Supernatural: The French Mistake

A Man Walks Into a Bar
by Sylvia Bond
Supernatural Episode Review – Season 6, Episode 15
“The French Mistake”

It’s an ordinary day, an ordinary episode. Sam and Dean are at Bobby’s house. And it’s raining! Bobby’s gone out for some “hunter’s helper,” which is probably some Wild Turkey whiskey or some other stomach rot like that. Suddenly, Balthazar shows up, and he’s got some bad news about them being in a version of The Godfather, and how he’s going to save them from the Archangel Virgil, and then there’s some other blah blah about keys and hiding places and stuff like that. It’s pretty typical until Sam and Dean get shoved into an alternate universe, otherwise known in the biz as an AU.

Into the world of TV

But wait, there’s more! This is not just your average episode because the AU is one where Sam and Dean take the guise of two actors named, respectively, AU Jared Padalecki and AU Jensen Ackles. Apparently the rumors about a meta episode that was going to be too, too funny were true and the moment has arrived! Huzzah! And I get the humor, I do, in fact, I laughed a lot during the whole thing (probably at the wrong moments, and too loud at the right ones), and enjoyed myself. But I’m here to poke holes, ‘cause that’s what I do, and I’m here to point out the good stuff cause that’s what I also do, and luckily there was more of the latter than there was of the former.

Okay, to start, Sam and Dean roll into town, and the guys who are sitting in chairs yelling cut and stuff (Director? Producer? Screenwriter?) make some remarks about how they’re going to fix the glitch that showed up on the playback. Of course the whole shot is ruined on account of the glitch, but also because Sam and Dean stand there with their mouths open wide, astonished, beguiled, and every other kind of confused you can think of. I love Sam’s hurried question of, “Should we be killing anybody?”

One guy suggests redoing the window and reshooting the scene, but that’ll take 95 minutes and they’ll have to cut the scene where Sam and Dean sit on the Impala and talk. The second guy says, fine we can do that but you’ll have to answer the hate mail. Then the first guy suggests that they can be experimental and do a freeze frame on the shot and they won’t have to reshoot. The second guy rolls his eyes derisively and says, “Season six.”

Land of Confusion

Evidently, you’re supposed to recognize who each guy is, and why what they’re saying is significant. I’m so oblivious, I don’t know who they are. Do they make a show I want to watch? That’s all I need to know about them. At any rate, I did get some funny-ness out of the very brief scene, one of which is Show’s awareness that if fans don’t get scenes where Sam and Dean talk meaningfully to each other (with out without the Impala), then we get pissed. This is true for yours truly, I launch a “why aren’t they talking!” campaign every other review, and while it might not be ME Show is listening to in particular, at least they are listening. They know what we want, it’s interesting to note that with that awareness, they sometimes chose to deny us.

The other little joke happens when the guy says, “Season six.” My word, did I get a lot of mileage out of this one, because yes, Show has been on for six seasons, and no one (certainly not me) expected it to get this far. And while it’s easy for me to say that Show has a tendency to do some throwaway episodes based on the notion that “surely we’re near the end so it doesn’t matter, we can go ahead and film some crap and call it good,” it all comes down to how  you want to be remembered.

Well, TV watchers remember, and thanks to digital, TV shows are forever. I’m sure you’ll remember a little program called Star Trek that lasted three years; no one expected it to do anything but sit there and use up a few hours, and it got cancelled because no one cared. Well a great many people cared and still care; as of today there have been four generations of the original series, 10 movies, and one reboot movie. Not to mention the millions and millions of pages of fan fiction that started up in the 70’s and continues to this VERY day.

Espying AU Jensen's trailer

You want to be remembered like this? Then build something that lasts. Why am I bringing up Star Trek? Because it has lasted. ST might have had its problems, infighting, and behind the scenes stuff, but it never took down the fourth wall. It seems so hip today to do that, but I think it’s lazy: “Hey kids! *wink, wink* We’re so cool, we can make fun of ourselves!”

But to me it says, “Hey kids, we’re too lazy to come up with something good, so we’ll just talk about ourselves!” Anyway, the “Season Six” is a running joke throughout the ep, and I can’t figure out if the statement is supposed to be slanted in a “crap, the show is still running” kind of way, or slanted more towards the “holy cow can you believe it?” kind of way. If it’s the former, Show is looking a gift horse in the mouth and might be failing to rise to the occasion.

So part of my problem, part of why I tend to think that Show is being a bit lazy, is that instead of coming up with something new, this episode is one long string of jokes. Some of them anyone can get, punch lines, one liners and so on, typical stuff. But some of them are made up of insider information that you only can get after being a rabidly loyal fan for years, and after reading every scrap of information about Show that was ever written. And while I love Show and consider myself a fan, I simply don’t have the kind of time it would require to keep up with all that. So while I got a lot of it, it was by a kind of osmosis because I knew the players (or at least the outlines of the players), and so I could figure that there was some sort of referent being made.

But I wondered how some of the jokes were supposed to play with casual viewers or those folks who have Nelson ratings done on their viewing habits. What about those guys? I think some of the jokes were so inside, that they were meant to make the cast, production team, set dressers and so on, those guys got to laugh and aren’t they funny? It’s like that joke, you know the one. It starts with, “A man walks into a bar….” That joke has about a thousand variations on a theme, so depending on your audience you can fit the punch line in so that it’s funny. Or offensive, the choice is up to you. Show used some very obscure punch lines indeed.

Although the idea of actors and characters switching places is fun, it’ll always be fun for me, ever since I stumbled across a story called “Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited,” in which Shatner and Nimoy and Kelly are transported into Kirk and Spock and McCoy’s shoes. That story was actually a riff off of a piece called “Visit to a Weird Planet” in which Kirk and Spock and McCoy were transported into the shoes of the actors. So I’m not complaining about the concept, just the overdose of insider jokes.

Dreams of Avarice

Anyway, the fun gets funnier, and to start, Dean is totally freaked out to find that he’s been put in makeup. He says, “Those bastards!” like someone’s done something really wrong to him, which, in Dean’s world, they have. Sam comes back from his interview (which I’m assuming is true to life, but, never having been interviewed, nor having watched or ready many interviews, I have no idea. It’s really an insider joke.) Sam figures out pretty quickly (‘cause he’s smart like that) that they’re in an AU, which Dean refers to as Bizzaro Earth.

Another good joke comes up when Sam explains about it being a TV show. Dean is astonished and asks, “Why would anyone want to watch our lives?” This isn’t a new question, and harkens back to a Season 5 ep that had that very same question. In The Real Ghostbusters, Dean wants to know why the fans of the Supernatural books (written by Chuck the Prophet) would want to read about them.

In that episode, Dean had something meaningful to say upon finding out that their lives were a story for someone’s amusement, and that was this: “the Dean and Sam story sucks. It is not fun, it is not entertaining. It is a river of crap that would send most people howling to the nuthouse. So you listen to me. Their pain is not for your amusement. I mean, you think they enjoy being treated like circus freaks?” Sadly, this time around, he makes his pithy comment and moves along as if it were nothing. The issue does get addressed in about 20 seconds at the end of the ep. It’s better than nothing, but I’m still left wondering what the ep was about.

Me and Thee

There’s this running joke that happens, which is pretty funny, where people comment about Sam and Dean talking to each other all the time, except they are seeing AU Jared and AU Jensen, and they say to each other, astonished and surprised, “Well, at least they’re talking to each other.” So…since I don’t read the reviews or the articles or anything much about Show (except, to be honest, I read bardicvoice’s reviews, but that’s only after my review has posted; it’s a little treat for me), I’m not sure if the joke is based in something real as in Jensen and Jared aren’t getting along, or if it’s just meant to be funny. Again, you have to know to know. The ep is meant to be self-referential, so I’m safe assuming that if it’s something that blatantly and obviously said over and over then it’s meant to mean something and thusly to be funny. But I’m all out, I haven’t a clue, and would hate to think that the J’s (sometimes that’s easier to say than their last names as I usually do) aren’t getting along.

Sam mentions also that the show that AU Sam and AU Dean star in is not watched by very many people. I’m not sure whether that’s supposed to be a joke or not. I don’t know enough about ratings. Sure Marc Berman over at Programming Insider lists the ratings each week, but I don’t know of 2.17 million is actually good or bad.

It’s less than Vampire Diaries but more than Gossip Girl. Still, I don’t know what it means. I mean, you can say I got a “10” on a test, but is that 10 out of 10 or 10 out of a hundred? Plus, is it a statement of fact, that nobody watches the show or is it a joke? I can think that it might be a statement; the CW certainly goes out of it’s way to advertise other shows in its lineup during SPN time (with big huge green obnoxious moving letters, thank you very much), but doesn’t seem to advertise like that on other shows for SPN. Or is it a plea for more viewers? Or is it an excuse, because there aren’t that many watchers we don’t have to do our best? It just wasn’t funny to me.

Along about the time that Sam and Dean are messing with the rubber knives and fake glass, I get that what Show might be trying to do is give fans a taste of what it might be like to go behind the scenes, without actually taking any fans behind the scenes. It’s easy for them, painless for the actors, and everyone’s happy. And yes, it’s always fascinating to me to see rooms that are painted on the inside, but are plywood on the outside. And really, the whole thing always looks fake as hell but somehow the camera picks it up and spins it into reality. What’s even more amazing is that the Set Dressers KNOW how to make it so it looks real; it never ceases to amaze me. The magic of television! So I’ll just go with the rest of it and try not to think so hard, okay?

Presently, Sam and Dean are confronted by some fake Impalas, and they decide to pray for the Soap Angel, who appears in the guise of AU Misha Collins. If you’re a Collins fan, I guess this is some pretty funny stuff, but how much of it was a shout out to fans and how much wasn’t, I’ll never know. Somone knows, it just isn’t me. And if the actor is actually someone who tweets incessantly to his fans like that, how on earth does he get his lines down? Apparently has nothing better to do than to talk to his fans, although his use of the fannish term JSquared was pretty funny.

Fake knives

Then we encounter the trailer of AU Jensen, and it’s all very amusing. Sam points out the name on the trailer and Dean says, “Hey! That’s fake me! That must mean this is fake mine!” In they walk to the sumptuous environs of AU Ackles, including a 300 gallon fish tank, a flying toy helicopter, and a flat screen TV with constantly running loops of AU Ackles in action.

And you know, Dean, he’s not much on carrying a lot of stuff around, but the Dreams of Avarice flicker across his face when he looks at the helicopter. Looks but doesn’t touch, which seems a little strange, given that Dean would have picked it up and started playing with it straight away. The only thing that gets played with is the computer, and that’s by Sam, who sits down and starts Googling AU Jensen.  Naturally he finds a fistful of pictures in about two seconds, and all of them are yummy. (I’m sure Sam doesn’t think so but I do.)

Sam and Dean are desperate to get out of the AU, so they try the Impala only it can’t take them very far, ‘cause it’s a prop. Up pops one of my favorite characters of this ep, besides Sam and Dean, and that’s the stage hand. I’m not sure if it’s the same stage hand that shows up later, but it’s the idea of the thing, you see; this scrawny kid, whose doing his best to try and stop “Mr. Ackles” from driving off in an Impala that doesn’t really work, without offending the Talent. The stage hand is meek and self-effacing and utterly adorable.

Luckily Sam and Dean are able to get a ride (in a Cadillac SUV?) and are driven off into the dark night by AU Cliff who is, in real life, Jensen Ackles’ bodyguard. Does Cliff also drive them everywhere like this? I don’t know, but you get my point here: you have to KNOW who Cliff is to understand who AU Cliff is in the scene.  If you don’t know, if you’re not up on the whole Cliff story, then the fact that the driver is named “Cliff” won’t mean a thing. See what I mean about inside jokes?

Meeting AU Ruby

The scene gets better when Sam and Dean realize where the AU Supernatural show is filmed, namely Vancouver, BC. This any fan can tell you, and even non-fans know that Vancouver is the Northern Hollywood for all things great and fannish including The Watchmen, Stargate (all versions), The Sentinel, etc etc, ad museum. But finally, Show doesn’t have to pretend to be anywhere else than where it is! Isn’t that lucky for Show? Did it save money on the budget? It should have. Will it pour saved money BACK into developing good stories and scripts? I hope so.

AU Cliff drives the boys to AU Jared’s pad, and by pad I mean McMansion. It’s a huge, sumptuous palace, more in keeping with an actor whose ego is out of control. I mean, do actors really have that many pictures of themselves and stuff?  Truthfully, actors have egos that are a little bit large and pretty much intact, and I’ve been to a residence or two, and I’m here to tell you that yes, they will have images of themselves, playbills in frames, pictures of themselves in costume, and so on. It’s not just what they do, it’s who they are.

While I’m assuming that Padalecki is a much more self-effacing actor with his ego firmly in check, I would be surprised if he doesn’t have a picture of himself in some role or other. The joke is that that in one room, AU Jared’s picture is done in lurid, Warhol style. It’s big, and it’s obnoxious, and kind of funny. But what I really enjoyed was the painting of AU Jared behind the desk, which shows AU Jared in a cowboy outfit, WHOOT WHOOT! (Yes, I stared.)

Here’s the other joke, and if you’ve watched Show at all during Season Four, then you know who Ruby is, and you know what the actress who played her (Genevieve Cortese) looks like. So it’s pretty funny to discover that AU Jared ended up marrying the AU actress who played AU Ruby. Laughs all around people! Sam looks stunned, and Dean looks stunned, and AU actress is simply peeved that AU Jensen is still calling her AU Ruby, and it’s not funny to her anymore.

Which way to go?

So you can get the joke so far, but it goes even deeper than that (and it’s this particular joke that makes me think maybe the other jokes go deeper too but because I don’t know). Anyway, the joke goes deeper because the real life Jared Padalecki (who plays Sam) actually DID marry the real life Genevieve Cortese (who played Ruby), so her name is now Genevieve Padalecki.

I know, right? They got married in Idaho (even I know that), and I’m betting that the wedding picture you see on the mantle (and that Dean espies to figure out what’s going on) is real. I think that Ms. Padalecki is a good sport to play the AU version of herself, it gives the joke a marvelously funny and layered context. What I did miss was AU Harley and AU Sadie; which, even a non-interview-reading fan like me knows are the sweet puppies that Jared calls his. At any rate, I hope the real Mr. and Mrs. P are deliriously happy, forever and ever. (The poker table, I also happen to know, is a shout out to the time Mr. Padalecki was on Celebrity Poker. I don’t know whether he won or lost, but I know he was there. Real poker fans could probably tell you more.)

Sam and Dean get to work ordering stuff off the internet so they can use it in a spell go get home. (Too bad they can’t click their heels together three times, eh?). They use AU Jared’s credit card(s) and max them out getting bits of a semi-saint or whatever it is. And they have fun, as they should do because it’s not their money. But then, it never is.

Later, AU Gen comes home to what she thinks is AU Jared, only it’s Sam, and he’s asking questions about the apocalypse and stuff to which AU Gen replies yes, that was last season, etc. Then she moseys up to Sam and says, “You have been Sam Winchester way too long.” And then she takes him off to bed. The camera even focuses on the very large wedding ring that AU Gen is wearing. Is it an AU wedding ring or the real thing? Is it a joke? Does it go deeper than that? Is it funny? But the fact is that it’s kind of sweet, them playing themselves playing themselves, if you see what I mean.

But what makes it all funny, and in fact, the whole ep VERY worthwhile, is that Sam and Dean are called upon to do some “actor stuff.” That is, they have to pretend to be AU Jared and AU Jensen (who as you’ll remember aren’t really talking to each other), and then ACT like AU Sam and AU Dean.

Of course since the “real” Sam and Dean aren’t actors (well, they are in a sense, very good actors, given all those roles they play), but they’re not actors for the camera, like, ever, so right away they go alls stiff and self conscious. Dean decides to be all focused and determined and growly about it, because, apparently, that’s the way he thinks real actors do it. What’s even funnier is that he does the line (there are a billion takes), the SAME way every single time. It’s hysterical.

Wants OUT

As for Sam, he’s all jumpy and he stands there moving and shifting like a guy who doesn’t quite know what to do with all those various body parts that he’s suddenly become aware of. He puts his arms akimbo and tries to not look at the camera (as Dean suggests, hissingly), but he’s a disaster because his gestures are broad and Victorian-esque and his lines are delivered with the aplomb of a wooden monkey. I will swear to while watching this scene that milk came out of my nose more than once. And not AU milk, real milk! Both Padalecki and Ackles have a future in comedy should they decide to take a chance on it.

Later there’s a little shout out to Galaxy Quest, as Sam looks over the script and says, despairingly “Who wrote this! Nobody says penultimate!”  Dean’s comment of “Sure you need more lines, surely you’ve said it all,” is a lot along the same lines; the joke is, sometimes, the characters of Sam and Dean take a long time getting to the point. But that’s part of their charm.

Eventually Sam and Dean try the spell to get home and it doesn’t work. Which makes them realize that magic doesn’t work in the AU world. It’s probably good that there are no ghosts or demons or angels (and no related danger), there’s also no magic. Which, I assume, means no unicorns. Sad, isn’t it?

Then the boys encounter the Archangel Virgil and have an angel puddle battle, except to everyone there, it looks like the Talent is beating up the Extra. Then it gets tricky. Worried about AU Jared and AU Jensen, the guys in the camp chairs (Producer? Writer? Director?) make a phone call to Sera Gamble. Who even I, in my little hobbit hole without any cable know is a pretty big muckety muck on Show.

She’s in Charge of a Lot of Stuff, and my respect for her as a woman in a man’s world is very high. Plus she’s a Samgirl, and reportedly enjoys torturing Sam and tying him up a lot, so what’s not to like. I think the joke is that while on the phone, the Three Men in Chairs dismiss Sera’s efforts, saying that she is new, doesn’t know AU Jared and AU Jensen all that well, etc. it’s a man’s world, ha ha, and isn’t it cute to watch women try?

In a rainy alley, AU Misha is killed by the Archangel Virgil, who uses AU Misha’s blood to cast a spell to call heaven or hell or whatever. Given that it was very clearly stated that this AU world has NO magic of any kind, I consider this to be a plot hole big enough to drive a truck through. But, hey, “Season Six” right? Does it really matter? Is anybody watching? Do they care? (Or maybe Archangels are exempt from the no magic rule?)

Sam and Dean enter the part of the set that’s Bobby’s house. There sits one of the guys from the chairs. Turns out he’s Robert Singer, who the character of Bobby Singer was named after. I surely wish, I really do, that Jim Beaver had been there to play the AU version of himself. I mean, it would have been more interesting than watching the (Producer? Director? Writer) say whatever he’s got to say. But Dean’s speech about being the Winchesters first last and always, and QUITTING on the spot was pretty good.

Dean poses for Sam

I like the scene where Sam and Dean linger on the set. Dean thinks that Sam might be wanting to stick around, and he lists all the benefits: nice house, beautiful wife, lotsa money, etc. But Sam says no, because their friends are back home, and because what they do and who they are matters there, and, perhaps most importantly, because in the AU world they’re not even brothers.

It’s nice to know that even with the temptation of living in a McMansion, Sam’s (and Dean’s) minds and hearts are in the right place. And it’s in keeping with what Sam and Dean expressed in The Real Ghostbusters ep, that what you get out of a life and how you are remembered is much more important than money. Sure money is great, you can buy things with it, but living a life that’s yours and having people around to care about and that care about you? That’s what matters. (Plus Sam’s awfully pretty when he leans in doorways.)

Outside in the rain, Kripke shows up. (Although, since I watch The Big Bang Theory, in my head I think of him as “Kwipke.”) Anyway, I don’t know much about Mr. Kripke, but he came up with the idea for Show and has let the show run its course. I don’t know how much direct involvement he has day to day, but the fact that he has to fly in and fix things is a telling point; he’s not local to the project.

Sam poses for Dean

The AU Kripke is apparently not a nice person, he’s more concerned with the fact that AU Misha’s death has put AU Show on the front page of variety. AU Kripke then encounters the Archangel Virgil, and dies in a slow-mo version of a Western shootout. Is this a fantasy of Kripke’s? Or is the idea of why this scene exists such an inside joke that a viewer just can’t know? How is that funny for viewers then?  Although it is funny that only the stage hands and minor players in the AU world know how to duck when the bullets start flying.

In the midst of battling the Archangel, Sam and Dean get yanked back into their own world. Show manages to stumble on for about five more minutes, while the “here’s the key, where does the key go, what did it conceal” part of the plot continues. Blah, blah, blah; when will the angels and demons and other angels stop fighting?  The Soap Angel yanks them back to Bobby’s house, where it is pouring rain. Bobby is still not there, so I’m thinking the whole adventure took only seconds, if that long. The Soap Angel tells them what they need to know, which isn’t much, and then his disappears.

I’m not really sure about this episode. Sure, there were funny moments, and some shout outs that I recognized, but overall, it felt like a throwaway ep that didn’t advance the plot as much as it stalled it. But there’s this bit at the end that gave me some joy and hope that next week’s ep would be about something.

Back into the land of Rain

Sam tests the doorframe to make sure it’s real and not a dream. He’s happy to be there. Then Dean says, “Here we are in a world chock full of crap that wanna skin ya.” And Sam says, “But, hey, at least we’re talking.” And in the end, that’s what I watch Show for. So Show? No hate mail this week, at least not from me.

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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