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.spn 5.05; or, "I have a headache"
(Forgot to post this here on Thursday!)
Ugh, sorry guys... today has been such an unbelievably lousy day. (The "ugh" is not for the episode, just for general lousiness/futility.)
Whoa, Paul McGillion, I thought I recognized your oddly chinless silhouette in that darkened garage! Let the cognitive dissonance begin!
This episode was kind of desperately needed after four consecutive episodes of misery-induced flailing. I appreciated the tension between Dean and Sam trying to figure out how to work together again, after spending what seems to be a significant amount of time apart--enough time, anyway, that Dean got his own computer.
That said, oh my fucking God did I want to smack the melodrama out of Sam. The last time Sam tried to grow up, he really didn't grow up at all, because "growing up" isn't about becoming "powerful," it's about maturity. By going off with Ruby, he basically traded Dean in for someone else who could guide him and tell him what to do--Ruby was calling the shots and encouraging him the entire way, and Sam was too deluded with "WOO POWER!" to notice. Your definition of "growing up" and mine do not square, Sam.
It's actually why, I think, when it comes down to it, there is a huge difference, for me, between Dean's breaking the first seal and Sam's breaking the last. Yeah, they both didn't know (and, one could argue, they couldn't know), but Sam wasn't acting under coercion. Arguably, he did have the ability, once Dean got back, to stop hunting for Lilith and yeah, there's a lot to be said about how much we're controlled by our own personalities and how much we can be manipulated by other people, but... Sam was never forced into what he did. He went, because in the end going along with Ruby, in the end, meant independence, and I honestly wonder if the actual act of killing Lilith was an act of revenge so much as it was an assertion of power.
And, to go way off on a tangent, it's also what kind of pisses me off when people say "it's Dean's fault! He broke the first seal!" People, he was tortured for thirty years. Let me repeat that: THIRTY YEARS HE WAS TORTURED. Please, nobody tell me that culpability still exists under those circumstances, and please, nobody tell me that being tortured horribly for three decades is exactly the same as losing your brother, getting him back, willfully lying to him, and then going off and doing your own thing despite advice from wiser quarters. Chuck tells Sam drinking demon blood is wrong, and Sam shrugs and keeps doing it anyway.
So, yeah, I'm not particularly enthused when Sam climbs on Dean whenever Dean tries to call the shots, because Sam's attempts at independent thought this past year have been woefully and catastrophically inadequate.
/rant.
Stuff I liked: Obviously, the boys back together! And the case had that old-school feel to it, with the MOTW and the research and last-second save. Also, I think I spied the pilot from "Phantom Traveler" way back in S1. Does anyone know if that's actually him as well?
Dean in Lincoln's stovepipe hat, and Dean in shirtsleeves, and Dean with the car and then the "tiny violin" remark in the bar.
Stuff I didn't like so much: Paris Hilton. It's just... her voice. Dean, don't rip on Ghandi :( The fight scene at the end was, quite possibly, the worst/most awkward in SPN history. Also, I have a deep antipathy toward and distrust of wax museums. They just aren't natural. Sam staring the Abe Lincoln statue in the eye freaked the hell out of me; I was waiting, waiting I tell you, for waxy!Abe to lunge for him.
To conclude: you and I both know that Dean was actually talking to Cas on his cell phone. Just sayin'.
Next week(s): W.T.F.?????? I don't even know, y'all.
.eta: I was actually saving this to post, because as I said above, I had a fairly depressing and frustrating day today, and when I checked EchoFon tonight and thought "Hey, I wonder if Misha's updated"... a miracle. Oh, @misha:
♥♥♥
Ugh, sorry guys... today has been such an unbelievably lousy day. (The "ugh" is not for the episode, just for general lousiness/futility.)
Whoa, Paul McGillion, I thought I recognized your oddly chinless silhouette in that darkened garage! Let the cognitive dissonance begin!
This episode was kind of desperately needed after four consecutive episodes of misery-induced flailing. I appreciated the tension between Dean and Sam trying to figure out how to work together again, after spending what seems to be a significant amount of time apart--enough time, anyway, that Dean got his own computer.
That said, oh my fucking God did I want to smack the melodrama out of Sam. The last time Sam tried to grow up, he really didn't grow up at all, because "growing up" isn't about becoming "powerful," it's about maturity. By going off with Ruby, he basically traded Dean in for someone else who could guide him and tell him what to do--Ruby was calling the shots and encouraging him the entire way, and Sam was too deluded with "WOO POWER!" to notice. Your definition of "growing up" and mine do not square, Sam.
It's actually why, I think, when it comes down to it, there is a huge difference, for me, between Dean's breaking the first seal and Sam's breaking the last. Yeah, they both didn't know (and, one could argue, they couldn't know), but Sam wasn't acting under coercion. Arguably, he did have the ability, once Dean got back, to stop hunting for Lilith and yeah, there's a lot to be said about how much we're controlled by our own personalities and how much we can be manipulated by other people, but... Sam was never forced into what he did. He went, because in the end going along with Ruby, in the end, meant independence, and I honestly wonder if the actual act of killing Lilith was an act of revenge so much as it was an assertion of power.
And, to go way off on a tangent, it's also what kind of pisses me off when people say "it's Dean's fault! He broke the first seal!" People, he was tortured for thirty years. Let me repeat that: THIRTY YEARS HE WAS TORTURED. Please, nobody tell me that culpability still exists under those circumstances, and please, nobody tell me that being tortured horribly for three decades is exactly the same as losing your brother, getting him back, willfully lying to him, and then going off and doing your own thing despite advice from wiser quarters. Chuck tells Sam drinking demon blood is wrong, and Sam shrugs and keeps doing it anyway.
So, yeah, I'm not particularly enthused when Sam climbs on Dean whenever Dean tries to call the shots, because Sam's attempts at independent thought this past year have been woefully and catastrophically inadequate.
/rant.
Stuff I liked: Obviously, the boys back together! And the case had that old-school feel to it, with the MOTW and the research and last-second save. Also, I think I spied the pilot from "Phantom Traveler" way back in S1. Does anyone know if that's actually him as well?
Dean in Lincoln's stovepipe hat, and Dean in shirtsleeves, and Dean with the car and then the "tiny violin" remark in the bar.
Stuff I didn't like so much: Paris Hilton. It's just... her voice. Dean, don't rip on Ghandi :( The fight scene at the end was, quite possibly, the worst/most awkward in SPN history. Also, I have a deep antipathy toward and distrust of wax museums. They just aren't natural. Sam staring the Abe Lincoln statue in the eye freaked the hell out of me; I was waiting, waiting I tell you, for waxy!Abe to lunge for him.
To conclude: you and I both know that Dean was actually talking to Cas on his cell phone. Just sayin'.
Next week(s): W.T.F.?????? I don't even know, y'all.
.eta: I was actually saving this to post, because as I said above, I had a fairly depressing and frustrating day today, and when I checked EchoFon tonight and thought "Hey, I wonder if Misha's updated"... a miracle. Oh, @misha:
1 of u posted "we're now 1/4 of a million minions strong." Strictly speaking, it's 1/10th of 1/4 of a mil-which doesn't have the same ring.
Either way, we're a formidable force. We need to start thinking about how to construct a cumbersome bureaucracy to accentuate our numbers.
♥♥♥
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