Source: Sueprnatural // CW
One thing I’ve noticed about the Supernatural fandom is a preference for either Monster of the Week (MOTW) episodes, or the larger mytharc storylines. In general, I am in the latter group, but my favorite episodes are mixes of the two. I’m good with hunting monsters, but I’m a sucker for the serialized stories (and, as a shameless Cas!Girl, I like seeing him, and he’s in the mytharc episodes more often). I had some mixed feelings during the hiatus and going into “The Chitters”, knowing it was a MOTW. I was really excited my boys were back, but after three weeks and a freaking heartbreaking episode involving Casifer (or Lustiel, either one works) and Amara, coming back to a MOTW episode was not what I wanted. I want to get on with saving Cas, already!!
Nancy Won and Eduardo Sanchez, who respectively wrote and directed this episode, made me eat my words as I found this to be a new favorite MOTW episode of mine. I’ll talk about this a little more later, but I can’t go further without saying how much I freaking adore the Hunter Husbands Jessy and Cesar. That is all for now (except that in my heart and mind it should be Jesse, not Jessy, but this is what the credits say). I love them. Bless Nancy Won for creating them.
This week’s episode opens in 1989 Colorado, with a couple of young boys. Jessy and his big brother Matty are going fishing, and Matty’s ribbing Jessy about a boy he likes in school, and it’s adorable. Jessy finally kissed Jack, a boy he’s been annoying Matty about for while, from what we understand, and Matty warns Jessy to be careful in their backward town. Matty is saving up for them to leave and be somewhere more open and accepting of the fact that Jessy is gay; and part of their savings is a rare coin. I love the teasing and the chemistry between these two right off. They’re only there for a little bit, but it’s sweet… until a monster comes and drags Matty off into the woods, never to be seen again. And that is when we get the title card. Welcome back!
Source: Supernatural // CW
Flash forward to present day in the bunker. It’s been a week since Amara vanished with Cas/Lucifer and Dean has done nothing but try to figure out how to get his wayward angel back home. He’s not sleeping, and my guess is the only reason he’s eating is because Sam is putting food in from of him. They gambled with Cas, Dean says, and now Amara has him. Cas may be beneath Amara’s radar (she only registers the big fish like Lucifer and God), but his absence is noticed by Dean and Sam. I hope this need and Cas’s importance is conveyed to the angel himself if and when he regains control. His feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy, coupled with a hefty dose of depression and PTSD are what led him to say yes to Luci in the first place; here’s hoping that ends this season. Well, for a minute, at least.
Sam convinces Dean to go on another hunt. He has faith that karma owes them and Cas will be fine, that they’ll get to him in time. In the meantime, some green eyed mutant is snatching people up from a small town in Colorado. Six are missing so far, and maybe they should save who they can. They get to town and meet up with Sheriff Tyson (small BSG shoutout to Kandyse McClure!) who says that this is a pattern, every 27yrs, folks go nuts and then up and leave town, never to be seen again. Can I just say that one of my favorite things about Supernatural is all the badass female sheriffs they have?
The new sheriff has only been on the job two years and something tells me the previous sheriffs weren’t terribly sharp if they notice a chunk of people just randomly vanish all at once and do zero follow-up. But hey, that’s just me. Anyway, Sam digs into the cold files while Dean talks to their witness, a young woman who was out getting high with her friend when they were attacked. She tells them that what she saw was naked, and pale… with no junk (PENIS, NO PENIS) and with green eyes. It made a buzzing sound, and everyone thinks she was hallucinating. Dean teases Sam about smoking pot (“I was 18 and it was probably oregano!”) and they come up with some fun nicknames for the monsters: Junkless and Green Eyed Shaker.
Source: Supernatural // CW
Sam says the sheriff from ‘89 was closing in and then suddenly stopped looking, and there is only one witness still in town and alive from “way back then.” I mean, I get that it was a while ago, but my dad has shirts older than this case, so the idea that Horny Etta is the only person to talk to is a little silly to me, but I digress. Etta’s husband went missing and was having affairsall over town, she says. He was cheating in public where all could see before he and the women he was boinking all vanished, presumably to shag their way to brighter lights and bigger cities. Etta’s actually getting ready to go visit her sister now, she says while mentally climbing Sam like a tree. “The Chitters” is coming and she doesn’t want to get caught up in them. According to her grandmother, Etta tells us, every generation has some folks going crazy during the Solstice. Orgies abound and it’s basically a bacchanal in the woods, which makes the “chittering” sound it’s named for. I’ve never heard orgies sound like that but hey, Safe Space. Etta seems pretty damn twitterpated by Moose, so it’s probably best she head out.
Meanwhile a couple of teenagers are walking through a tunnel when they stumble into a mutant good time and are attacked. One gets away and the other, well… doesn’t. Dean seems pretty excited that the case may involve orgies, even though the girl just saw her coach kill her friend and has no idea what an orgy would look like. Dean needs a night off, clearly.
Dean and Sam decide to split up. They have no idea what this is or exactly how dangerous it is, so obviously the best choice is to dig around alone. Sam heads to the Alley of Love while Dean decides to commune with nature where the happy hikers got attacked. We follow Dean and there we run into Libby, the girl whose disappearance brought them to Colorado in the first place, doing the jitterbug (not literally, but she is shakin’ a lot). While Dean tries to talk to her, he’s attacked by another mutant, but the day (er, night) is saved when someone cuts off the monster’s head. Dean’s new buddy helps him up while a flash of red plaid swoops in and starts stabbing the body… Normally, I’d give him side-eyes for going overboard, but after “Baby” I don’t trust decapitation, either. You do you, buddy.
Source: Supernatural // CW
Fighting monsters makes ya thirsty and Dean grabs a beer with his saviors
, who we learn are Cesar and Jessy. I have to say one thing I’m enjoying a lot this season is all the new hunters we’re meeting from all different backgrounds. Keep it up, Supernatural writers. Hunting is a small community, though, and the Winchesters are famous in it, even if no one is sure at any given time whether Dean is alive or dead (keep ‘em guessin’). Cesar and Jessy have been together for seven years and mostly based in Mexico, though they sometimes head up to Texas. Sammy shows up to update them on what he’s found (nothing) and the boys get schooled on the monsters. They’re Bisaan, a Cicada monster. They are like hermit crabs and people are the shells… except alive. Jessy wants Dean and Sam to step back so he can handle it, since these things killed his brother during the Bisaan’s last mating cycle. Cesar thinks more hands on the job is a good thing, especially since Jessy wants to stay out of town and in the woods. They bicker, which Dean thinks sounds a lot like him and Sammy, but Cesar corrects him, telling him that it’s more “old married couple” than “brother fights.” Dean is curious about what it’s like to settle down with another hunter (scary and dirty and scary) and that is basically the last we hear about these two hunters being a couple. A badass, scary couple who could kick most ass they come across.
Sam wants to talk to Cochran, the old sheriff who is basically a hermit now, and he and Jessy head off to get some answers from him while Dean and Cesar head back to the woods to find the burrow. While driving, we learn that if they don’t get these guys tonight, they’ll go underground and Jessy will have to wait another 27yrs before he gets his vengeance, if he doesn’t lose it first. Losing someone you love young changes you, you never really heal from it, and revenge doesn’t fix what was taken. The two go searching and it’s not long before they’re attacked. Cesar’s leg is hurt, but he shakes it off while Dean runs after the Bisaan. When he comes back he tells Cesar that he’s found the burrow with all the females, but it’s a hike. Cesar gives zero fucks and limps his ass up the hill with Dean. Because that’s how BAMFs roll.
The old sheriff is useless, of course. He doesn’t remember anything, which is a level of incompetence I actually find impressive. He’s lying, of course. His evading ends when Sam basically lays the cards out on the table. Turns out he knew all along what was happening. He followed a lead, found the burrow and hey! His daughter was one of the monsters! He killed her, never reported her missing (because he knew where she was) and then just… pretended it never happened. Jessy is understandably pissed, since this guy A) didn’t give him any closure on his brother and B) Let Jessy and everyone else in town think Jessy was batshit crazy. Cochran proves to be sorta useful, though, and tells them where the burrow is.
Dean and Cesar are already there, checking out the maternity ward for glo-worms, where they see all the missing females’ corpses are being used as incubators. They are attacked again and Cesar uses his beautiful knife and Dean uses the nearest shovel to kill them. Deciding they’ve seen enough, The two hunters head back to the car to get some gasoline and meet up with Jessy and Sam. Jessy gets the honor of blazing them up, but not before he finds his brother, finally. It’s a sad and touching moment when he just says “Hi Matty” through tears and finds the coin that was going to be their ticket out all those years ago.
Source: Supernatural // CW
Matty is given a hunter’s funeral and Sam talks to Dean about his fears from when he was a kid that one day Dean and their dad wouldn’t come back. While looking on as Jessy and Cesar get their closure and say goodbye to Matty, Dean mentions that the hunter husbands would be good to have in a fight, especially a fight against Amara, and Dean and Sam could use all the help they could get.
After they light up the burrow and the two pairs of hunters begin their goodbyes, Cesar mentions the deal he and Jessy had. When this hunt is done and Jessy finds Matty, they’re done, too. They’ve been paying for some land in Mexico to raise horses… unless the Winchesters need any help? Dean doesn’t mention Amara and we say goodbye to the Hunter Husbands. Making it to the finish line isn’t something you mess with.
Source: Supernatural // CW
PIE: ⅘ Showing Hunter Husbands kicking ass made my goddamned day this week.
BAMF: Cesar. Dude saves Dean, then hikes who knows HOW LONG on an injured leg to the burrow, and is supportive of his husband when they find his brother. But, most of all, he holds Jessy to the deal they made to be done. To have a life together. On one hand I would love to see them again, but on the other, I really don’t. I want them to have their happy ending.
What do you think of The Chitters? What do you hope to see in the final weeks of season 11? Do you hope to see Jessy and Cesar again, or should they ride off into the sunset? Do you hate the spelling of Jessy’s name as much as I do?
