S03.E13: Ghostfacers

[DittyDotDot]

Sam and Dean find themselves on a reality TV show Ghostfacers – and in real danger.

 

I really liked the concept of this episode the first time out. Over time though, I think the concept has worn a bit thin, but still a good solid episode. A lot of silly fun and typical Edlund wacky...what else could you ask for from this show? I'm generally amused by the Ghostfacers as the most annoying hunter wannabes ever and I like the addition of Spruce and Maggie. The Ghostfacers intro to the show is so absolutely obnoxious that it's actually rather humorous and I think the parts of Ed and Harry walking slow in order to mimic slow motion makes me laugh no matter how many times  I see it. I enjoy how Sam and Dean get drawn into this "show" they are making and I love how Dean plays along with these guys to make them feel better and make working the case easier. Dean is such a great con-artist at times. I'm personally not too fond of the bleep-over cussing gag--not because I have an aversion to cussing or anything like that and I get what they were trying to do I just find the bleeping itself distracting--but its a minor quibble for me, so not really that bad. Overall, a solid and enjoyable episode, IMO.

[supposebly]

I only ever watch the scene when they erase all their hard drives. At least I can pretend it never happened. I wish I could erase this episode from my brain too.

[mertensia]

Personally I find the one Ghostfacer freaking out at finding out that Corbett had a crush on him to be very true to life. I can think of two or three in my former social group who would have acted about that way. Sure they were all "of course I don't have anything against gays" when you were talking but yeah. They really meant "in the academic sense where I just talk about them and don't have to, you know, talk to them. (A major reason they are my former social circle.) They'd have freaked out.

I like the episode ; Spruce and Maggie do add a lot though as someone else wondered- I swear on this board but maybe not- if all those people were killed by Daggett why aren't there more bodies at the table?

[AwesomO4000]

... though as someone else wondered- I swear on this board but maybe not- if all those people were killed by Daggett why aren't there more bodies at the table?

 

Good point, because Sam did say that the other bodies were never found. But it could be because Dagget is a ghost now and can't leave the house, the new "arrivals" to his party can't be preserved - either through Dagget's taxidermy or morgue means, since he can't get supplies - so the ghost eventually disposes of them somewhere else? And that's why he keeps needing to get new party-goers, because only those original three were preserved.

 

I really liked the concept of this episode the first time out. Over time though, I think the concept has worn a bit thin, but still a good solid episode. A lot of silly fun and typical Edlund wacky...what else could you ask for from this show? I'm generally amused by the Ghostfacers as the most annoying hunter wannabes ever and I like the addition of Spruce and Maggie. The Ghostfacers intro to the show is so absolutely obnoxious that it's actually rather humorous and I think the parts of Ed and Harry walking slow in order to mimic slow motion makes me laugh no matter how many times  I see it. I enjoy how Sam and Dean get drawn into this "show" they are making and I love how Dean plays along with these guys to make them feel better and make working the case easier. Dean is such a great con-artist at times.

 

I agree. It's one of my favorite Dean episodes for the reasons you mentioned. For me, it really explores how Dean tries to get inside/understand the "civilians" so that he can better work the case and keep them safe. I loved how Dean just went along with talking to Maggie and Spruce through the camera because he found out that it makes them feel better. And it was a nice detail that Sam - who didn't learn that detail first-hand - never really seemed as comfortable talking to them through the camera. I also liked how Sam tried to help Corbett and not let him be alone when he died. His trying to keep the situation from being a horrible as it was and distract Corbett was for me a nice throwback to what Sam learned in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Pt 1."

 

For me there were a lot of nice little details in this episode. I loved the theme song and the setting up the equipment montage music and the way it was shot. The death echo stuff was interesting - exposition without being just boring talking ("Wake up! Be Dead!") and the somewhat claustrophobic feel. An all around enjoyable episode for me.

[Hanahope]

I also thought it was a mostly humorous episode, tho sad for Corbett.  I too wondered what happened to all the othe people who "disappeared" from the house, where did their bodies go?  A little niggling detail.  And hey, it was the Ghostfacers who figured out how to stop the ghost, not Sam and Dean.  I almost felt sorry for them when Dean ruined their video.  Always keep an offsite backup guys.  

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, Hanahope said:

I too wondered what happened to all the othe people who "disappeared" from the house, where did their bodies go?

IIRC, there were several decomposed corpses sitting around the table with birthday hats on.

[DittyDotDot]

2 hours ago, Hanahope said:

 I too wondered what happened to all the othe people who "disappeared" from the house, where did their bodies go?

I'd guess Sam and Dean would've burned their corpses, but the Ghostfacers felt like that wasn't something they should include in their pitch to the network suits...I dunno.

[bettername2come]

The tone of the "Ghostfacers" really fits with the tone of supernaturally themed "reality" shows. They always nail the look of the themed episodes. I'd forgotten the dig at the Writer's Strike at the beginning. Dark days, that strike. The dad opening the garage door in the middle of their meeting and "not cops, just hicks" at Sam and Dean riding by are two of my favorite parts. I love that Ed calls Dean "chisel chest." And that Dean actually tried to bribe them out of the house by offering to buy them ice cream. Sam and Dean cussing amuses me far too much. Angry Sam getting a birthday hat put on him is one of the funniest and most bizarre moments of the series. It's interesting how Dean and Sam connect with the civilians so differently. It's nice to see Dean as the sympathetic one for once. It's so weird to see the credits in the final scene, and the final scene looks so much prettier after watching the rest of the show in "reality" mode. Genius trick with the EMP at the end, but I can't blame them for thinking the boys are dicks.

Even Ed gets a single man tear on this show.

[Mulva]

So what happened to Corbett's body?  Did they leave him in the house?  Or did they try to explain to sceptical cops that he was killed by a ghost?

[Katy M]

21 minutes ago, Mulva said:

So what happened to Corbett's body?  Did they leave him in the house?  Or did they try to explain to sceptical cops that he was killed by a ghost?

I imagine they salted and burned him.  And the rest of the bodies, too.

[Iju]

i never thought i'd say this but i'm so happy to hear dean and sam (but especially dean) curse. dean (externally anyway) is the classic american guy. playboy, happy-go-lucky, extroverted, he even looks a porn. but he doesn't swear or uses baby swear words? i know that their characters are forced to do this because of TV censorship and for that reason i especially loved that the writers let loose on dean and sam because they are real people. on reality TV where they are "uncensored". my favourite is when dean shouted "EVERYONE SHUT THE FXXK UP" haha. looking at dean swear and so constantly was looking at another side of him and i LOOOVED IT. sam swearing was just way too cute though, lol, "HOLY SHXT!" 

 

oh and when the dude's sister wandered off and turned around and saw dean when he tapped her, that scared me too! i had to actually calm down after that lol. overall i liked this episode.

[Jeddah]

I agree about the cursing. Of course Sam and Dean would swear!

I always laugh when Harry says “Aren’t Those the [Bleep] from Texas?”

[DeeDee79]

On ‎2‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 3:24 PM, Hanahope said:

 And hey, it was the Ghostfacers who figured out how to stop the ghost, not Sam and Dean.

Chiming in 2 years too late to say that it was actually Sam and Dean that figured it out. Dean spoke to one of the death echoes and Sam explained how you can sometimes break them out of the loop but there's a better chance if you have a connection to the deceased. The Ghostfacers wouldn't have known how to break Corbetts loop if the Winchesters hadn't given them that info :)

Edited January 15, 2019 by DeeDee79

[The Companion]

Poor Corbett. There were some really great parts of this episode. They really nailed the look and feel of the ghost hunting reality shows. The setting was creepy. The ghost party was creepy and horrible. I will say that the documentary style got a little old for me, but I liked this one overall. 

[pixelcat]

This isn't an episode I usually choose to watch, only coming up if I do an entire season rewatch.  But did rewatch it last week, and despite my thought that I didn't like it, I found it was fairly enjoyable this time around.  It also made me sit up when the ghost came on, because I finally recognized the face!  And you can see when he confronts Sam that the actor is quite a bit taller than Jared (I looked him up, says he's 6'9")

Spoiler

The same actor plays The Golem in S8 "Everybody Hates Hitler"

I know it's mentioned a few places on the forums, but I must've missed every single one.  Anyways, it was a shock for me this time around.

On 6/23/2017 at 10:17 PM, Mulva said:

So what happened to Corbett's body?  Did they leave him in the house?  Or did they try to explain to sceptical cops that he was killed by a ghost?

I did some digging around trying to find the old Ghostfacers website (which seems defunct), and found this blog which I think is/was official?  Basically it implies that the cops were called and Corbett taken to the morgue (along with the other corpses I presume), and they did have a "hunter's funeral" for him but without a body.  It also includes mention that Ed and Harry were later arrested for Corbett's murder (and blamed the Winchesters for destroying the only camera footage that could exonerate them), but subsequently released due to DNA contamination.

You can read the posts here:

https://ghostfacers.wordpress.com/category/blogs/the-harry-angle/

On 8/31/2014 at 6:47 AM, mertensia said:

though as someone else wondered- I swear on this board but maybe not- if all those people were killed by Daggett why aren't there more bodies at the table?

 

On 9/3/2014 at 3:21 PM, AwesomO4000 said:

Sam did say that the other bodies were never found. But it could be because Dagget is a ghost now and can't leave the house, the new "arrivals" to his party can't be preserved - either through Dagget's taxidermy or morgue means, since he can't get supplies - so the ghost eventually disposes of them somewhere else? And that's why he keeps needing to get new party-goers, because only those original three were preserved.

Basically agreeing with @AwesomO4000 here.  I think the three we saw were the three corpses he stole from the morgue and preserved.  Once he became a ghost, he'd kill new victims and add them to the table, then disappear for four years.  When he returned, I'd imagine those same bodies were decomposed down to little more than skeletons.  I like to think as part of his "birthday preparations" every four years he cleaned up the skeletons and tossed them into another room, leaving the table once again ready for more visitors.

I find it interesting that the only death echoes we saw were of those original three corpses.  Other than Corbett, none of his other victims showed up.

And how did I not know there was a short web series with the Ghostfacers?  Ten episodes, each 3-ish minutes long, you can find it on YouTube but I found the Vimeo video was much better quality.

If like me you'd never heard of it and are curious.  I was surprised I enjoyed them quite a bit.  It takes place shortly after the Ghostfacers episode and is done very much in the same style.  So if you didn't like the episode, you probably won't like it either. 

These are also included in the extras of the Season 5 box set.

[Katy M]

23 hours ago, pixelcat said:

Basically agreeing with @AwesomO4000 here.  I think the three we saw were the three corpses he stole from the morgue and preserved. 

Does that happen at the hospital, though?  I would think that would happen at the funeral home, but really never gave it much thought.  What I never understood was why Daggett immediately kills his guests.  If he's lonely, why not keep them alive until they starve to death so they can entertain him?

[ahrtee]

3 minutes ago, Katy M said:

What I never understood was why Daggett immediately kills his guests.  If he's lonely, why not keep them alive until they starve to death so they can entertain him?

The fact that he steals dead bodies (instead of, say, kidnapping--or even talking to--live people) would indicate that he doesn't really want to interact with them.  He just can't relate to people.  The corpses are more like life-size dolls invited to his personal tea party who can be/say whatever he wants them to.