Episode Review: Tall Tales (2.15)

It starts with a man, a professor to be specific. A pervy professor with some serious bad luck. Upon finding a scantly clad co-ed on his office door step, he's hardly hesitant to invite her upstairs. She lays on the simpering charm and he eats it up, even as she admits she isn't a student. The profession doesn't deter him as he advances, and she allows it, her skin decaying even before they can get to the good stuff. Backing away in horror, Professor Cox finds himself tumbling out the window unto his death, only to be found by the janitor as he's locking up for the evening.

All that is great, but what a girl really wants is a Winchester.

We find Sam and Dean holed up in another nameless hotel, wearing on each others nerves faster then usual. The episode is full of snarky banter and hilarity as Sam and Dean tumble over qualms and suspicions about the laptop and Impala, their respective babies.

DEAN: How's research going?

SAM: You know how it's going? Slow. You know how it would go a heck of a lot faster? If I had my computer.

DEAN: Hmm.

SAM :You know what? Maybe, uh, maybe you should just go somewhere for a while.

DEAN : Hey, I'd love to. That's a great idea. Unfortunately, my car's all screwed to hell.

Their impending bitchfest is cut short by the arrival of the hero's hero, Bobby (shut up, I'm a Team-Bobby). Sam describes how they got word of the Professors Death, and the investigation so far. The locals spout about an alleged affair between a student and professor three decades back, ending when the woman leapt to her death. In Sams description, Dean got drunk and macked on sluts while Sam did all the work.

Interrupting indignantly, Dean quickly corrects Sams version of the investigation with his own, where the previous slut is really an educates student who shares a drink with him while they discuss important matters at hand. Ha. In Dean's version, Sam is also much more of a nag. Bobby can't help but ask what the heck is up between them, and they admit to being shut-in for a while. It's wearing on them.

SAM: Dean. Dean, what are you drinking?

DEAN: (burps)I don't know, man, I think they're called purple nurples?

SAM: Okay, well listen. I think maybe we should go check out the professor's office.

DEAN: Oh, no, no, no, I can't right now, I've got some... feisty little wildcat on the hook, I'm about to - zzzzp - reel her in. I'll introduce you.

Sam informs him how they visited the office, and spoke with the janitor, noting that Dean was stuffing his face the entire time. The janitor had relayed what he saw: a girl go in but not come out, though girls going in the Professors office at Crawford Hall wasn't exactly anything new.

Together they explain to Bobby what happened next; a student walking by Crawford Hall, when supposedly a bright light shone down upon him, following him as he ran to escape it. It, as would be expected from a UFO, sucked him up into a beam of light. Bobby, naturally, is skeptical of the UFO theory, as were the Winchesters, though they relate the boy's story, a run-of-the-mill UFO abduction story with the added bonus of forced slow dancing. They even admit to finding jet engine exhaust at the alleged site.

BOBBY: Aliens?

DEAN: Yeah.

BOBBY: Aliens?

DEAN: Yeah.

BOBBY: Look, even if they are real, they're sure as hell not coming to earth and swiping people.

They speak with another student who tell them the boy in question was his pledge-master, who admitted put his pledges through Hell. Sam hugs him (well, according to Dean) and Dean announces the connection.

The victims were jerks.

Sam ignores him in favor of looking for his laptop.

The Winchester then explain about the next victim, an animal research tester who found himself eaten by an alligator while passing a sewer on the way to his car. It had been this victim that had prompted a call to Bobby, as well as a cal tot he sewers, though the latter was little help. It's then that they find the Impala with all four tires slashed, and Sams money clip laying on the ground suspiciously near the car's crime scene. Dean is quick to accuse Sam, and refuses to return his cash.

Bobby's fast to figure out they're dealing with a Trickster, working the boys against each other. Tricksters are especially drawn to cocky bastards and Sam and Dean don't need long to realize the only connecting figure in the crimes; the Janitor.

SAM:Dude, you know something? I put up with a lot from you.

DEAN: What are you talking about? I'm a joy to be around.

SAM: Yeah? Your dirty socks in the sink, your food in the fridge.

DEAN: What's wrong with my food?

SAM: It's not food anymore, Dean! It's Darwinism. All I ask from you, the one thing, is that you don't mess with my stuff!
Little do they know, the man in question is at his apartment, nose buried in a tabloid magazine, snapping up imaginary women and candy.

The boys return to Crawford Hall and meet with the Janitor. Sam rummages through the mans locker while Dean distracts. The Weekly World News Sam finds leaves him skeptical, and he and Dean fight (again) while the Janitor watches in glee.

It's later that Dean finds himself in an auditorium with a disco ball and two sexy women. They come on to him, and the Janitor admits their a peace offering while it moves onto another town. However, quickly it's reveled that theirs a trap in the trap as Bobby and Sam come forward, stakes in hand.

The Janitor-Trickster replies with a finger-snapped chainsaw-wielding maniac while the once attractive women move to the offense, attacking. It's rough-going, but they manage to duke it out and Dean sinks his stake into the Trickster.

Only, it isn't the trickster, though the boys are long gone before it's revelaed. It's just another clever illusion, leaving us open for more trickery to come.