Quick Reaction: 8x18 Freaks and Geeks

[hells_half_acre]

I bet a lot of fans (probably mostly the tumblr crowd) aren't even old enough to remember the glorious brief existence of Freaks and Geeks... Hell, *I* barely remember it. :P

But tonight I didn't have that much wine, so hopefully that means I remember more of the episode...

We start with the standard couple making out in the car thing...only, that girl is familiar! I was totally thinking Krissy was legit getting it on with some guy, and wondering why she didn't seem more professional about the situation. But it turns out that it was a TRAP! And Krissy and her dude kill a vampire....

Cut to Sam and Dean in .. the car? I think we see them running a stop sign right outside a cop shop. Good one, Dean. :P And they are there to investigate things! There have been MURDERS - VAMPIRE MURDERS (I really wish you guys could read these reviews in the voices that I type them in... I do accents and everything, you have to use your imagination.)

Before they get out of the car though, Dean checks in on Sam's health - whether he's actually well enough to do a hunt, and Sam takes offense! I think he's right to - now that he's promised to tell the truth, I think he'd let Dean know if he wasn't well enough to handle a hunt. That being said, I know how frustrating it is when your sibling/loved-one is sick and you want to make them feel better, but there's nothing you can do, so you just end up asking them if they're alright ever 5 minutes until they tell you to go away... at least, that's what I do. It's either that or I purposefully swing the pendulum the other way and come off as an insensitive prick. I haven't figured out which one is worse yet, but apparently I have no middle ground.

I liked how Sam just turned it back around and asked Dean how HE was. I missed the line - or I actually, I misheard it - because I heard Sam say "Cas really deaned you back there" - and then I was like "Dean is a verb now?" and was confused... so I'm guessing he said something else. ANYWAY... I love Dean's reaction "You mean my FEELINGS?! You're asking me about my FEELINGS?!" Hahahaha... and I love how Dean steps out of it in good bro-fashion... my making fun of the idea of talking about his feelings. Oh boys.

Anyway, the cops have surveillance of the make-out spot. Creepy. And Dean recognizes Krissy Chambers - though Sam doesn't.

So, it's off to find Krissy... meanwhile, Krissy and her little hunting friends are checking into a motel - and doing a hunt Ghostfacer style with little cameras. Why? I don't know... I guess it's just part of the training. Anyway, dude-bro is hitting on Krissy, and she tells him she has a boyfriend in Canada - whereabouts? "a town called Kiss My Ass" (must be in Newfoundland, I joked...#jokesforcanadians) and then it's off to find vampires...

Sam and Dean track her down and it's not-overly-happy reunion time!  And then the little hunters track down the Vamp, who swears that he didn't kill the girls' family and seems really confused... but they kill him anyway, because they've been BRAINWASHED. Or something... I agree with Dean, something is horribly wrong.

Dean takes Krissy aside and has a heart to heart. Krissy's dad is dead - NOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo.... even though they got out of the life, the life came and found them... as per usual with SPN. Same goes for the other kids, and they're all living with some dude named Victor.

Here's a pro-tip for the white creepy looking guys out there: don't start collecting teenagers, because I end up thinking the absolute worst of you... and apparently Dean is right with me on this one.

Plot-twist, Sam remembers meeting Victor one time in Spokane.... man, Sam, what a memory... I'm always amazed that he can remember 180+ years of hell, 1.5 years of soullessness, plus his actual life, and keep all the details straight. Meanwhile, I've been trying to remember to recommend a film to my older sister for nearly a year...unless I DID recommend it to her and I've forgotten. Ugh.

Anyway, the actual plot-twist is that Victor is acting as a den mother to orphaned hunter kids and training them, while also making sure they do their homework and clean their rooms. DEAN DOESN'T LIKE IT! He's off to investigate while Sam sticks around the house...

On the commercial break, my friends had a discussion about why Dean has such a problem with the situation...
Friend#1: I think Dean has an overdeveloped sense of... protected-ness for children.
Friend#2: I think Dean has an overdeveloped sense of knowing what's best for everyone else while not knowing what's best for himself.
Me: Both. Gotta love Dean.

But as usual, Dean's instincts are correct. He figures out where the mysterious stranger with the blue van went off to...

Meanwhile, Sam has waffles in the morning and then talks to Victor... and Victor explains how his children died, and he's just trying to make the world a better place, and blah blah blah... and then the kids come home because Victor's found evidence that the vampire that killed Krissy's dad is around someplace... and he's got pictures and whatnot to prove it! And the kids run off to hunt the monster...

Oh, I should note that I was actually pretty impressed that someone asked Sam if he wanted kids... and I like that his answer was "maybe?"... it really hadn't occurred to me that we don't really know that much about Sam's attitude towards kids. Dean's always the most kid friendly Winchester, and has proven time and again that he obviously wouldn't mind having kids... but we never really get to see how Sam feels about the subject. I mean, we know Sam wants a "normal life" but that doesn't necessarily mean he wants anything other than a girlfriend and a dog.

And Dean calls Sam from outside the hotel...and Sam is all like "there are no timestamps on the surveillance screenshots!" and I'm like "thanks, Sam, now I don't have to go back and pause there for timelining purposes. Saves me time."

Anyway, Sam spots the blue van after he gets off the phone, and Dean heads up to the lodge to see what's what.

Sam tells Victor about the van and they go hunting in the park next door.

Dean finds a vampire! Only she's NEW! She hasn't even fed yet, nor does she know she's a vampire. She's just miserable and scared... and thank you writers for continuity because Dean KNOWS that means that she can still be saved. But we're getting to that...

First, Victor knocks Sam out in the park.

Then the hunting kids find Dean... luckily Dean convinces Krissy that something fishy is going on. I did really like the repetition of "hunting isn't just about killing."

So, on some commercial break around here, me and my friends started discussing why it might be that Victor was working with vampires... and my friend, to her credit, suggested he might be acting like a cat... cats will bring injured mice/birds to their kittens in order to teach their kittens to hunt using easy prey. So, she thought he might be using the vampire to train his kittens on easy prey... and she was right!

And then it's back to grand central to find a tied up Sam (this is where me and my friend's narrated Sam's thoughts for him, "ah, man, AGAIN!?!"... and Victor giving a creepy speech about how he murdered the kids' families so that he could form the ultimate hunting squad. And how Sam couldn't possibly understand because "you're not a father" - oh man, I HATE THAT ARGUMENT. Sorry, personal pet peeve of mine, but it really drives me nuts when parents act like their problems are so much more important than yours because they've reproduced... or like you can't understand human emotion because you haven't squeezed anyone out of a uterus lately. Ugh.

Anyway... Sam is about as impressed as I was with the speech. Basically, Victor is an emperor penguin - he lost his own kids, so he stole someone else's. Not cool.

And we get a hint about what's in it for the vampire... because Victor mentions the leviathan... and I'm thinking that maybe Victor and the vampire met during the time when everyone was doped up with vamp-poison, and it was in both the hunters' and vampires' best interest to work together maybe? Or maybe not... maybe that excuse is flimsy and the vampire was just in it for the free meals and tenuous protection.

Then it's Dean and Krissy et al to the rescue! And Victor's charade comes crumbling down. Krissy takes out the vampire and then moves to take out Victor, but Dean's all about protecting her innocence... as Dean is wont to do. I did like the way this was worded though, because Dean says "We don't kill people" and then amends it to "You don't kill people", because Dean sure as hell has killed people. Krissy makes a good argument about how people can also be monsters... but in the end, Dean's influence wins out.

I also really like the line Krissy used at some point in this scene...where Victor says that he taught her everything she knows, and Krissy says that he didn't teach her EVERYTHING she knows... because she had a father, and she also had Dean, who in their brief encounters, has always tried to teach her the lessons he learned the hard way.

Anyway, Krissy decides the ultimate lesson for Victor would be to boycott him, Irish style. Being completely ignored and shunned by society was actually what the Irish did to criminals back in the day... it was, apparently, super effective... mind you, when I say "back in the day" I mean back when not being part of a social group meant certain death. Apparently, Victor feels that it'd mean certain death now too - or maybe he just can't live with himself now that his ersatz children all hate him with the fire of a thousand suns, because he offs himself with a cute little gun that he had in his boot.

And then they cue the girl and supposedly get rid of Victor's body somehow... and then it's goodbye time!

Dean wants to drop Krissy at her aunt's house, but she doesn't want to abandon her orphaned friends... so she's sticking around, and they're going to try to be normal unless something comes to town. Dean says it's because she's got the hots for the Aidan guy (who I wish now they'd made more sympathetic, because personally I find guys who come on that strong to be really creepy - so I think Krissy can do better... but that's just me, and I guess teenagers cut each other more slack.) And she calls Dean old, even though he's "really not that old" and then gives him a kiss on the cheek, because seriously, who wouldn't?!

Oh also, Krissy saying that it's not like that with Aidan because he's "like a brother" - um, that's not really an excuse that works on this show, at least not with the fans. :P

And then my favourite part... Dean calls Aidan over to him and Aidan is like "let me guess, 'if I hurt her, you'll kill me'" and Dean says, "No, she'll kill you." And BAM! Dean is awesomesauce.

I like the fact that Dean actually respects Krissy and treats her like an adult, even if he doesn't necessarily agree with her decisions. Personally, I think we have Jo to thank for that (and Sam too, of course, though his situation is a little different because he's actually Dean's little brother.)

Then it's off to the car to drive away - and Dean wants to shut down the hell-gates so that Krissy never has anything to hunt (or at least LESS to hunt) and she can have a normal life. And Sam is like "yeah, maybe she won't be the only one..." and we get another hint that Sam really is in it for the short-haul, that is, IF he survives whatever is going on with him...which I somehow doubt he will, given that, IMHO, we probably still have two more seasons left before J&J call it quits.

It's really cool, I think, what the writers are doing this year though... they're really building back up the mythology... and they aren't doing it by adding new monsters or plots, they're doing it by making tertiary characters that COULD HAVE THEIR OWN SHOWS. Think about it... you could have a show about a witch-cop and his dog-girl.... and you could have a show about a house of orphaned teenage hunters... S7 was all about narrowing down the world, but S8 is all about expanding it again. Anyway, I like it.

Anyway, fairly decent MOTW, but MAN that promo for next week looks AWESOME.

Comments

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

What happened with the vampire girl?

Also, the parent thing. Urgh. Have you ever noticed its usually used to excuse just the worst stuff? I once had to deal with a whole fiasco at girl scouts involving two sets of leaders who basically had a vendetta against each other that was throwing the whole service unit into chaos because of course it was. Couldn't you know, just hate each other privately, they had to involve everyone. So we had this come to Jesus meeting with them, me and the CEO, and at one point, we were trying to get them to recognize that maybe there would have been a better for way to handle things. It was a mess. The side that started the whole thing had done something shady, but we couldn't exactly just read them the riot act on that because the other side had responded not by say, contacting me, but instead decided that stalking the other side and contacting every other GS volunteer in the city to accuse the other side as being thieves who endangered children and who should be boycotted was the way to go. All we needed them to do was admit that that maybe wasn't the best way to proceed. But no. "Unless you have kids, you couldn't possibly be understand." Urgh. Made me so angry I nearly had a stroke. the CEO, who was not a parent, looked like she'd smacked in the face. I also felt insulted on behalf of parents everywhere, the ones who don't use their kids to try to justify their abominable behavior.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

They saved the vampire girl after killing the vampire that was working with Victor and using that weird potion thing that they cured Dean with in S6. So, yay!

And UGH YES! It drives me nuts. Thankfully, I've never had to deal with a situation quite as horrendous as that... but the other week at the grocery store one of the cashiers there was chatting to me... asking me how my day was going and whatnot, you know, standard. I was honest and told her how I was having a kind of stressful day... and she decided this was her cue to go on and on about how I don't even KNOW stress/time-management problems, because I don't have kids like SHE does, and how I'm single, so if I don't get stuff done, it's not like it MATTERS.

So, yeah, now not only am I stressed, but I'm also having my problems belittled because I haven't shacked up with someone and procreated. ARG!

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

yay! I was kind of afraid it was going to be, "and then, through misunderstanding, someone killed her" because that would be boring and predictable and a cop out.

yeah, kids are obviously the only stressor in the the world, duh. but
I do give a little credit on the parent thing. when I was doing the dealer job, one of the women in my group was a single mother of two small children (living in a three bedroom house with another mom with three kids) and working this job and babysitting for the other mom. she was exhausted, she'd been up all night two days in a row taking care of sick kids. The teacher has chiding her for not practicing something, and one of the guys in the group decided to play " oh, woe is me, I have it the hardest, no one could possibly understand how exhausted and busy I am....I have finals!" and he just wouldn't let up. it wasn't a general thing either, he kept challenging her specifically over it, about how he'd love to stay home all day. I give her full props for not punching him in the face.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Oh man, yeah, just goes to show that single childless people can be assholes too. :P I mean, I was raised by a single mum who had to juggle four kids and a full-time+ job while being on my elementary school's equivalent of the PTA... and I recognize that maybe the grocery store lady was trying to make me feel better in a weird way, like "hey, could be worse!" but instead it just came across as "your problems don't matter as much as mine do."

yay! I was kind of afraid it was going to be, "and then, through misunderstanding, someone killed her" because that would be boring and predictable and a cop out.

Yeah, I'm really happy they kept the continuity of the cure, and successfully saved someone. I think they really needed that to drive home the fact that hunting wasn't just about revenge and killing - it's about saving people.

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, assholes are unfortunately ubiquitous. I can see what you're saying, like maybe she meant, "hey, just imagine that plus kids and breathe a little easier," but it still sucks. Like saying, "hey, imagine all that plus cancer" isn't really a good way to cheer someone up, and two, it makes kids into a bad thing, which I don't think they are. hard work, sure, but not something that should be compared to a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

On the killing thing- yes exactly. How often do shows (and this show too) say things along those lines but then just kind of dispose of the one-off characters that they could have saved in order to bring another note of angst to the whole thing, so quickly forgotten? It completely undermines the message.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Completely agree about the killing thing... I mean, it's one thing when it fits into a foreshadowed theme you have going: ie, S3's "Sam cannot save anyone."...but it's another thingn entirely when it undermines the message you're trying to convey. Especially in a show where in the famous line about what they do, "saving people" is actually the first on the list. :P

it makes kids into a bad thing, which I don't think they are. hard work, sure, but not something that should be compared to a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Yeah, when I related the story on facebook (because I was so annoyed), all my parent friends were offended on behalf of the woman's children.

[afastmachine.livejournal.com]

I just love Krissy so much. She's like a mini-Dean and at the same time she reminds me of Jo, only less fragile, more secure, and I like that. Like I was telling everyone over at spn_p, Dean and Krissy are my brotp forever.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yes! brotp! Can you have more than just one brotp? Because I really love Sam and Sheriff Mills too - just while we're on the age-difference, gender-difference, brotps.

[raloria.livejournal.com]

I missed the line - or I actually, I misheard it - because I heard Sam say "Cas really deaned you back there" - and then I was like "Dean is a verb now?" and was confused... so I'm guessing he said something else.

I totally LOLed over this. Yes. Dean should be a verb by now. :D

I'm with you on the parent argument and I brought it up in my review as well that it's weak reasoning. Just because I haven't had a child doesn't mean I don't know what heartbreak and pain is. As far as Sam is concerned, I brought up that he had to watch Dean being attacked by a hellhound and dragged to hell. That's pretty darned traumatic. Pretty sure he can relate to Victor losing his family.

I wonder what happened to the vamp....Seth I think it was. 'Cause Krissy just hit him with DMB darts. I'm assuming they killed him, especially since he did kill all the kids' families.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they definitely killed the vamp, because they needed his blood to cure the innocent new-vamp girl.

And yeah, Sam's lost his entire family a few times over at this point - it's just insulting to assume that he can't relate.

I have to download the ep to see what that line I missed actually was - but I was entertained by what I heard. If Dean was a verb, I wonder what it would mean... in this case, and fitting, I think it means "to break your heart." I know Dean's constantly breaking MY heart. :P

[raloria.livejournal.com]

Ah, I forgot about them needing his blood. Good point!

Exactly!

The line is: "Cas dinged you up pretty good."
Oh, and you're right. Dean totally went through that stop by the sheriff's station....but then the sheriff car that was going the opposite way didn't stop at the first stop line either. What is up with that anyway? Why stop twice so close like that? I hate those instances.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I didn't notice the Sheriff car not stopping either! Weird. I wonder where they were in the city... must be a reason there's two stops so close together.

DINGED! Thanks. Now I don't feel so insane for hearing deaned. :P

[raloria.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. I got the download and the subtitle file quickly this evening. ;)

I'm still amused by your interpretation. :P
Especially since it was Cas attacking Dean, not the other way around. XD

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Haha, hence my confusion!

I'll download on the weekend, probably - that's usually when I timeline.

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

" I think Dean has an overdeveloped sense of knowing what's best for everyone else while not knowing what's best for himself."

That. Truest statement ever.

Loved how we got smart, brassy (facing down kids with guns), saving people Dean back!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Agreed!

[etoile444.livejournal.com]

Last season's, "let's kill everyone" was incredibly pointless. So I'm happy to see them building allies now.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Same!

[katsheswims.livejournal.com]

"personally I find guys who come on that strong to be really creepy"--Yes, I agree. When he was hitting on her in the motel room I was like, "No means no, creep!"

I liked that they remembered about the vampire cure--though when they had this girl drink it she was serenely sitting in a chair after, while with Dean he convulsed, was in pain, and perhaps threw up...

Also, all that having kids talk to Sam this episode really makes me think they're setting it up for Amelia to be pregnant.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Also, all that having kids talk to Sam this episode really makes me think they're setting it up for Amelia to be pregnant.

Oh man! That'd be... crazy. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that, to be honest.

I liked that they remembered about the vampire cure--though when they had this girl drink it she was serenely sitting in a chair after, while with Dean he convulsed, was in pain, and perhaps threw up...

Yeah, I wondered about that myself. :P

Yes, I agree. When he was hitting on her in the motel room I was like, "No means no, creep!"

Exactly! There's a happy medium between too subtle and smarmy... and that guy did not find it.

[ashkiryn.livejournal.com]

Okay, so when Krissy first showed up in season 7, I was not exactly sold on her, especially so soon after the emotional turmoil of Bobby's death, and out of all the kids I'd met and loved so far on the show, she had been my least favorite. (Plus, a part of me was wailing and railing against the fact that I REALLY didn't want to believe another father would be like John Winchester, and raising a child warrior (though thankfully, Lee Chambers wasn't as bad (or at least, I goddamn hope Krissy didn't start as soon as Dean did))...and a petty part of me pouted and only wanted the Winchester boys to be, shall we say, special, and totally out of the ordinary in the Hunter world, and I didn't want someone else muscling in even a little bit on their thunder. *shrugs*)

This episode made me completely fall in love with Krissy, and now one of my little AU wishes is that Dean would just adopt her already, because Christ, but they're adorable together. (Also, it amuses me more, the idea of Dean having a daughter.) Like, seriously: Ben, Claire, Jesse, Krissy, Emma, Bobby John----Dean Winchester, please adopt them all. And then have everything just be cute forever until the end of all time.

Also, I knew the second they mentioned Victor's name that something hinky was going on, and that feeling only magnified when he actually appeared onscreen and was all, "Do your trig homework!" or whatever, because this is Supernatural, come on. I started wigging even more when he talked about his lost kids, and I despaired a little when Sam actually asked him for help about that van. (Though, I was proud of him for noticing that there wasn't a time stamp on that photo. See kids, you may be good, but you've still got a lot to learn, and that only experience can teach you.)

Also, I love my BAMF!Dean, keeping the situation from going out of control between the falsely accused vamp!girl and the teens. And I didn't like Aidan either, so Dean putting him in his place by snatching his gun (and later at the end) made me incredibly satisfied. Also, yay continuity!

Though, Victor's right about one thing: his generation of hunters are pretty damn screwed up, and unimpressive, especially when you go with the track record of him, Martin, and that Travis guy from season 4, the "Metamorphosis" episode. (Though, you shut your mouth about Bobby.) I mean, we didn't really know what kind of hunter Bill Harvelle was, but apart from Bobby, Rufus, and Ellen (and Dean, Sam, Jo, and Garth, a bit I guess, though I don't really count them with that generation), were there any other good adult Hunters? (I guess Lee, Krissy's dad, and I dunno how you'd classify the Campbells.)

Anyway, I was also super pleased that Krissy obviously knew long before Dean said anything that she was going to spare Victor, because otherwise there's no way she could have unloaded that gun.

Also, my heart exploded from the cute that was Krissy kissing Dean on the cheek. (And hahaha, shut up with your jealous self, Aidan.) Just....AWWWWWWWW FOREVER AND EVER. *hearts*

Overall, I'm very satisfied with this episode, and ready to buckle in to see Benny and Naomi again next episode (and I guess we're going to be coming to the moment of truth, about whether Benny is going to be another Ruby (or something similar) or not.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it was quite apparent from Krissy's attitude and skills that she wasn't raised like Dean and Sam. I think her father was honest with her about what he did (unlike John was with Sam), but that he kept her somewhat stationary (they had a small apartment) and although he probably taught her basic defense, and allowed her to work on the research, he didn't have her hunt (unlike John with Dean). The way Dean talks about their childhood, it's obviously that he was helping John with hunts early on, but Krissy was, what? 15? 16? and it was quite obvious that it was her first time in the field.

So, in that case, Dean and Sam are still unique in their experience. The Campbells though, obviously have a tradition of brnging up kids in the life, so it's probably not COMPLETELY unheard of... but that being said, the Campbells with children that we saw (Samual and Deanna) used Victor's approach of still having a home life.

I think Dean pretty much has adopted her in spirit.... and seeing as how he's a fugitive, he can't do it legally anyway. But yeah, I totally know what you mean - Dean would be really happy with a gaggle of kids.

In fairness, it's actually canon that things weren't nearly as bad before 2005 - so a lot of hunters of John and Bobby's generation didn't have to deal with the kind of stuff that's out there these days. According to Bobby, before 2005 there were maybe 4 cases of demonic possession a year at best, and my guess is that they were fairly low-level, like Phantom Traveler. Now, whether or not the writers remember this continuity is another thing all together, but technically it IS canon.

So, I don't think that the older generation was horrible at all, I think they just didn't have to deal with so much bizarre things... the world has actually gotten WORSE since Sam and Dean started hunting full time, because of the apocalypse, and the angelic war, and the whole purgatory business. Anyone who had been used to the low-level monsters from before would have been taken off guard.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with this episode, and ready to buckle in to see Benny and Naomi again next episode (and I guess we're going to be coming to the moment of truth, about whether Benny is going to be another Ruby (or something similar) or not.

Agreed agreed! I'm nervous as hell, but I can't wait!