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Supernatural: Peace of Mind

"Double hockey sticks?"

Very Pleasantville, with a touch of Back to the Future and of course, a Supernatural twist.

We just lost a whole lot of hunters, and "Peace of Mind" was an effective aftermath episode. Dean seemed to take all that death in stride – his appetite certainly hasn't suffered – but Sam found the bunker a little hard to deal with, and since he'd been a lot closer to those hunters, who could blame him? So he went a little overboard taking his mind off of it by taking on too many cases. Obviously, hunting is not a good pastime if you want to get hunter deaths out of your head. Maybe Sam should go to Tahiti instead. I hear it's a magical place.

Charming Acres was fun: the fifties clothes and attitudes, the soda shop, the boarding house where single women weren't allowed. Honestly, Sam in horn rimmed glasses and a ponytail admonishing Castiel for swearing was worth the price of admission. I also liked the opener in the convenience store with the exploding head, and the very Back to the Future signpost between the radio towers.

Interesting that they never really explained how it happened, where Chip Harrington's power came from. The mill shut down, the world got bad, and Chip Harrington just… wanted it. It worked that the solution was his daughter Sunny who had whatever power Chip had, as well as respect for other people's civil liberties.

But even better was that Castiel saved the day. Castiel has become so human lately, such a good hunter. When Sam succumbed to the spell of Charming Acres and took Justin Smith's place, Castiel came to his rescue, figured out what had happened, and saved Sam. Castiel even kicked butt in his very own fight scene. And I loved how he was describing Sam as the "very tall man with beautiful hair" with his usual deadpan expression. Laugh out loud.

The B plot was Dean sussing out exactly what happened to Jack, who "feels different" now. Fortunately, there was no hemming and hawing, since it was obvious that Jack had burned through his soul to take down Michael; the only question was if anything was left. Sadly, I don't think so.


Visiting Donatello was a good idea, since Donatello is functioning soulless. Although it's clear that he misses it. The scene with Donatello and Jack and the coffee was upsetting. The two of them looked down at the cream spiraling in their (abnormally large) cups of coffee, spinning like a galaxy, and Donatello told Jack that he, Donatello, had a black hole inside, an emptiness – no pity, empathy, humanity. I was hoping we'd get back to What Would Mr. Rogers Do, and we did. "What Would the Winchesters Do" is actually pretty good advice.

Unfortunately, Jack is probably the most powerful being in the universe. More powerful than Chuck, whom Sam mentioned in this episode? More powerful than Amara? Jack is now like a time bomb living in the bunker with the Winchesters, which was metaphored out the wazoo by the snake. Dean and Jack kept trying to find food that would tempt the snake, but Jack finally decided that the problem was insoluble; the snake was missing his dead friend, the Gorgon. I knew there was going to be an unpleasant punchline, and voila. In the final scene of the episode, Jack sent the snake to "heaven" by burning it to ash.

Was this what a Winchester would do? I don't think so.

Bits:

— Dean is still afraid of snakes. I loved the way he was uncomfortable even leaning against the car while the snake was in it.

— Jack was floating pencils. How Willow-like.

— Dean giving Jack his choice of angel food cake or devil's food cake in the car was a bit on the nose, don't you think?

— Did anyone else think that Sam fell under the Charming Acres spell because he ate the food? (Yes, I know it was because Sam needed to escape.)

— Castiel's car was pathetic. Note the huge line of bird crap all over the back window.

— The theater was playing Scooby-Doo. The movie, I assume.

— This week: somewhere in Arkansas. Sam was Agent Scholz and Castiel, Agent Delp. Google told me that's Boston.

Quotes:

Castiel: "I thought you were going to sleep till the cows dragged you home."
Dean: "That's not the… never mind."

Griffin the convenience store guy: "This guy… he comes in looking like he's been running all night, asks for my phone, and he just (explosion noise) went all Scanners."
Castiel: "Was it more Scanners 1, 2 or 3?"

Castiel: "It's like we're stepping into a Saturday Evening Post. (Sam looks at him) I look at them sometimes after you fall asleep at night. They're very soothing."

Castiel: "Maybe they're Mormon?"

Chip: "They said something about… an aneurysm or something?"
Castiel: "Oh, no. His head exploded. Like a ripe melon on the sun."
(Later)
Sam: "Like a ripe melon on the sun?"
Castiel: "It was an apt metaphor."
Sam: "Okay, well, maybe next time try something a little less apt."
And actually, Castiel did. He learns.

Castiel: "I don't know if this is a spell or a curse or what's happened, but you will snap the hell out of it."
Sam: "Sir, you watch your mouth. If we can't remain civil, then you can skedaddle."

Donatello: "I am just the picture of health. Except for my prostate. It's shaped like a papaya."

Chip: "In this town, I'm God."
Sam: "No, you're not. Believe me, we've met God."
Castiel: "God has a beard."

Dean: "How was Arkansas?"
Sam: "Arkansas was... it was weird."
Dean: "Heard you wore a cardigan."
Castiel: "Yeah, I told him about the cardigan."
Sam: "Great. Thanks."
Dean: "And the wife."

Clever and fun, as well as sad. Three out of four hockey sticks,

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. Funny and poignant, and I like it. I believe in Jack. Soul or not, I'm sure Jack is a good guy. Angels can be good, Cas is on our side, not on the side of (other) angels, so grace doesn't make one evil. Plus, Jack has been in Heaven and found the place ok. He met his mom there, for him sending the snake there was a good will gesture.
    Harrington's daughter is a mighty witch who needs education. I wonder what's going to happen with people of Acres now as their mayor is out of the equation. By the way, did he kidnap people from their normal life and made them all his puppets? Are they now going to come to senses and do ... what?























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  2. "By the way, did he kidnap people from their normal life and made them all his puppets?"

    I believe so. Wasn't that what was implied by what was said just before his death by the guy Sam replaced?

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  3. And the woman who played the part of Sam's wife - was she even real?

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  4. I'm pretty sure she was real. Likely a townsperson or someone passing through, like her "husband."

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  5. I'm not sure but wasn't she previously a wife of that man in glasses who remembered cell-phones? Was she that brain-washed that couldn't tell one man from the other? Scary. However, if it was her cherished dream to have a civil-looking husband and in Acres that dream was fulfilled who would blame her for ignoring some small detail!

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  6. Wasn't the choice of angel food vs devils food for the snake? So did that prove that Jack thought the snake was good? He did send the snake to heaven.
    Since when is Dean afraid of snakes and mice?
    There were a few shoutouts to Happy Days too.

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  7. You're probably right about the snake food. :)

    Dean was afraid of snakes in "Yellow Fever."

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  8. "Maybe Sam should go to Tahiti instead. I hear it's a magical place." I laughed.

    I'm not sure about how I feel about this ep, and I don't know why. I very much needed a fun ep so I liked that. I liked the Sam and Cas storyline,the pleasantville vibe, Justin Smith, badass!Cass, but I didn't like the fact that we still don't know what was Harrington's power. Was he a witch? Doesn't seem so. A telekinetic like the one in Hunteri Heroici? What is his power?? Please tell us!

    And I think I didn't really like the Dean/Jack storyline, but why? First, I think Jack should be hanging out with Sam, who actually know how it is to be soulless. Nice to see Donatello but why do you have to travel several hours to have answers you can find home.
    Secondly, since when Dean is so awkward with Jack? The angel/devil cake was.. meh. Really? You are going to take clues about the wellbeing of your adoptive son from a choice between chovolate and cream? I would totally have choose the devil one.
    And at last, I probably needed a more heavy-myth-arc-related episode after the last one, so I was a little disappointed (but it's a SPN classic, to have a funnier/lighter/"filler" ep just before the heavy, terrible, sad end of a season.
    For recap, I wanted to love this ep more than I did, but I still liked it.

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  9. I totally agreed with Castiel in the town (Suspicious).

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  10. I don't think Jack would be as powerful as Chuck or Amara, but they're not in the universe any more, are they? Not this universe, anyway.

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  11. I loved it! But yes I agree about Jack, he's becoming more "clinical " like Sam was when he was Soulless. I loved Dean's reaction to the 🐍. Funny. I think Dean was probably numb after everything they have been through previously and this is why he seems so quiet.

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