sweetondean’s Spoiler-lite Preview – “Supernatural” 8.13 “Everybody Hates Hitler”
Welcome to this special edition of our spoiler-lite preview. But it’s always special, I hear you say! Aww shucks. Wait. Maybe that was just me talking… Well this one is extra-special because this week, Alice got to have a bit of a chat with Mr. Edlund, the writer of this week’s episode, “Everybody Hates Hitler”, so I’ll be including a couple of spoiler-lite grabs from the wonderful Ben Edlund himself.
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First up, where do we find ourselves after last week?
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THEN
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A Winchester came out of the closet – literally – while the brothers were busy getting dressed!
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The brothers met their time travelling granddad – Henry Winchester – and discovered that they were born into a Legacy they knew nothing about, a Legacy of knowledge of the supernatural.
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In our present, Henry died protecting the secrets of the “Men of Letters”, a hidden organisation who chronicled everything about every evil thing. Dying in our present meant that Henry never made it back to the past…and to his son John…
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Now Sam and Dean have the key to the “Men of Letters” secret lair – AKA the batcave! What information will they find inside?
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NOW
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We have a Golem and he’s taller than Sam!
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For those that don’t know, a Golem is a creature from Jewish folklore. Usually it is brought to life from inanimate matter – like mud or clay to seek revenge on behalf of whomever called it into existence. You may remember The X Files episode called “Kaddish” which dealt with a Golem. The Golem in “Everybody Hates Hitler” is a person though – because well, budget and time would preclude creating a gigantic claymation Golem!
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Of course, there’s a lot more to this week’s episode than just a Golem, because we’ll also be finding out some additional information about this new storyline of the “Men of Letters” and learning how their recently discovered Legacy, will begin to take shape for the Winchester boys.
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So let’s check out the synposis.
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SAM AND DEAN FACE OFF AGAINST A GOLEM, Sam and Dean investigate the death of Rabbi Bass (guest star Hal Linden, “Barney Miller”), who spontaneously combusted. The case becomes ever more confusing when they learn that the Rabbi was researching Nazi Necromancers. Sam and Dean are attacked by a Golem (guest star John DeSantis) who turns out to belong to the Rabbi’s grandson, Aaron (Adam Rose). The key to the case lies with the Golem but Aaron doesn’t know how to control him, which leaves everyone in danger. Phil Sgriccia directed the episode written by Bed Edlund.
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So, two exciting things here, this is Phil Sgriccia’s first episode for season 8. He hasn’t directed “Supernatural” since 7.18 “Party on Garth”. Phil’s been doing double duty on Revolution (damn you Kripke), so it’ll be good to have him back at the helm. The other exciting thing of course is Ben Edlund. For a lot of us, his outtings represent season highs. Ben’s last episode was 8.05 “Blood Brother”. His episodes have been pretty heavy going of late, but he promises a little more humour in this one.
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While we’re talking humour, let’s take a look at the CW promo – which was kinda weird I thought – obviously going for the humour, .but not quite hitting the mark.
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Ummm yeah…. that promo is just odd. Nazis though! Necromancer Nazis even! As Ben says….
“It gives us this new species of wretched critter who happens to be a Nazi so you can especially kick them in the face. No offense to, well I guess we don’t really need to worry about offending Nazis, that’s what so nice about it.”
Before we look at the sneak peek – let’s check out some more of what Ben said today. I’ll avoid anything that’s overly spoilery!
Ben was asked if there was much comedy in this week’s episode – as some of his more recent episodes have been quite dark.
“People batting each other great distances can sometimes be funny (laughs). In this case there’s a couple of things that function that way. Yeah. The Golem is so physically present that the guy we got to play him is amazing. He’s like 6′ 11”. Usually when I’m writing something for Sam and Dean and I say, “This person towers over Sam and Dean,” I’m in a really bad place to begin that discussion cause Jared is 6′ 6″ and Jensen is…tall. Jared makes Jensen seem like…they’re both just very big. Trying to get them to be towered over is pretty much an impossibility or to get them to be towered over and then have any acting quotient is especially an unfortunate assignment for casting.
This fellow was great, was amazing, and has this voice that sounds like a church bell rolling down a hill. He adds such presence to the intent of the comedy that’s written in the script that it’s really just amazing. There’s physical comedy and there’s just this physics issue of the Golem just standing there, which is comedic.”
I have to say, seeing the photos of that dude towering over Sam is pretty funny – Â it’s not often you see that! In fact, have we ever seen that?
And what about the ‘batcave’ what can we expect from it? Here’s what Ben said…
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“It’s gorgeous, it’s beautiful. It will stand for sometime I hope because it’s really, really wonderful looking. Adam Glass brought the Men of Letters into his episode. It was the opportunity to give them a really cool, very atmosphere rich space for them to be in and Jerry Wanek has done a beautiful job of making it real, or as real as movies get. It’s really beautiful. Â
That was one of the challenges was writing the language of the set. I got very prosy in the script because I was just so excited to do it I had to actually limit myself. It started out un-produceable and then we scaled it back. At one point it was constructed as an echo of the axis mundi and was a mini-universe in the ground that had all these spiral staircases and un-produceable elements. For the feature series maybe we’ll get into the other version but this is just gorgeous. I don’t mean to downtalk it, it’s just that I made something absolutely un-shootable or buildable and then Jerry made incredible out of it because we brought it back to a certain thing. I re-described it and it’s beautiful.”
This sounds like the perfect time to check out the sneak peek, .
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It does look super cool huh? The boys won’t know themselves with all that space! I really love the look of the library. It’ll be interesting to see them have a bit of a base that they can use and disappear to. I’m hoping that they keep it a secret from all and sundry. I’m also totally impressed by the double “Son of a bitch”!!
And what do Sam and Dean think of their new base? Mr. Edlund…
“Sam’s really excited that they’re in this place and he’s really jazzed about this wealth of information and the library and everything that comes from inheriting the Men of Letters headquarters. Dean is a little less geeked out in that regard and points out that all the information kind of terminates in 1958. How it relates to the present day is a mystery to him.
It for him [Sam] represents a kind of well that he wants to get to know because he feels convinced it’ll give them leads and information. In the history of the Winchesters they’ve had the myth of secret societies but almost no contact. We’ve never really made a point of them and they are a huge corridor of occult studies. For Sam, it’s like “We found it.” This is an important thing and it’s going to add up to something that gives us tools to fight the enemies we are courting in this season.”
I’m kind of in love with the idea that Sam geeks out about this new place. I can’t imagine Dean being too excited about being surrounded by all that research – but yes, Sam I can see loving it!
We’ve had a couple of great guest stars of late – like Mike Farrell in “Hunteri Heroici” and this week, we have “Barney Miller” himself, Hal Linden! Turns out, Ben’s a fan…
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“I really loved “Barney Miller” a lot and I was there in the audition when he came. He’s a really wonderful guy. I didn’t spend days with him but we got to speak for a moment. No, that was great. It’s a point, I don’t know what you call it, it’s not a point of personal pride because it’s Hal Linden, it’s all Hal Linden, but I’m really pleased. I guess I am proud to have a piece of work that he appears in because I watched “Barney Miller” religiously as a little kid. I don’t know, I just really loved it. They had a werewolf episode (laughs). They had their own little supernatural moment.”
So what do you think? It looks like we’re going to get a case – mixed in with some more information about the “Men of Letters” as the brothers check out their new digs. I’m pretty excited about this twist from last week. I’m looking forward to seeing where the show takes it.
I’m also looking forward to seeing this episode, because I’m totally crazy about Ben Edlund – I’ll admit that freely – and I always like it when he delivers an episode with equal dark and light moments, I don’t think any other writer has ever done that so well and that gigantic Golem fellow looks like he’ll add some funny situations to a serious case.
And before I go…. here is the CHCH promo!
Nazi zombie freaks. Awesome.
And here’s Carver’s preview!
Man, that dude is BIG!
If you want to read more of Alice’s catch-up with Ben, check out the full transcript here. There is more infomation on the plot of this episode – but it is a little spoilery, so I chose not to include it. You’ve probably read it anyway!Â
If you’re interested in reading more about what a Golem is, here is the Wikipedia link.
And don’t forget – for information on upcoming episodes, check out our spoiler page.
So are you excited, dubious, worried, ambivalent, thrilled beyond reason? Sound off below!
And as always thanks for reading, enjoy the episode and I’ll see you soon in reviewland!
-sweetondean
I am so excited the boys will get a place to “hang their hats” so to speak! And a roomy one at that. And that Golem towering over Sam, so funny! Looks to be a good episode all around. I hope they keep it to themselves too. Men of Letters should give them a leg up on things,and hopefully tie in to the tablet arc, hope they get to keep this one for a while=the Batcave. Sure there are some plot holes an such, I’ll just sit and enjoy the episodes hoping they fill some in, if they don’t, I don’t care, the series has to move along somehow, and these things are bound to happen after 8 yrs, new writers and such. I watch because it is a great show and just go with what they give me, I am easy to please on this show! But I am glad Amelia is gone ( sorry Sam) and the brothers are getting along and in sync again. Thanks Sweetondean! PS the producers review is up, saw it on twitter.
I’m with you aelaine!
And yep – Producer’s Preview in the piece now! It literally went up 10 minutes after I posted! *shakes fist at Carver*
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I love the look on Sam’s face as he takes in the secret lair. Nice to see him look excited about about something. They both look like kids in a candy store!
The last time I remember anyone towering over Sam was in that prison episode. Folsom Blues??? Not sure if that is the right title.
Looking forward to this weds, can’t wait to see all the stuff in the batcave. I want to live there too, why not, theres room. 🙂
Pretty close – “Folsom Prison Blues”
And I’d forgotten about that guy! 😀
So there have been a couple of other really tall people in the show – the ghost in Yellow Fever and (though it isn’t that obvious) the ghost in Ghostfacers.
Guess which one of the above is this weeks repeating guest-star? I think at this stage we can assume we are going to get one of those every week 😀
Nice catch eilf!! 😀
I imagine there are limited number of nearly 7 foot tall actors in Canada (or anywhere for that matter).
Oh yeah, for some reason I was only thinking of human characters, but we are talking about a golem right? Does the wendigo count?
Doesn’t this feel a bit like Christmas – eagerly waiting to unwrap the presents – but in this case, eagerly waiting to find out what is in the mother lode? 😀
This one is going to be good, I feel it in my bones! I had already read the interview with Ben Edlund, so I was already geeking out before your spoiler lite preview. But Phil Sgriccia directing, that I didn’t know, I’m so excited. Is it 9:00 yet? 😀 I love the terrified look in Sam’s eyes when he sees this guy. 😆 Doesn’t happen too often that he meets someone taller than him! 😛
Initial reaction: Loved the episode. 🙂
Lots of mystery, thrill, action, suspense, and humor! Very engaging – kept my attention from the jump. I really like the creative possibilities opening up with this new “secret societies” plot. And I love how mesmerized Sam is by that huge library, all that lore. Loved seeing his “geek” side come out again. I also love the fact that boys now have someplace to crash – someplace AWESOME, as a matter of fact. The actor who played the Golem was terrific, as was the actor who played the Golem’s Jewish handler (his name escapes me). Great stuff. And this one clearly had Ben Edlund’s touch, with the dark humor.
Personally, I give it a solid A. This is one I’ll watch again, definitely.