This is Dean’s brain. This is Dean’s brain on turducken.
I love when Supernatural gives us a holiday episode without really giving us a holiday episode.
Even Season Three’s “A Very Supernatural Christmas,” a very blatant holiday homage, is lacking in the traditional trappings of a network Christmas spectacular (it features, among other things, a porn-loving Santa).
“How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters,” however, is more subtle with its holiday dressing. Biggerson’s, the Supernatural equivalent of Denny’s, features a Turducken Slammer on the menu for Thanksgiving. The boys and Bobby are in New Jersey to hunt the Jersey Devil, but when Dean starts acting weird after stuffing his face and having sweet sweet eye-sex with a Turducken Slammer of his very own, Sam and Bobby turn their attention to the horrifying mystery meat at Biggerson’s because Dean’s tryptophan high is a little bit out of control.
It definitely says something about Dean’s current headspace that Sam and Bobby realize that something is wrong with him because he’s happy. Adverse supernatural effects aside, it’s nice to see the man smile for ten whole minutes. So that’s what Jensen Ackles’ face looks like when it isn’t scowling! I forgot!
In a delightful twist, it turns out that the Leviathan are the ones tampering with the turducken in an attempt to drug humans into submission. Or mind control them. Or something. I’m not entirely sure, however, that scene with the stoned family staring blankly at the television while Dr. Leviathan and his American Psycho boss, Dick, observe from above? That was all Halloween III, kids. Sam even refers to the turducken infected psychos as “pumpkin heads.”
Now, I’ve previously discussed how much Dick Roman entertains me because his name is Dick and I’m a twelve-year-old boy at heart, but since he’s getting more time in the spotlight as we approach mid-season finale time, I feel the need to point out that Dick is also awesome because he’s basically Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. “He’s overly manicured and kind of a tool,” reprimanding Sam. “This is not how we communicate from a place of yes,” after taking shot of Borax to the face. He grins the entire time that he chases Sam, Dean, and Bobby out to the van. All he needs is a hooker and a chainsaw, really. James Patrick Stuart even bears an uncanny resemblance to Christian Bale that I think was done entirely on purpose.
The cliffhanger leading into the mid-season finale is actually a very good one, with Bobby seemingly taking a bullet to the head while fleeing the Leviathan. His survival could go either way, though I take comfort in the fact that this is Supernatural, and even if he dies, no one on this show ever actually stays dead… except John Winchester, because Jeffery Dean Morgan has an actual film career these days.
Some stats and info about Supernatural, “How to win friends and influence monsters”
TV SHOW – Supernatural
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 7, Episode 2
AIRED ON – September 30th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – CW/Netflix
GENRE – Drama, Teen Dramas, Horror, Fantasy
CREATED BY – Eric Kripke
CAST – Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Mark Sheppard, Jim Beaver, Alexander Calvert, Mark Pellegrino, Samantha Smith, Ruth Connell
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.