Ever
since Supernatural let the metafiction genie out of the bottle, they can’t seem
to shove it back in. This week we get to see the “first annual’ Supernatural
(novels) convention, taking place in a real life haunted house. This means we
get to see Chuck and Becky the Fangirl, as well as a cast of twenty or so in
various Supernatural-themed costumes. Oh, there’s also ghosts, but they’re
simply a narrative device.
And
Lo, the Prophet Chuck realized he needed some cash, probably to fix up his
property after the archangel Raphael blew up Castiel…and maybe to also impress his
new lady friend, Becky the (crazy) Fangirl. So he decides to keep publishing
the
Supernatural series, and also to work the first ever Supernatural
convention. Becky the crazed Fangirl decides that, like any good convention,
this one needs its stars to attend. So she steals Chuck’s cell phone (“borrowed
it from his pants”) and sends the Brothers Winchester a fake S.O.S.
Sam
and Dean are not happy campers over the whole thing. They’re annoyed at being
tricked when they have seriously more important things to do (which really,
they’re going to get around to any day now), and they’re definitely not happy
that Chuck is continuing to profit off their pain, and they are more than a
little weirded out at all the people running around pretending to be them. And
quoting, verbatim, some of the more painful and personal conversations of their
lives.
One
might wonder why they didn't just make their death threats and leave, but as it
turned out, the live action role playing “ghost hunt” turned out to be real, so
they feel duty bound to deal with it. This is one case in which being
genre-savvy was to their detriment, as while having real ghosts running around
at a convention of fans might spell “horror movie” in most situations, in this
one, it didn't The ghosts never did more than scare anyone until they meddled;
they got rid of the one ghost keeping the others in check. So for various
murphy’s law (to them) and standard plot (to us) related reasons, the real Sam
and Dean end up trapped inside the hotel while the fake Sam and Dean are forced
to do a bit of grave desecrating. Though Chuck manages to win the heart of the
fair crazed fan girl by taking charge and kicking some ghost ass, so hurray for
him. She “breaks up” with Sam, but as a parting gift, she hands him a plot
coupon: “This Coupon Good for One Lead on the Gun that Can Kill Anything.”
Oh!
And Dean has a conversation with the plucky Fake Dean and Sam duo, and realizes
that people do actually appreciate them, and that his life does not suck, and
he’s doing something important. In other words, it’s the speech from
It’s A
Terrible Life. He is then a bit weirded out to realize that the two guys that
are into pretending to be he and his brother are actual lovers. So that’s that.
I may
seem less than enthused by this episode. Let me be honest, here. I enjoyed this
episode well enough, and I love metafiction. Jasper Forde is one of my favorite
authors, and The Monster at the End of The Book was one of the all-time best
episodes of Supernatural. This was a truly sweet episode, a little love letter
to the fans…but rather toothless. Metafiction is all about commenting on the
story. It can and often does comment on the author and the audience, and even
the relationship between the two. Mediocre metafiction creates a sense of
detachment from the story. It breaks down the fourth wall, but in doing so, it
also breaks the suspension of disbelief. It forces the audience to disengage.
Great metafiction, on the other hand, always manages to bring it back around to
the story, and reinvests the audience back in the narrative. In essence, it
makes the audience and the author as much part of the story as the characters,
and by doing so, makes it seem more real.
This
they did not succeed at that so much. There were plenty of amusing moments and
inside jokes. It had some great lines an some mushy commentary on how much the
writers really love the fans, even if they’re crazy. There was some clever
symmetry and echoing of lines, a touch of playing with the idea of roles and how
we play them but….toothless. It had the potential to be very sharp. The
characters could have been examining their lives from the outside, but this didn't really happen. They were uncomfortable, but their reactions were muted.
There was nothing quite at the level of the author-avatar conversation with Sam
about the path he was on and his motivations of last season. In essence, it
lacked and development or forward movement.
Supernatural
has done two mediocre metafictional episodes, back to back. They still weren't quite as self-indulgent and conceited as such episodes usually are, but they
lacked the bite they needed. I can’t help but compare last week’s half thought out“Don’t we wish this really was a TV show” and this week’s fan nitpicking and
“Our lives are not for public consumption.” It’s the same kind of “Hey, we’re
breaking the fourth wall! That counts, right?” attitude. I’m beginning to think
that the writers are dragging their feet on the apocalypse story line This
episode had a certain wistful quality, like a “thank you and goodbye” before
the craziness really sets in. Sounds like they all should live in a place like this:
http://www.squidoo.com/lebanon-oregon-real-estate
I do
have a couple random thoughts that didn't fit very well above:
- The LARPer Sam and Dean going
super husky voiced cracked me up. I do often end up thinking someone needs
to slip the actors a cough drop or two.
- Becky amuses me. She may be an
over-excitable weirdo with some issues about proper social interactions,
but so’s Chuck in his own way, and she’s just so damn upbeat.
- The cell phone ruining the
fake-ghost’s scene. I think I’ve seen that on about a hundred blooper
reels.
- Chuck! I love the character, I
love the actor, and I loved how all those scenes worked. I loved his
lovelorn faces and his convention talk. Though I did get a bit suspicious
to the end that there was some direct quotations from ComiCons past.
