Supernatural: Tall Tales
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by Sylvia Bond
Supernatural Episode Review – Season Two, Episode 15
“Tall Tales”
Every show has a comedy ep, the one where the writers turn everything upside-down and what’s normally serious becomes quirky and slightly hysterical, and fans talk about it endlessly, trying to pin down the Bizzaro world aspect of it, pointing interesting tidbits out to each other, and quoting dialog. This ep is Show’s version of that, and I’d say they did a bang up job.
If comedy is hard to write, then it’s even harder to write about because there is something about the ears that when they hear word play, and timing, and double entendres, puns, sarcasm, and so on, brain synapses are able to process these lightning fast and it becomes funny. Writing (and reading) about it is different in that the reader has to take it on faith that what the writer is describing is actually funny. Already this is too much analysis and not even remotely interesting. Go check out the Wiki page on comedy and you’ll see what I mean. It’s just NOT funny even though it’s talking about stuff that is. This ep was so funny that already I’ve got an uphill battle ahead of me.
The MOW is a trickster, I’ll just get that out of the way because while he’s interesting, intriguing, and terribly clever (although not very scary), the turn of events surrounding him approach PWP (Plot? What Plot?) status, because although he is the reason things are so fun, he’s almost incidental. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the trickster was a hoot and a half, he had some great lines, and the actor who played him did it just right, with a surface mien that disguised an inner power and not just a little cruelty. Tricksters, they say, bring down the high and mighty with deadly pranks; they’re demi-gods and they can pretty much do whatever they pleased. Look for the trickster in the janitor, and it won’t spoil it for you to know. He’s loads of fun, trust me!
The boys come to town because some professor had smashed his brains out on the steps of Crawford Hall, but who cares about him, he was a hypocritical womanizer and he’s pretty much dead in the first five minutes. Instantly they begin investigating, the boys find themselves hip deep in weirdness, beyond their usual norm, and Show mixes it up even further by having half the story being told in flashback mode to wise Uncle Bobby. But not just that, the flashback scenes are told by either Sam or Dean, and what ratchets up the laugh-o-meter is that to hear Sam tell it, Dean comes across as an unsophisticated pig, and to hear Dean tell it, Sam comes across as a prissy miss. And, to top that off, no matter how exaggerated the memory gets, you know that part of what they are saying is true, which makes for great character moments.
The first major scene sets the tone for great fun; the brothers are holed up in a grotty motel (complete with ugly colors, old furnishings, and, surprisingly, plenty of floor space), and they are each on their last nerve. Sam, we find out, is trying to do research without a computer (for which he blames Dean), and Dean feels stuck because something’s awry with his car (for which he blames Sam). There’s great brotherly bickering and sniping and everything good as the brothers show each other (and us) their less than pleasant sides. The dialog is snappy too, the writers did a great job making it punchy and telling; you never learn more about a person than when they’re in a bad mood. Here’s just one example. Sam asks, “Do you mind not eating that (greasy cheese fries) on MY bed?” And Dean, without skipping a beat says, stuffing more in, “No, I don’t mind.” (Plus, he also turns the radio UP when Sam asks him to turn it down and it’s just good stuff.)
Then Uncle Bobby shows up and the boys start telling their stories from the beginning, about how they were in a bar, asking questions of the local college crowd, whereupon Sam tries to get Dean to get serious and help him. But Dean’s drinking shots of Purple Nurples (a real drink that will knock you on your keester) and cozying up to a floozy named “Starla,” who can barely hold her liquor. Who, Dean informs Sam with hopeful eyes, has a sister. This, we learn is from Sam’s POV as Dean protests that he never uses terms like “feisty little wildcat,” although I did think it awfully cute that Sam remembers Dean referring to him as his “shuttle co-pilot,” because it’s absolutely true. Dean protests, “And her name wasn’t Starla!” “Then what was it?” Sam wants to know. Dean of course can’t tell him, but what makes this good is the skill with which Ackles shifts into playing Dean as a caricature of himself.
Dean’s going to tell it now, and the way he sees it, he comes across as a James Bond type who attracts cool Grace Kelly blondes in sleek black cocktail dresses. Yeah, they’re still drinking Purple Nurples, but Dean’s all focused on the case. The chick (his version of Starla) can’t think of anything else but how by-golly-good looking Dean is. “It’s like staring into the sun,” she says, somewhat breathily, which pretty much sums up what ALL fangirls think of both Dean Winchester and Jensen Ackles. But it gets better! Up comes Sam, jacket flung sissily across one shoulder. With that lovely mouth curled up in prissy dismay he asks, “Dean, WHAT do you THINK you’re DOING?” Dean wants five minutes more, but Sam blows a gasket. And this is what he says, word for word, I swear, “Dean, we don’t have any time for you buh blah blah-blah. Buh blah-blah-blah. Blah, blah-blah blah blah. Blah! Bluh blah blah blah blah. Blah!” The last “blah” has the exact intonation of how Sam says Dean’s name when he’s ticked. It’s PERFECT!
Sam protests and Uncle Bobby observes that they’re behaving just like an old married couple. More great dialog: Dean says, “No, see, married couples can get divorced. Me and him we’re like Siamese twins.” “Con-joined twins,” retorts Sam smartly, to which Dean replies, “See what I mean?” Sam’s disapproval of Dean continues in the famous caramel-eating scene (though it could be peanut brittle, I can never tell) when they go talk to the janitor. Plus, Sam thinks Dean’s been using his computer because the thing is frozen on www.bustyasianbeauties.com. (Not a real website.)
Besides this being very revealing and terribly funny, I have two favorite moments in this flashback scene. First, is when Dean gets a beer and then hands one to Sam. He doesn’t ask, he just does it, assuming rightly that little bro might be thirsty too. (Dean opens his beer with his ring. Always sexy.) Second, is when Sam says, “Would you just—don’t touch my stuff, okay?” to Dean’s back as big bro disappears into the bathroom. This says a lot about Sam, not just that he’s fussy, which we kinda knew already, but also, that he must have years of experience trying to defend his little world, his THINGS, from invasion, namely The Dad and Dean, who seem to put much less investment in what they own. Sure, they’re careful about knives and weapons, but there’s no sentimental value attached.
The boys talk about questioning a frat boy (FB) about being abducted, but Uncle Bobby says there’s no such things as aliens! But it’s terrific watching the boys talking to FB while trying not to bust a gut laughing. FB says that he was “probed,” and as he talks and knocks back shots, I counted eight probes, all told, including the last one. Sam screws his face into a million different positions trying not to laugh out right, and I like what this says about him. That no matter how foolish and inane a civilian appears, it’s rude to laugh. Dean keeps his face absolutely deadpan, even when commenting that some alien made FB their bitch, but you can tell, a huge bray of laughter is just below the surface.
More great dialog ensues as the boys check out the circle left by the alien engines. Dean says, “What the hell?” Sam says, “I don’t know.” Dean says, “Seriously, dude, what the HELL?” Sam replies, his voice raising an octave, “I DON’T KNOW!” With their rim shot timing, this little tidbit is a scream.
Oh, and then, even better is what follows. Really. This is the best caricature of Sam ever done ever, bar none. Padalecki always rocks at the comedy, and here he goes full out, using his body and his face, and it’s wonderful. And the stuff he says, even though it’s Dean telling the story to make Sam look bad, it doesn’t make it any less true. He’s got tons of emo stuff to say to the other frat boy like, “I acknowledge your pain!” (as if no one else in the world has or possibly could), and THEN, as he hugs the guy, he says, all screwed up, worried, and angsty, “You’re too precious for this world!” I fall off my chair EVERY time.
Sam protests, and Dean says yes, Sam’s always saying pansy stuff like that. But I like the little flashback clip that follows, where Sam looks lost and forlorn, his hair blowing in his eyes, still worked up and weepy. He looks to Dean, and Dean, being the big brother, claps him on the back and gives him several hearty pats to buck him up, saying, “S’okay.” Sam nods back, pouting, glad for the emotional rescue. It’s a throwaway scene, true, but it says so much more than what’s actually there. Even if the brothers are at odds, that doesn’t stop Dean from reaching out to support Sam, when he needs it. (And the reverse would also be true.)
The ep continues, being a cornucopia of brotherly fun. The brothers dither about the case at the hotel room, about what the victims have in common, the usual stuff. But, interwoven with that is an argument which is totally well done and, again, revealing. Sam demands to know where his laptop is, what Dean’s done with it. Dean totally doesn’t care. Sam stomps around, Dean holds his ground in the comfy chair. And then Sam goes OFF. He gives us good factoids about how Dean washes his socks in the sink and keeps leftovers until they are ready to crawl away. “It’s not food, Dean, it’s DARWINISM!” When Dean refuses to be moved, Sam finishes up with, “Don’t mess with my stuff.” This shows the brothers at a low point, where the argument becomes about stupid stuff, but it it’s always the little things that gets to you, especially when you live together 24/7 like the boys do. Plus, Sam come across as a control freak here, which is totally fun and, I realize, very true.
In real time, Uncle Bobby intervenes as well as he can, asking Dean if he did what he’s being accused of. Back in the flashback, they talk about Sam finding the belly scale, working in brotherly harmony, as they usually do. It’s when they talk about splitting up to search the sewers that there is more arguing, and, arguably, one of the BEST brotherly scenes ever. Ever. Ever. EVER. Dean finds that someone let the air out on the Impala’s tires. Moreover, he finds Sam’s money clip next to the car. This leads him to storm into the hotel room, where Sam denies everything AND wants his money back. Dean says no. Sam uses his huge reach to try and get the clip, but Dean pulls his hand out of the way.
It’s exactly like a playground ritual of keep-away, only I’m sure Dean is somewhat surprised to find himself unable to master the situation like he must have done when they were little, and Sam is surprised that his reach isn’t exactly working. Down the brothers go, onto the bed, wrestling away, both reaching for the clip, yelling “MINE” and “GIVE IT” and rolling like puppies in a bin. It’s priceless and wonderful, and now established as canon that the boys don’t always get along. That they wrestle for supremacy, and probably even sometimes bite.
Padalecki shows up as tall here, he practically looms over Ackles, but what’s even more fun is what the argument shows us about the boys. Again we see Sam’s got a possessive streak. He’s protective of his things, likes to keep them close. The Dad and Dean, on the other hand, seem to fee the whole world is at their disposal and meant to be shared and used in their saving of the people and hunting of the evil. Except for the Impala, which is Dean’s and strictly off limits. As far as the money clip, if the boys get their cash flow via credit card scams and pool hustling (both of which seem to be Dean’s purview) then how on earth can Sam claim that money is his personal property? Unless Dean gives him an allowance, awwww. (As to how Sam got the money clip, I postulate that Jessica gave it to him, complete with initials, because it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing Sam would buy for himself. I realize that the money clip has not been seen from that day to this, and that it was probably just a plot device, but I like my Jessica theory so I’m sticking to it.)
Then there’s the fact that Dean washes his socks in the sink. Which seems to indicate that the boys can’t always get to the laundry and sometimes must do their smalls by hand. And what about Sam saying, “We never let the maids in.” That sounds to me like a standing order, and only makes sense. If you have maps and morgue photos plastered all over your walls (not to mention dangerous weapons tucked under pillows, it’s going to come across looking like your own personal squad room, so the last person you’d noseying around in there is the maid. Which means that Sam and Dean pick up after themselves and make their own beds, and it’s entirely too domestic! (But I love it because I adore the way Show adds these extra details about their lives.)
Uncle Bobby establishes that the thing that’s been messing with them is a trickster. And while I applaud Uncle Bobby’s sensible and observant nature, I bemoan the fact that the fun is now over. The boys will go after the trickster and we’ll get to see no more great scenes. Except we do, only not in the same vein. The trickster has one of the best lines, which he says when the boys, posing again as security men come to check the wires, says, “I’m dragging, boys. Lotsa sex last night. IF you know what I mean.” Which is terribly sarcastic and totally fun, because of course we know what he means when he spelled it out that clearly for us!
Dean and Sam stage a fight to throw the trickster off a little bit and the trickster falls for it. I think this is because Ackles and Padalecki played it more for real than for laughs, and gave the moment an extra ounce of angst and anger, as the fight between them is still going on. Sam pretends to storm off and Dean goes in alone and is, I think, sorely tempted when the trickster offers him a blond and a brunette for as long as he wants. (The porno set is totally hysterical, not only because it’s so cheesy, but because it obviously appeals to Dean in a big way. Only he and the trickster would imagine that a round, velveteen covered bed to be the height of romance!)
Dean turns it down, of course, because he’s always about duty (I adore him for his fortitude), and then in come Sam and Bobby, stakes in their respective hands, and the battle begins. The trickster can make anything appear or disappear and so in comes the chainsaw wielding madman, then there’s the Tossing of the Dean as he is beset upon by both the blond and the brunette in their underwear. I’ll admit I thought the fight scene was a little silly, seeing as how the outcome was rather preordained to be in the boys’ favor, but it did make a nice change from all the unadulterated angst we’ve been getting during Season 2, not knowing who was going to die and when.
The boys and Uncle Bobby win the day, of course, and there’s a beautiful scene as the brothers pause outside, looking at each other over the top of the rain-dappled roof of the Impala. They’re saying they’re sorry to each other, even if they don’t say it out loud, but it’s a lovely moment. Brothers will always be brothers, no matter how much they fight, and especially these two. Then Uncle Bobby snaps, “You two are breaking my heart, can we go now?” which is absolutely true because the whole tidbit comes across as being something out of “The Secret Search for the Edge of the Turning World,” or something. (Although as a fangirl I think it’s very sweet.)
In the end, we learn that the boys (Dean) did not actually kill the trickster, but only a version of him. The trickster seems impossible to kill and it is this fact that keeps me from forgetting that I’m watching a show where horrible things happen to both good and bad people, usually all the time. The only question remains, if the girls and the chainsaw-wielding murderer disappeared when the fake trickster died, then why didn’t the round bed and all the ’70s porno stuff, huh? HUH? In spite of this tiny, little issue, the whole ep was funny and fun; it’s nice to see our perfect heroes have flaws just like the average guy. Only, yeah, these guys are better looking.
Sylvia Bond is a ten-year technical writing veteran with too many degrees under her belt to count. She lives in Colorado, but does not ski, preferring instead to spend her money and time at the annual Great American Beer Festival, taking road trips across the United States, and reading historical fiction from the comfort of her fluffy green arm chair. She has been involved in fandom since 1993 and been writing fanfic since approximately 1993. What she finds most amazing about fandom (besides the open heartedness of fans and the sheer amount of creativity) is how visible fandom has become. “In my day,” she says, “we had to hide behind P.O. boxes to get fanfic. But nowadays, people wear t-shirts that shout their affiliation and share their shiny toys on the internet.” It’s a wonderful world.
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