Supernatural S05E05 - Fallen Idols (2009)

Sex :    Violence :     Scary Movie Rating:  

Director James L. Conway
Writers Julie Siege
Starring Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Paris Hilton
Genre Gods
Tagline Lucifer Unbound
Country
Supernatural Fallen Idols

Review

"Hey, world's smallest violin, pal. I spent the day up Christine's skirt. I needed a drink." - Dean Winchester

With the Winchester team back together, yet again - recurring plot device, Dean decides they should put the training wheels on and check out a case in Canton, Ohio where some dude has been found dead, the result of a high speed collision. Problem being the car he was "driving" was stationary and in a locked garage. Dean is all flustered when he discovers the car is supposedly the "little bastard", the one James Dean died in. Sam, being the world's biggest downer soon discovers the car is a replica. Things get even more interesting when a local amateur historian is killed by Abraham Lincoln, yeah the four score historic dude.

All roads lead to the local wax museum where famous figures from history are displayed along with their personal effects. Queue chilled air and the attack of Ghandi! The boys overcome with salt, lighter fluid, and fire, come on you know your supernatural drill. Thinking they have solved the case Dean is packing ready to go, but Sam is not so sure as the ghosts didn't depart the mortal plain in the normal fashion. Sure enough another incident goes down; Paris Hilton kidnaps a local teen chick! Time to tool up and go back to the wax museum for some unfinished business, except Paris is on the rampage!

Okay I know we demanded a "monster of the week" episode and we got it, complete with Paris and a wax museum, but I don't know it just didn't satisfy. There's probably a comment I could make here about Chinese food, but since that is likely to launch a flurry of email in our politically correct times I won't. While the blood was certainly being splattered to impressive levels, Dexter would be all over this one, the action and comedy elements seemed slightly flat. It was almost as if writer Julie Siege had a list of elements that she needed to include in the episode and was ticking them off as they were covered. Dean's one liners felt a bit flat, the Sherriff who sort of fitted the Falstaff persona really wasn't that interesting, and Sam was naturally being all emo and chick like. On the bright side there was some cool stuff going down so I'll focus on the positive and leave the negative Nellies to rant on about the rest.

If you don't like gore then my suggestion would be to look away now and check if there's anything on the Disney channel, Hannah Montana perhaps, sans the twerking of course. We get blood splattered over a wall, was there a point being made about the Civil War there? - as victim two takes a head shot, at one point Sam does a Lambert receiving a face full of the red stuff, and to top festivities off Sam has his hands arm deep in a cadaver, with requisite squelching sounds. Can't remember Supernatural being this graphic before, and got to say it's a consistent effort throughout the episode. So warning to those with minors I guess, this one could be a gross out.

Naturally this being horror and all when there's a wax museum there has to be Paris Hilton, though I'm pretty sure Hilton's agent isn't actually checking for upcoming wax museum scripts. As opposed to her previous wax outing, 2005's House of Wax, Hilton plays the antagonist this time, and gets to kick both Dean and Sam's butts in the process, though this does lead to her losing her head. To be perfectly honest I'm never quite sure how Hilton actually gets roles as she can't act, and I'm not entirely sure she is going to add any bums to seats. Just checking, nope the episode actually provided a low point in viewer numbers for season five, go figure. Anyways Hilton plays an Eastern European god reduced to living on celebrity scraps after her native woods were cut down for Industry. Oops, a spoiler alert folk, uhmm moving along, Paris plays a God.

Like a moth to a flame Paris can't miss out on a house of wax role

Showing she can be a good sport, I reckon Paris would be into beer drinking games, she lets rip with a diatribe about how Gods are being replaced in the modern world by celebrities to a look of utter astonishment on Dean's face. While the speech is making a statement, anyone else sick and tired of even major news services getting all gushy when some celeb farts, the ironic overtones aren't actually referenced as well as one would expect. Still, interesting statement, which is perhaps also a subtle reference to the hordes of Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles fans invading various conventions around the globe.

On the ongoing development of the Dean and Sam relationship, remember when Dean demanded no chick moments, Dean goes from blaming the apocalypse on Sam to grudgingly admitting he broke the first seal, which is pretty noble of him considering he is as much to blame as Sam for Lucifer rising. The younger Winchester, not letting a chance go by, eventually tells Dean a few home truths; mainly that he is tired of Dean treating him as a younger brother and not as a hunter. Must have hit home as Dean allows Sam to drive the Impala! Okay someone get me a beer, a beer in a dirty glass, no chick moments!

Okay so the Winchester Bros are back in business with a new understanding of their roles and after five seasons Dean perhaps finally seeing Sam as no longer his responsibility and a perennial liability, though I'm not holding my breath that the "weakest link" plotline won't rear its head yet again in coming seasons. Will we move forward with the whole Lucifer thing now or will we move down other side tracks in coming weeks? Guess it depends on what you want your Supernatural, personally I think a couple of weeks of major plot arc and then another side track, the path less travelled makes for an interesting ride in this franchise.

Firing up the mullet rock retros we get Superstition by Jeff Beck during the "Then" intro sequence and Lucero's Sixteen when Dean is taking time out in the bar and hitting on the barmaid, do chicks really fall for that talent scout angle? I'm going to call us even on this one and leave it to Beaver.

Anyone else think this episode failed to gel in the appropriate fashion, an episode then that has all the right moves but which seems somehow glued together rather than flowing naturally, if that makes any sort of sense? I got the impression that elements were added to the script because those elements were expected rather than our normal this is how the Winchesters roll modus operandi. While the whole "breaking of the seals" thing should be front and center it's being used, in Fallen Idols at least, as almost a deus ex machina to revisit past plot developments that have already worn out their tread. So I'm a bit ambivalent towards this episode, sue me, but even the best franchises have the odd clunker littering up the screen. Fallen Idols for sure is fodder for the Supernatural regular viewer but I'm going to hold back recommendation on it as the episode doesn't present just how good things can be. Well okay Paris Hilton losing her head is worth dialling in for, am I that shallow?

ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ...

Seemed remarkably like simply going through the motions.