Let’s all talk about Hollywood Babylon (S2 E18)

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    • journalbookbinder
        September 17, 2021 at 1:10 pm #9881

        I remember this one as being one of the first to start to make fun of their own industry, but I don’t remember much more than Dean loving being a PA. Which was great.

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      • kate38
          September 17, 2021 at 1:10 pm #9967

          I don’t recall liking very much about this one. I agree with you, JBB — it was the television/film industry folks making fun of each other and the industry in general (haunted movie sets and whatnot). They even mention McG by name. I guess I can’t fault them for taking an opportunity to have some fun, but it was too silly and heavy-handed to entertain me. Maybe I should look at this episode as a cautionary tale about creators of a show being true to the story and not caving to Hollywood tropes and fan-fiction idiocy…cause that doesn’t happen to Supernatural in the final season…nope…

          I’m curious: Does anyone know when the WB became the CW? I wonder, because in one of the scenes, the producer is asking someone (I’m guessing the director) if the show can be “brighter”, and the other two people are saying it’s a horror movie, so it’s supposed to be dark; but the producer guy insists that horror doesn’t have to be dark. It makes me suspect they were making fun of the CW for forcing them to make the lighting in Supernatural “brighter”. I know that between the early seasons and season 4-ish, the show clearly got brighter because the CW forced them to. I wonder if it happened between seasons 2 and 3.

          I LOVE how Dean is always so quick on the uptake, reads situations, and blends in with different types of people. It comes up again in “Folsom Prison Blues”. It just demonstrates how savvy Dean is about human nature, and how well he can read other people and connect with them. And I agree with you, JBB — I LOVE seeing Dean having so much fun being a PA AND getting some quality time with his movie idol 😉 😉 . The dude deserves some fun!

          kate

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        • journalbookbinder
            September 17, 2021 at 1:10 pm #10169

            I didn’t love this one. I did enjoy the funny parts. Especially Dean getting so into the role of being a PA and geeking out as a horror movie fan. I did chuckle a few times. But it is very “inside baseball” and I probably didn’t understand much of it on first watch because I probably didn’t know what “dailies” were, might have missed the reference to “it’s so cold it’s like Canada”, they inserted McG’s name into it. Calling PA’s “slaves”. I am sure THEY cracked THEMSELVES up with this one (writers, etc.) – all the stuff about how your writing is ripped apart by suits and producers and everyone else. But it’s too “inside baseball” for me to really enjoy. It’s like, “Okay, ha ha; I see what you’re doing” but it’s not completely successful for me outside the industry. I realized that I don’t love ghosts. Compared to vampires and werewolves, ghosts are much more one-dimensional in the early seasons. I find them boring. There to scare and get vengeance and that’s about it. There were a lot of ghosts here…and the “controlling them with an amulet” seemed like a watered-down re-tread of “Faith” which was much better.

            I was entertained by the “it should be brighter” comment; I never thought of that, Kate, but what a great insight. We loved the dark SPN and it DID get brighter and more “CW” over the years!

            I also noticed how Dean just fits in. He’s all in with the crew and knows who’s dating who and talks like he’s known them for years. I loved seeing him get into being part of a bigger team. It was so sweet! He loved it!

            I liked the casual sex at the end. The actress was apparently happy with it too.

            But overall, not one of my favorites. I thought the fact that they had the ghost drag a second person towards the fan was boring! Twice in one episode???

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          • PigNaPoke
              September 17, 2021 at 1:10 pm #10243

              I completely agree with both of you.

              Not a horrible episode for me, but not exactly interesting either.

              The “controlling of supernatural elements” part of the story was noting really new but I did enjoy that it came from a writer here! As perceived criticism about loosing your creative agency when giving something that cost you time and heart blood up to be devoured by the many parts of the entertainment industry I found it effective. And that it’s basically self-inflicted hurt that will ultimately bite you in the ass, was the right conclusion to me.

              The look behind the scenes was not insightful enough to really make an impression on me back on first watch because back then I had very little clue or info about how a TV set works. At the time I didn’t get many of the insider jokes and found it boring. And now that I feel I do know much more about it I think it’s not digging deep enough or critical enough to make it really sarcastically funny, like “French Mistake” seemed to be.

              I liked the Dean parts the best – him geeking out on his favorite Horror actress and getting into his pretend job and everything to do with that.

              I don’t have much more to say about that one.

              PNP

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          Let’s all talk about Hollywood Babylon (S2 E18)

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