Supernatural - S10E5 - Fan Fiction
Ahh, no one does Meta like Supernatural… For any show to last 200 episode it must have a loyal, sometimes rabid, fan base that feels their show constantly rewards them for their love and Supernatural is one show that consistently, throughout its 10 seasons, has always went out of its way to create episodes that thank their fans for their support. Celebrating their 200th episode called “Fan Fiction”, Supernatural had one of their so called “META” episodes, and man was it a lot of fun.
One of the criticisms the show has always received is how women are always used as props to further advance the Winchesters’ story. It seems every time a woman is introduced in a recurring role she’s eventually killed before she becomes a regular cast member (Except for Charlie—Felicia Day—who was whisked away to the land of OZ.). So how do the show runners answer this criticism? By having an all-girl school do a Supernatural musical. As the girls rehearse, they get into an argument because the girl who plays Sam doesn’t have her “samulet”. When the girl comments that she’s just there for college credits, the director, Marie—Katie Sarife—takes offense and gets into a shoving match causing the teacher to quit; proclaiming there’s too much drama in this drama class. As she’s walking away from the school, she investigates a noise in the bushes (here’s a piece of advice, people, if you hear creepy sounds while you’re walking alone at night, you walk/run away from the creepy sound; not towards it) and gets abducted by branches that shoot out of the bushes. We then cut to a movie-style billboard of Supernatural in lights. Marie says it’s ok but needs a little more pizzazz; then we get a quick take of all the Supernatural openings over the years. Very cool.
Dean is working on the Impala (about time, son) and tells Sam about a potential case.
When Sam questions him about it, Dean reiterates that he’s happiest when he’s working on cases. They arrive at the school in the midst of rehearsal, and the look on the boys’ face as they realized that the musical is about them was priceless.
From a girl playing bobby with a prop beard and all practicing idjit, to Sam as a baby and their mother stuck in the ceiling behind prop flames while a girl dressed as Dean sang about being the oldest brother. Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki showed great timing with delivering the looks of disbeliefs throughout the various scenes.
Marie and her stage director Maeve—Joy Regullano—approach the boys thinking they’re picking up tickets she left for a publisher. As the boys are at a loss for words, they introduce themselves as special agents Smith and Smith, and then Dean immediately declares “There’s no singing in Supernatural, and if there was, it would be classic rock not this Andrew (F)lloyd Webber crap” Marie assuages him by stating that they sing a cover to “Carry On My Wayward Son” in the 2nd act. Sam questions why and Dean and Marie both respond that it’s a classic. The boys question the girls about the missing teacher, and when they respond that she’s probably passed out because she’s had a drinking problem since her nasty divorce a year ago, Dean says “I don’t blame her; I’m going to need 50 Jello shots and a hose-down to get this stink off me.”
While looking for clues, Dean asks what Girl-Sam and Girl-Dean are doing. Marie tells him they’re rehearsing the “BM” scene. Dean thinks BM stands for bowel movement, but it’s actually for boy melodrama; all the times when the boys bond by sharing their feelings by their car, Baby. Dean asks why they are the standing so close together, for which Marie responds “Reasons.” Dean exclaims, “You know they’re brothers, right?” Then has the two girls separate.
Later on, Marie explains that, since Carver Edlund (The author of the Supernatural books) stopped writing after Swan Song, she made up her own ending with space ships, robots, ninjas, and even Dean becoming a woman (but only for a few scenes). Dean says a friend of his hooked him up with the unpublished books and proceeds to tell her what really happens. He recaps everything that’s happened since Seasons 5, for which she laughs, proclaiming that it is the worst fan fiction she’s ever heard. Dean sees Girl-Castiel and Girl-Dean hugging and asks if that’s in the show, too. She says no; that the actors are a couple in real life, but they do explore the nature of Destiel in Act 2. Dean is beside himself, but Sam is amused by it all and has a little fun with the different shipping names Dea-stiel, Samstiel, Castdean. Eventually, the boys conclude that there’s no case there.
The girl that plays Sam argues with Marie and quits the show. As she’s walking away, she’s taken by a Scarecrow-looking monster. Marie sees this, but when she goes to investigate, they’re gone. The next day, the boys are questioning her and tell her that they should believe in monsters and tell them that they are actually Sam and Dean. The girls laugh at them, proclaiming monsters may be real, but the books are fiction. Maeve says even if Supernatural was real, Sam and Dean are too old to be the Winchesters; maybe Rufus/Bobby. Dean says, regardless, they are hunters and can help with their problems.
They think the scarecrow is a tulpa, which is created by an idea that takes off. Sam questions whether the monster is a tulpa because they require tons of psychic energy to juice up, and the Supernatural books aren’t exactly tearing up the New York Times’ bestseller list but does question the flower that was found near the scene of the crime. Dean tells Sam to investigate the flower while he eliminates the scarecrow, which was so “terrifying” to Marie that it had to be kept locked in the boiler room but which turned out to be a potato sack full of hay with a hat and buttons for eyes. Dean and Marie burn the scarecrow, but when they go to Sam, he tells them they’re not dealing with a tulpa but with Calliope, the muse goddess of epic poetry. Apparently, she manifests creatures from a play to protect the author until the play is finished, and then she eats the author. They realized they can’t cancel the show because the scarecrow will manifest, so the plan is to continue the show and trap the goddess when she comes for Marie. Marie hyperventilates for a while, but after a pep talk from Dean, decides not only to continue her show but also takes up her one-woman Orphan Black wig and takes the role of Sam as well.
The play is getting ready to start, and the girls all representing important characters from their past take their place, as Sam and Dean exchange blessed stakes. Sam notices Chuck (Carver Edlund) is missing. When he asks, Marie explains that she loves Chuck, but the whole “author inserting themselves into the narrative” thing is not her favorite; she hates the meta story, with which the boys agree. Dean, for some reason, takes it upon himself to make a Braveheart speech quoting Rent; although, as Maeve says, not enough to get them in trouble.
The play begins with a catchy version of “The Road So Far” as even Dean bobs his head, with various scenes from the pilot are played out, but before long, the scarecrow shows up and takes Sam.
He wakes up in a basement where the drunk teacher and the girl that played Sam are locked up. Calliope shows up and says she knew from the start that this play was special because the actual inspiration was there.
As the play continues, the scarecrow shows up again for Marie. Dean fights the scarecrow (or gets his ass kicked by him) in the background as the crowd watches in astonishment thinking it’s part of the play. Sam stalls by asking, “Why Supernatural?” As Calliope is exalting the virtues of Supernatural, she gets hit in the back of the head by one of the girls and then gets stabbed in the gut by Sam; Marie stabs the Scarecrow, causing both to explode in a purple gooish ichor. The crowd gets splattered in purple goo, and although at first they sit there in astonishment, they soon rise in thunderous applause.
Maeve comments to Sam that, if he cut his hair a little, he would make a perfect Dean. Dean congratulates Marie and tells her that her version of things has been educational. Marie calls Dean by his real name and gives him the samulet. Dean tries to explain he doesn’t believe in it, but Marie tells him to just take it. They do the jerk/bitch thing that he does with Sam but then realize that it might be inappropriate when you say it to an actual girl. Dean tells Sam they can go back to hiding, but Sam says he was right; before he can elaborate, the girls do it for him, as they go through their BM scene (When Sam asks, he also thinks BM stands for bowel movement) When Sam (Marie) tells Dean, “They need to be back on the road doing what they do best; just the two of them against the world,” Sam tells Dean, “What she said.”
As the play ends with a hauntingly beautiful rendition of “Carry On My Wayward Son” (the actress who sang the opening stanza rips it; Great Job) Dean and Sam tear up and genuflect on all they’ve been through, and it’s easy to believe that Jared and Jensen got emotional for real, reflecting on 10 years of their lives.
Dean hangs the samulet on the rear view mirror, as they drive away on a road that looks exactly like the background prop in the show. The girls get a visit from someone who picked up the publisher ticket Marie left, and it turns out to be Carver Edlund who says, “Not a bad job.”
Supernatural hit a home run with its 200th episode. It would’ve been easy for them to show all the previous cast members in a sloppy way, but what Supernatural did was write a love letter to all its fans; thanking them for their dedication. Also, they took a risk making it a musical, as those almost never work, but they did it in a clever way by singing catchy versions of songs iconic to the shows and by using actors who could really sing. If it would’ve been a real play, I would’ve watched it, and I’ve been to, like, two plays in my entire life. I admit, as the girls all sang the last rendition of “Carry On My Wayword Son” and the boys started tearing up, it got a little dusty up in the Vargas household. If you can’t already tell, I love, love this episode, and it’s easily in my top 3 of best-ever Supernatural- During the last song, the boys didn’t recognize one of the singers. When Sam asked Maeve about it, she said it was Adam, the third Winchester brother who was still locked up in a cage in hell with Lucifer. I wonder if this is foreshadowing to that character coming back. Perhaps that’s the way the show gets around the whole “Dean still has the Mark of Cain and it can only be passed down to a brother” problem they have.
- It’s interesting that both kill shots were performed by Sam (The real Sam on Calliope and Marie on the scarecrow) as Dean still hasn’t killed since he became human. I wonder if this will become a theme moving forward.
