Tall Tales
Original Air Date 02/15/2007

Sam and Dean call on fellow hunter Bobby for help with violent occurrences on a college campus, but Bobby has suspicions about both the culprit and the brothers' escalating feud.

Notes

Writer

John Shiban

Director

Bradford May

Guest Stars:

Jim Beaver (Bobby)
Richard Speight Jr. (Janitor)
David Tom (Curtis)

Other Guests:

Barclay Hope
(Professor Cox)
Tara Wilson (Co-ed)
Emma Lahana
Desiree Loewen
Elena Esovolova
Neil Grayston
Chad Hershler
(Research Scientist)
Matreya Fedor
Angela Case
Mashiah Vaughn

Filming Locations:

UBC (School of Theology)

Review

Wow, this episode had me laughing so hard I nearly fell out of my chair! I love that those involved with the show in all its aspects don't take themselves too seriously, and that they're not afraid to kick up their heels and have a little fun. And this episode was more than just a little fun! This was an all out kid-in-a-candy-store, eat-till-you-puke carnival ride of a show, and I'm still dizzy from the drug-free euphoria. Well, unless Jensen and Jared count as a drug, because I'm definitely addicted to those two! This is going to be a hard synopsis to write because of the way the first half of the episode switches between real time and remembered events, plus the differing points of view of the brothers as they each tell the event from their own perspective. So bear with me if I confuse you, I'll do my best to keep things straight. It shouldn't be too hard, I've never been a fan of the gay jokes anyway. (What a groaner of a pun that was, sorry!)

We kick off with a shortened version of the energetic comic bookish trailer which shows Weekly World News covers depicting the latest sensational stories, and ending with the final cover that reads "Supernatural, Tall Tales Edition". To drive the point home, the "then" recap that follows is heavily spiked with scenes from last season's Hell House pranks to give a hint about the nature of tonight's episode. Switching to "Now", we see a college professor walking towards his offices in the impressively built Crawford Hall. What's this? A beautiful young girl is tying her shoe outside the building. She opens her eyes wide and asks to come up to his office, and even though it's well past office hours he reluctantly agrees. A few moments and a few kisses later, the professor falls to his death from the office window. This sequence is particularly well done, with the girl's skin fading to chalky gray as the two kiss, dialing up the "ew" factor. When she looks at him with those ghostly and clouded dead eyes and asks innocently, "don't you like me anymore?" it's enough to send a shiver down my spine. My only problem with this scene is the professor's apparent gift of flight. He lands behind the janitor on the concrete staircase even though the outside view of the building shows an impressive stained glass mural above the stairs, but no office windows for him to fall from. Assuming his office was one of the paneled panes nearby, he would've had to have fallen diagonally to hit the concrete instead of the grass. Ah, but I pick nits.

Cut to the boys, a week later, in room 12 of the trashy "King's Lair" hotel. Sam is pouring over books at the tiny table while Dean reclines on the bed with a plate of fries and a magazine. Irritable and argumentative, the two bicker until a knock on the door interrupts them. Bobby. Wanting to know what was so secretive they couldn't tell him over the phone, Bobby asks to hear the story. They begin to tell how the professor died and the rumour of a girl who died thirty years ago in Crawford Hall. Sam recounts the tale and we watch as the events unfold. Questioning two students in a campus hangout, they tell the story; she had been having an affair with a professor and when he broke it off she jumped from the window of room 669 and killed herself. Anyone who sees her ghost doesn't live to tell the tale. I love Curtis' line here; "If no-one lives to tell the tale, then how does the tale get told?" Very observant of the young man. While Sam listens to the two students, Dean does some research of his own. Up at the bar with a drunk and trashy-looking woman, he downs three purple nurple shooters in quick succession. Barely upright and hanging off Dean's shoulders, "Starla" is the epitome of coyote ugly. Good news for Sam though, Starla has a sister! Nudge nudge, wink wink. Freeze on Dean's sparkling smile as real-time Dean cuts in on the story. Dean argues that Sam has it all wrong, her name wasn't Starla, she was a beautiful and classy girl, and they were talking about the case. Switching to Dean's version of events, we note that fishnet-clad Starla has been replaced with a much prettier and more sensual girl, and Dean is all business. Sober and suave, he asks her about the legend. But alas, try as he might, Dean can't keep this luscious enchantress from kissing him, her innocence awed by his overwhelming manliness. ("I can't even concentrate" she says, "it's like staring into the sun.") When Sam interrupts the tender kiss Dean tells him to wait five minutes, but Sam, launching into his mothering voice, explains the importance of time. Dean turns back to his girl, continuing the gentle kiss while Sam's voice fades into background noise. This whole exchange, from both points of view, is a stroke of genius as far as I'm concerned. The boys are so completely different from each other, it's a real treat to witness their opposing narrations and to see their questionable personality traits exaggerated and amplified on the screen. Of course Sam is going to be intolerant of Dean's philandering, and of course Dean is going to be frustrated with Sam's constant mothering. I just can't believe Jared can actually pull of the lines "Blah, blah, blahblahblah BLAH!" and make it sound completely normal. Then again, I never thought I'd see the day when Dean Winchester would look an attractive lovestruck girl in the face and say "no time for that now, tell me about the legend." I also approve wholeheartedly of the boys bickering throughout the episode. I have commented in the past about how Sam likes to correct Dean, or point out that Dean is less educated. (Like in Croatoan with the "that's not school, that's Schoolhouse Rock!" comment) Here, when Bobby notes that the two are fighting like an old married couple, Dean said at least couples can get divorced, they're more like Siamese twins. Sam immediately jumps in with "It's conjoined twins!" Even though this exchange takes place in real time and isn't from either boy's point of view, we still see the negative personality traits amplified and that gives the episode an added feeling of consistency.

Back to the story, the two boys go to check out Professor Cox's office. Sam asks the maintenance man questions about the night the professor died while Dean stands to the side stuffing his face with candy from the professor's desk. They learn that the professor was last seen with an attractive girl and the janitor didn't see the girl leave. Evidence points to a haunting, so they go back to the hotel to check for deaths in the building. Opening his computer, Sam is distressed to find that it's frozen on "Busty Asian Beauties.com". Naturally assuming that it was Dean playing around with porn, he tells Dean not to touch his stuff, and while Dean looks somewhat guilty, he neither confirms nor denies that he's to blame. At this point Bobby cuts in to ask if they found any evidence of a haunting, but Sam admits there was nothing to find. The next part of the story is odd to the extreme. Curtis, the student Sam had questioned at the bar, had been abducted by aliens as he walked past Crawford Hall. Reluctant to talk about it, he's obviously been heckled by his fellow students. Dean encourages him and he finally tells the story with a halting and troubled demeanor. When he woke up he found himself in a spaceship with aliens who experimented on him. To make things worse, they probed him. "Again, and again, and again and again" (takes a drink) ".and again and again and again, and then one more time!" Yikes. And still it gets worse. The aliens made him slow dance to Lady in Red. Poor guy will be scarred for life. Bobby doesn't believe the story, asking Sam if he's exaggerating again, but they swear it's the truth. They found burn marks in the grass that appeared to have been made by a jet engine. Switching to Dean's version of the story, they continue to ask students for information. They question a random guy by Crawford Hall, asking him about the alien abduction. He tells them that Curtis was the pledge master and had put the new students through hell, and that now he will know how they feel. Sam, always the sensitive one, looks the student in the eyes and delivers some of my absolute favourite lines of the entire episode: "I know it must be hard." "Not really" answers the student." "But I want you to know" Sam continues, "that I'm here for you. I acknowledge your pain, you brave little soldier. Come here." (giving him a giant hug) "Too precious for this world!" At this point real-time Sam cuts in and argues that he never said any of that, to which Dean replies "you're always saying pansy stuff like that." Let me just say Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! To John Shiban for including that line! I'm so glad that Dean agrees with me when I say Sam is a pansy-ass! Not that he can't hold his own in a fight or whatever, but he's just so, so GIRLY, you know? He launches into one of his speeches and flashes his puppy dog eyes and I just want to shout "stand up and be a man!" at the screen. (And sometimes I do.) Not that there's anything wrong with a sensitive man, it's just that I'd take the kick-ass, devil-may-care, punch-'em-till-they-stop-kicking Dean over sappy Sam any day.

Back at the hotel, Dean discusses the facts with Sam, pointing out that both the professor and Curtis were jerks. He notes that the punishments they received are almost poetic. Well, more like a limerick. Sam is only half-listening. Opening his leather messenger bag he realizes his computer is missing. He interrupts Dean to ask where he hid it, but Dean doesn't know what he's talking about. Instead, Dean tells him he must have lost it. Before the two launch into a full argument, Bobby interrupts the tale to ask if Dean actually took the laptop. Dean again denies it, saying it serves Sam right to have lost it. On to the storytelling, they move on to victim #3. A research scientist exits Crawford hall, and on the way to his car he notices a glint in the storm drain. Closer inspection shows it to be a gold watch. He leans into the drain trying to reach it, burying his arm up to the shoulder, but it's just a little too far away. As he's lying prone on the ground we hear a slight growl, and before he can remove his arm something bites and his anguished screams echo in the darkness. Dean and Sam go to the morgue to check out the body, and find all that's left is a pair of chewed up limbs. On closer inspection Sam notices what looks like a belly scale from an alligator, and suggests they call Bobby for help. Dean can't resist a little incredulous heckling, noting that a ghost, an alien abduction, and an alligator in the sewer make for an average day of hunting for someone like Bobby. The two decide to search the sewer but don't find anything. When Dean emerges however, he finds that all four tires on the Impala have been flattened, and Sam's money clip is lying nearby. He storms back to the hotel and yells at Sam for the thoughtless prank. Sam denies it, but Dean holds up the engraved money clip as proof. Demanding his money back, Sam tries to grab it from Dean's hand and the two end up in a tussle on the bed which is thankfully (or perhaps disappointingly, for those who like a little Wincest) cut short by Bobby. Things have finally become clear to him. He assures Sam that Dean didn't take the computer, and that Sam didn't touch the Impala. In his opinion, they're dealing with a trickster, and it's been messing with them both to keep them off it's trail. Referencing Loki from Norse mythology and Anansi from West Africa, he says they can make things appear at will, and whatever they conjure will seem completely real. They like to play pranks on people who they feel need to be knocked down a peg. When Bobby confirms that they usually appear as human, Dean points out that the janitor works in Crawford Hall and is a likely suspect. Cut to the janitor in his apartment, talking to his dog. He gets up to eat some rich desserts from the table, but comments that "something's missing". A heat-wave effect manifests on both sides of him, resolving into two beautiful women who immediately begin finger feeding him whipped cream and icing toppings, which confirms that he is in fact the trickster villain. I have to say I love how the writers on this show pay such attention to detail and tie in other shows and movies. Having just mentioned Loki, we jump to the janitor and his dog, which happens to be a little terrier just like Milo from The Mask. Including that particular dog is a nice way to tip the proverbial hat to the movie which, in case you haven't seen it, also deals with Loki and the idea of trickster gods.

With the janitor in their sights, Dean and Sam return to Crawford hall to check him out more thoroughly. While Dean keeps him occupied upstairs, Sam sneaks down to the basement to search his locker. He finds a copy of the Weekly World News, which convinces Dean that he's the culprit, but Sam is not so sure. They argue about it, coming to the agreement that Sam will go to his house and search for more evidence while Dean stays at Crawford Hall to keep an eye on him. Sam is very clear in telling Dean not to do anything until he gets back, but after waiting all day Dean decides to take matters into his own hands. A side note here, when they first meet the janitor, he says he's "dragging ass this morning" because of his busy night. When Dean finally enters the building to confront him, it's dark outside. First of all, why did Dean wait so long, and second, what janitor works through the day and into the evening without leaving the building for so much as a dinner break? Although I have to say, I'd love to know how Dean kept himself occupied for all those hours. .with all those sweet, innocent, beautiful students wandering around like a booty buffet. So, tired of waiting Dean goes after the trickster but before finding him he hears the mellow strains of Barry White drifting out from the auditorium. His interest piqued, he goes in to find a bed draped in rich red velvet, and two beautiful girls lounging on it in skimpy lingerie. The lava lamp and disco ball complete the enticing picture, and Dean is torn between his upstairs and downstairs brains. Every man's dream, these two luscious ladies are clearly yearning for a threesome, and I can't imagine how much self control it must take for Dean to refuse. Behind him, the trickster appears, telling Dean the girls are a peace offering. He encourages Dean to enjoy the girls for as long as he wants, long enough for the janitor to move on to the next town. Dean admires his style, but can't let him go. Mild threats veiled in jocularity and friendly banter, the trickster realizes that Dean isn't going to leave him be. He tells Dean that he shouldn't have come alone, but is genuinely surprised when Sam and Bobby enter the auditorium from each of the rear doors. He can't help but admire their attempt to trick the trickster. Pulling a thick wooden stake from his jacket, Dean advances on the janitor, who responds with a trick of his own. A chainsaw-wielding madman appears behind Sam, who has to fight to defend himself. Dean raises his stake to end the battle as quickly as possible, but is stopped by the two women, who proceed to beat the snot out of him. (An image I particularly enjoyed, I might add.) While Sam and Bobby both fight the Chainsaw killer, Dean spends a few tense, or perhaps euphoric, moments being spun back and forth between the two girls, one of whom punches him straight into the cleavage of the other. Sam gets the upper hand in his fight, while Dean is tossed unceremoniously into the seats in front of the trickster. As he stands to bring an end to the fight, probably by bringing an end to Dean, he cheerfully tells Dean that he doesn't want to do this. The short sentence gives Dean all the time he needs to retrieve his stake and plunge it into the janitor's heart. Shocked at the abrupt turn of events, the janitor stares incredulously at Dean as the Chainsaw Murderer vanishes, followed shortly by the two women. How everyone failed to notice that the bed and disco ball were still there, I'll never know. Dean Sam and Bobby beat a quick exit, hoping to leave town before yet another body is discovered at Crawford Hall. Sam, in his trademark pansy way, stops at the car to give Dean a wordless apology, which Dean returns with a simple "Me too", but Bobby breaks the moment when he pops his head back out of the car to say "You boys are breaking my heart, can we please just leave?" As the Impala drives off we're tempted to assume the show is over, but what's this? The janitor steps up to the seat where his dead body lies, looking down on it as it disappears in the now-familiar heat wave effect.

As I said at the beginning, this episode was a carnival ride of laughs, with every little thing the boys did amplified and exaggerated. It was a thoroughly enjoyable episode and a burst of relief after the tension from last week. There are only a few points I found bothersome, two of which I've already mentioned, with the professor's body falling diagonally and the bed remaining after the trickster is supposed to be dead. The third point that I wonder about is why the boys decided to use stakes. Bobby told them he's like a demi-god, which by nature would make him immortal. Why would they think a stake through the heart would hurt him? If I had been writing this episode I would have opted for something more mythological, like finding a way to banish him back to Mount Olympus, or Valhalla, or wherever he belongs. Perhaps capturing him like a genie in a bottle, or using a spell to bind his power. I don't know, it's just that a stake to the heart seems so urbane for a trickster god. At least the Vanir from Scarecrow got his tree burned. He may not be dead, but he won't have much luck finding any farmers to believe in him in today's skeptical world. I kind of like the idea of a powerless trickster god running around trying to pull pranks on people but not succeeding. He'd be like the goofy kid brother that never seems to mature, people who knew him would laugh politely at his pranks without really meaning it and he'd spend endless millennia cursing the Winchester name.

On the flip side, one thing that was really excellent about this episode was the casting. Richard Speight Jr. made for an incredibly believable trickster. His boyish looks and frolicsome demeanor easily allowed us to believe that he spent his life playing pranks and having fun. Throughout the episode he never appeared to take anything seriously, even when watching Sam and Dean fight from the window he had a somewhat carefree expression. He also displayed a great deal of enjoyment during the ending scenes when he sat and ate a chocolate bar while the three men fought around him, almost as if he was an innocent spectator watching a movie. All in all, I found him to be a charming character who was very well written and well played.

As for our lead talent, I would have to say my favourite Dean moment was when the two girls invited him up and he said they weren't real. They responded with "it will feel real" to which Dean let out a half-laugh, half-grunt that made me wonder if he would actually take them up on their invitation. And after that, when he told them he'd have to pass, he said it with such a tone of wonderment sounded like he couldn't believe that was his own voice saying the words. For Sam, it's a toss-up between the "blah blah blah" monologue and the "brave little soldier" hug. I loved both those moments and I couldn't bear to choose between them. I think it's obvious to all that I'm a much bigger fan of Dean (and Jensen) than I am of Sam, but I have to say that Jared has come a long way in the last year. Because his acting is so much better now I find I like Sam better as well. I would still like to see an in-depth look at his character though. I want to get a better idea of how his mind works and what thoughts rattle around inside his brain. .and making it a shirtless episode wouldn't hurt either.

Tall Tales Original Air Date 02/15/2007