Mensch of Letters

This week: Scenes that aged like milk on a radiator, the era when they cared about demon possession victims, mid-00s homophobia that turned into real bisexuality, rescuing a kid from ghost-induced drowning...2!, and Jules’s boyfriend Special Agent Victor Henriksen.

(Supernatural Season 2, Episodes 10, 11, and 12)

References:

• Real Actors on SPN [Archived Version/Picture] 
• Dean and Sam’s Paramilitary Upbringing [Archived Version]
• Down...

This week: Little sibling crimes of being taller, a sprinkling of daloy politsey, Sam gets snubbed by the FBI, Elijah the Prophet is playing with your dogs, and the covenant is just Eldest Daughter Disorder writ large.

(Supernatural Season 2, Episodes 7, 8, and 9)

References:

• SPN Wiki Transcript Search
• The Usual Suspects [Archived] 
• The Story Iscah Vaguely Remembers 
• The complexity of reasons people could get into hunting / [Archived...

This week: The boys could both benefit from some weed, emotions are little brother nonsense, apologies to Jules' mom for ragging on philosophy, the haunted post office episode we should have gotten, and debating the merits of different hairstyles. 

References:

• The uncle who put up the headstone / [Archived Version] 
• Death and Mourning in Judaism 
• Dean's Amulet - Super-wiki 
• Why do all monsters have superstrength? / [Archiv...

This week: A Lulav-ly guest star, worms and Worms and vurms, kings breaking necromancy prohibitions, no such thing as scars or head trauma, and the math of plane crashes vs. serial killer clowns.

References:

• 82 — Naso: Angel's on First — Kosher Queers! 
• "ben edlund...looks like a goat that got turned into a human" / [Archived + Picture]
• Smile Time
• The Others (2001 film)
• The Book of Abramelin 
• Exodus 30:36 
• Kol Nidrei 
• Sam...

This week: A living fossil of mid-00’s television, all questions and no answers, ghosts as a diaspora metaphor, what if it was more like X-Men, and everything is fresh and not yet beat into the ground.

(Supernatural Season 1)

References:

• "If they grapple with the nature of monstrosity twice a season..."
• The Shema
• Making hunters more than protectors of white suburbia
• Fridging

 You can also f...

This week: Clown foreshadowing, a list of impossible things, making holy water wrong, people who are unimpressed with the Winchesters, and Trivial Pursuit: Sammy’s Psychic Powers edition.

(Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 21 and 22)

References:

• Mandaic language - Wikipedia 
• Holy water - Wikipedia
• Key of Solomon - Wikipedia
• Jewish Exorcism

 You can also find us on Twitter @menschofletters and on Tumblr at menschofletters....

This week: Dean and Sam aren’t WASPs, a one-scene heist movie, Jules goes full Pepe Silvia over G-d as an author, Elijah is NOT a vampire, and it’s wildly easy to trick John Winchester.

(Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 19 and 20)

References:

• Working Class as a Signifier of Masculinity (Web Archive)
  • (Tag Screenshot)
• Working Class as a Signifier of Masculinity (Original)
• A Swarm of Evil Bees
• Exodus 20:4 with Connectio...

This week: Jules is probably not getting murdered by a daeva, Dean is Miette-coded, our new plastic surgeon OC, sometimes the solution is arson, and 19th century Wisconsin newspapers were totally on the cutting edge of photojournalism.

(Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 16, 17, and 18)

References:

• Our Town: Study Guide
• Daeva
• Cross of Saint Peter
• Vintras, Eugène (1807-1875) 
• Nirmāṇakāya - Wikipedia
• Jewish Bedtime Prayers
• 20 Jewis...

This week: Keeping ghosts secret except when we yell about them in public, hearteyes for THEE Cassie Robinson, Dean is totes nailing his priest impression, where are they getting entire State Trooper uniforms, and For Sale: Chekhov's Guns, Never Fired.

(Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 13, 14, and 15)

References:

• "The girl can't be on top."
• "Bi women are women who like men in a gay way"
• The Pol...

This week: Is it gay to sit on furniture?, teen girls with rock salt shotguns, we have a grand old time ragging on John Winchester, Mensch of Letters does not (wink wink) condone piracy, and a sorcerer is just a wizard who’s a dick. 

(Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 10, 11, and 12)

References:

• Sorcery, idolatry, and leading people astray as linked concepts 
• History of the Hasidic Movement and Shabbatai Tzvi (who...

This week: Dean (thinks he) looks young enough to be a college student, a ghost leaves out of embarrassment, Sam Winchester: Tarantula Whisperer, bad anthropological practices, and garbage disposal-based nightmare fuel. 

(Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 7, 8, and 9)

References: 

• Kosher Locusts 

You can also find us on Twitter @menschofletters and on Tumblr at menschofletters.tumblr.com. If you like what we're do...

This week: The Ackles ass equation, bad puns from demons, roasting the writers’ awful takes on gematria, real and metaphorical mirror demons, and Jules has become lawboy. 

(Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 4, 5, and 6)

References:

• Judaism and Numbers
• Tefilat Haderech, The Traveler's Prayer 
• Mirrors in the Bible and in Jewish Tradition
• Demon at the Doorstep: Lilith as a Reflection of Anxieties and Desires in An...

This week: Dean has two nickels, the timelines are already a little mysterious, a Hannibal/geography tangent, tricking vampires into going to a mikveh, and the narrative is not in the CW.

(Supernatural Season 1, Episodes 1, 2, and 3)

References:

• Life-energy gone awry
• Lemony Snicket interview 
• Cool Guy post
• Obligation to teach one's children to swim
• “The Talmud also specifies that parents should teach their ch...

Welcome to Mensch of Letters, the first, best, and ONLY Jewish Supernatural recap/review podcast. This week: our premiere, which consists of an introduction to your two hosts, Jules and Iscah.

You can also find us on Twitter @menschofletters and on Tumblr at menschofletters.tumblr.com.

Our intro music is Fun Tashlikh and our outro music is Szarvaszo Stomp, both by Yid Vicious, who you can find at their website yi...