Alice’s Review: Supernatural 14.04 – “Mint Condition” aka Time to Slice and Dice!

A funny thing happened on the way to the review and it’s all F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fault.  That and crappy Ohio weather.  Yep, it’s been one of those weeks.

Thursday was the first time this season “Supernatural” wasn’t pre-empted by my local CW station by high school football.  Since I had to fill in for Nighsky for our weekly live tweet on Twitter, I sat down for the first time in eons to watch live.  It only took two minutes for the reception the crap out.  Reset the antenna and try again. That lasted about 3 minutes.  That in and out pattern went on all hour.  While I tried to produce a cheeky live tweet on the scenes I got to actually watch (yes, the tweet was loaded with fluff), the hubby went outside in the rain to check the antenna.  The intense amount of rain we have gotten this year has caused the antenna to corrode.  And the antenna cover to fall off.  And the bush that was under it has insanely grown over it because of the months of wet weather.  This wasn’t an issue with other stations because they are part of our DirecTV Now subscription.  Guess which service The CW isn’t on? 

This is where Mr. Fitzgerald comes in.  In order to see the full episode, I had to wait until it went online the next day.  Well, that’s when we found out my son’s grades and he’s behind in English because he didn’t work on his The Great Gatsby project.  I jumped into help, and next thing you know I had to read the book again.  I remember now why I hated it when I had to read it in school thirty years ago.  So that took up my spare time until early in the morning Tuesday, when the project was finally submitted, much to the exhausted relief of us all. 

So yeah, I finally got to watch the episode on my phone, in the car, during my lunch hour at work.  I hope you appreciate my commitment to get this review to you!  That and I have emerged with a new perspective.  “Supernatural” on it’s worst day can’t be as freaking depressing as The Great Gatsby.

I share that story because it’s impossible to do a critical review of “Mint Condition.”  It was just good old fashioned “teenage slice and dice” fun.  We needed fun.  We needed an old school Sam and Dean only monster hunt.  No angels, no poorly constructed mytharc, no plot that was expected to be taken seriously.  Just some fun loaded with some “Easter Eggs” we like to see once in a while.

Since this review has been already pretty scattered, I’m going to write in a different format I affectionately call, “Random Thoughts.” 

Random Thoughts

• I’ve actually been to Salem, Ohio.  We had to go through it once as an alternative when a big wreck on the freeway was blocking our journey to a family function in Western Pennsylvania.  I could definitely see a slasher going through that town. 

• I’ve seen the screen caps so kudos to you that were able to point out the posters for “House of Wax” and “Hell Hazers”, as well as the life sized Red Hood figurine.  I was hard to catch those on my small screen viewing.  I was able to notice the racist truck in the clip at the Comic Book store.  Always good for a laugh!

• One of my favorite “Easter Eggs” was a call back to one of my all time favorite episodes, the Ben Edlund classic “Hollywood Babylon.”  Yes, I shrieked when Dean was watching the promo to “Hell Hazers 3.” (And screw your auto correct for changing that during the live tweet to Hell RAISERS III”).  That brought back in my mind one of my favorite lines, when Sam had to endure hours worth of dailies in the trailer.  “You know, maybe the spirits are trying to shut down the movie ‘cause they think it kind of sucks.  ‘Cause, I mean, it kind of does.”  I was thinking the same thing during “All Saints Day.” 

• I’m probably in the minority, but I liked Sam’s grief beard.  I wish it had stuck around longer.  Sue me. 

• I LOVED the insurance agent outfits.  It looks like they cleaned out the wardrobe department and decided to use a few things before it all went to goodwill.  As priceless as Dean’s green plaid blazer was not to mention the return of the horn rimmed glasses, Sam’s oddly patterned tie (those colors looked like candy corn on a small screen) and the pocket protector were the big wins for me.  Just when you can’t think he can’t get any dorkier…

• Let’s face it, this was a pretty tame and predictable ghost story.  I think that was on purpose though given Dean’s line about how he watched slasher flicks because he knew the good guys would win.  Same here. 

• Who on the crew is the confessed lover of “Thundercats?”  We haven’t seen that reference since season one!  Speaking of season one, one notice that the actress playing Samantha was the same actress who played the tween who started the whole mess in “Bloody Mary?”  She grew up nicely!  I liked her better in this one.

• Line of the episode:

  Samantha: Really? Because according to Yelp and this awesome, one-star review we just got, you screamed at a customer and called him a, quote, ‘mongoloid Tribble in a robotic exoskeleton built by Tony Stark’s inbred third cousin.’ Which is not cool, and weirdly, creepily specific.

  Bwah!  Bad Yelp reviews can get pretty creative. 

• Anyone notice the hospital?  We’ve seen that one many times before, in all the Vancouver productions as well as “Supernatural” (“In My Time of Dying” and “The Girl Next Door” pops fresh into my head). Looks like they were filming at the Riverside Psychiatric complex again! 

• Not one “Wonder Twin powers activate” fist bump from Sam and Samantha?  Really?  They passed up on that golden opportunity?  That would have been sweet.

• A messed up childhood?  No shit!  Your adulthood hasn’t been much better. 

• What did that perfectly good Scooby Doo lunchbox do to you Sam?

• The parallel showing of the All Saints movie and what was happening in the hospital now was pretty damned inspired.  Good job to the directing and editing on that one.  Speaking of inspired Hell Yeah! to the fake trailer for All Saints III.  Perfect homage to the Hell Hazers 2 from “Hollywood Babylon.”  Ben Edlund should be proud!

• Dean’s thrill over having a showdown with one of his favorite horror baddies was infectious.  If that didn’t help him get his groove back nothing will.

• I believe the count is about 50/50 on this one, but count me as one of those disappointed that Sam doesn’t like Halloween because an embarrassing tween moment at a Halloween party.  He could have even said he was freaked out by a clown at that party and embarrassed himself and I would have bought it.  Puking on a crush doesn’t cut it.  They kept that mystery going since the Pilot!  I had hoped for more.

• Still waiting for Sam to tell Dean, “I was possessed by an archangel too.  I know how you feel.”  Sigh, I guess we’ll just have to be happy that Dean isn’t moping anymore. 

• A slasher episode and no one died.  I actually love that!  For this show that’s unexpected. 

• I believe the question was asked in Let’s Discuss.  What would you like Sam and Dean to dress up as?  Something I’ve dreamed about for years.  Mulder and Scully.  Better yet, Castiel and Castiella (sorry, that’s Jared and Jensen).

The Red Headed Monster

Time to slice and dice!  Yay, fun for monsters! 

No overall grade on this week since there is no critical lens to base one.  There wasn’t a lot of substance to the story but I love the return of light hearted and fun dialogue, not to mention the brother being brothers again.  We’ll just call it a “win”.