Supernatural: "Clap Your Hands if You Believe..." Review

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Article Comments for [link=http://tv.ign.com/articles/113/1136057p1.html]Supernatural: "Clap Your Hands if You Believe..." Review[/link]
by Diana Steenbergen

Summary: Supernatural's "Clap Your Hands if You Believe..." is just what the doctor ordered for Season 6, adding a little levity to the gloom of the season and making it one of the most watchable of the season so far. The problem of soulless Sam remains, but there is humor this time around, in addition to addressing the seriousness of the situation. [link=http://tv.ign.com/articles/113/1136057p1.html]Read Full Article[/link]

 

[rcdvg]

truly hilarious. especially when sam said to paraphrase "did you service the king of the fairies dean?". I actually found the assault funny because dean had no idea how it would be percieved, and the audience was well aware of how it would be percieved. Major Tom during the fight scene was great too. So was the whole thing with sam sleeping with the hipster chic instead of trying to save dean.

 

[Dredgon]

I must say, I was not expecting this episode to be what it was, but that’s a good thing as it was a great one. I loved the homage to the X-Files in the opening credits and the whole first half with the brothers believing that aliens were behind the abductions. I too would have preferred it if they had kept the fact that fairies were the actual culprits a secret until the episode aired, as it would have been that much more surprising.

Sam was hilarious this episode as we really got to see how not having a soul affects his interactions among normal people in the town. I liked Dean having to teach him how to be human, as it is a lot harder for him when it’s his brother who always used to be the calm one in the situation. I loved Dean’s abduction and his fight with the fairy cued to Major Tom, it was a great scene especially when he looked closer and said “Nipples?!” in disbelief. I did not find his attack on the man forced or unnecessary, he thought it was the fairy stalking him and did what Dean does, shoot first, ask questions later.

I liked the talk with the crazy fairy lady, and the way they took a spin on the fairy lore with the parallel universe intact but the cream and the salt, and once you have been there you can see them everywhere. It seemed kind of a copout for Sam to just spill the salt, and he asked the right question “Why didn’t I do that earlier?” but it was a good fight until then. It was interesting that the leprechaun claimed he could break into The Cage through back doors because of his magical universe and retrieve Sam’s soul, loved how he said your devil, and wonder if they have their own version of him. It would have also been nice to learn more about Oberon and how powerful he is, perhaps as powerful as God or Lucifer?! The fact that Sam turned the deal down seems like he does in fact want to remain soulless, despite what he said to Dean, we know lying is second nature now. Either way it was a fun episode that moved on the plot point of Sam’s soullessness and also introduced beings who seem powerful enough to contend with angels & demons any day. Overall a great, light hearted episode before next episode’s seemingly dark return to the Crowley storyline, looks great and can’t wait two weeks! A 9.6/10

 

[what0080]

First and foremost: it's called "Space Oddity" by David Bowie NOT "Major Tom." Some other artist recorded "Major Tom," not David Bowie!!

Now that that is out of the way... Great episode. Best I've seen this season this side of "Weekend at Bobby's." The scene of Dean getting arrested was hilarious, second only to the aforementioned "Space Oddity" fight scene.

 

[cerebus00]

best episode of the season sofar, funny as all hell, the new honest sam is a laugh riot. and how dean is having to cope with being the humane one of the duo is fun to watch, especailly after last season when dean seem to not have a soul for a good portion of the season, just for lack of caring about anything, lest sam has a legit excuse why he is the way he is.

really liking this season i mean i know we had fears about how would they top the apocalypse and etc and the creator leaving the show, but this show has been solid and had some great moments.

 

[TheoreticallyCorrect]

Wow, I really didn't like this episode. I thought everything was waaay overdone. The dialog where Sam is learning that having a soul means suffering was terrible. The elves in the watch shop were stupid cheesy. Dean screaming at Sam, while he was in the cop car, to get the Fairies was just too much. I've enjoyed this season so far, and consistently thought the episodes were scored low, but I completely disagree with this episode rating.

 

[darktreeExecutioner]

Empathy, Sam! Empathy!
Wonderfully comedic episode that continues to deal with the idea of being soulless.

 

[ChaosAndEvil]

So far in my opinion Sam's soullessness is not exactly soulless...He doesn't seem devoid of all humanity, he just acts mean. Aside from that the show is great.

 

[DarthCariss]

It was funny, but it did seem pretty contrived to get the pieces to fall into place for the laughs. Why does it seem like Sam is getting more and more inept as time goes on? He's not seeming like the calculated "expert hunter" that we've been told is true, he just seems like someone who doesn't care about anything and just does stuff on a whim.

 

[Mattmeister7]

I've never been a fan of these comedy episodes. To me it's not what Supernatural should be about. If I want constant laughs and weirdness I'd watch a sitcom.

 

[kylenin51]

Great episode. One of the best this season. And I'm glad to see that the series is back to getting a little more humor into the mix (mainly from this episode and "Weekend at Bobby's"). Last season, the show was taking itself way too seriously. I mean, I understand why. The whole end of the world thing tends to give a doom and gloom feeling. But Season 5 just seemed so much more humorless than previous seasons. It's great to have the humor back.

 

[Clements_01]

I'm loving the new soulless Sam. He's so much more fun than the usual tortured blood-drinking version from the past few seasons. The parts I especially liked were when he knew for a fact Dean was about to be abducted and all he cared about was ordering another beer, when he made the meta-crack about UFO hunters "this is all you've got after all these years? have you ever considered you just suck?" and of course when he and Dean are debating how one should react to a missing sibling "so i should just sit in the dark and mope all night?". I can't blame faux-Sam though, I would've taken "solace" in that hippie chick too

 

[cee_dee]

When I saw the preview for this episode I didn't think that it would be a good one, but I was wrong. I really enjoyed it. This was definelty one of the funniest episodes this season, but not the greatest.

Some of the funniest episodes of the series involved The Trickster/Gabriel, I miss that character. I loved season five's "Changing Channels".

 

[Volvagia_slayer]

Why does it seem like Sam is getting more and more inept as time goes on? He's not seeming like the calculated "expert hunter" that we've been told is true, he just seems like someone who doesn't care about anything and just does stuff on a whim.

It could be because during his first year without a soul, he had Samuel and that whole group guiding him, and they were all too happy to encourage the soulless, conscienceless killing machine that Sam had become. Then when Sam split from them and made his way back with Dean who has begun to try to stamp some of that out and get human-Sam back, Sam is confused. He's trying to make Dean happy, and that includes holding back on his more ruthless hunting skills. Of course since Sam couldn't see the fairies in this episode, it did make him a bit more inept than usual.

 

[ControlFreakZero]

Once again, I must disagree with this review. I usually enjoy lighter comedy episodes, but FAIRIES?! I have less of a problem with how things were handled than I do with the fact that they even did this idea. Just like last week, I don't feel like this would have been an episode attempted in any other season of the show.

I enjoyed the X-Files references, and even that the leprechaun was covering everything up with all the UFO heresay. I also enjoyed that they have started to give Sam something to do, even if that thing is basically take Cass' place as the character without a sense of humanity. My big issue is that with both the skinwalkers and the fairies, it messes up some of the past continuity. I mean, you are telling me that there is a whole other dimension populated with fairies, trolls, gnomes and leprechauns? And that neither Bobby or Cass thought this magic world was a source they could have tapped into when they were s*** out of luck with Lucifer? This magic alternate universe seems to be able to go around things that angels and demons can't, plus the lore has been there all along.

Even if the idea of fairies is stupid, I wish they could have rooted it a bit more into the world and mythology of Supernatural. You can't just throw out a fact of an entire other dimension and not follow up on it (and hopefully they will). Hell, even some of the most hilarious episodes (last season's "Changing Channels") tied deeply into the overall story and mythos.

Maybe I will feel better about this episode (and last week's) once this season is wrapped and I can view them in a greater context.

 

[Volvagia_slayer]

^Skinwalkers don't mess up past continuity. They've been mentioned in the show since Season 1!

EDIT: And as for the fairies, they're in the same ballpark as angels were in Seasons 1-3. You remember how the Season 2 episode "Houses of the Holy" went out of its way to show that hunters didn't believe in angels, and the monster in the end was just a ghost that thought it was an angel? Then in Season 4 it's finally revealed that angels ARE real, but up to this point no hunter had ever had reason to believe in them.

Same deal with the fairies. No hunter had ever seen them before because they can't be seen by anyone except those who have been abducted by them. And Dean even said that he'd rather believe in UFOs than fairies, implying that that's how the hunter community probably feels as a whole. They want to believe fairies don't exist, they've got no reason to believe they exist, so they don't think that they exist.

It doesn't explain why Castiel and the angels never brought up fairies, but it is entirely possible that the fairies' powers were exaggerated quite a bit by the leprechaun. If that's the case, then there would have been no need to bring them up if they couldn't have been of any use.

 

[grandslam2288Mercury]

My guess is that the cage is something like a net too. Where a human soul would be possible to get out, but not an archangel. Also I doubt the Lebrecaun could get Lucifer out of the cage, but maybe he too like Crowley could get the soul. My reaction when he said that his soul was not faraway though was that Sam's soul was not in the cage ad that might be why its so easy to get to.
Thoughts?

 

[Volvagia_slayer]

My reaction when he said that his soul was not faraway though was that Sam's soul was not in the cage ad that might be why its so easy to get to.

I had the same idea. It would certainly fit with one of the more popular theories: that Crowley isn't telling the whole truth about Sam's soul/his motives.

However, the net analogy is a pretty good one as well.

 

[D-Bane12]

Soulless Sam was funny, I hope they prolong getting his soul back as long as possible.

And I love it that Dean nuked a fairy, it was awesome.

 

[SeerMagic]

A 9? what episode where you watching? This was crap, even by normal show standards. Supernatural has just been awful this year, we are like 10 episodes in and there has only been 1 good episode all season.

 

[Linklex77]

This was a great episode but I do agree with how promos can mess up a big surprise coming up on a show. You see it happen a lot on tv shows.

 

[adventchild90]

Loved the episode but that was THEE worst pronunciation of Irish I have ever heard when they are reading the incantation!! lol

 

[paracodexlover]

SeerMagic can f himself, he cant appreciate a good episode , this is a great epiosode

 

[Maxor127]

I liked it. I didn't get spoiled by any promo material, but since the crazy lady mentioned fairies at the beginning and the episode was titled "Clap your Hands if You Believe," I figured fairies would be behind everything from the beginning.

 

[sifth]

The good Doctor from Star Trek Voyager performance really stole the show this week for me. Dean nuking the fairy with a microwave and the x files opening were great as well. These humor centered episodes really are what make me enjoy Supernatural more than any other show on tv

 

[FireFly3347]

Never watch the previews. I didn't watch the previews, so I found this episode hilarious and quite interesting. I was pretty sure it was not going to be aliens, even though angels have said "This is just one planet" many times.

I find it odd that the faeries claim to be more powerful than angels. Even though they are from a different plane of existence, you would think God and the angels and even the Demons would know about these other planes, and possibly have influence in those realms too.

New idea, no one watch previews anymore. It makes for a better viewing experience when you actually watch the episode.

 

[AttitudeInc]

My favorite line was Sam's "I think the fourth kind is the butt thing!"

 

[LivingInCMinor]

Great review. Only thing I'd disagree on was Dean beating up the little man (trying to be sensitive), sorry but I BUSTED out laughing when that happened.

 

[DKRider93]

I wonder if Auberon is more powerful than God and also if the Death we've been introduced to is the "overall" death or if each dimension has their own Death?

 

[ChrisDaViking]

I never thought i'd see Supernatural do a "Fairy" Ep., but it was a good one and it was hilarious.

 

[dylan21484nj]

Absolutely hilarious. I was LOLing and ROFLing the whole time. And I'm really starting to like Soulless Sam, now that they're starting to really play up the humor of it. Sam's complete indifference to Dean's peril during his "abduction" as he's asking the waiter for another beer while Dean shouts "Close encounter! Close encounter!" over the phone had me dying. Supernatural is one of those few shows that can truly and effectively go from being dark and serious one episode and then delve into comedy in the next one and bounce right back into seriousness in the following episode.

 

[madman_devin]

funny episode, great except the final confrontation, a bit underwhelming, I mean he dropped some salt and read a book. But the rest of the episode was just funny as hell.

 

[01LSL1CK]

"Dean, Did you service Oberon - King of the Fairies?" - Funniest line of the entire series!!! This episode was funnier than some sitcoms!

 

[2-7-79]

Get those fairies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AceTheDream]

If you did not trull love this episode then im confused about how much you love sipernatural. This series always has an espisode meant to make you laugh, and at the same time produce a great supernatural story. think of "Yellow Fever," The wishing Well one, with the suicidal teddy bear," Castial through season five, The trickster episodes.

All driven by comedy and yet the show never lost ists identity. This one in particular may be the funniest one I have seen, and loved it beginning to end. Especially when sam acknowledges why he didnt toss the salt on the ground in the first place.

 

[andreslars]

i own all series of supernatural just waiting for number 5 to come to stores where i live

And man i loved this episode!!!!

 

[leclair4]

Great episode.
I have to say though the funniest moment is when dean is running thru the field yelling close encounter, sam ask's him which kind first, second and he says the third. And Sam says with a straight face( which sold it even better) hurry up(?) i think the fourth is some kinda butt thing. Freaking histerical.

 

[treybourne]

"What doesn't work as well is Dean's attack on a man while shouting that he is a fairy which is forced and unfunny."

I disagree. What you seem to have missed was that the man was a midget.

To everyone else it would appear that he was committing a hate crime (but what type, as mused by the Police officer), but to the viewers we know just how badly his actions are being misunderstood.

We're in on the joke, which was created *by* the fairies intentionally leading him into the embarrassing situation.

That's only going to be forced or unfunny if you're coming at it from an overly PC-stance, in which case I would wager you'd also dislike the humour of Robin Williams, Chris Rock, or George Carlin.

 

[cjmc18]

close encounter! close encounter! close encounter!