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.spn 5.13; or, CAS ON MY TEEVEE
First, BONES micro-review... HURRAY SOUND NOT FUCKED UP THIS WEEK.
Also, between Booth's coat (clearly appropriated from Cas) and the case, I was wondering if somehow Fox and the CW had agreed to a crossover. Because you have to admit... it would be kind of awesome to see. The look on Brennan's face when she realizes demons and angels are real? Priceless! Also: Dean getting put in his place by Angela making remarks about the sexual tension he has with the angel (you know she'd do it, don't lie), Cas in a trivia contest with Mr. Nigel Murray (who would have to be the intern of the week), and Sam getting lost in the Jeffersonian.
SOMEONE WRITE THIS PLEASE KTHX.
Anyway, I was prepared to seriously dislike this episode, first for the schizophrenia/mental illness storyline (I'm sorry, it's just one of those things I have little patience with) and then for Cam's OMGDOESTHEMUSLIMINTERNTHATEME??!1? reaction to Vaziri's "I look Shai'tan in the face every day" remark. Still, the episode was at least honest and sympathetic in its portrayal of the victim's family, and I have to say... Mr. Vaziri is pretty awesome. His reaction to Cam's ridiculously overblown paranoia saved things for me--straightforward, honest, and I hope Cam has the decency not to keep wondering if he's this alien with undecipherable intentions. Jesus, Cam, act professional.
This actually seems to be chronic flailing on the writers' part, because almost every episode I've seen with Vaziri someone's been all weird and uncertain around the strange brown guy who prays a bunch of times a day. Even though Vaziri does it to make a point about cultural assumptions, the fact that it doesn't seem to have registered with a group of otherwise intelligent people is annoying to me.
And now,
CAS ON MY TEEVEE AT LAAAAAAST!!!
Sorry, just had to get that out there. Seventy-seven days of Caslessness, okay? IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT.
In some ways, this episode confirms what we either knew or suspected: that being a vessel is genetic (for which see: Jimmy, Claire) and that someone from a hunter family and someone from a vessel family meeting and having kids was more or less in the cards. And we of course also know that one of the central struggles of the show, fate vs. free will, is still playing itself out and Dean's pretty much picked his side. Even though that's really nothing new, I have to say I really like it a lot, because I find the blurriness that is the space between determinism and self-determination to be endlessly fascinating.
The new stuff of the episode, i.e. Michael... innnnteresting. He is a fairly colossal asshole, but his appearance actually gives me hope that his love for Lucifer might bring him around in the end. Oddly, despite the Monumental Importance of his entrance onto the scene, I don't have much to say. Maybe I haven't processed it yet. More thoughts maybe, eventually. I also wonder how it is that Cas apparently got off scot-free, if Michael regards him as unimportant or just doesn't care/know that it's Castiel who's doing this--after all, his Castiel would never in a million years think of doing something like disobeying orders.
DON'T PUT CAS IN THE CORNER, MICHAEL. OTHERS HAVE MADE THIS MISTAKE.
Stuff I didn't really like:
Although I wasn't a huge fan (mostly because, I'm sorry, Julie McNiven is wooden), I'm kind of upset to see Anna dead. Not only do the boys need an ally, but it would have been awesome to see another angel buck its programming, more proof that angels do have and can exercise free will, that Cas, and maybe Gabriel to an extent, isn't the sole exception. There are a few moments when it seems like she's about to manage it--the hesitation when she moves in to kill John, her apologies to Mary and John--but she never quite does; it's reminiscent of Cas in 4.21 clearly knowing what he's doing is wrong, but doing it anyway, until Dean talks him around in 4.22. I would have liked to see that duplicated, because in my head the next logical step would be Cas and Anna starting an insurrection in Heaven and being badass and awesome.
Depressingly Casless middle half-hour. Boo. Also I was totally hoping, in a selfish, smooshy fangirl way, to have a Cas and Mary moment. In my head, a weird, disheveled guy in a trench coat, looking slightly lost, shows up at her door at some point and asks for Dean and Sam Winchester. She has no idea what he's talking about, he must have the wrong house, and he nods in confusion and leaves. She feels a bit better, for some odd reason, despite what she suspects is morning sickness. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS, DON'T TELL ME OTHERWISE.
I also would have liked some Castiel-Anna resolution. She was his commander for ages, and it's clear that he looked up to her as a commander and then as another angel who'd been down the path he's only just found for himself. And, since he basically turned her in, well, some guilt would have been nice.
Stuff I loved kind of a WHOLE FREAKING LOT:
-YOUNG URIEL!!!!
-Oh my god how fucking badass is that angel? Like, seriously, HOW FUCKING BADASS? I don't even know, you guys. Convincing Dean and Sam to let him go to meet Anna instead, and then very calmly telling Anna that, yeah, I'll kill you if you fuck with them, AND AND AND taking them back in time even though he knew exactly how bad it was going to be
-HONEYMOON SUITE. HONEYMOON. SUITE.
-WEIRD NERDY GUY IN A TRENCH COAT
-Glenn Close! "I don't understand that reference." OH MY GOD CAS, I LOVE YOU IMPOSSIBLY. WHY CAN'T YOU BE ON MY TV ALL THE TIME?
-SAM!!! He's so close to S1 Sam in this episode, I almost want to hug him. His admission that John died not knowing that Sam had forgiven him, or would forgive him... This is why you can't be angry all the time, Sam. Maybe you could extend some of that forgiveness to other people.
-Cas saying Sam's his friend. It's important to get along with your would-be brother-in-law, Cas!
-Again: Oh my god how fucking badass is that angel? Like, seriously, HOW FUCKING BADASS?
In sum: I quite liked this! Not smooth all the way, but it's got badass and determined Cas, it's got my Dean/Cas subtext, it has Winchesters being terminally fucked up, the story appeals to me, SO THERE.
Next week: MOAR CAS. And Eros has gone amok! ♥♥♥
Also, between Booth's coat (clearly appropriated from Cas) and the case, I was wondering if somehow Fox and the CW had agreed to a crossover. Because you have to admit... it would be kind of awesome to see. The look on Brennan's face when she realizes demons and angels are real? Priceless! Also: Dean getting put in his place by Angela making remarks about the sexual tension he has with the angel (you know she'd do it, don't lie), Cas in a trivia contest with Mr. Nigel Murray (who would have to be the intern of the week), and Sam getting lost in the Jeffersonian.
SOMEONE WRITE THIS PLEASE KTHX.
Anyway, I was prepared to seriously dislike this episode, first for the schizophrenia/mental illness storyline (I'm sorry, it's just one of those things I have little patience with) and then for Cam's OMGDOESTHEMUSLIMINTERNTHATEME??!1? reaction to Vaziri's "I look Shai'tan in the face every day" remark. Still, the episode was at least honest and sympathetic in its portrayal of the victim's family, and I have to say... Mr. Vaziri is pretty awesome. His reaction to Cam's ridiculously overblown paranoia saved things for me--straightforward, honest, and I hope Cam has the decency not to keep wondering if he's this alien with undecipherable intentions. Jesus, Cam, act professional.
This actually seems to be chronic flailing on the writers' part, because almost every episode I've seen with Vaziri someone's been all weird and uncertain around the strange brown guy who prays a bunch of times a day. Even though Vaziri does it to make a point about cultural assumptions, the fact that it doesn't seem to have registered with a group of otherwise intelligent people is annoying to me.
And now,
Sorry, just had to get that out there. Seventy-seven days of Caslessness, okay? IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT.
In some ways, this episode confirms what we either knew or suspected: that being a vessel is genetic (for which see: Jimmy, Claire) and that someone from a hunter family and someone from a vessel family meeting and having kids was more or less in the cards. And we of course also know that one of the central struggles of the show, fate vs. free will, is still playing itself out and Dean's pretty much picked his side. Even though that's really nothing new, I have to say I really like it a lot, because I find the blurriness that is the space between determinism and self-determination to be endlessly fascinating.
The new stuff of the episode, i.e. Michael... innnnteresting. He is a fairly colossal asshole, but his appearance actually gives me hope that his love for Lucifer might bring him around in the end. Oddly, despite the Monumental Importance of his entrance onto the scene, I don't have much to say. Maybe I haven't processed it yet. More thoughts maybe, eventually. I also wonder how it is that Cas apparently got off scot-free, if Michael regards him as unimportant or just doesn't care/know that it's Castiel who's doing this--after all, his Castiel would never in a million years think of doing something like disobeying orders.
DON'T PUT CAS IN THE CORNER, MICHAEL. OTHERS HAVE MADE THIS MISTAKE.
Stuff I didn't really like:
Although I wasn't a huge fan (mostly because, I'm sorry, Julie McNiven is wooden), I'm kind of upset to see Anna dead. Not only do the boys need an ally, but it would have been awesome to see another angel buck its programming, more proof that angels do have and can exercise free will, that Cas, and maybe Gabriel to an extent, isn't the sole exception. There are a few moments when it seems like she's about to manage it--the hesitation when she moves in to kill John, her apologies to Mary and John--but she never quite does; it's reminiscent of Cas in 4.21 clearly knowing what he's doing is wrong, but doing it anyway, until Dean talks him around in 4.22. I would have liked to see that duplicated, because in my head the next logical step would be Cas and Anna starting an insurrection in Heaven and being badass and awesome.
Depressingly Casless middle half-hour. Boo. Also I was totally hoping, in a selfish, smooshy fangirl way, to have a Cas and Mary moment. In my head, a weird, disheveled guy in a trench coat, looking slightly lost, shows up at her door at some point and asks for Dean and Sam Winchester. She has no idea what he's talking about, he must have the wrong house, and he nods in confusion and leaves. She feels a bit better, for some odd reason, despite what she suspects is morning sickness. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS, DON'T TELL ME OTHERWISE.
I also would have liked some Castiel-Anna resolution. She was his commander for ages, and it's clear that he looked up to her as a commander and then as another angel who'd been down the path he's only just found for himself. And, since he basically turned her in, well, some guilt would have been nice.
Stuff I loved kind of a WHOLE FREAKING LOT:
-YOUNG URIEL!!!!
-Oh my god how fucking badass is that angel? Like, seriously, HOW FUCKING BADASS? I don't even know, you guys. Convincing Dean and Sam to let him go to meet Anna instead, and then very calmly telling Anna that, yeah, I'll kill you if you fuck with them, AND AND AND taking them back in time even though he knew exactly how bad it was going to be
-HONEYMOON SUITE. HONEYMOON. SUITE.
-WEIRD NERDY GUY IN A TRENCH COAT
-Glenn Close! "I don't understand that reference." OH MY GOD CAS, I LOVE YOU IMPOSSIBLY. WHY CAN'T YOU BE ON MY TV ALL THE TIME?
-SAM!!! He's so close to S1 Sam in this episode, I almost want to hug him. His admission that John died not knowing that Sam had forgiven him, or would forgive him... This is why you can't be angry all the time, Sam. Maybe you could extend some of that forgiveness to other people.
-Cas saying Sam's his friend. It's important to get along with your would-be brother-in-law, Cas!
-Again: Oh my god how fucking badass is that angel? Like, seriously, HOW FUCKING BADASS?
In sum: I quite liked this! Not smooth all the way, but it's got badass and determined Cas, it's got my Dean/Cas subtext, it has Winchesters being terminally fucked up, the story appeals to me, SO THERE.
Next week: MOAR CAS. And Eros has gone amok! ♥♥♥