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Supernatural: Fan Fiction

Marie: "The whole author inserting themselves into the narrative thing? It's just not my favorite. I kind of hate the meta stories."
Dean and Sam: "Me, too."

I know that not everyone loves the meta episodes. But is there any other show that can get away with re-imagining their macho all-guy monster-killing tour de force as an all-girl musical?

There was a lot to love about this 200th episode. It was an outright love letter to the fans, and all of the little references to the past were quite touching: Harvelle's, the scarecrow, "Hell House," Ghostfacers, Castiel with his cell phone waiting on the road for Dean to need him. I especially liked the trunk POV shot with "We got work to do," a direct callback to the closing shot of the pilot episode.

And there were some bits I just adored. Like Dean giving Marie a concise summary of what happened in the past four seasons after "Swan Song," Sam all perturbed because he hadn't been slash fictioned with Castiel, and Sam and Dean fighting the scarecrow onstage behind the emotional musical number, all wonderful. And I especially loved it when Dean embraced the whole thing and started giving the cast a pep talk on subtext.

But honestly, some of it was a bit too cringe-inducing meta, even for a huge fan of the show like me. I found the first two musical numbers (especially the single man tear) a little embarrassing, and I'm glad they didn't get to the robots and space tentacles. But the girls doing "Carry On, Wayward Son" actually made me cry a single womanly tear, the ending with the scarecrow exploding purple goo all over the audience was hilarious, and I especially liked that no one died for a change, because somebody always dies.

With all the references to the books and "Carver Edlund," I should have expected Chuck to show up at the end. But I didn't, and it was a lovely surprise. Although I've resisted the idea, the producers and writers of this show keep referring to Chuck as God, so I guess he is. And you know, the Samulet was originally supposed to lead the boys to God, and it sort of just did. Dean hanging it from the rear view mirror as the boys continued on the road was pretty much perfect.

Is there a deeper meaning to this episode? Maybe it's just that Supernatural is a class act. It still resonates because it has an emotional center in Dean and Sam. The show writers never forget what it's about. That's why I'm still reviewing it, ten years later.

Bits and pieces:

— "Then" was a single typed page with "Supernatural: Pilot, created by Eric Kripke." The title card was the word "Supernatural" in lights. And then they gave us nearly all of the opening title cards, including the special ones. (Thanks to the Supernatural wiki title card page for this one).


— The saddest moment in the episode was that mention of Adam Winchester still trapped in the box with Lucifer, and a shot of the boys' faces. They haven't forgotten. They just can't do anything about it.

— Marie and Maeve are kids, yes, but how could anyone look at J and J and think they're too old? (I also liked that Marie wanted Dean to be Sam, and Maeve wanted Sam to be Dean. Very cute.)

— And BTW, gold acting stars for Katie Sarife as Marie. I also loved Joy Regullano as Maeve. They were terrific.

— The villain, the muse Calliope, was only briefly in the episode, although she certainly looked cool and I liked the flowers. The scarecrow was effective, too. Loved Marie's totally non-scary version of the scarecrow.

— No Misha Collins or Mark Sheppard in this one. But there really wasn't room.

— Jared is finally out of his sling. I hope he's feeling better.

— This week: Flint, Michigan. The boys were both "Special Agent Smith," no relation. Die Hard reference.

— "Supernatural200thEpisode" was still trending on Twitter this morning. That's awesome.

Quotes, and this is a long one:

Mrs. Chandler: "Why couldn't they just do Godspell like good little skanks? Instead, it's this awful, unbelievable horror story. Like that stuff really happens. Theater is about life, truth. Where is the truth in Supernatural?"

Sam: "Oklahoma? Hugh Jackman got cast off Oklahoma."
Dean: "You ran tech, Wolverine."
Sam: "Shut up."

Dean: "There is no singing in Supernatural!"
Maeve: "This is Marie's interpretation."
Dean: "Well, I mean, if there was singing, you know, and that's a big if, if there was singing, it would be classic rock. Not this Andrew Floyd Webber crap."
Sam: "Andrew Lloyd Webber."

Dean: "I don't blame her. I'm gonna need fifty Jell-O shots and a hose down to get this stink off me."

Dean: "What are they doing?"
Marie: "Oh, they're rehearsing the BM scene."
Dean: "The bowel movement scene?"
Marie: "No, the boy melodrama scene. You know, the scene where the boys get together and they're driving or leaning against Baby, drinking a beer, sharing their feelings. The two of them, alone but together. Bonded. united, the power of their…."
Dean: "Why are they standing so close together?"
Marie: "Uh, reasons."
Dean: "You know they're brothers, right?"
Marie: "Well, duh. But subtext."
Dean: (to the actors) "Why don't you take a substep back there, ladies?"

Dean: "There's no space in Supernatural."
Marie: "Well, not canonically, no. But this is transformative fiction."

Dean: "You wrote your own ending? With spaceships?"
Marie: "And robots. And some ninjas. And then Dean becomes a woman."

Marie: "We do explore the nature of Destiel in act two."
Dean: "Sorry, what?"
Marie: "It's just subtext. But then again, you can't spell 'subtext' without S E X."
(Jensen breaks the fourth wall and looks directly at the camera.)

Marie: (putting on a Sam wig that looks exactly like her own hair) "I used this for my one-woman Orphan Black show last year. Writer, director, actor, I'm gonna Barbra Streisand this bitch."

Dean: "I want you to put as much sub into that text as you possibly can. There is no other road, no other way, no day but today."
Maeve: "Did he just quote Rent?"
Marie: "Not enough to get us in trouble."

Calliope: "Supernatural has everything. Life, death, resurrection, redemption, but above all, family. All set to music you can really tap your toe to. It isn't some meandering piece of genre dreck. It's epic."

Supernatural is indeed epic. Ten years later, and I still love this show because it does episodes like this one. Four out of four Samulets,

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

21 comments:

  1. Leaving space so the first three words aren't spoilers...


    SAMULET!

    CHUCK!

    ADAM!

    And somehow setting it in a girls' school worked!

    And Greek myth! (Sort of).

    I was happy.

    I wondered if the reference to Adam at the end was an indication that they might do something about that this season. Dean mentioned being a Knight of Hell and Crowley is a regular, and Cas once managed get, well, part of Sam out so... I may be wrong, but there was so much emphasis on that moment, I'm hoping it's an indication of future storylines.

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  2. I agree about the songs too, though The Road So Far grew on me. I'm hoping the lyrics were intentionally terrible. The Carry On Wayward son cover was good though.

    And I got the same feeling when they said Dean and Sam were too old that I get when I tell my students powerpoint didn't exist when I was at uni...

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  3. Yes, I hope that mention was a hint that they might resolve the Adam situation this season.

    And btw, Variety has a terrific (and, warning, *VERY* long) interview of practically everyone about the entire ten seasons of the show. Excellent read.

    http://variety.com/2014/tv/spotlight/supernatural-oral-history-200-episodes-ackles-padalecki-kripke-1201352537/

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  4. The perfect episode. Virtually everytime they do a meta-episode they knock it out of the park. There's so much fan nonsense to take the piss out of, the opportunity for jokes is never ending. I think all the songs were written to sound corny. How can a musical with a robot finale be serious? My favourite episode of the season so far, and I wouldn't be surprised if I'm still saying that when the season ends.

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  5. Thanks for the link Billie!

    By the way, do you think it's significant that the same actress plays Castiel and Adam, or did they just run out of actresses who could sing?!

    (sorry for monopolising the comments. I did blog it, mainly so my thought spewing could be restrained elsewhere!)

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  6. And here's Juliette's spewing. :)

    http://www.popclassicsjg.blogspot.com/2014/11/supernatural-fan-fiction.html

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  7. You're so sweet to post the link Billie thank you :) I don't feel right posting links to my posts all over other people's comments. But for some reason Supernatural always seems to produce massive, epic streams of consciousness that in this case took up the entire afternoon...!

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  8. I haven't watched SPN for about a year, but I tuned in for this episode and was delighted, especially by the last 30 seconds. Hooray!

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  9. When Marie mentioned "Carry On My Wayward Son" I was hoping we'd hear it. And when they sang it, someone started chopping onions in my apartment. I was expecting to hate the episode, but I was laughing out loud throughout, and it might be one of my favorite episodes ever.

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  10. Thank you for the tip on the Varity article, it was long but excellent. I need Wayward Son playing on a continuous loop in the background.

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  11. I always, always, LOVE the meta-episodes - this was no exception.
    From start to finish Supernatural Gold, no platinum!
    Really hoping we'll see Adam and Chuck again, 'cause I HAD forgotten about Adam.

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  12. I also stopped watching SPN near the end of last year --- I had the final 2-3 episodes on my DVR forever and never felt compelled to watch them, so I decided it was time to let go --- but I decided to check this one out. A 200th episode is pretty momentous, after all. :)

    I'm glad I watched. This was a really enjoyable outing and reminded me of the show I used to love. I particularly loved Sam's and Dean's initial reactions to discovering the production, and the 'Carry on my Wayward Son' moment. It was a really nice touch to have 'Mary,' 'John,' and 'Bobby' as the featured singers for that one, and the looks on Sam's and Dean's faces did make me choke up a bit. I still hope there is peace when they are done, even though I'm done traveling the road with them.

    The actress playing Marie reminded me of Elizabeth Moss. I think it was mostly the short hair and the beret, but sometimes her inflections and facial expressions really made me think of Peggy Olson.

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  13. Everytime they do a meta-episode, I go through the same stages. Everytime.

    "Oh no, please not another meta-episode. I hate meta-episodes."
    "See! This is why I hate meta-episodes, they always make those unfunny/embarrassing/lame/awkward/cringeworthy/lame/stupid jokes! Did I say lame?"
    "Okay, that's pretty funny, but I doesn't change the fact that I hate meta-episodes."
    "Maybe this episode will not be so bad after all... Which doesn't mean I like it!"
    ...
    "Okay, I'll admit it (just once, and while I'm alone): That was really cool! I still hate meta-episodes, but not this one. This one was great."

    So yeah, I hate Supernatural meta-episodes. Except the ones I've watched (i.e. all of them).

    Anyway, I really loved the girls singing "Carry on my wayward son". I was a bit afraid that it would sound weird, but the second it started I was speechless. It was perfect.

    And when Marie, talking about the mysterious elbow on the side of my screen, said "Does that mean that Calliope came for me or for...?" I completely fell into fangirl-mode, bouncing on my seat and muttering "ChuckChuckChuckChuckChuckCHUCK!!!!".
    I love the guy.

    And I love this show.

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  14. Fantastic! I loved every moment of this, even the corny songs. I thought the "Carry On" cover was gorgeous and, for the first time in a while, I listened to the lyrics. I had forgotten how perfect they are for this show.

    But, that final shot of Chuck actually made me well up. What a great way to end this great episode.

    Finally -- congratulations, Billie on 200 reviews. No mean feat, my friend!

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  15. Yes - congratulations on 200 reviews Billie - that is also epic! This episode was fantastic. Almost every show I love/have loved ends up doing a musical episode and how clever was it for Supernatural to do it this way? I laughed out loud at the corny songs and like many had a tear in my eye over 'Wayward Son'. Just a whole lot of fun and memories.

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  16. Thanks so much! But technically, it's 199 because Sunbunny subbed for me while I was moving from the west coast to the east coast last March. :)

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  17. I love musical episodes done right and this one was almost perfect. Buffy`s musical was fantastic, Xena' s musical was sublime (except for Gabrielle's dubbed singing) and Grey's Anatomy was.....horrible. This SPN musical makes me cry and laugh and feel so many things, it's wonderful. Like Swan Song, it tugs on every heart string.

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  18. Mallena, you may also want to check out the Scrubs musical. =)

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  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  20. The Scrubs musical had some good moments (guy love, not gay song)but the series as a whole was too silly for me so I didn't watch it that much. I did watch the musical episode when it first aired because I saw it promoted and gave it a try. I wish we could all just burst into song in public like they did in My Best Friend's Wedding. That would be so great.

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  21. congrats on such a high number of reviews Billie :)

    so episode 200 just watched it last night

    I loved so much about this episode

    Use of all the previous title cards
    The boys face where they saw what was going on was priceless
    Deans summary of events after swan song
    ghostfacers
    way the show mentioned adam is still around :D
    My question is though Cass said chuck is dead and that is why Kevin was a prophet as can only have one at a time. so as chuck is alive I take it the show is going to have him chuck is God route. I am fine with that as I like chuck but then bit of a retcon unless he has always been god and was hiding it.

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