Why Do I Love A Show That Breaks My Heart? Supernatural’s ‘Sharp Teeth’

Warner Bros/The CW
Warner Bros/The CW

It’s almost impossible to review this episode as a single thing. There was the Monster of the Week episode, which had to do with Garth and the definition of ‘monster’ that SPN has often considered. And there was the last three minutes, which was something completely different.

First, the MotW portion. I’ve liked Garth well enough in the past, but not so much that I was clamoring for his return. I liked him in this episode, though. He’s more interesting as a werewolf – sorry, lycanthrope – than as an unlikely (often comic relief) hunter. Adam Glass let us get to know Garth a bit better, and DJ Qualls gets to invest the character with some emotional vulnerability. His relationship with his new wife comes off as touching, even if it did apparently get very serious very fast (I suppose becoming a werewolf and then having one sniff you out and save your life will move you to the alter pretty quickly).

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Still Flailing! Supernatural 9.11 First Born

Warner Bros/The CW
Warner Bros/The CW

Last night’s Supernatural, First Born, was so jam-packed full of action, adventure, angst, plot twists and episodes of nail-biting OMG NOOOOO screams at my poor abused television, that this morning left my head still spinning. Waking up the day after a new SPN episode bursting with thinky thoughts and eager to see what everyone else thought is the way the early seasons of Supernatural were for me – this is not the first time in Season 9 that I’ve felt exactly the same way. How awesome is that?

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Hiatus is Over! Supernatural Returns Packing an Emotional Punch

xx 9.10 3

Binge TV watching is the preferred method of viewing for many people now that it’s fairly cheap and easy to inhale an entire season (or 2 or 3 or…) of a show. It’s the way we watched Season 1 of Supernatural, after watching only sporadically when it was broadcast. There are certain benefits to binge watching – no commercials for one, and you don’t have to sit through an entire summer hiatus biting your nails and worrying about whether Dean will get out of hell. On the other hand, that anticipation, agonizing though it may be, is part of the thrill that comes from loving a Show. Once we were hooked, we became fans who planned their social lives (and sometimes family lives, but shhhh) around whatever night and time Supernatural aired.

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Holy Terror – Supernatural 9.09 Lives Up To Its Title!

xxx 9.09 bunker

The mid-season finale of Supernatural is often when something very bad happens – in fact, it’s often when a character I’ve come to love and care about is brutally killed off. Ellen, Jo, Bobby….and now Kevin. The ending of this episode left me reeling, so shocked that for a while, I didn’t even need the ever-present box of tissues beside me. It took a few of the stages of grief before reality set in and I started to tear up. Is Kevin really gone? And why didn’t I see that coming?

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Between ‘A Rock and A Hard Place’ – and it hurts! Supernatural 9.08

Warner Bros/The CW
Warner Bros/The CW

Rock and A Hard Place was a great title for this week’s episode, full of double meanings and a dash of innuendo, in keeping with the theme of the stand-alone plot. That is most certainly where Dean is right now, and it’s absolutely heartbreaking to see him there. Sam too is stuck between a rock and a hard place – he just doesn’t know it. Double heartbreak!

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Supernatural Nostalgia — 9.07 Bad Boys

Warner Bros/The CW
Warner Bros/The CW

Last night’s Supernatural episode, “Bad Boys”, felt like the Show in Season 1 and 2, when every episode left me literally vibrating with FEELS and bursting with this tremendous creative energy. I wanted to know MORE about what had just happened outside those 42 minutes on my screen. I wanted to dissect every moment and peer into Sam and Dean’s heads and figure out why they did what they did and what they meant by every (nearly unspoken) word and every gesture and every long look. I wanted to read fanfiction and write meta and celebrate Show with everyone else who was blown away like I was. That’s how I felt after last night’s episode. I couldn’t wait to jump onto Tumblr and see the gifs and read the capslocked wails of “CRYING NOW OMG” and scour LiveJournal and AO3 to see if anyone had written an episode coda yet. That’s what Supernatural felt like for me when I fell for Show all those many years ago – that’s what drew me in and took over my life and made me the passionate fangirl that I am. That’s what we wrote Fangasm: Supernatural Fangirls about. Thanks, Adam and Kevin and Serge, and Jared and Jensen and Dylan, for bringing all that back.

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How Awesome is Kevin Freak’n Solo? A Chat with Supernatural’s Osric Chau

We’ve been wanting to interview Osric Chau since the first time we saw him at a convention – we literally turned to each other and said “He’s going to fit right in with this fandom!” We’d like to credit our finely honed academic research instincts for that bit of insight, but frankly the entire fandom was probably saying the same thing. Osric seems to personify the “reciprocal relationship” between Supernatural’s cast and crew and its amazing fandom, that we wrote about in Fangasm: Supernatural Fangirls – or more accurately, he seems to be redefining it!

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A Blast From the Past: Supernatural ‘Dog Dean Afternoon’

Warner Bros/The CW
Warner Bros/The CW

‘Dog Dean Afternoon’ won’t go down in Supernatural history as one of the greatest episodes ever, but I liked it. Just about everyone in the fandom was well prepared for the way we were intended to view it – if you weren’t already spoiled for the comedic intent of an episode where Dean becomes a dog whisperer, then the montage of Supernatural’s greatest comedic moments should have clued you in. Which is good, because if you’d been prepared for a serious SPN ep, you might have been gobsmacked by this one.

It was silly. At times, it was so silly that it veered dangerously close to embarrassment squick for me – Dean lusting after an ultra-feminine pink-ribboned and coifed poodle, and Sam’s dubcon Yorkie petting come to mind — but something saved it. That something was Ackles and Padalecki, who in my humble opinion are comedy geniuses. Especially when they get to be funny together.

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Supernatural 9.02: Devil May Care (But we do!)

Warner Bros/The CW
Warner Bros/The CW

Damned if Season 9’s second episode didn’t continue the wild ride that this season is turning out to be. Once again, the anticipation leading up to the episode was contagious, as everyone held their breath waiting to see if the momentum begun in the premiere would continue. The fandom seems as energized as Sam and Dean, who seem more motivated than they’ve been in a long time by being on the same side again and having something they understand to fight against. There’s something almost old school about the Winchesters going up against angels and demons – it feels familiar to me, and to them. Dangerous, yes, but they have some idea what they’re dealing with, and so do we. There’s a sort of cowboy western feel about the season, Sam and Dean going in with “guns blazing” and shoulder to shoulder, like back in the good old days (also known as Seasons 1 through 4). Jensen’s comment that Dean is ‘back in the driver’s seat’ rings true – Dean is in leader mode, confident and cocky despite the guilt that’s underneath, and clearly happy and relieved to have Sam back to 100% and at his side.

No wonder the CW’s Tuesday night had its highest ratings in four years!

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Supernatural 9.01 – Are You Gonna Like It Here?

Warner Bros/The CW
Warner Bros/The CW

The title of the Supernatural Season premiere, “I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here,” is much more interesting now that I’ve seen the episode. Who’s gonna like it where? Cas as a human on Earth? The rest of the angels now roaming the planet? Ezekiel inside Sam? Sam still alive instead of downing a few cold ones with Bobby in Heaven?

Excellent questions. And that’s a good thing to be able to say about a season premiere. The episode stirred up controversy, but even that says something about the passion and investment that fans feel in a show going into its ninth season – and also something about its complexity.

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