their chances of having a grandchild named after them are slim to none. :crying:
2:0 for the Campbells.
We get more humorous bits where Dean has to struggle adjusting to the time he is in. Wisely, he refrains from asking if the Campbells have wireless and if he can borrow the laptop for a while to surf “Busty Asien Beauties”.
The next day Samuel and Mary show up at a farmhouse, working a job. We learn that Mary doesn’t want to be a hunter. Jesus, girls ARE doomed to become just like their mothers. :twisted:
Samuel is dressed like a priest but when a woman opens the door, it reveals…Dean, also dressed as a priest. Samuel makes an epic bitchface. But Dean just joins Mary in questioning a young boy, revealing that said boy made a deal with a strange man. A man with yellow eyes.
Dum dum dum.
None of the Campbells have ever heard about a yellow-eyed demon. Dean, of course, is livid but also seeing the chance here. He remembers that at this point in time the Colt should be safely ensconced with one Daniel Elkins and plans to go there.
Before he leaves, he says goodbye to Mary, though, who unknowingly stomps on his heart by telling him how much she wishes her children would grow up free from this life. Well, no worries, Mary, you will get a lovely girl thinking the same way.
Dean also warns her not to get out of bed on the day that she dies. Has died. Will die. Urgh, time travel. Maybe Mary should have written it down and stuck it to the fridge for the next ten years.
On the drive to Elkins, Castiel pops up in shotgun, lecturing Dean on the ethics of changing the timeline. Oh Castiel, how shall I break it to you? The best way to get someone to NOT mess with the timeline? Don’t send them back in time. We humans on our own really struggle with time-travel, you know.
At first Daniel Elkins is less than pleased about the idea of handing his priceless Colt over to a stranger but Dean manages to convince him. Maybe Dean should have thought about driving by Bobby and Travis and got them to hand over their most valuable possessions. PUSHOVERS.
Checking his Dad’s notebook, Dean realizes where Yellow Eyes is about to strike next. Unfortunately, it’s a friend of Mary’s and she is already there, interrupting another deal in the making but also catching a yellow eye.
Upon seeing Dean with the gun, the demon flees the scene. Or does he?
For next up we see Dean telling Samuel everything, only to have Samuel ask for the Colt. Yeah, that worked so well when John was possessed by the YED. Oops.
What happens next is a bit of a replica of that one scene in Devil’s Trap where a YED possessed family member looks about ready to smooch Dean in between taunting him.
Shame on you, Skinner, you are old enough to be his grandfather.
For the second time this episode, Dean tries to tell someone when and how they are gonna die. But just like Mary, we already know Azazel will ignore this perfectly fine advice. Fridge. Note. Look into it.
Yellow Eyes stabs himself, which hurts Skinner more than him and kills Deanna. He then goes to find Mary and John in a parked car somewhere. John, who was about to pop the question, gets his neck snapped for his trouble.
Woah, there YED, leave SOMEONE from this family intact, will yeh?
He does for he doesn’t kill Mary but cajoles her into a deal of unspecified nature to bring John back though not the parents.
Dean arrives just in time to see Mary french-kissing Skinner and realizes it is too late: their family is now doomed to incest forever and ever.
But wait, Castiel appears behind him, giving Dean a longing look full of sympathy and hope. And Dean probably realizes that since THEY are not related he still has a chance.
Then, bam, Dean wakes up in his motel bed again.
Dean being Dean blames himself for not being able to stop the events of the past but Castiel tells him that this was never in the cards anyway and that Dean has only been sent back to learn the truth about what has been done to Sam.
Um, talk?
Guess Angels do everything big.
They don’t know, though, what Azazel’s endgame was.
And now I have to ask, so? What is Dean supposed to do about that? Bend time to bring you to a place where Azazel killed nuns to discuss his plan with Lucifer? Oops.
Let it not be said that Castiel doesn’t have SOME specific information, though, because he does provide Dean with the address of Sam’s current whereabouts.
Wait, a minute, did the rugrat sneak out of his room? After I explicitly told him not to?
Dean, would you be so kind as to break me a switch? Thank you. :horseisdead:
…to be continued…
I'll think I give this one:
May 2
This ain't no Clarence - Recap of 4.17
This ain’t no Clarence - A recap of "It's a Terrible Life"
I give it a rating of:
We begin our show with the weekly recap. This one is basically about how Dean’s life sucks sixty-six ways to Sunday. And this is BEFORE the Angels tell him that he is the one they would really, kind of like to stop the Apocalypse.
Hm, call me crazy but if I wanted someone to stop MY apocalypse – I’m working on it, thanks for asking – I wouldn’t wait to share this news with him till they’re up on the chair, checking the noose around their neck for the last time. But maybe that’s just me.
Next up…Jensen Ackles’ audition tape for “American Psycho”. Huh, I never even knew he went for the part. I’m a bit confused as to why it’s in the show but maybe they are trying to make up for the fact that, so far, his SPN audition hasn’t made it into the DVD extras?
Or maybe Dean has had it with everything and decides to go back to La-la-land? Is this maybe a planned sequel of American Psycho? In any case, he does a good job. Unlike Dean Winchester, auditioning Dean (or Jensen) is comfortable wearing suits. With suspenders no less.
He also hates rock’n roll and drives a definitely-not-Impala-car. Somewhere in Heaven, God weeps. Somewhere in front of a TV screen, I frown.
Auditioning-Dean/Jensen proceeds to enter an office that is apparently assigned to some “Dean Smith – Director of Sales and Marketing”. And I got to hand it to the casting crew that is some elaborate prep room. Don’t you usually just have some bored assistant feeding you lines?
But they sure do make our boy work for the part because this reading is endless. As the progression of the sun, seen through the window behind Dean, indicates, he has been there all day. Talking into his little headset about well, sales and marketing. They even incorporated his lunch in the reading by feeding him some measly salad. Mark my words, after that audition is finally done, he will keel over from low blood sugar. Bastards.
Finally, Dean leaves his office, steps into an elevator and finds himself vis-à-vis…Sam. Now, I’m confused. Is Jared reading for the sequel, too? Maybe for one of the hookers the American Psycho is gonna be murdering later? If so, he needs to work on his come-ons because Dean looks seriously wigged out and in no way inclined to be saying: “come to my room so I can slaughter with my chain-saw.”
Alas, I think, I’m starting to smell Alternate Universe here, the one where you can see what could have happened to your character had they not done whatever it was they were supposed to have done. And a word to the wise here, Dean, if you feel like getting into a fight with three angry Nausicaans, go for it, because otherwise you will end up some measly Lieutenant Junior Grade on the Science Brigade instead of Captain of the Enterprise. Just thought I’d let you know.
So, it’s like “What is and what should never be”, if that one hadn’t been all in Dean’s head. Or “In the Beginning”, if the past hadn’t been all set in stone apparently.
Now that I’m thinking about it, damn. Because this is a sci-fi themed show in its fourth Season and they never really did a true alternate universe episode (other than Yellow Fever and ASS?) I guess the second part of Mystery Spot kinda counts as such. Which might be a good thing because American Psycho 2? Not really a real AU either. Somewhere, a beloved fantasy TV trope weeps and dies of neglection. :crying:
Cue the rolling Credits… (You know the montage of glamour shots of our intrepid heroes, set to a catchy little tune that we never really had. And, okay, I’m over that by now. Mostly.)
Anyway, take good notice of this following engaging scene, displaying various office machinery doing their jobs. Because you will never, ever see it again. Ever. :twisted:
We cut to a yellow-sweater-wearing Sam – not the best colour on him, I might even go so far as saying there could hardly be a worse colour – who is apparently working a normal job and living a totally mundane normal life. And as we all know that this has been Sam’s fondest wish from the age of Colin Ford on (I’m not sure about coma kid, he was probably too comatose to have much of an opinion on anything), he is of course giddy with joy.
Kidding. Because as we all <I>also</I> know is that Sam has been diagnosed with a severe case of “the grass is greener over there” syndrome when he was a child, he is pretty much physically incapable of fully enjoying whatever his current environment is.
And granted, the tech support job seems kind of boring and dull but think of all the time you had to yourself, doing personal things at work? I’d go for that.
By the way, Sam’s last name in this world is “Wesson”. And kudos where kudos is due because together Dean and Sam form “Smith&Wesson” which is really cute considering their real surname. Just imagine if they’d been Dean Walter and Sam P.P.K.
Sam also is established as a big Todd Stashwick fan here. And whoever gets this reference will receive the amount of a virtual pat on the back.
We get to know one of Sam’s co-workers. A real rebel because he doesn’t wear the yellow-sweater-uniform of the other tech support guys. Maybe he just has a fashion sense. He does kind of freak me out, though, because he reminds me so much of David Arquette.
Sam and David Arquette break for coffee, intent on dragging another co-worker with them but that one is too busy with clearly being under some supernatural compulsion to work like he has never worked before. Nor anybody else.
We learn that worker-bee has been sent to HR for a good chewing out and returned like this. I’m telling you magical.compulsion. God, clearly I would make a better hunter than Sam and David.
Sam then shares something quite personal with David, namely that he has strange dreams in which he saves the universe or something. And I’m telling you, if he did, he wouldn’t be happy either.
Later, as Sam falls asleep at his job – now see the perks? – we get to see one of those dreams. It’s a montage of various Supernatural episodes, also featuring Dean, which gives Sam an “hm” moment. He thinks the best course of action now is to go into an elevator, which Dean rides too, and stare at him in a not-at-all-suspicious-way. Meanwhile Dean curses the fact that he doesn’t carry any mace in his fancy suit-pocket.
Sam tries to diffuse the tension by asking Dean if he believes in ghosts and vampires. In way of an answer Dean desperately pushes the little elevator button. And tells Sam that he overshares as Dean flees the elevator.
Wow, the first normal reaction to someone asking you creepy questions. And what do you know, it didn’t happen to one of the numerous people in peril who get treated this way by the boys. Instead if happens to one of the boys. I give up on humanity.
Next up, more adventures of Sam and David down in tech support. We learn that David has been called up to HR as well. Dum dum dum.
Worker-bee from yesterday is also freaking out by now. From the magical compulsion he is under. Goddamnit. Doesn’t anybody notice this?
But alas, worker-bee is sacrificed to be our first gruesome death this evening. And dudes, I didn’t even know that was possible. I now kinda feel bad for frozen food I put in the microwave.
As the body is carted off in the next morning, Dean and Sam look at each other, both kind of freaked. Though Dean may be freaked more by the make-up person who put ungodly amounts of lip-gloss on him. Dear make-up person, if someone has lips that are naturally as luscious and biteable as Jensen Ackles’, you don’t need to freaking do this.
In his office we see Dean doing some research on newly departed worker-bee. Hm, if this goes on, soon nobody will do actual work-work anymore.
Down in tech support we’re back with David and Sam. Only David is now wearing a yellow sweater. And working like he has never worked before. I don’t even have to say it, do I?
David gets a call from someone on management level and goes upstairs. The caller turns out to be Dean, looking awfully cute in a blue shirt and a yellow tie. Seriously, I wanna pinch his little cheeks.
He tells David how David screwed up some filing. And David is immediately freaking out. Dude, it isn’t like you brought us one step closer to the apocalypse so chill.
Corporate!Dean is being really nice about it all, telling David to re-re-relax but David is having none of it. Tool. I’d kill to have Corporate!Dean as a boss.
David runs from the room into a restroom and Dean follows him. He is kinda freaked out by the way the air he is breathing out is now visible, showing that the temperature in the room must have dropped significantly and all the faucets turning on at once.
This is clearly too much for David who pencils himself out. Literally. Dean tries to help him but is startled by the presence of ghostly gentleman in the room with him.
Once more Dean and Sam trade significant looks over a body being wheeled out. You gotta stop meeting like this, guys.
Then we see Sam getting a call from upper management and cut to…..nooooooooo. Dean is just buttoning up a new shirt. Curse you, camera guy, curse you to hell for not being there sooner.
But alas, Sam comes in and they both share their recent freaked-outness with each other and brainstorm on what they have found out so far. Since it all seems to lead back to HR, they decide to check out the room where the improved worker-bees had been sent to, prior to their improvement.
As it turns out, that isn’t HR at all but some empty supply room. A most unlucky gentleman – who am I kidding, only slackers get sent there –has entered the room before them and they hear his muffled screams as they near the room
Sam kicks the door in and Dean looks kind of a bit more impressed than I think this action warranted. I once saw someone kick open a locked door and I didn’t feel very impressed by it, I have to say.
But in any case they race in, get attacked by the same ghostly gentleman from the bathroom whom Dean disposes off with an iron wrench. Now Sam is the impressed one and this I can understand more because it actually worked.
We now cut to Dean’s spacious apartment where Dean and Sam are doing some more research on the case. And in a shocking development Sam also shares his general disappointment of the way his life goes right now and feels he is meant for more.
In a cute moment Dean calls Sam “Sammy” and both are a bit weirded out by it. Awww.
Next up we have Dean on the computer, excited because he has turned up a website that might actual helpful to him and Sam in their ghostbusting endeavour.
It turns out to be…the Ghostbusters. Kidding, I meant the Ghostfacers. And I have to hand it to them; they do at least cover the basic facts accurately now. How do repel ghosts, how to get rid of them etc. Which is way more than they knew back in “Hell House.” And considering they only have Sam and Dean to thank for that newfound knowledge, it is kind of rich that their instructional video is full of disparaging remarks on the Winchester brothers. Funny, but toolish.
Thusly prepared, Sam and Dean decide to grab the bull by the horns and get rid of the ghostly old gentleman, foremost owner of the company and therefore inclined to ensure that all his workers are at their top capacity, even if he has to use magical compulsion to do it.
Sam gets caught by a guard and led off into the elevator. Which mysteriously stops, trapping them both inside. As the guard forces open the doors and climbs out – the elevator is caught between floors a bit – he foolishly reaches back to try and haul Sam out who is once more freaked and wants to stay where he is. Big mistake, guard-dude, because you were actually scot-free and but now the elevator will totally cut you in half when it gets moving again.
Am I psychic or not? Because that’s totally what happens and Sam gapes in horror as the blood sprays all over him. (And considering recent events the experience should be less horrifying in terms of becoming desensitised to all things blood on and in you.)
Meanwhile Dean has figured out which object they need to burn to get rid of the ghosts and he and Sam meet up again, only to be attacked by the ghosts. After a little tussle, Sam manages to burn the ghost’s gloves and off he is.
Sam and Dean can only describe this evening of maimed guards and being thrown into walls as awesome fun. And Sam totally wants to do it again. Hook up with Dean – not like that, or maybe like that, in this world I’m not sure – and go on the road to hunt ghosts.
Dean is a bit caught up on practical means like how they would support themselves and such. He hilariously dismisses credit card scams but interesting that he had the right instinct after all.
Sam also muses on how their world maybe isn’t real. And then a meta-monster named Madison Ellen Josephine of Bobbyville comes in and eats both Dean and Sam.
Long story short, Dean shoots Sam down, telling him that he, Sam, doesn’t know Dean. Sam dejectedly walks away. Okay, this was a little bit heartbreaking because it isn’t really a bad metaphor for where they actually are. A certain underlying bond and companionship brought on so many by shared memories that draw themselves to each other but recent experiences and decisions that pull themselves apart. Aww.
The next day Sam leads a revolt of one down in Tech Support, smashes his phone and quits. You know that phone was just doing its job, right?
Last scene for the evening shows us Dean’s boss, Mr.Adler, who has come to congratulate Dean on a job well done – he is not talking about the ghost job and yet he totally is – and offers him a fast track career in corporate management.
Dean thinks about for three or four seconds and then turns it down, having decided that there is something else he should rather be doing. Then he, too, quits. Without beating up a poor phone, I might add.
Adler greets this news with glee and reveals himself to be an Angel who created this little fantasy world scenario. Dean, understandably is less the excited about this. Adler or Zachariah(el) tries to win points with Dean by basically calling him a whiner who needs to get over it because he just relearned how great hunting was and he is still better off than all those losers with their happy-comfy life who never even got tortured in hell.
Right now, I wish Sam was back and Zachariah was a phone.
Dean shows a little more restraint but thankfully doesn’t seem to be buying into Zach’s bullshit as much as drawing his strength back from being angry at those outrageous claims.
Because for one, Zack, Dean totally was all revved-up and energized about hunting back in Monster Movie. You and your angels did a good job of utterly destroying most of this newfound optimism. Secondly, Dean’s problem is not so much that he feels like he isn’t a good hunter but feels like he might not be a good Lucifer-destroyer. Not quite the same thing. And thirdly, whining? In all of three scenes where he – upon being pressured for it – talked about being tortured in HELL? Fuck you.
On this lovely note we end our episode and recap.
2:36 PM May 24