We’ve noted before that, althoughSupernaturalwas arguably best-known for being a horror series at the start, there’s no denying that some of the show’s greatest episodes are the funny ones. “Changing Channels,” “The French Mistake,” and “Fan Fiction” are all fan-favorites for a reason, and there are plenty more where those came from. But not every one of the show’s dips into humor was a good time for series starsJared PadaleckiandJensen Ackles, and there’s one laugh-out-loud Season 3 episode that was particularly grueling for Padalecki to film. If you’re thinking of theGroundhog Day-inspired “Mystery Spot,” then you hit the nail right on Dean’s head.
What Happens in the ‘Supernatural’ Episode “Mystery Spot”?
This episode is amazing, and if it’s been a while since you’ve revisited it, now is as good a time as any to dive back in. The best part is, “Mystery Spot” is largely a standalone episode,perfect for rewatchingwith or without the context of previous seasons. The episode takes place in Broward County, Florida as Sam (Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Ackles) investigate a local tourist attraction that, supposedly, has resulted in the disappearance of a man looking to debunk it. But after Dean is killed on the job (and not even by a monster, just a random guy with a shotgun), Sam is completely and utterly heartbroken —that is until he wakes up again on that same Tuesday morning, revealing that he’s stuck in a time loop. And then Sam’s personal hell (and our amusement) begins.
If you thought reliving the same Tuesday over and over again was bad enough, it’s worse for Sam here becauseDean diesevery single dayin this time loop— and there’s no possible way for the younger Winchester to stop it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it turns out that it’s the Trickster (Richard Speight Jr.) who is behind the whole mess,trying to teach Sam that he’ll have to live without his brother following Dean’s impending death. After Dean made a demon deal to save Samin the Season 2 finale, “All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2,“the entirety of Season 3 leads toward his inevitable trip downstairs, and through cruel tricks of hysterical fate, the Trickster aims to help Sam come to terms with this before it happens.
“Mystery Spot” Is One of ‘Supernatural’s Greatest Episodes, but It Was Hell for Jared Padalecki
It’s a hard way to learn this lesson, but for us in the audience, it’s hysterical to see all the creative ways that writersJeremy CarverandEmily McLaughlincould come up with to kill Dean. Plus,famed directorKim Manners(who helmed a similar episode onThe X-Filesback in the day) kills it in crafting the whole thing together. But although fans and critics adored this episode, Jared Padalecki felt the opposite.“The way I treat the death, like ‘Mystery Spot,’ which was a kind of comedic episode, was miserable for me,“the actor toldEntertainment Weeklyin 2016.“I was crying day in and day out. I mean it. This is not hyperbole. That was a miserable, miserable, miserable week in my life.” Padalecki struggled to treat each new (and oftentimes outlandish) death like it was reality, and it’s no wonder that we don’t get Sam’s reaction shots for every single bizarre death scene that Ackles performs.
“For me, it was miserable because I was legitimately trying to convince myself that my brother had died from some funny way,” Padalecki continued. “But it’s not funny if it’s happened to you.” Part of what makes “Mystery Spot” work so incredibly well is that,unlikeBill Murray’s character inGroundhog Day, Padalecki plays the whole thing straight. Sam isn’t having a good time with his forever Tuesday, but suffers as he tries to find a way out of it. When he finally convinces the Trickster to break the spell and let him pass on to that Wednesday, Dean still dies, and the episode takes an even darker turn. (Eventually, after a few more months of living without Dean,the Trickster puts things back to normalfor Sam.) Talk about a bad week (or month, or year, oryears) at the office. Nevertheless, there’s a reason “Mystery Spot” is still one of the best episodes ofSupernatural, andPadalecki’s masterful (albeit torturous) performance is a major part of that.
The 10 Best ‘Supernatural’ Episodes, Ranked
The Winchester brothers did it all.
Despite the Brutal Production, “Mystery Spot” Is One of Sam Winchester’s Finest Hours
While manySupernaturalepisodes would dive deeper into Dean Winchester’s psyche,the longer the series went on, “Mystery Spot” centers entirely on Sam’s perspective, and that’s why it works. Had Dean been the one in the time loop, it may haveplayed out a bit more likeGroundhog Dayuntil Dean could snap out of it.But with Sam in the driver’s seat in this episode, we get to see his misery turn into a deep, dark tragedy, thus foreshadowing the character’s much darker story arc to come in Season 4. There’s a lot of great character work with Sam Winchester at play here, reminding us that while Dean is often the more entertaining of the two, Sam has arguably the best dramatic range and is a character with flaws that ring most obvious when his brother is nowhere to be found. It may have been hell for Jared Padalecki, but it was even worse for Sam Winchester. To us,fewSupernaturalepisodes are better.
Supernaturalis available for streaming on Netflix.
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