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3.8 A Very Supernatural Christmas Sam: "So I guess we're dealing with Mister and Missus God. Nice to know." Evergreen stakes through the heart. It was so twisted. Scary, intense, clever and funny. And it even managed to be sad and touching. How do they do it? Mr. and Mrs. Claus were perfect as the jovial, homicidal Ozzie and Harriet pagan gods. The bloody red suit, dragging the bodies up the chimney, the body parts in the basement, bleah. So appropriate that Dean and Sam wished each other a Merry Christmas while they were doing their job, and in such horrible danger. This is how they live, after all. The flashbacks didn't do much for me at first, but they turned out to be very important. Instead of asking if Santa was real, young Sam asked young Dean if the monsters were real. Dean confirmed that the monsters were real, but Santa was not. Sam refused to celebrate Christmas after that. It was the death of innocence, the end of belief in good things. The basic message of Christmas is hope, but there is no hope for the Winchesters. Nothing has changed. Dean is still going to die. Young Dean did the best he could to make a Christmas for Sam. (Typically, Dean unselfishly tried to make Sam believe that John had made Christmas for them, and referred to John as a superhero.) In the present, Sam returned the favor by making Christmas for Dean. Both Christmases were pathetic as well as touching, emphasizing how empty their lives were, as well as how much they loved each other. Maybe the point of this episode was that Sam realized that the reason to celebrate Christmas wasn't the holiday itself -- it was Dean. I was so creeped out by Mr. Pagan God pulling out Sam's fingernail that I almost missed the most important part of the story: that Sam gave Dean the present he had gotten for John. That was an important moment for the two of them. It was Sam acknowledging that Dean was, essentially, his father. That's why Dean never takes off that necklace, and why he always puts Sam first. Bits and pieces: -- Special opener and credits, with snow. Loved it. -- The final scene of the two of them having Christmas was set to the original, much sadder version of "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" from "Meet me in St. Louis." It is basically about getting through a sad Christmas, in the hope that next year will be better. "Someday soon we all will be together if the fates allow / Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow." -- The little boy who played Sam was dead on; the resemblance and mannerisms were uncanny. The little boy who played Dean was fairly good, but didn't look or act quite as much like Dean. -- If Mr. and Mrs. Pagan God were just after a human sacrifice, why did they leave behind a little boy, not once, but twice? They weren't the anti-Santa punishing the wicked, after all. Plotting boo-boo? I could probably assign some symbolism, that the two boys who survived represented Dean and Sam. They've seen horrors constantly for years, and they're still alive. -- I think there was another dropped plot thread, too. What about the guy in the sack? Wasn't their latest victim still alive? -- The red herring Santa was almost as creepy as Mr. and Mrs. Pagan God. He acted almost like a child molester when he had that little boy on his lap. But then they went with the monster bong and the porn, which lightened it up. Dean and Sam pretending to be carollers was a hoot. -- They've done pagan gods a few times before: "Scarecrow" and "Tall Tales," both excellent episodes. Sacrifices to the scarecrow were also for good weather. -- This week: Ypsilanti, Michigan. Plus Broken Bow, Nebraska in 1991. And Seattle, Washington a year ago. Quotes: Dean: "So was I right? Is it a serial-killing chimney sweep?" Sam: "Yeah. It's actually Dick van Dyke." Dean: "Who?" Movie afficionado Dean Winchester has never seen "Mary Poppins." Not a surprise. Sam: "If you want to have Christmas, knock yourself out. Just don't involve me." Dean: "Yeah, that'd be great. Me and myself making cranberry molds." (pause) What's up with Saint Nicotine?" Dean: "So that's how your son described the attack? Santa dragged Daddy up the chimney?" Dean: "So what did Bobby say?" Sam: "That we're morons." Four out of four stars, Billie |
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