'Supernatural' Review/Recap: "Fan Fiction"

Emily Dunbar ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

When the writers announced that the fifth episode of season 10 was called “Fan Fiction,” many fans’ breaths got audibly shallower. People were excited, but nervous—what could this possibly mean for the Winchesters? For the fans? Tuesday night, we got our answers in Supernatural’s 200th episode.
And what an episode it was! After 10 years and 200 episodes of saving people and hunting things, the friggin’ awesome Winchester brothers stumbled upon something they had never seen before: a flamboyant musical version of their lives. The boys were called to a high school auditorium due to the strange disappearance of its drunken drama teacher, but Sam and Dean (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, respectively) stuck around for the fake-bearded pile of flannel that was “Supernatural: The Musical.” A fan of the Carver Edlund book series, Supernatural (that deliciously canon portion of our Supernatural we can never forget), Marie (Katie Sarfie) wrote her own ending to the unfinished series. Past-prophet of God (perhaps God himself?) Chuck (Rob Benedict) left his fans in an unbelievable tumult when he unveiled his characters’ finales; Marie’s adaptation of the series involved a lot of tears, laughs, and bro-hugging.

While some of what was touched on in the episode felt a little cringe-worthy, it never strayed from the truth. The Supernatural team promised that the 200th episode would be a tribute to the fans, and “Fan Fiction” was just that. They managed to get in just about every possible fan-made theory and complaint, from Destiel (and its disputed pronunciation) right down to where the Hell (literally) Adam (Jake Abel) is. The episode was silly and fun and felt like a warm embrace from the writers, cast, and production team to the SPNFamily.
In many ways, “Fan Fiction” was a winner in and of itself. It was monster-of the-week, which always goes over well with the fans. Not only that, but also: for the first time, perhaps in all of Supernatural history (or at least in the past few seasons), the boys were actually honest with one another about their feelings! They talked about the mistakes they made and the innocent people they double-crossed during their time astray at the beginning of the season. This is practically unheard of and was greatly appreciated. This is what really felt like a fan tribute—with the fake Sam and Dean in the play talking out their problems, and the real Sam and Dean realizing that was exactly what they needed do. It’s an exciting development that we can only hope to see more of for the rest of season 10. And speaking of seeing more in season 10: Chuck’s appearance at the end of the episode has to be addressed; there are absolutely no other options. God casually appeared in a high school auditorium—you would assume he’d take a minute, afterwards, to see if ol’ Sam and Dean are still kickin’.

Overall, it seems that “Fan Fiction” did everything it set out to do. If there’s one complaint to be made, it’s that the episode should have had more of the “real live” characters from the show, instead of play-versions of them. But that would have taken a lot more finagling within the overarching plot, and that’s not something we want to risk with a good-looking season waiting in the balance. The cast and crew should congratulate themselves on 10 years well spent. Raise your glass of holy water to 10 more years and 200 more episodes!
Tune in next week to see Sam and Dean battle the most deadly game of Clue this side of Route 66. “Ask Jeeves” airs Tuesday, November 18th at 9 pm, and we’re just a hop, skip, and an Impala-drive away!