***SPOILERS AHEAD***
When news broke that the CW’s long-running fantasy horror series Supernatural would be doing a crossover episode with, of all shows, Scooby Doo, the reaction was a mix of surprise and excitement.
Yes, it’s weird for a live-action show that’s featured cartoonishly graphic violence to mix with a kids series, but there was always the potential for something awesome. After all, both shows deal with mysteries and monsters.
That’s one of the things the show addresses early on, as Scoobynatural ended up being a hilarious, meta episode that was one of the most entertaining hours of TV I’ve seen in a long time. Supernatural has never been afraid to be weird and a little bit goofy, and this has led to both great and not-so-great moments. In this case, embracing the opportunities for self-referential humor worked in the show's favor.
This was clear when Sam and Dean first met Scooby and the gang. The gang was portrayed perfectly, as their aw-shucks innocence hilariously clashed with the increasingly brutal mystery they get entangled with. They are, of course, characters from a show made for children, so putting them in the middle of a standard Supernatural mystery where people are actually getting killed made the episode equally shocking and funny.
The gang's realization that the ghost at hand wasn't simply a real estate scammer in a mask made them question their whole reality. As it turns out, seeing cartoon characters go through an existential crisis can be pretty hilarious.
The episode was made even more meta by the reveal that while the ghost was real, the plot behind it was in fact just a real estate scheme.
Like in any episode of Supernatural, the show's strongest point was its leads. Dean, a massive fan of the Scooby Doo cartoons, was having the time of his life living inside an animated series. His fruitless efforts to get with Daphne were funny, but his disdain for the absurdly friendly Fred was what really got me.
Sam, on the other hand, was as skeptical as he usually is. His reaction to Mystery Inc's indifference to seeing dead bodies was hilarious, as he addressed pretty much every complaint the viewer might have about this episode's logic.
Because of its ridiculous premise, Scoobynatural isn't meant to be taken all that seriously. The episode let us know that from the very beginning and kept reminding us with each ridiculous twist and turn. This episode proved that weird ideas can work as long as the writers are aware of the ridiculousness and are careful in the execution. It also made me want to binge watch my old Scooby Doo VHS tapes.