Blood will Flow

Spoilers ahoy!

( Read more... )

Thanks to tarynelliott for pointing out this fascinating study of Dean Winchester by someone who sits outside (or at least on the edge) of fandom. I think she hits a lot of nails on the head here, particularly about some of our reactions to recent and not so recent storylines. And a lot of what she says makes sense of some of the gender-bending fanfics too.
Read it here.

I don't have that much that is deep and meaningful to say about this one - I had fun all the way through because I kind of love Garth, he makes me laugh, right up to the last scene when Bobby appeared and all I could think was Oh bugger, they went there.

Don't get me wrong, I love Bobby, I never wanted him to die - but once dead, I just can't see that pragmatic hunter opting to stay behind, knowing what he does about how ghosts never stay benign.  Even given the strength of his love for his boys, I really couldn't see him doing this.  Oh well. 'Tis done now, and I'm sure whatever happens Jim Beaver will make the most of it and no doubt at some point tear our hearts to shreds again in the process.

So that little bundle of mixed feelings aside - did you notice that Garth was talking to his girlfriend on the phone when he thought he'd Garthed Jenny the Ghost-that-wasn't?  Anyone else think that someone who 'hearts' their boyfriend on the phone is highly likely to be Becky?????  (Remember the long lingering looks those two exchanged at the end of the drossy Wedding episode)?

Nuff said.

I don't have that much that is deep and meaningful to say about this one - I had fun all the way through because I kind of love Garth, he makes me laugh, right up to the last scene when Bobby appeared and all I could think was Oh bugger, they went there.

Don't get me wrong, I love Bobby, I never wanted him to die - but once dead, I just can't see that pragmatic hunter opting to stay behind, knowing what he does about how ghosts never stay benign.  Even given the strength of his love for his boys, I really couldn't see him doing this.  Oh well. 'Tis done now, and I'm sure whatever happens Jim Beaver will make the most of it and no doubt at some point tear our hearts to shreds again in the process.

So that little bundle of mixed feelings aside - did you notice that Garth was talking to his girlfriend on the phone when he thought he'd Garthed Jenny the Ghost-that-wasn't?  Anyone else think that someone who 'hearts' their boyfriend on the phone is highly likely to be Becky?????  (Remember the long lingering looks those two exchanged at the end of the drossy Wedding episode)?

Nuff said.

I haven't read anyone else's reactions yet but I think that was the best episode for quite a while in terms of deilvering on several different fronts - the story worked, the acting rocked, the filming was well done and of course the boys looked very pretty.
So my initial reaction -
( Read more... )

The French Mistake

 

Our boys have come a long way from being victims of fate and destiny.  Yes, they always made their own choices and fought for free will, but this episode showed that the fight was something that gives their lives true meaning and that it was something they can now embrace without hesitating.  And I LOVE it!!  I will not be brought down from the high of this one by any negative vibes because this was wonderful in so many ways – and the funny, oh gawd, the funny!!!

And this was interesting because they were taking the mickey out of so many different things at once - stardom and celebrity, the show and its low ratings but highly dedicated fanbase, themselves across the board - set designers, make-up extras, directors, Sera(!!).  I bet there were hundreds on in-jokes I am never going to notice because I don't work in the industry (or on SPN, sadly…), but there were plenty of jokes I did get and had me roaring with laughter.

Like - at the start, the exchange between the director and the blonde guy about cutting out the heart to heart scene and taking the backlash of hate mail from the fans; Dean's reaction to Jensen's pretty boy make-up "I'm a painted whore!"; the big screen in Jensen's trailer playing big close up shots of Jensen implying a massive ego; Jensen being portrayed as a possible spendthrift (the maxed out credit card); Gen having to stand on her tippy tippy toes to reach Jared and the way they filmed that bit so she looked extra tiny next to both of them; Jared’s reactions in the scenes with Gen; the excruciating acting scene (OMG I actually found myself covering my eyes at its sheer delightful awfulness!!)

And Misha - my god he was brilliant.  That first scene with the boys was incredible - you could see instantly that this was Misha playing Cas, not Cas himself, and how on earth did he do that???  The tweeting was hilarious! Then - it was so cleverly shot and written and acted to move us from laughing at  Misha being comically OTT terrified, to his horribly brutal murder (they killed Misha!! WTH??).

 

The last scenes packed in a lot of drama – if I was to nit pick, I’d say it was a bit rushed at the end, and have to admit that the wing scene with Cas was not as stunning an effect as the first time we saw those wings, but that would be churlish of me, given that I really, really enjoyed this episode so much.

 

I might even watch it again right now….

The French Mistake

 

Our boys have come a long way from being victims of fate and destiny.  Yes, they always made their own choices and fought for free will, but this episode showed that the fight was something that gives their lives true meaning and that it was something they can now embrace without hesitating.  And I LOVE it!!  I will not be brought down from the high of this one by any negative vibes because this was wonderful in so many ways – and the funny, oh gawd, the funny!!!

And this was interesting because they were taking the mickey out of so many different things at once - stardom and celebrity, the show and its low ratings but highly dedicated fanbase, themselves across the board - set designers, make-up extras, directors, Sera(!!).  I bet there were hundreds on in-jokes I am never going to notice because I don't work in the industry (or on SPN, sadly…), but there were plenty of jokes I did get and had me roaring with laughter.

Like - at the start, the exchange between the director and the blonde guy about cutting out the heart to heart scene and taking the backlash of hate mail from the fans; Dean's reaction to Jensen's pretty boy make-up "I'm a painted whore!"; the big screen in Jensen's trailer playing big close up shots of Jensen implying a massive ego; Jensen being portrayed as a possible spendthrift (the maxed out credit card); Gen having to stand on her tippy tippy toes to reach Jared and the way they filmed that bit so she looked extra tiny next to both of them; Jared’s reactions in the scenes with Gen; the excruciating acting scene (OMG I actually found myself covering my eyes at its sheer delightful awfulness!!)

And Misha - my god he was brilliant.  That first scene with the boys was incredible - you could see instantly that this was Misha playing Cas, not Cas himself, and how on earth did he do that???  The tweeting was hilarious! Then - it was so cleverly shot and written and acted to move us from laughing at  Misha being comically OTT terrified, to his horribly brutal murder (they killed Misha!! WTH??).

 

The last scenes packed in a lot of drama – if I was to nit pick, I’d say it was a bit rushed at the end, and have to admit that the wing scene with Cas was not as stunning an effect as the first time we saw those wings, but that would be churlish of me, given that I really, really enjoyed this episode so much.

 

I might even watch it again right now….

I was trying to work out what didn’t grab me about this episode and failing but I’ve read a couple of other commentaries now and think I can sum it up…kinda.

 

There was plenty that I liked – first and foremost being Jared’s performance, I thought he was excellent. He played the two versions of himself with a great deal of aplomb – and subtlety.

I think one of the problems I have with this whole story line is I am finding it hard to swallow why Death would link together Sam’s memories of his time as RoboSam with his innocent soul’s memories of Hell? It doesn’t make any sense for him to do that. So the whole premise that Sam remembering what he did when he had no soul – which would inevitably bring our real Sam angst aplenty – triggering a collapse of the Great Wall of Sam – well to me that just seems like sloppy rushed writing. It’s as if they thought – we need to make some holes in that wall to max out Sam’s Hell storyline, so if we roll it together with the RoboSam one, that kills two birds with one stone.

And Dean’s whole push to stop Sam remembering RoboSam is just obviously never going to work, so it makes him look stupid for trying.

Someone elsewhere was saying that perhaps Death meant for the wall to break and quickly...and now at least I am hoping it was indeed planned, and part of the overarching storyline, and not just lack of forethought by the writers.

Other oddments
– how come after Sam was arrested, and therefore their FBI cover was blown, the cops don’t nab Dean for impersonating an FBI guy?

- Also, Sam was arrested in the daytime, he’s in the cell for a while then Mrs Sheriff visits him and it seems to be night, she lets him out and then Dean comes in to their room (knowing somehow that Sam is a fugitive) and its daytime again, yet it seems only enough time has passed for Dean to interview Crazy eye’s friend. So where did the night go?
– RoboSam’s assumption that the Arachni’s poison means those men are doomed – flawed logic or what? You didn’t get the sense he was lying to get Gramps out of there, so the writers want us to believe he was pretty stupid? And why not behead the men, why shoot them? IDK.
– That was one ginormous shed the Sheriff had - more like a warehouse!

I also had trouble with the ending (and they did it to me last week, too). I didn't like that glimpse of Sam's Hell - because I don't think it was very well done - especially if you compare it to the brief sequence of Dean on the meathooks, and I assume that was because it is too expensive for them to spend lots on CGI. In which case, better to leave it to our imaginations which could probably come up with far worse.  I actually felt it trivialised Sam's experience...

Don't think I didn't enjoy this episode, I did! But it didn't Wow me like some of the others have done.

 

"We do what we gotta do. And we get my brother back."  Which is great until you realise Dean was talking to the brother in question at the time, and then it just becomes one more glaring indicator of how messed up our Winchesters really are....


Initial impressions on first watch - this one didn't blow me away with its WOW factor so much as previous episodes have, but there was a lot of good stuff in it all the same, and a fair bit to keep up the interest!

 

For instance - Crowley can find them, just like that.  Used to be that they could conceal themselves from Demons and Angels alike so either they have stopped bothering, or Crowley as King of Hell can somehow get round stuff even Lucifer had difficulty with last season, or the Apocalypse-that-wasn't has left the universe out of whack and this is another symptom of that.  Whichever it is it is slightly ominous....

 

Heart clenching moments were scattered around like confetti - Dean staring at Lisa's name on his phone again; Dean saying to Sam "I'm working for a demon and I don't even know who you are.";

Sam saying to Dean “I’m gonna prove to you that I am still your brother” only to come flat out with “I don’t care about you, except that I need your help” and Dean’s expression as that particular knife slides in…

 

So it seemed to me that this episode was not so much a filler as a scene setter – having laid out a few ground rules last week, this week was demonstrating how it was going to work – for instance, Dean restraining Sam who was all – let’s ice the monster now, while Dean was – no, we make sure before we had him over to a lifetime of demon-rape.  Dean acting as Sam’s humanity, Sam’s conscience.  And I would worry far more about Sam and any potential future if Sam wasn’t taking notice of what Dean is telling him.  So far, at least, when Dean has said stop, Sam hasn’t gone off on his own and ignored his brother – which the old Sam might have done (and did do when it came to Ruby).  So there is some hope for him yet.

 

Though what damage this is going to do to Sam  - when he is whole again, knowing while his soul was absent he was acting as a ruthless, heartless cold killer… It will be like Dean’s experiences of breaking in Hell all over again, having to live with what you have done as well as what has been done to you…

 

On a lighter note – I couldn’t help laughing at the bedroom scene when Dean wakes up and says it’s creepy that Sam’s been awake all night watching him!  Dean got a couple of good one liners again – like “do you think he came for the sailing?” and I have to say both Dean and Sam were looking totally hot – I shall be in screen cap heaven…

 

For the rest, the dog was cute and scary at the same time, the skinwalker tried to do the right thing and got shafted (and I really hope the mother regrets treating him so badly when she has time to reflect, as he did save her and her son’s lives).

 

I wonder now – if the boys killed the Skinwalker alpha, what happens to all those sleeper cells, and given that they are apparently some sort of kind to werewolves, will the Werewolf Alpha now be gunning for the Winchesters in revenge?
And I loved Fat Mack's angry pig!!!

"We do what we gotta do. And we get my brother back."  Which is great until you realise Dean was talking to the brother in question at the time, and then it just becomes one more glaring indicator of how messed up our Winchesters really are....


Initial impressions on first watch - this one didn't blow me away with its WOW factor so much as previous episodes have, but there was a lot of good stuff in it all the same, and a fair bit to keep up the interest!

 

For instance - Crowley can find them, just like that.  Used to be that they could conceal themselves from Demons and Angels alike so either they have stopped bothering, or Crowley as King of Hell can somehow get round stuff even Lucifer had difficulty with last season, or the Apocalypse-that-wasn't has left the universe out of whack and this is another symptom of that.  Whichever it is it is slightly ominous....

 

Heart clenching moments were scattered around like confetti - Dean staring at Lisa's name on his phone again; Dean saying to Sam "I'm working for a demon and I don't even know who you are.";

Sam saying to Dean “I’m gonna prove to you that I am still your brother” only to come flat out with “I don’t care about you, except that I need your help” and Dean’s expression as that particular knife slides in…

 

So it seemed to me that this episode was not so much a filler as a scene setter – having laid out a few ground rules last week, this week was demonstrating how it was going to work – for instance, Dean restraining Sam who was all – let’s ice the monster now, while Dean was – no, we make sure before we had him over to a lifetime of demon-rape.  Dean acting as Sam’s humanity, Sam’s conscience.  And I would worry far more about Sam and any potential future if Sam wasn’t taking notice of what Dean is telling him.  So far, at least, when Dean has said stop, Sam hasn’t gone off on his own and ignored his brother – which the old Sam might have done (and did do when it came to Ruby).  So there is some hope for him yet.

 

Though what damage this is going to do to Sam  - when he is whole again, knowing while his soul was absent he was acting as a ruthless, heartless cold killer… It will be like Dean’s experiences of breaking in Hell all over again, having to live with what you have done as well as what has been done to you…

 

On a lighter note – I couldn’t help laughing at the bedroom scene when Dean wakes up and says it’s creepy that Sam’s been awake all night watching him!  Dean got a couple of good one liners again – like “do you think he came for the sailing?” and I have to say both Dean and Sam were looking totally hot – I shall be in screen cap heaven…

 

For the rest, the dog was cute and scary at the same time, the skinwalker tried to do the right thing and got shafted (and I really hope the mother regrets treating him so badly when she has time to reflect, as he did save her and her son’s lives).

 

I wonder now – if the boys killed the Skinwalker alpha, what happens to all those sleeper cells, and given that they are apparently some sort of kind to werewolves, will the Werewolf Alpha now be gunning for the Winchesters in revenge?
And I loved Fat Mack's angry pig!!!