Newsflash! The Winchesters Have FUN in Beyond The Mat

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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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OMG They’re Talking! Supernatural ‘Love Hurts’

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I watched last week’s new Supernatural in one of my favorite ways – in a hotel room with a bunch of other Supernatural fangirls. At an academic conference where we had all just finished attending a panel during which we watched ‘The French Mistake’ while eating chocolate pudding. Best academic panel EVER! There’s nothing like watching that particular episode with a room full of fans, because it only gets funnier the more often you’ve seen it. The instant the ‘bad acting’ scene began, the entire room erupted in guffaws. That will NEVER get old.

See? Lots of panels right up my alley.

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Supernatural Returns with a Bang! But The Devil’s In The Details

11.11 luci taunts sam

Wow. Supernatural came back from Hellatus with a vengeance, didn’t it? There’s always a special energy for the season premiere and finale episodes, of course, but the mid season premiere is also hotly anticipated by a fandom who has been starved for Show for months. This episode, by Andrew Dabb, came crashing into my living room like a bulldozer, and didn’t let up throughout the entire 42 minutes. In fact, so much happened that my head was spinning by the time we were halfway through – some of it awesome and some of it gutting.

In other words, Supernatural.

The Road So Far was definitely part of the awesome. Both the appropriate song choice and the montage, which amped my excitement up even further. Good job, Show!

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O Brother Where Art Thou? The Perfect Title for Supernatural 11.09

WB/The CW
WB/The CW

This is a drive by review – not because I couldn’t think of a lot to say about Supernatural’s mid season finale, but because I’ve got a house full of kids and family and tons of grading and holiday shopping to do, and something has to give. Anyone who knows me knows that the thing that gives is not usually SPN related, though. So, drive by it is!

ETA: Apparently even a drive by review for me is 2500 words long. Oops.

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Last Con of 2015! Pascon Jensen Ackles Meet and Greet Excerpts

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I feel like I start lots of con reports by saying ‘this con was special,’ but oddly, it seems like many of them do have something that sets them apart. Pascon is the successor to Burcon, which is the successor to LACon, which first happened way back in early 2009 (I think). That was the second Creation con that Kathy and I went to, and our (mis)adventures there are chronicled for posterity in a chapter of “Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls”. We got to know Richard Speight a lot better at that con, after meeting him at Chicon and enjoying our interview so much that we just kept talking, leaving the green room and going to the hotel restaurant for dinner. I’m sure exactly no one is surprised that Richard was that much fun to talk to.

Afterwards, there was a band playing a concert at the con, which was something Creation has done from the start of SPN cons. That night, it was Louden Swain, fronted by Rob Benedict, who Kathy and I had met briefly on our second Supernatural set visit (That chapter is a lot more MIS than adventures…). We were still talking to Richard, so we brought him with us to the concert, the three of us sitting in the back of the auditorium. We were all blown away by Louden Swain.

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Jared and Jensen TorCon Meet and Greets – Sam and Dean In This Together

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Toronto Con is always an emotional convention, and this year was no exception. It was also Canadian Thanksgiving, which meant I had some wonderful nights out with Canadian fangirl friends over good wine and delicious turkey dinner. More on the convention soon, but for now, some meet and greet excerpts! I was lucky enough to go to both Jared and Jensen’s meet and greets, and there were some great questions at both. Here are a couple of tidbits from Jensen’s:

Random question first: he likes Penny Dreadful, and is mock jealous of Josh Hartnett for playing such a cool character.

Most of the rest of the meet and greet was all about Supernatural, which made me a happy meet and greet attendee indeed. The first question was about the similarities between Season 11 and Season 1, seeing as the new season is a bit of a throwback and getting back to the basics of the first season. How have the brothers changed?

Jensen: Has everyone seen the premiere?

One fan: Um, no.

Jensen (gesturing toward the door in mock fury) Get out!

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My Show is Back! Supernatural 11.01 Out Of The Darkness

WB/The CW
WB/The CW

There is always so much anticipation leading up to the Supernatural season premiere, that it’s hard to believe anything could actually live up to it. For weeks, fans have been posting countdowns, fanfiction that picks up where S10 left off and imagines where the Winchesters, Cas and Crowley will go from there, fanvids, fanart, and graphics all in an attempt to get through the long Hellatus without going insane from Supernatural deprivation.

When the big night is finally here, the excitement is palpable all over social media. I might have let my grad students go home a bit early last night. Shhhh…

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DallasCon Jensen Meet and Greet Tidbits – Countdown to S11!

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Other than being in a convention center with woefully long bathroom lines and a single food concession place, DallasCon was laid back and lots of fun. Some of my favorite fangirls were there to hang out with and the cast was in a great mood – Jensen and Jared got to spend time with their kids and families, many of whom were at the con, and Misha is all better and back to smiling a lot, which felt wonderful. More photos and commentary from the con soon, but for now, here are some tidbits from Jensen’s meet and greet.

I usually relate mostly show related things, because that’s what I’m usually dying to know and thus am likely to remember, but I’ll share a little non-show-related tidbit, because it was so cute I can’t leave it out. A fan told Jensen that Jared had said in his meet and greet that JJ screams (with joy) when she sees Tom and Shep (awwww). Jensen laughed and said yes, that’s true. And then added that when she sees him recently and he picks her up, she puts both hands on the sides of his face, cradling it, and says tenderly, “Oh Daddy…”

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Jared, Jensen and Misha at an Emotional Minncon (with J and J Meet and Greet Tidbits)

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All Supernatural conventions are emotional; it’s been that way from the beginning for me, because I’m so emotional about this Show and this fandom. Over the years, that’s only become more true. Not just for me, but for all of us – for the fans whose lives have been changed or even saved by an unlikely little show on the CW, and for the actors who make the show and have been interacting with the fandom for the past decade. It’s amazing, unprecedented. I’m writing a new book about it, with chapters written by those fans and those actors, so maybe I’m primed to be even more emotional than usual. But I think anyone who was at Minncon would agree that emotions were running high all weekend.

j2 serious

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