Reply To: Let’s all talk about Everybody Loves a Clown (S2 E2)
First of all, welcome Rosethornshurt! So glad to have more people to discuss episodes with!
Oh, I totally HATE clowns too! But I love this episode. To me, it has everything that I love in Supernatural. Humor. Creep factor. A good mystery (which carnival guy is it?). Interesting creature lore. The ROADHOUSE. And the incredibly intense ending with Dean laying into the Impala. It has it all. I put in the same category as Mystery Spot. And it started with the burning of John’s body which is huge! THIS is why I love this show; these episodes with EVERYTHING in them.
I actually FORGOT that this is the episode where we first get to see the Roadhouse. It’d kind of a revelation that there is much more of a network out there past John’s colleagues (like pastor Jim and Caleb). I LOVED Ellen immediately. Ash is also perfect. I can never get enough of him explaining to what he assumes is dim-witted Sam that MIT is a school in Massachusetts!
YES YES, RoseT – all about assumptions; nice observation. And passed-out-on-the-pool-table barfly Ash is a genius. Love that it shows there are ALL KINDS of “genius” in this world!
Loved some “real” touches like Sam burning his hand on the hot steam as the tries to break the brass tube off the calliope.
Also loved (and could watch it on an endless loop) Dean rushing to sit in the “normal” chair in the office of the carnival runner and making Sam sit in the carved clown chair; and Sam looking so very uncomfortable doing it. Just perfect acting. I also really liked that their faces are still beaten up from the car crash and previous episode. I did not like the later episodes when Cas could magically heal them; I liked that early consistency; that reminder that they had really got through some rough physical stuff!
When they ditch Bobby’s van and start walking – 1. that’s also one of the most gorgeous sequences ever shot on the show; them walking down the road with fields on each side and the various camera angles, and 2. I love it when Dean just drops the act and gets in Sam’s face about how it’s ironic to him that suddenly Sam’s putting their dad on a pedestal and it IS too little too late. It might be harsh and I might not totally agree (I do sympathize with Sam’s touch relationship with John), but it’s a GREAT scene and I love Jensen just letting loose on him!
I do love that Jo has a shotgun trained on them the first time we see her! I didn’t like her becoming more of a “fawning over Dean” type later…in that H.H. Holmes episode…but here I liked her. I do wish they had KEPT Ellen and Jo and Bobby for the entire run – recurring like Sheriff Mills.
Sam looks better when he loses the bangs!
This was a really great one for me.