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hells_half_acre) wrote2015-02-03 11:55 pm
hells_half_acre) wrote2015-02-03 11:55 pm
Entry tags:
Quick Reaction: 10x12 About A Boy
Hello!
Okay, jumping right in - usual rules: 1)I've been drinking and have only watched the episode once. I am not going to have perfect recall and all quotes will be paraphrased, don't correct me unless it's a major plot or character point, or I ask you to. 2)I like liking things. If you don't like things, that's fine, but constructive criticism only please!
So, to the episode!
We begin with the teaser death, which as we find out, isn't a death YET. It's an abduction. I liked the guy who was playing the homeless dude, he did a good job in this first scene of having certain mannerisms that, at least to me, screamed schizophrenia.... which, of course, immediately made me sad, because we need better mental health care in NA. Anyway....
To the bunker! Where Sam and Dean are montage researching again! And then we get to see the CEILING of Dean's room...and I'll admit, I was super distracted by it - was it an actual ceiling? Was it CGI? There was an odd shadow on it that made me wonder... But the point of the scene was actually that Sam found the case and wanted to go check it out, but Dean doesn't trust himself out in the real world, not after punching Dark!Charlie a bunch... I liked te staging of the scene A LOT, even though I was distracted by ceiling... I liked Dean wearing plaid (which, I still maintain, makes him look super vulnerable for some reason - and tends to be what he wears when he's feeling insecure or needing comfort) and I like that he's sitting on the floor leaning on the bed and Sam's towering over him. Sam's the person who has it together this season, and the whole staging of this scene just reinforces that knowledge.
Anyway, Sam says that Dean has to leave the bunker and forgive himself and believe that he'll be okay in order for it to be true... or something like that... so Dean agrees and off they go!
They talk to the homeless dude, who describes smelling "flowery flowers" - which, for the record, is exactly how I would describe any fragrant flowers, since I can't tell different flowers apart unless they are those death flowers that smell like rotting carcasses... in which case I would be like "it smelled like rotting carcasses" and I wouldn't think it was flowers at all. Anyway, off point... the homeless guy then goes on to suspect aliens, and Sam and Dean quickly walk away when talk goes to probing... and yeah, it's funny, but not to get too social-justicy, but again, the guy made me think of my schizophrenic uncle and the fact that mental illness isn't actually funny. That being said, I do have a hilarious story about my schizophrenic uncle coming up with a spaceship story... BUT ANYWAY....
No leads there really, so Sam tells Dean to check out the bar while he checks out JP's (our victim's) place. I love how quick Sam reads Dean, I mean, the hesitation isn't even that long, and Sam doesn't even make fun of him for it - he just offers that they don't necessarily need to split up at all. But Dean waves him away and throws him the keys...
And then goes into the bar and ends up chatting up a girl while drinking. I loved Dean's "I'm going to believe in myself" before he ordered and the bartender being like "that's good." But, I also loved it because last episode was about Dean trying to be someone else (*cough*Sam*cough*) in order to beat the Mark, but this episode is more about him realizing that he has to figure out how to resist it on his own terms... though, whether that's wise or not remains to be seen, since alcohol usually never helps any problem... unless your problem is that you need to sanitize something, in which case rubbing alcohol will do a good job.
Anyway, Dean ends up chatting with a girl named Tina, who had a crappy childhood too and once stayed in the same motel as Dean. And we get a bonus young-Winchester story!!! With Dean telling us that after being left behind by John so much, he's gotten really good at making every variety of Mac&Cheese possible... and how Mac&Cheese with Marshmellow fluff sounds disgusting, but Sam thought it was "exotic" HAHA... part of me wants to believe he actually did, but the more cynical part of me believes that Sam might have just said that to make Dean feel better when he made it.
Tina goes to leave, which I thought was actually pretty neat - that she wasn't someone that Dean was going to end up in some motel room with, but rather just a woman who decided that a couple of drinks would be fun, but that was it. And then Dean sees a huge guy follow her out the door just after answering Sam's call....
Oh, but before I forget - I want to say that I actually liked the joke about the bathroom being like devil's asshole... and Sam saying "I saw it" and Dean saying "the bathroom or....?" I mean, on the one hand, yes, it's alluding to something that was a super tramatic experience for Sam, but on the other hand, it means they haven't forgotten it happened...and also, I might be influenced by the fact that last week I went to a tragedy-comedy show where a bunch of comedians told jokes about the worst things that ever happened to them (and I'm not talking about their dog dying or breaking a bone... the headliner of the evening was a child-rape victim)... in my opinion, joking about something is part of the healing process, and so I kind of like the fact that it's a)not forgotten and b)something that they can sort of mention in a dark-humour sort of way.
But, he's too late to save Tina... and then the big guy gets the drop on him too... and then it's all white light until he wakes up in a basement and discovers that he's a 14 year old version of himself!
And that brings us to our first commercial break! It was 14 minutes! Amazing... I felt like I was back in Europe for a second there.
So, we return... and okay, does anyone else find it creepy that Dean is in different clothes? I mean, I understand why it's necessary, because his grown-up clothes wouldn't fit him... but that means that he was taken naked and dressed by Hansel...and yeah... creepy. Same goes for Tina.
Speaking of, Tina is in the other room, and figures out that Dean is Dean... and then feaks out because if Dean is there, then that means it's not a nightmare. Dylan Everette, who plays young Dean, does such a good job.
This is such a fanfic trope - but it's just physically de-aged, rather than physically AND mentally de-aged, which I think is more popular in the genre, because it's angstier. Supernatural doesn't really have time to deal with that much angst in one episode, so I'm not surprised that they went with the "easier" de-aged scenario. But yeah, I mean, Dylan doesn't get too many heavy emotional scenes, because Dean is VERY case focused, since Tina's life is on the line, but he still does a fantastic job of being Dean, in my opinion.
It's really quite hilarious to see young-Dean with old Dean's attitude.
Anyway, poor JP is taken (and man, they found a good look-a-like young guy for JP... although the young!Tina actress was really good, her jaw was way too soft in my opinion for her to really resemble old-Tina). Mind you, I think Dylan has the wrong colour eyes or something, so *shrug* - it's acting talent that matters, and these young actors were amazing.
Dean breaks out of the basement, with Tina screaming as cover.... oh! First cake!! Haha, I loved the cake... again, I loved the shot of Dean uncovering the cake. Did Serge direct this?! Yes... yes he did. That explains it. Man, he uses such awesome angles and staging.
I also love Dean eating the cake and then Tina is like "it's probably poisoned" and he's like "right, um.." and puts the cake down.
Anyway, THEN Dean escapes, with Tina's help, and promises to come back and save her.
Sam, meanwhile, has gone to the bar to try to find Dean, and instead found the bartender going through Dean's jacket. I loved Sam smacking the bartenders face into the bar when he didn't give a straight answer the first time. I love protective!Sam and that's exactly the Sam that emerges whenever Dean goes missing. I also loved how all the extras in the bar turned to look at what was happening instead of just going on with their business... it's a small thing, but it always annoys me when extra's don't react to major happenings around them because some idiot extra-director has told them not to, even though it makes absolutely no sense for them not to notice.
I LOVE the scene where Dean gets back to the motel - and Sam doesn't recognize him at first... and then when he does, he just stands there with that freaked-out Sam face... and it's awesome. It's played off so brilliantly by Dean just going about his business like he's NOT 14 years old. It's just perfectly done.
So, they go to rescue Tina... and oh man! I LOVED LOVED LOVED Dean getting into the drivers seat as usual and Sam getting into the passenger seat without even thinking about it, and then Dean has to slide the BENCH SEAT forward and Sam's knees are suddenly in his face and only THEN is he like "um, maybe I should drive?"
Anyway, my only quibble is that Sam and Dean already know what yarrow is and can recognize it... they could recognize it on sight way back in S2. MAYBE they didn't know it was used for transfiguration spells, I'll give them that much - but Sam should have been able to say "The flowery flowers were yarrow, which are used in transfriguration spells by witches..." rather than "yarrow is a plant, which is apparently used by witches in...." (again, quotes are paraphrased).. my point is, it's a SUBTLE difference in the dialogue that no one would have noticed but would have made all the difference to people like me who can remember everything the Winchesters know and do not know at any given point.
So, while they drive to rescue Tina, they talk... mainly because Sam is still freaked out by being able to see Dean the 14 year-old again, which probably looks a lot different than Sam remembers from how it looked to a 10 year-old.
It's a great talk... I loved the humour of Dean going through puberty again, and Sam not really wanting to hear about it... and the fact that Dean heard a Taylor Swift song and liked it, like that's even worse than the spontaneous erection problem.
But, the more serious matter is the fact that Dean, as a 14 year old, does not have the Mark of Cain... and this might be their answer - don't change Dean back, leave him a a 14 year-old and have him grow up again. He'll be half Sam's age instead of his older brother, but yet, still his older brother. And, I'm not going to lie, while I was watching, I was kind of wishing that I didn't like Jensen as much as I do, because I think it would have been awesome if that actually WAS the solution... I mean, I would have watched the crap out of that show... but I also would have missed Jensen a lot, or rather, older Dean... and that seemed to be Sam's feelings too. He wanted Dean cured of the Mark, but Sam loves his older brother...and while young-looking Dean was still his older brother, it wasn't the same.
Dean goes to break into the basement, and wants Sam to come in with him - and Sam's like "I'm too big to fit in there!" and Dean, the true 14 year-old that he is, responds with "I bet that's the first time you've said that!" Hahaha...okay, yes, I am also 14 apparently. :P I liked Sam sassing Dean back and Dean conceeding that he didn't have a comeback... it was a cute brother moment.
So, Dean breaks into the basement and Sam breaks into the house... and I bet it was fun for Dylan, because he probably doesn't get a lot of gigs where he gets to pretend he's a seasoned hunter/gun-user.
Hansel gets the drop on Dean, but then Sam sneaks up behind him and saves him... and then they find out what they're dealing with - Hansel and the witch, with Gretel being long-since killed. Hansel tells them he's there against his will and he'll help them... but when they get up to the kitchen (where Tina is) it turns out to be a LIE! Which, I suppose I should have seen coming, because it was all too easy.... but I had already had a few glasses of wine, so I have to admit to falling for it along with the boys.
Unfortunately, they're witch-killing potion gets destroyed in the fight... but then they get a small chance to recover as Hansel has them kneeling at gun point while the witch monologues. Apparently, she's been brought over to America to deal with Rowena.
Dean keeps her talking while Sam gets a knife out of his pocket, and then they attack... only, it doesn't go so well, because yeah, they don't have the witch killing thing.... so Sam gets thrown into a shelf and Dean gets smacked into the fridge until he goes down... and the witch orders Hansel to change Sam into a kid too... and even I knew that wasn't going to happen, because Colin Ford is too older to play 14 year-old Sam now.
And sure enough, Dean recognizes that they need at least ONE Winchester brother to remain an adult, so he takes one for the team and steals the hex bag from Hansel and turns himself big again - blinding the room in the process which allows him to get the jump on both Hansel and the witch.
Perhaps sadly for the audience, but good-thing for Dean - his clothes grow with him. So, he's still in jeans and a hoodie, but they're BIGGER jeans and a hoodie. Still, it would have been pretty neat for Dean to be kicking ass with hulk-torn clothes... though, jeans are pretty touch material, so he might have damaged the goods if that had happened, and that wouldn't have given him an advantage at all.
Anyway, sadly for Tina, Dean uses the hex-bag to stop the witch from casting spells by shoving the hex-bag into her mouth... and then he throws both of them in the fire. Which means that Tina is stuck as a 14 year-old.
In the end though, she decides that's okay, because she gets a second chance... and hopefully she travels to another city and signs herself up for foster-care, because I don't think it's much of a second chance if she's a 14 year-old homeless girl. Sam and Dean give her all their cash - which, um, great, I guess... but doesn't Tina have a house somewhere and a bank account and possibily her own cash? Well, I guess maybe not, because her clothes would have been by the dumpster along with Dean's and she'd probably be declared a missing person...so, nevermind. Yeah, makes sense.
And then it's time for the brother's to talk before they drive off... and Sam asks if the mark is back, and yes, it is. So, sad times, they still have all their problems. I liked Dean trying to explain why he changed back, as if Sam would be mad at him for it, but Sam is actually grateful, because he didn't WANT Dean to be a 14 year-old... and he knows Dean did it to save him... and I love that Sam explains this by saying "you pulled a Dean Winchester" - which basically means that Dean self-sacrificed yet again.
Still, I like that the episode ended on a more optimistic note. And I actually do love the fact that they got in the car, turned on the radio - which was playing Shake It Off by Taylor Swift - and Dean just smiles and keeps it playing. It's a really optimistic song to end the episode on, and I love it for that, and also for the humour value, and also because it tells us that Dean is still capable of change.
Next week's promo didn't do much for me, but who knows!
So, I guess that's it... let me know in comments what you desperately want to discuss!
Okay, jumping right in - usual rules: 1)I've been drinking and have only watched the episode once. I am not going to have perfect recall and all quotes will be paraphrased, don't correct me unless it's a major plot or character point, or I ask you to. 2)I like liking things. If you don't like things, that's fine, but constructive criticism only please!
So, to the episode!
We begin with the teaser death, which as we find out, isn't a death YET. It's an abduction. I liked the guy who was playing the homeless dude, he did a good job in this first scene of having certain mannerisms that, at least to me, screamed schizophrenia.... which, of course, immediately made me sad, because we need better mental health care in NA. Anyway....
To the bunker! Where Sam and Dean are montage researching again! And then we get to see the CEILING of Dean's room...and I'll admit, I was super distracted by it - was it an actual ceiling? Was it CGI? There was an odd shadow on it that made me wonder... But the point of the scene was actually that Sam found the case and wanted to go check it out, but Dean doesn't trust himself out in the real world, not after punching Dark!Charlie a bunch... I liked te staging of the scene A LOT, even though I was distracted by ceiling... I liked Dean wearing plaid (which, I still maintain, makes him look super vulnerable for some reason - and tends to be what he wears when he's feeling insecure or needing comfort) and I like that he's sitting on the floor leaning on the bed and Sam's towering over him. Sam's the person who has it together this season, and the whole staging of this scene just reinforces that knowledge.
Anyway, Sam says that Dean has to leave the bunker and forgive himself and believe that he'll be okay in order for it to be true... or something like that... so Dean agrees and off they go!
They talk to the homeless dude, who describes smelling "flowery flowers" - which, for the record, is exactly how I would describe any fragrant flowers, since I can't tell different flowers apart unless they are those death flowers that smell like rotting carcasses... in which case I would be like "it smelled like rotting carcasses" and I wouldn't think it was flowers at all. Anyway, off point... the homeless guy then goes on to suspect aliens, and Sam and Dean quickly walk away when talk goes to probing... and yeah, it's funny, but not to get too social-justicy, but again, the guy made me think of my schizophrenic uncle and the fact that mental illness isn't actually funny. That being said, I do have a hilarious story about my schizophrenic uncle coming up with a spaceship story... BUT ANYWAY....
No leads there really, so Sam tells Dean to check out the bar while he checks out JP's (our victim's) place. I love how quick Sam reads Dean, I mean, the hesitation isn't even that long, and Sam doesn't even make fun of him for it - he just offers that they don't necessarily need to split up at all. But Dean waves him away and throws him the keys...
And then goes into the bar and ends up chatting up a girl while drinking. I loved Dean's "I'm going to believe in myself" before he ordered and the bartender being like "that's good." But, I also loved it because last episode was about Dean trying to be someone else (*cough*Sam*cough*) in order to beat the Mark, but this episode is more about him realizing that he has to figure out how to resist it on his own terms... though, whether that's wise or not remains to be seen, since alcohol usually never helps any problem... unless your problem is that you need to sanitize something, in which case rubbing alcohol will do a good job.
Anyway, Dean ends up chatting with a girl named Tina, who had a crappy childhood too and once stayed in the same motel as Dean. And we get a bonus young-Winchester story!!! With Dean telling us that after being left behind by John so much, he's gotten really good at making every variety of Mac&Cheese possible... and how Mac&Cheese with Marshmellow fluff sounds disgusting, but Sam thought it was "exotic" HAHA... part of me wants to believe he actually did, but the more cynical part of me believes that Sam might have just said that to make Dean feel better when he made it.
Tina goes to leave, which I thought was actually pretty neat - that she wasn't someone that Dean was going to end up in some motel room with, but rather just a woman who decided that a couple of drinks would be fun, but that was it. And then Dean sees a huge guy follow her out the door just after answering Sam's call....
Oh, but before I forget - I want to say that I actually liked the joke about the bathroom being like devil's asshole... and Sam saying "I saw it" and Dean saying "the bathroom or....?" I mean, on the one hand, yes, it's alluding to something that was a super tramatic experience for Sam, but on the other hand, it means they haven't forgotten it happened...and also, I might be influenced by the fact that last week I went to a tragedy-comedy show where a bunch of comedians told jokes about the worst things that ever happened to them (and I'm not talking about their dog dying or breaking a bone... the headliner of the evening was a child-rape victim)... in my opinion, joking about something is part of the healing process, and so I kind of like the fact that it's a)not forgotten and b)something that they can sort of mention in a dark-humour sort of way.
But, he's too late to save Tina... and then the big guy gets the drop on him too... and then it's all white light until he wakes up in a basement and discovers that he's a 14 year old version of himself!
And that brings us to our first commercial break! It was 14 minutes! Amazing... I felt like I was back in Europe for a second there.
So, we return... and okay, does anyone else find it creepy that Dean is in different clothes? I mean, I understand why it's necessary, because his grown-up clothes wouldn't fit him... but that means that he was taken naked and dressed by Hansel...and yeah... creepy. Same goes for Tina.
Speaking of, Tina is in the other room, and figures out that Dean is Dean... and then feaks out because if Dean is there, then that means it's not a nightmare. Dylan Everette, who plays young Dean, does such a good job.
This is such a fanfic trope - but it's just physically de-aged, rather than physically AND mentally de-aged, which I think is more popular in the genre, because it's angstier. Supernatural doesn't really have time to deal with that much angst in one episode, so I'm not surprised that they went with the "easier" de-aged scenario. But yeah, I mean, Dylan doesn't get too many heavy emotional scenes, because Dean is VERY case focused, since Tina's life is on the line, but he still does a fantastic job of being Dean, in my opinion.
It's really quite hilarious to see young-Dean with old Dean's attitude.
Anyway, poor JP is taken (and man, they found a good look-a-like young guy for JP... although the young!Tina actress was really good, her jaw was way too soft in my opinion for her to really resemble old-Tina). Mind you, I think Dylan has the wrong colour eyes or something, so *shrug* - it's acting talent that matters, and these young actors were amazing.
Dean breaks out of the basement, with Tina screaming as cover.... oh! First cake!! Haha, I loved the cake... again, I loved the shot of Dean uncovering the cake. Did Serge direct this?! Yes... yes he did. That explains it. Man, he uses such awesome angles and staging.
I also love Dean eating the cake and then Tina is like "it's probably poisoned" and he's like "right, um.." and puts the cake down.
Anyway, THEN Dean escapes, with Tina's help, and promises to come back and save her.
Sam, meanwhile, has gone to the bar to try to find Dean, and instead found the bartender going through Dean's jacket. I loved Sam smacking the bartenders face into the bar when he didn't give a straight answer the first time. I love protective!Sam and that's exactly the Sam that emerges whenever Dean goes missing. I also loved how all the extras in the bar turned to look at what was happening instead of just going on with their business... it's a small thing, but it always annoys me when extra's don't react to major happenings around them because some idiot extra-director has told them not to, even though it makes absolutely no sense for them not to notice.
I LOVE the scene where Dean gets back to the motel - and Sam doesn't recognize him at first... and then when he does, he just stands there with that freaked-out Sam face... and it's awesome. It's played off so brilliantly by Dean just going about his business like he's NOT 14 years old. It's just perfectly done.
So, they go to rescue Tina... and oh man! I LOVED LOVED LOVED Dean getting into the drivers seat as usual and Sam getting into the passenger seat without even thinking about it, and then Dean has to slide the BENCH SEAT forward and Sam's knees are suddenly in his face and only THEN is he like "um, maybe I should drive?"
Anyway, my only quibble is that Sam and Dean already know what yarrow is and can recognize it... they could recognize it on sight way back in S2. MAYBE they didn't know it was used for transfiguration spells, I'll give them that much - but Sam should have been able to say "The flowery flowers were yarrow, which are used in transfriguration spells by witches..." rather than "yarrow is a plant, which is apparently used by witches in...." (again, quotes are paraphrased).. my point is, it's a SUBTLE difference in the dialogue that no one would have noticed but would have made all the difference to people like me who can remember everything the Winchesters know and do not know at any given point.
So, while they drive to rescue Tina, they talk... mainly because Sam is still freaked out by being able to see Dean the 14 year-old again, which probably looks a lot different than Sam remembers from how it looked to a 10 year-old.
It's a great talk... I loved the humour of Dean going through puberty again, and Sam not really wanting to hear about it... and the fact that Dean heard a Taylor Swift song and liked it, like that's even worse than the spontaneous erection problem.
But, the more serious matter is the fact that Dean, as a 14 year old, does not have the Mark of Cain... and this might be their answer - don't change Dean back, leave him a a 14 year-old and have him grow up again. He'll be half Sam's age instead of his older brother, but yet, still his older brother. And, I'm not going to lie, while I was watching, I was kind of wishing that I didn't like Jensen as much as I do, because I think it would have been awesome if that actually WAS the solution... I mean, I would have watched the crap out of that show... but I also would have missed Jensen a lot, or rather, older Dean... and that seemed to be Sam's feelings too. He wanted Dean cured of the Mark, but Sam loves his older brother...and while young-looking Dean was still his older brother, it wasn't the same.
Dean goes to break into the basement, and wants Sam to come in with him - and Sam's like "I'm too big to fit in there!" and Dean, the true 14 year-old that he is, responds with "I bet that's the first time you've said that!" Hahaha...okay, yes, I am also 14 apparently. :P I liked Sam sassing Dean back and Dean conceeding that he didn't have a comeback... it was a cute brother moment.
So, Dean breaks into the basement and Sam breaks into the house... and I bet it was fun for Dylan, because he probably doesn't get a lot of gigs where he gets to pretend he's a seasoned hunter/gun-user.
Hansel gets the drop on Dean, but then Sam sneaks up behind him and saves him... and then they find out what they're dealing with - Hansel and the witch, with Gretel being long-since killed. Hansel tells them he's there against his will and he'll help them... but when they get up to the kitchen (where Tina is) it turns out to be a LIE! Which, I suppose I should have seen coming, because it was all too easy.... but I had already had a few glasses of wine, so I have to admit to falling for it along with the boys.
Unfortunately, they're witch-killing potion gets destroyed in the fight... but then they get a small chance to recover as Hansel has them kneeling at gun point while the witch monologues. Apparently, she's been brought over to America to deal with Rowena.
Dean keeps her talking while Sam gets a knife out of his pocket, and then they attack... only, it doesn't go so well, because yeah, they don't have the witch killing thing.... so Sam gets thrown into a shelf and Dean gets smacked into the fridge until he goes down... and the witch orders Hansel to change Sam into a kid too... and even I knew that wasn't going to happen, because Colin Ford is too older to play 14 year-old Sam now.
And sure enough, Dean recognizes that they need at least ONE Winchester brother to remain an adult, so he takes one for the team and steals the hex bag from Hansel and turns himself big again - blinding the room in the process which allows him to get the jump on both Hansel and the witch.
Perhaps sadly for the audience, but good-thing for Dean - his clothes grow with him. So, he's still in jeans and a hoodie, but they're BIGGER jeans and a hoodie. Still, it would have been pretty neat for Dean to be kicking ass with hulk-torn clothes... though, jeans are pretty touch material, so he might have damaged the goods if that had happened, and that wouldn't have given him an advantage at all.
Anyway, sadly for Tina, Dean uses the hex-bag to stop the witch from casting spells by shoving the hex-bag into her mouth... and then he throws both of them in the fire. Which means that Tina is stuck as a 14 year-old.
In the end though, she decides that's okay, because she gets a second chance... and hopefully she travels to another city and signs herself up for foster-care, because I don't think it's much of a second chance if she's a 14 year-old homeless girl. Sam and Dean give her all their cash - which, um, great, I guess... but doesn't Tina have a house somewhere and a bank account and possibily her own cash? Well, I guess maybe not, because her clothes would have been by the dumpster along with Dean's and she'd probably be declared a missing person...so, nevermind. Yeah, makes sense.
And then it's time for the brother's to talk before they drive off... and Sam asks if the mark is back, and yes, it is. So, sad times, they still have all their problems. I liked Dean trying to explain why he changed back, as if Sam would be mad at him for it, but Sam is actually grateful, because he didn't WANT Dean to be a 14 year-old... and he knows Dean did it to save him... and I love that Sam explains this by saying "you pulled a Dean Winchester" - which basically means that Dean self-sacrificed yet again.
Still, I like that the episode ended on a more optimistic note. And I actually do love the fact that they got in the car, turned on the radio - which was playing Shake It Off by Taylor Swift - and Dean just smiles and keeps it playing. It's a really optimistic song to end the episode on, and I love it for that, and also for the humour value, and also because it tells us that Dean is still capable of change.
Next week's promo didn't do much for me, but who knows!
So, I guess that's it... let me know in comments what you desperately want to discuss!
no subject
“I liked Dean wearing plaid (which, I still maintain, makes him look super vulnerable for some reason - and tends to be what he wears when he's feeling insecure or needing comfort)”
I subscribe to this 100%. And great observation about the staging of Sam pretty much towering over Dean (both in actuality and in the mental health department).
What do you make of Sam believing in the Easter bunny until he was 11, considering the reveal of monsters and hunting when he was 8? Continuity error, or do you have some brilliant headcanon to make sense of it? :)
I laughed at Sam asking the guy “what kind of flowers?” as if that is a perfectly natural question to ask. Not that flowers don’t have their own scents, but how many people can really pinpoint a particular flower scent off the top of their head unless it’s something really distinctive? Like what Shadowsong said above. :) I don’t know, that just seemed like something detail-oriented Sam would notice (“oh, this is definitely fennel/jasmine/oleanders, etc.”) that the general populace would never pay attention to, and I liked that.
Also, thank you for catching that line about the yarrow…this is why I love reading your blog. :) They really should pay you to be their continuity consultant.
I was happy to see Dean returning to his regularly-scheduled drinking. When he decided to get a drink at the bar, I was like, “Yes! The return to alcoholism!” and my roommate was like, “This show is really disintegrating your morals.” Haha. But I see it more as a continuity issue than anything else. Dean has been a functional alcoholic (in his own words! I love that that’s canon now) for SEASONS now, and you don’t just stop something like that out of sheer force of will with zero side effects. That kind of ties in with my overall fear/hope for season 10…it seems like right now they’re setting it up like Dean can “overcome” the Mark on his own, if he can just…what? Be mentally/emotionally strong enough? And I just a) don’t buy that, and b) don’t want to see that. I have seen Dean white-knuckle his way through all kinds of struggles, and I know he is capable of so much – but what I want to see is SAM come through for him when he can no longer hold it together on his own. It’s no fun if Dean saves himself…that’s his classic M.O., no growth there, no trust. But we’ll see where they go with it, we’re still midseason and there is quite a bit to go. :)
Speaking of Dean’s drinking…his 14-year-old self mentioned his virgin liver, which was adorable and cracked me up. Any guesses on when he started drinking?
Dylan Everett was fantastic. He was great in Bad Boys, but I thought he was even better in this one. In a lot of ways the episode really hinged on him being able to pull off a believable Dean, and he nailed it. I was so impressed by how he worked in Dean’s mannerisms as we’ve seen them played by Jensen, both vocally and physically. Do you think Jensen worked with him specifically? I like to think that he did. :)
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Glad you enjoyed the episode!!
What do you make of Sam believing in the Easter bunny until he was 11, considering the reveal of monsters and hunting when he was 8? Continuity error, or do you have some brilliant headcanon to make sense of it? :)
Brilliant headcanon, of course. ;)
I talked a little about it on Tumblr, but no one follows me there (because I am bad at tumblr-ing)... but basically, I don't think this is an error, continuity or characterization, at all.
Think about it? What was Sam's first question when he found out that monsters were real? "Does that mean Santa is real?" Dean told him no, so Sam stopped believing in Santa because he trusts Dean. We also know that Sam believed in angels and God until he was 22... no one makes fun of him for that, because a lot of adults believe in angels and God, even though they have just as much chance of being fictitious as the Easter Bunny. Similarly, Dean thought vampires WEREN'T real until the end of S1 when John told him otherwise and he actually saw some.
Sam would have believed in the Easter Bunny for longer than most kids, because he knew that it was POSSIBLE for the Easter Bunny to exist, because so many other things did.
It's a fundamental different between Sam and Dean that's been there since the beginning. Dean doesn't believe in anything until he sees it (or is told about it by someone he trusts, like John or Bobby). Sam believes in everything until he is given proof otherwise, or is told otherwise by someone he trusts (like Dean.)
I don’t know, that just seemed like something detail-oriented Sam would notice (“oh, this is definitely fennel/jasmine/oleanders, etc.”) that the general populace would never pay attention to, and I liked that.
Agreed completely. It's one of those instances where I don't think Sam realizes that "normal" people don't know that much about flowers.
Also, thank you for catching that line about the yarrow…this is why I love reading your blog. :) They really should pay you to be their continuity consultant.
God, I wish they would. I've been unemployed for nearly 7 months and I'm so broke and getting broker.
I totally agree about Dean's drinking. I'm fine with Dean being a functioning alcoholic. And I really think, if they're going to have a satisfactory story-arc, hat Sam HAS to save Dean. That being said, I am hoping that part of that saving DOES involve getting Dean to have better self-esteem.
As for when Dean started drinking. It might seem weird, but I'm actually skeptical about whether his liver was really "virgin" at 14. I have a friend who grew up in small-town Canada (which I don't think is that different from small-town America) and he STOPPED drinking at 16. (He's since started drinking casually again, but he was sober from 16-22) So... I wouldn't be surprised if Dean started drinking at home around the age of 14, and sneaking into bars at 16. I forget if he gave an age for the CBGB story (I'm behind on my timelining), but I don't picture him being older than 18 for that sort of behaviour.
Dylan Everett really was fantastic. I don't know if Jensen worked with him - but I know from an interview Dylan gave that Jared helped him a lot, because Jared's been acting opposite Jensen for 10 years now.
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I can buy in to your explanation about the Easter Bunny. :) I do love Sam's unfailing optimism, in spite of all of the horrors that he's seen. It does make you wonder what finally changed his mind there, though...or why it took Dean three years to go, "Okay kiddo, I hate to do this to you, but we need to talk about the Easter Bunny." Haha. Maybe he felt bad for stealing Santa from him and wanted to let him have something to believe in. ;)
"I really think, if they're going to have a satisfactory story-arc, that Sam HAS to save Dean. That being said, I am hoping that part of that saving DOES involve getting Dean to have better self-esteem."
I'm with you. Dean's self-worth has been a factor since season 1, and I love how it continues to be a factor ten years later. Those are issues you don't get over without facing them head-on. (Though I think he'll probably fight that one out until the end of the series, just because it creates all kinds of interesting conflict.) I would love to see some kind of inverted parallel of the finale of 8, where Sam is suffering from feeling "unclean," like a burden, like a screw-up, and Dean steps up and sets the record straight (which effectively saves Sam's life). Let us see Sam do that for Dean! Sam has said that he believes in Dean, and I know that he does. Now I just want to see that play out in dramatic SPN fashion. ;)
JARED working with Dylan! That's so great. I would have assumed that Jared pranked the poor kid six ways from Sunday, but I guess they're usually pretty nice to guest stars - but now that he's been on the show twice, he should keep an eye out in the event that they have him back again (which I hope they will!).
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I'm up for an inverted parallel of the S8 finale for sure.
As for Jared pranking Dylan - As you say, I think Dylan was saved by the fact that the last time he was on, he didn't have screen time with Jared...which means that this was Dylan's "first" episode with Jared, so Jared was probably still in nice mode. ;)
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Man, CBGB. I was imagining him to be 16 or so at that point, but I don't think they say that - just "way underage," according to Sam. That whole story! I think I must have missed your recap on that one...because I love that story, but it also doesn't sit right with me at the same time. John Winchester is a complicated mess, and I love that about him, and I love that the boys' opinions on him change and then change back depending on what they're going through (and how much time has passed since his death) - because how real is that! Very believable. And all we have on him is STORIES, all filtered through their perspective, so there's no objective lens on him, which is fascinating. I like to believe that John tried his best most of the time (and failed a lot, as many parents do), so I love the idea of him taking the boys to New York City...but the way Dean describes it..."seeing the sights, riding the subway, eating too much pizza"...I just can't reconcile that with the completely STRICKEN look on Dean's face in "Jump the Shark" when Adam talks about Dad taking him to a baseball game. Just one baseball game!! And the gut-wrenching follow-up of, "What did Dad do with you on your birthday?" and the LOOKS on Dean and Sam's faces. :( It just doesn't seem compatible with their sweet tourist day. But maybe I'm being too picky? This is way off-topic anyway, I guess I should dig up your recap on 10x9. :)
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That's the thing about parenting - one tourist-day in NY doesn't make up for a lifetime of ignored, or under celebrated, birthdays and holidays. Even if John did something fun with them without fail as often as once a year (which I doubt he did), that doesn't really make up for Christmas' spend alone, ignored birthdays, skipped Thanksgivings, etc... or the fact that he was occasionally abandoning to go spend that missing "father-time" with a secret third son.
And it was the same with Adam too, if you think of it - the REAL Adam was no fan of John's. The one baseball game on his birthday couldn't make up for the fact that John wasn't around, was just some stranger to him, and someone who had left Adam's mom to raise him alone.
So, I think the New York story and the baseball game thing are totally compatible, because they're the same thing, just viewed by another character. "He took you to a baseball game?!" could have just as easily been "He spend the whole day with you in New York just because you asked him to?!"
As you say, it's all filtered trough their perspective, and our relationships with our parents are complicated even when they're relatively stable and good parents.... John really is a complicated mess.