Supernatural Review: Season 7 Episode 6 "Slash Fiction"

By: Robbie Thompson

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet seen this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

            Well you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out where they got THAT title from! I put this episode on my Guilty Pleasures list from last year because I considered it a weaker re-hash of Jus in Bello...but looking back that isn't quite fair. While it is true that towards the third act of the episode it does indeed descend into something that closely resembles the Season 3 episode with Henriksen, Slash Fiction is actually a delightful little tribute to a number of famous pulp films that stands on its own quite well.

      Once I watched the episode again (for reviewing purposes, mind, because it's different that way) I began to realize just how good it is. The tributes are funny, the references priceless, and Frank Devereaux is just a great character. Twice as paranoid as Bobby and suspicious of the March of Dimes, he helps the boys out whenever the Leviathans (hereafter called Bobby's term of 'Levis' because it's easier to type) xerox them and go on a merry crime spree across America that rockets Sam and Dean back onto the radar and Most Wanted list of the FBI. Charming.


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- It's obvious that Jared and Jensen just had a great time playing Sam and Dean's evil twins in this episode. There's scarcely a moment that goes by whenever they're not mugging for the camera or visibly relishing the lines psycho-analyzing their characters' clichés and issues. It's nice to see them get to do something a bit different for an episode.


- Seriously. They even move differently as the Levi duo than they do as Sam and Dean.

- "Great. Just what we need. A Mensa monster." I'll say this, the Levis have one thing on the angels...they actually know how to use technology!

- The torture scenes with Chet in Bobby's basement are hilarious in a twisted kind of way. We know we should probably be horrified, but it's just so funny the way he keeps jabbering on and actually turning things back around on Bobby and the boys. But seriously...I just kept waiting for Syndrome to pop up and lecture him about monologues. Even if you do have self-confidence, you've gotta draw the line about spilling the beans somewhere!

- For some reason it sounds REALLY creepy whenever Chet says about being 'nestled in at Camp Cas' and getting the full download. Ugh.

- I have to confess that I've always had a weakness for these type of stories (not enough of them exist, really) where Sam and Dean are on the run from the law. Not only does it force the boys to put their differences aside and really work together, but it also allows for plenty of Outsider POV on the bizarre happenings of the show. And that always means plenty of comedic misunderstandings where logical, rational humans come up with some very interesting explanations for what they've seen.


- "Well if you're going to be stupid, you might as well be smart about it." And that just pretty much summed Bobby up in one sentence...

- I honestly can't believe that no enemy has thought of doing this before to Sam and Dean. The set-up was there, from Seasons 1 - 3, and it's such a handy way to distract them. But then, I suppose no monsters or enemies have been quite so influential or organized as the Levi's are.

- Also, on a side note, Leslie and I have been geeking out over the stupendous writing and continuity in this show. Much as I will rant about the plot threads still dangling, I will admit that they are almost scarily good at tying everything up. It may take a few seasons and we may suspect that they've forgotten all about it, but in the end everything will be used to its full potential. Nothing is wasted and they don't move on until they have exploited the feasible situations from whatever plot point was introduced. It's delightful and refreshing.

- I'm a little bit disappointed in Sam for not remembering to grab the Ding Dongs (or whatever brand it was) before he fled from that convenience store. They already think you're a psychopathic serial murderer come back from the dead...what's a few stolen Twinkies going to do for you aside from keeping your brother happy and fed for the next couple miles? Dean certainly had no reservations about swiping gas...

- "Well, I'll be darned. Psycho Butch and Sundance. You're on CNN right now."

- Frank is a wonderfully snarky, paranoid, weird character who distrusts everything from the FBI to the March of Dimes. He's also an expert on avoiding the eyes of Big Brother and proceeds to merrily shred their aliases, smash Sam's laptop, and inform Dean that Baby must be put on lockdown. (I think Dean looks more heartbroken over that than he did over being told that rock-shout-out fake names will have to go.)

- So, of course, Sam and Dean steal a car that has a pink My Little Pony charm hanging from the rear view mirror. A yellow-and-pink squeaky My Little Pony charm!

- They also figure out the pattern that the Levis are using for their psycho road trip. What I want to know is, though, did they get the information from inside Sam and Dean's heads or did they read those darn Winchester Gospels?

- We get some more of Sheriff Jody Mills in this episode as she tracks Bobby down to his cabin to say 'thank you' and to force him to let someone be nice to him for five minutes. And, looking at the state of that cabin, it could REALLY use a feminine touch.

- She's also vital because it's highly unlikely that Bobby would be stopping to scrub the floor while Sam and Dean are in the wind and he has a bigmouth to torture.

- But, seriously, Borax? Really? What...are we saying that Levis are now basically the Giant Cockroaches of creation? Actually, I can go with that.

- Dean lip-syncing to Air Supply while Sam looks on in horror will go down in history as one of the funniest things ever to grace your television screen.

- We get a rather stark reminder from Levi!Sam that, during all this time, Sam's still dealing with the Hell visions and hallucinations. As the bigmouth said: "How he's walking around in a jacket with detachable arms is beyond me.

- They Pumpkin'd &  Honeybun'd the diner. Hehehehe...

- It isn't really funny (I mean, people ARE being gunned down by two goons wearing Sam and Dean's faces) but these parts of the episode are just so much fun to watch because of the delightfully hammy way that Jared and Jensen play the parts. Like I said, it's obvious that they're having a TON of fun with this one, and I can't help but have fun too just watching them.

- Unfortunately, once Sam and Dean are arrested, the fun and games are over and this episode starts to feel a bit stale. It honestly is just a rather less-epic re-hash of Jus in Bello at this point...and we don't even have Agent Henriksen!

- I feel like there was something symbolic about Dean beheading 'himself' as well as 'Sam'. Hmmm...

Gotta love the way he instantly knows it isn't Sam...

- Much as it pains me to have Sam and Dean on the outs (AGAIN), I'm still glad that Sam found out about Amy. Maybe now we won't have to relive the murder again and again in the recaps.

- And Crowley meets up with the bigmouth boss, Dick Roman, bearing gifts. "One hundred percent organic baby uvulas. Gluten free." EWWW! I'm not eating muffins made by HIM any time soon!

- Dick really shouldn't have turned Crowley down, though. Somehow I have the feeling I know who Crowley will be allying himself with next...

- I laughed whenever Bobby gave Jody the box with Chet's head (after Chet shifted to look like him) and told her not to open it, even if it starts talking. Romantic, Bobby...you're a real charmer.

             Yes. This episode is not so much guilty pleasure fodder like I initially wrote it off as...really it is a fun and innovative peek into Sam and Dean's psyches that manages to both further the season arc and to set the Levis up as legitimate threats rather than the over-hyped disappointments they had been up until this point. Granted I've been a bit jaded to the whole 'monsters/aliens/supernatural forces infiltrating society...particularly the government and major corporations' thanks to Doctor Who, but here they used their brains to devastating effect and, though it was neatly tied up in the end there were still casualties. Really. Did that sheriff and his daughter have to die?! Slash Fiction is a 4/5.

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