Quick Reaction: 7x18 Party On Garth
Mar. 31st, 2012 12:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hells_half_acreHello! Okay, so tonight was another Supernatural+Book Club evening. So, I watched the episode HOURS ago, and only now am able to write about it...so, hopefully I haven't forgotten too much....
Uh, there really wasn't any songs that came on my ipod shuffle on the way home that fit the theme of the episode, so...
GARTH!
I know there are some people out there who don't like Garth - but I like him. I like seeing other Hunters, especially atypical Hunters. I love that Garth has a whole origin story and a whole world that we don't know, and my never know. How did he possibly become a hunter? Garth Fitzgerald IV - was it a family of Hunters? Who's his "special lady?" How can he be both a badass AND a completely inept skinny dude?
Anyway...oh, I skipped the kids getting offed in the teaser...let's see...firstly, those two did NOT look like brothers. I have a feeling Dale wasn't the only one who was dipping his pen in the company ink. It's either that or they were adopted...but anyway...yeah...
Oh another funny thing, as soon as I saw the ghost in the teaser, I yelled "Japanese Ghost!" because it was done in the style of the ghosts from The Ring and The Eye and The Insert-Noun-Here...so yeah, when it later turned out to ACTUALLY be a Japanese monster, I was quite amused.
The whole sequence with Garth investigating and then torching the bones was awesome. I loved it. And then, of course, the brother gets killed, and that doesn't make any sense...so, yeah...call up the Winchesters!
I figure, though, that Garth must only go after straight-forward hunts...because, as soon as the case wasn't cut and dry, he called for back-up. It seemed when Sam and Dean arrived that Garth was just getting a look at the second body then, so he didn't even investigate the second body, get confused, and THEN call Dean. He was just like "It wasn't the ghost? Oh man! I'm calling Dean."
Of course, before Dean and Sam show up, we get the conversation in the car that ties the episodes together. Sam is well rested...but feeling guilty for passing on the crazy to Cas. Typical Sam. It was Castiel's decision, but because it was an act of friendship towards Sam, Sam feels like crap about it. Though, you'd think Sam of all people would respect self-sacrificing decisions...though, yeah, it's probably just that he has a problem with the self-sacrifice because it's FOR SAM and not all of humanity or Dean or Bobby or anyone-but-Sam.
Then of course, they show up at the morgue...and Garth is already there. I liked the way that Sam got pissed when he found out the victims were brothers. It makes me wonder if maybe Sam and Dean stay away from any and all cases where the ghost/monster might be targeting brothers...it makes sense.
Sam and Dean have been getting incorrect EMF readings all season, it seems. I liked the subtly of it...the fact that at first Garth DOES shrug it off and embarrassed-ly admit that perhaps his EMF is broken.
I like how the first thing Sam does when they're left alone is to say "Oh hey, computer in the room...*typity type type*"
INVISIBLE GHOST WEREWOLVES FTW!
Ah, not so easy...Microbrew.
So, yeah, I was really confused for a minute, because at the microbrew plant they started talking about this "Dale" fellow, and I missed who he was and thought he was one of the dead kids...and then they started talking about how his wife was suing and I was like "Those kids are too young for wives!!" And yeah...then I realized that I had missed something and got back with the program...
I loved Dean trying the Microbrew after insisting that all beer was the same. Oh Dean...all CHEAP beer is the same. You have been missing out.
Then we get the kid accidentally drinking her mother's OJ. My grandma used to do that...pour us OJ and then make herself s "special" one. Anyway, it was kind of ridiculous how the girl seemed to take one small sip from a cocktail and then suddenly be plastered...but I realized that it was probably because the censors wouldn't let them show her drinking more and the director/editor just had to work with what they could get away with. Later Dean did say that she "chugged" it...so yeah, I have a feeling it was originally supposed to be more than the one sip.
Sucks to be that dude though...he went from having a family of 5 to a family of 2. It's best not to think of the victims on this show - it gets far too depressing.
The puppet thing was ridiculous, but I must admit, rather hilarious in that cringey kind of way. Also, even more hilarious when you realize that Garth must carry around a sock-puppet at all times. Seriously, I want to know more about Garth - he is a dichotomy of weirdness.
So, they figure out that you have to be drunk to see the ghost. Sam goes to chat up the window...and finds out about the sake.
And Garth confronts Dean about the EMF. I like the fact that we have another Hunter weighing in. I also like how Dean just shoots him down and insists that they torched Bobby's bones...even though Dean was the one who pointed out the day before that just because Garth torched the ghost's bones didn't necessarily mean it was gone.
Okay, this next part gets a little fuzzy. I can't remember what order things went in...so....
I liked it when Sam and Dean broke into the microbrew place...I like that:
A) When they notice the security cameras, they aren't like 'Oh shit, we're on security cameras!' Instead they are like 'Awesome, we can use these! Wave at the cameras! Fun times!'
B) I love that once they figure out you have to be drunk, they get drunk to look at the camera footage. I love Sam's line wondering if it's even possible for Dean to GET drunk anymore. I like Dean's line "I miss these talks" when they ARE drunk and not being very eloquent about what they are trying to say at all.
C) Both Jared and Jensen are good at playing drunk. I love it.
I love that they find a Japanese restaurant to ask about the sake! In Kansas! Are there a lot of Japanese restaurants in Kansas? My friend pointed out "Japanese restaurants are all run by either Chinese or Koreans!" Which, in my experience, is generally true...but hey, who knows what happens in Kansas.
I also love how Dean comes back to get the sword blessed and he "creates" a running spring with "spring" water from a bottle. That is basically the story of my life.
I don't know why Sam went to go follow the microbrew lady...did they think that she was a target?
Then we get the showdown in the brewery. I, personally, loved that Garth got to use all "Come with me if you want to live!" line...classic. I also loved how that poor dude was first hit by the news that his boss was his father, and then he kept getting startled by Hunters who don't know how to arrive together. :P
DEAN'S NOT DRUNK! It's a rare event!
AND THEN THE SWORD COMES BACK TO DEAN! Listen, I KNOW that ghosts eventually lose it and become evil...but right now, Bobby is hella helpful. (Do people still say hella? Am I old?)
It was an event that not even Dean could deny...yet, Sam somehow manages to talk them out of it, albeit weakly.
But before we get to that...at this point in the evening, we were starting to be late for bookclub, so as we fastforwarded through the commercials, my friend's husband was like "but they killed the ghost, what could be left to do?" and that's when I yelled "THEY HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS!"
Haha, and I was right.
ETA: Also have to say here that Dean's outfit at the end was GORGEOUS! I think that's a new red shirt, and I like it.
But first, HUGS! Okay, they are Garth-hugs, but I still love them...no one gets hugged enough on Supernatural. (Hmm...they should send Garth to see Castiel, PROBLEMS SOLVED)
And then the conversation about Bobby...and Sam insisting that this is just their wacky version of the normal grieving process. And we get Dean using "Swayze" as a verb again...and....
BOBBY! OH GOD BOBBY! BOOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBBBBBBYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And when Dean came back into the room and said "there you are", I actually did think for a millisecond that he had seen Bobby, until I realized it must just be the flask.
BOBBY!
So...thoughts?
Uh, there really wasn't any songs that came on my ipod shuffle on the way home that fit the theme of the episode, so...
GARTH!
I know there are some people out there who don't like Garth - but I like him. I like seeing other Hunters, especially atypical Hunters. I love that Garth has a whole origin story and a whole world that we don't know, and my never know. How did he possibly become a hunter? Garth Fitzgerald IV - was it a family of Hunters? Who's his "special lady?" How can he be both a badass AND a completely inept skinny dude?
Anyway...oh, I skipped the kids getting offed in the teaser...let's see...firstly, those two did NOT look like brothers. I have a feeling Dale wasn't the only one who was dipping his pen in the company ink. It's either that or they were adopted...but anyway...yeah...
Oh another funny thing, as soon as I saw the ghost in the teaser, I yelled "Japanese Ghost!" because it was done in the style of the ghosts from The Ring and The Eye and The Insert-Noun-Here...so yeah, when it later turned out to ACTUALLY be a Japanese monster, I was quite amused.
The whole sequence with Garth investigating and then torching the bones was awesome. I loved it. And then, of course, the brother gets killed, and that doesn't make any sense...so, yeah...call up the Winchesters!
I figure, though, that Garth must only go after straight-forward hunts...because, as soon as the case wasn't cut and dry, he called for back-up. It seemed when Sam and Dean arrived that Garth was just getting a look at the second body then, so he didn't even investigate the second body, get confused, and THEN call Dean. He was just like "It wasn't the ghost? Oh man! I'm calling Dean."
Of course, before Dean and Sam show up, we get the conversation in the car that ties the episodes together. Sam is well rested...but feeling guilty for passing on the crazy to Cas. Typical Sam. It was Castiel's decision, but because it was an act of friendship towards Sam, Sam feels like crap about it. Though, you'd think Sam of all people would respect self-sacrificing decisions...though, yeah, it's probably just that he has a problem with the self-sacrifice because it's FOR SAM and not all of humanity or Dean or Bobby or anyone-but-Sam.
Then of course, they show up at the morgue...and Garth is already there. I liked the way that Sam got pissed when he found out the victims were brothers. It makes me wonder if maybe Sam and Dean stay away from any and all cases where the ghost/monster might be targeting brothers...it makes sense.
Sam and Dean have been getting incorrect EMF readings all season, it seems. I liked the subtly of it...the fact that at first Garth DOES shrug it off and embarrassed-ly admit that perhaps his EMF is broken.
I like how the first thing Sam does when they're left alone is to say "Oh hey, computer in the room...*typity type type*"
INVISIBLE GHOST WEREWOLVES FTW!
Ah, not so easy...Microbrew.
So, yeah, I was really confused for a minute, because at the microbrew plant they started talking about this "Dale" fellow, and I missed who he was and thought he was one of the dead kids...and then they started talking about how his wife was suing and I was like "Those kids are too young for wives!!" And yeah...then I realized that I had missed something and got back with the program...
I loved Dean trying the Microbrew after insisting that all beer was the same. Oh Dean...all CHEAP beer is the same. You have been missing out.
Then we get the kid accidentally drinking her mother's OJ. My grandma used to do that...pour us OJ and then make herself s "special" one. Anyway, it was kind of ridiculous how the girl seemed to take one small sip from a cocktail and then suddenly be plastered...but I realized that it was probably because the censors wouldn't let them show her drinking more and the director/editor just had to work with what they could get away with. Later Dean did say that she "chugged" it...so yeah, I have a feeling it was originally supposed to be more than the one sip.
Sucks to be that dude though...he went from having a family of 5 to a family of 2. It's best not to think of the victims on this show - it gets far too depressing.
The puppet thing was ridiculous, but I must admit, rather hilarious in that cringey kind of way. Also, even more hilarious when you realize that Garth must carry around a sock-puppet at all times. Seriously, I want to know more about Garth - he is a dichotomy of weirdness.
So, they figure out that you have to be drunk to see the ghost. Sam goes to chat up the window...and finds out about the sake.
And Garth confronts Dean about the EMF. I like the fact that we have another Hunter weighing in. I also like how Dean just shoots him down and insists that they torched Bobby's bones...even though Dean was the one who pointed out the day before that just because Garth torched the ghost's bones didn't necessarily mean it was gone.
Okay, this next part gets a little fuzzy. I can't remember what order things went in...so....
I liked it when Sam and Dean broke into the microbrew place...I like that:
A) When they notice the security cameras, they aren't like 'Oh shit, we're on security cameras!' Instead they are like 'Awesome, we can use these! Wave at the cameras! Fun times!'
B) I love that once they figure out you have to be drunk, they get drunk to look at the camera footage. I love Sam's line wondering if it's even possible for Dean to GET drunk anymore. I like Dean's line "I miss these talks" when they ARE drunk and not being very eloquent about what they are trying to say at all.
C) Both Jared and Jensen are good at playing drunk. I love it.
I love that they find a Japanese restaurant to ask about the sake! In Kansas! Are there a lot of Japanese restaurants in Kansas? My friend pointed out "Japanese restaurants are all run by either Chinese or Koreans!" Which, in my experience, is generally true...but hey, who knows what happens in Kansas.
I also love how Dean comes back to get the sword blessed and he "creates" a running spring with "spring" water from a bottle. That is basically the story of my life.
I don't know why Sam went to go follow the microbrew lady...did they think that she was a target?
Then we get the showdown in the brewery. I, personally, loved that Garth got to use all "Come with me if you want to live!" line...classic. I also loved how that poor dude was first hit by the news that his boss was his father, and then he kept getting startled by Hunters who don't know how to arrive together. :P
DEAN'S NOT DRUNK! It's a rare event!
AND THEN THE SWORD COMES BACK TO DEAN! Listen, I KNOW that ghosts eventually lose it and become evil...but right now, Bobby is hella helpful. (Do people still say hella? Am I old?)
It was an event that not even Dean could deny...yet, Sam somehow manages to talk them out of it, albeit weakly.
But before we get to that...at this point in the evening, we were starting to be late for bookclub, so as we fastforwarded through the commercials, my friend's husband was like "but they killed the ghost, what could be left to do?" and that's when I yelled "THEY HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS!"
Haha, and I was right.
ETA: Also have to say here that Dean's outfit at the end was GORGEOUS! I think that's a new red shirt, and I like it.
But first, HUGS! Okay, they are Garth-hugs, but I still love them...no one gets hugged enough on Supernatural. (Hmm...they should send Garth to see Castiel, PROBLEMS SOLVED)
And then the conversation about Bobby...and Sam insisting that this is just their wacky version of the normal grieving process. And we get Dean using "Swayze" as a verb again...and....
BOBBY! OH GOD BOBBY! BOOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBBBBBBYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And when Dean came back into the room and said "there you are", I actually did think for a millisecond that he had seen Bobby, until I realized it must just be the flask.
BOBBY!
So...thoughts?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 08:09 am (UTC)For example, Sam I am pretty sure justifies HIS self-sacrifice along the lines of cleaning up his own messes (e.g. his jump into hell is OK because he's the one (at least in his mind) that let Lucifer out.), so I don't think he views it as self-sacrifice as much as...I don't know, consequences. Making a jump here, my guess is that even with the whole wall thing, he still sees the hell crazy as a product of his choices, regardless of the circumstances that lead to them. And then on top of it, I think he's just a wee bit touchy about people throwing themselves under various metaphorical buses to save him from what he sees as his own damn fault. (e.g. I think he kind of blames himself for dying way back when- not being cautious enough or whatever- so Dean's sacrifice stung even more. Where as I think Dean's flavor of sacrificial craziness is more about not thinking he's worthy of saving, not over his feeling responsible for whatever he needed saving from...at least not as much.)
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 08:15 am (UTC)Yes, yes. All of this.
I think you are spot on here. I also think that Sam also has a touch of the "I'm not worth it" problem that Dean has - after all, he has been quoted as saying that he's the "least of all of you", but other than that. I completely agree. He tends to see everything as his fault (even when they happen TO him and not BECAUSE of him).
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 09:17 am (UTC)Someone has to write how Garth got into hunting!
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 04:44 pm (UTC)And you're right - it's his bizarre people skills that won me over. Mainly because he CAN get away with calling Dean on more stuff than Sam (or anyone else) can, because he doesn't heed the "buzz off" vibes.
I'm already writing Garth head-canon. I'm thinking Hunting family, like the Campbells...he just doesn't seem the type to get into it because of tragedy, and in both appearances now he's mentioned family a lot (cousins).
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 11:30 am (UTC)Sam followed the woman because she was that man's daughter, wasn't she? At least I thought so. Dunno, I probably missed things because my video was horribly slow and jerky.
Garth, heh. I thought I was going to be irritated by him but he was actually quite entertaining!
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 04:45 pm (UTC)But...BOBBY! Now that we've seen him, he's GOT to be the main storyline from here on out...or at least, he's got to give us the goods on the Leviathans.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 10:59 pm (UTC)He just has to help them out with the Leviathans. He saw their plans and all, I'm sure he knows what's going on. C'mon Bobby! Help them kill the Levis once and for all!
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 01:41 pm (UTC)I LOVED that they basically co-opted a Japanese restaraunt worker for all their Japanese needs. And not even like, a manager. Just a random guy who probably thought they were the weirdest guys ever but hey! they give him money. :P
I also loved Sam and Dean's little wave to the security camera. :D
BOBBYYYYYYYYY. Oh man Bobby. It must be so so hard for him to watch and basically be able to do NOTHING. Oh but Bobby. I have missed you so. :(
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 04:48 pm (UTC)The Japanese restaurant thing really made me laugh too. I love how the random guy is just like "this guys is nuts, but okay..."
I'm really excited to see where this storyline is going to go next!
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 07:41 pm (UTC)Yeah! He's just so OK with it! I mean, he's probably on his break and two random 6 foot plus guys turn up and go "translate this! Please" and he just thinks "yeah why not?"
I'm actually glad that we've had less leviathans recently. Just cos... well they were cool, and then they went away and then they were curing cancer (which I totally don't buy) and oh man! What happened to Frank? No one has said! But Bobby is much more interesting. And so was Cas. SPN is much better when they're dealing with the interesting characters they already have, rather when they're trying to make new interesting characters. Well, apart from Garth. :P
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 09:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 01:58 pm (UTC)If Dale sent a Japanese ghost to kill his former partners' kids, I think there was a justified reason they got rid of him. Normal people wouldn't even think about killing kids, even if they are bought out.
There were a lot of fun things in this episode, but I do wish we'd seen more of Sam and Dean, especially if they were drinking! But if you're right about the little girl's drinking being cut, maybe they couldn't get it past the censors. And I wonder if it would have brought up too many issues to push the potential alcoholism for Dean.
That sock puppet though...I really thought it was stupid. No kid would buy that! My theory is that the kid spit out her info so quickly because she couldn't stand to see Garth being so creepy with the thing and/or she was insulted that he might keep going with it, thinking it would work. (which I guess, means it worked. So maybe not so stupid...)
This won't be one of my favorites (it would have needed more Sam and Dean for that), but I did enjoy it.
And then....BOBBY!!!!!!!
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 04:50 pm (UTC)But yeah, the beer-family was a little confusing.
I'd have loved to see more drunk!Sam and drunk!Dean.
And yes, the sock puppet was ridiculous...it's one of those gags that I laughed at the first time out of cringe-worthiness...but I'll probably just be annoyed by on rewatch, because as you point out - no kid would fall for that...unless she was still wasted. :P
BOBBY!
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 02:29 pm (UTC)And yes, Garth as puppet-wielding, 70s car loving, hugging hunter is quite the dude. Definitely a nice contrast to all the other hunters on Supernatural.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 04:41 pm (UTC)I was also surprised that Sam looked into the Bobby thing - especially at the time when the beer thing happened, Sam seemed even less suspicious than Dean was.
I'm also wondering how Bobby will be used in the plot. Maybe once they figure out how to talk to him, he'll be able to tell him what those Leviathan plans were!
I think that's why I like Garth so much - and why I'm curious as to his backstory...he's such an atypical Hunter, in that he doesn't seem to be irrevocably emotionally scarred. :P
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 06:01 pm (UTC)They were following the microbrew lady because she was the daughter of one of the partners-sister of the 2 dead brothers & dead blonde mother-sister (I guess she was old enough to have a kid).
no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 10:30 pm (UTC)I like your way of thinking!!
no subject
Date: 2012-04-06 09:21 pm (UTC)I just comment now, too incoherent after the ep.
BOBBY! OH GOD BOBBY! BOOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBBBBBBYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yep, that's basically it. I sniffed for poor Bobby, and man, I sniffed for Dean talking to the flask like to a person.
I like Garth, he's funny, and I agree, he looks more the type of hunter who'd go after the easier things like ghosts and such. I like how nobody wondered how a corporal that skinny in that unfitting a uniform would pay his respects to his... cousin? Whatever. That scene in the morgue ;-)
I pretty much loved the whole episode, and yeah, I really got a kick from Sam asking - so matter-of-factly like it didn't even matter - if Dean could even get drunk...and Dean just looking for the heaviest stuff in the bar.
I liked how they got caught by the brewer and how they tried to pretend that it's normal for FBI to get plastered from the suspects/victim's friends private stack.
And for the Japanese restaurant? Well, it COULD still be run by Koreans, because I'm pretty sure the guy was the cook ;-)
no subject
Date: 2012-04-06 10:03 pm (UTC)Haha, I know - it's like back in S1 when no one questioned that adorable!bb!Sam was a Homeland Security/FBI/Whatever Agent :P
I liked how they got caught by the brewer and how they tried to pretend that it's normal for FBI to get plastered from the suspects/victim's friends private stack.
I liked how Dean started repeating "turn it off, turn it off" in the background when the guy came in...like somehow the problem wasn't the drinking, it was looking at security tapes? I love drunk Dean.
And for the Japanese restaurant? Well, it COULD still be run by Koreans, because I'm pretty sure the guy was the cook ;-)
Haha, very true - though when I say "run by" Koreans, I mean EVERYONE is Korean. But who knows, I'm sure there are actual Japanese people who work in Japanese restaurants. :P