Denim-wrapped Nightmares, a Supernatural podcast

Supernatural Season 9, Episode 18, Meta Fiction recap 🪽 Metatron (Curtis Armstrong) is writing the story now, and Gabriel (Richard Speight Jr.) is BACK... or is he? Berly and LA break it all down on Denim-wrapped Nightmares, a Supernatural rewatch podcast.

Metatron opens the episode at a typewriter in a smoking jacket and ascot, narrating his own story like he's God. And he kind of is now. Meanwhile, Dean is brooding in the shower (we needed more), Cas is on the road with his motel room and no wings, and a familiar face pops up on a Casa Erotica tape before appearing in person on Castiel's couch. Full body shots plus close-ups, interesting angles and lighting. Thank you, Thomas J. Wright!

Episode Highlights:

• Metatron in the opening credits, and the jokes about continuity and retcons
• Gabriel looking right at the camera: Don't you need gas? (We should have known.)
• Dean getting some alone time with Gadreel (Tahmoh Penikett). Gadreel does not leave in good condition.
• Metatron fingering Cas with all of human pop culture, so Cas can finally get references
• Cas in a SUIT for about forty-five seconds before the trench coat comes back. The audacity.
• Sam and Dean's holy fire plan (how many rings did they make, just to be sure?)
• Curtis Armstrong clearly having the time of his life
• Hannah's I knew it! moment
• The story is FINALLY moving forward (thank you, Robbie Thompson!)

In the lore segment, we dig into Gabriel's horn: how Gabriel became the trumpeter of Judgment Day in Milton's Paradise Lost, Armenian religious art, and spirituals like Blow Your Trumpet, Gabriel. Gabriel announces births and interprets visions, but when does he pick up the horn? Listen to the end to find out.

"Bitch, please. You've been God more often than Dad has." – Gabriel (to Castiel)

Your turn, hunters: Did the Gabriel reveal get you too? And would YOU blow the horn of Gabriel? Tell us in the Spotify comments, leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts (a review helps other fans find their way to the bunker), or send us fan mail. See you next time. Cheers!

Sources:

• https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Meta_Fiction
• https://thegoodnewsherald.wordpress.com/2018/08/18/gabriels-horn/

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Denim-wrapped Nightmares is a Supernatural rewatch podcast hosted by Berly and LA, breaking down every episode of the Winchester saga with lore deep-dives plus cast and crew interviews. Special thanks to David Fesliyan and Fesliyan Studios.

Subscribe, leave a review, and, if you choose to drink, please drink responsibly.

Join the hunt at linktr.ee/dwnpod where you can find links to socials and sign up for emails. Until next time, cheers!

Abaddon's Soul Farm, Josie Sands & How to Spot Someone With No Soul

A schoolteacher comes home, her husband doesn't get up to help with the groceries, asks what's for dinner, and she makes meatloaf. Out of him. Honestly, Berly and LA have some thoughts about whose side they're on.

This week Sam works the case solo while Dean drinks a whole bottle of whiskey with zero effect, lies to his brother about doing research, and pocket dials Crowley like a man with a problem. The case takes Sam to Milton, Illinois, where people are losing their souls at an alarming rate, a boy is stabbing people with a steak knife covered in mashed potatoes, and an absolutely fabulous elderly woman in a matching hat and brooch shows up at the police station to tell everyone it's demons. She is right. She is also a former nun with a 1958 flashback that finally explains how Josie Sands became Abaddon, and this episode was directed by Misha Collins, who was apparently too busy behind the camera to show up in front of it.

The lore this week covers how to spot someone with no soul. Berly and LA read through the list and begin to get concerned. About themselves.

Drop a comment with your thoughts, and if you're enjoying the show, a review helps other fans find their way to the bunker. See you next week. Jerk. Bitch.

Sources:

• https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Mother%27s_Little_Helper
• https://www.buzzsprout.com/2076426/episodes/14574183

Send us your review!

Support the show

Denim-wrapped Nightmares is a Supernatural rewatch podcast hosted by Berly and LA, breaking down every episode of the Winchester saga with lore deep-dives plus cast and crew interviews. Special thanks to David Fesliyan and Fesliyan Studios.

Subscribe, leave a review, and, if you choose to drink, please drink responsibly.

Join the hunt at linktr.ee/dwnpod where you can find links to socials and sign up for emails. Until next time, cheers!

 The First Blade, Men of Letters & the Real Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Crowley is in a hotel room in silk pajamas, surrounded by drained bodies, eating pizza, and crying at sad movies. He is not okay. Nobody call hell right now.

This week Sam and Dean track down a very compromised King of Hell, stage an intervention, drag him back to the bunker, and somehow end up in a magical invisible mansion run by the expelled Men of Letters master of spells who has a collection problem and thinks Dean would make a lovely addition to it. Also: Snooki shows up as a crossroads demon, the antiques curator at the National Institute of Antiquities is deeply unbothered by federal investigators (but hot-and-bothered by Dean Winchester), and the First Blade finally makes contact with the Mark of Cain. It does not go great.

Berly also makes a case for the Sam and Crowley storyline that never happened, and she is right to mourn it. The lore this week covers the real Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Victorian occult secret society whose actual magical symbol ended up on the Men of Letters crest. It turns out the bunker's glorified book club has real world bones, and they are extremely dramatic.

Drop a comment with your thoughts, and if you're enjoying the show, a review helps other fans find their way to the bunker. See you next week. Jerk. Bitch.

Sources:

• https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Blade_Runners
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetic_Order_of_the_Golden_Dawn
• https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Men_of_Letters

Send us your review!

Support the show

Denim-wrapped Nightmares is a Supernatural rewatch podcast hosted by Berly and LA, breaking down every episode of the Winchester saga with lore deep-dives plus cast and crew interviews. Special thanks to David Fesliyan and Fesliyan Studios.

Subscribe, leave a review, and, if you choose to drink, please drink responsibly.

Join the hunt at linktr.ee/dwnpod where you can find links to socials and sign up for emails. Until next time, cheers!

Ghostfacers, Slender Man & the Internet's Darkest Urban Legend

A teenage girl is taking selfies and there is something behind her with no face... and a receding hairline. Odd choice.

This week the Ghostfacers are back! Ed and Harry roll up in their van chasing clout, filming crime scenes, and generally behaving in ways that have Berly and LA deeply conflicted about two characters they used to love. Meanwhile Sam and Dean are investigating what looks like a monster but turns out to be something far more human and far more depressing. The villains this week murdered people over a declined PTO and an unanswered date request, yet somehow that still isn't the most upsetting thing about this episode.

The lore covers Slender Man: where he came from, why he works, and why this episode has almost certainly been quietly pulled from syndication. It started as a Photoshop contest in 2009. It did not stay there.

Drop a comment with your thoughts, and if you're enjoying the show, a review helps other fans find their way to the bunker. See you next week. Jerk. Bitch.

Sources:

• https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Thinman
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man
• https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27776894
• https://techcrunch.com/2014/06/30/the-story-of-slenderman-the-internets-own-monster/ 

Send us your review!

Support the show

Denim-wrapped Nightmares is a Supernatural rewatch podcast hosted by Berly and LA, breaking down every episode of the Winchester saga with lore deep-dives plus cast and crew interviews. Special thanks to David Fesliyan and Fesliyan Studios.

Subscribe, leave a review, and, if you choose to drink, please drink responsibly.

Join the hunt at linktr.ee/dwnpod where you can find links to socials and sign up for emails. Until next time, cheers!

Kevin's Back, The Veil Explained & Castiel's Accidental Army

The bunker is haunted, Dean is having a heart-to-heart with a coffee machine, and Kevin Tran has been stuck in the veil listening to a Winchester pity party.

This week Kevin makes his return from beyond the veil with a mission, a message, and absolutely no patience for the ongoing brother drama. Sam and Dean head into the woods to summon a ghost named Candy using a radio EVP setup, track down Mrs. Tran from a demon-run storage facility, and deliver what might be the most bittersweet reunion of the season. The impossible hug situation is heartbreaking.

Meanwhile Castiel pays a visit to Bartholomew's operation, which goes about as well as you'd expect, and somehow walks out of it with the beginnings of his own faction. He did not ask for this. Nobody asked for this.

The lore this week covers the veil, the real spiritual concept behind the one keeping all those post-fall souls stuck, and whether the veil has been thinning since 2020. Spoiler: one wellness blog thinks so. Berly and LA have thoughts.

Drop a comment with your theories, and if you're enjoying the show, a review helps other fans find their way to the bunker. See you next week. Jerk. Bitch.

Sources:

• https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Captives
• https://www.adventuringwithposeidon.com/blog/4-ways-you-feel/notice-the-thinning-of-the-veil
• https://spells8.com/what-is-the-veil-spiritual/

Send us your review!

Support the show

Denim-wrapped Nightmares is a Supernatural rewatch podcast hosted by Berly and LA, breaking down every episode of the Winchester saga with lore deep-dives plus cast and crew interviews. Special thanks to David Fesliyan and Fesliyan Studios.

Subscribe, leave a review, and, if you choose to drink, please drink responsibly.

Join the hunt at linktr.ee/dwnpod where you can find links to socials and sign up for emails. Until next time, cheers!

Pishtacos, Pudding & the Monster Who Was Actually Doing Good

This week Sam and Dean go undercover at Canyon Valley, a suspiciously effective weight loss retreat run by the sweetest monster they've ever had to shut down. Sam teaches yoga in a tank top. Dean gets assigned to the kitchen, steals some pudding, and sneaks away to eat it in a basement corner like a raccoon. Sheriff Donna Hanscom shows up on vacation and immediately becomes Berly and LA's new favorite character. The real villain turns out to be a very hungry, very disgruntled brother with a grudge and a body count.

Also: the debate about whether to kill monsters who are living their best non-murderous lives comes up, again, and Berly has some feelings about how many times this show is going to make them have this exact conversation.

The lore this week covers the real Andean legend behind the Pishtaco, which turns out to be rooted in genuinely horrifying colonial history. 

Drop a comment with your thoughts, and if you're enjoying the show, a review helps other fans find their way to the bunker. See you next week. Jerk. Bitch.

Sources:

• https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/The_Purge
• https://przekroj.org/en/art-stories/the-pishtaco-emerges-from-the-andes/
• https://www.fertur-travel.com/blog/2017/spooky-folklore-monsters-and-myths-of-highland-peru/7814/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pishtaco

Send us your review!

Support the show

Denim-wrapped Nightmares is a Supernatural rewatch podcast hosted by Berly and LA, breaking down every episode of the Winchester saga with lore deep-dives plus cast and crew interviews. Special thanks to David Fesliyan and Fesliyan Studios.

Subscribe, leave a review, and, if you choose to drink, please drink responsibly.

Join the hunt at linktr.ee/dwnpod where you can find links to socials and sign up for emails. Until next time, cheers!

Garth Returns, Werewolf Cults & the Myth of Fenrir

Garth is back. He killed a cow. And he got hit by a car. We have questions.

Sharp Teeth reunites the boys with everybody's favorite lanky hunter, who has been MIA for six months and has some explaining to do. Turns out Garth got bit on a hunt, fell in love with a born werewolf named Bess, and joined a peaceful werewolf congregation run by a very sincere reverend with a very suspicious wife. Berly and LA are charmed by Garth and Bess, deeply skeptical of the stepmother from the jump, and mildly concerned about Sam Winchester's brain after yet another knock to the head.

Meanwhile, Dean and Sam are technically working together but driving separate cars and absolutely not talking about their feelings. Progress.

The lore this week covers Fenrir, the Norse wolf so catastrophically large and dangerous that the gods had to trick him into being chained up using a magical ribbon and one god's hand as a bargaining chip. He is currently down there waiting. 

Drop a comment with your theories, and if you're enjoying the show, a review helps other fans find their way to the bunker. See you next week. 

Sources:

• https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Sharp_Teeth 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenrir 
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fenrir 
• https://www.norsegarde.com/blogs/lore-and-mythology/unleashing-the-legend-exploring-fenrir-wolf-from-norse-mythology

Send us your review!

Support the show

Denim-wrapped Nightmares is a Supernatural rewatch podcast hosted by Berly and LA, breaking down every episode of the Winchester saga with lore deep-dives plus cast and crew interviews. Special thanks to David Fesliyan and Fesliyan Studios.

Subscribe, leave a review, and, if you choose to drink, please drink responsibly.

Join the hunt at linktr.ee/dwnpod where you can find links to socials and sign up for emails. Until next time, cheers!

Cain, the First Blade & the Mark of Cain Explained

It's 1863, Confederate demons are terrified, and a man with a jawbone and a leather jacket just kicked in a door. That's our cold open, and we are already locked in.

Dean and Crowley hit the road together as the world's least likely hunting duo, tracking down the First Blade, the only weapon that can kill Abaddon. The trail leads them to a crotchety hunter named Tara (who shares way too much information about John Winchester) and eventually to a very charming beekeeper (who turns out to be the father of murder himself). Cain is retired, unbothered, and shucking corn while demons get their asses handed to them in the next room. Berly and LA are smitten, and they are not hiding it.

Back at the bunker, Sam and Castiel are working on extracting the last traces of Gadreel's grace, and somehow a peanut butter and jelly sandwich becomes the emotional thesis statement of the episode.

The lore this week covers the real biblical Cain: the first murder, the mark, the curse, and how the world's original problem child accidentally kickstarted urban civilization and the music industry. It tracks.

Drop a comment with your thoughts, and if you're enjoying the show, a review helps other fans find their way to the bunker. See you next week.

Sources:

• https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/First_Born
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cain-biblical-figure
• https://www.gotquestions.org/Cain-in-the-Bible.html

Send us your review!

Support the show

Denim-wrapped Nightmares is a Supernatural rewatch podcast hosted by Berly and LA, breaking down every episode of the Winchester saga with lore deep-dives plus cast and crew interviews. Special thanks to David Fesliyan and Fesliyan Studios.

Subscribe, leave a review, and, if you choose to drink, please drink responsibly.

Join the hunt at linktr.ee/dwnpod where you can find links to socials and sign up for emails. Until next time, cheers!

Crowley, Gadreel, & the Mark Begins

A hunter's funeral, a rock star in pleather pants, and Crowley finally getting out of the dungeon. That's just the first fifteen minutes.

Road Trip picks up right where the midseason finale left our broken little hearts. Dean is not okay. Sam still doesn't know what's been living inside him. And the only person with a plan to fix any of it is Crowley, which tells you everything about how bad things have gotten.

This week Berly and LA break down the road trip to Somerset, Metatron lurking in a bar for reasons that may or may not be strategic, a very handsome angel named Abner who makes some deeply unfortunate life choices, and the moment Sam finally gets the full picture of what Dean did. Also: Castiel's new trench coat gets a formal review, Crowley earns some genuine tenderness from two people who should know better, and Abaddon finds out the hard way that hell is not a dictatorship.

This week's lore digs into the real Aleister Crowley, the self-proclaimed Beast who founded his own religion, dabbled in occult secret societies, and inspired everyone from Neil Gaiman to Ozzy Osbourne. The reputation, as it turns out, is bigger than the man. Sound familiar?

Drop a comment with your theories, and if you're enjoying the show, a review helps other fans find their way to the bunker. See you next week!

Sources:

• https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Road_Trip
• https://www.buzzsprout.com/2076426/episodes/13865259

Send us your review!

Support the show

Denim-wrapped Nightmares is a Supernatural rewatch podcast hosted by Berly and LA, breaking down every episode of the Winchester saga with lore deep-dives plus cast and crew interviews. Special thanks to David Fesliyan and Fesliyan Studios.

Subscribe, leave a review, and, if you choose to drink, please drink responsibly.

Join the hunt at linktr.ee/dwnpod where you can find links to socials and sign up for emails. Until next time, cheers!

Bonus Interview: Jerry Wanek | Production Designer, Director & Executive Producer of Supernatural

We are sitting "in" the Men of Letters bunker. Jerry Wanek built it. This interview was always going to happen.

For the Season 9 midseason bonus episode, Berly and LA sit down with the man behind the entire visual world of Supernatural, all 15 seasons, 327 episodes, and one very beloved telescope. Jerry Wanek started his career cleaning up after a fire for $35 a day, ended up on set with James Cameron and Ridley Scott, and then took a chance on a little show called Supernatural because Jensen Ackles was going to be in it. The rest, as they say, is production design history.

In this conversation Jerry gets into how the bunker was built (every bookcase is on wheels, there are hidden sigils pressed into the floor, and yes the telescope was absolutely necessary and he will fight Phil about it), what it was like to direct his first episode with a love scene, a baby being born, and buckets of blood all on the same day, how Jensen used to steal every scene on Dark Angel before anyone knew who he was, and why Jared Padalecki was eventually not allowed to drive. He also shares the story behind the Supernatural crew coffee table book — which he put together out of pure love, did not make a dime on, and is currently in its third printing.

Berly and LA also had to chop this one down, and they are not happy about it either. There was so much more.

Drop a comment with your questions for future guests, and if you're enjoying the show, a review helps other fans find their way to the bunker. See you soon for the second half of Season 9. Jerk. Bitch.

Send us your review!

Support the show

Denim-wrapped Nightmares is a Supernatural rewatch podcast hosted by Berly and LA, breaking down every episode of the Winchester saga with lore deep-dives plus cast and crew interviews. Special thanks to David Fesliyan and Fesliyan Studios.

Subscribe, leave a review, and, if you choose to drink, please drink responsibly.

Join the hunt at linktr.ee/dwnpod where you can find links to socials and sign up for emails. Until next time, cheers!