Tag: episode review

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell – Supernatural 12.15

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WB/The CW

Last week’s episode of Supernatural had something that never fails to make me a very happy fan indeed: The Winchesters listening to each other and trusting each other and telling each other the truth. THANK YOU, SHOW! (And writer Davy Perez). That alone is enough to make a good episode imho. But actually there was one more thing that will always make me happy – Winchesters in glasses. Is it hot in here?

So let’s talk about what I liked first, and then I’ll get to the things that didn’t quite work for me. I really really loved that last conversation between Sam and Dean, where Sam comes clean about working with the BMoL and Dean, instead of flying off the handle and feeling threatened and betrayed and thus shutting down, instead hears Sam out and they come to an agreement. Dean isn’t anywhere near trusting them – and I don’t think Sam is either – but the brothers are on the same page about cautiously taking what they can from the BMoL while still retaining their independence as hunters. How easy that will be I’m not at all sure, but the important thing is that the brothers are together in the decision. I don’t know if I’ve ever loved Sam more than when he steeled himself and told his brother the truth.

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An Emotional Home Run for Supernatural’s Regarding Dean

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This week’s Supernatural made me emotional before we even knew what was happening, simply because I knew that this was it – the Dean loses his memory episode. The tiny preview clip shook me weeks ago, and then I asked Jensen about it at a recent con. Would it break my heart? He said that it at first would make me laugh, but then…

His silence spoke volumes. He knows how much I adore the fictional character he plays, and I’m quite certain he knew the scene with Dean in the mirror was indeed going to destroy me. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s just say I was looking for signs of the impending amnesia even before they came, which made the opening ten minutes full of trepidation.

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A Great Big Beautiful Collaboration: Supernatural ‘Just My Imagination’

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WB/The CW
WB/The CW

It’s taken me three days to write up this review, because there was so much to like about ‘Just My Imagination’. I’m not known for my ability to keep things brief when I have a lot to say, so I knew this review might get long. But now it’s a sunny Saturday morning on the East coast, and my Friday night rewatch is fresh in my mind, so here goes.

In case that wasn’t clear from the first paragraph, I loved it! Sometimes it makes me nervous to have a lot of anticipation about an episode – I felt that way about Robbie Thompson’s ‘Baby’ episode too, after hearing about it from Jared, Jensen and Robbie before hand. This time, I had the pleasure of chatting with episode director Richard Speight Jr. several times and with writer Jenny Klein too – not to mention, Jensen told me more than once how much he liked the episode and how excited HE was about it – so let’s just say, my expectations were high. Sometimes that’s a bad thing, but in this case, I think my giddiness worked perfectly to make the first watch even more enjoyable.

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Sticking Together or Stronger Alone? Supernatural’s Angel Heart

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WB/The CW
WB/The CW

I knew that streak of “OMG fandom all agrees about the awesomeness of this episode” wouldn’t last forever, so it wasn’t that shocking that this week’s episode split fandom down the middle once again. Half of my social media compatriots loved it and half hated it – or at least one line of it. I admit that particular line caused me to go “Huh?” – actually out loud, while scratching my head – which isn’t the reaction they were probably going for. I had to make a little cognitive detour to figure out what the hell it meant, or at least to come to my own way of making sense of it, which threw me out of the story for a minute, but then I found my way back in. Other than that glitch, and putting it aside for the moment, the rest of the episode was solid and touching, even if it didn’t quite leave me breathless or scrambling for tissues.

This was the first episode in which I found myself really liking the character of Claire. Kathryn Newton has done a credible job playing her throughout, but she was written to be annoying and that’s how she came off. This episode gave us a more mature Claire, some of her defenses partially dismantled as she searches for her mother. No coincidence that it’s her 18th birthday. Sometimes reaching that ‘legal adult’ status just brings up all the losses of childhood and makes us want to be parented all over again. I could understand Claire’s determination to figure out what happened to her mother. To find her, or at least to make sense of her abandonment. To make the chaos of her life somehow have meaning. I think Dean can relate to that need, which plays into what he says to her later.

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That’s The Show I Love! Supernatural Gets Real with The Book of the Damned

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WB/The CW
WB/The CW

I was so unspoiled for this week’s Supernatural episode, thanks to an insane few weeks at work, that I didn’t even know who had written it. About three minutes in, I was already pretty sure I knew. Thank you, Robbie Thompson, for an episode so good that even fans who are rarely in agreement are standing up and cheering. I don’t even know where to start. And that’s a good thing.

I guess I’ll start at the beginning, since the opening scene grabbed me immediately (partly because for a second I thought that Stephen Amell’s suggestion about an Arrow crossover had actually happened!) But no, it’s Charlie (clue number one that this is a Robbie episode). I have loved the character from her first introduction, so much that I’m only a little taken aback by her evolution from scared and geeky to scared and badass. And geeky. The evolution seems alarmingly quick from a viewer standpoint, but Charlie spent time in Oz kicking butt with Dorothy, and time passes differently there. Which is to say that her fighting skills are therefore believable. That little niggling taken care of, I’m free to just enjoy who Charlie is now and the meaning of that in a broader sense. She’s who Becky could have become if she wasn’t hijacked in Season 7 – she’s the fangirl who never apologized for her geek ways or her fannish enthusiasm, instead putting all that passion and knowledge to good use to become a heroine herself. She’s the fangirl who is every bit as smart and capable as the Winchesters, in her own way. And every bit as courageous. That’s a really important message, both for the Show and for a culture that struggles with depicting female characters who are real and human and yet able to be truly heroic. We don’t see it enough and we need to see it more.

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Pulling It All Together: Supernatural Heads for the Season Finale with Inside Man

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WB/The CW
WB/The CW

The first time we met the Supernatural writers, we were immediately impressed with how thoughtful and serious they were about the Show and making it the best it can be. More than once, as we chatted over drinks, one of the writers mentioned that Andrew Dabb would be joining us later. Each time, they added, “He’s the heart of Supernatural.” I didn’t entirely understand what they meant, though when we did get a chance to talk to Andrew later, it was clear that he has a serious emotional investment in the show and the characters. Of course, we’re used to that with fandom. We all have an emotional investment in this show and these characters!

As I watched this week’s episode, the writers’ words kept coming back to me. More than any other episode he’s written, with the possible exception of Dark Side of the Moon, “Inside Man” reminded me of why the other writers consider Dabb the heart of the show. The episode flowed so smoothly, I didn’t realize how much of an emotional impact it was carrying until we got to the end and Sam was tearing up – and so was I. Thank you, Andrew Dabb, for letting us see that, and for letting me feel it.

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The Weight: Sam and Dean and The Things They Carried

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xxxxx 10.15 dc

‘The Things They Carried’ didn’t make me cry, which was a bit of a relief after some of the tissue-decimating episodes this season. It did, however, make me put aside the delicious slice of pie I had ready for the occasion – who can eat when there’s that level of disgusting on the screen? Jenny Klein, you’re the new queen of EWWW. You know, that version of horror that has you screaming and gagging at the same time? EWWW.

The episode felt a lot like old school SPN, which used to make me do both of those regularly, and I enjoyed the roller coaster feel of those parts. It had a compelling MotW – not the non-Kahn worm [snort] itself, but the hapless people infected with it. It was impossible not to root for poor Kit when his wife was so in love with him and he had clearly been heroic before becoming infected (much like a certain Winchester we know, also recently ‘infected’ with something awful). That parallel was nicely done and not dropped on our heads with a giant anvil, so kudos for that Jenny.

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Not Exactly Parenting 101: Supernatural’s The Things We Left Behind

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As mid season finales go, last night’s episode wouldn’t be at the top of my list, but I did enjoy it. And once again, the moon was blue, because my daughter did too. I really hope all these blue moons aren’t a portent of some terrible evil. Oh wait, that’s a good description of mid season hellatus, isn’t it?

Fandom is split on its thumbs up or thumbs down of “The Things We Left Behind”. Some fans were ecstatic to have a Cas-centric episode and others were disappointed that there weren’t enough Winchesters in the mid season finale. I was happy with much of what we got when it comes to Sam and Dean, but there probably will never be an episode where I think it’s “enough.” I have a feeling I could have Sam and Dean on my tv screen 24/7 and still be wanting more of them, so I’m really not a very reliable barometer. The first segment (pre commercial no. 1) was noticeably Winchester-light, which didn’t make me a happy fangirl. On the other hand, the few minutes we got were, in true Supernatural style, first horrifying, then heartwarming and ominous. Simultaneously.

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Now That’s How You Do a 200th Episode! Supernatural’s Fan Fiction

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Sam and Dean with... Sam and Dean
Sam and Dean with… Sam and Dean

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’.

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199 And Counting – Supernatural’s Paper Moon

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xxxx 10.04 integrita

As this week’s Supernatural episode ended, I found myself very emotional. Not just from the episode, though the last line hit me hard, but from the realization that I had just watched the 199th episode of the show that changed my life. In two weeks, we’ll all celebrate the amazing milestone of the 200th, hopefully with cast and crew joining in the online celebration. When we fell in love with Supernatural and decided this would be the show we’d research and write books about, we thought we’d be lucky if it stayed on the air another year. That was 2007. Here we are, with 2014 almost done, and the Little Show That Could is still going strong. Forgive me if I needed a few extra tissues.

I really enjoyed this episode. The story line played out in a linear fashion instead of jumping around, and the pace was even throughout. And oh how I loved the interaction between the brothers. I’ll wax poetic over that in a minute. Most amazing thing about this episode? My daughter and I agreed. On everything. Is the moon blue instead of paper??

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