Supernatural’s Top 100 Favorite Episodes: Countdown 5-3!
#4 “The French Mistake” (6.15)
Written By Ben Edlund
Directed By Charles Beeson
Sam and Dean find themselves in an alternate universe where they are actors on a TV show about supernatural occurrences. So that means Jared and Jensen are playing Sam and Dean, who are playing Jared and Jensen, who are playing Sam and Dean.
Only in our happy little universe does that sentence make perfect sense.
Elle called the episode “fun and creative.” Alice called the episode the “most meta episode ever done on TV. Edlund’s greatest masterpiece.”
Gail said, “I don’t have enough superlatives for this episode. It’s got everything. What a daring thing to do, but it works on every level imaginable. On a personal note, whenever my husband and I feel like life is getting us down, we put this episode on and laugh, and laugh. It’s one of those where you can start a line in everyday life and start grinning immediately. Fantastic. Just fantastic.”
Nate Winchester said, “I’ve said before the mark of a great episode is one that I should hate, but just can’t. The lore in this one makes no chuck-damned sense, but man is this one fun. That the cast got in on the joke to do simultaneous meta jokes during the airing of this episode makes it one for the history books. If I had any complaints, it’s that we didn’t get more of the behind-the-scenes cast to show up as themselves. You all make the magic happen, you should have gotten your moment in the spotlight.”
Journalbookbinder said, “Maybe the most meta of the meta episodes! When I heard the plot of this one, it sounded like it would be a complete disaster and yet it was actually a total masterpiece. Huge credit to Ben Edlund for this one. Wow. Sam and Dean running into AU version of themselves…their REAL Jared and Jensen selves only with some crazy fictional additions (they don’t get along!) is hilarious. The show skewers itself, its creator, the actors, social media, everything. The scene where Sam and Dean are acting like they cannot act is utter perfection and one of the funniest of the entire series!”
Lynn truly loves this episode, so she had a lot to say! First, she gave Kudos to several of the actors. “I loved Sebastian Roche as Balthazar – loved the way he was always in the gray area, sometimes ally, sometimes out for himself, but always entertaining and witty. Genevieve Padalacki was also fabulous in this episode. Her aggravated ‘It’s an alpaca, dumbass’ is one of the most iconic lines and she nailed the delivery.”
She added, “And of course, Jared, Jensen, and Misha all deserve accolades of awards for their comedic performances throughout this episode! I love that these actors are perfectly willing to poke fun at themselves too. Jared, Jensen, and Misha all deserve some kind of awards for the Acting Scene, because their every single word and gesture is PRICELESS. Between Misha shoving the makeup lady, Jensen looking constipated and Jared staring at the ceiling, I can’t even. In my opinion, the Acting Scene is the most hilarious scene of the entire series!
Lynn also loved the meta aspects of the episode, saying, “The Show isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself and the industry. Ben Edlund gave us a brilliantly written episode that incorporated so many different things – from real life fandom aspects; to throwing shade at the Show’s critics; to the semi-glimpses behind the curtain; to using both actors and actual set people as the Show’s production team (real-life stunt coordinator Lou Bollo plays himself); to breaking the fourth wall without actually breaking it – it is all absolutely brilliant! And when Fake Serge Ladouceur says ‘an atrocity is happening’, I just burst into laughter every time. Perfection!”
Nightsky concluded: “It’s all been said. Falling through that window is definitely a trip to Oz. It’s so surreal. Everything is just SO MUCH FUN! It’s impossible to choose classic lines from this ep because everything is classic! Season 6 kills off Kripke, then Bob Singer, then all the Execs on set. It’s great meta.”
Nightsky has a unique memory of this episode. “This episode was a turning point in my journey to becoming engrossed in the show and the fandom. The first time I saw this ep, I knew very little about the fandom or the Js. I was binge watching the series, and had not yet grasped how special it was nor what it would mean to me. I clearly remember how upset I got at the line “at least they’re talking.” I thought they were saying the Js really did NOT get along, in real life. I didn’t know enough about the show, the actors or the fandom to understand that the whole episode was a parody! It was the first time I researched anything about any show online to learn the truth! I didn’t know why, but I needed their love as brothers to be genuine. It made their story – and the love I was starting to feel for Sam, Dean and the show – authentic, deserved… and safe. I could trust what I was seeing and feeling.”
She added: “Gen saying “You’ve been Sam Winchester way too long” then the shot of Jared on the computer with a framed picture of him as a cowboy behind him – at the time it was simply funny but now it seems eerily prophetic! One more notch up in this episode’s genius!
Memorable Moment(s) #1: So much meta!
Bob: Cut! What is happening? What’s happening?! What’s happening?!
Serge: An atrocity is happening.
Kevin: Seems like they should stop.
Bob: They can’t stop. Nobody stops. Did we get anything we can use?
Kevin: Well, uh, technically, we have them saying everything in bits and pieces. Could be sort of experimental?
Bob: Whatever. Season six.
Dean to Bob Singer: What kind of a douchebag names a character after himself?
Kevin Parks: Well, we can clean up, reset the window; takes about 95 minutes, basically. So we’d have to blow off the scene where they sit on the Impala and talk about their feelings.
Bob Singer: Ha! Right! You answer the hate mail.
Bob Singer: Jensen, we’re thrilled to see you collaborating so creatively. And your enthusiasm is refreshing. Dean Cain was like that on ‘Lois,’ And that man’s a real actor. And we will clear this set exactly when we shoot the 2 3/8 pages we are scheduled to shoot on this set. So you do your ‘actor stuff’ and we’ll do our ‘camera stuff’ and, uh…
Listen, at this point, I am crying again – but because I am laughing so hard! #happytears
Memorable Moment(s) #2: Misha as… Misha.
Misha: You guys! You really punk’d me! I’m totally gonna tweet this one. ‘Hola, mishamigos. J-squared… Got me good.’
Misha: Ooh, ‘priority.’ what’s in it?
Sam: I bought part of a dead person.
Misha: Oh, cool.
Memorable Moment #3: Sam and Dean realize they are actors on a TV show – cue some of the most unforgettable lines of the series!
Make-Up Artist: Okay, hon, we’re just gonna get this makeup off your face.
Dean: Wha- I’m not wearing any ma- Oh, crap! I’m a painted whore!
Dean: No, seriously. Why? Why would anybody want to watch our lives?
Sam: Well, I mean, according to that interviewer, not very many people do. Look, I’m not saying it makes sense. I’m just saying, we landed in some dimension where you’re Jensen Ackles, and I’m something called a ‘Jared Padalecki.’
Dean: Oh, hey. Least my baby made it. Hey. Hey! What – I feel sick. I’m gonna be sick. I want to go home. I feel like this whole place is bad-touching me.
Dean: This must be fake mine!
Inside Dean’s fake-Jensen’s trailer… ok, listen, you know that makes sense… anyway, they discover that Jensen was on the daytime soap opera “Days of Our Lives” and he played Eric Brady and yes I watched it back then, and I HAVE NO REGRETS.
Inevitably, Sam and Dean are forced to actually act out a scene, and thus were born some of the most iconic lines from the entire series:
Dean: Says Dean grimly
Sam: If there’s a key, then there has to be a lock.
Memorable Moment #4: Sam and Dean go to Jared’s house… er, um, mansion.
Dean: Right. Right. ’cause you’re not Ruby. You… I mean, how could you be? You… of course! You are the lovely actress who plays Ruby. And you are, uh, in… Jared’s house, Uh, because you two are… Married! You married fake Ruby?
Too soon? Too soon.
Memorable Moment #5: The boys beat up an “extra” who is actually Virgil, sent by Raphael to get the key to the angel weapons and kill the boys. Because of that fight, Bob calls Sera, the new showrunner, and suggests they bring in Kripke to talk to the boys.
Dean: You heard my brother. That’s right, I said ‘brother.’ ’cause you know what, Bob? We’re not actors. We’re hunters. We’re the Winchesters. Always have been, and always will be. And where we’re from, people don’t know who we are. But you know what? We mattered in that world. In fact, we even saved a son of a bitch once or twice. And yeah, okay, here, maybe there’s some – some fans who give a crap about this nonsense.
Memorable Moment #6: In the end, they are still brothers.
Sam: Solid. It’s real. Nice.
Dean: Yeah. Yeah, real, moldy, termite-eaten home sweet home. Chock full of crap that want to skin you. Oh, and, uh, we’re broke again.
Sam: Yeah. But, hey… at least we’re talking.
Oh my, I really needed to laugh like this! Thank you, Show. Well Done indeed.
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