I really enjoyed the episode but I am pretty much convinced that reading the spoilers really impacts my overall enjoyment of shows I am obsessed about in an extremely negative way. But it's only with shows that I am obsessed about that I cannot seem to stay away from spoilers. I started watching this show as a way to distract myself from spoilers for another show.
And it's usually when I have seen spoilers for plot points and not guest starts (unless the guest stars happen to be dead in the SPNverse...like this week.) Simply knowing that a recurring character is going to show up is not a game changer for me. Prime example: Goodbye Stranger. Now, it was a fantastic episode and probably better paced, but all sorts of stuff went down in that one, too. The only difference between the two is that I knew nothing about plot points for GS and I knew too much for this one. I should stop even reading the synopsis before watching.
Thing is, I don't know how to control myself and be on the Internet at all. I am really going to try for the rest of the season.
There was so much to love in this one though I feel we did waste time with the Kevin/Crowley drama when it should have really centered on what was going down with the boys. Like you, I am not sure i can bring myself to care about Kevin but I am also not sure that is not solely due to not wanting to see what was going on with him, here. He could have told them about the trial, heard Crowley but kept all that to himself and gone off the rails another time so that the viewer could have spent time with the focus we wanted to see Sam and Dean and Bobby and Benny. Naomi was used well, I think, and my interest was piqued at just what she is up to!
There have been numerous Sam centric plots that I feel were shortchanged and woefully under explored so that is nothing specific to season 8 in my book. These trials are a big deal. Sam strolling through purgatory and hell is a big deal. We need to see the impact of that. I did love the scene with the girl who kept saying, "I knew you'd come." I loved how Sam looked so torn , almost devastated, by her and my brain that wants to see associations where there are none would like to think that little beat was significant for some reason.
I loved how Benny's story played out. I loved that I was actually worried that, after all that, Bobby was going right back to hell. I love that Sam got to save someone and had a real scene with Bobby, one to one, like the surrogate son he also is. I love Bobby. I loved Dean being all frantic when learned where Sam was and when he saw Ajay dead. I loved how desperate he was to call Benny and ask him to do what he did. I loved that Benny did not hesitate to do what Dean asked. I love that after all these seasons, I'm still getting teary-eyed and yelling at the screen.
Now that's alot of love and I've decided that my spoiled perception cannot be a valid one because it will always be altered by expectation. Someone make me stop looking at them!!
As an aside, a friend of mine had reached season 8 and she came over to watch the first 6 episodes. Now, I never actually hated Amelia or that whole storyline but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I liked her more on this second viewing. I don't know what that means other than maybe I should never pass judgment on this show until I've watched it twice. Except for Bugs and Man's Best Friend with Benefits. Those I'll probably never sit through ever again. I told my friend to text me when she watched more and I'd watch "with" her.....Except for MBFwB. LOL. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was actually looking forward to seeing the rest again which does not jive with my perception that the early part of the season is hit or miss.
I should add that this is the first season I've watched where I've actually been spoiled going into the season and for much of the season itself.
Yeah, it's the spoilers! Someone help meeeeeeeee..........
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Date: 2013-04-05 02:21 am (UTC)And it's usually when I have seen spoilers for plot points and not guest starts (unless the guest stars happen to be dead in the SPNverse...like this week.) Simply knowing that a recurring character is going to show up is not a game changer for me. Prime example: Goodbye Stranger. Now, it was a fantastic episode and probably better paced, but all sorts of stuff went down in that one, too. The only difference between the two is that I knew nothing about plot points for GS and I knew too much for this one. I should stop even reading the synopsis before watching.
Thing is, I don't know how to control myself and be on the Internet at all. I am really going to try for the rest of the season.
There was so much to love in this one though I feel we did waste time with the Kevin/Crowley drama when it should have really centered on what was going down with the boys. Like you, I am not sure i can bring myself to care about Kevin but I am also not sure that is not solely due to not wanting to see what was going on with him, here. He could have told them about the trial, heard Crowley but kept all that to himself and gone off the rails another time so that the viewer could have spent time with the focus we wanted to see Sam and Dean and Bobby and Benny. Naomi was used well, I think, and my interest was piqued at just what she is up to!
There have been numerous Sam centric plots that I feel were shortchanged and woefully under explored so that is nothing specific to season 8 in my book. These trials are a big deal. Sam strolling through purgatory and hell is a big deal. We need to see the impact of that. I did love the scene with the girl who kept saying, "I knew you'd come." I loved how Sam looked so torn , almost devastated, by her and my brain that wants to see associations where there are none would like to think that little beat was significant for some reason.
I loved how Benny's story played out. I loved that I was actually worried that, after all that, Bobby was going right back to hell. I love that Sam got to save someone and had a real scene with Bobby, one to one, like the surrogate son he also is. I love Bobby. I loved Dean being all frantic when learned where Sam was and when he saw Ajay dead. I loved how desperate he was to call Benny and ask him to do what he did. I loved that Benny did not hesitate to do what Dean asked. I love that after all these seasons, I'm still getting teary-eyed and yelling at the screen.
Now that's alot of love and I've decided that my spoiled perception cannot be a valid one because it will always be altered by expectation. Someone make me stop looking at them!!
As an aside, a friend of mine had reached season 8 and she came over to watch the first 6 episodes. Now, I never actually hated Amelia or that whole storyline but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I liked her more on this second viewing. I don't know what that means other than maybe I should never pass judgment on this show until I've watched it twice. Except for Bugs and Man's Best Friend with Benefits. Those I'll probably never sit through ever again. I told my friend to text me when she watched more and I'd watch "with" her.....Except for MBFwB. LOL. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was actually looking forward to seeing the rest again which does not jive with my perception that the early part of the season is hit or miss.
I should add that this is the first season I've watched where I've actually been spoiled going into the season and for much of the season itself.
Yeah, it's the spoilers! Someone help meeeeeeeee..........