7.21 Reaction

[ash48]

Perhaps CONFUSED?! UNDERWHELMED, ANNOYED! What the hell was that?!

Yeah.. so, um... TURN BACK NOW because I am seriously struggling to find anything good to say about this one. Sorry. :(

I can't pinpoint whether it was bad direction, bad writing, bad acting or the fact that the writer was also the director (writer/director is a tricky combo to get right). It was Ben Edlund so I'm surprised it was so awful. He's written some pretty good episodes (Bad Day at Black Rock probably my favourite of his) but his directing is yet to impress me. This is his second directing gig for SPN (other one being The Man Who Would be King) and to be honest I'd think like to see it stay that way.

It was both too much and not enough. Too much new information (most of which made little sense) and not enough... well, everything else. It lacked energy and the pacing was woeful. It lacked the crucial element of tension. The was no build up - no urgency what so ever (compared to say last week that had us on the edge of our seats). It's not really fair to mention the bad acting because I think a director is mostly to blame for that but wow... there were some seriously medicore performances in there. I'm sorry but Hester never convinced me. Meg was better than last time I thought but there were still some issues.

I suppose I enjoyed Misha's performance. There were some nice laugh out loud moments but because the whole episode had that feeling of "what the hell is going on" he was kinda lost in there. There were some lovely little moments but they were surrounded with some truly awful ones. Something I did like was the feeling that he really was seeing "everything". I actually think that an opportunity was missed here to appreciate Castiel's plight. Or to connected with him in any way.

I suppose the thing that annoyed me the most was ALL THAT was going on in the hospital and NO ONE WAS AROUND! Ever! Hospitals are busy places... or did I miss something? Was there an explanation for why they could be going in and out like it was their home, chase and knock people out on the grounds etc.? Did I zone out and miss that? I just. IT MADE NO SENSE!

I did like Kevin Tran, but again because there was so much going on his character drew little interest or sympathy.

Our boys were sidelined and became observers. They seemed so out of their depth, (which might have been the whole point), but by doing that I felt we lost the connection to what was going on. We were left as damn confused as they were.

Some of the jokes seemed to be there just for us. Which, ok, sometimes that's fun but in an episode like this it felt try-hard. I'm not sure it ever made up it's mind what kind of episode it was going to be. It started of a little quirky, got quite serious, then there was that strange moment with action music, moments where Cas was "connecting" with first Sam and then Dean. Throw in suggested Cas/Meg romance and... yeah. A COMPLETE MESS!

So the boys now know how to kill the Leviathans. I probably should be more excited about that but I think because the way it came about seems so contrived I have little excitement for it. I suppose it might depend how they use that information now.

There's a lot more but I think I'm just depressing myself the more I write.

ACK!!! I DON'T KNOW?!! Is it just me? Am I being too harsh? Does it need a second viewing to appreciate it? (please no!) Other than some funny one liners was there actually anything good about that ep that I missed?

Sorry to be so negative. It's not usually like me. I always try to look for the positive but I'm struggling with this one. Thank God there are 2 more episodes. Please Show be building up to something interesting - something that actually involves the boys rather than having them watch other characters. Something that makes some sense would be good...*sigh*

Comments

[ruby-jelly.livejournal.com]

OK - just watched ep 21, and wanted your opinion, how sad is that? Why did the angel's bleed black goo, but Castiel red blood? Phooey; go and read your ops now, 'cos feeling impatient! :(

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Hee... out of the whole ep it was the very last bit that I liked the best. The angels at the end where "filled" with black goo and killed (like Cas was when they took him over in the beginning). Leviathans trump angels (which probably makes no sense because why didn't Cas really die when he was over taken by them?). I think both angels and demons bleed red - well, their vessels do (ack! don't even get me started on the constant holes re vessels...) so that makes sense to me.

But.. (do you mind if I keep whinging?) I find it all too convenient that they need the blood of a fallen angel to help kill the Leviathans. Hmmm.. handy that they happen to know one.... (though God knows all I suppose so maybe he knew that they were going to need that when The Word was written. Maybe it's all part of him cunning plan...*nods*)

[greyowl88.livejournal.com]

Leviathans trump angels (which probably makes no sense because why didn't Cas really die when he was over taken by them?).

I never thought the Leveiathans tried to kill Cas but have him as vessel. They left him him when he burst from the amount of Levis in him. And they had only made it freshly out of purgatory.
This time the Leviathan aimed to kill those two angels. I think Intent is of importance, not only if black goo is involved. At least that's how I like to see it. :)

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, good point. Here they set out to kill so I can buy that...

So...( thiinking out loud here) leviathans can occupy and vacate vessels a bit like demons can. If they chose to they can use the goo to kill angels and humans (we don't know about demons yet ...do we?) . In the beginning they occupied Cas's vessel but didn't need or want to kill him so when they vacated hum they left him in one piece.

They can also take the form of whomever they occupy and shapeshifter accordingly.

Ok. Just getting my head around all that. :DD

Xx

[ruby-jelly.livejournal.com]

I kept feeling impatient - hey, get back to the action, please. And then they were hanging around the hospital; just hanging around chatting! And then Sam left, LEFT, the damn rock in the bag, on the floor, unsecured. Dean playing "Sorry". I think there was a lot of double information to be gleaned, but I felt myself getting irritated! I was more anxious than them, which may have been an effect of reacting to Kevin's experience, rather than their laid back time in Cas's room. BUT, why hang around when they could go to ground and be safe?

I'm ashamed to say, that when they returned to the hospital room with Kevin (WHAT?), I thought: sound stage, same set, easy filming / reducing costs!

Background Sound could have been used to indicate a busy (or sleeping) hospital ward, even if we didn't actually see other patients. Just doors opening, trolleys, yells, conversations, etc.

And when Dean started in with the heavy duty angst, I just got impatient, but they were addressing the "You started all this", I guess. Although, I did love Castiel's opinion of Sam's personality, hee heee.

You're right - Edlund should stick to writing, and I think he favoured Cas over the Winchesters, especially with worthy lines. I did like how Sam said "Hello Castiel". It was respectful, awed, affectionate. Of course, that's the actor choice. But, I'm with you, I hate seeing the Boys side-lined

You know: just bugger. If Show doesn't deliver, just poop. It was a little self-aware too, with such exposition as:"Crowley isn't this years problem" or similar.

Feeling really disappointed, but thankfully, Season 8!!! Woo hoo!!

Good-bye Castiel, and thanks for all the fish, ummm, blood.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Yeah, impatient is the word. And probably a bit bored.

The sitting around in hospital made NO sense. AND Sam leaving the bag... his motivation for leaving made little sense also. And see that's why I blame the directing. We got a shot of the bag on the floor as Sam left. Talk about telegraph what's going to happen. And seriously? Sam is that stupid? Take the bag with for goodness sake...

And how did Kevin get in? I take it he was drawn to the Word but... a secured wing of the hospital?

I loved Cas's opinion of Sam's personality. There were some gems in there. But yeah - all for Cas not much for anyone else.

"Crowley isn't this years problem"

Yeah. That's the issue with have characters like that. What do you do with them when they aren't needed. Like Bobby. Completely out of the picture this episode and yet so important and on the boys minds in the last few.

*sigh*

Too hard to think about. I really hope it's just a one off bad ep. It does happen sometimes.

xx