Once again: if you’re not a Supernatural fan, this might be a tough read. I’m so busy with work, this is how I unwind.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 4 “Mint Condition” (2018; d. Amyn Kaderali)
I loved this episode. Perfectly in proportion. There was humor, clever-ness, a whole “world” erected – not a dumb AU world, but the real world of this comic book store and its enmeshed employees. I also really liked the “movie within a movie” – which actually did approximate 70s-era slasher flicks. Plus, opening with this spectacle:
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 5 “Nightmare Logic” (2018; d. Darren Grant)
Long scene between AU Bobby and Mary at the end and I just don’t care about either one of them and it’s upsetting that I don’t care. This episode had some good elements, except for the fact that Maggie was sent on a hunt by herself. Which makes me question Sam’s competence. As well as the competence of the writers to WRITE SAM RIGHT. Sam and Dean hug goodbye with Mom and it’s all so … empty. Which is then made WORSE by the elegiac little strains of the Winchester Theme beneath the scene. You bring Mary back and have her … hook up with Bobby? And … leave again? Why do you hate what Kripke set up? You think the “feminists” out here will balk at a woman being “just a mother”? This shit drives me bonkers. I’m a feminist. Give me Mother Mary again. You know who I loved, though? Who I thought had real potential, and I liked how she was written? Sasha, the daughter. But there’s a missed opportunity here. Instead of Dean giving a pep talk to this bitter woman – yet another one of his doppelgangers, with the booze and the pills and the daddy issues – how about commiserating? Or at least undercutting his pep talk with “I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m a fuckup. But what’s the alternative?” Remember him with Melanie? With Jamie? With all the other women he comes into contact with, before they forgot how to write the show? Let him be fucked up. He’s still a hero. You don’t need to remind us of that every other line, and he CERTAINLY can’t “buy his own press.” Sure, he does the right thing, but his life SUCKS. And he didn’t get to CHOOSE it, this life was chosen FOR him. Let him have some feelings about that. Let him have an EDGE.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 6 “Optimism” (2018; d. Richard Speight Jr.)
This has a lot of charm, I like a lot of this, but the big problem is: how they keep splitting Sam and Dean up. So Dean works a case with Jack and Sam works a case with Charlie. When my God just put those people in the background and let the guys work together, put them front and center FOR GOD’S SAKE. Sam and Charlie on a hunt … and she keeps getting annoyed that Sam relates to her as the other Charlie. When … duh … that’s how WE relate to her too. Why did they DO this? It really shows the cluelessness behind many of the decisions, as well as how much they don’t respect us. They think we just want to see familiar faces, they don’t think context matters. Stupid. Related: Felicia Day KILLS it with her monologue about the Angel War in the AU (even though I don’t care about the AU or AU Charlie, I’m so impressed with her acting in that monologue). But let’s get real: when Sam says “I have read all the books” I want to cheer. Enough with making everyone AROUND Sam smart. Enough with propping up the awesome-ness of peripheral characters AT THE EXPENSE of Sam and Dean. What is this? Charlie’s the one who figures out what the monster is, Charlie is the one who wants to rush the guy in the beekeeper suit and Sam holds back … There’s such concern with downplaying the LEADS. Why? Because they’re men? I’m sorry, but if you’re looking for a show about female empowerment … maybe Supernatural isn’t your show? Charlie – as she was – non-AU Charlie – was awesome. She brought her own skills to the table. She was great as support staff, and she also needed Sam and Dean to protect her. Think about “Pac-Man Fever”, one of my favorite episodes. She’s in over her head. This doesn’t make her a damsel-in-distress, or something retro and insulting. It just makes her a real person, who’s not been raised in the hunter life. I’m frustrated.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 7 “Unhuman Nature” (2018; d. John F. Showalter)
ONCE AGAIN Castiel makes a poor choice by trusting the hookah-smoking Russian shaman. “He seems trustworthy,” says Castiel. He does? In what universe? Why is Castiel still on this show? I mean, I know why, but it’s so annoying. Also, the amount of space given to Nick … NICK? REALLY? Now look, Mark Pellegrino’s work in Season 14 is magnificent. He has access to very very deep emotions and he’s amazing. But I don’t care about Nick, and NICK is getting all the heavy-lifting-acting scenes, while Sam and Dean just stand around. It’s infuriating, JA and JP are so good and they aren’t given anything to DO.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 8 “Byzantium” (2018; d. Eduardo Sánchez)
Sam, Dean and Castiel getting drunk is way way off. Castiel laughing uproariously? When has he ever laughed? What the hell show am I watching? This isn’t the show, it’s … fanfic. Written by Castiel fans. Featuring the ACTORS, not the CHARACTERS. Who’s running things over there? The loudest fans are Castiel fans so I guess it must seem to the writers like Cas is the main draw. Which is why Sam has barely had a freakin’ storyline of his own since … when. Gadreel possessed him? There was hope when he started getting visions in Season 11 … that Sam might rise to dominate his own storyline. But … it fizzled out.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 9 “The Spear” (2018; d. Amyn Kaderali)
The casting is bad. Michael, her minion, Duma the angel – identical types. You can’t tell one from the other. Cas says to Dean, “You seem good, lately. Happy even.” He DOES? Where? Oh my God, STOP IT.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 10 “Nihilism” (2018; d. Amanda Tapping)
Maggie is in charge of fighting the Monster Army. Because she “proved herself” by … being captured by the djinn in that other episode? Again, Dabb et al think “we” will “relate” to her, like she is “us”, she’s supposed to be adorable and plucky and brave-even-though-she’s scared. No. She’s a dumbass and she shouldn’t be in charge of the neighborhood book club, let alone a monster war. Her being in charge calls into question – YET AGAIN – Sam’s intelligence. Member when Jo came along on the hunt in Season 2? And how gung-ho she was? As well as reckless? But also smart. She was human. She was a young woman trying to prove herself. She felt real. Also “monsters” have lost their specificity and it’s crept into the language. “There are so many monsters.” “The monsters are coming.” Last note: I am angry that Castiel is the one who “hears” Dean’s pain, and not Sam. Sam has been support staff for years now. And this important moment, of getting a glimpse inside Dean’s head, is given to Castiel, not Sam. Honestly, it’s amazing Jensen and Jared haven’t jumped ship earlier, considering bullshit like this. Nice mirror moment at the end, though. Too bad it was all squandered – because it’s a really great metaphor for mental illness (similar to Sam trying to “ignore” Lucifer, as Lucifer blasted the Everly Brothers and threw firecrackers around).
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 11 “Damaged Goods” (2019; d. Philip Sgriccia)
Now this is what I’m talking about. This is the weirdness, the ambivalence, the ambiguity, the intensity and magnetic pull of the Winchester bond … what some people call “toxic codependency” (there aren’t enough eyerolls in the world) I call “dramatically compelling.” Plus, there’s Dean as Magic Mike XXL and that is also NEVER a bad thing. Even Mary suddenly worked, because she was looped back into the Winchester World, and there was all this weirdness. (Although I am unreasonably annoyed at Dean’s whole “I’m a terrible cook” thing. It’s been established … many many many times … that Dean can cook. He was in charge of making meals for Sam since he was 7, 8 years old. He’s made egg-white omelettes, he made a burger that was so good Sam took it with him when they dashed out the door. He is NOT a terrible cook. Ugh. Watch the damn show, writers.)
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 12 “Prophet and Loss” (2019; d. Thomas J. Wright)
High watermark Jared Padalecki. See what happens when you give Sam something to PLAY? He KILLS it. He can ACT. He can CARRY the show. So can Jensen. Castiel can’t CARRY the show. Claire Novak can’t CARRY the show. Ketch can’t CARRY the show. Or whatever other “fan favorite” you want to list. This is the Sam and Dean show. If you don’t give these actors stuff to PLAY, you’ve got nothing. And we’ve been going on two years now without these two guys being given anything substantial to play. This is why the Destiel-fan narrative of “Oh it’s so nice to see the boys let go of their toxic codependency” is so dishonest. They try to make it seem like they’re “concerned” for the relationship: it’s so much “healthier” that they aren’t so wrapped up in each other anymore … blah blah … when all it means is: Now that that bond has been broken, there’s more room for … Dean and Castiel to shack up? If you’re not watching the show through that lens, it literally is not there at all. Now listen: if that’s what floats your boat, HAVE AT IT. I ship all kinds of crazy shit. But I do not expect it to show up on the show. My interest is dramaturgical. If you do not have conflict binding together the lead characters – either in opposition or side by side, then you got nothing. If you think I’m wrong, take it up with the ancient Greeks.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 13 “Lebanon” (2019; d. Robert Singer)
So there’s a lot of this I liked. Sam’s TED talk. Jared’s acting was off-the-charts in his big scene with John. He literally looked like he was being blasted by pain, as from an outer source, like winds buffeting his face. But here’s my thing: I wish that there was still some ambiguity left, some things unsaid … I wish John had still been … John, in other words. Like, his “habit” of how he treats Sam and Dean … I wish that hadn’t been so easily broken. I wish the show was willing to swim around in torment, PTSD and unmanaged trauma. That’s what I wish. Dabb is not up to the task. People like Sera Gamble, Ben Edlund, Jeremy Carver … they got that, they knew that it’s the oil that makes the engine run. Again, if you want a happy family dinner, go write some fanfic. Have a blast. I’m basically bitter because of how the Mary storyline has been botched, and what a bad actress she is, so I am not softened up at all for this “reunion.” However, all of that being said, it was great to have it be just the Winchester Show, with both JA and JP having HUGE things to play, and all these mixed feelings. This is why I watch. I mean, look at him.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 14 “Ouroboros” (2019; d. Amyn Kaderali)
If I have to see one more Jack-Cas pep talk …
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 15 “Peace of Mind” (2019; d. Philip Sgriccia)
“What would the Winchesters do?” This comes just after comparing them – indirectly – to Mr. Rogers. MR. ROGERS?? The show used to have a darker view of these guys. They’re killers. They’re fucked up. They’re heroic and self-sacrificing, yes, but they are filled with self-loathing and – crucially – they don’t buy their own press. They’re humble. Think about how Dean interrogated the fan convention Sam and Dean … going on and on about how awful his life was. That’s real. Once you start having characters compare them to Mr. Rogers – without irony … Listen, I love Fred Rogers. He has nothing to do with Sam and Dean Winchester. I liked a lot of this. But, yet again, the case separated Sam and Dean … denying us the opportunity of seeing Dean deal with Sam who is … like this. Instead, we have Castiel. I’m going hard on Castiel now. I know he has his fans and I know some of you read me. We’re just going to have to really disagree on this one. I now actively resent what he has done to the show. It’s not as catastrophic as what Rowena has done – or what the bunker has done – but I’m just like “Get out of the damn WAY, angel, so I can see the BROTHERS, which is why I’m watching this thing in the first place.”
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 16 “Don’t Go in the Woods” (2019; d. John Fitzpatrick)
There was some good stuff here. Sam and Dean working a case. I mean, I have simple needs. I wouldn’t be complaining so much about all this other stuff if the show hadn’t abandoned its premise, which is Sam and Dean working cases. I liked the sheriff father, and I liked his son: the complexity in the relationship, the conflict. I loved the production design of that terrible bathroom at the camp site. It had real depth, you could SMELL it. I thought the “flashback” was embarrassing. Shockingly bad. You know. It’s always a mixed bag now.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 17 “Game Night” (2019; d. John F. Showalter)
It seems like a gravitational pull … how much this writing team wants to write a show about teenagers. It’s like they’re pissed they have to write about two adult white men. It’s so retro, so sexist, so problematic, to be writing for a show featuring two adult white men. Fine. Go write for another show, and leave me to my problematic fave. Side note: Calvert’s line reading of “22” … and how long he drew it out … was hilarious. Worthy to be compared with Jensen Ackles’ awareness of how to milk a line into infinity.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 18 “Absence” (2019; d. Nina Lopez-Corrado)
Why did they name the character “Sister Jo”? Do they not remember that there was a major character named “Jo” back in the beginning? A REAL “fan fave” not this fake “let’s get them on the convention circuit to milk money out of the fanbase” fan fave? Ah well. I don’t understand anything anymore. This was a nice scene … but again, Sam getting out of the car to talk on the phone … merely so Nick can get loose and attack him … calls into question Sam’s competence. Nobody over there seems to know how smart Sam is.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 19 “Jack in the Box” (2019; d. Robert Singer)
I hated the hunter’s funeral. Mom was Dean’s “hero”? Since fucking when? You aren’t “futzing with the mythology” – you’re ruining the mythology. You’ve destroyed the engine on which the show has run. And the hunter’s funeral, featuring a bunch of random extras drinking beer and chuckling about how stubborn Mary was … was nauseating. This is the Dean I know. Crying alone.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 20 “Moriah” (2019; d. Philip Sgriccia)
Sigh. Okay. Let’s just destroy the rest of the show by making it all … Chuck’s whim? And there are many other Sam and Deans out there? You mean, the characters we have invested almost 15 years in aren’t unique? There are others? When did this show become stupid? Member when it was a HORROR show? And, sorry: but re-creating some of the earlier cases in that final sequence just shows – in stark clarity – the drop-off in quality and artistry. I mean, what the hell, I know this has been one long bitch-fest, but I’ll keep watching. This is my blog, I’ll bitch if I want to.
Deadwood: The Movie (2019; d. Daniel Minahan)
It was just exactly what I wanted and needed. I could barely SPEAK when we finished watching.
No Direction Home (2005; d. Martin Scorsese)
A re-watch as I prepared for my article on Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revue, which I wrote about in my column for Film Comment. No Direction Home is an embarrassment of riches.
Being Frank (2019; d. Miranda Bailey)
This was okay. I reviewed for Ebert.
Love Crazy (1941; d. Jack Conway)
It’s to die for. One of my favorite William Powell-Myrna Loy movies. With great supporting cast of Gail Patrick, Jack Carson, Florence Bates, Elijah Cook Jr.
The More the Merrier (1943; d. George Stevens)
One of the sexiest most romantic romantic comedies ever made.
Wanda (1971; d. Barbara Loden)
What a movie. Written and directed by Barbara Loden (actress, wife to Elia Kazan – she had played “Maggie” in the one and only production of Arthur Miller’s After the Fall, put on by the fledgling Lincoln Center acting company). Wanda was her only film. She died young. Watching Wanda now (out on Criterion – how I wish she had lived to see this happen) just makes you YEARN for the other films she might have made. Not an ingratiating film or character. In an interview, Loden said that Wanda was “ill-equipped” for life. Baffled by the choices, the responsibilities, the woman just … floats. Wanda‘s final scene and final shot is devastating … but perfect. In today’s era of “self-empowerment narratives” – which I find increasingly alienating – I hunger even more for tough-minded tough-cookie hard-scrabble films like Wanda.
The Quiet One (2019; d. Oliver Murray)
Documentary about the Rolling Stones, using Bill Wyman’s personal archive of material. I reviewed for Ebert.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 1 “We Need to Talk About Kevin” (2012; d. Robert Singer)
A couple thoughts: I did not start watching the show through a certain lens. I was hooked by the acting and cinematography as well as the twisted fucked-up Winchester story. My only awareness of a fanbase were the “Destiel” people, whose eruption of outrage in re: Season 9, episode 3 is what made me start watching, out of curiosity. But all the other stuff – Wincest, etc. – wasn’t on my radar. I think that because I didn’t write my re-caps through a particular lens – defensive/offensive in re: my particular “ship” – because I was open to possibilities (in the story onscreen) – since the show ITSELF encourages that kind of ambiguity – the people who gravitated here were those who also liked to “swim in possibilities.” Who were interested in story and how stories are told. There have been a couple of “either/or” people who showed up here, Sam Girls, Dean Girls, who “hated” Sam, or “hated” Dean, but they didn’t last long. (Member “You’re all a bunch of annoying cunts,” anyone?) In general, you fine people who read my SPN stuff are “both/and” people. We like the show and how it’s told. We like trying to parse it out, figure it out, we like to look at all the possibilities. This is why the discussions here have been so epic. We all have our takes, and strong takes, but we aren’t positional about our SHIPS. Because we aren’t interested only in our ships. We’re interested in the SHOW. The way I look at it is: I don’t “ship” the brothers. I’m a fan of the SHOW. As I became more aware of the fan battles – most of which I stay out of – I became aware of what I call the “consensus thinking” in the different factions. If you ship THIS one thing, then you also like/hate this other character. And it all seems agreed upon. If you ship THAT, you hate THAT arc. Etc. I am so glad I watched the show completely free of all that white noise. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to “like” Amelia. I was open to the possibilities of that arc, and very curious about it. I like learning new things about Sam and Dean. People who are like “I hated Amelia, she was so rude” … that’s fine, it’s just that that’s not how I interact with stories. What does Amelia bring to the table as a STORY? Why did they write her that way? Back then, I trusted the writers. It was fascinating to me that Sam found comfort with a woman who was such a mess. It told me where HE was at. What a fascinating and complex choice. These secondary characters need to reveal something about our leads. Amelia – like Bela – was HUGELY revealing about our leads. I also didn’t know I was supposed to “hate” that Sam didn’t look for Dean, and see it as – dreaded word – “ooc.” So any time something bad happens, or your “fave” does something you don’t approve of – it’s “ooc.” Convenient! I find Lady Macbeth sinister, but I love her as a character. I don’t want to meet Raskolnikov in a dark alley, but he’s one of the greatest characters ever written. I didn’t know I was supposed to run out of town on a rail any woman who DARED to “come between the boys.” Nope. I don’t watch the show that way. People who aren’t on this wavelength are really turned off by me. Lol. I’ve seen your subtweets. I prefer Sam and Dean fucked up. Not ENEMIES, or at loggerheads, but fucked up. Human, making mistakes, screwing up, hiding things from each other (thinking they’re protecting the other), always making the same mistakes because they can’t help it. This feels very true to me. This whole “relatable” thing – a character deemed good/bad based on whether or not you “relate” to them … this is fine for fans (I guess? I’ve never rolled that way, but never mind) … but for a critic, which I am, and how I’ve approached writing about this show – relatability doesn’t matter. When Tommy Lee Jones came and spoke at my school, he was talking about Executioner’s Song, where he played serial killer Gary Gilmore. Someone asked if you needed to “like” the character you played. TLJ said, “No. You don’t need to like the character. You need to want to WATCH the character.” This is so well said. No matter what either of those guys did in early seasons, I wanted to watch what happened. Even when they betrayed each other, did awful things, etc. I’m not running around “defending” this or that choice. That’s not how I engage with stories. So all of this “I hated when Sam wouldn’t forgive Dean in Season 9” noise … is really foreign to me. Okay, yes, it was upsetting, but my God, it was great dramatically. It was supposed to be stressful and uncomfortable to watch. It showed character growth, and development. Wanting everyone to be nice and supportive to each other all the time is fine for fanfic and boring as hell onscreen (which we have now seen for the past 3 seasons, which are basically crowd-sourced from the fandom). I sound like I’m down on fanfic. Please. One of the first things I ever wrote was at the age of 12, and it was a screenplay about Han Solo’s scrappy 12-year-old sister. But I don’t think George Lucas needed to listen to my fanfic. I never showed it to a soul. It has nothing to do with the movie itself, it was a FANTASY. So anyway, back to the point. What is the point?
Season 8 has grown on me. I love that there really isn’t a Big Bad! That’s not the conflict. The conflict is between Sam and Dean, both of whom are “cheating” on each other … exacerbated by Dean’s PTSD – brilliantly played – but there isn’t a villain to focus on. There is just a shared QUEST. It’s also, get ready for it, one of the last times where Sam has anything to DO in this damn show. The whole “Sam didn’t look for Dean” thing is fascinating to me. As I’ve said repeatedly, this show lives or dies on the relationship between the brothers. “Relationship” doesn’t mean “harmony” or “good”. Relationship means relationship: DEALING with each other, REACTING to each other. Seeing the show only through one lens – a Dean lens, a Sam lens, a Castiel lens – OR through the lens of “this show is all about how the brothers will sacrifice everything for each other” … it’s too limiting for me. Maybe this comes from my acting background. Actors GRIP onto conflict, actors CREATE conflict if the script lacks it, actors LIVE on conflict, it is their oxygen. You can’t do ANYthing if you don’t have conflict. You learn this in your very first acting exercises. So if anything Sam does goes against “these brothers are soulmates,” if anything Dean does contradicts “he will do anything for Sam” … it’s criticized as “ooc”. But conflict between the characters is the good stuff, and what happens in Season 8 sets up the glory that is Season 9 – when Sam has had it with how their relationship is set up (and rightly so) and Dean is so crushed by all of this that his only recourse is to grow a beard. THIS is relationship. Sam has “changed the dance step.” Doing the trials made him change the dance step of the relationship. If Dean can’t adjust, then the relationship will end. This is REAL. This is how real people have to deal with each other, and grow and change … if you can’t let the other person grow and change, then the relationship will end. This is what is going on in Season 8 and Season 9. Some people call much of this “ooc.” You know what I call it? STAKES. Stakes are the building blocks of drama. If you don’t have high stakes, you have NOTHING. Sam and Dean – throughout Season 8 – cheating on each other with someone else – Sam going places Dean can’t follow – the entire relationship threatened … that’s HIGH STAKES. If you find it stressful? Mission accomplished. It should be stressful. All of this is just to say that I have eaten the plums, and I love the first episode of Season 8. I totally get why Dean is pissed AND I totally get why Sam was so grief-struck he took up with a lime-soaked veterinarian. That’s not “ooc.” That’s character GROWTH. And THAT’S what we’ve been missing since Season 11. If the main relationship isn’t somehow at stake … we’ve got nothing.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 2 “What’s Up, Tiger Mommy?” (2012; d. John F. Showalter)
One word: years ago, I remember being so struck by the actress who played the babysitter in When a Man Loves a Woman. She makes a HUGE impression. She’s caring for the kids in a home overtaken by alcoholism, and so she’s being looped into that dysfunction, expected to pick up the slack … when she’s a babysitter with her own life going on. I loved how the part was written, but mostly I loved how it was played. I didn’t even put it together until I looked it up on IMDB – that babysitter was played by Lauren Tom. Then, too, we’ve got the flashbacks: to Dean in Purgatory and Sam hitting a dog. Sam’s flashbacks are the ugliest this show has ever been … what’s with the yellow haze and white fuzzy light? But Dean in Purgatory? And that color scheme? THRILLING.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 3 “Heartache” (2012; d. Jensen Ackles)
I love that he directed himself in this scene. He understands what we want. He understands Dean. Bottom Dean.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 4 “Bitten” (2012; d. Thomas J. Wright)
I rejected this on first viewing as “Oh great they’re doing a found-footage episode.” I said this on here once and a couple of you wrote about how you loved the episode and why, forcing me (thank you) to take a second look. Once I opened myself up to what the episode was DOING, I saw it in a whole new way. First of all, those three young actors are just incredible in what they accomplished: not only filming the majority of the episode, but creating this twisty love triangle. And you know me with POV shifts and how sexy I find them (“Usual Suspects”! “Roadkill!”) and this POV shift – only seeing Sam and Dean through the eyes of the kids – and their theorizing about a “workplace romance” and how the whole thing in the house reflects what Sam and Dean are going through in Season 8 – tied to each other but cheating on each other – the love that dares not speak its name – the whole nine yards … I think “Bitten” works gloriously well.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 5 “Blood Brother” (2012; d. Guy Norman Bee)
BENNY. I LOVE BENNY. BARREL-CHESTED BENNY.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 6 “Southern Comfort” (2012; d. Tim Andrew)
Oh hell yes now we’re talking. Conflict. The relationship threatened. Garth trying to help. Garth the only one who doesn’t have unspoken issues. “That’s not how you say Balls.” Dean’s rage at Garth trying to “be Bobby” when … why haven’t YOU tried to “be Bobby” Dean? Garth’s filling a vacuum that needs to be filled. Again: conflict. The show allowing the lead characters to act badly. Not listening to the fan base who hates it when their heroes don’t act perfectly. We’ve lost a lot, people. We’ve lost so much. The writing team is basically afraid of the audience now.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 7 “A Little Slice of Kevin” (2012; d. Charles Robert Carner)
Mirror moment!
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 8 “Hunteri Heroici” (2012; d. Paul A. Edwards)
First of all: I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear Jensen Ackles say “What’s up, doc?” until I heard it. What an innovative episode, what a great way to propel the arc along, of Sam living in his own head … of holing himself up in the past, in whatever, in his Lysol-haze-lime-soaked flashbacks? They “buried the lede” here. It’s such an entertaining episode, so creative, that when Sam is “in” Fred’s head … and he realizes how much he’s been checking out … there was a real payoff. (Criticism: This was pre-Castiel knowing about “pop culture.” UGH. Someone wipe his brain clean. The “Scanners” line in Season 14 was so annoying I almost stopped watching. So … he doesn’t know about “pop culture” but he DOES know about “Ode to Joy”? So Castiel just doesn’t like socalled LOW culture? He picks and chooses?)
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 9 “Citizen Fang” (2012; d. Nick Copus)
Benny Dean Benny Dean I love so much Benny and Dean. I also love that Dean’s sex drive was still in operation. He’s lost without it. The writers are afraid of it. I think they think he’s a “user.” They don’t understand him.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 10 “Torn and Frayed” (2013; d. Robert Singer)
That final scene. Hoo boy. Those who “don’t like Amelia” because “she’s rude” and “she’s not nice to Sam” … clearly that’s your prerogative. But the payoff we get in that final scene here would not be possible without her being who she is. Sam’s different now. He is just now coming out of a year’s worth of grieving insanity. He’ll probably barely remember it in years to come. I barely remember 2009. And I had a whole relationship with a sociopath that year, because my radar was shot to shit by my dad’s death, and this predator sensed it. I barely remember this guy and he pursued me HARD. I honestly don’t know if I could pick him out of a lineup, that’s how much I don’t remember him (or anything else that year. There’s a reason Victorian-era people used to wear black armbands for a YEAR after a death in the family.) I was making poor choices because I was wounded. I totally get why Sam did what he did during his year with Amelia, and I totally get why it was awful to let her go (when this sociopath guy ghosted me, I went so crazy I should have been hospitalized, in retrospect. Meanwhile, now – with a clearer head – I can see that I dodged a MAJOR bullet.) So I don’t know, maybe I’m just not as well-adjusted as all the people giving Sam (and the writers) shit for him shacking up with Amelia. I totally get why he did it. I basically did the same thing. And lastly: Dean Eye Rub Behavior is one of my favorite things.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 11 “LARP and the Real Girl” (2013; d. Jeannot Szwarc)
See above comments in re: secondary characters. Different characters reveal different things about our leads. Garth is incredibly useful in that regard. So was Bela. So was Gordon. GORDON. And so is Charlie. Charlie arrives and brings with her humor, and a lack of ceremony. There are many moments here I treasure, mainly:
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 12 “As Time Goes By” (2013; d. Serge Ladouceur)
I look back with wonder on how exciting it was when they first discovered the bunker. Now I want to torch the thing to the ground. But it was very exciting at first.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 13 “Everybody Hates Hitler” (2013; d. Philip Sgriccia)
This is one of my favorite moments in the entire series. Talk about POV shift. But I can’t stand Dean’s red checked shirt.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 14 “Trial and Error” (2013; d. Kevin Parks)
This is almost a dress rehearsal for the GLORY that was “Ask Jeeves.” But the ensemble here is pretty funny too. I also liked how the conflict was starting to develop: Dean determined to do the trials, which is then short-circuited by Sam pulling it off. Which then sets an entire wheel into motion which will carry us through Season 9. THAT’S how you write an Arc. I also loved the character of Ellie: she was written with depth, she had a life, she had a backstory, she had complexity. She was competent, but she had made a bad judgment call. And when faced with the end, what does she do? Proposition Dean. If you WOULDN’T do that in the same situation, you are a stronger woman than I am. The whole thing made her very human. I liked her a lot. I also liked seeing both of the guys in glasses.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 16 “Remember the Titans” (2013; d. Steve Boyum)
Because I am a completionist, I tried to watch “Man’s Best Friends with Benefits” but couldn’t do it. There are all kinds of interesting metaphors here, particularly in a character who can’t/won’t die and how tormenting that could be.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 17 “Goodbye Stranger” (2013; d. Thomas J. Wright)
If I ever start doing re-caps again, I would like to make it to Rachel Miner, because I have a lot to say about her, and her acting style. Her line-readings. Nobody else puts a spin on lines like she does. Meg is different from Ruby, from Crowley, from blah blah. Member when the writers used to be able to write in different voices? I wrote about this in the re-caps dealing with Ruby. Demons have DIFFICULT language. It’s not realistic, it’s taunting, it’s sexual, it’s verbose. I feel for those actresses! They all do a great job. And Rachel Miner’s “take” on Meg’s verbal style is really really really good. That language is tough, people. She makes it work.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 18 “Freaks and Geeks” (2013; d. John F. Showalter)
This one episode is now the show that everybody “over there” WANTS to be writing now. They keep trying to turn the whole SHOW into “Freaks and Geeks.” With one crucial difference: now they want to write a show where the adults are lovely and responsible (Jody and Donna), as opposed to a creepy creepazoid like this dude – which is FAR more interesting a choice, with FAR more interesting possibilities.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 19 “Taxi Driver” (2013; d. Guy Norman Bee)
This scene. These two actors are so so so so GOOD.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 20 “Pac-Man Fever” (2013; d. Robert Singer)
Very good episode and it makes me cry every time. But why I love it is how it – again, almost by stealth – lets us deeper into Dean’s world, through this experience with a secondary character. When she says to him, “You see? You can’t stop playing either” I want to cheer. What an incredible way to address – without directly addressing – Dean’s PTSD. His whole WORLD is inside that video game. He can’t turn it off in Season 8. Tell the story by stealth. Don’t tell us everything. Create good metaphors. Then get out of the damn way.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 21 “The Great Escapist” (2013; d. Robert Duncan McNeill)
Welcome, Metatron. Who could predict from this episode that you would so outstay your welcome?
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 22 “Clip Show” (2013; d. Thomas J. Wright)
You keep saying that, Castiel.
Supernatural, Season 8, episode 23 “Sacrifice” (2013; d. Philip Sgriccia)
This is, all told, an incredible hour of television. Mark Sheppard’s work … the scenes between him and Sam … the sense you get of increasing danger, Jared Padalecki showing how much this trial is killing him … and then that final moment … gorgeous.
Supernatural, Season 5, episode 9 “The Real Ghostbusters” (2009; d. James L. Conway)
I basically have to ignore what has been done to Chuck in order to enjoy earlier seasons, which, yeah, kinda defeats the STUPID purpose in recent seasons. They haven’t done their job artfully enough. They’re superimposing stuff for their own mysterious reasons. It doesn’t work. I just put it out of my head to enjoy the show. Like:
Supernatural, Season 5, episode 10 “Abandon All Hope” (2009; d. Philip Sgriccia)
Even after so many times watching it, it still devastates.
Supernatural, Season 5, episode 11 “Sam, Interrupted” (2010; d. James L. Conway)
This is the Supernatural I know and love where a wraith basically infects them via a prostate exam. I mean, you can interpret it any way you want, but the possibility is there and it’s so freakin’ sick and hilarious. Both guys are great in this episode. “Dude. You canNOT hit that.” Love the emphasis in that line reading. Followed by “… so torn …” These actors are OUT there. Exhibit B: look at this moment. This is Schtick, pure and simple.
Supernatural, Season 5, episode 12 “Swap Meat” (2010; d. Robert Singer)
I love this episode but I still think the whole thing should have been Sam acting like the 15-year-old kid, and not the other way around. It’s just funnier to see Padalecki being that kid. Picturing Padalecki chowing down on a burger, and being all weird on the hunt for the bones … and having it be HIM, as opposed to that kid … just seems like a stronger choice to me.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 13 “The Slice Girls” (2012; d. Jerry Wanek)
Hot sex aside, one of the most entertaining parts of this episode is Sam dealing with Dean. I never get sick of it. “You know George Foreman named all his sons George.” But then Sam’s slow realization that … uh-oh. Sam scolding Dean for not using a condom. The whole nine yards. It’s some good Winchester shit.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 1 “Meet the New Boss” (2011; d. Philip Sgriccia)
At one point, do you say “Hey, Castiel. STOP ‘HELPING.'”
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 2 “Hello, Cruel World” (2011; d. Guy Norman Bee)
I love this scene so much.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 3 “The Girl Next Door” (2011; d. Jensen Ackles)
How wonderful it is, that the show once upon a time focused on Sam, and episodes in Sam’s life we haven’t seen before. This is a good one.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 4 “Defending Your Life” (2011; d. Robert Singer)
If you want to “bring people back,” this is how you do it. Also: just to say: Dean kills Amy, right? And then doesn’t tell Sam about it. His lying causes Dean to go through some shit, which will play out over the next 4, 5 episodes. If this were in Season 13, 14, it would have been wrapped up in one episode. They don’t seem to know how to MILK stuff anymore. Dean lying to Sam messed him UP. What a great insight into the character. Great opportunities for story-telling, alongside the main plot – which, let’s be honest, doesn’t matter as much as this central relationship.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 5 “Shut Up, Dr. Phil” (2011; d. Philip Sgriccia)
Jensen Ackles and the bees. It’s so absurd and I love it.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 6 “Slash Fiction” (2011; d. John F. Showalter)
I loved seeing JA and JP as Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 7 “The Mentalists” (2011; d. Mike Rohl)
I have made my thoughts on this episode very clear. One of my favorites. It’s just a dumb MOTW but it works so well. PLUS it has a great fight – which just highlights how pissed off I was in Season 14 when Sam starts to say “bitch” and stops himself and Dean says “rhymes with itch”. “Bitch” is woven into the show. It’s a joke between the brothers dating from the pilot. Okay, fine, we shouldn’t run around calling each other “bitch” but Supernatural is not a PSA for proper behavior. RHYMES WITH ITCH? RHYMES WITH ITCH?? Dean’s “quit being a BITCH” to Sam in this episode is thrilling. So even though it’s a run of the mill MOTW, it’s got all this great stuff surging underneath: Sam’s fury at Dean, Dean’s fury right back, Dean’s desire to get the relationship back on track, and etc. And then of course there’s Melanie. Great episode.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 8 “Season Seven, Time for a Wedding!” (2011; d. Tim Andrew)
In which Becky roofies Sam with the help of … Aaron Burr. The opening scene is amazing. Dean pouring out his soul to a waitress in a strip joint, or a stripper off the pole, whatever she is, and he’s talking like he’s been broken up with, and it’s just because Sam went camping. Like, some things never change. Sam’s whole comment, “Now that I’m okay, you can finally focus on yourself” and Dean’s totally lost look of response. This is why I watch.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 9 “How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters” (2011; d. Guy Norman Bee)
I love this episode. It has this feeling of dread over it because you know how it’s going to end and where we are going … but Dean being stoned and over it … also, side note: when Sam and Dean are interviewing Ranger Rick for the first time, they sit on the same side of the booth, and the way they are shot and lit is like a freakin’ Caravaggio, practically.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 10 “Death’s Door” (2011; d. Robert Singer)
This is a brilliant episode of television. If Supernatural was on the Emmy’s radar, this is a pure contender. Just how you keep getting glimpses of where Bobby DOESN’T want to go … and how, in the final moment, you get the full picture – you know why Bobby is the way he is (this is similar to Bela’s final episode, too). Plus Bobby and Rufus. Plus AMAZING commentary track with these two brilliant character actors. I loved how, at a recent con, JA and JP were asked what their favorite episodes were. And JA said one of them was this one, and not just because he was barely in it. This is why he is who he is. He cares about quality. He’s not just in it for himself. He watched “Death’s Door,” an episode focusing on Bobby, not him, and felt proud he was part of such a show. It’s an incredible episode. Beaver is phenomenal.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 11 “Adventures in Babysitting” (2012; d. Jeannot Szwarc)
Interesting that the next episode, post Bobby’s death, involves a troubled teenager, whose hunter father has gone missing. Sam and Dean both having to deal with this teenager was pleasing, giving us some interesting new possibilities. Not that Wayward nonsense (Claire saying “Hello, boys, I’m here to save you” or whatever is everything that is wrong with the show now) … but a real and complicated situation. It had some depth, some nuance.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 12 “Time After Time” (2012; d. Philip Sgriccia)
So much goodness here. “What are you, some kind of farmer clown” makes me laugh every time. As does “how does that fill you with awe?” Plus Elliot Ness scoffing at Dean’s “soft” introspection, when in OUR world Dean is the toughest guy around. And Dean’s reaction to all this. Plus: Sam and Jody together: I like it. It was there in the dragon episode too. There’s good chemistry there. Not romantic chemistry. Actor chemistry.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 14 “Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie” (2012; d. Mike Rohl)
Pure entertainment.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 15 “Repo Man” (2012; d. Thomas J. Wright)
I was extremely touched by the whole Lucifer arc. Similar to Michael being locked in the freezer inside Dean’s head (although that wasn’t really explored because, duh, Season 14) … it was a really good metaphor for mental illness. And how Sam lets Lucifer in … and once he lets him in, he can’t shut him out again. Really good. “Repo Man” features so many explanatory monologues. So many!
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 16 “Out with the Old” (2012; d. John F. Showalter)
Poor Sam. JP does insomnia brilliantly well. What other show could get away with a scene where two adult men wrestle violently with a tiny girl, trying to get the ballet shoes off her feet?
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 17 “The Born-Again Identity” (2012; d. Robert Singer)
Sam looks ROUGH. It’s just devastating to me, this whole arc.
Rolling Thunder Revue (2019; d. Martin Scorsese)
I’ve now watched it 4 times. I’m obsessed.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 18 “Party On, Garth” (2012; d. Philip Sgriccia)
I love this episode. This is how a secondary character can ADD to the show, not just take over in their own spinoff. I love tracking Garth’s journey here: the moment he becomes convinced Bobby is haunting the brothers, tied to the flask. It’s not said outright, but Garth is working his own Arc throughout and it’s very well done. Plus, all of them getting drunk. The comedy in all of that. “The thing in the thingie!” “Yes. YES. That’s smart.”
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 19 “Of Grave Importance” (2012; d. Tim Andrew)
Side note: I love the casting of Annie. That’s not an “obvious” choice. It’s counter-intuitive. She’s clearly older than both the brothers. She’s got some miles on her. She’s a tough chick. I also love how she slept with all three of them (Sam’s face!), AND that neither Sam or Dean judge her for that. They’re slightly squicked out – this doesn’t normally happen to them … but they don’t give it a second thought. Also: “hooker”/”fancy lady”. All of these subtleties are completely beyond the team there now. Oh well. At least we have a good 11 seasons.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 20 “The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo” (2012; d. John MacCarthy)
I also wasn’t aware that I wasn’t supposed to like Charlie. Thank goodness! Because I love her and what she brings to the show, who she is and how that reveals Sam and Dean in different ways. She’s set up as a kind of Dean-surrogate-doppelganger – similar to Bela was – although here, Dean seems to recognize it.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 21 “Reading is Fundamental” (2012; d. Ben Edlund)
Blissed-out useless Cas was a relief. Funny, too. It gave the brothers something to react off of.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 22 “There Will Be Blood” (2012; d. Guy Norman Bee)
I’ve seen this episode many times and I am still tricked by that vampire-slave-girl. Vampires have always brought out the queasy-sexual-sick underbelly in Supernatural and I am HERE for that.
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 23 “Survival of the Fittest” (2012; d. Robert Singer)
Welcome back to the show, Impala.
Yesterday (2019; d. Danny Boyle)
I reviewed for Ebert.
Supernatural, Season 5, episode 5 “Fallen Idols” (2009; d. James L. Conway)
I’ve been skipping about a bit. While I am thrilled that James Dean’s cursed car (and it’s all true) finally made it to the show … and thrilled that Dean would know all about it … it just makes me wonder why the Impala herself has never been haunted. Seems like that would be a slam-dunk, a no-brainer.
Supernatural, Season 5, episode 6 “I Believe the Children Are Our Future” (2009; d. Charles Beeson)
This child actor is amazing. He “carries” the episode. He’s beyond his years. He “goes up against” these two highly experienced actors, and he has to play some VERY difficult things, and … I’m haunted by him. I think about Jessie sometimes and wonder what happened to him. I have also wondered if he would ever “show up” again. Now I don’t want him to because I don’t trust the writers to do right by him. This is a beautiful episode. Plus, we get Dean growing hair on his palms. AND one of my favorite Jensen line readings in the whole damn series: “We don’t have a fridge.”
Supernatural, Season 5, episode 7 “The Curious Case of Dean Winchester” (2009; d. Robert Singer)
“Sam, when you get to be our age …” Ba-dum-ching.
Supernatural, Season 5, episode 8 “Changing Channels” (2009; d. Charles Beeson)
With all of the funny things in this very very VERY funny episode, this may be the most purely funny moment. It’s all in the line-read, the eyebrow-raise, the head-tilt …
Supernatural, Season 5, episode 13 “The Song Remains the Same” (2010; d. Steve Boyum)
They should have brought THIS actress back, not … the other. In Season 14, Mary has a line where she says to Dean, “I know I can be closed-off and hard …” What the HELL. Really? What show have YOU been watching? They don’t know how to write Sam and Dean over there but they REALLY don’t know how to write women, if the women aren’t performatively “bad-ass.” Ugh. Why I resent these later seasons so much is it has impacted my enjoyment of the earlier ones. I am envious of those of you who stopped watching. Yeah, because Mary is known for being “closed-off” and “hard.” I’m disgusted.
Supernatural, Season 5, episode 14 “My Bloody Valentine” (2010; d. Mike Rohl)
This is high watermark Supernatural for me. How they “interpreted” Famine, how they went at it, making it not about food, but about everything – love, sex, alcohol, drugs, whatever – and how Dean is unaffected. Isn’t that fantastic? It says it all. It says so much. It’s deeply disturbing and gives us an understanding – a deeper one – of this man. Plus, how frightening Sam is when he leaps on that demon’s neck … The whole thing is so perfectly constructed.
The Mindy Project, Season 1, episode 1 “Pilot” (2012; d. Charles McDougall)
Watched four episodes of this with my sister, and the only reason we stopped was because I had to go to bed. I love it. I am always about 5 years behind the times.
The Mindy Project, Season 1, episode 2 “Hiring and Firing” (2012; d. Michael Spiller)
These actors are KILLING ME.
The Mindy Project, Season 1, episode 3 “In the Club” (2012; d. Michael Spiller)
I love this cast so much. Siobhan and I were howling.
The Mindy Project, Season 1, episode 4 “Halloween” (2012; d. Jesse Peretz)
I’m so psyched that there is still so much more of this to watch. I’ve always loved Mindy Kaling – and I love her book! – so to live in her world, her sensibility – is a lot of fun.
My wife loves, LOVES Supernatural, so it’s fun reading thoughts from another super-fan.
Re: Deadwood: The Movie – I got back from a flight from Maui, and was completely exhausted, but I still had to put this on as soon as I got back. My nerves were pretty frayed, but my God, I think I spent the entire two hours on the verge of tears (when I wasn’t weeping), and that ending shattered me.
Re: Wanda – I had never seen this, but had read about it, and I honestly thought most of the movie was her walking around, reflecting on life (think of a Pennsylvania “Cleo from 5 to 7”), but the actual film is VERY different, and so much more brilliant and strange and one-of-a-kind than that.
IS THIS THE DEADWOOD THREAD?
Actually, I have mixed feelings about how successful the movie is as a movie and as a Deadwood, but I can’t say I wasn’t an absolute ugly-crying wreck at the end. I’m really glad to hear y’all enjoyed it so much (there was a lot to enjoy! My heart exploded with that first shot of Jane mumbling her way down to the camp on horseback) as I haven’t much idea of what the general consensus is.
Jessie – curious to hear more of your thoughts!
I’ve only seen it the one time – and my thoughts have a little bit more complexity than my brief comment here. One thing that came up for me is: the Hearsts of the world … the Hearsts have won. I am living in Hearst’s world as we speak. The Hearsts of the world are the WORST, with the WORST values … and I don’t quite know what to do to combat their power. It just was so clear to me watching the movie – or maybe it’s just what’s going on here right now and how much it dominates everyone’s thoughts. I felt such rage at Hearst – and all he represents. This is one of the powerful things about Deadwood – but it does so without didacticism or pamphleteering – it’s an amazing and accurate look at how society/civilization grows, puts down roots, adjusts itself, tries to do better, fails, etc. But there will always be Hearsts out there. How do we safeguard against them? Can we??
I had a really visceral response to that whole element of it – besides everything else.
and yes, my heart leapt when I saw Jane too.
I’m so amazed at these actors – slipping back into these characters they haven’t played for years – how seamless it was. They’re all so damn GOOD.
Hearst as a malevolent future — technological change bent to the will of the wannabe-autocrat — locked up but only temporarily, his eyes shining bitterly through the bars — that worked for me, especially in contrast to EB’s attempt at telephony. EB has never met a straight line in his life. That’s humanity, damp-palmed as it is. You’re right, we live in Hearst’s world, and that is enraging, but I struggled to feel rage at Hearst (despite what he DID) because it was the exact same story as season 3 (parts even casting back to Brom Garrett’s death), with many of the same beats and character interactions (and his scenes here felt repetitive too).
Is that purposeful, especially considering how obsessed it was with the consequences of the end of s3? Same song, different verse, only now age and time and disease are singing harmony? I’m sure that was a concern of Milch’s, and it strikes me as a sly joke almost that the endlessly longed-for continuation has so many elements of re-enactment. What do we want from our revivals and endings?
I see all this on the page, on the surface, and I think it’s interesting, but it just didn’t get me where I live. It didn’t have enough time to pry me open — it wasn’t able to indulge in character or monologue or detail, MUD, in the way that made the series so extraordinary. But as a movie it felt ungainly, didn’t seem to tell a whole story, the timeline was oddly compressed, stuff like that. Alma and Sofia felt close to superfluous (besides her money) and there were other characters who weren’t able to flower fully.
These are critiques because I was surprised to not have been as bowled over as I was expecting. I still felt a lot of joy and pain watching it! I still swooned to see Doc again, and Sol, and Joanie, and Jewell. Dillahunt, haha! And to see those sets again! That scene you have the gif of above, Bullock and Swearengen in the Gem — that was a barnstormer. And I’ve only seen it once as well, so perhaps next time its peculiarities will strike me as strengths — at any rate it’s a fascinating and moving work.
// Same song, different verse, only now age and time and disease are singing harmony? I’m sure that was a concern of Milch’s, and it strikes me as a sly joke almost that the endlessly longed-for continuation has so many elements of re-enactment. //
This is really fascinating and really well said and I’ll have to think more about it. It hadn’t occurred to me that it was a re-enactment – but maybe on some level it was – purposeful? I don’t know.
// What do we want from our revivals and endings? //
This is definitely the eternal question – one that’s been on my mind as you-kn0w-what approaches its final hour. Nailing the ending. I’m not sure an ending CAN be nailed in that other situation since so much ground has been lost and I don’t trust anyone involved.
I don’t know if you’re a Sopranos fan but my brother just watched the whole series for the first time and we’ve been having a number of fascinating conversations about it – especially that controversial ending. Which was totally in line with the rest of the show – dating back to the pilot – but people are arguing about it to this day. I think that’s a pretty good ending!!
// And I’ve only seen it once as well, so perhaps next time its peculiarities will strike me as strengths — at any rate it’s a fascinating and moving work. //
I will eventually watch it again and see what else is there for me. The swoop of my emotions was pretty strong in this first watch – half of the time I didn’t know which end was up – and I’d like to do a full rewatch of the series too leading up to it.
I never got past the first few episodes of The Sopranos despite trying a couple of times — not sure why and it has always bugged the completionist side of my brain. But I clearly remember the explosion of discussion that occurred after the finale aired, and I love the idea of it!
(I have high doubts about the other situation too, which is a total bummer.)
half of the time I didn’t know which end was up
I love this! I was so nervous about feeling that way too! haha. It is an almost catastrophically emotional show and those emotions are so specific and personal – a heart-keen tuned to each character, a viewing-pleasure and delight for your EBs and your Wolcotts and even your Steves. Each one is so finely drawn that every interaction between them has a different flavour and artistry — so much of emotional consequence happens between characters in plain (or not-so-plain) conversation, or in simple thought. That’s where the real plot is. It reminds me of Patrick O’Brian in that way. A truly special work, one to carry for life.
Oh wow, I absolutely love your comparison to Patrick O’Brien. This is right on. The pleasure is intense – I can’t think of a real equivalent, not in TV land anyway. Pleasure comes in many different forms – there’s X-Files pleasure, there’s Twin Peaks pleasure, there’s Supernatural pleasure … Deadwood is its own breed.
JSP – hahaha in re: your wife’s love of Supernatural! Clearly … clearly … I’m slightly obsessed, especially now that I feel it’s not working. It’s frustrating and many people have stopped watching, but I’m interested in the hows/whys it has stopped working.
In re: Wanda: // the actual film is VERY different, and so much more brilliant and strange and one-of-a-kind than that. //
Yes! You watch her just drift from man to man … she’s one of those “blank” women – the type of character I’ve written about a lot – I love “blank” characters, they fascinate me. And the final shot of her in the bar … she haunts me. I saw it years ago – I think at the Music Box? – and because she had played Maggie in After the Fall (I played Maggie as my acting thesis in grad school) – and her association with Kazan – she had always been on my radar. I was fascinated to see what she had come up with as a project. I am trying to picture this film being made today and I can’t. Like I said, “self-empowerment narratives” are The Thing now, and I feel very alienated by them because I can’t live up to them. I like movies about struggle, about people who are a mess, who don’t know how to live in society.
Wanda is one of those characters where I wonder – what the hell ended up happening to this woman? Where would she go? What happened after that final freeze-frame? She’s still out there and I think about her a lot.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
I would LOOOOOOVVVVEE if Benny returned for the final season. He was such a great character and I loved his relationship with Dean.
Trial and Error always tugs at my heart during the scene where Dean tells Sam that he will be doing the trials. Protective Dean butters my biscuits and watching Dean tell Sam that he wants him to have a life, have a family and grow old makes me smile and tear up in equal measure. Bonus: Dean in glasses.
// Protective Dean butters my biscuits and watching Dean tell Sam that he wants him to have a life, have a family and grow old makes me smile and tear up in equal measure. //
Yes! It’s so moving! and how Dean is then forced to give way to Sam taking on the trials – forced to face so many difficult things – letting Sam go, etc.
I love Season 8 now. It’s really interesting – and unique in that there’s not a villain, just a huge conflict and a quest.
Dean tell Sam that he wants him to have a life, have a family and grow old makes me smile and tear up in equal measure.
Man, s8 and 9 are maybe my favorites, I think.
But this actually drove me bonkers!!!!! in the way Dean frequently drives me bonkers: YOU JUST MADE HIM BREAK UP WITH THE GIRL, DEAN. Dean has just spent an entire season-to-date making it crystal clear that he wants no such thing for Sam, over Dean’s dead body, and if Dean died in the trials and Sam went on to this life that Dean claims is the final goal, everyone better hope Dean stays dead because Dean would take at least another 3 seasons before he could let it go.
I don’t think any of this is inconsistent or ooc or anything like that at all: Dean’s tension between stated and actual values used to be a major propulsive force in the story, same as Sam’s tension between what he believes he wants and what he consistently chooses.
8/9 were so. freaking. fantastic.
oh no Sheila, you saw my subtweet about the so-called supernatural “fan” “film critic” who should be fired because she can’t even see the explicit endgame Sam/Sister Jo symbolism? sorry my bad!
Hahahaha Jessie! I had to wait until my choking/coughing fit passed before I could type! Y’all are some funny “rhymes with itch”es!!
Sheila, all of the Supernatural bits were like balm to my wounded Winchester-bell-jar-loving soul, and you’ve made me think I should revisit season 9 (or nein, as I referred to it at the time, because I wanted to grow a beard like Dean to cope with the crushing emotional toll that conflict took on me personally), and really appreciate the maturity (?) in the disconnect between Sam and Dean versus the teen drivel we’re being fed now. So thank you for that. And thank you for calling out bad writing for what it is, and silly fandom shippers, and the apparent willingness of the current crew to bend to the loud and the rude on social media, and for asking WHY IS CAS STILL THERE?, and for loathing season 12 as much as I do, and for having the wherewithal to wade back in (your second time, right?) to season 14.
It feels like I’ll die if I don’t see “Yesterday,” like, yesterday.
// Y’all are some funny “rhymes with itch”es!! //
HA!!
// or nein, as I referred to it at the time //
Okay, that’s funny.
Yeah, I really really dig Season 9. Which may say a lot about my approach to the show, and what interests me. I felt the growth spurt in the relationship and how painful growth spurts can be. I loved how much Dean was thrown back on himself – how relentless Sam was in setting boundaries – it just reminded me of times in my own life when similar things had to occur. It wasn’t just about Dean having “saved” Sam against his will – it was about the entire way their relationship was set up. and Sam was not having it anymore. I loved how much the show dug into that – how patient they were with it – how WILLING they were to displease a lot of the fan base (lol) in order to explore the relationship. It’s certainly not an ingratiating season and it’s very very painful to watch – but one of the byproducts of having this really serious difficult arc – is that JA and JP get to REALLY show their stuff as actors. They really have to play some deep stuff – objectives and obstacles, really hash stuff out – with backstory, subtext, etc. It’s like crack to an actor-nerd like me.
I love Season Nein. (hahaha)
// for loathing season 12 as much as I do, and for having the wherewithal to wade back in (your second time, right?) to season 14. //
Yes – I watched it in real time and this was a first re-watch.
But all along I’ve been re-watching earlier seasons and it’s just so clear how much the show has changed – changed its DNA – its entire reason for being – it’s even more clear watching earlier seasons, even as recent as Season 11.
Hopefully, once it’s all over, I’ll get a little bit more perspective about the show as a whole. Right now, it’s upsetting and anxiety-provoking. I’m so IRRITATED but I know that will change.
for real though, did this “rhymes with itch” line actually happen? When? I have entirely blocked it out and just the thought of it is making me wanna curl up and die.
YES IT HAPPENED. Isn’t it AWFUL?
I’m surprised more people didn’t call them out for it – but unfortunately if you call them out then it seems like you’re “endorsing” calling people “bitch” – because these people confuse fiction with “how we should behave on an everyday basis.”
UGH. “rhymes with itch” – I can’t even imagine what it must have felt like to JA and JP saying that exchange.
and it happened in Mint Condition apparently – a quick Google check – an episode I liked.
I heard it as “rhymes with bitch” and it made me laugh a little, Dean needling Sam for being too politic. Now I realize I misheard and it makes me sad.
hahahaha “explicit endgame” oh dear. and … is there symbolism there? I get so confused by all the symbolism.
Oh and this is kind of funny: I saw a couple of Tumblr posts (why do I do this to myself) where people were talking about how “Cass is Dean’s Colette.” And these people were talking in such shorthand it took me a while to parse it all out. Because my first TRULY confused thought was ” … clown college Colette? WTF??”
Did I MISS something with Clown College Colette?
Turns out they were referring to Cain’s wife.
lol
Clown college Colette is EXTREMELY significant for the endgame.
hahaha, Clown College Colette has STAYING power!!! Sadly, I have not detected any Sam/Sister Jo endgame symbolism but perhaps if I truly opened my heart and eyes I’d spot it. I’m sure they’ve been photographed in front of complementary-coloured curtains at some point. It would be excruciatingly hilarious to watch. Or perhaps Clown College Colette really is the endgame big bad. Victory over her, and therefore his own coulrophobia, indicates that Sam has self-actualised into a nirvana-like healing-state, independent, empowered, nurturing, solipsistic. This could probably mostly happen offscreen.
// perhaps Clown College Colette really is the endgame big bad. //
I mean, I would so be here for that.
// Sam has self-actualised into a nirvana-like healing-state, independent, empowered, nurturing, solipsistic //
and then he drives off a cliff.
I should start a thread about what we all want to see as an ending. Might be too painful.
I have been thinking about exactly that! I would love to hear ALL the end game scenarios from Sheila’s Annoying C***ts!
My fear is that the ending will be more of the “family don’t end in blood” thing – with a bunch of people sitting around a table, laughing and having fun – like the family reunion – with all of these people “brought back” – a big dinner, where everyone is together and safe … blah blah blah puke – as opposed to it being just Sam and Dean.
But this team seems to be afraid of Sam and Dean. They prefer shallow-as-an-envelope ensemble writing. So …
I know it’s a faint hope. But I want it to just be Sam and Dean. and honestly, I’d like either the blaze of glory OR Sam and Dean roaring off in the Impala into the sunset – like we already saw in Fan Fiction – but only the two of them. Not like 5 other people in the damn car.
I think blaze of glory is the best option, though.
Even though we’ve lost so much ground.
What do we all think?
Helena and I decided in discussion that the only thing we want from the season is for it not to hurt us lol.
Really though, I don’t care who does or doesn’t return, or which plot lines — I just want it to be good. I suppose my heart’s desire is a driving into the sunset ending or something kinda — I surprise myself by saying this — soft, over a blaze-of-glory or ambiguous or cliffhanger but if it’s good (according to My Definition Of Good — if it’s honest and focused and well-crafted and about Sam and Dean) then I’ll be happy enough however it goes.
Jessie – yeah, I’m with you. The problem with the “blaze of glory” scenario is I don’t trust the team over there to do it right. They won’t “nail the ending.”
But I so fear a celebratory triumphant ENSEMBLE ending. which is what this team seems to be interested in.
so I’m with you and Helena. I just don’t want it to suck.
//Oh and this is kind of funny: I saw a couple of Tumblr posts (why do I do this to myself) where people were talking about how “Cass is Dean’s Colette.” And these people were talking in such shorthand it took me a while to parse it all out. Because my first TRULY confused thought was ” … clown college Colette? WTF??”//
BLESS. I’m not the only one who secretly reads these. But not for their insight or that I agree. It’s like peeking into the bathroom cabinets at someone else’s house because you’re curious (or nosy) without feeling like you’ve invaded anyone’s privacy. Because I have this incessant NEED to understand WHY. It hasn’t worked out well for me, but I’m no quitter!
//Did I MISS something with Clown College Colette?//
Oh, Sheila. Dontcha know? M-O-O-N. That spells Clown College Colette Endgame!
// Because I have this incessant NEED to understand WHY. //
hahaha Me too! I’m always fascinated by other takes – but these Tumblrs are a horse of a different color. I also have some “loyalty” since these people were what got me started watching in the first place.
It’s interesting – I just re-watched Season 6. another good season without a real Big Bad. They dispatched “Eve” in a couple of episodes. The season is another Quest – this time for Purgatory – as well as the problem with Sam, his soullessness and the Wall in his head, which will be wonderfully fruitful in Season 7.
But what I was going to say was – as I watched I realized that there IS a Big Bad in Season 6, and I hadn’t really put it all together before. The Big Bad in Season 6 is Castiel.
His lying/treachery is off the charts. Which makes Dean caressing the trenchcoat make even less sense. How can Castiel be forgiven for what he did in Season 6? Talk about “ooc” for Dean. Unless you see it through a Destiel lens – but even there – Season 6 is all about Dean being furious and frustrated with Castiel, “profound bond” or no. But working with Crowley, lying, all of that leading to the Lisa and Ben debacle, not to mention all the other fallout. But the worst – breaking Sam’s brain??
How can that ever be forgiven? Not to mention letting the Leviathans out for his dumb angel war.
The final shot of Season 6 is a closeup of Castiel’s eyes – which, by now, really annoys me – that they end on him, and not the brothers. And “The Man who Would Be King” is interesting – but it’s also really obvious that they needed Castiel to do a “direct to camera” monologue, to explain what has been happening behind the Winchesters’ back – you could see this as a failure of the narrative – or as a super indulgent choice for the Castiel fans out there (the music in that episode is super sentimental … fan service).
None of this is a complaint. i actually like Castiel as a Big Bad – I like him much better as a Big Bad than as a vaguely helpful (and yet usually harmful) non-powerful human-but-not dude wandering around on the periphery, having his own spinoff within the show.
Castiel as a Big Bad gave the character some OOMPH and God, I wish they had just stuck to their guns.
Because what do the Destiel fans get in return? Season upon season of uselessness of their favorite character. And increasing focus on details of set decoration to … show the bisexuality of all of it? Don’t get me started on the pink iPod. The problem with “Dean has a pink iPod he must be bi” is so obvious to me I’m amazed these people don’t see it. Its explicit message is: “Pink is a girl’s color. Only girls like pink” – which is the kind of retro bullshit generations of women have been fighting against.
Anyway, this re-watch made me realize how interested I was in Castiel’s journey – which has never happened since – that Castiel going “dark side” – going “ends justify means” – was DRAMATIC, and unexpected.
And they squandered it, caving into fan demands. Hurting the show.
Yes, yes 1,000 times yes regarding your Supernatural comments. The current tarnished, diminished version of the show breaks my heart and has tainted my ability to enjoy the earlier seasons. Damn these showrunners, damn therm all To Hell!
And thanks for reminding me that sometimes unlikeable characters (I’m looking at you Amelia) and seemingly OOC behavior create conflict and drive the narrative. I admit I will never like any relationship that comes between the boys but I understand their necessity and appreciate the layers they add to the show.
Sigh, I totally understand Jared & Jensen pulling the plug on the cess pit the show has become. I’m going to sit in the corner now and grow nostalgic for better days.
Debbie – // nd has tainted my ability to enjoy the earlier seasons. //
Like I just said above – I am so hoping that when the show is all over, really over, I will get a little bit more perspective on it, once I’m out of the fray, and I’ll be able to go back and enjoy those earlier seasons. But I’m so annoyed at Dabb for what he has done. The only way I can make sense of his choices is to assume he dislikes the show, i.e. Kripke’s show. He wants to be doing something else. He wants Wayward. He wants a teen fantasy-genre show. He wants to be congratulated for being “woke” and “feminist.” I don’t know. Whatever it is, he’s really shattered the contract with the audience.
// I admit I will never like any relationship that comes between the boys but I understand their necessity and appreciate the layers they add to the show. //
They really do! It’s really only when things – people – events – whatever – come between the brothers that we actually can see their relationship with the most clarity. This is how conflict works. I finished up a re-watch of Season 5 yesterday (sob) and it’s a perfect example. How all of the things that came between the brothers – Ruby – demon blood – Dean’s exhaustion and checking out – the angels – Lucifer – all of it – all of these things helped us see the brother’s bond, helped us feel it – and we just wouldn’t feel the same way if they were always together and the relationship not threatened.
and this is what Dabb can’t manage. He doesn’t understand this. So now we have Dean and Sam strolling through the bunker, having coffee, and never talking to each other. UGH. Who calls this “healthy”? It may be “healthy” but it’s not dramatic!!
I am so curious about the backstage conversations between JA and JP over the last 3 years. We’ll probably never hear about it but you KNOW they’ve looked at scripts for episodes and said to each other, “What the fuck is this, we don’t even have any scenes together.”
UGH.
// and this is what Dabb can’t manage. He doesn’t understand this. So now we have Dean and Sam strolling through the bunker, having coffee, and never talking to each other. UGH. Who calls this “healthy”? It may be “healthy” but it’s not dramatic!! //
I listen to a Supernatural podcast that was spot on regarding Dabb. In essence, he rewrites and expands everyone else’s stories into what he thinks they should have been.
In the right situations and with a competent writing TEAM, this can work. However, in Dabb’s case, there’s a real malevolence in some of the destruction, and at other times, it’s just petty. There is no originality, creativity or cohesive structure to anything anymore. Is it that he feels trapped by the fans that scream so he takes it out on the characters? Is he jealous of what Kripke, Gamble and Carver were able to create so he needs to rip out the hardwood flooring and cover it with vinyl? Is it because both his spinoff attempts were rejected? I can’t wait to find out…
I remember the days of entire seasons being really good. Then we moved into specific arcs that we loved. Now, we barely get an scene that is worth being excited over. UGH.
// However, in Dabb’s case, there’s a real malevolence in some of the destruction, and at other times, it’s just petty. //
Ugh. So true. From how he handled Mary to everything else … AU … not being a “horror guy” clearly but a “YA fantasy” guy … having no interest in Sam and Dean … his awful version of feminism (it grates!) … his iMPOSING of stuff onto this show which worked so well for over a decade. He HAS to know he hasn’t succeeded, right? I mean, Jensen and Jared have been pretty openly critical of what’s been happening – they compared the show to a freakin’ dog who needs to be put down – or a car running out of gas. Jeez Louise.
I have a feeling there’s a LOT of resentment about the rejection of his spinoffs. and both spinoffs are REALLY revealing about what he’s interested in, his sensibility, where he thinks his talents lie.
Oh and what’s the Supernatural podcast you listen to?
I’ve long since accepted that the Castiel I loved hasn’t been seen on the show for about six years now. And Misha Collins, who was so good, now seems…bored, which I suspect is at least partly responsible for some of the, frankly, fucking weird acting choices in the last few seasons. And the show makers don’t seem to care, and the cast seem more interested in the gag reels, and so the whole thing gets more in-jokey by the year.
Kirinleaf – // And Misha Collins, who was so good, now seems…bored, //
He really does.
They all do.
This wouldn’t be the case if they had been given interesting things to play. If Cas had been more relevant than just repeatedly making mistakes – and then getting tuberculosis – and then asking for forgiveness and trying to make things right. He’s been doing this since he arrived. They can’t figure out how to incorporate him – which is why the “cas is family” stuff no longer makes any sense.
I just did a re-watch of Season 5 – and yes, it was 10 years ago at this point – but watching it was an object lesson in how much has been lost and how much has been destroyed (Mary etching her initials in the table – RUINING the image from the original initials in the Impala – bah, Dabb does nothing right). Cas was great in that season – he was connected to the brothers, but also taken up in his own thing – which – most importantly – reflected the main journey of the two brothers. Cas having his own spinoff within SPN doesn’t work. If Sam and Dean aren’t central, the whole thing unravels. But in Season 5 – such a good season – everything was all hooked up like a tightly wound watch – everything worked together.
If nothing else, the drop-off in quality in recent seasons is a reminder of how miraculous those early seasons are, and how hard it is to be as good as the show was then. It wasn’t some fluke that SPN was that good – it was created by people who gave a shit, who thought deeply and hard about these characters and their world.
That no longer exists. Now we have dinosaurs and AUs. Not at all in Kripke’s conception. and so the show has spun off into space.
it’s such a huge bummer.
I have nothing to add to the comments and I generally agree with all of them. I’ve made my viewpoint known, so why repeat myself.
But, I must pay a million compliments to you, Sheila. No many how many times you watch these episodes, you always find something new to say about them. Your in-depth analysis is deep and resonates with those of us who really love the show. Reading your diary is like watching the show all over again and nodding and grinning at the good parts. I don’t need the GIFs because I can see it in your mind’s eye which is so much fun. I’m rereading “Hitchcock/Truffaut “ right now and I get the same sort of buzz. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Carolyn! Your words mean a whole whole lot. I’m now re-watching Season 6. Then maybe I’ll take a break. I do love Soulless Sam!
Oh wow, Hitchcock/Truffaut is so fun – a goldmine.
I’m so excited to hear more of what you think of The Mindy Project. I’m not so much a sitcom fan but I really, really loved this one. And I loovvve Mindy Kaling.
It’s addictive! Amazing cast too!
I have a large crush on Chris Messina after this show.
Right? He’s fantastic!
I love your reflections on Supernatural, both the early and the later seasons. Your thoughts on Season 8 as a whole were very illuminating. Can you remind me of the reason why Sam didn’t look for Dean? What’s the Show’s rationale, and what’s your read on it? It’s been so long since I’ve watched that season, but if I recall, my frustration wasn’t so much the action (Sam didn’t look for Dean), but that I wasn’t convinced by the justification for it. Dean disappears and Sam immediately assumes that he’s un-save-able, without even looking into it?
It was so fantastic to see those gems from season 5 scattered in. “We don’t have a fridge.” (!!) Thank you for recognizing that moment, I’ve always thought it was a funny line, and a HILARIOUS delivery. My other favorite micro-moment from season 5 is from Sam Interrupted, where Dean is chuckling at the clown paintings on the wall and calls them “original Gacys”…and then, upon finding that Martin was the one who painted them, becomes contrite. Jared goes on with his line, and the scene continues, but in the middle of it all, Jensen mouths, “They’re good,” in such an earnest, conciliatory manner that makes me cry with laughter. It’s such a tiny throw-away moment I’ve always thought there’s no way it could have been scripted, but it brings so much to the scene.
Bethany –
// Can you remind me of the reason why Sam didn’t look for Dean? What’s the Show’s rationale, and what’s your read on it? //
Sam says in the “reunion” scene with Dean – “My whole family was dead.” He had no one. He ran. Like Sam always ran. He ran away and holed up with Bones the dog. He wanted to run away when he was 6 years old and he had his imaginary friend. He ran away to Stanford. I don’t see this as unhealthy or ooc. I see this as part of Sam’s character – and an actually healthy sense of independence, outside the Winchester Belljar(TM). Dean was brainwashed young. Sam wasn’t. He never got the crusts cut off. He says in Dark Side of the Moon “I don’t look at family the same way you do.” OUCH. in THIS case, running away was irresponsible and terrible, unforgivable really? But as I said here, we often make horrible choices post a gigantic loss. We aren’t thinking clearly. This is what grief does. (My doctor, when I told him about all that happened in the year following my dad’s death, he told me that grief actually acts like a concussion – and sometimes can actually be seen in brain scans. It’s an INJURY. This is why people are counselled to not make huge life-decisions following a trauma. But we are who we are, and we often can’t help it.)
// Dean disappears and Sam immediately assumes that he’s un-save-able, without even looking into it? //
I think that doesn’t even come into it. I think that Sam’s grief and loss and sense of isolation – no more family (Bobby doesn’t seem to figure) … plus, probably guilt at having run away so often, abandoning Dean/Dad … all the pain he caused Dean in his life … caused him to run. It’s not the first time. I wish it hadn’t been the last – I wish that that restlessness remained – it would give Sam some oomph, some individualistic oomph which has been seriously lacking for years. And I think it’s Season 8 that Sam mentions he’s looking into going back to school. So he’s still … still … looking at other options. This is a very real part of Sam. He’s never “all in.” He makes his own choices. He’s stronger than Dean in that way.
Sam he tells Dean he “found something” with Amelia, a normal life, that had a great pull on him – a pull that Dean can’t relate to (Cassie notwithstanding). Dean had to be forced to shack up with Lisa and Ben – it was a promise he felt compelled to make. Dean, though, looked for Sam, probably the whole time, looked for a way to bring Sam back. But – most obvious – he did not reach out to Bobby or Castiel. He probably searched for Sam during those insomniac nights, fueled by whiskey, avoiding going upstairs to bed. But he kept his promise to Sam.
These two examples of the brothers “abandoning” the family for a woman, a normal life, shows their differences in temperament, character, experience. Sam “found something” with Jess, too, and was ready to get married. It’s always been in Sam, the desire to get away, be himself, assert himself outside the Belljar. Dean doesn’t even know he’s in a Belljar. Sam always has known it, since he was 6 or 7.
So. That’s my take.
Many many fans reject my take. They think Sam would have looked for Dean. I just really really get why he didn’t. Not because he didn’t care, but because he was grieving and disoriented – and he found a safe space with Amelia, where he could forget (temporarily).
It’s also notable that when Dean called, Sam crept out of the house like a thief in the night. He heeded Dean’s call without one word of protest like “I’ve got my own life now. Let’s get together for a drink and catch up but I don’t want to hunt anymore.”
So … it’s complex. And Sam’s guilt at not looking for Dean in purgatory lasts many seasons – I think it was in the last couple of years that he finally brought it up? I can’t remember the episode – was it Into the Mystic?
He made a poor choice, a selfish choice – but imagine the freedom in being selfish after growing up like he did. I don’t think selfishness is necessarily negative. It can also be a lifesaver.
So … in a very large nutshell … that’s my take. Season 8 works really really well, in my (unpopular) opinion, and I really like it because there’s no big bad villain to distract from the conflict between Sam and Dean.
// Jensen mouths, “They’re good,” in such an earnest, conciliatory manner that makes me cry with laughter. //
Yes!! So hilarious! Poor Martin with his terrible paintings. And Jensen is so good at filling in these silent moments with funny impulses, double takes, thought. So good.
“We don’t have a fridge.” He’s so obsessed with not spoiling the ham or wasting the ham. Like, let the ham go. Sam’s out working the case while Dean stays home, masturbates and then makes a sandwich. Dying!!!!
Please pardon the intrusion, as I have wanted to comment for some time on this! I’ve always loved S8, but didn’t necessarily understand all the reasons why until spending some time reading reviews and comments.
I agree with this take of Sam’s reaction, whether it was unpopular or not. I would also l like to add that every time Sam did try to look for Dean or even continue hunting alone up until that point, it never ended well for him, not to mention others. Yes, there were outside influences and circumstances that provided the catalyst for some of those choices . And yes, some were the best choice in a bad situation. However, I always think of “Mystery Spot” as the prime example of Sam spiraling into the darkness of his own making. That’s not to say I don’t love that episode – because it’s in my top 10, but I digress.
While running away is exactly how Sam operated for much of his life, I get this sense that a part of Sam knew he couldn’t continue hunting alone, also. Change was the only way to survive this time. Amelia just happened to be at the rent by the week *run away from your life* motel. Sam and Amelia both accepted that the other needed the space to grieve openly and in private for those they had lost. They were open to engaging in conversations about their partners with the benefit of using each other for comfort through the “healing process”. What a hot, sweaty, lime soaked mess that must have been. So gross (GIVE IT TO ME)!
Can you imagine the pillow talk? My God, I would have LOVED to hear a 10 second conversation about Dean – even if it were bathed in the glamour shot lighting! Did “Sam Winchester cry through sex”? Did they show each other pictures or mementos? Were they the kind of couple that built a secret shrine to honor their dead in the bedroom? Or did they have secret places they escaped from each other to pine for their SO? It’s enough to keep me awake if I chose to go deeper.
What they had is a different aspect of that glorious codependency we love so much, and not a very uncommon one in my life, for sure. But then Amelia’s husband returned from wherever he was mysteriously dispatched for a year and Sam walked out, and right back into Dean. This wasn’t ooc in my eyes. But the changes in Sam? MY GOD. He was…relaxed. Even his posture was different, and his hair? It was easy breezy, go with the flow hair. Everything was softened in contrast with Dean’s new hardness. My favorite scene in 8×01 was their heart to heart chat in the middle of the night at the motel. Dean, so uncomfortable he couldn’t even sit on the bed or look at Sam except to say, “You know the rules, Sam. You never take a joint from a guy named Don and THERE ARE NO DOGS IN THE CAR!” But it was this new version of Sam sitting on the bed, hands folded in his lap, fluffy, trail hiker hair outlining the earnest expression he wore while saying, “Try me, Dean”, that rocked me. THAT ENTIRE SCENE SPOKE VOLUMES. Fascinating.
Thank you, Sheila for not only creating a space for open discussion, but also the different perspectives you and your readers respectfully share, including my unsolicited thoughts! I’ve lurked for a while and recommended your articles to many I know. Oh, and those armbands you speak of..? I’m on board, 100%.
Cosigned, all of it. I loved this arc and I loved Amelia and I loved what this showed us about Sam and I could not agree more about that motel room talk.
Elaine:
It’s not an intrusion at all! I love it when people de-lurk. I am happy this feels like a welcome space, even when we’re not all in sync. Especially when we’re not all in sync. (This, in my opinion, is a tribute to the show we keep discussing. there’s so much there to discuss.)
// I always think of “Mystery Spot” as the prime example of Sam spiraling into the darkness of his own making. //
Good point!! I think Sam – on some level – knows himself better than Dean knows himself – if only because Sam escaped the John-brainwashing, and so Dean always sees himself in the context that was handed to him, forced upon him, as a child. Sometimes Sam’s sense of independence is malevolent – leaving him susceptible to Ruby – whereas Dean would never fall for it – and the whole “demon blood” thing was a fascinating aspect to those early seasons – and I just wish it would be acknowledged again, referenced at LEAST. This has MARKED Sam and how he feels about himself.
// They were open to engaging in conversations about their partners with the benefit of using each other for comfort through the “healing process”. What a hot, sweaty, lime soaked mess that must have been. So gross (GIVE IT TO ME)! //
HAHAHAHA!! I so agree with this. She goes on and on about Don – and Sam is like, “Please. Tell me more.” It’s hard to imagine Dean in a comparable situation. (There is that funny honest moment in Season 6 when he says to Lisa, “Guess you’re missing your ex right about now. The boring one.” lol) But yeah, the fact that Amelia is longing for another man is probably a huge part of her appeal. A “healthy” woman, who expected ALL of Sam, would be disappointed. He is a walking talking wound, and that wound must be incorporated into whatever situation he finds himself in.
I also think the Amelia-Sam thing would not have lasted – Dean or no Dean, Don or no Don. I think it would have been “our needs are met for the season we’re together” … and I think, if it had been allowed to run its course, both would have walked away with very little pain and also a sense of gratitude to the other for providing comfort. I think they both “know what they’re doing” – even in their total mess.
// Did “Sam Winchester cry through sex”? Did they show each other pictures or mementos? Were they the kind of couple that built a secret shrine to honor their dead in the bedroom? Or did they have secret places they escaped from each other to pine for their SO? It’s enough to keep me awake if I chose to go deeper.
//
This is fascinating. I hadn’t thought of this, but you’re right. There are all kinds of possibilities – and I think their mutual grieving was a huge part of the bond. It’s actually very smart scriptwriting, with some understanding of how human emotions work. We aren’t “consistent” all the time. People who talk about this or that being “ooc” make me wonder: are you always consistent with yourself? Don’t you EVER do anything that others may consider “ooc” or are you always in line with one or two broad themes and everything you do comes out of that? If so, I have no idea how these people manage it.
// My favorite scene in 8×01 was their heart to heart chat in the middle of the night at the motel. Dean, so uncomfortable he couldn’t even sit on the bed or look at Sam //
Such a fantastic scene and you’re right – the fact that Dean can’t even sit on the bed is perfect. I wonder whose idea that was. Being close to the ground, ready to duck and roll for cover … PTSD is his every movement … no sitting on the damn bed, he was in a place without beds for a year. Too vulnerable.
and yes, Sam’s whole personality changed – which, I’m sorry, is what love – or “love” – can do. He says he “found something.” I believe him. I mean, LOOK at him. “trail hiker hair” lol This is perfectly put.
It was this disparity of experiences – Sam with comfort, Dean with violence – that made Season 8 run. and they are both such superb actors you could see that disparity in everything from posture to even how their FACES looked.
I found the whole thing so fascinating.
Thank you so much for your comment.
“the whole “demon blood” thing was a fascinating aspect to those early seasons – and I just wish it would be acknowledged again, referenced at LEAST. This has MARKED Sam and how he feels about himself.”
YES! I have honestly been completely baffled by the way this has NOT been used in the Sam/Jack interactions. Especially in Season 13 when we first meet Jack I was SHOCKED that Sam was trying to get him to use his powers, b/c baby Jack was essentially sad Sam when Dean was in hell looking for validation from anyone even a demon. The ultimate lesson from those first 5 glorious seasons is that love wins. The human relationship between Sam and Dean is what ultimately averts the apocalypse, Dean does not come up with some amazing plan, he just plops himself in front of Sam and is all, “I love you.” So for season 13 Sam to tell Jack that what he needs to do is develop his powers and there to never be a reckoning where Sam realizes that was a mistake, just like it was a mistake when he tried to develop his powers back in season 4, it was, as usual, a huge opportunity missed. I don’t even like Sam as a character, I’m a total Dean girl, but even I was disappointed that we never really got a clear sense of this Sam/Jack parallel. It was even more astounding to me because for a second the season 13 finale was teed up to be a reboot of the season 5 finale, except Sam and Jack were alone to face Lucifer. Instead of a human moment where Sam and Jack affirm the relationship they had built over the season and overcome Lucifer together, Dean barges in as Michael and we get that ridiculous angel fight on wires. *eye roll*
An entire season of wasted potential, relationships forged only to mean nothing in the end. A literal decade of backstory that goes completely unused. If Dabb wants an ensemble cast and insists on adding all these new characters, I don’t know why he doesn’t at least use them effectively! They almost created a meaningful relationship between Sam and Jack, but at the last minute, as always, they pulled away from it and went with something “safe.”
It boggles the mind, and I am truly grateful that I can come to your site Sheila, and at least know I am not the only one frustrated with where the show has gone in recent years.
Jenna – sorry for the huge delay – just getting back to this thread now.
I completely cosign all your thoughts. There was that thrilling moment when Sam opened up to Jack about how he too felt like a “freak” … this was Season 13, I think? And then … poof.
This has happened so many times in the last 3 years. A complete inability to create valid arcs that last more than 1 episode. Ugh, it’s so frustrating.
Oh Sheila PREACH!!! Louder for the fandom in the back! (Honestly, the choir is pretty much gathered here and I’m pretty sure we all agree with you) You managed to put into words everything I feel about Supernatural these days. You certainly hit the nail on the head in regards to the fandom factions that are going on. I observe and read a lot, but I don’t participate…well at least not intentionally…I tweeted a comment one night about how I wished the show would get the focus back on the brothers again and off side characters, and I got told that “Family don’t end in blood” and if I couldn’t accept that then I should stop watching and continually watch Seasons 1-3 over and over again. (That seems to be a common response and never fails to make me roll my eyes)
I’ve about come to the conclusion that the social media intertwining of show runners, writers, all the behind the scenes personnel of television shows, and the fan bases is a very, very bad thing.
I’ve been rewatching the entire series this summer, and as I’ve watched these earlier seasons I could feel myself falling in love with the show again and remembering why I did to begin with. However, I will agree that it’s been difficult to not feel the character taint that the later seasons have done on so many characters. (Mary, Lucifer, Chuck…the list goes on and on)
Seasons 12-14 have completely given me new appreciation for episodes and even seasons that I once thought were lackluster. Give me bugs and racist trucks any day over some of these later season episodes! We’re currently in Season 7 in the rewatch and I’ve been enjoying the heck out of it. (It was once ranked as my least favorite season). It will always be one of the most painful seasons to me because of Bobby’s death, but the character depth is just so good. Please give us depth back!!
I watched “The Mentalists” yesterday and immediately thought of you. Melanie was a great character!! My brief Dean “ship” was Tina in the episode “About A Boy” I loved older and young Tina both.
Michelle –
// tweeted a comment one night about how I wished the show would get the focus back on the brothers again and off side characters, and I got told that “Family don’t end in blood” and if I couldn’t accept that then I should stop watching and continually watch Seasons 1-3 over and over again. (That seems to be a common response and never fails to make me roll my eyes) //
UGH. It’s infuriating. This attitude has ruined the show. They’re catering to tiny fan factions who love peripheral characters more than the leads – like they’re afraid a random group of people will protest if … Rowena is killed off?? Watching earlier seasons makes it so clear what Rowena has done to the fabric of this show. Every time the brothers are in trouble – like Dean becoming a vampire – or whatever – NOW they would just call Rowena. It’s LAZY. The writers are LAZY.
// the social media intertwining of show runners, writers, all the behind the scenes personnel of television shows, and the fan bases is a very, very bad thing. //
It’s really bad, right?
When writers can be harassed off Twitter … it’s a very bad thing. These fans are behaving in an appalling way and writers are afraid of them. So these fans are in the writer’s room … they are being considered when new seasons are planned out. And so we really see the result in SPN. It’s DRASTIC. I’m looking back at something pure – like X-Files – or hell Twin Peaks – the creators of that show did what they wanted to do. And some fans hated certain aspects of these things, and were vocal about it – even before social media – but the creators stood strong. “This is ours, not yours.” Or “we will do what we want, follow us if you like, but here is where WE have decided it’s going.”
// as I’ve watched these earlier seasons I could feel myself falling in love with the show again and remembering why I did to begin with. //
Yes, me too. God, it was a good show. Gripping and twisted and emotionally melodramatic. All this family STUFF. “Family don’t end in blood.” Okay, fine. But once the Winchesters were relegated to support staff, the “family” fell apart.
// Seasons 12-14 have completely given me new appreciation for episodes and even seasons that I once thought were lackluster. Give me bugs and racist trucks any day over some of these later season episodes! //
I totally feel the same way! Season 8 was always slightly sub-par in my mind – I couldn’t retain it. This recent re-watch I have so appreciated its single-minded focus on the brothers’ twisted relationship. The focus is on the right place. It works very well – especially compared to everything post-Season 11.
// We’re currently in Season 7 in the rewatch and I’ve been enjoying the heck out of it. (It was once ranked as my least favorite season). //
I felt the same way about Season 7 in my first watch. I didn’t “believe” in the Leviathans – and the whole thing was a “prelude” to their real plans … so there wasn’t much tension – and I also didn’t care for the didactic quality of the Leviathans’ plan: “all Americans are fat!” I don’t want SPN for diatribes on America’s obesity problem. But when I re-watched the season, I too found so much to love in it.
In re: Tina. LOVED HER. Loved that scene with Dean in the bar. Wonderful actress. Tween Tina was great too.
So glad to hear from people in re: these viewing diaries and their thoughts on SPN. The re-watch has been kind of painful, actually. And disorienting. Like, what the hell has happened. “Jack in the Box” was a particularly painful example. Ugh.
Once upon a time, the writers were in love with these characters. They cared about depth and motivation, they looked at all angles and were interested in exploring those angles. This new team is impatient and don’t know how to write Sam and Dean – they’ve fallen back on cliches and you can feel their judgment: Sam is boring and bookish, Dean is promiscuous and macho. Like … no. Stop. UGH.
Responding to some of the general discussion all through the comments… This show is pretty fascinating, the way it’s bridged the rise and fall of several online platforms and the rise and rise of social media (and other social-tech changes like streaming). There is absolutely some weird and terrible cuckoo bananas shit going down on twitter and tumblr and I love a salacious gawk as much as the next person but I think….I’m more inclined to credit correlation over causation when it comes to twitter noise and the writing. Or perhaps, a correspondence of sensibilities between Dabb and the more insanely vocal fans who expect validation and happy families from their media (especially where it serves a ship). And I don’t see malice in Dabb towards the show but just….ignorance of what he’s working on, and poor craftsmanship and skill. I think he has a fundamentally different understanding of the show than every other showrunner and I think he has a complete inability to turn the practical and logistical constraints of scheduling, contracts, budgets, storyline, and mythology into a fecund and creative opportunity. Perhaps he would be very successful running Legends of Tomorrow or writing an X-Men knockoff but he’s not and it’s a goddamn shame and the people who installed and keep him there should have been losing sleep over it for the last three years. The ugly and destructive way in which Dabb has wrenched the show from being one (interesting, focused, complex) thing to another (beige, chaotic, senseless) has been so plain it’s hard to believe it’s gone on so long and I am very angry about it and have many terrible things to say about them all (I am sure not every last producer and writer is a complete dullard but they all to be seem doing their level best to appear so) but I still struggle to imagine it comes from malevolence or fear of the twitter hoards. Could be wrong. Bring me the tell-all! Bring me Vancouver Babylon!
Having said that it still does make me absolutely ropeable to read Terrible Opinions in fan articles or even Entertainment Weekly PR puff. I get so fired up haha. Or to hear of such infuriatingly nyer nyer replies to your tweet Michelle. What a miserable person. I wonder sometimes what it would be like to be one of the 90% of viewers who watch the show but aren’t Very Online lol.
WORST casualties of all of this is a sense of humor. There hasn’t been a wacko episode – a super funny episode since Carver left
I can think of a couple that were intended to be so: Scoobynatural, which I had almost forgotten about entirely; Mint Condition, which was tonally unpleasant for me although I appreciated some sequences and the ambition and the effort JA put in; and then there are episodes like the love witches one and Optimism and Tombstone* and Peace of Mind, which had a few moments of pure humour but mostly have that joke-adjacent feel, structured and presented like a joke without being actually funny. So, not a great showing?
*Honestly, the funniest thing that’s come out of the last few seasons for me is that hysterically brutal outtakes video for Tombstone. Any time I see any reference to Baby Driver I am compelled to gasp out loud and comment — that’s baby driver.
Oh my God, the “initiation” videos. SO GOOD. (When the gag reel is funnier than the episode – oof – I yearn for what might have been.) I love how PROFANE Jensen is. Like, the man has a dirty dirty mind, which you don’t really get from his public persona, family-guy Instagram, etc. Like, he’s bleeped out more than anyone else and it kills me. I’m not even aware of half of the sex terms that come out of that guy’s mouth.
You also see what a good sport Calvert is – those gag reels make me love him!
// the way it’s bridged the rise and fall of several online platforms and the rise and rise of social media (and other social-tech changes like streaming). //
Yeah, I’m not a huge TV watcher but … has any other show bridged that gap? What other show has even been on that long? The Sopranos? There was enough of a “social media” element present when the finale aired, that you could feel the eruption among the fans.
// Or perhaps, a correspondence of sensibilities between Dabb and the more insanely vocal fans who expect validation and happy families from their media (especially where it serves a ship). //
That’s a really good point. Maybe that’s his comfort zone – whereas people like Kripke or Gamble or Edlund loved the dark stuff, their comfort zone was trauma (lol).
// I think he has a fundamentally different understanding of the show than every other showrunner //
Yes. I wonder how this happens, though? He’s been working on the show for so long. Has he been on a slow burn of “I don’t get the appeal of this” and now it’s all coming out?
I haven’t done a Dabb Retrospective for myself – seeing if there’s any thread of this misunderstanding in the list of episodes he’s written – I’m sure others have. But writing for a show is not the same thing as “showrunner” – you’re basically an employee as a staff writer, you’re fulfilling the vision of the showrunner. So that might not be all that illuminating.
It’s just been amazing, though, and kind of interesting – even though totally heartbreaking too – to see how DRASTICALLY the show changed under his leadership. It already had some elements of its demise in recent seasons – the bunker – Rowena – Castiel – not to mention being more fearful of the loud fans who want everything to be happy and “woke” – but my God, Dabb took over, and whoosh – the show itself as we knew it vanished.
I am so dying for backstage stories about this.
There was a con clip going around – you all probably know better than I do – but Jensen was talking about the killing of Abaddon – and how weird it was to film it, you’re on a harness, you’re dangling, etc. – but when he saw the finished product he was like “wow, that’s really cool.” Then, he said, “Unlike the finale of Season 13 – where I looked like an idiot.” !!!
Jensen is not shy and he has a strong sense of ownership in the show. He knows what’s going on. Of course he does – but it’s amazing to hear him say it from a stage at a convention.
At the end of the day, there’s only one person to blame and that’s Dabb. What has it been like between JA and JP when they get these god-awful scripts? As they watched their characters’ COMPETENCY being removed? (The two of them in the maximum security prison. Just waiting out their sentences. Ugh. AWFUL.)
This feels malevolent to me – like Dabb doesn’t like the characters – but maybe you’re right. He just doesn’t understand the appeal of the show he has been working on – and this baffles me.
TV fans: is there an equivalent situation? Where a show became a totally other thing under new leadership? I’m failing to come up with one example.
// I wonder sometimes what it would be like to be one of the 90% of viewers who watch the show but aren’t Very Online lol. //
I know, right?
I think many many people have stopped watching.
In re: the “funny” episodes you mentioned: these are really the only episodes I even REMEMBER. Which tells you something.
This show can’t take an overly serious attitude about itself. And the characters can’t buy their own bullshit so much that they ponderously talk about their own heroism and self-sacrifices.
It’s so refreshing and amazing to go back to earlier seasons and listen to how Dean and Sam talk about themselves. It’s self-loathing in the EXTREME. and that tension – between who they really are and how THEY see themselves – creates this really beautiful tension, where you feel how wonderful they are, and why can’t they see it, and why can’t they get some peace, and blah blah, all of those empathetic responses the show did so well – creating this insanely devoted fan base who really LOVE these guys.
But if they’re walking around saying “we’re heroes” or – worse – “yes, we’re kind of like superheroes” – then, boom, we don’t feel the sacrifice, we don’t sense what these men have given UP.
And if you don’t have that, then you don’t have the sense of tragic melodramatic scope – which so marked those early seasons.
I am not sure how all of this leads up to having a sense of humor – but it’s amazing to watch those episodes like Changing Channels – and see how bold they were with the structure of the show, its flexible nature, how flexible the characters were.
There’s no flexibility anymore. Everything has narrowed. And as the show has become more fantastical – with AU dinosaurs and Rowena’s magic – it has – weirdly – become more literal. And the show just can’t take that. It can take a lot of things but it can’t take a literal attitude. The whole thing falls apart.
❤
If the showrunner and the writers are paying attention to social media, I wish they had paid attention to you as well as another writer who has a blog about Supernatural and who has been despairing about what has happened to the show in recent years.
I so appreciate how you’re able to verbalize the discomfort and dissatisfaction I’ve had while watching the show in recent years.
There is so much here to dig into, but your above comment about the show becoming more literal is a thought I have had as well, and I completely agree that the show cannot handle it.
Horror is supposed to be metaphorical, the monster is our own deepest darkest fear externalized, and Sam and Dean had a lot of deep, dark fears and traumas that needed to be brought to light and previous show runners and writers knew how to artfully entwine those two things, but these days it’s all blunt Rowena and Jack shaped instruments and pep talks leading to healthy personal actualization? Uhg, no thank you!!!!
It’s been sooo long since I’ve last commented here. It’s not your fault. It’s Dabb’s. (I’ve missed this place!)
//I haven’t done a Dabb Retrospective for myself – seeing if there’s any thread of this misunderstanding in the list of episodes he’s written//
Andrew Dabb first wrote for Supernatural in season 4 – initially with a partner, Daniel Loflin. Their first episode credit was “Yellow Fever”, which I liked. They went on to write some all-timers, like season 5’s “Dark Side of the Moon” and season 6’s “Weekend at Bobby’s”. The Dabb/Loflin episodes you mentioned in your post: 8.02 “What’s Up Tiger Mommy” (their final collaboration); 5.11 “Sam, Interrupted”; 7.03 “The Girl Next Door”; 7.08 “Season Seven, Time for a Wedding!”; 7.14 “Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie”; 7.22 “There Will Be Blood”; 5.06 “I Believe the Children Are Our Future”.
Andrew Dabb went solo starting in season 8, with the “Hunter Heroici”, of which you had some nice things to say up in your main post. He wasn’t my favorite writer, but he didn’t write execrable eps like “Man’s Best Friend…” or anything. The solo Dabb episodes you mentioned in your post: 8.08 “Hunter Heroici”; 8.14 “Trial and Error”; 8.22 “Clip Show”.
The above-listed episodes are certainly not the worst. In fact, some of them were really, really good.
HOWEVER, Dabb was put on permanent probation with me when we wrote the boring beige BASIC backdoor pilot “Bloodlines” back in season 9. It’s THIS ep that was a true prediction of what he would do as a showrunner. He tried to turn SPN into an imitation of every other teen romantic triangle show then playing on the CW lineup (e.g. Vampire Diaries). A pale, beige, boring, BASIC imitation. Bleh.
Now the CW lineup is DC superhero heavy. SPN used to be an outlier in execution, if not in concept. Now, it sounds like it’s a standard ensemble superhero CW show, where everyone means well, acts heroically and makes understandable, easily forgivable mistakes. (I may be mistaken, since I haven’t finished season 13 yet.)
I was really worried when they announced that Dabb would be the EP of season 12. I was willing to cut him some slack, however, since he was a co-writer of one of the last great SPN eps (IMHO) season 11’s “Red Meat”. To me, this was a mind-bender, designed to mess with audience perspective on Sam & Dean’s actions over the history of the show. In the episode, the bad guy’s actions were a direct mirror of Dean’s. Bad dude “killed” Sam like Dean had killed Death the previous season. Bad guy demanded Dean save his girlfriend. Dean demanded Billie save Sam. Can you say Dean’s determination to save Sam at all costs was any more noble than the bad dude’s determination to save his girlfriend? All this existential shit plus wounded, badass Sam. It was an exciting/uncomfortable/yummy/challenging episode.
But then Dabb was the solo writer of season 11’s finale, where they pulled ALL their punches. Season 11 was heading towards some sort of cataclysmic Dean & Amara reckoning which turned into “Never mind. God apologized, so here’s your mom. OK, bye.”
And now SPN sounds like it’s a regular CW show with/for old/legacy characters/fans.
Man, it’s been soo long since I’ve last read a post & comments in full on your wonderful site. I miss reading everyone’s insights.
The reason: I fell behind watching season 12. Once Dabb took over, SPN became … inessential. I cared juuust enough about the storytelling of the show to duck out of reading the SPN stuff on this site to avoid spoilers. Except I fell further and further behind. I finally plowed through season 12 last year, some time after season 13. It was kind of grim. The only episodes that I cared to re-watch were: the one with the bunny (JA’s portrayal of Dean losing his memories – chef’s kiss) and the one where Dean finally used Chekov’s grenade launcher (“I hate you.” [BOOM] “I forgive you.” [rumble] “SEE ME!” [crash!]). Poor Sam got stuck with the bargain-basement 24/James Bond/MoL crap. I was OK (in theory) with Mary’s closed-off-ishness, since she was dealing with the loss of John and her babies and her timeline, without revenge or child-raising to force her out of herself. John shoved everyone into a belljar for 20 years because of his grief. I was willing to grant Mary some equivalent irrationality for a while. But … eh. I’m part way through season 13, but it’s such a slog. I’m caring less and less about spoilers, so: here I am. And you all are still awesome (unlike the show).
// Sam and Dean had a lot of deep, dark fears and traumas that needed to be brought to light and previous show runners and writers knew how to artfully entwine those two things, but these days it’s all blunt Rowena and Jack shaped instruments and pep talks leading to healthy personal actualization? Uhg, no thank you!!!! //
lol
I know. They just don’t get what made the show strong in the first place. Maybe they don’t understand long-lasting trauma and how it manifests itself in different ways – I mean, we were still digging into that as late as Into the Mystic … it was still present.
They just have no idea how to keep it going. They want them to be “healthy”. and … they killed the potential for real drama.
Exacerbated by Rowena/the bunker/no more motel rooms/Baby on the sidelines.
Lindah – !!!! Your Dabb breakdown was incredible! Thank you so much for that close read – I’ve needed it.
// BENNY. I LOVE BENNY. BARREL-CHESTED BENNY.//
I WAS SUMMONED. (Hello to my favourite c***ts)
I really love season 8 a lot and I loved it right away. I was so intrigued by the first scenes with Benny (who is THAT) because we had never seen Dean behaved that way, and I remember being so amazed by JA’s acting – the change after he came back, so subtle, in the way he walks, how he looks at things: he’s haunted, but it’s different than when he came back from Hell. I was fascinated.
I love that there is no big bad, the same way I loved that in season 10, when the main danger was Dean’s demon-ness. Of course, because it focuses on the relationship rather than plot, but also because I loved seeing their everyday life – you know, back when it was interesting. Life on the road in the Impala, the motels, small town lore, diners, AMERICANA. It used to be central to the show, and we’ve completely lost that, dammit!
Reading your thoughts on the last seasons makes me so sad, especially compared to episodes like Abandon All Hope or Death’s Door, which wrecked me. Re: the writers’ laziness: it’s infuriating! They constantly avoid conflict and play it SAFE. It’s like they hate this show. I mean, SPN is a show that used to be anything but safe (in so many ways lol): Mystery Spot? The French Mistake? Clap Your Hands? It was BONKERS.
What have they done? It’s like they don’t trust they can actually write risky stuff. It’s like they don’t trust themselves to write? Writers? What is HAPPENING?
// f I ever start doing re-caps again, I would like to make it to Rachel Miner, because I have a lot to say about her, and her acting style.//
Oh God please yes. It took me a while to get used to her enunciation, but I fell in love with Meg.
// I also wasn’t aware that I wasn’t supposed to like Charlie. //
WHAT? That makes no sense.
Lyrie –
// I really love season 8 a lot and I loved it right away. //
I love this. You were hip to it instantly. Some people still haven’t come around. Honestly, considering what we’ve seen since, I think Season 8 is super strong. There’s a lot of resistance to Sam and Dean having lives outside of each other – but honestly, the pilot established that this is a push-pull relationship – and that “family” is often a draw towards death, murkiness, entrapment. The show is ABOUT that. So the brothers attempting to have lives outside of each other is … built into the thing. So anyway. Yeah. I really love the season – and that opening scene! How different Dean was! Hugging Benny??!! The sense of mystery around it, how we’d never seen “this Dean” before – it still works wonderfully well, pulls you in instantly.
// Life on the road in the Impala, the motels, small town lore, diners, AMERICANA. It used to be central to the show, and we’ve completely lost that, dammit! //
Right – once we got the bunker, we lost the texture of the show. It was (in retrospect) a huge huge mistake – at least to let it stay around this long. It’s made the writers super lazy, too.
I miss them going to libraries.
There’s that scene where Mary (ugh, but bear with me) is working a case with the brothers – right after she came back – and she’s ready to go knock on doors, and Sam and Dean sit there on their laptops, telling her it’s not really necessary anymore.
And don’t the writers realize that by doing that – they are making the LEAST interesting choice?
We will ALWAYS need librarians and archivists to dig out dusty books for us that haven’t been digitized. That was so much a part of the show in those early seasons. I just hate what has happened.
// They constantly avoid conflict and play it SAFE. It’s like they hate this show.//
I think they do resent the show as it was set up – and they are very very swayed by the loud social-media contingent – but the fact remains that this is a show with two white male leads. You can’t resent that. You can try to have the background reflect a more diverse world – and in general they have done that. But if you’re looking to SPN to be an “example” or really insightful about female empowerment, etc., you are barking up the wrong damn tree. SPN is an interesting case – because when it started it was pre-social-media, at least as we know social media now. And it has crossed the bridge between 2005 and 2019 … sometimes awkwardly … and nobody was prepared to adjust to this new environment, where fans scream at you on Twitter saying that SPN is pro “rape culture” or whatever. Nobody hunkered down to say “look, this is the show we’re doing. We have a great fan base. The people screaming are not the only fans. Let’s just keep doing what we’re doing. The best fans will follow.” As it is, they are catering to the worst fans – the ones who will never be satisfied until Sam and Dean are extras in their own show.
// Mystery Spot? The French Mistake? Clap Your Hands? It was BONKERS. //
Ugh, I know.
And one of the WORST casualties of all of this is a sense of humor. There hasn’t been a wacko episode – a super funny episode – since Carver left. I am failing to come up with an example. Of course there are humorous moments – but none of the episodes go off the rails – like Clap Your Hands did – or Mystery Spot – or Changing Channels. It’s all very safe. You need to have an imagination to have a sense of humor.
// It took me a while to get used to her enunciation, but I fell in love with Meg. //
Me too. The way she says those lines is all hers – imagine that dialogue said by an actress who hadn’t figured out how to say it. It would be agonizing to watch.
and yeah … I came across a contingent of fans who hate Charlie and call her “Charlie Sue” – like she’s just “fan service” and not a well-drawn character. Uhm, what?
You should thank your lucky stars you haven’t had to endure MAGGIE in recent seasons – one of the worst characters SPN has ever tried to foist on us. Now THAT’S a Mary Sue.
// BENNY. I LOVE BENNY. BARREL-CHESTED BENNY.//
+
//Supernatural, Season 8, episode 9 “Citizen Fang” (2012; d. Nick Copus)
Benny Dean Benny Dean I love so much Benny and Dean. //
I cannot. help. myself. Ha!
So sad re-reading all of this when I just finished season 14.
//How different Dean was! Hugging Benny??!!//
I have a terrible memory and I don’t remember plot points – so what is great – and tricky sometimes – is that I only remember what I had really strong emotional reactions to. Sometimes it’s a let down when I re-watch – it only works once – and sometimes I re-discover things with a really fucked-up “wait, haven’t I already bawled my eyes out about THAT VERY SAME THING” deja vu. I remember so well the very first time I saw that hug – who WAS that man Dean was hugging, we’ve never EVER seen him be so… warm – I guess? Not exactly unrestrained, but there’s an openness? Whether with a man or a woman. There’s a quality to that hug that suggests, I don’t want to say intimacy, but a deep bond, a kind of trust, that’s just new and unique. And then you learn he’s a freaking vampire? I have never forgotten that first impression. Instantly drawn. And then Benny didn’t disappoint. Has anyone ever respected Dean’s boundaries like he did? “End of the line?” “End of the line”, no questions asked. He’s a fucking vampire!? God I love Benny so much.
Season 8 is also that glorious moment when Sam just cannot understand – his reaction! – when Dean, before running off to decapitate his vampire boyfriend’s girlfriend – utters the words “Personal, as in my own grown-up personal crap.” ExCUSE ME?
Oh Benny, I will never get over what he brought.
I will also never get over the fact that I find the scene where he saves Sam in Purgatory by ripping someone’s throat off with his teeth so so hot, but that’s neither here nor there – also henley
The contrast about showing growth in ways that are still interesting and dramatically complex, versus what we seen in the last seasons, with so may pep talks that are supposed to be “healthier” (an excellent point someone brought up in one of the comments somewhere – I’m all over the place), but are actually empty, and ironically, make the brothers emotionally stunted.
In season 8, Dean talks about “personal crap” for the first time, in season 10 he talks about his demon time as being “embarrassing”. And both brothers, and their relationships, are changed because of it. And after season 11, it all… stops. Talk about a misfire if they were going for some sort of personal development or whatever the fuck.
//I think they do resent the show as it was set up//
Very clear when watching season 14. My god. What the fuck.
// I have never forgotten that first impression. //
Me neither. There were a lot of jaw-dropping endings/beginnings – for me that final shot of Sam in the last episode of Season 5 … I just could not BELIEVE it. But in terms of openers … the Benny/Dean opener is still one of my favorites. I was completely drawn in, like you – and I also just was totally incoherently like “WHO is THAT” – and it was how Dean hugged him. I just had never seen THAT Dean before, and we were 7 seasons in!!
// utters the words “Personal, as in my own grown-up personal crap.” ExCUSE ME?
Oh Benny, I will never get over what he brought. //
Interesting point. Yes, I remember that moment. It’s just so SHOCKING to both of them, really, that the other might have something going on outSIDE their …… marriage. lol
Especially Dean – Sam was always good at compartmentalizing, and had “escaped” to Stanford, at least for a while. But the only time Dean had a personal life was when he thought Sam was dead. But him telling HIS BROTHER “I have my own stuff that are off limit?” Wow
One of the episodes of season 15 opens with a dream (?) sequence of a fight in the bunker and as soon as I saw Benny I yelled NO! Don’t drag him into this shit. Let him be in Purgatory (I know, they said he died, but I don’t believe it because nothing past season 11 is canon. I refuse).
I hope they’re not bringing some AU Benny. I will burn shit down.
// Talk about a misfire if they were going for some sort of personal development or whatever the fuck.//
I know.
I seem to remember a lot of conversations on here back then when we were trying to figure out WHAT was going on “over there”. Like, what was even being attempted? I still can’t really understand. I definitely felt some hostility towards the very things I valued in the show and the characters – ambiguity, complexity – and I also felt that maybe “they” were hostile towards it because they couldn’t DO it. I don’t know – it might have been a mixture. I think there was that smug “let’s deconstruct this thing” attitude – which … why … and also a sense they were listening to all the loudest voices on Twitter. There was also this feeling that all Dabb wanted to do was run a show featuring a bunch of teenagers. Like, he just was not reconciled to the whole middle-aged-straight-male thing he was working on. It didn’t flatter his perception of himself as someone tuned in to the zeitgeist on Twitter. I don’t know. It was a mess.
The love affair with gleaming modern weaponry – was just so different from the blue-collar pieced-together sawed-offs from the early seasons. The BMOL were just crushing – but illuminating: Dabb’s team LIKED the BMOL and it’s like they couldn’t WAIT to film all these super elaborate war machines.
I actually just was talking with a friend of mine about this – not about Supernatural but in general. There is a general LACK of authentic blue-collar art being made – authentic blue collar – or working class – or whatever you want to call it – points of view. Everyone is just so damn middle-class and if they’re NOT then they have middle-class aspirations. And our art has suffered for it. The blue collar world is treated with condescension – or incomprehension. Supernatural, of course, is a horror genre show – but it had nuts and bolts lower-middle-class aesthetics – and it felt understood from the inside – and this showed in everything – the aesthetics, the props, the mindset, the worlds they moved through – backroads of America. And of course now on a backroad you’re more likely to pass a Walmart and an Applebee’s – rather than a rickety little gas station. I mean, you still can find out of the way places, but still … So it’s a larger issue than just SPN. This is one of the reasons why people who can’t AFFORD film school or whatever need to have other ways – grants? – to make their films. A movie came out last year – Holler – by director with a blue collar background – and it was one of my favorites last year. Eliza Hittman is another filmmaker whose films take place in an authentic blue collar world – she understands it – she gets it.
so-called “foreign” films are often way WAY better on these class “issues” than American films. Our world has become so homogenized – even just aesthetically.
Kripke was explicitly interested in the blue-collar-ness of the Winchesters – I remember him talking about this way back in the day, season 1. and I appreciate that.
You can totally tell that Dabb has no idea about that original idea, doesn’t grok it, can’t get into it, and maybe even has a little bit of contempt for it.
Maybe on an unconscious level, but for me that contempt is there.
Ha! I talked about the obsessions for weapons – new shiny, special weapons – in another thread, interesting to see it pop up here, in relation to class.
Yes, the question of class is something very dear to my heart, in general. I’m not sure it’s new – how everything seems to be middle-class, I mean – but it’s gotten worse, I think. A tv critic I follow recently wrote about the obsession with rich people in tv these past few years, and I agree – enough with the millionaires already! But even before that, the working-class was often poorly represented. I often think of Gilmore Girls and how Lorelai, who supposedly left her parents’ fortune behind to be a self made woman, can afford to buy THAT house as a single mother in her thirties, for instance. And I mean, the question of class is explicit, it’s a huge part of the characters, and yet it’s absolutely unrealistic. Which is fine, it’s a nice fantasy, I’m not saying it shouldn’t be one. I’m just saying, even when people are supposed to be broke, on tv, they’re usually doing pretty amazing.
Once I got past “I love the smurfs” and actually watched a few episodes, it was part of the draw for me. Those two guys, apart from their handsomeness, were part of a world I could actually recognize – except not quite, because I grew up in Europe. So there is a strange mirror of being the Euro-white trash equivalent (I mean, I had neighbours who were the Benders. Pretty sure.). (But also, my father, who was born after WWII, had this whole love/hate relationship with America, how it was conveyed in popular culture: he loved the cars, he watched the shows, he would have liked to be one of the cool Marlboro men, but felt like he had to constantly disparage anything American. I remember as a child being very puzzled by this cognitive dissonance.)
Still, there’s something about rural, small towns, where most people are either farmers or work at the factory… that’s where I grew up. No one in my family finished high school. I was a high school drop out. When I hear “I have a GED, and a give ’em hell attitude”, it doesn’t sound like a romantic version of a cool guy or however it might perceived – to me, it sounds familiar. I think: I know this guy, I’ve skipped school to ride on this guy’s moped and smoke cigarettes (and that’s how you become a high school dropout kids. Don’t do it lol). I’ve dated this guy. So the whole going to school, “betraying” your class, or going back to your family and being mocked as the nerd,… it’s a whole thing. It’s very true. And I can’t recall having seen it a way that felt so true – even if it were an American version. And you’re right, there’s no judgement from Kripke in that – I see interest in the tension between the different paths that can be taken by the brothers, in relation to class too. And sure, there are the Benders. But most other people, who talk behind dirty screen doors, the husband of the women in white in the pilot, even… the show isn’t judging them, nor romanticizing them, and I feel a real interest in that part of the culture. Where else have we seen that?
The Men of letters started fucking that up – structurally, on the show. It wasn’t uninteresting at first, because the tension was acknowledged, with Henry Winchester’s contempt for hunters. It was really the upper middle class looking down on the working class. But when they stayed and settled down in the bunker, didn’t have to rely on the community by interviewing people or going to the library… that connection was lost. And in the last seasons, the suburbs, which used to be other, which in the Winchester world were the weird stuff, have become the norm. Because Dabb has zero imagination and zero interest in people. I agree that there is contempt too.
Very interesting, Lyrie – I completely agree with all of your observations here. I haven’t seen too much written about this … there has to be “working class” fans of the show… but a lot of the commentary about it seems very much from the outside looking in.
// So the whole going to school, “betraying” your class, or going back to your family and being mocked as the nerd,… it’s a whole thing. It’s very true. And I can’t recall having seen it a way that felt so true – even if it were an American version. //
So true! It’s interesting – to think of being a “hunter” as a stand-in and/or metaphor for being blue-collar/working-class – it really fits.
// It was really the upper middle class looking down on the working class. But when they stayed and settled down in the bunker, //
Yes!! It was a real betrayal. Like you said, it added an interesting element to the mix – the scholarly side – and it made so much sense that Sam and Dean would have both in their makeup – but then they just settle down into the scholars bunker and for the next 6 years they never went to a public library and just sat around comfortably.
Ugh, it was so uninteresting. and also a betrayal. wouldn’t it have been interesting if Sam or Dean just COULDN’T have succumbed … if something in them resisted “home”? Like Jeremy Renner in Hurt Locker, staring at the grocery store completely alienated? (I know I made that connection between Renner and Dean before).
But no, they just moved right on in, and drank whiskey out of snifters, and sat around … it was interesting at first but … for YEARS?
Kripke knew the roadhouse sucked and so he burnt it down almost immediately. lol This new team loved that bunker so much – and it really really shows the middle-class background – or at least aspirations – of everyone “over there”.
I know you told me not to hold back but had written so much more about that, ha! I’m glad my ramblings make sense to you – I feel very alone in that interpretation of the show – I have no doubt it’s there and a very interesting aspect, but I feel like no one picks up on it or is interested. Might have to do with that outsider looking in thing.
And you’ll never read the master’s thesis I wrote after watching Rust and Bone reading your post about it, but I had written a LONG ASS comment about Matthias Schoenaerts’ performance of, specifically, that kind of guy. I was absolutely blown away – especially because in French stuff, 90% of stories are middle/upper-middle class and the other 10% are usually comedies using proletariat culture as a comedic device (hopefully most of that crap doesn’t make it out of the country). I’m talking about recent stuff, not Depardieu/Dewaere 70s stuff, which were obviously a whole different beast and era. All that to say, I really enjoyed a lot of things about that movie, but how Schoenaerts’ looks and SOUNDS… Killed me. His declaration… I have never heard an actor sound like that, sound so true, sound like… men I’ve known.
Obviously Supernatural is different, it’s not realistic and it’s highly stylized, but I see a common thread. Also because my brain, obsessions, etc.
I did a partial re-watch of Deadwood before the movie. Such incredible writing and characters. There is a scene early in the first episode between Elwood and Johnny, Jim Beaver delivers his profanity laced lines with such fluid ease it sounds like poetry. That is damn good writing and acting. It really brought home to me how dreadful the writing in SPN has been when even a great character actor like Jim Beaver can’t make it sound good. (I haven’t watched the Deadwood movie yet since I’m still mid re-watch thus avoiding spoilers in the comments above)
Deadwood has such good writing and acting – across the board – no weak links. It’s astonishing – and that language is so challenging!! It is not “normal” language, you really have to be skilled to make any of it sound even halfway real. It is poetry!
I find it incredibly interesting in that what you see as character growth I see as unearned character regression. But you have given me insight as to a possible explanation for why Sam chose to be with Amelia. With Dean gone, Sam loses his anchor. He sets adrift and latches on to a strong personality that tells him what to do and gives him direction. Thank you.
Pathryn – thank you so much for your comment!
I guess my feeling is – we don’t “grow” in an unending line upwards. We OFTEN regress. We often learn a lesson and then make the same mistake again and beat ourselves up about it. Or we THINK we learn a lesson but it turns out we learned the wrong lesson. and etc. Season 8 was all about that for me – which then led into Season 9, one of my favorites – where all of the issues/lessons, etc. – blow up in their faces, fracturing the relationship.
I am frustrated with fans who just dismiss things as “ooc” without considering that maybe there’s something deeper going on – or that maybe the writers know something they don’t, or are interested in exploring things in a different way. Sam being drawn to Amelia isn’t a “mistake.” It’s where he was at at the time. The same goes for her. I got no problem with Amelia being “rude” or “mean” or any of the other silly (in my mind) criticisms of her. Wanting everyone to be nice to “the boys” is … a mistake. And the characters who come in and who are willing to challenge the boys’ narrative – of themselves – of their lives – like Garth did, like Charlie does (“dick move, Winchester”), like Bela did – this is where we get the good stuff. Let the FANS hero-worship the guys. The SHOW shouldn’t. The SHOW needs to undercut it. The last 3 seasons has shown what happens when the show doesn’t know how to undercut anything – when the boys themselves constantly make speeches about how heroic they are. Ugh.
Amelia may have been obnoxious but she was utterly truthful – she was HONEST – she was upfront about herself – she hid nothing, she was incapable of it – she wore her mess on her sleeve. I don’t see it just as Sam “losing his anchor.” and latching onto someone who bossed him around. I see it as Sam finding her honesty – and how openly she admits to being a mess – REFRESHING and legit relaxing.
I love how she was written. It gives me a lot to think about in re: Sam.
This is not to say I love how those flashbacks were filmed. They are ugly ugly ugly. If they were going for “golden-drenched nostalgia” they failed. It was an ominous harbinger of things to come – the show had never looked that bad.
//Supernatural, Season 8, episode 23 “Sacrifice” (2013; d. Philip Sgriccia)
This is, all told, an incredible hour of television. Mark Sheppard’s work //
I’ve been saying “I miss Crowley” a lot, watching seasons 13 and 14. It was time for him to leave because they didn’t know what to do with him – which is a shame, because instead we get shit tons of nondescript demons. How about, after flirting with humanity, he comes back meaner? I don’t know! They did Crowley and Mark Sheppard dirty.
I don’t know why, but this time his descent into humanity touched me more – not so much his “I deserve to be loved” monologue, but the first time he calls him Sam instead of Moose, so softly. Sobbing – it caught me by surprise! And I’ve watched that season 4, 5 times?
Also I saw someone being super happy that an interviewer called Castiel “the first queer regular” of the show and that the Winchesters team didn’t contradict it, and, I’m sorry, I’m just super fucking annoyed because CROWLEY – wasn’t he a regular too at some point? And his opportunistic pansexuality is not subtext, it’s very much text – his very fist scene in the show is him coercing a man into a kiss, for fuck’s sake! I realize I might be the only one who cares, especially at this point, but I miss Crowley, and he’s one of the gays, thank yew. Not that it matters incredibly, but I’m annoyed about the focus on Castiel, because he sucks and not in a good way. I will let it go at some point.
// I don’t know why, but this time his descent into humanity touched me more – not so much his “I deserve to be loved” monologue, but the first time he calls him Sam instead of Moose, so softly. Sobbing – it caught me by surprise! And I’ve watched that season 4, 5 times? //
that scene was so good! The show really suffered when Crowley descended – AND when metatron just stuck around. God, this team just ruined eerything they touched.
// Also I saw someone being super happy that an interviewer called Castiel “the first queer regular” //
Oh God. I just don’t understand how the people who cheer this don’t see they’re being manipulated. It’s pandering. I so remember coming across some Tumblr post – and it was hilarious – this queer Tumblr owner was like “so my friend loves Supernatural and she wouldn’t shut up about it and she kept telling me it has a ‘queer angel’ on it” so I started watching and it’s a great show but wtf I kept waiting for all those queer angels to show up and I’m still waiting.” Like … I am not saying that Castiel couldn’t be “read” multiple different ways – in fact, that was the fun of it initially – esPECIALLY in his interactions with Dean because Dean – as we have established – has sexual chemistry with everyone including inanimate objects. But to call him “a queer regular” is just mis-representing the character. False advertising. Imagine hearing that and watching the show expecting to see that …