Reply To: Let’s all talk about Playthings (S2 E11)
REALLY classic horror set up. The beautiful but oppressive old house. The super creepy doll collection – or is that just me? Through in some Hoodoo, fog, faded family portraits and desperate hotel owner….Voila. Something HAS to go wrong there.
NICE special effect on the twisted head guy!!
GREAT wallpaper in the motel Dean and Sam are in at the beginning. HA.
Funny how they are assumed to be “Antiquers” and how that seems to be synonymous with gay? I really never saw any canon homoerotic subtext, just really close brothers, BUT I do find it funny how the writers kept up the outside perspective of them to be “other” (maybe too pretty?) which side characters translated into gay. I am also amused how Dean was pretty uncomfortable with the assumption back then but at the same time has no problem leaning into it when it suits him – like gaining access to the private room with the doll collection. Love the line from Sam about Dean being pretty butch and how he must be overcompensating. HA.
THAT guest room in the mansion hotel with the taxidermy and wedding dress tacked to the wall….lol….I’ve stayed in places like that before and always found it cringeworthy when antique clothes are hanging around. I mean, that practically invites the ghosts to stay, doesn’t it?
Lots of great camera work in this episode. The shooting from the top on the guy that fell down the stairs and the guy who hung on the fan. And in other places, too. The camera movements are almost like you’re watching through an observer’s eyes.
Poor Dean having to deal with drunk Sam and his self-worth issues AND everything else. I totally dig that Dean makes fun of Sam the next morning – teasing him – it’s dumb to get drunk on a job no matter what.
I know it adds atmosphere, but I find it very unlikely that they would have stuck Grandma Rose into the attic after she had a stroke and is in a wheelchair. How unpractical and kinda cruel.
I do like the reveal that there is an imaginary friend in the picture a lot because it comes so abruptly and totally out of left field. And the way that everything speeds up after that.
One of the creepiest moments to me is where Tyler is playing with the doll house and the swing starts to move on its own and how that’s mirrored outside. Maggie really had to have a lot of power to make all of those things AND the car work at the same time!
That’s some STRONG glass at the pool house! Are we to believe that it’s protected by Maggie as well? GORGEOUS old building and pool, though!
The story is SO SAD. As mean and murderous as Maggie is she’s also so lonely and tragically stuck there thinking her sister wants nothing to do with her. I love that Grandma is the hero in the end. She saves everyone as much as Sam and Dean saved Tyler. I love how the episode ends with the two ghost sisters playing together.
Although I do think Sam and Dean could have had the idea to look for a doll likeness of Maggie and get rid of her as they came across that in Provenance already.
Overall strong episode for me!