There are times when shows just need to have fun! And Supernatural (now in its sixth season) is no exception. Whether it is Buffy The Vampire Slayer as a musical, Angel as a puppet, or The X-Files using hand-held cameras to come off as an episode of “Cops”, long-running genre shows occasionally break form and try something completely different and new. Despite their often dark and complicated mythologies, doing something that is entirely different demonstrates that they like to have fun and don’t take themselves too seriously. Episodes referred to as “meta” are also a wonderful gift to their viewing audience, particularly to their die-hard fans who catalogue every bit of detail, not only about the story, but also the folks behind-the-scenes involved in creating their favorite obsession, which includes producers, writers, and prominent crew members. These meta episodes break the “fouth wall”, reaching out through the television screen, speaking directly to their audience and making the audience an integral part of the experience rather than a simple passive observer.
Last week’s Supernatural episode “The French Mistake” did exactly that, and the results were quite funny! Despite a general concern that the episode focused too much on the meta in-jokes and not enough on the mythology, it was the mythology that became the catalyst to push that meta joke forward in a surprising and imaginative way that actually worked, despite much initial doubt. After all, where else could you have the show’s actors Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles playing the demon-hunting brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who enter a world where they are suddenly actors named Jared and Jensen that are in the middle of playing Sam and Dean for a television show. Did I lose you on that description? Let’s try one more time: Jared and Jensen are playing Sam and Dean playing a parody version of Jared and Jensen who happen to be playing Sam and Dean at the time. On second thought, don’t worry; it wasn’t as confusing to see it play out! But it was only one of the reasons that made reviewing this episode difficult since each time I took another look at it, there was something new to discover.
One of the things that makes Supernatural work so well is the impeccable balance between horror, drama, mythology and comedy. This certainly wasn’t the first time Supernatural broke form and tried to offer something unique to an episode. The season 3 episode “Ghostfacers” was filmed using hand-held cameras where both cast and crew used them to give the show a reality-show feel to it. Then the season 4 episode “Monster Movie” was filmed entirely in black/white in homage to the horror movies of the 1930s.
It also wasn’t the first time that the series broke through that fourth wall giving the old wink-wink/nudge-nudge to its fans. So far, we have had the Winchester brothers find out that there are books titled ‘Supernatural’ which chronicle their lives, complete with fans, online forums, and conventions. Whereas previous ventures to the meta world lovingly poked fun at the fans, this time it was the cast and crew that showed what good sports they are by offering themselves up for parodies. And the episode fulfilled a fantasy held by fans worldwide: a chance to see what the Supernatural filming set would possibly look like.
The mythology aspect of the episode was rather straight-forward. As the Civil War in Heaven progresses, Archangel Raphael plans on taking over in a manner that would not be of benefit to humanity. The angel Castiel (and Sam and Dean’s BFF) is mounting a counterattack. Sly angel Balthazar, who seemed to have his own agenda in this angel fight, returns to help protect the Winchesters as well as help Castiel in securing Heaven’s Weapons needed for this fight, while Virgil is hot on their trail as the hit angel. The episode even includes a ‘Godfather’ reference to highlight this. But it turns out that Balty and Cas were using the brothers as a diversion to throw Raphael off the hunt and give Balty a little extra needed time in order to gather up the weapons to give to Cas for safe keeping. That diversion involved throwing Sam and Dean into an alternate world where they are actors named Jared and Jensen, in the middle of filming a television show. A world where monsters, angels, demons, and all their freaky powers are nothing more than make-believe. A world where even the infamous demon-killing knife is nothing but a rubber prop. And thus the fourth wall crumbles conveniently resulting in wonderfully comedic situations.
The episode contained many references to the show, its stars, and its cast. The die-hard fans who share everything online and obsess over every detail will no doubt recognize each and every one of those references, but I worry that the casual viewer will be somewhat confused. Rather than realize that Jared and Jensen are actually portraying parodies of themselves (and thus the cliches of ‘actors’ in general), they might believe that the version of Jared and Jensen shown on screen is how the actors really are. The die-hard fans will have a blast trying to figure out what detail is true and what is faked, while the casual viewer may be left wondering. Unlike their screen versions, the real Jared and Jensen have become best friends and enjoy a great working relationship — something that tends to be a rarity on Hollywood sets — and these two good ol’ boys from Texas are far from being narcissistic, pretentious divas.
There were a number of references that were great to see, and this is by no means a complete list.
- The name of the studio as “KM Motion Picture Studios” reflected once more on the respect held for producer and director-extraordinaire Kim Manners, who passed away much too soon due to illness.
- The addiction that Misha Collins [Castiel] has with Twitter being included in the script and accentuated by two live tweets by the actor on his Twitter feed while the show was airing.
- The return of Genevieve Cortese (credited as Genevieve Padalecki for this episode), known for her Season 4 portrayal of the manipulative demon Ruby, but also as the wife of Jared Padalecki. She was a tremendously good sport! It was also nice to see one of their actual wedding pictures used on screen. But it was unfortunate that Jensen’s wife, Danneel Harris, could not also be included.
- A glimpse at the collection of ’67 Chevy Impalas used for filming, along with Sam’s Charger parked in the background.
- A shout-out to Vancouver, where the show is actually filmed.
- Using a clip from Jensen’s early days on the soap “Days of our Lives”.
- The crew members whom fans have come to know and love: Executive Producer Robert (Bob) Singer, who has received much ribbing through the years for sharing the same name as character Bobby Singer even though that wasn’t his decision; stunt coordinator Lou Bollo playing himself; Producer Jim Michaels, who bears an uncanny resemblance with the actor portraying him; Bodyguard/driver Clif Kosterman; current Executive Producer Sera Gamble, heard only on the phone; and Eric Kripke, the creator and original Executive Producer, whose surprising demise must have given some twisted pleasure to those fans who have yet to forgive him for the way Season 5 ended, considering it may have been the end of the series and not just the end of the season.
A few of my burning questions involving this episode would include: Why was Balthazar so eager to help Castiel in view of his behavior earlier this season? If Sam and Dean were transported to an alternate universe, where did the Jared and Jensen of that universe go while Sam and Dean were there? And if Sam and Dean are so adept at lying all the time as they take on various personas, why was it so hard for them to pretend to be actors?
In the end, I took “The French Mistake” for what it was: a funny episode that was supposed to be funny, while managing to advance the mythology as well. Writer Ben Edlund created a detailed story using an unusual subject matter and included some absolutely terrific and memorable lines. It resulted in a great addition to the collection of sixth season episodes, which have been very creative and entertaining so far.