Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

Supernatural: Bad Day at Black Rock

Dean: "I say we hit Vegas. Pull a little Rain Man. You can be Rain Man."

They're three for three. I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. And I thought Dan was going to pass out laughing when Dean took out Kubrick with the remote control.

Like all good Supernatural episodes, this one was heavy on the brotherly interaction. Jared Padalecki in particular deserves a lot of credit, because slapstick that good is hard to do. I think this was also the first time that Sam was funnier than Dean. He looked like a four-year-old when he said plaintively, "I lost my shoe."

And Dean was very clever not once but twice: grabbing the foot during the apartment standoff, and tossing it to Bela in the cemetery. It would be tempting to keep the thing, wouldn't it? I was coming up with all kinds of scenarios, although I bet none of them would work for long.

Another new girl. Bela Talbot, not Lugosi, and she's a thief, not a hunter or a demon. Except for the fact that she's an utter bitch, she was beautiful and dangerous, sort of Dean's type. Now there's a girl for each of boys. Except that both Bela and Ruby (Blondie the Demon has a name now) are outright evil, or at the very least, ambiguous. They're antagonists, not love interests. For now, anyway.


Even more interesting than Bela was the return of sociopathic hunter Gordon Walker, who still has a burning desire to kill Sam. I loved Gordon's new partner, Kubrick (Michael Massee), and his painting of Jesus on black velvet that looked like Elvis. The bumper stickers on his RV had me howling. (If you missed them, they're in my "Bits and pieces" section.)

Unfortunately, I don't think Kubrick has much in the way of life expectancy. As I'm sure we all remember, Gordon doesn't do well with partners.

Bits and pieces:

— Apparently, we're going to be getting movie titles for episode titles this season. There was the name "Kubrick" as well. And Bela Lugosi.

— Lauren Cohan (Bela) was listed as cast, but not Katie Cassidy. It must be a "listed when you play" sort of deal. We also saw Bobby, but only briefly and on the phone.

— Ben Edlund wrote this episode. He also wrote one of my favorite episodes of Angel (and hands-down the funniest), "Smile Time."

— Sam already told Dean that Ruby was a demon. I didn't expect that. I thought he'd keep it from him.

— It was confirmed that Sam doesn't have powers or visions any more. But apparently, he's still the Antichrist. Or antichrist-like. Or in line for the throne.

— Bela had a super Ouija board. Which was how she found the rabbit's foot.

— Dean kept John's phone. That made sense. As did the storage locker. Where else would you keep all your stuff when you live on the road?

— Dean did "What's in the box" again, but much less Brad Pitt.

— Death by barbecue fork. Shuddery. It looked like a serpent's tongue. It was even red. Good touch there.

— This week: Queens, New York. and Black Rock, which is apparently somewhere outside of Buffalo.

— In this week's hair report, Sam's is getting rather long and flippy, which will only encourage Dean to keep calling Sam a girl.

— Kubrick's bumper stickers were: "How would Jesus drive?" "Bethlehem or Bust," and my favorite, "Don't make me come down there. –God."


Quotes:

Sam: "Hello? Yes, this is Edgar Cayce."

Kubrick: "Don't play with my Jesus."

Sam: "Whoever broke in here got tagged."
Dean: "Dear old Dad."

Sam: "That's my division championship soccer trophy. I can't believe he kept this."
Dean: "It was about the closest you ever came to being a boy. Oh, wow. My first sawed-off. I made it myself. Sixth grade."

Kubrick: "What do you like? I got canned everything."

Creedy: "We didn't even have to touch you. You just went all spastic and knocked yourself out. It was like watching Jerry Lewis try to stack chairs."

Dean: "I'm Batman."

This was such a four,

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

5 comments:

  1. A total winner for me! I could not stop laughing, Ben Edlund is a genius! From now on, his episodes rock!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This episode was hilarious! I was also really excited that they went to Black Rock, because I'm from Buffalo. Black Rock is pretty sketchy, and it's right by the old (supposedly haunted) psychiatric hospital...so totally worthy of being on Supernatural!

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Sam Winchester must die." This quote opened and closed the show. Pretty dark, actually.

    Everything that came in between, however, was some of the funniest things I have ever seen on a television screen. Good slapstick is very hard to do, but both the boys pulled it off. My favourite bit was the photo at the restaurant. The expressions on their faces made me cry with laughter.

    Bela may be a thief and a real piece of work, but I kind of liked her chutzpah. Her face in the car and Dean's reaction when she steals the lottery tickets was worth the price of admission. I, too, have picked up on the fact that we are three episodes in and each of the boys seems to have found a girl. Will be interesting to see how that dynamic may change things.

    I liked how John had kept a momento from the boys' childhood. A sawed off from sixth grade? Too funny.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Loved it. I burst out laughing for "I lost my shoe." Sam looked so sulky.

    I hope Kubrick does have a short life expectancy, because he freaks me out. Religious zealotry + proficiency with weapons = BAD

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my god, I had no idea that my darling Ben Edlund - who has, by far, written some of the best SPN episodes in the whole series - had also written my absolute favorite Angel episode. That is so cool, thanks for that fact :)

    Fun fact 1: The final Sam and Dean scene in the cemetery, when Dean realizes what happened to the lottery tickets, it was just supposed to be a fade-to-black of the boys staring at each other. Jensen completely improvised the throwing-his-arms-up and saying "Son of a bitch!". If you watch closely, Jared is smiling because he didn't expect it.

    Fun fact 2: After more than ten years of this show, Jared still insists that his all time favorite one-liner is "I lost my shoe." I personally adore the way he said it. Jensen is clearly not the only one with great comedic chops and timing here.

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.