The Ghost facers?
Ok this review is delayed while I get some damn booze,
because there’s no way I’m enduring this while sober, damn it.
Ok, glass full, bottle poised, let’s tackle this.
In Washington a faceless, really really creepy creature
kills a girl with a knife – the standard lead in supernatural murder.
Dean gets one of the girl’s photos showing the faceless
man and considers it a case – though he and Sam are still having lots and lots
of tension which is getting old. They go to the scene and do their standard
impersonating the FBI to interview the mother of the dead girl – and she already
knows some things about the supernatural. Yes, the Ghostfacers have already
asked her questions
Time for that bottle, methinks.
Dean is almost as unthrilled as I am and tries to
threaten Harry and Ed into leaving. Please don’t threaten them, just get to the
murdering (there are only 2 of them at least). Alas there is no murdering and
the annoying pair don’t go away, but this booze is probably not strong enough.
Doing some research the brothers find that Ed and Harry
think the monster is a Thinman, a creature that lurks in the background of
someone’s lives before it kills them. And it looks like they’re right but Dean
is unwilling to give them the credit. He stubbornly keeps looking at ghosts.
Alas we have to go back to the Ghostfacers and their
attempts at comic relief and someone refill my glass or kill them horribly.
Either will do. Double points for both. In between ongoing “humour” about Harry
facebook stalking his ex and him creepily sniffing the dead girl’s clothes, Ed
at least has the good sense to want to turn tail and run – yes, run Ed! Spare
me the desperate desire to murder you!
Back to the Winchesters and more research that basically
points to the Thinman – except all the other mysterious deaths are clearly fake
(or, rather, the Thinman photos were). Only the most recent death is authentic.
There’s also the question of how a photo on the dead girl’s phone got on the internet
in the first place. Especially since the photo was sent 2 hours after the girl
died.
And the Thinman claims his next victim – the owner of a
diner. Which means police and Winchesters go down – and the Ghostfacers are
already there. And, alas, they’re allowed to talk rather than being brutally
stabbed until they stop making noises. They all see the extremely creepy CCTV
footage of the death though
In their van, Harry is eager to go exploring the woods at
night to try and find the murderous monster (c’mon, killing him now is a
Darwinian service to the species, damn it!) while Ed is growing increasingly nervous.
Back to the Winchesters and shock that the video of the
man’s death has already gone online which, round about way, leads to childhood
reminiscenses of dressing up as super heroes. Reminiscing and angst interrupted
by Ed showing up, alone, to pass the case to the Winchesters and make a
confession. The Thinman is fake. Harry was going to leave the Ghostfacers with
his girlfriend who declared the whole thing ridiculous – so Ed faked the Thinman
to give Harry a reason to keep going; and leave his girlfriend. Sam takes the
chance to make a big thing about how Secrets Ruin Relationships (oh you’re
subtle, real subtle there Sam).
Of course, Harry is out there with some kind of killer
which is not advisable so they have to run to the rescue. In the trees, Harry
is ambushed by the Thinman who slashes him – but seems to be considerably less
adept than he was in the past. Harry manages to run, though he’s injured. The
gang finds him and gives him some quick first aid – and some revelations
We now bring you Sam and Dean’s argument. The role of Sam
will be played by Harry (I can’t trust you, you lied to me, our relationship is
shattered), the role of Dean will be played by Ed (I did it for us, for your
own good). The role of drunken, bored watcher will be played by Sparky, who is
rapidly running out of booze. Then Sam and Harry talk about forgiving and being
unable to get past the betrayal, before Dean drags us back to the plot with some
very mundane clues to the killer.
Dean and Sam arrive at the location complete with their
inept deputy contact who attacks them from behind with tasers the minute they
let him get behind them. They wake up tied up (of course. And, yes, Dean makes
a crack at the deputy’s weight and him being the Thinman). And he’s not
supernatural at all – it’s the deputy and his co-murderer in a mask (a waiter
in the diner who we kinda sorta recognise but Sam reminds us just in case).
Their murders are for very petty reasons – the girl wouldn’t date them, his
boss was mean, the sheriff wouldn’t give him time off; and they have a little
rant about how everyone ignores them and how sad it was.
They get ready to slash Dean’s throat, Sam loses his shit
– and there’s a noise at just the right moment. Alas it’s the Ghostfacers –
death may have been preferable and I am out of booze. Day is saved, the end.
What I got to keep going? Damn. The Ghostfacers get captured really easily but while the clowns and the fools were fooling around the Winchesters managed to free themselves. Violence follows and Dean stabs one killer with his own knife – including a cool little moment when Sam gives Dean a “you just killed an actual human being Dean” look. Definitely a moment. And Harry saves Ed’s life shooting the other killer.
Aftermath, Sam and Dean reflect on real people being the
monster for once (“real people are sick.”) And Ed and Harry haven’t just made
up – they repeat the same argument (this time “too many people died because of
your lies.” “I do this for you,” and “no you did this for yourself” and “I can’t
forgive this”) that Sam and Dean had. They drive off – Sam and Dean giving
Harry a lift so he can have a final chance at really unsubtle parallels – this time
the shock of realising someone you thought would always be there now isn’t
there.
I call shenanigans on the cutesey childhood memories! The
whole point of the history of Supernatural, a core element of their character
building is that they didn’t have a home or a normal childhood. Stop forcing
clumsy angst with bad canon.
I have to admire subtle messages in a show. Alas, there
was nothing to admire here. They couldn’t possibly have been more obvious
forcing the Ghostfacers to be a metaphor for Sam and Dean’s relationship, even
having them almost repeat the same argument Sam and Dean had word for word
And it didn’t work for me. Not only because Sam and Dean’s
epic conflict has been building for 9 seasons and the last thing we needed is
having it pantomimed by circus clowns but also because the basic foundation is
broken:
Ed lied to Harry, in doing so he ruined Harry’s life, broke up his relationship and manipulated him into a wild goose chase.
Dean lied to Sam to save Sam’s life from certain death. I’m
not saying all of Dean’s choices and actions were justified, but there isn’t a parallel
between what Ed did and what Harry did
Also I’m tired of Sam and Dean being attacked from behind
and waking up restrained. I know it’s hard not to be repetitive in a 9 season
show but there has to be a limit. Honestly guys, Dean
was ambushed not one episode ago by a guy you let get behind you because you
underestimated him. You’d think in a world of shapeshifters, demon/angelic
possession and you-name-it-we-got-it they’d get past turning their back because
someone seems harmless. And why do all these villains just tie them up then
wait for them to wake up and prepare their escape before trying to kill them –
did they go to the James Bond school of villaindom? Are piranha pools not in
the budget?
