5. Party On, Garth
Season Seven
For season six and seven, the writers seemed to be given a task of filling the season with padding episodes. Thus it seems like they scrambled to find episodes that could stall the resolution of the arc and introduce monsters. But after Satan, and death, what else is there? Here, we meet the goofy Garth, introduced by name in “Weekend at Bobby’s.” DJ Qualls is a very underrated character actor who appears in huge shows like “Big Bang Theory,” and “Breaking Bad,” so he’s a guy who can play almost anyone.
Here, he plays the titular Garth, the inept hunter that calls on Sam and Dean to help in a case. Involving a Japanese ghost that can only be seen when someone is drunk. There’s some crap about a brewery, a Japanese ghost, and revenge, not to mention a lot of really dull plot points and humor. Even Dean performing a sacred water blessing on a samurai sword with Evian water is a joke that was introduced with a thud. This is an embarrassing episode.
4. Mannequin III: The Reckoning
Season Six
The episode is funny because it’s just so damn silly. Too silly for Supernatural. And this is a show that featured Dean and Sam being thrown in to various TV shows. The episode is best summed up in all its absurdity when Dean arrives on the scene and asks Sam “Is this the girl with the haunted kidney?” That’s what it all boils down to in its hilarious delivery. Plus, the girl that has to die in order for the vengeful ghost to die is conveniently ganked by a glass shard after Dean is chased by his ghost car.
Also, one of the men who tormented the woman who became a ghost comes home to tell his girlfriend they have to leave town and she turns out to be a sex doll. So if Sam tells the guy that the ghost is possessing mannequins and dolls, why wouldn’t she have possessed the sex doll a long time ago? Granted, the episode has a few funny moments, but it’s a lame episode that doesn’t move the season arc along at all. And when did Dean’s unofficial step son go from cool little kid to whiny high pitched teenager?
3. Route 666
Season Two
Racist ghost truck! Boo! Scared yet? Dean had a passionate affair with a whiny self-righteous young girl he left behind to be a hunter. It’s the most important love affair of his life. Until we met Lisa in season three where we find out Dean also had a passionate love affair he never got over. When Sam went to hell, Dean turned to Lisa to live a normal life. So Cassie is ultimately irrelevant. And whiny, shrill, and annoying. But she’s African American, though! Diversity!
While I approve of some sense of diverse love affairs in a show filled with Caucasian characters, the entire episode features Dean and Cassie bickering and arguing over the past. Almost non-stop. To the point where Sam backs off and does his own thing. This is supposed to indicate a searing sexual tension that eventually leads to them sleeping together one more time, but damn, it’s obnoxious and tough to endure. Racist ghost truck! Boo!
2. The French Mistake
Season Six
While I’m sure the concept sounded funny on paper, it’s too meta. It ultimately lets us know that we’re watching a fictional TV show. The reason why fan bases are built is because fans invest in series with universes that feel real, universes that we want to be a part of for some reason. “The French Mistake” wants us to know that “Supernatural” is a show and just a show. So there are jokes we’ve heard a thousand times that they pretend we haven’t heard. Jared Padalecki has a weird name! Whoa! Sam married Ruby in real life! Whoa the actress who played Ruby is so hot! Eric Kripke is an eccentric man, isn’t that funny? The new show runner isn’t very respected, how hilarious!
Jensen Ackles was on a soap opera once upon a time! How original and fresh! While the episode has a few funny moments including Eric Kripke’s dramatic death by shotgun, Jared and Jensen beating up an angel the crew thinks is an extra, and Misha Collins’s desperation to be considered a part of the show’s cool factor, the episode just fails. Misha Collins’s constant tweeting to his “Mishamigos” about everything is hilarious. His murder in an alley by being stabbed to death? Creepy and kind of disturbing. Even for a show that once featured people eating one another to death. “The French Mistake” is a terrible wink to the audience. It’s funny to break the fourth wall once in a blue moon, or to alter the reality, but letting us know we’re just watching a show the stars don’t even respect? Bad idea, all around.
1. Clap Your Hands if You Believe
Season Six
Dean survived a skirmish with Satan, hell hounds, angels, mythological gods, hell, heaven, purgatory, and every specter known to man. And he gets his ass kicked by a fairy? A fairy that he kills in a microwave? Robert Picardo plays a leprechaun who is sabotaging a small town. There’s more stupid stuff about a UFO, a leprechaun who made a deal in exchange for a new born child, and we learn very little about Sam’s lack of soul. Dean and Sam go in to a town of UFO enthusiasts to learn that there are elves and fairies lurking about, thanks to Robert Picardo.
When Sam and Dean begin investigating, the elves and fairies come after them, and they get more than they bargained for. Really, it’s one big heaping smelling pile of filler for the sixth season that boils down to the lesson that making a deal for answers is never a good idea. The hell, you say? Maybe you should have told John Winchester that, and maybe you should have told Dean that when he sold his soul, and all of the other deals you made in the first five seasons to help you get monsters, demons, and evil hunters, too. Thanks for the bulletin.