S14E03 The Scar - reaction

[amberdreams]

Ok. I'm going to write an insta-reaction post because the thoughts I had about episodes 1 and 2 never made it to paper (or screen). Waiting to mull things over and have a second watch before splurging here clearly doesn't work.

What did I get from this one? 

It was better than last week (thankfully), and tracking back over the credits I see it was a Bobo Berens script so that explains why. However.

Some negative thoughts follow (and spoilers, obviously).

I'm really as uncomfortable as Dean having all those extra bodies randomly cluttering up the bunker and I'm getting whiplash - one week the place is heaving with people, the next it's mysteriously empty.

I know this is early in the season so I shouldn't know what's going on, but seriously, what the hell IS going on? There seems to be no discernable reason for Michael to vacate Dean. Dean is Michael's perfect vessel and being poked with a two pronged (noticeably blunt) spear shouldn't change that. (And please note, Michael clearly stuck around inside Dean's body long enough to heal that wound, albeit messily).

My hope (and this is from a dramatic, story-telling point of view, not because I actually want this to happen to my boy) is that Michael is taking a brief holiday from Dean so Dean can go and effectively gather intel from the hunters and maybe persuade Dark!Kaia to hand over the spear. When he fails to do this, Michael will take his vessel back.

Logic and story telling aside, I won't be unhappy if they bring Christian Keyes back to play Michael, because I thought he was excellent. Really menacing (as well as very easy on the eye).

I am not convinced Michael's dark army idea has any credence. What's the point? Why is this Michael so anti-human? Lucifer's antipathy to humans was explained, but this Michael's is a mystery. In our SPN universe, the desire to enact the apocalypse came from Michael's misguided but strong loyalty to his Father, and what he thought was God's plan. This Michael doesn't seem to have an understandable motivation to be doing what he's doing, or to explain why he laid waste to the Apocaworld either. Without something to underpin his actions, I'm floundering. I don't mind a gradual reveal, but they've had a whole season to give us a few more crumbs than we have now and they haven't bothered. Which makes me think the writers don't have a bleeding clue either. Merely having the character say he wants a better world isn't very convincing, especially when the world he was in charge of before was clearly not better for anyone - angel, human or monster.

Another mystery that currently has me rolling my eyes is Jack. All of a sudden, our lovely Nephilim has consumption. How did he contract TB, I wonder? When only this season we've been told he will grow his grace back in time, how come his human body is apparently falling apart? None of that makes any sense whatsoever and leads me to think they are looking for a way to get rid of Jack before he gets powered up because they don't have any idea how to incorporate a character with that kind of power. Hence introducing Assassins Creed Kaia and her magic, archangel-killing spear to add to the archangel blade, as a back stop to using a rebooted Jack to kill Michael.

My consolation in this episode was Sammy's grief beard surviving a while longer. It was fun to haunt Dean with it, give Jody an opportunity to give it an affectionate tug and even have Sam give it a stroke or two on occasion. Hmm. Maybe they could have it return later in the season and eventually become a character in its own right, like Baby.

They gave us some hugs, which were nice, and two brother heart to hearts in the Impala, but the second one bugged me. And I'm sure it will have bugged by Sam-loving flisties even more. Come on writers (and editors) - you have a scene in which Dean describes being possessed by Michael, how he was drowning the whole time, and all Sam gets to do is look ultra-sympathetic. Just one little line to say - bro, I understand, I've been there too.

Maybe Sam couldn't say it, because Sam had been strong enough to kick to the surface and gain control of Lucifer when it counted, and Dean wasn't. Did you hear the echoes of Season 4 there when Dean said he wasn't strong enough? I did. Remember, when Dean had tortured Alastair and ended up in that hospital bed... The sad thing is, for me, having the echo here just made this situation pale in comparison to the sheer emotional punch of On the Head of a Pin. Oh well.

Jack's story is interesting enough, I'm happy to have some interludes between Winchesters to check on him, but Castiel seems to be a floating spare part that nobody knows what to do with. His angel powers seem ridiculously intermittent and largely ineffectual, and unlike Jack, and despite being around humans and living on earth for many years, he hasn't been allowed to develop any skills to compensate for his angelic failures.  If I was a Cas fan I'd have been really dissatisfied with this week's storyline. It was very contrived - first having him stay to try and cure the bewitched girl (who I thought at first was the Apocaverse girl whose name I forget), presumably so they could fit in Jody's role on the case (and keep it to three extra actors to play the Vamps), and then fail to manage the cure and have to resort to witchcraft because his angel powers are fecking useless. All of that could have been done without it being Cas at all - take him out and would the events have changed, even slightly? Nope. They could have had Jack do what he did by talking to the dying girl and had the Apocaworld hunter lady do all the witchcraft herself. Even the phone call to Rowena could have been replaced by something else.

Heh. We have what we have, and though I know I seem super-critical, I am still watching. I'm not bored, I do enjoy watching, and I care about these two damaged Winchester boys. I want to see them through to whatever ending we get.

Comments

[jdl71.livejournal.com]

I hated seeing all those random people in the bunker & it was confusing as Hell as to why they're there. They weren't there last week!

Right now, I just feel that the writers are reaching for something & missing it. Stop shoving these people on us.

Now, we have Bad!Kaia who was trying to kill Claire? But killed Kaia instead. Made no sense to me. But, I enjoyed seeing Jody & her interaction with Sam & Dean. I don't know what to make of having Dean back so soon - which is probably a ploy. Somehow I don't think Michael is done with Dean. But, then again the writers have dropped the ball on story lines before - or ended them way to soon (Demon!Dean, Sam's abilities).

Michael couldn't or wouldn't fully heal his vessel? Since when has an angel not done that?

And Jack? Just WTF? Seriously? All I could do was shake my head.

I'm sick of Cas being useless.

I just don't see that the writers even know where they're going with any of this write now.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I just don't see that the writers even know where they're going with any of this - exactly!

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of this. Every dribble. Just doesn't feel like there's any attention to detail or continuity anymore. We have to hand-wave so many things--this being a genre show to begin with--that we really shouldn't have to hand-wave stuff that could easily lend believability to the universe.

I've committed 14 years to this show, I'm not leaving now, but it's still disappointing to see how dumb it's gotten. Thank god J2 are such treasures...

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

My hands are so flappy now, it's amazing they haven't fallen off - or got a repetitive strain injury. LOL

[be-my-precious.livejournal.com]

I am absolutely with you about how this Michael's viewpoints on humans are SO screwed up. I mean, biblically, Michael was so loyal to his Father and his creation that he would do anything to protect them. Perhaps in the other universe there was a nice twist with the angels? That's the ony thing I can think about... perhaps even Lucifer in the other universe had a different perspective than he does in our universe.

I completely agree about Cas. It's basically like they had to bring him back because the fans would've been in an uproar, but they have NOTHING for him to do. And his all weird emotional shit with Jack is just bordering on creepy if you ask me. As for Jack, I'm not sure what's happening... I'm not on the same thoughtwave with you about getting rid of the character... I think it's something that its going to have to be fixed in order for him to get back his powers or something like that. I'm not sure, though. They could've easily let him leave.

Sam's beard ftw!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ha ha I think that's it in a nutshell - Sam's beard FTW.

[zubeneschamali.livejournal.com]

The one time I shouted at my screen during the ep was when Jack said he must have a cold and Cas said he'd make him some soup. Why not just heal him of the cold? Ugh.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Why not indeed - oh, that'll be because the writers can't decide whether Castiel has angel powers or not.

[masja-17.livejournal.com]

I agree with a lot of this.

But Cas's ambling angel owers? WTF? I just think they should lose him. (Note, not a Cas fan.)

And Jack's powers should return, they said so, right? Then he can heal all the people.

And I hate when they've established a set of rules earlier and then change it. Thing is, I don't think the writers of today have seen all the episodes, so they are not as knowledgeable as us when it comes to the facts of this universe.

And I still think Michael is sort of dormant in Dean, even if I think Cas should see him then, so maybe not... Why indeed leave his perfect vessel? And they also made such a big deal of Jensen finally being able to play another totally different character? What happened to that?

But I LOVE this show, J2!!!

And Sam's beard, yummy!
<3

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

ha ha this is me - *I love this show! I hate this writing! I love Sam's beard! I hate the stupid storylines! I love Sam and Dean! I love Jody! What are they doing with my characters, why aren't they doing their research!*

Whiplash I tell you, whiplash.

[shippen-stand.livejournal.com]

So, I'm many seasons behind you, but I did wonder if Sam's comment on knowing how it felt meant Gadriel, not Lucifer? (I'm still back in The Darkness, so I have no idea what's going on.) :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

It's ok, I don't think the writers know what's going on either.

[hugemind.livejournal.com]

Well, they did send all the hunters that remained in the bunker in, what, ep 1, so maybe they hadn't returned yet in ep 2. Honestly, I don't know. It just feels wrong to have a bunch of people infiltrating the boys' home, so if they're gone even for one ep, I'm happy.

I kind of assumed that Jack's surprise!TB has something to do with his grace regenerating in a human body (it might be rough for the human side), and I'm sure that that part of the story will be revealed soon since it happened at the very end, so I'm not worried about that. Michael's motives for destruction? Meh. I guess there will be a epic villain monolog or something to explain it later on - for now he's still wanting to kill people like he did in S13, so at least they're still telling the same story. Maybe he doesn't like people destroying the planet and being bad because by doing that they are ungrateful for the gift god gave them. *shrugs* Why Michael left his perfect vessel? No idea, but I have a feeling that we are maybe going to get some flashbacks to Michael!Dean times, so maybe the answer lies there. If they reveal that Michael is still hiding inside Dean, I will be very pissed at Cas who neglected to check for that when he Vulcan mind-melded with Dean in this ep (and I will be pissed at the writers for making Cas's powers constantly change and generally be useless). If we see Dean fight Michael inside his mind and somehow win, that'd be awesome, because Dean would fight Michael every step of the way.

I can see where you are coming from with the questions, and I just realized that at this point I personally don't care what the writers really do because now we have our boys back. Maybe in a few episodes (after enough squee at the sight of the reunited Winchester boys) I will begin worrying about the bigger story points and character motivation. :D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ha ha I love your philosophy.