Cast: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Jim  Beaver
Writer: Ben Edlund
Director: Charles Beeson
Network: The CW, Thursdays at 9 p.m
Original Telecast: February 25, 2011

SUPERNATURAL is unique in that it not only has no problem making fun of itself, but it actually lives for it.

“The French Mistake” was indeed one of those times where Balthazar sends the Winchester boys to an alternate dimension where Sam (Jared Padalecki) is named Jared Padalecki and Dean (Jensen Ackles) is named Jensen Ackles. Where Misha Collins is just an actor playing Castiel and there are no vampires, werewolves, demons or angels.

While it begs the question how an angel could actually send the boys to a place where no angels exist that really is minor to the overall episode’s enjoyment that brought to life pretty much all the nasty comments anyone has ever really said about the show.

Some of these were no doubt very “inside” and some came from the fans and message boards no doubt, but that still didn’t make it any less fun.

Some of the digs included:

• Ackles’ time spent working on DAYS OF OUR LIVES
• What kind of a name is Misha anyway?
• Padalecki’s apparent vast wealth
• Ackles pretty much the same person he is on set
• That Bobby Singer is named after the producer named Bobby Singer.
• Misha Collins’ tweeting habit (apparently I need to follow him).
• That Padalecki is indeed married to Genevieve Cortese
• That the fans, nor the cast and crew, realize that Eric Kripke is no longer calling the shots and have no clue who Sera Gamble is.
• And a dig that was a theme for the entire episode that both Ackles and Padalecki don’t like each other and rarely talk. Now, I don’t read message boards or fan sites so I gotta imagine this is some rumor or something that was circulating through the boards.

I’m sure there are numerous others that I missed, but you get the point. It was one rib after another about the boys and the show itself. I found most of it hilarious, however, I kept thinking why did they even have this episode? Did they need to poke fun at themselves? Would the fans really care? Or was it more because they could do it because SUPERNATURAL has always had free reign to do whatever kind of episode they want (Check out “Monster Movie” or “The Real Ghostbusters” if you don’t believe me).

Because they have already done the fan fiction aspect as shown in Season Five (and much to the discomfort of the Winchester boys), so maybe this was just a way to amuse themselves and just maybe get a laugh out of the fans even if they do not “get” everything. Still this show has a great knack for being funny and this didn’t change despite how inside it might be.

The only real part of the SUPERNATURAL mythology that really mattered from this episode was that Castiel now indeed has the weapons of God and that he is in league with Balthazar now in the fight against Raphael (now in female form) in the battle for Heaven. I guess we’ll see how it plays out for the final few episodes coming up.

AGREE? DISAGREE? Leave a comment below and let us know what YOU thought about this episode.

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