9.05 episode reaction/review

[ash48]

Before I get into this I have to spend a moment geeking over the motel room. Firstly YAY so good do see a motel room again and double YAY because I ADORE the diamond theme. It's directly linked to the MoTW (snake - as he first appeared) and the name of the motel "Diamond Tim" could be in reference to Tim Friede, a man who injects himself with snake venom in order to become immune to it. He's even quoted as saying “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”. I wonder if he might have even been the inspiration to this weeks MoTW story.



I swear those curtains look like snake skin. I have some more pics here on tumblr. Love the diamonds repeated on the bedspread, walls and room divider. I would love to think they chose this theme because of snake skin.

Also - prop reuse: bed head (such a popular item), lamp and I am sure that painting has been used before. (yay!)

Ok. ::koff::…now that I've got that out of my system.

This episode ticked enough boxes for me that it goes into the "very enjoyable" episode category. It ticked the biggest box of them all - SAM 'N DEAN, SAM 'N DEAN SAM 'N DEAN which pretty much makes up for anything it might have been lacking.

So much Sam and Dean screen time I actually felt spoiled. And they were so GOD DAMN ADORABLE together. THAT ENDING!! I almost thought Dean was going to lick Sam's face. *g* I will never not love concerned Dean and hurt!Sam (or hurt!Dean, concerned Sam). But I also loved the wonderful collection of Sam bitch faces and shit eating grins. Loved his pure, unadulterated fondness of Dean. Dean also seems weirdly content.

It's like they are prefect brothers at the moment. WHICH IS WHY IT HURTS SO MUCH!!

I swear they are doing this deliberately - showing us everything that works in their relationship (no arguing, working a case, snark, concern for each other, a comfortableness that they share so easily) just so it will KILL US EVEN MORE when it shatters into a million pieces when Sam finds out what's going on (and the longer it goes on the worse it's gonna get I reckon). And he's getting closer.

I could moan that it's taking too long or that Dean really should man up and tell Sam, but it's story telling and it's the major myth arc at the moment. I actually don't mind the bread crumbs - the little moments with Zeke. Dean is treading on very thin ice and, I don't know about you, but it makes me squirrrrrm. I'm not sure now if Sam knows for sure Dean is lying and he's just biding his time, or he's seriously slow at putting two and two together. I do hope they don't drag it out too much longer though.

I do like that we are still getting glimpses of him just wanting it to be over - for Sam to be fully healed and Zeke gone. In that opening scene it looked Dean was trying to talk directly to Zeke. As though he wants some indication that it's working and he'll be finished healing Sam.

In many ways this was a classic SPN episode. Not the full on angsty classic ones, but the rather silly (almost making fun of itself one). It had a weird MoTW, gore, blood splatter, motel room, funny moments, pop culture references (Game of Thrones mentioned again…), final in-car bro shot etc. At least Sam and Dean weren't totally out of character (like in Yellow Fever or Swap Meat) - there was enough of the real them to keep this episode work.

I did enjoy Dean's early dog moments. The fetch scene might just be one of my all time funniest moments in the show EVER. I seriously laughed out loud. It wore a little thin after a while, but *shrugs* I didn't mind. It was nice to see Jensen (and Jared for that matter) having some fun. And HA! Dogs are not man's best friend but rather have a "secret" reason for being here. Reminded me of the dolphins from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

The only thing I didn't like so much was the animal voices. I'm not sure why, but I felt like they didn't quite hit the mark. I think they were meant to be funny, but I felt they lacked…something (quality of voice over maybe?). No biggie, but I did feel myself squirming a bit during some of those scenes.

I felt quite a pang during the cat scene. My cat passing is still raw and seeing that black and white one…*sniff* (I actually muttered…no, not cats...).

Curious that Kevin was mentioned in the opening but not Cas. Also…Kevin is the go-to "Bobby" guy now? I thought Garth was filling that role (I think it's a shame that Garth hasn't at least been mentioned this season. It's like he suddenly doesn't exist. I realise that he's not a focus at the moment, but it might not hurt to at least give him a nod).

I like that we had further acknowledgement about what Dean is thinking when it comes to Sam. His line…"he was possessed by something he couldn't control" was so telling (and quite possibly foreboding). I'm not sure if Dean's "trust me Sammy, you have nothing to worry about" was more for Sam or himself. Ack. So messed up!! I love it. :))

And now I leave you with these because I will never tire of bro touching...





(Hmm, I wonder if it's purely coincidence that Dean has had his hands on Cas, Charlie and now Sam's face recently. Maybe as Cas and Charlie were actually dead when he did that in the other episodes, him doing it here was to mirror him thinking Sam might be dead. I dunno, just seems like a thing. Or, as I do, I'm just over thinking it. ;)

Comments

[el1ie.livejournal.com]

There were some great moments, but that's all it was to me, a few moments here and there that I'm not sure saved it.

I agree, the voices were bloody awful. worse was the fact that "The Colonel" didn't try to save his beloved master. Nope, no GSD is going to stand barking while a monster crushes it's human, actually no dog would. Then they compounded that by the ending where all the dogs apparently rip the wolf man to pieces - not nice, not nice at all show. Sadly after the tragic news of the little girl killed by her pet dog last night it was even harder to stomach, that's absolutely not on show, bad timing all around, but it still would have made me uncomfortable.

The cats! Jesus shit, if I was on set and saw someone handling my cat like that? Holding it up by it's skin with no support? Slapped that someone into next week!

All that took the edge off the fun parts, Jensen/Dean did a great job with the subtle dog mannerisms without taking it too far - poodle was a bit stupid, why they do that when 50% of those dogs are male and don't look anything different except for the bow and the pink lead I have no idea. Oh, wait, it was the secret Destiel shout out wasn't it? Silly me...

I'd still like Jensen to get something more than a dog story to showcase his talents - haven't been seeing much of them lately and that's a shame.

To be honest, I'm kind of tired of Sam getting knocked flat every week and Zeke popping out and curing either him or someone else, how much longer can they drag this out? The lies Dean has to come up with off screen, so Sam's neck fell in the offal bucket or something to get his clothes covered in blood? Hmmm...It's already building up to "The Argument" that builds up every year now, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be past caring when it happens this time. Fool me once...

[ash48.livejournal.com]

The Colonel not going to the aid of his master was just wrong (and such a strange decision). With all the barking it seems like that's exactly what he was going to do. And I, too, felt weird by all the dogs attacking the monster at the end. I was actually thinking…oh please do let them do that…

Oh, wait, it was the secret Destiel shout out wasn't it? Silly me…

Actually, from a few posts I saw I don't think the (all) Destiellers where too happy with it. Especially if…"they can make Dean/dog canon but not Dean/Cas" comment is anything to go by. (though how Dean merely looking at a dog (for a joke) makes that canon I'm not sure, but I'm over thinking about that stuff too hard. though I suppose they're saying that if Dean can fancy a dog, then it's a sure sign that he's going to be fancying an angel soon. Ok. I'm with it now. Perhaps…;)

I am DESPERATE to see Jensen pushed. If he can do something like he did in The End then we know exactly what he's capable of. We haven't seen it in a while - which is a shame.

And as much as I love me some hurt!Sam (surprise!) I too am getting tired of him dying just so Zeke can cure him. Not sure what's with that. (Though I am loving this story line too much to pick at it too much…*g*)

And I'm actually wondering if Sam does suspect something is wrong with him (I simply cannot buy that he didn't wonder how he was healed after the clash to the neck) - that in fact he is continuing to change after the trails. If he thinks he's becoming something "other" he may not want to share that with Dean. Hmmm…doesn't address Dean lying though and I'm sure Sam must be clued into that. I'll have to ponder that further.

xx

[el1ie.livejournal.com]

It just could have been a whole lot tighter, put Colonel behind a barred door, have Colonel HELP Dean, maybe dog could have picked up his gun or a knife or something. If you're going subtle with Dean mimicking some dog traits but still giving it a human basis, which they did, then Dean wouldn't have looked at the DOG like that, he might have understood what Colonel was looking at, but Dean would have still only had his head turned by a human. OMG - I was joking about the Dog/Cas stuff - you've seen it already? LOL!! Good grief some of these Destiel conspiracy theorist are killing me! I', banning myself from Tumblr, one of these days I ll open my mouth in the wrong place! HEhe

Was also a shame that all the dogs had such human concerns, stop the audience hearing human voices would have helped a lot, and dogs don't care about cataracts or pedigrees! Dean not leaving Colonel in the car/windows, the Yorkie and the belly rub though, those worked better, Sam's hand cramp was baffling... Fetch the paper ball was a stroke of genius. Pigeon could have been funnier without hearing the pigeon, Ackles could have pulled it off.

But mostly as you say I can handwave the details of a throwaway episode, when it comes down to Sam or someone dying every week so Zeke pops out - that's an altogether more worrying trend.

Right now I'm not seeing that Sam who was altered on a molecular level, who thought he was being purified, what, shove an angel inside him and all that goes away? They're trashing their own canon as they go along, at least Zeke could keep Sam LOOKING or FEELING a little off colour, but the guy's as healthy looking as a racehorse at a starting gate and yet Dean keeps telling him he's sick. Sam MUST have clued in, he couldn't have gone from agony outside that church after stopping the trials to waking up in hospital totally fine. Dean ALWAYS does something. Yet once again, we're not seeing any clues at all and having to either presume Sam still thinks he's still changing , he's out cold so often he has brain injury, or Zeke has some very finely tuned memory erasure skills.

It's still feeling like setting out to sea without a map, compass or sails, eventually the tide drops you somewhere, but this show needs a tantalising plot, not just keep writing until someone thinks of a way out. We did that last year.