Girls Girls Girls was a surprising episode – by which I mean, it managed to surprise me! Not once but several times. Which makes me a very happy fangirl indeed. Here’s my quick thoughts before we hit the road for the holiday…
One of the most surprising things? I liked both the story lines in tonight’s episode.
I haven’t been a fan of jumping back and forth between the Winchesters’ story line and the angels, but this time both worked. The pacing was right and the actors all outdid themselves. Let’s start with the angel story line, which I really liked in this episode. Erica Carroll did a fabulous job portraying Hannah’s growing confusion and discomfort with her possession of Caroline. She has the ability to show a dozen subtle emotions flashing across Hannah’s face, and every one of them twists your gut. You can see her turmoil, and I felt for her. That’s unusual for me and angels who aren’t Castiel.
It was inevitably going to be a challenge to follow up the 200th episode, so I’m thinking that a standalone episode that was quirky and funny wasn’t a bad idea. I thoroughly enjoyed most of Ask Jeeves, written by Nicole Snyder and Eric Charmelo and directed by John McCarthy, aka Johnny Mac. Here’s what I liked about it:
One of the best parts about the episode was Jay Gruska’s old style score, which was a playful accompaniment to some of the more humorous scenes and fit the “old school” vibe of the episode. I laughed out loud as Dean encountered one weapon after another from the game Clue; Ackles’ WTF expression as he picks up the third one was priceless. And the outline of the murdered guest, with the head a few feet from the body? I laughed so hard I had to put down my pie for a few minutes. Kudos, Show.
And apparently I can’t see Sam hold up a key without flashing back to my favorite scene in The French Mistake, which I cannot watch without falling over laughing.
Last year at Jensen’s meet and greet at Burcon, the unbelievable happened when I forgot to go to it. Yes, me. Forgot. Blame the Supernatural writers, who were such fascinating conversationalists that I totally forgot I was supposed to be somewhere else.
Believe it or not, I was almost tardy once again this year (though I can’t blame the writers again). Cue me frantically trying to figure out where the room is and then jogging over. I finally find it and compose myself, and am walking what I hoped was casually down the hallway to the room when someone comes up behind me and puts their hand on my shoulder and a deep voice says “I’m right behind you, Lynn!” Let’s just say I was already on edge, so I jumped a foot. It didn’t exactly calm me down that it was Jensen.
Me: I know, I know, I’m late again…
Jensen: Oh right, last year… [teasingly] So nice of you to join the party…
At least I didn’t actually miss any of it this time!
I fell in love with Supernatural almost nine years ago, and discovered the incredible world of Supernatural fandom shortly thereafter. It was, if you’ll forgive the obviously intentional use of the word, a transformative experience. We started writing books about the Show and the fandom because we encountered so much shame surrounding what we knew was a wonderful and positive place – a place that, when discovered for the first time, felt like coming home. A place of understanding and acceptance and validation, where we could let our creativity flow unfettered, expressing what we really thought and felt. What we feared and fantasized about. Why, we wondered, was there then so much shame about being a fan – especially being a fangirl? Why was there so much wank, in the midst of so much acceptance and support?
That’s why we wrote Fangasm: Supernatural Fangirls, and its academic book cousin Fandom at the Crossroads. To peel back that layer of shaming-from-the-outside as well as internalized shame coming from the inside. To tell the “real” story of being a fan – a Supernatural fan. To challenge all that shame (and the wank that happened as a result of it), we sought validation, even if we didn’t at first realize that’s what we were doing. We spoke to all kinds of fans about why they loved the Show and how they expressed their passion. Fanfiction writers and readers, fan artists, fan vidders, bloggers, enthusiastic readers and fans who just loved to watch the show. Then we spoke to the ‘other side’ – the people who made the Show we’d fallen for. Eric Kripe. Sera Gamble. Serge Ladouceur. Jensen, Jared, Misha, and every other actor willing to sit down with us and talk about how they felt about the Show and the fans and their place in this crazy wonderful little ‘family’.
We had a lovely chat at NJCon with Mama Tran herself, the adorable Lauren Tom. You already know how much we love Osric – well, his ‘mom’ is just as awesome!
Lauren was doing a drawing at the con to benefit the charity Home Boy Industries, which would give a lucky fan the chance to have breakfast with Lauren and Osric. Osric’s mom joined in the last one, much to the lucky fan’s surprise. We all know Supernatural is a family affair, and Lauren and Osric have extended the tradition, both onscreen and off.
Lauren: My mom is going to come to the drawing breakfast in Chicago, where I’m from originally. She really wants to meet Osric. I met his mother, so…
Everyone who reads this blog or our books on Supernatural knows how much we enjoy chatting with the cast and crew of the Show, hearing their behind-the-scenes insights and being privy to their thoughts and feelings about the Show and the fans. We’ve interviewed Eric Kripke, Sera Gamble, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, Osric Chau, Richard Speight, Rob Benedict, Kim Rhodes, Jim Beaver, Matt Cohen, Chad Lindberg, Gil McKinney, Serge Ladouceur….the list goes on and on. They’ve contributed fascinating insights to our books and we’re immensely grateful. But today’s interview is special – it’s our very first prop interview. Sure, we wrote an article in Supernatural Magazine about the amazing props department and got to chat with propmaster Chris Cooper and see the Colt and John Winchester’s journal and even the blow-up doll hanging in the props closet (see Fangasm: Supernatural Fangirls for photographic evidence). But this week we were privileged to talk with one of the prop stars of the Show – the iconic Green Cooler of Winchester Feels.
I was lucky enough to attend both Jared and Jensen’s meet and greets at ChiCon, which meant double the thoughtful responses about the Show (and double the hotness). Both boys got lots of interesting questions, and I had one for each of them. Of course, as always, these are just a few tidbits from the meet and greets, and not a verbatim transcript, just from memory. (Though all the Supernatural actors are pretty damn memorable…)
Jared’s meet and greet was first, and as usual he turned the high chair around backwards and straddled it as he greeted the small group of fans.
