Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Supernatural 11x08 "Just My Imagination"

For those that don't know, this episode was directed by everyone's favorite trickster turned angel, Richard Speight, Jr. Does that mean he gets a cameo? Unfortunately, no. But the episode did surprise me with some Weechester action that I was not expecting, so that was nice. I always like the glimpses into their childhood pasts. There was a new young Sam this time around, as unfortunately Colin Ford has outgrown those days.

Anywho, on to the recap! In the killer opening scene, an imaginary friend unicorn man, or manicorn as Dean will come to call him, is killed in a little girl's bedroom. Normally, that would not be a case for the Winchesters, but this time is special. Sam wakes up to find his old imaginary friend Sully has returned, bearing gifts of nachos with marshmallow cream instead of melted cheese, because he needs his help to figure out who killed his friend, the manicorn named Sparkle.

Dean can't see Sully at first, but when Sully allows him to, we learn that imaginary friends aren't so imaginary after all, but are rather part of a race of Zanna (not sure of the spelling on that one), who exist to help kids through difficult times. Sully helped wee Sam when he was having an existential crisis as a boy - whether to run away and pursue more academic endeavors, or to throw in with the hunting lot and join his dad and brother. Well, we know how that all turned out, but essentially it ended with young Sam telling Sully to buzz off when he tried to tell him it wasn't necessarily a good idea to stick with the hunting.

Back in the present, the boys start their investigation, which of course heats up once another Zanna death occurs - this time a mermaid named Nikki. Sully isn't sure who would be coming after them, but does wonder if perhaps Nikki's boyfriend Weems might have done something, being the clingy sort. Turns out, no, that's not true, because he's attacked next. Only this time, the attacker doesn't go for the kill, but rather just stabs him in the side, leaving him time to see the wouldbe assassin run off into the night in her VW bug.

While Dean goes off to investigate this girl, Sam stays behind with Sully to patch up Weems, and they have a bit of a heart to heart moment, where Sam confesses he doesn't know what to do about this whole Lucifer vision situation. Sully offers some words of wisdom before they get a text from Dean saying he's found the girl.

Turns out, the girl is one of Sully's past friends. She had a twin, and he was playing tag with her, unknowingly leading her into the street to her death by car. The girl studied all she could about the Zanna and got a spell to see them, and a knife able to kill them from a witch, despite the witch telling her they were good creatures. They're able to talk her down from killing Sully, even though he offered himself up to her if that was what she needed.

After Sully bids them farewell, Sam and Dean have their patented brother chat in the car at the end of the episode, where Sam basically tells Dean he has to go to the cage and talk to Lucifer and figure out what the visions mean. Dean is, of course, opposed to all of this, but seems to finally start accepting the idea. And with next week being the mid-season finale, I think we can expect a doozy of an episode.

Random Thoughts:

- Was this episode inspired by Inside Out, I wonder? The whole imaginary friend bittersweetness of it all. Not a bad thing to be inspired by, for sure.

- It was a bit odd to have that tiny little cameo for Dylan Everett as teen Dean, because it was literally like 30 seconds long. It's almost like, why bother having him when you could just do the conversation from Sam's point of view? Maybe there were some cut scenes or something. Or maybe they're just teeing up the idea of another teen Dean weechester episode? I'm thinking about this too much, I'm sure.

- The girl who played Reese, the killer, looked a bit like Gillian Jacobs. Hey, that's why this section is called random thoughts!

- Dean in a cardigan sweater. Need I say more?

- Another fun episode from writer Jenny Klein!

Quotes:

Dean: Are you having a stroke? Do you smell toast?

Dean: Good. The Bert and Ernie pretext, awesome.

Dean: Oh yeah. That kid is gonna need all the shrinks.

Sully: Even when he's dead, Sparkle can't stop shining.

Weems: My fat saved me.

-- Next Episode

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