Season’s greetings! To celebrate this ever so timely decision to begin blogging a series of sci-fi/fantasy #ThrowbackThursday posts, here is a Christmas special. With Supernatural having a themed episode for just about everything, it took little effort to remember the episode where the cardigan-wearing pagan gods celebrated Christmas by pulling Sam’s fingernail off!
Supernatural
Season Three, Episode Eight, A Very Supernatural Christmas
Sam’s hair: starting to develop curtains
First aired: 13 December 2007
Twas’ the night before Christmas, when all through the house, a grandfather comes to visit his dear old grandson, wearing his Christmas blouse. He dressed up as Santa, and put presents under the tree, while his sweet young grandson watched, he was filled with glee. Alas, there was a thump on the roof, were the reindeer agitated? No, it was an evil Santa, who forced Grandfather up the chimney until his body was grated.
Present Day, Ypsilanti, Michigan
Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) are looking dapper in their prom/dinner party/FBI suits. All it takes is a couple of well-dressed chaps for Mrs Walsh to tell the story of how her husband disappeared. She asks Dean what is she meant to tell her daughter three days before Christmas? Understandably, he takes it as a rhetorical question as a childless man with a military-like relationship with his father is not the best person to go to for parental advice. Meanwhile, the impeccably observant Sam has been doing a quick search the house and miraculously finds a tooth in the fireplace.
Turns out there was another bloke in the town who has disappeared – both who had visited a “Santa’s Village”, so the Winchesters take the party to the grimmest run-down Christmas Village imaginable. Anyone visiting it was asking for something bad to happen, even if it is just catching something nasty off the creepy Santa sitting on his thrown of Christmas despair. The dark side of Christmas gets Sam all sentimental. He is still hurt by the time Dean told him Santa wasn’t real. Dean, who has grown up and forgotten about such childish problems, wants to celebrate what he thinks will be his last Christmas. Sam, who lives to shoot Dean down and has a vendetta against all seasonal holidays, says no.
Flashback to a grotty motel in 1991
Yay, flashbacks! How did the characters come to be the people they are today?! What made Sam such a grinch? But more importantly, how will the child actors have their hair styled so they look like the older actors?
Young Sam (Colin Ford) is at that awkward age where children start asking questions. But enough of that, the kid actually looks like he could be a young Jared Padalecki – the hair is spot on, although it is surprising they haven’t experimented with curtains. On the other hand, young Dean (Ridge Canipe) could have some gel here and there. Dean avoids all Sam’s questions then rages at the mention of his mother. Now we begin to understand why Sam likes raining on Dean’s parade every so often.
Present Day
Still in the Christmas land where dreams go to die, the Winchesters watch the Santa Claus on duty. A lady dressed as a Christmas elf questions there presence at this family event.
“We’re only here to watch,” Sam says.
“Ew,” the she-elf responds.
As Santa limps away leaving an aroma of candy, the boys jump to the conclusion that he is evil Santa. Surely it is suspicious because he looks like he should smell of BO?
The boys take part in some creepy activities of their own as they sit outside Santa’s trailer the next night. As a scream echos from within the trailer, they break in to find Santa is just a drunk, bong-lovin’ fella who watches porn. After making like carol singers with an appalling rendition of Silent Night, Sam and Dean leave without too much suspicion.
While the Winchester bros have been dicking about at Santa’s trailer, another man is dragged up the chimney to the mild shock of his child. The killer Santa takes a mince pie before he leaves, which makes a nice touch to the whole murder.
After investigating the next day, Sam’s impeccable observation skills come back into play when he notices this family have the same wreath as Mrs Walsh made from meadowsweet. The usual research scene in a motel brings the conclusion that meadowsweet not only has a beautiful smell but it is used to summon pagan gods for human sacrifice.
A trip to a Christmas shop brings the funniest gag of the episode. After questioning the shopkeeper about the meadowsweet wreaths that a delightful couple had made for him to sell, Dean asks:
“Did you sell them for free?”
“Hell no, it’s Christmas. People pay a butt load for this crap,” says shopkeeper.
“That’s the spirit.”
Later, in Dean’s attempt to get Sam onboard for Christmas, he reminisces about the time they had a wreath… made out of beer cans. Don’t think that’s going to do it, Dean.
Flashback Time
Young Dean shows Sam their dad’s awesome journal. Finally, we see the moment Sam finds out Santa isn’t real. However, he is more preoccupied when freaks out that the monsters will get him than to care about Santa. He cries himself to sleep.
Back to the Present
While Dean’s leather jacket swamps him further every time it makes an appearance, the bros strut to the the home of the couple who made the meadowsweet, Madge and Edward. They are sickeningly too into Christmas so Sam and Dean return to the motel to sharpen their evergreen stakes. Not a single wood chip goes into the bin that Dean sharpens his stake over. Let’s hope his staking is more accurate.
Returning to Madge’s house, they find that indeed they are dealing with pagan gods. The Christmas spirit of the over-decorated home doesn’t make it into the basement where the bloody human remains are. Tweedle Sam and Tweedle Dean get caught snooping and tide back-to-back on a set of chairs. Like all villains, the pagan gods feel they have to justify their evil actions to their victims: Christianity ruined Christmas! How refreshing, usually it is the other way around.
Dean gets a swearing lesson from Madge while the gods pivot around the boys holding torture tools: replace the swear with “fudge”. Like so:
“If you fudging touch me again I will fudging kill you.”
In turn, Edward gets his pliers. Oh no, they are surely not going to show this. Aaa! Sam’s fingernail is pulled off and we see EVERYTHING. The nail bed is exposed, I repeat, the nail bed is exposed. Before the teeth pulling can begin the Winchester’s are literally saved by the bell. Dean:
“Is anyone going to get that? You should really get that.”
Tweedle Madge and Tweedle Edward return to find the boys escaped. Morons. Fistycuffs begins. Ironically, the gods are staked by their own Christmas tree, to which Sam makes a funny: “Merry Christmas.” Wheyyy!
Back to the 90s Again
The Christmas spirit must have lifted young Dean’s dickish mood because he has set up a little Christmas for Sam complete with “chick” presents. Albeit, stolen from some poor “chick’s” house down the street, so he has got a lot to learn about giving at Christmas, or any time in fact. Still a little teary eyed about his lying father, little Sammy gives his father’s present to Dean: the pendant! Dean’s pendant! Get your merch from all good merch stores!
Christmas Day in the Present Day.
Alas, Sam returns the gift of Christmas. Killing a couple of pagan peeps has made him feel festive for his bro. He buys Dean some food him and his car. Dean buys Sam “skin mags” and shaving cream. Pretty weird to buy a brother that.
While Have Yourself a Merry Morbid Little Christmas plays, the Winchester’s Christmas ends with them getting mortal off eggnog and watching “the game”.
THE END
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