Category: Season 11

Love Conquers All in Supernatural’s Season 11 Finale

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11.23 dean sun dying apoc

Sibling Love to be exact. This is Supernatural, after all.

Somehow I’m never really prepared for those first notes of Carry On to play in the season finale. It’s not that I don’t know it will happen, but I never remember right at that moment and then BOOM, I’m hit with a wave of love for this Show that is like an emotional hurricane. Add to that the recap of this truly epic Season 11, and I was already a bit wibbly going in. This turned out to be an unusual season finale, especially coming after some episodes that were real nail biters. ‘Alpha and Omega’ was comparatively quiet, slower paced than most finale episodes. There were some things that, at first viewing, didn’t work that well for me – and some things that I wished were in the episode but weren’t – so I waited until after I had time for a second viewing today before I wrote this. And I’m really glad I did, because I liked it much better the second time around. Maybe it’s because my adrenaline level wasn’t set to maximum with anticipation like it was on Wednesday night, so that it didn’t match the slower pace of the episode. After I calmed down and watched more thoughtfully, the quieter scenes and the more subtle emotional notes came through more clearly.

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Careening To Season End with Supernatural ‘We Happy Few’

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Warner Bros/The CW
Warner Bros/The CW

My perspective on this week’s episode was shaped by the context of watching it, let me say that up front. I’m in Rome, without much internet, and didn’t get to see the episode until Thursday evening (thanks to the generosity of fandom and a download link—thank you @mywaywardsonsuk!). We watched huddled over my iPad in our hotel room, but the download stopped and started and I confess I held my breath the entire time, not for the usual reasons, but because I was rather terrified that I’d get to see half of the episode and then I wouldn’t get the rest. What kind of torture would that be?? Luckily it all played, so here’s my quick-before-my-internet-craps-out mini review!

The reaction to ‘We Happy Few’, from the little I’ve seen since I’m not online as much as usual, was mixed. Some people enjoyed it and liked where the story seems to be going. Others hated it and hated that same trajectory. We knew it was a ballsy move to make God a character—this is Supernatural, after all, which means as soon as you’re a character you also have a likely expiration date. Apparently even if you’re God! I was prepared for that, so it didn’t shock me as much as it shocked some people, but I did still whisper, “They’re actually gonna kill God??” Apparently I’m not as unshockable as I thought.

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Supernatural Asks The Big Questions in ‘All In The Family’

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Tom Wright and Serge Ladouceur being brilliant
Tom Wright and Serge Ladouceur being brilliant

So much happened in this week’s episode, ‘All In The Family’ that it’s difficult to get it all down in a review that’s sandwiched between conventions. I just got back from the Ladies of SPN Con, where I met some wonderful actresses and some wonderful fellow fans, so my review is late – and most likely you’ve all read others while I was flying back and forth across the country. So I’ll make this one personal, and leave most of the deep theological ponderings to others. I watch this Show with a very personal lens – it’s the relationships that matter to me, more than anything else. Though of course the characters are embedded within a larger story, and it’s that story which shapes who they are.

We pick up where we left off (thank you for that, Show!) as Dean and Sam are reunited with Chuck and – predictably – don’t exactly say oh sure, you’ve been God all along, right. Instead, they’re skeptical, but their hunters’ skepticism is quickly erased by the sudden and unexpected (to me as well as the Winchesters) appearance of none other than Kevin Tran, looking as adorable as ever.

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The veil has been good to him, it seems – or at least not terrible. I was so shocked to see Kevin that I dropped the remote I was holding and it fell right into the delicious dessert we were all eating. Oops.

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It – He – They’re Back! Supernatural ‘Don’t Call Me Shurley’

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I’m in the middle of a family vacation, so this is a one-time viewing review. Forgive me if I mess up details – and feel free to correct me! I’m writing from the heart (which, let’s face it, is usually a large part of what motivates my writing about this Show anyway).

I loved this episode. It’s another one of those episodes that split the fandom, though I think there were more people on the squee side than the OMG NO side this time. I will admit right up front that at first I was skeptical. I’ve been skeptical ever since we’ve pretty much known that Chuck was back and he was going to be God. Kripke carefully didn’t “go there” because seriously, that is one BIG risk for a show to take. As soon as this episode began and Chuck revealed himself to Metatron, I got nervous. Oh boy, here we go – Show is really truly going there. I might have bitten my fingernails a bit.

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Love, Loss and Protective Big Brothers – Supernatural ‘The Chitters’

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11.19 9 woods impala

It’s always interesting to me when reaction to a Supernatural episode isn’t unanimous. In my little corner of the internet, the vast majority of fans were squeeful about ‘The Chitters’. I wasn’t expecting to love it – the preview made it seem like a MotW episode, which are sometimes awesome and sometimes so so. But from the very first frame, I ended up leaning in toward my television, literally on the edge of my seat. Not because it was a bite-your-fingernails-and-tear-your-heart-out-simultaneously roller coaster ride like ‘Red Meat’, but because I was invested in the characters I was watching. And I don’t just mean Sam and Dean.

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So An Angel, The Devil and The King Of Hell Walk Into Jimmy Novak…

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11.18 5 samdeanlookup

If you recall, I barely survived last week’s Supernatural episode. And I absolutely LOVED it. I didn’t expect to be floored two weeks in a row (and possibly might not have survived…) but Hell’s Angel moved the story along quite a bit. And while it won’t go down in history as one of my favorite episodes, there was a lot to like.

1. Rowena! What a perfect scene, as we focus on Amara and an unknown person trying to heal her. I was unspoiled but hopeful, straining to hear whether there’s a bit of a Scottish lilt to the voice, and then the camera pulls up and YES!!! I might have screamed that out loud, I was so happy to see Ruth Connell on my screen again. I suspected she might return, though Ruth was alarmingly sneaky about giving any hints. (Excellent ploy, Ruth, just keep saying you’re too traumatized to talk about it!)

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Sliced, Diced, and Cut to Pieces – Fandom, That is. Supernatural ‘Red Meat’

Sliced, Diced, and Cut to Pieces – Fandom, That is. Supernatural ‘Red Meat’

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Cap S_verasani
Cap S_verasani

I should have known we were in trouble when the THEN segment for this week’s episode included Dean’s emotional confession to Sam, “I couldn’t live with you dead” and then we started getting a montage of Winchester deaths. My head was still spinning with that when we launched right into the beginning segment, which I expect to be non-Winchesters. It’s supposed to be that few minutes of red shirted guest-of-the-week getting mauled or murdered or eaten or something, but it’s not Winchesters so I’m usually more or less calm. But NO. From the first frame, it’s Sam and Dean getting thrown around by monsters and fighting for their lives and OMG I have a very bad feeling about this! Why is it Winchesters in this first segment when people are usually getting killed???????????

My heart started beating triple time right about then. And it didn’t stop for 45 more minutes. No, not even during commercials, which time I used to take to Twitter and plead for someone to come bring me a warm blankie and a gigantic bottle of wine because I COULD NOT CALM DOWN!

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Right Where I Want To Be – Supernatural’s ‘Safe House’

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WB/The CW - tweet Robbie Thompson
WB/The CW – tweet Robbie Thompson

The thing about Robbie Thompson episodes of Supernatural is that they feel like episodes of Supernatural. Or more accurately, they feel like an episode of Supernatural that fandom would conjure if left to our own devices. Maybe not as freewheeling as in fanfiction (okay, definitely not as freewheeling as in fanfiction), but as close as canon can get. So let’s just say I was pretty excited for this week’s episode – not only was it the end of mini hellatus, but it was a Robbie episode too!

Add to that the return of Bobby and Rufus and I was in fangirl heaven from the first frame. Flashbacks of Rufus and Bobby over the years set up the nostalgia and made me realize just how much I miss having Jim Beaver in my Show. Then, montage over, we’re immediately in the realm of a freaking scary beginning sequence – which, of course, is just as it should be.

That friggen’ hand grab!!!

Me: Crap, no sleep tonight.

Totally worth it though. Kudos VFX team.

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Newsflash! The Winchesters Have FUN in Beyond The Mat

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11.15 tvaddict3

Nashcon delayed my episode review with its epicness, but here are a few thoughts on last week’s Supernatural episode before I get to posting a few con highlights. ‘Beyond The Mat’ was beautifully directed by Jerry Wanek, and was the first episode for writer John Bring (along with Andrew Dabb), and I really enjoyed it. Possibly not as much as Jared and Jensen enjoyed it, but still…

What’s to like? Well, we start out with the brothers in the bunker and an Ackles to Padalecki patented Sam n Dean toss and catch, which made me sit there grinning rather foolishly. I might have said “I love when they do that” to no one, but don’t judge.

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A Dose of Reality on Supernatural ‘The Vessel’

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11.14 end

From the first frame of “The Vessel”, with the gorgeous sets and haunting Edith Piaf soundtrack, this episode felt like a feature film. Not a rarity with Supernatural, but some episodes have that feeling more than others, and this was one. Every episode of Show is a collaboration, but on this one that collaboration was front and center. Robert Berens’ writing, John Badham’s directing, Jerry Wanek’s amazing sets, the VFX team’s magic, Nicole Baer’s tension-building editing, Serge Ladouceur’s evocative lighting, and of course the acting.

Show has been hitting it out of the park this season with guest stars, and Weronika Rosati was no exception. Her portrayal of Delphine made her courage and sacrifice believable; I bought her totally as a Woman of Letters, and that’s really saying something.

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