Baby’s Rear View Recap: 11.15 “Beyond the Mat”

This post is about Supernatural episode 11.15 “Beyond the Mat,” written by John Bring and Andrew Dabb and directed by Jerry Wanek.

Spoilers to follow.           

“This is a barn burner, folks.”

This episode opens on a cheap-looking wrestling setup, The Hangman v. Shawn Harley. It’s clear they don’t get along, on or off the mat. After the match there’s a light altercation, but as-yet-unnamed Good Guy Wrestler steps in on the side of the Hangman. Harley threatens the Hangman and then walks away. We later come upon the now-empty locker room and see the hangman is choking.

“That was one of the few times I ever saw him happy”

The real start of the episode once again features Dean and Sam in the bunker. Sam shuffles in looking for some painkillers and Dean sits at the table looking like he’s been up all night studying Mainline Lore trying to find a way to save Cas. Dean breaks the news to Sam that the Hangman is dead. As it happens, they used to see the shows with their dad as kids and the Hangman was John’s favorite. The two decide to stretch their legs and go to the funeral.

“Search every warehouse, every farmhouse, every henhouse, outhouse, and doghouse.”

Meanwhile, Casifer is in hell taking reports from his demon-minions. While party music plays in the background, Casifer gives a peptalk in hopes it will help his demons find a Hand of God. “Remember ABC: Always Be Closing,” he says.

Over in the corner, Crowley’s in chains and a Hawaiian shirt, cleaning the floor. Casifer drives home the point of punishment by calling him puppy and directing him to use his tongue to clean instead of his toothbrush.

As Crowley licks the nasty nasty floor, the camera rests on a group of demons with a special foreshadowing close-up on the disgusted Doll-face. (Doll-face is the name I gave to the demon Casifer calls doll-face at the start of this scene; I later realized that her name is Simmons, but doll-face stuck).

“You weren't one of those guys that had my poster above his bed, were you?”

The boys show up at the funeral and are astounded by all the familiar famous faces. Good Guy Wrestler turns out to be the very attractive Gunner Lawless, and Dean fangirls his way over to meet him. I just want to point out that when Dean shakes Gunners hand he doesn’t let go for an embarrassing amount of time. While Dean is drooling over Gunner, Sam is meeting his first crush, the also very attractive Rio, the woman who was calling the match in the title sequence. Apparently Sam had a poster of her above his bed, though he doesn’t tell that to her. Does anyone else feel like their respective fan crushes are very telling. . . ?

“Town after town, putting your ass on the line for next to nothing? No money. No glory.”

“Wow. You realize you just literally described our jobs.”

The boys sit down to watch a memorial match. A dad with a beer in each hand sits down with his son in the row behind, and Sam remarks that it brings him back. Dean doesn’t appreciate the comment.

Cut to backstage where Gunner is receiving something that looks suspiciously like drugs. I don’t think they ever explained what this is?

“It’s alright I’m not a child. It’s fine.”

The match is on. Dean is disappointed when Gunner gives his glove to someone else. But when Gunner gets thrown out of the ring, the boys cheer him on. He winks at Dean and even touches his leg. (Dean must be in heaven). When Gunner climbs back into the ring, he turns the tides and the boys are delighted. Meanwhile the dad behind them gets up to pee. Seeing that the line is long, he heads outside. But before he has a chance to do his business, he’s been murdered.

“What, he get in a tickle fight with Edward Scissorhands?”

The boys confer after the murder; Sam thinks it may be a case for them and goes to the hotel to look up the lore on the symbol on the body. Dean says he’ll question the wrestlers but is playing Wrestler in the ring when Rio comes in. He asks her some questions and she tells him that this isn’t the first murder, and that the wrestler’s think they’re cursed. He asks where the wrestlers are and she suggests he check the nearest bar.

“You’re Crowley, and the Devil should be afraid of YOU.”

Doll-face Simmons breaks Crowley out. It takes some convincing, but finally Crowley is back to his old self. When they meet two demons at the door, Crowley kills them easily.

“One thing I learned you got to keep on grinding no matter what's thrown your way.”

Dean goes to the bar and meets up with Gunner. The two chat about always getting back up when you get hit. As they drink, Harley picks a fight with Gunner. Dean is impressed that he doesn’t fight back. Gunner says he has nothing to prove.

“They're thinking, and I quote, ‘It's some kind of weird satanic crap.’”

Sam calls with information on the symbol, which as it turns out is ancient Sumerian and has the power to “pluck the spark of life.” The two conclude that it must be a demon, and the hunt begins.

“I bought drinks for all the wrestlers, and then, you know, they're like, well, you got to drink, too. Oh, man, they can drink, especially Rio. Ugh. I think I heard my liver screaming at me.”

Dean has confirmed through sneaky holy water that none of the wrestlers are demons. However, he reveals that he didn’t get a chance to check Harley because Harley left right after the fight. But when the boys track him down in his hotel room, they find an empty, ransacked room. A look at the security footage tells them Harley was kidnapped, and by none other than Good Guy Gunner.

“What kind of favor?”  

“The kill-somebody kind.”

Gunner took Harley to an abandoned warehouse. It turns out Gunner has been doing favors for a demon named Duke. The demon offers Harley a deal, but Harley refuses to give up his soul for something he can achieve without help. Duke severs Harley’s Achilles tendon just for funsies and then orders Gunner to kill him so that he can steal his soul.

“With all due respect, Simmons, I don't think you can handle my rod.”

Crowley takes doll-face Simmons to his personal lock-up, which houses keepsakes (like what he implies is a painting of him as a child). He has a Hand of God in there, the rod of Aaron. But as soon as he reveals it, Casifer reveals that he’s been following him all along, hoping to be led to just such a weapon.

“You want an L.A. 10, but you settle for a Kansas 5. Life, right?”

The boys bust in on Gunner but are ambushed by the demon, Duke. After some small talk, Duke orders Gunner to kill them.

“I mean, maybe once you were the evilest evil that ever Eviled—present company excluded. But now you're nothing but Dean Winchester's number-one fan.”

Casifer berates Crowley and goes to take the rod. But Crowley double-crossed him back, and ends up with the weapon anyway. He takes the power and uses it on Casifer, but doll-face Simmons jumps in front of him just in time. As this weapon is another one-hit-wonder, Casifer survives and wants to give Crowley hell (but not in a good way). Crowley teleports basically immediately.

“It’s never too late to do the right thing.”

Dean, tied up and beat, tries to reason with Gunner. Dean guesses that Gunner sold his soul ten years ago for another shot at the belt and is now trying to avoid the consequences by working for Duke.

“With the Darkness out and the Devil running hell, well, it's kind of every demon for him/her/shimself.”*

Duke explains the deal to Sam as he holds him against the wall. Dean shows up with his usual heroics (“Hey!”), and Duke pushes him aside easily. But it turns out that Dean was actually a distraction, giving Gunner time to stab Duke in the back. Once he kills Duke, the hellhounds start howling. Gunner refuses Dean’s gun and elects to face the punishment that’s waiting head-on.

“We're gonna save Cass, we're gonna ice the Devil, and we're gonna shank the Darkness. And anyone that gets in our way, well, God help them.”

The boys debrief back at the bunker, and Dean admits that he’s not okay, not even a little bit. But they’ve got to keep grinding, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how bad it gets.

Questions:

Why is there a picture of Crowley as a child? I mean, Rowena was poor, and also she hated Kid-Crowley; she doesn’t seem likely to have commissioned a portrait. Was he just lying about who the portrait is of? Maybe it’s his son, and he just doesn’t want doll-face Simmons to know.

Keep grinding? Really? I kind of hate that line. Like, is that a thing? Are they trying to make it a thing? Could they not? I’m going to ignore it.

*What was up with the transgender slur. Seriously. In case you didn’t know, which I didn’t before I read about fan backlash on the internet, the use of the word “shim” mentioned in the quote above is not appropriate. It’s a slur. So I’m not sure why they included it. At first I thought it might be an attempt at gender-inclusivity, but when you use a word that’s known to be a slur, you have to seriously prove that you’re reclaiming it; otherwise it’s just a slur. This is not the first time this season that there has been a line in a Supernatural episode that just poorly used and really hurt fans. I’m thinking of the use of the word “feminist” in the Valentine’s Day episode “Love Hurts,” which is another case of a word that, as I said in that review, “just packs too big a punch not to be certain what you’re aiming at.” But in this case it’s an actual slur used against a particularly unprotected, endangered, and misunderstood minority. So there’s no excuse.

Conclusions:

I thought this episode was okay, but it was probably one of my least favorite this season so far. I’m not a wrestling fan; I mean, some of those guys were like, real wrestlers—and they seemed awesome—but it wasn’t enough to make up for the stuff I was missing in this episode.

Some of the foreshadowing seemed pretty obvious and even heavy-handed. They wanted us to think Harley was the killer, so obviously he wasn’t. They wanted us to think that Gunner was the Good Guy, so obviously he wasn’t. They wanted us to think doll-face Simmons was genuinely concerned for Crowley, so obviously she wasn’t. I just saw all of those twist coming and wasn’t impressed.

But there were some good things too. I liked seeing Dean having fun, living in his past, making friends, and fangirling. I LOVED that line where Sam sort of passively insults John by comparing him to that other dad, and then Dean gets mad at him. It was relationship drama, which we haven’t seen for a while, but it felt organic and true to the past. I also liked the ending, and I liked Gunner’s parallels with and effect on Dean.

I really liked Sam in this episode. The characterization and acting were both solid. He was a good support for all of Dean’s emotions and it was sweet. I wish Sam had more to do though. I found it really interesting that he didn’t get to hook up with Rio. It seemed like they were setting something up, but then she just disappeared from the episode half-way through.

Overall the episode was just okay for me. I loved it because it’s about the Winchesters, but when I add it all up, this one falls a bit short.

Also, just pointing out something I’m noticing: they really like their bads to be sexy (or rather sexually predatory). Casifer is touchy touchy, calling demons doll-face (blech) and making innuendos left and right. Crowley does this too; in general he creates an atmosphere of sexual harassment as a power play, and specifically in this episode he uses a sexual innuendo to reassert his power near the end. I kind of think it’s gross.