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Oct. 7th, 2006 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fairyd123And I'm back from sunny Orlando - somewhat jag lagged and dismayed to realise that the weather has changed so much in my absence that I'm going to have to look at buying a winter coat tomorrow. It's also very strange to see that all the shops are hawking their Christmas goods already. I swear I wandered jetlagged into my local supermarket and I was like "How long have I been gone?"
Will put up some recs tomorrow. Trying to catch up with 2 weeks worth of my flist is virtually impossible - thank god for the SPN newsletter!
I've gotta admit that In My Time of Dying didn't move me as much as I thought it would. Don't misunderstand me I thought it was beautifully acted and directed with all three of the Winchester boys rocking the hell out of their scenes. The supporting cast was also excellent. I loved the reaper. Her lines in the script sounded fairly snarky to me but she delivered them in this kind gentle tone that really worked. And Frederic Lane was awesome as the demon - he was clearly having a whale of a time gleefully mocking John and his predicament. It was just that the episode felt a little anti-climatic.
I think one of the problems of reading sides in advance of an episode is that you can actually feel disappointed if everything plays out exactly as the sides indicated it would. There was no trick up the writers' sleeves in this episode. We knew that John was going to trade himself and the colt for the demon. I was hoping that the episode would end with John being missing - thereby allowing them to write JDM back in if his Shonda Rimes show crashes and burns but that was clearly not to be. The episode played out pretty much as everyone had anticipated it would back when Devil's Trap first aired - which is why I would imagine there have been so few fan fic codas written to the episode - any of the post Devil's Trap fic that I recced over the summer work just as well for the end of this episode.
I was also suprisingly non-plussed by John's death and I like both the character and the actor. You're looking at the kind of girl who cries her eyes out at the end of episodes of Bones for god's sake and yet I was completely dry eyed when they killed off John. All in all a solid episode but not one that really rocked my world.
Everybody Loves a Clown on the other hand was an episode I was dreading and yet turned out, for me anyway, to be one of the strongest episodes they've done so far. The clown plot, such as it was was sufficiently unsettling (although that could be because I absolutely fucking hate clowns - and yes Stephen King and that god awful miniseries have a lot to answer for). Elements of it were a little daft - why exactly did the creature decide to reveal itself to Dean when at that point Dean didn't have a clue who the creature was? Did it feel that it needed a challenge or something?
But the interaction between the brothers just killed me. It was very hard to watch Sam dying a death of a thousand cuts as Dean lashed out at him in grief and anger over and over again. I've never been a fan of Padalecki's acting but he was superb in this episode. His wounded delivery of "Why are you saying this to me" just about ripped my heart out. That whole exchange was mesmirising. Dean was truthful in what he said but it was clear that he'd always avoided purposefully hurting his brother before but in his need to hurt someone anyone to make them feel as much pain as he does he just ripped poor little Sammy to shreds. I especially loved the little look that Ackles gave at the end indicating that Dean knew just how much he'd hurt Sam and regretted it but wasn't about to start building bridges anytime soon. The difference in how the boys are grieving was beautifully played - Sam openly in agony, not afraid to admit to his pain and his guilt whilst failing to realise that trying to force Dean to grieve on Sam's terms will only end in disaster and Dean refusing to admit that he's having difficulty coping and lashing out blindly in his rage at anyone around him. The scene where he took the crowbar to the Impala was brutal to watch. Serious kudos to both Jared and Jensen - I know Supernatural isn't the kind of show that will ever be considered for an Emmy but both actors did tremendous work in this episode.
As for Barbie's Hunters Bar and its horribly misconceived inhabitants? It pains me to say it but I actually really really liked Ellen. She was tough, warm and no-nonsense. The insta-mommy vibe that I loathed in the sides just wasn't there. She backed off the instant Dean told her too when she was comiserating about his father and whilst she offered them a place to stay she wasn't being over familiar or crossing any boundaries. I confess I would be quite happy for her to re-appear.
Ash? Well I think he suited the name Miles far better and he was a tad silly but acceptable enough as a recurring character (although I thought he seemed to be channeling Giovanni Ribisi a tad too much). Loved the look he gave Dean when Dean went to touch his keyboard.
As for the dreaded hunter Barbie...well thankfully she had so little screen time it was difficult to make an assessment one way or another. I think she looks insanely young for the part. Seriously she could pass for a young teen and as such wouldn't make a credible love interest for Padalecki nevermind Ackles. Would it really have killed them to have found a 27/28 year old to play opposite Ackles? Jo also looks more pageant queen than demon hunter. Ellen looks like she could handle herself. Jo with her impractical long flowing blonde hair, perfectly manicured nails and itsy bitsy tops looks less capable of kicking demon ass than SMG did in Buffy. I think its going to be quite a stretch for us to see her as a credible ass kicking love interest. Visually they are definitely more big brother/teen sister than lovers. It's going to give the romance a really off putting skeesey vibe to it.
I know they'll never tell us but I really would like to know how much the venemous fan reaction to Jo over the summer affected the way she was used in this episode. Her screentime was significantly less than the released sides suggested. It should have been obvious to the writers that they couldn't have Dean meeting-cute with a Mary Sue in the same episode that we see him burning and salting his father's corpse. So thank god that they did slash Jo's role to about 6 lines. All that crap about her being angry that Sam and Dean took her first hunt and the kissing and "Miss me" banter in the final scene would have been obscenely out of place in such an emotionally raw episode. I actually liked the way the writers had Dean react to Jo in this ep - he hit on her almost by rote but there was no real interest behind it. I'll have to reserve judgement on her until Simon Said but I sense I'm going to neither love or hate her - she's just going to be a mild irritance that I hope goes away soon. I did think that her last scene with Dean was horribly forced and felt like something from an earlier incarnation of the script when her role was more beefed up. Having Jo ask if she would ever see Dean again when they'd only just met and barely spoken was slightly desperate and rather odd. I'm a tad dissapointed that we'll be seeing her again quite so soon but hopefully she'll get no more screentime than she did in this episode.
So what did you all think of the episodes?
Will put up some recs tomorrow. Trying to catch up with 2 weeks worth of my flist is virtually impossible - thank god for the SPN newsletter!
I've gotta admit that In My Time of Dying didn't move me as much as I thought it would. Don't misunderstand me I thought it was beautifully acted and directed with all three of the Winchester boys rocking the hell out of their scenes. The supporting cast was also excellent. I loved the reaper. Her lines in the script sounded fairly snarky to me but she delivered them in this kind gentle tone that really worked. And Frederic Lane was awesome as the demon - he was clearly having a whale of a time gleefully mocking John and his predicament. It was just that the episode felt a little anti-climatic.
I think one of the problems of reading sides in advance of an episode is that you can actually feel disappointed if everything plays out exactly as the sides indicated it would. There was no trick up the writers' sleeves in this episode. We knew that John was going to trade himself and the colt for the demon. I was hoping that the episode would end with John being missing - thereby allowing them to write JDM back in if his Shonda Rimes show crashes and burns but that was clearly not to be. The episode played out pretty much as everyone had anticipated it would back when Devil's Trap first aired - which is why I would imagine there have been so few fan fic codas written to the episode - any of the post Devil's Trap fic that I recced over the summer work just as well for the end of this episode.
I was also suprisingly non-plussed by John's death and I like both the character and the actor. You're looking at the kind of girl who cries her eyes out at the end of episodes of Bones for god's sake and yet I was completely dry eyed when they killed off John. All in all a solid episode but not one that really rocked my world.
Everybody Loves a Clown on the other hand was an episode I was dreading and yet turned out, for me anyway, to be one of the strongest episodes they've done so far. The clown plot, such as it was was sufficiently unsettling (although that could be because I absolutely fucking hate clowns - and yes Stephen King and that god awful miniseries have a lot to answer for). Elements of it were a little daft - why exactly did the creature decide to reveal itself to Dean when at that point Dean didn't have a clue who the creature was? Did it feel that it needed a challenge or something?
But the interaction between the brothers just killed me. It was very hard to watch Sam dying a death of a thousand cuts as Dean lashed out at him in grief and anger over and over again. I've never been a fan of Padalecki's acting but he was superb in this episode. His wounded delivery of "Why are you saying this to me" just about ripped my heart out. That whole exchange was mesmirising. Dean was truthful in what he said but it was clear that he'd always avoided purposefully hurting his brother before but in his need to hurt someone anyone to make them feel as much pain as he does he just ripped poor little Sammy to shreds. I especially loved the little look that Ackles gave at the end indicating that Dean knew just how much he'd hurt Sam and regretted it but wasn't about to start building bridges anytime soon. The difference in how the boys are grieving was beautifully played - Sam openly in agony, not afraid to admit to his pain and his guilt whilst failing to realise that trying to force Dean to grieve on Sam's terms will only end in disaster and Dean refusing to admit that he's having difficulty coping and lashing out blindly in his rage at anyone around him. The scene where he took the crowbar to the Impala was brutal to watch. Serious kudos to both Jared and Jensen - I know Supernatural isn't the kind of show that will ever be considered for an Emmy but both actors did tremendous work in this episode.
As for Barbie's Hunters Bar and its horribly misconceived inhabitants? It pains me to say it but I actually really really liked Ellen. She was tough, warm and no-nonsense. The insta-mommy vibe that I loathed in the sides just wasn't there. She backed off the instant Dean told her too when she was comiserating about his father and whilst she offered them a place to stay she wasn't being over familiar or crossing any boundaries. I confess I would be quite happy for her to re-appear.
Ash? Well I think he suited the name Miles far better and he was a tad silly but acceptable enough as a recurring character (although I thought he seemed to be channeling Giovanni Ribisi a tad too much). Loved the look he gave Dean when Dean went to touch his keyboard.
As for the dreaded hunter Barbie...well thankfully she had so little screen time it was difficult to make an assessment one way or another. I think she looks insanely young for the part. Seriously she could pass for a young teen and as such wouldn't make a credible love interest for Padalecki nevermind Ackles. Would it really have killed them to have found a 27/28 year old to play opposite Ackles? Jo also looks more pageant queen than demon hunter. Ellen looks like she could handle herself. Jo with her impractical long flowing blonde hair, perfectly manicured nails and itsy bitsy tops looks less capable of kicking demon ass than SMG did in Buffy. I think its going to be quite a stretch for us to see her as a credible ass kicking love interest. Visually they are definitely more big brother/teen sister than lovers. It's going to give the romance a really off putting skeesey vibe to it.
I know they'll never tell us but I really would like to know how much the venemous fan reaction to Jo over the summer affected the way she was used in this episode. Her screentime was significantly less than the released sides suggested. It should have been obvious to the writers that they couldn't have Dean meeting-cute with a Mary Sue in the same episode that we see him burning and salting his father's corpse. So thank god that they did slash Jo's role to about 6 lines. All that crap about her being angry that Sam and Dean took her first hunt and the kissing and "Miss me" banter in the final scene would have been obscenely out of place in such an emotionally raw episode. I actually liked the way the writers had Dean react to Jo in this ep - he hit on her almost by rote but there was no real interest behind it. I'll have to reserve judgement on her until Simon Said but I sense I'm going to neither love or hate her - she's just going to be a mild irritance that I hope goes away soon. I did think that her last scene with Dean was horribly forced and felt like something from an earlier incarnation of the script when her role was more beefed up. Having Jo ask if she would ever see Dean again when they'd only just met and barely spoken was slightly desperate and rather odd. I'm a tad dissapointed that we'll be seeing her again quite so soon but hopefully she'll get no more screentime than she did in this episode.
So what did you all think of the episodes?
