sweetondean

Review of the Supernatural season 7 finale - 7.23 “Survival Of The Fittest” by sweetondean

Warning: Spoilers ahead! 

See here’s the thing when dealing with Crowley, he will always find a way to bone you.

Supernatural season finales, is there anything as exciting and harrowing? I must admit I spent the whole week sweating on it. I’d managed to stay relatively spoiler free. I didn’t read any of the preview articles. I didn’t watch any of the preview clips. Then the Upfronts came along and I’m afraid I’m weak willed and couldn’t stay away from Jensen in that grey suit, shiny tie and hiatus scruff…so bam…suddenly I knew more than I wanted to know about where the brothers were going to find themselves at the end of “Survival Of The Fittest”. Between Mr Ackles and his extra tall buddy, apparently masquerading as Grizzly Adams, I was spoiled rotten; both in plot possibilities, prettiness and the wonderful visual of the boys voting with their 5^th extremity. Thank you Jensen. That will forever be seared into my mind’s eye to muse over………………

What was I saying? Oh right. Finale.

So Saturday comes along (remember I’m an Aussie) and I wake up extra early, feeling slightly nauseated and in a flop sweat. The closer it gets to the time the more I’m overcome by a sense of dread. I mean I literally feel like I might throw up a little. I’m so concerned about Sam and Dean Winchester I’m having a minor panic attack! Is this normal? I know most of you would say, yes, yes it is and I know nearly everyone outside of my Supernatural family would say, no Amy it certainly is not, please get a life. Then I would explain to them how I have a life, rich with stories of love and loyalty, of brothers and family, of heroes and villains, of rising above expectations, of falling to temptation, of shiny black cars and the myriad of emotions and frailties that make up humanity and they would walk away shaking their heads as I grinned triumphantly! But I digress. I was so nervous before watching this finale I didn’t know what to do with myself. Then Carry On Wayward Son started and then I cried….

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Ramble about Supernatural 7x14 “Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie”

Warning: Contains episode spoilers…

Wait, so now Unicorns are evil?
Yeah, obviously.

I could say this week’s episode was a bit light on with the mythology. I could say the brothers seemed to be leaps and bounds away from last week’s mood. I could say what’s going on with the Leviathan, we really need to ramp that up don’t we? I could say all of that, but instead, I’m going to say this…..

BAAAAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *wheeze* HA HA…. hee.

To quote one of my favourite cartoon characters… happy, happy, joy, joy! Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie was just too much gosh darn fun! I guffawed, I belly laughed, I clapped my hands, I may have even screamed a little and it felt good, because you know what, I needed it. It’s been such a loss filled, angst-ridden journey through season seven, it felt nice to take a break from the boy melodrama and have a good giggle. We know next week is going to be Hellish, no pun intended, and there’s plenty more soul destroying torture for the Winchester brothers ahead, so I’m just going to inhale and enjoy this breath of fresh, ridiculous air, while I can.

First let me say…welcome back Misters Dabb and Loflin, good to see you again. I was a huge fan of this pair…until season seven, where they seemed to totally suck ass. I mean, we went from lovely scripts like “Weekend At Bobby’s” and “Frontierland” to “Season Seven, Time For A Wedding” for goodness sake. W’a happen? I was thinking they’d done their proverbial dash…but noooooo! They were back to their ever lovin’, pop culture referencing, snappy one-liner best with an episode that was not only buckets of fun, but also a great call back to so many episodes of the past, including a couple of their own, “Yellow Fever” and “I Believe The Children Are Our Future.” Yay boys! Welcome back. Now keep doing this stuff and not that other stuff and we’ll stay friends.

So…who isn’t afraid of clowns? I am. I really can’t stand them. I don’t like clowns, dolls or mimes. In fact street performers as a whole give me the irrits. Those people that just stand still on a box? If they didn’t give me the heebies to the level they do, I’d go give them a good shove. I often ponder what would be the most terrifying thing. I think it’d be a ventriloquist dummy dressed as a clown…no wait, a killer ventriloquist dummy dressed as a clown doing mime. Geeesh! Anyway, the point I’m working my way around to making is, many of us sympathise with Sammy and his clown-phobia. I love that this guy’s creeped out by clowns. Here he is, crazy enormous, kills anything, runs to the rescue of strangers, can stand up to the Devil, tough and strong and smart and he’s wigged out by clowns? It’s perfection. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Sam, that’s in between my laughing at him. Jared did an awesome job conveying Sam’s fear with a light comedic touch. When Sam got out of the car and turned around and saw that really icky clown with the stringing green hair and gasped, that was just beautiful. And did you notice how the clown was running? Oh my gosh, too brilliant. The clown-on-Sam fight scene never went into slapstick territory and it so easily could have. It was genuinely scary while being genuinely funny and completely ridiculous. Supernatural is at its best when it balances the humour and fear. This episode was a lovely example of that.

Look, there’s not a lot to analyse in “Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie,” which is kind of nice for a change, but I guess the thing that jumped out at me the most was the brotherly love. There was an old school Sam and Dean vibe throughout. Even right at the top with Sam’s little smile when Dean was forced to say to Frank on the phone, “I am the Egg-Man.” I love nothing more than when the brothers feel in sync and are obviously enjoying hanging out and working together. Their love for each other and their relationship can and has carried me through some of my darkest times, so whenever we have an episode where that love is clearly on display, my heart simply soars. The final scene with Dean laughing at his gigantic glitter-covered brother was just…well I’m not even sure I can put it into words. Dean laughing. Really laughing. Even Sam enjoyed Dean’s happy moment. They’re few and far between these days. Then Dean apologising to Sam for scarring him all those years ago, (which time - hee).  Then Sam giving Dean a giant slinky. I mean, Sam wasn’t even there when Dean, in all his adorableness, was geeking out over the giant, rainbow slinky. Sam just knew. Love. That scene was all about love pure and simple….even when Dean gave Sam the clown. How could he not. Then there was the awesome “The ball washer” “The what?” “The ball washer” “The what?” “The ball…” *cue exasperated Sam*. I miss moments like this between the brothers, but I feel like season seven has offered us more of these than any season since probably three and I’m very thankful for it.

The other thing that jumped out at me was Dean didn’t drink anything but coffee in this episode. I was trying to think back to the last time where we didn’t see him with at least a beer in his hand at some point. I couldn’t, because that would involve hours of research for which I didn’t have time (feel free to do it yourselves and let me know), but certainly not in this season anyway. He wasn’t kidding when he said no bars, no booze…of course he couldn’t resist the lure of the hot chick in the guise of a naughty nanny. Did you notice him giving her the complete once over while she wasn’t looking? Ah Dean. Obviously he needs to drink a lot less, if for no other reason than his mood is much better without the booze in his system. I love this Dean…well I love all Deans but this Dean is awesome…well all Deans….ok, I’m going to stop.

Some other highlights, in this highlight filled, glitter-exploding, rainbow-puke inducing episode for me were…..

The Unicorn shooting rainbows out of its ass. I literally screamed. They went there. Excellent.

“If it bleeds, you can kill it.” Thank you. Thank you. Predator is one of my favourite movies. Now at some point, if Dean could just say, “I ain’t got time to bleed” my life will be complete.

Sam being all bad cop interrogating the staff. He just looked so silly trying to bully that lion. Also, I love the person who noted one of the staff rules was no sideburns! Ha!

The ball washer (the what?), getting “Bruced” in the ball pit. Beautiful re-enactment of the first taking from Jaws and I loved the reference to Bruce, being what they called the mechanical shark which was named after Spielberg’s lawyer.

The 70’s cop show music as Sam and Dean chased down the lion named Clif. Sam’s sidies work well with that music! And Dean, you can’t catch a lion by the tail!

Dean giving Tyler the, be nicer to your mum talk. I love how Dean is so relaxed with kids and I love how this is a theme that is continually revisited.

“So, what’s the lowdown with trauma town?” Really, Dean was having way too much fun.

The clown losing a manky tooth, which goes flying slomo through the air. Lovely touch.

Sam spitting out glitter at the end of the clown fight. In fact just the whole Sam being covered in glitter thing!

RIGHT FRIGGIN NOW

Oh I could go on and on and on…..

“Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie” was a brilliant example of what “Supernatural” does so well and what makes it a stand out show. Mixing the laughs with the scares, adding a dollop of pop culture, a dash of lunacy and a nice helping of brotherly love, all mixed together to create forty-two minutes of pure happiness. Unicorns shooting rainbows out of their ass doesn’t even begin to cover it. Everything about this episode was on the money. The writing from Dabb and Loflin, the tight direction from Mike Rohl, the fantastically colourful set design which carried across into the special effects and title treatment, the comedic performances from Jensen and Jared and the moments between Sam and Dean that reminded us all of the beating heart at the centre of this show. It felt real good to watch. Real good.

Of course, next week, it’s back to angst-city, but that’s ok, I had a little much needed respite from the darkness and now I’m pumped and ready to jump feet first into whatever lies ahead. So bring on the breakdowns, the Devil, the return of a certain Angel and the final showdown with the Leviathan. I’m good to go because the brothers are back on track; Dean has a slinky and Sam’s going to be finding glitter in his hair for weeks to come. When my heart’s breaking, I’ll just try and think of that…

Did you love the episode too? What was your favourite moment? Let me know what you throught!

Thanks so much for reading. - Amy

Ramble about Supernatural 7.13 “The Slice Girls”

Warning – contains episode spoilers.

You’re just as screwed up as I am, you’re just…bigger.

Before I kick off this week’s review, let’s just get this out in the open shall we? It took me an inordinate amount of time to get through the first 10 minutes of this episode. An embarrassingly, inordinate amount of time. Pause rewind pause rewind pause rewind. Even I was starting to think “awkward”. But seriously, these precious, precious moments of Dean getting it on are so few and far between that a gal really has to make the most of them. It wasn’t only the bedroom frolic scene, (intercut with awesome gore and set to an ACaDaCa soundtrack), though that was a visual and sensory delight, it was also the bar room flirtation. The close-ups of the eyes and mouth, the little knowing smiles….. Pause rewind pause rewind pause rewind. Hey, no excuses….I go by the name sweetondean after all….

I was massively hesitant about The Slice Girls for two reasons. The first reason was, the concept of Dean having and instant-child bothered me no end, I mean, please no, we know how he is about family and kids in general, the whole concept squicked me out. I saw angst with a side order of angst and not in a good way. The second was, the episode was written by the same team who wrote Shut-Up, Dr. Phil, but more specifically Route 666, which is not exactly a favourite of mine. The Cassie word tends to make me spill forth with a tirade that is often peppered with expletives. Of course that routinely slammed episode also gave us a shirtless, sexed-up Dean…. Hang on a minute…. hmm…maybe I like these writers more than I thought! But I digress…what I was going to say is, I was massively hesitant about The Slice Girls, but it turned out not at all how I thought it would and ended up being a rather enjoyable, if somewhat sad episode.

You know what I’m really digging about season 7? It’s a character study. More than any other season, it’s seems to be about the nitty gritty of what’s going on below the surface of our beloved brothers. Their relationship and their individual character arcs have been put back into the forefront of the story and it feels like a long while since that’s been the case. Each episode looks like it’s going to be about some monster or another, but what we really get to see is how Sam and Dean are, or more often than not, aren’t functioning and coping with what the Universe is currently making them wade through. I like. The Slice Girls, once again, gave us a good, deep, kinda gloomy look at where the brother’s respective headspaces are at and I liked it, a lot. So you’ll excuse me if I don’t bother going into the monster storyline, as it was secondary to what I saw as the real story.

As I see it, we had two things going on with the boys here, we had Sam in uber hunter mode and we had Dean in I don’t give a flying fudge mode. Neither was surprising but both were pretty disturbing to watch. There was strong vibe of frustration. It was like the air was sizzling with mutual exasperation. Not that they were at loggerheads, in fact they’re working pretty well together, all things considered, but there were definitely a few internal throwing up of the arms moments between them.

At the end of Adventures In Babysitting Sam said that he wasn’t doing so great and he just wanted to work….yep, that’s what we saw here. He was hyper focused on the job. He was right, as Dean so succinctly put it, the murders were in the general vicinity of the ballpark of their kind of thing, but Sam’s drive, his ploughing ahead seemed to reinforce that this is how he’s trying to deal, by not dealing. Kind of like his brother. The problem is of course; we know Sammy is hanging on by a fine thread of sanity. We know on the inside it’s 24/7 Satan-vision. We know this because the Leviathan told us. So while Sam is trying to block out whatever is happening inside his melon by throwing himself into the latest job, he also has to watch his usually stoic and resilient big brother continue his tailspin unabated. That’s a tricky balancing act. Stay sane while trying to keep your brother from going off the rails once and for all. He’s obviously very worried about Dean and he’s obviously trying not to beat his brother over the head with it. He even said it at the end, he doesn’t care how Dean deals, he just cares that he doesn’t get killed. Breaks my damn heart. That scene in the not-Impala as they argued about Amy and Emma and Dean choking and not having his head in the game, was so poignant. In that moment, when Sam asked his brother to just don’t get killed, he felt so small and young to me. He needs Dean and he needs Dean to be Dean, now more than ever. Dean’s all he has. He’s been Sam’s rock all his life, he’s always called the shots and now Sam’s in the driver’s seat both literally and symbolically because his brother is finding it difficult to be there. I really feel for Sam.

And Dean… Well I didn’t expect an overnight resurrection off the back of Eliot Ness’ very sage description of what it means to be a hunter, but I was hoping for just a little spark to be reignited. But Dean seems so apathetic. It’s really hard to watch. His drinking, his lack of engagement in the case. He doesn’t want to listen to anyone else because they aren’t Bobby. The “Our expert is dead” line totally floored me. He has been ‘wobbly’ ever since Cas died, but now…well he’s about to topple over. He’s letting his brother drive the car for Heaven’s sake. I mean sure, that’s responsible, being as he’s continually drinking from Bobby’s flask and I’m sure his blood alcohol level would be well and truly over the legal limit across all parts of the day, but he’s letting Sam drive and by that, I mean drive everything. Dean’s going through the motions in the worst possible way and Sam’s right to be worried that it’ll get him killed. I’m not one of those people who think Dean would ever purposely check out, not as long as Sam is in the picture. Even though I think he probably does just want gone, hence the carelessness, but while Sam is still by his side, Dean will keep putting one foot in front of the other whether he wants to or not; “I not going to walk out on my brother.” But is that enough to sustain him? I think somewhere inside he’s paralysed with fear that if something happens to Sam he’ll be totally alone and Dean doesn’t do alone. Neither brother does. There literally is no one else left. That must be a terrifying thought, for both of them. But Dean’s in a bad place and no matter what else is going on around you, it’s hard to pick yourself up when you’re free-falling through grief and despair. He’ll do it though…and when that day comes I’ll be air punching like crazy! I want my feisty, kick-ass Dean back as much as Sam does…maybe even more.

Oh gosh, well now I’ve depressed myself! Let’s talk about something else shall we?

I had zero issues with Sam killing Emma, but then again I had zero issues with Dean killing Amy…though let’s not go there huh? Emma was going to kill Dean pure and simple and had she made a move in his direction or even Sam’s direction I think Dean would have dropped her in the blink of an eye. But I’m very thankful Sam did it instead, as that’s a great big piece of baggage the elder Winchester really doesn’t need to add to his load. Whether Dean knew his daughter or not, it still smacked of tragedy. Here is a man, who all his life has been about family and who unsuccessfully tried to leave being a hunter behind and live a ‘normal’ life with a woman and her son and now after an athletic one-night-stand where he was obviously less than careful, he has a kid and that kid turns out to be a monster and she has to die… This is what squicked me out! No wonder he hesitated. That’s just too sad! How either brother is still standing upright about now baffles me. A testament to their fortitude.

And what about Bobby? Man, you could feel him in the air in this episode. It speaks volumes that the boys still talk about him in the present tense, like they can’t let go. They want to ring him; Dean carries around his flask like it’s part of him. He was everywhere….including prominently in the ‘previously on’. Things that make you go hmm. Bobby being around made me happy. He should be everywhere, he was important, he is important; his impact needs to be felt, his loss needs to be recognised. I’m still in two minds about Ghost!Bobby though, but quite frankly, I so want the brothers to have some kind of happiness that I’ll roll with any idea at this point in time if I see a little joy or even some closure for Sam and Dean. I thought the scene where they talked about the possibility of it being Bobby’s spirit who moved the paper was fantastic. It looked like Sam was onboard for a moment there, EMF scanner in hand, but even he can’t get passed the fact that he can’t believe it could be real because that would be something that they’d want and they never get anything they want. Oh dear Lord. Seriously. Heart. Break. Now.

On a lighter note, I really enjoyed the banter in The Slice Girls. There was a fair amount of teasing from Sam of Dean. I figure he was trying to snap his brother out of his malaise with a bit of poking of the fun! Who hasn’t done that when someone around then is down, tried to make them laugh to brighten them up. Either that or Lucifer’s snarky sense of humour is leaking through! Whatever it was, it wasn’t working. Dean was resolutely grumpy….except maybe when he was banging Lydia. But it was fun to watch Sam having a go at Dean for a change! I love Dean’s come back “Are you deliberately trying to mess with me?” Well yes Dean, I believe he is! I also totally dug the moment they both realised that Dean was the baby-daddy and Sam trying to process this says, “But Dean, dude, seriously, a one-night-stand, you’re just going to roll the dice…” Sammy my boy, I was thinking exactly the same thing. I could go all deep and say this is part of Dean’s apathy towards life, that he’d take that kind of stupid risk, but his little remembering back smirk when he was saying accidents happen made me think it wasn’t him being careless, it was just, you know, one of those things and he was, you know, um prepared. Geeze, how often do we get to have these kinds of conversations around the show! Was or wasn’t Dean being ‘careful’! Ha! Anyway, I really enjoyed this whole scene. The dialogue between the brothers was spot on in this episode.

Another thing I enjoyed about this episode was the gore! Good grief, was that the goriest opening ever? When we pulled back to reveal that the dude had his hands and feet chopped off, I seriously gasped. Of course when the next guy was getting hacked up I was somewhat distracted….  I liked how Dean’s ‘love’ scene was intercut with the hyper-violence of that attack happening somewhere across town. This hammered home (no pun intended) two things, one being this was a fast and furious one-night-stand, no romance, no pretence, just need, as sweet as Dean looked about it… *sigh*… the other being this show has monsters, it has horror and as much as we like seeing the boys get, errr, lucky every once in a while, this is absolutely not what this show is about. As hot as the brothers are, it’s not a ‘let’s see them with their kit off week in week out’ kind of show and I’m thankful of that…most of the time…though someone remind me why…because I forget.

I’d also like to mention that Mayor Wilkins from Buffy was the Professor helping with the Greek translations etc. I clapped my hands when I saw him! I always loved that character, even if he was a snake…literally, plus young Missy Bender from the season 1 episode The Benders played Emma! Creepy hillbilly girl grew up into creepy monster girl! And Jerry Wanek’s directorial debut smacked of the beautiful, artistic style that we’re privileged to see every week via his stunning production design. He did some interesting visual work in this episode. I hope to see him get another shot in the director’s chair.

So, I enjoyed The Slice Girls, angsty, heartbreak and all. There was a lot of subtext, gore, brother moments and partially naked Dean! Weee! Plus it further reinforced for me, that as much as I love the characters that have come and gone and as much as I know and appreciate that the Winchesters need other people in their world, the real drama is with Sam and Dean and their journey is still compelling enough to carry an episode and I hazard to guess, given the chance, a season. It’s what it always was and what it always will be, their story…at least for me.

So what did you think? Did you enjoy the episode?

Thanks for reading! - Amy

Ramble about Supernatural 7.12 “Time After Time”

Warning contains spoilers.

Does this mean I’m an Untouchable now?

Confession time. I’m a Kevin Costner fan. There. I said it. The reason I’m baring my soul to you is that I share Dean’s passion for the movie The Untouchables. You see there was a period of time there, where every Friday or Saturday night, after coming home from having a few drinks, I would stick on The Untouchables DVD to send me off to sleep. That or No Way Out, or Bull Duhram – from which I can recite large hunks of dialogue. Geesh, now I’m really coming clean! You know how Dean said he’d seen The Untouchables fifty times? Hey Winchester, I reckon I can beat that! So guess who was I was a teensy bit excited about Time After Time? Me! Which is why I ask you to excuse me if I come across a tad over enthusiastic.

Ramble about Supernatural 7.08 “Season Seven, Time For A Wedding!”

Warning - contains episode spoilers 

It’s a waffle iron. Nonstick. You just…I actually don’t know how to use it. We good?   

Ok, so I’m not really sure how I feel about Season Seven, Time For A Wedding! I just couldn’t find the funny. I wanted to love it so bad and I didn’t. It really got my dander up. It made me wear my frowny face. But, I took a deep breath and watched it again, because, even I was weirded out by my reaction. Second time around I found myself giggling, but not enough. We needed a bit of light after all the dark of late and this episode sure tried to deliver on the light, but for me, I still couldn’t help but see the dark and that’s why I think it didn’t work. Season Seven, Time For A Wedding! didn’t find that balance between light and dark that Supernatural usually delivers on so well. I know it was just a filler, some of my favourite episodes have been fillers, and I’m certainly not putting it in the category of Criss Angel Is A Douchebag or even worse, Mannequin 3: The Reckoning, my two least favourite episodes ever, but it currently falls into my least favourite episode of the season category, which I guess, as I’m really enjoying season seven, is not necessarily all bad. There’s no other show that can’t raise in me the kind of emotions this show raises, good, bad and sad. That in itself demonstrates how fine this show is, even when it’s not firing on all cylinders. 

I chastised myself on rewatch for not knowing that Dabb and Loflin wrote this episode. They‘ve become favourite writers of mine, or at least they were, before season 7. I’m finding their work this season a tad on the wobbly side at best. Thank Chuck or Cas or whomever, that they didn’t kill Becky! Can you imagine if they killed Amy and Becky! They’d be pinned to the ceiling and flambéed! As much as Becky bugged me and during the episode I admit at one point I wanted her dead, she is not a monster who has killed anyone so……..damn it, I promised last week I would no longer talk about Amy! Stopping now. It’s interesting that two of Dabb and Loflin’s episodes have used TV terms or ideas that are used for shows at the end of their run, Jump The Shark and now Season Seven, Time For A Wedding! Quite often a show that’s jumped the shark will throw a wedding in, in a desperate grab for ratings. No, I’m not saying Supernatural has jumped the shark, good lordy no! Wash your mouths out! I’m saying I’ve always enjoyed how Supernatural teeters on the boundary of what’s funny in the writer’s room and funny to the audience. That they tease the fourth wall. It’s a fine line. I don’t know of any other show that does it and gets away with it. The little digs are always a treat too. I loved how Becky commented “Supernatural’s not exactly popular” I’m sure we all got a giggle out of that. Nevertheless, I think, overall, Dabb and Loflin delivered a patchy episode, which is disappointing. But like every episode of Supernatural, there was something to love!

Let’s talk about Becky shall we? So, here’s my gripe. I liked Becky. I’ve always found her odd, but enjoyable. I’m not one of those fans that found her offensive, probably because I’m not one of those fans. I loved our first introduction to her when she just couldn’t stop touching Sam, then meeting her again at the Supernatural convention with Chuck. Though she was an overly obsessive fan to be sure, she was always fun and I felt that her heart was in the right place. I never saw her as some loser. In fact, I always thought she was strangely confident. Remember how she did that hand lick, kiss blow thing at Sam in The Real Ghostbusters? That didn’t come across to me as someone who was totally lacking in self-esteem. I always thought, gosh this chick’s got some cojones on her. She even assumed that Sam would dig her, apologising for her hook up with Chuck with that classic monkey on the sun line. Sure, she’s a little delusional but I liked that she seemed comfortable in her own kooky skin. I liked Becky and this episode made me not like Becky. Booo Dabb and Loflin, boo. I should have felt empathy for her. I should have felt sad for her. I should have felt, awww poor Becky’s finally hitched a ride to crazytown. Instead I felt angry! I was angry at her for being so manipulative and thoughtless, for railroading someone’s life for her own fantasy, for drugging Sam, for whacking him on the head with a waffle iron, (seriously, she could have killed him), for allowing Sam to be awful to his brother while under her influence, yeah, maybe this is what started the anger, but mostly for being stupid enough to fall for the sassy-gay-friend crossroads demon! She’s read the books, when is a too good to be true deal ever not too good to be true? Why was she suddenly made into this dunce! I disliked her and that really upset me because I used to like her. Admittedly, by the end I felt less like slapping her and a little more understanding and on rewatch she even made me laugh here and there, but still. She was ruined for me in this episode. I hope we never see her again. Bummer.

Why was Sam off on his own? I don’t get it. He’d just had 10 days on his own and then he goes off for another four to commune with nature or whatever? Leaving Dean alone, again. I know, I know, they’re grown men and should be able to take a time out when they need it and I’m all for that, but he just had a time out and they supposedly have evil, difficult to kill, shapeshifting, monster-mouthed, Leviathan on their tails. Is this really the best time to go walkabout? It makes no sense. Not only that, IT WAS VEGAS WEEK. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, for a bright and sensitive guy, when it comes to his brother, Sam is really clueless. He’s been pressing Dean to tell him what’s wrong. He just had a D&M with Dean over the fake Impala. Dean fessed up to struggling. Sure the lie was now out in the open, but he said he was having trust issues after Cas. That’s about as open as Dean has been since he got back from Hell. Now it seems Sam’s so worried about his brother’s state of mind and constant drinking that he dumps their traditional Vegas plans to go camping, on his own, without his brother, that only a moment ago he was apparently so worried about. This whole thing made absolutely no sense to me. Why would he do that? Then, in all his wisdom, Sam nails Dean with that “Now you finally get to take care of yourself” line. Oh dear…if I wasn’t so opposed to everyone smacking Sam in his Denver scramble head, I’d smack Sam in his Denver scramble head. I know he didn’t mean to hurt Dean, I know his intentions were good, I know he thought saying “I do need you watching my back, obviously” was enough, but when Dean said, “It’s stupid to think that you need me around all the time, you’re a grown up” the wrong thing to say was “Right” and the right thing to say was, “Right, but just because I need some time on my own every once in a while Dean, doesn’t mean I don’t need you.” Sammy are you writing this down? Dabb and Loflin are you writing this down, because really dudes, you need to be taking notes. I’m not hating on Sam. I love Sam to pieces and he’s had an awful tough time of late, and by of late I mean forever, culminating in being tied pantsless to the bed by super-fan 99…(I might have to say thanks to Becky just for that one thing…also very nice work from Jared)…and I couldn’t be happier that he’s getting a handle on what’s going on inside his grapefruit, but, and honestly I don’t mean this hatefully, he has to stop putting his needs first every once in a while. Astonishingly, after what his brain’s gone through, he currently seems to be most functional one in the duo and he’s going to have to step up. We all need to take care of ourselves but sometimes we have to put our wants and needs, like going camping, on the backburner while we take care of the others in our lives and Dean needs taking care of right now, even if it’s only verbally and even if he’d never admit it. He needs to know he’s still wanted; he needs to know he’s still needed. He needs to be needed; it’s what defines him. It wouldn’t take much, just a few words here and there to make him feel like, how he defines himself is still relevant, that he’s still relevant. Don’t keep walking away from him, even if you need a bit of space. Just take a deep breath and remember you’re worried about your brother and he’s not going to ask you for help. You’re great at this stuff. Give it a try. Please. Aaaaand apparently I just started talking directly to Sam. I might be as nutty as Becky. I’m hoping Sam will cotton on, sooner rather than later.  But I must admit I’m worried about Sam, I’m worried he’s convinced himself he’s okay. Like Dean, I’m struggling to understand how that’s even possible. You know one thing that I thought was really awesome though ….when the magic potion was wearing off and Sam was all hurting and confused, his first thought was to ring Dean. A tiny little light at the end of this otherwise somewhat gloomy tunnel.

And what about Dean? He was equal parts awesomeness and sadness. His arm waving frustration in the chapel was brilliant. Man I love a cranky, exasperated Dean. He thought Becky should ask him for Sam’s hand? Bless. He was all sixes and sevens about the whole thing. He knew it was wrong, he knew something was up but there was his brother in a love bubble he just couldn’t pop! I totally dug that he got what was going on in a flash. People’s fantasies coming true? Sounds like Becky marrying Sam right? Good on you Dean. Then he rocks up with a waffle iron! He went a bought a waffle iron? I wish we’d seen that. I thoroughly enjoyed his flirtation in the strip club, but the boy needs to get lucky real soon. That’s three women that have got away this season. You know something’s wrong with Dean Winchester when that happens. Oh and the sweater vest. I probably don’t have to say anything more than….sweater vest.

But, beyond the fun Dean moments, I was so damn sad for him throughout this whole episode. His brother not only dumped him to go camping, he then finds out Sam’s getting married! Then he gets left again until he can “be supportive”, then Sam tells him he no longer needs him, yes I know he was under the influence, but don’t think for a second it didn’t hurt Dean to hear that and don’t think for a second that’s not rattling around his brain. To top it off he can’t even get Bobby to help “I don’t want another hunter Bobby, why can’t you do it”….read…. “Bobby Sam’s got married I don’t know what to do, he says he doesn’t need me anymore, I really need you here right now.” Sadly, Bobby was busy and seemed to misread the situation sending Dean another hunter, when I’m quite sure Dean just needed Bobby to be there for him again. Yet somehow, Dean keeps soldiering on, smiling, even at Becky when he comes face to face with Mr and Mrs Sam Winchester working the case. But you can tell, it’s not as easy as it used to be. Then, just when it seems that maybe it’s all finally heading back in the right direction, his brother accidently crushes him with the take care of yourself faux pas. His face, in that moment, was so damn heartbreaking. I literally started to cry. What’s going on? Is it more than we know? Or is it just that he’s struggling to find his place in the world, post everything that’s happened to him and his brother. And now with Sam being strangely balanced for someone seeing Satan-Vision 24/7, he’s constantly worried the other shoe’s gonna drop. I think Dean doesn’t know who he is or what he’s supposed to do anymore. He knows he has to fight the monsters, save people, but beyond that, who is he, what’s his purpose? He used to take care of his family, he used to take care of Sam, he took care of Bobby when Bobby needed him, he even took care of Cas, helping him muddle through this world. Who needs him now? Cas is gone, Bobby’s all good and Sam’s doing fine (at least on the surface), what’s his role? How much satisfaction can you draw from helping strangers when the people that you love, seem to no longer need you? And if he doesn’t have to look out for anyone, does that mean he’ll have to look to himself? I think the thought of being on his own simply terrifies him, because if he’s on his own he might have to face his inner demons. Like the waitress in the bar said, “We all need to face ourselves sometimes.” I think that thought scares Dean to death. No one to take care of, desperately trying not to look within. Dean’s lost.

And this, all this here, all this underlying sorrow is why I couldn’t totally get on board with this week’s episode. I love black comedy and it’s not that I found it disturbing or offensive or anything like that. I just found it kinda sad. It was supposed to be funny, but for the most part, I didn’t laugh. Not for Sam being drugged, when he’s already struggling with what’s going on in his mind and most certainly, not for Dean. Right from when Dean said Sam dumped him and Vegas week, my heart started to break and it just got worse and worse as the hits kept coming. It’s not like his pain is anything new, it’s just now, he doesn’t seem to be able to deal with it like he used to. All those years of not talking, of supporting everyone else, of shrugging it all off, it’s worn him down. He’s tired. You can see it in his face, in his actions, in the way he carries himself. He’s pushed so much sadness down for so long, it’s filled him to the brim and now it’s coming back up to choke him. The booze, the nightmares. You know, this is what I was talking about last week, with the writers being true to the characters and not being repetitive. This, what is happening to Dean now, is a culmination of everything we’ve seen him go through over the years. On one hand, it’s so beautiful to see how this character is being realised but on the other hand, I can’t stands it! I need him to have win. I need him to be ok, or as ok as he’s ever going to be. I need Sammy to need him….. When Dean hurts I hurt plain and simple and Season 7, Time For A Wedding! hurt like bloody crazy. Like my friend Tiny said, what’s been happening to Dean, it’s supernatural bullying and I need it to stop.

But hey, there was some nice stuff in this episode too! Like I said, I always find something to love in Supernatural and I in no way hated Season 7, Time For A Wedding! even though, reading this back you’d be forgiven for thinking I did! I thought there was a lot of heart in this episode. I liked DJ Qualls’ Garth a lot. I’m calling him the Anti-Sam. Shorter and scrawny, not great with people, sucky in interviews, completely the opposite of what Dean is used to working with. I thought it was a little out of the blue when he hugged Dean at the end, but it was a fun and nicely awkward moment. I’d be more than happy to see Garth again, maybe with a bit more to do next time.

Demons. I’ve miss demons and I do like a good crossroads demon. Guy was fantastic. I thought Leslie Odom who played Guy did a really nice job, suitably smooth and smarmy. And did you see how his eyes changed? Not just in a blink, but like a snake or something, it’s like the red came from both sides and joined in the middle. Cool! Then we had the joy of Crowley, albeit briefly, which is always wonderful and he managed to remind everyone about the Leviathan and that there are bigger fish to fry. I do love me some Crowley and I’m very interested to see what his play is this season. Also, nice beard!  

The opening titles with the wedding cake were a pearler! Jim Michaels told me and my friend Amanda that it was Phil Sgriccia’s idea and they shot it at 1000 frames a second, which is how they could get the super slo-mo. I thought it looked awesome. Must have been real messy!

And of course there was Jensen Ackles and his comic timing, which, quite frankly, was probably the saving grace of this episode, because when I did laugh, it was at Dean’s eye-rolling exasperation. His face, his arm waving, his surliness and just his general bafflement over the whole situation was beautiful. Dean, in all his sadness, somehow still managed to be the light in this episode. Jensen can really act….and wear a sweater vest.

Oh and Dean had ‘Sammy’ in his phone…….my heart runneth over.

 So yeah, Season Seven, Time For A Wedding! was a bit of a disappointment. It had its fun moments for sure, but I felt like it could’ve been so much better. I felt like there was a great opportunity for some meta, what with Becky’s intimate knowledge of the brother’s past cases and their relationship, but the script missed the mark. I am enjoying season seven a lot though. I really think this is the only episode that has disappointed me quite on this level, and if this is the worst we get, then damn we’re a lucky bunch! Even when I have questions, I always enjoy the show. I’m interested in the Leviathan, I’m interested in the brothers and how they are slowly but surely finding their way back to each other, I’m interested in Sam and how well he’s really doing and I’m (overly) interested in Dean and how low he will go before he sores like the phoenix back to his former glory! Not the Frontierland kind of phoenix…the pretty kind… Each week I’m filled with a little more hope that the brothers are finally going down the right road. Hey, and next week………we have a script by Mr Edlund! I’m excited. Ben Edlund, Guy Bee, Winchesters with big guns….carrying rifles…. Heee! It’s going to be good! See you then!

 P.S. BRING BACK DEAN’S BABY!

 Thanks for reading….I know many of you won’t agree with my thoughts on this one, so please let me know what you thought, I’d love to hear it - Amy

Can Jimmy contain the souls of Purgatory?

When I first saw the ‘In Cas We Fear’ trailer for season 7, I assumed bloodied, stumbly Cas had just had some kind of beat down, or that maybe he’d had a tangle with Death, or, I don’t know. In the quick, flashy, bright shots we saw, I just assumed that the blood and whatnot on Cas’ face was exactly that, blood….then I saw this screengrab…..

(warning: my vague spoiler assumptions ahead)

Now this looks to me like the souls of Purgatory are burning through Castiel’s vessel, Jimmy. Sorta like Lucifer burnt through Nick right? Which got me thinking…Jimmy was built to be the vessel of an Angel, not the vessel of 1 million black and twisted souls from Purgatory. Cas said to Crowley, if this Purgatory deal went wrong, he could go the way of Lucifer….he was probably talking about being all evil, but maybe he was talking about this? And then there is that spoiler we’ve heard drifting around in vagaries for a while now, about a certain set being raised to the ground, about cast members pilfering props from said set because they’d never be on that set again, about the boys not having their usually tools and support methods to lean on as the traverse the new dark highways of season 7. I’ve assumed, ever since I heard this vague spoiler, that the set in question is going to go up with a bang and I assumed it had something to do with Dean’s warning to Cas that he’s “full of nuke”…..

This screengrap, well *gasp*!

Are you picking up what I’m putting down?

Of course I could be wrong. You never know what’s in store when it comes to Supernatural! But one thing’s certain, all this is going to make for one explosive season opening! BRING.IT.ON.