Supernatural Episode 808
“Hunteri Heroici”
Written By: Andrew Dabb
Directed By: Paul Edwards
Original Airdate: 28 November 2012
In This Episode...
Castiel makes a startling announcement: he wants to be a hunter. Once Dean picks his jaw up off the floor, he agrees, and Castiel drives with them to Oklahoma for their next case. A man named Gary was meeting his girlfriend in the park when his heart literally exploded out of his chest, leaving a heart-shaped hole in his chest. It turns out the girl, Olivia, that Gary met was his mistress. The boys suspect witchery on the part of the wife, so they visit her next. When Olivia comes over to pay her respects, Cas blurts out that she and Gary were having an affair. Turns out, Gary and his wife had an open marriage. “Best wife ever,” Dean mutters before they leave.
Next up is a man who kills himself by jumping off a roof. Except when he stepped off the roof, he didn’t fall. He stood there, a good 10 seconds (according to witnesses) midair. He believes he has been saved but in his jubilation, he looks down and plummets to his death. A third death, in a bank, sees the security guard squished under a giant anvil. With three cartoonish kills, the patterns become evident. Each cartoonish death occurred near where the Black Hole Bandit struck, named for the large black circles that are painted on the walls at each crime scene. Yes, just like the ones Bugs Bunny draws to dive into that Elmer Fudd tries to follow and finds it is just a wall.
The thefts were all of residents of a nursing home, so the guys head there. They discover Fred Jones, an old friend of their father’s, is a resident there. He is a powerful psychokinetic, but nowadays he just sits and watches cartoons. He has retreated into his own mind, his own world of cartoons. It seems that Fred has a “bubble of weird” around him. Anyone within 50 yards or so gets caught in his cartoon world. The doctor at the home figured out what was going on and had been taking him with him on these thefts. Fred would stay in the van, contentedly watching cartoons on an iPad, while the doc used the “bubble of weird” to bend the laws of physics and complete his heists. While Dean deals with the devious doc, Castiel and Sam go into Fred’s mind to talk him out of his own headspace. It works, and Fred is conscious. He does what Dean opts not to do: shoot the doctor.
Dig It or Bury It?
This episode had so much going for it. I can’t decide what was funnier: Castiel wanting to be a hunter, or living in a cartoon world. The fall from the roof death reminded me of an episode of Tiny Toons, where the kids are trying to leave Wackyland and discover the bridge is gone. One of the ‘toons explains to everyone that they won’t fall if they don’t look down. They all make it across safely and live happily ever after.
Spooky Humor
Two parts stick out in my mind. The first is when Cas decides he will interrogate the nursing home’s pet cat. Sam and Dean go to collect Castiel, who isn’t ready. “I’ve almost cracked him!” Dean is insistent, but Castiel gives the cat one final warning: “I’m not done with you.”
The second sees Dean chasing the doctor through the bank. We freeze frame and Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote-style lower-thirds, complete with genus and species.
Flashback to the Future
Sam and Amelia move into a house together. They haven’t been together long, but they make each other happy. Her dad, Stan, comes over and she nervously introduces dad to Sam and Riot and their new life. Stan’s demeanor to Sam is tepid at best, but Amelia pleads with him to give him a chance. “I’m happy with him ... let us be a mess together.” Stan gives in and makes a concerted effort to give Sam a chance. Sam opens up a little bit about losing his brother, which helps Stan warm to him a bit. Then Amelia gets a phone call. Turns out her husband, Don, isn’t really dead.
Prophecies?
Sam thinks that Benny is behind a new spate of vampire attacks.