Month: November 2022

Protective Dad Beau Arlen to the Rescue – Big Sky Goes ‘Duck Hunting’

Protective Dad Beau Arlen to the Rescue – Big Sky Goes ‘Duck Hunting’

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Last week’s episode of Big Sky was so action packed and full of twists and turns that I could barely live tweet it – there just was no down time! Here’s an update of what happened to our favorite Sheriff, Beau Arlen, last week – and where we leave the rest of our Big Sky inhabitants…

The episode picks up right where we left off, with clueless Luke at first thinking it’s a good thing that he’s run into ex-girlfriend Paige in the woods, but she knows he picked up that rock to kill her – and so does Walter, who “gives him a head start to make it more sporting.” Uh oh, Luke.

Beau finally arrives at the murder camp and Emily throws herself into his arms with “Daddy!” and awwww he finally gets to hold his little girl, reassuring her “I gotcha, I gotcha”.

She’s distraught, telling him how she found Mary and thought she was hurt until she saw her eyes. Poor Emily – at least her dad is here now.

Love seeing this protective Dad side of Sheriff Beau, and Jensen Ackles channels his own protective dad reality to make this scene full of tenderness.

Em tells her dad that she doesn’t think Luke could have killed Mary, but admits that’s just a feeling she has.

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Creation Supernatural Convention Kansas City 2022

Creation Supernatural Convention Kansas City 2022

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It’s been a busy couple of months! It’s almost Thanksgiving as I write this, and I’m finally trying to catch up on Supernatural convention posts – first up, Kansas City Con!

Three days after getting back from the Supernatural convention at Denver, I headed blearily to the airport again on Thursday night to fly to the next one in Kansas City. I’d never been there, and there had never been a convention there, so that was exciting – enough to keep me awake at least. My lovely roommates had a delicious burger and fries waiting for me, so that helped too. So did a good night’s sleep!

I am rarely able to be at a con on Friday morning, so it was a treat to get to see Gabe Tigerman’s panel. Gabe has a chapter in There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done, and he’s also part of our earliest books, both Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls and Fandom At The Crossroads, so it made me all kinds of happy to catch up with him.  A fan asked what he would do if he had mind control like his character, Andy?

Gabe: I’d do the same thing he did – steal Baby!

Favorite line?

Gabe: I have an evil twin! Though I wish it was identical twins so it could be like me fighting me with a mustache.

Like so many guest actors on the show, Gabe said that Supernatural was his favorite job.

Gabe: As guest actors on that show, we really got to act – and then do these conventions!

He wishes Andy didn’t have to die, because it made so much sense for Sam and Dean to just take Andy’s van and go hunting with him.

I was extra thrilled to hear him tell the infamous 5-legged steer story, about the time he and some buddies went to see the world’s largest groundhog and found it stuffed – and then were chased by a cow with a whole ass extra leg hanging off its side!

He also told the story of him fanboying Michael C Hall at a restaurant, and taking out his Invisalign at the exact moment that Hall walked by and said hello, so that Gabe looked up at him with a spit string attached to his Invisalign hahaha.

Gabe took an informal poll of how many times people in the audience had watched Supernatural start to finish – the winner was 35!!

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Julian Richings too – only in the Supernatural fandom does Death exuberantly take the stage like this!

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‘The Winchesters’ Explores More Repressed Trauma in ‘Legend Of A Mind’

‘The Winchesters’ Explores More Repressed Trauma in ‘Legend Of A Mind’

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The fifth episode of ‘The Winchesters’ starts with an unlucky councilman having terrifying nightmares he can’t wake up from, waking up from one into another into another until he finally wakes for real only to fall to the floor screaming and holding his head. Ouch.

And then, we’re at the Winchesters Garage…

Dean Winchester words of wisdom for the day: Spending a lifetime hunting monsters takes its toll. There comes a time when you gotta let out that pain inside you. If you don’t, it’ll eat you alive.

Well, Dean Winchester should know. But easier said than done for most of the characters on OG Supernatural and this prequel!

The episode is mostly about our merry band of young hunters trying to figure out who’s turning people’s brains to mush (surprise, it’s the Akrida) but the more personal story running parallel is John and Mary trying to figure out if they like each other and if they have the courage to talk about it if they do. John’s working on a motorcycle that Millie bought Henry for his birthday – and then he left two weeks later.

Mary: Ouch.

John offers to teach Mary the ropes, which she pretends to go along with until he realizes she already knows, taught by her parents so she “wouldn’t be faced with a starter that won’t catch while escaping a pack of werewolves”.

John says she could work at the garage after she leaves hunting, but Mary confides that she may leave Lawrence too when she leaves hunting, which John doesn’t take all that well – but doesn’t say anything. Millie is glad John’s taking a little break and spending time with Mary, though he insists it’s “not like that” with Mary.

Then Mary finds the councilman’s case in the newspaper (which I love that it’s always in the actual newspaper) and they head to the ‘Clubhouse’ (which I hate because it makes them sound too much like kids playing at something instead of hunters). Anyway, they read about the poor guy who died in the opener, of a massive brain trauma that came from the inside and turned his brain to mush.

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Happy Two Year Finale Anniversary, Supernatural!

Happy Two Year Finale Anniversary, Supernatural!

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Last year on November 19 I wrote a post about the one year anniversary of my favorite show of all time, Supernatural, coming to an end. I was relieved that the fandom had survived the year since the show’s finale, and that there was still a vibrant active fan community – the week leading up to this date was full of celebration, photos, gifs, memes all about the finale and the show. I wrote then that I was so grateful – and that I wondered if that would still be the case a year later, on the two year anniversary of the series finale.

That’s today.

I am still grateful. Grateful that I had 327 episodes of this Show I love so much, and that it got to have its finale even in the midst of a global pandemic that disrupted literally everything. Supernatural has always been about ‘always keep fighting’ and pushing through, no matter how difficult the circumstances, and they did.

Some things don’t change – I am still as in love with the show and the characters as I was two years ago. The fandom has persisted, albeit with less activity (and maybe a little bit less infighting – the one silver lining of less activity). I am so glad that I have so many fandom friends who still love the show as much as I do.

Some things do change, as much as I don’t want them to. There wasn’t the big cross-platform celebration of the show in the week leading up to the anniversary that there was last year. Twitter itself, the platform on which I mostly make my fannish home and spend time with my fellow fans, is teetering on the abyss of ending too, driven into the ground by a new owner who seems determined to ruin what made it so useful, and occasionally wonderful.

Who knows if the Supernatural fandom as it has existed for the past 17 years will ever exist that way again if the platform does disappear, with so many using Twitter as a platform for both fandom and for interacting with the actors who brought Supernatural to life. It feels like we may be at the end of an era – and doesn’t it just make sense that we’re standing on this precipice on the exact anniversary of Supernatural ending. How fitting is that? Supernatural has always been unprecedented, oddly tied to other major shifts in the broader culture. Why would that change now?

Sam and Dean went through alot during those fifteen seasons we were privileged to witness. They grew up alot, and they came a long way. We have all done the same.

The last year has also brought other changes – the most striking one, the launch of the Supernatural prequel, The Winchesters, with executive producers Jensen and Danneel Ackles and former Supernatural writer Robbie Thompson. The series has been a way to keep the SPN universe alive and explore its characters’ history, but it has also been controversial. We still don’t know the full story that The Winchesters is telling, so it remains to be seen how the prequel will impact the fandom or canon or the chances of a reboot of Supernatural itself going forward. For me, it’s a separate show with its own story arcs, very different than OG Supernatural – but I’m enjoying watching it as a separate entity.

Supernatural conventions have continued unchanged for the past year, but the Creation conventions will change next year, no longer “the Official Supernatural Conventions” but “Creation Cons” including Supernatural and “other J & J projects”. It remains to be seen what exactly that will change, but just having them not be official Supernatural conventions feels weirdly like a loss to me, a forever Supernatural fan. Not that having some guests from other projects won’t be fun – I watch Walker and The Boys and Big Sky and Walker Independence already and love them, with Gotham Knights coming up soon – but I still feel like not having “official” Supernatural conventions as we have for the past 14 years is some kind of vague loss. (I hate change, my not-exactly-neurotypical brain just balks, what can I say?)

The past year has also given the actors more chance to reflect on the show and the journeys of their characters, in interviews and at conventions. Misha has talked about how important Castiel’s last scene was to him personally. Jared and Jensen have talked about how much their last scenes meant to them, both the painfully real ‘barn scene’ that gave them the opportunity to do some of the most powerful acting I’ve ever witnessed as well as the deep satisfaction of ‘normal’ life in the bunker for a while and the joyous reunion on the bridge.

Fandom remains divided over loving or hating the finale, and everyone’s personal opinion is valid, but Jared and Jensen and Misha are all happy and very proud of their final episodes.

And that is perhaps the most important thing of all.

If you haven’t read them yet, the Supernatural actors shared their personal thoughts about how the show has changed their lives in the book ‘Family Don’t End With Blood’ and their feelings on their characters and Supernatural’s legacy in ‘There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done’. They’re both on sale at amazon right now, if you want a written remembrance of just how special this show will always be – to both the fandom and the cast. The website to order is below in the banner if you want a tangible way to remember Supernatural and its amazing actors and fans.

I may have to do a little rewatching of my favorite show of all time  this weekend too, which I will never ever get tired of. And I’m hoping Twitter is still around for me to enjoy other fans’ celebrating there and on Tumblr and everywhere else we all gather today.

I’m so grateful to still have something I love so much, even if it hurt alot to lose it – hopefully temporarily! (That’s what Jensen says in ‘There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done’ so who am I not to listen to him??)

Happy Two Year Anniversary, Supernatural Series Finale!

With love, forever,

Lynn

Walker Welcomes Supernatural Alum Jake Abel to the Family!

Walker Welcomes Supernatural Alum Jake Abel to the Family!

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It’s the awkward morning of all awkward mornings at the start of this episode, when Cordell gets up and Liam is ready to have that talk they discussed but Cordell is a bit distracted by the fact that he left his daughter in jail the night before.

It only gets more awkward when Mawline comes home – with Stella, who she bailed out.

Cordell is angry, saying he left her there to think and learn the consequences of her actions now that she’s an adult (he did have the sergeant separate her so we know she was safe, which is what I figured, but still.)

Abeline: She’s 18!

Cordell: And she’s MY daughter!

They’re both right actually. She is undermining his parenting and he is refusing to listen to Stella’s side (though she did a terrible job of actually trying to TELL him her side too.) This family is infuriating sometimes! (Like all families…)

He’s also angry that she told Cassie, accusing her of “meddling in my work as well” – and again, he’s actually not wrong, that’s not her place. But her saying “you need to take it down a notch and you need to hear your daughter out” is also good advice.

Stella FINALLY tells what really happened to Abeline – who she apparently also did not tell the story to for some reason I literally cannot fathom!

August is still infuriating (and hungover), saying he can’t help clean up at the SideStep because he’s the head of the homecoming dance committee. Mawline doesn’t take excuses though, insisting they follow the list of chores that their father left and clean up their mess at the bar. Augie also insists that Cordell wouldn’t let him tell the story, but I find that even harder to believe. He still isn’t owning up to any responsibility or apologizing, insisting he’s becoming his own person and she’s just pissed because she’s losing a sidekick and holding everyone hostage with her indecision.

Ouch.

August: So since you wanna stay hogging up the limelight…who knows, I might even shine…

Wow, Augie. But it’s clear that’s what’s really getting to him, the struggle of the younger sibling in thei shadow of their superstar older sibling’s spotlight all the time.

Colton arrives in the middle of awkward sibling rivalry fighting and offers to make breakfast – a “happy curry”. What a sweetie Colton is.

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‘Walker’ Episode ‘Mum’s The Word’ Shocks with its Ending

‘Walker’ Episode ‘Mum’s The Word’ Shocks with its Ending

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Last week’s episode of ‘Walker’ was titled ‘Mum’s the Word’, which was partly about mothers and children and how we all cope with the danger that’s all around us, but also about silence and when you need to break it.

Stella and Augie are still in a bad place, August still angry that Stella didn’t go away to college as planned. It’s not pleasant to watch and it makes him an unappealing character for now, but it strikes me as very real for an adolescent who desperately wants out from under his older sibling’s shadow. I don’t think Cordell really gets it, because in his own sibling relationship, he’s the older sibling in the spotlight.

Augie has got a bit of a martyr thing going, asking his dad to please be there to play on the junior team for the annual flag football match tradition.

Walker says he will if he can, but he’s got a new assignment the next day so can’t promise.

Stella isn’t happy either, feeling lost and not knowing what her future holds. She and Geri work the food truck at the game the next day, a former classmate of Geri’s coming by to condescendingly say she’s so brave to still show up there after all she’s been through and then toss out to Stella, “I could’ve been your mom…”   Not very good taste in previous girlfriends if that’s what she’s implying, Cordell!

Afterwards, Stella says she doesn’t want to be “that weird alumna who’s always around” and then realizes Geri might take that personally. She doesn’t, though. She tells Stella that she was originally supposed to go to business school, but then her dad died and left her the Side Step, and “life got in the way”. Part of being a grown up is owning your choices, she says, pointing out that Stella is lucky to have a safety net.

She definitely is, but an 18 year old isn’t really an adult (says someone who was a psychologist in a college counseling center full of 18 year olds for many years). Everyone is expecting Stella to magically turn into an adult just because she graduated high school, but that’s not really fair.

Stella tries to say that their dad has been trying to show up for them lately, but Augie dismisses that, saying “for you maybe”.  She invites him to hang out with her and Colton – which I think an 18 year old would definitely know that would not be what your 16 year old brother would want! – and he is once again furious that she doesn’t get it.

Stella is in the tough position of trying to be August’s big sister and also a bit of a mother figure for him too, which is never going to go over well with a younger sibling.  When Augie hears that the Sidestep will be closed that night, he gets his 16 year old rebellion on and invites all his friends for a party there, with beer flowing freely.

Augie ends up locked in the tap room with his friends, who tell him that they actually think he’s “badass”, which I feel like a 16 year old would not say, but anyway, they thought he was the one on his high horse. August is making strides in popularity, but has to text Stella to come let them out. She comes and kicks everyone out and frees her brother, angrily asking “what were you thinking?”

And that’s the moment the police show up and arrest both of them.

Meanwhile, back at Ranger HQ…

Cordell now runs on a treadmill instead of outside, which I really can’t blame him for, and he’s still jumpy and hypervigilant, but he seems to be slowly recuperating from his ordeal. James assigns Walker and Cassie to go pick up a briefcase of evidence from the Dallas station, from the mercenaries who are now all captured. On the way back, a strange ringing comes from the case, and they leave it on the road for a while, pondering whether it’s a bomb.

Cassie: It could be kitchen timer…or a Furby…

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‘Come Get Me’ – Everyone to Beau Arlen Probably

‘Come Get Me’ – Everyone to Beau Arlen Probably

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Just kidding about that interpretation above, but that was in fact the title of last week’s episode of Big Sky. The episode was not Beau Arlen heavy, but it sure was chock full of the kind of weird-creepy-scary that we’ve come to expect from the show. Here’s my wrap up of all things Sheriff Beau and everything he finds himself in the midst of! (With lots of pretty pretty screencaps because that’s part of the point of these #Beaulegs little posts)

There were so many well-done scary scenes in this episode – Denise, who I love (along with the actress who plays her, Dedee Pfeiffer) comes back from a break to find the office dark and ransacked. She hears crashes and goes to investigate instead of running like hell (like I would have done) and hides under a desk instead. Classic horror movie trope of her pov seeing the feet of a man almost discovering her when her keys jingle, but then leaving. Phew!  He leaves behind ‘COME GET ME’ written in blood though, so that lessens the Phew factor.

Sheriff Beau and Jenny Hoyt come to investigate. Beau sees how distraught Denise is and immediately tells her to “c’mere” and wraps her up in a hug, and I’m pretty sure she felt A LOT better. I’ve experienced a Jensen Ackles hug and it is always a reliable way to make ME feel better anyway.

Actually in real life, Dedee Pfeiffer clearly agrees with me, because look at those happy hug faces. Awww.

Hoyt checks on Cassie, who says no, she’s not okay, that this is bringing it all back – about her dad.

Denise’s posting on the Bleeding Heart forum is what triggered the attack, they think, speculating that the Bleeding Heart killer is back. Or maybe never left…

They go over the files of cold case killings, including the original one, a young woman named Blair. One file of a person of interest is missing, so Beau and Jenny decide to go to check out the retired officer who signed it out last. Cassie adds that she saw one of those red hearts carved into a tree near where the truck was burning – and Beau realizes there was one on the dead hiker’s carved figure too. Suddenly Beau takes it personally.

Beau: Maybe I should pull Emily out of that camp…

Everyone screaming at their TV: Yes you absolutely should!!!

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‘The Winchesters’ Explores Monsters of War, Both Literal and Metaphorical

‘The Winchesters’ Explores Monsters of War, Both Literal and Metaphorical

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The fourth episode of ‘The Winchesters’ first season is titled “Monsters of War,” which is a good description of what it was about – fighting your monsters, whether you’re a hunter or a veteran or anyone who’s experienced loss, grief and trauma. The opening is an older man stumbling down a psychiatric hospital corridor, walking right into a vivid flashback of his time in the midst of a war, bombs flying, warning shouts of “Incoming!” blaring. He takes refuge in an empty room only to find himself facing something that calls itself “Destiny” armed with a spear.

Blood splatter, title card, Dean Winchester, narrator.

Dean: Fighting the battle between good and evil isn’t easy, especially when the first monster you have to face is the one inside yourself.

I don’t really need it spelled out for me, but yes, true that. One of the main premises of Supernatural from day one, when the monsters Sam and Dean were fighting were not just the literal ones we saw onscreen. Cut to John and Mary sparring like the aforementioned Sam and Dean often did, Drake Rodger shirtless because, well, Drake Rodger, and Mary looking authentically seventies and I’m pretty sure I had those shorts.

John doesn’t want to stop or take a break, saying he missed fighting, even though in the service it was 24/7 “gym class with grenades” which does not sound like fun. He laughs it off defensively, but when Mary laughs too, he admits that was Murph’s line, and the defensive laughter fades away as he remembers his friend’s violent death. Mary realizes that he needs to punch something “that can punch back” to get those kind of big feelings out, so they spar for real. Mary taunts him a bit with “monsters aren’t gonna play nice and neither should you”, and bests him what seems like a little too easily to me – he’s a trained fighter too, after all, and I wouldn’t mind him coming out on top once in a while to make it realistic.

Carlos arrives when they’re in what looks like a compromising position, asking if he’s interrupting “whatever kind of hetero mating ritual this is” which did make me laugh. Sparring always seems a bit like it should engender those kind of questions to be honest, no matter who’s doing it.

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Wild Horses, New Rangers and Realistic Progress on Last Week’s ‘Walker’

Wild Horses, New Rangers and Realistic Progress on Last Week’s ‘Walker’

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Last week’s episode of ‘Walker’ was in some ways a quieter episode than the first few of this third season, but no less impactful. I’ve been traveling for the past week, so this is a drive-by recap and review, but I have to give a shout out to a few things about the episode that I loved. Number 1? The horses! The title is ‘Wild Horses Couldn’t Drag Me Away,’ which makes me sing the Rolling Stones in my head immediately, but also refers to multiple themes in the episode – and to the fact that there are actually wild horses in it! Beautiful wild horses. I can watch  horses on my TV screen happily for a very long time, so just that fact put a smile on my face.

It also gave me mixed feelings about the actual plot of the episode, at least the case-of-the-week one. Trey is in his last week of being a trainee, Capt James having pulled ALL the strings to get his military service to count as the years of training he would have been doing. The show acknowledges this as unprecedented, which is good because otherwise I might have eyerolled. But they make it part of the plot, and of Capt. James’ good faith attempt to change the system from the inside, with his acknowledgement that if it fails, his own career is also on the line.

That means that James, Walker and Cassie put Trey in charge of a sort of test case – to take down a trio of people who are freeing wild mustangs from “kill pens” and letting them go. Hence my mixed feelings. I was the Research Assistant in grad school who snuck back into the lab the night before it was “kill day” for all the rats who’d “volunteered” as test subjects and hence had little metal cones sewn into their poor little heads – and umm, liberated, quite a few. My kids had the best pets growing up, what can I say? The ‘conehead rats’ were famous with their friend groups.

Anyway, so I might not be the right audience for going after a trio of people who see themselves as do-gooders freeing beautiful wild horses who are about to be made into dog food. On the other hand, they almost run over a ranch hand accomplishing it, so that’s not exactly okay. And as Capt. James points out when Cassie also questions it (making me very fond of Cassie at that moment), they are defacing federal land. Which, to be honest, sounds like one of those things people in power use as an excuse…but technically he’s right and they can’t be reckless about it like they’re being, clearly. Interestingly, Walker also bristles when James says they have to “go through legitimate channels”, remembering the lessons he learned from his superior officer in the Marines, which is exactly not that. In fact, he has a flashback when James says those words, for a moment not even present in the here and now as he remembers.

Cordell: Sometimes people ignore legitimate channels when conditions on the ground call for it.

Cassie: Wait, are you agreeing with me??

Trey takes on the case and puts on the white hat (and the short sleeve very very tight shirt that I guess is his version of the Ranger uniform but no one is complaining so carry on, Ranger Trey…) and everyone cheers.

They also applaud Walker being back, although Cassie and James notice how he keeps zoning out and are worried. James knows he put Walker back in the field too soon before, and Abeline definitely put the fear of God into him when her son was missing this time.

There’s a fair amount of humor in this episode as James, Walker and Cassie put Trey through the end of his “hell week”, getting him to do silly things like “1, 2, 3, Rangers!” complete with the hand motions and taking way too much pleasure in Trey lucking out (not) by having to work with a bristly fed. Trey takes this all in good spirits, to his credit.

And we get alot of adorable Jared Padalecki smiles.

Eventually, Trey disobeys James’ orders to stay put and wait for them to arrive when Trey finds the horse thieves – he instead jumps into the back of the trailer, much to the surprise of the horse inside. More beautiful horses, yay!

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Sheriff Beau Gets To Fanboy – Big Sky 3.06!

Sheriff Beau Gets To Fanboy – Big Sky 3.06!

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Get ready for tonight’s brand new episode of Big Sky with last week’s wrap up of the adventures of Sheriff Beau Arlen – in which he gets to indulge his fanboy side and do some badass stunts, probably much to the delight of actor Jensen Ackles. Last week’s episode once again opened with a Supernatural-esque creepy scary moment – a noise downstairs, a woman wakes her husband to check it out, when she runs downstairs to see what happened she finds him dead on the driveway. And someone driving away in his sportscar!

I half expected the ‘Supernatural’ title card to flash onscreen!

Here’s my what-happened-to-Sheriff-Beau-in-this-episode wrap up of what happens next. First, Beau in jeans and denim jacket, prominent beau…bow legs looking fine as he and Jenny and Cassie investigate the burnt out blue and white Suburban.

Beau gets a call – which he answers with the very Sheriff-like “Arlen, talk to me” – and off they go to investigate the murder of the poor husband.

Turns out it’s a 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, which Beau definitely appreciates. Yes, we get fanboy Beau and some shades of Dean Winchester all in one this episode!

“No way he would’ve left his Baby naked and exposed,” Beau says, and every Dean Winchester fan swoons at Jensen Ackles calling a car ‘Baby’. At a convention recently, someone asked about the Supernatural shout outs in Big Sky and Ackles admitted that yeah, those are put in by him – and that the show has been totally down with going along with that. (Excellent marketing strategy, gotta say).  Anyway, Beau is smart, figuring there’s probably a lojack on it.

Everyone flirts with Hoyt in this episode, including the cop watching the car until they get there – to no avail. He tries hard, but she’s clearly not interested. Beau is mostly interested in the car, swearing when he opens the trunk and sees that someone cut her up.

Beau: Savage!

(Also every Supernatural fan half expected Jensen Ackles to open that trunk and find a devil’s trap and lots of weapons in it, let’s be honest…”

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