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Supernatural Season Eight Episode Thirteen “ Everybody Hates Hitler” TV REVIEW
Episode 8.13
Writer: Ben Edlund
Director: Philip Sgriccia
THE ONE WHERE The brothers and a Golem team up to take down a Nazi necromancer.
VERDICT Nazis. I hate these guys… Sci-fi TV seems to love ‘em though. Doctor Who , Misfits , Grimm and now Supernatural have all tackled WWII’s Big Bad Blackshirts in recent years, with varying degrees of success. And it’s easy to see why, they’re a perfect fit for fighting the Winchesters. For starters, there are few things more black and white in this world than how much everyone hates Hitler, but more importantly, their infamous occult dealings weave neatly into Supernatural’s revisionist, mystical slant on history.
As it happens, the Nazis aren’t a particularly big part of this week’s episode. By the time we’re back in present day Kansas the perma-young necromancers have formed the Thule Society, one that will go to any length to protect its secrets, including incinerating a rabbi in public in one of the episode’s most shocking moments.
The real highlight of this week’s tall tale, however, is John DeSantis’ towering clay man. To say his Golem makes an impression would be like saying the Nazis were a bit mean. Whenever he’s on screen you can’t take your eyes off him and the way he stomps round the room during simple dialogue sequences is strangely hypnotic. If there’s one thing Supernatural still does better than almost any show on the airwaves, it’s memorable side characters.
With Ben Edlund on scripting duties, as you’d expect the dialogue zings from moment to moment, and the episode has a superb premise, but the necromancers are a bit rubbish (where are the armies of undead?) and the perfunctory ending feels more like a comma than a full stop on this story. Fine for the season arc, but it gives this otherwise superb tale and underwhelming aftertaste.
IT’S WOSSISNAME! DeSantis (the Golem) also starred in classic Supernatural season three episode “Ghostfacers” as ghost Freeman Daggett.
A CHANGE OF SCENERY So the brothers have their own batcave? About damn time! How fed up must everyone on that show be of motel rooms by now?
LMAO
Dean: “ Ow, my spleen.”
TITLE TATTLE The episode title is a play on the title of Chris Rock’s sitcom Everybody Hates Chris which in turn was a play on the title of Ray Romano’s sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond .
BEHIND THE SCENES For a nice insight into Adam Rose’s (Aaron Bass) experience filming this week’s episode, check out his Twitter feed where he live-tweeted the first airing on 6 February. Also, top marks to Misha Collins for this tweet:
Good for Supernatural for being brave enough to take a controversial political stance on air tonight by denouncing Nazis.
FEATURED MUSIC "Love High" by Dude Royal can be heard in the bar while Rabbi Bass is there; " Get Thee Behind Me, Satan " by Ella Fitzgerald plays while Sam and Dean first explore the bunker; and " Sunny Side of the Street " by Frankie Laine can be heard during the final scene in the bunker.
CHARACTER Dean’s always been a fan of a good shower, stretching right back to the notorious season one episode “Bugs” where he was delighted to be standing in a steam shower. Guess that’s what happens when you spend your life moving from crappy motel to motel.
HISTORY LESSON The Golem says it was raised in the Vitsyebsk Ghetto. This ghetto was a city in Belarus called Vitebsk which fell under Nazi occupation in July 1941. Most of the 16,000 local Jews were killed in the Vitebsk massacre.
SAM’S HANGDOG FUNNY EXPRESSION OF THE WEEK
DEAN WISECRACKING “ Well, now we know; paper beats golem, fire beats undead Nazi Zombie freaks.”
BEST LINE
Aaron: “Everybody loves bacon!”
Read all our Supernatural Season Eight reviews so far here.
