Quick Reaction: 7x19 Of Grave Importance

[hells_half_acre]

Oh man...so, I was going to watch this episode on the east coast feed, but then it was a a sunny day and my sister wanted to go to the bookstore, eat ice cream on Granville Island, and then drink sangria and play ukulele on the roof...and really, who was I to say no to all that?

But, I still saw the episode before it aired in the west, thanks to my friend's PVR (I am cat/house-sitting this week.)



Right now, I can tell you my quick reaction is to feel MUCH the same as Sam and Dean are feeling at the end of the episode, so obviously the writers did a fantastic job on having a story from Bobby's POV, but leaving me with Sam'n'Dean feels.

But, let's begin at the beginning...

FOOD on the COTW (that's Car Of The Week). I love scenes like this - "domestic scenes", because this is the equivalent of a Winchester family dinner. 

And a phonecall from Annie. I want to go through my old caps and look at Dean's cell contacts lists again - because he always has so many names in there that we never see, and I want to know if Annie was one of them and for how long...it's nice to see another hunter. It's why I liked Garth. I kind of always want them to explore Hunter society a bit more...I've always been curious about how Hunters react to Sam and Dean...obviously, according to Annie, they don't treat them any differently than other Hunters. Which, I guess is a good thing...

I liked how Dean took that phone call, and when Annie brought up Bobby, he gave this glance to Sam and then tried not to mention Bobby's name out loud...it was totally a "I don't want to talk about my feelings in front of my brother" moment. Oh Dean. :P

Let's see...then the stupid kids get killed...and Annie investigates...

And then we get another Winchester scene! Yay! They are being stood up. Haha. Oh I'm jumping ahead.

So, um...Annie slept with Bobby, Dean, AND Sam?! Awesome. I would like to be Annie please. How does Sam know that she slept with Bobby? Was that their pillow talk when her and Soulless!Sam got it on? I love how this whole conversation. I also love how Sam says, "she was stressed and I...had no soul." Hahaha, oh Sam, I love you so much.

(Also, is it just me, or do you picture Dean sleeping with Annie when he was a teenager? I totally see her as the older sexy woman seducing a teenage Dean. She'd be any 18 year-old's wet-dream.  It's either that, or it would have had to have been while Sam was at Stanford, since otherwise Dean and Sam know all of each other's conquests - except, obviously, Sam's soulless year.)

Oh yeah, the creepy house is totally the same one as Playthings in S2. I'm sure everyone caught that. :) 

Anyway...it's interesting to see how impotent Bobby is as a ghost...because remember that episode in S4 when Sam and Dean ghostified themselves and learned how to move things telekinetically in one afternoon?  Mind you, they had a teacher. Bobby can't be there all the time though - and I mainly say that because at the end he acts as though he doesn't know that the boys slept with Annie too (have I mentioned that it must have been nice to be Annie? Mind you, this means the curse of sleeping with Sam still holds true)....even though Dean had the flask at the restaurant when he and Sam discussed it. Also...I mean, he's got to be able to choose when he appears, because I'm sure there's things about the boys that he does not want to see...

So, where was I? Oh yeah...the boys go to the house to investimagate. And...Annie's dead. Aw shucks. I was kind of hoping she was alive somehow. But no...it seems rather unfair that such an obviously badass hunter could be taken out by a ghost, even a super-charged ghost...but I guess that's part of the hunting life, anything really can be your death.

I did fall for the misdirect with the convict vs. the dapper dude. Also, that ghost that ran at Bobby scared me. 

I wish we had seen Dean in the shower *is shallow* but at least we got to see wet Dean in a single layer afterwards...oh yeah....*pauses show* *appreciates* *contemplates general sense of sexual frustration* *unpauses show*

But YAY Bobby for writing on the mirror!

Oh, jumping back for a minute...it kind of annoys me that Annie said "do me a solid..." to a dude who died 80 years ago...um, maybe use phrases that were around 80 years ago? Thanks.

Anyway, YAY Bobby for writing on the mirror! I loved Dean and Sam's reactions...Jared and Jensen are so good with their reactions this episode, because they are so CONFLICTED! They are happy to see Bobby, but they are horrified that he's a ghost - it goes against everything that BOBBY raised them to believe is right. So, how can they justify not putting Bobby to rest, especially since they know what's tying him to the world...and there's the fact that they love him, and want him around, but at what eventual cost? I'm getting ahead of myself....

Actually, I'm jumping all over the place here - let me launch into some timeline stuff:
Fact #1: Bobby passes out when he manages to do something.
Fact #2: It took Bobby a month to realize he was dead and still around...does this mean that he missed the month that Dean and Sam spent SOLELY grieving? Did he realize he was dead and then immediately disappear Dean's beer?
Fact #3: Bobby passed out for 2 weeks after he knocked a book off the table. That means that he didn't see what happened once Dean found Cas. Also, how did Bobby know about Cas? DID he know about Cas? Did he know about the Hunter who was healed by "Emmanuel" and just not know it was Cas? If so, that means that 7x10 and 7x17 happened within 3 months of each other and possibly an even shorter time period. 
Possibilities: If Bobby passed out for an indeterminate time whenever he successfully did something that means that he may have not been around after 1)The beer, 2)The helpful page, 3)Sam went crazy, 4)the sword. 
Fact #4: If Bobby passed out for 2 weeks after knocking that book off the table, that means that 7x18 occurred 2 weeks after 7x17 because Bobby moved the sword in 7x18. 

Cool....time-lining! Isn't it fun?!?! Seriously, I love this crap. It's like logical puzzles, only less annoying.

So, back to the house! Annie and Victoria chat it up...and um...if Victoria sent Annie a message? How did that work? Was Annie at the house and Victoria saw her and left a message on her phone? Was Annie someplace else and Victoria sent a message to her and she somehow tracked it down to that area even though there was no possible way to do that? 

Anywho...we simultaneously find out what this week's misdirect was - two more teenagers get offed - and we learn that ghosts can off other ghosts...which means sense, I mean, Mary did it back in 1x09...only it destroyed her rather than make her stronger. I know they've been doing it on another show that I won't mention for fear of spoiling it for someone who hasn't seen it (I don't watch the show, but my friend does, and she tells me things). Anyway...interesting clarification/addition to the mythology. Also, it was freaky and cool to see the deterioration of ghosts.

So, yeah...Bobby and Dean come and are able to speak with Victoria...and that was neat. And then it's off to burn the bad guy! Yay! Only the bad guy puts a key or something in Sam's pocket and oh noes....meanwhile Bobby has secreted his flask to a drawer so that he can stay in the house with Annie. And yeah, there's a whole bunch of ghostly pickpocketing going on.

I did like how smoothly they had to do it though - I always forget when they do the ghost-Bobby scenes that Jared and Jensen have to act like Jim Beaver isn't two feet beside them yelling at them. And I have to say - it's really hard to do that. I've tried to ignore people while doing extra work, and it's really hard not to glance at people when they're standing RIGHT THERE. I mean, as an extra, I think I'm allowed to glance at people, so it's not a huge deal if I do give them a glance - obviously, ordinarily people passing on the street DO glance at each other, but seriously - try it next time you are walking around or hanging out with your friends - just decide that you're going to not even look at someone. It's difficult.

So, Sam and Dean run off to salt and burn the bad guy....and Sam is doing internet research in the car. Which to me, means that he's got one of those USB internet sticks...because you cannot leach off other people's wireless networks when you are speeding down the highway at 60 miles/hour. 

I liked the fact that the ghost actually sped up the car rather than make the engine die or something else stupid.

And then they empty their pocket shoot the ghost back to the house and then carry on...

And how can the ghost kill Bobby when he doesn't have access to his bones? They made it seem as though the ghost moved the bones into the fire telekinetically while he fisted the victim-ghost...but he didn't have access to the Bobby's bones, so how would that have worked?

I guess we don't have to really worry about it though, because Dean and Sam are speedy burners. 

Then they can see Bobby! WOOt! Only...it is AWKWARD.

And I like that about this show - the fact that it's not WONDERFUL AND AMAZING that Bobby is still around. They aren't overjoyed - they don't burst into tears and tell him how much they miss him...instead they shift on their feet and are HORRIBLY CONFLICTED. Because 1)Ghosts are bad, and 2)They love Bobby...

What memory do they want of Bobby? The hunter who died in battle? The one they gave a Hunter's funeral to, believing that his soul was already in heaven drinking a beer with Ash at Harvelles? (And how much do I love Dean for calling it 'Harvelles'? Answer: A lot.)...or do they want the Bobby who they can't touch, who is against nature, who is slowly going to go crazy and whatever happens will cause things to "not end well."? 

I feel for Bobby too of course, because he's Dean in 2x01. He wants to stay and protect his family, he wants to HELP, and he wants his family to be HAPPY that he stayed to help. He wants, fundamentally, to still be alive - and if he can't be alive, he wants to act just like he is.

But he's not - and I think that's what Annie understood better than him. Annie chalked it up to the fact that she didn't have 'the boys', she only had the work and she couldn't do that anymore - and now she wanted to rest, to be nothing. But, I think, fundamentally, Annie understood that death meant an END to things, not the beginning of different things. She understood that to be dead meant that her time should be over. 

I do think that the boys need Bobby though - I think they are floundering. They can't tell what Dick is up to. We can't even be sure that they have the right numbers - they don't know what Dick is doing and Bobby does! (And FYI: That would have been my first question to Bobby - not the awkward "why didn't you go to heaven?" question, but the "tell me everything you know about Dick Roman...awesome...oops, flask in the fire. Sorry Bobby, I LOVE YOU!"...but yeah, none of my loved ones are ghosts (at least I hope not), so perhaps I shouldn't judge.

Interesting times, to say the least....

Oh, also minor nitpick: Dean did something at the end that I CAN'T STAND, which is to repeat the last sentence of a speech twice. "What are the odds...what. are. the. odds." I hate that. They usually do it all the time in dramatic angsty heartfelt speeches on TV.

And yeah...awkward ending is awkward...but it's way more true to character and therefore realistic that way. 

It's nice to have Jim Beaver back on my screen.



So, thoughts? Feelings?

Next week looks cool too, but I won't spoil the preview for any of you strict spoiler-phobes out there.

Comments

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Very good point! I think there must be some reason why they have Bobby as a ghost still, besides the angst. And you're right...Bobby DOES have unfinished business, because we still don't know what the heck the Leviathans are planning and Bobby does.