11.19 episode reaction/review
Apr. 29th, 2016 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ash48This got a little long. I felt like I could write about this one forever *g*. Such a beautifully layered episode.
The are times when this show is downright terrible (I'm sorry, but it is) and other times it's bloody spectacular. This one? Spectacular! I know that might be a strange way to describe an episode that was actually fairly quiet, steadily paced and thoughtful - but those are actually the reasons why I thought it was rather spectacular. It was an episode that peered into the heart of this show and delivered on a level that I cherish. It examined the brothers' relationship using a parallel that spoke of revenge, dedication, love and finality (be it a happy ever after or one of tragedy).
It also told a story that had a deeply satisfying conclusion (something I've discovered I really need in an episode). It resolved Jesse's need for revenge. It also gave as a "happily ever after" - something that we can perhaps wish for Sam and Dean - it doesn't mean they will get one, but it left the idea open that one day it might be possible for them to their own happily ever after.
On every level this episode delivered for me. It didn't reach the intensity that Red Meat did (hee, thankfully!), but instead it told a very personal story - one that touched on the reasons people hunt, the connection hunting partners have to each other and the way a hunter's life starts and (possibly) finishes.
It also tapped into something Supernatural essentially is - a male story. Each of the men in this episode - Sam, Dean, Jesse, Cesar and the father who lost his daughter - had a connection through loss and examined how each handled it. By looking at this we can reflect of how Sam and Dean have dealt with their own personal losses over the years.
There are a mass of parallels between Sam and Dean and Jesse and Cesar - but the most striking to me is the way each partnership is about endurance - staying with your loved one, no matter what. Cesar's devotion to Jesse through his thirst for revenge mirrored both Sam and Dean's devotion to each other through - well, everything they've been through. It's no mistake "just like a married couple" comes up when describing Sam and Dean. Being married means hanging in there through thick and thin.
I don't think it was an accident that Jesse and Matty not only looked a bit like young Sam and Dean (hair colour notably) but their age difference matched also (4 years apart). Jesse and Matty discussing escaping to a better life was perhaps a reflection of Sam and Dean's early lives (with Matty promising things will get better) and then later Jesse was consumed with revenge and grief after losing his brother (of which we've seen in both Sam and Dean).
I know fandom likes shipping and I'm sure each shipping camp will own the parallels as "proof" or hints that there's gay love between Sam/Dean or Dean/Cas (or Sam and someone else? It was the younger brother who was gay after all), but I think the parallels are more powerful when read as intended - the examination of the variations of love we get between men; between brothers, lovers and a father and child. That the love is just as powerful and soul consuming no matter how you feel it or who you share it with. So fucking deep! I love it.
And look at our little show that could! Giving us a gay, interracial hunting couple without judgement or comment (or death!). It was a tender examination of a couple overcoming the issue of revenge and loss to triumph in the end. YAY! And as much as I'd love to see them again I hope never to see them again. I want them to escape the horrid hunting life - I want them to have their happy ever after.
On top of all the wonderfully deep issues this episode examined it also delivered fantastic performances. I thought the father was excellent. He portrayed a deeply conflicted and guilt ridden man who dealt with his loss differently to Sam and Dean. Jesse and Cesar were absolutely wonderful (their love and respect for each other leapt off the screen) and I also loved the three female guest stars - Sheriff Tyson, the witness and that adorable woman flirting with Sam.
The brothers were given equal opportunities to have their stories told through a connection with the other characters (yay!). They both had similar stories and could empathise with their counterparts. Dean contemplating helping others get their revenge and Sam seeing his own story unfold in Jesse - looking at your brother as "other" - Matty with green eyes, Dean with black ones.
And once again the comment about losing the person who you love more than anything in the world came up. Dean heard it at the end of Red Meat (by the woman who lost her husband) and that was mirrored by Sam hearing it from Jesse in this episode (ack! I hope they're not gearing up for another death at the end of the season).
The monster was wonderfully creepy. I hate cicadas, so things making that noise and crawling out of the ground worked for me!
I think the thing that really cemented this episode as being special was the way it concluded. I totally expected Sam and Jesse to come storming in, blades in hand, full of blood lust saving the men they love. Instead it was almost an anti-climax (in a good way!) with them arriving just in time for Jesse to find his brother *sniff* and quietly and respectfully burning the bodies. It was touching and gave Jesse and Cesar closure.
Sam reminiscing about how he felt as a child - fearing the loss of his dad and brother (even with the mistake of vampires), was poignant and maybe (just maybe?) harked back to the way he actually did feel completely lost when he though Dean had died at the beginning of S8. Sam feeling utterly lost and not knowing how to respond works for me.
My only quibble is the way we are getting the stock standard dialogue before each episode that Cas doesn't appear in. Dean is incredibly worried and is in such a state that Sam has to find a hunt in order to get him out of the bunker. I know they have to tie together myth arc eps with MoTW eps and it's always a little, er, clunky but I'd love these moments to add some dialogue about what Cas actually did. Maybe even acknowledging that Lucifer is out of the cage. There was a time the Lucifer being free was a whole season's myth arc (S5) and now it feels like a mere inconvenience (the threat of Amara seems like the much bigger concern - not Lucifer).
But really, I'm not complaining. I know it's tricky tying these different types of episodes together. I adore MoTW eps (and how weird that these are often referred to as "fillers") and would happily watch a whole season of these. I know the boys need something that keeps them in the game (the world needing to be saved) so I understand why they do it.
S11 is really delivering for me. Having episodes like this (and Red Meat, Safe House, Just My Imagination) that use the MoTW to examine the brothers' relationship and the world in with they live in is what I'm here for. And because this season has a much more positive approach to the brothers (wow 19 eps in and they not only like each other, I think they are trusting each other again too), we are seeing these more positive examinations of their relationship. All I can say is...more please!
The are times when this show is downright terrible (I'm sorry, but it is) and other times it's bloody spectacular. This one? Spectacular! I know that might be a strange way to describe an episode that was actually fairly quiet, steadily paced and thoughtful - but those are actually the reasons why I thought it was rather spectacular. It was an episode that peered into the heart of this show and delivered on a level that I cherish. It examined the brothers' relationship using a parallel that spoke of revenge, dedication, love and finality (be it a happy ever after or one of tragedy).
It also told a story that had a deeply satisfying conclusion (something I've discovered I really need in an episode). It resolved Jesse's need for revenge. It also gave as a "happily ever after" - something that we can perhaps wish for Sam and Dean - it doesn't mean they will get one, but it left the idea open that one day it might be possible for them to their own happily ever after.
On every level this episode delivered for me. It didn't reach the intensity that Red Meat did (hee, thankfully!), but instead it told a very personal story - one that touched on the reasons people hunt, the connection hunting partners have to each other and the way a hunter's life starts and (possibly) finishes.
It also tapped into something Supernatural essentially is - a male story. Each of the men in this episode - Sam, Dean, Jesse, Cesar and the father who lost his daughter - had a connection through loss and examined how each handled it. By looking at this we can reflect of how Sam and Dean have dealt with their own personal losses over the years.
There are a mass of parallels between Sam and Dean and Jesse and Cesar - but the most striking to me is the way each partnership is about endurance - staying with your loved one, no matter what. Cesar's devotion to Jesse through his thirst for revenge mirrored both Sam and Dean's devotion to each other through - well, everything they've been through. It's no mistake "just like a married couple" comes up when describing Sam and Dean. Being married means hanging in there through thick and thin.
I don't think it was an accident that Jesse and Matty not only looked a bit like young Sam and Dean (hair colour notably) but their age difference matched also (4 years apart). Jesse and Matty discussing escaping to a better life was perhaps a reflection of Sam and Dean's early lives (with Matty promising things will get better) and then later Jesse was consumed with revenge and grief after losing his brother (of which we've seen in both Sam and Dean).
I know fandom likes shipping and I'm sure each shipping camp will own the parallels as "proof" or hints that there's gay love between Sam/Dean or Dean/Cas (or Sam and someone else? It was the younger brother who was gay after all), but I think the parallels are more powerful when read as intended - the examination of the variations of love we get between men; between brothers, lovers and a father and child. That the love is just as powerful and soul consuming no matter how you feel it or who you share it with. So fucking deep! I love it.
And look at our little show that could! Giving us a gay, interracial hunting couple without judgement or comment (or death!). It was a tender examination of a couple overcoming the issue of revenge and loss to triumph in the end. YAY! And as much as I'd love to see them again I hope never to see them again. I want them to escape the horrid hunting life - I want them to have their happy ever after.
On top of all the wonderfully deep issues this episode examined it also delivered fantastic performances. I thought the father was excellent. He portrayed a deeply conflicted and guilt ridden man who dealt with his loss differently to Sam and Dean. Jesse and Cesar were absolutely wonderful (their love and respect for each other leapt off the screen) and I also loved the three female guest stars - Sheriff Tyson, the witness and that adorable woman flirting with Sam.
The brothers were given equal opportunities to have their stories told through a connection with the other characters (yay!). They both had similar stories and could empathise with their counterparts. Dean contemplating helping others get their revenge and Sam seeing his own story unfold in Jesse - looking at your brother as "other" - Matty with green eyes, Dean with black ones.
And once again the comment about losing the person who you love more than anything in the world came up. Dean heard it at the end of Red Meat (by the woman who lost her husband) and that was mirrored by Sam hearing it from Jesse in this episode (ack! I hope they're not gearing up for another death at the end of the season).
The monster was wonderfully creepy. I hate cicadas, so things making that noise and crawling out of the ground worked for me!
I think the thing that really cemented this episode as being special was the way it concluded. I totally expected Sam and Jesse to come storming in, blades in hand, full of blood lust saving the men they love. Instead it was almost an anti-climax (in a good way!) with them arriving just in time for Jesse to find his brother *sniff* and quietly and respectfully burning the bodies. It was touching and gave Jesse and Cesar closure.
Sam reminiscing about how he felt as a child - fearing the loss of his dad and brother (even with the mistake of vampires), was poignant and maybe (just maybe?) harked back to the way he actually did feel completely lost when he though Dean had died at the beginning of S8. Sam feeling utterly lost and not knowing how to respond works for me.
My only quibble is the way we are getting the stock standard dialogue before each episode that Cas doesn't appear in. Dean is incredibly worried and is in such a state that Sam has to find a hunt in order to get him out of the bunker. I know they have to tie together myth arc eps with MoTW eps and it's always a little, er, clunky but I'd love these moments to add some dialogue about what Cas actually did. Maybe even acknowledging that Lucifer is out of the cage. There was a time the Lucifer being free was a whole season's myth arc (S5) and now it feels like a mere inconvenience (the threat of Amara seems like the much bigger concern - not Lucifer).
But really, I'm not complaining. I know it's tricky tying these different types of episodes together. I adore MoTW eps (and how weird that these are often referred to as "fillers") and would happily watch a whole season of these. I know the boys need something that keeps them in the game (the world needing to be saved) so I understand why they do it.
S11 is really delivering for me. Having episodes like this (and Red Meat, Safe House, Just My Imagination) that use the MoTW to examine the brothers' relationship and the world in with they live in is what I'm here for. And because this season has a much more positive approach to the brothers (wow 19 eps in and they not only like each other, I think they are trusting each other again too), we are seeing these more positive examinations of their relationship. All I can say is...more please!
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no subject
Date: 2016-04-30 10:58 am (UTC)The episode once it got past that problem though was a pleasure of discovery and some surprisingly nuanced and subtle topics. I expected to cringe in a couple of places, but the anvils had been replaced with thoughtful parallels that had insight and development. Pleased to see the two hunters getting their 'happy ever after' and even happier to see Dean let them walk away when both guys are really in a dark place of needing help, this time a sacrifice wasn't made or asked for, and it was a good thing they did - saving people - it's been a theme this season that's really made me happy.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 12:57 pm (UTC)Cats can do no wrong it seems - release Sam from the panic room so he could release Lucifer in S4, get Sam out of hell without telling Sam or Dean, break Sam's wall, become "god" and screw things up and now let Lucifer loose on the world. In any other universe Dean would be so pissed off with Cas that he wouldn't spend his energy on him. But it's this universe and clearly their "bond" means Cas can pretty much do anything and Dean is ok with it.
I actually think it would be a stronger story if they allowed Dean to have actually feelings about this rather than just worry. I don't think it would annoy the fans who want Dean and Cas together because it would be about real emotion - not this empty stuff (not that I care either way but I figure it must be frustrating for them also).
The happy ending for the hunters was wonderful. Totally unexpected and satisfying.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 01:10 pm (UTC)I think you may be over estimating that part of the fandom. On one site that isn't even Destiel oriented, a new commenter said that the entire point of the gay hunter story was to prove that at the end of the series Cas and Dean will end up happy and out of hunting. When asked what about Sam, the poster has ignored that part of the question.
On a different site a poster said this
Well, Matty was Sam-coded in the cold open, and Jesse was Dean-coded (their hair, height, clothes). And Jesse's gay, so... But yeah, I gave up on Destiel too, but this should give the meta-writers something to chew on.
Now I saw the earlier scene as having Jesse being Sam coded, so I don't see it at all. However that faction of the fandom only wants to see Dean and Cas walking off hand in hand with no conflict and no pushback on any decision Cas has made. They also prefer to have Dean say "Sam who?" in this scenario, so I'm not looking to them to want a realistic response on Cas's saying yes.