Supernatural Review: Season 10 Episode 5 "Fan Fiction"

By: Robbie Thompson

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet seen this episode, PLEASE GO AND DO SO before proceeding.

       Emily Ecrivaine is dead. She died of feels while watching this episode and is even now writing this from beyond the grave. Please do not salt and burn her before she finishes the review...

    Meta episodes are extremely hard to pull off. Meta episodes involving direct references to all sides of a show's fandom are even more difficult to properly pull off. Fortunately Supernatural has a fairly good track record with both kinds (with the notable exception of poor Becky) and, even though we haven't really seen one of these since Season 5, they slip back into the groove without so much as a hiccup. They wanted this to be a tribute to the show and to the fandom that has kept it going...and they certainly succeeded. This episode was a heartfelt, loving, gently-ribbing story that took us back to the basics and reminded us all of just why we fell in love with this wonderful show in the first place.

     I was concerned when I heard that this was going to be a MUSICAL META episode, though. Especially whenever I heard that it was going to be set around a school play. This could have bombed and filled us all with second-hand embarrassment. But it didn't. In fact, I will go out on a limb and say that this is the best Supernatural episode that we have had in a LONG time. Maybe this season will really be about healing the brothers and addressing the problems that they have in their relationship. After all, we did get a return of the Samulet in this episode...

   Honestly the one and only problem I had with Fan Fiction was that its Monster of the Week (Could we please, please go back to that format instead of angel subplots?) actually came off as rather weak and second-thought. But, uh, that's okay because having a case to solve was merely the Winchester's excuse for being there. For this episode the focus was exactly where it should have been: on Sam, Dean, Baby, and the Road So Far.


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- "These events take place BEFORE Carver Edlund's unpublished work 'Dark Side of the Moon'. Meaning WHERE is the Samulet? That necklace is a symbol of the Winchesters' brotherly love!"

- Love that drama teacher! Though, whenever that thing was stalking her in the bushes, I just wanted to scream at her to RUN! She's the sort of person that this series makes fun of...

- AND THEY USED EVERY TITLE CARD EVER FOR THEIR OPENING TITLE CARD! WHEEEE!

- This episode was supposed to be a love letter to the fans. Well...mission accomplished! They gave us Sam and Dean working on the Impala in their PJ's.

- "We got work to do."

- Robbie Thompson says he went back and re-watched the entire Seasons 1 - 3 in preparation for this and it really shows.

- The look of utter HORROR and CONFUSION on Sam and Dean's face was just beautiful.

- PLEASE tell me that they're going to release the soundtrack for this musical? I really want that. I would listen to it all the time. (They literally have a song called 'A Single Man Tear'...hahaha!)

- "There is no singing in Supernatural!" Oh yeah, Dean? Wanna bet?

- Sam instantly gets along with the theater girls. It's kind of adorable...especially whenever you remember that he was a threater kid himself once or twice.

- "They're rehearsing the BM scene." "The bowl movement scene?!" Oh, Dean...it actually stands for Boy Melodrama. And can I just say right now how wonderful it is to have the theater director waxing poetic about how the boys' lives are hard, but also perfect because they have each other. We've needed that reminder for a while.

- I was going to complain about the space-ninja-she-Dean additions that Marie gave to the plot...but then I remembered that this show CANONICALLY has a rainbow-farting unicorn and a gargantuan, suicidal teddy bear. So I guess I can't say anything, right?

- Dean trying to set the record straight will never fail to get a laugh out of me. EVER. Just...just give it up, Dean. You can't beat them.

- Sam debating the etymology of the ship names to himself while Dean rolls his eyes and groans was just hilarious. Clearly Sam enjoyed winding up his brother. Nothing was sacred in this episode. N.O.T.H.I.N.G!

- "If it's not canon, then it shouldn't be in the show."

- Gotta love the girls' reactions whenever Sam and Dean finally have to come clean about who they are. "You're too OLD to be Sam and Dean!" Gee...what is this...the year of the DeanMidlifeCrisis?!

- Calliope? Whoa. Did NOT see that coming! I was sure it was a Tulpa...but, then again, I suppose that would have been WAY too easy. Nice to see some more mythology come through, though.

- I find it hilarious that Sam leaves Dean alone to help the poor director Marie through her panic attack.

- "If Sam and Dean were real, they wouldn't back down from a fight. Especially my sweet...brave...selfless Sam." Ooo! Looks like we found ourselves a Sam Girl here! (She's right, though.)

- Ouch. Dean visibly winces whenever Marie tells him about the Samulet. He rallies, though, and gives a pretty inspiring speech to the players that is rather reminiscent of his speech in LARP & The REAL Girl. He also stole it from Rent.

- THEY REMEMBERED ADAM!

- The girls who put on the show have some seriously incredible singing pipes. I want that soundtrack. With the songs about Dean and how he's secretly a sensitive guy under it all. And the songs about Castiel protecting the brothers. And the songs about how awesome Sam is. And...yeah.

- "Supernatural has everything. Life. Death. Resurrection. Redemption. But above all...family."

- I guffawed when Dean stabbed the scarecrow and it sent him flying across the stage a la Superman. That was epic.

- The climax of this episode was just perfect, what with everything just hitting the screen all at once, backed to the strangely soothing song 'A Single Man Tear'. This may be officially one of the greatest climaxes that this show has ever put on screen. It was tense. It was funny. And it kept me glued to the screen.

- "NO CHICK-FLICK MOMENTS!"

- And I am not at all ashamed to say that I cried during the final song which was, of course, 'Carry On My Wayward Son' and then Dean hung the Samulet on Baby's rear-view mirror.

        This episode was absolute PERFECTION. So many feels! It also did exactly what an anniversary episode is supposed to do: celebrate a landmark. We have had 200 episodes of Sam and Dean. You may not realize this, but for a genre show like Supernatural to even get close to such an achievement, well, it's incredibly rare. It's rarer than hen's teeth, though, to have a supernatural genre show that lasts 10 seasons and 200 episodes and is still going strong in terms of writing and fanbase. Even though I was less-than-pleased with Season 9, there was still lots of good stuff in there. And Season 10 so far has been absolutely wonderful. If they continue on this same vein Season 10 could well shape up to be the best season yet. And this episode managed to pay tribute to and lovingly poke fun at both the show itself and all of us who have been so loyal for so long, doing so with grace and fondness and making for an episode that I am sure I will be re-watching for many years to come. Well done, SPN cast and crew! Congratulations on reaching 200 episodes. Fan Fiction is a SOLID 5/5.





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