Supernatural

What Is and What Should Never Be

Season 2, Episode 20, Aired 5/3/07

Episode Summary

Dean is attacked by a Djinn... and finds himself in a new reality where his mother is still alive and a mysterious woman holds the key to everything.

9.2

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Cast & Crew

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Jensen Ackles

Dean Winchester
Jared Padalecki

Sam Winchester
Samantha Smith

Mary Winchester

Fan Episode Reviews (89)

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Season Two pre-finale is one of the most accomplished ever.

10

"Perfect"

By Snape83, Nov 28, 2011 Report Abuse

I can't stress enough how much I love this episode. It starts out like our usual Monster of the Week show and it quickly turns in an alternate reality episode that is both incredibly entertaining to watch and undeniably deep and meaningful.

First things first, I have to say that Eric Kripke, at his first directing job, achieved a great result: the direction of "What Is and What Should Never Be" is smooth and sassy, frightening and subtly ominous from time to time, without forgetting a good, occasional humorous injection. Furthermore, being a huge fan of David Lynch, I was beyond pleased to see a clear homage to "Blue Velvet" (the picket fence with yellow and red roses), and even more pleased to see that the same poetic that was conveyed by the movie (the evil lurking beneath the shiny surfaces of the bourgeois, Mid-American lifestyle) was in the episode too, with Dean catching menacing glimpse of the dirt and malevolent forces that toss about under the outward appearance).

The script - the last one wrote by the excellent Raelle Tucker - was incredibly deep and profound and it painfully shows how a normal life could be useless and pointless if you are not with the one you love the most, and Sam and Dean not getting along and being forced by the wish-verse to live different, separate lives was a sad anticipation of their division in "All Hell Breaks Loose". Seeing them reunite in the end was not only touching but also meaningful in terms of the overarching storyline: Dean has Sam's back, and we know this from a long time, but Sam has got Dean's back too and the two of them coming together is really powerful. Plus, the script raises an interesting moral question: what would you do if you can choose between the easy path and the hard one? Supernatural has always been a lay show, and this episode is a secular adaptation of a classical Biblical image, and the Djinn - at least in my opinion - is even a more effective gimmick to pose this question, because his mythical existence is basically a twisted version of what each and everyone of us had hoped for at least once in our lives: a genie able to answer our questions and fulfill our desires. In the end, I must say that Jensen Ackles delivered an outstanding performance throughout the whole episode, and particularly during the grave monologue (a mirror of another monologue Dean will pronounce in front of another dead, in "All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 2").moreless

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3 1
Dean wakes up to find that his mother was never killed.

9.5

"Superb"

By KatherineRich, Mar 06, 2011 Report Abuse

People have written reviews or trivia that they think the the episode doesn't make sense, because Sam and Dean weren't close. Which is completely untrue. Dean wished that Mary was never killed. If that happened, the brothers' entire life would have changed. The wish wasn't that his parents were alive and the family lived happily ever after. The only wish was Mary never died. If that happened, then there would have been no hunting. The brothers bonded BECAUSE they hunted. Without hunting, Sam goes to school, meets Jess and the two of them live happily ever after. And Dean stays in Lawrence.moreless

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Alternate reality.

9.5

"Superb"

By ZaleIsBackAgain, Feb 23, 2011 Report Abuse

Right when Dean was placed into a reality that had him living a normal life without hunting, you already knew the outcome. The Jinn obviously did something or is tricking him into granting his wishes. Dean was going to of course choose the life of hunting for the better good of man kind. And you know what? By episodes end that's exactly what happened. The case isn't all that exciting nor original compared to other alternate reality episodes. Though it is the journey that really makes this such a great episode. How everything was structured, how excellent Sam's acting as an ignorant alternate reality character is. Basically the atmosphere was just extraordinarily done. And at the same time Dean played out his role extremely well, playing along with the new universe yet still being cautious. And the two worlds really presented a nice dilemma; it wasn't just a one dimensional choice, it was a multi layered decision that really had you thinking. One of the best alternate reality episodes period.moreless

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The Djinn.

9.0

"Superb"

By -xXx-aimz-xXx-, Jan 28, 2011 Report Abuse

In this episode Dean is alone down an ally and gets captured. Then we are in another world in which Dean has a girlfriend, a apartment and a normal job. It also turns out that Mary is alive and so is Jess.

Sam and Jess arrive home for Mary's birthday and they reveal that they are engaged.

Also a funny part is watching Dean try and mow the lawn.

In this paralell universe where dead people are alive and Dean's life seems normal apart form the fact that Sam and Dean apparently don't like each other is that Dean keeps seeing what appears to be a ghost around town. He can't remember that he hunts ghosts so doesn't know what to do. Slowly everything comes back, well the hunting part does and he takes Sam with him to see the Djinn. Dean figures out that even though this would have been a great life that it isn't real. He apologizes to Sammy and then stabs himself. We then go back to the real world and Dean in hooked up to a needle where it is draining his blood and Sam is there. Also the 'ghost' that Dean kept seeing in his other life is there too, in the same position as Dean.moreless

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Djin

9.5

"Superb"

By seriesguy3998, Aug 19, 2009 Report Abuse

Supernatural Season 2 Episode 20 What is and What Should Never Be
Sam and Dean follow the lead of a djin, who transports Dean to a reality where his mother is alive, his father was a baseball player, Sam and Dean were never hunters... and a misterious woman may hold the key to everything.

This episode was awesome. Was so amazing. So great. The plotline was amazingly brilliant! Dean discovers that if his mother would still be alive, he and Sam would never had been hunters and all the people they saved would be dead. This makes him preffer his old hunter life than his new "perfect" life.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- Dean uses a sterling silver dinner knife when trying to kill the Djinn. Most sterling silver dinner knives have steel blades, since silver is a soft metal and isn't suitable for significant cutting use. Edit
- The Djinn gives its victims what it wants to be happy. Fantasy-Mary says that "It's everything you wanted." Also, the "fantasy" responds to Dean as his reactions change, which is why everyone appears to him at the end. However, Fantasy-Sam is rather cold and disinterested toward Dean's overtures of friendship, despite the fact that Dean clearly wants to be friends with him. If the fantasy is "everything he wants" to keep him enraptured, Sam should react the way Dean wants him to from the start. Everything else in the fantasy reacts the way Dean wants it to, so fantasy-Sam not reacting the way Dean wants him to doesn't make sense. Edit
- "Djinn" is misspelled "Jinn" in the close-captioning throughout the episode. The book Sam reads uses the word "Djinn" so clearly that was intended as the correct spelling. Edit
Notes
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- International Airdates: Denmark: May 20, 2007 on TV3 Australia: June 18, 2007 on Ten Portugal: July 23, 2007 on AXN Germany: May 6, 2008 on Premiere Serie Italy: September 2, 2008 on Rai2 The Netherlands: April 19, 2009 on NET5 New Zealand: June 12, 2009 on TV2 Edit
- Injoke: In the scene where they have returned from Mary's birthday celebration and Sam asks the girls for a moment alone to speak with his brother, Sam gives some examples of what stunts Dean had pulled on him in the past. Including the fact that he "hooked up" with Rachel Nave, his prom date, on prom night. Rachel Nave was co-writer of the Season 1 episode, "Bugs." Edit
- The idea for Sam to not know about hunting and think that Dean has lost his mind came from the original draft of the "Pilot" episode. In the original script, Dean was a hunter because of a feeling that something supernatural had killed his father when he was young and Sam had long ago estranged himself from the family. Edit
Quotes
ADD QUOTES
- (Dean stabs himself and is instantly released from the Djinn's fantasy) Sam: Dean! Dean. Oh, God. Come on. Hey, wake up. Wake up, damn it. (Dean moans) Sam: Hey, hey. Dean: Oh, Auntie Em. There's no place like home. Sam: Thank God. I thought I lost you for a second Dean: You almost did. Edit
- Dean: But it's not real. None of it is. Mary: It's still better than anything you ever had. Edit
- Dean: You should have seen it, Sam... our lives... you were such a wussy. Edit
Allusions
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- Sam: I guess they're powerful enough, but not exactly like Barbara Eden in harem pants. Referencing the 1965-1970 CBS sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, featuring Barbara Eden in the title role as Jeannie the Genie, who ended up with astronaut Tony Nelson as her "master." Edit
- Dean: Well, we're not in Kansas anymore. (Later in the episode) Dean: Auntie Em, there's no place like home. Both are references to the popular 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz. In the movie, Judy Garland, who plays Dorothy, is famous for delivering the lines "I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," and "There's no place like home." Auntie Em is Dorothy's aunt in the film. Edit
- Title References the Led Zeppelin song "What Is and What Should Never Be" off of the album Led Zeppelin II released in 1969. Edit