Supernatural Review: Season 6 Episode 15 "The French Mistake"

By: Ben Edlund

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet seen this episode, PLEASE go and do so before proceeding!

           Fourth wall? What fourth wall? I don't see any fourth wall! Oh...you mean that thing we just BLASTED THROUGH with a freaking MEMORY STICK in our pockets? Huh. Was it supposed to stay intact?

         A Supernatural/Ben Edlund gamble strikes again! I just really need to stop reading episode blurbs and judging based on the insanity held therein because I almost skipped over this jewel of an episode during my initial marathon. It was only the Blazing Saddles reference in the title that caught my eye and convinced me to watch it...and BOY AM I EVER GLAD I DID!!!! We've seen episode like this before (Buffy did one, as did Deep Space Nine, among other shows) but just because the field is a bit crazy doesn't make the episode any less excellent. Maybe some won't like this episode because, on the surface, it does take a bit of a break from the Heavenly Civil War plot that has been going on this season, but quite frankly I could care less. It doesn't matter how many times someone has already done your plot point/starting idea...what matters is how you put your own spin on it.

           I just watched this episode again with my cousin (both of us practically sobbing with laughter) and I have to say that it has held up extraordinarily well. That's the thing about humor. Sometimes it's only funny the first time you see it because of shock value or because of the unexpected factor. But then you have the jokes and gags that start out funny and only gain hilarity the more you think about them. This episode is FULL of those, along with the 'notice something new every time' plus. It's just great fun.


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- This episode is basically one big, long mind-screw from beginning to end...so make sure you're not eating anything juicy or sticky or dry or just eating at all (or drinking) while you watch it. Because you WILL snort/spit it out.

- It opens with Balthazar (down one lung) breezing his way into Bobby's house and ransacking the place for lamb's blood, the bone of a lesser saint, and a whole bunch of other nasty items while making references to The Godfather at a clueless Sam and Dean. I think we can safely say that this is one of the strangest and most out of nowhere beginnings to an episode we have ever been given.

- The moment they crashed through that window and landed on the pad to the tune of "CUT!", I knew we were in for a good ride.

- Tweeting Cas (sorry...Misha) is just priceless. Definitely one of the highlights of the episode! In fact; just Misha in general is wonderful as he plays a very hammed-up and jerkified/wimpified version of himself. Oh the cast must have just had the time of their lives with this one!

- But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit. Let's just take this moment by moment and savor it, shall we?

- "Well, we can clean up, reset the window, takes about 95 minutes, basically. So, we'd have to blow off the scene where they sit on the impala and talk about their feelings." Hahaha! Self-satire...gotta love it!

- Poor Sam and Dean have LITERALLY been forcibly blasted down the proverbial rabbit hole and are uncomfortably fumbling their way around TVLand now. Where they're actors. On a show called Supernatural. And not even talking to each other. This could have backfired so spectacularly...I honestly think it's only saved by their refusal to take themselves seriously. Like they go in for the kill with the jokes, make fun of their own tropes, and no one is spared from either death or being made into idiots/jerks.

- "I'm just saying, we -- we landed in some dimension where you're Jensen Ackles, and I'm something called a 'Jared Padalecki'."

- And Dean is wearing make-up. Let's not forget his cosmetics...

- Dean's reaction to the many wrecked/dismembered prop Impalas is also hilarious. He really is in love with Baby, isn't he?

- They also make fun of the 'blue steel' look Jared seems to adopt in every promo pic (whenever he's not trying to outdo Jensen and Misha in the goggly-eyed-grimace, that is...)

- And the soap opera. Oh the soap opera! That scene is worth a review all of its own!

- The only thing that would have been even funnier would be if the 'punk' pictures had turned up too...

- I'm a little disappointed that they didn't mention Jared's little role in Gilmore Girls or House of Wax. Shame, really, Dean would have had a field day with that one.

- I think Dean has a photographic memory...or something close to it. He drew a perfect replica of that sigil on a piece of paper after, what, two seconds of seeing it back in his world? Kind of makes you wonder (and grieve) for what could have been if Dean had been encouraged in school.

- After a long and confusing day, Sam and Dean decide that it's probably time to go home. Their confusion and disgust over not even being in America but *gasp* over the border and in Canada made me laugh. It is a bit odd that SPN is set in the states but is filmed in Vancouver, isn't it?

- Jared's mansion. With the tanning bed. And the psychedelic artwork. And the alpaca in the backyard.

- ...are alpacas really green animals? Hmmm. I'd never thought about that before.

- Genevive is such a good sport. Though in real life by all accounts she's a real sweetheart, here she portrays a version of herself that is more vapid socialite than anything else.

- "You married fake Ruby?!" Dean and Sam's reactions are the best...especially whenever she walks away, they both check her out, and then Sam observes that, "I should probably figure out what her name is."

- Dean and Sam are ridiculously excited to find that Jared is loaded with money and that they don't have to break in and steal the elements they need for Balthazar's spell. It's kind of sad, actually.

- Which begs an interesting question. What happened to Jared and Jensen whenever Sam and Dean burst into this world? Did their consciousnesses combine? Were they sent to Sam and Dean's world? Were they zapped out of existence? Is this world just a figment of Balthazar's mojo? Have I been watching Doctor Who WAY too long if I'm asking this?

- And then the real fun begins: Sam/Jared and Dean/Jensen have to act on the set the next day. This is funny for two reasons:

1. Because despite the fact that half of their normal lives are BUILT around fake ID's and impersonations, they're actually rather terrible actors whenever they have to follow a script.
2. Because it's Jared and Jensen playing Sam and Dean playing Jared and Jensen playing Sam and Dean...does your brain hurt yet?

*Sam immediately looks at the ceiling*

- This is where the bit of Winchester Logic "If there's a key...then there has to be a lock. And when we find the lock, we can get the weapons, and then we can have the weapons. And the lock. We'll still have the lock, I imagine, because we've opened it, and, of course, the initial key" comes from.

- If I were to go through this episode and just cherry-pick all of the funny or touching or absurd-but-still-works moments for mentioning we'd probably be here until the premier of Season 10. Scarcely a minute goes by where something good isn't happening. This is the meta episode to rule all meta episodes. 

- This gets me every time...

- Sam looks absolutely terrified and Dean just looks like he's in pain. Or constipated...the jury's still out on that one.

- Even whenever Virgil (Raffy's goon from earlier) busts into TVLand too the fun and games aren't over. He has no mojo in this world (because there is no magic, no supernatural) and so Sam and Dean take quite a bit of pleasure in beating the snot out of this particular angel.

- This show is not above taking a few pot-shots at their production crew either...as evidenced in the scene where Sera Gamble, via phone, offers to call up Eric Kripke because everyone's so worried that Jared and Jensen have gone off the rails. This is in direct response to the change of reins whenever Sera became showrunner for the continued show in Season 6.

SERA: Spell it out for me, please. What is our terror-alert level here?

BOB: I don't know, Sera. Orange, maybe? They started talking to each other.

SERA: What?! But that's a good thing.

BOB: Right. I thought so. But now Jensen's living at Jared's house. And we'll certainly follow up on that, but I think the real issue here, Sera, is that the boys appear to be on some kind of extended psychedelic acid trip.

- I love that they went after the fact that Bobby Singer is named after director Bob Singer.

- Misha's death scene...oh my gosh...I probably should feel bad for laughing, but, IT'S JUST SO FUNNY! You can really tell that the entire cast and crew were just having Christmas early making this.

- The fact that he is later described as "...the attractive, crying man..." only makes it all the better.

- There's another reference to Raphael sharing a name with the Ninja Turtle too.

- A few more deaths happen in this episode too, but they kind of have to be seen again to be fully appreciated.

- Now THAT is how you do 'hammy' and 'over the top' and make it enjoyable! (And I can't be the only one with a mariachi version of 'Angel with a Shotgun' running through my head right now, can I?)

- I love how there's a serious moment in this episode (yes, there actually is a quiet moment) where Sam and Dean ask themselves the rather obvious question of why exactly they're fighting to go back to their terrible, awful lives. Dean even tells Sam that he should stay in this world where he's rich and famous and has both a steady job and a beautiful wife. Sam refuses because this world isn't really any better than theirs and, to top it all off, they aren't even brothers here. Wow, show, way to make the tears well up even as I still giggle.

- Really the only drawback to this episode is that it is very much a deviance from the Heavenly Civil War/Mother of All plot that has been going on. And there are a lot of standalone or close to standalone episodes in this season that, at first glance, do seem to bog things down a bit. It feels like the show has gone back to its roots and is focusing more on the monster hunts than on the angels vs. demons side to things. But really, I think that's okay. It makes sense that Sam and Dean wouldn't be in on the war. Their part is over. Michael and Lucifer are off the playing field. (And it also stands to reason that Castiel would specifically keep them out of it in a - probably misguided - attempt to give them a break.)

- I've heard people complain that by the end of this episode they felt used because the whole alternate dimension acid trip was just a decoy. You know what? I feel used too. That's the point! Sam and Dean feel exactly the same way. This episode is literally putting us in their shoes for a few minutes. So no. I don't think the way this episode is a MAJOR bunny-trail is exactly a downside...but I do see how it could be distracting for some people.

- It's also interesting how Raffy's new vessel is a woman.

           This episode is a gem. It's absurd and ridiculous and utterly, gloriously hilarious. Barely a second goes by without a joke and yet it manages to fit in a lot of heart and story in there as well without ever dragging the pace or feeling overstuffed. I do see how it's status as one giant bunny-trail could be off-putting, but I honestly don't think that - if you just hang on for the ride - it is really that big of a detriment. The French Mistake is a 4.9/5.

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?