Supernatural - S11E20 - Don’t Call Me Shurley
Previously on Supernatural, “The Chitters”
Chuck is God
Ah, I remember the days when the Winchesters fought ordinary monsters like werewolves and vampires, when the worst they would face was a major demon or a rogue angel. By introducing omnipotent elements like God’s sister (Amara) or God himself (in this episode), Supernatural pigeonholes itself when it tries to humanize these all-knowing, all-encompassing beings for story’s sake.
God (Rob Benedict), who has been hiding as God’s prophet, Chuck Shurley, who wrote the Supernatural books that plays out the lives of the Winchesters, turn to Metatron (Curtis Armstrong), who apparently is a bum now, his former scribe, for help in editing his autobiography. Metatron advises that the book is too much about Chuck and not enough about God, but God is too busy feeling sorry for himself that he wants to forget all of his greatest creations. Eventually, things heat up when Metatron asks God for help against Amara, but God is so absorbed in self-pity that he’s content to let Amara destroy the world while he spends eternity in his Bunker-bar listening to music and reading his memoirs. Metatron finally breaks through by using himself as a metaphor for humanity, pointing out that he may be weak and full of vices, but he never was a coward.
Sam and Dean investigate a town in Idaho where Amara unleashes the smoke monster that infects them with black veins (as seen in episode one). As the fog overcomes the town, killing in its wake, the boys hunker down in a sheriff’s station with the surviving members of the town. When the fog seeps in through an air vent contaminating Sam, Dean ushers the rest of the people into an office, but stops taping the gap in the door to help Sam. Dean holds Sam helplessly as everyone around them dies from the fog, but then Dean’s notices the Amulet God graced with the power of God (I guess) shining brightly in his pocket and as he takes it out everyone comes back to life and the fog is gone. As Dean and Sam stand around gaping in amazement, God comes up to them and says, “We need to talk.”
Supernatural S11E20
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Plot - fan theory that Chuck is God was realized - 7/107/10
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Dialogue - full of meta dialogue between Chuck and Metatron - 8/108/10
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Action - God exhibiting the same power of air pushing people to walls was lame - 6/106/10
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Performances - Great chemistry between Chuck and Metatron - 9/109/10
Summary
I had mixed feelings about this episode in all stems from trying to get around the fact that an all-encompassing being like God is dealing with normal people shit like self-pity. Other than that, the episode was full of meta commentary like Chuck commenting on his other failed book Revolution (which was Supernatural’s creator Eric Kripke’s other less successful TV show). The high point of the episode for me was the ending. Supernatural is a show where the odds are always stacked against the Winchesters, and it was a breath of fresh air to have the Winchesters (along with everyone else) saved by a greater force of good. To have the brothers stare in amazement, dumbfounded that after all this time fighting the insurmountable gauntlet of evil enemies, there is a higher force of good making it all worthwhile. That was golden for me. Of course, next week Dean will probably mouth off to God about what took him so long.
