I was going to put our lovely troll’s name for us (“annoying cunts”) in the headline, but I don’t want to scare people away. I should use Helena’s hashtag: #proudtobeanannoyingcunt.
Maybe we should create a warding spell for the rare future troll.
Anyway, I’m busy tonight, the flame is coming over to do handiwork around my house. Because I need a tall man to reach where I can’t reach, dammit. These lightbulbs won’t change themselves.
Will watch tomorrow – and to all of you who participated in the epic “Folsom Prison Blues” discussion: seriously, thank you. That thread was amazing, and it’s been, what, 36 hours, and I’m still laughing every time I think about lindah’s poem.
ALL of you rock.
Thank you for showing up here, for being so wicked smart that I’m in awe of you, for helping me dig deep into this show I love so much, think deeper about my ideas, throw ideas/concepts around. To not only talk about “Folsom Prison Blues” but also why human babies developed big eyes in the first place. Because….. that makes sense …. somehow.
Anyway, here’s an open thread for tonight’s episode.
Have at it!
the flame is coming over to do handiwork around my house
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
Thank YOU Sheila for being the bedrock wellspring and host of these discussions and thank you for your careful and fun and amazing writing. And thanks to everyone else too for being so awesome.
It’s rather alarming to see a flame of fire change a lightbulb and hang a picture on the wall. I should have taken a picture.
and yeah, it’s a good group!! It’s crazy to me to think I’ve only been writing about Supernatural for two years (if that).
Aww. The Flame is my favorite Cheap Trick song.
Yes! I love that song!
I had to admire the janitor becoming the moral reflection of his pre-vampire self: from decent man who helped a girl in trouble, to vile sadist who turned the school jock into a vampire just so he could twist the knife harder into Alex. That was a great touch.
I did expect Dean to step up more for Claire, what with their miniature golf/Happy Gilmore bonding, rather than dropping that off on Sam. Perhaps he’s preoccupied with his vulnerability and not a able to help in a non-violent way. I need to think about that more.
Also, I didn’t get a chance to see Into The Mystic until last night. Let me second the comments from the earlier thread: Dee Wallace rocks.
Just throwing this out for discussion. Are we seeing more than a couple of parallels this episode? Claire = Dean and Alex = Sam? Claire is the ferocious one, beheading vamps and all and rescuing Alex? Claire doesn’t see the need for school and wanting to be a hunter? Alex wanting to go to school but more importantly already thinking about getting away from this life. She can’t be around the things they hunt? Is Sheriff Jody = Bobby? That is, will she always be home base? Are we seeing the beginnings of Supernatural – Women of Letters?
Carolyn – I had a giggle when they tied up Alex (totally inappropriate I know) because my first thought was at least it wasn’t Sam this time, tied up and being threatened by monologuing villains.
Yep, it was the women’ turn to endure monologuing. There should always be equal opportunities monologuing.
I know! It reminded me of that scene in “The Incredibles.”
Oh my God, that monologue was interminable!!
// Yep, it was the women’ turn to endure monologuing. //
hahahaha
“What did you do last night?”
“Oh, I sat around and endured monologuing.”
I think I said way back at the beginning of the season – episode 2, episode 3 – that this season feels like it is all about women.
Or, maybe not “women” but Woman. As in Archetype. Woman as in … men who live without women can have a skewed perception of things, and maybe that’s a problem … and so suddenly Season 11 has women left and right, willy-nilly. Dee Wallace! Sheriff Donna! Claire! Alex! Amara! Jody Mills! I’m probably missing some. And in each case – it’s the women who “take care of business” (to quote Elvis). The women banished the banshee, Claire killed the vamp, and on and on.
And then there’s Amara – who may be the Darkness but is not exactly a Big Bad – not Abaddon in other words. She is still striking me as a force of nature – like a tsunami or a volcano explosion – rather than something malevolent. A tsunami may kill millions but it’s not evil – it’s just doing what a tsunami does.
There’s something very very Woman-Focused in this particular season, from the very first scene of Episode 1 onwards.
I’m liking it.
Yes! And all of these women who save the day (or threaten to end it forever) are women who could be overlooked: teenagers, an old ex-singer, a woman who has lost her whole family, a deaf woman, “just” God’s sister… These dudes just NEED women, all the women!
Right – it’s a whole spectrum right now of Woman Kind – and I’m loving it.
Very very good writing and character conception!
Carolyn – and it’s interesting because, for me, in the first episode where Alex showed up – I saw such a clear Alex = Dean thing going on that it was almost painful. AND nobody onscreen seemed to realize it – which was equally as awesome.
The vampire nest treated Alex in a similar way that John treated Dean – sending him out there as bait. He was a troubled kid, thrown into the clink, sexualized the second he hit his teen years, and etc.
But yeah, now that Alex has “normalized” and Claire is wearing flannel … maybe there’s more of a parallel with Dean.
It just dovetails nicely with the conversation we’ve had in the Folsom Prison Blues topic on how the show is smart like that: as stated by Dean “I thought it would Alex who would have trouble adjusting”, the show gives us characters that are complex and surprise us. So of course, Alex wanting to leave it behind reminds us of Sam, but Claire has the same Spartan deco style, for instance.
I loved the “Sam not decorating” thing coming up again. Nice continuity.
Alex definitely reminded me of Sam in this one.
I also love how the brothers were kind of tag-teaming with trying to deal with those two wild girls. Sam, go talk to Alex. Okay, Dean, please talk to Claire. They were running back and forth between them trying to calm everything down.
Dean glaring at Alex’s boyfriend? And Claire being like, “Yeah, I’m sure that did the trick.”
It’s so great when the show under-cuts their “awesome”-ness. I don’t know why it pleases me so much. Comedy, I guess. It keeps them human.
// from decent man who helped a girl in trouble, to vile sadist who turned the school jock into a vampire just so he could twist the knife harder into Alex. That was a great touch. //
Yeah, the backstory for him was awesome. Tragic, really. Like: that’s what you get for trying to be a good guy. Gets better the more you think about it – so thanks for bringing it up.
Well, now I’m even prouder to be an annoying cunt. Maybe I should make badges … don’t worry, I won’t feature genitalia, (not explicitly anyway.)
Caroline, I enjoyed the parallels, although they were not as disturbing and plain eerie as they were in the original Alex episode. But it was interesting to see how Winchester issues divvied up between the girls, neither paralleling ‘Sam’ or ‘Dean’ completely, just allowed to be a bit of a mess in her own way. My heart warmed more to Claire in this ep than ever before.
Can I also just say I loved that almost the first 10 minutes were a discussion of responsible use of birth control and promoting sexual health and I adore this show and the Winchesters’ facial expressions at this juncture were delightful .
Also, Sam now has all the tupperware.
Oh and that woodpecker-weasel thing is gold.
The Tupperware. He was so excited to take it home. I loved the image of Jody at the head of the dinner table with her girls on the right and her boys on the left and her use of the Mom voice when the guys tried to leave. “Sit! Stay!” Everyone is grousing and uncomfortable but they do exactly what she says. Poor Jody is everyone’s surrogate mother.
I think of her as the anti-Bobby. She is fiercely loyal and protective like he was but Bobby was the paranoid bastard who assumed the worst in every situation while Jody wants peace and normalcy and is the snarky PTA mom. She might complain but she’s showing up with brownies to the bake sale to support her girls.
I think Sam will be eating that rice salad thing on his own, but loved that so much of the ep revolved around food (and sex, clearly).
Yees, Jody is anti-Bobby and anti-John Winchester too. She’s never been motivated to take revenge for all she’s suffered, she’s tried to heal herself, participate in normal life and look for love, friendship and family. Part of the joy of the condom scene was not just the guys discomfort at what was being said, but that visibly frantic review of past sexual encounters where you could see both them thinking ‘ohmygod did I or didn’t I’ but the idea that this kind of conversation in their own family would have been unthinkable, unimaginable.
So what did the John Winchester sex talk consist of? Tossing a box of condoms at Dean when he was 14? I’m sure Dean was the one to have the talk with Sam, both of them so horrified that it lasted less than a minute. Were these the type of memories Dean was thinking about when he told Jody that they could have used a Mom talk growing up?
Hmmm. You’re right, I think Dean was Sam’s go-to, and Dean learned mainly by his own, er, research and mistakes. I cannot imagine the ‘where do babies come from’ conversation in that family, tho I could imagine Bobby biting the bullet on that one.
I picture it, yeah, as John giving Dean a pack of condoms and calling it a day. Or maybe Sonny talked to Dean. Woulda liked to see that scene.
And imagine the mortification of Dean giving the sex talk to Sammy.
Pretty sure that everyone in each scenario tried to say as little as possible so that it would be over as quickly as possible.
// that visibly frantic review of past sexual encounters where you could see both them thinking ‘ohmygod did I or didn’t I’ //
Helena – Yes. I loved the looks on both of their faces where they were like, “Wait … let me review …”
Neither of them felt confident enough at ALL to chime in with the lexture because they were both too paranoid and awkward.
The Behavior was so awesome. Sam’s look of sheer terror when he realizes Jody is expecting him to participate – He thought he was just an observer, and then ohhhhhhh shit she’s looking at me and I’m supposed to say something ….
//Well, now I’m even prouder to be an annoying cunt. Maybe I should make badges//
#want
#workingonit
// Well, now I’m even prouder to be an annoying cunt. //
hahahaha
Those two big brawny men loaded down with tupperware was hysterical.
// Can I also just say I loved that almost the first 10 minutes were a discussion of responsible use of birth control and promoting sexual health //
I know!!
Has the show ever strolled into those waters before? Only times I can think of is Dean shouting after the Twilight wannabe “WEAR A CONDOM,” Dean asking Castiel if he used protection, and the entire Amazon episode.
So it was new territory – and it was ALL WOMEN with the two of them suddenly awkward and terrified and wanting to leave – and it makes me so happy.
//don’t worry, I won’t feature genitalia, (not explicitly anyway.)//
Some Georgia O’Keeffe inspired designs, maybe?
I was dying at the Winchesters in a room full of women, being uber uncomfortable sitting in the middle of a discussion about female birth control, teen sex talk, and general girl drama. I loled at Sam trying to leave the room twice; even though both Sam and Dean have lived with women, that had to be embarrassing.
Sam was so scared, yes, he tried to leave. Dean just looked stunned and slack-jawed. Dying.
I can’t get past the Elvis “sandwich.”
Ha! I was waiting for your reaction.
Have you ever tried one?
Helena – The glazed donut part is not familiar to me, and I think it’s just a joke made up by the guys at the food-stand or deli or wherever Dean bought the thing. Elvis Sandwich = SUPER-DUPER unhealthy.
I can’t stand bananas – I know, sacrilege!! – and so I will never eat an Elvis sandwich, sadly.
Any time the show mentions Elvis, I get a thrill.
Graceland mentions a couple of times. “People think Elvis is still alive” and etc.
I hold out hope that one day they’ll do a Graceland Is Haunted episode.
Or, even better: a visit to Elvis’ insanely awesome Car Museum. A kind of “Christine” episode? Involving Elvis’ cars??
I know it will never happen.
Hmmm. Fanfic?
Sheila, you have way too much on your plate right now to take on anything else.
I know–I thought of you, Sheila! Can someone please explain this sandwich to me? Is it a real thing? And does it involve peanut butter in some way?
There appeared to be burnt bacon in one layer which was Elvis’ favorite thing. (His cook knew just how to do it so it was crispy enough – ALMOST blackened but NOT QUITE.) He loved sugar too. I bet there were bananas on there somewhere. Southern Boy.
But no, the real Elvis sandwich is the classic peanut butter, banana, bacon. That’s the staple. Washed down with a milkshake.
Disgusting. Adorable.
//Disgusting. Adorable.//
Aw, what does that remind me of?
Uh-oh. Me? Our troll?
hahaha!
Totally a real thing. I have a photo of my kid eating one (not called the Elvis in MN) but I’m on mobile right now. That mix of sweet and savory sounds good but let me say that my son who eats anything could only get through half of this. (Really, am I the food porn lady?)
I can definitely see bacon and a glazed donut being yummy together.
“Sweet and salty. Best of both worlds” you understand.
https://instagram.com/p/dKaMf3s2xsqO-M30sIRuOV17Ag6tgNsrqrbxk0/
Oh my God, we have pictorial evidence. That’s the best!
Funny thing is this was in Sweetwater MN, home of Sheriff Donna.
It’s all coming together now.
As I’ve said before: Elvis Is Everywhere.
*Stillwater not Sweetwater (why, autocorrect, would that town name be more acceptable?)
That almost invokes the “never eat anything bigger than your head” rule!
That… alarms me.
Wow. That’s just–wow. I think that might just be the only way to eat that thing!
I knew about the grilled peanut butter and banana (which sounds kinda great, though I’ve never tried it–my Mom used to make us pb & b’s all the time when I was a kid, though) but add bacon, cheese, glazed donut–and I think I’m closer to Sam’s reaction than Dean’s!
Did your son like it? Did you snag the recipe?
He loved the first few bites but flagged quickly. See that white thing sticking out under the donut? That’s a fried egg. Because that’s what you need on top of a bacon cheeseburger.
The Elvis burger is peak Scooby Doo, btw
Totally Scooby Doo.
Plus the entire SYMPHONY of behavior that went along with it.
As a teenager growing up in Memphis I waked every morning to my radio alarm clock tuned to Rick Dees in the Morning. Some of you may remember his biggest hit song “Disco Duck”. He made his name lampooning pop figures, but Elvis more than anyone. This song, “He Ate Too Many Jelly Doughnuts” https://youtu.be/ShIXQw5fcJ8 , was a brutal roasting of Elvis as an over-the-hill, fat, has-been, who is behind in his alimony and addicted to jelly doughnuts. I did say brutal, right?!? Here’s the thing, I heard the refrain of that song EVERY morning of my life til the day Elvis died when it stopped (mostly) out of respect. Memphians knew that Elvis’ favorite go to sandwich was a toasted peanut butter and banana, sandwich sometimes grilled. He also would fly to a place in Colorado for a peanut butter, jam, and bacon sandwich. IMHO the addition of bacon to the former is possibly a reflection of the modern ‘bacon with everything’ craze (not that Elvis never tried it that way). Dean’s sandwich is obviously an exaggerated spoof like Rick Dees’ song, saying more about Dean’s obsession with the pleasure of decadent food. Not to be an annoying c**t, but don’t be sayin’ my home boy sucks!
// He also would fly to a place in Colorado for a peanut butter, jam, and bacon sandwich. //
I know. I’m sure there’s shit I don’t know about him, but not much. :)
I love the ice cream counter in his hip basement man-cave.
Who’s saying he sucks?
And, like Elvis, I like my bacon almost – ALMOST – burnt to a crisp. Not ACTUALLY burnt black but alllllllmost. I sympathize with the fine-line nature of that distinction.
Sorry, I was referring to our troll. Sheila, you do know much more than I (or anyone) about Elvis and that music scene. In case anyone thought I was being hard on Elvis with the jelly doughnut thing, that was just my experience, but I can be very protective, as well. I, too prefer my bacon very crispy. ;)
Oh my God, our troll!!! How could I have forgotten?
“and Elvis sux btw.”
ahhhh. Now I am shocked that I didn’t remember it because, what, it happened 4 days ago? What is wrong with me?
In re: bacon: it’s really hard to get a diner to do it right, right? If you find a diner that does it right, you’ll drive 25 miles out of your way for that bacon!!
I love how she’s “our troll.”
“Too many jelly donuts” does not compute.
The sex talk scene gets funnier and funnier every time I watch it. These guys are ridiculous. Sam and Dean just coming in and eating like they’ve never tasted food before- what’s the odds that Dean will go on a cooking streak now? They just seemed really un-socialised.
Katherine Love Newton is so awesome. The way she leaned obnoxiously close to Alex while Jody was struggling through her initial reaction- so so sibling-like. Come on, there is SO MUCH spinoff material here. (Also- the way Jody just slugs back her glass of wine after finding out that she didn’t really need to give The Talk after all. So so funny.)
The fight scenes this season have been fantastic. And it seems to be so much about communication- getting the brothers to open up to each other- again, preparing for an endgame, perhaps? Getting them to a state where they can settle down?
I was rather sad when I found out about Alex’s boyfriend (Henry?). I liked him- the relationship felt real to me, which I suppose was the idea.
I love this season.
Henry sure put on a good act, right? Creepy! I admit it: I bought it.
The sex talk scene is a riot. Sam is TERRIFIED.
And Dean keeps saying “What?” to Jody’s questions, in a panic, stalling for time.
Yes, that fight scene worked so well, with the different levels of action, and Sam and Dean coming in at different times–it was fairly brutal, too. I could just start listing the things I loved about this episode, but it would probably just turn into an outline of the thing, so I will refrain, except to say:
I reconciled to the fact that we may never see Dad!Dean–but I will take Grumpy Uncle!Dean anytime.
And YAY, Jody survives another one! I was telling my husband before we sat down to watch that it’s extremely nervewracking, every time I know she’s going to be on. The show has created these side characters that I love, and yet I don’t want to see, because of the ever increasing chance that they will be dead by the end of the episode!
Barb – I had exactly the same thought as you about Jody Mills.
In a way it’s great because I don’t trust the show at ALL to protect the characters I love. As a matter of fact, they’ve murdered them all!
So I resist getting attached, but then I can’t help it, and oh God, I love Jody, and please let her be safe, and etc.
Grumpy Uncle Dean was hilarious, especially when Claire stalked away from him. He had HAD it with teenage whippersnappers stalking away from him. Why don’t they BOW to his WISDOM??
It was awesome.
And that blow in the face was BRUTAL. Poor Jodie! And yes, every time a loved character survives (even as a were-wolf) there’s a sigh of relief.
The violence was pretty extreme in this episode – or maybe it just seemed more so because it was happening to Jody and two teenage girls.
They all did a great job, physically – I bought all of it.
Poor Alex.
//that blow in the face was BRUTAL// It was! They don’t pull any punches when it comes to Jody. Her face was wrecked after Alex Annie Alexis Ann’s vampires and she took that horrible stake to the shoulder from Vesta in A Rock And A Hard Place (I still cringe at her pulling it out herself to save Sam). And of course, choking on her own blood on the bathroom floor in Sacrifice. She is beloved but she is not precious or protected by the show because she is a woman.
//Come on, there is SO MUCH spinoff material here//
YES! And this is where they can recruit Krissy!
Yeah, sure, parallels, funny sex talk, food behaviour, nice-guy-turned vampire… But, I mean, THE CARS!
That looked like a shot out of American Graffiti – a clear steal, since American Graffiti is all about teenagers who want to have sex, can’t, get hot and heavy, pull back, cruise around in cars, and Vietnam (i.e. Monsters) looms at the end of the road.
What I loved about the “sex talk” was that Jody didn’t say you can’t have sex, she didn’t even say if you have sex, she said when you have sex. Yay for people recognising that sex is a normal thing and slut shaming teenage girls is not a necessary plot point
I agree – it was a great talk.
I don’t find Supernatural to have ever been “slut shaming” on a consistent basis.
I think you’ve stated before how respectful they are to women who open up their beds for them. No slut shaming. Just a wonderful time and plenty of gratitude. I love that.
Oh it’s the best.
I probably wouldn’t watch the show if women were treated as expendable interchangeable sex objects. Or if Sam and Dean were ever ever mean about “getting lucky”. They never are. Dean has to be a DEMON to be mean to his hook-up.
Absolutely, it’s one of the reasons that I have always struggled when people say the show objectifies women. In my opinion (and it is merely that; my opinion) the show objectifies men on a far more regular basis. The only really evident slut shaming that occurred was the OOC Mark of Cain moments at the end of s10, and more often than not, if anyone is being slut shamed, it’s Dean. Women’s sexuality has always been a important plot point, but rarely a shaming or objectifying one.
That dinner scene will live on in my memory forever. First layer is the absolute panic on their faces trying to avoid talking about sex. Teenage girls having sex. There is a very visual slam on the brakes there. Second layer is the absolute fish out of water feeling they have over “family dinner” time. They have never had to sit through one of those before. I think they have this very different idea of what the “apple pie” life is. With that very generic chicken and veggies dinner they think that it’s awesome. Yay normalcy. What? Fighting, tattle-telling, sex discussion, having to adult? Abort mission. Grab the mashed potatoes
And how about Dean and Sam drinking WINE??? With their nice little wine glasses.
That alone was a hilarious image.
and yes, their orgasmic moans as they ate the most prosaic dinner in the world … so so funny.
Oh, yes. The wine. What. The. Hell
My own reaction to it was even more funny to me than the image itself.
I was like, “Wine???”
It’s like I KNOW them personally.
I know. Wine. Since when did they get so fancy??
I mean, I think they drank it because it was offered to them. And it’s probably a 9 dollar bottle from the corner store. (Or … there were two bottles on that table).
Even on the date with the gorgeous Sarah in Provenance, Sam is terrified of the wine list and they drink beer.
This show is so great. So specific and bizarre.
and how great that we feel like we know these guys so well now that they looked awkward sipping their wine like gentlemen. (All while chowing down and moaning as they ate.)
hahaha
The wine! Pretty sure that’s two buck chuck (no offense to Jody).
“two buck chuck” Ha! I hadn’t heard that!
// Yay normalcy. What? Fighting, tattle-telling, sex discussion, having to adult? Abort mission. Grab the mashed potatoes //
ha!! Yes, exactly!!
OK, I was wondering this morning reading Miss Julie where that thing of wine being classier than beer comes from — it’s such an enduring image! But now I just need to know. I mean, there are some very fancy beers, and some really shitty wine. I know how gin was a lower-class thing in England, but for beer versus wine, I wonder where that comes from, historically. I need facts, sources!
I don’t have time to research it right now, but I’ll let you know what I find. Or, of course, since you’re all so much smarter than me, if the answer is obvious, hit me!
Pretty sure this came about as part of Napa Valley marketing back in the 1980s, upscaling the wine market and introducing sommeliers in your local restaurants, not just the hoity toity places. Everyone became snobs at that point.
I don’t know, because it’s a symbol that’s been used for a while (but since when?). Like, Miss Julie is a 19th century Swedish play, and the valet who wants to be more than a servant drinks wine, and the aristocrat who’s going to lose her status prefers beer.
Why? Whyyyyy?
In the UK beer has always brewed at home, but wine is imported, traditionally from France, but also some from Italy, and has always be more expensive and hence classier. I imagine that’s the same for Miss Julie, asSweden is not a wine-producing country, so wine would signify expense and hence class. Of course the classiest drink of all is champagne. Now wine is available from all over the world, it’s all a lot cheaper and drinking it at home is much more normalised, so it’s lost its classiness, and beer has gained it as exquisite and expensive craft beers have become better known. But it’s taken a while for them to be regarded as a drink to accompany classy food. At least in the UK, I’d have to qualify. In wine producing countries the story is different. But generally, whatever is domestic is always generally regarded as inferior to what is imported, irrespective of the quality of the home product.
Sheila, I am behind on my SPN reading-but spent part of the morning reading a bit of the Folsom Prison Blues recap. I missed it because Alan Rickman died very soon after, and I became preoccupied by that. Luckily I saw your post about it-and the funniest thing, where some dude called us annoying c**ts. I actually didn’t see that, but it cracked me up. As you can see, I can’t actually type the word, which is my own hang up-but I somehow revel in the fact that some dude finds us ANNOYING!
As they say in the South, “Well, bless…”. Which I always took to mean that you must be a total idiot.
Your gorgeous recaps are so wonderful, as are the comment threads. I think how many University professors would thrill to get the serious intellectual reactions that you get on you SPN recaps. I think you should teach a Master’s Class!
Maureen –
It’s not a “hangup” to not want to say that horrible word!! Oh, and it wasn’t a dude – it was a woman – although who knows with the Internet, right? It was a nice little explosion of drama – I was saying on Twitter that I’m actually amazed it hasn’t happened before!
I wish I was from the South so that I could say “Bless your heart” with the same attitude my Southern friends do. It is so bad-ass and so polite, and so pitying. I still say it anyway, but it doesn’t have the same OOMPH as my fabulous friends from Alabama or Mississippi.
And thank you, in re: the re-caps. They’re fun to do, for one, but the conversations just make it all so worthwhile. Everyone adds so much!
I’d love to teach a Master Class. I should pitch it to a local community college and see if they go for it.
Make sure it’s available online too ;)
Sign me up.
My God, I come home and there are 88 comments already! I haven’t had time to read everything yet, but loved seeing Jody again, and the birth control dinner was one of my favorite things ever. How Jody kept looking at the boys, like, “A little help here?” While they reacted like 12-year-olds to the subject.
Am I alone in thinking that Krissy needs to move in with the girls, too?
Krissy would be great and her foster sib Josephine. They were sort of the original Dean/Sam parallel for young girl hunters, right?
Can Michael and Asher stop by and lend a hand? I have it in my head that these two brothers from Something Wicked are out there hunting too (let’s face it, their mom probably died because none of these kids touched by the supernatural are allowed moms – it’s like Disney that way). They would be about 23 and 19 right now. Season 11 is the season for all the parallels, so I keep waiting for these two to show up again.
Lol, I think I would kind of rather think that Michael and Asher had their one-and-done supernatural experience and lived happily ever after. Not so much for their sake, you understand, but for Dean and Sam’s sake. I want them to have that win ;-)
I also kind of like the idea of a new generation of girl hunters. Claire, Krissy, and you’re right, Josephine would be a great addition, too.
And I wish the principal at my school was the sort of person who would say “we gotta catch that bastard, turn him inside out, and string him up.” Seattle ain’t Sioux Falls.
I’m glad you’re on our side, mutecypher.
I’m glad we’re all on the same side, thanks.
“annoying cunt” anagram
can’t you go, ninny?
oops,
can’t u go, ninny?
My autocorrect said yes to Lucifer.
Mine and apparently Paula”s too. Is it as sign of the Apocalypse…vex?
Yes, the dinner table was really the centerpiece of this episode! The guys eating baked chicken like they’d been on a desert island and the girls being just like sisters are, and Jody, bless her heart, put on her big girl panties and said what needed saying all while more or less keeping her sh*t together! At one point I think she said it was hard because she wasn’t their real mother, but guess what… it’s just as hard when you are their real mother. You just have to breathe deep, and keep reminding yourself that you love this lump of moldable matter that is straining to form itself into an adult person. I also loved grumpy Uncle!Dean and wise Uncle!Sam. I’m glad he was gently steering Claire back to school instead of indoctrinating her into credit card fraud. That bothered me in season 10 and this seems so much more like the Sam I love. Dean needs that bumper sticker, “All good as long as everybody wears a condom”. This has been a public service announcement. SPN really has been good about that responsible sex message, and a healthy portrayal of women in general.
I looked up the actress Aileen, Shoshannah Stern, from last week’s episode and found this anti rape culture message. She’s speaking against the idea that a woman who is raped somehow deserves it. https://youtu.be/Jel_9dMrOWs
That actually seems to be the theme of this episode and I wonder if SPN did not purposely support Stern’s message. The allegation is that Alex deserved to be made to suffer because of what she did as a child (was made to do). So glad that our heroes, Jody included, let her know repeatedly that none of it was her fault. There is another message, too, and I wonder how the mother of boys sees this – Paula? Henry is a stereotype of the popular, good looking jock who lures the unpopular or less attractive girl into sex or possibly even gang rape. He is portrayed here as a monster and predator albeit a very attractively convincing one. I am pretty sure this is a very real (but horrible) game for some guys but I am also sure there are many nice guys who also happen to be attractive, popular, and athletic. Is it fair to vilify them, a sort of reverse slut-shaming? It’s an important message for young men and women to know that this is not ok, but I guess I wish they had not gone for such a straight-up stereotype. Does that make sense? Whew!
I completely agree that the fight scene was excellent and really well choreographed. A small thing that struck me as so different was the silhouette of Sam and later Dean entering the area. They were wearing their Fed suits and overcoats, looking like Cass until their faces came into the light. The fights almost always happen in their jeans and flannels and jackets. Just a visual that was very interesting to me.
There were so many awesome TV and music references last week, but I loved this week’s when Claire wanted to suit up and tag along, “Hold up there, Quantico.” Haha!
I’m sad because I really feel the Banshee was the harbinger of the series end. See the bottom of the old thread, Supernatural, Season 11, Episode Next for my thoughts on that. Claire, Aileen, Krissy and others are being set up to carry on the fight (Wayward Daughters). I don’t wanna let go…
//she said it was hard because she wasn’t their real mother, but guess what… it’s just as hard when you are their real mother.//
It’s definitely true that the rules keep changing. Or more like, you lose focus for a moment, turn around, and then discover that you are now playing a whole different game. You are on Candyland, and suddenly their board looks more like some frenetic cross between Sorry, Scrabble, and Monopoly!
My two boys are just approaching high school now, they both proudly identify as “geek,” (according to my older, this is because my husband and I are geeks and we are raising them in the “geekdom”–whatever that is) and their eyes tend to glaze over when I start talking, but it seems like the social strata of school has not changed very much. Your thoughts on popular boys luring less popular girls into sex or rape–that’s horrifying to me, and I’m not sure how to respond, though it seems all too possible. That said, I don’t think my boys would personally identify with him as a character; and maybe he’s more of what Sheila has called a Nice Guy*tm. On the other hand, there is a throwaway line in there, during Alex’s confession, something about torturing some poor kid in jr. high, which indicates to me that becoming a vampire just highlighted his sadistic streak. Which would put him more into the stereotypical cruel jock camp.
Sorry, Scrabble & Monopoly: Or in my case, you’re starting to get the hang of Minecraft, and they want to play Black Ops II.
For the folks who have no interest in the Super Bowl on Sunday, TNT is running a marathon of twelve episodes from season 10. It starts at 12PM EST. Looks like they picked ‘popular’ eps, so no haunted wifi, no Claire, and no Italian nuns (but no Benny or Cain either). Here’s the lineup:
Black, Reichenbach, Fan Fiction, Girls, Girls, Girls, Hibbing 911, There’s No Place Like Home, About A Boy, Inside Man, Book of the Damned, Dark Dynasty, The Prisoner and Brother’s Keeper
Looks like I’m gonna spend Sunday with demon!Dean, Cole, the HS girls, Rowena, Donna, Charlie, teen!Dean, and Bobby.
105 comments already!
1. Agree totally that the Folsom Prison Blues comment section was amazing. (Sheila, I’m so glad the poem made you laugh even the next day.) Thanks for providing the environment that encourages all of the good stuff and hopefully discourages any further bad.
2. I, too would like to join the #proudtobeanannoyingcunt group. (I never in my life could have predicted I would ever type that sentence.)
3. Agree with everyone on the awesomeness that was Dinner At Jody’s. I laughed out loud so many times during that one scene. My favorite moment keeps shifting, but it’s currently the one where Sam is the deer caught in Jody’s spotlight while Dean is behind him shoveling food into his face because: a) he’s hungry, b) he can’t let Sam’s brave sacrifice go to waste, c) he’s really hungry, d) if Jody turns to him he can stall since it’s rude to speak with his mouth full, e) he’s eating his utter discomfort with the whole thing, and f) no, really, he’s hungry.
4. I also liked Dean’s moment with Jody in the kitchen over post-dinner dishes. She plainly expected him to step up to volunteer to speak to Claire, while JA was busy not saying “Did we ever mention to you that this time last year I went on a little teeny tiny massacre and killed her surrogate!scum!dad? Oh, and my best not-Sam friend is currently animating the corpse of her biological dad? Awkward!”
5. This is the second SPN script by Nancy Won – Thin Lizzie was her first. She gets major good will from me for this ep, especially for the dinner scene/safe sex discussion and all the silences she left in the script for JA, JP and the others to fill in. If she can just figure out a way to bypass villain monologues, she’d be golden.
That dinner scene was golden. It was perfect in so many ways! I actually thought that Dean, though uncomfortable, was aslo kinda into it? At least at first, when Claire brings up Alex’s plans. His little “Oh, here we go” and putting down his fork, like he was expecting some great teen-drama…which then turned into a responisble sex talk.
RE: SPN & Women. I also agree with everyone here on that topic! I wouldn’t still be watching this show if women we treated like crap. Yes, they are frequently killed off. So are the men. The show is about Sam and Dean. Everyone else is expendable.
I’m starting to tire of criticism of shows/films that feel the need to single out and comment on the treatment of female characters. I get that people are trying to fight against sexism in their own way–and that’s great!–but sometimes I think they’re missing the point. It starts to become just another way that women are conintually commented on and criticised. Nothing is ever good enough.
(Don’t get me wrong. I care hugely about representation in fiction. To the point where I’m sure it annoys the people who know me. But, you know, a flawed female character isn’t necessarily a bad female character.)
And I missed the troll! I always show up after all the excitement has passed.
May – oh my God, that Dog gif. That is just what Sam and Dean looked like!!
I love how Dean said “what” TWICE to Jody’s questions.
and Sam was a deer in the headlights.
It’s the kind of group-comedy-scene that is so fun that I’ve already watched it multiple times, each different time tracking only one of the characters. It was so entertaining.
“Oh here we go” was hilarious.
I’m all about representation too – but it can be taken too far like anything else. Everyone benefits when there are more “types” onscreen – and if it doesn’t matter the race/sex of the person – then casting directors/whoever in charge – should take their blinders off and cast the best person. This has already happened, to a large degree, especially in television (and on Broadway, the success of the “blind” casting of Hamilton – I would love it if the rest of Broadway took the lead, like college/community theatre does. Why can’t we have a black Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes? Hamilton poses the question and answers it: Why can’t a black man play George Washington? Who set those dumb rules? Let’s break them.)
I definitely don’t want to see women characters who are perfect, or always “bad-asses” – it’s patronizing.
And if a movie depicts a world where women are a minority, I don’t mind if there are no woman onscreen. A WWII movie taking place on the battlefield or in an airplane, for example. I enjoy some of those movies and women are virtually non-existent in them, because you know why? They weren’t THERE.
You know, these issues are complex.
But overall I think the representation on SPN is pretty great. There are all kinds of women who show up – even strippers – but even there, the strippers seem to have a sense of agency and personality. (I just watched the episode in Season 10 where Dean was a demon and being rude to that stripper. She was like, “Dude, you’re an asshole, get your paws off me.”) But we’ve got sweet blondes, and tough matriarchs, and nice once-promiscuous-now-not yoga teachers, and a gay hacker, and a Big Bad Villain sometimes – plus old ladies who get to be human too. I don’t see a problem with the representation (at least of women) on the show. People can always do better – but SPN seems very aware of it, at LEAST.
and hahahaha “our troll.” It was a dramatic 20 minutes there, I’ll tell you! Although behind the scenes I had been dealing with her bull-shit for 4 days through her emails that I thought were pretty funny. She was so mad that I DARED to “criticize” Dean. And she hated Bobby and she hated Sam and she hated Lisa and she hated Castiel … I think she would have been happy if the entire show had just involved Dean standing still on a pedestal, like Michelangelo’s David. I’m not sure why someone like that even watches the show – but whatever, she was certainly engaged by it!
I can’t believe we’ve been gathering here this long without one troll showing up until now!
I think she would have been happy if the entire show had just involved Dean standing still on a pedestal, like Michelangelo’s David.
Well now HANG ON. Maybe this girl’s got something.
HAHAHAHA
Yeah, really, we need to pitch an episode like that to the writers. Dean is frozen, nude?, on a pedestal, for the entire hour. As Sam races around trying to un-freeze his brother.
Definitely nude, but somewhere warmer than the Galleria dell’Accademia.
Once un-frozen: “I bet I looked great, huh?”
Sam rolls his eyes.
I want that episode.
I know, me too.
I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to pitch it. The CW seems to swallow anything.
An unmoving Dean with fig-leaf, please.
Come on CW, the ball’s in your court now.
“Ball.” Like, literally.
Dean to Garth: “That’s not how you say balls.”
I hope that every member of the writer’s team is reading this right now, and that they’re not too proud to recognise a perfect idea when it’s waving in their face.
Listen, I’ve noticed an increase in Elvis references, so anything’s possible.
#delusional #butmaybenot?
I think I’d need a stiff drink if they were! You’ll know how we’ll know, is if next to naked Dean they erect a monument to Sam’s hair. Everyone the next morning would need to have a cold shower.
Oh yes! How about a Pygmalion episode. The Brothers in nude statues that come to life. Oh please…
Yes! A reverse-gender Pygmalion!
Amara as Henry Higgins, perhaps? DW as statue/Idealized Man?
Maybe this could be an art project, Helena, although of course no pressure.
//Amara as Henry Higgins, perhaps? DW as statue/Idealized Man? //
Or maybe Crowley as Higgins. And then the two statue Brothers fight over who is more perfect.
Crowley really WAS Higgins with Demon Dean, come to think of it.
See, we keep things classy here.
Ehmagerd that’s hot…
You guys are really whetting my dream for this statue episode. They should give it next season to Richard Speight Jr, he can’t be spent already, he’s only done one. And maybe naked statues would get the general public interested in the show; sometimes I feel like we’re casting pearl necklaces before swine.
Seriously: a monument to JA’s entire persona and a sculpture of JP’s hair? Come ON. It’s called fan service.
In re: pearl necklaces/swine/general public awareness: I keep chipping away at the CW edifice of PR people – so far nothing, it’s like the Bastille. Even with the help of Bobby Singer …
I will keep flinging myself against the battlements. For the good of all of us.
And it’s not like they haven’t serviced us in the past!
Re: publicity, I know it might be one of those things that starts out small but if you keep working it it’ll grow but at this stage I’m ready to put you on my bare back and take you Vancouver myself.
I know – I mean, think of Fan Fiction or Supernatural Christmas – they know how to give us what we want in a way we don’t expect!
It’s been a year now since I made contact. Should I crash Comic Con? Maybe they’ve put up Enochian symbols warding me off or something.
I’m doing this for the team! Plus our troll!
Maybe it’s time to work the head of the studio? I’m sure Beaver would help us!
I have often wondered what I would do if they attended a local comiccon but always my fantasy of them coming is shot through with the knowledge that I couldn’t look them in the eye.
Yeah, looking in the faces … I can’t look directly at the burning sun without melting into a puddle.
I have a connection who works PR for the CW Upfronts, which I tried to work last year – to no avail. Those Upfronts are always CIRCUSES though. I used to attend when I worked for NBC and they were fun (and stressful) but absolute media-event mad-houses.
I just don’t know what else we could use to bait the master of CW publicity. Maybe they’re switching too quickly to notice? What if I get a fake badge and put on my sensible too-big FBI trousers and snaked my way into the Upfronts. Or maybe we could try another email, they say the penis mightier than the fake FBI agent.
// I’m doing this for the team! Plus our troll! //
I love you! Keep fighting, you’ll get them eventually, I believe in you!
// they say the penis mightier than the fake FBI agent//
Ha!
Sheila and Jessie what is going on? What CW email? Did you try to get their attention so they could publish your wonderful recaps, which they SHOULD?
Heather – ha!
It’s something I haven’t written about because I don’t want to jinx it or show my hand – but it’s been a year now, and buried in the comments here I feel safe. Unless the CW actually ARE reading here. :) In that case, maybe they’ll get the message.
I started the process of trying to get to … one of the stars … in order to interview him in an in-depth way about his acting process – in a way that so far does not exist. I jumped through hoops making requests (using my contacts in television and editors who know how to “get through”). Nothing, except “he’s not available, maybe try after the holidays.” Finally I pulled in the big guns and reached out to another cast member – whom I am associated with professionally – we write for the same site, and he is very very good friends with a friend of mine – so I figured: “That’s connection enough.” I reached out to him and asked (so politely I was practically lying on the ground in supplication) if HE could pass on my interview request directly to the man in question. And bless his soul, he DID. He was like, “This is a lovely note – I agree with you about him – I’ll pass it on and we’ll see what happens. I’ll be in touch.” 2 days later (this was a little less than a year ago) he kindly emailed me back (he didn’t have to do that!!) saying so-and-so had read my email (ga-doink!!) and wanted to say Yes to the request, he was intrigued, but he had to run it by his own PR people first.
And then my request disappeared into the Black Hole without a trace.
and that’s where we stand now. Hence, my frustration. I live in hope that HE SAID YES, at least privately – and so now I keep following up with the PR people, saying, “SPN cast member asked so-and-so PERSONALLY if he agreed to the interview and so-and-so said Yes, so if you could follow up, thatwouldbegreatOKthxbai.”
They run a tight tight ship there.
So now I’m planning my next assault. I have a couple of ideas. :)
Obviously this isn’t something I want to announce on my main page because Google exists and I don’t want to spook anybody. I have been 100% professional, even in my dealings with (or especially in my dealings with), that other SPN cast member who passed on my request to the actor in question. Words can’t express how grateful I am to him. He has commented here from time to time- mostly on my John Wayne posts – and I so appreciate his willingness to pass on my request to his friend, in a way that let the friend know that I was okay, I was safe, I was good people, I wasn’t just a fangirl I was a legit writer, I really cared about acting craft, I would take care of him in an interview and not ambush him or waste his time.
etc.
So that’s where things stand now.
Maybe we need to create a Tulpa so all you all can focus your energy on it and help get this thing done. :)
and I’ll never speak of it again until it’s a done deal. I am so sick of it being a hypothetical, or something I HOPE for. :)
seriously, no one could have expected it to be so hard to pull off. You’re a pro, Sheila!
Glenn Kenny did a great interview with PT Anderson last year about PTA’s use of music in his films. I was at a party with Glenn, sometime after that interview came out – and I ended up giving him a bullet-point version of how hard it was to get to this guy I wanted to get to – who is, to be honest, relatively unknown – in some cases TOTALLY unknown – outside his fanbase. I mean, it’s not like I’m trying to interview Leo. Glenn has interviewed some really really Big Fish so I asked him if he had any tips and he said he had none, except to be persistent and to use every connection I had, not just the regular channels. He told me it took a YEAR to set up that interview with PT Anderson, to coordinate it, to clear it, and all that stuff.
So that gave me hope.
I know, it’s a bummer, but where there’s life there’s hope and you know if you gotta poke every hole then you gotta poke every hole. And if Glen got in via a back channel in the end then I’m sure that can work for you! And we’re all behind you too. Although I gotta admit my Rolodex is probably a bit limp compared to yours.
I have saved the initial request that I sent to the SPN cast member who helped me out – the email that so-and-so actually read on his phone – so now I just forward it to the front-desk PR people to show that it has history (hopefully? Maybe it just makes me look crazy).
But the fact that “my” actor said YES, when he was by himself, reading my email in between takes (the image of that), and emailing his friend back saying Yes – that gives me hope that it’s an actual glimpse of who he is, outside of the PR generated for him by the network (which is all well and good too, of course). He MIGHT have said, “No, I don’t do stuff like that.” But he DIDN’T.
At least I know that that moment of assent occurred.
I still wish he had just said Yes under his own power and then checked with the PR people later (shoot first? ask questions, etc.?) But that’s not who he is. He’s a classic good boy. So he forwarded it into the Shrieking Black Hole of the Universe.
I don’t understand why the PR people WOULDN’T want that kind of publicity – although maybe I’m over-thinking it. The man is one of the most highly-scheduled actors in the business. So that might have something to do with it.
who the hell knows!!
Just picturing it gives me chills! And it wouldn’t look crazy, it’s their JOB to deal with stuff like this. One hopes they’ll do it. Not knowing is the killer! But still I’m heaps excited to hear you’re giving it another go.
As a corollary to that, y’all are way too classy and sincere for me, and I’m sorry for making so many dick jokes in this thread. I wish I could keep it up but it’s gotten out of hand. I hope we can wipe the face clean and begin afresh.
//As a corollary to that, y’all are way too classy and sincere for me, and I’m sorry for making so many dick jokes in this thread.//
Jessie, au contraire, let’s go back and HIGHLIGHT THEM ALL IN YELLOW. Who wants to be like the guy hired to paint trousers over the naughty bits in the Sistine Chapel? Let in all hang out!
As for an art project, I’m not sure I could raise a sufficiently awesome monument to Sam’s hair, as Mount Rushmore has already be used up.
All this talk of non-moving naked statues makes me think of London’s (In)famous Windmill Theatre where you could be nude as long as you didn’t move.
Aw rats, HTML fail.
Jessie – hahahaha
Having just re-watched Season 7 – which is basically an excuse to make one or two dick jokes an episode – I see no problem!
And loved the stupid dick joke in the Dee Wallace episode. It’s so juvenile but hell, it works.
Oh wait, Helena, I’ll fix it – hang on!
Speaking of Mount Rushmore – which is of course in South Dakota – Ground Zero for Winchester gatherings … I’m slightly surprised they haven’t done some kind of monument-haunting – which would be so hilarious. Like, Abe Lincoln has something desperately that he needs to say so he goes back to haunt his huge giant head.
It could be like the finale to North by Northwest, with the Winchester boys scrambling all over the gigantic noses of the Founders, clutching salt and holy water.
Thanks, Sheila!
Back to my scheming – I’m headed to Chicago today for a week to see friends, and I’m having lunch with my editor (ooh, that sounds so fancy – but it’s really not. I email him more than I email my own mother and so it’ll be nice to actually see him in person.). He’s been a TV reviewer for about 10 years and has contacts at CW – that he has worked for me before over this past year, sending in requests – but I’m going to give him the low-down on the whole situation and see what he thinks I should do.
To be continued.
let’s go back and HIGHLIGHT THEM ALL IN YELLOW.
Thank you Helena but it would just…it would all be yellow. Restraint is not my middle name.
Good luck in Chicago Sheila! Take along some visual aids, your editor will take one good look and start moving mountains I am sure.
//It could be like the finale to North by Northwest, with the Winchester boys scrambling all over the gigantic noses of the Founders, clutching salt and holy water.//
And end with a train disappearing into a tunnel?
That would be ideal.
Let’s put the SUB into that TEXT.
//But overall I think the representation on SPN is pretty great. There are all kinds of women who show up – even strippers – but even there, the strippers seem to have a sense of agency and personality.//
Yes. They seem like real people. And, more importantly, Dean and Sam treat them like real people. They don’t have many women in their lives, but they don’t go around acting like women are alien creatures that they can’t understand.
// She was so mad that I DARED to “criticize” Dean. And she hated Bobby and she hated Sam and she hated Lisa and she hated Castiel … I think she would have been happy if the entire show had just involved Dean standing still on a pedestal, like Michelangelo’s David.//
Ah, trolls in love. What a time to be alive.
I love how Dean seemed rather open/curious about the possibility of a hook-up with Dee Wallace. The way he played it – and the way she played it – it made perfect sense. He did run away when she made the joke about moving her hand up … but he’s skittish when he’s touched anyway.
I just thought it was so funny and unexpected – but one of those things that make perfect sense.
What’s that that Kim Manners said? “Give them what they want in a way they don’t expect.” Great show-biz rule.
May//”And I missed the troll! I always show up after all the excitement has passed.”// hahhahahah, I know what you mean. I thought I was there, saw everyone handle things so well, but clearly I missed the real explosion. I’m not an annoying c++t, but I don’t want to be left out!!!
And thank you for the dog gif… I can laugh all day now.
Natalie “The birth control dinner”-love that name.
What a wonderful scene. I was so hoping for a breakfast scene and then it happened and we didn’t even get to see it. I was so happy for them with the tupperware. Overcoats, and wine, and the women taking the punches…it was like the crossover episode I could get behind.
Dean’s comment on how he thought Alex would be more screwed up was so sad. (first of all, more screwed up than Claire…really…?) but it made me consider how they must track the trajectory of the people they ‘save’ and their understanding of trauma.
The monologuing… do you think the prop folks have a special shelf: ‘restraints for heroes to wear while enduring monologuing’? A set of think chains, ropes for tying each hand, ropes for tying hands together. Cause if we all need to endure monologuing, can the next prop restraint be silk scarves for the bedroom, or the like.
Loving this season.
Heather – we should have a “troll alert” for everyone so no one misses the Drama.
She was soooooo mad, boy!
// Overcoats, and wine, and the women taking the punches…it was like the crossover episode I could get behind. //
Seriously. The whole thing was pure liquid joy.
Other subtleties I loved:
— that the girls weren’t buddy buddy, and that they weren’t buddy buddy at the end either – but the “family doesn’t end in blood” thing was activated. I thought that was realistic – and a little bit sad (poor Alex) – but also true and complex.
— what Mutecypher mentioned above: that creepy janitor had started out as helpful, NOT a creep – and so his beef was legitimate. What had been taken from him … horrifying. Not that that justifies his actions but still: When SPN pours on that ambiguity everyone benefits!!
Dean drying the freakin’ dishes. Can’t take it.
When do we EVER see them doing homey everyday stuff?
The way Sam said “Patty or … a nugget” makes me laugh every time.
and yes: Tupperware.
// ‘restraints for heroes to wear while enduring monologuing’? //
hahahaha
Zip-ties, remember Cole??
SPN just cannot stay away from the third-act monologuing. The funny thing is they are aware of it – I can’t remember who joked about it on a commentary track – Robert Singer or Kripke – and they did make a conscious effort to not give every monster a monologue – but they still can’t help it!!
I recently watched the episode (can’t remember the title, or the season) – where Sam and Dean track down the guy who had been possessed by a demon and they beat him silly and dropped him off at the ER? Member that one? And the guy was now living in a halfway house, and he got a dog, and was a sad sack? The monologue in that one is so long it takes up the last quarter of the whole show. I should time it. It was unbelievable – they couldn’t wrap it up without him talking for what feels like 10 minutes! and, of course, everyone was tied up and forced to listen.
// Cause if we all need to endure monologuing, can the next prop restraint be silk scarves for the bedroom, or the like. //
Oh yes, ma’am I’m on board with that.
I’m loving this season too.
Repo Man in Season 7, epic monologuing. Interesting you mention that one because such a contrast to the villian here. The cute little sad sack, who agrees to the Winchesters beating the crap out of him and you think, what a good guy, taking one for the team. He turns out to be inherently bad from the start compared to the villian here. All different colors of heroes and villians in this show and I love it.
How sad was that hospital scene? Guy is near death, being dropped off as a John Doe at some random ER, and I was like, how awesome that the Winchesters didn’t kill him – isn’t that sweet? This show, man. It has us so twisted up in their truth.
Taking this down-thread – the length of that thread was driving me to distraction:
Helena, I could Google it but would rather hear you explain it – is The Windmill the theatre that made a commitment to stay open every night even during the blitz?
That’s the one – we talked a while back about it in relation to that Rita Hayworth film. I’ll quote directly from Wikipedia here: “The theatre’s famous motto [was] “We Never Closed” (often humorously modified to “We Never Clothed”)”
And thank you for starting a new thread because all that scrolling was getting exhausting!
We never clothed … hahahahaha
I loved that Rita movie!
And loved the stupid dick joke in the Dee Wallace episode. It’s so juvenile but hell, it works.
And Dean stealing the viagra! Which was apparently improvised by JA on set. Smooth move, buddy.
So funny!! – and of course Dean would steal some. Every little bit helps – for his mainly non-existent (at least as we see it) sex life. But Amara may demand more from him. hahaha
He looked so guilty and hand-in-cookie-jar sneaky.
WHEN OH WHEN IS IT GOING TO BE ACTUALLY USED???
Ahem, was just asking for a friend.
I know. Season finale? Face to face with Amara, gulping down the whole bottle of pills?
Dare we hope?
Well, I usually imagine the finale as some kind of big cosmic explosion but honestly I hadn’t thought of it as being that sort of explosion.
No thank you, I have seen that episode of True Blood, and it was NOT pretty!
And the other thing that made me die in that episode was Sam’s big unfettered grin at Dee Wallace’s Patsy Cline history. It knocked me on my butt. I feel like we haven’t seen him smile like that since season 2. I am actually surprised Dee Wallace’s face didn’t melt off like she’d seen the Arc of the Covenant.
Oh, I know! That was so great!!
I loved their scene together.
He was so appreciative! He looked like a little kid.
I love that both of those guys could really see that she was a cool person. And even cooler the more they got to know her.
I just re-watched the Season 11 premiere and Sam looks so ROUGH. Not bad, just ROUGH.
When he “lightens up” it’s so piercingly pleasing – even more so than Dean, because Dean has that sort of “make a joke out of everything” vibe a lot of the time.
If you follow just Sam’s reactions in the “birth control conversation” … tuning out everyone else – I was HOWLING. How he pounds his chest a bit, like, “My food went down the wrong way …” hahahaha
I know! We talk a lot about tracking Dean’s journey across eleven years but one of the things that’s struck me in season 11 is how serious Sam has become. Not gloomy, he has plenty of warm moments. But when the weight properly lifts I’m like AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA DOMINUS TECUM.
//I am actually surprised Dee Wallace’s face didn’t melt off like she’d seen the Arc of the Covenant.// hahahaha. When he smiles like that, and you’re not expecting it, it’s a killer.
Smooth, or hard…?
There, I tried.
Well that was supposed to go under Jessie’s comment. Now it is an even sadder dick joke, just dangling out here.
//just dangling out here.//
And thus peak dick has been reached.
Sheila, thanks for explaining the situation, re: hope-to-be, soon-to-be, oh-let-it-be, interview. It would make an excellent addition to the SPN masterclass book. Good luck in Chicago. Jessie’s right, you are a pro, and your work here is remarkable. Don’t give up.
Sam is so serious this season. We need more of what we saw in “Baby”.
I hope it’s okay to discuss Love Hurts here.
So, any episode titled after a Roy Orbison hit works just fine for me.
Poor Dean, getting dad-bod comments in Ohio. But scoring in Kansas. Did he need that viagra? It’s like the flip side of Thomas Frank’s book “What’s The Matter With Kansas?” WTF Ohio?
And then blessed Dean, getting understanding from Sam. That was one of the kindest, most open BM scenes I can recall. I was happy for their togetherness, for their honesty. Even if they’re hosed.
And the motel room dividers. Those tires were insane!
I didn’t realize that The Everly Brothers did a version (not a hit) before Roy’s. This is very sweet.
And then there’s the gorgeous Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris
version.
Ooooh, nice!
I knew about the Everly Brothers and the Orbison, but for me, this has always been a Nazareth song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRJaZdodEgI
And, I had this Don McLean albumin H.S., that had another version of the song on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngJnaMIVXnY
These seem so cheesy next to Emmylou, though!
I knew it would take someone else to emboss the charms of Nazareth’s version. I could not do it.
I live to serve. :-)
Who will step up to sing the praises of Cher’s subtle, evocative version?
It’s actually a pretty good power-ballad version.
Dean is a Kansas 8 but maybe an Ohio 3? I was wondering about the viagra too, but it’s not a very pleasant train of thought …
And how lovely to be back in a crappy motel room. Also: Amara’s cheekbones like the slopes of Mont Blanc; Dean’s blue shirt; Sam’s hair; the bunker’s utilitarian stacks of white china, tea urn and cutlery holder; a woman who buys a magic spell from her hairdresser; dadbods, nannycams and mom lipstick.
I wanted to say “Dean, stop hitting on twenty year olds.”
Why is it the best BM scenes seem to come at the end of what are less memorable episodes? Wasn’t that the case with Dean’s confession about Hell? It’s like the energy is saved up for that last scene in some ways. Am I wrong?
Although I loved seeing rocks paper scissors again. That seriousness around the throw down. We talked about this in another comment section and I love those moments. Dean winning made me think that he no longer needs to throw the game because Sam no longer needs to be protected. Just two quasi-adult sibs being uber competitive.
/It’s like the energy is saved up for that last scene in some ways. Am I wrong?//
If you’re wrong, Paula, then I’m wrong too. There were quite a few of these last season too.
Man, that one you mention from Season 4 – is that the one with the feral-murderin’-children-of-incest who live the basement? That’s another one on the Cannot. Watch. Again. Ever. list for me.
It does seem to work out that way sometimes re the BM scenes. In this one, however, I feel the heartless creature played an important part in that BM scene. I have maintained that Dean wasn’t purposefully holding back on Sam before, but he just sincerely didn’t know what to think about the Amara thing. Facing the genie creature as Amara clarified things for him. “She may have a hold on me, but you don’t”. Later after spilling to Sam he seems to understand for the first time that the draw to Amara is not real love or desire. Cudos to Dean for admitting that he doesn’t think he can defeat Amara. I really loved this scene and think it came at just the right time so they could both handle it it the wonderful mature way that they did. Love, love, love it…
This was a beautiful Sam episode. That crisp white shirt, the understanding, the little exhale- nice.
Sam lounging on that couch in his crisp white shirt and suit pants, long legs stretched out. Made me tilt my head to the side like someone holding a treat out to a dog. Seriously.
I totally understand. Arroooo!
// That was one of the kindest, most open BM scenes I can recall. I was happy for their togetherness, for their honesty. //
Yes! I was kind of uncomfortable hearing Dean say “love” and “desire” to Sam, even if it’s not that. That’s how much we weren’t used to that sort of openness. But since last season, they’ve learned how to do that, and I’m so glad it’s sticking.
// Amara’s cheekbones like the slopes of Mont Blanc //
Er, yes, her, um… cheekbones, yes, those are the slopes that stood out for me too. Totes.
It’s season 11, they don’t even bother with superfluous exposition anymore: if you don’t know what the laser-eyes on camera mean or why Dean gives that pen to the woman, 1/ who are you? 2/ just trust us, there’s a reason. That’s so great, and so gratifying for us.
Rock, paper, scissors! That was soooo adorable! And again, a nice callback to previous seasons.
I need to read the whole thread first. Yay rocks paper scissors!
//who are you?// hahahahahaha
And mutecypher, it’s more equal opportunity monologuing. Female villians need their moment on the stage too.
//It’s season 11, they don’t even bother with superfluous exposition anymore://
True! But that witch did some serious monologuing – with Sam restrained. I think he was just held by her spell. So they didn’t need anything from the prop department for that scene.
I was a bit disappointed the hairdressing witch didn’t kick off her monologue with ‘Just a trim, sir?’ ‘or ‘Going anywhere nice for your holidays?’
I’m just relieved that she didn’t try to cut Sam’s hair.
Yes, very disappointing.
//I’m just relieved that she didn’t try to cut Sam’s hair.//
Or give him frosted tips. Or a mullet. #endofSupernaturalasweknowit
//Or give him frosted tips. Or a mullet.//
#mentalpicturesthatcantbeunseen
Very disappointing about the lack of restraints, not the lack of hair cut.
// that witch did some serious monologuing//
She did! I don’t want them monologuing every week, but from time to time, i kind of like it. It’s like that horrible habit that you end up liking because it’s someone you love who has it, you know? Monologuing villains in Buffy, SPN,… It’s sometimes super clumsy, but I have a sort of fondness for it. And I love Paula’s excuse about equal opportunity. Ha!
Thank you, Phil Sgriccia, for my new desktop.
Going back to get that screen cap, I saw the end of the previous scene, where the dead husband comes back to kill his wife. I love the line “I’m not gonna hurt you, I’m your husband.” Made me laugh out loud.
“I’m not going to hurt you” was another call out to The Shining.
And I’m ashamed that my male privilege prevented me from seeing the monologuing witch as simply an example of equal opportunity villainy. Back to the gulag for me. Good thing I like borscht.
Ha, yeah, that was pretty clear. ;) How many episodes have referenced The Shining by now? I can think of four occurrences off the top of my head, and I have a pretty terrible memory. Maybe there’s a wiki page that lists them, somewhere.
I love that the show is as obsessive as its fans.
Really, it’s the “I’m your husband” that made it funny for me. Maybe I’m the only one amused by that sort of things.
//Thank you, Phil Sgriccia, for my new desktop.//
The Too Tired motel – I have only just got the joke.
(Laughs uproariously, alone, for five minutes.)
I agree with you on the new desktop. My god, Baby looked gorgeous!
Am I alone in seeing the rock-paper-scissors as the possible beginning of the end? Or am I over thinking it? Did Dean just really want to win this time?
No, you’re not.
But. But I don’t want to think about it. No. Nooooo.
When he won I thought of Willem Dafoe’s first lines to Charlie Sheen in this. About 1:30 in.
I suspect Dean has heard “put your mouth on this” before.
Wow. I’ve been trying to come up with a response to that scene, and I’m suddenly finding my vocabulary inadequate. That was . . . Freudian.
Sometimes Freud is a hammer in search of a daffodil.
The Pleasure Principle was definitely operating for those guys.
That clip- oh my…
Only every episode since midseason, especially Into the Mystic. Do not want…
That was in response to “Am I alone…” Not “put your mouth on this…”
Hilarious
Just about every episode this season is killing it for me this season. Hungover Dean is my favorite and just watching those bowlegs come into the kitchen with that floppy sock on one foot was just so pleasurable.
Yes. So very much yes.
I caught the floppy sock on my second rewatch and just about died from my insides going all gooshy.
Was anyone else thinking, “where is the baby?!”
With the grandmother–they ask Melissa this when they go to interview her after Dan’s death. So don’t fret! The baby was taken care of.
Okay, (sigh) good.
Is this the (relatively) new mother in you talking? :-)
Without a doubt.
Hey, y’all. I just rewatched Into the Mystic – wayyy behind on comments – wonder if anyone else caught the wooden version of the amulet in the box at the end?
Heart-crack.
Yes, Twitter declared the box to be the same as Season 1 “Home”. Besides the Samulet Dean’s wide silver ring appears to be in there with maybe a first pocketknife along with Dean’s family photos which Sammy gave back to him in “Brother’s Keeper”. Very heart breaking especially as these things seem to be mostly Dean’s. It’s as if Sam is holding this dream of retirement for his brother.
Yeah, that’s how I saw it.
There’s also one of Sam’s green army men and some kind of drawing by a child. *double heart crack*
Like, these are the only possessions they own that 1. matter and 2. connect them to the continuum of their lives.
The distillation of meaning over the years. Is it a reflection of their minimalist lives that it comes down to the content of this one box? Or that with so much loss in your life you have to let go, you can’t hang on to it without it breaking you?
Honestly? If there was a fire in my apartment, and I had time, I would take 2 things.
1. My cat
2. A box I have that is just like that (only mine is an old-fashioned hat box). Filled with precious personal items from my whole life – in some cases, there are things in there that I have somehow kept since I was 5 years old – irreplaceable.
Maybe it’s partly because (and I say this with no self-pity) that my adult life, in general, has not been filled with long-lasting things (outside of my friendships). I don’t have boxes filled with my kids’ artwork, or precious anniversary gifts from a husband/Partner. I don’t have much “stuff” at all and my teenage years and my 30s were horrible (20s were okay) – a total break from the happy kid I was. The past wiped out. So these things – that bring on happy childhood memories – are talismanic to me. Memories of peace from when I was little and my life hadn’t become a shit-show yet.
Who knows. Maybe everyone has a “box” like that one. Things that cannot be replaced. Things that remind you who you are, where you came from.
Acting teacher Lee Strasberg said, “Sometimes you look at a pair of your shoes and you see your whole life.”
My objects are like that for me.
Last year I moved house after staying in this one place for the longest I’d ever lived as an adult. Going through my stuff to get ready for the move was like was reviewing and then throwing years, decades even, of my life away in the shape of books, papers, files, objects. Some projects/relationships/years had not gone particularly well and yet I’d still hung on to evidence of them, maybe in the hope of redeeming the memory of them in some way. Anyway, oodles of stuff got thrown away. Hurrah. But then I came to ‘the tin’. It’s a tiny tin box containing a tiny broken gold bracelet (a present given to me when I was a child); a broken earring (from my mother, given to her by her mother, promptly broken by me. Are you detecting a theme with the broken things here? One day I really really will get them fixed.) Also a brooch from a family friend (the clasp is too loose, it’s unwearable).
Oh, and baby teeth. What’s with the teeth? I don’t need teeth. They are kinda disgusting. Yet I hang onto them. Just whhyyyy??
//the hope of redeeming the memory of them in some way// You nailed this. I keep a picture from a terrible relationship in my memory box, not because I’m wistful about that person but it reminds me of that time, and I look in that girl’s face and wonder what she was thinking, as if answers are going to jump out years later.
Broken things. There is a broken golden anklet from my mom in my box, one of the few things I kept after she died. It represents a lot of family secrets to me, that we don’t really know other people and their history as well as we think.
//It represents a lot of family secrets to me, that we don’t really know other people and their history as well as we think.//
Oh, boy, Paula. No we don’t. I wish there was a word for the vertiginous emotions experienced upon finding an object-belonging-to-a-family-member which reveals that the past is indeed another country. I can cope with it on Supernatural, but in real life that feeling does my head in.
I have actually read Mari Kondo and her Art of Folding Things Up and she’d have words to say about hanging onto things which are broken. But I think I’m generally more in the Elizabeth Bishop school of clutter management ;-)
Also I should get rid of those teeth in case I get knocked over by a bus and someone finds the teeth and thinks I’m a witch.
Helena,
Maybe a thousand years from now they’ll find your baby teeth and clone you like Jurassic Park. Depending on your point of view, that could be awesome or disastrous. Don’t let that color your decision to keep or pitch them though…
Helena, we are currently in the Holocene era. So your future clone could be a denizen of the Holocene Urban Preservation Space. Hopefully not of the Holocene Game Reserve.
Helena, //maybe in the hope of redeeming the memory of them in some way. //
Paula is right, you nailed this. I’m going to put this up on my mirror to think about. Sheeeit.
//Depending on your point of view, that could be awesome or disastrous.//
Melanie – or just possibly, an anticlimax? Will there be zombies? Will Chris Pratt still be around?
mutecypher – If I am cloned, I would to it to be in the Plasticine Era, please.
Heather – thank you :-)
My, it’s getting hard to post in this thread now it’s so long.
//Some projects/relationships/years had not gone particularly well and yet I’d still hung on to evidence of them,//
I’ve moved twice since my divorce (6 weeks till my one year ‘anniversary’) and I’ve kept the heavy boxes of photos through both moves, though I can’t bring myself to look at them. My parents often got angry with me for throwing away medals and trophies when I was a kid – I hated physical evidence of peak experiences and wanted them to live only in memory. I’m still that way. But with a daughter, I’m afraid of throwing away something that may remind me of happy day-to-day events with her. The past can be this tentacled beast that you just keep wrestling with.
I can’t use “leviathan” with this crowd.
Sam’s box is interesting because, as well as being filled with memories and significant objects, it’s also something to hold on to with hope for the future. Most memory boxes tend to look back to a happier or easier or just a significant time, rather than forward as well.
//Maybe everyone has a “box” like that one. Things that cannot be replaced. Things that remind you who you are, where you came from.//
I don’t have a box. Or rather, the objects I own don’t currently have much meaning to me. There are things I keep (deer antler, ocarina etc.) but I probably wouldn’t notice if they disappeared.
I do have some letters, though. Since I was 15, I’ve written a letter every year to my future self to open in 10 years time. It’s kind of an experiment, to measure how much I’ll have changed in a decade, and to remind me of who I used to be. I’ll open the first one in 4 years.
(They say that the brain perceives your past and future self as different people rather than being continuous with your present self. I guess that’s why these reminders are important.)
There is one more letter I kept – it was a Christmas present from my best friend, the person I let in the furthest. I couldn’t find it when I was last at home, and I’m scared my mother threw it out, as she’s rearranged my stuff since I left. If it doesn’t turn up, I’ll be gutted.
Like the rock/paper/scissors win the box felt really like a harbinger to me. Hell, that whole episode was a Banshee wailing about the end in my heart. It was lovely the idea of moving on and being really happy because the time is right…but…
Does anybody know what the story of Dean’s ring is? I’m not sure they’ve ever addressed it except I’m sure there’s fanfic about it.
I don’t think there was ever a story built around this (didn’t it go the way of the samulet because Jensen was tired of wearing them in rl?) Dean had mad skills with that silver ring, popping a beer open with it in one hand.
Kripke said on one of the DVDs that they got rid of the amulet as part of the storyline, but Jensen had hated it because it kept falling into his face and had chipped a tooth. Kripke asked Jensen if it was time to get rid of the ring and bracelets, moving away from a kind of 80’s look. JA said whatever you think. I think the amulet had a story line end but the rest just disappeared. I always thought hunters would be *surrounded* by silver and amulets and various tattoos as part of their lifestyle, covering all of the various protections offered by different religions and mythologies. I miss that look on Dean.
I guess the jewelry was one of those things that seems like a good idea character-wise when you’re not sure if you’ll get even one full season–and then looks very different actor-wise 4/5 years in (and however many chipped teeth/scarred fingers later)….
//The past can be this tentacled beast that you just keep wrestling with.
I can’t use “leviathan” with this crowd.//
Mutecypher, I was thinking Kraken. The bursting closets are my black spot warning me that the past is threatening to drag down my ship which I’m sailing blithely on the Sea of Today towards the Shores of Tomorrow. Corny but true. In 22 years of military life I moved 19 times. I was a bit sanctimonious about staying decluttered compared to my mom who has not moved in 55+ years and never throws out anything. We’ve been here for 11 years and I’ve gotten nearly as bad as Mom. Karma…
I’ve kept the heavy boxes … I can’t use “leviathan” with this crowd.
Sure you can.
Re: Das Vessel, John Badham shoots those chuckleheads like it’s the last great challenge in a dull world. There’s a directness and a clarity to his closeups that blasts right past any attempts at glamour and just delivers feeling, which is, I think, the MO of the best parts of these later seasons. Top effort all around on this one.
Hello, beastie.
Nice!
Hey, hermano.
Took me a few seconds, Jessie. Then I laughed so hard I scared my cat.
ha ha, sorry cat!
Sorry Melanie for mutinying on your thread it was unintended! All your talk of ships must have had me turned around!
Oh, not my thread, I abandoned ship on the memory box thread upstream.
SUBMARINES!
DEAD NAZI NECROMANCERS!!
MEN IN SAILOR HATS!!!
You would think John Badham of all people could have rustled up a bit of tap dancing.
//You would think John Badham of all people could have rustled up a bit of tap dancing.//
LOL! A man can only do so much, Helena.
//LOL! A man can only do so much, Helena.//
Indeed.
But I can still dream.
Or alternatively, Helena, which I guess makes Amara Jerry, and Sam… Dean Stockwell?
Lol
Let’s do the show right here!
OR:
http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=102699
I had a feeling Channing, Gene, Frank, et al would be making an appearance.
Wrong link. That’s supposed to be Sheila’s comments on the joys of Fleet Week in NY.
Haha, you and I and links are not a good fit.
“The Men of Letters send their regards.” Hell yeah. I whooped a little at that opening. Delphine was such a hard-core bad ass. I also loved how the shot her in that opening. When you first see her, she’s so tiny in her nightgown in the doorway but by the end, she looms large and triumphant.
I’ll say it again everything is better with EVIL NAZI NECROMANCERS.
The writers lurk on your blog, Sheila, I’m sure of it now. Paris MoL chapter house (the Sam Winchester exchange program we discussed) and our extensive discussion about how everything is better with EVIL NAZI NECROMANCERS.
Why is it always the French girls who get the great lingerie? But yes, so soft and delicate looking then she stabs him with her hairpin. How great that Delphine gets to wield the hand of God against the evil Nazi Necromancer tool…I mean Thule. I wonder if the HoG really is used up? Maybe it just won’t work for Lucifer.
Poor Dean feeling useless in the fight against Amara and helpless to save the crew of the sub, but, hey, he thought about it. That would have bean a total DW move to say, screw history, save the sub, the girl, and the artifact. Do you think he could have plunged that knife into Delphine’s heart? Not a chance! Oh, Dean, don’t ever change.
Un-Holy Soulonoscopy, Batman!!! Yay for the Bobby shoutout!
Kinda funny that Dean says, “can’t really mess with history at 20,000 leagues.” But when Sam says “you expect me to wait here while you and Cass play Jules Verne.” Dean says, “Who?”
Was anybody besides me thinking that if anybody can rearrange history it’s Dean Freaking Winchester?
For the worse? Yes, absolutely!!! :-D
//Sam Winchester exchange program we discussed//
Will Sam be going there to learn French? Because he really needs to learn French. Enough with GoogleTranslate already, Sam!
For a guy that can read and translate Medieval Italian on the fly, you would think basic French wouldn’t be a leap (hello, Bob Berens?)
Imagine Sam in some DaVinci Code adventure bringing the Spear of Destiny to Paris, diving into scrolls where the Merovingians who were actually nephilim and Knights Templar were MoL.
‘Bonjour. Je m’appelle Sam. Je chasse les monsteurs.’
Go on Sam, you can totally rock this.
Helena,
That sounds so sexy when you put it that way…
“Aller sur Sam , vous pouvez totalement rock ce.” – Google translate
I was hoping for the sexy French word for you ROCK. Hahaha. That’s what I get for being cheeky…
Lyrie, we need some help here!
Exactly. They NEED a French coach on set. Our own little infiltrator.
All well and good. But if Sam goes to Paris they need to do a real French Mistake-style alternative universe with Sam as Inspector Clouseau and Dean as Cato, always trying to get the jump on Sam.
And maybe trying to get Spear of Destiny from Evil Nazi Necromancers (do we really need “evil” in that description? Are there non-evil Nazi Necromancers? Perhaps conscripted against their will by evil-er Nazi Necromancers?) – instead of just dealing with jewel thieves.
Isn’t the Spear of Destiny is already in the bunker? I’m sure I spotted it in a scene where Dean is going through a pile of objects, including what turns out to be the key to Oz. Did I dream that?
True, it is unnecessary to say evil + nazi + necromancers because there are none that are fluffy in any combination of those three (I spent last night trying to come up with a scenario, and nothing).
My fault for taking us on the convoluted world tour of the Spear of Destiny earlier. It is in the Bunker which begs the thought, is it also part of the Hand Of God? Didn’t Sam say that phrase referred to a number of items on the earth that had been touched by God that held power (maybe I heard this wrong?)
Spear of Destiny might fall into that category. Also Chuck’s typewriter. Just saying.
All I know is that Dean better be painting those archangel warding sigils that worked against Lucifer on the sub everywhere in the Bunker.
If given the Alec Guinness pronunciation of “e-ville,” it could signify “the absolute worst.” That would be a properly dramatic usage, I think.
If we didn’t like the Spear of Destiny we could just leave it as a McGuffin to be named later for the writers. The true goal would be to have Dean pouncing upon Sam from the canopy of a bed or leaping out of a refrigerator.
//McGuffin to be named later// *snorts loudly in my coffee*
//Dean pouncing upon Sam from the canopy of a bed or leaping out of a refrigerator//
mutecypher, have you been reading fanfic again?
It may be unnecessary, but I think ‘Evil’ is an essential part of the title – it adds a certain emphatic quality to the description, even if it’s redundant/tautological. It adds a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ if we’re gonna get all French about it.
And yay, bring out the Spear of Destiny. Any excuse for more scenes of poking around in the Bunker (not a euphemism).
// It may be unnecessary, but I think ‘Evil’ is an essential part of the title//
Agreed. It’s not that the others were nice nazis, but, you know, they didn’t come back to life, at least.
// Why is it always the French girls who get the great lingerie?//
If you could see the state of my bras…
// Exactly. They NEED a French coach on set. Our own little infiltrator.//
YES, please! Which is also exactly what I said when I saw Dean as a sailor.
“Vas-y, Sam, tu peux tout déchirer !”
That touching-Sam’s-soul scene was horrible. I was so glad they brought back the blood thingy to expel angels! Especially since I re-watch the scene where Anna uses that for the first time not very long ago.
Awful. Also the scene with that young sailor who kept asking about baseball and his questions taking a deep turn in the end and Dean’s reaction changing from annoyance to emotional wreckage. Ugh.
Yes, “saving people” comes before “hunting things.”
Was thinking about how this was another good episode for our season of the Woman. Delphine was a great one-off character. A spy, a warrior, a martyr. I love her holding the knife out to Dean, saying “kill me” in such a matter of fact way. Sam’s Rosie the Riveter comment about an all hands on deck situation for the Men of Letters putting that in context. She might not have been a Woman of Letters if not for the war.
Was this another parallels episode in that the sub crew sacrificed themselves to take out the enemy for the greater good by using a tool of God? I don’t think I like where that’s heading.
//Was thinking about how this was another good episode for our season of the Woman.//
I agree Paula! I’m hoping that this is all leading up to a season finale in which God/Chuck apologizes to Amara for the dick move of locking her out of his playhouse in the first place. And then it’s puppies, marshmallow fluff and air guitars for everyone.
And maybe that means there’ll be some expanded recurring female presence in the show going forward. (All hail Jodio and her awkward sex-talk dinners!)
Also: Lalalalalala! I am ignoring your second paragraph about possibly foreshadowing sacrifices for the greater good.
//And then it’s puppies, marshmallow fluff and air guitars //
Mental image of puppy-monkey-baby. Damn you, Dew! (If you don’t know what I’m talking about DO NOT GOOGLE! Trust me. You do not want that image in your head!)
Yes, I was also thinking Delphine was another great heroine. I was trying to figure out why it is that Dean particularly empowers women to be awesome. It’s not that they’re not already awesome, but somehow they really step it up around him. For example: Sheriff Donna couldn’t get bunny head out of the wheel chair when she was with Deputy Doug, but with Dean she whacks the head off a vampire as easy as eating a powdered doughnut. I think he just really loves all things Woman, the whole package. Women sense it subconciously, and respond spectacularly. I think they also sense his vulnerability in a way that men wouldn’t sense and the “mama bear” instinct kicks in. This is by no means all the explanation.
I am also not saying that Aileen and Delphine were not heroic without Dean, as we clearly saw in the opener. “I just can’t quite put my finger on it.” Oh, Mara! You said it sister.
// Dean’s reaction changing from annoyance to emotional wreckage.//
Dean feeling helpless is the worst – heart breaking. He has lived his whole life saving Sam, people, the world. Even failure is bearable if he tries, but just complete helplessness… He’d be better off without that weight on his shoulders, but then he wouldn’t be Dean.
Hi there!
De-lurking to say WOW and OMG. Sheila, thank you for your insights and putting into words all my cluttered thoughts and feelings about the show, the characters and the acting. Also thanks to all the commentators for the intelligent, hilarious discussions.
Supernatural is my happy place and all of you have made it that much brighter.
Hello! Thanks so much for showing up here and commenting! Very glad you like what I’m doing – I appreciate it! (and yes, the commenters here are just the best!!)