Remember back in Supernatural seasons of yore, when you’d turn off all the lights, maybe climb under a blanket or even pop some corn? I sometimes, not weekly, but often enough, miss those episodes as they are the reason I became so very hooked on the Saga of the Angsty Brothers.
And though I love those episodes so, I often feel a bit of a generation gap between other Supernatural fans. Those old hunts, the Woman in White, Hook Man, Bloody Mary, those were the stories we told with flashlights at slumber parties. Those were the monsters we swear we saw in the bathroom mirror the first time our parents let us stay home alone. And those were the episodes that would keep me hidden under that blanket, save for my eyes and my popcorn arm. Do they still tell the tale of the couple that hears the scraping on the roof of their car? Or do they dare their friends to go in a darkened bathroom to summon Bloody Mary? In this internet culture I feel like maybe that’s a thing of the past.
So tonight when I witnessed all the virtual rolling of eyes on twitter (“Slenderman? Really, Supernatural?”) I got just a bit sad. This was by all definitions a classic episode for me, with just enough of a twist to keep it interesting and – most importantly – relevant to the season’s conflict.
Sam and Dean travelled to Washington to investigate an unexplainable death. A young girl was murdered in a locked room. Sounded like a classic ghost to us too, boys. But things got twistier via another murder and both crimes appearing almost instantly on the internet, and while the Winchesters quietly probed for tell tale signs, they became aware of another team working the case.
Enter the Ghostfacers, or what remains of them. Only Ed and Harry are keeping the dream alive, and they’ve arrived at the same small town determined to finally conquer their white sasquatch, Thinman. They’re unable to determine the legend’s, erm, species, so to speak, but scoff at Sam and Dean’s theory of simple ghost. Thinman is a legend, and Ed and Harry are the foremost consultants on the myth of the man who appears in photos just before claiming his victims.
The Jibblies!
- Don’t even front. If you were/are one of those kids that heard all the flashlight stories, whether you were a mesmerized listener or an internally snickering storyteller, you check your background to this day when taking selfies. Especially in the dark. Do not front. You give a second glance when looking at old photos – what’s that weird shadow in the background? Was someone smoking in that room, or is that something else? Thinman, as he was named tonight for what I can only assume is legal reasons, and all of the stories that inspired him are creepy as shit y’all. There were some nice shots of the creature behind his prey, and I can only imagine the fun the creative team had in creating all the internet sightings and “evidence.”
- I will admit that the Thinman reveal was not terribly surprising, but after racking my brain and not checking past episodes I think this might be the very first time this particular creature has been an active killer. And with all the mentions of internet culture (which, please don’t get me wrong, I am very much in love with), I inferred a slight commentary on humanity tonight as well. I give more credit to the eye-rollers in the audience than the writers here, as I don’t know if it was intentional. Maybe “moral” would be a better word than commentary: Beware your priorities, never lose sight of your humanity. Or your sense of whimsy and/or ability to get the jibblies.
The “No, you know what, it’s cool. I’ll take it.”
- I have thesaurus.com pulled up, but after a little thought I feel that the repetition you’re about to read more accurately represents my intention. That being said, the conflict and repercussions between Ed and Harry were a really really really really really thinly veiled representation of Sam and Dean. There is no way that the writers were being anything but bludgeon-y with that metaphor. But it really was OK. Even though their story tonight was a barely masked plot device, they are fan favorites who haven’t been seen in years. While other season nine examples of obvious plot stimulants have made me frown, their conflict was well written and timely, and I have faith that I’m not the only one that was genuinely concerned about their finale.
The episode will likely rank in the high-mid range for me this season, but will be bumped up if the Ed and Harry feud actually prompts some sort of resolution in the brothers’ strife. And the quicker the smoothing, the higher the climb, I daresay. I’m ready to move past the tension and get to some hard core world-savin’, which I think is happening somewhere in this great sprawl of a season.