A Winchester confessional. |
After some research, Sam deducts that Thinman isn't based on any real legends, but appears to be something entirely relegated to internet gossip that started a couple years ago. Most of the photos of him had been photoshopped in the past, but now the new one featuring him behind the girl killed previously is NOT fake, so something is up.
Dean thinks that the thing is really a ghost, but when it kills another guy in a diner, he has to rethink that notion, because one moment he was in front, and then next he was inside, slashing the dude to death. Of course, Harry points out that Thinman teleports, so it must be real. He is super stoked that they are finally on to something, but Ed is more reluctant, and would rather turn things over to the Winchesters. But Harry won't hear of that, so he has Ed drop him off near the woods, where the Thinman supposedly lives, to try to find him.
And that's when we find out why Ed has been less than gung-ho about this particular case. He confesses to Sam and Dean that he actually made up the Thinman. Harry was going to leave the Ghostfacers and settle down in a 9-5 life, which Ed did not think would make him happy, so he made up this story to keep him into it. But now it's real and he doesn't know what to do. First step: confess to Harry the truth.
The relationship gone wrong parallel grows. |
Well, really, they first have to go save Harry, because he actually does happen upon Thinman in the "woods" and gets stabbed. Luckily, they get to him before Thinman can actually kill him. But that's when he finds out the truth - that Ed has been lying to him for a while now, and he's just not sure he can forgive him for that.
Sam and Dean get a lead on where the Thinman may be thanks to him apparently having driven a very rare car to the crime scene. At this point you can kind of deduce that the guy is actually a real person, which honestly I had figured out back when the diner dude was killed. But anyway, it turns out the police officer who has been helping them out and the random busboy at the diner who had a line many acts earlier are the ones behind this whole Thinman killing spree. They manage to momentarily outwit the Winchesters, giving the Ghostfacers enough time to come to an agreement that they have to put a stop to the Thinman legend and show up to distract the bad dudes for a bit until the brothers can get out of their bonds.
Harry ends up having to shoot one of them to save Ed, and despite their having saved the day, their relationship is left up in the air, much like another pivotal relationship on this show. It was perhaps a bit on the nose there at the end, but nonetheless gave the Winchesters a view into something similar happening to others outside of themselves (they can be very self-centric, the Winchesters). It ended on kind of a sad note, so I hope that there is some follow-up with them later and that they are able to patch things up, because seeing Harry leave Ed there at the side of the road at the end was all kinds of frowny-face.
Random Thoughts:
- Though this episode did not really play into the whole angel arc of the season, it did build more on the strained relationship of Sam and Dean. Obviously they have to get over this eventually or there would not be much of a show to watch. I did enjoy the cute story of when they were kids, that was a nice moment.
- But, I mean, it was kind of maybe over the top how much of a parallel the relationship woes ended up being. Or maybe that was just me. But it was almost the exact same line of "You didn't do it for me, you did it for you" or something that Sam said to Dean not that long ago.
- Did you figure out that there were two guys behind the Thinman? I actually said out loud "I'm pretty sure it's a real person dressing up as him, probably two guys working together." Gotta love being right, haha. Obviously they would not have had that random scene with the busboy if he wasn't going to show up later.
- I laughed a lot when Ed and Harry were going to split up and they did the hand motion and then the Ghostfacers thing over their faces. Hilarious!
- I love that the title of the episode has a hashtag built into it, since the whole Thinman story was created online. #Thinman! Very now.
- The dialogue was all very funny. I didn't get everything, but some of my favorite bits are below.
Quotes:
Dean: So you're coming?
Sam: Does it look like I'm staying?
Ed: The Winchesters. Yay.
Harry: Says Nobody.
Ed: Ever.
Harry: No one cares what they think. They don't even have a Twitter!
Harry: Quit raining on my rainbow.
Ed: Rainbows can't happen without rain.
Harry: Don't try to use science with me!
Harry: A man could lose his marbles being so close to the blade of doom. Lucky for us, I'm really good at marbles.
Ed: I know you're not thinman, you're just a me-me.
Harry: Ed, it's pronounced meme.
Ed: It's spelled me-me.
Harry: The second e is silent.
Ed: You're a me-me-a. A man meme...
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I liked the clever homage to the Slender Man phenomenon/meme - I wonder how many people looked that up for the first time after watching this episode...and also went down the rabbit's hole into the Something Awful forums haha.
ReplyDeleteI also loved that they used "This House Is A Hotel" by The Wind + The Wave during the selfie scene scene when she notices that there appears to be someone standing behind her in one of the photos, the song really added to the eerieness in a weird way, kind of like in Silence of the Lambs when the girl is singing Tom Petty's "American Girl" before being abducted.