Supernatural 11.15 Beyond the Mat
Written by: John Bring and Andrew Dabb
Directed by: Jerry Wanek
If you’re new to the show – Why aren’t you watching already? No, seriously, if you’re new to the show, there’s a few things you should know. First, it’s about two brothers named Sam and Dean Winchester who are hunters… not the normal kind of hunters. Hunters that hunt all the things that go bump in the night. And second, that Family Don’t End With Blood…. that’s actually the overall theme of the show.
Now… why aren’t you watching the show? Not a good enough answer.
Warning: There be spoilers ahead!
This episode was what the fandom refers to as a Monster of the Week (MotW) episode. The guys took a break from fighting the Big Bad for this season (The Darkness – Amara, played by the talented Emily Swallow) to handle a petty demon. Because as Sam says “The world’s still gonna be screwed tomorrow, right?”.
Dean sees an obituary for a childhood hero, and the boys decide to make “the day’s drive” to pay their respects. But, of course, paying their respects turns into a case. At the funeral, Dean and Sam meet some of their childhood heroes. In the funeral scene be sure to look for the cameo appearance by Clif Kosterman, J2’s bodyguard. Turns out, one of those heroes, Gunnar Lawless (played by guest star Aleks Paunovic) isn’t all that heroic. Special guest star, Mike ‘The Miz’ Mizanin plays newcomer upstart wrestler Shawn Harley.
Throughout the episode we get glimpses of Crowley’s ‘Summer Vacation in Hell’ with Lucifer/Castiel. My, how the mighty have fallen. We see the former King of Hell on his knees scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush, no less. As the Crowley Capers play out, we see glimpses of the old King of Hell as he tries to make his play and take out Lucifer.
Some of the best scenes of the show involve Dean fanboy’ing over ‘Top Notch Wrestling’, complete with his playing in the ring….played so well by Jensen Ackles. But, let’s not forget Jared’s Sam who manages to get all gushy over his first crush, former ring girl Rio, played by Jackie Debatin. I giggled over Dean calling Sam out for having a poster of Rio over his bed when he was a kid. Gunnar Lawless gives Dean the advice that you “gotta keep on grinding no matter what you do”, which leads to Dean’s speech at the end of the episode … The Keep On Grinding speech that fans have heard in previous promos for the show. Misha Collins gets to channel his best Tommy Lee Jones as Lucifer/Castiel quotes The Fugitive with the Hen house, Outhouse, and Dog house speech.
But, the best line of the episode goes to Jensen Ackles as Dean says, “Did he get in a tickle fight with Edward Scissorhands?”
The worst part of the episode is that it’s the last new one until March 23.
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