Supernatural: S08E13 - Everybody Hates Hitler.

Rules usually dictate that when a TV show I watch has a great episode, it follows up with a truly awful one, however much to my surprise Supernatural is the one with the exception to prove the rule. Full review after the jump!


Really I could sum up the plot with 'Rabbis vs Nazis' and you could get the general gist of the awesome of this episode without spoiling some of the best moments. So that is what I will do. Honestly one of the strangest things about Everybody Hates Hitler is most of it doesn't feel like an episode of Supernatural at all and whenever the Supernatural feel starts to creep in again, the episode starts to go downhill. If the last episode felt like a reboot for the series, this weeks episode feels like the brothers guest starring in another series entirely. And I like it...well sort of.

My enjoyment was largely down to some fantastic set design. The motel rooms all had their own unique charm, but they also had that claustrophobic...TV feel to them. However this week the episode opens in what looks like a lost set from a nazisploitation flick and the brothers new Batcave is big, lavish, detailed and feels like something that belongs on a movie set, not a TV show, especially one that seems to creak under budget constraints in absolutely every area. It was like being transported into this magic world where Supernatural had a budget and remembered when it was fun.

However one of the strangest things is how happy the entire tone of the episode feels. It isn't one of the comedy episodes, it was just a normal episode just without the usual brooding. The brothers were happy, they fought very little about whether to kill a monster...because it was one and at one point Sam warms his hands on the burning corpse of a Nazi Necromancer. I know that Supernatural rules say this all has to hit the fan, but honestly I really enjoyed the way this episode felt and I think it'd be for the best, not detrimental, if they decide not to tear it all down for the sake of more forced Wangst. Times have changed for Supernatural, it is no longer a TV show about the open road, it's all about big, epic, worldwide scope stories. Maybe the Roadhouse didn't work in the context of season 2 Supernatural, but this base felt right at home, just like the Brothers did, in the new Supernatural landscape.

It also presents the possibility for a very different kind of show in Supernatural's future, I know hardcore fans refuse change, but this show really needs a kick. The show seems to have always wanted to turn Sam into some kind of Supernatural Librarian, but since they had no real base, he could only do light research on his laptop. However, now he has his own library and Garth has never really filled Bobby's role properly, there is a vacancy for a largely stationary character who is there to provide knowledge, not muscle. I know it wouldn't please everyone, but with so many colourful characters being introduced, it could be a lot of fun if Sam stays in the base and Dean is left to do the fieldwork, with the side characters reappearing to help him gank the monster of the week. Meaning we could get a monster of the week, and a partner of the week, this could also help support the shows apparent new interest in widening its mythology. And it doesn't have to mean the Sam and Dean interaction has to be any less, it's just limited to phone calls and the base.

We get one of the best monsters of recent memory too, The Golem. Although he is just a very tall, muscular man, there really is a sense of otherworldliness to him, that very few monsters have in Supernatural any more amongst that sea of colour coded contact lenses. What also set him apart is he was, to all extensive purposes, a good guy. It's nice to see a monster other than Cas fighting with the Brothers, for once, especially one that manages to be so funny, so badass and have so much personality.

One of the main things that I am torn on is how important the Men of Letters are now. Like yeah it was pretty bullshit that we'd never even had Angel hints and they've been probably the second most important race for the last four seasons, but their sudden surge worked in the context of the story at the time. The Men of Letters however doesn't really seem to be very thought out at all, or particularly well worked in however I like this new direction for the show so much, I find it very hard to care. And I won't give the writers zero credit, they do bother to say things like 'everyone who knew them are dead' and 'they are a secret society' etc etc, it is a flimsy at best excuse but it's nice they made at least a little effort, when you compare it to the utter nightmarish hell that is their vessel, angel, demon continuity, that makes so little sense it actually hurts.

The biggest problem this reboot faces now is where it can go, directionwise. Once they introduced the second and third secret society, all of which was interlinked, it made it pretty obvious that the more you build on this, the less this will make sense. You've fed in the stuff about the Men of Letters with a tenuous excuse at best, so you can only go so far before the audience laughs at you as you try and convince us that a whole network of secret societies all know of one another without the rest of the world knowing also. Yeah, I don't think so.

This episode isn't perfect though, by any stretch. Although the episode has awesome moments, ultimately it's great but still not as great as the title possibly suggests. The only real necromancy the Nazi's get to do is shoot people with some magic blow darts, when it comes to the climax of the episode it all comes down to guns and the Golem is disabled with just a few words. I know this isn't some season finale and Supernatural isn't really known for being as epic as its story often promises but how do you make Nazi Necromancers so shit?

Also, what the hell is going on? Are the writers just pretending nothing in the first half the season happened? You remember Purgatory? Amelia? Benny? Closing Hell? I love this new focus, stick with this new focus, but I can't help but feel slightly uncomfortable that they don't seem to want to reference anything that has happened so far, as if they are literally rebooting the show midway through half a seasons worth of storylines.

Both this week and last week felt oddly refreshing, this doesn't feel quite like the show we were watching before the midseason finale and I actually really don't mind, I honestly love this new direction. The writing feels tighter, the new characters are all great and memorable and it all fills me with such excitement for Supernatural's future, which I haven't felt in about four seasons now. Stick with this direction for your show, Supernatural and I think you could become great again.

Pros;

• Amazing sets.
• I really like this new direction for the series.
• I like this new tone. 
• I like that the show finally feels like it's growing.
• It's exciting to think of just how much Supernatural can do with its future now. 
• The Golem was awesome.

Cons;

• So The Men of Letters have always been important in Supernatural's universe huh? Right, then.
• I'm already not really swallowing this, but if you start getting into double digits with these secret societies it's going to become as stupid as all the vessel, heaven, hell shit has become.
• How do you make Nazi Necromancers so shit?
• Did you forget there were 11 episodes before As Time Goes By?

Think About It!

-Locke

What would you rate, 'Everybody Hates Hitler'?