Supernatural – Wishful Thinking

CW

(Season 4, Episode 8)

The Supernatural team offered up another stand alone episode this week, with just the tiniest bit of ongoing story tacked on at the end. For some shows that could be the signal of a weak episode, but those shows don’t have the luxury of calling in Ben Edlund to write their stand alone episode. A simple idea, be careful what you wish for, became the setting for a very entertaining tale. It offered up some of the classic wish themes, with just enough of the crazy to keep you on your toes.

First and foremost on the crazy scale, the alco-holo-porno addict teddy bear. Where did that come from? I get that wishes go south, but that one went south, jumped the tracks, and made way for funky town. It was so strange, you just couldn’t help but be interested in it. It led to a couple of the many great lines in the episode as well. “He’s some kind of alco-holo-porno addict. Kind of a deep woods Duchovny.” Later followed by the incredibly odd discussion about whether or not they were going to kill the bear, which culminated with, “I don’t want some giant, flaming, pissed off teddy on our hands.”

CW

CW

CW

It’s also worth noting that little Nicole Leduc did a great job as Audrey. She was just one small part of what was some great casting. I also liked Ryan Grantham as Todd, and how could you not laugh when he laid Dean out? “Kneel before Todd!” That’s a nice shout-out to their partners in crime, Smallville. For a bit of good Supernatural trivia, Anita Brown, who played Hope, was making her return to the show. She was also Lindsay in the season one episode, “Skin.” And, of course, Hope leads us to Wesley, and the great Ted Raimi. Every show could use more Ted Raimi.

It was pretty clear the minute that Wesley walked into Lucky Chin’s that he was going to be involved, simply because of Raimi. When Sam mentioned that they had to find the original wish maker, I was sure it was Wesley. For what was essentially a one off episode, they did a nice job with the backstory to the case. Tiamat, the primordial goddess of creative chaos, is a cool reference, and I liked the addition of Wesley’s grandfather bringing the coin back from the war.

CW

CW

CW

Ultimately, the folks of Concrete will be swept to the corners of season four, having no real effect on the big story, but it was a fun way to spend an hour. And even if the fun little wishing well story didn’t work for you, there were still a couple little kernels of development for the boys. First, we had Sam’s revelation that given the chance he wouldn’t wish to go back. He’s not that person anymore. Instead, he’d wish for Lilith’s head on a plate. Bloody. Our Sam really has changed.

More importantly, we got to the bottom of Dean’s memories of his time down under. That came as news to me. I was under the impression that Dean couldn’t remember anything specific but was being haunted by random flashbacks from that time. Now we learn that he does remember everything, and it’s an incredible burden. As he put it, “The things that I saw… there aren’t words.” And, as you would expect, knowing what we do about Dean, he’s not telling Sam what those things are. Not because he can’t bear to speak them, but because he is still operating under his one true goal, to protect his brother. Next week, we’ll get back to the big story.

Clacked by Brett Love
on Nov 07, 2008 @ 09:00 EST5EDT