Diary of a Supernatural Virgin – Is it wrong to laugh when people die?

Season three, Episodes 11-13

My excitement for Supernatural isn’t fading yet (and I think Keith keeps getting more into it!), and two of these three episodes have been favorites of mine so far. The writers of Supernatural have fun, if nothing else (although there’s a lot else!), always trying different ways to tell their story. I love the way old characters show up, and in this batch I got three — the Trickster, Henricksen and Ed and Harry. Man, this is entertainment!

“Mystery Spot”
Sam’s in Groundhog Day hell, watching Sam get killed every day as Sam relives the same Tuesday. Turns out it’s the Trickster from season two, looking for revenge.

“I had a weird dream.” – Sam
“Yeah? Clowns or midgets?” – Dean

The very, very cool thing about this episode was that even though it was laugh-out-loud hilarious, it was deep, dude. This was some of the best acting I’ve seen from Jared Padelecki — the pain he faced watching Dean die every day and the hardened Sam we get when he lives six months alone (did you ever think we’d see Sam the little girl sewing up his own bullet wound?), tracking the Trickster so he can get Dean back. The lesson the Trickster set out to teach Sam was such a poignant one: “Nothing good comes out of the way you two keep sacrificing for each other … Dean’s your weakness and the bad guys know it … it’s gonna be the death of you … sometimes you’ve just got to let people go.” Sam couldn’t do that for six whole months — how’s he going to do it when Dean goes to Hell?

I’ve got to list the ways Dean dies, because I thought I was going to pee myself:

• shot and killed at the Mystery Spot
• hit by a car
• huge desk fell on him
• chokes on a sausage
• slips in the shower
• eats bad tacos
• gets electrocuted
• fights over an ax with Sam (all we see is Dean’s blood spatter)
• mauled by a Golden Retriever
• robbed and shot

Other funny things:

• Dean’s love for Asia’s “Heat of the Moment” — over 100 days in a row….
• Sam suffering Dean’s annoying bathroom habits again and again (man, that gargling….)
• Dean actually said it was like Groundhog Day, so it was less of a ripoff and more of a shout-out
• Dean also mentioned that it was all a little too “X-Files for me.”
• As Sam tries to prove to Dean he’s seen it all before, they talk together… the whole “Sam Winchester is a…” scene was priceless.
• “Back in Time” by Huey Lewis… but of course.

“Jus in Bello”
Sam and Dean finally convince FBI Agent Henricksen that they are the good guys, and he helps them fight the demons Lilith sent.

“Does anyone have a breathmint? Some guts got in my mouth while I was killing my way in here.” – Ruby

I wasn’t in love with this episode; it was all a little too serious for me, and I get bored when the action all takes place in one location (Die Hard, anyone?). But it was necessary and poignant and had a great resolution to the whole Henricksen deal.

And it was clever, as always. The little things, like Dean and Henricksen bonding (which you know sealed poor Henricksen’s fate), Sam stealing the rosary from the secretary and the mass exorcism over the PA system all helped this episode along.

I’ve said all along that Supernatural walks a very thin line when it comes to children, and more often than not, they don’t kill them — they just make them the creepy spirits or demons. So check out Lilith, eh? This should be a fun story arc, hearkening back to the first season of Buffy with the Anointed One as the little boy.

“Ghostfacers!”
Perhaps the most brilliantly conceived spoof of Ghosthunters that could ever be imagined, with our Internet friends from season one’s “Hell House” now filming a reality show in a haunted house on leap day.

“You gotta go be gay for that poor dead intern. You gotta send him into the light.” – Harry to Ed, on getting Corbett out of his death loop.

I’d be hard-pressed to choose between “Mystery Spot” and “Ghostfacers!” for funniest episode of season three, but this spoof was spot-on (down to an irrational fear of rats, akin to Steve’s fear of spiders). Now I know this because I was sitting next to Keith watching this episode, and he’s such a fan that he’s done a ride-along with the Ghosthunters when they investigated a local haunted spot.

My favorite part was seeing Sam and Dean through the eyes of the cameraman — pulling up in the Impala blasting “American Band,” swearing at them (bleeped out with a skull and crossbones), flipping the blurred finger… funny stuff.

Or maybe I liked the “backstage drama” the best — when Ed finds Harry clenched with his adopted sister, the team in the salt circle, just the bumblings that made it all so fun.

Oh, and the poignant ending: “And here we were thinking that we were teaching you, and all this time you were teaching us. About heart, about dedication, about how gay love can pierce through the veil of death and save the day.” – Ed

Or was the poignant ending when Sam and Dean left the electromagnet?

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jun 07, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT