Review – “Bedtime Stories”

Could you BE more gay? is what Dean asks Sam in the course of this investigation.

Three hefty brothers argue at a construction site. One is killed by a snarling creature, the other survives the attack.

A big, fat frog wends its way through this entire episode, hoping, perhaps one of the brothers will kiss it and turn it into a beautiful princess? It never does get that wish, and indeed, is nearly run over by the Impala at this point in the story. Inside the car, Sam and Dean argue; Sam wants to summon the Crossroads Demon and, using the newly revamped Colt, force her to release Dean from the deal. If they screw with it, YOU die, points out Dean. If we don’t, YOU die, points out Sam. Dean insists they let it go; Sam reminds him he’s not Dad. Dean changes the subject by asking about the psychotic killer. They determine it’s not a werewolf, then, posing as Detectives Plant and Page, go to visit Kyle, the one surviving brother, in the hospital.

Dean tricks Sam into becoming the sketch artist (The things he can do with a pen!) (From Alice – I still to this day laugh my fool head off over this drawing), so Sam takes out a notepad and fakes it as Kyle describes a man. Dean keeps asking about animal characteristics, like long teeth or claws, but he didn’t have those, just a tat of Wile E. Coyote on his arm. Dean leaves to question Kyle’s doctor while Sam shows the latter the unspeakably terrible drawing he did. œWork in progress, says Sam defensively. Kyle is speechless. When he later shows Dean the drawing, Sam says, œYou couldn’t have done any better. The victims’ were missing many organs, just not the hearts. It’s neither werewolf nor demon, so they’ve got nothin’.

In the next scene, a thirty-something couple, lost and hungry, come upon a cute cottage and a sweet little old lady who gives them drugged pieces of pie and proceeds to hack up the hubby with a large, nasty knife. The wife screams in terror. Outside the window, a pretty, dark-haired girl who looks like Snow White watches the gory scene, seeming to enjoy it.

Back at the hospital, Dean and Sam turn their backs to the law so they won’t be spotted. They go to visit Mrs. Watson, the murdered woman’s husband, and run into Dr. Garrison, who is also treating Kyle. He’s concerned that his whole town is going insane. When the old lady was carving up her husband, I pushed her, explains Mrs. Watson”and she cracked her head on the stove–she’s dead, right?”I killed her? Mrs. Watson has no idea why the old lady did this; one moment she was fine, the next, insane. Mrs. Watson also spotted that beautiful, dark-haired girl staring in, so out of place in that terrible context.

The brothers go to check out the cottage, where there is lots of EMF but no sulfur. Sam proposes a theory: fairy tales. Couple hiking through the woods, HANSEL AND GRETEL. Three brothers arguing over building a house and the Big Bad Wolf comes along. . . THREE LITTLE PIGS. supplies Dean”but I thought everyone lives happily ever after in those stories. Grimm stories were like the folklore of their day, explains Sam, full of sex, violence, cannibalism, it got sanitized over the years. Dean says they need to do research now, and isn’t happy. They find no missing or dead child matching the description of theirs. Sam tells Dean about Lilian Bailey, a British medium from the 1930’s who would go into trances and her thoughts and actions were completely controlled by spirits. The ghost puppet master, says Dean–you think that’s what this kid is doing?–sending wolf boy and grandma into trances, making them go kill-crazy? Could be, says Sam, kinda like a spirit hypnosis. Fairy tale trances?–bizarre even for us, says Dean. They come across the croaking frog and stare down at it. “Yeah, you’re right, that’s completely normal,” says Sam. “All right, maybe it is fairy tales,” agrees Dean, “totally messed-up fairy tales. I’ll tell you one thing–there’s no way I’m kissin’ a damn frog.” Sam points across the street at a pumpkin on the porch. Dean reminds him it’s close to Halloween. Remember Cinderella, says Sam, with the pumpkin that turns into a coach (a mouse skitters across the porch in front of the pumpkin) and mice that become horses? Dean gazes at his brother as if he’s totally insane. “Dude, could you BE more gay?” he asks. Sam gives him a look of skepticism and doesn’t respond. “Don’t answer that,” says Dean. The frog on the ground huffs, making itself look even bigger than before. The brothers break into the house across the street. “Who knows, maybe you’ll find your fairy godmother,” teases Dean. They separate, one going left, the other right. Hearing a noise, they take out their guns. They find a blond girl handcuffed to the kitchen stove–her step-mom freaked out, screamed at her, beat her, chained her up. While Sam searches for tools to free her from the handcuffs, Dean spies the little girl and calls Sam’s name so he can see her, too. She turns and walks away; Dean follows her through a couple of rooms. “Who are you?” he asks. Like a ghost, her form pulses, then disappears. In her place is a red apple. Dean picks it up and gazes at it, more perplexed than ever.

The brothers discuss the apple. SNOW WHITE, suggests Sam. The wicked stepmother put her into a coma with a poisoned apple. Dean recalls the porno version of that story, and how VERY wicked the wicked stepmother was. (Why doesn’t she have an IV?) They learn that Dr. Garrison has a daughter, Callie, who’s been comatose in the hospital for years. Dr. Garrison sits beside her bed reading”shocker!”

THE BROTHERS GRIMM: COMPLETE WORKS AND TALES to his daughter. At the same time, a seemingly nice man with a tattoo of Wile E. Coyote on his arm appears to be helping an elderly woman load her groceries into her van. Instead, with a snarl, he pushes her inside the van and begins to beat her viciously, the little girl solemnly watching. Climbing into the driver’s seat, he screeches away.

Sam and Dean enter Callie’s room, where he father is reading “Little Red Riding Hood.” Callie is 18 now, raven-haired and beautiful. After Sam carefully expresses how sorry they are, they manage to get Dr. Garrison to answer questions. Callie has been here since she was eight–swallowed bleach. They never figured out how she got her hands on the bottle, but his wife found her and got her to the ER, where he was on call. Dean asks if Dr. Garrison’s wife was Callie’s step-mother. Dr. G is surprised he knows that; Julie, who passed away last year, was the only mother Callie ever knew, and his daughter is now all he has left.

Sam and Dean put the pieces together: The step-mother poisoned the daughter, put her in a deep sleep. Motive? Could be like Mischa Barton, suggests Dean, SIXTH SENSE, not the OC–keep the kid sick so you get all the attention. Munchhausen’s Syndrome By Proxy, supplies Sam, could be. So perhaps Callie’s been suffering silently because nobody knows the truth about what Mommy dearest did, suggests Dean. So now, her super angry spirit is lashing out, says Sam. How do they stop her, with Daddy keeping her alive here, and no bones to burn? An elderly lady is brought in, and the brothers overhear that she was bitten by a dog or wolf. Sam tells Dean the last story the doctor was reading to Callie was LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. The old lady has died; they cover her face.

Showing their badges, the brothers ask the paramedic for the woman’s next of kin–a granddaughter. “Find a way to stop Callie,” says Dean, “I’m going to stop the Big Bad Wolf–which is the weirdest thing I’ve ever said.”

A smiling girl in a red button-down cape spots Grandma’s van waiting across the street. She looks both ways before crossing and climbs into the van. “Hey, Grandma,” she says, but a leering man turns from the front seat instead. She screams. All the doors lock so she can’t escape.

When Sam tells Dr. Garrison his wife poisoned Callie, he orders him out of the hospital, but when Sam reveals he saw Callie’s spirit, that changes the doctor’s mind. Sam explains that Callie’s been killing people, trying to get his attention, trying to get him to listen to her. My wife loved Callie, insists the doctor. Garrison stands over his now-adult daughter, asks, “Is it true? Did Mommy do that to you? I know I wasn’t listening before, but I’m listening now. Is there any way you can tell me? “Doctor?” says Sam softly. Eight year old Callie stands behind him. “Is it true?” asks Dr. Garrison. Sadly, the little girl nods. Dr. Garrison, crying, tells his daughter she must stop what she’s doing. It’s time for her to go”and time for him to let her go. He kisses her forehead and caresses her cheek one final time. Her monitor goes flat-line. Dr. Garrison turns to see that eight-year-old Callie is gone, too. It’s over, for all of them.

Dean has just enough time to kick in the door and verify that Little Red is OK, hiding from the Big Bad Man Wolf (known from now on as BBMW) before the creature grabs him and tosses him against a china closet. Callie watches the BBMW beat the crap out of Dean, thoroughly enjoying herself. Dean falls and grabs the scissors out of Grandma’s knitting basket. He’s just about to stab the other man when Callie hears her father calling to her and winks out. With Dean on the bottom, trying to stab upwards, the BBMW is trying to avoid Dean’s slashing hand and wrest the scissors away from him. Dean is just about to thrust the scissors into the BBMW’s hear when the man comes out of his Callie-induced trance. œSTOPSTOPSTOP! he cries”œWho am I?”What’s going on?

Later, Dean assures Dr. Garrison that the little girl is OK. They’re all glad it’s really over, and the doctor is the reason for that. (Except for those who died and those who will be unjustly accused, what about them? We never do get an explanation, do we?) Garrison feels he should have let his daughter go a long time ago. œSee you around, says Dean. œI hope not, says Dr. Garrison. “What he said, some good advice,” says Dean. “Is that what you want me to do, Dean,” says Sam, “just let you go?” Dean doesn’t reply, he just looks Sam steadily in the eye and walks away, leaving Sam, alone, gazing after him down a long hallway. (This was SO sad. I felt Dean was being mean to Sam, not trying to see things from his point of view. Sam was hurting, and Dean was just letting him stew in it.)

Sam, fully dressed, sneaks past a sleeping but restless Dean. At a crossroads, Sam buries a box, stands and waits. The Crossroads Demon, a pretty red-eyed gal in a black cocktail dress appears. “Well, little Sammy Winchester, I’m touched,” she says, “your brother has been to see me twice, but YOU–I’ve never had the pleasure. What can I do for you, Sam?” He pulls the Colt out and points it at her. “Beg for your life,” he advises. “We were having such a nice conversation,” she says, “then you had to go and ruin the mood.” He wants her to be scared, but that’s not her style. She notices it isn’t the original Colt–where did he get it? It hits her–Ruby, had to be–she is such a pain in my ass–she’ll get what’s coming to her. “Let Dean out of his deal right now,” demands Sam, “he lives, you live, I live–everyone goes home happy, or. . .” He cocks the gun. “You stop breathing, permanently.”

She asks if he really wants to break the deal–isn’t he tired of cleaning up Dean’s messes? Of dealing with his broken psyche? Isn’t he tired of being bossed around like a snot-nosed little brother? Sam’s stronger than Dean, better. “Watch your mouth,” warns Sam. You’ll be a tiny bit relieved when he’s gone, she taunts–no more desperate, sloppy, needy Dean–you can finally be free. “I said, shut up!” commands Sam. She thinks he protests too much. Dean’s an adult who made the deal of his own free will, fair and square, and it’s iron-clad. “Every deal can be broken,” insists Sam. Not this one. “Fine, then I’ll kill you,” says Sam, “if you’re gone, so’s the deal.” She’s just a saleswoman, and has a boss like everybody–“he” holds the contract, not me–if he wants Dean’s soul, he’s not gonna let it go–shoot me, if it’ll get you off, but the deal still holds, and when Dean’s time is up, he’s going to be dragged into the pit. “Who’s your boss?” asks Sam. “I can’t tell you,” she says, “I’m sorry, Sam, but there’s no way out of this one.” Sam gulps, considers, then shoots her, right in the forehead. Light bursts throughout her body for a few moments until she finally falls, flat on her back. Sam stares down at her, forehead furrowed. Somehow, we don’t get the feeling he cares that he murdered a human woman along with the demon inside her, just self-satisfaction that he killed a nasty demon who was taunting him.

1. I loved Jared’s former girlfriend, Sandy, as a Crossroads demon. There was a lot of controversy at the time”what did you think?

2. This isn’t one of my favorite eps, I feel sorta meh about it. It just didn’t ring my bell, and I can’t put a finger on why. I loved the frog, cried for the doc when he had to let Callie go, thought the concept was pretty good. Maybe it was Callie’s big boobs as an adult? No IV, which seemed impossible and wrong for a woman in a coma? I just don’t know.

3. I enjoyed Dean’s snarkery about the wicked stepmother as a porn movie. That was so funny, especially in this context. Also, teasing Sam about œCould you BE more gay? was hilarious, too. I think of that as a definite shout-out to those fans, and you know who you are.

4. Did the idea of a child Calllie’s age watching all that violence bother you? It bugged me. She shouldn’t have watched it, and certainly shouldn’t have been enjoying it. I understand, she was upset, frustrated and angry because she couldn’t catch her father’s attention, but there had to be a less violent way to handle it.

5. What happens to the poor man who went wolf and killed people? Does the doctor stay behind and explain these fantastic events? Who will believe him? It’s all SUPERNATURAL!