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Town to town, two lane roads
The family biz… two huntin’ bros.
Living the lie just to get by…
As long as we’re movin’ forward,
There’s nothing we can’t do…
Together, we’ll face the day.
You and I won’t run away.
When the demons come out to play,
Together we’ll face the day.
Recently I’ve been thinking about how far Supernatural has come over the last four and 1/3 seasons. When the show was still in development, it was basically just a fresh take on the tired out crime procedural. Instead of the usual cops and robbers, it was two brothers and monsters.
Watching this week’s Supernatural really highlighted how far the show has come. Take the Trickster. A “fun” guy to go back to from time to time, a sort of old friend character that many shows have, one you can turn sometimes for a good story and throwback to the past.
But leave it to Kripke and Co. to weave what was a monster-of-the-week into part of the show’s greater mythology.
And again, a fun episode with lots of laughs, but still furthered the plot. Whether or not this 5th season will be the show’s last, Supernatural has grown so much that it could easily end a successful and fulfilling run or just as easily move forward and still churn out an hour of enjoyable, excellent television each week.
Let’s start with the serious stuff first. The Trickster Gabriel, the archangel telling the bros this has always been their destiny. Gabriel loves his father, loves his brothers, but he couldn’t stand seeing them tear each apart. So he carved his own little world out on Earth until the boys showed up. Sam and Dean say it doesn’t have to be this way. The world doesn’t have to be over, but all Gabriel wants is to just stop the infighting. There’s no stopping this. It isn’t just about a war, it’s about two brothers loving each other and then betraying each other.
“As it is in heaven, so it must be on Earth.”
Michael the big brother, loyal to an absent father. Lucifer, the little brother, rebellious of daddy’s plan. Sound familiar?
Ol’ Gabe says one brother has to kill the other. All the angels knew this is what it would all come to from the moment God, dear ol’ dad, flipped the switch on Earth. So will it all really come down to them fighting to the death? Stay tuned.
But now the important stuff… The spoofs!
First up… Dr. Sexy M.D., a show Dean is obviously a huge fan of. Not only that, he’s got a huge crush on Dr. Sexy.
Now Thursdays at 9pm have always been crowded for me. And even if it wasn’t, Grey’s Anatomy wouldn’t be the kind of show I’d be interested in, so even with my basic knowledge of the show, all the stuff at Seattle Grace Mercy Hospital was fun. We’ve seen the bros with different disguises before, but it was fun seeing them in the full doctor’s getup. Those “Seriously?”s and the slaps and the other lines went right over my head, but amusing nonetheless. Plus Sam playing doctor with Dean on the operating table was fun and that music… is that really how it’s done on Grey’s? Man… Haha.
Dr. Ellen Pompeo Piccolo!
And how could they do a Grey’s Anatomy-spoof without making reference to their deal ol’ dad Jeffrey Dean Morgan. And thanks to Shonda Rhimes and Co., the ghost in Katherine Heigl’s head fits in very perfectly on Supernatural.
Next up… the Japanese Game Show. NUTCRACKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They seem to have gotten very popular over the years here in the States. First ABC creates a whole reality show about it, then The Amazing Raceuses them as the subject of the very first Road Block this season.
Sam getting knocked in the nuts… more fun!
But it doesn’t stop there. We go to commercial, but no wait… it’s a commercial for Herpexia. And poor Sam has to play the role of a genital herpes sufferer.
“And we now return to Supernatural!”
The sitcom. While hilarious take on the traditional laughtrack sitcom, it would’ve been more awesome spoofing The Office or 30 Rock, the show’s direct timeslot competitors. They did Grey’s, CSI is coming up, would’ve been great spoofing the NBC comedies too.
And we get to probably the best spoof and the best performances by Jared and Jensen, CSI. Though they got the music and actual look of CSI original flavor (like seriously, it looked like Jared and Jensen were on corporate big sister CBS and on an actual episode of CSI), the boys had to do their best David Caruso impression from CSI: Miami. And while Jensen was commendable, Jared was spot on. Hilarious.
The Knight Rider sequence really was all for the Impala getting to dress up as KITT, which was all kinds of awesome. The Impala in the same league as KITT in the TV automobile hall of fame.
The opening theme song was epic enough, but overall the episode was awesomely fun and kept us all in check that yes, it’s still the end of the world. Good stuff and Jared and Jensen once again show how versatile they are that they can go from brooding to slapstick to emo to comedy to drama at the drop of a hat. Bravo all.
And lastly, as much as I love me some San Francisco 49ers, boo to the CW Bay Area having to pre-empt Supernatural and airing it next Saturday instead of Thursday to make room for the non-cable broadcast of the Thursday night game. So heads up Bay Area Supernatural fans! The show will not air next Thursday, but next Saturday, November 14 at 8pm as Vampire Diaries takes over the 9pm slot immediately following the Niners game. They couldn’t have scheduled Supernatural at 10:30 after the news at least?