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Jurassic Park? Come on now. Do they think I’m 12 years old? Please let this be over soon.
This was a “Super Power Kids KA-POW” Episode, which made Dean and Sam look … middle-aged … They were basically extras to all these youngsters … in their own damn show. Not crazy about that.
Not crazy either (understatement) with Dean pulling a gun on a troubled young girl. I can’t justify it. I tried. I really thought about it. For 2 minutes. And then thought: Nope.
it could have worked (maybe) if they had spent last season doing what they should have been doing – exploring the relationship of the sons to Mary. To me, Mary is a VOID. Dean and Sam being like, “We’ll get her back NO MATTER WHAT” falls flat. Why do you want her back? You barely had the lady. AND you never talked about it. It was as though it never happened. They are now paying for the lost ground of last season. So Dean “snapping” feels un-motivated. And Sam not intervening – not being like, “Hey. Dean. This is not who we are.” also was … not good. The characters had vanished. Mary is now an unwelcome PLOT POINT and not their beloved Mother and I’m very saddened by this.
I continue to be impressed with Calvert. He is a very good actor.
Oh: and angels need to drive cars now?
and … they’ve developed a way to break through angel warding with … the haka?
I admit – even though it was weird – it was nice to see angels be all-powerful again, and not tubercular bureaucrats.
Were they angels though?
They can make a sigil melt off a wall by doing the haka but still need a Subaru to get to the boat?
This didn’t feel like Supernatural to me. All those long swoopy car shots – like … did you hire a helicopter or something? and Those long panning shots along the boat and then up into the air – they looked super expensive and not at all like the show – CGI creations? I don’t know – it was well done, but was too slick for me. And then they were doing all this “sudden zoom-in” to people’s faces. Once or twice – okay. But every line makes it look … The Office.
And Patience’s dad saying “don’t come back” – No. Doesn’t work. Maybe it’s the actor they cast. He’s too mild/flat. He’s too tender with her. He needs to be harder – or at least HEARTbroken when he says that – not just like, “Hey, pick up some McNuggets on your way back. Oh wait, don’t come back.”
So Patience will now join the group – making the Youngsters outnumber our Leads. This makes me uneasy. Although okay maybe they need to court a younger audience to add to the one they have.
SPOILER TO THOSE WHO DON’T LOOK AHEAD AND NORMALLY I DON’T LOOK AHEAD OR WATCH PREVIEWS BUT UNFORTUNATELY I FOLLOW HER ON INSTAGRAM SO THAT’S HOW I FOUND OUT
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I am intrigued by the fact that Danneel is going to appear on the show in a recurring role as a faith healer. I’m intrigued by the possibilities here and also … frightened. Again, my trust in the show has been broken. (Jurassic Park. #enoughsaid) I actually have wondered why this has never happened before (Danneel doing a guest spot or whatever), so I’m happy for all involved and I think it will be interesting, throwing her into the mix, not to mention the fact that she’s his wife. I hope they do right by her – and I hope it’s an interesting arc. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if she became a love interest …… for Sam? I have a sick mind.
But I am also glad she’ll have at least a small arc because after an entire episode dominated by 18 year olds … I am looking forward to a 30-something woman being onscreen.
I would love to see her play a strong character of strong faith who doesn’t turn out to be a scammer. It would be an interesting foil to Dean’s lack of faith. And yeah, I can see Sam being attracted to someone like that. I haven’t seen much of Danneel’s work, but I’m looking forward to it.
I’m not as disappointed about this episode because I expected it to be sub par although I admit that the Jurassic Park angle is simply stupid. I expected to be less than overwhelmed because this is exactly what happened the last time SPN tried to do a spinoff. The episode was about warring vampire families in Chicago and it was dreadful.
In that back door pilot, the actors were young, beautiful and incredibly boring. Non-entities that you simply didn’t care about. Given the fact that the Wayward Women consist mostly of actors that we are familiar with, it might have a better shot. But as Mark Sheppard said years ago, you watch SPN because you care about the boys. I’m not sure if I care that much about Jody and company.
Your comment about Patience’s conversation with her father is absolutely right but it may be a shout out to Sam’s history. Didn’t both John and Dean tell him not to come back when he left to go to college/with Ruby respectively? Regardless, I agree about your comment about the actor. This man was raised by Missouri and raised a daughter that is strong enough to leave when she thinks its necessary? I don’t think so. He’s just not written very well.
I also got a feeling of dejavu in watching this because it reminded me of season 11 which started pretty well but then went completely off the rails about halfway through the season (unlike last season which went off the rails early and stayed there).
Also re the casting of Daneel. According to comments made at the conventions, they had been trying to get her on the show for years but she always said no because she felt that this was Jensen’s gig, but she mentioned that she was ready and they jumped on it.
I finally got to watch it tonight. I’m curious about Patience’s Dad’s line, “You don’t come back.”. I may be the only person on the internet that did not read it as him kicking her out. I heard a tremor in his voice, not anger, and I thought he was telling her that she would get sucked into the Hunter life of she started acting on her visions. Not that she couldn’t come home.
I really liked Kaia; her introduction was great. I liked the action shots, the shifting focus on the camera, that close up of Dean’s face after he sees Mom.
I like it that we’ve got another differently hued world, and that the Winchester s were oblivious to the monster footprint (way too big to be a dinosaur–).
I like it that we’re apparently done with the wishy washy angels ( who still have broken wings, hence the stolen cars). This year they seem desperate, which makes them more interesting as opponents.
What can I say? I liked it.
I finally got to watch it tonight. I’m curious about Patience’s Dad’s line, “You don’t come back.” I may be the only person on the internet that did not read it as him kicking her out. I heard a tremor in his voice, not anger, and I thought he was telling her that she would get sucked into the Hunter life of she started acting on her visions. Not that she couldn’t come home.
A thousand years later, you are no longer the only person on the internet who thought that? I thought it could go either way, but based on his reading, I chose to go with this interpretation. Hard to say if Patience heard it that way, though.
What I liked: Jack seeking out the dream walkers, not just running aimlessly, but trying to prove himself good. I was right there with S&D thinking Jack had killed the first guy. It was a very good twist that the angels came after and killed him. And I very much enjoyed Jack asking them if they really thought he was capable of that. That whole interaction was the good part plus showing Kaia something obviously beautiful to ease her mind. So basically Jack, Jack was awesome.
Not so much: I was never really on board with the one alternate universe except as a device to be rid of FMW (Freaking Mary Winchester) or maybe a brief visit from Bobby and now there are infinite universes? Its like a Marvel crossover with Thor and Loki Winchester surveying the nine realms. Or like that time I got separated from my class on the 9th grade trip to Disney World. Did you know there’s a Dumbo ride in every section of the park – Dumbo goes to Agribah, Dumbo goes to space, Dumbo goes to the Cretaceous period where he runs across Sam & Dean…literally.
I also completely agree about Dean pulling the gun on Kaia and Patience’s Dad being all, “Don’t come back.” Parents just don’t do that! Ok, some do, but not a moderately sane parent like her Dad. And I wish these cosmic entities would stop thinking that these grown men need their mommy back. We have Amara to blame for this in the first place. Maybe John Winchester will come back, put a round between Mary’s eyes, and tell the boys to get over it already. Then he can’t stay because he and the real Bobby are letting the angels know who’s boss upstairs and he torches the bunker on his way out so the boys won’t get too sissyfied.
Yep, it’s time for Mary to die for good. Let her die, let the boys grieve, give them closure and close that chapter for good. My problem with this arc is that Samantha Smith simply isn’t as good an actress as JP or JA. I didnt believe her as a bad ass during the BMOL fiasco and I didnt buy her as a hunter. Maybe it was a lack of clear direction because no one seemed to know what to do with her after she came back and the actress also said that she didn’t have a clear handle on what Mary was. It’s past time for Mary to die.
One more comment. Even though SPN can be disappointing and down right awful sometimes, I’m not as upset about as some people because I don’t really expect to be great all the time – nothing ever is. And with almost 300 episodes, I can always rewatch another episode when I need my SPN fix. Like I can watch the pilot episode over and over again and I have! It’s like watching Frenzy once and watching North by Northwest 16 times.
I freely admit that I am not the target audience for this spin-off, and maybe it’s because I’m fairly drunk, but I can’t say I agreed with a single choice made by any single professional associated with this episode. Except for Kaia and the person who cast her, and for Calvert. The rest of you need to get your heads examined.
//I’m fairly drunk//
So was Phil Sgriccia.
I’m not sure I’m gonna be good with seeing dinosaurs or some other prehistoric creature on SPN – those two genres seem too opposite. I admit, this is a weird mindset to have for a show that has witches, angels and fairies. Then again, maybe the writers have the skills to get me to accept Sam and Dean battling a raptor.
I was also a little freaked out by those quick zoom-in shots – there were so many of them in a short span that it was impossible to not notice. Gotta go back and see who directed this – if it’s a newbie, maybe they decided to push the envelope and try some extreme camera tricks.
When Dean pulled his gun on Kaya, I was like “not necessary!” but I guess he’s on a mission to get Mary back. Like some others said, Mary is just a loose end that needs to cut ASAP. I’m not pining to get her back.
I do agree that Alex Calvert is pretty good as Jack and I thought the actress playing Kaya was good.
Oh, FFS.
That was a Berens episode, too. I feel, like, personally betrayed.
I do still love Jack, which is nice.
HA I hear ya.
Jack was great in the episode last night. I’m so impressed with Calvert. Knowing that all these “youngins” are just a set up for Wayward I’m actually not too bothered by that part of it. The back door pilot is coming soon and I think they are trying to correct their past mistake with “Bloodlines” and actually get us to see these girls and hopefully care about them before the pilot. I liked Kaya but I still have strong reservations about Patience and her gift.
I didn’t like Dean pulling the gun at all. I totally agree about the fact that show did not show enough depth of feeling last season to justify that reaction. If it had been Sam I would have been nodding my head but yeah….not Mary.
My other annoyance that stems back to last season and them actually showing and having a storyline involving the President. Show mentioned Obama many times but suddenly they diverged and had a different person as the President…..then last night they mention Trump. Pulled me completely out of the story because my brain started figuring out election years and if that line made sense. A small thing I know but it annoyed the heck out of me.
I don’t know how I feel about the dinosaur foot. The fact that I yelled “really?” in annoyance as my first reaction is probably how I’m gong to continue to feel.
I actually didn’t hate the episode but there were definitely some things I didn’t like.
Let me clarify a little on what I was talking about with Dean and the gun. I was typing very fast earlier while the 12 toddlers I take care of were napping….they can go from sleeping to awake and hyper in 20 seconds. It may have sounded like I was saying if Sam had pulled the gun I would have been nodding in understanding. What I meant was if Sam was in Mary’s place….being held prisoner and tortured in an alternate universe and Dean had just realized he was alive…..then I would have absolutely understood that reaction. The lack of feeling last season between Mary and the guys made it hard for me to accept that reaction for her.
I didn’t hate it as much I expected. Not a rousing endorsement by any means and the scene with Dean pulling the gun on the young girl was a total character misfire. Made me wonder if something was cut from the script of scene (Bobo has had that happen before, where there was too much content, but I can’t remember which ep – maybe We Happy Few – and said some things were edited). Last two seasons we had scenes of Dean threatening people but then got a glimpse that it was all a bluff from his reaction. Someone asked Bobo about that on Twitter last night and he responded that it was definitely a bluff on Dean’s part. Okay, but it’s not good when you need to explain after the fact what the character intended.
//All those long swoopy car shots – like … did you hire a helicopter or something? and Those long panning shots along the boat and then up into the air – they looked super expensive and not at all like the show – CGI creations?// A lot of these type of shots are done with a drone (a friend of mine is a cameraman and uses this all the time) so I imagine it’s a matter of the technology is more affordable now. And you’re right, Sheila, they don’t look like old SPN, but I loved them for giving that perspective of the wide-open spaces that they travel (I’ll grant you that those swooping views were a bit overused inside a single episode though).
As Jessie said above, I’m not the demographic for this spin-off so I focused on Jack’s story.
I was looking for signs of a bluff and I saw a trace on Ackles’ face, but I feel like they pushed past it so that it didn’t read. What a wasted opportunity. Compare Dean’s endearing interactions with Alice last week, “You gotta take care of you,” to the absence of connection with Kaia to the point of threatening her with a gun. I can see they wanted her connection to be with Jack, but it was such a total moment killer for me.
Spoiler possibility: I read that Kaia’s dreamwalking ability is critical to the mythology for the rest of the season. They wanted to integrate these characters into the Winchesters’ experience so that it would specifically not be like the Bloodlines spin-off attempt. I guess that translates into more of Kaia.
I have to admit that when I saw Sam and Dean in the footprint I thought “Kaiju, cool!” not Jurassic Park. Don’t you think Dean could charm Godzilla? Wouldn’t you love to see Sam getting dizzy as he spins around and around on Gamera?
Okay, JK.
I did like watching Dean process that Mary was alive (not that I love the continuation of the story line). And I had the same WTF, WTMFingF with Dean pulling that gun.
And the camera work – please SPN gods, never again.
Welp. They’re in the Green World.
Both Singer and Sgriccia, old timers on the show, tried new stuff when it came to introducing those new characters, and I don’t know how I feel about that: am I too old to appreciate this new style? I watch a few stuff aimed at younger audiences (and boy, do I feel it :) ), but none of those shows look like the guy behind the camera is having a seizure.
I am so happy with the casting of Kaia. Not that I have anything against incredibly pretty people, but if everyone looks like Patience, AND the set looks fake (and the dad looks fake. sorry), we’re in soap opera land. You know, with evil twins etc (still not over how stupid that was).
The bloopers video they released make me appreciate Calvert’s work even more. It’s pretty funny to think that the similitude between Castiel and Jack are somewhat rooted in how difficult it is for them to get through a scene with those guys. Ha!
The scene where they see several different worlds reminded me of the Wood between the Worlds in The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis.