Ted-tastic!

Danger! Danger! Spoilers Will Robinson!
Supernatural season 4 episode 8 spoilers are contained in the following post!

So it’s Sunday again already - where does the time go? Had a scream Friday night as I got to watch Ted Raimi - yes, thee Ted Raimi in ‘Supernatural’. So how did that go then? A mixed episode: some part completely whacked-out weirdo shit, some part normal, run-of-the-mill lore and follow-through. And Ted Raimi. Did I mention there was Ted Raimi? Ok, I’ll stop talking about Ted Raimi. Promise.

End of last week, we had Uriel - Castiel’s recently introduced sidekick and demolitions expert - telling Sam that Dean’s not exactly being a Chatty Cathy about his time in Hell (as if anyone would. Angels, eh?). Sam’s first move is to tell Dean that Uriel’s a tattle-tale - and that Dean does remember Hell, and bloody well better ‘fess up over it, too. Dean’s predictable response is to lie his way out of the situation (quite convincingly) while downing a number of whisky shots. Nice. As Joxer once said, ‘denial ain’t just a river in Africa’. Anyway, Sam finds the only job worth looking at - literally: a spirit that’s creeping out young ladies by watching them get changed in the shower room. Dean’s out the door before Sam can even put his laptop away and off they go to Concrete, Washington.

The usual interviews and fake IDs later and they’ve got women claiming to have been chucked down stairs by ghosts that then help them up again, and woodsmen shouting ‘Bigfoot!’ Dean’s convinced LSD is getting into the town’s water supply until they find a paw print the size of Texas in the ground. A bit of legwork later and they find the craziest thing they’ve come across since they started this evil-hunting thing in the first place: a possible Bigfoot. A nice little poke at the whole myth later (“He’s some kinda… alcoholo-porno-addict. Kinda like a deep-woods Duchovny”), and they find the trail to the cause of the footprints. And it’s weirder than even Bigfoot. Confronting the monstrous evil-doer (small child alert!) keeping the beast captive, they infiltrate the house as none other than teddy bear doctors. Which is lucky, cos the 10-foot tall, polyester bi-polar teddy bear they find is really not well. A diet of cheap booze and porno mags has not improved his mood. However, agreeing to treat the sick individual has uncovered the fact that people are chucking coins into and making wishes in the fountain at the local Chinese restaurant - and they’re all coming true. And here comes a nice little Winchesters come-clean moment - what would they wish for if they could? Dean goes for a foot-long sandwich (no surprise there, then) but Sammy? Not a stop to it all, not the life everyone could have had before demon disasters struck and it all went Pete Tong. No, he’d wish for Lilith’s head on a plate. Nice image!

They find the root of the problem to be a dodgy coin in the fountain. An amusing failed attempt to get it out later and Sam’s realised why a ‘ghost’ is haunting the girls’ showers. Meanwhile, Dean finds out the sticky way why the wishes are not to be trusted, but once his sandwich has been expelled he’s free to explain the ins and outs of the Babylonion coin (bearing the picture of Tiamat, no less) and how they have to find the first wisher and get him/her to remove the coin. Nothing else will break the curse. Meanwhile, poor manicly depressed Teddy has decided it’s all too much - and a reeeally horrible scene where he tries to end it all had me split between wetting myself laughing and shouting in agony for the purr wee bugger. Flipping from the ridiculous to the sublime, Dean’s trying to nap off his nasty sandwich revenge, but it’s not getting him anywhere. Memories of Hell are keeping him unpleasantly occupied, and it’s Sam who has to wake him. Unfortunate, considering it’s Sam he’s been lying to about not remembering a damned thing.

Everything Emo shoved neatly aside for now (and aren’t we glad), The Boys stumble onto the first wisher and it’s time to pay him a visit. And it’s Ted Raimi. And he looks just the same. He sounds exactly the same. He’s so very Ted it’s excellent. We love Ted Raimi! Can you tell? Ahem. Anyway, a prickly confrontation ensues (and a nice gag about The Boys being teddy bear doctors on Thursdays) and it’s clear purr wee Ted is unprepared to give up the love of his life.

Luckily - or not - the wishes of others get in the way. While Sam agrees to get Ted to the fountain on time to take back his wish (now he’s seen the way it can get all fucked up), Dean tries to stop a tiny kid from terrorising the entire town single-handed cos he wished for superpowers. Halfway through quoting (Ted's big brother) Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man’ (“With great power comes great responsibility”), Dean gets his ass kicked by an eight year old. It gets worse - Sam loses both his shoes (this time) and apparently his life. What’s a poor down-trodden average Joe like Joxer Ted supposed to do? The right thing. Seeing how things are not really working out for the best, and how his wish is twisting people into monsters, he realises he has to make things ok. And he does. (I could be paranoid here, but the way he walks up behind the girlfriend and just asks ‘Hope?’ to make sure it’s her - not really a Xena moment? Hope did kill a lot of people, after all…)

The coin removed, the wishes reversed, everything is sorted. But I’m feeling sorry for the poor lad - as is Sam, I’m guessing. There’s something very upsetting about poor Ted handing over the coin, something very emotive in his shuffle. It’s not fair, but it’s just Life. As The Boys have already tried to tell him - Life isn’t fair, that’s why it’s called Life.

So everything’s back to normal - or is it? Sam’s prepared to drive off into the sunset in pursuit of other nasties to kill. But Dean’s got a problem - he has to actually look his brother in the eye and tell him he outright lied to his face. Not an easy thing to do, as anyone who has siblings will know. But it’s worse than that - there’s a gulf here, and while it’s not going to drive a stake between them, it’s not exactly going to bring The Boys back together. Or will it? At least they’re being honest, which is a far cry from the opening episode and all the crap that’s gone on between them since. It’s a start. One I hope is not going to get fucked up by the likes of New Ruby (who STILL should be played by Traci Dinwiddie!) or even the lovely Castiel.

So what was the title (‘Wishful Thinking’) really about? The wishes? Dean’s attempt to lie to Sam in perpetuam? Or Sam’s hope that he can actually help his brother out of his alcohol-laden nightmares? We’ll have to wait and watch.

And there we have it - we’re set up for an angst-fest next week. (We’ve had two comedies and two frivolous episodes now, so I think it’s fair to say the lighter side of evil hunting has been taken care of for at least the first third of the season.) However, now that certain truths have come to light, Sam’s on his last warning from Uriel, Dean’s on his protege training programme from Castiel, and the writers are desperate to arc this properly over the next fourteen episodes, I’m confident it’s all going to come out in the wash. I’m not religious, but I have faith in The Kripke.

But does anyone else think that Dean Winchester is one of the most ambidextrous right-handed people on TV? No? I notice these things, being left-handed myself, and Sam having used his appendage preference as how he once spotted Dean's shapeshifter double. Hmm...

That’s all the stuff that’s fit to print. I have to go close the window now cos I’m getting chilly - the weather’s broken and it appears to be Proper Autumn now. It’s barely 24 degrees C right now, the breeze is COLD and even the humidity is making a poor effort to reach 65%. Bugger.

I’m off to the pub quiz to see how I can balls that up. Peach and lube everyone!

Tags:
Supernatural ~ Dean Winchester ~ Sam Winchester ~ Jensen Ackles ~ Jared Padalecki ~ Ted Raimi ~ Joxer