Twin Peaks: The Return (2017; d. David Lynch)
There’s nothing else like it in all of God’s green earth and I am just so grateful it exists. It’s so pure.
Suze (2025; d. Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart)
I liked this! I reviewed for Ebert.
The Straight Story (1999; d. David Lynch)
This was generally treated as an anomaly in 1999. Like, how WILD it is David Lynch would do THIS. But it makes perfect sense. It’s not an anomaly at all. Lynch goes slowwwwwww. He is never in a rush. He doesn’t rush humor, bits, he doesn’t rush through TIME in general. It is a WILD attribute to have. Rare in artists, rare in general. Here it is in its purest form. I love this movie.
The Fall of Diddy (2025)
I already know this whole shitshow, although I had no idea how bad it was. I can say now I am fully up to speed and I will now try to ignore it.
September 5 (2024; d. Tim Fehlbaum)
ABC Sports was covering the 1972 Olympics in Munich, using a live feed to broadcast the events. Everything changed when armed masked terrorists took members of the Israeli team hostage. ABC “owned” the Olympics, and they made the decision to continue broadcasting – pointing their live feed directly into the Olympic Village, right at the apartment where the terrorists held the hostages … This event is covered in the documentary One Day in September, and this is a dramatization of those events. I thought it was excellent/
Rounding (2025; d. Alex Thompson)
I reviewed for Ebert.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945; d. Albert Lewin)
I was in Chicago this month and it was frigid cold. We didn’t leave the apartment for two straight days. We all lay on the couch, curled up in blankets, and watched TCM the whole day. Angela Lansbury! George Sanders, who was made to play Oscar Wilde. It’s interesting because one of my 2025 reading projects is to read the entirety of Oscar Wilde’s work: plays, stories, journalism, poetry … I’m almost done with it. So Dorian Gray was fresh in my mind.
Meet Me in St. Louis (1945; d. Vincente Minnelli)
We love every moment, every detail. We love Tootie. She’s a hooligan and a menace. We love Rose. The way Judy tastes the sauce. The father standing at the window. The love relationship between the father and the mother. The lighting. Gorgeous. The decor. The high level of artistry involved in every aspect. It’s such a beautiful film.
National Velvet (1945; d. Clarence Leon Brown)
It transported me as a child (book and movie) and I never get tired of re-visiting it! What with this and Dorian Gray, we were on our way to a mini Angela Lansbury film festival.
Swing Time (1936; d. George Stevens)
Magical. I watched this in 6th grade, maybe 5th. It was on afternoon television. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies always were. I wrote a paper on Fred Astaire for my after-school drama club. I still remember the cover I made. I read a book about him and everything. (One MORE reason why that one Eight is Enough episode rocked my world.)
The Last of Sheila (1973; d. Herbert Ross)
Mitchell and Christopher wanted to show this to me. We earmarked it for our Friday night movie. They’ve seen it about five times now and wanted to show it to me. Co-written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins. I’m sorry, WHAT? How had I never seen this before? It’s a great “whodunit” with an amazing cast.
Only Angels Have Wings (1939; d. Howard Hawks)
A big crowd of us went to see this at the Music Box Theatre, my old stomping grounds. It’s very sentimental for me, being back on Southport, in that neighborhood in general. The neighborhood of the window. And to be back there to see my favorite movie ever on the big screen in that gorgeous movie palace was heaven. It was an 11:30 am show and it was packed. The organist played hits from 1939. I was sitting next to one of Mitchell’s friends, whom I just met that morning, and the organist was playing something super familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I said, “What is that?” Mitchell’s friend listened for 5 seconds and said, “That’s the theme from Gone With the Wind.” These are my people. After the movie, we walked back to the car, via our old apartment behind the Music Box. The apartment with the aforementioned window. It’s still there. All’s right with the world.
The White Lotus, Season 3, episode 1 (2025)
We were so excited. Already very intrigued.
SNL 50
We were very excited to see Rachel Dratch’s Debbie Downer get highlighted so heavily. She got to be strangled by Robert De Niro! We’ve known Rachel since our earliest days in Chicago. She and Mitchell are dear friends. We intersect in a million ways. Our other friend Rachel, also an improviser – to this day – is also BFFs with Dratch. We knew all of those people back then. Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Adam McKay, and … Window Boy. Same crowd. (I mentioned this time in my piece on female comedians for Film Comment.) Adam and Window Boy were on the same improv team, the house team called “The Family” at Improv Olympic, their shows were legendary. Weirdly, and totally coincidentally, the guy who wiped the tears off my face as they fell the night I took ecstasy also ended up being at SNL – although he traveled on a completely different track. He wasn’t at all a part of the improv crowd and I knew him totally separately from Window Boy et al. Even WEIRDER, cut to a decade later, I was in New York City and I got a job working for The Today Show. Or, not exactly: the website I worked for made me a liaison with The Today Show, since we were acquired by NBC, blah blah long story boring, and so I had an office in 30 Rock. They had no idea where to put me since I was just a floating little freelancer, so they gave me an office on the 17th floor. The SNL floor. It’s a closed floor. Nobody unauthorized can be up there. I had no business being there except that’s where they put me. So I’d be in the elevator with Lorne Michaels (he must have been like: “This is MY floor. Who is this woman?”) – and it’d be extra intense on the day of the table read. I bumped into Amy in the ladies’ room on occasion and I knew she wouldn’t remember me, but the first time I said to her, “Hey, I’m really good friends with Rachel from back in Chicago”… So after that it was “hi!” “good morning!” etc. Seriously, I was so out of context on that floor I felt the need to let people know that I wasn’t some intruder. Also, it’s just weird that we were all crazy 20somethings together in Chicago and now we’re all HERE yet in totally different capacities. On the same floor. It makes no sense. Still! Jimmy Fallon had left SNL by that point but he had an office on the 17th floor still and it was right next to ours. Caitlin and I would be working and he’d show up at our door and ask if we had a can opener. lol A taxi exploded outside and we saw the black smoke out our windows – we were 17 floors up – and it was only 2006 or 2007 – still scarred by 9/11 – we all – me, Caitlin, and Jimmy Fallon – bolted to the stairs and ran down all 17 flights. It was a weird job but I treasure the memory. My point is: I knew that “guy who wiped the tears off my face” worked for SNL, and he and I had spent a lot of time together back in the Chicago days because he was dating my good friend. But I had no way to get in touch with him since this was pre-social media. I couldn’t message him like “hey, what are the odds, I’m literally right down the hall.” So one day I walked over to the dreaded writers’ room, the famed SNL writers room, knocked on the door, and asked if I could see him. Again: I was so out of context. Nobody else is supposed to be on that floor. I felt like Lorne Michaels was going to show up at any minute and call security. But my old friend came out, saw me, and was like, “…… Sheila? What are YOU doing here??” And we cracked up at the very odd set of circumstances which led us both, separately, to the same spot on the 17th floor of 30 Rock. SNL is wild because once upon a time I knew so many of those people!
Anora (2024; d. Sean Baker)
At the NYFCC awards dinner (we had given Anora Best Screenplay), we sat right next to the Anora table. Yuri Borisov is so good, isn’t he?
The Below Might Be a Difficult Read
… and if you are a Supernatural fan who loved the last two seasons it may be infuriating. I am not trying to tell you you’re wrong. I am just telling you my thoughts. I cannot even begin to describe the stress of the last 3-5 months and something someone said on FB recently about Supernatural Season 15 made me realize that the only part of the whole season I remember was the finale. I didn’t remember one other thing. Granted, it aired in 2020 which was a terrible year and I was preoccupied but still … I was like, “what the hell happened in Season 15? I don’t even know what the PLOT was.” So I decided to re-watch because I basically rarely watch anything for fun anymore and I need down-time. Some of it came back as I watched but most of it was literally brand new to me. Which is WILD considering I know Season 1-9 by heart. So again, to people who AREN’T Supernatural fans, the below might be a difficult read, and to people who ARE Supernatural fans but disagree with everything I say here, it also might be a difficult read. But it had to be done.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 1 (2019; d. John F. Showalter)
I decided to watch Supernatural in reverse order. I am not watching the episodes in reverse order, just the seasons. The late seasons – 12-15 – are a scar in my memory. The finale was good but I remember little else. I wondered what it would look like if I reversed the order. It’s been an interesting experience. Some of it is coming back to me – others it’s as though I never watched it at all, that’s how little of an impression it made.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 2 “Raising Hell” (2019; d.
Robert Singer)
The ghosts in daylight are EMBARRASSING. Why not put a little work in and have a night shoot? The makeup job is terrible. The ghosts standing around in daylight – with the costumes and the makeup – look like a wandering community theatre production of Sweeney Todd.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 3 “The Rupture” (2019; d. )
It is just shockingly terrible. I don’t even know what to say. Start to finish: an embarrassment and an abomination to those of us who were in this thing from the start.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 4 “Atomic Monsters” (2019; d. Jensen Ackles)
Benny sighting! I hate what was done to Chuck and I basically reject it from my Supernatural worldview. It doesn’t exist. Which makes these later seasons a real problem for me. Besides all the other problems. And even worse than God-Chuck is self-PITYING God-Chuck. Insufferable. Good Impala scene at the end, even if it’s overwritten, with no subtext.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 5 “Proverbs 17:3” (2019; d. Richard Speight, Jr.)
I forgot how repetitive this show got in the late seasons. Every episode starts with the brothers in the bunker. Funny business with the beef jerky. Funny ongoing bit with everyone asking Dean if his fake ID – from 15 years ago – is really him. And Dean being surprised that he looks any older. But still. Why am I putting myself through this. Speight is a good director: he looks for humor too. So far this episode has been the only episode in the season, thus far, with any humor. This is a CRIME. by the way, I actually watched Season 15 and I remember almost none of it. It’s kind of wild.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 6 “Golden Time” (2019; d. John Showalter)
Oh God it’s spa-day in the bunker for Eileen and Sam. I’m so embarrassed!
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 7 “Last Call” (2019; d. Amyn Kaderali)
Good horror-genre opener. Drunk girls, lonely bar in the middle of nowhere, sudden abduction by a monster. It’s a relief after the endless YA-fantasy bullshit of the first three episodes. Of the series in general. This episode features what became a truly distressing regular feature: The Winchesters shooting at another human. God, it hurts my heart every time it happens.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 8, “Our Father, Who Aren’t in Heaven” (2019; d. Richard Speight, Jr.)
Good to see Jake Abel. He gives a good performance in what is a ridiculous double-role. He’s commanding. Castiel has been sulking for three straight episodes and it’s slightly grotesque. I’m at the point where I roll my eyes every time Chuck appears onscreen. Hate every second of the Chuck-God thing.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 9, “The Trap” (2019; d. Robert Singer)
More Chuck. It’s interminable. We haven’t had one straight monster-hunting ep. The show is broken. However: Jensen CRUSHES it in his purgatory monologue/prayer to Castiel. Who I have been annoyed with for years now but regardless. Jensen acts the SHIT out of that monologue. He makes it look so easy. Chuck: “Other Sams and other Deans in other worlds.” I just cannot with this bullshit. The people writing the show post-season 11 basically hated it for what it was and deconstructed it with contempt.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 10, “The Heroes Journey” (2020; d. John F. Showalter)
I hate this. Dean has a toothache and suddenly they realize they’re “normal”, that Chuck made them normal. But that was always the thing: they were regular humans with human bodies – they weren’t superheroes. They had to fill the gas tank. They had to fix the car. They certainly got things like headaches, they vomited, I mean Jesus Christ. They weren’t magical beings. There is some funny stuff here but the concept annoys me. It makes it so obvious that this new-ish team literally did not understand the show. It wasn’t some CW fantasy-superhero show. It was a show about two brothers who hunt monsters, with all the fallibility of humans. Their strength wasn’t superhuman. Their strength was because they were trained since they were kids to fight like tigers. Ugh. I hate it. (A bonus: we do get the spectacle of Jensen Ackles doing a tap dance in the bunker wearing a boater hat.)
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 11, “The Gamblers” (2020; d. Charles Beeson)
Okay I actually enjoyed this one. Even though it wasn’t a monster-killing ep – we still haven’t had one of those, what the HELL – but I liked the scenario in the pool hall. The whole “get our luck back” thing is a repeat of the far superior “Bad Day at Black Rock”. Like, why would you set yourself against one of the best episodes in the entire history of the series? Besides, I’m still annoyed at the entire concept. Baby broke down before. Baby is a car that sometimes breaks down. Sam and Dean were normal guys who had to do normal things like fix their cars. That’s the whole point, that’s the whole APPEAL. Superhero lore has poisoned your brains.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 12, “Galaxy Brain” (2020; d. Richard Speight, Jr.)
In the teaser opener, an announcer on the radio refers to “President Hillary Clinton” and my heart broke. Followed by Chuck launching into a monologue with “It’s monologue time.” This is hell. At one point he says, “I don’t care.” Which is WILD. Because he’s the Big Bad of the season and he literally does not care. How is this tense? None of it is believable. The way we buy in to this thing is through THEM. Sam and Dean. There aren’t millions of Sams and Deans to us. There’s only one Sam and Dean. This whole thing is just a writer bored and jerking off. Out of ideas. And then we have fucking KAIA. One of the most embarrassing side-plots in the entire show. Again, everyone is in love with fantasy over there. Did nobody notice the genre shift? This did not start as a fantasy show. I am trying to think of another well-established television series that just quietly – and seemingly inevitably (like, they couldn’t stop themselves) – switched genres. This one aired on March 16, 2020.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 13, “Destiny’s Child” (2020; d. Amyn Kaldari)
This season is so in the weeds. Everything is about casting spells to open the gate to hell, give access to The Empty, going to purgatory – and blah blah all finding ways to combat Chuck. The show doesn’t give a shit anymore.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 14, “Last Holiday” (2020; d. Eduardo Sanchez)
Another episode that starts in the bunker. Again with the Nazis. I had successfully blocked out the whole “I killed Hitler” thing. Some amusing stuff here but again … what is this show now? lol We are literally almost to the end and we have had no evidence of monster-hunting brother road trips. The whole concept of the show is not in evidence. So the last two episodes aired in March, this one aired in October, 2020.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 15, “Gimme Shelter” (2020; d. Matt Cohen)
Finally a monster-hunting episode! But the hunters are Jack and Castiel. This show hates its original fans. Also, seven deadly sins … we already did that. Season 3. Great scene between Dean and good old Amara, but we still are treated to a little lecture about how the “real” Mary is better than the “myth” Mary because she was “just a person”. Nope. Sorry. “Real” Mary sucked, not just in terms of the character (and the performance, which was terrible), but the overall story itself. I know what I’m sounding like but I don’t care: the downfall of this show is fascinating.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 16, “Drag Me Away (From You)” (2020; d. Amyn Kaderali)
Our first motel room of the entire season. Flashback to childhood. I have zero memory of this. I had a lot going on in October 2020 when it aired. A family tragedy. An unexpected change of life plans. A pandemic. I do remember one thing and it is still the best part of the episode. Dean to waitress: “I hate to ask but my brother will want to know if you have any arugula salad or any kale?” Deadpan waitress: “We’ve got iceberg lettuce with ranch.” Dean: “Good for you.”
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 17, “Unity” (2020; d. Catriona McKenzie)
Chuck is insufferable. He’s basically being villainous because he’s “bored”. Again, he is not a compelling villain. It is not a compelling motive. The ep is again all Chuck and Amara and Jack and etc. Chuck shows up and monologues about how much he “doesn’t care”.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 18, “Despair” (2020; d. Richard Speight, Jr.)
Misha Collins’ big goodbye scene was way more effective than I remembered. I was “over” Castiel by season, oh, 8. I understand he had a huge fan base so I know why he was kept around. I didn’t feel the same way but I am not the boss. My favorite Castiel was season 4 and season 5, when he was uncanny and strange. And seemed legit dangerous and unpredictable. Even though the monologue was the ultimate in pandering – and therefore felt like it came out of nowhere if you’re not a part of the base, the monologue was well written, I think, and he played it beautifully. The problem with making subtext text is that the end result can feel quite empty. Considering that Misha Collins knew this would be his final scene, he seemed overcome and it was genuine. And poor Dean/Jensen looked basically blindsided and confused, lol.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 19, “Inherit the Earth” (2020; d. John F. Showalter)
Unnerving acknowledgement of the pandemic, which shut the show down earlier in the year, delaying the end of the season. The emptiness, the silent streets, the empty playgrounds … 2020 was a year, man.
Supernatural, Season 15, episode 20, “Carry On” (2020; d. Robert Singer)
Really glad that Robert Singer – one of the creators of the show, really, who was so instrumental as a producer and a director for setting the tone – directed the finale. After all my bitching and moaning, the scene in the barn makes me cry like a baby.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 1, “Stranger in a Strange Land” (2018; d. Thomas J. Wright)
I’d blocked out the era where the bunker was full of random hunters, just wandering around being macho. You couldn’t distinguish them. And the dreaded Maggie: why is she there? She doesn’t DO anything. I feel like “they” (as in the writers’ room) thought she would be adorable and relatable to us “normies”. “Oh we would be Maggie too! Give her a chance!” Sam and Dean would NEVER have given Maggie ANY responsibility in their former lives. Samantha Smith can’t act. Plain and simple. It was a problem.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 2, “Gods and Monsters” (2018; d. Richard Speight, Jr.)
I’m working my way backwards and I have no idea what’s going on. I totally forgot that Nick (Lucifer) returned and … tries to investigate his wife and child’s murder? Like … who cares? They were desperate to drum up another plot-line to take the pressure off of Sam and Dean. The whole goal was to move the show away from being centered on the brothers. That being said, Mark Pellegrino is an excellent actor and his explosion of grief when he “comes to” as Nick was moving.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 3, “The Scar” (2018; d. Robert Singer)
I hate the hunters in the bunker. I hate how they call Sam “chief”. Along with teenagers, the new show was obsessed with militarization of hunting, and this is part and parcel with the lack of imagination. Everything had to be The Hunger Games or Harry Potter. Dark Kaia sucks. It’s embarrassing. Jody’s long monologue about her girls reminds me of the Wayward Sisters situation – which mattered a lot to some people, but annoyed me. I realize what I am doing now must be annoying. Why re-watch and bitch about it like this? Because I need to unwind. Again, I barely remember any of this. There are gems in most every episode – because I love the actors – but it’s painful to see the show so lose its way.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 4, “Mint Condition” (2018; d. Amyn Kaderali)
Dean schtick! Good to see! Sam: “That was Riley.” Dean: “I don’t know who Riley is.” Neither do I. This episode contains the abomination: “Panthro’s b—” “Rhymes with itch?” I yearn for the earlier seasons when they threw around the words “bitch”, “dick”, “douchebag” (my personal favorite). Making Sam stop himself from saying “bitch” is extremely irritating. Production designer/cinematographer clearly had a lot of fun creating the cheesy 1980s horror flick. It’s a good old monster-hunting brother episode, with no Castie, Jack, or Rowena in sight. Also no Riley in sight, whoever he/she is. Dean geeking out on horror – details like that, character-driven, specific – is the kind of thing that really MADE the show. Because even though there is a plot, the episode is about the characters.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 5, “Nightmare Logic” (2018; d. Darren Grant)
Opens with Maggie, who comes on hunts despite not knowing how to do anything and then needing to be saved by Sam and/or Dean. It’s so dumb. Why would Sam and Dean tolerate this? She is incompetent. She is always on the verge of hysteria, not exactly a hunter mindset. I feel bad for the actress. It’s not her fault. She played it one-note but, to be fair, it’s written that way. Fans, as a whole, rejected her, and it can’t have felt good. Hunters uploading videos to livestream. So stupid. again: militarizing hunting. I don’t like it. I’m annoyed by a lot of this but it’s still good to have a regular monster hunt episode. Yes, we have Bobby and Mary having some kind of love relationship problems (Oh God. stop it.) but … we at least get the brothers working a case, which has become sadly rare. Also: I love the connection made between Dean and Sarah (Leah Cairns). This quiet understanding between two adults: an unexpected connection. Maybe even chemistry. The show used to do this so well.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 6, “Optimism” (2018; d. Richard Speight, Jr.)
I forgot how much I loathed – and I mean loathed – bringing back all these familiar characters – Bobby, Charlie – from the wretched alternate world, and yet stripping them of their relationship to the brothers. Alternate Charlie. etc. The show was counting on us just being happy to see these people again (also, cynically, I think they were looking at conventions: they wanted to be able to drop more actors into the convention circuit.) So no, I’m not happy to see Charlie again because the relationship is no longer there. Having all these traumatized battle-scarred veterans was also a way to show up Sam and Dean, who were “soft” compared to them. Can’t stand it. One small shot that made me laugh out loud: In the diner, Dean gently pushing the rooster sculpture away from him. It was pointing at his crotch. Fun schtick between Dean and Jack.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 7, “Unhuman Nature” (2018; d. John F. Showalter)
Nick on his revenge tour. I can’t even struggle to care. This episode has THREE plots. The Dean-Jack-fishing scene is corny but Jensen plays the hell out of it, especially when dealing with Jack’s transparency. It’s like Jack’s openness hits him in the face. Jensen is never “general”. It’s always specific. The show is repetitive but he doesn’t repeat himself. To add insult to injury: Not only is Rowena called in to save the day, but a new character – a shaman named Sergei – is ALSO introduced, because Sam and Dean can’t figure things out by themselves anymore. People have shown up on this site before and told me that sidelining Jared and Jensen was deliberate because they wanted more time with their families blah blah. I mean, okay? The reason doesn’t change the criticism! Maybe the show should have ended at Season 10. These issues would not be as glaring if Supernatural’s seasons were 10 episodes long, or 8, as opposed to 20 episodes. That’s a lot of time to fill.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 8, “Byzantium” (2018; d. Eduardo Sánchez)
The scene of Dean, Sam and Castiel getting drunk is clearly supposed to be incredibly moving for me to watch but … Castiel laughing uproariously? Really? When have we ever seen that before, ever, in the entire history of the show? What we’re looking at is Jared, Jensen and Misha. It makes no sense. I also can’t stand how Dean is suddenly a slob in these late seasons and Sam is a neatnik, when anyone who’s watched from the beginning knows it’s the other way around. The writers lose the subtleties of the characters and go with the cliches: macho Dean cluttering up his room with pizza boxes, and not making his bed, Sam being meticulous. No, no, no. Does anyone not remember homebody Dean rhapsodizing about memory foam and Sam throwing a crumpled piece of paper on the floor? Do I have to do everything around here? Suddenly the bunker is empty of hunter squads calling Sam “chief”. So … sometimes they’re there and sometimes they’re not? Veronica Cartwright is amazing. She should have been nominated for an Oscar for Witches of Eastwick.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 9, “The Spear” (2018; d. Amyn Kaderali)
Dark Kaia’s hooded gorgeously-fitted robe is so embarrassing.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 10, “Nihilism” (2019; d. Amanda Tapping)
Now this episode I remember, and for good reason. We get another Maggie sighting. Naturally, she is on the verge of hysteria. She is a liability. If Sam or Dean were like themselves, they would send Maggie packing. But here, she’s been given a leadership role! Sam makes her a leader! It makes no sense. ALSO: a reaper shows up whose name is Jessica. Why would you give give that name to a character and NOT acknowledge the “Jess” who is such an iconic part of the Winchester myth from Season 1, episode 1? Seriously. There are so many other names you could choose. “Jessica” is taken. This is also the era where everyone talks about “monsters”. “The monsters are at the door.” “The monsters are leaving.” Back in the day, monsters were specific.
Uppercut (2025; d. Torsten Ruether)
I reviewed for Ebert.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 11, “Damaged Goods” (2019; d. Phil Sgriccia)
Dean to his mother: “Two terrible cooks …” But he’s not a terrible cook. This has been well established. It’s stuff like this that drives me crazy, even more than spending all this time following Nick around on his revenge world tour. I will say though: Jensen does SO MUCH with just a look, a glance, a pause: and through this episode he’s basically pretending he’s all right but he is really REALLY not all right. Jensen is so so good at this kind of thing.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 12, “Prophet and Loss” (2019; d. Thomas J. Wright)
I like how dark this episode is: shadows, low lights, and almost no bunker scenes. There’s even a motel room! As bored as I am by Nick’s journey, Mark Pellegrino’s acting in the scene with his dead wife was superb. Quite amazing, really. And good satisfying final scene between Sam and Dean.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 13, “Lebanon” (2019; d. Robert Singer)
Here’s a regular brother-monster-hunt, with the teens in Lebanon being rebellious, even though they don’t feel like teenagers to me, but that’s okay. I enjoy Sam and Dean as cranky Gen X guys, old enough to be these kids’ fathers, and ordering them around irritably. John and Mary return. Sam is doing a Ted talk. (Dean: “I mean, I’m good, but you …”) Suddenly John is all softboi? I am not in charge but I would have preferred more conflict, at least initially. The old John. Showing up and being officious or bossy with them. Sam and Dean having to correct him, stand up to him, “No, Dad. Things are different now. You can’t do that to us anymore.” John having to realize what has happened and THEN apologizing for everything he did to them. Not immediately burst into tears and say “I treated you badly, I am so sorry.” But that’s just me. I don’t understand making choices where there isn’t conflict. Choice without a conflict isn’t a choice. There were interesting parts of this family reunion – but I feel like they were accidental rather than deliberate. The way John focused solely on Sam, big teary talk with Sam. With Dean it was more practical. He didn’t say “I did a lot of wrong things to you, son …” He said all that to SAM. But I feel like this was just sloppy scriptwriting as opposed to a deliberate POINT being made that … John really hasn’t changed all that much. Once again, Dean is being ignored. Or, if not ignored, then “Dean’s fine, Dean’s strong, he gets it, he doesn’t need an apology.” Can’t we MAKE something of that? No? (Me bitching about John here is not to dismiss what Jeffrey Dean Morgan does with what he has. He is overwhelming, his emotion is overwhelming. I just would have liked more conflict before he got to that point. To actually have John realize – in the moment – that his sons are grown, and he has some explaining to do.)
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 14, “Ouroboros” (2019; d. Amyn Kaderali)
May be a stretch – and of course it is a stretch – based entirely on my own sometimes-theory about what Dean did as a teenager to make money … (see “Alex Annie Alexis Ann”) … but I think the good-looking gorgon propositioning truckers at a truck stop late at night, all fetching in his snakeskin jacket and bedroom eyes … could be a nod to my own personal Dean Headcanon. The interaction between gorgon and trucker is explicit and the gorgon looks like a young hustler out of My Own Private Idaho. Note: the mirror shot of the dog and then Jack, on all fours on the veterinarian’s table, made me laugh out loud. “I wish I could have got it before she took my temperature.” Clever and absurd. Referencing the #MeToo movement carbon-dates this episode to 2019. Maggie sighting. Hunters playing cards and being all manly commandos and I can’t stand it. I’m not sorry about what happened. The writers made the right call. Get rid of those clowns.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 15, “Peace of Mind” (2019; d. Phil Sgriccia)
“Pink Shoelaces” by Dodie Stevens is an exciting musical cameo. Production designer/set decorator clearly had fun designing this little Pleasantville town, where the movie theatre is showing Scooby Doo for $2. Cas says to brainwashed Sam: “I know what it’s like to lose your army.” I thought, “What army? What is he talking about?” Then I remembered literally the last episode, which I watched 5 minutes ago, when all the hunters were killed. That’s how big an impression they made on me.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 16, “Don’t Go Into the Woods” (2019; d. John Fitzpatrick)
“I’m two.” [long pause] “Enty.” Lebanon teens again. Ghost Facers sighting. I can’t help but feel that after the failure of Wayward Sisters … and Bloodlines … Dabb was still searching around for potential spin-offs so he’d have a job after Supernatural ended and the Lebanon teens checked off the boxes the Wayward Sisters checked off and so maybe … I’m cynical.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 17, “Game Night” (2019; d. John F. Showalter)
No memory of this.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 18, “Absence” (2019; d. Nina Lopez-Corrado)
Lopez-Corrado directed “Red Meat” and she has my trust forevermore. This is the big episode, multiple locations, a lot a lot of special effects, a ton of shit going on – (whereas “Red Meat” was more of a chamber piece, a quartet, if you will) – I think she did a wonderful job. My feelings on Mary once she was brought back are obvious. To me. I hate lines like “You know how mom is after a hunt” – with this kind of knowing chuckle, like, Mary wants to eat a burger, drink whiskey, she don’t need no angel healing, she’s a tough hunter broad! Girlboss! I just don’t like it. Maybe I would like it if Samantha Smith were a good actress, and could suggest an actual character onscreen. You know who WAS like this? Ellen. Samantha Ferris could make me believe all of those things just by standing there. Dean’s eulogy and all the hunters’ knowing chuckles … I just can’t. I wish I could, but I can’t. Maybe it was a smart move to make Mary so … blah … considering the actress playing her. As long as Mary was a mystical vision in dream sequences, we were on solid ground, performance-wise.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 19, “Jack in the Box” (2019; d. Robert Singer)
Singer gets it. The episode has a lot of plot and has to cover a lot of ground but the overall interest is in the characters and their conflicts (inner and outer). The focus and proportion isn’t skewed. Singer always kept the characters first in his mind.
Supernatural, Season 14, episode 20, “Moriah” (2019; d. Phil Sgriccia)
The scary box which took up 4, 5 episodes held Jack for, what, 20 minutes? lol Dean is always a little bit angry but here his fury is incandescent. Jensen is actually scary. I love it when he’s scary because you think he’s gone as deep as he can go, and then he finds another layer.
Supernatural, Season 13, episode 1, “Lost and Found” (2017; d. Phil Sgriccia)
It’s kind of interesting watching these seasons in reverse order. I have no idea what’s going on. The earlier seasons, I have each arc locked into my head. I can call up the entirety of, say, Season 4 in my head, and how Season 4 leads to Season 5. The Amara season is the last time I can do that. After Amara, I lost interest, and the show derailed, and now I have no idea what events lead up to what. In my memory, Season 12 was the absolute nadir. I may have to adjust that, though, and bump Season 15 to the top of the list. But Season 12 is when I gave up hope and realized the show didn’t understand itself anymore. We’ll see. Observation: one of the unforgivable sins of the last 4 seasons is how ugly the show got, just visually and aesthetically. Flat lighting, no blocking – people just standing around in wide shots – forever – it was such a betrayal, especially for someone like me who was drawn to the show initially for its cinematic beauty, the artistry of lighting, the fluidity of camera movements, everything. When there are exceptions I will point it out. This episode is an exception, no surprise when you consider the director. The camera movements are interesting: look for the cuts, they flow. The “payoff” of the “joke” of the kid re-naming all the items on the menu – and then having Sam see it, with no context. Sam’s quick glimpse of “wait … what?” That’s how you pay off a joke. These things don’t further the plot, but they keep things grounded in the human. There’s creativity in positioning Jack – naked with the freakin’ pirate statue in front of his privates – all of that: you get the vibe, you get the strangeness, the larger scenery is utilized (the river, the cruise ship) … Whatever happens here feels like it is happening in the real world, not on a shoddy soundstage. These things really matter! Especially here, where the plot involves a supernatural teenager wandering the earth without any clothes on. Final note: Alexander Calvert was a real find. He’s perfect. And it was all going so well until it ends in the alternate universe whatever. Hate every second of it.
Supernatural, Season 13, episode 2, “The Rising Son” (2017; d. Thomas J. Wright)
“He will make Hell great again.” Words can’t express how much I despised the looping in of current-day politics into this show. I get that 2017 was that kind of year, and anyone who walked around saying they didn’t care about politics or who were “apolitical” would have been approved of Neville Chamberlain in Munich in 1939. I still feel that way. But there’s a way to “comment” on the times without little snarky nods to us in the audience, which is blatant pandering. I had forgotten about Asmodeus and what a weird choice it was to make him a Tennessee Williams character. I like the motel room – at the “Black Hat Hotel” – nice touch – and also the schtick of Jack imitating Dean, etc. It is irritating to have to switch back to the alternate universe, which holds no interest for me.
Supernatural, Season 13, episode 3, “Patience” (2017; d. Robert Singer)
Why bring back the wonderful Missouri just to murder her? And oh God I forgot. This is the beginning of the Wayward Sisters collective. We had to suffer through it then and I’ll suffer through it now. Patience is supposedly a bookworm normie and yet when she is violently attacked she’s suddenly Jackie Chan. Pandering. Jared is particularly lovely in this episode. It’s subtle quiet work, very effective. And a final irritation: Missouri was a PSYCHIC, not a HUNTER. So they bring her back, her son calls her a “hunter” and it’s like … why even bother with you people if you can’t get the most basic thing right? GREAT fight scene between the wraith, Jody and Dean: mainly because it was such an interesting specific place, and there were details – ropes – and wooden beams – and hanging things – that gave visual interest and the choreography is great too, Dean having to improvise. It’s not just throwing punches back and forth endlessly which the show is definitely guilty of.
Supernatural, Season 13, episode 4, “The Big Empty” (2017; d. John Badham)
So here’s where my mind is at. They bring back the wonderful Rukiya Bernard to play the grief counselor – but of course I remember her from one of my favorite one-offs, the psychic town in Season 8, where Melanie – MELANIE – provided me with the loneliest ship in this shippiest of shows. Bernard played the best friend. Here, she’s back, I saw her and thought: MELANIE. WHY WON’T THEY BRING BACK MELANIE? Meanwhile, it’s not even the same character, just the same actress. Castiel’s double in the Empty was … what was that. A Clockwork Orange Castiel? I don’t understand the choice! It’s not good! Final note: John Badham. He comes with chops. And it shows.
Supernatural, Season 13, episode 5, “Advanced Thanatology” (2017; d. John F. Showalter)
It’s kind of sad how amazed I am that this is 100% brother-focused. No other cast, no off-shoots, nobody else, no “and here’s what’s happening back at the bunker”. It’s just them working a case. It’s not the most thrilling case in the world but it’s so nice to not have all that other STUFF around them.
