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Supernatural: #thinman

"A demon that likes to stab and watch YouTube. Why not."

A serious Ghostfacers episode? Nooooooooooooooo!

Okay, I'm bummed, but not as bummed as that made me sound. Because of course, the writers chose to use Ed and Harry, supernatural partners extraordinaire, to illustrate what was going on with Dean and Sam.

Ed and Harry have been together for a long time and have stuck together through thick and thinman. Lies were what tore them apart, and who does that remind you of? Of course, what Dean did was to save Sam's life, while Ed caused several deaths in the pursuit of fame, but the end result was the same. Harry nearly died because of what Ed did, and Sam didn't die because of what Dean did. Wait a minute. Maybe there is a significant bit of difference here.

For awhile I was thinking that Ed and Harry were nowhere near as scaredy-cat as they used to be, and the episode would end with the two of them actually becoming hunters. But no. At least Harry didn't die, and for a few moments, I thought he would. Ed was seriously ready to step back and throw the case to the Winchesters, which was a smart thing to do. Oh, well. It makes me sad that the Ghostfacers are no more.

It seemed like the Thinman was going to turn out to be like the internet-created evil thing in season one's "Hell House" – but no. It was a couple of very nasty human beings, not monsters. That didn't stop Dean for a second. It actually creeped me out, watching Dean slowly and deliberately stabbing one of the bad guys. Guess Dean doesn't feel the least bit of reluctance when it comes to human monsters, either.

The Dean/Sam coldness briefly warmed up a little. I loved the story of Sam as Batman jumping off the shed, and Dean as Superman taking him to the hospital on his handlebars. Sam was reminiscing and having a good time with it.

And then he turned himself off like a faucet. Come on, Sam. Get over it.

Bits:

— All the talk about selfies lately, and the opener was a haunted selfie. Before the blood, of course.

— This week: Springdale, Washington. The guys had a motel room with brown decor and an extremely tacky lumberjack motif.

— We're getting another break, but it's only for a week. The next episode is March 18.

Quotes:

Harry: "Fifty shades of way too much protein."

Harry: "The lore says Thinman hangs out by trees, and the woods is where trees hang out."

Harry: "Quit raining on my rainbow."
Ed: "Rainbows can't happen without rain."
Harry: "Don't try to use science with me."

Dean: "This all sounds like bad times at Bitchmont High."

Sam: "Trust me here. Secrets ruin relationships."

Harry: "You crashed the Jenga tower of our lives."

Sam: "So this thing teleported, but it has a job and a car?"

Dean: "So you're Thinman, huh? That would make sense if it didn't look like you just ate a fat camp."

Ed: "I know you're not Thinman. You're just a me-me."
Harry: "Ed, it's pronounced 'meme'."
Ed: "It's spelled 'me me', though."
Harry: "The second e is silent."

Another good one. Three out of four Jenga towers,

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

11 comments:

  1. I thought the parallels between the Ghostfacers and the Winchesters were too heavy handed. They really knocked us over the head with the whole thing, like they didn't trust the audience enough to make the connection without their help. Stuff liked that frustrates me.

    I really did expect Harry and Ed to back together by episode's end, softening Sam to the idea of forgiving Dean. Again, I think what Dean did to Sam was wrong but understandable and that Sam has every right to be angry with Dean but c'mon this is getting dull. I'm sorry.

    I'm sad the Ghostfacers had to end this way (if they are really over forever), but I suppose it's better than one of them dying. I'm still amazed at how these two lovable goofballs have out lived every.single.character on the show. Sam and Dean have died multiple times, but Ed and Harry? Not once.

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  2. sunbunny, I'm with you; towards the end of the episode I told my friend "The writers are hitting us on the head with a sledgehammer here."

    Overall, I enjoyed the episode, but I feel like the writers dropped the ball when it came to explaining how "Thinman" got into the girl's closet in the first scene. I guess he must have gone in there when the lights first went out, but how could he have known she'd hide in there rather than flee from the bedroom. Oh well.

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  3. To be honest, I was expecting a bit more of the 'beat the brotherly conflict into us' than what we got. It was only really super evident in the final scene where Harry echoes Sam's words about "No...you did this for yourself."

    On the whole, though, this was a fun little romp that took a very serious turn. Who knew the Ghostfacers could move me to tears? (Okay, so I did't actually cry, but the point still stands!) Are Ed and Harry the only characters aside from The Winchesters to survive all the way from Season 1?

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  4. While the parallels between the two pairs of men were obvious, I thought that the episode was well done in terms of showing the boys, more than us, where they are. By having a mirror to their relationship, Sam and Dean were able to see themselves from outside their emotions. It worked.

    The memory of the Batman incident (no surprise it ends with Dean taking care of Sam -- again!), the look on Sam's face when he believes that Roger might actually kill Dean, and the final scene with the empty rocking chair were all cracks in the ice between the Brothers Winchester.

    Sam is hanging on to his anger, but Dean continues to be passive-aggressive as evidenced by the opening scene between the two. I've said before that this conflict can't be resolved too easily. I believe that we saw the first signs of their coming back together this week. It wasn't much, but it felt right.

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  5. Finally got to see this one! I agree that the parallels were a bit too heavy-handed, but I also agree with Chris that it was more about a chance for the brothers to see their situation from the outside and to start the thawing process. And, as before, I agree with Chris that I don't want this resolved too quickly. "Get over it" just doesn't work for me in this case.

    I really liked that this situation seemed to give Dean a chance to see the effect of the "you did this for you" situation on Harry. I know that Ed faking the Thinman wasn't exactly the same thing as Dean bringing Sam back, but both Dean and Ed altered the course of their partners' lives through manipulation and deception, and both prioritized their own need to have Sam/Harry by their side over what Sam/Harry wanted or needed. I honestly think that if Dean could recognize and acknowledge the selfish aspect of what he did --- and openly discuss it with Sam instead of being all passive-aggressive --- that it would go a long way toward Sam being able to let go of the anger and being able to forgive. With Dean still hanging on to the "I did the right thing!" or "I did it for the right reasons!" and treating Sam like he should just "get over it," I can see why Sam would have trouble moving forward.

    I also think the Superman story was a nice beat to get Sam to a better understanding of Dean's perspective and reasons. While Dean needs to admit to the selfishness of his actions, Sam needs to recognize and accept that Dean wasn't really capable of making a different choice, because his whole life has been about protecting Sam. I'm glad we're taking baby steps to hopefully get both of them to true understanding and acceptance of each other's perspectives, so that maybe we can finally break the cycle of break ups.

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  6. This situation between Sam and Dean is way too serious and deep to " just get over it." As badly as I want to see them reconcile, Dean must comprehend where Sam is coming from--Sam wants control over his own body, his own destiny. Until Dean agrees to that, there will be no acceptance or forgiveness between them. I don't blame Sam for wanting this. On the other hand, John handed baby Sam into Dean's arms while Mary burned on the ceiling, making Dean feel forever responsible for keeping Sam alive. Dean needs to let that go. They're both grown men now, time to hand the reigns for Sam's destiny over to Sam, Dean. Love, Robin

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  7. I liked the clever homage to the Slender Man phenomenon/meme - I wonder how many people looked that up for the first time after watching this episode...and also went down the rabbit's hole into the Something Awful forums haha.

    I also loved that they used "This House Is A Hotel" by The Wind + The Wave during the selfie scene scene when she notices that there appears to be someone standing behind her in one of the photos, the song really added to the eerieness in a weird way, kind of like in Silence of the Lambs when the girl is singing Tom Petty's "American Girl" before being abducted.

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  8. I liked the story and I like serious Ghostfacers stuff (the season 3 found footage one is one of my all time favourite episodes) but I thought the parallel really didn't work. Making a dubious choice to save someone's life is so incredibly far from being the same thing as lying to someone in order deliberately to destroy their engagement and prevent them from getting a good job that I felt like what Sam should really have taken from this was that what Dean did, however selfish and irresponsible, was much, much more forgivable than what Ed did. And dressing Ed a bit like Dean and Harry a bit like Sam was really unnecessary!

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  9. I really enjoyed this episode, I realized from the Casey murder something about it clued me in that it was a human. which I was fine with as it is interesting that not everything the boys fight is supernatural. also dean pointing out they were doing a scream thing was cool. I agree at the end the Harry and Ed parallel to Dean and Sam was a bit in the face. It saddens me to see this conflict between the boys but I am glad it isn't just being resolved quickly. the superman/batman story was a nice little break of how they use to be. hopefully we will get more and Sam will forgive dean

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  10. The way it was pronounced (although not in the captions), I think it was "whey too much protein..."

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  11. I just finished watching it and I honestly didn't care for this episode because ghostfacers have always irritated me. However, I was moved by the end moment when what's his bucket commented that he thought that he and Ed would grow old together on the rocking chair porch...that made me sad because I thought even if the Winchester boys weren't fighting, that they probably wouldn't live long enough to be old men on a porch somewhere because of the hunting life. The porch thought also reminded me bizarrely of How I Meet Your Mother episode in which Lily talks about the front porch test.

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