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Patrick the ancient witch was great casting here. So good. I really wanted to watch him every second he was on.
I loved this story. Playing poker for years of your life. Such high stakes. Bobby wanted to play to turn back time so he could walk but he lost…and aged…then Dean won Bobby’s years back but lost a bunch of his own…then Sam won his back.
Along the way, we hear how Bobby has really been feeling and it’s heartbreaking! I loved the speech Dean made to Bobby at the end about how much he is needed. Bobby looked uncertain at the very end, but he promised Dean he’d stick around.
I liked the compelling girlfriend to Patrick too! The dilemma of living forever; of outliving those you love and your children…then just wanting it to end instead of enduring more loss. She was compelling.
Chad Everett who played old Dean died in 2012 at the age of 75 (so he was 73 when he played old Dean). I remember when he died and I was sad about it because I thought he did a great job here. One of my favorite Supernatural moments is when “old Dean” is trying to crack the safe but he can’t see clearly and Sam says it’s like “Mission Pathetic”. Loved that.
Loved that Sam won at poker by “playing the other person”. He’s slowly also showing US he’s not the little brother anymore.
Just a really excellent episode all-around. A great stand-alone, even with far too little Jensen. I give Jared huge credit for acting with a guest actor JUST LIKE he acts with Jensen.
Funny when old Dean tried to pickup the hotel worker and she just said he was so cute like her grandpa.
I loved this again on rewatch. Jesse is perfect casting. His haunting eyes. He looked so innocent. You just felt for him. The casting of his mom was great too. She was sympathetic as an immaculate demon birth!
Sam and Dean wanting to save Jesse – Sam wanting Jesse to make his own choice and choose the right path – wanting someone else to make the right choice he couldn’t do believe it was possible – that was very sweet.
I still loved that “oh shit” moment when Jesse turned Cas into an action figure. It was cool how Jesse’s power was so effortless. And I have to give him credit for listening to Sam and Dean and wanting to protect his parents, but he didn’t want to be used by one side or the other so he just took himself off to Australia.
I also forgot about the whole itching powder and hand buzzer thing…how Jesse’s belief that they were deadly made them deadly, and as soon as he didn’t believe it anymore, they were harmless. Dean had a lot of trust in that theory to “buzz” Sam in the chest when the buzzer was previously deadly!
Jesse should have shown up in the final season if the final season had been written well. I always thought that character should have reappeared and it’s a crime that this was a one and done.
I loved watching Dean and Sam dealing with Jesse. They were trying to influence him…and were getting somewhere with the the “you’re a superhero” speech until the demon showed up and wrecked it. Bobby would have gotten a surprise to have that kid brought to his house! But I did like that they were unwilling to kill him even though Cas said they should.
Yeah; not my favorite. I know it was because of Jared doing House of Wax; the reason they got Paris Hilton…and there were so many nods to that movie in this episode including the wax museum. I just saw House of Wax for the first time this year. I felt very bad for Jared’s character! He had to endure the worst of it in that movie! In that movie, it was satisfying to see Paris’ character get killed.
I also didn’t get the problem with worshipping idols. I mean, okay, is someone upset that Gods used to be “famous” and now it’s actors? In my opinion, all of the importance of both is bestowed upon them by humans and therefore why is one wrong? It seems human nature to want to put idea or people on a pedestal. Both will disappoint many times. But to make the statement that “modern life” fandom is misguided…I disagree.
And yes, PigNaPoke, true that the “scorned ancient God” was already done in Supernatural Christmas.
Also a bit too much of Dean making fun of Sam for admiring someone who wanted peace!
Paris Hilton was a very “of the moment” casting choice that future generations will scratch their head over. She’s already nowhere near as “celebrity” as she was. Another person like Kim Kardashian who is famous for no reason.
I did wonder how Sam knew to look for seeds (??) in the corpse! A bit too easy of a solve on a very obscure deity.
The Sam and Dean conversations WERE very good. But not a great episode overall.
PigNaPoke: “Can’t Find My Way Home” as done by Blind Faith (and used in the Route 666 SPN episode) might be my favorite song of all time. All time. I too disliked its use here. When I had an overall positive feeling at the end of this episode, I later realized it was only because I was feeling emotion for Supernatural…I felt a bit manipulated with the constant “Americana” (I just kept wanting to see Sam and Dean) and “Can’t Find My Way Home” (even if it WAS of that era and we had all that music on SPN because it was John’s music that Dean adopted!) and the appearance of Gil. I felt emotion because of Supernatural and the feelings I have around all of THOSE things. NOT emotion for this show. Though I enjoyed the Millie and Ada scenes immensely (as I said, they finally had just a SPECK of real reaction with Millie’s admitting this is all really weird to a regular person), and I thought Drake’s scene with Gil was the strongest part of this one, the rest was just in the way!
The opening sequence of this one is perfect. Them apart…kind of mirroring each other actions but doing completely different things. Sam slicing lemons in the bar and Dean slicing open a vampire. Sam cleaning the bar and Dean cleaning the blood off the Impala…all with “Simple Man” playing; it’s one of my favorite opening or montage scenes of the entire series.
I thought Lindsey wasn’t the best actress; but the part where she reveal that she’s a recovered alcoholic felt very honest.
Sam’s wearing his Supernatural Christmas inside-out print shirt in this one at the bar!
Sam waking up with Jessica was interesting. I remember on first watch I thought of course it had to be some kind of manipulation but wasn’t sure what. Of course it was Lucifer getting to him. Lucifer always seems to try to approach his vessels in a sympathetic or somehow emotionally seductive way. Kind of creepy to think that Sam kissed Jessica’s neck and it was actually Lucifer!
This one had one of the great Cas scenes of all time – Cas showing up right behind Dean, scaring him, then standing there almost nose-to-nose as Dean reminded him he needed personal space. The early writing of Cas was masterful. He really did come across and an otherworldly entity who really didn’t live by human rules.
The job with Cas and Dean was long and involved; trying to find and trap Michael. I was a little confused as I thought he was going to appear in the hospital (they put a ring around the empty vessel – I guess that was just for insurance? If they knew he’d show up in their empty house???). But I guess the body was just the “telephone” for the summoning.
I thought the actor playing Michael (or Michael’s vessel) was wonderfully ominous. I WISH they had kept that version of Michael throughout! Much later in AU Michael and much much later when Dean was finally possessed by him; I wish they had kept that very ominous quality. They didn’t.
Even on first watch I thought it was funny that they just left Michael there. I guess the magic oil is something that burns forever??? The next person who goes into that abandoned house is going to be surprised!
The storm, which I interpreted as Michael’s anger or power, was good. I didn’t remember that; the windows blowing out and it storming to such an extent that the rain blew completely INTO the house and Cas and Dean got completely soaked! I did love that Dean just will NOT stop mouthing off to these powerful entities. It’s the best. And Dean is rubbing off on Cas; when Cas called Michael “his bitch” – that was total Dean.
Dean taking Cas out to get laid didn’t necessarily age that well. Just the total objectification of women (though it was apparently a legal brothel operation?) was not that great. “This whole industry is built on absent fathers.” But it was kinda funny that Cas was trying to give the prostitute absolution and it totally undid her. Cas’ utter fear about a pending sexual encounter and Dean’s glee was fun. But that whole thing DID drive home the point that live with Sam, for Dean, has not been enjoyable. That he MIGHT be better off mentally without him right now.
I do love that Dean wanted his amulet back from Cas and seemed annoyed Cas wasn’t giving it to him – even with Sam apart from him, he wanted that amulet from Sam.
I am always amused that a soon-to-be-trapped-in-a-circle-of-oil archangel always just STANDS THERE and lets the oil fire up into a complete circle around them; they don’t try to escape!
The fight with the other hunters in the bar is good. Sam spitting out the demon blood. Is this meant to tell us that he HAS kicked the habit that he seemed to be struggling with back in the town with “War”?
Sam’s talk with Lucifer is a very good scene; when Lucifer reveals himself. Sam insist he’ll never say yes to Lucifer; he’ll kill himself first, but Lucifer says he’ll just bring him back and you can see the hopelessness on Sam’s face.
I really like the end where Dean is telling Cas that he’s better off alone. That he’s so much less worried about Sam all the time, that he can laugh, that he seems to have some of the weight off…and then Cas disappears and Dean really IS alone and then I wondered just how “alone” he really wanted to be. He kind of used Cas to fill in for Sam so he wasn’t that alone in this one…
Very decent episode. I do always tend to like it a bit when they are apart. Of course they are best together, but there are usually some good insights when they are separate.
Even better than I remember it being the last time I watched it. Seriously; this one DESERVED AN EMMY. It is SO SO SO SO GOOD. The most impressive thing being Jensen acting opposite himself. It’s just…perfection. SO believable as “him” and “future him” but also funny at time and also so so so heartbreaking; it’s the best of Supernatural. Truly a perfect Supernatural episode. I noticed this time how incredibly heavy on dialog it is (Jensen had to memorize a ton!!!) – but in spite of the massive amounts of explanation and talking (like Dean and Lucifer Sam near the end), it never feels preachy or slow to me – I’m glued to it the entire time. It’s a perfect episode. PERFECT.
I remember when I originally saw it how jarring it was to see Cas as not typical robotic Cas but really human Cas. It really threw me that first time!!!
There are SO MANY lines in this one that my friends and I repeat to each other to this day. “We kinda liked it.” “I’ll just wait here then.” “Hoard it like gold.” So memorable!
The parts where Dean is realizing how far he himself has veered off course thanks to the Croatoan apocalypse is perhaps one of the most heartbreaking things to me. When he realizes that his future self is unapologetically sending his friends to their deaths just so he has the chance to kill Lucifer; it’s truly chilling.
I loved when Dean is first sent into the future and we are all trying to figure out what happened right along with him. That first interaction with the infected child is truly creepy and very very good. I also love it when we, the audience, realize that we KNOW something – just like Dean does – when we see the “Croatoan” graffiti. And that scene of the infected people chasing him with Dean running at full speed is seriously thrilling! I do wonder a bit about the “Do You Love Me” choice for the music for the slaughter of the infected people. Was that some kind of reference to a movie like Apocalypse Now or Good Morning Vietnam or some other movie I don’t know? It seemed out of place.
I loved “present” Cas rescuing Dean from Zachariah at the very end. It’s like I forgot about Cas “just waiting here” and suddenly he saves him. Good old Cas that we know and understand.
I wonder what happened to “future” Bobby? His house is abandoned. Dean finds his wheelchair with what looks like bullet or stab holes through it? But he also finds a photo of Bobby (wasn’t Bobby in that photo?) at the resistor’s camp…but we never find out what happened to Bobby.
Jared and Lucifer. We only see Jared at the start and end (with his call to Dean at the start when Dean insists they need to stay apart). I hate to say it, because I love them together best, but this episode convinced me that Jensen could have carried the show solo no problem. He was literally riveting the whole way. From the harsh future version of himself to the scene with Sam/Lucifer when he’s so sad/angry he’s in tears but still defiant. He as just complete and total perfection here. Sorry, I said I was going to talk about Jared! I just can’t stop talking about Jensen in this one!
The first time I saw it, I remember thinking that Jared was superb. That he so utterly transformed himself and his speech and his mannerisms from Sam to Lucifer that I thought it was masterful. I do like the way the early versions of Lucifer were calm and even very “nice” and seductive. Somehow that nonthreatening and sure of himself Lucifer as very very scary! The way Lucifer is so sure of the outcome; that he’ll always win; that they’ll always end up there. It’s so defeating and you can see it in Dean’s face. It’s so good! I was still impressed with Jared here. It’s just that Jensen’s work in this was so beyond incredible that it’s hard to tear my eyes away from him long enough to appreciate Jared’s work!
When they get back together in the end, it’s very very satisfying. I am guessing we are meant to think this separation lasted awhile? In the last episode he told the hunters following him that if they came looking again, he’d be there; working in the bar. How long was he there? How long were they apart? Dean says Sam is probably “rusty” so it had to be longer than it seemed. In the show, it seemed too fast; that they were hardly apart before they were together again. Still, the reunion is kinda tentative. No hugs. I felt Sam’s sincerity and felt that Dean was being honest – not pretending – he really WAS taking Sam back. But it’s also kind of about survival and not really as emotional as some other reunions.
Was it the start of this one where Dean looks over at Sam’s empty place in the Impala? Or was that the previous one. I loved that. I also loved Dean trying to explain to Cas that he needs to do human things like sleep. When Sam called Dean to tell him about being Lucifer’s vessel, it’s hard to watch Sam’s disappointment that Dean is not somehow rushing to save him. I also noticed that the old flip phones were definitely nice for drama; Dean can hang up on Sam by snapping the phone closed; much more dramatic that poking at flat screen Smartphone to hang up. The look on Dean’s face when he hangs up on Sam…you can see how painful it is for him in spite of how sure and confident he sounded when talking to Sam. The man deserves and Emmy for this one, I’m telling you!
They really went all out on this one. The apocalypse set was amazing.
It’s amazing to me that at the time, 2014 seemed like it was definitely in the future. And amazing that the show was still being made in 2014! And even more stunning that 2014 was almost TEN years ago now. Geez.
One of the best ones they ever made.
Okay…I liked several things about this. I liked the lack of space crickets. I liked finally seeing a bit of caring out of Mary (six episodes in!). I liked them going out and meeting/talking to another retired hunter. It has felt a bit like they are acting in a vacuum – not to much contact with anyone outside the core group and it was nice to have another one-episode character which is very much in the tradition of Supernatural.
This is the first hunter’s funeral we’ve seen since Dean. That was surprisingly hard for me! Because it made me think of Dean. I did like how that entire scene was shot (kudos to RSJ!). Especially the arm flopping out as the body was lifted onto the pyre. I always thought the neatly died up bodies on SPN were a bit too clinical for a gory show and I liked the arm flopping out to remind us there was a person in there.
But this show still does not give me any “Supernatural” feeling. It’s like it’s a completely different show on a complete different subject than Supernatural. I am almost thrown OUT of the show by Dean’s voice over. I miss him so much but it’s like hearing him there makes no sense to me because it feels like a show that has nothing to do with Supernatural.
I was annoyed that again Lata “knew someone” who could solve the mystery of what they were dealing with. Carlos getting flustered was cute. I still want Carlos to be more of a badass though!!! At least Lata got a bit more depth here. We know a bit more about why she’s non-violent.
So…there was more to this one between the characters and I liked that.
I can’t get used to these “out in broad daylight” monsters. This show does not have the dark feel of Supernatural at all and that was something I had hoped they’d go back to – more of an early-season SPN feel, but it’s not that.
I did like this one better, but I’m still left oddly not-compelled by this overall storyline.
I’m starting to feel like there is TOO MUCH talking about leaving hunting. It’s like every episode! I want them to SHOW us why she needs to leave, not talk endlessly about it every time. The main theme of the series seems to be MARY NEEDS TO GET OUT OF HUNTING. I feel that we already know that since we saw what came after, and on Supernatural it was unraveled (Mary’s story) much more slowly and in a much more clever way. It was a bit of a shock on Supernatural when we found out that Mary was NOT Dean’s idealized memory of her. (I’m conflicted about THAT, but it WAS unexpected on Supernatural.)
I find it strange that back when travel was more difficult, this other team of hunters went outside the U.S. mainland to hunt monsters! Barbados? I get using monsters from different cultures, but I think I expected a prequel to drill down even more into U.S. lore instead of going for the “monsters being called in from everywhere” idea (which they also did in Supernatural when things went sideways with other big bads).
The traditional SPN blood spatter at the start in the barn was not quite right. It was like someone was just pouring a bucket of fake blood from above on the floor. Lack of kudos to RSJ there. It looked NOT like it’s supposed to look on SPN.
Weird that Carlos got sentimental about the body part that his new love interest touched. It’s weird to me that this young bunch of hunters are so UNBOTHERED by gore. I can get maybe John’s time in Vietnam hardened him to that, but they seem too young to already have seen enough to be totally fine with and not shocked by anything.
I still feel like I’m watching something where it feels like someone is writing about characters in a way that I just don’t see or imagine them (John and Mary). Like I’m reading a fan fic where I think, “Huh, that’s really not how I would write them.” When Robbie Thompson (as show runner, I’m talking; he didn’t write this episode) took this on, when he was so good at understanding the core traits of the characters on Supernatural and what made them compelling, well, it seems absent here.
There were a few little cultural nods that I can’t now specifically remember; like calling one hunter Gellar (or an alias?) – Sarah Michelle Gellar; Buffy the Vampire slayer (but then it wasn’t a vampire they were dealing with and obviously that’s a “today” cultural reference). There was also some sexual innuendo that I found funny at the time.
I still wish this show gave me more of a sense of that other era too; apart from cars and clothes and music. Some indication that Carlos’ interest in another man might not be the easiest thing? Some friction about the perceived roles of women or minorities or something to make the era seem more real and dangerous in cultural ways? This group pretty much breezes around doing whatever they want. Remember Supernatural when Sam and Dean were pursued by law enforcement for grave robbing (hey; no one’s dug up a grave on this show yet!) and murder? There’s none of that here. No tangling with the police. And when there are police it’s conveniently John’s ex-girlfriend so there aren’t any questions. Overall, many things are too convenient for me.
But this episode was more enjoyable for me to watch than some. Lots of talking and exposition. That was a lot. It still just does not feel right to me; not part of the Supernatural universe. I keep hoping that with time, I will get to know the characters and that will make up for that a bit; once I start caring about them. But so far, that has not happened. I do not dislike these characters, but there’s none of that deep caring or even fascination that I had early on for Sam and Dean.
This is one of those episodes that feels 90 minutes long. Lots of “going out” and “coming back in” to the group of folks holed up in the basement. Over and over. I thought it was clever though; for War to make people think (hallucinate) that they were each other’s enemies and that’s all it took for people to start killing each other.
Loved it when Dean forcefully told Cas “NO!” when Cas wanted to borrow his amulet. Sam gave it to him. He’s not giving it up!
Yes, Sam telling Dean he thought they should split up was for sure a “Do I look fat?” question – he really wanted Dean to tell him he had it all wrong and they should stay together and he did a good job of looking surprised and a bit crushed when Dean agreed with him. But Dean IS tired and worried about Sam and it’s making it dangerous for Dean to be so distracted. That whole scene was tough. A bit TOO convenient for the guy in the camper to happen to be there to take in hitchhiker Sam though!
The blood thing IS confusing. Sam was supposedly cured of it by God (or he was totally lying to Dean about it), but here he’s wanting it from the dead “demons” in the store who weren’t demons; he was just hallucinating they were. And before Ruby died she told Sam it wasn’t the blood at all; that he always had it in him and it wasn’t the blood that made him strong…yet we know that as this season goes on, as he has to become strong enough to hold Lucifer, he has to drink a ton of demon blood so I too find the whole demon blood thing confusing.
A decent episode (loved the red “horse” as a car), but also not one of my favorites, as much as I love Ellen, Rufus, etc.
I knew as soon as Bobby told Sam to “lose his number” that Bobby was not himself; he had to be possessed. No matter what, Bobby would never say that to Sam. I loved that scene though. Sam was so sorry and so disappointed at what Bobby said. Jared did a great job.
Kate, your comment about Ruby just cracked me up – enjoyed watching her get stabbed again. She was not the best Ruby. Katie Cassidy was. (Still can’t believe she’s 70’s teen idol Shawn Cassidy’s somewhat estranged daughter!!!)
Nick (Mark Pelligrino) was great here. He was perfect casting. THIS is what I love about early SPN (like the pilot) it was SO SAD and SO DARK and SO TRAGIC. Obviously Nick was hardly holding it together and something horrible happened to his family and he was knocking around in the house alone. His wife more recently played the mother on “Prodigal Son” (an over-the-top rich woman divorced from a serial killer) and it was fun to see her here. She did great as Lucifer too!
I too loved original Chuck and he was great here. He had bits of angel in his hair!
I. Like. Becky. I always found her funny and enjoyed that they were poking good-natured fun at us. That they KNEW about wincest fan fic and some crazy fans and wrote one in. Very meta. Becky touching Sam and saying she can’t stop will never not make me laugh. And the fact that she’s entranced with Sam and disappointed in Dean (thought he’d be taller) is, to this Dean girl, utterly hilarious. That whole scene of her with Chuck on video chat where she gives him a big lecture about not being crazy and she knows fantasy from reality and then is thrilled that “It’s all real.” – I love that scene as well.
I love Dean’s defiance in the face of Zachariah. Even when he’s NOT 100% sure of himself or how close to physical harm he might be for mouthing off – he keeps mouthing off and THAT’S DEAN and I love it.
Stedan, I really agree with all you said about this one. I have tried to take a few days to think about it and find positive things to say because I REALLY want to love this show…and Jensen was live-tweeting (is that a first for him?) when it aired and was praising Meg up and down for the intense acting during the scenes where she was inside her own mind and…I just wasn’t feeling it. At all. It felt to me like she was presenting a stage play. The weird set design was part of that scene; I know it had to feel separate from reality, but it felt like a stage play. I just…didn’t feel this as her deep dark childhood trauma. I am not feeling her acting and am starting to also worry about her ability. Drake, on the other hand, is still delighting me as John. He had so many expressions that reminded me of Sam that I was loving watching him in this episode.
But the story. Blah. Again, not feeling that dark trauma or hardship for Mary. Not understanding John being all gung-ho killer when it came to Ada’s son. Was he supposed to be acting like everything was black or white like early-season Dean?
I cannot believe that I feel that something where Robbie Thompson is involved (though not the sole writer) is BORING. I am getting very frustrated with how easy it is to find all the answers through Lata (in an age where it should be HARDER to find information). I want a more involved role for Carlos. I think Ada is a fine actor and interesting character but the “big reveal” of a half-monster son is far too soon. We don’t know her well. We are not that invested in her yet so the big reveal was a bit of a yawn.
Lata is so “one-note”. Always cheerful and always able to answer all questions.
I do not like that Mary calls the Men of Letters outpost “the clubhouse”. Makes it WAY too juvenile and “Scooby-gang” for me!
I hate the monsters. And not in a good way. In a “they’re dumb and look like a video game” way. At least the “space crickets” (best description I heard from someone else on Twitter) are not THE monsters, but kind of like hellhounds for the DJ monster lady (also dumb) where they are apparently trying to inject humans to do their bidding or die fighting it internally? Something like that? It’s just TOO WEIRD. Somehow, all SPN monsters were much more of a scary threat. It feels WRONG for SPN because they never or rarely (it was stupid when SPN ventured that way near the end with prehistoric jurassic land AU) use other-dimension or alien monsters. It feels so wrong here.
I like Millie. I like John. I liked John working on the motorcycle but PigNaPoke is 100% right that it made NO SENSE to offer to give it to Mary so she can take off on her own! NO SENSE.
I am not sure what this show IS at this point. Dean’s narration at the start is also weird to me. It’s like he’s reading a child a story. It sounds like he’s a bit patronizing to the audience and I don’t see Dean that way at all!
I’m not giving up. Not at all. But I really did not find much good in this one.
Hi Stedan! We most definitely DID NOT kick you out! Another member had this problem and I am having my computer wizard look into it. The other member had to re-register, but I don’t want people to have to re-register if they’ve already registered like you have. I will let you know what we find, but THANK YOU for commenting in spite of the problem!
More later. But I watch this show and I feel NOTHING. I don’t want that! But I feel it has zero relationship to the Supernatural I love. I don’t care about the characters. I feel Mary’s acting is weak. I feel I’m watching a high school production that is not scary and not compelling. I hope I have more coherent or constructive thoughts tomorrow, but this show feels nothing like Supernatural. It’s…dare I say…tonight I feel this show is bad. I hope I have better things to say tomorrow.
My fears do seem to be well-founded as now there are articles out about how The Winchesters (and Walker: Independence) has not had the second half of the season ordered…so the first season will stick and hold at 13 episodes. Damn you, Nexstar for buying the CW!!!! But they say that NOT ordering the second half of season one does not mean they won’t order a second season. I want this show to have the chance to succeed. Bad timing on this change of ownership for our shows. But shows have much shorter runs these days…so I could see it just being a shorter-run show (like The Boys with only 8 episodes per season!).
BUT, on to the episode…
I love Drake as John. I can see John, Sam, AND Dean in his performance and I love it. For someone so new to acting, he’s a natural. He was inspired casting and I will keep watching just for him. Seeing the characters I love IN his portrayal right now feels to me like the only thing connecting this show to Supernatural.
I am continuing to have a hard time with the weird monsters. I understand that these are monsters from all different cultures and Mary is surprised to see them turning up so it is out of the ordinary and THAT has something to do with the Akrida. As we learned, the Akrida want to do away with everything on earth; humanity AND monsters and it seems that, judging by this episode, even Gods are worried about it! I wish I knew WHAT the Akrida wanted and WHY they want to do this! I can’t find this threat very threatening when it’s so vague and so weird (giant spider/crab dogs that so far just run around and follow a figure in a cape and hood).
I am just not finding these monsters scary. And I loved the scary monsters of early SPN. The actor playing the God in this one did a fine job – going from veteran to God and I didn’t see that coming! But the Samurai outfit…the fact that the guy in it was very “American” yet supposed to be from a different culture…it just didn’t fit for me! The spear…all of it was way too fantasy/video game for me! Not scary. I did like that this week’s God/monster was a thinking and talking being that obviously had some kind of plan for John; to make sure he was ready/violent enough to fight the Akrida (and deemed he WAS ready). I wish a thinking, scheming adversary would last more than one episode though.
I liked finding out more about Carlos, but…I wanted more. I wanted a war story – more than just apprehension from seeing the burning cigarettes of the Viet Cong out in the jungle. I wanted something that we didn’t expect of Carlos; a story about some kind of uncharacteristic and traumatizing war violence. He seemed surprised at the violence displayed by John after he killed the God. I did like the moment when he hugged John. For all Carlos’ bravado, he cares about John and I liked that. I also liked him in his Navy uniform because it looks so out of character to his usual hippie-equse wardrobe and I enjoyed the revelation that we really don’t know much about these characters yet.
The whole storyline with Maggie’s death is falling flat for me. It was a big trauma for Mary and Lata but we never knew Maggie (no flashbacks, etc.), so her death doesn’t have the traumatic urgency for me I want to feel.
Let’s talk about Lata. I love that there is a character of Indian descent. Love it. But I do not like this character!!!! She’s too…nice. She doesn’t seem real yet. And she ALWAYS has or finds the answer! One of the things that made Supernatural feel so real was Sam and Dean scrambling to find answers on their own. There was a “time is of the essence” feel and it was suspenseful. Here, they go to the “clubhouse”, Lata pulls out a book, and voila; she has most of the info. they need. It’s…boring and I did not expect that from Robbie Thompson.
Right now, this show has too much of a young adult novel fantasy feel to me. Not horror. Not Supernatural.
But I love John. I love Carlos (“What kind of heterosexual mating ritual am I interrupting?”) but want Carlos to be revealed to be a lot more of a badass!!! OR show that he was forced into violence at some point and that is why he’s now adopted the holy water water gun and less hands-on violence: because he didn’t like the person he was when he WAS violent. There’s no sign of that yet, but THAT would be interesting to me.
I haven’t talked much about Mary because…I’m still just not feeling Mary. Again, I know this may be by design. We had a little peek into what were supposed to be more real emotions when she was trying to escape the monster and talking on the CB radio to John last week…that was a step forward, but she seems overly-confident in her knowledge (maybe on purpose; maybe so it can bite her in the ass later) and what made Supernatural so good was Sam and Dean NOT having answers. If anything, I expected this show to be even more “in the dark” as far as how to fight monsters because it was decades before Sam and Dean so I thought the knowledge would be more scanty. But if anything there seems to be MORE info. from Mary and Lata.
I like that Mary is a strong female and not a pushover…she’s the leader really and I like that IDEA, but I’m just not feeling much from the actress yet. Unlike Drake who does make me empathize with him.
Millie REALLY accepted the whole crazy “God” story from Lata WAY TOO FAST! This is supposedly new to her (unless she’s also some kind of closet hunter!) and she accepted all of that without question which seemed very lazy writing to me. Wow. Never thought I’d EVER accuse Robbie Thompson of lazy writing when he wrote such intricate & thoughtful dialog as he did in “Don’t Call Me Shirley”.
Somehow, this show does not feel REAL to me yet. In spite of the crazy stories and monsters and concepts, Supernatural always felt REAL which is why I cared so much about Sam and Dean and WANTED them to “win” and figure things out at the last minute and save each other every week. I don’t care much yet about these characters. It’s still early. But I already cared immensely about Sam and Dean by the 4th episode of Supernatural. I did.
I would have enjoyed the fight scene with John because it’s the first time we really saw his “cold blooded killer” side – but the glowing SPEAR was so video-game ridiculous I couldn’t take it seriously!
So, this one had moments between characters that I liked…but I’m still wishing for more.
Hi Stedan! Thanks for joining me this week! Seems maybe the episode was universally disliked? No one else is chiming in yet. Yes, I too thought the beginning was strong and I was really happy to see something more scary.
Jensen and those involved in the show keep talking about how Drake and Meg have such great chemistry, they have to keep telling them to dial it back. I am NOT seeing that, so I guess they are successfully “dialing it back”. I think I might enjoy it more when Mary is allowed to show more emotion. Maybe for John…I don’t know.
Maybe you are right that there is not “will they or won’t they” suspense…like, if we didn’t know what was going to happen – that they will end up together – we might be wondering if John will pursue her and Mary will reject him or something like that. But we know they end up together. I too have always enjoyed shows with intensely caring partners where it does not end up in a relationship (or goes through much of the show without ending up in one like X-Files). Here I hope they can somehow make it more unexpected or emotional or interesting if it’s going to be a relationship.
I agree that in the time-traveling episodes of SPN, Deanna was made out to be more of a traditional-appearing housewife. She was. Kind of chastising Samuel for being rude, etc…so to think of her as her own independent hunter that Samuel would feel okay NOT protecting…it’s odd to me. Fine and progressive to raise your daughter Mary that way, but I did not see that in the Deanna we know so far from SPN.
I too wondered if the guy who magically appeared at the movies was “just a guy” or something else. He DID look like John slightly.
I really liked the part with Ada. Probably my favorite part. Her dabbling in being kind of a misleading badass…lying to the demon (though the tree thing was weird for me)…and Carlos liking it. That scene was very short but might have been my favorite of the show.
Did Mary’s identity crisis ring true to you? It was the most emotional we’ve seen her and yet somehow it still felt to me like she was “performing” somehow! Am I just being overly-critical?
Anyone else feel like there was a long commercial every three minutes?! It was horrible!
