(no subject)

[fairyd123]

I know I usually only post fic recs on here but I thought I'd branch out a little bit. So I'm a huge fan of the website Television Without Pity and have probably spent more time on there
than I care to think about reading their recaps. So I was overjoyed when they picked up Supernatural part way through the season. Demian's recap of the Pilot episode was both hilarious
and snarky and I had high hopes that the rest of the episodes would be recapped in the same manner. My hopes were cruelly dashed however, when I started reading Drunken Bee's recaps.
She clearly hates the show and doesn't think that the boys can act for toffee. Reading her recaps is an excruciating experience. I thought I was the only one who felt this way until I read the
awesome post on Innie_Darlings journal. So I thought I'd have a go at writing a recap off my own starting with Dead Man's Blood.

Comments are gratefully appreciated - if people like it I might have a go at some of the other episodes - particularly Faith and Something Wicked - episodes which I really liked and which TWOP recapped terribly:


Opening montage bringing the casual viewer up to speed on the continuing adventures of the Winchester boys and their hunt for the big bad demon. At this stage I think the show could really use an opening sequence - the "previously on" sections are getting so long that they are practically recapping the entire damn show.

Manning, Colarado. We fade up on a dive of a bar and are introduced to "Mr Elkins" a middle aged, seriously intense guy who is ignoring the cute bartender in favour of writing in a journal which looks like the twin of Daddy Winchesters. The guy is basically John in 20 years time. Elkins finally acknowledges Beth the bartender and asks for another drink. Random guy at the bar cracks a joke about Elkins being the Unabomber which considering that Elkins is just sat there quietly writing away and bothering no one seems way harsh. Beth dismisses Elkins as a nut on the grounds that he lives alone, visits the same bar every day and is constantly writing his "little notes" in his journal. If living alone, writing in public and frequenting the same establishment every day for refreshment makes you a nut I should probably have been institutionalised years ago. Beth is being a tad judgemental here that's all I'm saying. Beth condescendingly pours Elkins another drink as he suddenly looks up sensing something is amiss. The bar door opens and four people lead by an extremely pale, leather clad brunette walk in. Elkins glares daggers at them. Beth the bitchy barmaid asks what they want and the brunette asks for "Jack all around, leave the bottle." Beth asks whether they'll be wanting food and the brunette silkily replies "We have dinner plans". Supernatural even for you that line was monumentally cheesy. Beth goes back to condescend Elkins some more but he's vanished leaving his drink untouched.

We jump to Elkins returning to his cabin in a hurry. He's panicking, fumbling with his keys and struggling to open the door. He gets inside and dumps his journal on the table. For a moment he seems relieved that he's made it home without incident but then he stiffens and turns slowly around. Sure enough the slinky brunette is behind him. "It's been a while - I gotta say you look old" she purrs. Poor Elkins it seems to be open season on insulting him tonight. Elkins fearfully asks what she wants. She's barely finished taunting him with her reply ("What do you think?") when he skewers her with a knife to her chest. The brunette looks more upset at the damage done to her pretty leather jacket than the several inches of steel in her sternum. Barely breaking her stride she removes the knife (complete with truly nasty squelching noise thanks for that sound guys) and continues to advance on Elkins, her eyes flashing in a special effect which they've slightly overused ever since in first showed up in Skin. He hauls ass into the next room and barricades the door by pushing a bookshelf in front of it (like when has pushing a flimsy item of furniture in front of a door ever stopped the bad guys from finding and slaughtering the hero?)

Frantically he goes to his gun safe and removes a beautiful, very lethal looking long silver gun which he begins to load while the brunette proceeds to smash down the door. Elkins has finally gotten the gun loaded when two more vamps crash through the roof of his cabin. It's not a great special effect shot - the guys crash through way too slowly and the fact that they're being lowered on wires is unfortunately rather obvious. They pounce on Elkins just as the brunette succeeds in toppling the bookcase. Elkins desperately reaches for the gun which the brunette picks up and we get a better look at her. She seems to be wearing some sort of corset/leather jacket combo that I immediately covert. She's scarily pale - I get that she's meant to be a vamp but a splash of colour wouldn't have gone amiss. She examines the gun and I giggle at the fact that she has a perfect French manicure - where do vampires go to get their nails done exactly? "Nice gun" she taunts while Elkins opens and closes his mouth in sheer terror. "Wouldn't do you much good though. Boys we're eating in tonight" God this poor actress is getting to spout some dreadful lines. Fade to black on the sound of Elkins screaming.

Dean is checking the local paper in a diner while Sam works on Dean's laptop - the one with all the gothic symbols on the top -Dean is such a 13 year old girl at heart. Dean's found nothing in the paper that would indicate a new case while Sam tells the story of a woman in Iowa who fell 10,000 feet and survived. Dean points out that particular feat is more "Twilight Zone" than anything Supernatural. Dean suggests that they could just continue heading east to New York and hook up again with Sarah, the sassy chick from Provenance. Dean so desperately wants to see his baby brother happy. He's acting like Sarah's one man cheerleading squad here. Sam smiles affectionately before basically completely dismissing Sarah "Yeah maybe someday". Guess the kiss and anything that came after it wasn't that memorable then eh Sammy? Sammy is strictly business and Dean realising that his "Go Team Sarah" efforts aren't being appreciated, reluctantly drops it.

Sam turns to another story he found on the net - a man from Colorado called Daniel Elkins was mauled in his cabin. In the next season (god willing!) they really do need to find a more organic way for the boys to find their cases. Introduce some more of their dad's contacts, other people they've helped, other hunters, friendly law enforcement, friendly journalist anything but have them rely on papers and the net. Because at this stage in the season it's stretching credulity a tad for them to find the latest supernatural occurrence by glancing at the front page of the local paper or spending 5 minutes on Google. Dean looks pensive realising that he knows Elkins name from somewhere. He pulls out John's journal in which Elkins name is listed alongside others whose names have been blacked out (because they're dead or because John fell out with them?).So the boys are heading to Colorado.

Night time - they pick the lock to Elkins' cabin and enter torches at the ready. Given that it was established that Elkins lived in a remote area wouldn't it have been safer for the boys to check it out in daylight? Not as cool certainly but less chance of them being ambushed by supernatural entities. The place is completely trashed. Sam discovers that a ring of salt has been laid at the entrance to the cabin. So if salt is a purifier which those touched with evil can't cross how did Vamp brunette get in? Did she crash through the roof too? Meanwhile Dean has found Elkins' journal which dates back to the sixties. I like the fact that the boys seem genuinely surprised that anyone other than their father could have come up with an idea like recording supernatural activity in a journal - there is so much hero worship going on here my heart bleeds for both of them. We pan outside where a dark figure is shown watching the light from Sam and Dean's torches dance behind the cabin windows. I'm sure the writers were aiming for dramatic tension here but to be honest even if I hadn't seen the promo pics for this episode I would have immediately known the figure was John.

Back in the cabin Dean spots the now empty gun case. He crouches over a pool of blood on the ground noticing that there are scratches on the floor. "Death throws maybe?" Sam asks. Sam is such a ray of sunshine sometimes. Dean grabs a piece of paper firmly sticks it over the bloody patch (Ew!) and rubs over the scratches with a pencil. I love it when they occasionally let Dean show off his mad skills. Dean lifts up the paper which has stuck slightly to the floor with all the blood and realises that the scratches are a message. As per Sam "three letters, six digits the location and combination of a post office box- it's a mail drop".

Flash to the next day and the boys are somewhat furtively retrieving an envelope from Elkins' post office box. Back in the car we see that the envelope is addressed "JW". The boys query whether the envelope is meant for their father. Dean is wondering whether they should open it when Papa Winchester knocks on Dean's side window causing Dean to practically leap out of his skin. Ackles shares a pitch perfect WTF? glance here with Padalecki as Dad lets himself into the back seat of the Impala. Sam freaks out about what Dad is doing here while Dad tells them that he heard on the news about his buddy's death. I guess grief and the fact that this is only the second time he's seen his boys in an entire year is preventing John from lecturing Dean about how easily he snuck up on the pair of them and that if he'd been a demon Dean would be dead about now. John tells the boys that he came up to Colorado as soon as he heard about Elkins and that he saw them checking out his cabin. When Sam reasonably asks why the hell John didn't just come in and see them John says that he had to ensure that the boys weren't followed by anyone or anything. Sometimes I think he doesn't have enough faith in his boys' abilities as hunters. He softens the blow by praising them on the nice job they did covering their tracks. Poor affection starved Dean positively beams with pride and replies that they learnt from the best. I sense that this adorable hero worship is going to end very badly indeed.

"So you came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?" Sam asks somewhat incredulously. Considering he is meant to be the sweet, nice one Sam is surprisingly insensitive at times. John replies that Elkins was a good man who taught him a hell of a lot about hunting but that they had a falling out and hadn't seen each other in years. Dean hands over the envelope. John opens it, scans the contents and promptly goes nuts calling Elkins a son of a bitch. He asks whether the boys saw a gun, an antique colt revolver at the cabin and Dean tells him about the empty gun case. Dad urgently tells them that they need to find whatever killed Elkins and get the gun back. Sam understandably surprised that Dad wants them to team up on a hunt with him giving the increased risk that the Demon will find them if they are all together asks why they need the gun. Dad rather petulantly replies that it's important. Sam points out that they don't even know what killed Elkins and John replies that what killed him were the things that Elkins killed best - Vampires. Dean looks completely baffled while Padalecki in a cute little boy tone which is a shade away from whining says "But you never even mentioned them Dad". John replies that he thought they were extinct and that they'd been wiped out by hunters like Elkins.

We cut to a shot of numerous vampires (We know they've vampires because their eyes are doing that flashing thing) hanging out and getting drunk. They look they've wandered off the set of The Lost Boys. The terrible big hair and love for pale denim and leather is very late 80's. In short they don't exactly inspire terror, just unintended laughter. John voiceovers that most vampire lore is crap. Crosses won't repel them and sunlight and stakes to the heart won't kill them. God I love JDM's growly voice - I have no idea how exactly a Seattle native winds up with an accent like that but I'm not complaining. John tells Sam and Dean that the blood lust is true and that vampires need fresh human blood to survive.

We cut to a shot of a couple in a car having a slightly forced "cute" conversation about the dreadful shirt the guy is wearing. The shirt sadly isn't red although it should be as he practically has the words "Dead Meat" tattooed on his forehead. The couple see a body lying in the middle of the road. Horrified they stop the car in time and get out to help. Well no good deed goes unpunished. The guy leans over the prone vamp who opens his eyes and vamps out revealing a vicious looking set of fangs.

Cut to the boy's motel where Sam and Dean are fast asleep, fully clothed on top of their beds while John listens to the police scanner. He wakes them up (Dean cutely rubs his eyes - I love all the little bits of business Ackles does in each episode to make Dean as fully realised a character as he can be). John tells them the sorry story of the couple in the car and that they need to go. When Sam who seems to be inclined to question his father's every move asks how he knows it's the vamps an exasperated John barks "Just follow me OK?" Dean shakes his head "Vampires….gets funnier every time I hear it" Hee!

Cut to the road where the couple disappeared and John returning from speaking to the police at the scene. Normally I'm not fond of the scenes where the boys try and wheedle info out of law enforcement but I would actually have loved to have seen how John does it as a contrast to Sam and Dean's more theatrical attempts involving costumes and fake accents. Sam bitches about why they couldn't have gone with Dad to talk to the cops. Dean sighs like the weight of the world is on his shoulders and in an exhausted tone asks whether "It's starting already?" John confirms the vamps have taken the couple and tells the boys the direction they need to go in. Sam again wants to know how John knows this. There's been a lot of talk across the fandom about Sam and John's behaviour here. I tend to think that they're both in the wrong. Sam should know that on a tactical mission there is no time to play 20 questions. He also seems to be resentful of Dad coming back into his life and immediately thinking he gets to call all the shots. By questioning John's reasoning at every turn Sam really is being a tad juvenile. John in turn is acting like the last five years didn't happen. That Sam didn't leave and become his own man in John's absence, that the boys haven't been hunting on their own without any help from him for the past year. When the boys were kids he gave orders which were instantly obeyed and he isn't used to anyone questioning him. But by not telling Sam and Dean the full story and adequately preparing them he puts them at risk.

John shuts Sammy up by reluctantly producing a vampire tooth that he's found. He tells the brothers that vampires have a second set of fangs which descend when they attack. He tells them that they need to haul ass because they're losing daylight. John then incurs the wrath of large parts of the fandom by saying "Hey Dean. Why don't you touch up your car before its gets rust? I wouldn't have given you the damn thing if I thought you were going to ruin it". I seem to have a different take on that line that most people. The majority of comments I've read seem to think that John is being purposefully callous here, being cruel to Dean because he can. I saw the line as a throwaway line that the writers included to showcase how similar John and Dean are. We all know that Dean worships that car and that hell would freeze over before Dean would ever let the car get rusty. The Impala is the one constant in Dean's life - the scenery changes every week, he has no home and he already knows that Sammy will leave as soon as they've killed the demon, but the Impala - well that's the only thing in Dean's life that will never let him down. I saw the line as an inside joke - a way of showing how invested both John and Dean have become in the car over the years and how very similar they are. Did it fall completely flat? Yup, but I still don't think that John was being mean just for the sake of it. Ackles and Padalecki have a great reaction shot here with Sam smiling ruefully and shaking his head at Dean at their crazy Dad's antics, while Dean shrugs Dad's words off but seems a teensy bit hurt at the comment.

The Winchester men are on the road. Dean reads from Elkins' journal expositing that vamps nest in groups of 8-10 and take humans for snacks, keeping them alive for days while they feed. Sam's not interested in hearing it as he's working his way up to a king sized hissy fit about Dad's behaviour. Dean is seriously tired of this shit. "Sam we've been looking for Dad all year and we're barely with him for a couple of hours and there's static already?" Sam says he's happy that Dad's OK and that they're all working together again but refuses to let it drop already by whining about how Dad treats them like children, barks orders at them, keeps them on a need to know basis blah bah blah. As I said before I do think Sam has a valid point but honestly whining Sammy is not my favourite Sammy especially when it results in Dean trotting out his robot soldier routine. "Are you telling me you're cool just following the line and letting him run the whole show?" Sam asks Dean looking at him pointedly. I love what Sam's not saying here - that Dad is effectively usurping Dean's role in running the hunt. Sweet little Sammy is as manipulative as hell when he wants to be. Dean convincing absolutely no one least of all himself replies "If that's what it takes." Sam is pissed.

Back with the not terrifying at all vampires. One of the vamps tries to get bad shirt guy to drink some beer so that he can taste it in his blood when he feeds off him. Ew and indeed gross. He refuses and the vamp forces the bottle into the terrified girl's mouth. Not at all obvious imagery there. She drinks while the brunette Vamp from the beginning (who is now dressed rather more conservatively in a pastel pink and grey long sleeved t-shirt - not exactly classic vamp wear. She's also wearing a huge silver cross which is a cute visual way of separating the mythology of the Supernatural vamps from other shows like Buffy) watches. The spirited girl hostage spits the beer in the boy vamps face. He goes to strike her but is stopped by the brunette vamp who tells them to wait for "Luther". The doors to the vamp's crib bang open and Luther walks in accompanied by clouds of atmospheric dry ice. He does his best blue steel impression and the vamp brunette enthusiastically leaps into his arms sticking her tongue down his throat. Something tells me I'm going to have difficulty taking Luther seriously as a villain.

Vamp brunette tells Luther that she has bought him "presents". We get a better look at Luther, tall, pale, lank hair, cut cheekbones - typical goth. He examines the couple from the car. He likes the girl but dismisses the guy as uninteresting telling the vamp hauling the terrified guy off to treat himself. We then get a shot of 5 vamps chowing down on the poor unfortunate soul while his girlfriend shakes in terror.
Vamp brunette (whose name is now revealed as Kate) tells Luther that she killed Elkins and that she made him suffer. The actress does a nice job of looking genuinely upset when Luther verbally bitch slaps her telling her that she shouldn't have killed Elkins as there are others like him, other hunters who will come looking for them. A still upset Kate tells Luther that she did it for him, for what Elkins did to Luther's family. Luther thoughtfully sums up the motif of the final arc of the season by saying "Revenge isn't worth much if you end up dead."

Luther finally spots the colt which Kate says looks like it was made around the time Luther was born. Kate cruelly laughs about the fact that Elkins died with the gun in his hand and that he should have known better than to think that a gun could hurt her. Luther tells her that the Colt is no ordinary gun.

Back with the Winchester boys. Dean clicks his mobile shut ands tells Sam to pull off at the next exit as Dad has caught the vampires trail. Sam is beyond pissed at being ordered around. He swerves in front of Dad's truck, blocking him in and forcing him to stop. Dad and Sam square up to each other. Sam wants to talk about "everything" and asks John about the importance of the gun while Dean desperately tries to keep the peace. Sam (Texan accent in full force - actors always seem to revert to their native accents when the script calls for them to shout) starts yelling about how when they met John in Shadows he told them that the family couldn't stay together but now he needs their help. John, showing that he has no idea whatsoever how to deal with Sammy coldly orders him to get back in the car. Dean's had enough and steps in between the two of them steering Sam back to the car. I love that Sam won't pay the slightest bit of attention to his father but willingly does what Dean wants with little encouragement. Sam hurls fuel on the fire by muttering under his breath "This is why I left in the first place." An enraged John lays a serious guilt trip on Sam by accusing Sam of walking away and leaving him and Dean when they needed him. A very upset Sam starts screaming at his father, pointing out that it was John who effectively kicked him out and told him never to come back if he went to college. I will confess to being more of a fan of Ackles than Padalecki but I do feel that Jared's acting ability has improved massively since the Pilot. However, this scene is actually truly painful to watch. Jared's acting in this scene is just dreadful - it's definitely the nadir of his performances so far on Supernatural. His upset yelling is just embarrassing. It's weird because working with JDM does seem for the most part to elevate both Jensen and Jared's performances - but not in this scene, in which JDM himself has little to be proud about. Dire scene for all concerned. Anyway much awkwardly self-conscious yelling ensues until Sam and John both retreat to their respective corners leaving a bewildered Dean to mutter "Terrific". Poor Dean - it must kill him seeing the two people he loves more than anything in the world try and rip each other to shreds.

Back with the vamps and Kate and a shirtless Luther are making out in front of the very uncomfortable girl hostage .Luther turns to her and says "You like to watch huh?" Given that she was desperately trying to look at anything but them I'm thinking the answer to that is "No." Kate who has stripped down to her bra slinks over to the girl hostage and starts stroking her hair in a creepy fashion. The terrified girl asks whether they're going to kill her. Kate purrs some god-awful dialogue about taking her so high she won't want to come down. Luther then slits Kate's wrist open with a knife. She drinks her own blood before straddling the terrified girl and kissing her letting her blood flow into her mouth. It's clearly meant to be a dark, sexy scene but actually it's just kinda dull. The way its filmed so that you can't even see both girls faces in profile at the same time also robs of it the cheap sensationalism (Watch the nubile lesbian vampires kiss!) that they were clearly aiming for. Luther, possibly the least frightening vampire since Tom Cruise decided to play Lestat, welcomes the newly born vamp home.

Next day, the Winchesters are performing surveillance on the vampire's nest. We see Luther and the vamp that played dead earlier in the episode wandering around in broad daylight to Dean's dismay. John tells Sam and Dean that direct sunlight hurts like a nasty sunburn but the only way to kill the vamps is to behead them. Completely deadpan he hilariously adds that whilst the vamps sleep during the day it doesn't mean that they won't wake up. The "plan" is to walk right in and steal the gun from under the vamps noses. Given that we find out later in the ep that John knows that dead men's blood is arsenic for vamps wouldn't it have made sense for them to have hightailed it over to the morgue, stolen some blood, laced a number of weapons with it, snuck into the nest, incapacitated the vamps, hacked off their heads while they were poisoned, rescued the few remaining hostages being held as snacks, taken the colt and then left town to go and track down the Demon together? Sometimes I think the show tries way too hard to ensure that Sam and Dean aren't seen to kill unless they are attacked first. Alternatively all it would have taken was one line of dialogue later in the episode - John reading about Dead Man's Blood in Elkins' journal to prevent John and the boys looking like complete amateurs here.

Anyway, Dean reaches into the trunk of the Impala to get his weapons. Dad goes to the trunk of his truck where a hidden compartment opens revealing a stash of weaponry that James Bond would be jealous of. Dean thoughtfully lets his father know that he has an extra machete if he needs one (Dean has "extra" machetes lying around? Boy has issues). In a neat visual gag John unsheathes a ridiculously long shiny machete and tells Dean that he's good. Dean looks on wordlessly impressed at and clearly totally jealous of Dad's amazing stash of weapons. It's a lovely bit of acting from Jensen. Dad suddenly pauses and asks his boys if they really want to know about the Colt. Well of course they do and wouldn't it have made sense for you to have told them about it last night rather than waste precious daylight explaining it to them now? Silly daddy.

John launches into a voiceover while visuals which remind me of the Nicholas Cage film National Treasure flicker on screen. I understand that the dates referred to in this sequence are historically inaccurate but as quite frankly I wouldn't have known that myself I'll let it slide. John says that legend has it that back in 1835 Samuel Colt made a special gun for a demon hunter - a man on horseback. He made 13 bullets to go with the gun. The hunter used the gun a half dozen times before he vanished, the gun along with him, until somehow Elkins found it. John tells the boys that the gun is meant to be able to kill anything. Sam realises that by "anything" Dad means the demon. Find the gun they can kill the demon. Sam and Dean both look suitably emotional at this revelation.

We cut to the Winchester boys in action as they creep into the vampires nest. The vampires weirdly are all sleeping in hammocks - what Luther was too cheap to spring for some decent beds for his extended family? Dean manages to knock into one of the sleeping vampires hammocks. The first time I saw this ep I was on holiday in New York with my mother and upon seeing this scene my mother (who had never watched the show before) cheerfully declared that Dean was "pretty useless". I'm not the type of Dean girl who sees crimes being committed against Dean's character in every episode (I had no problem with Missouri for example) but it would be nice given how long Dean has been hunting if he could be portrayed as a little more stealthy and a little less Shaggy from Scooby Doo. Thankfully for Dean the vamp doesn't wake up.

Meanwhile John is creeping into Luther and Kate's bedroom while Sam has found the recently turned vamp. Dean discovers a cage of humans who are being held by the vamps. Dean tries to quietly break into the heavily padlocked cage (Good luck with that Dean!) while Sam goes to rescue the vamp. She awakens and screams her head off - I guess the special effect shot here that was included in the promo must have been really bad for them to have cut it and replaced it with the far less effective shot of the girl screaming. All hell promptly breaks loose. Luther throws John across the room. He recovers quickly and smashes out the window behind Luther and Kate letting the sunlight in. John tells Sam and Dean to abort and they manage to escape into the sunlight (I sense that from a production viewpoint this scene would have been better if it had been filmed on a beautifully sunny day but the Vancouver weather clearly didn't want to co-operate). There are a tense couple of moments while Sam and Dean wait for John who eventually emerges none the worse for wear. He tells them that the vampires will come for them tonight and that once a vampire has your scent it's for life (Anyone else sensing a sequel in later seasons featuring a vengeful Kate?) John says that they need to find a local funeral home. I sigh at the fact that John "The Man" Winchester is being shown to be a piss poor tactician.

Back in the motel Dean is off snagging the blood from the funeral home while Sam paces anxiously. John watches Sam awkwardly out of the corner of his eye. Realising that he needs to bridge the widening gap between him and his son he decides to get personal in the loveliest scene of the episode. John tells Sam that the day Sam was born he put a $100 into a savings account for him. He did the same thing for Dean. The savings account was a college fund. I love how JDM is playing John here - regret, bitterness, love, a fervent wish that things had turned out very very differently - all of these emotions play over his face in this scene.

"Every month I paid in another $100 until…" 24 years on and John still can't bring himself to say "until your mother died". John tells Sam that a life of hunting was never the life he wanted for Sam. Sam, who clearly can't believe that his father is actually talking to him, asks why John got so mad when he left. "After your mother passed all I saw was evil, everywhere. And all I cared about was keeping you boys alive. I wanted you prepared, ready and somewhere along the way I stopped being your father and became your drill sergeant. So when you said when you wanted to go away to school all I could think about was that you were going to be alone, vulnerable. Sammy it just never occurred to me what you wanted". Jared does a great job of showing that all of Sam's anger has evaporated with his father's words while I pretend that a show as silly as this hasn't just made me well up. John tells Sam that he hadn't accepted that he and Sam are just different. Sam of course snorts sadly at this because with the loss of both Mary and Jess, John and Sam are now about as alike as they're ever going to get. John smiles sadly but warmly at Sam and agrees with his assessment of how alike they are. "Hey dad what ever happened to that college fund?" "Spent it on ammo" Hee - of course he did! Jared Padalecki beams beatifically and all is well with the world again. At that moment Dean returns, bitching about the level of security to protect " a bunch of dead guys" and victoriously holds up a jar full of blood.

Cut to that night and Dean is pretending to have car trouble. Kate walks up to him and offers to give him a lift and take him back to her place. Dean passes on the grounds that he usually draws the line at necrophilia (Um….Usually! Dean what have you been up to?) Given that neither of them even attempt to pretend that they don't know who the other one is why bother with the car trouble charade? Dean could have just been stood there in the middle of the rood waiting for her. Kate grins at his sass before smacking him senseless and dragging him off the ground by his jaw. While she's manhandling Dean another vamp appears behind her. "I don't normally get this friendly until the second date" Yeah right Dean - like you ever have second dates! Despite being a vamp Kate's hormones are still clearly working overtime as she tells Dean that they could have fun together and drags him into a pretty scorching kiss. Dean retorts that he never stays with a chick that long - definitely not eternity. There were a couple of good lines here in the sides which have been deleted where Kate told Sam and John to come out of hiding as she could sense them from miles away and Dean points out that neither of them are that far away just as an arrow slams into her chest. They were cute lines and it's a shame they were canned. As it is arrows appear out of nowhere and sink into Kate and her backup. John and Sam stroll out of the woods, John holding a cross bow. An exasperated Kate points out that it doesn't even sting. "Give it time sweetheart" John crows. "It's coated in Dead Man's Blood - that's like poison to you isn't it?" The actress does a nice job of paling at John's words - no mean feat considering she's wearing a ton of white pancake makeup. Kate goes immediately woozy and Dean puts her in John's truck while John beheads the other vampire.

John throws a number of stinky items onto a fire and tells Sam and Dean to sprinkle the ashes on their clothes as it will mask their scent. Sam wonders whether the vamps will care that much about Kate. John tells him that vampires mate for life and that Kate means more to the leader than the Colt. John tells them that once everything is done he wants the boys out of the area as soon as possible. Sam can't quite believe that things are regressing so quickly after their break through earlier tells John that they'll all be leaving together and using the gun together right? John who can't even bring himself to meet Sam's eyes doesn't answer. Dean looks like he's been kicked in the teeth while Sam wearily states the obvious - that John is leaving again. Sam tells John that he can't treat them as children anymore. John tells them that they are his children and that he wants to keep them safe. John has clearly never heard of the "Divided we fall" concept.

Dean growing a back bone for once says "Respectfully Sir that's a bunch of crap." Sam and John both look as astounded as we all are at Dean finally standing up to his father. Dean points out that John knows that they've been hunting and that he's sent them on hunting trips himself, so he can't be that worried about keeping them safe. John isn't buying Dean's reasoning as in his view all bets are off when it comes to the demon. John says that the demon is a bad son of a bitch and that he can't make the same moves against it if he's worried about keeping Sam and Dean alive. Dean who has his father's number says that what John really means is that he can't be as reckless. John who really does sound frighteningly suicidal in this scene basically says that he doesn't expect to survive the fight with the demon, that losing Mary nearly killed him and that he can't watch his children die too. Dean gives voice to his greatest fear by asking what happens if John dies and they could have done something about it. I like John but he's so single minded that it doesn't seem to have even occurred to him that his death will devastate his children. Dean backs Sammy up saying that they should stand together in this fight. "We're stronger as a family Dad - you know it." John seems moved by Dean's words but dismisses them telling the boys to do their jobs and get out of the area.

The vamps are rallying having realised that Kate is missing and poor Hank's head has been cut off. Luther hears a truck go by and immediately senses that Kate is in it. John is driving with a semi conscious Kate slumped beside him. He spots the vamps headlights in his rear view mirror.

Meanwhile back at the nest one of the vamps hears a noise and decides to investigate. He turns around bottle in hand in time to see Dean stood behind him. "Boo" Dean taunts before slashing the guy's head off with his machete. It is just so wrong how incredibly sexy "Action Dean" is.

The vamps are hot on John's trail. Suddenly John is bewildered as the lights behind him vanish.

Dean has reached the cage of humans and sets about rescuing them. "I told you I'd come back." Heroic Dean just makes me melt into a pile of goo.

In a shot which I'm pretty sure is a homage (rip off take your pick) to The Lost Boys John suddenly finds that all the vampires have somehow gotten ahead of him and are blocking his way. John gets out of the truck at Luther's insistence gleefully telling him that his name is Winchester and that Sam and Dean are cleaning out his nest as they speak. John drags a tied up Kate from the truck and holds a machete to her throat. Luther is a pretty lousy actor but he does a pretty decent job here of convincing me that he does love Kate. John says that he wants a trade - Kate for the Colt. Luther seems surprised at the terms of the deal correctly surmising that John can't shoot them all before they kill him. John scornfully points out that he doesn't need the Colt for them, that he's saving it for something else. Luther puts the Colt on the ground while John tells the vamps to back up. John is so focused on picking the Colt up that he fails to notice that Kate has regained her strength and she slips out of her ties and hits John sending him hurling into the side of his own truck.

What exactly was John's get away plan here anyway? For a start he was taking a risk that Luther would have the Colt on him in order to make the trade - it wasn't necessarily obvious from the earlier scene that that's what the Winchester boys were after. He clearly didn't redope Kate with the Dead Man's Blood before getting out of the truck - even though he knew the blood sickness would wear off soon. And once he had the Colt, considering that he has no intention of wasting the bullets on the vamps, how exactly did he intend to get back into his truck and away from the vampires without them ripping him to pieces? They've spent 19 episodes building John up as a super hunter, someone for Sam and Dean to emulate, but in this episode he really does come across as a rank amateur.

Anyway, John gets up and Luther sends him flying, knocking him unconscious. Luther advances on him menacingly when arrows appear out of the woods skewering some of the vamps. Sam and Dean leap into frame and Sam is almost instantly captured by Luther who gets him in a choke hold. Someone on the writing staff has a real fetish for Jared getting throttled as it happens in Every. Single. Episode. Sam is throttled some more until Dean puts the blade down. There were a great couple of lines in the sides at this point where Luther admired Sam and Dean and offered them the chance to become vampires. Clearly cut for time which is a shame. Instead, we get Luther bemoaning Vampires lack of rights and declaring that they have as much right to live as Sam and Dean do. Given the number of X-Files writers and directors on the staff I'd love to see Supernatural have a go at doing that X-Files episode where they followed the viewpoint of the nice, misunderstood monster, who darn it just had to slaughter people occasionally in order to live. To the monsters they chase Sam and Dean are effectively the bogeymen - they're the serial killers who kill their kind without conscience. I'd kill to see them explore that aspect.

Anyway John stops Luther's whining by shooting him in the head with the Colt. Total waste of a bullet obviously but then they couldn't really go up against the demon without checking that it worked. There's a cool special effects shots which looks like everything that Luther is is being ripped out of him and he falls dead. Kate screams "Luther" managing to make the word sound about four syllables long before the other girl vamp drags her away from the Winchesters. They make their escape undoubtedly to return in season 2 - hopefully in a cooler, more sensual episode - check out Audra Rose's Beautiful series for what vamps should be like.

Next day and Sam and Dean are packing up their stuff at the motel. John strides in hands in pockets. "So boys you disobeyed a direct order back there?". "Yes Sir" says Sam not looking the slightest bit sorry. The new bolder, more insolent Dean tells Dad that they saved his ass. Jared reacts wonderfully here - flicking his eyes to Dean impressed that he's talking back to the old man and yet flicking his eyes quickly up at Dad scared as to how he's going to react. John takes a moment and Dean's bravado slips a tad and we see him gulping, looking visibly nervous. John chooses not to call Dean on his tone and agrees that Dean is right. "I am?" Dean adorably asks. John finally concedes the obvious point and agrees that they are stronger as a family. "So we go after this damn thing…together". Kicking rock music starts to play as Dean and Sam "Yes Sir" in unison. Fade out as the Winchester boys decide to posse up and go get the big bad together.

Comments

[potthead.livejournal.com]

Wow, you basically recapped every single thing that happened, lol! I liked the bit about Dean having car trouble. XP Anyway, good review. :)

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your kind words - glad you enjoyed it.

[espoirliberte.livejournal.com]

i've gone off twop slightly recently as they seem cynical and bitter with most shows, so this made a nice change. :D.

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

I've drifed away from TWOP as well because the recappers seem to be being cynical without being funny.

Glad you liked the recap.

[northofantastic.livejournal.com]

Totally loved this. You managed to recall all the best parts. I'm linking to this so I can read it again later. ;)

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

I'm thrilled that you would want to re-read it. Thank you so much for commenting it's appreciated.

[(Anonymous)]

Awesome! So great to read a review from someone who's feeling the luuurve! dunno what happened to Drnken Bee, the earlier recaps were funnier, and the snark was more affectionate.

Please do some more!

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

Aw thank you You're very sweet. I agree Drunken Bee's earlier recaps were far better than what she has been producing lately.

I'm going to have a go at Salvation next I think - awesome ep.

[astrothsknot.livejournal.com]

SOme of us complained, and the recaps got a little more focused, but we really do need another recapper.

Your recap? Funny and snarky, someone who loves the show, yet isn't afraid to pick out its faults, but more importantly, its virtues.

To be honest, I love twop, but I only ever read Omar G/Keckler/erin/Strega/Jacob recaps. Demian's funny when he posts, but I'm there for the House and SN forums. Youse aw rock!

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for your kind words about the recap.

I love TWOP too which is why it pains me to see the way Drunken Bee handles the show. All the recappers you mentioned are awesome - especially Erin and Jacob. Demian's recap of the Pilot was great and Drunken Bee's early Supernatural recaps were fun and affectionate. But then she just seemed to get bored and now she produces these very short, dull recaps in which she just rants about the show. What annoys me is that she rarely gives Jensen and Jared their due. Both have had their off moments this year but they do some good work together and really that should be acknowledged.

Not that I have any hope that they'll assign another recapper but we can dream. In the meantime I'm definitely going to work on my own!

[punkprincessabz.livejournal.com]

Hee this recap is so much better than the TWOP ones. I'm in the UK so I'm a little behind on episodes and use the recaps to keep up but yours are much funnier and less critical than DrunkBee's on TWOP. Off to read the recap for Salvation now.

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

Bless you for the kind words. I'm also UK based - I use ahem other means to get the eps and I often use TWOP to keep up with what's going on too - which is why it's been a killer that its been letting me down lately.

Haven't written the Salvation recap yet (am just about to start it) but hope to have it up pretty soon. It's a truly fantastic episode.

[muffaletta.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was great! I had also thought Drunken Bee's reviews were improving -until I read "Salvation." Man, that was harsh. Yours are so much funnier and insightful. Thanks for putting in the effort. If you write'em, I'll read 'em! :)

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

Yes the TWOP Salvation recap made me want to weep. C+? What episode was she watching? If your recapper rates the ep as C+ and the readers rate it as an A then you have a significant unbridgeable gap between the writer and her audience.

Hell I've got over 2000 words already and I haven't even gotten past the first five minutes of the episode yet!(All that freeze framing to try and work out what's on John's wall!)

Thanks very much for your kind words on the recap - I'm really pleased that people liked it.

[waltzmatildah.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with your opinion of TWOP. I spend way more time there than would be considered healthy and way more time there than my place of employment would consider appropriate!!!

I also love Demian's recaps of Supernatural. Being from Tasmania I actually read all the re-caps before I even see the episodes (sometimes months before) and I'm often then slightly disappointed to find that I enjoyed the recap more than the actual show! (This is also true for the recaps of Grey's Anatomy).

Anyway...just thought I'd share...!