Tag: Jake Abel

Supernatural Charlotte 2023 – AKA Spatula Con!

Supernatural Charlotte 2023 – AKA Spatula Con!

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The Road So Far/ The Road Ahead (aka in my head as Supernatural) con in Charlotte is one of my favorites. It’s an easy ninety minute flight, which I value more and more every single year (and my knee values more every single day) and SO many of my friends planned to be there. It felt a lot like the early days of Supernatural cons, when everyone knew everyone else because there were only a few to go to, so me and my friends were all there at one or the other.

It was clear that this was going to be a fun con because it was also “Spatula Con” – which meant that many fans actually brought spatulas with them, for all kinds of photo fun and shenanigans. (If you’re wondering why, it’s in honor of Jared and Gen’s appearance on Celebrity Family Feud, where the thing they’d bring from the kitchen to the bedroom was – you guessed it – a spatula). Hence, Spatula Con!

It was also gorgeous weather and the con hotel (a brief walk down the hall from the convention center, which made me very very very happy) had a lovely outdoor patio where we could all hang out and eat and drink and be merry. There was a lot of merry at this con!

I was a bit uncertain about how the con itself would go since because of the SAG and WGA strike, the actors can’t talk about any struck work – including the vast majority of their projects. I’m that fan who always has a burning question about the show I love, and is less enthralled by “what’s your favorite color?” type questions, so I wasn’t sure what this would be like. Of course, I should have trusted all these actors – because they can all think on their feet and tell a hilarious story, and that’s pretty much what they did. I laughed my way through most of the panels I saw, and so did the actors!

There inevitably are comments online about drama at every con, but this con was pretty much drama-free for those of us who were there. The fans had fun, the actors had fun, everyone was happy to be able to get together and share some good times and funny stories. The actors were diligent about not breaking any strike rules and the fans were conscientious in helping them do that, and all of that felt pretty damn good.

I didn’t have anyone to help me at the vendor table on a regular basis (shout out to all the friends who hopped in to let me run to the bathroom all weekend!) so I missed the Friday panels, which meant I missed a lot of my favorite people – Gil McKinney, David Haydn Jones, DJ Qualls, Kim Rhodes, Briana Buckmaster – and Nate Torrence (who played Sully in ‘Just My Imagination’) who I REALLY wanted to get to see. I hear his panel was awesome, and just seeing him coming and going, he seems like such a nice guy.

I did make it into the ballroom finally for Misha Collins, since I try to never miss his panel. He and Rob reminisced about some early panels, including for some reason the one when they did the “Eiffel tower”. Don’t ask.

Everyone onstage struggled with the limitations of the strike in trying not to say the names of actual shows, but it’s undeniably difficult.

Misha: We’re organizing a little strike picket for S-P-N and Kripke sent out an organizing thing – but it says the actual name on it!

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Where It All Began – Return To Supernatural Chicon!

Where It All Began – Return To Supernatural Chicon!

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Chicago was the very first Supernatural Creation convention, way way back in 2007. My friends and I stalked their website for weeks waiting for the tickets to go on sale, trading off ‘watch the site’ times so it would always be covered. We were rewarded with front row seats, back in the day when front row was the same price as the rest of the gold tickets, and had an amazing time at that very first con. I’ve been extremely fortunate to be able to return to what we then called “Chicon” each year it’s been held since then. It’s where one of my closest friends lives, so it also means I get to hang out with Winchester Family Business editor Laurena and her lovely husband. This year I had lots of other friends, both old and new, there too – so it was a whirlwind weekend of patio dinners at great restaurants in the 75 degree sunshine and long talks in the vendor room with friends I don’t get to see nearly often enough.

If you’ve ever wondered what the vendor table looks like, this was the Chicago set up – if you’re ever at a con, come say hi! I’m always happy to sign books too, whether you’ve brought them with you or bought them at the con. And if Family Don’t End With Blood inspired you in some way, it makes my day to hear about it – and the actors’ when someone says the chapters they wrote were an inspiration.

My flight got in on Friday, so I missed DJ Qualls and Julian Richings (my friend Barb caught a few photos for me).

I got to chat with Julian a bit later – we both worked on the book ‘Death in Supernatural’, with Julian writing the Foreword and me writing the Afterword, so it was nice to see him and catch up.

I caught Gil McKinney and David Haydn Jones panel in progress. The pairing of Gil and David might seem like an unusual one, as their characters didn’t interact at all on Supernatural, but they have gelled into a delightfully naughty duo that I thoroughly enjoy. When I came into the ballroom, they were trying to decide if Gil once wore his dance belt backwards, or was it really just a thong?

David has a new movie coming out that apparently involves dancing, so that is sure to be fun!

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Walker ‘False Flag Part 2’ Brings the Big Reveal

Walker ‘False Flag Part 2’ Brings the Big Reveal

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Part 2 of the dramatic two part ‘False Flag’ resolved a lot of the mysteries we’ve been pondering all season on ‘Walker’ and left Cordell absolutely reeling – and many of us too! (Suspecting that a character you kinda sorta liked is about to turn bad guy with a tragic backstory isn’t the same as watching it happen onscreen!)

In the aftermath of the explosion (and Julia’s death, which I am NOT over even if others are), Cordell is the prime suspect thanks to Kevin’s careful set up.

The not-very-empathic Agent Tessa Graves is determined to prove Cordell is guilty, with a single-minded focus on him that doesn’t allow her to see the holes in that narrative. She shows up at the Walker ranch to search everything, much to the family’s understandable protest. Kevin, it turns out, even (very obviously) planted some C4 in the room where Walker already had those photos of the men he served with, all with the X’s through them – which, if you recall, I always thought was a totally weird thing for him and Julia to do.

But made for a great set up!

Cordell, much the worse for wear both physically and psychologically, flees from the scene of the explosion and siphons some gas from a (very nice) woman’s trunk. I can’t imagine that was a fun scene to do, even if that, of course, wasn’t really gasoline that Padalecki had to suck up and spit out.

Ewww.

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(Disheveled Cordell somehow manages to look kinda hot even doing this though…)

At that moment, Cassie pulls up to the gas station with a deadpan ‘I need a coffee’ and seriously, she is an awesome partner and always has Walker’s back.

Trey is back in Ranger uniform (and looking amazing in that hat, truly) but just as angry as Captain James and the Walker family are that Cordell is being blamed. Graves insists innocent people don’t run, but James points out that if they’re being framed, they would. And he’s right! I’m not sure Tessa is the best at her job thinking that the way Grey Flag tortured Cordell “turned” him, because that makes no sense to me, but she’s sticking to that.

Walker realizes he asked Julia to meet him at the safe house, so of course it looks like he set her up to be murdered – Kevin did a brilliantly (evil) job with the set up. I would imagine that also adds to Cordell’s guilt that he accidentally got Julia killed, even if he was totally being manipulated and so was she. (Julia….sob….)

He also has a concussion, staggering around and bumping into walls in the little gas station where he and Cassie go to buy some burner phones. Nobody does hurt better than Jared Padalecki, so you feel every bit of that pain and disorientation.

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Walker’s False Flag Delivers an Explosive Twist

Walker’s False Flag Delivers an Explosive Twist

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Yes, I do mean that literally.

Last week’s episode of Walker picks up right where the previous one left off, and doesn’t let up on the tension for pretty much the entire episode, thanks to writer David James and director Richard Speight, Jr.

Cordell wakes up to Emily’s voice, telling him to wake up and not stay cuffed to a sink.

Cordell: Honestly, cuffed to an old sink in the middle of nowhere is about how I’m feeling right now, emotionally.

So many of us can relate, Cordi.

Also, oddly, it’s a familiar situation for Jared Padalecki’s characters.

He’s traumatized by learning that Coop was actually a deserter and a coward instead of someone he admired and thus modeled his whole life after, questioning what would have been different if he’d seen through him. Would Liam not have been tortured? Would Hoyt still be alive? Would he even be a Ranger at all?

Emily reminds him he’s not a deserter or a coward, even if his self doubt is winning out right now. She’s the voice of reason in his head when he considers just trying to shoot his way out of the cuffs, and finds a smarter – dare I say a totally McGyver way – to do it instead.  We get to see a very badass and resourceful Cordell indeed, chewing his way through a bullet to accomplish that.

Meanwhile, Trey thinks he’s fooled Kevin into believing he’s a loyal Grey Flag operative now. We learn that Kevin actually poisoned himself, which is…. Disturbing…

Or….amusing? No, I’m going with disturbing.

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Walker Confronts The Man Who Was His Brother in “The Deserters”

Walker Confronts The Man Who Was His Brother in “The Deserters”

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Many of the separate threads that have been woven this season came together in this pivotal episode – some in the way I feared, and some with a twist that I didn’t see coming. In the feel good portion of this episode, the Walker family works on building new stables for the horse rescue, taking time out for Augie to try some comedy and everyone to find out that Mawline used to be in a comedy troupe!

Is there nothing Abeline cannot do?

Bonham grouses that Cordell is too busy to come help with the stable building, but Kevin shows up to pitch in. Abeline sees through his earnest just wanna help speech to being all about retaining the mayor’s biggest donor, but Kevin is nothing if not a complex character. He really does seem to want to help, at least part of him does.

Kevin thanks Liam for saving his life when he was hit with the nerve agent, calling him a real hero – which is nice to hear because Liam doesn’t hear that often enough. Of course Kevin wants to use that in his speech because Kevin always has an angle. We find out he’s an amateur pilot when he hammers his hand by accident, which maybe will be important at some point.

Kevin runs into Cassie at Cordell’s house, and they’re sort of adorably awkward together. I can’t help but kinda like the two of them, though I’m guessing when he says that he can promise that next time he sees her, it will be different, that means something much more ominous than mere awkwardness. (Spoiler alert now that I’ve seen the whole episode: It does.)

August sees Kevin as a mentor, and asks Mawline to be nice to him. I hope Augie isn’t gonna get hurt in all this… (More spoiler alert: uh oh…)

That’s the feel good portion, such as it is. The rest of the episode is emotional, taut with suspense, and not exactly the feel good part.

Most of the episode is devoted to the mystery of Cordell’s old mentor, Coop, and where the hell he’s been for two decades. Cassie and Captain James speculate – has he been hiding all these years? Was he captured and turned? Cordell and Julia have been busy too, using Walker’s knowledge of Coop’s use of aliases in the past to track his movements and money.

(We’re treated to some flashbacks with Colin Ford as young Cordell – I love that he’s become a recurring part of the show).

Neither James nor Cassie are sure that Cordell is actually going to be able to take Coop down if it comes to that.

James: Cordi, this guy was your mentor. If you do find him, are you sure you’re gonna be able to slap the cuffs on him, or worse?

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