Supernatural: The Monster at the End of His Book

People either love or hate episodes of television series where the characters spend a great deal of time winking at the audience. I typically am a hater of such stories, unless it’s done extremely well. This episode of Supernatural is one of those very well done wink and a nudge types of episodes. In the first couple of acts of the episode, nearly every real life fetish out there for this series gets referenced and even some complaints about the series get spoofed. It all starts in a stereotypical comic book store. The store could be the sister store to the one that appears in Heroes. The brothers appear in the store investigating a possible haunting. The sudden investigation seems to start off quite awkwardly but it soon begins to make sense when the real reason the brothers are in this town, in this store, becomes apparent.

Lately, the writers of Supernatural have been building single episode stories into the main storyline with a few quick scenes toward the end of the episode. Initially, I expected this episode to be similar but what actually occurs in the episode is important to the larger story. This writer who just happens to be writing Sam and Dean’s story sometimes as it happens and sometimes before it happens isn’t just a psychic; he’s a prophet. The idea that everyone has a destiny and what will be can’t be changed has been done a ton in movies and TV but when it’s done here, it is hilarious. No matter what Dean does to try and change what the prophet has written, things keep happening as he wrote them. All of this makes for an extremely humorous first half of the episode.

One could argue that the episode is tonally off balance. The first half is complete comedy while the second half goes to really dark places. For my money, the shift in tone makes the darker stuff hit with more impact. At first, everything just seems like a funny story of the week and then Cass shows up and the truth of everything gets revealed. The final showdown is fairly anticlimactic but it’s not time for that big fight yet. That won’t come until the end of the season. Dean is the chosen one to fight the final battle. Sam believes that Dean has lost his fire, pun unintended, but I believe Dean will do what he has to when the time comes. It’ll be interesting to see what price he has to pay during that fight though.

There are some really classic moments in this episode. When Dean learns about slash fiction that involves him and his brother being “together”, his reaction is priceless. The scene in the Laundromat when Dean reads that Sam thinks that he is a dick just as Sam is thinking it is also hilarious. Along with the humor, Sam and Dean learn that Lilith is in fact scared of the doors that she is opening. The deal that she offers Sam is a bit weird though. Her reasons for offering this deal don’t make much sense. There has to be more to it and I’m sure we’ll learn more about her motivations over the next few weeks. This is easily one of the strongest episodes of the season, if not the strongest period.