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...

[manzanita-crow.livejournal.com]

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

[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!

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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.