Supernatural Writer Profile: Jeremy Carver
Carver’s first solo episode is one of the most iconic. “A Very Supernatural Christmas,” has the brothers investigating an “evil Santa,” that turns out to be a pagan god couple. Its simple premise is full of flashbacks and personal stories for Sam and Dean as they struggle with this being Dean’s last Christmas. Dean wishes to celebrate, while Sam does not. Carver blends the heartbreaking and comedic in this episode well. He captures a very human story within the landscape of fantasy and the supernatural.
The comedic emerges as the brothers struggle to figure out who their target is. They visit “Santa’s Village,” where one of the most iconic comedic moments of the entire episode takes place. Sam and Dean are observing the Santa as he interacts with children. The elf approaches and asks if they have any children that want to sit on Santa’s lap. Dean shakes his head and says, “No. No. Uh, but actually my brother here”¦ it’s been a lifelong dream of his.” The elf looks over at Sam and says, ” Uh, sorry. No kids over”¦ 12.” Without realizing that he’s been set up, Sam says to smooth things over, “No, he’s just kidding. We only came here to watch.” The elf flees in disgust and Sam glares with a full bitch face and quips, “Thanks, Dean. Thanks a lot.”
It isn’t until “Santa” gets up that they realize maybe Sam’s theory isn’t as crazy as first thought. He limps, seems drunk, and smells of candy. This fits the description of the so called evil Santa, otherwise known as “Krampus,” a being that punishes the wicked at Christmas time. This sets up the next comedic moment of the episode, when they burst in on “evil Santa” after hearing screams. To their embarrassment, he is watching porn and to get out of the situation, Dean starts to sing “Silent Night,” elbowing his brother to join in. It is delightful, amusing, and a treat to watch—especially as the brothers mess up the lyrics (“Holy”¦ night. All is well, all is dry.”) Carver puts the brothers in an awkward situation simply to see how they’d react, and the results are hilarious. It counters perfectly with the heartbreak that the episode truly centers around.
We see, in flash back, a young Sam and Dean waiting for John to return from a hunt. It is 1991, and Sam is eight years old. We learn in this episode that Sam has been innocent until now of “the life” and had no knowledge of monsters—or the demon that had killed their mother. In a powerful scene, we see Sam’s innocence shatter to pieces as he confronts Dean about their father’s journal—something he stole and read without permission. His exclamation, “If they got mom, they can get dad and if they can get dad, they can get us,” tugs on the heart and makes us realize just how hard both brothers have had it their entire lives. Carver knows just how to put such simple but powerful words in the mouth of a child—and it tugs at our hearts to know even then their lives were this hard.
When John fails to appear, we see Sam put all his faith in Dean—and get the story on Dean’s treasured amulet. Sam takes out the wrapped in newspaper gift and thrusts it at Dean, saying, “Dad lied to me. I want you to have it.” Dean opens it to find the iconic amulet that he would wear until the end of “Dark Side of the Moon,” and exclaims in joy and wonder, “Thank you, Sam. I-I love it.” It cements these two as being the bedrock for each other—and while this piece of jewelry is no longer with Dean, Carver’s tight writing about the giving of it reverberates long past this episode.
The monster of the week storyline allows Carver to show his skill at wit. As the brothers realize who is providing the meadowsweet wreaths that have been sold to the victims, they start to investigate the Carrigans. As they poke around the house—decked out to the nines for Christmas—they begin to think that perhaps they were wrong and that these people might not be the culprits. It isn’t until they enter the basement and find blood and human bones that they know they were right. Unfortunately, the Carrigans are home, too, and they attack the brothers.
They haul the brothers upstairs, tie them down to chairs, and prepare them for their ritual sacrifice as tribute. They are pagan gods, and they take tributes around this time of year. The dialogue exchange is sharp, snappy, and full of wit. Carver demonstrates his skill here in the scenes where he has the pagan gods explain what they are going to do to the brothers, all while having them do it. Not mere exposition by any means, it is dark comedy at its best. While they’re tied down, Madge explains to Dean, “Oh, we’re just sticklers for ritual,” and Edward says, “You boys have no idea how lucky you are. There was a time when kids came from miles around just to be sitting where you are.” It does nothing to comfort the brothers. As they hurt Sam, Dean shouts, “Leave him alone, you son of a bitch!” Madge is horrified by Dean’s language—which is ironic considering the violence they are exacting on the Winchesters. She exclaims, “Oh, my goodness me! Somebody owes a nickel to the swear jar. Oh, do you know what I say when I feel like swearing? Fudge” Dean replies, “I’ll try and remember that.”
Carver kicks it up even more when they come at the brothers to pull fingernails and teeth. It should be a gruesome scene, and it is, but we laugh when Dean cries, “You fudging touch me again, and I’ll fudging kill you!” Things get even more hilarious when the door bell rings and as Edward is about to yank Dean’s teeth, he says around the clamp, “Somebody’s gonna get that? You should get that.” It is the window the brothers need to escape, and they set a trap for the pagan couple. To make the fight scene fit with the rest of the tone, Carver has them strip the fancy Christmas tree to make their pine stakes, to which Madge complains, “You little thing. I loved that tree.”
To close out this episode, Carver effortlessly shifts back to the brothers story as they end up at their motel room. We see Sam give Dean the amulet here in flashback, only to have Dean walk through the door in the present to be greeted with what he least expected. Sam has decorated for the holiday and offers him egg nog. They exchange gifts, gifts that seem mediocre, yet are perfect for them. Sam exclaims in joy, “Skin mags! And shaving cream!” and Dean returns the favor up on seeing his gifts, “Fuel for me and fuel for my baby.” As relaxed as they are, they do share a couple sad looks, but kick back and watch the game together—for the last time before Hell would claim Dean or the Apocalypse would loom.
Carver proves his utter mastery of black comedy in the episode “Mystery Spot.” An episode that should be heartbreaking and full of sorrow is instead hilarious and delightful. Dean dies multiple times throughout, and while we should be crying, we’re laughing instead. Each death is punctuated by Sam waking up to the same song on the radio, Asia’s “Heat of the Moment.” He dies in quirky and disturbing ways. The first death actually evokes shock, when the brothers go to investigate the Mystery Spot they suspect might be the culprit in the disappearance of their victim. The attraction owner surprises them and holds them at gunpoint. As Dean tries to coax the man to put it down, he fires in close range, striking the elder Winchester straight in the chest. He dies in Sam’s arms, only to have Sam wake up and the day start again. It would be reflected again on that fateful Wednesday.
As the Groundhog’s Day effect settles into place, Sam becomes irritable and frustrated. He tries in vain to explain to Dean, “Okay, look, yesterday was Tuesday, right? But today is Tuesday too.” Dean looks at him askance and quips, “Yeah. No. Good. You’re totally balanced.”
Sam tries to prevent Dean from dying at all costs—only to fail every time. Dean is hit by a car. He is squished by a desk. He is poisoned by bad tacos. He falls in the shower. He electrocutes himself while shaving. He chokes on sausage he swapped out for his bacon. Sam, in his frustration, kills his own brother on accident with the ax he’s using to dismantle the Mystery Spot. As Dean dies so many times, it just becomes more and more ridiculous and borders on silly—but Carver makes sure to drive his point home when the true being behind this time loop is revealed.
It is none other than the Trickster from “Tall Tales, one they thought they had killed. The Trickster announces as he reveals himself, “Actually, bucko, you didn’t.” He is here to teach Sam a lesson. Sam begs the Trickster to undo the time loop and he acquiesces. The next day, Sam wakes up to Huey Lewis In the News’s “Back in Time.” It is finally Wednesday, and Sam is relieved. They begin to pack up and Dean says he’ll run the bags to the car only to have Sam protest. He brushes Sam off and as Sam stands in the motel room, he hears much to his horror gunfire. He runs out to see Dean on the pavement, dead. In reflection of the first death in the episode, Carver has Sam cradle Dean and cry, begging him to wake up.
Instead, Sam is left alone for six long months. Carver puts an end to all the fun and games in a single instant, and we see how desperate Sam will become as he is left to flounder without his elder brother. He hunts alone, cuts off all contacts—even Bobby—and stitches himself up with no reaction. Finally, Bobby leaves a message about finding the Trickster, and the ritual used to summon him. It will take bleeding a victim dry, and Sam will do it to get Dean back. Bobby offers himself, and Sam stakes him, but not without commenting, “Because you’re not Bobby.”
The Trickster, sensing that his lesson isn’t reaching Sam, says, “This obsession to save Dean? The way you two keep sacrificing yourselves for each other? Nothing good comes out of it. Just blood and pain. Dean’s your weakness. And the bad guys know it, too. It’s gonna be the death of you, Sam. Sometimes you just gotta let people go.”
He puts Sam back to that Wednesday, and we see the brothers reunited in a gripping hug. Dean is confused, but allows the moment as Sam reassures himself that he is indeed back with his brother. Carver knows just how to marry black comedy and emotional drama in a beautiful way—and this episode is the epitome of that.
I would be hard pressed to pick my favorite one of his. Mystery Spot, Supernatural Christmas, Free To be You and Me, Point of No Return. Rank as some of my favorites for the entire SERIES. When I first saw Mystery Spot I was afraid it going be cliche reuse of Groundhog Day. But it took was should have been a tired idea and blew it up. I never get tired of watching it. The same goes for the rest of these. Great profile and SO TIMELY.
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it.
I chose Carver for my second profile before the news blew up. He’s my second fave to Edlund. It just happened to be timely. I had it written almost two weeks prior.
I really love his episodes because of his ability to make old new again.
If anything, we’ll at least get to see what he does in new episodes!
I agree with most of your choices except for ITB . Mystery Spot ranks as one of my favourites because Sam was actually treated with sympathy.Pity there was never a genuine follow up to that and the impact to Sam.
I’m glad you liked my take.
Mystery Spot is certainly one of my favorites, too. I think the reason I like it so much is, while it is Sam-centric, it also focuses on the brothers and their relationship.
As for In the Beginning, I think it’s a nice mythological episode that fills in some gaps and gives us the chance to see how they arrived at where they were in that point and time in the story. It is Dean-centric, but much like Mystery Spot, what I love about Carver is he seems to be capable of dividing his attentions between each and not laser focusing in on one or the other.
What I like best about Carver is his efficient use of dialogue while keeping Sam and Dean completely in character. I hope as showrunner, he insists on that (or edits scripts to reflect that) from the other writers.
Not much is said about Sin City, but I loved that episode and thinks it stands right up there with the best of them. The Dean and Casey scenes were terrific and, unlike Garth, I liked quirky Richie and Dean’s concern for the challenged hunter.
You really captured what makes Carver so good at what he does, and I think as showrunner over at Being Human, he kept the story moving forward with each episode. I can’t wait to see him ‘make the old new again’ in S8.
I’m glad you liked my take on Carver.
I think he will bring his smart writing back to the show, and I am looking forward to what direction he’ll take it in once he gets going on it.
I was struck, after rewatching Sin City, how much of that episode is still having impact all these seasons later. He wrote such a snappy and efficient script that we were told what was to come right there—and yet it was cloaked well enough to keep us guessing. I love that.
I do think he’ll be an excellent show runner. I haven’t watched Being Human, but I do hear good things about it.
Sin City! Smart and competent Sam and Dean! Dean knew Casey was a demon before he impregnated her, and Sam wasn’t going to let a little thing like a gun slow him down. Bobby was there to lend an assist, but he wasn’t running the show. And the guest hunter was semi-competent and funny, even if he was outmatched.
Maybe Jeremy Carver will bring back Dean’s amulet..one can hope!!! :))
I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Yes it was a great article! Thanks for putting this up! I’m on all it for everything! But I think you missed “The Rapture” , it’s one of my favorites, the part that Jimmy talks about his experience as a vessel of an angel is just heart breaking and I really like the script!
I didn’t k ow so much about carver ans which episodes he wrote, but I’ve got to say he is a genius! Like you said he can mix dark comedy with drama very well , like in changing channels , the first 30 minutes is just fun but at the ending everything just gets damn serious! And about thus episode I really liked the scene where Sam was trapped into impala! That was just funny when he said ” should I honk!?”
I hope be writes more episodes like these in upcoming future because we really need some great and strong scripts.
Thanks. I’m glad you enjoyed my take on our new Show Runner.
I wanted to touch on each season. He did write the Rapture, so he has skill with each character on the show, which is great. I think it’s a fantastic episode, too.
I look forward to anything he might write for the show and the direction he’ll take it in as show runner especially. I think he is so snappy and writes such strong scripts.
I just hope people are enjoying learning about the writers as much as I am.
Well, I don’t keep a close watch on who wrote what episodes, but Jeremy’s hand is in most of my favs so I guess that makes him a fav too. (I can’t watch Mystery Spot, Changing Channels or the Christmas ep too many times.) I had no problem with Sera, but I am really excited to have him taking over for the new season just for the possible change of pace. I suspect it will be a monumental job to turn this steamship in the direction it should go to get to a satisfactory conclusion for at least most people, if not all.
Maybe I should have myself a little viewing party of every ep he ever did then finally run on over to check out Being Human, which I’ve always wanted to watch – but who has time for all these shows, even with Netflix and HuluPlus! 😀
I’m glad you liked my look at Carver.
I’m excited to see just what direction he’ll take the show into, too. I think he’s bright and will have a fresh look after stepping away for a bit.
I also wanna watch Being Human, too. Learning about these writers makes me want to delve into their non SPN work, too. So much stuff, so little time!
I thoughroughly enjoyed that. It just brought back to me all the reasons I love Jeremy Carver. It’s amazing that he was only around for three seasons, considering he wrote some of my favourite episodes. Let’s hope he writes some when he becomes showrunner next season.
Here is my all time favourite quip of his (and yes it’s juvenile, but I always enjoyed a good scatological joke!) : Last time you zapped me someplace, I didn’t poop for a week. We’re driving. I’m laughing even now as I read it!