#watchingspnagain 3x08

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Rewatching A Very Supernatural Christmas

Welcome to “I Saw Sammy Ganking Pagan Gods: A Supernatural Rewatch Blog” with Lor and Mace!

 Up today, s3e8: A Very Supernatural Christmas

 Once upon a balmy Michigan December, something in a red suit is coming down chimneys and hauling people away. Sam and Dean are on bad Santa’s case, and while they’re at it, Dean is angling for a proper Christmas celebration while Sam is dragging his feet hard at the idea. They visit a sketchy Christmas wonderland, go caroling (they don’t know the words, bless them), and have a beautiful brother moment where they discuss why they each feel as they do about the coming holiday. (Spoiler alert: it’s because it’s gonna be Dean’s last Christmas.) Turns out pseudo-Krampus is a pair of pagan gods masquerading as a middle-aged couple named Edward and Madge, and after a hilarious (and disgusting) torture scene, the boys dispatch them with their own festive decorations. Throughout the episode are interspersed flashbacks to the Christmas when Sam learned the truth about why John is never around, Dean tried to create Christmas for his brother through theft, and Sam gave Dean the amulet that he now never takes off. The final scene of the episode sees present-day Sam giving Dean the best Christmas he can, complete with tree, presents, eggnog, and a football game on the TV while outside snow finally drifts down on Baby.

 Below is a log of our real-time reactions as we watched. Remember that there may be spoilers for any part of SPN’s 15-season run here. Note also that the nature of our conversation is adult and thus it may contain adult language and themes.

 [and we begin:]

 Lor:

 Christmas with the boys! bounces

Mace:

 YAAAAS!

 it looks like there’s a bowl of potatoes on the table

  Lor:

 HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  Mace:

 festive

  Lor:

 I was wondering what those were! Oranges?

  Mace:

 apples, I think?

  Lor:

 THE TITLE CARD

  Mace:

 YAS

 “up on the rooftop demon seeeeed"

 oooh, fix that collar, Sam

  Lor:

 mrrrrrg Dean in his suit and with his riiiiing

  Mace:

 YAS

  Lor:

 LOLOLOLOLOLOL

 LORD those suits are nicely tailored in the shoulders

  Mace:

 POPPED COLLAR

  Lor:

 YES

  Mace:

 YES

  Lor:

 DEAN you know you've watched Mary Poppins, stop it

  Mace:

 YEP

  Lor:

 "yeah, that's crazy." "yeah."

  Mace:

 HAHAHA

  Mace:

 SAM SAID LORE EVERYONE DRINK

  Lor:

 YAAAAS

  Mace:

 HE SAID IT AGAIN DRIIIINK

  Lor:

 "santa doesn't have a brother."

  Mace:

 snork

  Lor:

 chugs water

 "who's childhood are you talking about?"

oooooof

boys

  Mace:

 “not exactly hallmark memories” dude, those were the best memories Dean has

  Lor:

 YEP

 "a pony" SASSY BABY SAM

  Mace:

 YAS

learnt it from his brother!dad

  Lor:

 YES

 "because everywhere we go, they get sick of your face" haaaaahahahaha

  Mace:

 SNORK Jesus, Dean

  Lor:

 so perfectly twelve

  Mace:

 YES

  Lor:

 DRINK AGAIN

  Mace:

 LORE! DRINK!

HAHAHAHA

  Lor:

 LOLOLOLOLOL

  Mace:

 “we only came here to watch” HAHAHA

  Lor:

 Dean's little head shake

  Mace:

 “ew"

 HAHAHAHAHA

 Dean’s laugh!

  Lor:

 "thanks a lot, Dean. thanks for that"

 YES

  Lor:

 "that was Ripple"

  Mace:

 I love the parallels between adult boys and boy boys

  Lor:

 YES

 Sam drank all the coffee and then later in the flashback Dean gives Sammy the end of the cereal! I never picked up on that one before [Ed: that’s a different episode, of course. But still!]

  Mace:

 OMG YAS

 omg the bong

  Lor:

 "mr gung-ho christmas might have to blow away santa"

 YES

  Mace:

 YES

  Lor:

 THE SINGING

  Mace:

 “jingle my bells"

  Lor:

 LOLOLOLOLOLOL

  Mace:

 AND THEY DON’T KNOW THE WORDS

  Lor:

 THEY DON'T KNOW THE WORDS

  Mace:

 hilarious and tragic

  Lor:

 YEP

and then this immediate switch to the beautiful version of the song and the big Christmas living room set up

  Mace:

 and all these versions of the perfect christmas (both the houses where people get attacked and the pagan gods’ house) look beautiful but are awful, but then at the end Sam & Dean get an on-the-surface shitty christmas that is way more wholesome

 YES

  Lor:

 YESYESYES

 Dean's FACE when Sam asks about the wreath

  Mace:

 Dean’s confused face at the wreath question

YAS

  Lor:

 and he wants to try to back Sam up but he's got NOTHING

  Mace:

 YES

 my god those SUITS

  Lor:

 "I know. I was just testing you" pets him

 YES

 "that we're morons"

  Mace:

 oh Dean, your pants are on fire

 LORE! DRIIINK!!

  Lor:

 lolololololol

  Mace:

 SING IT, SAMMY

  Lor:

 "what will you tell me next? Easter bunny's Jewish?" hush, Dean, you love that Sam knows all these things

  Mace:

 YES

  Lor:

 "we were playing Jenga over at the Walshes the other night"

  Mace:

 “it was yummy”

 HAHAHAHA

  Lor:

 Dean playing on the thing where people are assuming they're gay, I cannot

  Mace:

 YEP

  Lor:

 "I sell a lot of wreaths, guys"

  Mace:

 SNORK

  Lor:

 "people pay a buttload for this crap"

  Mace:

 HAHAHA

  Lor:

 oh Dean

  Mace:

 yeah, and I love you Sam, but THINK. This is his last Christmas

  Lor:

 RIGHT?

bc Sam refuses to accept that, I think

  Mace:

 yeah

oh Sammy.

  Lor:

 the way Sam's voice breaks on "dead"

  Mace:

 BOYS. FRAUGHT

  Lor:

 YES

  Mace:

 YES

  Lor:

 the way they just sit there

  Mace:

 YEP

  Lor:

 is John's journal thinner than it is later? that's an awesome detail

  Mace:

 “are monsters real?” and the parallel to losing your Santa innocence

 it IS

  Lor:

 YES

  "we have the coolest dad in the world" oh, Dean

  Mace:

 yeeeeah

  Lor:

 oh baby Winchesters. it is exactly like that

  Mace:

 YEP

 Jesus, how did they grow up as functioning adults at all?!

  Lor:

 RIGHT?

it's because Dean is an astounding human

and Bobby

  Mace:

 YEP

 “oh fudge!”

  Lor:

 YES

 awww, Dean wants some peanut brittle

  Mace:

 aw, let him have some peanut brittle

  Lor:

 RIGHT?

 Sammy's always harshing Dean's desire to take sweets from strangers

  Mace:

 he IS

 stupid salads

  Lor:

 HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA

 "see? plastic!"

I luff him

  Mace:

 snork!

 ewewewewew

  Lor:

 (don't lots of people have good locks on their interior basement doors? because there's likely a shitty door to the outside down there that doesn't lock good? or at all?)

  Mace:

 (hm. possibly?)

  Lor:

 see, if you comment on irrelevant things at length, you can not look at the ew

  Mace:

 HAHAHAHA

  Lor:

 stop hurting their heads! that's where all the knowledge and humor lives!

 "I guess we're dealing with mr and mrs god. nice to know"

  Mace:

 YES

  Lor:

 "don't get all wet"

I love these two

  Mace:

 YAS

  Lor:

"i guess we'll just have to cancel the sacrifice"

  Mace:

 HAHAHA

  Lor:

 they DO look darling. but hands off, Madge

  Mace:

 YAS

  Lor:

 "times have changed!"

 "this Jesus character"

  Mace:

“this Jesus character”

 YAS

  Lor:

 YES

  Mace:

 omg the WINK

  Lor:

 YES

 "oh my goodness me! someone owes a nickel to the swear jar"

  Mace:

 “I’LL FUDGING KILL YOU”

I LOVE HIM

  Lor:

 "if you fudging touch me again, I'll fudging kill ya!" "very good"

 YES

 NOPE

  Mace:

 NOPENOPENOPENOPE

  Lor:

 the fingernail NOPENOPENOPE

  Mace:

 CORRECT

oh god, I’m still cringing

  Lor:

 YEP

and it gets worse

TEETH

 "sweet Peter on a popsicle stick"

  Merry Christmas, Sam

  Mace:

 HAHAHA

 this is too soon. i’m having a tooth pulled in a couple of weeks

  Lor:

 "somebody gonna get that?" HIS COMEDIC TIMING JENSEN

 ooooooof

  Mace:

 YAS

  Lor:

 tsk tsk tsk, you left Winchesters unattended

  Mace:

 yep. big mistake

  Lor:

 YEP

 using all that "perfect" house stuff as weapons. the big hutch, the perfect tree

  Mace:

 they’re gonna be so sappy-sticky when they get home...

 YES

  Lor:

 YEP

they should pick up some baking soda on the way home

  Mace:

 yep

  Lor:

 Dean's like full body eye roll at Sam's "merry christmas"

  Mace:

 HAHAHA YES

 oh god, Dean.

 you’ve got too much on those little shoulders

  Lor:

 Dean as Santa Claus/Dean as father

 YOU DO

  Mace:

 YAS

  Lor:

 oh Dean. disappointed that the presents don't actually work for Sam

  Mace:

 YEP

 also, FUCK YOU, JOHN

  Lor:

 RIGHT?

 "no. no, that's for Dad" over the present

  Mace:

 YES

  Lor:

 Dean's not allowed to have things

  Mace:

 and Sam choosing Dean over John

  Lor:

 YES

  Mace:

 this right here is the pivotal moment for Sam

  Lor:

 and Dean still wearing it all these years later

 YES

  Mace:

 YAASSS

 omg their FACES

  Lor:

 SAM'S DECORATING

  Mace:

 Sam hopeful, Dean’s astonishment

  Lor:

 YES

the eggnog is too strong for him I can't

  Mace:

 YES

 Dean’s delight that he got presents

  Lor:

 YES

and Dean CARES if Sam is happy with those last-second presents

  Mace:

 and so does SAM I CANNOT

  Lor:

 YEP

  Mace:

 you can’t tell me that they don’t keep those silly presents FOREVER

  Lor:

 YEP

  Mace:

 oh god, they’re both about to cry

BOYS

  Lor:

 (I also love that Sam's presents to Dean are better than Dean's presents to Sam both in the present and the past)

 YES

  Mace:

 YES

  Lor:

 that face Dean makes with the drink

 THIS SHOOOOOOOT

  Mace:

 YES

  Lor:

 through the window. snow. lights. BABY IS WITH THEM

  Mace:

 YES

   Lor:

 such a good episode

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