Supernatural: Don't Go In the Woods
March 22, 2019 12:10 AM - Season 14, Episode 16 - Subscribe
Sam and Dean are baffled when they come up against a monster they have never heard of before; Jack does his best to impress a new group of friends.
Trivia:
- Patrick Roccas, who played Deputy #2, previously played Angel #2 in 7.21 Reading Is Fundamental.
- The Ghostfacers video Eliot is watching appears to be the same one from 4.17 It's a Terrible Life.
- Technically, Jack is one year and ten months old, since the episode is set in March 2019.
- Adam Beach, who played Sheriff Mason Romero, previously played another Sheriff Mason (last name Grey) on Revolution, a show I wish didn't get cancelled.
Trivia:
- Patrick Roccas, who played Deputy #2, previously played Angel #2 in 7.21 Reading Is Fundamental.
- The Ghostfacers video Eliot is watching appears to be the same one from 4.17 It's a Terrible Life.
- Technically, Jack is one year and ten months old, since the episode is set in March 2019.
- Adam Beach, who played Sheriff Mason Romero, previously played another Sheriff Mason (last name Grey) on Revolution, a show I wish didn't get cancelled.
I made a mental note to comment on this and I forgot about after posting until just now: I think the show should've let the two teenage girls, Max and Stacy, kiss instead of using such a cop-out excuse (I didn't read Eliot's line as homophobic, more like when you don't wanna see your friends start making out in front of you). It's 2019 and shows should be more inclusive about all types of relationships. Especially when the episode opened with two heterosexual teenagers making out.
posted by numaner at 11:49 AM on March 22, 2019
posted by numaner at 11:49 AM on March 22, 2019
I kind of liked that it was clear that Eliot felt like a third wheel, and wasn't trying to be a voyeur of the girls' PDA. I think the show probably didn't have an on-screen kiss for homophobic reasons, but I did like how it played Eliot's reaction.
In general, I liked the Jack/teens storyline better than I expected. Although I found it kind of weird that when Jack proved he can heal people, the kids didn't have a bigger reaction. Drag him to their church youth group, ask him to lay hands on their sick relative, SOMETHING. I mean, when someone shows you that he can literally make miracles, heal with a touch, do you really tell him to leave and never come back?
posted by rue72 at 1:47 PM on March 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
In general, I liked the Jack/teens storyline better than I expected. Although I found it kind of weird that when Jack proved he can heal people, the kids didn't have a bigger reaction. Drag him to their church youth group, ask him to lay hands on their sick relative, SOMETHING. I mean, when someone shows you that he can literally make miracles, heal with a touch, do you really tell him to leave and never come back?
posted by rue72 at 1:47 PM on March 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
I would assume so, but he did also just stabbed Stacy, and fear is usually a bigger motivation than amazement.
posted by numaner at 2:04 PM on March 22, 2019
posted by numaner at 2:04 PM on March 22, 2019
Season 15 will be the last season of Supernatural.
posted by dinty_moore at 2:21 PM on March 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by dinty_moore at 2:21 PM on March 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
i'm already crying
posted by numaner at 2:39 PM on March 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by numaner at 2:39 PM on March 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
God damn. I knew the show couldn't last forever but it was still a shock to hear the guys actually say that it was ending. It makes me even more pissed off that the CW passed on Wayward Sisters. Argh!
(Haven't seen last night's episode yet. After I do I'm sure I'll be back to gasbag about it.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:04 PM on March 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
(Haven't seen last night's episode yet. After I do I'm sure I'll be back to gasbag about it.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:04 PM on March 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
Presumably they'll throw us a big curve ball, but so far Jack still doesn't really seem evil. He was showing off for his new friends and things went bad, and it seemed like he felt pretty bad when it happened. Not telling the Winchesters about what happened, that's weird and not good... but then again, until very recently it was very much the Winchester MO to keep big secrets for no reason.
But while Jack still doesn't seem evil to me, he does seem more dopey and childlike. He'd matured quite a bit in the last season or so, and the mistakes he's making now seem more like the kind of mistakes he made when he was new.
I was glad to see the three kids again and I hope this isn't the last we see of them. (Sigh. Conjecturing about the show's long-term plans reminds me that those plans aren't so long-term after all.) I still don't know if the boy is the younger brother of the dark-haired girl. They certainly act like that. It was also nice to get the Ghost Facers cameo. I'd imagine we'll see them again too, before the end. There was a time when I could have imagined them getting a spin-off, but I think that ship has sailed.
The whole argument about whether people deserve to know about monsters gave the episode a little extra weight, and I wonder if that's actually something for the endgame. Maybe as the show winds down the Winchesters will go public. They'd certainly have plenty of evidence that monsters are real. Then, as the world is suddenly full of people hunting monsters, the brothers would be able to decide if they want to retire from hunting. (And maybe Sam would choose to stay in the game but Dean wouldn't, reversing their positions from the early days.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:31 AM on March 23, 2019 [3 favorites]
But while Jack still doesn't seem evil to me, he does seem more dopey and childlike. He'd matured quite a bit in the last season or so, and the mistakes he's making now seem more like the kind of mistakes he made when he was new.
I was glad to see the three kids again and I hope this isn't the last we see of them. (Sigh. Conjecturing about the show's long-term plans reminds me that those plans aren't so long-term after all.) I still don't know if the boy is the younger brother of the dark-haired girl. They certainly act like that. It was also nice to get the Ghost Facers cameo. I'd imagine we'll see them again too, before the end. There was a time when I could have imagined them getting a spin-off, but I think that ship has sailed.
The whole argument about whether people deserve to know about monsters gave the episode a little extra weight, and I wonder if that's actually something for the endgame. Maybe as the show winds down the Winchesters will go public. They'd certainly have plenty of evidence that monsters are real. Then, as the world is suddenly full of people hunting monsters, the brothers would be able to decide if they want to retire from hunting. (And maybe Sam would choose to stay in the game but Dean wouldn't, reversing their positions from the early days.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:31 AM on March 23, 2019 [3 favorites]
It makes me even more pissed off that the CW passed on Wayward Sisters. Argh!
Same. :(
posted by mordax at 11:01 AM on March 23, 2019
Same. :(
posted by mordax at 11:01 AM on March 23, 2019
I am really still mad about Wayward Sisters as well.
I can't say I blame the guys: most people aren't on the same show for 15 years, that's like three lifetimes on television. I just wonder if the guys are going to end up finally dead for realsies because otherwise how else would you end everything for good?
Back to this episode: oh, poor sweet innocent Jack, playing with weapons and someone always gets hurt.
I actually laughed at the non-kiss because think of just a few years ago when that would be the big thing advertised in the commercials (remember The O.C.?) to get viewers watching and boners popping, and instead nowadays it's just "Get a room!" I liked the thwarted expectations of that one. Also that for once one dude doesn't give a shit if girls make out or not for his boner. Refreshing for me, at least.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:12 PM on March 23, 2019 [1 favorite]
I can't say I blame the guys: most people aren't on the same show for 15 years, that's like three lifetimes on television. I just wonder if the guys are going to end up finally dead for realsies because otherwise how else would you end everything for good?
Back to this episode: oh, poor sweet innocent Jack, playing with weapons and someone always gets hurt.
I actually laughed at the non-kiss because think of just a few years ago when that would be the big thing advertised in the commercials (remember The O.C.?) to get viewers watching and boners popping, and instead nowadays it's just "Get a room!" I liked the thwarted expectations of that one. Also that for once one dude doesn't give a shit if girls make out or not for his boner. Refreshing for me, at least.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:12 PM on March 23, 2019 [1 favorite]
The whole argument about whether people deserve to know about monsters gave the episode a little extra weight, and I wonder if that's actually something for the endgame.
I had similar thoughts. Maybe they'll decide to go public or maybe someone else will take it out of their hands - this week's sheriff or those three kids or any of the many people over the years who have learned the truth. I wouldn't be surprised if that's part of what happens at the end.
I think it's good that the next season will be the last. It would be a shame for it to drag on so long that they ran out of new ideas and everyone lost interest and then it got cancelled and they had to cobble together some kind of ending at the last minute. Hopefully they're planning out a season that will tie up all the major loose ends and bring everything to a satisfying conclusion. (But I'm not counting on it. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be dissatisfied.)
I really, really don't want an ending where we see that Sam and Dean are just going to keep doing the same things over and over for the rest of their lives, with nothing really having changed in the world. I want them to bring about some real change for the better. Maybe they shut down hell, or get Chuck to agree no one has to go there anymore, or they get most of the angels to come down to earth and help fight monsters and demons (after more angels get created somehow), or they make it so no one has to go to the Empty when they die, or they help Jack use Michael's methods for creating an army of super monsters to create an army of super good monsters led by Garth.
I'd also like to see at least a suggestion that someday Sam and Dean can find people to settle down and raise families with, because it's what they both want. Yeah, they have a sort of a family now, with Cas and Jack and maybe Rowena, but it would be sad if that was the best they could ever hope for. My daughter will be pissed off if they have Dean find love with someone other than Cas, and I'm sure she's not the only one. So probably they should just give us a reason to believe he'll have someone without telling us who.
posted by Redstart at 7:06 AM on March 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
I had similar thoughts. Maybe they'll decide to go public or maybe someone else will take it out of their hands - this week's sheriff or those three kids or any of the many people over the years who have learned the truth. I wouldn't be surprised if that's part of what happens at the end.
I think it's good that the next season will be the last. It would be a shame for it to drag on so long that they ran out of new ideas and everyone lost interest and then it got cancelled and they had to cobble together some kind of ending at the last minute. Hopefully they're planning out a season that will tie up all the major loose ends and bring everything to a satisfying conclusion. (But I'm not counting on it. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be dissatisfied.)
I really, really don't want an ending where we see that Sam and Dean are just going to keep doing the same things over and over for the rest of their lives, with nothing really having changed in the world. I want them to bring about some real change for the better. Maybe they shut down hell, or get Chuck to agree no one has to go there anymore, or they get most of the angels to come down to earth and help fight monsters and demons (after more angels get created somehow), or they make it so no one has to go to the Empty when they die, or they help Jack use Michael's methods for creating an army of super monsters to create an army of super good monsters led by Garth.
I'd also like to see at least a suggestion that someday Sam and Dean can find people to settle down and raise families with, because it's what they both want. Yeah, they have a sort of a family now, with Cas and Jack and maybe Rowena, but it would be sad if that was the best they could ever hope for. My daughter will be pissed off if they have Dean find love with someone other than Cas, and I'm sure she's not the only one. So probably they should just give us a reason to believe he'll have someone without telling us who.
posted by Redstart at 7:06 AM on March 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
If I were S&D, I'd be very concerned about having kids because odds of them being targeted for angel/demon possession/dead/ending up in "the family business" are super high. I just don't see them settling down as family men with wives and babies, I don't think it is a possible thing for them as things are unless, I dunno, everything supernatural is banished from the universe entirely.
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:04 PM on March 24, 2019
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:04 PM on March 24, 2019
Yeah, I saw that "get a room" line as a very understandable "Oh, God, I don't want to be the third wheel while you guys make out" reaction.
posted by sarcasticah at 7:00 PM on March 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by sarcasticah at 7:00 PM on March 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
Oh god my feels
Stephen Amell: "The 1st meeting of the Actors who are soon to be unemployed support group went great. "
posted by numaner at 9:27 AM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Stephen Amell: "The 1st meeting of the Actors who are soon to be unemployed support group went great. "
posted by numaner at 9:27 AM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Maybe they shut down hell
Yeah I'm thinking it might be something like shutting down both heaven and hell to prevent supernatural forces from interfering with humans, and then it's just hunters and monsters but they'll manage. Each Winchester sacrifice themselves to closer each gate and then they are the last humans admitted to heaven.
posted by numaner at 9:33 AM on March 25, 2019
Yeah I'm thinking it might be something like shutting down both heaven and hell to prevent supernatural forces from interfering with humans, and then it's just hunters and monsters but they'll manage. Each Winchester sacrifice themselves to closer each gate and then they are the last humans admitted to heaven.
posted by numaner at 9:33 AM on March 25, 2019
"My daughter will be pissed off if they have Dean find love with someone other than Cas, and I'm sure she's not the only one. So probably they should just give us a reason to believe he'll have someone without telling us who."
I haven't seen the whole show yet, but is there any in-show indication Dean and Cas are relationship candidate or is that just something fan shippers just push for fun?
posted by GoblinHoney at 3:11 PM on March 25, 2019
I haven't seen the whole show yet, but is there any in-show indication Dean and Cas are relationship candidate or is that just something fan shippers just push for fun?
posted by GoblinHoney at 3:11 PM on March 25, 2019
Yeah, the Dean/Cas thing is strictly a fan 'ship. The actual characters would probably be pretty uncomfortable with the suggestion that there was anything romantic about their friendship. (I can MAYBE see Cas going for it, but I think he mostly sees Dean kind of like a favorite pet. And Dean was always squirmy about anything gay, and while he seems to be getting better about that I still think the idea of even kissing Cas would gross him out.)
Closing hell might be a possibility, but while the Angels running heaven are usually dicks heaven itself seems like a really lovely place for all the dead folks. If they close it, where do all the dead people go?
I could be wrong, but I have a hunch the show ends with Dean running that little dive bar for real while Sam is still out hunting monsters. And I fear Cas may end up in the Empty. If the show wasn't ending I'd think that'd be a season finale cliffhanger thing, but we've got the last season finale cliffhanger ever coming up in a new weeks and I doubt Cas will be experiencing perfect happiness anytime soon. (Also, they already brought Cas back from the Empty at the beginning of THIS season, and it'd be kind of repetitious to do it at the beginning of next season.) So, maybe in the series finale they achieve some great victory and everything looks great, and then Cas poofs away into nothing. Also Sam kills Rowena, and probably reluctantly for some greater good. Man, it's depressing just imagining that hypothetical bloodbath!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:25 PM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Closing hell might be a possibility, but while the Angels running heaven are usually dicks heaven itself seems like a really lovely place for all the dead folks. If they close it, where do all the dead people go?
I could be wrong, but I have a hunch the show ends with Dean running that little dive bar for real while Sam is still out hunting monsters. And I fear Cas may end up in the Empty. If the show wasn't ending I'd think that'd be a season finale cliffhanger thing, but we've got the last season finale cliffhanger ever coming up in a new weeks and I doubt Cas will be experiencing perfect happiness anytime soon. (Also, they already brought Cas back from the Empty at the beginning of THIS season, and it'd be kind of repetitious to do it at the beginning of next season.) So, maybe in the series finale they achieve some great victory and everything looks great, and then Cas poofs away into nothing. Also Sam kills Rowena, and probably reluctantly for some greater good. Man, it's depressing just imagining that hypothetical bloodbath!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:25 PM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Quotes
Dean: [Sam & Dean enter, while Jack is reading a book] Hey, uh... Good reading?
Jack: Yes. Did you know that Article 246 of the Haitian criminal code officially makes it against the law to turn a human into a zombie?
Dean: [Dean enters room, with Sam at his laptop] Morning, Sunshine.
Sam: Hey.
Dean: What'chya lookin' at? Porn? Sex tapes? Nip slips?
Sam: The internet is more than just naked people. You do know that, right?
Dean: Not *my* internet.
Sam: Jack, listen. Dean and I are heading out on a case.
Jack: And...you don't want me to come?
Sam: Look, truth is --
Dean: We don't want to leave the bunker empty. In case, uh, Mom or... some of the other hunters call and need help, so... and this place is long overdue for a restock. So, uh, your mission, should you choose to accept -- made you a list. [hands Jack a handwritten grocery list]
Jack: My mission is shopping? [reads from the list] Beer, TP, eggs... beer again.
Sam: Twice?
Dean: Yeah.
Jack: I'll do it.
Jack: What's that?
Max: Music.
Jack: I like The Who.
Stacy: Who?
Max: Oh, my aunt listens to them. They're... old.
Jack: Well, Dean says any music made after 1979 "sucks ass."
Max: That's because Dean's also old.
Trivia
The Donner Party, or Donner-Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers that set out for California in a wagon train in May 1846. Departing from Independence, Missouri, they were delayed by a series of mishaps and mistakes, and spent the winter of 1846-47 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada, in the part of the range now known as the Donner Pass. The surviving members are alleged to have engaged in cannibalism in order to survive the harsh winter, although they all denied the allegations.
The videos that Eliot is watching are of the Ghostfacers, previously introduced in "Ghostfacers" (ep. 3.13) as pair of self-proclaimed "professional" paranormal researchers. The Ghostfacers have appeared in more than 10 episodes. The Ghostfacers briefly had their own spin-off TV show which premiered in 2010 and lasted 11 episodes.
This episode takes place in Big Creek State Park just outside of Polk City, Iowa. There is a real Big Creek State Park just outside of Polk City. It is also located in Polk County, Iowa. It is a pretty large state park but does not have much of a dense forest like the one depicted in the TV show. It has many different shelters, a good-sized playground, a small beach and swimming area, disc golf course, and yes, you can rent pontoon boats, kayaks, paddle boards, bicycles, and more, from the DNR. It is located 15 miles north from the city of Des Moines, Iowa.
When he's asked what is attacking people, the sheriff tells Dean it's coyotes. Coyotes have a natural aversion to humans and have only been known to attack people in rare and extreme cases.
posted by orange swan at 12:02 PM on March 30, 2022
Dean: [Sam & Dean enter, while Jack is reading a book] Hey, uh... Good reading?
Jack: Yes. Did you know that Article 246 of the Haitian criminal code officially makes it against the law to turn a human into a zombie?
Dean: [Dean enters room, with Sam at his laptop] Morning, Sunshine.
Sam: Hey.
Dean: What'chya lookin' at? Porn? Sex tapes? Nip slips?
Sam: The internet is more than just naked people. You do know that, right?
Dean: Not *my* internet.
Sam: Jack, listen. Dean and I are heading out on a case.
Jack: And...you don't want me to come?
Sam: Look, truth is --
Dean: We don't want to leave the bunker empty. In case, uh, Mom or... some of the other hunters call and need help, so... and this place is long overdue for a restock. So, uh, your mission, should you choose to accept -- made you a list. [hands Jack a handwritten grocery list]
Jack: My mission is shopping? [reads from the list] Beer, TP, eggs... beer again.
Sam: Twice?
Dean: Yeah.
Jack: I'll do it.
Jack: What's that?
Max: Music.
Jack: I like The Who.
Stacy: Who?
Max: Oh, my aunt listens to them. They're... old.
Jack: Well, Dean says any music made after 1979 "sucks ass."
Max: That's because Dean's also old.
Trivia
The Donner Party, or Donner-Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers that set out for California in a wagon train in May 1846. Departing from Independence, Missouri, they were delayed by a series of mishaps and mistakes, and spent the winter of 1846-47 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada, in the part of the range now known as the Donner Pass. The surviving members are alleged to have engaged in cannibalism in order to survive the harsh winter, although they all denied the allegations.
The videos that Eliot is watching are of the Ghostfacers, previously introduced in "Ghostfacers" (ep. 3.13) as pair of self-proclaimed "professional" paranormal researchers. The Ghostfacers have appeared in more than 10 episodes. The Ghostfacers briefly had their own spin-off TV show which premiered in 2010 and lasted 11 episodes.
This episode takes place in Big Creek State Park just outside of Polk City, Iowa. There is a real Big Creek State Park just outside of Polk City. It is also located in Polk County, Iowa. It is a pretty large state park but does not have much of a dense forest like the one depicted in the TV show. It has many different shelters, a good-sized playground, a small beach and swimming area, disc golf course, and yes, you can rent pontoon boats, kayaks, paddle boards, bicycles, and more, from the DNR. It is located 15 miles north from the city of Des Moines, Iowa.
When he's asked what is attacking people, the sheriff tells Dean it's coyotes. Coyotes have a natural aversion to humans and have only been known to attack people in rare and extreme cases.
posted by orange swan at 12:02 PM on March 30, 2022
The sheriff in this episode was played by First Nations Canadian actor Adam Beach. I knew I'd seen him before, but was surprised to see just how long his list of IMDB credits is. It would have been nice to have become one of the show's go to sheriffs, as he was an interesting character, but this is his only appearance in the series.
The products on the shelves of that Kansas convenience store looked strangely like what one finds on the shelves of a Canadian No-Frills.
I found it cringey to watch Jack interact with those teenagers, if amusing when they theorized that he was homeschooled. His wide-eyed, naïve act has always been the thing I disliked most about the character, and he dialed that up here.
I think Stacy and Eliot are siblings. It's never explicitly stated in the text, but she brings up the time he "tried to eat" a Slinky when he was 3. His being Stacy's younger brother makes sense of his objecting to seeing Stacy and Max kiss, and also explains why an obviously significantly younger boy is hanging out with two older girls who are a couple.
It feels a little odd to read comments in this thread about people reacting to the news that the show would end after the next/15th season -- I feel something like a time traveller.
posted by orange swan at 12:21 PM on March 30, 2022
The products on the shelves of that Kansas convenience store looked strangely like what one finds on the shelves of a Canadian No-Frills.
I found it cringey to watch Jack interact with those teenagers, if amusing when they theorized that he was homeschooled. His wide-eyed, naïve act has always been the thing I disliked most about the character, and he dialed that up here.
I think Stacy and Eliot are siblings. It's never explicitly stated in the text, but she brings up the time he "tried to eat" a Slinky when he was 3. His being Stacy's younger brother makes sense of his objecting to seeing Stacy and Max kiss, and also explains why an obviously significantly younger boy is hanging out with two older girls who are a couple.
It feels a little odd to read comments in this thread about people reacting to the news that the show would end after the next/15th season -- I feel something like a time traveller.
posted by orange swan at 12:21 PM on March 30, 2022
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The Kohonta was a neat A plot, and there's definitely similarities in the origin story with the Wendigo all the way back in season 1. Also I think there's a good chance for Sheriff Mason to come back, like Jody and Donna. I guess the boys like collecting sheriffs.
posted by numaner at 12:16 AM on March 22, 2019 [1 favorite]