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Supernatural: Hollywood Babylon

McG: "Brad, this is a horror movie."
Brad: "And who says horror has to be dark?"

This is the sort of tongue-in-cheek satire that is very difficult to do well. They did it very, very well. The in-jokes were so thick on the ground that you could trip over them.

There was nothing about this episode that I didn't love. The urban legends about haunted sets, particularly the famous ones. McG as the maniacal, smarmy director. The wonderful Gary Cole as the obnoxious studio suit. I particularly loved how Marty the writer kept stealing the genuine horror stuff from the boys and putting it in the movie. I bet the cast and crew had fun doing this one. Plus, this must have been the easiest location shoot they've ever done.

Dean was so much fun. He was absolutely in his element. In record time, he knew everybody's name, what they did, and where everything was. He was a fabulous PA, he got to have sex with a movie star, and his obsession with the food was a hoot.


And I loved his encyclopedic knowledge of every bad horror movie ever made. I love Dean. I really, truly do.

Bits and pieces:

— "From the producers of Cornfield Massacre, Monster Truck, and the director of Charlie's Angels, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, and Hell Hazers, comes a new experience in terror!" At the bottom of the green rating screen, it said, "This film is not yet rated. Also not yet written, cast, shot, edited or scored."

— Dean did a pretty good imitation of one of Bruce Willis' lines in Die Hard.

— I thought the naked black and white ghost with the neck wound was startling. The guy with half his head missing was cool, too. Good effects.

— This week, we went to "Los Angeles." And of course, the boys masqueraded as PAs.

— The studio tour passed the set where they filmed Gilmore Girls. (I know, not real, make believe.) Jared Padalecki was in Gilmore Girls as a character named Dean.

Note from later: In the The Very Special Supernatural Special that aired in October 2014, we were told that the questions and comments from the Gary Cole character were all real ones the Supernatural producers received from above. I absolutely loved that.


Quotes:

Sam: "Dude, you wanted to come to L.A."
Dean: "Yeah, for vacation. I mean, swimming pools and movie stars, not to work."
Sam: "Does this seem like swimming pool weather to you, Dean? I mean, it's practically Canadian."

Sam: "They're saying the set's haunted."
Dean: "Like Poltergeist?"
Sam: "Could be a poltergeist."
Dean: "No, no, no. The movie Poltergeist. You know nothing of your cultural heritage, do you?"

Dean: "What's a PA?"
Sam: "I think they're kinda like slaves."

Marty: "Jay, the poor bastard killed himself, like, for real. Shouldn't we shut it down or something?"
Jay: "We had a moment of silence for him at breakfast."

Marty: "I'm not married to salt. What do you want? We still sticking with condiments?"

Dean: "It's like Three Men and a Baby all over again. (Sam looks blank) Selleck, Danson and Guttenberg. And... I don't know who played the baby."

Sam: "Maybe the spirits are trying to shut down the movie because they think it sucks."

Marty: "You are one hell of a PA."
Dean: "Yeah. I know."

Marty: "I cannot believe there's an afterlife."
Dean: "There's an afterlife, all right. But mostly it's a pain in the ass."

No real deeper meaning. But this one was as funny as "Tall Tales," and I didn't think that was possible. Four stars,

Billie
---
Billie Doux adores Supernatural which is a good thing since apparently, it's eternal.

6 comments:

  1. Although I love Ben Edlund, I think these first ones are a bit weaker. In fact, I think he starts to really be brilliant after season 3 (including season 3). My problem with this one is that for me Dean is too happy here, it feels a bit out of character.
    My favourite scene is Dean eating again and Tara´s weird screaming.

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  2. There is a great part in this episode where someone walks by Dean and Sam with a clothes rack that appears to have their wardrobe--their classic coats and shirts. They both turn their heads to look.

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  3. Very funny. Nice to have something light after the sob-fest of "Heart". I loved the Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (Green Peppers) at the end as the boys "walk into the sunset". The folks who pick the music always seem to get it just right.

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  4. Being that I was a huge Gilmore Girls fan in middle/high school, I loved the nod to Jared's previous role (as Dean! haha).

    Based on the recommendation of a friend and the Billie Doux love it gets, I started watching Supernatural this year to fill the void left by a massive Buffy/Angel re-watch-a-thon. I am really loving the second season of this show! It has gotten so interesting that it doesn't feel like a replacement anymore, I'm genuinely invested in it.

    Random side note, the plot of the movie being filmed in this episode reminded me of Cabin in the Woods.

    Another random side note, my pet rats are the nephews of a rat that was on this show (from a later season I've yet to see...she said something about a finger?). I didn't think much of it when the animal trainer I got them from mentioned it, but now I think it's pretty awesome.

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  5. Jessica, LOL. I have *never* gotten a comment before about someone's rats being related to a rat on the show. Or anyone's animal being related to an animal on the show. Wonderful comment. And I'm so glad you tried -- and are enjoying -- Supernatural. :)

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  6. It's a testament to the show that I picked up on the bad acting and bad dialogue in the cold open and realised it was a film or TV show being shot before the reveal. And it's a testament to the improvement in their Latin that I understood Walter's last imprecation, calling 'all' the spirits to him (though 'all' turned out to be just three of them).

    I love episodes like this, and this was a really good one. Because I'm weird, I prefer season one to season two overall but this was a good 'un - and I like happy Dean. The boys need to be a bit more cheerful a bit more often. They've referenced Buffy several times - she was frequently upbeat in the face of total disaster! (OK, not always. But often).

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