I'm not sure about the name of the episode. Is it a reference to the movie The French Connection? I've never seen that, so I have no idea. Or I could have just missed something.
We open with the Then recap, which shows Ruby, Meg, some other stuff I can't remember, and Castiel talking to the boys about the civil war in Heaven. Then in the Now we see Sam and Dean at Bobby's, who has run out for some alcohol (aka Hunter's Helper). Then, poof, Balthazar strolls in and starts looking for supplies for a spell, talking about The Godfather (which I also have not seen, don't like gangster movies) and how Don Corleone is now being played by Raphael. Ol' Raphie evidently has put out a hit list for anyone who ever helped Castiel, including Balthazar and, you guessed, Sam and Dean. Next thing you know, Balthazar gives them a key which leads to the weapons of Heaven and sends them crashing through the window. When they come out on the other side, they're in an alternate universe where they are actors in a show called Supernatural. Their names? Jensen Ackles and Jarad Padalecki. :)Dean: "Why would anyone want to watch our lives?"
Sam: "According to the interview, not that many people do."
When they are able to leave the set, they're confused about what the heck is going on.
Sam: "I'm something called a Jared Padalecki."
Dean: "So what, you're Polish now?"
That's when Dean sees what he thinks is the Impala and thinks his baby made it through. But as he walks forward, he notices several Impalas, in various states of repair or disrepair.
Dean: "I feel sick. I'm gonna be sick. I wanna go home. I feel like this whole place is bad touching me."
Then they see Castiel and head for him. You know what's coming, right? For a moment, Misha plays it well, like he's really Castiel, but then the boys realize he's just another actor. The look and tone in Dean's voice when he finds out the actor's name was hilarious.
"Misha?" Hee hee.
Misha: "I'm totally going to Tweet this one." And more funny, in the alternate universe, Misha's followers aren't minions, they're the MishAmigos! LOL!Next, Sam and Dean find Jensen's trailer and go inside where they find a remote-controlled helicopter and a nice built-in fish tank. Dean finds a copy of Supernatural magazine and has to make fun of Sam's/Jared's expression on the cover.
Dean: "That's Blue Steel, Sam."
Even better, Sam gets on a laptop and finds a clip of when Jensen was on Days of Our Lives.
Sam: "You were on a soap opera."
Another classic look of disbelief and disgust on Dean's face. :)
As Cliff drives them to Jared's place, Dean sees the sign for Vancouver and says to Sam: "Dude, we're not even in America." When they arrive at Jared's place, it's rather swank and they see a tanning bed.
Sam: "What am I, Dracula?"
Dean: "George Hamilton Dracula."
That might have been the part that made me laugh the most.
Then Ruby/Genevieve comes in, and Dean calls her Ruby. She looks exasperated as she tells him, yeah, that never gets old. Then Dean sees Jared and Genevieve's wedding photo. I love when this show makes fun of itself and is self-aware. She, like the people on the show's set, are surprised that Jared and Jensen are talking because, evidently, they don't like each other much in this alternate world.More hilarity ensues when Sam and Dean go back to the set, thinking they can use Balthazar's spell to get themselves back to their universe, only to be forced to try to act out a scene for the show. OMG, the horribleness of it. Dean's too-intense look, and Sam looking "anywhere but the camera." Dude, I'm laughing now just typing this.
Virgil, Raphael's angel hitman, makes it to the Jared/Jensen universe and tries to take out the boys. But his angel powers don't work here, in what Dean calls the "mojo free zone." They try to take out the angel, but the rest of the show's crew thinks they're high and beating an extra to death. In the melee, Virgil takes the key and flees. He carjacks Misha and kills him in an alley. After hearing the news from Genevieve, the guys head to the scene and talk to the homeless man who witnessed the murder.Homeless man: "The scary man stabbed the attractive crying man." LOL! Misha was a bit of a wienie in this universe. :)
Virgil, now armed with many guns, shoots "Eric Kripke" and a lot of members of the crew on his way back to the set where Raphael is supposed to pull him and the key back through the portal to the other universe. But Sam and Dean take him out and they are pulled through instead. Raphael, now a woman, is closing in on Sam and Dean when Balthazar shows up and says Sam and Dean were just decoys and the key a fake to give Raphael time to get rid of the weapons of Heaven. Then Castiel shows up, now in possession of said weapons. And I had a squee moment when they did the lightning and the shadows of outspread wings thing that they did the first time we ever met Cas. I love that effect, makes him look particularly badass. Raphael skedaddles, and Dean is predictably not happy about the whole decoys-without-his-knowledge thing Balthazar and Castiel had going. To which Castiel reminds boy the Winchester boys that he'd do it again because he'll do whatever is necessary to make sure Raphael does not win the war.
When they're left alone again...
Dean: "We're broke again."
Sam: "At least we're talking."
What did you think of the episode? While there's still a bigger story going on, I've enjoyed the past couple of episodes that felt a bit more like throwbacks to earlier seasons, the ones that made me fall in love with the show in the first place.
