Let me get right to it: I thought the central mystery of this episode was pretty weak. As Supernatural ghost-hunting stories go, it was lackluster. The show has done ghost stories much better. Season 4, Episode 17 (It’s a Terrible Life) comes to mind, as do practically any of their other episodes involving ghosts.

The premise of the instant episode is that Sam and Dean attend the first annual Supernatural convention and hijinx ensue. The convention is honoring the collected works of its featured guest, novelist Carver Edlund (known to us from prior episodes as the prophet Chuck Shurley, whose character I very much enjoy). Sam and Dean rush to the Pineview Hotel, the site of the convention, operating under the belief that they have been summoned there by Chuck as a matter of life-and-death. They find Chuck out front and quickly discern that Chuck did not text them. Rather, his cell phone was appropriated by superfan Becky. Becky first appeared in the first episode of this season, Sympathy for the Devil. I didn’t like her then, and I don’t like her now. I tried to analyze my feelings toward her in the review for that episode, and I’ll explore them further herein.

Sam and Dean enter the hotel and see a Supernatural convention is underway. Cosplayers abound. Azazel, Bobby, Ash, and various Sams and Deans are everywhere. The con coordinator announces the day’s schedule, which includes events like:

3:45 – Frightened Little Boy: The Secret Life of Dean
4:30 – The Homoerotic Subtext of Supernatural
7:00 – The Big Hunt

It is this last, The Big Hunt, that occupies the majority of the episode. The Big Hunt is a LARP (Live Action Role Playing) experience. The prize at stake is a $50 gift certificate to Sizzler. A slew of Sams and Deans, including our “real” ones, are briefed on the “situation” (the hotel, a former orphanage, is now haunted by the ghost of headmistress Letitia Gore and her charges) and off they go on their hunt.

Of course, the hotel actually does prove to be haunted. Alex, a lone LARPER, encounters one of the children and then suffers a beatdown at the hands of the ghost of the headmistress. The encounter with the child was spooky-awesome (the ghost says only “Help us – Miss Gore won’t let us have any fun”), but the subsequent physical encounter with Miss Gore herself is too much for Alex. He bolts. On his way out he relates his experience and Sam and Dean overhear. They are now on the case for real.

Sam and Dean bribe the hotel clerk for the real scoop, which turns out to be substantially the same as the LARP backstory. The clerk explains that, in 1909, Letitia Gore went crazy and killed the four children and then herself. Since that time, there have been occasional sightings of their ghosts. This is the 100th anniversary of the event. The clerk advises them to check the attic and so that is where they head.

In the attic, Sam and Dean encounter the ghost of a scalped boy who talks about his mother (presumably Miss Gore) loving him “this much.” Meanwhile, Fake Sam and Fake Dean (two of the LARPers) are on a parallel quest, doing their own investigation. They, too, encounter a real ghost of a boy. They ask where to find Letitia’s bones, and the ghost points at a picture on a nearby wall. They remove the picture and find, inside its frame, an old map detailing the location of the local graveyard. As soon as Sam and Dean see that Fake Sam and Fake Dean have a real map, the two pair team up. They join forces despite Dean’s protestations that the fans “are friggin’ annoying.”

Sam and Dean LARP Rufus and Bobby, but they aren’t into it and before long Dean blows up at Fake Sam and Fake Dean, saying that Sam and Dean’s lives are not there for the amusement of others. To this, Fake Dean reminds Dean that in fact they are, since Sam and Dean are just fictional characters.

Before long, the four men find the graveyard. Fake Sam and Fake Dean freak when Sam and Dean start exhuming Letitia Gore’s grave. They feel that Sam and Dean are taking the Hunt too far. When the ghost of Letitia Gore arrives and attacks, they become believers and gain respect for Sam and Dean. Since Letitia Gore is dispatched at the 30 minute mark of the episode, it is obvious that there must be a twist yet to come.

Sam and Dean return to the hotel with Fake Sam and Fake Dean. They tried to leave but discover that the hotel is locked and nobody can get out. They then encounter the scalped boy from the attic, who tells them that Letitia didn’t scalp him — it was the other three boys. The boys are evil, and Letitia’s ghost had been keeping them in check. As if on cue, the three naughty boys appear and kill one of the cosplayers, a german fan that looks distractingly like Jim Carrey in “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.”

Sam and Dean round everyone up and keep them in the basement, with Chuck keeping them busy. Sam and Dean salt the doors, bunkering in. They realize that they cannot burn the bones of the boys because they are trapped in the hotel, so they enlist one of the cosplayers, a fake Letitia Gore, in an attempt to trick the young ghosts. They also employ the assistance of Fake Sam and Fake Dean, who agree to help despite being frightened “because that’s what Sam and Dean would do.”

Fake Letitia calls the boys to her, and two of the three evil ones appear. Her attempt to scold the boys into submission fails when her cellphone rings and they realize she is an imposter. Fortunately, by this time Fake Sam and Fake Dean have found the graves of these same two boys. (What happened to the whole “we’re trapped inside the hotel” thing? Was it just Sam and Dean that were trapped? How did Fake Sam and Fake Dean get to the graveyard, and if they could go why couldn’t Sam and Dean?). Anyhow, Fake Sam and Fake Dean burn the bones just in time. The ghosts burn just as they were about to scalp the real Sam and Dean.

Meanwhile, the third of the three evil spirits appears at the convention hall. He is dispelled by a quick-acting Chuck, who slices through him with a microphone stand. The only problem with this is that (1) microphone stands aren’t iron, so it shouldn’t have had any effect, and (2) even if it was iron, iron only temporarily dispells ghosts. This is well-established in Supernatural, including within this episode. So where did the third boy go? It is never revealed. Fake Sam and Fake Dean only burned two sets of bones, though, and so this third ghost is presumably a loose end, as is the scalped boy’s ghost.

The horror over, the next morning Sam and Dean thank Fake Sam and Fake Dean for their assistance. Fake Sam and Fake Dean reveal their names to be Barnes and Damien (a bit of fan service there – Barnes and Damien are the names of the Supernatural recap writer and a mod over at Television Without Pity). Fake Dean explains to Dean that Supernatural is great because “we have normal lives that suck. We get to live vicariously through these fantastic books.” (Paraphrasing there, but that’s the gist of it).

While Dean is listening to how great Supernatural is, Sam is off to the side conversing with Chuck and Becky. Apropos of nothing, Becky gives Sam a hot lead on the location of the Colt: when Bella stole the mystical gun, she did not give it to Lilith as she had claimed. Instead, she gave it to Lilith’s right-hand man and possible lover, Crowley. Sam and Dean drive off, their quest for the Colt revitalized with this piece of new information.

The real reason for this episode was not to tell the story of Letitia Gore, of course, it was just to provide a backdrop for the episode’s primary purpose: making fun of its fans. As a fan, I found myself a little offended. It reminded me of that classic Shatner SNL skit, only I felt like I was one of the fans in the audience being told to “Get a life!”

I know I’m going to be in the minority, but for that reason I didn’t particularly care for this episode. I was even a little put off by it. (I love Supernatural, generally, so this is definitely the exception to the rule for me). While I have no problem when Supernatural lampoons itself, or makes fun of other shows (as they do with their Ghostfacers parody of Ghost Hunters), I do take some umbrage when they make fun of their fans. I think it is one thing for fans to make fun of themselves, but it is another for a show to be the one doing so. I’m not a ghost hunter, so I enjoy the Ghostfacer episodes. But I am a fan, and so I cringe when the show mocks fans. It comes off as condescending, even though I know it is supposed to be good-natured. Across the web, I’ve seen very few other people take this view. Most, in fact, seem to view the episode as something of a “love letter” from Kripke to his fans. If it is a love letter, then I argue it is tough love. I’d shudder to read one of his poison-pen missives. The episode certainly is a love letter to the show itself, but I question whether it is one to the fans, as well.

While I understand that the portrayal of the fans doesn’t fall far from the mark, and while I recognize that the fans weren’t necessarily portrayed in a bad light (well, at least sort of), and while some of the humor really was funny, when I laughed it was kind of in an uncomfortable “I’m laughing, even though I know the joke is on me” sort of way. I saw the episode not so much as fan service but more as fan dis-service. I think the episode was a commentary on fandom, and specifically Supernatural fandom. The only question, for me, would be whether the show was casting the fans in a positive light or a negative one. I’d argue that the principal Fake Sam and Dean of this episode were portrayed positively, but Becky is a pretty negative depiction. However, I’m very open to being convinced otherwise.

I’m trying to understand why I feel the way I do about the episode, so I’d really welcome the opportunity to engage any readers in dialog, down below in the comments section. The best I can come up to explain my feelings is: (1) I consider myself a fan of the show; (2) I wasn’t comfortable looking in the mirror the show held up; (3) therefore, I didn’t care for the episode. Using a different metaphor: I’ve never really liked any caricatures I’ve had drawn of myself, although I can appreciate the artistry behind them. I appreciated this episode, but I didn’t like the caricature it painted of me as a fan. I suspect the more accurate you feel the portrayal of the fans is, the less you may feel like the show was poking fun?

The episode featured a whole row of parked Metallicars, but I’m only going to give it 2.