hells_half_acre (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hells_half_acre) wrote2014-04-23 12:11 am
hells_half_acre) wrote2014-04-23 12:11 am
Entry tags:
Quick Reaction: 9x19 Alex Annie Alexis Ann
Woot!
Okay, let's just dive right in....
Firstly, i don't have a Jody icon (I know, horrible oversight on my part), so Charlie will have to stand in as a representative of her fellow awesome female recurring character.
This episode was really a Jody Mills episode. I mean, from start to finish, it was Jody Mills all the way with the boys as guest stars. And I am not complaining. I really love episodes and characters that make the Supernatural universe BROADER and RICHER.. and having fully formed complex characters that are heroes of their own story (and most importantly, continue to LIVE) is what makes that possible. I think it's part of the reason why I had suh a hard time with S7, when the show became too narrowly focused on Sam and Dean.
Anyway, Jody is awesome. I'm happy... but let's talk about this is something resembling chronological order - though, like usual, I've had copious amounts of wine and only watched the episode once about an hour or two ago, so things aren't going to be perfect and no quotes will be correct.
We begin with our mystery girl being hauled into the police station - why, we never find out. But she's hauled in and put in holding, but then the ONE cop on duty is called out to a B&E. He leaves, because the Sheriff will be back soon... and dude, I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to make exceptions to these rules!! But, nevertheless, that leaves our mystery girl alone at the station, which means that the vamp looking for her can break in and threaten to drag her back whence she came... only, NOT SO FAST, because Jody comes in and beheads him!
When in doubt, behead. We figure that's Jody's motto, since she couldn't have known he was a vampire from behind.
Being the smart woman that she is, Jody calls the boys - who arrive to confirm that it's a vampire (who is now stashed in Jody's trunk - and THAT's going to get smelly fast.) Jody has healed nicely since that time she was stabbed in the shoulder - and I like the fact that she says that it only hurts when it rains, and we see that it is quite obviously raining. There's something... meaningful about it all, which I can't articulate right now because 1)I'm tipsy, and 2)I'm not very articulate to begin with, let's be honest.
We find out that Annie is a missing girl from 9 years ago, who before that was an orphan living with her grandma. We also find out that she's been going by the name Alex and that she's a "blood slave" who has Stockholm syndrome. She makes them as hunters immediately and won't give up any information... until they convince her that it's either she gives up her nest, or she resigns herself to the fact that she's not ever going to escape her "family."
What I LOVED about this scene was that as soon as Jody understand that Annie/Alex was not thankful because, as she saw it, Jody killed her brother - she reacts COMPASSIONATELY. Dean and Sam see it as a sign of her brainwashing/stockholm thing, but Jody knows that even if it IS messed up that doesn't diminish the fact that Alex is now in genuine mourning.
So, I kind of forget whether Alex gives them the information or not. But the Winchesters figure out what town she came from and they head off to find the nest, while Sheriff Mills stays behind. Sam tells her about deadman's blood before he goes, and they both tell her that she should probably clear out of the Sheriff station in case the vamp nest arrives for Alex before the Winchesters can kill them. The Sheriff decides to head up to her family's cabin.
Also, I love how in character having a family cabin is for the Sheriff...it reminded me of when she showed up at Rufus' cabin to make sandwiches for Bobby and how at home she seemed there.
Anyway... the boys head off to Nebraska to find the nest -
Oh, but meanwhile, the vampires are killing people trying to find Alex... they attack everyone who works at the bus station ticket office and kill them. Good job. We find out that their a "family" of boys run by a "mama" vamp, which is a nice change from the predominately patriarchal vampire nest that we've see on the show. I think the last female-run nest was Lenore's back in S2.
Right, back to the boys... the boys find the house the vampires are squatting in, and they find one brother outside by the woodchippper...good ol' woodchipper, always good for destroying bodies. I wonder if that's realistic? I've seen it so many times now, I feel like it might be. So gross. I'll stop thinking about it now.
They tie up and torture the vampire, who tells them all about his ungrateful runaway teenage human sister, who thinks she's so much better than them... they find out that Alex is a lure - sent out to find skeezy pedophiles and lechers and bring them back to the house to be killed. The way her brother tells it, Alex seemed to quite enjoy her roll... and man, personally, I think she's doing the rest of humanity a favour. Am I too harsh on pedophiles and whatever-the-word-is-for-people-who-like-underage-teenagers? Do I care? The answer is no. So, I really have no doubt that she did enjoy THOSE kills...
BUT... Alex also mentioned that she was their blood supply when they got back from unsuccessful hunts...which means that Alex's supply of skeevy-dudes weren't their only prey, I don't think... and that's probably part of where this operation starts to fall apart.
Meanwhile, Jody takes Alex up to her family's cabin and, as a result, Alex sees all the family pictures and such that Jody has up of her family...and asks questions. Jody doesn't necessarily answer them outright, besides responding to "how did they die?" with the answer "horribly" which is, IMHO, a really awesome heart-wrenching response. Also, Kim Rhodes is awesome, because she keeps her calm, but you can hear the threatening tears in her voice at just the MENTION of her family.
Anyway, Sam and Dean kill what's-his-dude... and then take off to try to find Jody, who isn't answering her phone.
And Jody can't find Alex for a minute, but then finds her asleep in her sons room...only, when she tries to cover her gently with a blanket, Alex wakes up and Jody tells her that she made her a sandwich...and it's all very domestic.
Can I just do an aside here - the other thing I love about Jody in this episode is that as soon as Alex told them that she preferred the name Alex, Jody just started calling her Alex. Again, that just sets up from the beginning that Jody is a maternal figure that is a contrast to Alex's previous maternal figure. Jody LISTENS to Alex and respects her desires and feelings... but we'll get to that more later, I guess...
The boys finally get through to Jody and try to warn her that Alex might not be trust-worthy - uh, what else is new? But, they don't actually get the words out, and as their on the phone, a truck pulls up and the vamps are there! They come in through the bedroom window before Jody can get to it and defend Alex...and they drag Alex away... Jody runs out, but is knocked out by a vampire. Luckily, they flee instead of killing Jody.
The Winchesters arrive at dawn to find a slightly disoriented Jody. They argue that they might have to kill Alex too, if she's bloodthirsty in the psychotic way that her brother implied... Jody's super angry about that, but eventually agrees - perhaps just to shut-up the Winchesters. I liked this point too, because, although I think the Winchesters are a bit TOO quick to have human-collateral damage these days, I also like the fact that new hunters, like Jody, perhaps haven't necessarily learned that humans can also be monsters - not the way the Winchesters have. So, basically, as usual, I'm saying that I can see and understand both sides of this argument.
Meanwhile, Alex wakes up back home with mama vamp telling her that they have to move and she's made a mess of everything. Alex is apologetic and wonders why her mother hasn't killed her for all the trouble she's caused. Her mother swears that she'd never hurt Alex, but also implies that Alex is never ever going to escape the family - but when Alex confides in her that she couldn't take the murdering anymore, mama vamp decides that it's because Alex is a human. Her logic is that if she needs to turn Alex, and that she should have done it sooner, so that she won't have a moral conscious anymore... I'm PRETTY sure that's not how vampires work though, but hey, I WILL believe that the hunger just gets to be too much and the feeding feels so good, that they no longer CARE about their moral conscious.
They drive to Nebraska and get ready to raid the nest. Dean once again presses that killing the vampires is their priority, NOT saving Alex. Jody, again, agrees probably just to shut him up.
Then we made fun of the way that Jared "sneaks around" - because K's husband thinks it looks hilariously awkward. K and I just think it's really hard for a 6'5'' guy to try to be inconspicuous. :P
And sure enough, it IS hard, because when Sam and Dean get up to the second floor (leaving Sheriff Mills on the first), Sam gets a gun to his back, and Dean has to drop his weapon in order for Sam not to be shot - and that earns him a two by four to the noggin.
Meanwhile, Jody has heard something from the basement and goes to investigate... she finds Alex, with blood on her mouth and weirdly bloodshot eyes.... and she apologizes, and she's obviously been turned. And that's when mama vamp attacks Jody.
So, Sam gets tied up upstairs, while Dean is left on the floor unconscious. The vamps know about the Winchesters - which, again, I think is awesome, because at this point Sam and Dean's reputation really SHOULD precede them. But, instead of killing them, they apparently need snacks for the road. Since they can't drink deadman's blood, apparently this means draining them until they're nearly dead? Or is it not deadman's blood if the man is still alive when they remove it, even if he dies from blood loss? I'm not sure how this mythological science works!
Anyway, they're draining Sam something fierce.
Jody is tied up in the basement, with mama vamp trying to get Alex to feed on her... but Alex doesn't want to, because Jody has actually only ever shown her kindness and respect. Also, Alex was against all the killing in the first place - she didn't WANT to be a vampire, she wanted to escape. So, yeah, killing the one person who tried to help her escape at their own personal peril is NOT appealing.
And while Mama vamp tries to degrade Jody so that Alex will lose her high opinion of her and feed, Jody puts it together and realizes why mama vamp changed Annie's name... it wasn't just Jody who liked looking after Alex because it helped fill the hole in her that losing her son (twice, I may add) left in her, Mama vamp has obviously lost someone named Alex and replaced her with Annie, even going so far as to change Annie's name to match.
Of course, no one likes to be called out on their weird psychological issues, so Jody gets a broken knee out of the deal - and OH GOD, that hurt to look at... as someone who has knee problems, that's like...the worst. The absolute worst. Knees don't heal right, in my opinion. You mess up your knees and you're basically screwed forever - at least in my experience. Everything that happens to my knees just add more things that are wrong with my knees. So, yeah, have fun going down stairs for the rest of your life Jody.
Anyway, Jody hits so many nerves that she eventually just starts getting punched in the face repeatedly, which is when Alex swoops in for the rescue, showing us that indeed is sticking with her original choice of trying to escape the vampire nest. She injects her mama with deadman's blood, unties Jody, and Jody's able to go over to the table to get her machete.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Dean is surprisingly not knocked out and beats the shit out of the vampires and rescues Sam - though he gets up close and personal with the death and demands the last vampire look at him when he deals the death blow. It's pretty awesome... but, you know, disturbing and obviously a symptom of the Mark of Cain. Sam has to remind Dean that Jody even exists after that, because Dean is so high off the kill.
They run downstairs to see Jody about to take out the mama vamp - and Jody, again, being super awesome, tells Alex not to watch... because Jody understand that monster or not, Alex saw the woman as a mother-figure for the past decade.
Then we take a little break... and we come back to Sam confronting Dean outside of Jody's cabin. Telling him that he's worried about how much he seemed to enjoy killing the vampire. Dean doesn't see a problem with his enjoyment, arguing that it's not a crime to enjoy your job. Sam is disturbed.
We find out that they've been able to administer the cure to Alex - yay! Dean tells Jody that "from personal experience, it'll be a rough few days." And I LOVE the fact that they referenced that one time Dean was a vampire. I just think it's a neat aspect to his character experience, because although Sam's the one that was always afraid of being a monster, Dean actually HAS been a monster - and it always kind of annoyed me that it never came up in any of the Benny episodes - but, I guess it just never really had a reason to.
Then Jody tells Sam and Dean that they weren't altogether wrong about her judgement being clouded when it came to Alex - that she can see now that for the past 4-6 years (depending which timeline you follow), she's basically just been trying to ignore her grief by filling her life with other things - dating, church, I even wonder if her helping the boys and getting into hunting a little was part of it too... but that she realizes that if she wants to move on in a healthy manner, she really does just have to acknowledge and accept the grief and allow herself to mourn.
Then Sam and Dean leave, while ignoring their own issues with the skill that comes out of years and years of practice, and Jody returns to the cabin to check on Alex.
Alex still has weird bloodshot eyes, and I do think that the make-up was a LITTLE incongruous with previous canon, but that's really my biggest criticism of this episode and it's a horribly minor nitpicky one, so whatever.
Jody continues to be awesome and tells Alex that it's up to Alex what she wants to do next, and Jody will help her in anyway that Alex wants her to help...and she also tells Alex that she knows that no one will ever understand what Alex is going through, and what it's like to lose the only family you have ever known all in a 48 hour period like that. Alex points out that JODY understands...and our episode ends. But I have to say that I love the fact that although Jody DOES know what it's like to lose your entire family in one night, she still doesn't assume she knows what it's like for ALEX. Just because their situations are slightly similar, doesn't mean they're the same.... and I love that Jody acknowledged that, and that it was Alex who declared that they were similar enough for Alex to feel comforted by Jody's level of understanding.
And man, can we get the Jody and Alex/Annie adventures now? I figure though, that Alex will probably want to try living a normal life - going to school, moving on, etc... but who better to help her with that then Jody? They can be a little domestic, but sometimes Jody will call home when a weird death gets reported and Alex will go get the guns ready, and she's gotten her driver's license, so she'll be the wheelman and back-up as Jody takes care of things... but "only back-up, Alex." Only does she really listen? No, because if Jody's not back in five-minutes, Alex grabs the shotgun and leaves the car - and swoops in to once again save the day. And Jody would ground her, because she had it under control, she swears, but she knows Alex has a date on Friday and she's been looking forward to it all week - so instead Jody just grumbles and tells her that she's in charge of dinner as punishment - but that's also fine with Alex, because all Jody knows how to make is sandwiches, and there's only so many days a week that you can eat sandwiches for dinner. Alex, meanwhile, having grown up as the only human in a family of vampires, has gotten quite good at preparing meals. Since everyone else in her family only drank blood, the kitchen basically belonged to Alex.... and... okay, yeah, I guess I'll stop now.
To sum up: Great episode. As I told both Kim Rhodes and Robert Berens on twitter, I really love stories that are about the other characters on Supernatural - they enrich the universe and make it seem more real, more like a living breathing thing.
Next week's episode is the spin-off backdoor pilot..., so, should be interesting, I've been the most spoiled for it - and while I'm sure it'll annoy some viewers, since it's not going to be Sam and Dean centred either - I'm interested to see what it'll be like. I figure with 23 episodes in the season, we've got plenty of time for Sam and Dean, and like I've said multiple times, I love it when the show expands the universe to include more characters that you can envision going on with lives that are just as interesting as Sam and Dean's. But, I'll talk bout that episode more next week after it airs, so I don't spoil it for any of you who aren't spoiled already.
As per usual, let me know your thoughts in comments, or if there was anything you desperately wanted me to talk about, or thought that I WOULD talk about, but I seem to have completely forgotten about or neglected to mention...
Okay, let's just dive right in....
Firstly, i don't have a Jody icon (I know, horrible oversight on my part), so Charlie will have to stand in as a representative of her fellow awesome female recurring character.
This episode was really a Jody Mills episode. I mean, from start to finish, it was Jody Mills all the way with the boys as guest stars. And I am not complaining. I really love episodes and characters that make the Supernatural universe BROADER and RICHER.. and having fully formed complex characters that are heroes of their own story (and most importantly, continue to LIVE) is what makes that possible. I think it's part of the reason why I had suh a hard time with S7, when the show became too narrowly focused on Sam and Dean.
Anyway, Jody is awesome. I'm happy... but let's talk about this is something resembling chronological order - though, like usual, I've had copious amounts of wine and only watched the episode once about an hour or two ago, so things aren't going to be perfect and no quotes will be correct.
We begin with our mystery girl being hauled into the police station - why, we never find out. But she's hauled in and put in holding, but then the ONE cop on duty is called out to a B&E. He leaves, because the Sheriff will be back soon... and dude, I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to make exceptions to these rules!! But, nevertheless, that leaves our mystery girl alone at the station, which means that the vamp looking for her can break in and threaten to drag her back whence she came... only, NOT SO FAST, because Jody comes in and beheads him!
When in doubt, behead. We figure that's Jody's motto, since she couldn't have known he was a vampire from behind.
Being the smart woman that she is, Jody calls the boys - who arrive to confirm that it's a vampire (who is now stashed in Jody's trunk - and THAT's going to get smelly fast.) Jody has healed nicely since that time she was stabbed in the shoulder - and I like the fact that she says that it only hurts when it rains, and we see that it is quite obviously raining. There's something... meaningful about it all, which I can't articulate right now because 1)I'm tipsy, and 2)I'm not very articulate to begin with, let's be honest.
We find out that Annie is a missing girl from 9 years ago, who before that was an orphan living with her grandma. We also find out that she's been going by the name Alex and that she's a "blood slave" who has Stockholm syndrome. She makes them as hunters immediately and won't give up any information... until they convince her that it's either she gives up her nest, or she resigns herself to the fact that she's not ever going to escape her "family."
What I LOVED about this scene was that as soon as Jody understand that Annie/Alex was not thankful because, as she saw it, Jody killed her brother - she reacts COMPASSIONATELY. Dean and Sam see it as a sign of her brainwashing/stockholm thing, but Jody knows that even if it IS messed up that doesn't diminish the fact that Alex is now in genuine mourning.
So, I kind of forget whether Alex gives them the information or not. But the Winchesters figure out what town she came from and they head off to find the nest, while Sheriff Mills stays behind. Sam tells her about deadman's blood before he goes, and they both tell her that she should probably clear out of the Sheriff station in case the vamp nest arrives for Alex before the Winchesters can kill them. The Sheriff decides to head up to her family's cabin.
Also, I love how in character having a family cabin is for the Sheriff...it reminded me of when she showed up at Rufus' cabin to make sandwiches for Bobby and how at home she seemed there.
Anyway... the boys head off to Nebraska to find the nest -
Oh, but meanwhile, the vampires are killing people trying to find Alex... they attack everyone who works at the bus station ticket office and kill them. Good job. We find out that their a "family" of boys run by a "mama" vamp, which is a nice change from the predominately patriarchal vampire nest that we've see on the show. I think the last female-run nest was Lenore's back in S2.
Right, back to the boys... the boys find the house the vampires are squatting in, and they find one brother outside by the woodchippper...good ol' woodchipper, always good for destroying bodies. I wonder if that's realistic? I've seen it so many times now, I feel like it might be. So gross. I'll stop thinking about it now.
They tie up and torture the vampire, who tells them all about his ungrateful runaway teenage human sister, who thinks she's so much better than them... they find out that Alex is a lure - sent out to find skeezy pedophiles and lechers and bring them back to the house to be killed. The way her brother tells it, Alex seemed to quite enjoy her roll... and man, personally, I think she's doing the rest of humanity a favour. Am I too harsh on pedophiles and whatever-the-word-is-for-people-who-like-underage-teenagers? Do I care? The answer is no. So, I really have no doubt that she did enjoy THOSE kills...
BUT... Alex also mentioned that she was their blood supply when they got back from unsuccessful hunts...which means that Alex's supply of skeevy-dudes weren't their only prey, I don't think... and that's probably part of where this operation starts to fall apart.
Meanwhile, Jody takes Alex up to her family's cabin and, as a result, Alex sees all the family pictures and such that Jody has up of her family...and asks questions. Jody doesn't necessarily answer them outright, besides responding to "how did they die?" with the answer "horribly" which is, IMHO, a really awesome heart-wrenching response. Also, Kim Rhodes is awesome, because she keeps her calm, but you can hear the threatening tears in her voice at just the MENTION of her family.
Anyway, Sam and Dean kill what's-his-dude... and then take off to try to find Jody, who isn't answering her phone.
And Jody can't find Alex for a minute, but then finds her asleep in her sons room...only, when she tries to cover her gently with a blanket, Alex wakes up and Jody tells her that she made her a sandwich...and it's all very domestic.
Can I just do an aside here - the other thing I love about Jody in this episode is that as soon as Alex told them that she preferred the name Alex, Jody just started calling her Alex. Again, that just sets up from the beginning that Jody is a maternal figure that is a contrast to Alex's previous maternal figure. Jody LISTENS to Alex and respects her desires and feelings... but we'll get to that more later, I guess...
The boys finally get through to Jody and try to warn her that Alex might not be trust-worthy - uh, what else is new? But, they don't actually get the words out, and as their on the phone, a truck pulls up and the vamps are there! They come in through the bedroom window before Jody can get to it and defend Alex...and they drag Alex away... Jody runs out, but is knocked out by a vampire. Luckily, they flee instead of killing Jody.
The Winchesters arrive at dawn to find a slightly disoriented Jody. They argue that they might have to kill Alex too, if she's bloodthirsty in the psychotic way that her brother implied... Jody's super angry about that, but eventually agrees - perhaps just to shut-up the Winchesters. I liked this point too, because, although I think the Winchesters are a bit TOO quick to have human-collateral damage these days, I also like the fact that new hunters, like Jody, perhaps haven't necessarily learned that humans can also be monsters - not the way the Winchesters have. So, basically, as usual, I'm saying that I can see and understand both sides of this argument.
Meanwhile, Alex wakes up back home with mama vamp telling her that they have to move and she's made a mess of everything. Alex is apologetic and wonders why her mother hasn't killed her for all the trouble she's caused. Her mother swears that she'd never hurt Alex, but also implies that Alex is never ever going to escape the family - but when Alex confides in her that she couldn't take the murdering anymore, mama vamp decides that it's because Alex is a human. Her logic is that if she needs to turn Alex, and that she should have done it sooner, so that she won't have a moral conscious anymore... I'm PRETTY sure that's not how vampires work though, but hey, I WILL believe that the hunger just gets to be too much and the feeding feels so good, that they no longer CARE about their moral conscious.
They drive to Nebraska and get ready to raid the nest. Dean once again presses that killing the vampires is their priority, NOT saving Alex. Jody, again, agrees probably just to shut him up.
Then we made fun of the way that Jared "sneaks around" - because K's husband thinks it looks hilariously awkward. K and I just think it's really hard for a 6'5'' guy to try to be inconspicuous. :P
And sure enough, it IS hard, because when Sam and Dean get up to the second floor (leaving Sheriff Mills on the first), Sam gets a gun to his back, and Dean has to drop his weapon in order for Sam not to be shot - and that earns him a two by four to the noggin.
Meanwhile, Jody has heard something from the basement and goes to investigate... she finds Alex, with blood on her mouth and weirdly bloodshot eyes.... and she apologizes, and she's obviously been turned. And that's when mama vamp attacks Jody.
So, Sam gets tied up upstairs, while Dean is left on the floor unconscious. The vamps know about the Winchesters - which, again, I think is awesome, because at this point Sam and Dean's reputation really SHOULD precede them. But, instead of killing them, they apparently need snacks for the road. Since they can't drink deadman's blood, apparently this means draining them until they're nearly dead? Or is it not deadman's blood if the man is still alive when they remove it, even if he dies from blood loss? I'm not sure how this mythological science works!
Anyway, they're draining Sam something fierce.
Jody is tied up in the basement, with mama vamp trying to get Alex to feed on her... but Alex doesn't want to, because Jody has actually only ever shown her kindness and respect. Also, Alex was against all the killing in the first place - she didn't WANT to be a vampire, she wanted to escape. So, yeah, killing the one person who tried to help her escape at their own personal peril is NOT appealing.
And while Mama vamp tries to degrade Jody so that Alex will lose her high opinion of her and feed, Jody puts it together and realizes why mama vamp changed Annie's name... it wasn't just Jody who liked looking after Alex because it helped fill the hole in her that losing her son (twice, I may add) left in her, Mama vamp has obviously lost someone named Alex and replaced her with Annie, even going so far as to change Annie's name to match.
Of course, no one likes to be called out on their weird psychological issues, so Jody gets a broken knee out of the deal - and OH GOD, that hurt to look at... as someone who has knee problems, that's like...the worst. The absolute worst. Knees don't heal right, in my opinion. You mess up your knees and you're basically screwed forever - at least in my experience. Everything that happens to my knees just add more things that are wrong with my knees. So, yeah, have fun going down stairs for the rest of your life Jody.
Anyway, Jody hits so many nerves that she eventually just starts getting punched in the face repeatedly, which is when Alex swoops in for the rescue, showing us that indeed is sticking with her original choice of trying to escape the vampire nest. She injects her mama with deadman's blood, unties Jody, and Jody's able to go over to the table to get her machete.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Dean is surprisingly not knocked out and beats the shit out of the vampires and rescues Sam - though he gets up close and personal with the death and demands the last vampire look at him when he deals the death blow. It's pretty awesome... but, you know, disturbing and obviously a symptom of the Mark of Cain. Sam has to remind Dean that Jody even exists after that, because Dean is so high off the kill.
They run downstairs to see Jody about to take out the mama vamp - and Jody, again, being super awesome, tells Alex not to watch... because Jody understand that monster or not, Alex saw the woman as a mother-figure for the past decade.
Then we take a little break... and we come back to Sam confronting Dean outside of Jody's cabin. Telling him that he's worried about how much he seemed to enjoy killing the vampire. Dean doesn't see a problem with his enjoyment, arguing that it's not a crime to enjoy your job. Sam is disturbed.
We find out that they've been able to administer the cure to Alex - yay! Dean tells Jody that "from personal experience, it'll be a rough few days." And I LOVE the fact that they referenced that one time Dean was a vampire. I just think it's a neat aspect to his character experience, because although Sam's the one that was always afraid of being a monster, Dean actually HAS been a monster - and it always kind of annoyed me that it never came up in any of the Benny episodes - but, I guess it just never really had a reason to.
Then Jody tells Sam and Dean that they weren't altogether wrong about her judgement being clouded when it came to Alex - that she can see now that for the past 4-6 years (depending which timeline you follow), she's basically just been trying to ignore her grief by filling her life with other things - dating, church, I even wonder if her helping the boys and getting into hunting a little was part of it too... but that she realizes that if she wants to move on in a healthy manner, she really does just have to acknowledge and accept the grief and allow herself to mourn.
Then Sam and Dean leave, while ignoring their own issues with the skill that comes out of years and years of practice, and Jody returns to the cabin to check on Alex.
Alex still has weird bloodshot eyes, and I do think that the make-up was a LITTLE incongruous with previous canon, but that's really my biggest criticism of this episode and it's a horribly minor nitpicky one, so whatever.
Jody continues to be awesome and tells Alex that it's up to Alex what she wants to do next, and Jody will help her in anyway that Alex wants her to help...and she also tells Alex that she knows that no one will ever understand what Alex is going through, and what it's like to lose the only family you have ever known all in a 48 hour period like that. Alex points out that JODY understands...and our episode ends. But I have to say that I love the fact that although Jody DOES know what it's like to lose your entire family in one night, she still doesn't assume she knows what it's like for ALEX. Just because their situations are slightly similar, doesn't mean they're the same.... and I love that Jody acknowledged that, and that it was Alex who declared that they were similar enough for Alex to feel comforted by Jody's level of understanding.
And man, can we get the Jody and Alex/Annie adventures now? I figure though, that Alex will probably want to try living a normal life - going to school, moving on, etc... but who better to help her with that then Jody? They can be a little domestic, but sometimes Jody will call home when a weird death gets reported and Alex will go get the guns ready, and she's gotten her driver's license, so she'll be the wheelman and back-up as Jody takes care of things... but "only back-up, Alex." Only does she really listen? No, because if Jody's not back in five-minutes, Alex grabs the shotgun and leaves the car - and swoops in to once again save the day. And Jody would ground her, because she had it under control, she swears, but she knows Alex has a date on Friday and she's been looking forward to it all week - so instead Jody just grumbles and tells her that she's in charge of dinner as punishment - but that's also fine with Alex, because all Jody knows how to make is sandwiches, and there's only so many days a week that you can eat sandwiches for dinner. Alex, meanwhile, having grown up as the only human in a family of vampires, has gotten quite good at preparing meals. Since everyone else in her family only drank blood, the kitchen basically belonged to Alex.... and... okay, yeah, I guess I'll stop now.
To sum up: Great episode. As I told both Kim Rhodes and Robert Berens on twitter, I really love stories that are about the other characters on Supernatural - they enrich the universe and make it seem more real, more like a living breathing thing.
Next week's episode is the spin-off backdoor pilot..., so, should be interesting, I've been the most spoiled for it - and while I'm sure it'll annoy some viewers, since it's not going to be Sam and Dean centred either - I'm interested to see what it'll be like. I figure with 23 episodes in the season, we've got plenty of time for Sam and Dean, and like I've said multiple times, I love it when the show expands the universe to include more characters that you can envision going on with lives that are just as interesting as Sam and Dean's. But, I'll talk bout that episode more next week after it airs, so I don't spoil it for any of you who aren't spoiled already.
As per usual, let me know your thoughts in comments, or if there was anything you desperately wanted me to talk about, or thought that I WOULD talk about, but I seem to have completely forgotten about or neglected to mention...
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I did enjoy the callbacks to earlier canon, i.e., dead man's blood, dean's recovery from being a vamp, Jody's family being killed-Berens used the show's history very well in this regard. I also liked the extra bit of vampire lore that we received about blood slave, etc. I also loved it that these vamps knew about Dean and Sam Winchester. It is about time that monsters out there are aware of these two. Now we just need for them to run in to some other hunters that haven't met before and hear the same thing. We the series started out, hunters seemed to know about John, now they know about Dean and Sam. These two really should be legends by now in the hunter and monster community.
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I was intrigued about your comment that Dean/Sam and monsters. The first two seasons all Sam ever lamented about was turning into a monster. He lamented it in later seasons, but not as much. And then he lamented that Dean would have to kill him if that ever happened. I mean, sometimes I got nauseated with the whole aspect, Sam was always so worried that he would become one, and never had the confidence in himself or Dean that they could stop that from ever happening. And then, BAM, Dean does become a monster (no thanks to soulless Sam, I might add), and while this monster, Dean is able to fight against every monster instinct that is now a part of him. He is able to hold on to his humanity long enough to wait for someone to kill him, or as we were lucky to find out, for Samuel to help turn him back. I had never thought about this comparison before, so now that you mentioned it, I do find it very interesting. Sam all worried about going dark side, but it never happening, and Dean going dark side but never completely succumbing to the powers of the dark side. And now, here we are again, Dean is sliding down that slippery slope to going to the dark side, or maybe becoming a monster, and I am worried for him. But yet, Dean had resisted it before as a vampire, he was able to hold on to his humanity long enough for him to be turned back, and I am hoping upon hope here that Dean, once again, will be able to hold onto his humanity and not allow the MoC to take complete hold over him. There has been a lot of talk on Tumblr and such about how Dean's kill of that vampire was totally BAMFed up because of his MoC, and he probably wouldn't have killed the way he did had he not had the Mark. I'm not sure though. Dean was killing because the vamp needed to be killed. I do think that the Mark gave him some extra strength to be able to overpower the vamp to killing him, and maybe he did enjoy it, but Dean has always enjoyed killing the monsters. When I watched that scene I couldn't help but think of him killing the vamp in Bloodlust with that chainsaw. He was relishing that one as well, and there was no Mark involved there. I think a part of him enjoying the kill could be hearkened back to how Dean feels about himself. Remember what he said in S6, I'm a killer, that's what I do best. Dean is feeling so low about himself that he is accentuating what he knows he is best at and what he feels is his only purpose - kill the monster. I mean, from his reaction to Sam after he killed the vamp and was untying him that he knows Sam wouldn't have saved him - Dean is still of the belief that Sam and he are business partners, not brothers, despite evidence to us of the contrary. Instead of Sam telling Dean that he thinks he enjoyed the kill too much, Sam should have said something about that comment (that Sam wouldn't have saved him). Sam needs to say something to Dean, and say it soon before Dean completely slides away. Sam had the perfect opportunity and it was wasted. I was frustrated with that ending. I wanted a more heartfelt DeanSam conversation, not an ending scene between Jody and Annie. But, I guess, since this was Jody's story, it was fitting - but, that doesn't mean I'm not exactly happy about it.
Overall, I did like the episode. Just wish it would have happened earlier, or that maybe we could have had a couple more myth arc related scenes, especially after last week's episode. This just felt like a little bit of a let down.
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That being said, I've kind of gotten used to SPN cramming all their mytharc into the first 2 episodes, the 2-3 episodes before christmas, and the last 3 episodes - so yeah, at this point, I just shrug and don't expect anything else, so I'm able to enjoy the MOTW episodes when their good (like this one) and not get too annoyed that they aren't mytharc episodes.
Now, to address the Dean-Monster thing... I agree with you that Dean's taken pleasure in his kills before, and that he ALWAYS has enjoyed that aspect of the job to some degree - but, taking THIS much pleasure has always been a sign that things are not good with him. It was concerning to Sam back in S2 when it was connected to Dean's issues with John's death, and it's concerning to Sam now when it's possibly MoC related or perhaps it's just emotional related again...
In terms of the comment made by Dean about how Sam wouldn't save him - I don't think Sam realizes that Dean actually believes that. I think Sam thinks that Dean is kind of... reminding Sam of what Sam said to hurt Sam, if that makes any sense. It probably doesn't make sense. But I don't know how to explain it...
How about, I just say that yes, I agree that Sam needs to explain better to Dean what he meant by that remark, because Dean is obviously still hurt by it and confused as to the EXTENT of what it means - because Sam WOULD, of course, save Dean from vampires. Sam at the end of this WAS suffering from sudden bloodloss when Dean said that comment - and moreover, he was suffering from sudden bloodloss while he knew that Jody was missing and also needed to be saved, so I'm not even sure if he really heard Dean, and Dean said it in such an offhand manner, that I'm not sure Sam thought he was serious.
I know you've been in need of a brotherly bond fixing scene since the mid season mark, so yeah, I can completely understand how disappointed you must be that you once again didn't get one. At this point, I think it's unlikely to happen before the finale - if even then. (Sorry to be cynical about it!)
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YES, it does make sense. And I can see that Sam would think that Dean thinks that he wouldn't save him. In Sam's mind, what he actually said, and what Dean believes are two completely different things, which makes this whole scenario that much more sad. Sam really needs to clarify his statements and get Dean to understand what he means. Sam tried to articulate his meaning when he first said it, but when Dean heard that Sam wouldn't save him, Dean just shut down emotionally and anything else Sam said didn't compute for Dean. Then, Sam with the loss of blood, you are right, Sam probably didn't even register that Dean said that.
I do need a brotherly bond fixing scene so badly, and for so many reasons, and I, like you, am skeptical that we will get one before the end of the season. I'm still hoping, but that hope is waning. No need to apologize about being cynical, didn't read it that way, and again, I am feeling much the same way, unfortunately.
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Sorry, I just forgot to address this comment and I wanted to.
I think the talk isn't so much about him being a BAMF and killing the vampire, it's about him saying "look at me, bitch!" and NOT killing the vamp until the vamp looked him in the eye. Dean, ordinarily, might find pleasure in a kill, but he'd be efficient and cold about it... forcing the monster to look him in the eye while he's killed adds a level of SADISTIC pleasure to kill, rather than just the usual pleasure in a job well done.
That's my two cents anyway. Based on the fact that Sam doesn't talk to him about killing the vampire, he talks to him SPECIFICALLY about the line "look at me, bitch" because THAT was what Sam found concerning. Obviously, Sam wouldn't find the manner of death disturbing since he did the same himself to Gordon when that needed to be done.
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