In the thirteenth episode of the seventh season of Supernatural, Dean and Sam track down a possible serial killer, and it goes down a really weird path, and this is so endlessly uncomfortable. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Supernatural.Â
Trigger Warning: For gore/blood, mystical pregnancy, depression.
Gods, I don’t really know how I feel about this episode.
I did mention in the video for this episode that “The Slice Girls” (BEAUTIFUL PUN, EVERYONE LISTEN TO THE SPICE GIRLS ALL THE TIME AND WATCH SPICE WORLD RIGHT NOW, IT’S A CINEMATIC MASTERPIECE) felt so much like a “classic” Supernatural episode. While the case-of-the-week style contributes to this, in hindsight I’m able to see how this episode wouldn’t work in the first season. There’s too much here that’s a commentary on Dean’s behavior with Amy and on Bobby’s death. It’s too intimately tied up within the story. That stuff was rewarding to watch, but the rest of it?
I don’t know, it sort of pales in comparison. While it was great to see the mayor of Sunnydale again, I struggled to find a connection to this episode. I just couldn’t be all that interested in the case itself, particularly because the subplots about grief and purpose were just so much more fascinating to me. I’m sure that people better qualified than I can unpack the gender politics at play here, and I admit that while I couldn’t pinpoint what felt off about the use of the Amazons, I think there’s something strange about it.
Oh, and this show gave Dean a daughter and then killed her off like 20 minutes later and that’s so fucking weird, y’all.
Really, that’s one thing about “The Slice Girls” that’s pervasive throughout the whole episode: everything is so unbearably uncomfortable. I think that’s an intentional thing. We are meant to worry for Dean because his emotional state is getting worse and worse. He wasn’t inspired by Eliot Ness because that’s not really how depression works. That’s not how an existential crisis operates. You don’t hear some punchy bit of advice and suddenly pull yourself out of the depths of gloom. And as hard as it is to watch Dean go through this journey, there’s a part of me that’s glad that the writers aren’t giving Dean some magical solution to this. He may be coping with his grief terribly, but you know what? People cope terribly all the time.
But that still means that everything here feels slightly off. As I said, it’s clear that some of this is intentional, especially since it’s so obvious now that Dean doesn’t really have much interest in doing anything aside from going after Dick Roman. So perhaps that’s one reason why I couldn’t get into this episode’s main story. If Dean wasn’t invested in it (and this show is seen through his eyes), then how could I expect to do the same? Beyond that, though, it’s almost like I’m not supposed to enjoy this. Take the sex scene, for example! Dean finally hooks up with someone and it’s to AC/DC and the show juxtaposes all of it with someone being brutally murdered and there’s blood flying everywhere and WHAT ARE YOU DOING, SUPERNATURAL. I get it now why the two events were smashed together in that sequence, since it’s foreshadowing for Dean’s fate, but at the time, it was too jarring for me to enjoy.
And so we get a new monster (the Amazons) who use men for procreation and then cut them up just because of tradition, and until we get to Emma, there’s no depth whatsoever to them. Which is fine, I suppose, since they work well as ruthless antagonists. But Emma… good lord. Dean HAS A DAUGHTER. That girl IS HIS DAUGHTER. The show simultaneously makes this super important in some contexts, and in others, she’s just another monster-of-the-week, which I guess is the point? It’s just so agonizing to me that this is the character who brings out Dean’s hypocrisy because you know what? Even if she is part monster, I think it’s understandable that Dean would hesitate or try to offer HIS OWN DAUGHTER a second chance. And I also wanted Sam to be given the chance to confront Dean about his own hypocrisy, but I definitely did not want that through a scene where Sam kills DEAN’S DAUGHTER.
Perhaps all of this discomfort is a sign that the show did exactly what it wanted. There’s that disastrous conversation in the car at the end of “The Slice Girls” where Dean just outright admits that he and Sam are fucked up forever. They’re always going to be, and there’s nothing they can do to change that. On the one hand, that’s a manifestation of the despair and futility that Dean’s currently experiencing. It shows us that he accepts that his life can never be normal and that he believes he’ll continue on this path until the day he actually dies. On the other hand? Y’all, the Winchesters have such FUCKED UP LIVES. Divorced from the context of Dean’s depression, this is kind of totally true, isn’t it?
Then we’ve got Bobby. OR DO WE? I don’t know, but holy shit, it’s going to be rough if they find out that Bobby really did move on, that Dean’s just imagining his presence because he wants Bobby back in his life. Wait, what am I saying??? It’ll be rough if Bobby stayed around, too! Either option is bound to unleash a torrent of tears from my eyes. Still, it’s an important part of this episode because we’re seeing the ramifications of the loss of Bobby. They no longer have their resident expert to call for consultation, which is why they turn to Professor Morrison. (WHO IS A DELIGHT, BY THE WAY.) They have no way of quickly working through Bobby’s books or notes. (I assume that the house they’re in is their new headquarters, right? I feel like that was barely addressed in the last episode, but they’ve made it their base of operations for two episodes now.) They have to settle in order to get the job done.
And it only makes Dean feel worse.
The video for “The Slice Girls” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
– Mark Does Stuff is now on Facebook! Feel free to Like the page, which I’m running myself, for updates and SILLINESS.
– My older sister needs help with her transition, so I’ve agreed to read all of Fifty Shades of Grey on YouTube if we can help her reach her goal!
– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com. All Mark Watches videos for past shows/season are now archived there!
– My Master Schedule is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often. My next three Double Features are now in the schedule! I will be watching In the Flesh, The Sarah Connor Chronicles (complete with Terminator liveblogs!), and then Leverage. Commission away!
– I will be at quite a few conventions and will be hosting events throughout 2015, so check my Tour Dates / Appearances page often to see if I’m coming to your city!
