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Supernatural: What's Up, Tiger Mommy?

Linda: "What? Like it's my first tattoo?"

Witty and smart, and it never stopped moving. (Boy, you can feel that new showrunner in there, can't you?) And Linda Tram was terrific. She was strong, determined, laugh out loud funny, and prepared to sacrifice her soul for her son. The tattoo scene was priceless, and I loved her punching Crowley in the jaw.

Although the actual plot wasn't terribly strong, there were so many bits that I loved. Like Sam's new reverse exorcism trick. (Poor Eunice. Dean has definitely gotten harder.) Sam taking out Mister Peanut and Mr. Villi with Thor's Hammer was great, and not at all reminiscent of The Avengers. And we got Samandriel the angel in a Wiener Hut uniform, the "FBI audit," Dean checking his supernatural weapons at the door. And Crowley, who not only has his very own distinctive red smoke; he has decided that calling Sam "Moose" and "Samantha" is hilarious, and it sort of is. I also loved the front door scene with Dean and Sam off camera splashing Linda with holy water before she could hug Kevin.


It was sort of ridiculous that the boys thought they had the requisite assets (a Costco membership? really?) to buy the Word of God at an auction where monsters were bidding with dwarven gold, but it was still fun – especially that whole bidding sequence, which I had to transcribe in its entirety for the quotes section below.

And finally, more flashback scenes in Purgatory. I'm still confused about the Purgatory rules. If you kill a monster in Purgatory, like Dean just did, what happens to him? Does his soul vanish, does he go to Hell, or does he just bounce right back to Purgatory? Dean and Castiel were drinking water from the stream; do they need to eat? If so, what? I wish they'd give us some Purgatory rules, because I'm still finding it confusing.

At least we got Castiel back, and if he was really leading the Leviathans away from Dean, then he is still our Castiel and he was trying to make up for his previous mistakes. That last scene with Castiel screaming for Dean did not make me happy. I hate the hints that Castiel is now dead, even if God has already resurrected him numerous times. Can we just have Castiel back, already?

Bits and pieces:

— The title is a take-off of the Woody Allen movie, What's Up, Tiger Lily? which is a Japanese film Allen had dubbed in English with a completely different and ridiculous plot.

— I really liked the idea of Mr. Villi (was that his name?) having safety deposit box number one. No one ever has number one. Although I thought the plot with the bone would have something to do with the plot. It ended up being sort of plot-adjacent.

— The Tran house scenes reminded me of the season three finale, "No Rest for the Wicked," with the demons that looked like normal neighbors surrounding the house. I could swear that was even the same demon mailman.

— What were all of the sigils outside of the auction house? They couldn't have been anti-angel sigils, since Samandriel walked right in the door.

— There are a zillion imitations, knock-offs and forgeries of the Mona Lisa, many created shortly after Da Vinci's lifetime, and some of those Monas are indeed topless.

— The guy who ripped off the God Rock from the bus station was Clem Smedley. Great name.

— This week: Chicago, Illinois (bank vault); Neighbor, Michigan (the Tran house); Laramie, Wyoming (the bus station and auction house). Dean and Sam were agents Neil and Sixx.

— Five-eights of a virgin. I spent some time trying to figure out exactly what that was. I'm still not sure. It was too small to be five-eights of that bank clerk.

Quotes:

Linda: "Prophet of the Lord, huh? It does have a nice ring to it."
My son, the prophet. That was cute.

Linda: "Kevin, average blue book on a 2010 Ferrari F430 Spider?"
Kevin: "$217,000."
Linda: "And the five percent Wyoming tax?"
Sam: "$10,850."

Dean: "You left the Word of God in a diaper bag?"

Beau: "Rest assured that we have a strict no casting, no cursing, no supernaturally flicking the two of you against the wall just for the fun of it policy."
Sam: "Is that right? How'd you manage that?"
Beau: "Well, I am the right hand of a god, after all. Plutus, specifically."
Dean: "Is that even a planet any more?"

Crowley: "Well, if you're going to make an omelet, you're going to have to break some spines."

Crowley: (to Dean) "Listen to Moose, Squirrel."

Dean: "That's Plutus? What is he, god of the candy aisle?"

Samandriel: "I think too much heart was always Castiel's problem."
That was sad. And correct.

Castiel: "I'm perfectly sane. But then again, 94% of psychotics think they're perfectly sane. So I guess we have to ask ourselves, what is sane?"

Beau: "The word of God. Capital G. Very old, very rare."
Crowley: "Three billion dollars."
Dean: "Whoah."
Samandriel: "The Mona Lisa."
Crowley: "The real Mona Lisa. Where she's topless."
Samandriel: "Vatican City."
Crowley: "Alaska."
Beau: "Palin and the Bridge to Nowhere? No thanks."
Crowley: "All right. The Moon."
Dean: "You're bidding the Moon?"
Crowley: "Yeah, I claimed it for Hell. You think a man named Buzz gets to go into space without making a deal?"

I suspect this was a solid three out of four Costco memberships,

Billie
---
Billie Doux has been reviewing Supernatural for so long that Dean and Sam Winchester feel like old friends. Courageous, adventurous, gorgeous old friends.

14 comments:

  1. So they seal up hell for good, what happens to their brother?

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  2. Good point, Anonymous. I always thought the Box isn't actually in Hell. And I do keep waiting for them to bring Adam back, somehow. It's a big dropped thread.

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  3. Great review, Billie! The new show runner's influence is front and centre, for sure.

    Doesn't an average human body have between eight (women) and 10 (men) pints of blood in it? Couldn't the five-eighths of a virgin have been the, erm, liquid remains of that unfortunate bank lady?

    Also, quick question, because I'm having a dumbass moment... If the tattoos that Dean and Sam have on their chests are supposed to keep the demons out, as they told Kevin Tran and his mom, then why are the brothers always using holy water to check for possession whenever they are reunited, or brought back from the dead? I seem to remember them splashing around holy water and bleach last week during the cabin reunion. And didn't Bobby throw holy water on Dean back in season 4/5 when he was resurrected by Cas?

    I'm also not loving the implications about Castiel's demise. I'm wondering, in fact, whether we're going to find out that Dean actually had to sacrifice his winged buddy to pave his way out of Purgatory? That'll suck. Like Dean needs any more emotional baggage, right? Didn't his "what's one more nightmare" speech to Sam after the almost-knifing of Tiger Mom just break your heart? Geez Louise, somebody give that guy a hug!

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  4. I really like this episode. It was funny and touching, fast-paced and focused and I am loving the flashbacks.

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  5. I loved this ep, especially Mama Tran. When she offered up her soul for Kevin, I completely got it, being the mother of an only child--and a boy--myself. I can picture doing the exact same thing! Fierce is motherhood! Dean has become really scary, or he's once again pure hunter. He would have sacrificed Mama to kill Crowley, even though I doubt the DKK could kill the King of Hell. The auction was priceless, literally, for our heroes, who only had common fodder to bid. Cosco membership, LOL! sadly, it appears Dean failed Castiel, but let's wait until the full story is revealed. It doesn't look good for Dean right now on that score, but we know how hard it must have been to fight their way out of Purgatory, and I don't trust Benny one bit. Love, Robin, columnist, Winchester Family Business

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  6. It's the little things which I love about SN, and they're back with a vengeance this season. Crowley's face when Mr Vili offered up his bag of virgin; Dean's face when Crowley offered up his naked Mona Lisa. Priceless!

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  7. Is it wrong that I wanted to see a Mrs. Robinson hook up between Dean and Tiger Mama? The way he kept shooting looks at Sam, you could tell he really thought she was cool. Would be nice to see him with a woman of more substance than boobs.

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  8. I am worried about Dean -- again. Last season, we were shown a guy on the edge who was dulling what he was feeling in way too much alcohol. While I haven't noticed the drinking so much, he is definitely a man with issues. Whatever they are (and I, too, think they have something to do with choices he made in Purgatory), I hope they don't sink him.

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  9. Is it just me, or are we seeing Sam and Dean Season 1 all over again---- except Dean is more Hunter than he has ever been and Sam is more desperate to get out of the "life"? I feel like, line for line, they are having the same conversations.

    btw, Billie- I just found this website.... love your episode reviews! Funny, as well as insightful.

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  10. Just in case anyone has newly found all these lovely reviews, like me, I wanted to add that Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx are the vocalist/frontman and bassist of Motley Crue.

    Also, I am such a geek!, Vili is a brother of Odin. Odin, Vili and Ve are brothers who broke the rule of the Norse giants. The analogous Greek myth has Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades defeating the Titans.

    Thank you so much for your lovely reviews and discussions. It is refreshing in the extreme to find a non-extreme SPN review site. Thank you!

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  11. Thanks, Anonymous, and welcome to the site! It's never too late to comment on anything here.

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  12. Just a thought: Does Sam get to keep the Hammer of Thor? It might come in handy. I'm flashing to Buffy keeping Olaf the troll god's hammer and using it on Glory.

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  13. Myah-myah!

    Also loved Mama Tran. Julie from Friends, right?

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  14. So Crowley owns the moon

    Huh that cool but then how did death move it too open purgatory and why didn't Crowley just move it himself

    Did death borrow it from him cause he wanted Cass drained ???

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