Goofy, silly, funny, and cleverly “Supernatural!” Those are the thoughts that immediately came to mind after I watched this episode. In so many ways, the writers of this episode kept reminding us of the classic repetitions of this long-running cartoon, and its “two-dimensional” characters, while at the same time, taking our shows heroes and bringing their “3-dimensions” to us while part of the cartoon. 
It had elements of the Abbott and Costello meet (fill in the monster) movies in reverse. Also like when the ‘Trickster’ created an entire TV world to teach Sam and Dean a lesson about “playing their roles” leading up to the apocalypse, the Scooby characters were true to form, happily going about solving mysteries and eating in diners when Sam, Dean and later Cass, are thrust upon them. This time, Scooby is due an inheritance, but to get his share of the money, he has to spend the night in his late cousin’s haunted mansion, along with several other relatives.
As usual, Dean is the one who holds the Scooby characters dear, and true to form. We learn that he holds this particular cartoon in as high esteem as he does cowboys, and Asian porn! He also has a thing for Daphne, and even takes a gawk at her round cartoon butt in one scene. They drew a little extra back there for effect! She, of course, never broke character (Unaware of Dean’s flirtation) and never got too far away from Freddy. I was most moved by the fact that when the Scooby characters learned that ghosts are real, they nearly all have nervous breakdowns, because we all know that there’s an evil, money hungry, real-estate developer in a mask that Is trying to scare everyone away so he can get all the profits and keep them for himself in every episode of Scooby Doo ever done! In fact, The Scooby gang’s nervous breakdowns were the only time the Scooby stars broke their normal cartoon character. 
There never could have been another Scooby adventure ‘drawn’ if they really understood what’s out there! Up till then, they were oblivious to what is really scary in Sam and Dean’s ghostly reality: “cold temps” when the ghost is near, etc.
Nice touches were that Freddy got tossed across a room and had a bloody nose. There were ‘real’ murders in this episode and quite ghastly ones at that! Especially the dismembered body of the lawyer. (Hey! Don’t most of them deserve this fate?) Cass walked like Scooby and Shaggy, tip-toeing across the floors of the mansion. Shaggy gets tossed out of a 3-story window and breaks his arm. Velma turned out to be the ‘more sexually aware’ of our two females of the bunch, and she finally gives Sam an aggressive kiss near the end of the episode, dipping the giant. (She always has a thing for guys with broad shoulders!)
Of course, there are some parallels between the shows. Like, where do the characters get the money to drive all over the country, eat at all kinds of restaurants and solve mysteries? Why do they keep going and going? They often find their next ‘cases’ in the newspaper headlines. (My tongue is firmly implanted in cheek) Of course, the ‘real’ ghost in this Scooby story, turned from a scripted repeat Dean had watched 100 times, to a head-scratcher, was a ghost-child who was being controlled by an evil “real estate broker” whom we met early in the episode. He controlled the boy ghost by planting an object to which he was attached (pocket knife) into things the boy would possess and scare off business owners in the area. The “bad man” would buy cheap and sell high! And when caught, he even uttered the famous line, “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn’t been for those meddling kids!” Classic!
I also liked that our heroes chose to lie in order to leave the Scooby bunch happily in their cartoon bliss, too “two dimensional” to recognize that there are indeed real ghosts, demons and other monsters! Our ghost boy, who drew our heroes into this cartoon world through a possessed TV, posed as a typical Scooby bad guy and all was right with the Hanna-Barbera cartoon universe. Scooby and Shaggy were scared and hungry, Freddy was ever optimistic, complete with ascot, every hair in place and planning how to execute their ghost-catching moves. Thelma was smart and Daphne was tagging along, looking pretty and finding danger! Sam, Dean and Cass had saved their world, albeit with little appreciation or fanfare, just like on their real earth! Jensen Ackles is a very good comedic actor, and played up his role with an ascot and his “Scooby Doo” 
impression that ended the episode! His facial expressions and overall goofiness were great again, as was his voice acting when they were in cartoon form. Sam (Jared Padalecki), was indeed the perfect straight man, as was Cass. (Misha Collins). I found it a good bit of comic relief, not quite as good as the Supernatural musical episode, or even the TV land deal, but still, I laughed out loud several times and found it cleverly executed with the help of the Scooby Doo cartoon. Now, it’s back to the business of saving Mary, Jack, and the world from Lucifer, Alt-Michael, and Asmodeus!
Eric “YankerNatural” Clemons
Photos: The CW and Supernatural! All rights reserved
Feeling Supernatural!!! 