Episode Report Card Tippi Blevins: C- | 103 USERS: C YOU GRADE IT Winchester Angst by Proxy
By Tippi Blevins | Season 9 | Episode 15 | Aired on 03.04.2014
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.To Sam's surprise, Dean plans to take on a case by himself. It could be a healthy step toward severing familial ties, but then they end up hitting the road together like always. It seems a young woman was killed while taking selfies alone in her bedroom, and some of the pictures show a faceless creature skulking around behind her. Alas, when the Winchesters arrive on scene, they find the woman's grieving mother has already hired Ed and Harry, also known as those goddamned Ghostfacers.
Ed and Harry are sort of revoltingly gleeful at the thought of how much fame this case is going to bring them. (Are we entirely sure they're not some sort of ghouls?) Dean feels like a ghost is behind the murder, but Ed and Harry's pet theory is that a creature called Thinman is to blame. The Winchesters have never heard of such a thing, but the Ghostfacers are downright experts! Why, they even wrote a book about Thinman, and set up a website where users can report their own sightings of the elusive monster. The weird thing is that those pictures from the victim's phone somehow ended up on the site. Either Thinman posted them himself, or someone fiddled around in the evidence locker. Someone like.... the completely obvious sheriff's deputy who was in charge of the case!
When Thinman kills a restaurant manager, the CCTV footage of the murder again ends up online. Suddenly Ed wants to turn the case over to the Winchesters. He admits to them that he totally made up Thinman. Harry was ready to leave the Ghostfacers and marry his girlfriend, but decided to stick around and hunt Thinman with his buddy. Thus begins the rain of anvils as Ed and Harry argue about lies and secrets, while the Winchesters stand around waving neon signs that say, "These are totally us, you guys!" Ed was selfish and wanted to keep Harry with him, like Dean was selfish and wanted to keep Sam with him. Now, I suppose there's a chance that this isn't the message they're trying to get across. Perhaps this painfully simplistic version of the Winchester angst is trying to convey the exact opposite of what it seems. But you know what? I wouldn't hold my breath.
In the end, the completely obvious sheriff's deputy captures Sam and Dean. He has an accomplice in the form of a skinny psycho who wears the Thinman costume and enjoys killing people on film. So they're not supernatural creatures, but human monsters who decided to copycat Ed's creation. Just before they can snuff the Winchesters, the Ghostfacers barge in and save the day. Dean kills one guy and Harry kills the other to save Ed's life. This doesn't mean they're getting back together, though, and end up going their separate ways like the Winchesters really should. Stay tuned for the full recap.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!THEN! Sam's voiceover reminds us of these guys named Ed and Harry who called themselves the Ghostfacers. They were ridiculous and clownish, and played at being ghost hunters when they were really just shameless fame whores. The Winchesters met them early in the series, when Sam still had bangs and Dean wasn't yet dead inside. Over the years, the angst between the Winchesters grew and festered, and erupted like a painful ass boil. Several times over. "We are family," Dean reminded Sam recently. "Everything that has ever gone wrong between us is because we're family," Sam reminded him right back. To illustrate this latest boil, the show plays back a scene of Dean beating the ever-loving snot out of Sam. Mind you, this is a fight that took place entirely in Sam's head, but they're not going to let crap like imaginary scenarios get in the way. Anyway, Sam said he would keep working with Dean, but the brotherly relationship was off the table. What, exactly, did that mean? They never really explained. "You didn't save me for me," Sam said. "You did it for you."
NOW! It's nighttime in Springdale, Washington, according to the helpful chyron. A teenaged girl prances about her bedroom, taking selfies with her phone and listening to terrible music. She hears a loud thud downstairs and peers into the hallway. "Mom?" she calls out. She gets no answer, so she goes back into her room. She's worried enough to lock her door, but not worried enough to stop perfecting her duck-lipped poses. When she swipes back over her pictures, she sees a man standing over her shoulder. His head looks like it's made of Silly Putty and coconut husks. The girl makes a face like, "Ugh, photobombers are the worst." She turns around slowly and sees him standing in the corner behind her. The lights blink out.
The girl runs into her closet and draws the louvers shut. She calls 9-1-1 on her phone. "There's someone in my room," she whispers. She starts crying and can't manage to get out her address when asked. A knife inches toward her shoulder from behind, held by a normal-looking human hand. She screams and the camera jumps outside the closet door just as blood comes pouring through the louvers. Cue the winged title card. Flap... flap... kaboom!
Lair O' Letters. Sam's poking at his laptop in the library when Dean stops by, carrying his duffel in one hand. "All right, I'll be back," Dean says. He starts to leave without waiting for a response. "Where you headed?" Sam asks. No! He was almost gone! Let him go, dammit! "Washington; I caught a case," Dean says. "You want me to come with?" Sam asks. Dude, if he'd wanted you to come with him, he would have asked, or at least dropped some passive-aggressive little hints. "Do you want to come?" Dean asks, a bit surprised. "Why wouldn't I?" Sam asks. "Because lately with you, up is down and down is sideways," Dean says. Sam is like the Kama Sutra of emotions! Dean says he doesn't know what Sam wants, and Sam gives a frustrated sort of sigh, but says nothing. So Dean waves goodbye and hauls ass up the stairs.