We open with an angry
rage nerd being attacked by a possessed Panthero toy
Yes, it’s going to be
one of THOSE Supernatural episodes where we focus far more on the weird
and whacky than anything deep. And yes, I usually give these episodes a lot of
eye rolls and snark -but honestly, they work. Supernatural can be so mopey at
times, it helps to have something just a little fun and dramatic.
Also Dean laid on his
bed watching horror movies is just adorable. Umf. Also he puts on glasses this
episode. Double Ummmf.
So Dean is lurking in
his bedroom watching endless horror film marathons and generally avoiding
everyone. Sam tries to poke him to encourage him to leave (which comes with
lots of brother snark because Dean will always taunt and poke at Sam because
they’re fun like that) and seeing as Dean is completely unwilling to discuss
his feelings, he dangles this case in front of him
A possessed Thundercat toy is Dean Winchester kryptonite. He’s up and away
They move in, posing
as insurance investigators to learn about the violent toy which focuses on a
comic shop with Stewart the nerd rage who is more than a little annoying. Samantha
who runs the place and is more sensible and aligns closely with Sam and Dirk
who is enthusiastic happy nerd. The three of them run the comic shop, the
previous owner having left it to Sam and Dirk (not Stewart - he was fired for
stealing and it’s apparent the former owner had a big big big thing about
people stealing) who rehired Stewart despite his many many faults because he is
their friend
The episode is very
old school Supernatural - which, again, i like. I like to see the brothers
dealing with evil spirits - these used to be the bread and butter of their work
and it’s nice to come back to it, nice to see them handling this day to day
evil rather than just dealing with the biggest, scariest world destroying
monsters out there. These daily monsters still matter and it’s so much fun to
go back to them,
So we follow the same
paths, tracking down the recently dead, why he has a grudge, figuring out what
cursed object the evil spirit has been attached to - and then burning it,
saving the day and destroying the horror movie villain brought to life in the
process - all alongside Dean’s issues with horror movies and Sam’s issues with
hallowe’en.
It’s a fun Hallowe’en
episode
In the aftermath I
think beyond a fun call back episode we have two elements that are especially
fun:
Dean, in addition to
agreeing to come out of his room more and thanking Sam for giving him what he
needed - a win - but also why he really really likes horror movies. While Sam
calls their daily life a horror movie, Dean likes them because in a horror
movie people win, the big bad is defeated, it’s the certainty of that that he
likes in horror movies. It’s a nice window into his wounds and how much the
losses have cost him
I also really like
how Sam’s issues with Hallowe’en stem from such a normal, mundane, personally
embarrassing disaster. No demon, no deep seated trauma, no horror - just
adolescent humiliation.