.spn 6.04: or, BOBBEH!
It's that time of year again. Yes, time to send out applications for things and work on my moisturizing. Not at the same time. More happily, it's also time for knitting. And time for another SPN episode review!
For being, once again, a Cas-less episode, this was pretty good. I mean, Bobby! Bobby being awesome and not taking any of the Winchesters' self-involved emo bullshit! Totally owning Crowley! Rufus! Sheriff Mills! On that last point, Trin and I were musing over a future project, and decided that Bobby and Sheriff Mills (whose first name I can't remember) really needed to be together. How awesome would that be?
One of the things I sort of love about Bobby is that all his friendships usually involve shouting and hostility at some point. I can't see him and Rufus ever getting along together for more than, oh, a day before they'd end up trying to kill each other, but their relationship works in a way I find very pleasing. Namely, Rufus isn't intimidated by Bobby's snarling, while Bobby sort of has to resign himself to that fact--and, in the meantime, they keep a running tally in a relationship that, judging from Rufus' willingness to go above and beyond and take the initiative in getting the ring, doesn't really need it. But they do it anyway, I imagine for old time's sake.
When Bobby remarked that he was still in Rufus' debt, it made me wonder if Rufus wasn't the hunter who took Bobby in, as it were, and introduced him to the hunting world after his wife died.
Then, of course, there's the Winchesters, whose epic of emotional vampirism and codependence has involved Bobby in some pretty unfortunate ways. It seems like Dean and Sam have fallen into the trap that a lot of kids have, namely, taking the presence and help of your (surrogate) parents for granted--odd, when you considering what happened to their family.
Wandering off on a tangent, I'm very much interested in the expansions of the lore surrounding demons and deals that we've been getting in the past couple of episodes. I love the idea of the contract in the flesh (I mean, where else is it going to be written?), and the little subclauses and qualifications that are apparently written in. I like to imagine that Crowley picked all this up from his time spent in the poor book publisher he's been wearing around. And speaking of wearing... So demons can be treated like ghosts, basically? That might have been a helpful thing to know back during the apocalypse, although clearly that strategy is time-consuming and depends on actually being able to find the demon's original remains. Still, nifty.
Another tangent: CAS AND CROWLEY NEED TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM TOGETHER. I mean, come on, it's perfect! Cas is bitterly disappointed in his brothers' continued dickishness and refusal to stop fighting. Crowley can't stand demons who won't change and realize there's a better way to do things. They can commiserate, and Crowley can improve Cas's palate by introducing him to expensive Scotch--which, of course, the Winchesters would never have done. To reiterate: IT'S PERFECT! WHY ARE YOU NOT DOING IT?
Nitpicky stuff: Okay, the timeline was just wacky. It's, like, a two day drive from Sioux Falls to Andover and back, and that's assuming you don't sleep. MAPQUEST IS YOUR FRIEND, WRITERS. Then, somehow, Dean and Sam hop a plane (with forged passports I'm assuming) to Scotland, drive out to the middle of nowhere without dying (oh God, Dean in a tiny British car! It was hilarious enough to dampen my annoyance briefly; see also "forged international driver's license"), find a random tiny church, and dig up Crowley's old bones. That's more than a weekend; it's at least a week. And writers, Cas totally could have helped with the "flying Dean and Sam to Scotland" thing, and the timeline would have been not as insane. Also, it would have been awesome.
Also, when the woodchipper showed up, I knew what was going to happen. Still, I did not look away in time. Seriously, seriously unpleasant.
Overall impressions: Caslessness and a crazy timeline interfered with some of the episode for me, but even so, Bobby's awesomeness came through undiluted.
For being, once again, a Cas-less episode, this was pretty good. I mean, Bobby! Bobby being awesome and not taking any of the Winchesters' self-involved emo bullshit! Totally owning Crowley! Rufus! Sheriff Mills! On that last point, Trin and I were musing over a future project, and decided that Bobby and Sheriff Mills (whose first name I can't remember) really needed to be together. How awesome would that be?
One of the things I sort of love about Bobby is that all his friendships usually involve shouting and hostility at some point. I can't see him and Rufus ever getting along together for more than, oh, a day before they'd end up trying to kill each other, but their relationship works in a way I find very pleasing. Namely, Rufus isn't intimidated by Bobby's snarling, while Bobby sort of has to resign himself to that fact--and, in the meantime, they keep a running tally in a relationship that, judging from Rufus' willingness to go above and beyond and take the initiative in getting the ring, doesn't really need it. But they do it anyway, I imagine for old time's sake.
When Bobby remarked that he was still in Rufus' debt, it made me wonder if Rufus wasn't the hunter who took Bobby in, as it were, and introduced him to the hunting world after his wife died.
Then, of course, there's the Winchesters, whose epic of emotional vampirism and codependence has involved Bobby in some pretty unfortunate ways. It seems like Dean and Sam have fallen into the trap that a lot of kids have, namely, taking the presence and help of your (surrogate) parents for granted--odd, when you considering what happened to their family.
Wandering off on a tangent, I'm very much interested in the expansions of the lore surrounding demons and deals that we've been getting in the past couple of episodes. I love the idea of the contract in the flesh (I mean, where else is it going to be written?), and the little subclauses and qualifications that are apparently written in. I like to imagine that Crowley picked all this up from his time spent in the poor book publisher he's been wearing around. And speaking of wearing... So demons can be treated like ghosts, basically? That might have been a helpful thing to know back during the apocalypse, although clearly that strategy is time-consuming and depends on actually being able to find the demon's original remains. Still, nifty.
Another tangent: CAS AND CROWLEY NEED TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM TOGETHER. I mean, come on, it's perfect! Cas is bitterly disappointed in his brothers' continued dickishness and refusal to stop fighting. Crowley can't stand demons who won't change and realize there's a better way to do things. They can commiserate, and Crowley can improve Cas's palate by introducing him to expensive Scotch--which, of course, the Winchesters would never have done. To reiterate: IT'S PERFECT! WHY ARE YOU NOT DOING IT?
Nitpicky stuff: Okay, the timeline was just wacky. It's, like, a two day drive from Sioux Falls to Andover and back, and that's assuming you don't sleep. MAPQUEST IS YOUR FRIEND, WRITERS. Then, somehow, Dean and Sam hop a plane (with forged passports I'm assuming) to Scotland, drive out to the middle of nowhere without dying (oh God, Dean in a tiny British car! It was hilarious enough to dampen my annoyance briefly; see also "forged international driver's license"), find a random tiny church, and dig up Crowley's old bones. That's more than a weekend; it's at least a week. And writers, Cas totally could have helped with the "flying Dean and Sam to Scotland" thing, and the timeline would have been not as insane. Also, it would have been awesome.
Also, when the woodchipper showed up, I knew what was going to happen. Still, I did not look away in time. Seriously, seriously unpleasant.
Overall impressions: Caslessness and a crazy timeline interfered with some of the episode for me, but even so, Bobby's awesomeness came through undiluted.