Quick Reaction: 14x05 Nightmare Logic
Nov. 8th, 2018 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hells_half_acreHello!
Usual rules! If you don't know them, ask!
(And yes, I did forget to do a rewatch last weekend - my apologies. I'm trying to do Nanowrimo this month, and as a result, my free time has diminished, so if I forget to do something on the weekend, there's not much time in the week to make it up. Regardless, I will endeavour to remember to rewatch 13x02 this weekend.)
On with tonight's episode...
We begin in Claremore, OK, where young Maggie activates a bodycam before going into a tomb. My first question is: "why did she not charge the battery?" my second thought is that this is giving me strong Ghostfacer vibes - especially since one of the Ghostfacers was named Maggie.
Maggie suspects ghoul, goes into the tomb and immediately gets jumped. Why is Maggie hunting alone? Is my final thought.
Back at the Bunker, we come in at the tail end of a motivational speech by Sam, as does Dean. Once the hunters have cleared off to their respective assignments, Dean takes Sam to task about sleeping enough - because apparently Sam isn't doing that. We also learn, in this talk, that Jack and Cas are in Sarasota for some reason. Also, Mary and Bobby are off somewhere that I didn't catch.
Then Sam gets pinged by his phone with Hunter check-ins... and the part of me that loves efficiently run businesses kinda falls in love with Sam even more here, because damn... this should not turn me on, but the guy really knows how to run a business... man, I'm old and square apparently.
Anyway, we get to the quest of the day, when Sam clocks that Maggie hasn't checked and goes to check the feed off her bodycam. Man, the future. He sees the ghoul attack and fears the worst. As is their wont, Dean sees Sam lose faith and immediately claims the empty thrown of Mr. Optimism. They can go investigate, and Maggie may still be alive.
So, it's off to the sprawling Rawlins estate. They check out the tomb and see scratch marks where a body was dragged... apparently by it's feat, as those scratch marks look like fingernails, and I'm surprised they stayed on.
The groundskeeper finds them and Sam and Dean quickly pose as people form the Historical Society wanting to appraise the property. They go to the main house and are introduced to Neil, who wonders why they needed to send four people. This is when Sam and Dean discover that Mary and Bobby beat them to the investigation. Bobby immediately criticizes Sam, saying that "the head office is run by idjits" - ouch Bobby.
We then find out that Neil is not a Rawlins, rather a nurse - the elderly Rawlins had a stroke and is in a coma in the next room. We then pan upstairs and discover that Maggie is chained to the ceiling, having her blood drained. This launches into me calling her "Mad Max" until my friend points out that the problem is that Maggie is scared, whereas Max was angry. Very important difference there.
Sasha, Rawlins daughter then shows up. (Is Sasha spelt differently if they're a girl? I don't think so right... it's one of those unisex names.) We find out that Sasha just arrived to deal with her father's estate now that it appears that he's dying. Then she gets upset and kicks them all out of the house.
Once outside, Bobby really goes to town on the criticism of Sam - saying that he never should have sent Maggie off alone. And I mean, I was thinking it too, but HARSH, Bobby... little did I know that he was projecting a bit there.
Mary and Dean quickly swoop in and divide them in tasks. Mary and Sam wonder in one direction, while Dean and Bobby go in the other. Mary soothes Sam's Bobby-burn and tells him that he's a born leader and that Bobby just can't see that... and apparently Bobby has been missing some other things about people... and Sam starts playing relationship counselor, because he's the least son like son, given that he has absolutely no memories of having Mary as a mother anyway. So, although Mary eventually laughs and realizes she shouldn't be talking to Sam about this stuff, Sam doesn't actually seem to mind. And I mean, he's probably actually enjoying it, because I think the ship has sort of sailed on Sam and Mary connecting as Mother-Son without it being super awkward? I think Sam would probably like them to at least be friends. Though, who knows.
Dean and Bobby also chat about Sam. Dean defends him, saying he's doing his best running "Hunter 5-0" and he's overworking himself. Ah, Dean, your proud but concerned brotherhood is showing.
Sam gives Mary the low-down on the Bobby he knew - wife died as a result of possession, never had kids - and encourages Mary.
Then Mary finds something.
Dean and Bobby find a hunting cabin - and Bobby spots someone running through the woods and takes off, leaving Dean to investigate alone. Dean finds a dead body and is also attacked by, seemingly, the comatose man from inside, but he dies by exploding into dust - which is really weird and much more of a Buffy-death than anything we've seen on Supernatural.
Sasha, in the house, hears noises coming from upstairs. She goes to investigate and is chased by a vampire? Who just disappears?
When we come back from commercial break, Dean, Mary, and Sam are in the house asking her questions about the encounter. "Why did she call the historical society about this?" I wonder, before Sasha clues in that these random people just showed up again somehow and why is she telling them this? Anyway, Sam just tells her the truth - they came back because they hunt monsters etc.
Dean then says "also there's a dead guy in your shed." (or words to that effect) Sasha is a LITTLE perturbed by this. Then he and Sam proceed to have the most colloquial hunter convo, and it's awesome.... but basically they're running the same conversation pattern me and my Supernatural watching buddy were having before the commercial break - is it manifestations of a psychic? They've run into those before. They question Sasha - no, her dad was never psychic, just a workaholic narcissist. (I feel like narcissist is the new go-to arm-chair diagnoses for assholes... instead of just calling assholes assholes... but that's off topic.) Dean then clues into the fact that the vampire scared Sasha AWAY from the attic, so they still don't know what's in there. Sam goes to investigate. Meanwhile, Mary has gone off to look for Bobby, who went to "get something from the truck" and never returned.
So, here's an idea, if one of your hunting party has wandered off alone - send ANOTHER of your hunting party off alone to find them. :P
Dean sticks with Sasha and her comatose daddo though and sits there sharpening his machete like it's not the creepiest thing he could be doing in that moment. Sasha claims that she doesn't want to talk about her poor relationship with her father, but then proceeds to do so, and Dean is not surprised in the slightest. Sasha's tragic parent story is that her dad was a workaholic who was away all the time and her mother had severe depression, and what that eventually meant was that it was Sasha who found her mother's body after she killed herself when Sasha was 12. Sasha is mostly annoyed that she really looked up to her father the whole time, that he was her hero. Dean smiles ironically at this and then tells her just to let it go. After 14 seasons, Dean has learned to do the same with his daddy issues.
Sam in the attic finds Maggie, and the vampire, who disappears into dust when Sam stabs him. Sam unhooks Maggie from the blood-draining needle WITHOUT PUTTING PRESSURE ON THE WOUND. Ugh, Sam. I mean, I guess it'll clot fairly quickly, but you're just ruining Maggie's clothes for no reason.
Bobby is off wandering the woods. He finds DANIEL, who is BOBBY'S SON! Whoa, AU!Bobby had a kiddo. This is tragic. Daniel has his eyes burnt out, so we know that whatever happened to Daniel, he was most likely killed by angels. He is there to get revenge on his dad... and this is MUCH LIKE Bobby's nightmare in Dream a Little Dream of Me, only with a son instead of his wife... and that should have been our first clue as to what the problem was here. Daniel stabs Bobby through the collar bone and pins him to a tree. Meanwhile, Mary comes upon them and shoots Daniel several times without killing him.
If Bobby were actually stabbed there, he would have a collapsed lung and would bleed out fairly quickly. So, I have to believe that this is mostly illusion, even if Bobby at the end of the episode is left with some mystery wound from the ordeal... but seriously, stab him through the clothing at his shoulder or something, not the chest - that's just unbelievable.
Dean suddenly clocks the bloodbags around Rawlins and looks at Neil and puts two and two together. He tells Sasha to go make him a sandwich, which goes over as well as you'd expect it to, until Dean gives her the EYES and the HEAD MOTIONS and she just as awkwardly decides that she WILL make him a sandwich.
Neil, as it turns out, is a Djinn... which I have to admit, although Maggie's setup really did remind me of What Is and What Should Never Be, and I was highly suspicious of Neil, I hadn't actually guessed. Neil asks Dean if he passed the test, and if they're keeping their bargain - and Dean realizes that Neil thinks he's still Michael. He finds out that Michael asked the monsters to lay low, set traps, and kill as many hunters as possible, and in return he'd enhance their abilities. Neil can now read minds with just a touch and create illusions in the real world, rather than just in people's minds.
Dean doesn't have a dagger dipped in lambs blood, so Neil attacks him - putting a hand on Dean to try to see what his nightmares are - and I kind of love that Dean's nightmares are so overwhelming that it seems to hurt the Djinn and is a method of counter-attack in itself. Maybe don't read the nightmares of someone who has been to Hell for 40 years and had a shitty time since then too. Dean then solves the problem of not having a dagger dipped in lamb's blood by just KILLING HIM A LOT. And it's super effective.
It turns out that the old guy was a Djinn victim too. Dean unhooks him from being drained/Djinn poisoned and tells Sasha that he'll come back around - and maybe she can make her peace with him after all.
Back at the Bunker, Maggie is greeted by the other hunters with joy.
Bobby and Mary have a heart to heart while Mary wraps Bobby in gauze from whatever weird wound he got that wasn't the deadly one that we thought we saw. As it turns out, Bobby has been grieving his son's death since it happened - he and his son had bonded over hunting after his wife's death, and then the angel wars happened... Bobby blames himself for Daniel's death, because Bobby was in charge of the platoon that Daniel served under. Bobby then figured that he'd also die in the war, but then he didn't... so he's basically been suicidal since Daniel died, but it's getting harder and harder to off himself the safer he gets. Mary decides that this is not healthy and Bobby and her need to get his head screwed on right again - so they go talk to Sam and Dean.
Sam calls Donna and she lends the use of her cabin (the key is under the garden gnome) for Mary and Bobby to somewhat retire to - or at least, sabbatical in. Bobby apologies to Sam for projecting all over him. Mary insists that if they need her or Bobby, they call and that they're only a half a day's drive away.
But, meanwhile, I think it's probably Dean and Sam's dream that their mother retire from hunting with this guy who is a weird version of their adoptive father. So, now he's like their step-dad? I mean, nearly perfect scenario there.
Dean and Sam then spend the afternoon calling 'round to all the hunters they know to warn them about the hunter traps and supercharged monsters. Dean then talks to Sam about how he KNOWS it's not his fault, but it's still hard to move on "from what I- we- HE did."
Sam insists that they'll find Michael and kill him and it'll all be okay. How? Dean asks. Sam says that they'll work harder. Dean points out that Sam currently only sleeps for 3 hours every night. Sam says he'll reduce it to two. I'm not sure that's what Dean meant, Sam. Also, remember that time you nearly died from insomnia? Maybe let's not do that again.
And thus we end the episode... with Mary and Bobby recuperating elsewhere. Sam overworking himself. And Dean doing his best to psychologically recover.
As usual, let me know what you thought about the episode in comments!
Usual rules! If you don't know them, ask!
(And yes, I did forget to do a rewatch last weekend - my apologies. I'm trying to do Nanowrimo this month, and as a result, my free time has diminished, so if I forget to do something on the weekend, there's not much time in the week to make it up. Regardless, I will endeavour to remember to rewatch 13x02 this weekend.)
On with tonight's episode...
We begin in Claremore, OK, where young Maggie activates a bodycam before going into a tomb. My first question is: "why did she not charge the battery?" my second thought is that this is giving me strong Ghostfacer vibes - especially since one of the Ghostfacers was named Maggie.
Maggie suspects ghoul, goes into the tomb and immediately gets jumped. Why is Maggie hunting alone? Is my final thought.
Back at the Bunker, we come in at the tail end of a motivational speech by Sam, as does Dean. Once the hunters have cleared off to their respective assignments, Dean takes Sam to task about sleeping enough - because apparently Sam isn't doing that. We also learn, in this talk, that Jack and Cas are in Sarasota for some reason. Also, Mary and Bobby are off somewhere that I didn't catch.
Then Sam gets pinged by his phone with Hunter check-ins... and the part of me that loves efficiently run businesses kinda falls in love with Sam even more here, because damn... this should not turn me on, but the guy really knows how to run a business... man, I'm old and square apparently.
Anyway, we get to the quest of the day, when Sam clocks that Maggie hasn't checked and goes to check the feed off her bodycam. Man, the future. He sees the ghoul attack and fears the worst. As is their wont, Dean sees Sam lose faith and immediately claims the empty thrown of Mr. Optimism. They can go investigate, and Maggie may still be alive.
So, it's off to the sprawling Rawlins estate. They check out the tomb and see scratch marks where a body was dragged... apparently by it's feat, as those scratch marks look like fingernails, and I'm surprised they stayed on.
The groundskeeper finds them and Sam and Dean quickly pose as people form the Historical Society wanting to appraise the property. They go to the main house and are introduced to Neil, who wonders why they needed to send four people. This is when Sam and Dean discover that Mary and Bobby beat them to the investigation. Bobby immediately criticizes Sam, saying that "the head office is run by idjits" - ouch Bobby.
We then find out that Neil is not a Rawlins, rather a nurse - the elderly Rawlins had a stroke and is in a coma in the next room. We then pan upstairs and discover that Maggie is chained to the ceiling, having her blood drained. This launches into me calling her "Mad Max" until my friend points out that the problem is that Maggie is scared, whereas Max was angry. Very important difference there.
Sasha, Rawlins daughter then shows up. (Is Sasha spelt differently if they're a girl? I don't think so right... it's one of those unisex names.) We find out that Sasha just arrived to deal with her father's estate now that it appears that he's dying. Then she gets upset and kicks them all out of the house.
Once outside, Bobby really goes to town on the criticism of Sam - saying that he never should have sent Maggie off alone. And I mean, I was thinking it too, but HARSH, Bobby... little did I know that he was projecting a bit there.
Mary and Dean quickly swoop in and divide them in tasks. Mary and Sam wonder in one direction, while Dean and Bobby go in the other. Mary soothes Sam's Bobby-burn and tells him that he's a born leader and that Bobby just can't see that... and apparently Bobby has been missing some other things about people... and Sam starts playing relationship counselor, because he's the least son like son, given that he has absolutely no memories of having Mary as a mother anyway. So, although Mary eventually laughs and realizes she shouldn't be talking to Sam about this stuff, Sam doesn't actually seem to mind. And I mean, he's probably actually enjoying it, because I think the ship has sort of sailed on Sam and Mary connecting as Mother-Son without it being super awkward? I think Sam would probably like them to at least be friends. Though, who knows.
Dean and Bobby also chat about Sam. Dean defends him, saying he's doing his best running "Hunter 5-0" and he's overworking himself. Ah, Dean, your proud but concerned brotherhood is showing.
Sam gives Mary the low-down on the Bobby he knew - wife died as a result of possession, never had kids - and encourages Mary.
Then Mary finds something.
Dean and Bobby find a hunting cabin - and Bobby spots someone running through the woods and takes off, leaving Dean to investigate alone. Dean finds a dead body and is also attacked by, seemingly, the comatose man from inside, but he dies by exploding into dust - which is really weird and much more of a Buffy-death than anything we've seen on Supernatural.
Sasha, in the house, hears noises coming from upstairs. She goes to investigate and is chased by a vampire? Who just disappears?
When we come back from commercial break, Dean, Mary, and Sam are in the house asking her questions about the encounter. "Why did she call the historical society about this?" I wonder, before Sasha clues in that these random people just showed up again somehow and why is she telling them this? Anyway, Sam just tells her the truth - they came back because they hunt monsters etc.
Dean then says "also there's a dead guy in your shed." (or words to that effect) Sasha is a LITTLE perturbed by this. Then he and Sam proceed to have the most colloquial hunter convo, and it's awesome.... but basically they're running the same conversation pattern me and my Supernatural watching buddy were having before the commercial break - is it manifestations of a psychic? They've run into those before. They question Sasha - no, her dad was never psychic, just a workaholic narcissist. (I feel like narcissist is the new go-to arm-chair diagnoses for assholes... instead of just calling assholes assholes... but that's off topic.) Dean then clues into the fact that the vampire scared Sasha AWAY from the attic, so they still don't know what's in there. Sam goes to investigate. Meanwhile, Mary has gone off to look for Bobby, who went to "get something from the truck" and never returned.
So, here's an idea, if one of your hunting party has wandered off alone - send ANOTHER of your hunting party off alone to find them. :P
Dean sticks with Sasha and her comatose daddo though and sits there sharpening his machete like it's not the creepiest thing he could be doing in that moment. Sasha claims that she doesn't want to talk about her poor relationship with her father, but then proceeds to do so, and Dean is not surprised in the slightest. Sasha's tragic parent story is that her dad was a workaholic who was away all the time and her mother had severe depression, and what that eventually meant was that it was Sasha who found her mother's body after she killed herself when Sasha was 12. Sasha is mostly annoyed that she really looked up to her father the whole time, that he was her hero. Dean smiles ironically at this and then tells her just to let it go. After 14 seasons, Dean has learned to do the same with his daddy issues.
Sam in the attic finds Maggie, and the vampire, who disappears into dust when Sam stabs him. Sam unhooks Maggie from the blood-draining needle WITHOUT PUTTING PRESSURE ON THE WOUND. Ugh, Sam. I mean, I guess it'll clot fairly quickly, but you're just ruining Maggie's clothes for no reason.
Bobby is off wandering the woods. He finds DANIEL, who is BOBBY'S SON! Whoa, AU!Bobby had a kiddo. This is tragic. Daniel has his eyes burnt out, so we know that whatever happened to Daniel, he was most likely killed by angels. He is there to get revenge on his dad... and this is MUCH LIKE Bobby's nightmare in Dream a Little Dream of Me, only with a son instead of his wife... and that should have been our first clue as to what the problem was here. Daniel stabs Bobby through the collar bone and pins him to a tree. Meanwhile, Mary comes upon them and shoots Daniel several times without killing him.
If Bobby were actually stabbed there, he would have a collapsed lung and would bleed out fairly quickly. So, I have to believe that this is mostly illusion, even if Bobby at the end of the episode is left with some mystery wound from the ordeal... but seriously, stab him through the clothing at his shoulder or something, not the chest - that's just unbelievable.
Dean suddenly clocks the bloodbags around Rawlins and looks at Neil and puts two and two together. He tells Sasha to go make him a sandwich, which goes over as well as you'd expect it to, until Dean gives her the EYES and the HEAD MOTIONS and she just as awkwardly decides that she WILL make him a sandwich.
Neil, as it turns out, is a Djinn... which I have to admit, although Maggie's setup really did remind me of What Is and What Should Never Be, and I was highly suspicious of Neil, I hadn't actually guessed. Neil asks Dean if he passed the test, and if they're keeping their bargain - and Dean realizes that Neil thinks he's still Michael. He finds out that Michael asked the monsters to lay low, set traps, and kill as many hunters as possible, and in return he'd enhance their abilities. Neil can now read minds with just a touch and create illusions in the real world, rather than just in people's minds.
Dean doesn't have a dagger dipped in lambs blood, so Neil attacks him - putting a hand on Dean to try to see what his nightmares are - and I kind of love that Dean's nightmares are so overwhelming that it seems to hurt the Djinn and is a method of counter-attack in itself. Maybe don't read the nightmares of someone who has been to Hell for 40 years and had a shitty time since then too. Dean then solves the problem of not having a dagger dipped in lamb's blood by just KILLING HIM A LOT. And it's super effective.
It turns out that the old guy was a Djinn victim too. Dean unhooks him from being drained/Djinn poisoned and tells Sasha that he'll come back around - and maybe she can make her peace with him after all.
Back at the Bunker, Maggie is greeted by the other hunters with joy.
Bobby and Mary have a heart to heart while Mary wraps Bobby in gauze from whatever weird wound he got that wasn't the deadly one that we thought we saw. As it turns out, Bobby has been grieving his son's death since it happened - he and his son had bonded over hunting after his wife's death, and then the angel wars happened... Bobby blames himself for Daniel's death, because Bobby was in charge of the platoon that Daniel served under. Bobby then figured that he'd also die in the war, but then he didn't... so he's basically been suicidal since Daniel died, but it's getting harder and harder to off himself the safer he gets. Mary decides that this is not healthy and Bobby and her need to get his head screwed on right again - so they go talk to Sam and Dean.
Sam calls Donna and she lends the use of her cabin (the key is under the garden gnome) for Mary and Bobby to somewhat retire to - or at least, sabbatical in. Bobby apologies to Sam for projecting all over him. Mary insists that if they need her or Bobby, they call and that they're only a half a day's drive away.
But, meanwhile, I think it's probably Dean and Sam's dream that their mother retire from hunting with this guy who is a weird version of their adoptive father. So, now he's like their step-dad? I mean, nearly perfect scenario there.
Dean and Sam then spend the afternoon calling 'round to all the hunters they know to warn them about the hunter traps and supercharged monsters. Dean then talks to Sam about how he KNOWS it's not his fault, but it's still hard to move on "from what I- we- HE did."
Sam insists that they'll find Michael and kill him and it'll all be okay. How? Dean asks. Sam says that they'll work harder. Dean points out that Sam currently only sleeps for 3 hours every night. Sam says he'll reduce it to two. I'm not sure that's what Dean meant, Sam. Also, remember that time you nearly died from insomnia? Maybe let's not do that again.
And thus we end the episode... with Mary and Bobby recuperating elsewhere. Sam overworking himself. And Dean doing his best to psychologically recover.
As usual, let me know what you thought about the episode in comments!
