WEDNESDAY’S WATCHING Supernatural 11.19 “The Chitters”
WEDNESDAY’S WATCHING
Supernatural 11.19 “The Chitters”
BY WEDNESDAY
“The Chitters”, a.k.a. “junkless” monster of the week, came with a hidden message and
shovel hits to the head of themes and imagery from past episodes, but what does it all mean?
Join Wednesday for Meta thoughts and a flashback review.
WHAT DID I WATCH?
THE SCRIPT
Too much. While some found the script lacking, it actually delivered too much.
Too many characters: Mattie, Jesse, Cesar, Etta, Tyson, Cochran, Cori, Libby, Cliff… .
The town was filled with characters and stories shimmering with traumas that will never be resolved.
There were too many themes, and none were fully treated: vengeance,
homophobia, lust, hunter survival, small town prejudices, etc.
THEMES
This small coal mining town, Gunnison, Colorado, satirized the small town mentality of
America with towns folk who are unable to accept those who are different.
The “missing people” were representative of those people who did not fit in, and
were told to conform, or deny their reality. These victims dreamed of an
escape, perhaps to California, or to college. When they did escape, they never returned.
Those left behind pretended the victims were off living brighter lives, or in the Old
Sheriff’s case that they were “dead.” Refusing to accept the truth of his
daughter’s ‘difference’, he moved away and lived a life of denial.
There were moments when this interpretation was likely. Jesse’s excessive stabbing of a
former townsfolk turned Chitter,
and Jesse’s angry confrontation with the Old Sheriff who refused to believe him,
– indicated that Jesse’s vengeance was really aimed at a different kind of monster than the
Junkless Chitter… The Monster of Prejudice.
And, we never did see the actual killing of this monster. How could we?
Prejudice has a way of rearing its ugly head and resurrecting from the ashes.
The Chitters’ procreation method of stripping the mother of her choices and taking
control of the offspring paralleled a society that strips its mothers of
choices about their own bodies and fetuses. The males protected the eggs and
the Hunters decided to kill the eggs. Gratefully, the eggs were NOT destroyed
with a handy shovel, but burned behind the scenes instead.
Maybe, that’s all misplaced meta: going in too deep when no depth was intended.
Maybe, we all need to ‘read the writing on the wall’ or, more specifically the foot
of the wall of the graffiti underpass where Cliff was attacked.
The thematic message about ‘vengeance not being fulfilling’ definitely ties into earlier plots of Supernatural.
This season, both Sam and Dean speculated on finding peace at the end of the road.
Here, two Hunters did find peace.
What are the odds then of Sam and Dean finding the same?
CINEMATOGRAPHY
HAUNTINGS The script, imagery, motifs, set, costumes all tied into the past of Supernatural. Almost everything in this episode haunted us with echoes from some other episode, either from SeasonEleven, or further back. So many hits!! GAY HUNTERS The gay hunter duo was an ironic twist to the Supernatural saga. Initially, Dean and Sam were mistaken for gay when they were not.
Dean tells the hunters they fight like brothers, only to discover they are married.
How many times previously were Dean and Sam told they fought like a couple?
And Dean and Sam take it in their stride, totally accepting of this hunter couple,
much like they did before. Nothing new to see here.
In fact, this Season’s “Safe House” also had a same sex couple who survived.
But, what did it all mean? The fandom had diverse reactions, ranging from
accusations of “queer baiting” to the belief that “Destiel” will be
revealed as canon by the end of the season.
Or, maybe we all need to pay attention to the writing on the wall:
Maybe, the Supernatural world is simply being inclusive and demonstrating that it does
not matter one bit whether the hunters were gay, straight, or other;
People, no different from other people, working hard to get a tough job done,
and WITHOUT dying.
HERBS
Sam knows his herbs!
Oregano!? Although Dean is acting ‘holier than thou,’ he has previously revealed his own
knowledge of the cannabis world.
Don’t get me started with the new “Spanish Fly” reference and the past “Viagra” reference this season.
Although the ‘Ganja Girl” line was funny, Grandpa Dean’s “Trippin’ trip” joke wasn’t.
Still, who didn’t love Sam’s smirk of appreciation?
ORGIES
Dean’s also no stranger to orgies. (Who’s the Sinner now, Dean?)
Was he really going to attempt to describe them to this traumatized girl?
DEAN: The, uh, the couple that… that was… going at it, would you say this was a… orgy-like situation?
CLIFF’S GIRLFRIEND: I’ve…never seen an orgy.
DEAN:No?”
Yet, it was Crowley who attended an orgy in the season opener.
NUTS?
Still more imagery hits coming:
PURSES AND COINS
In this episode the coin symbolized the hopes and dreams of escaping to a brighter
world. It also came to symbolize the love between brothers.
This is not the first time when coins were featured in an episode this season.
Wait there are still more hits to come….
PARALLELS
There were too many parallels to past sibling relationships in Season Eleven to list
here. Most notably is the dysfunctional Amara/God sibling relationship.
GREEN
We haven’t seen a green colour motif since 10.19 “The Werther Project.”
All the green created an edgy nervous atmosphere.
Who could you trust?
LOCATION
The location was reminiscent of the set used in Purgatory visited in “The Werther
Project” and even the action, that of Cesar saving Dean by beheading a monster,
had a strong similarity to Benny saving Dean.
An old mine was in the episode “Hell’s Angel” 11.18, where Amara and Rowena were holed up,
and it was strongly reminiscent of, dare I say it, “Wendigo.” 1.02.
WOMEN SHERIFFS
OLD WOMEN/COUGARS
No surprises here.
Previously, this season, there was an old cougar in 11.11″Into the Mystic.”
In the Supernatural world, all old women are cougars when they are not being nasty
witches. The WRITERS never seem to tire of this trope.
Still, the hits keep coming:
SOUND
PROPS
While we are flashing back to the past, Sam also mentioned being afraid, “whenever
you and dad used to leave me to go hunting and I wouldn’t hear from y’all for a
while, I, um, I was always sure that some Vamp, or Rugaru, or take your pick…
I always figured one of them finally got ya.” However, it would not have been
Vampires that got them in Sam’s imagination because Sam did not know they
existed.
MOTIFS UNIQUE?
(I probably shouldn’t have giggled so much at this but …)
BROTHERS IN SYNC
And a Dog upstages them.
(First Assistant Director Kevin Parks’ dog, a white Samoyed named Kuma Blu makes a
cameo appearance.)
GREAT SHOTS
EYE CANDY BABY!
Disappointing! Only 7 out of 19 episodes have passed this easy test to determine gender equity, so
far in Season 11, or 37%.)
My mom and I are running out of patience….
BEST PERFORMANCE
There were some phenomenal performances by the whole cast. But because he wrestled
with two chitter crazies and killed us with his facials, this episode belongs to
Jensen Ackles.
FROM THE REAR VIEW
Rating: Two Ganja Leaves out of five.
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