2018 Blog Archive
December 2018 |
MILESTONES
The end of the year seems like a good time to talk about some milestones for our show and its cast. The one that comes to mind immediately is the 300th episode. While it's not entirely finished as I write this, they did already do some celebrating with a party, a giant, elaborate cake, a photo booth (with funny signs; see Danneel below), Jensen singing with Bob Singer's group The Impalas, and, the one that got me, they renamed the studio where Supernatural is filmed to give it a permanent plaque marking the place where the show is made.
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Just after Thanksgiving, several cast members ran the Seattle marathon in support of Random Acts raising money to fight childhood hunger. Jared and Jensen crossed the finish line together and Rob Benedict wasn't far behind. To think the Rob ran a marathon after fully recovering from the stroke he suffered five years ago is mind boggling. Though not distance running athletes, everyone made it and raised over a quarter million dollars to fight childhood hunger in the process.
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On November 30, 2018, Misha Collins was nominated for CelebMix's "2018 Celebrity Philanthropist of the Year" for his tireless work with Random Acts and other fundraising and charity initiatives. Good Luck, Misha!!
If you'd like to support Misha, click HERE to vote for him!
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More on the Supernatural team that ran the Seattle Marathon.
And Jared and Gen have plans to run the Boston Marathon together in April in order to raise money for equal opportunities for girls in sports!
Done any running lately? The Winchesters have...
In November, 2018, a team from Supernatural (calling themselves the "Bad Idea Tour", and coordinating with Random Acts) ran the Seattle Marathon to raise money to battle childhood hunger. With their own donations and support from the Supernatural fandom and other parties, the group raised over $200,000!! GO Team!!- GO Team!!!
Members of the Bad Idea Tour (left to right): Misha Collins, Jensen Ackles, Adam Fergus, Jared Padalecki, Rachel Miner, Rob Benedict, and Jason Manns). Genevieve Padalecki also completed the Seattle Half-Marathon as part of the fundraiser.
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Here are our heroes before the race:
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...and after...
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SUBMITTED BY: Journalbookbinder
and kate38
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November 2018 |
November 5, 2018
LET'S SHOW SOME LOVE FOR ONE OF THE NEWEST MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY
I love Jack. I do. I love him unlike I've loved any recurring character on Supernatural in recent memory.
I didn't know I'd love Jack so much at the start because Jack had one of the DUMBEST backstories ever presented on Supernatural. The child of a human (Kelly Klein) and Lucifer himself...only Lucifer was inhabiting the body of Kelly's boss at the time of Jack's conception, who just happened to be the President of the United States. Timely commentary about having a Lucifer/President aside, it was a horrible origin story. The President??? REALLY?!?! Then, Jack was "born" as a teenager. Also ridiculous.
I did not think this was going to go anywhere promising.
But then along comes Alex Calvert and I will never get over the incredible ability of the Supernatural casting directors to find these stunningly talented actors. Somehow, Alex made me actually believe that this being was new to this world...not an infant and not exactly infantile in his thinking, but incredibly naive at first. Jack was unaware of his powers and unaware of his importance. Alex took this unlikely character and made him endearing and heartbreaking in his innocence.
Once Jack started to become aware of his powers, Alex somehow steered his character towards intimidating. The moment in season 13 when Jack tosses Michael like a fly made me actually take a deep breath. I had not felt that way since witnessing Cas' power when he first came on the scene.
Dean hated (or at least deeply mistrusted) Jack. Sam always wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Sam saw something of himself in Jack. Dean just saw danger. Cas was Jack's default father in many ways....having promised Kelly that he'd look after him (Kelly knew Jack's birth would kill her and she'd never get to raise him). Cas could help fill Jack in on his power and could sympathize with Jack's angel half.
It's uncanny how much Alex Calvert looks like younger photos of Misha Collins. Misha has jokingly tweeted photos of himself with Alex and his (Misha's) actual children on set, saying his son was there that day (Alex) as well as West and Maison (his real children).
Over time, Alex took Jack from naive to fearsome to trustworthy to someone Sam and Dean consider to be family. This is a rare honor as I can only think of a few other characters Sam and Dean have bestowed the "family" title upon.
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Thanks to Jack's time in Apocalypse World, he's also bonded with Mary and his relationship to her has been rewarding to watch. She's not quite a mother to him, but she does treat him as one might imagine she'd treat a younger version of Sam and Dean.
Fans have marveled at Alex's acting skill. It might be a good time to point out that Alex was 27 when he first appeared as Jack. It seemed Jack was much younger (a credit to Alex' acting), but Alex was older than Jared was in the early years of portraying Sam.
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My love for jack was cemented in the season finale of season 13 when he insisted, in front of Lucifer, that he should kill himself instead of letting Sam die. The connection between Sam and Jack was on full display and watching them offer to sacrifice themselves for each other...each thinking the other had a better chance of beating Lucifer...it was confirmation that Jack was truly family to Sam.
In season 14, Jack is struggling to learn how to be useful without his nephilim powers. Lucifer stole his Grace at the end of season 13 and I miss "fearsome" and extremely protective Jack, but I'm glad the writers have managed to allow him to grow. In the Gods and Monsters episode, Jack figured out how to bring someone back from the dead using spell work instead of his own power. I shared Cas' pride in Jack's intelligence. Of course, THEN Jack started coughing up blood and we still don't know where that will lead. Jack also made the slightly ominous statement that Michael must be killed, even if that means killing Dean. However, it was obvious how well Jack already understood Dean when he asked Cas if Dean would want it any other way. Dean would not. He'd always sacrifice himself for the greater good.
Off screen, Alex set up an Instagram account for his cat.
He's a cat guy.
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He's in a five-years-and-counting relationship with Jenna Berman.
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It's been a long time since Supernatural gave us a recurring character who is complex and has this kind of amazing chemistry with both Cas and the Winchesters. Everyone is in danger of being killed off on Supernatural, but I truly hope they'll keep Jack, like Cas, as a member of the family.
Alex Calvert could not be doing a better job in this role.
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My only in-person interaction with Alex was getting to see him onstage at a Supernatural convention in July of 2018. He was the lead-in for Jared and Jensen and handled the packed house crowd with ease. And he had to do it alone up onstage. He seemed like a shy, incredibly sweet and respectful guy. Other cast members (like Sam Smith) joke that Alex is, by far, the most mature member of the cast on set.
And the fans love him. That seems to be a factor in keeping characters around. The lines for his photo op were the longest I've seen (outside of Jared and Jensen) and he graciously complied with our photo op request.
Hey, there's already fan art!
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Jack is a great addition to the show, the story, and the cast. I hope he's here to stay.
SUBMITTED BY: Journalbookbinder |
October 2018 |
October 16, 2018 (Note: The video clips in this article won't play on most phones; computers or tablets work better)BRIANA BUCKMASTER Rocks the House in NYC Debut (September 26, 2018)I’ve been very blessed. I’ve had the privilege of seeing Briana Buckmaster perform live at several Supernatural convention Saturday Night Special concerts. So when I heard that Briana was releasing her own CD (titled “Begin”), I was intrigued. And when I heard that she was giving a live concert at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City’s Soho neighborhood RIGHT before the first night of New Jersey's 2018 Supernatural Convention (which I was already planning to attend), I KNEW I had to go. I’m so glad I did.I admit that I didn’t buy Briana’s CD ahead of time. I’d thought about it – nothing wrong with being familiar with the songs already, right? But I decided against it. Have you ever watched a movie after having read the book, and been unwittingly biased about the movie because you couldn't help comparing it to the book? Well, I didn’t want my ear or my opinion to be swayed, so I didn’t check out the CD first. I wanted to hear her live, in her own show without any preconceived notions. I was not disappointed. How can I describe Briana's musical style for anyone who hasn’t heard her sing? Of course, Briana is unique, so it may not be accurate to compare her to someone else. Her style is decidedly bluesy, but if you asked about country crossover, I’d have to agree. That said, if you can imagine the sultry soulfulness of Mary J Blige, combined with the raw, raunchy sincerity of Melissa Etheridge or Bette Midler, that might be the best I can do. See for yourself in this clip from her September 26th Rockwood show. This is a cover of “Better Than That” from her new CD: Briana started the evening with a meet-and-greet for a small group of lucky fans. I wasn’t fortunate enough to attend that, but that’s okay. The Rockwood Music Hall is a small, intimate venue. So even though I was in the balcony, Briana made everyone at her show feel up close, welcome, and part of the performance. It was also wonderful to see Supernatural fan favorites, like Rachel Miner and Adam Fergus, in the audience enjoying the show with the rest of us. It truly felt like an intimate, family affair. Jason Manns opened the show with a few acoustic songs: He and Briana performed a few songs together, and we also had the privilege of hearing Briana collaborate with Emily Swallow and Emma Ftizpatrick:
(Briana Buckmaster and Emily Swallow)
Of course, the rest of the show was Briana rocking the house with piano accompaniment and her own, special brand of in-your-face café crooning. The only criticism I can come up with – and this isn’t really a criticism at all– is that there were a lot of ballads. Now, don’t get me wrong. Briana can sing the heck out of a ballad. She sings like she's telling her own story, but she heaves forth such emotion that I felt wrung out after a few songs; so I found myself enjoying the upbeat songs more, and wishing for more of them. She finished the show with a nice combination of a ballad followed by something upbeat. She sang a slow dance, unplugged version of “How Will I Know”, which most of us will recognize as a song Whitney Houston performed; followed immediately by “Gunpowder and Lead”, a Miranda Lambert country tune: If you get a chance to buy Briana's CD, I recommend it. This time, the book and movie version of the story were equally compelling. SUBMITTED BY: kate38 |
September 2018 |
September 2, 2018 Which Season 14 Spoilers Excite You the Most? *****Warning: If you don't want to see spoilers, don't read any further!But for those of us who love to bask in spoilers and conjecture all hellatus long, read on :)With the season 14 premiere being a little over a month away, what better time to revel in some of the spoilers that have leaked out over the summer? There are SO many to choose from, but here are a few of my favorites!MORE MISHA! Mmmmmmmmmm…Misha!!! Castiel was the first character I fell in love with on the show, so I NEVER get tired of seeing him. And we've been told that although season 14 will have fewer episodes (20 instead of 23), Castiel will be in a higher percentage of them than he has been lately. So that sounds like we'll be seeing more Misha in season 14! YAY!! With Dean being "occupied" (pun fully intended) and Sam on a mission to save his brother, Castiel will have his hands full trying to help Jack adjust to his new situation -- i.e. not being the most powerful kid on the block anymore. Additionally, Castiel will definitely have a role in saving Dean, and I'm sure he'll do what he can to save heaven. That's a pretty full plate, but I think our warrior angel is up to the challenge. I am SOOO looking forward to more quality time with Castiel so we can see how he handles everything. MORE FROM OUR LONG-TIME FAVORITES Speaking of seeing more of the characters we love, we've been told that AU Bobby, AU Charlie, and Rowena will all have major roles to play in season 14. I'm too familiar with the show to even TRY to guess where their stories will take us - I'll just end up being wrong. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dying to see where these characters are going to go, and whether they'll all survive the season. EPISODE 300! Our 300th episode! Although the enormity of that accomplishment speaks for itself, I'm one of those rare fossils that did not enjoy Fan Fiction, so I'm hoping that I'll like the 300th episode better than I liked 200. Episode 300 is being advertised as "a love letter to the show". That sounds curiously like the "love letter to the fans" that episode 200 was intended to be. But since I didn't feel the love from that one, I'm hoping this letter won't leave me looking for...love. Given my uncertainty, I thought I'd be dreading this one, but I'm actually looking forward to it. Bob Singer will be directing, which is always a good thing. And he’s saying that we'll get a glimpse of what life is like for the Winchesters when they're "at home" (i.e. not on the road killing monsters and saving two worlds). We'll also get to see and hear what their neighbors in Lebanon, Kansas think of our Boys. Should we expect a "day in the life" sort of story? Or will there be a twist, or two…or three? I for one can not wait to see what the writers and producers will come up with. Love fest 300? Bring it! THINGS ARE GONNA STAY WAYWARD All you folks who are disappointed that Wayward Sisters didn't get picked up will have several episodes that will cheer you up, we've been told. All the Wayward cast will be back in season 14, and the writers are also gonna tie up some loose ends for us. So, gather up your needle and thread, or duct tape, or whatever you prefer for mending loose ends, and get ready for some Wayward excitement. GET READY FOR “GROUNDED AND EMOTIONAL” Okay, y'all. this one scares me a little bit, but in a good way. This show always does a tremendous job of tapping into all the emotions in my arsenal, so when they hint that season 14 will intentionally lean that way, I can't contain my anticipation. We've been told that the "scope" of season 14 will be smaller and more tightly focused on the interpersonal relationships among the characters. I NEVER get tired of seeing this part of the show and scuba diving into the nuts and bolts of the relationships. And since our writers are masters at touching on all the right emotions when they choose to, I am sure I won't be disappointed to see more of it. I think season 14 will be unique for all the right reasons. Will the shorter season mean a more intense pace? Will we see fewer filler episodes and get to chow on more meat and potatoes? Will the tighter focus on the characters and relationships keep us reaching for the Kleenex more often than not? Which loose threads and unanswered questions will finally be put to rest? Will this focus on emotional connections teach us something new about these characters we know and love so well? I know there are many ways this could go, but from where I sit, I see all up-side! SUBMITTED BY: kate38 |
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August 3, 2018
FIVE Reasons to Love Rowena MacLeod Okay, love her or not, it’s hard to deny that Rowena MacLeod is an interesting character to watch. I happen to love her – a LOT -- and here are five big reasons why:
Looking ahead, the writers have already revealed that Rowena will have important work to do in season 14. That probably means we’ll be seeing even more of her. I for one am cool with that! I hope you’ll enjoy watching her antics as much as I will! SUBMITTED BY: kate38 |
July 2018 |
July 5, 2018
How Will Jack Handle Losing His Grace?
We’ve seen angels lose their grace before, but they don’t always react the same way. Do they? Metatron was already a parasite on humanity, but losing his grace made him even worse – until he began his redemption arc, that is. And Lucifer was already resentful of humans and angels, so when he lost his grace he didn’t miss a beat before he started stealing grace from other angels so he could feel somewhat “normal”. Let’s call that “denial” for the sake of discussion. When Castiel lost his grace, he ended up homeless, hungry, and destitute. But instead of reacting negatively, he used his new experience to better understand humanity and its struggles. In the long run, losing his grace may have had a positive effect on him. Now…let’s talk about Jack. First of all, he’s not an angel, so there’s that. And let's not forget that even a graceless angel still has some powers. Remember when Anna could move things telekinetically and hear angel radio, despite not having her grace? So we may end up with a "powered-down" Jack instead of a completely powerless one. Nevertheless, Jack will have to deal with a change that he may not be happy with. After all, Jack was much more powerful than any other angel or demon we’ve ever seen, so one might say he had a lot more to lose than your average Joe. Does that mean he might be more resentful? Might he even lash out at the angels, or anyone else he blames for losing his powers? Will he blame the Winchesters and Castiel? To be fair, Jack didn’t have a lot of time to get used to his powers to begin with. And although he was very eager to kill Michael, and boasted about his wins against angels in the AU (and by “win” I mean killing pretty much every angel he met), he seemed truly devastated when he used his powers to hurt people. He also realizes that his judgement isn’t what it should be, so the combination of awesome power and questionable judgement has caused him to hurt and kill the wrong people. At best, Jack was conflicted about his powers to begin with. Let’s call it a love-hate relationship for the sake of simplicity. So, I think Jack’s response to his new situation will be…complicated.
As much as Jack once wanted Uncle Michael dead, he now knows that he can’t hurt Michael without hurting Dean. I’m pretty sure he’ll temporarily back-burner his archangel vengeance. Or maybe he’ll try to rip Michael out of Dean’s vessel (like his Auntie Amara did for Castiel) and end up saving Dean – or killing him if the plan goes sideways. Of course, that will be a challenge without his grace. Will Jack take advantage of his situation to understand humanity better, like his surrogate father did? Or will he go totally the OTHER way and steal another angel’s grace to replace his own -- perhaps as part of his plan to save Dean? That strategy may present a problem – angels are in short supply these days. And the fact that Jack was SO much more powerful than any living angel might mean he can’t steal enough grace to regain his prior glory. Sigh…what’s a graceless, pre-adolescent nephilim to do? Then again, Jack could go full-frontal Winchester and make a terrible deal to somehow save Dean and get his grace back, but it will come at a horrible price. Might he resurrect dear-old-dad in exchange for Lucifer's help with the Michael-Dean situation? That's destined to go off the rails, but still straight out of the Winchester play book. (Just pitching here, but what if ingesting Jack's super-nephilim grace somehow made Lucifer immortal? Put your knives away -- I'm just theorizing...) This situation seems like a prickly cactus no matter how I look at it. And I think the resolution’s gonna get ugly. Do you disagree?
SUBMITTED BY: Kate38 |
June 2018 |
June 1, 2018What are YOU expecting from Archangel Dean?
Archangel Dean is clearly a new character – or is he? Do you think he’ll take us into territory we haven’t seen before? It’s not like we haven’t seen our beloved Dean Winchester possessed before. We’ve met Demon-Dean, Mark-of-Cain Dean, Souleater-possessed Dean, Specter-possessed Dean, Ghost-sickness Dean, Memory-loss Dean...did I miss any?
But with each of those possessions or incarnations, we were still able to recognize some “Dean-ness” underneath it all. I wonder if that will happen this time. As much as I love Dean Winchester, I almost hope that Archangel Dean is NOTHING like him. If he is, it might be too much of what we’ve seen before. I’d like to see Jensen stretch his wings – literally and figuratively -- and truly show us something new. However, if there’s NO Dean in there, or so little Dean that big bro can’t shine through, then I think I’ll miss Dean too much to enjoy what Jensen is doing with this new character. I’m torn. Are you? I’m also thinking about how long Archangel Dean might stick around. Although some people thought Demon-Dean was over with too quickly (cured by Sam in episode 3), I thought just the opposite. I think he was around just long enough to show us that character, show us what Sam went through to save him, set up the rest of season 10, and get the real Dean back into the story so he could reunite with Sam, hop back into the driver's seat of the Impala, and get back to the business of fighting big bads -- which I think is what we all wanted to see. To me, that timing felt PERFECT. Too much time with “Dean” missing from the story would quickly create a hole in the fabric of the show for me, which makes it less fun to watch -- not a good thing. I remember reading that after season 3, when the writers were deciding when to bring Dean back from hell, Ben Edlund (or maybe it was Eric Kripke) said they should just bring him back in episode 1. His reasoning was that everybody knew he was coming back, so there was no point in delaying it. I agree – and not just because Lazarus Rising is one of my favorite episodes. So, this time around, I think they should make the point they want to make by introducing this character, then resolve the angel-possession so Dean can return to the story and work with Sam, Cas, and company to get us through the rest of season 14. Anyway, that’s my take. What do you think?
SUBMITTED BY: kate38 |
May 2018 |
SUBMITTED BY: journalbookbinder |
______________________________________________________________May 23, 2018A report from Austin...though the trip happened on March 31st...I never thought I'd have the chance to go to Jensen's family's brewery; the Family Business Beer Company in Dripping Springs, Texas, just outside of Austin. It's not exactly close to where I live (at all!), but thanks to fellow wiki member PigNaPoke, I unexpectedly got that chance in late March. Jensen's brother-in-law (and Danneel's brother) Gino runs it and they have a creative head brewer, Nate, who has a great deal of experience in craft brewing. Over the past year or so they built this business from the ground up after purchasing the land. They did a fabulous job.
It was a beautiful drive out there through the hills and trees. Definitely out in the country and away from the city (Austin was a great city, by the way). The brewery has no signage on the road except for a little hand-painted sign (I think Danneel made it) that says "brewery" with an arrow. This was on a Saturday. It was busy! We stayed a long time....from about 4:30-9:00. And no, we did not see Jensen or Danneel there but later learned they had been there earlier that day. In the end, that was okay; it was great to just experience the place for what it is. The new large metal building is very modern and cleanly-decorated. It looked great inside. The tasting room has very high ceilings and you can see into the brewing area through large windows. They do offer tours of the brewing area, but only on certain days. The very deep wrap-around porch is extremely comfortable. They have picnic tables and rocking chairs and bar stools outside on the porch. They did an excellent job designing the place. When we first got there, there were lots of families and kids on the playground. People bring their dogs. There were probably 100-200 people. By 9:00 pm, it was quiet and beautiful with the college basketball Final Four game on the lone TV inside, the lights on outside, all the overhead doors open going between the tasting room and the wrap-around porch, warm and slightly breezy with a dark sky full of stars and a full moon rising up over the picnic area. We tried 8 of the 9 beers in a flight of small glasses. All a bit bitter for this Corona girl, but the Hamilton Pale had a really nice slight grapefruit flavor that I liked so I got a full one of those. Then a second one. PigNaPoke was partial to the Fox Rye. We shared a grilled cheese and some mac and cheese from the food truck so the beer had somewhere to go. The southern-inspired food truck is in an Airstream trailer owned and operated by friends of Jensen and Danneel. The food was basic but really tasty. We chatted up the security guy when things got quiet later at night. He was one of the veterans (Air Force) they hired that Jensen mentioned on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show a few weeks before. During the grand opening of the brewery, they needed people to help with crowd control and these guys who were there for the beer jumped up and volunteered; now they work there. The other security guy was an ex-Marine. It WAS a Saturday, but they had a much larger staff than I expected. About 7 people behind the bar and at least 4 more collecting glasses and cleaning up.There's an older 2-story stone house right next door to the brewery (the one they used for promo photos with Jensen playing guitar on the steps with the family). Danneel has said publicly that they hope to turn that house into an event facility or restaurant. I've read that Danneel wants to make this a destination. She doesn't want to bottle this beer, or even necessarily have it served in the bars in Austin. She wants people to come to the brewery to get it though she is considering opening another location already...perhaps somewhere in Austin. It was a VERY comfortable place. Super casual. Definitely affordable. The entire staff was extremely nice and helpful. If I lived in that area? I'd be out there at least once a month. We saw and did some great things in Austin that weekend, but the trip out the brewery was my favorite. Read a great description of Jensen's Family's brewery here! -
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Stone house next to the brewery building.
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Brewery promo photo on the steps of the stone house.
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SUBMITTED BY: journalbookbinder |
______________________________________________________________May 22, 2018Time to reinvigorate the Metalliblog! I don't know how many years are left for Supernatural in its original form, but whether that's one or more than one, let's celebrate this show that has meant so much to so many!First of all, many thanks to spnfanforever who was the last member to consistently blog here. Her contributions can be found in the blog archives (2014 and earlier).Let's see; the season 13 finale. Some loved it, some hated it, some only hated parts of it. It was long speculated by many that Dean would say "yes" to Michael and that's exactly what happened. It seemed like, after all the build-up to him NOT saying "yes" to Michael in season 5, this happened very quickly; more of a snap decision to save Sam. The show in general feels like it has a much more rushed story line these days with less slow build (and stories crafted over time) than it had in the past. Some really like the faster, more exciting pace. I'm not one of them. That said, there is still plenty that I love about this show. In season 13, I particularly found Apocalypse World an interesting concept. I thought Alexander did an incredible job portraying Jack and he made him a very interesting and compelling character. Jensen and Jared are acting at the top of their game (their non-verbal acting really defies superlatives). I truly enjoyed getting to see Bobby and Charlie again...even alternate universe versions of them. To me, that was much better than having a character come back as a ghost.Also disappointing, the lack of a pick-up for Wayward Sisters. Show runner Andrew Dabb seemed surprised and extremely disappointed that the spin-off will not happen on the CW. At least not in the 2018 - 2019 season. That said, Dabb tweeted that even though there will be no spin-off at this time, that does not mean it will be the end for these characters, so I hope we'll see a few Wayward Sisters-centric episodes in season 14. Fingers crossed. These women deserve more screen time. Now it's time for the cast to take some extremely well-deserved time off. We'll be following their Twitter and Instagram accounts and will be posting their summer photos on the wiki homepage.
SUBMITTED BY: journalbookbinder |
April 2018 |
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February 2018 |
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January 2018 |
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journalbookbinder |
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