Denim-wrapped Nightmares, a Supernatural podcast
Join SPN family newcomers, Berly and LA, as they explore the TV series, Supernatural, episode by episode. Over drinks, they'll discuss lore, gore, and what they adore about the Winchesters and their adventures.
As a way to keep in touch during the 2020 pandemic, Berly and LA started podcasting with their debut, anything-goes talk show, The Tipsy Exchange. During those discussions, Berly and LA realized that they most enjoy talking humorously about TV/Film, mythology, suspense, and hot guys. Supernatural seemed a natural fit. It's a match made in heaven... or hell... you decide!
Now, let's get tipsy! CW/TW for violent and lewd commentary; listeners beware! 🔞
Denim-wrapped Nightmares, a Supernatural podcast
Man's Best Friend with Benefits (8x15)
Berly and LA tackle Supernatural Season 8, Episode 15: "Man's Best Friend with Benefits" - and from the title alone, you can guess why the hosts were NOT having it.
The episode opens with a cop murdering people in gruesome neck-exploding fashion, only to reveal he's been having prophetic dreams about the killings. Enter James Frampton (yes, with embroidered initials JMF), a witch-cop whose beautiful Doberman familiar Portia can also take human form. And yes, they're sleeping together, which had the hosts immediately uncomfortable with the entire premise.
Sam and Dean get called in by Portia (who literally trots into their motel room as a dog, then transforms into a woman in a LBD and heels) to help James, who thinks he's murdering people in his sleep. The investigation leads them into the witch community, complete with a bar featuring telepathic chess and a suspicious character literally named "Philippe La Chat" (the cat) - because subtlety is dead.
The hosts were thrown from the start by Three Stooges references they had to Google, and spent the episode increasingly bothered by the familiar/witch romantic relationship dynamics. The case reveals James is being controlled by his jealous witch friend Spencer, who's upset about the forbidden familiar-witch romance and uses Phillipe to frame James.
After a witch fight involving some awkward special effects, the boys use one of Bobby's witch-killing spells to take out Spencer. The episode ends with James and Portia driving off together (with her inexplicably in dog form in the front seat) to start over somewhere new.
The real payoff comes in the final scene where Dean admits he trusts Sam to handle the trials after experiencing some hell visions, leading to their "we'll do this together" moment. Sam then coughs up blood and hides it from Dean, setting up future drama.
The hosts called this one of their least favorite episodes, citing excessive exposition, problematic relationship dynamics, and a general disconnect from the show's usual tone. Even the laundry basket pratfall that made them laugh couldn't save this one. Written by seasoned TV veterans, it felt like a missed assignment that just didn't work within the Supernatural universe.
"By the way, I gotta hand it to you. It's been 15 hours since Portia mentioned her night with James, and not one bestiality joke out of you."
Sources:
- https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Man%27s_Best_Friend_With_Benefits
- https://k-oconnell.medium.com/familiars-what-they-are-and-how-to-get-one-a5869189912f
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Welcome to Denna Propped Nightmares, a tipsy exchange podcast, where we explore the supernatural series episode by episode.
LA:Over drinks, we'll discuss the lore, the gore, and what we adore about the Winchesters and their adventures. I'm Burley, and I'm a new fan of the series. I'm LA, and I'm here along for the ride. Now let's get tipsy. Hello, LA. Hey Burley.
Berly:On our last uh list, last on our list, we've got a lot of things to do. We got so much. Check, check. But on last episode, titled Trial and Error, Kevin, guest star, Osric Chow. What were you calling him, LA? Highlight, I said Os Osiris.
LA:Osiric.
Berly:Osiric? Osiric. Well, good old Kev deciphered the tablet and he figured out how to close the gates of hell. He told Sam and Dean that, according to the tablet, one person, one, only one, the chosen one. We're back to them fighting over who gets to be Highlander again. Call back to seasons four and five there. Anyway, one must face a series of three tests designed by God. The first one, kill a hellhound and bathe in its blood. Sam and Dean argue over who should complete the trials.
LA:That's how it ends. The little Oh, okay.
Berly:Well, if if you didn't watch it, spoiler alert, Sam did it. Sam did it. Hey Dead. And no one did Ellie. Oh poor Ellie. So messed up. Poor Ellie.
LA:Today's episode. I don't like the title. You did not.
Berly:You didn't like it from the get-go, and you certainly didn't like it once we were watching it.
LA:Well, the title is Man's Best Friend with Benefits, which is just very wrong in so many ways. But it's the 15th episode of season eight, and it aired on February 20th, 2013.
Berly:When we saw the title episode, I was like, oh my God. It's the skinwalker lucky.
LA:Yeah.
Berly:Right? He's found a new home. Man's best friend with benefits. Like he's getting benefits of the free home, like tricking the woman again or tricking the family again. That's what I was thinking. Sweet that your mind went there. Yeah, because I was thinking, surely. Let me finish. I was thinking, like, surely it's not the obvious thing here. Nope, guys. It's totally the obvious thing.
LA:Well, in a in a sense, I guess you can say. All right. Well, this does the oven episode starts with. Oh my god, man. St. Louis, St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. And we're in an alleyway. There's a big sign for a hotel. And a fellow walks out along with a lady.
Berly:And he said, Thank you for letting me do that to you.
LA:I was like, what? We know what that means.
Berly:Oh my god.
LA:And he said, he's like, let me give you something. Pays her. And he takes off. And she's walking on her own, kind of hears something behind her, feels like somebody's watching her, which they are.
Berly:There was a really cool zoom in to her, some horror trope stuff, tactics.
LA:She's walking and turns really abruptly when she hears something else, and there's a man standing there, whips out his badge, and he's a cop. So he arrests her for prostitution. He puts the cuffs on her. You know, you think he's gonna take her away, but no, he starts to choke her, or what you think he's doing is choking her. But then it turns out there's some sort of crack noise, like he just split her spine open, her neck open, and and blood.
Berly:Yeah, we got our uh 68th blood sploogge of the supernatural series within this intro. Still I still don't understand exactly what happened. I don't either. He likes to exploded her neck all on his face with some sort of cracking noise. Mm-hmm. Was that her trachea? Yeah, I don't know. Just brutal. After cuffing her, cuffs her and then spins her around to murder her. Rough.
LA:Just as the blood splooge happens, we see a man waking up in his bed from his dream. Or actually, we see a dog on the floor next to the bed. Beautiful Doberman, by the way. The man wakes up from the dream and he was dreaming of killing this woman. The next morning he gets up and you know he's just like, what the fuck was that?
Berly:That was disturbing as hell.
LA:Makes his coffee, you know, doing his morning routine, and he goes to throw something in the trash. I'm sure probably coffee grounds, who knows? And sees his shirt from the dream in the trash can with blood all over it. Yikes. Oops.
Berly:Oops, is it's a big oopsie. That's more than a dude.
LA:So then we flash to sleepy lodge. The sleepy lodge. The sleepy lodge. You and I both went to sleepy lodge. At the same exact same time. Yeah, it was perfect. And the boys are there and they're getting out of the car arguing about who the better Stooge was of the Stooges, the three Stooges. Yeah. And we had to look it up.
Berly:We did, because we were like Larry Curly Moe. What are they talking about? Who is Shemp? Well, Larry Curly Moe were like not their actual names, it turns out.
LA:Whoever uses the actor's real name was referring to the three Stooges, at least, I feel like.
Berly:You know, we have a lot of criticisms about whoever wrote this episode. We're not there yet. But this right off the bat threw us for a loop. We were very confused. We had to hit pause and start Googling stuff. I'm still not sure which stooge shimp was. Yeah. Fairly certain it was Mo. But then we kept seeing pictures of the three Stooges where there wasn't the bald guy. And I'm like, where's Curly?
LA:They all look yeah, the pictures were all very different, and it was very confusing. I got very confused. Yeah. But with respect to the person that wrote it, I know how hard it is to write script and dialogue. So respect. Just this one threw us for a doozy. Uh they're walking in, and I think one of them asks if they're gonna call James, and they're like, Oh, let's do it tomorrow.
Berly:And so much exposition in this episode. Yeah, a lot so much exposition.
LA:A lot of explaining, explain a lot of explaining of prior.
Berly:Yes. So much of it that I was convinced. What is the episode that they keep referring to? That we're supposed to apparently know this, like just so much exposition.
LA:Yeah. I agree.
Berly:I would have rather them have just picked a character from a previous episode or something.
LA:Yeah. Um, they get into the talks about the trials again, and Dean's worried about Sam, and he's still on the thing, like, oh, you know, we I we could still find another hellhound, and I can I can take him out, and I can do it. I'll take over. Just tap me in, bra. And Sam's like, uh no, no, not gonna happen. I'm doing it. Dean leaves to go to the store, which is what started the whole conversation because when he was leaving, he asked if Sam needed anything, and he's like, But do you really need anything?
Berly:Totally casual and comfortable with it.
LA:So while Dean's gone, Sam goes to the bathroom but starts hearing like a scratching noise. And I immediately was like, Oh, it's a doggy. You were a little doggy. Where I was going, oh no, what is it?
Berly:What is the monster?
LA:And so he goes to the door, and sure enough, the Doberman from the beginning of the episode is sitting there, and she just trots right in, gets up on the bed, and she's beautiful. And Sam comes over and is like, Oh, are you friendly? Which I'm like, clearly, otherwise she probably would have already done something to you.
Berly:But rolls over to get her belly. She wants a belly roll. She's gold.
LA:It was so cute. I know he he obliges whatever he gives her that little belly scratch.
Berly:So this is your favorite part of the loved it.
LA:He hears Dean like arriving, coming back, so he goes out to shut the door behind him and tells Dean that he wants to explain.
Berly:Right.
LA:That she just came out of nowhere, she came to the door, she went immediately to the bed, didn't bring in any dirt, you know, just fine. She just wanted her belly scratched, and maybe we should just let her stay until tomorrow. Yeah, just let her stay the morning.
Berly:Let her stay the night. Let her stay the night, yeah.
LA:And so I'm sitting there, as we all are like, oh, Dean's gonna be thinking it's some hot chick in there that showed up, but there he's gonna open the door and it's the dog. But nope, nope, no, he opens the door and there's a beautiful lady there laying on the bed. Yeah. And a little LBD and pumps, and um, the collar is still on her. It's a choice.
Berly:Yeah. It was a choice. But Dean agrees. He's like, Yeah, she can go home. She can stay. She can stay. I did not think it was going to be a beautiful woman on the other side. No. I personally didn't. Like, whenever Dean was sitting there being like, I would have been like, what the fuck are you talking about, Sam?
LA:It was funny. That was funny. Well, I guess I I feel like at first in the conversation he was he was thinking that, and then when the belly scratch came in, that might have thrown him for.
Berly:Well, and then she didn't bring any mud in, she didn't try. Okay, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay.
LA:Anyway, it was cute the way they they did it. Yes. And anyway, they come in and start speaking with her, and she tells them that she's a familiar, which Sam clears up to Dean that uh familiars are a companion to witches.
Berly:Half their life in animal form, half their life in human form.
LA:Yes. And she states how she can get a better read on people when she's in her animal form. Makes sense. Which, yeah, I completely agree and understand. And she actually belongs to James, who they were talking about calling tomorrow. She mentions that James has become or he became obsessed with the witch culture and and all these things after he had helped the boys and apparently saved their lives at some point that we are not privy to. But recently she mentions that James is just basically having some sort of breakdown.
Berly:Right.
LA:And that she thought the boys might be able to help.
Berly:She even was like, yeah, the text messages from James asking you guys to come help. That wasn't him. Yeah, it was me. That was me. That was me.
LA:I forget what Dean says for him for she like comes back and scolds him about his uh bigotry.
Berly:Oh, I think it because he was saying, like, well, he's a witch.
LA:Oh, that's right, yeah, yeah, yeah. And she was like, you know, she tells she pretty much tells him off, and then Dean says, That was hot. They look over to Sam or she looks to Sam and Sam was like, Yeah, it was hot.
Berly:It was hot. It was hot. She was standing her ground. She was like, Yeah, yeah. She knew her shit. She was calling out some bullshit. Yeah. I mean, I liked Portia, but just there were some choices. It was just an uncomfy episode. It was uncomfy, I gotta say.
LA:We flashed to a bar, a very nice bar. I didn't notice this because I was taking my notes, but Burley, I saw that two people were sitting there playing chess, but you told me. Oh yeah, they were moving. Yeah. Moving the pieces was telepathic chess. Which I awesome. We see James, and he's sitting there having a drink by himself, but another guy shows up. We learn this is Spencer, his witch friend.
Berly:More exposition.
LA:Spencer apparently knows about James' condition, all the things he's going through, and that he's not getting better. It's just getting worse.
Berly:Well, and he also points out your cop, you have a hard job already, and you're exposing yourself to this other side of reality. Like you don't see a lot of cops around here. There's a fucking reason for it. Like it's a lot for an individual to take on. Too much.
LA:Mm-hmm. There's no medicine for this, they say. You know, there's nothing he can take to just help him through this.
Berly:Yeah, there's no NyQuil for mental breakdowns. No, no. Wish there was. I've looked.
LA:But to your point, yeah, Spencer's like, how do you reconcile what you do as your job and then what's going on with what you're going through right now? James says that he he thinks the dreams are real. He truly thinks he's murdering these people. Which why wouldn't he? He got a bloody shirt in his trash.
Berly:Understandable.
LA:Yeah. Then it cuts back. We're back in the hotel with Porsche Fabulous Porsche. I was gonna say James and Dean. Sam and Dean. And she tells them how um he has cut her off. That James has cut her off recently.
Berly:Okay, so the psychological link or whatever it is. Telepathic, that's the word she used. Okay, and then we find out later that they fuck, right? I would not want to be telepathically linked to somebody I was fucking. Fuck no. Right? No, never.
LA:Not unless they were like obsessed with me and thought I was perfect and everything.
Berly:And the sex was amazing, right? Because if I would imagine it's a two-way street. So if you're sitting there thinking, like, oh my god, just fucking wrap it up already. And he's telepathically linked and hears that in his brain.
LA:That's a real boner killer. Yeah.
Berly:Yeah. Ugh, no, thank you. No. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. Or if like you queef and then he's like going like in his brain. I mean, they probably are. Right. I'm sure they are. Hell, I'm doing it in my brain. Yeah. But like, we don't need to be telepathically linked, being like Beavis and Butthead in my brain, giggling over the fucking. Yeah. Can't help it. Yeah, no. You shoved air in there. What did you think was gonna happen?
LA:Sorry, my stuff's inside and yours is outside.
Berly:Yeah, sorry, your vagina fell out.
LA:Yeah, exactly. However, we don't need to be mind to mind.
Berly:Yeah, we don't need to be telepathically linked.
LA:We can be connected in the right way, but not that way.
Berly:Like, let's not even get into the whole dog thing of it just yet. Just the telepathically linked part of it already disturbs me. Okay. Carry on. Yeah. Creepy spincer. You called it, by the way. I did. Which we LA called it very early on. She looks spincer. I thought it was the cat.
LA:Yeah, you threw me when you said it was Philippe.
Berly:Philippe the cat.
LA:Oh, she's right. Yeah, I thought it was the cat. It was kind of both, though, to be fair.
Berly:But it wasn't Philippe. Philippe was being commanded.
LA:That's true, but he still played his part.
Berly:His neck played a part later. That was a lot. Okay, but back. Back to the witch bar. Spencer's like getting ahead of ourselves. Yeah. Spencer's pretending to be a friend, and he's not.
LA:Correct. And James has cut off Porsche, which is why she sought out the boys.
Berly:Yes. And Porsche, we're the you're right. We're in the hotel. We're not at the witch bar. We're in the hotel. And Porsche's like, oh my God. I can't read his mind when he's inside me anymore.
LA:It's just terrible. Oh no. I can't tell if he likes it. It's not good. And then we cut to this blind man. Just random. Yeah, walking along the sidewalk, a trail. Not breaking the law. Doing nothing wrong.
Berly:James comes out of nowhere. Explodes his throat as well. Yeah. We get our 69th, huh? 69th. Blood splooge of the Supernatural series.
LA:And again, the same crunching noise. Like I would have liked to have known exactly. This is me and my morbid curiosity. I would like to know exactly what happened there. How were they killed? Like what happened to that neck?
Berly:I mean, because your jugular's off to the side, right?
LA:So it's like I'm like trying to think. Like, uh-uh, is he like snapping it in half and one hits the jugular?
Berly:But maybe. Maybe he is, maybe there is some ripping going on there. But they do call him Jack the Ripper later in the episode, so maybe.
LA:No matter what, if you're like shit's cut open, you're gonna die, like split open.
Berly:Just like your thumbs going in, the the the projectileness of it. Oh well. I don't like it.
LA:Anywho, poor man, poor, innocent, blind man, minding his own business.
Berly:I even think we were on a college campus. I think it was just some student or professor or somebody just like walking.
LA:Also, that again, a choice. Mm-hmm. The guys are back at James, James's house, and they're sitting on the couch hearing Portia and James in a room arguing.
Berly:Right.
LA:And that he's pissed that she contacted them. He doesn't need their help. You know, why would she do that? And she trots out, but she doesn't trot out as herself. She trots out as the dog and just looks at the guys and then trots off. Trots out of the room. So it's all just bizarre. Why when she's arguing with him, which did she was she like, oh, it won't be as embarrassing that they overheard us if I'm in my dog forum.
Berly:Right.
LA:I they won't be able to see me blush.
Berly:I don't get it. Like it's not like they don't know that's you at this point. You you've already revealed the secret.
LA:She's like, I don't have to say a word to them if I'm in my dog forum. I don't have to explain it.
Berly:But she does, she does like go, yeah. Oh, sorry guys. Sorry. Sorry guys. Sorry.
LA:Anyway, after she trots off, James comes out and sits there, talks with the boys, and tells them about the dreams and how he feels they're real, and then ends up even showing them because they're kind of like, okay, come on, man. But then he pulls out his bloody shirt and he's like, look, I had it embroidered. He's like, I know it's mine because it has my initials on it. Tagged it. I get my shit embroidered so I won't forget who I am or or lose my clothes.
Berly:Right?
LA:JFM, look. Look.
Berly:What was it?
LA:James. Oh, JMF. JMF. What's the M?
Berly:I don't remember.
LA:I know it's James Frampton.
Berly:Yeah.
LA:Anyway. Mary Lou.
Berly:Who gets her stuff embroidered anymore? James Mary Lou Frampton. That's who.
LA:He tells the guys he's had a total of four four of these streams. They pretty much tell him, Alright, we're gonna look into this, but you gotta stay put. You're on house arrest. Dean, not so nonchalant, just plops a bag down and breaks out like a huge bag of chains, which iron. Yeah, and not like shiny new, like it was like old shit, like I mean, rusted. He's gonna get a tetanus infection.
Berly:Especially after the activities that we know he does, once he's got those chains on him.
LA:We find out that Sam, through his rechar recharge, research, does in fact find that there have been four murders, just as James told them.
Berly:And he looked good in his suit. And that's when I made the observation of Sam only looks funny when he's running and doing stuff when he's in that big bulky jacket, whatever that jacket is. That big, that big puffy jacket, that khaki jacket.
LA:I'm gonna have to start paying more attention to this walk. It's those long arms. But he they're like this.
Berly:You know, they'll get chapped if they have to sway next to the head. Yeah, when he's in the suit, it's like swab and this. But then when he's in that big jacket, it's like Okay, I don't know.
LA:Back at the hotel, Dean has a whole table laid out of ingredients for this witch killing spell.
Berly:I think whatever the ingredient that he brought in with him where he was like, oh, I got the last one. I think it was the raw chicken feet again. Oh, God, come on.
LA:Because it looked like it was pink and like meaty. Ooh, I didn't see that. I'm glad I was taking note and didn't see that. But he mentions how he's a little worried that they've never seen this spell work. And like, you know, maybe they should, I don't know. I mean, they can't really do a trial run.
Berly:Yeah. They're just like, it's Bobby's spell. We're just gonna have to trust Bobby.
LA:Sam mentions James went up in the ranks of the police force really fast.
Berly:He said that he practically has a 100% solve rate on his cases.
LA:Yeah, crazy. And once again, Dean's worried about Sam. They're completing these trials. Like, this just never it's like a couple with a never-ending argument.
Berly:Right. It just keeps coming back. They'll be having a conversation, and then all of a sudden Dean will be like, Are you sure? Are you sure?
LA:Are you sure you're okay? This can lead me into a the back to our conversation previously. But yeah, so of course Dean's worried about him doing the trials. He he thinks he's not sure Sam can do it. And Sam kind of puts him in his place. It's not that you don't trust me, it's that you only trust yourself to do these things. Which does put Dean in his place, and he's kind of taken aback by it. So he changes subject, shocker, mentions that maybe there's not another witch. You know, Benny and Kate didn't have a choice in what what they became, but James did. And what if it's James behind all of this and they gotta do what they gotta do? Sam goes back to the police station and talks to special agent Stoltz. Stoltz mentions something about a witness, and Sam says, Well, that's not in your report. I didn't know there was a witness. Stoltz kind of blows it over, and Sam gives him, he says, Okay, well, we actually went back to the scene, the last scene, and found this shred of fabric. You know, maybe you can have it tested. He's like, you know, everybody makes mistakes, everybody misses something. So the agent takes it and goes off with his tech, and Sam tries to open the door that they had been just come out of and standing in front of Tatting, chatting. But then we're back at the witch bar. I think it's the same bar. May not be, I don't know.
Berly:I think it is. But Dean and Porsche are there, and they had some symbol on the tables that they kept showing.
LA:Oh, and and and also the outside. It was like an old rundown brick building, but it had that symbol. That red symbol. Yeah, you're right. I think it's the same place. So they sit down with this uh cat. What we don't know. He's a cat. He's a cat. And Dean's all like, pachew, uh pachoo, pachew, paw. No, but they do sit down with this gentleman and she introduces him as Philippe La Sompin. La chat. La chat. La chat la cat. I mean, come on. Oh my god, that's a big mystery. As you said, he sneezes and and mentions it. Uh oh, that only happens with when I'm around a cat.
Berly:And Portia and Philippe just both are like, mm-hmm.
LA:He doesn't know. He doesn't know. He don't know. He doesn't know there's a little pussy sitting across. He says something to Portia, which I we didn't understand about something not being over with Jane's.
Berly:Right, and how like she broke the rules. Yeah. And we were like, what is he talking about?
LA:Oh, we find out. We find out. Anyway, Spencer shows up, and Dean asks him if a witch can control another witch. Spencer replies that he doesn't think so. Never heard of it.
Berly:Liar.
LA:I was right. I did call it.
Berly:And then Philippe was like, see you later, Dean. And his eyes went yellow. Oh my god, he's a demon.
LA:Pretty little black cat. Black cat. And they they take off. Sam calls Dean and lets him know that they got their results back, and the blood on the shirt matches victim three number three. Uh-oh. James is doing these things. It is him. And Portia, after they find all this out, she's chaining James to the pet. And a teddy. So yeah, in a teddy.
Berly:Which but her collar is still on.
LA:He was under house arrest.
Berly:And she still calls him master.
LA:Okay, yeah, we'll get there. Uh so I'm not quite sure why he had to be chained if he just like willingly wasn't leaving the house.
Berly:Maybe she just took them off to like moisturize.
LA:Oh, well, I guess it's because he's leaving in his sleep. He's sleepwalking to kill these people, I guess, right?
Berly:Oh yeah. The guys, the guys have said, like, until we figure out if you're being controlled or something like that, you're under house arrest. You have to stay here. Now, why they decided house arrest had to be chained to the bed, I don't know. I think that was Porsche's choice. You think that was Porsche's choice? Okay. I mean, Dean just brought the chains.
LA:He didn't say where to chain. He just brought the the tools of the trade. She's the one who was like bed. She said bed.
Berly:Okay.
LA:Yep. Yeah. She so yeah, she's in her teddy with the dog collar still fucking on. And so she starts straddling him, which is like exactly what I didn't want to be happening when I heard the title of this fucking episode. He tells her, you know, he'll do the right thing if he is the killer, and even if he's not, he'll do the right thing. He's just that great of a guy. He's such a good guy. Even though he's fucking his his familiar. Yeah, whatever. That's such a weird. It's just wrong.
Berly:So many levels. I can't even describe as to why it's wrong because obviously she's an autonomous being who can make her own decisions and yada yada yada. But at the same time, like just no, I don't like it. No. I don't like it. And then she has her vision. Their vision, yeah, that where she gets psychically linked to him again.
LA:Because they ha we learn later that they hadn't fucked. Can you imagine? In weeks.
Berly:Yeah, it's been so long. It's been so long. And he's been blocking people. Because he's been killing people. Okay, but can you imagine, based off of what she tells the guys in the next like scene or whatever, they're fucking while this is happening, right? And has visions of him choking other people's necks into exploding on his face. And the man's inside you. Yeah, I'd be hopping off. Yeah, I don't think she finished.
LA:I would hope not. The boys show up with a Molotov cocktail, which I was like, damn, what are they showing up with this? They're just gonna kill James?
Berly:Or like while I'm in that shirt, his embroidered shirt came back from the lab. Gotta go murder.
LA:There, I mean, I think it's Dean, I want to say, starts to light the lighter to do the damn thing. But Porsche pops out of the closet.
Berly:It was a bathroom. I thought it was the bathroom. No, it wasn't.
LA:I totally thought it was a closet.
Berly:That's why I told you she was in there to make sure she didn't get a UTI. Oh, you're okay. Well, I thought it was a closet. You sure as fuck didn't question me whatsoever. Whenever I told you, I was like, so she's so she doesn't get a UTI. You're just like, okay. I was like, yeah, she's made it in the closet.
LA:Okay. Listen, whenever you question me, when I have to do these recaps, it's real hard between what you're saying, watching the episode, and taking my notes. Lots of lots of things going on at once. It's a little rough. So I think I completely got what you were saying. I was like, I think, yeah, totally. But then in my mind, I'm writing down she popped out of the closet. But yeah, Burley just said she was peeing. It's all fine. It's natural. Like it makes sense somehow. Jesus. Okay. And yeah, so she pops out of the bathroom closet. Who knows? It's a bathroom.
Berly:It's a mystery. It's a mystery.
LA:Because even when I thought that I was like, what the fuck is she doing in the closet? She was like, I saw those visions. I'm gonna hide in the closet.
Berly:Okay.
LA:Lo and behold, she reveals to the the guys, hey, she's not supposed to be fucking her familiar. Right. It's not that's a no-no. Not a no-no. And that's when she meant mentions that they hadn't been intimate in weeks. They've had a sex drought. And tonight, when they were intimate, she had her visions.
Berly:They were connected once again. She said when she saw the visions, she literally only saw the murders. There was no planning, there was no stalking.
LA:His point of view. Right.
Berly:There was no motive whatsoever. It was literally just the murders. Yeah. Which is weird. Yeah. To just see something like that so drastic and not see something leading up to it, right? The why, the motive, yeah.
LA:So Sam goes back to the station, talks to the uh to Stoltz again, and mentions how it must have been tough with Frampton gone since he's, you know, kind of their star player in there, just done so well. And Stoltz mentions, well, he's actually not gone, he's just on leave right now.
Berly:His tech is standing next to him with that file folder that has James's name on it, too.
LA:And the the I forget which one tells later, but it's a big old file on James Frampton in his hands that he saw. After he sees this, they go, the boys and Portia go to meet Warlock Drexel.
Berly:I don't know what the whole point of this scene was. Me either.
LA:Yeah, I was gonna that's what I was gonna say. I just pointless, really.
Berly:More exposition. Yeah. More somebody tell us telling us stuff. And this didn't even really matter. Like all they all that he told us was that, like, oh yeah, like we know what's going on, and he's a snitch, and snitches don't whatever. Yeah, no witch hexing.
LA:Yeah, lots of chatter, lots of gossip about James.
Berly:And then there was the scene where Portia asks Dean, like, Oh, are you gonna ask me about it? Like how you're picturing it.
LA:And I was like, oh yeah, Dean asks which form Portia feels is more her, and then she's like, Oh, I get I know what you're getting at.
Berly:Yeah, just some choices. Again, yeah, choices. I would have rather them dragged out the weird witch fight at the end. If they if they needed more time. It's just all this the episode's just wrong.
LA:It just, yeah, not a fan. Back to the boys is when Sam's telling Dean about the file he saw on James. And Dean's going over all Bobby's data. So they go to James, tell him about the file, and James says, Oh, we gotta go. We gotta go break into that room. Yeah, we gotta break into that room. I gotta see that file.
Berly:I don't have to physically go somewhere to go somewhere.
LA:I can ask what is astral.
Berly:And then Dean was like, what, like phone sacks? Oh, Dean.
LA:Get her together. But yeah, no, he can astral project. Is that what astral project himself in there? And they're like, okay, but not without us. Look, come on, guys. So they sit at the edge of the bed with James in between them and just touching both of their shoulders. And he starts to a chant and just woo. His eyes turn kind of white and he's in the room. I did like how they did this, like zooming up the stairs and then going from each case with the pictures and like showing the pictures, but not showing really showing some of the pictures. It was some of them are blurry and whatnot. Just going over all the whole case. And eventually, toward the end of all these visions, he's seeing is a witness statement. And it's signed by that pussy. That pussy cat.
Berly:It just seemed drastically different from the astral production episode that we had previously, where Pamela said the chant and Dean and Sam were able to like get up and walk around. She's very different. Do you understand this is a witch and he's astral protecting himself and like whatever? I'm not gonna nitpick that it doesn't make sense, but it's just incredibly different for something that they already have a precedent for in this world.
LA:Yeah. But yeah, so the pussy did it. Yeah, Felipe is the one that signed the witness statement. So the guys kind of chalk it up to okay, well, if he had a huge grudge, you know, we could understand him going after you for this. But James does mention his very first case that he was on that Stoltz got kicked off of it. So there's the motive, they think, for Stoltz to be the one that's doing this. James gets very upset about all of this when they're discussing it in his bedroom after he's been unchained. And he throws the boys back, and Sam I was wondering if you were gonna do it. I mean, it's so stupid. See, it was thrown into this corner where there's a like a wicker basket hamper. And in my mind, I'm like, this was not supposed to happen. He was just supposed to be like thrown into the corner and rolled off, but his knee gets stuck in the hamper. And it's just the most one of the most awkward falls I've ever seen.
Berly:And the fact that like they cut away from the guys getting slammed up against the wall, they cut away and then cut back just to show Sam with his knee caught in the laundry hamper and then like fall over. It's so dumb, but it's I was like, why did they cut back for that?
LA:They're like, this is too good. This dumb ass, this dumbass.
Berly:We gotta show this. It's too important. It was it was funny. I like it. It was uh yeah. That's that's gonna be one of the things on my adore list, I think. Because there's not much else for it. Oh, yeah. James tells James releases Portia.
LA:He's like, go.
Berly:Like, you know, you're gonna be involved in this, go, go. He's like throwing rocks at her, trying to get her to run away. He's no Aria Stark, let me tell you that.
LA:James shows up to the bar, one of the most awkward body slams I've ever had.
Berly:Hang on, before that, Philippi the cat is talking to some dude about Invisalign. He's like, Don't you think I'm too old for braces? And the guy's like, No, they're clear. Like, you just pop them on. No one will know. And Philippi the cat is like, oh yeah, Invisalign.
LA:I forgot about that.
Berly:And then James comes running up behind them for the awkward body slip.
LA:Yeah, you're right.
Berly:That was funny. Such a weird weird episode. Anyway. I was like, is this a product placement? Were they I was like waiting for them to be like Invisalign? And I was like, what?
LA:Uh yeah, I don't, I don't know. Dialogue's hard to write, okay?
Berly:It is. It is, it is.
LA:But James interrupts this dialogue and awkwardly throws him down on the bar and asks him, you know, why he did it. Felipe, whatever his name is, tells him that his master made him do it, which we know is Spencer. James is sitting there looking right at him, and Felipe's neck just snaps, cracks over, and he's dead. Turns around at Spencer, so Spencer killed his own familiar. Real nice. He reveals that he was insulted by Portia choosing James. How dare she choose him? And then to put to make it even worse, they started fucking, which isn't supposed to be hap not supposed to happen.
Berly:Insult to injury.
LA:Exactly.
Berly:How dare you? So he is offended.
LA:The boys show up. Spencer, of course, throws them back against the wall. Per used. Which witch fight. Yeah. And a witch fight commences between Spencer and James. Yeah, James like gets levitated. Yeah. And then freezes Sam and Dean and goes into their mind. Which impressive. I mean, that's like three different things going on at once.
Berly:Mm-hmm. So good for him. Sends them both into hell where they're having to relive their worst memories. Yeah.
LA:But he uh Dean does see a flicker of Mary before going back to hell. Portia in her dog form attacks Spencer. And the boys throw the ball they they good goodness they saved that little Molotov cocktail.
Berly:Right? Bobby's Bobby's formula.
LA:Yeah, they throw it at Spencer, and he goes up in like a red, almost it was like a red smoke, or like yeah.
Berly:I thought he was gonna blood sploogge everywhere, but then that's not exactly what happened. It just kind of was like poop. Yeah, but red. Yeah. A poof poof of red. Which witch be gone.
LA:Yeah. See uh Sayanara. See ya, Spencer. James and so then they're back, I think at the hotel or or James's place. I don't know there, but they're standing outside the car uh car, and James and Portia are saying that we're not wanted here in this community anymore, but we can go somewhere else and start over with our inappropriate relationship. The worst part of all, they get in the car.
Berly:She again, why did she turn into her dog form? She gets in the front seat. Yeah. That dog should not be for safety reasons, and then like shuts the door and then's like, I'm I'm a dog again.
LA:Driving off.
Berly:Like, does she have control over whether she's in human form or dog form? Because in the first scene that she's in, that leads me to believe that she does, because she's like, Oh, I trust people more in my other form. So that leads me to believe that you can decide which form you're in. So why did you decide to just randomly turn into a dog?
LA:Or is it different with her familiar there? And he makes her master. Yeah, her master. Her master. I know I don't want you in the front seat as yourself, be the dog. I don't know.
Berly:Which just I just don't like any of this. It's just weird. It's just weird. But all of this, this entire episode ends up making sense because of the conversation that happens at the end, right? Right? The whole thing pays off because of what we see next, right?
LA:I mean, Dean owns up to that he was wrong about Sam.
Berly:He's like, because I saw some shit whenever I was under that witch's spell.
LA:Yeah, after seeing the visions, Spencer brought up in his mind. Saw mom, especially mom, which again, I'm still like, what how did this correlate to that? But okay. He understands now that the only way to get through this is to get through it together. Right? Together. And that he does trust it. Dean says, you know, if you're good with this, you you feel good, you're good at doing it, you're good at doing all this. I'm with you 100%. And Sam says, Yeah, I'm good. And then has a little cough something. And we see the blood on the knee that coughs up a little blitz and wipes it off and just sure as shit. Isn't gonna tell Dean about it. And that's the end of this fucking episode.
Berly:And I'm shocked to see who wrote it because these two people are are legends. They have written iconic sitcoms and whatnot throughout their careers, but it was Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross Lemming. Maybe we need to re-watch it. I don't know. I don't want to rewatch it. It was directed by again, John John F. Showwalter. He did clap your hands if you're believe, which we adored the choices he made in that one. Yeah, I just lots of problems. I feel like it was just luck of the draw that the that they were just kind of given an assignment. Problematic. It was just, yeah, it was just not. And then just for it to come around to the end to just be like, yeah, I trust you now, brother. What?
LA:I guess in their defense, though, maybe they're used to writing stuff like that for other things, and it just didn't work for this one. Yeah, it just because it's been such a I guess not necessarily linear, I guess linear storyline.
Berly:Yeah. Which I mean, they've got to be. They had some detours. There's detours, right?
LA:Not such a thing to like be recalling back to stuff we don't know about that net we never saw. Right.
Berly:So much exposition on this where there's been some exposition to remind us about shit, but like this was just all exposition.
LA:Had no idea.
Berly:Because it's a case that we never saw them work. Right. It was like um the one with the serial killer guy. We got a little bit of the exposition shown to us in the beginning, right? It did the flashback, but yeah, this all of the gaps were just dialogue, filling us in on everything. And I remember which is already rough.
LA:You who doesn't like flashbacks, saying, Well, why didn't we just get a flashback?
Berly:I would have rather just had a flashback. I would have rather you have just, yeah, I would have rather you have just shown us the case where James in the beginning, where James saved their life and that this is somebody they're coming back to, rather than just so much exposition. And then just the problematic nature on top of it. And then, like I said, you had to point out to me. I was already confused in the beginning where I was like, wait a minute, I thought Dean wanted to do the trials because he was certain whoever did it was gonna die at the end. I didn't think it was because he trist distrusted Sam's capability of doing it. How did we jump from one to the other? And you explained, well, I think that Dean's kind of using that as a are you sure? Are you sure? Because he wants to do it for that reason, but he's trying to get Sam to doubt himself and so that he can take over so that he can take over. And I was like, okay, I can follow you with that.
LA:Yeah.
Berly:But then for this story to be the thing that brings Dean around in the end.
LA:Yeah, it doesn't make sense.
Berly:It doesn't make sense. This is just this is this is seriously probably one of my least favorite episodes of the entire show so far.
LA:I hate to say that because I I don't want to like insult anybody or downplay anybody's talent, but I agree. Yeah.
Berly:That's what I'm telling you. I feel like I feel like they were probably given an assignment of this is what you have to work with, this is how the episode needs to start, this is where we need the episode to end, go. And that they literally had a week to figure it out and make it work. That's what I'm assuming happened here.
LA:Well, even if it's no matter what, like I would just say kudos to you guys because I couldn't have even written this. Yeah. I mean, all the dialogue. I could have even come up with this. I I I'm terrible at writing dialogue scripts, whatnot. So you are talented, you're wonderful, you're great. Right. Uh, we j it just didn't fit, I guess, with this world.
Berly:And maybe they didn't want to do a flashback because they've been doing flashbacks the whole fucking season. I don't know.
LA:Or maybe they just like exposition. Maybe, maybe I don't who knows.
Berly:I mean, just as a viewer from my standpoint, this episode just uh yeah, like I said, I have I have zero desire to watch this episode again.
LA:It's just very out of place for this world, I feel like.
Berly:I mean, we we just skipped straight from gore to just being like, this is what we didn't adore. But yeah, we got two blood splooches in this episode, so there was definitely some grow gore, definitely some sound effects. Oh, yeah. Saw that dude's neck snap. Like that was rough. So there was plenty of gore in this episode. Did you happen to adore anything about this episode?
LA:Well, as I mentioned, this is really sad. As I mentioned to you, oh no, though, yeah, I did enjoy the laundry basketball, but also I really liked Dean's hair. Yeah, they looked hot. It looked as though he didn't have any product in it, and it was just you know, just me must must messed up just enough. It looked really nice. And I I will say I do like the ending where Dean is trusting Sam to say, like, let's do it together, even though it didn't make sense. Right. What about you?
Berly:I mean, the laundry basket was pretty funny. It was pretty funny. That's all you got. It was pretty funny.
LA:I liked that laundry basket. Oh, and I will say, I loved the Doberbin. She was beautiful, well trained. Yeah, gorgeous dog.
Berly:Well, let's go on to Lore. Let's just move on, y'all. For Lore, I'm going to be talking about an article from Medium.com titled Familiars. What are they and how to get one? And it's by Kira Orconnell. She lets us know right off the bat my familiar is a fox.
LA:Oh, I love little foxes.
Berly:She means the animal. She's not saying her familiar is like sexy.
LA:Oh, I know.
Berly:I just felt the need to clarify because of the episode that we just watched.
LA:You know what? Fair enough.
Berly:Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And she wants to delve into the history of familiars, as well as ways to get one. Ooh, I want one. During the witchcraft trials in Europe in the 15th to 17th century, familiars were seen as demons sent from the devil to aid witches in witchcraft. Often they were seen as possessing the bodies of animals to disguise themselves. If a suspected witch had a mole or skin growth, it was seen as the way they fed their familiar. Gross. Yeah, he thought it couldn't get nastier. This is Okay, here we go. That's what I'm telling you. I feel like they were just kind of given this topic and they were like, okay, what can we do with it? Now, in modern paganism and witchcraft, many witches choose to incorporate familiars into their practice. In paganism, there is no belief of a devil or the Christian hell. Instead, we believe in deities and divine forces that guide us through life. These can also be ancestors, plants, animals, spirits, spirit guides, and other similar teachers or protectors. So, what is a familiar in modern witchcraft? It depends. Many people associate cats with witchcraft because of modern media that has portrayed witches as being associated with cats for years. What up, Sabrina? Some witches do have cat familiars, and others have other physical animals that can help them with their magic. Some witches also have spirit familiars or guides that they have called on to help them in their practice. These are usually animal spirits and can be lost familiars or animal guides that have been with them throughout their life. The most important thing to keep in mind is that familiars aid you in your magic and your orgasms, apparently. If you have a cat who you know would ruin your altar space if they were near it, chances are they're not your familiar. There is a big difference between pets and familiars, although sometimes they can be both. For example, if you have a hedgehog who gives you quills and will meditate with you, that could be your familiar. And it's important to keep in mind that just because your familiar isn't your pet doesn't mean you love your pet any less. It just means that love is different between you and your pet than between you and your familiar. Yeah, James. Alright. Alright, now that we've covered that, it's very clear. I'm sure that everybody understands what a familiar is and how to use one. Perfectly understands that, right? So how do you get one? Well, I'll start with how I got mine. Again, this is not me, this is not Burley talking, this is Kira right now, just FYI. When I started witchcraft, familiars were an interesting concept to me. I had known about animal guides for many years, but I didn't know that familiars were any different from an animal guide. And in some ways, they aren't. Anyways, I digress. I was seeking out one for a while, and one day, when I was looking at one of my many wonderful witchcraft shops the internet has to offer, I came across the familiar section of one of them. It displayed an array of bones, paws, skulls, and that seemed like the answer to my question of how do I get a familiar? You just buy a dead one, apparently. I happened to have a little wooden fox statue that's been sitting in my family's living room for years. So I grabbed it off of the table and meditated with it. It was my first time contacting my familiar, and it felt great. He was kind and sweet, and he told me that while I didn't need the bones, thank God, it would help his spirit find me and connect to me deeper. So I got the bones. Oops. Now I have them on my altar, along with a candle that I burned for him, some crystals, and a few other things. Hmm. And that's what I've got on familiars in the real world. Okay.
LA:Well, quote to close it out. Quote is from Sam Winchester to Dean. By the way, I gotta hand it to you. It's been 15 hours since Portia mentioned her night with James, and not one bestiality joke out of you. Jesus.
Berly:Cheers. Thank you for listening to Denim Wrapped Nightmares.
LA:Follow us on Twitter or Instagram, leave a review, and let us know how we can get involved in the fandom. This was fun. Jerks. It always is, bitch.
