Tonight’s Supernatural episode, “Everybody Hates Hitler,” was written by Ben
Edlund and directed by Phil Sgriccia, both Supernatural
veterans and they delivered one of the best and most satisfying episodes yet
this season. In fact, this episode featured pretty much everything that there
is to love about Supernatural: great dialogue, an interesting and pretty cool
monster of the week – of both the friendly and non-friendly varieties,
wonderful sets, brotherly love, a little comedy, great special effects, and
outstanding lighting and production values.
First? Those sets! Jerry Wanek earned
my respect a long time ago and earned a reputation for amazing themed motel
sets, but two of tonight’s sets just blew me away. The Nazi camp in the first
scene was stunning. In fact, between the detail and richness of the set – and the
costumes! – that set was feature film worthy. We keep hearing about the budget
constraints the show is always under, but you would never know it from sets
like that. The second set was, of course, the Men of Letters bunker. Just wow.
And this one we have been promised we will keep for some time. It’s a wonderful
space – I love the two floors and stairs – not to mention the gigantic
telescope! And of course, a library to make Sam’s scholarly heart sing. I’m
hoping we will eventually also see the rest of the bunker’s rooms too.
This episode once again featured a
wonderful guest star – Hal Linden. Many may remember him from the long-running
sitcom Barney Miller (1974-82).
Miller was fantastic as Rabbi Bass, the last Rabbi of the Judah Initiative. He
follows in the footsteps of guest stars like Mike Ferrell from earlier this
season and Chad Everett in season five. I wish we had had more of him, and I
really wish he’d had a scene with Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen
Ackles).
The opening scene with the brothers
finds them pulling up outside of the Men of Letters bunker in Lebanon, Kansas.
As it happens, Lebanon, Kansas is famous for being the geographic center of the
contiguous United States. It’s interesting that the boys’ new home is back in
Kansas. My favorite line once they get into the bunker is Dean’s exclamation: “Sammy,
I think we found the Bat Cave!” Sam is immediately intrigued by the records and
books of lore. Dean is more interested in the shower. I like that they remark
on the fact that there is water and electricity after all this time and they
have no idea why. As we know that the Men of Letters were versed in magic, I’m
going with that being the explanation. It will be interesting to see if that
does play out and whether Dean will be disturbed by them using magic if it does
turn out that way. The question of why things still work is a bit of a glaring
hole but at least they do address it somewhat.
Dean appears to be a bit intimidated
by the Men of Letters. We’ve seen him in the past feel inadequate in the face
of those he thinks have a superior intellect. He tries to tell Sam not to put
too much stock in the records – they only go as far as 1958 after all – and the
Men of Letters was a secret society, so they must have been a bit wacky. My
theory is that Dean knows Sam pretty well. He knows that if he’s too
enthusiastic, Sam will put the brakes on. So he leaves Sam for two weeks to go
check on Kevin and Garth and lets Sam immerse himself in the records. By the
time Dean arrives back, Sam is pretty enthralled. By the end of the episode,
Sam is even more interested in the records and what they could mean for helping
people. Dean says to him, so you’re a Man of Letters now. Sam looks pleased –
and so does Dean as he says “Good.” By putting it out there at the beginning of
the episode that the information stopped at 1958, it was like throwing the
gauntlet down for Sam to fill in that information. Dean knows his brother, and
I think he took the opportunity to find a way that Sam would be happy and want
to continue hunting. It remains to be seen how happy Dean will ultimately be
being so tied down. For now, however, the episode ends with them sincerely
toasting each across the table. They felt much more like they were back in it
together than they did at the end of “Torn an dFrayed.”
The episode did a nice job of touching
base with the larger season myth arc by having Dean go to check on Kevin. It
was also interesting that he mentioned Cas. Dean had obviously actively been
trying to contact Cas and had had no luck.
It was interesting that Sam stepped
back into the scholar mode even when he went undercover to retrace Rabbi Bass’
steps. He tells the librarian that he’s retracing the Rabbi’s research steps to
finish writing his last paper. He’s even dressed like an academic – with patches
on his suit coat and a sweater under it. However, as soon as I saw what was
obviously the wrong book in the crate, I would have gone to its place on the
shelf. Meanwhile, Aaron (Adam Rose) hitting on Dean, and Dean’s level of
discomfort were hilarious.
Rose does a fantastic job bringing
Aaron’s learning curve and changing commitment to life. John DeSantis as his
Golem is equally terrific. His very presence at 6’11” is intimidating and his
deep voice just completes the character. Rose and DeSantis had great chemistry
together as well. I’m really, really hoping we will get to see them again! One
great scene was Dean and Sam burning the Thule sorcerer’s body and Aaron
exclaiming, “Oh my God! These guys are psychopaths!” And then Sam warming his
hands over the burning body.
It was interesting that the Golem
recognized the Men of Letters but not hunters. It seems that the Judah
Initiative and the Thule society are just two more of a network of secret
societies. This really is a great plot device that could provide material for a
very long time to come. When Eckhart (Bernhard Forcher) shows up, we finally
learn the importance of the red ledger. Not only does it contain all of the
magical, horrendous experiments he performed, it also lists all the dead Thule
members who have been re-animated.
Eckhart is able to gain the upper
hand because Aaron has not been a good observant Jew. In fact, he hasn’t been a
very good grandson either as he didn’t pay attention to the stories his
grandfather tried to tell him. He isn’t able to control the Golem because he
used the instruction manual for rolling papers when he was in high school.
Eckhart is able to make the Golem give up the scroll that controls it. I found
it really interesting that this episode finally provides us with subtitles when
we’ve had Latin and Enochian being spoken for years with no subtitles.
There is beautiful shot just at the
end of the scene when the brothers kill Eckhart – and it was lovely to see them
shoot in unison and kill the monster together. At the very end of the scene,
the camera pans in to a close up of Eckhart’s ring which has a picture of a
dagger carved into it. The dagger is pointing down toward the scroll, almost
indicating that the scroll which controls the Golem is the thing that will keep
the Thule at bay.
Once they regain the upper hand,
Aaron decides that he is going to re-animate the Golem and take control of it.
Sam tells him the Golem is made to go to war and asks Aaron if he is prepared
to take that on. Aaron has had a very steep learning curve. He’s learned his
grandfather’s stories are true. He’s also learned that the Thule society is a
credible threat. Aaron feels that there is something only he can do, and that’s
control the Golem. Aaron commits to taking on the mantle of the Judah Initiative
as he is the last one left – much like Sam and Dean are the last legacies.
Aaron’s journey also felt a bit like John Winchester’s and even Kevin Trans.
Free will might allow them to walk away, but destiny rests heavily upon them.
While this was primarily a standalone
episode, it felt like it advanced the overall mytharc too. I really liked how
Edlund carefully included shout outs to other important characters. The bunker
opens up so many possibilities to help with the tablets as well. Do you like
this new aspect to the show? Do you think this finally offers a balance that
both Sam and Dean can live with? Did you enjoy the episode? Are you happy to
see the brothers back together? Let me know in the comments below.
