S06.E15: The French Mistake

[Guest]

Dean and Sam find themselves in an alternate reality where everyone believes they are two actors named Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, who star in a TV show called Supernatural about two brothers who hunt monsters.

 

 

[DittyDotDot]

What's happening!!!....WHAT'S HAPPENING!? Hee!

 

The way into this universe is rather clunky, IMO and a great deal of it is just fan service, but I really don't care, it's just good clean diversionary fun. Dean's disgust at the fake Babys; Sam and Dean acting; Misha in his cardigan and texting; fake Ruby; Cliff; super Serge; curmudgeonly Singer; and Krike's most awesome and gruesome death. It's just a lot of clever fun even though I wouldn't categorize it as best of the season. And let's be honest, an atrocity was happening. ;)

[Iguana]

Yes. This is not my favorite episode but it was fun to watch. The boys had some great WTF reactions and I liked how they were willing to make fun of themselves.

[rue721]

When I was trying to watch this episode last time, I just had it playing in the background as I was doing something -- but when the guys and Misha Collins were trying to act out that scene for 32+ takes, and Dean kept stiffly gliding forward toward his mark while looking like a constipated penguin, and then Sam's hands were floating up all in front of his face as he was trying to get through his lines -- I cracked up laughing and ended up actually watching most of the rest of it.

 

Also, I thought it was really fun that they brought back Genevieve Cortese to play Jared Padalecki's wife. Pure fan service, but I loved that she was game and did it.

[bethy]

Rewatching this one today and just had to note how much I love the scene where they come out of the studio and see the Impala. Dean says, "At least my baby made it," and in the background Sam takes this huge breath of relief. Like he's as happy she's there as Dean in. I thought it was really sweet, and a nice moment by Jared. 

[mertensia]

Oh I adore this episode. Dean's build up to "you MARRIED fake Ruby?" always has me in stitches as does the whole trying to act bit culminating in Sam's "Who wrote this? Nobody says penultimate! "

Plus that flat "huh" response from the Sera voice actress.

[AwesomO4000]

...and Krike's most awesome and gruesome death.

I loved that part, the way he just kept going forward like "He can't be shooting me, Eric Kripke. I am trying to help him." And then Serge dodging the bullet. So much to love in this episode, and every time I see it, I see something new. And I found crewmember Kevin even more amusing this time around.

[mertensia]

Who can forget the classic "No, seriously: who'd want to watch us?"

"Well, according to the interviewer not many people do".

Also "it's an alpaca, dumbass".

[catrox14]

Sam: "If there's a lock then there must be a key....I would imagine".... with awkward hand gestures

s11 spoilers ...

(Lock and key: I'm still entertaining the notion s11 is set in the French Mistake AU)

[Dobian]

I never laughed so hard at a Supernatural episode as I did at this one.  Brian Doyle Murray all WTF as Sam and Dean floundered in front of the cameras.  Misha with his tweeting to his "Mishamigos", and the R-O-T-F-L-M-A-O over Sam and Dean's scene.  "Fake Ruby", who of course Jared is really married to.  And the ultimate joke behind it all, that the fake universe Balthazar put them is was in fact our own.

[DittyDotDot]

I gotta stop screwing around and go home and watch this episode...you inspired me @Dobian!

[bethy]

Oh my gosh, this episode. It's on TNT right now, and I have watched and rewatched the "acting" scene multiple times, laughing out loud over and over.

Sam: *if there's a key there must be a lock dialogue*

Dean in the gruffest, deepest smoker-voice voice ever: We need to get all three of that crap.

Sam: What?

Dean, under his breath: That's how he talks. *hilarious little grimace*

Sam: Oh!

It was Dean's little grimace that got me this time. And I always love Dean trying to direct Sam in that scene. 

Edited February 7, 2017 by bethy

[AwesomO4000]

I watched this this afternoon as well when I was supposed to be getting ready to go to work. I just had to get to the part where Kripke dies, gunned down in slow-mo as the sad western music plays.

1 hour ago, bethy said:

And I always love Jensen trying to direct Sam in that scene. 

I know. Even as he messes up himself. I love when he says "Dean, grimly..." instead of realizing that that is the stage direction. Hee.

This episode has some great deadpan Sam lines, too, which is one of my favorite things.

"Who wrote this? Nobody says penultimate!"

Clif (concerning picking up the package): We're not doing anything illegal, are we?
Sam: Would it make you feel better if we said "no?"
Clif: No.

And my favorite blink-and-you'll-miss-it:
Misha (looking at the package): Ooh! "Priority." What's in it?
Sam: I bought part of a dead person.
Misha: Oh, Cool.

[bethy]

13 minutes ago, AwesomO4000 said:

Sam: I bought part of a dead person.

I think I had missed this on previous viewings, and it made me laugh out loud (again) this time around. So good.  

Jared was great in this episode. When he jerks that key out of Misha's hand when they realize he's not Cass? He's so annoyed and disgusted. Perfect. But then he's so out of his depth and bewildered in the scene at the house with fake Ruby when he and Dean are trying to figure out what's going on. "I should probably find out her name."

[sarthaz]

If there's a key, then there has to be a lock, and when we find the lock, we can get the weapons, and then we can have the weapons ...

And the lock. We'll still have the lock, I imagine, because we've opened it ...

And of course, the original key.

Probably my favorite scene of the whole series.

[Myrelle]

I love this episode. This one, Hollywood Babylon, Monster Movie, and Changing Channels, are the cream of the crop as far as the funny episodes go for me. The Monster at the End of the Book used to be up there too, but they subsequently completely ruined that one for me with some of the later episodes; and the final nail in the coffin was when they turned Chuck into God and informed us that he'd always been God and as such was just "method acting" in all of his previous episodes. What a foolish writing choice and decision, IMO. Still not over it.

The "Dean, grimly" line from the acting scene in this one was the one that did me in completely. I LOL at it and that entire scene every single time that I re-watch it. So many great lines in this one, but that one, "Gun. Mouth. Now." and "That's fake me. This must be fake mine." are imprinted on my brain.

This episode, along with the others I mentioned, weren't just well-written, they were also very cleverly written, too. THAT'S the thing that I think I miss the most from the earlier seasons concerning the writing. The only episode that I can think of in the latter seasons(post the episode The End, that is) that even comes close to that level of writing to me was The Werther Box. But alas, Berens somehow mysteriously devolved into the typical Supernatural writer pretty soon after that one-again, IMO. Such a shame.

Edited February 4, 2017 by Myrelle

[Katy M]

On ‎2‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 8:50 AM, Myrelle said:

and the final nail in the coffin was when they turned Chuck into God and informed us that he'd always been God and as such was just "method acting" in all of his previous episodes. What a foolish writing choice and decision, IMO. Still not over it.

Oh, good, I thought it was just me.

 

On ‎2‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 8:50 AM, Myrelle said:

The "Dean, grimly" line from the acting scene in this one was the one that did me in completely. I LOL at it and that entire scene every single time that I re-watch it. So many great lines in this one, but that one, "Gun. Mouth. Now." and "That's fake me. This must be fake mine." are imprinted on my brain.

I wasn't all that crazy about the episode, just because I thought it kind of didn't make sense, but you had to love the acting scene.  It was just so hysterical.  You kind of had to feel bad for Bob Singer, even if he wasn't the most likeable character in the world.  I also loved their scene with him when he told them they couldn't come to work on "poppers" and couldn't make up their own lines and Sam told him off and Bob had this hurt look on his face and Dean called Sam my brother.  But, in general, I'm not a fan of alternate universes, so the episode, much as I love to laugh at parts of it, does not work for me as a whole.

[catrox14]

I'm just patiently waiting for the episode where Jared and Jensen were swapped out with Sam and Dean and are freaking out about being in the middle of a hunt. I want that badly.

[sarthaz]

29 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

I'm just patiently waiting for the episode where Jared and Jensen were swapped out with Sam and Dean and are freaking out about being in the middle of a hunt. I want that badly.

Could be tricky, considering that Jared and Jensen aren't talking to each other.

[catrox14]

13 minutes ago, sarthaz said:

Could be tricky, considering that Jared and Jensen aren't talking to each other.

LOL, you just made it even better! They have to start talking to each other to figure out how to survive

[bethy]

Is there a gif out there of the Bob Singer character saying, "What is happening?" With or without the guy saying, "A tragedy is what is happening." 

That's the voice in my head when I think or read that, and I can't find one on the interwebs, and I don't know how to make one.

[RulerofallIsurvey]

I watched this again last night - this is probably the third time I've watched it.  First time through was before I'd watched much of SPN at all, so I didn't get a lot of the jokes.  Second time through was in the regular course of binge watching all of SPN.  Now I'm going back and skipping through a few early seasons and episodes.  So watching it this time, it was probably the funniest it's ever been.  I know a lot of folks don't like the meta episodes, but I think SPN does some of its best work when it doesn't take itself too seriously and has fun with that.  Just adore the 'acting' scene (Jared and Jensen playing Sam and Dean playing 'Jared' and 'Jensen' playing Sam and Dean was perfect)- especially when Dean tells Sam not to look at the camera and then the next take Sam's looking up all over the place while he delivers the lines.  Hilarious.  I might have to watch that again tonight.  :D

[Hanahope]

On 5/8/2016 at 4:46 PM, Dobian said:

I never laughed so hard at a Supernatural episode as I did at this one.  Brian Doyle Murray all WTF as Sam and Dean floundered in front of the cameras.  Misha with his tweeting to his "Mishamigos", and the R-O-T-F-L-M-A-O over Sam and Dean's scene.  "Fake Ruby", who of course Jared is really married to.  And the ultimate joke behind it all, that the fake universe Balthazar put them is was in fact our own.

So I was wondering while watching this exactly how much of it was real life.  It was friggin hilarious.  

And I see from another post that Jared and Jensen really weren't talking to each other, at least at this time.  I assume they eventually made up, since there's several more seasons here.  I can appreciate how someone can act with another person, especially in this type of show where they are related and working together all the time, when one doesn't get along with their co-worker, but I can't see that being really feasible for years/seasons.  (I know that several seasons of the Good Wife had two actors who hated each other - oh really only one - but the story didn't require them to shoot scenes together so they could always be on the set at different times and not have to act with each other).

  Was Jared married to "fake ruby" during shooting, or is that just how they met and they eventually dated/married.

And Misha was the best, even better because he was so different from Cass.  Too bad "Bobby" wasn't there too.

[DittyDotDot]

8 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

And I see from another post that Jared and Jensen really weren't talking to each other, at least at this time.  I assume they eventually made up, since there's several more seasons here.  I can appreciate how someone can act with another person, especially in this type of show where they are related and working together all the time, when one doesn't get along with their co-worker, but I can't see that being really feasible for years/seasons.

Oh no, that poster was making a joke. Jared and Jensen are really, really good friends, they were never not talking to each other. 

13 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

Was Jared married to "fake ruby" during shooting, or is that just how they met and they eventually dated/married.

Jared and Genevieve--fake Ruby--met on set and started dating after S4. They'd been married about a year when this episode aired.

[Hanahope]

15 minutes ago, DittyDotDot said:

Jared and Genevieve--fake Ruby--met on set and started dating after S4. They'd been married about a year when this episode aired.

That's pretty cool (and I'm sure broke a lot of fangirls' hearts).  Are they still married?

It was funny seeing Dean be so happy about having a lot of money.  Too bad they didn't keep a credit card, lol.

They must have had a lot of fun on the set doing this episode.

[DittyDotDot]

9 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

That's pretty cool (and I'm sure broke a lot of fangirls' hearts).  Are they still married?

Oh, you have no idea. Jensen also got married around the same time and it too broke many a fangirls' hearts.

But, yes, Jared and Gen are still married. They recently welcomed their third child into the world. By all accounts, both Jared and Jensen are pretty grounded actors and good husbands and fathers.

12 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

They must have had a lot of fun on the set doing this episode.

I think they have a lot of fun on set for almost every episode! ;) 

[Hanahope]

That's great to hear about their families.  Hope it keeps up.

[bettername2come]

"Should we be killing anybody?" "Oh, crap. I'm a painted whore." I love Dean's reaction to the names. Misha has me pondering...Is it pronounced "J-squared" or "J-2"? Are both correct? Is there a fanfic out of there with Jared finding out Sam hooked up with Genevieve? It's funny to hear them all going "season 6" knowing that's less than halfway through the show's run. I'd forgotten the guys threw themselves through the window when they tried to make the spell work. "I'm not sure Jared and Jensen know who she is." "He sold Octocobra?" Poor Misha. Weird that the blood phone call gets reception from that universe. Love Kripke's death music as he keeps walking forward. . And that guy that just leans out of the gunfire and walks away. I'm growing more and more convinced that Balthazar only exists because they regretted killing off Gabriel. This plot and Balthazar's next plot easily could have worked for a more serious Gabriel who wasn't shirking heavenly responsibilities. 

[Wayward Son]

I'm really not a fan of this one! I don't actively dislike it, but I mostly find it meh and find myself doing other things while it airs. The only scenes I really like are the Kripke slow motion death with Western music, the boys and their numerous takes and the build up to "you married fake Ruby"

 

My biggest complaints about the episode are the lack of logic. They could make blood calls in a magicless universe... Really show? And the scene which heavily implies Sam and Genevieve had sex. Considering the fact she didn't know who he was there are major consent issues there and just ew! 

Edited August 18, 2017 by Wayward Son

[Katy M]

44 minutes ago, Wayward Son said:

I'm really not a fan of this one! I don't actively dislike it, but I mostly find it meh and find myself doing other things while it airs. The only scenes I really like are the Kripke slow motion death with Western music, the boys and their numerous takes and the build up to "you married fake Ruby"

 

My biggest complaints about the episode are the lack of logic. They could make blood calls in a magicless universe... Really show? And the scene which heavily implies Sam and Genevieve had sex. Considering the fact she didn't know who he was there are major consent issues there and just ew! 

I agree with most of this, but I've also decided that that alternate universe doesn't really exist. Balthazar created it just to throw the boys in. So, if Genevieve wasn't real, it doesn't really matter.  Or, if you can't go with that, we really don't know what they did when they got upstairs.  They could have just gone to sleep.

But, you are absolutely right about the blood call.  If nothing works, then nothing should work. 

[Wayward Son]

7 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I agree with most of this, but I've also decided that that alternate universe doesn't really exist. Balthazar created it just to throw the boys in. So, if Genevieve wasn't real, it doesn't really matter.  Or, if you can't go with that, we really don't know what they did when they got upstairs.  They could have just gone to sleep.

But, you are absolutely right about the blood call.  If nothing works, then nothing should work. 

I agree that it could easily go both ways! One could go with Sam made up some excuse not to go through with it and they just slept, or one can believe they had sex together! Either way, I really dislike the fact that the scene was written in a way that left that ambiguity there, and IMO it was filmed in a way that implies they did go through with it. If Edlund didn't want us to think it happened I'd have preferred something like "I'm really not in the mood tonight. I'm really beat" or something to explicitly shows us Sam said no.

 

I have personally chosen to live in denial land and assume Sam put a stop to things, but I can definitely see why others view it differently. 

Edited August 18, 2017 by Wayward Son

[AwesomO4000]

On 8/18/2017 at 7:57 PM, Wayward Son said:

If Edlund didn't want us to think it happened I'd have preferred something like "I'm really not in the mood tonight. I'm really beat" or something to explicitly shows us Sam said no.

Well, they did have Sam say "I was up all night, looking online," so maybe that covers it?

[catrox14]

1 minute ago, AwesomO4000 said:

Well, they did have Sam say "I was up all night, looking online," so maybe that covers it?

I always took that as a euphemism for bumping fuzzies.

[AwesomO4000]

12 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

I always took that as a euphemism for bumping fuzzies.

But then Sam actually explained all of the stuff he looked up... it's how he figured out that the reason their spell didn't work was because maybe there wasn't any supernatural or magic in their current universe. Apparently he researched apocalypses, ghosts, demons, and monsters and couldn't find anything concrete. I think Sam was being serious about doing online research all night. If there was actual bumping of fuzzies, I would more expect Sam would've fallen asleep rather than do research. Cliche, but generally for a reason. ; )

[catrox14]

9 minutes ago, AwesomO4000 said:

But then Sam actually explained all of the stuff he looked up... it's how he figured out that the reason their spell didn't work was because maybe there wasn't any supernatural or magic in their current universe. Apparently he researched apocalypses, ghosts, demons, and monsters and couldn't find anything concrete. I think Sam was being serious about doing online research all night. If there was actual bumping of fuzzies, I would more expect Sam would've fallen asleep rather than do research. Cliche, but generally for a reason. ; )

It's not like Sam had to be bumping fuzzies all night LOL. I mean he was probably pretty excited and took care of business in an hour and then did the research. 

I know it's awful to think Sam would do that but I don't think the show thought twice about it being creepy and gross. And it wouldn't be the first time they did something like that.

[AwesomO4000]

3 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

It's not like Sam had to be bumping fuzzies all night LOL. I mean he was probably pretty excited and took care of business in an hour and then did the research. 

Depends on which Sam you've got... Madison era Sam was definitely an allnighter kinda guy. Season 4 Sam... enh pretty wham bam thank you mam. Soulless Sam looked like the Energizer Bunny.

But since it's re-souled Sam, I'm gonna go with Sam not indulging... if nothing else than because he wouldn't need Ruby flashbacks... and he'd maybe wonder if real Jared would come back at some point and that wouldn't be good.

Even if you are likely right about Ben Edlund not really considering the messiness of it. Is there a commentary for the episode that might shed light on the subject? Then again, nevermind... I wouldn't want to know, and this way I can stay blissfully ignorant.

[catrox14]

Just now, AwesomO4000 said:

But since it's re-souled Sam, I'm gonna go with Sam not indulging... if nothing else than because he wouldn't need Ruby flashbacks... and he'd maybe wonder if real Jared would come back at some point and that wouldn't be good.

I would think those Ruby flashbacks would have happened the moment she kissed him and he didn't seem to be freaked out over that. 

[Wayward Son]

28 minutes ago, AwesomO4000 said:

Depends on which Sam you've got... Madison era Sam was definitely an allnighter kinda guy. Season 4 Sam... enh pretty wham bam thank you mam. Soulless Sam looked like the Energizer Bunny.

But since it's re-souled Sam, I'm gonna go with Sam not indulging... if nothing else than because he wouldn't need Ruby flashbacks... and he'd maybe wonder if real Jared would come back at some point and that wouldn't be good.

Even if you are likely right about Ben Edlund not really considering the messiness of it. Is there a commentary for the episode that might shed light on the subject? Then again, nevermind... I wouldn't want to know, and this way I can stay blissfully ignorant.

There is a commentary, but I haven't listened! Good point about checking it. I'll try and do that later today to see if it gives any insight :)

[sarthaz]

On 8/20/2017 at 3:11 AM, Wayward Son said:

There is a commentary, but I haven't listened! Good point about checking it. I'll try and do that later today to see if it gives any insight :)

If there's a commentary, then there has to be an answer.  And when we find the answer, we can get the insight, and then we can have the insight. And the answer. We'll still have the answer, I imagine, because we've listened to it, and of course, the initial commentary.

[Katy M]

There is a commentary which I did watch.  Robert Singer and Sera Gamble did it, I think.  They didn't mention whether or not sex actually happened.  I actually don't remember much of what they were talking about, but besides Jared and Jensen they are my favorite pair for doing the commentaries.  They really seem like they're having fun. 

The only thing I really remember is Sera originally played herself as the voice on the phone, but they had to recast because she didn't sound bitchy enough.  That, and I think they said Gen looked beautiful.  But, if they had mentioned what really happened upstairs, I promise I would remember.

[DittyDotDot]

I've listened to the commentary--it's Edlund, Gamble and Singer--but it's been a very long time. I too don't remember what they said about the sex. They may have been talking about something else right then because I remember there was quite a bit of discussion surrounding whether Jared had actually been in a Western before or if that image was something the art department totally made up. I do remember Ben Edlund was mightily amused by the idea Fake Jared would have so many giant images of himself on the wall.

Oh, and I also remember some commentary over the line, "You named a character after yourself, what kinda douchebag does that?" Singer made the comment that Ben just called him a douchebag and Edlund tried to say it was wasn't him...it was the character, or something. It was a cute exchange.

They also tease Ben about how everyone seemed to be represented except the writer.

What I remember most about the commentary is them talking about how Misha called Ben and told him to PLEASE make Fake Misha a huge asshole. Misha was very excited about the whole thing, it seems.

It's a fun commentary.

36 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Robert Singer and Sera Gamble did it, I think.  They didn't mention whether or not sex actually happened.  I actually don't remember much of what they were talking about, but besides Jared and Jensen they are my favorite pair for doing the commentaries.  They really seem like they're having fun. 

Singer and Gamble complement each other nicely because they both have that dry humor and don't take themselves too seriously. I love anytime Edlund gets on a commentary, too.

[catrox14]

11 hours ago, sarthaz said:

If there's a commentary, then there has to be an answer.  And when we find the answer, we can get the insight, and then we can have the insight. And the answer. We'll still have the answer, I imagine, because we've listened to it, and of course, the initial commentary.

[sarthaz]

The alpaca photo next to the wedding photo on Jared's mantle is everything.

[AwesomO4000]

Hee. Well, they are the greenest animal. ; )

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, AwesomO4000 said:

Hee. Well, they are the greenest animal. ; )

I know this would have been the stupidest line in TV history, but for some reason I wish Dean would have said, "I thought frogs were the greenest animal."

[sarthaz]

One of my favorite "actor stuff" scenes is from Wayne's World, when Wayne and Garth can't do a silent countdown.  It just occurred to me that there's a link from that scene to this episode: Brian Doyle-Murray.  (Note Kurt Fuller manning the booth as well)

 

[Iju]

i thought this would be hard to watch considering how almost 4th wall breaking it was, but i think on the third commercial break i had gotten used to it. misha squealing at the angel's hands was way too funny, and sam's looking anywhere but the camera had to make me cover my mouth before i woke everyone up. the most that stuck in my bead though was jared's huge cowboy photo that sam was sitting in front of, lol.

and i'm going to take the running phrase of "at least they're talking again" as a joke/fiction? that wasn't real was it?

[catrox14]

On 8/21/2017 at 10:55 AM, sarthaz said:

If there's a commentary, then there has to be an answer.  And when we find the answer, we can get the insight, and then we can have the insight. And the answer. We'll still have the answer, I imagine, because we've listened to it, and of course, the initial commentary.

This is still the funniest comment in this entire thread. Gold. Brilliant comedy gold. Well fucking done, @sarthaz

[sarthaz]

On 4/30/2018 at 1:57 AM, catrox14 said:

This is still the funniest comment in this entire thread. Gold. Brilliant comedy gold. Well fucking done, @sarthaz

LOL. Thanks. It must be good, because it made me laugh out loud when I re-read it! :)  I love that Colbert high-five btw.

[AwesomO4000]

On 4/28/2018 at 12:20 PM, Iju said:

and i'm going to take the running phrase of "at least they're talking again" as a joke/fiction? that wasn't real was it?

No not real. Just a joke. Jared and Jensen are good friends.