Quick Reaction: 10x15 The Things They Carried

[hells_half_acre]

Hello!!

I haven't been drinking this week - BUT, I am EXHAUSTED. And since studies show that exhaustion has the same level of "intoxication" as heavy drinking does... this review will probably be just as incoherent as usual! Woo!

So, let's jump right in....

This episode should have the alternative title of "The BDSM Porn Writes Itself" - my goodness. Let me know what the ship name is, eh? Is it Dole or Cean? Personally, I'd go with Cean, since Dole makes me think of Bob Dole and that is not sexy.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself...

We start with the girl strung up and the army boots coming for her - and I got super worried that it was Cole and he had turned into his father. I like Cole, and I don't want them to kill him - which only means that they inevitably will, of course.

But nope! Some other dude!

Dean wants to go investigate the case, Sam is reluctant - is he afraid Dean's going to go MoC-crazy and kill a bunch of people? Or is Sam just doing the hyper-focused thing where he wants to stay with the myth-arc?

Anyway, they do head off...  Dean stops Sam from looking up MoC stuff, because he's lost all hope for the future already. This episode was VERY reminiscent of Season 3 for me, I gotta say. Both in Dean trying to get Sam to stop trying to save him, and also in Sam getting down on himself for not saving one of the victims and taking that as an ill portent for his ability to save Dean.

There HAS to be some point the writers are making about Dean and food in this season... is it that when he's overeating things are good? Or is that bad? That's the bit I haven't been able to figure out yet.

Anywho, after investimigations (and a little bit of birthday cake), we find out that the murderer guy was an veteran who then commited suicide, and his wife just thought he had some weird form of PTSD. Uh, lady? You might want to google PTSD symptoms, because excessive thirst and dry skin are definitely not on that list.

They go to talk to her friend, and discover that her husband has also been acting super weird... and she's also chalking it up to PTSD. Uh... guys? Really?

Now, I'm making fun, but the fact of the matter is that I kind of love that they brought up PTSD in a Supernatural episode - because Sam and Dean have had PTSD since they were KIDS - and I like when they directly parallel that.

(On another note - Army Wife #2 (Jemma) had a really crazy 1950/60's "modern" decorated house. It's amazing. I'm thinking maybe it was an army rental.

Of course, the biggest surprise awaits Sam and Dean when they get outside and Cole is waiting by the Impala!! COLE! *smishes him* He looks so wittle next to Sam and Dean... he's kinda adorable for a 40-something man pretending to be a 20-something man.

Turns out, Kit (our monster and victim #3) is Cole's best friend..., oh dear... "So, Cole, you remember how I killed someone you loved that one time and you got angry...well, uh, you're not going to like this, but...."

Cole is willing to hear the Winchesters out though - now that he knows the truth about the supernatural world... but the deal is that he comes with them while they investigate (and he helps), so that he can keep an eye on them and hopefully save Kit rather than kill him.

Meanwhile, Kit drinks a bunch of water at a gas-n-sip and kills one of the clerks... while the other one stands there and doesn't run away, which is weird, but DOES at least manage to call the cops once his co-worker has been brutally murdered infront of him.

The good news is that Cole has a friend who REALLY shouldn't have passed their security clearance check... but ah well... the point is that they send him classified information because he asks nicely. So, while the Winchester's stop at "Sammy's Highway Cafe" (Maybe it wasn't "cafe", but it was "Sammy's HIghway somethingorother"), Cole shows them a video of a POW rescue that failed that both their monsterous killers were part of.... then Sam gets the alert on his phone about Kit's shenanigans and lunch time is over.

Really, what I love about this episode is that it's very much outsider-POV. I mean, yes, Cole knows a LITTLE about Sam and Dean, but this is really him discovering their world... discovering what it's like to be them and what their lives are like. I eat fic like that up, so it's great to see it on the show.

Jemma calls and suggests they try the hunting cabin... but Cole is super reluctant to allow the Winchesters anywhere close to where Kit might be. So, he tries to bluff them into dropping him back at Jemma's... It was a double-bluff though! The Winchesters totally knew Cole was going to go out and find KIt on his own.

Originally, I thought it was a double bluff in that Jemma had lied to Cole too and that Kit was actually at his house - but nope! I was wrong.

To the cabin! Where Cole tries to warn Kit about Sam and Dean and get him to come quietly so that maybe Cole can figure out how to save him... it is far too late though, and kit attacks him... and that's when we find out what we're dealing with... it's another Khan-worm type thing.

I actually love that they brought that "type" of monster back - because all the other monsters Eve created back in S6 were variations on things we knew (shifters, wraiths, vampires...etc), but we had never seen anything like the Khan-worm. But I like the idea that there ARE worm/parasitic monsters out there, they just aren't native to the US and haven't found their way there yet.

Kit's become an inhospitable vessel (and also has more than one worm in him) and he spits one of his worms out into Cole's mouth - UGH, super gross!!

The Winchesters bust in to save the day - but Kit gets away.

Cole's been parasited and he knows it (which is nice) and so debate what to do. Cole is on board for trying electricution, like they did with Bobby... so, Sam runs off to find Kit and leaves Dean behind with Cole. Dean seems not on board with this plan, and I can't help but think that he might also be worried about the possibility that he might go kill-crazy if he has to kill Cole. I think part of the reason Kit ran off into the woods is because Dean was trying very hard not to kill him - unless I'm remembering wrong.

Anyway, this is where things get REALLY porny - because Cole kinda seems like he might be enjoying the electricution, even though he's probably going to give himself permanent cardiac arrhythmia. The electricution doesn't seem to work though - and Dean puts the kibosh on that plan. Instead, he thinks it out and decides that the parasite must hate dry-conditions and will seek out a more damp host - so Dean turns the cabin into a sweat lodge....

...then he drinks sexy bottled water infront of Cole... who continues to say vaguely porny things to him. LIke, "You haven't had a chance to see me chill" and "will you do me the honour of tying me to this chair?"

(And yes, it's a little weird when you consider the fact that Dean was 22 when Cole was 13... but now they are roughly 25 and 34 and that's not so bad, and Cole is actually played by an actor who is older than Dean, so it's not that squicky.)

In between the porn though, there's some great commentary from Cole on the fact that Sam and Dean do just as hard a job (if not harder) as Cole did in the military, but that where Cole gets metals, Sam and Dean get the very people they're protecting hating them and trying to kill them. And it's actually a nice bonding episode between Dean and Cole...

Cole keeps calling him Deano though, which is slightly odd, since that's usually only what bad guys call Dean.

(My friend thought that what they SHOULD have done was trying to drink alcohol - that would both dehydrate AND keep the porny atmosphere)

Cole starts giving up, but Dean pep talks him a LOT into never giving up - into fighting it every step of the way - and I think that's a good sign for Dean.

Cole also starts having his own daddy-issues, since he feels like he's turning into a monster just like his dad.

Eventually, it gets to be too much and it's attack time. Thankfully, the worm IS trying to abandon Cole's body and go for Dean's wetter one (so kinky)... so Dean is able to knock it to the ground and stomp on it.

Sam's not so lucky. He's able to save Jemma from Kit once and tie him up... and then explain things to Jemma - but then when Kit escapes, Sam's attacked and his hand is forced. I gotta say though, there was a moment where Sam's gun looked like it went off when Kit knocked his gun-hand into the wall - and I honestly thought that Sam had accidentally shot Jemma. Wouldn't that have just been the worst? Dean calls Sam to see how he did, and Sam's standing there with TWO dead bodies?! Maybe that's why when Dean did call and it was just Kit who was dead, I was like "oh, well, that's not so bad then."

But, the truth of the matter is that Sam is devastated - once again, reminiscent of S3, he's convinced that his failure to save Kit indicates a failure to every save anyone ever - including Dean.

The good news is that even though he killed Cole's best friend, Cole understands and isn't going to swear vengence and hunt him down.

Cole isn't going to become a hunter either - he's going to go home to his family and hope to never see Sam and Dean again. Which is good... Cole is one of those characters where I'd love if he stuck around, but I also don't want him to die. It's hard being a Supernatural fan sometimes.

So, there's probably other stuff to talk about, but I'm seriously about to pass out. Let me know what you thought or desperately want to talk about in comments!

Comments

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Terrible episode. What was the point?

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Whoa! Hold the phone.

Rule #1 around here: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. If you must say something negative, then follow it up with something positive.

Now, the point of the episode was both to see how Dean and Sam are moving forward after Cain's death. To see where their heads are at. Not to mention that it was setting up what the relationship with Cole is now that he's learned the truth about the world.

That's a lot of points.

I'm sorry you didn't like the episode.

[liliaeth]

The contrast between Dean and Sam? The fact that Dean got hope that maybe things can go right, by saving Cole. And Sam losing hope, because he coudln't save Kit? Both of which are parallels with them trying to save Dean from the mark.

Just to name one.

[liliaeth]

I have to admit, I really liked this one, very well written ep, not a dull moment. (and it helps that we didn't get any Crowley scenes)

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Honestly, all I got was "Sam can't save everyone, hence he may not be able to save Dean." That's a line of dialogue, to me, and not the reason for a drawn out episode. I have no feelings about Cole, really, so that may be why I found the whole thing pointless. Oh -- I did like the worm.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

SOrry. I should have said, I found no point to this episode, but YMMV. Also, I'm not Bambi, and sometimes I don't have anything particularly sweet to say and don't find the need to invent something. Sorry if that is not the way you like to operate -- I certainly don't want to upset the applecart in your LJ.

[suebsg9.livejournal.com]

It was an intresting eps I like the fact they each had someone infected by said worm and how you had to play figure out how to cure the person. And Dean and cole worked together nicely. I felt bad for Sam having to shoot Kit that was sad and I know it was hard for him to tell Cole unfortnately its a hard reality what kind of world Sam and Dean were brought up in. I was hopeing to see some effects or affects of what Cain told Dean but guessing down the road when the mark is brought up again full time we will find out where his head is at of course he did keep it cool and calm working the case. I like the fact he likes cake since eating it when he was his younger self. I also like the director of the eps dang he took some very nice shots for I am guessing first time director to supernatural he did a great job. I felt like at times the pace it was like watching a movie. And the beginning before eps started I like the eps they picked out. I have to either get the eps on amazon or download on ipad and watch again.

[liliaeth]

Honestly, for me the best eps of spn are the ones that are about the Winchesters themselves and how they deal with their issues;, which is exactly why I loved this episode, because monster aside, it was all about Sam and Dean. And I like Cole enough, so using him to highlight the issues with saving Dean worked great for me.

I much prefer eps like these, over the boring ones like most of the angel eps last season.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

That's so interesting! I swear, you and I are yin and yang. I love the angels and especially love Crowley, so those are usually my favorite eps. Last night I kept thinking this was like the old X-Files eps about the monster of the week, whereas I always preferred the arc episodes. Ah well, one man's meat...

[liliaeth]

I think that for me the main issue with the angels last season is that well... they don't give a single fuck about the Winchesters. The entire storyline had pretty much nothing to do with Sam and Dean, and when they did get pulled into it, they were only there as supporting characters in Cas storyline.

I like Castiel, don't get me wrong, but I like Cas for his impact on the Winchesters story.

I have little to no interest in a Castiel storyline that is almost completely separate from the Winchesters, the way that Castiel and the angel's storyline was in s9.

I liked Crowley's storyline in s9, because the demon war did involve the Winchesters and both Crowley and Abbadon cared about Sam and Dean's role in their war. In comparison, Metatron completely and utterly dismissed the Winchesters as anything other than Castiel's pets. And neither Sam nor Dean had any real role in taking down Metatron.

It felt to me like we were watching crossover eps with the Castiel show, and were missing all the episodes that were supposed to make us care about the angels and their story. There was pretty much zero character building for any of the angel actions. With the demons, we knew what each faction stood for, with the angels... who knew what made each faction different. The only angels that were even halfway interesting were Rebecca's faction and most of them were killed before we even got to meet them.

All of which combined made me lose most of my interest in all the arc eps in s9.

[percysowner.livejournal.com]

I'd like that interpretation if Dean hadn't gone out of his way to hit Sam over the head with feeling that he can't save everyone and especially not Dean. I would have felt better if Dean had taken this as a kick in the pants to keep looking for a cure. He could have said, maybe we just have to find out in time to save someone and spurred Sam to not feel hopeless. But they aren't going for that right now. Basically this is season three all over again where Dean is refusing to even try to fight and Sam is doing it on his own.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

You seem to misunderstand - the rules in that scenario are that you just don't say anything.

Or you say, "I didn't care for the episode, but I liked the worm." And that's sufficient.

Also, maybe wait until you aren't the first comment that people see when they scroll down - a lot of people come to my LJ because they find it a positive place to be and I like to keep it that way for them.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything you said.

The director was John Badham who is a pretty accomplished director - and he directed First Born last season, so he's done SPN at least once before. So, yes, he was awesome!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Agreed agreed.

[khek.livejournal.com]

So the Goa'uld still haven't left Earth! :)

I do like the IDEA of Cole, and the actor is attractive, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around the character. He both looks and acts older than Dean (which I guess is the danger in hiring an actor to play 20 years younger) and the way he uses diminutives when addressing the boys (Sammy and Dean-o) doesn't make him seem any younger, it ages him more. I don't know how that can be solved though, unless he goes through some kind of aging spell.

I liked how the boys really wanted to save Kit and Cole, and the lengths they were willing to go through to do it. Poor Sam. I wonder if things would have turned out differently if he'd stayed with Cole and Dean had followed Kit. Hmm...

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

So the Goa'uld still haven't left Earth! :)

I don't understand that reference.

I agree about the weirdness in casting a 40-something for Cole. It doesn't make any sense, as you say - though I like the actor and I think he's doing a good job with what he's given. I think Cole IS pretty aged, maturity-wise, because of his life experience... but yeah, it's strange.

I'm not sure the episode would have gone any differently had Dean gone after Kit and Sam stayed with Cole... actually, given how much Sam seemed to be harping on the "we might have to kill them both" thing, I'm not too sure Cole would have survived.

It was a little bit of an odd episode from that perspective, because it seemed like Sam was the one who was most like "there is not any hope for these two" but then he was the most depressed when he failed to save his dude.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Understood. You're far more civilized than I, I assure you. No offense intended.

[khek.livejournal.com]

The worm-creature looks almost exactly like the larval Goa'uld in the TV show Stargate SG-1...and behave like them too.

In Stargate, the larval Goau'ld entered a human host through the throat, burrowed down and wrapped themselves around the brain stem and spine. Then they ruled the host body (although the host wasn't dead, and in some cases could take control of the body again, temporarily) and emulated Egyptian gods and goddesses. In later seasons, they branched out into other mythologies. They could hide and pretend to be completely human, but they could also talk with a weird kind of dual voice, and their eyes glowed. The host had super strength because of the Goa'uld, and some of them were thousands of years old, so they were pretty intelligent too.

Stargate SG-1 was one of my first fandoms, so I'm still somewhat sentimental about it. :D

[shadowsong26.livejournal.com]

I just wanna start by saying I really love Cole. I love side characters and how they expand the world, I love how he ties into the 'shit-comes-back-to-haunt-you' theme this season seems to have going on, I love how he's snarky now that he's decided he doesn't want to try and torture/kill Dean and/or Sam, I love his pretty blue eyes and cute accent...basically I like him a lot and I hope he doesn't die anytime soon.

This episode should have the alternative title of "The BDSM Porn Writes Itself"

No freaking kidding. Wow. (Also, 'Cean' is prounounced super-weird in my head, like 'see-an,' but I don't like Dole either...hm...but if I could get my head to pronounce it right, I'd be on board with 'Cean' because 'keen' is like three or four levels of pun...)

is he afraid Dean's going to go MoC-crazy and kill a bunch of people? Or is Sam just doing the hyper-focused thing where he wants to stay with the myth-arc?

A little of both, I think.

He looks so wittle next to Sam and Dean...

He really did! It made me giggle...

Really, what I love about this episode is that it's very much outsider-POV.

Yes, this exactly!

I actually love that they brought that "type" of monster back

I kind of do, too! If for no other reason than continuity/reference to past adventures makes me happy. For all the actual monster was super-gross (I don't like crawly things. To this day, I've never actually watched "Bugs..."), but at the same time, I sort of wish they'd worked in and named an actual monster from Iraqi folklore, since they had the plot for it...ah, well.

Cole keeps calling him Deano though, which is slightly odd, since that's usually only what bad guys call Dean.

That is weird--I knew it sounded sort of odd to me, but I figured maybe that's because I associate it with Meg 2.0, not villains in general...

Yeah, poor Sam...that did not end well for him...I hadn't actually thought about the possibility of him killing Jemma by accident, though. Super-glad it didn't happen. And you're definitely right, that it went back to a Season 3 headspace in a lot of ways. Which was really cool.

But this episode pleased me a lot, for all it ended on a kind of bleak note.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Ah, cool. I never watched Stargate SG-1... so, yeah.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I totally pronounce "Cean" as "Keen" in my head, since the "C" in Cole is a hard C.

I'm glad you liked the episode! I really agree with everything you say and can't really add anything. :P

I'm just so afraid of the dangers of guns misfiring, that as soon as I saw the gun misfire, I immediately jumped to the worst-case scenario, which was why I was worried he had shot Jemma.

[pushistyj-koshk.livejournal.com]

Have to say - I loved the teaser. Also, yeah, it was a filler but IMO it was solid episode. I didn't mind it :)


Re: (My friend thought that what they SHOULD have done was trying to drink alcohol - that would both dehydrate AND keep the porny atmosphere)

What an awesome idea! Now that's how you write good porn scripts!

[kailita.livejournal.com]

My burning question after finishing that episode is...what did you think of that trenchcoat of Sam's? Have we seen it before?

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I love trenchcoats! They've worn trenchcoats before, so I'll have to watch the episode again to see if it's the same or new. But, regardless, I do love it when they were trenchcoats.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Haha, thanks! :)

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

I did like the Dean and Cole interaction.

I hadn't thought about it before, but yes, the season 3 vibe (Dean doomed, Sam desperately trying to save him) is pretty accurate.

It would be interesting to see an au of this ep were Sam stays with Cole and Dean goes after Kit. I wonder what the results would have been? And honestly, I was a bit surprised Sam left MoC Dean to torture Cole without questioning whether Dean might go out of control...

But it was not nice of Sam to keep Dean from a piece of cake, though it would have been worse if it had been pie...

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Well, Sam always has been the type to have complete faith in his brother - but yes, I agree that it was a little weird that Sam didn't think twice about leaving Dean alone to torture someone (even if the torture was "friendly")

And yes, I don't see why Dean couldn't have a piece of cake... Sam's such a wet blanket sometimes.

[ithuriel788.livejournal.com]

(Late to the party - it's been one of those weeks)

I know the guys are legendary for not taking off their layers - but I really thought Dean could have done with one less shirt what with the whole sweat lodge business.

On a more serious note, I'm really glad Cole said what he did about the Winchesters not being appreciated for the war they were fighting and even being seen as the enemy by the general population.
I had the plot/character study idea quite some time ago that for John Winchester, fighting in the Vietnam War wasn't just what made him a soldier, it taught him what it was like to be a soldier that wasn't honored, and was even despised, for what he had done by choosing to serve his country. So there is an interesting parallel that John, and by extension, Dean and Sam, can never leave their war behind, while someone who fought a different kind of war (like Cole), might be able to. Anyway, I'm glad we had a character qualified to recognize and comment on this.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I completely agree! Both about Dean's layers and about the Vietnam War, John, Cole, and the Winchesters.

I absolutely love Outsider POV, and especially the kind that Cole can provide - so yes, I love that they had him do this. The Winchesters don't really know any different life, but Cole does, and it's really neat to see them through the prism of Cole's life experience.