Episode insta reaction - spoilers (obv)

[amberdreams]

First viewing, 6am...

Point one - as a monster of the week with Jody Mills kicking ass while being compassionate, I enjoyed it.
Point two - I was frustrated this didn't give us much else - at this stage of the season, I want fecking story arc, thanks very much.
Point three - maybe it did give us something, but if that is what it was supposed to be then it was a big hammer to crack a nut. Family you'd do anything for, clinging onto a past that has gone, forcing someone to fill a role they didn't have a choice about...Dean the cold hearted monster killer. Is that what it was?
Point four - geeze AMB. Maybe the writers and the show actually think they are here to entertain me with a little bit of fantasy horror every week after which I will go back to my day job and forget about it. But I, being a frigging nutcase, am obsessed and so it's my own fault for wanting more/reading more into it.

So - a B minus I guess. I have cravings, guys and I don't think Show is going to satiate me. Fanfic-land, here I come.

Comments

[manzanita-crow.livejournal.com]

Ah nice to have a fellow Brit watching first thing in the morning.

Yay Jody! Starting to wonder just how incompetent Carver thinks our boys are though...

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

yeah... sigh. And boy I would kill for their recovery time from giving blood.

[manzanita-crow.livejournal.com]

Any tips on digital painting? I'm struggling TBH.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

You want tips from me? I am fumbling around in the dark! LOL At the moment I'm faffing around with Paintool Sai for Mac, Photoshop and GIMP and just trying stuff - honestly I have NO idea what I'm doing. A friend's given me a whole set of DVD tutorials for Photoshop but I'm too lazy to go through them... I think there are quite a few tutorials on deviantart and on Youtube if you are more patient than me.

[manzanita-crow.livejournal.com]

OK, maybe just a support group then :D I'm just jealous of all these writers talking about how hard writing is and getting lots of sympathy and support!

[thursdaysisters.livejournal.com]

I think the biggest problem with writers is the competition. ANYONE can write, but you run into anybody who can draw better than a smiley face then you need to shake their hand. :D

[manzanita-crow.livejournal.com]

Anyone can write, but not everyone can write WELL :) I often write copy as part of my job, but it's boring product stuff and I don't have a clue how to write stories.

[thursdaysisters.livejournal.com]

True, but we are all equipped with the ability to write. If i said "draw me a castle" or "compose a love song", the average person would balk, but if i said "Everyman encounters an obstacle that ends in true love's kiss" then you would at least know where to begin.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

IMHO, "anyone can write" is as accurate as "anyone can draw." Everyone has the basic skills. You can take pencil and make a circle. You can compose a sentence. But that doesn't mean you can draw or write anything enjoyable, coherent, cohesive, etc.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I'd agree. Except there are, i think, probably more people who are delusional about their writing skills than there are ones who think they can draw when they actually can't. I mean some of the fics I've read (mostly on ff.net) that are absolutely appalling yet the author is prolific and posting all the time ... and worse, there are people reading the damn things asking for more, feeding the delusions.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I have asked kind folks on here to art beta for me on occasion - I had a funny idea there was a comm somewhere but blowed if I can remember right now, sorry. Things are a bit hectic in RL at the moment so I'm even more useless at remembering stuff than usual.
Was there something specific you wanted help/advice about?

[manzanita-crow.livejournal.com]

Would appreciate a beta on my Sammessiah work when it's a bit further along, but don't worry if you're too busy

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I could certainly try! I'm no expert but I could give you an opinion if you think it would be useful. PM me when you are ready.

[manzanita-crow.livejournal.com]

Thank you, you're not involved in AntiChristmas are you? Don't want to send you your gift to beta :D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I am actually... I'm busing writing my fill at the moment! But didn't you get the name of our recipient? I was given the name of mine...

[manzanita-crow.livejournal.com]

found the email and yes i do have the name. No-one I know though

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

Jody is a great character and she really kicked ass in this episode! But I agree with you that it didn't really move the Mark of Cain story forward except showing that Dean enjoyed killing the vamps. Jensen does that blank, cold killer stare so well, and when he growled 'look at me bitch' I got chills!
I think the writers are missing an opportunity to explore Dean's reaction to the Mark so yes it is up to fandom to fill in the gap. Next week will be focussed on setting up 'Bloodlines' so not much room for developing to story we really care about there either!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I think next week's will have a very similar feel to this from the point of view of the Winchesters - ie a monster of the week/case episode. Which again, would have been great mid season but not right NOW. I want me some Crowley, Abaddon as well as the flipping angel angle, and I am feeling deprived instead of depraved.

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. Without Dean's short turn darkside, this would've been a filler episode with zero connection to the story arc. Jody was terrific and the vamps were interesting, but this isn't an A+ episode. I gave the ep a slightly higher rating than you more because of individual elements (darkside!Dean, tied-up!Sam, and badass!Jody) than because of the less-than-stellar storyline, with all the downright stupid things people did so the script could make sense.

And really. We've got only FOUR EPISODES LEFT UNTIL THE FINALE. Why would you expect the writers to start collecting the three major plot-points (Dean-Crowley-Abaddon / Sam-Gadreel / Gadreel-Metatron-Castiel) on the path to finale? Especially when they can shove everything into the last two episodes? ;)

Maybe the writers and the show actually think they are here to entertain me with a little bit of fantasy horror every week

Alas, the writers write for the average Joe -- not us canon-and-story-arc-obsessed fangirls. Darn it.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Sigh - one day there will be a show with hot boys and glorious angstings and hurt and a frigging awesome story arc and even (shock horror) sexings that hits ALL our buttons every week and we will all simultaneously implode.

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

*waits with you for that day*

[dolnmoon.livejournal.com]

Although this show was clearly a monster of the week episode, it did have an underlying theme. That family, no matter what, comes first at every/any cost.

We see now that Sam sees the darkness in Dean, that he knows something is off/wrong with him and he tries to get him to discuss it but dean as his usual... I'm fine, I'll work through this on my own.. stubborn self, doesn't want to talk about it. Also I think that the MoC is taking over a good bit, especially when he's in this type of situation because we see that he's now leaving no monster left behind alive. You can see the instant he changes, his eyes go blank and his demeanor is focused on the kill 100%. He can't or doesn't want to control it, he thinks he can just use it but every time it consumes him a little bit more.

Yes the Jodi Mills scenario does ring some high notes with what is happening between Sam and Dean. The past will never be again, their roles are changing and Sam is becoming his brother's guide post as Dean falls deeper into the fray of the mark.

I thought that this episode was very good. I would think that they would be addressing more on what his happening in/with Dean at this point but I also am thinking this will be a carryover theme into season 10 threading the last 3 seasons into the final season. The Finale will probably be a giant cliffhanger to tear our hearts out.

I did love the continuity of Dean saying about his vampire cure experience because that is something that would in earlier seasons have been left hanging like it never happened.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my intial reaction sounds a little harsh, because I did actually like this - and I think I will like it even more on a second view - it's just - I want moar! LOL And I freaking love Jody.

[spnmonster.livejournal.com]

I thought Berens did his homework on the show's vampire lore, which was something that I thought the writing team really dropped the ball on last season when they had a recurring vampire character.

Jody was awesome. Again, Berens did a good job weaving her backstory into the episode. Kim Rhodes was terrific.

The thing about Dean killing is that it just isn't that different from regular Dean. Maybe he's savoring the kills a little more, but I don't know. This is season one Dean really before Lenore and gray areas. What concerns me is the way he's pushing Sam away. I know a lot of fans are blaming Sam's "no brothers" rule, which Sam is clearly not following. I wonder though if the Mark of Cain is dampening Dean's humanity across the board -- not just in his dealings with monsters but with Sam and anyone he has conflict with.