Supernatural “Tall Tales” 2.15 Review: A Trickster’s Mid-Season Script

In "Tall Tales," Sam and Dean Winchester call in Bobby Singer to assist in solving a rather puzzling case. A professor and author of Modern Morality was violently pushed out of his top-story office window while having an affair; a student was abducted and forced to slow dance with aliens; and a scientist was devoured by an alligator in the sewers. The story is assumed in flashbacks from Dean and Sam’s opposing and comically differing perspectives. Bobby states that the monster is a trickster, who has played the two against each other. Posing as the university’s janitor, the foe is defeated when the trio “trick the trickster.” They leave the scene, unaware that the dead trickster was only an illusion, and the real trickster still alive and kicking.

This “monster-of-the-week” style of writing is common and much-loved throughout the Supernatural series. “Tall Tales” provides a nice change of pace in a series that centers upon drama and horror, and proves the quirky and relatively fun tale that it strives to be. The stories surrounding each new victim become more and more bizarre, which adds to the mystery of the nature of the new monster. However, this episode seems over-the-top and randomly placed for being one of the season’s midseason episodes. The writing of the brother’s varying views regarding their investigations into this case, though very well-acted by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, comes across as too corny (though, admittedly, watching Jensen and Jared have the acting opportunity to make fun of their characters is undoubtedly hilarious). The motel and bar scenes were especially wrought with over-exaggerated bickering between the two brothers, which, thankfully, was mostly tempered when Sam and Dean were called out by Jim Beaver’s ever-so-practical Bobby Singer.

Within the traditionally dramatic context of the series, especially while still on the long hunt for Yellow Eyes, this aspect of the episode’s writing does not seem to be on par with that of the vast majority of Supernatural. Ultimately, this detracts from the theme at play behind these scenes: perspective and illusions. This theme is particularly tied to the insight of the brother’s views of each other, which are each varied, slightly crafty, and not entirely truthful. This foreshadowed well the advent of the trickster as the episode’s villain. This theme is also intertwined with the “pranks” that the trickster creates, as vividly demonstrated with the final scene’s plot twist that the boys’ battle against the foe was also an illusion.

These one-shot episodes tend to have the purpose of being both entertaining and, to varying extents, of moving the series’ tale of the two brothers along, whether that be via insight into the character’s minds, their individual or collective dynamics, or a foreshadowing or spawning of plot possibilities. However, “Tall Tales” seems to be a strange and over-the-top mid-season episode that does not add to any of these attributes.
That being said, the highlight of the episode? The emergence of a fun, prankster villain with a penchant for murdering in bizarre manners those he deems “dicks.” Not only does this villain provide the sole entertainment for the episode, but he also proves himself a worthy opponent in a manner rarely seen up to this point in the series, outwitting the hunters so effectively that they are entirely unaware that he is still living. Richard Speight Jr.’s impeccable acting in the last scene, as he stands above the “dead” version of himself, smirking and eating a candy bar, deserves all the awards. This poses numerous questions to be answered later in the series: will the trickster reemerge in later episodes, or will he remain a one-off character? Is there a threat to the Winchesters or, more generally, humanity posed by the trickster? The brilliant ending of the episode leaves open a variety of possibilities and almost single-handedly redeems the episode’s flawed script.