Mallena’s Musings: Supernatural 13.08 “The Scorpion and the Frog”

Alright, I’m so happy to report that Supernatural has done it again.  Whatever those special qualities are that makes our show such a wonderful trip; they’re all here.  We have a gem of an episode that’s definitely delightful.

I’m so inspired by all the references to things that I love in this story, that my musing section’s probably going to be long. Sorry – not sorry.  Where to begin?  I’m totally verklempt, I’m telling you.  The visuals in this episode are sublime; from the “Cambridge, England” location, to the mysterious manse on the foggy moors.  Okay, it’s really Vancouver, but it’s so gorgeous.  I’m envious of everyone that gets to live in such a beautiful place. The location and set design crew are to be congratulated – very good job, people.

I always love it when a demon, or anyone suspicious, calls Dean on his phone.  Dean’s testy phone-voice is a wonderful thing.  I helpfully tell scam artists and telemarketers exactly where I think they will spend eternity in the next life.  Anyways, I’m really happy with the location shooting.  We get a busy street scene, fun with pie in a diner, and the aforementioned mansion in the mist.  There are so many bonus surprises that I’m frankly overwhelmed.  I love the new crossroads demon.  I wanted him to stick around and reoccur.  Drat.

We’re supposed to get a crime caper vibe from this, but I’m too busy geeking out over the Indiana Jones references to remember that’s it’s a heist. I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark in a theatre when I was a teenager and that opening sequence, not to mention the rest of the movie, blew me away.  I do love Smash, Grab, and Luther.  I love the boys working with a human that’s under a demon contract and other assorted (kind of) evil beings, like Meg for instance.  That’s not to say that we need to replace Crowley, but that the boys working with other interesting characters, from time to time – that’s a good thing.  It gives our brothers something to react to besides each other, and we can see the guest character reacting to them.  Win – win, in my book.  Note to the casting director:  a pretty/handsome face doesn’t mean the actress/actor will make an interesting character on the show.  Look deeper.

All the lines of dialog, in which Sam and Dean are actually speaking to each other, or about one or the other of them – those parts are so much needed and desired.  Lines like, “Sam, you’re the smart one,” and “How Dean of you,” make this tale a pleasure to view and to listen to.  There’s also an actual plot with opening a magical safe that strongly reminds me of “The Werther Box.” I’m in Supernatural heaven.  Chuck bless you, Ms. Glynn.

Only the blood of a man who’s been to Hell and back can open the safe.  The Dean Hell-torture flashbacks make me sad.  It’s good to be reminded of such things, though, so we don’t forget what the boys have endured.  Sam’s been to Hell a few times, but I’d never expect Dean to let him do the main deed, anyway.  Dean always tries to do the dangerous stunts, to save his little brother from having to do them.  I expected no less from Dean, this time.  It’s great the way that Sam’s worried about releasing another evil thing and the way that he tells his brother to not die, like…again.  Those are much needed touches to elevate an episode to greatness and it’s such a small thing, and easy to forget to include.

The laughs start quickly, as Dean’s under a locator spell, and there’s drama and action, too.  Dean gets to interact very well, with the characters around him, and puts on his scary-voice when his brother’s disrespected.  I’m so glad that Sam knows how to duck when someone shoots at him, instead of the way that some characters just seem to stand there and wait to get shot.  If I’m ever in that situation, I’m doing Sam’s leap to safety, that’s for sure.  Is it just me, or has Sam been visited by a personal stylist, lately?  I’m digging his outfits, and his hair needs an Emmy of its own.  The poor guy gets another dent in his skull, but the hair’s still amazing.

The twist of Luther not being able to die on his property is a good one.  That adds peril to the situation for the boys and makes the story richer, again.  Of course, I love Dean and the safe’s stone guardian.  My favorite part’s when he keeps saying, “spiders.”  I’m with you there, Dean.  Once again, the view of the mechanical innards reminds me of “Werther,” and I just love the anticlimactic pinprick of blood.  Dean putting his finger in his mouth, now that just completes the goodness.  The fun doesn’t stop there because a booby-trapped room awaits.  How perfect it is, that Sam and Dean stand and talk to each other for a while.  I’m loving every scene, so far.  Dean says that Luther has a “glass jaw.”  What’s that supposed to mean?  I could look it up, but I’m sure a smart reader knows what it means.  I’m also not familiar with Entrapment, but I do know who Catherine Zita Jones is.  Sam and Dean are teasing each other, so I could die happy. 

Now for a quick detour:  I can’t help imagining the sticking-the-hand-in-the-stoneface scene without thinking about how it would’ve been even better if they had Sam and Dean do it together.  Alice, the demon helper, is amusing, but the scene would have been terrific if Sam had been standing there in her place.  I don’t have the time to share my mind cannon, but you’re welcome to share yours in the comments.  It would’ve been epic to see, sigh.

Sam’s got an idea to get past the darts-of-death.  I’m thinking of so many references to so many television shows and movies that I’m finding it hard to concentrate on what to write for the actual episode happenings.  The part where Luther’s tied up on wheels is bloody brilliant and such fun.  A great car chase later and we’re near the end of this adventure.  Of course, Luther really has a sad story to tell about the deal he made for his son and soon it’s bye bye Luther before Sam and Dean can get rid of that interesting crossroads demon guy.  Unfortunately, the spell they were after is destroyed by fire that Mr. Sam Winchester can’t put out.  Okay, how many times since boyhood has Sam been setting and putting out fires?  A thousand times?  More?  He knows that you don’t blow on fire!  Come on, that’s stupid.  If he had stomped on the burning paper, it probably would have disintegrated, but he could still have dropped onto the paper and put it out with his massive body.  Oh, well – they don’t want to find Jack too quickly yet, I suppose.

I’m glad that Alice survived to possibly come back and that Dean gave Sam a pep talk in the end.  Sam was down and I didn’t expect that, so it’s nice to see Dean cheering him up.  I’m also glad that there’s an episode that I want to hurry and rewatch.  It’s been a long time since I’ve felt the pull of a great Supernatural episode – that spark that makes me eager to watch.  Please let the trend continue; Dean and Sam needs some wins and so do I.

My Random Musings

Well, I did think of a crime caper show that I used to watch.  Leverage was a show that I liked for a while, but stopped watching after I felt it had started repeating itself and running out of ideas.  The first few seasons were very good and my favorite character was Parker.  She was someone who was socially awkward and found a way to trust other people for the first time.  Her costar happens to be Aldis Hodge (Jake), who should have played a good guy on our show instead of the guy who stabs Sammy in the back and made us all cry our eyes out.

I recognize the actor who plays Barthamus, right away.  Medium was a good show and he was good in it.  David Cubitt played a detective who helped catch the bad guys, while Allison (Patricia Arquette) interacted with the ghosts.

I’m so glad that Supernatural has some of the best scenery in television.  Not just the brothers, either; there are so many episodes that make me think of the towns and forests that they are set in.  Not many other shows have such varied locations and memorable vistas.  Some of my favorite shows are broadcasts from across the pond because the scenery’s so beautiful.  Hinterland is set in Wales, Happy Valley is set in a gorgeous part of Northern England, and of course Broadchurch has that beautiful, but deadly cliff.  The view from my window is rows of suburban houses, but I can see Mount Timpanogos – which does have an interesting cave tour if you can handle the three-mile trek.  It’s not the distance that’s hard, but the 1000 feet of up and down.

When Luther was tied up on wheels, I couldn’t help but think of Doctor Who and the episode where David Tennant as the Doctor, was strapped to a wheeled chair and had to be pushed down a flight of stairs – prompting him to declare it the worst rescue ever.  So funny.

Stargate SG-1 has an episode called “The Fifth Race”, where O’Neill looks into an alien device which grabs his head and then crazy things begin to happen.  

I found myself musing about voices this week.  Sometimes Sam and Dean’s voices are so low and growly.  I wish that especially Jared would lighten that up a little, if he can.  It’s hard to hear different emotions and inflections in that deep growl.  I miss young Sam’s sweet voice and his laughter. 

On The Orville this week, a first officer said this to her captain: “It’s not the feather, Dumbo – it’s you.”  I got chills when I heard that. The actress, Adrianne Palicki, who played Sam’s love Jessica on Supernatural, was the one who said that line on The Orville – while Ruby (Genevieve Cortese Padalecki) said that to Sam on our show.  Small world, huh?

This episode just worked for me on all levels.  I laughed, I got emotional, the guest stars were very good, the plot was intriguing and layered. Here, Sam and Dean (plus, Jared and Jensen) were capable and smart guys who got the job done…okay, except for the fire mishap. 

—-Mallena

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