Season 10 Episode 13 post

[amberdreams]

S10E13 Halt and Catch Fire - maybe 6 out of 10?

This isn’t really a reaction or a review, more a few observations.

Yesterday I rewatched S05E13 The Song Remains the Same. If you’d asked me before I watched it, I wouldn’t have put it up there as an all time favourite episode. In fact one of the reasons I was rewatching was to remind myself which one it was. I had thought I’d just check out a couple of scenes to get the jist of it then go and vote in the all_spn best Episode 13 poll.

Instead I was gripped, and watched it straight through. I even got all teary at the scene where the boys tell Mary they are her sons, and try and persuade her to leave John.

So my observations as a result of this rewatch?

That in Season 5 Episode 13, there wasn’t a single wasted moment, or a throwaway line. That, taken as a whole, the episode packed a punch. It meant something – to the progress of the season’s story arc, to the development of the characters (past and present, human and angel). It was coherent, it drew on established canon and gave it a twist, gave us new insight. It also gave us some memorable lines and some humour amongst the serious stuff.

Dean’s stripper dream, Team Free Will, I don’t understand that reference, angels watching over you.

So what about last night’s Episode 13 then? What did that leave us with? My initial impression is – not a lot. I enjoyed it while I was watching it – Dean looked hot, Sam’s hair swished, the ghost story was reasonably interesting.

But.

Where in Season 5 they poked fun at Dean’s sixteen year old boy’s libido with a humorous stripper dream full of blatant but relevant symbolism and then called him on it by having Ana visit him there, this one had a considerably older Dean in a flasher coat ogling teenage girls in a very weird way. It must have been bad, because even I noticed it on the first watch through and I’m notoriously rubbish at spotting the obvious. It had no relevance to the story, I thought perhaps they might call Dean out on it by having him try and chat up one of the students and get told she doesn’t go for older men but nope. We did get a vaguely amusing sequence where Dean and Sam both got caught on different aspects of pop culture – which was fine, but what was the point of having Dean letch after the kids (apart from making him look like a dirty old man)?

Anyhow, I don’t want to sit and nit pick, or try and spoil the enjoyment of anyone who watched and loved it, because it wasn’t a bad episode. It just wasn’t very good either. I didn't halt, and I certainly didn't catch fire, even when they used Hozier's Take Me to Church.

And I kind of wish I hadn’t watched Season 5’s Episode 13 immediately before I saw this one, because it really didn’t compare.

I think I’m a little bit in mourning for the good old days now, even though I’m really enjoying this season more than any for a while. Never mind, eh. There’s still a mountain of fanfic and fanart to savour, and I still have hope that they will give us something meaty to chew on (besides Jensen Ackles thighs….mmmm) before the season is over.

Comments

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

I agree with your review, as I thought this episode was okay but it was just a 'filler' for me. There was no real progression of the plot, except we know Cas is close to finding Cain and Dean is doing what he does best - denial! I just said this on another post that I think Dean is trying hard to BE Dean despite the Mark - hunting things, saving people, eating and drinking too much and ogling girls - but I don't think the Mark will let him off that easily.

I still think seasons 1-5 were the very best, and The Song Remains The Same is a good example of SPN at it's best.

I've seen a clip for next week but I won't say anything except I hope it's as good as it looks!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Oh good, no don't tell me what's in the trailer, I'm definitely enjoying not being spoiled even a tiny bit. It helps. I'm not even looking at episode stills any more.

I don't want to be negative, and I really, really WANT to enjoy each episode like I used to, but I just can't. That being said, it's still the only show apart from Wolf Hall that is holding my attention at the moment.

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

I can't resist a spoiler I'm afraid but I try not to spoil for others!! Even with a so-so episode like this, there are still great lines or scenes and it makes it very watchable. that and our delicious heroes of course!!

I'm loving Wolf Hall, I've heard moans that it's too slow and too confusing (my sister's friend thought the main character was OLIVER Cromwell, d'oh!!) but I love the pace and it really gives a great impression of how life was then - the quiet, the darkness, the stillness. And Damian Lewis is the best Henry VIII ever!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I'm LOVING how understated and slow Wolf Hall is - it feels perfect. Mark Rylance as Cromwell is effing brilliant - I read someone saying he only had one expression - huh. You aren't watching then matey! He conveys so much with just a twinkle in his eye - and he gets some great lines. And I absolutely agree about Damien Lewis's Henry - bloody marvellous.

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

I think Mark Rylance is amazing, he's a very subtle actor and I love the way he gives his Cromwell a wry sense of humour. The first week when his wife and daughters died was so sad! And a lot of it was filmed at the beautiful Penshurt Place, which is about 15 mins from where I live.

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

This, times a bazillion. I made a pact with myself (and fandom) that I wouldn't be a Debbie Downer. (But I'll still concrit, if I feel so compelled.)

So I'm just sorta putting my fingers in my ears and LA LA LAing when that little voice inside says "Ah, those were the days, huh?"

Yeah, in older seasons, the writing was just plain better. Period. I just started rewatching 'Scarecrow' and that first argument, where Sam brings up how much of a yes-man Dean is to their dad and then gets left to hitch-hike to California ... SO GOOD. Their fight had pain and believability and felt so smart.

Now, I watch for the pretty and loyalty and collecting new canon to play with. But it sure isn't for the zippy plots anymore. Ah well. C'est la vie!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

La la la... at least I got to sing along with Take me to Church - god I love that song. It does make you wonder - do the producers not watch old episodes and recognise the strength and quality of that writing over what they are serving up today? Surely they must see it?

No matter how good our actors are, and how brilliant the set designers, production crew, directors and cinematographers - it can't make up for mediocre writing.

La Sigh.

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

I've got NO idea. There's certainly a fair amount of truth to how tough it is to write for TV, PERIOD. And here we are, sitting in our comfy homes, tongue-wagging that we could do it better, or summat. ;)

I was just thinking...how interesting it would be if we had an Episode Challenge: write an episode of Show. No swearing, leave spots for commercials, mind the budget. We'd probably all end up with our brains leaking out our ears, heh!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I was (in theory) trying to do just that - with kalliel and tifaching - though we haven't got very far...!

[gidgetgal9.livejournal.com]

I feel you on this too. I miss the old days. And on the topic of Take Me To Church, have you seen this?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/10/sergei-polunin-hozier_n_6655920.html

Russian Ballet dancer doing his interpretation of the song- so good if you like dance.

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

I've definitely enjoyed a lot of this season so far, but I was just very blah about last night. I'm always up for a MOW, but I felt this was already been there-done that, and that the only real progession was that last conversation in the car. I will say between them using Take Me to the Church on the show and the blackrabbit42 fabulous video posting, I have it as an earworm today!! I may re-watch and see if I missed anything, but otherwise, it's a meh on my scale. YMMV to anyone :-)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yes, not bad, not terrible, not good either. Meh is about right.

[gidgetgal9.livejournal.com]

Oh, the video blackrabbit42 posted is great! :)

[chomaisky.livejournal.com]

I just know how you feel. And there're other details here and there that they didn't get straight, like a laptop will not simply go black when you unplug it because it has a battery XP

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

ha ha yes I did think that too, about the laptop. There was a lot of smashing of technology going on in this one.

[frozen_delight]

I know how you feel, and at the same time I don't. I didn't find the episode terrible, but I didn't like it very much, and consider it the least entertaining one this season. However, The Song Remains The Same is right at the top of my list of worst SPN episode - I'm sure it's got many redeeming qualities, but I just hated that episode, I'm sorry. So by comparison this one seems almost lovely. :)

Anyway, I'm really loving this season, so one very cheesy, flat episode isn't the end of the world, right?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Well the funny thing was, Song Remains the Same was definitely not on my list before I rewatched it this time - though I wouldn't have put it in my worst list either. And honestly, I didn't dislike this episode, it just left me flat. And I'm still loving the season - but not with passion, you know?

[ladykorana.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more.

I think it's an indication of just how bad the writing has gotten that a Meh episode is so readily loved and embraced just because it didn't suck. And don't get me wrong, I will take this ep over angel plots and Crowley family drama any day.

I miss things having meaning, prior events having resonance. Everything is just...shallow. It didn't feel like a classic MOTW throwback to me. Just a pale imitation of one. You know Kripke would have milked the hell out of the parallel of a younger brother driving his dead older brother's baby. Dean's line about the girls and not picking up Sam from college should have gotten a reaction too. But nope, just one dimensional jokes in this era. Sigh.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I was happy there were no angels and demons. One dimensional jokes, yep that's how it felt to me. But it was ok, not awful so I still take that as a win.

[big-heart-june.livejournal.com]

Totally echoing quickreaver with watching for the pretty and loyalty and I'll completely handwave mediocre writing too, there will always be enough good in every single ep for me to keep on lovin' ♥ that said ogling!Dean REALLY annoyed the fuck out of me.
SO glad you're still enjoying though ♥

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

This one annoyed me, but I think it really suffered from following a good episode last week (and from me watching Season 5 beforehand too).

[kazluvsbooks.livejournal.com]

I would compare this ep more to "swap meat" (5.12) as it didn't really have anything to do with the mytharc and was just a MOC filler ep.

I liked it for the entertainment value and it was awesome seeing Sam get as much screentime as Dean,i also liked the brother dynamics,Dean being honest and yes the boys both looked gorgeous.

I agree the ogling felt a bit weird, i am wondering if it is to show that the mark is ramping up Dean's normal desires, as he seems to be eating more as well.

It is looking to me like the story is really going to rev up in the latter half of the season, i still have faith that it will.

I don't do spoilers anymore either, i found the trailers and clips were giving too much away, or raising expectations of what we were going to see but didn't and i enjoy the show better unspoiled.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Trailers and clips are terrible - like you say, they either give too much away or deliberately mislead - I can do without that!

[auntmo9.livejournal.com]

While I also have enjoyed S10 overall more than recent ones, I still think we are mostly just getting a few good moments here and there rather good episodes ( with a few exceptions). So I can enjoy the moments from week to week without hating on anything. But there is nothing cohesive about it all and that makes it hard to maintain passion.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Oh this so much - moments and the odd good episode but no coherency or even the feeling that we are building up to something big. I read somewhere that Carver likes the slow build but I'm not even getting the impression that we have anything building at all, never mind slow.

[strgazr04.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you. The episode was good but not great. (Now About A Boy had me rewatching 2x within the same night by contrast).

I also hated how dumbed down they wrote Dean. Where's the guy who builds EMF meters out of walkmen? Where's the guy who impressed Sam with the hacking skills he learned from Frank? And I didn't like him oogling those co-eds either. I was watching with a friend and even said to her "wait, isn't he like 36?" and that's if we don't count time in Hell and Purgatory and all that. So these girls are half his age! It makes me even more shocked that we had these scenes when one of the episode writers is a woman but maybe that's just me. However, this point has been brought up in every review I've read so far so clearly fandom has noticed.

Lastly, did anyone else feel like this was a mash-up episode between Long Distance Caller, Roadkill, Route 666, and Bloody Mary?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I'd say after ten seasons maybe there's nowhere fresh and new for them to go, but reading fanfic tells me that ain't true... And this pair of writers seem to be very basic in their understanding of the characters. In fact I don't think they actually understand Sam and Dean at all.

[heavenli24.livejournal.com]

I'm rather late to the party with this because unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the new episode until yesterday, but I have to agree with your points.

The Song Remains The Same is one of my favourite SPN episodes - the scene where Dean tells Mary who he really is gets me every time - and this episode just doesn't compare.

I did like that 10x13 felt more like an old-school SPN episode, with a haunting, EMF, no Cas or Crowley and a final serious conversation between the boys at the end. It was a nice companion to the last two episodes which also felt much more old-school SPN and were miles better than the mytharc episodes before them.

However, as others have said above, the writing now is not a patch on the writing from seasons 1-5. I can rewatch those 5 seasons over and over and be enthralled every time, as I'm dragged right back into that world and I live it with the boys.

Though I am enjoying S10 more than S8 and 9, the writing is mostly terrible, with just some hints of good stuff here and there, and as was mentioned, it's very shallow. I didn't get the Dean ogling the girls thing - it was uncomfortable and seemed very OOC considering all he's been through and how he's matured over the years. I also didn't get Dean not being more tech-savvy (I get not knowing about the deleted files as many people don't think about that kind of thing, but the rest was a bit unbelievable). I thought the acting of the kids in the episode was pretty dire and the ghost wasn't really explained properly.

Did anyone else notice that the wife of the ghost was the same actress who played 'Mrs Armstrong' in S4's Wishful Thinking... the woman being spied on in the shower by the invisible guy?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

No! I hadn't noticed that - they do like to recycle their actors in Vancouver, don't they...!