Supernatural 9.04-9.06 (Spoilers)
11/18/13 09:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kateWow, way to lose all your momentum, guys. :(
So, 9.04-9.06 was a bad rollercoaster going from not good to awful to mediocre. In general, all three eps were clunky and not well directed or edited. 9.05 the worst and 9.06 the best of a bad bunch. The acting was eh – there was some good, but a lot of it was treading water, and Dean feels very distant. I have some hopes that it is on purpose – Dean should feel distant, he’s lying to practically everyone he cares about – but I think it’s partially bad writing and partially Jensen being a bit checked out at this point. Poor guy has got to be bored out of his skull. Give him something to DO already. You’re seriously wasting his talent so far this season (and were last season, too, I feel bad for the guy).
There have been a lot of really stupid things going on these eps, illogical villains and poorly thought through plotlines and ARG these people need a good beta-reader. I’d be happy to kick their asses into shape! The scripts have just been awful – poorly researched, poorly characterized (what’s with Dean’s sudden backslide to S2 levels of dickishness?), poorly thought through on an over-arching plot scale. They’re missing all the emotional content that I watch Supernatural for.
I have a vague glimmer of hope that it’s intentional – Dean is lying to everyone and that always weighs on Dean, makes him less sympathetic (to himself and to us). But Dean is the heart of the show, and if he’s emotionally switched off, it’s hard to care about anyone or anything. I didn’t even really feel anything with Charlie around, and usually the Winchesters’ interactions with her are warm and familial. Felicia felt a little awkward in places too, actually, and that’s not usually her way, so I’m back to thinking direction was an issue. So anyway – if they’re making Dean distant on purpose to punch me in the gut on the mid-season cliffhanger, whoopee! But they could’ve done it with an emotional build-up instead of an emotional absence (show me how torn up Dean is – there was none of that in these three eps, no Dean angst at all, and that’s just wrong – if this isn’t killing Dean I’ll eat my hat). If they’re just sucking, that can stop right now.
I think they’re stretching the Zeke thing too far. I’m sure they’re trying to get it to the mid-season cliffhanger, but the through-line is so poorly done that there’s no continuity in the over-arching plotline at all and they’ve already pushed past my limit (way, waaaaaaaaaay past my limit) of what Sam is willing to take on faith where Dean is concerned. It’d be one thing if they showed that Sam’s actually being manipulated by Ezekiel into not caring, but clearly he’s NOT – he remembers Dean calling him Zeke, he remembers being slashed across the throat. There is no way that he should be buying Dean’s lies at this point. He should have a bad feeling about all this and it should be making his skin crawl. I’m really disappointed in the way they’re handling this. It could have been a beautiful slow and subtle build to the mid-season cliffhanger (and it looked like it was going that way in the first three eps) but no, these last three eps just took a hatchet to that whole plot arc and now it looks like Sam’s an idiot and Dean’s an asshole. I love these guys – I don’t want them to be idiots and assholes. (Cas is forgiven because seriously, being newly human is enough of a chore and he is having a tough time.)
Speaking of Cas. It seems like the Wincest-Destiel trading off has rather abruptly been switched off. Clearly the writers and/or directors that enjoy the tongue in cheek fanservice have left the building because while 9.03 may have upset the Destiel shippers, 9.06 felt like it was rubbing salt in the wound. I’m not invested in the Destiel part of this, but a lot of the 9.06 script felt not only non-Destiel, but actively anti-Destiel. I’m all for Dean and Cas being friends and Dean mentoring Cas in the ways of dating/women/etc. (though SERIOUSLY? are they seriously trying to make it seem like Dean is good at DATING? Uh, no, folks, he’s good at picking up women and one-night stands. And he is rusty at that like whoa.) because it’s cute and I do believe Dean is happy for his friend (he’s always happy when people he cares about get lucky – it’s a little weird, actually), but the way it was played was without the usual undertone that’s there. It’s weird, because Jensen and Misha just ooze that vibe, mostly unconsciously, I think, and to have all those scenes where there isn’t actually any chemistry between them? That’s weird. So weird. Putting that one on the direction again. I feel like the directors really let me down these three eps.
I can’t rewatch 9.04 or 9.05 – too embarrassing, and while I may at some point re-watch 9.06, it probably won’t be until the end of the mid-season hiatus because it wasn’t good enough that I want to come back to it right away (though there were a few excellent things in there).
In general, lack of Kevin, Crowley, and Abbadon was a loss – they’re all awesome and the more they’re around the better the eps are in general (though no complaints about having Charlie around, I love her and will take as much of her as I can get). I think one of my big complaints about this season is that they’re not winding the larger plot arcs (the angels, Abbadon, Samzekiel, Cas’s humanity) into the individual episodes deftly. It does NOT take that much to touch base on all the major points of your season so we don’t suddenly go three eps without Abbadon or Bartholomew. We don’t have to see them, we just need to know our characters have got them on their mind, and no, a simple explainer is NOT sufficient. Fuck, explainers can just DIAF as far as I’m concerned – I don’t want your little one-line joke about why Kevin isn’t around. I know it’s because Osric’s not available or you couldn’t afford him – by pointing out he’s not there, all you’re doing is reminding me of that fact. They did much better with Garth last season and Bobby before that. Don’t TELL me shit – SHOW ME. And I’m NOT that much of a show-don’t-tell fan (synecdochic posted an excellent meta about it once, I’ll try to dig it up and link it later), I just… you can’t just tell me shit when CLEARLY the characters are acting contrary to the thing they’re telling me. It’s bullshit and bad writing to boot. And yes, sometimes you want to do that on purpose because characters are lying to themselves, but this is not that! This is poor writing that’s trying to shortcut the proper context to carry the show’s seasonal plot arc/character continuity.
I think that's it for the overview; time for individual eps.
9.04 Slumber Party
This should have been an AMAZING episode. CHARLIE. DOROTHY. WICKED WITCH. It fell down in so many places, though. The black and white Men of Letters bits were interesting, and I enjoyed them, but I feel like they should’ve been limited to the prologue and not scattered throughout the first third of the episode.
My biggest problem with this ep was that it felt cold. I hadn’t realized at this point that the emotional distance was going to be a ~thing for a while, so I couldn’t put my finger on why I felt so "meh" about the episode. I loved Dorothy, I loved Charlie, I enjoyed the MOL, I just didn't care. So much so that I couldn't even write a drabble for![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
episodic_supernatural. Nothing. Not even Dorothy/Charlie, which I ship the hell out of.
Charlie's death was meaningless. We knew damn well that there was no way she was dead-dead because Ezekiel. And you know, it's a little frustrating – one of the reasons Misha isn't normally a regular is because having an angel hanging around means there's not much that actually threatens the Winchesters. That makes the stakes minimal, and means it's all kind of pointless. And I think they were trying to mitigate Ezekiel's effect by having him be ~weak~ but he brought back Cas in episode 9.03, which was a bad move, because now we don't fear anyone's death anymore. Which sucks, because if Charlie's gotta die, I want her to get more out of it than the weak scene with Dean and Zeke. That was one place I wondered about Jensen – as much as I think there was huge script fail and big directing fail, I feel like Jensen should've still been able to pull that out into something emotionally satisfying. He's done more with less.
Also disappointing was the missed opportunity about possession. I kinda hated J2's acting while taken over by the witch. I can't be sure it was them, could've been direction, but again, I feel like they should've been able to do better. They're often better than their directors, so I'm just not sure what happened here. The missed opportunity was Dean, though. Having him be under the witch's control should've given us some glimmer about his discomfort with Zeke, but there was nothing. Not even a nod to the fact that he wasn't in control of his own body and how awful that is. I mean, all the things Abbadon said she was going to make him do, you don't think watching his body attack a woman who is basically his little sister would horrify him? The boys should have been internally screaming about what they were doing, they should've been SICK with it when they came out of it – especially Dean – but we didn't get that at all. Again, fail direction, but I expect more out of J2, honestly.
9.05 Dog Dean Afternoon
Blarg. This episode. :( It was just such a disappointment all around. I didn't like the dogs talking, I didn't like their voice actors (neither did Jared - he tweeted so!), their choice of accents, or how much they used that tired joke. It should've been hilarious, having Dean act like a dog. But there was too much human Dean to make it effective. A much better take would've been Dean's intelligence going down the toilet as he becomes more doglike, so he understands what the dogs were telling him but became unable to communicate that to Sam. The writers used talking dogs too much and doggy-Dean too little. (One of the best bits of this whole episode – Dean going after a pigeon with his gun – was a Jensen ad lib. Of course it was. *sigh*)
Also disappointing was the unfamiliarity with Dean's characterization re: dogs and cats. He has a long history with dogs and I felt like the writers didn't have any clue about that.
The villain made no logical sense whatsoever and was completely forgettable. Also not making any sense was the sledgehammer to Samzekiel with the neck wound. What the fuck. Sam knew he was a goner – and then he wakes up with no wound at all, a la Wolverine? There was NO WAY he shouldn't have been freaking out about that to Dean. And Dean even SAYS to Sam, "Are you sure you're all right?" WHICH HELLO!!! NO DEAN, I'M CLEARLY NOT ALL RIGHT, I MAGICALLY HEALED FROM A FATAL NECK WOUND, YOU WOULDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THAT, WOULD YOU, DEAN?
I really hate that part a lot. I like that Sam trusts Dean, but that is too damn much. Sam has instincts of his own, and that was so far beyond the pale I am sick just thinking about it.
Also, having Sam bullshit something about a penal code violation when they were pretending to be health inspectors just grates. That's an idiotic thing to say, even for someone who has NO law background.
There was a ton of bad in this episode and very little good.
9.06 Heaven Can't Wait
There was a lot of shit here – mainly where Dean is concerned (poor Jensen, I feel like the writers have not only been shorting him the last few seasons, they’ve been just falling down left and right on Dean characterization – hopefully that changes next ep, but we’ll see). Dean mocking Cas for going out and getting a job when HE JUST KICKED CAS OUT OF THE BUNKER is pretty shitty. Also shitty is making fun of how far Cas has fallen. Seriously, dude? That’s the kind of empathy you have? You should be begging for Cas’s forgiveness for putting him through that, not to mention NOT TALKING SMACK ABOUT HAVING A REAL JOB. UGH DEAN’S ATTITUDE, JUST WRONG. (Also, Cas, yes! There IS dignity to working a gas-n-sip job.) (Also, DEAN. IT IS NOT ALWAYS ABOUT THE LADY FRIEND.) >>>>>>>:(
More Dean annoyance: giving Cas dating advice. I like the mentoring vibe between him and Cas, but the way he talks about women SKEEVES ME OUT. “Ask a lot of questions, they like that,” and “If she offers to go dutch, don’t believe her,” it’s SO INSULTING. It’s exactly what I’d expect out of Dean, honestly, but the show didn’t indicate that it was douchey, which is my real problem with the way Dean has been. Besides feeling OOC, the show seems to condone Dean’s bad behavior, and it’s never been that way before (or, not in the eps that I liked).
Of the good, though: KEVIN. Kevin is always a delightful addition to the bunker, as is nerd solidarity between him and Sam. I really enjoy Sam talking things through with Kevin; the two of them get along brilliantly and it’s lovely to see them geeking out over research. I totally see the Sam/Kevin stuff here, and it’s less skeevy seeing it than thinking about it (which weirds me out because Sam is almost old enough to be Kevin’s dad). KEVIN’S TAT. :D :D :D :D
Sam and Crowley’s interaction is kind of lovely, too. Sam only seems to bring up Crowley’s little wanting-to-be-human thing when they’re alone; I’m not sure if that’s because Dean would be a dick about it (and I could get behind that 100% - no matter what season, Dean would be a dick about that, and reasonably so) or because he has some kind of a connection to Crowley (of course he does). There’s a nice vibe between them – sometimes it feels like Sam’s more Sam-like around everyone BUT Dean – which could be EXCELLENT direction (but I doubt it). More likely to give Jared the credit for that. Also, Sam playing Crowley, talking Abbadon up, brilliant. And TRUE! Abbadon is WAY more terrifying than Crowley’s been in years.
Also good, Ashton Holmes as the angel of mercy, my goodness, he was delightful. I loved him on Revenge and was thrilled to see him here. He was an excellent guest star, which is always nice.
OMG – other awesome guest spot to the teenage girl who gives Dean what for about the difference between kinda bummed and really bummed. She was amazing. :D
The best, though, is Misha throughout. Cas + babies = LOVELY (especially as he talks existential crisis with her). He handles her like a dad, though, it is SO OBVIOUS that Misha has kids. :D (GREATEST AMERICAN HERO, OMG!!!!)
So the most disappointing part about all this is the dynamic between Dean and Cas. Their usual chemistry was all wonky; I have no idea why. There was someone on twitter who was there for the gas-n-sip scenes that said Jensen was cracking Misha up – maybe they were fucking around so much they never got serious about the scenes? I don’t know. It just all felt wrong. :(
And then, Dean’s lying to Cas, too. It’s weighing on him (which, good, thank you, Jensen), but the whole episode (and all of these three) felt cold. Distant. It makes more sense on a second watch – Dean’s got everyone’s best interests at heart but he has to lie to them to keep them safe. Maybe he’s just shutting down. It makes sense, but that’s my very least favorite Dean. I hope they get Zeke out and get to fighting and fixing things soon, I’m not enjoying this Dean at all.
So, 9.04-9.06 was a bad rollercoaster going from not good to awful to mediocre. In general, all three eps were clunky and not well directed or edited. 9.05 the worst and 9.06 the best of a bad bunch. The acting was eh – there was some good, but a lot of it was treading water, and Dean feels very distant. I have some hopes that it is on purpose – Dean should feel distant, he’s lying to practically everyone he cares about – but I think it’s partially bad writing and partially Jensen being a bit checked out at this point. Poor guy has got to be bored out of his skull. Give him something to DO already. You’re seriously wasting his talent so far this season (and were last season, too, I feel bad for the guy).
There have been a lot of really stupid things going on these eps, illogical villains and poorly thought through plotlines and ARG these people need a good beta-reader. I’d be happy to kick their asses into shape! The scripts have just been awful – poorly researched, poorly characterized (what’s with Dean’s sudden backslide to S2 levels of dickishness?), poorly thought through on an over-arching plot scale. They’re missing all the emotional content that I watch Supernatural for.
I have a vague glimmer of hope that it’s intentional – Dean is lying to everyone and that always weighs on Dean, makes him less sympathetic (to himself and to us). But Dean is the heart of the show, and if he’s emotionally switched off, it’s hard to care about anyone or anything. I didn’t even really feel anything with Charlie around, and usually the Winchesters’ interactions with her are warm and familial. Felicia felt a little awkward in places too, actually, and that’s not usually her way, so I’m back to thinking direction was an issue. So anyway – if they’re making Dean distant on purpose to punch me in the gut on the mid-season cliffhanger, whoopee! But they could’ve done it with an emotional build-up instead of an emotional absence (show me how torn up Dean is – there was none of that in these three eps, no Dean angst at all, and that’s just wrong – if this isn’t killing Dean I’ll eat my hat). If they’re just sucking, that can stop right now.
I think they’re stretching the Zeke thing too far. I’m sure they’re trying to get it to the mid-season cliffhanger, but the through-line is so poorly done that there’s no continuity in the over-arching plotline at all and they’ve already pushed past my limit (way, waaaaaaaaaay past my limit) of what Sam is willing to take on faith where Dean is concerned. It’d be one thing if they showed that Sam’s actually being manipulated by Ezekiel into not caring, but clearly he’s NOT – he remembers Dean calling him Zeke, he remembers being slashed across the throat. There is no way that he should be buying Dean’s lies at this point. He should have a bad feeling about all this and it should be making his skin crawl. I’m really disappointed in the way they’re handling this. It could have been a beautiful slow and subtle build to the mid-season cliffhanger (and it looked like it was going that way in the first three eps) but no, these last three eps just took a hatchet to that whole plot arc and now it looks like Sam’s an idiot and Dean’s an asshole. I love these guys – I don’t want them to be idiots and assholes. (Cas is forgiven because seriously, being newly human is enough of a chore and he is having a tough time.)
Speaking of Cas. It seems like the Wincest-Destiel trading off has rather abruptly been switched off. Clearly the writers and/or directors that enjoy the tongue in cheek fanservice have left the building because while 9.03 may have upset the Destiel shippers, 9.06 felt like it was rubbing salt in the wound. I’m not invested in the Destiel part of this, but a lot of the 9.06 script felt not only non-Destiel, but actively anti-Destiel. I’m all for Dean and Cas being friends and Dean mentoring Cas in the ways of dating/women/etc. (though SERIOUSLY? are they seriously trying to make it seem like Dean is good at DATING? Uh, no, folks, he’s good at picking up women and one-night stands. And he is rusty at that like whoa.) because it’s cute and I do believe Dean is happy for his friend (he’s always happy when people he cares about get lucky – it’s a little weird, actually), but the way it was played was without the usual undertone that’s there. It’s weird, because Jensen and Misha just ooze that vibe, mostly unconsciously, I think, and to have all those scenes where there isn’t actually any chemistry between them? That’s weird. So weird. Putting that one on the direction again. I feel like the directors really let me down these three eps.
I can’t rewatch 9.04 or 9.05 – too embarrassing, and while I may at some point re-watch 9.06, it probably won’t be until the end of the mid-season hiatus because it wasn’t good enough that I want to come back to it right away (though there were a few excellent things in there).
In general, lack of Kevin, Crowley, and Abbadon was a loss – they’re all awesome and the more they’re around the better the eps are in general (though no complaints about having Charlie around, I love her and will take as much of her as I can get). I think one of my big complaints about this season is that they’re not winding the larger plot arcs (the angels, Abbadon, Samzekiel, Cas’s humanity) into the individual episodes deftly. It does NOT take that much to touch base on all the major points of your season so we don’t suddenly go three eps without Abbadon or Bartholomew. We don’t have to see them, we just need to know our characters have got them on their mind, and no, a simple explainer is NOT sufficient. Fuck, explainers can just DIAF as far as I’m concerned – I don’t want your little one-line joke about why Kevin isn’t around. I know it’s because Osric’s not available or you couldn’t afford him – by pointing out he’s not there, all you’re doing is reminding me of that fact. They did much better with Garth last season and Bobby before that. Don’t TELL me shit – SHOW ME. And I’m NOT that much of a show-don’t-tell fan (
synecdochic posted an excellent meta about it once, I’ll try to dig it up and link it later), I just… you can’t just tell me shit when CLEARLY the characters are acting contrary to the thing they’re telling me. It’s bullshit and bad writing to boot. And yes, sometimes you want to do that on purpose because characters are lying to themselves, but this is not that! This is poor writing that’s trying to shortcut the proper context to carry the show’s seasonal plot arc/character continuity. I think that's it for the overview; time for individual eps.
9.04 Slumber Party
This should have been an AMAZING episode. CHARLIE. DOROTHY. WICKED WITCH. It fell down in so many places, though. The black and white Men of Letters bits were interesting, and I enjoyed them, but I feel like they should’ve been limited to the prologue and not scattered throughout the first third of the episode.
My biggest problem with this ep was that it felt cold. I hadn’t realized at this point that the emotional distance was going to be a ~thing for a while, so I couldn’t put my finger on why I felt so "meh" about the episode. I loved Dorothy, I loved Charlie, I enjoyed the MOL, I just didn't care. So much so that I couldn't even write a drabble for
episodic_supernatural. Nothing. Not even Dorothy/Charlie, which I ship the hell out of.Charlie's death was meaningless. We knew damn well that there was no way she was dead-dead because Ezekiel. And you know, it's a little frustrating – one of the reasons Misha isn't normally a regular is because having an angel hanging around means there's not much that actually threatens the Winchesters. That makes the stakes minimal, and means it's all kind of pointless. And I think they were trying to mitigate Ezekiel's effect by having him be ~weak~ but he brought back Cas in episode 9.03, which was a bad move, because now we don't fear anyone's death anymore. Which sucks, because if Charlie's gotta die, I want her to get more out of it than the weak scene with Dean and Zeke. That was one place I wondered about Jensen – as much as I think there was huge script fail and big directing fail, I feel like Jensen should've still been able to pull that out into something emotionally satisfying. He's done more with less.
Also disappointing was the missed opportunity about possession. I kinda hated J2's acting while taken over by the witch. I can't be sure it was them, could've been direction, but again, I feel like they should've been able to do better. They're often better than their directors, so I'm just not sure what happened here. The missed opportunity was Dean, though. Having him be under the witch's control should've given us some glimmer about his discomfort with Zeke, but there was nothing. Not even a nod to the fact that he wasn't in control of his own body and how awful that is. I mean, all the things Abbadon said she was going to make him do, you don't think watching his body attack a woman who is basically his little sister would horrify him? The boys should have been internally screaming about what they were doing, they should've been SICK with it when they came out of it – especially Dean – but we didn't get that at all. Again, fail direction, but I expect more out of J2, honestly.
9.05 Dog Dean Afternoon
Blarg. This episode. :( It was just such a disappointment all around. I didn't like the dogs talking, I didn't like their voice actors (neither did Jared - he tweeted so!), their choice of accents, or how much they used that tired joke. It should've been hilarious, having Dean act like a dog. But there was too much human Dean to make it effective. A much better take would've been Dean's intelligence going down the toilet as he becomes more doglike, so he understands what the dogs were telling him but became unable to communicate that to Sam. The writers used talking dogs too much and doggy-Dean too little. (One of the best bits of this whole episode – Dean going after a pigeon with his gun – was a Jensen ad lib. Of course it was. *sigh*)
Also disappointing was the unfamiliarity with Dean's characterization re: dogs and cats. He has a long history with dogs and I felt like the writers didn't have any clue about that.
The villain made no logical sense whatsoever and was completely forgettable. Also not making any sense was the sledgehammer to Samzekiel with the neck wound. What the fuck. Sam knew he was a goner – and then he wakes up with no wound at all, a la Wolverine? There was NO WAY he shouldn't have been freaking out about that to Dean. And Dean even SAYS to Sam, "Are you sure you're all right?" WHICH HELLO!!! NO DEAN, I'M CLEARLY NOT ALL RIGHT, I MAGICALLY HEALED FROM A FATAL NECK WOUND, YOU WOULDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THAT, WOULD YOU, DEAN?
I really hate that part a lot. I like that Sam trusts Dean, but that is too damn much. Sam has instincts of his own, and that was so far beyond the pale I am sick just thinking about it.
Also, having Sam bullshit something about a penal code violation when they were pretending to be health inspectors just grates. That's an idiotic thing to say, even for someone who has NO law background.
There was a ton of bad in this episode and very little good.
9.06 Heaven Can't Wait
There was a lot of shit here – mainly where Dean is concerned (poor Jensen, I feel like the writers have not only been shorting him the last few seasons, they’ve been just falling down left and right on Dean characterization – hopefully that changes next ep, but we’ll see). Dean mocking Cas for going out and getting a job when HE JUST KICKED CAS OUT OF THE BUNKER is pretty shitty. Also shitty is making fun of how far Cas has fallen. Seriously, dude? That’s the kind of empathy you have? You should be begging for Cas’s forgiveness for putting him through that, not to mention NOT TALKING SMACK ABOUT HAVING A REAL JOB. UGH DEAN’S ATTITUDE, JUST WRONG. (Also, Cas, yes! There IS dignity to working a gas-n-sip job.) (Also, DEAN. IT IS NOT ALWAYS ABOUT THE LADY FRIEND.) >>>>>>>:(
More Dean annoyance: giving Cas dating advice. I like the mentoring vibe between him and Cas, but the way he talks about women SKEEVES ME OUT. “Ask a lot of questions, they like that,” and “If she offers to go dutch, don’t believe her,” it’s SO INSULTING. It’s exactly what I’d expect out of Dean, honestly, but the show didn’t indicate that it was douchey, which is my real problem with the way Dean has been. Besides feeling OOC, the show seems to condone Dean’s bad behavior, and it’s never been that way before (or, not in the eps that I liked).
Of the good, though: KEVIN. Kevin is always a delightful addition to the bunker, as is nerd solidarity between him and Sam. I really enjoy Sam talking things through with Kevin; the two of them get along brilliantly and it’s lovely to see them geeking out over research. I totally see the Sam/Kevin stuff here, and it’s less skeevy seeing it than thinking about it (which weirds me out because Sam is almost old enough to be Kevin’s dad). KEVIN’S TAT. :D :D :D :D
Sam and Crowley’s interaction is kind of lovely, too. Sam only seems to bring up Crowley’s little wanting-to-be-human thing when they’re alone; I’m not sure if that’s because Dean would be a dick about it (and I could get behind that 100% - no matter what season, Dean would be a dick about that, and reasonably so) or because he has some kind of a connection to Crowley (of course he does). There’s a nice vibe between them – sometimes it feels like Sam’s more Sam-like around everyone BUT Dean – which could be EXCELLENT direction (but I doubt it). More likely to give Jared the credit for that. Also, Sam playing Crowley, talking Abbadon up, brilliant. And TRUE! Abbadon is WAY more terrifying than Crowley’s been in years.
Also good, Ashton Holmes as the angel of mercy, my goodness, he was delightful. I loved him on Revenge and was thrilled to see him here. He was an excellent guest star, which is always nice.
OMG – other awesome guest spot to the teenage girl who gives Dean what for about the difference between kinda bummed and really bummed. She was amazing. :D
The best, though, is Misha throughout. Cas + babies = LOVELY (especially as he talks existential crisis with her). He handles her like a dad, though, it is SO OBVIOUS that Misha has kids. :D (GREATEST AMERICAN HERO, OMG!!!!)
So the most disappointing part about all this is the dynamic between Dean and Cas. Their usual chemistry was all wonky; I have no idea why. There was someone on twitter who was there for the gas-n-sip scenes that said Jensen was cracking Misha up – maybe they were fucking around so much they never got serious about the scenes? I don’t know. It just all felt wrong. :(
And then, Dean’s lying to Cas, too. It’s weighing on him (which, good, thank you, Jensen), but the whole episode (and all of these three) felt cold. Distant. It makes more sense on a second watch – Dean’s got everyone’s best interests at heart but he has to lie to them to keep them safe. Maybe he’s just shutting down. It makes sense, but that’s my very least favorite Dean. I hope they get Zeke out and get to fighting and fixing things soon, I’m not enjoying this Dean at all.
no subject
on 11/19/13 04:22 am (UTC)And I have things to say re: your Zeke rants and the Destiel dynamic, but I don't want to get into it publicly. Send me a DM if you're interested.
ETA: Oh also, 9.07 "Bad Boys" was originally supposed to be 9.05, which would've made "Dog Dean Afternoon" 9.06, and "Heaven Can't Wait 9.07". It might be interesting to see how the characterization is affected with the original episode order versus the actual airing order.
There was someone on twitter who was there for the gas-n-sip scenes that said Jensen was cracking Misha up
If you're talking about SE Hinton, I would take anything she says with a huge grain of salt, FYI.
no subject
on 11/19/13 08:19 pm (UTC)Whyfore about Castiel? I inhaled the show all at once, so it's a very different experience for me than someone who's watched it weekly for a long time. I don't remember a lot of the eps I don't like, so I have more of a fondness for the show and the characters overall.
Hmmmm - it will be VERY interesting to see how the switch affects the overarching storyline. I'm pretty excited for this ep (having been spoiled accidentally), I have to say.
no subject
on 11/20/13 05:07 am (UTC)Will be interesting to hear your thoughts on the ep. I have many about it myself (pre-series canon is something I am VERY... um... passionate about LOL).
no subject
on 11/22/13 11:44 pm (UTC)I know there is a lot of canon, but the writing is just sloppy. And I want to give them credit that it's intentional, but I doubt it. Dean's behavior is just basically nonsensical. And oi, after 907, I just. HANDS
And then, too, I'm also inclined to believe that they've had a string of terrible directors as well. So much of the choppy awkwardness can be put down to the pacing of scenes and the stilted delivery.
But all of that would be meh if it weren't compounded by the distressing character retconning going on. Sam and the neck thing; Dean hating hunting; Dean not being visibly torn up over lying; John ostensibly irrationally negligent. That, and boringness. Needs moar Crowley! And Abaddonnnnnnn. Give her to meeeee