Reaction: Supernatural 5.12 - Picspam, Meta bits, Speculation and plot-hole patching
Spoiler and Theorizing Timeline
-Over Hiatus: 5.12 Heh. It's a body swap episode, Some random kid swaps himself with Sam. Possession tattoo not effective VS body swap apparently. Wonder what big L might have to say about that? o.O Also, Not!Sam will be a horndoggy party animal. Couple things immediately spring to mind, one being is this going to be a spell or potion or whatever that gets used later (Still waiting for a recurrence of the Reaper-binding book, the tulpa symbol, the dreamroot, etc) and two, will they manage to swap Sam and Dean in the process of straightening this out. Because I've been flailing like a mad thing at the slight possibility of it actually happening in the episode. If nothing else, it will give crack-fic writers a canon cause for a body swap.
Picspam Reaction and bits of meta, speculation and plot-hole patching (and a couple icons) for Supernatural 5.12 - "Swap Meat" *snerk* Sorry, I'm apparently twelve tonight.
OMG the channel feed said CSI was next right up to 9:00PM O.O
But it came on.
-No previously. Interesting.
-That music sounds familiar, is it a re-use? [Still can't identify it. It sounds really familiar.]
-"Evening, barkeep. I would like to purchase some alcohol, please?" The last time I heard someone order a drink like that it was in a D&D game, and the PC went on to fish for info on the Orc infestation to the west. [In retrospect, I think Gary probably might have been a gamer at some point. Or if not he should have been, because I don't think most gamers would be as easily duped by a demon.]
-Hee! This kid is a giant dork! Gary.
-"I know, right?" *laughs like a loon*
-Sam's drink umbrella randomly spinning! [Didn't cap well, had to make an animated icons. Darn.]
[ETA: Go ahead and snag these icons if you want, credit me please. :-)]
-I'm trying not to make technical filming notes, but they are having serious issues with the continuity of Sam's Banana Daiquiri. (...why does that sound really dirty?) The level of drink, the garnish arrangement and umbrella location are all over the place. But I guess with Gary-in-Sam hoovering it up (as an underaged person with faultless ID might do, although he's not reacting much to the alcohol) it's tricky to keep him topped up. *nods* And in-world wise.... uh... there's a very localized frontal system over Sam's drink, causing it to randomly freeze and evaporate. I mean what the hell, right? He's been the Impala. *handwaves*
-Watch out lady, Sam's got a bit of a track record. Although I'm not sure whether that applies when he's not at home, so to speak. Also, I'm kind of not liking this Crystal person because Gary-in-Sam is giving cues as to being mentally underaged for one reason or another, and she's still pushing. Sorry, issues. *moves on*
-Gary is freaking adorable!!! Dimples! Who's a cute little body-swapping dork then? *pats on head*
-Housatonic, Massachusetts. Hm. Close to being Miskatonic. Wonder if that's a Cthulhu reference? [The place exists, but it reeeeeeally teeny, with the population of a large apartment building.]
-HA!! Their old babysitter! Summer before sixth grade! (Making it summer of '94?) She was a maid at the hotel they were staying at! I think I've read that fic! XD [Seriously, I think I have, back between season 1 and 2, somewhere in the pit. Although I'm not sure about the maid bit, and I think they were younger. So, really a different story altogether.]
-She cheated on the cookies, those are totally straight from Subway (I see 3 double chocolate, 3 white chocolate macadamia nut and 3 chocolate chunk, all she's missing is either 3 M&M's or 3 oatmeal raisins and she's got a standard 12 pack. I worked there a billion years ago, okay? I recognize those freaking cookies a mile away) However, she gets major bonus points for the lemonade looking so awesome. Even if it's probably made from powder. Not that I'd do any better. Random experimental cake and Kool-aid are about my top speed.
-"He went off to... work." *snerk* John was away for 2 weeks, and Sam kept trying to tell her why but she never believed him. Okay, I know I've read that in fic.
-Poltergeist. Call me a traditionalist, but anytime I hear poltergeist I still look around for the nearest teen or pre-teen that might be a newly erupting psychic. I don't even know where that's from, just must have read something once about poltergeist activity being subconscious psychic outbursts during puberty. I've read a lot of weird books. Regardless *eyes girl on couch suspiciously*
-Murdered Child. Eeeek. Or rather "Murderd Chylde". So the poltergeist is either semi-literate, 'olde worlde' medieval-ish, or promoting a heavy metal band. What? That could totally be a band name. Maybe punk instead of metal, I don't know, but still. Band name. *nods*
-Aw, Dean with the reassuring the teenager. Aw. I still think she's secretly evil or in on it somehow. But I'm always like that.
-"Take a vacation and we'll take care of it." Hee! Like Extreme Home Makeover. XD
-Patriot burger. I see set design is branching out from funky hotel rooms again and doing funky diners. The uniforms alone are inspired, but there's wall thingies, logo'd bags, place-mats, menu signs... I love set design! :-D
-The more I see this kid, the more he looks familiar.... Not just from the start, either. [His name's Colton James. Okay, I have braved the spoiler-pit that is IMDB and I still have no idea where I recognize this kid from. Maybe Seventh Heaven commercials, since he apparently was in a bunch of episodes and played someone called 'T-Bone'. *headscratch*]
-[You know, re-watching this, I see now a whole lot of more subtle things young Colton is doing here with a kind of 'this is him?' and a puzzly pondery kind of plotty look. Nifty!]
-*is ignoring that Sam put the fork in his mouth one way up and the next shot it's in the other way up* Perhaps Sam has a very swift and flexible mouth. Yeah. *handwaves, and includes distracting screencap*
-Salad shake. Oh Cool!!! I've never seen one of those! They'd fit in a car's cup-holder. Really want those here. I don't care if that makes me a dork. Also, canonization of fanon again some more, yes?
-Teleplay Julie Siege...? Isn't she usually the one that does the fandom episodes?? [Not really. Fallen Idols, Monster at the end, Criss angel, aaaaand Great Pumpkin.] Missed the director credit entirely and didn't see a writing credit beyond teleplay. Weird.
-"Ever think you'd want something like that? Wife, rug-rats, the whole nine?" Aw. Dean's still hoping for normal for Sam. Aw.
-A witch. Oh dear, more silly people who've been duped by demons. As opposed to the normal kind of witches. *pats Kripke* Sigh.
-Website, must screencap later. ["Bay State Witchcraft." The first paragraph is about Maggie Briggs, the rest seems to be a more general thing on witchcraft trials. Can't make out most of Sam's icons, though he does have an 'Untitled 3' a 'desktop.ini' and a Preferences file running around loose there. He's changed his wallpaper from the skateboard thing, which makes me go 'aw' a little.]
-Damn this kid can stare. [With the perspective of why he's doing this, I see a plot being hatched now. Awesome! :-D]
[ETA: Okay, you know a costume is distracting as hell when you watch the episode twice, make the above screencap, upload it and post it and still do not recall seeing a director credit. Thanks to blackcat333_99 for pointing it out. *facepalm*]
-Normally when you're 6'5", built like an ox and trained from childhood to skulk around in the dark and kill evil things, you don't have too much to worry about wandering around alone in the dark...
-...unless there's a teenage burger jockey with a trank gun and nefarious plans for your body lurking in the shadows. Kid's a damn good shot too!
-Hee! Sam in the burger uniform! [which isn't screencapping worth a damn] Hm. Is it a true body swap or a glamour, I wonder?
-Hee! Police come to pick him up. This should be good. [And maybe a cap in the light from the police car?]
-"Family's worried sick about you son." Oh. Sam gets a stereotypical family experience. With a house and mom and things. Oh.
-Awful lot of thunder in the background.... Hm. Ah. Raining. Yay for BC weather making it into the show! \o/
-*snerk* Sam's unexpected mom-tackle face. [Doesn't screencap worth beans.]
-And Sam's "OMG I'm an unfamiliar teenager" face.
-Primping in the mirror. Ha!
-Of course he remembers Dean's order. [Of course! XD] This kid is too damn adorable. He's either super evil or not really evil deep down.
-OMG, the little bastard threw away John's old phones?! Not cool!
-"Can I drive?" Nooooooooo!!!!! "Reverse" NOOOOOOOOOO!!! I think I heard malevolent73 explode.
-Hey, that's the same hotel as Mystery Spot! Why are they staying in a hotel if they've got access to an empty house where the people know they're there busting a poltergeist? Ah. They came into town and got a room so they could do research and clean weapons and things without being interrupted by random flights of cutlery and spectral scarification. Once the poltergeist is gone, they'll probably stay in the babysitter's house. *nods* Anyway, same hotel I think.
-Okay, I'm not sure how they shot the mirror thing, but if it's just the two actors doing this live, this kid rocks hardcore.
Oooo. And if that is the case, yay for the mirrored shirt applique! \o/
-"One leather jacket, one sasquatch!" Heeee!
-So much love for Sam going through the kid's room and profiling him.
-Wow, that's a horribly fake attempt at an athame. Ren Faire special? Ah yes. He's being duped by a demon into thinking he's a witch.
Obviously being duped by a demon who has access to a screen printer. The group in Malleus Maleficarum had the same cloth, didn't they?
-Heeeee! Surly teen angst Sam. It's like he's a natural or something.
-Aw, Sam-in-Gary has a little sister. Who he's confusing the hell out of.
-*giggles through the entire breakfast conversation*
-Hehe. Sister knows about big brother being duped by a demon, but is uninvolved herself. Wise little sister.
-Cool that Gary-in-Sam is being useful to the case with his knowledge of local occult shenanigans.
-Poor Dean. Also oblivious Dean. Although really, between the way Jensen is acting as though Dean can't see anything different about Sam, (which he can't,) and this kid managing some very Sam-like expressions and speech patterns, I am having very little difficulty hearing 'Sam' from him. This is awesome!
-Ooo! More music! ["Rock and Roll Never Forgets", Bob Seger]
-[Taking screencap because I'm dead certain I've been to that plaza-market thing, but be damned if I can remember what it's called. Also, lovely sunny day now, thunder and rain the previous night, and thunder and rain coming up again. Welcome to Vancouver (except the thunder's added in post. Maybe.)]
-Wonder if that shirt is left over from that weird photoshoot where they were both in stripes?
-Gary has very colour-coordinated friends.
-Picking the combination lock on the locker. Yup! Just like high school.
-Looks like a typical high school locker to me. Although most of the magical tomes of spells in mine had "GURPS" printed on the cover.
-Master Chief. BWAH!!!
-"...yeah." Now. See, it might seem like Dean's being a little obtuse in not picking up that Sam's not Sam. But I love it. I love that he doesn't take the weird behavior as anything but Sam being weird. Because last year and earlier this year, he would have questioned Sam's actions and motive as soon as they started to go funny, because of the situation with Ruby, and because of his subsequent lack of trust in Sam. Now? Sam's being weird, but that's not getting him any pointed questions about what he's been up to. Dean has regained some level of trust, and I think him being willing to extend that trust even if Sam is acting weird is a good sign.
-...But maybe not if it gets him killed. EEK! Gary you idiot, what are you doing?? It's probably rock salt, but seriously, don't.
(Even so, Sam is behind Dean, with a weapon, saying "I'm really sorry about this." and Dean doesn't stop digging or look up or anything. Trust issues? What trust issues! \o/)
-Ghost attack! Yay! Because Dean does not need this trust of Sam shattered by some gullible body-swapping teenager shooting him in the back with rock salt. Also, ghost knows that's not Sam because she's not choking him. Although she seems to think he's Dean, judging by the flight time and wall impact.
-If he looks like a whumped Sam and sounds like a whumped Sam, Dean has to come to check on him before attempting to kick ass. Aw.
-Ah, Now she's got the right Winchester. Into the wall he goes! It's Thursday! \o/
-If you get murdered for getting knocked up, take it out on the house's new tenants posthumously and get dug up by a couple hunters, (or rather one hunter and a gullible teenager inside another,) you'd probably look this pissed off too.
-[Incidentally, I thought for a second here had been a huge production error and that when she goes at Dean, the grave behind her didn't have Gary setting her on fire, but he's there in the shadows. And impossible to cap. Wind it back, watch her charge as slow as possible, and watch for very slight movement under the window behind her. Gary's there.]
-Gary didn't run! And he set fire to a corpse to save Dean who he was trying to kill earlier. Deep down, Gary's not evil! Or he really likes playing with corpses and fire. Which does not preclude not being evil. Or something.
-[Hee! Little *twing* noise on the soundtrack as Dean makes this face at Gary-in-Sam declaring this all to be 'sweet'.]
-Jensen's doing so well at the 'this is Sam being weird at me' with this kid, I actually don't find it weird that it's not Jared. Well, you know, except for the actual weirdness weirdness. I mean, Dean's definitely going "WTF?", but not distrusting. Sam is being weird, but seriously, why the hell wouldn't Sam be weird. Lucifer wants him and he's supposed to help destroy the world. Who wouldn't be weird in some way? At least it seems to be cheerful-coping-weird and not emo-angsty-weird.
-Oh ho! Accomplices! I'd bought into the 'weird loner' profile and hadn't thought twice when 'friends' showed up. I figured they were just some people from his AP classes. And it's Gary's friend who's the damn good shot. Which begs the question of if Gary had an accomplice or two, why'd he leave Sam-in-Gary body out under the bush? Even if he thought it was a possession and not a swap, where his own body would be sitting empty for a while, one of the first rules of situations like this is make sure your own body is safe and secured. But they're new. And all gullible if the demon duped them too. *handwaves*
-Hee! Food. Cheeseburger with extra bacon and a fried egg on top. I've seen that on menus before. The egg perplexes me.
-"Ditto." And that's the final thing that makes Dean go from "Sam is being extra weird" to "Sam is not Sam, maybe?" But he's still not pushing it. Not wanting to over-react, and not wanting to break the rebuilt trust. Awww.
-Good thing Sam's a notorious canon lightweight or your ass would be completely busted here, Gary.
(Also, really Gary, you should have remembered that Sam ordered the salad yesterday. Sloppy.)
-'I can't be in a good mood?'/'Yeah... actually, no.' Ow. But he does have a point. Apocalypse, recent death of close friends who died to help you, capital D Death loose in the world, Lucifer wants to ride you, the entire fate of the world depends on you and your brother, oh, and you recently had your long-standing rage issues poked by a shrink and left unresolved? Yeah, good mood's kind of not one of the options that springs to the top of the list for Sammy.
-"Stupid, stupid plan." Oh now he sounds exactly like Sam. "Ditch the plan, nice to kick some ass for a change." Yeah, that is a Sam kind of rationale, so now Dean's got the 'Sam's trying to be happy and enjoy life while he can before the Apocalypse all comes crashing down on our heads again some more and here I am harshing his squee' face.
-"You're a good guy, Dean."/"You are drunk." Awww. Deeeeeean.
-Bread squee! Hee!
Heeeeey. That stained glass panel... I think that's from the Roadhouse, maybe? [Or not. I'm not finding a matching screencap offhand.]
-Ah, we're caught up to the teaser. And this is why the kid was not reacting to the alcohol in the banana daiquiri. Because he's already hosed, and he's already melted his taste buds with whiskey or whatever that was.
-"We're gonna do it!" HAHAHAHAHA! Regardless of the arguable skeevyness of the situation, I had to laugh. I mean look at his little face! I really like this actor kid.
-And Dean starts to think maybe Sam's other than weird. Oh dear.
-Heeee! Sam kidnapped by teenagers! "No one can hear you, my parents are out of town!" Doesn't that just boost your ego, Sam. Not only did you get kidnapped by teenagers, you're being held in a kid's basement.
-"You mean you haven't killed him yet?" Oooo! See, I thought the earlier homicide attempt was a 'get rid of the only person who might be able to tell I'm not Sam' thing, and not part of an actual murder plot. Ooo.
-"He's been in your house, he's hanging out with your parents." Hee. Silly kids doing a body swap spell and not expecting an actual swap.
-Lady in leather. Hm. Odd that she's randomly trolling bars for partners; there's normally a whole trust thing involved. As far as I understand. Anyway, I suspect that Gary fled in panic before anything happened. Or he threw up, because Sam's hangovers are epic and his body has a doozy inbound. Which actual Sam will get to deal with the full consequences of in the morning, I guess. That's so not fair.
-Hell's most wanted. Aha! Lucifer and pals have tapped the network of demon dupes, like Zachariah tapped the 'fringier religious groups'. Someone's developing tactics (frigging finally). Now all the boys need to do is tap the Chuck's book fandom as a distributed info network and all three sides of the Apocalypse will have wide-ranging eyes-and-ears. Of course this really sucks for Dean because so far they're all looking for him. So he has to avoid 'fringy' religious groups, people duped by demons into thinking they're witches, and satanists. Normally not difficult but I imagine there's a bit of overlap with the hunting community and sources of hunts and research there.
-Gary couldn't draw. Hey, is that fan art???
-'I'll just call up a demon and get my reward.' Yeah, like that ever goes well. Do you not watch movies, kid?
-Meanwhile, back at... a different hotel...? Okay, sure. Clear out the poltergeist, but don't impose on your babysitter's hospitality by camping on the couch for a night. *handwaves* Anyway, Gary-in-Sam's sneaking up on Dean (or more likely his pillows) with a gun. Pft. Like that's gonna work. You might be in Sam, but you do n;t have his experience, and you're brand new at being 6'5" and hyoooge. You should be as stealthy as a roller-skating water buffalo, kid.
-Hi Dean! Hi Dean's fist! "Ow!" Hee! [Not screencapping worth beans, too dark.]
-Meanwhile, back in the basement of the junior demon dupe league, Trevor is being an idiot. And of course it doesn't go well. However, Demon!Nora is adorable! Is she Meg? Can we keep her? Pleeeeease???
-*is basking in glee*
-"A dangerous Warlock... named Gary." Hm. Doesn't have quite the same ring as "I am the Prophet, Chuck." But nice try.
-"An empty vessel just waiting to be filled." Hm. I'm kind of thinking since Lucifer was happy about Sam's rage, he needs Sam inside the meat suit. Unless it's some kind of hormone thing, where Sam needs to be angry as much as possible to keep his blood circulating a hormone soup. Hm. So, inversely, can possession by Lucifer be fended off with elevated serotonin levels? *ponders* Regardless, demon-in-Nora is hardly one that would be familiar with the details of the procedure, since she's one that's available to be called up by 'My First Satanic Grimoire'.
-'I want my reward!' Idiot. Also idiot with real lack of foresight. The undying gratitude of a demon might come in handy. But then again, if he had any kind of perspective, he wouldn't have been duped into this situation in the first place. Regardless, Trevor, you die now. Dimwit.
-Ooo, another neck snap? Nope, manual disembowelment. "Yum! Tastes like moron!"
Great, now on top of the urge to shout "PUDDING!" at people asking me dumb questions, I'll have to resist the urge to taste stupid people just so I can use that line. Somehow, I think this'll be an easier urge to fight. :-P
-Hm. Dean hears Sam's voice on the machine messages, when it probably- okay was Gary speaking physically. Hm. Okay, maybe now that Dean knows Sam's not Sam, he can hear the consciousness of the person who left the voicemail and not the voice of the body. Which, you know, would be a handy thing to have for a hunter's phone, in case one of your contacts gets possessed and calls you up to lure you into a trap. So, kind of like a variation on EVP or something. Yeah, sure! Soul-voiceprint technology. There's an app for that. *nods and handwaves*
-Dean, you didn't set wards? (Or even salt lines, since salt lines could probably keep this bottom-feeder out)? Hell is after you and you.... Ah. They just swapped hotels and I bet it was Sam's turn. *glares at Gary*
-Please oh please oh please can we keep Nora-demon?
-Not used to being an asthmatic kid half your size, are you Sam?
-"I wanna be a witch." Still a gullible fool, asking to be duped. *pats Gary*
-And Dean's still out cold. Where's Castiel? Hm. Ahhh. Bet the town's shielded by demons or something. Oh hey, storms are a demonic omen, right? Maybe all the thunder is demons on the way. Plus there's the rib tattoos. They can't be found unless they want to be found, or he calls them.
-Oh crap. "Say yes." I still think the wee demon in Nora here's miscalculating exactly what Lucifer's meat suit requirements are and how the whole authorization process works, but... heh. Possession being nine-tenths of the law, it could be argued that it might work, and if anyone can figure out how to exploit a possible loophole, it's Lucifer.
-Nice try, Dean! Guess you weren't as unconscious as you looked. Also, this lets Demon!Nora pound the crap out of you and cement the 'Satan is bad' concept in Gary's gullible consciousness.
-(Hm. If Dean or Sam breaks a rib, is the tattoo broken? There has to be some kind of way around that. They were symbols, not lines though, but if a crack happened through a symbol... There's probably duplicates and stuff. Or the condition of the bone is immaterial. OR if one snaps it summons Castiel immediately. Ooo, that'd be handy. Anyway, sidetracked)
-SIMULATINATION!!! Hey, I did a little sound file ages ago, wonder if it's still accessible... [Nope, damn.] Hey! Dean's memorized the exorcism! \o/ Adios could work, I meant it's origins are 'a Dios' or 'with God' except it's not quite Latin. Regardless, yay for memorization! Yay for latination! Yay for a good old fashioned latin exorcism!!! \o/ Woo!
-Nora's all bundled up in a blanket. Aw. She's had a rather awful day, hasn't she? Murder plots, getting possessed, ripping a hole in her idiot friend's chest and licking his blood of her hand. Yeah. She needs a blankie. Even though they were all willing to conspire to murder Dean for personal gain. They're gullible idiots, and I suspect Trevor was the driving force behind the killing people plot and he's gotten himself killed.
-Speaking of dead morons, since the unswap thing appears to be happening at the hotel, I'm guessing they went to buddy's house, got Sam, did a bit of 'make it so the cops won't keep looking' stuff for Trevor's basement (there's that handy trank gun; maybe it could be rigged to look like the... whatsit, pneumatic cylinder thingy misfired and exploded or something. *ponders*), and headed back to the hotel. Gary and Nora lost their friend, but I really don't think he was that much of a friend. Sure there was the 'talk it out' thing from earlier, but I don't know how genuine it was. Regardless, Trevor's death has most likely been disguised as a particularly gruesome suicide-by-exploding-trank-gun (which really, it was in a way. Although not trank gun. Suicide by stupidity in spades, though, totally) and the school counsellors will descend on Gary and Nora and anyone else in the school in droves. And Trevor's poor parents, when they get back. Aw.
-Interesting. Sam and Dean try not to kill minors, but give them a chance to unscrew their own lives. And then hunt them down if they keep doing evil things. Good to know.
-Yay BC weather! \o/ And there was a rumble of thunder earlier, which taking the downpour and things we know about demon sign and Lucifer, could very well mean he's inbound. Eeek!
-"Wish I had your life." Aw. Sam counseling rebellion. Shocking!
-"Kids' life sucked ass." Aw again. And a discussion of apple pie family life. Though I suspect this time it's a case of sour grapes. Dean still seems vaguely hopeful though. Aw.
Hee! So, canon bodyswap! Nifty. Not a plot device likely to recur being used by Dean and Sam, but given the very specific Apocalypse related options it opened up, I think it can be considered to be 'on the wall' with regard to future plot developments, especially considering Lucifer's tapped the network of duped people and satanists as eyes-and-ears. Given that that's now the case, I wonder if they aren't doing a bit of a general recruiting drive in that department. Gary found the book, maybe it was left somewhere for him to find? Maybe similar things are being left to be found by others? Bears thinking. *ponders*
(PLEASE, NO SPOILERS OR REFERENCES TO SPOILERY MATERIAL IN COMMENTS! The definition of spoiler for this journal is located in left hand sidebar and includes references to promo material as spoilers. Theory and speculation based on aired episodes only.)
-Over Hiatus: 5.12 Heh. It's a body swap episode, Some random kid swaps himself with Sam. Possession tattoo not effective VS body swap apparently. Wonder what big L might have to say about that? o.O Also, Not!Sam will be a horndoggy party animal. Couple things immediately spring to mind, one being is this going to be a spell or potion or whatever that gets used later (Still waiting for a recurrence of the Reaper-binding book, the tulpa symbol, the dreamroot, etc) and two, will they manage to swap Sam and Dean in the process of straightening this out. Because I've been flailing like a mad thing at the slight possibility of it actually happening in the episode. If nothing else, it will give crack-fic writers a canon cause for a body swap.
Picspam Reaction and bits of meta, speculation and plot-hole patching (and a couple icons) for Supernatural 5.12 - "Swap Meat" *snerk* Sorry, I'm apparently twelve tonight.
OMG the channel feed said CSI was next right up to 9:00PM O.O
But it came on.
-No previously. Interesting.
-That music sounds familiar, is it a re-use? [Still can't identify it. It sounds really familiar.]
-"Evening, barkeep. I would like to purchase some alcohol, please?" The last time I heard someone order a drink like that it was in a D&D game, and the PC went on to fish for info on the Orc infestation to the west. [In retrospect, I think Gary probably might have been a gamer at some point. Or if not he should have been, because I don't think most gamers would be as easily duped by a demon.]
-Hee! This kid is a giant dork! Gary.
-"I know, right?" *laughs like a loon*
-Sam's drink umbrella randomly spinning! [Didn't cap well, had to make an animated icons. Darn.]
[ETA: Go ahead and snag these icons if you want, credit me please. :-)]
-I'm trying not to make technical filming notes, but they are having serious issues with the continuity of Sam's Banana Daiquiri. (...why does that sound really dirty?) The level of drink, the garnish arrangement and umbrella location are all over the place. But I guess with Gary-in-Sam hoovering it up (as an underaged person with faultless ID might do, although he's not reacting much to the alcohol) it's tricky to keep him topped up. *nods* And in-world wise.... uh... there's a very localized frontal system over Sam's drink, causing it to randomly freeze and evaporate. I mean what the hell, right? He's been the Impala. *handwaves*
-Watch out lady, Sam's got a bit of a track record. Although I'm not sure whether that applies when he's not at home, so to speak. Also, I'm kind of not liking this Crystal person because Gary-in-Sam is giving cues as to being mentally underaged for one reason or another, and she's still pushing. Sorry, issues. *moves on*
-Gary is freaking adorable!!! Dimples! Who's a cute little body-swapping dork then? *pats on head*
-Housatonic, Massachusetts. Hm. Close to being Miskatonic. Wonder if that's a Cthulhu reference? [The place exists, but it reeeeeeally teeny, with the population of a large apartment building.]
-HA!! Their old babysitter! Summer before sixth grade! (Making it summer of '94?) She was a maid at the hotel they were staying at! I think I've read that fic! XD [Seriously, I think I have, back between season 1 and 2, somewhere in the pit. Although I'm not sure about the maid bit, and I think they were younger. So, really a different story altogether.]
-She cheated on the cookies, those are totally straight from Subway (I see 3 double chocolate, 3 white chocolate macadamia nut and 3 chocolate chunk, all she's missing is either 3 M&M's or 3 oatmeal raisins and she's got a standard 12 pack. I worked there a billion years ago, okay? I recognize those freaking cookies a mile away) However, she gets major bonus points for the lemonade looking so awesome. Even if it's probably made from powder. Not that I'd do any better. Random experimental cake and Kool-aid are about my top speed.
-"He went off to... work." *snerk* John was away for 2 weeks, and Sam kept trying to tell her why but she never believed him. Okay, I know I've read that in fic.
-Poltergeist. Call me a traditionalist, but anytime I hear poltergeist I still look around for the nearest teen or pre-teen that might be a newly erupting psychic. I don't even know where that's from, just must have read something once about poltergeist activity being subconscious psychic outbursts during puberty. I've read a lot of weird books. Regardless *eyes girl on couch suspiciously*
-Murdered Child. Eeeek. Or rather "Murderd Chylde". So the poltergeist is either semi-literate, 'olde worlde' medieval-ish, or promoting a heavy metal band. What? That could totally be a band name. Maybe punk instead of metal, I don't know, but still. Band name. *nods*
-Aw, Dean with the reassuring the teenager. Aw. I still think she's secretly evil or in on it somehow. But I'm always like that.
-"Take a vacation and we'll take care of it." Hee! Like Extreme Home Makeover. XD
-Patriot burger. I see set design is branching out from funky hotel rooms again and doing funky diners. The uniforms alone are inspired, but there's wall thingies, logo'd bags, place-mats, menu signs... I love set design! :-D
-The more I see this kid, the more he looks familiar.... Not just from the start, either. [His name's Colton James. Okay, I have braved the spoiler-pit that is IMDB and I still have no idea where I recognize this kid from. Maybe Seventh Heaven commercials, since he apparently was in a bunch of episodes and played someone called 'T-Bone'. *headscratch*]
-[You know, re-watching this, I see now a whole lot of more subtle things young Colton is doing here with a kind of 'this is him?' and a puzzly pondery kind of plotty look. Nifty!]
-*is ignoring that Sam put the fork in his mouth one way up and the next shot it's in the other way up* Perhaps Sam has a very swift and flexible mouth. Yeah. *handwaves, and includes distracting screencap*
-Salad shake. Oh Cool!!! I've never seen one of those! They'd fit in a car's cup-holder. Really want those here. I don't care if that makes me a dork. Also, canonization of fanon again some more, yes?
-Teleplay Julie Siege...? Isn't she usually the one that does the fandom episodes?? [Not really. Fallen Idols, Monster at the end, Criss angel, aaaaand Great Pumpkin.] Missed the director credit entirely and didn't see a writing credit beyond teleplay. Weird.
-"Ever think you'd want something like that? Wife, rug-rats, the whole nine?" Aw. Dean's still hoping for normal for Sam. Aw.
-A witch. Oh dear, more silly people who've been duped by demons. As opposed to the normal kind of witches. *pats Kripke* Sigh.
-Website, must screencap later. ["Bay State Witchcraft." The first paragraph is about Maggie Briggs, the rest seems to be a more general thing on witchcraft trials. Can't make out most of Sam's icons, though he does have an 'Untitled 3' a 'desktop.ini' and a Preferences file running around loose there. He's changed his wallpaper from the skateboard thing, which makes me go 'aw' a little.]
-Damn this kid can stare. [With the perspective of why he's doing this, I see a plot being hatched now. Awesome! :-D]
[ETA: Okay, you know a costume is distracting as hell when you watch the episode twice, make the above screencap, upload it and post it and still do not recall seeing a director credit. Thanks to blackcat333_99 for pointing it out. *facepalm*]
-Normally when you're 6'5", built like an ox and trained from childhood to skulk around in the dark and kill evil things, you don't have too much to worry about wandering around alone in the dark...
-...unless there's a teenage burger jockey with a trank gun and nefarious plans for your body lurking in the shadows. Kid's a damn good shot too!
-Hee! Sam in the burger uniform! [which isn't screencapping worth a damn] Hm. Is it a true body swap or a glamour, I wonder?
-Hee! Police come to pick him up. This should be good. [And maybe a cap in the light from the police car?]
-"Family's worried sick about you son." Oh. Sam gets a stereotypical family experience. With a house and mom and things. Oh.
-Awful lot of thunder in the background.... Hm. Ah. Raining. Yay for BC weather making it into the show! \o/
-*snerk* Sam's unexpected mom-tackle face. [Doesn't screencap worth beans.]
-And Sam's "OMG I'm an unfamiliar teenager" face.
-Primping in the mirror. Ha!
-Of course he remembers Dean's order. [Of course! XD] This kid is too damn adorable. He's either super evil or not really evil deep down.
-OMG, the little bastard threw away John's old phones?! Not cool!
-"Can I drive?" Nooooooooo!!!!! "Reverse" NOOOOOOOOOO!!! I think I heard malevolent73 explode.
-Hey, that's the same hotel as Mystery Spot! Why are they staying in a hotel if they've got access to an empty house where the people know they're there busting a poltergeist? Ah. They came into town and got a room so they could do research and clean weapons and things without being interrupted by random flights of cutlery and spectral scarification. Once the poltergeist is gone, they'll probably stay in the babysitter's house. *nods* Anyway, same hotel I think.
-Okay, I'm not sure how they shot the mirror thing, but if it's just the two actors doing this live, this kid rocks hardcore.
Oooo. And if that is the case, yay for the mirrored shirt applique! \o/
-"One leather jacket, one sasquatch!" Heeee!
-So much love for Sam going through the kid's room and profiling him.
-Wow, that's a horribly fake attempt at an athame. Ren Faire special? Ah yes. He's being duped by a demon into thinking he's a witch.
Obviously being duped by a demon who has access to a screen printer. The group in Malleus Maleficarum had the same cloth, didn't they?
-Heeeee! Surly teen angst Sam. It's like he's a natural or something.
-Aw, Sam-in-Gary has a little sister. Who he's confusing the hell out of.
-*giggles through the entire breakfast conversation*
-Hehe. Sister knows about big brother being duped by a demon, but is uninvolved herself. Wise little sister.
-Cool that Gary-in-Sam is being useful to the case with his knowledge of local occult shenanigans.
-Poor Dean. Also oblivious Dean. Although really, between the way Jensen is acting as though Dean can't see anything different about Sam, (which he can't,) and this kid managing some very Sam-like expressions and speech patterns, I am having very little difficulty hearing 'Sam' from him. This is awesome!
-Ooo! More music! ["Rock and Roll Never Forgets", Bob Seger]
-[Taking screencap because I'm dead certain I've been to that plaza-market thing, but be damned if I can remember what it's called. Also, lovely sunny day now, thunder and rain the previous night, and thunder and rain coming up again. Welcome to Vancouver (except the thunder's added in post. Maybe.)]
-Wonder if that shirt is left over from that weird photoshoot where they were both in stripes?
-Gary has very colour-coordinated friends.
-Picking the combination lock on the locker. Yup! Just like high school.
-Looks like a typical high school locker to me. Although most of the magical tomes of spells in mine had "GURPS" printed on the cover.
-Master Chief. BWAH!!!
-"...yeah." Now. See, it might seem like Dean's being a little obtuse in not picking up that Sam's not Sam. But I love it. I love that he doesn't take the weird behavior as anything but Sam being weird. Because last year and earlier this year, he would have questioned Sam's actions and motive as soon as they started to go funny, because of the situation with Ruby, and because of his subsequent lack of trust in Sam. Now? Sam's being weird, but that's not getting him any pointed questions about what he's been up to. Dean has regained some level of trust, and I think him being willing to extend that trust even if Sam is acting weird is a good sign.
-...But maybe not if it gets him killed. EEK! Gary you idiot, what are you doing?? It's probably rock salt, but seriously, don't.
(Even so, Sam is behind Dean, with a weapon, saying "I'm really sorry about this." and Dean doesn't stop digging or look up or anything. Trust issues? What trust issues! \o/)
-Ghost attack! Yay! Because Dean does not need this trust of Sam shattered by some gullible body-swapping teenager shooting him in the back with rock salt. Also, ghost knows that's not Sam because she's not choking him. Although she seems to think he's Dean, judging by the flight time and wall impact.
-If he looks like a whumped Sam and sounds like a whumped Sam, Dean has to come to check on him before attempting to kick ass. Aw.
-Ah, Now she's got the right Winchester. Into the wall he goes! It's Thursday! \o/
-If you get murdered for getting knocked up, take it out on the house's new tenants posthumously and get dug up by a couple hunters, (or rather one hunter and a gullible teenager inside another,) you'd probably look this pissed off too.
-[Incidentally, I thought for a second here had been a huge production error and that when she goes at Dean, the grave behind her didn't have Gary setting her on fire, but he's there in the shadows. And impossible to cap. Wind it back, watch her charge as slow as possible, and watch for very slight movement under the window behind her. Gary's there.]
-Gary didn't run! And he set fire to a corpse to save Dean who he was trying to kill earlier. Deep down, Gary's not evil! Or he really likes playing with corpses and fire. Which does not preclude not being evil. Or something.
-[Hee! Little *twing* noise on the soundtrack as Dean makes this face at Gary-in-Sam declaring this all to be 'sweet'.]
-Jensen's doing so well at the 'this is Sam being weird at me' with this kid, I actually don't find it weird that it's not Jared. Well, you know, except for the actual weirdness weirdness. I mean, Dean's definitely going "WTF?", but not distrusting. Sam is being weird, but seriously, why the hell wouldn't Sam be weird. Lucifer wants him and he's supposed to help destroy the world. Who wouldn't be weird in some way? At least it seems to be cheerful-coping-weird and not emo-angsty-weird.
-Oh ho! Accomplices! I'd bought into the 'weird loner' profile and hadn't thought twice when 'friends' showed up. I figured they were just some people from his AP classes. And it's Gary's friend who's the damn good shot. Which begs the question of if Gary had an accomplice or two, why'd he leave Sam-in-Gary body out under the bush? Even if he thought it was a possession and not a swap, where his own body would be sitting empty for a while, one of the first rules of situations like this is make sure your own body is safe and secured. But they're new. And all gullible if the demon duped them too. *handwaves*
-Hee! Food. Cheeseburger with extra bacon and a fried egg on top. I've seen that on menus before. The egg perplexes me.
-"Ditto." And that's the final thing that makes Dean go from "Sam is being extra weird" to "Sam is not Sam, maybe?" But he's still not pushing it. Not wanting to over-react, and not wanting to break the rebuilt trust. Awww.
-Good thing Sam's a notorious canon lightweight or your ass would be completely busted here, Gary.
(Also, really Gary, you should have remembered that Sam ordered the salad yesterday. Sloppy.)
-'I can't be in a good mood?'/'Yeah... actually, no.' Ow. But he does have a point. Apocalypse, recent death of close friends who died to help you, capital D Death loose in the world, Lucifer wants to ride you, the entire fate of the world depends on you and your brother, oh, and you recently had your long-standing rage issues poked by a shrink and left unresolved? Yeah, good mood's kind of not one of the options that springs to the top of the list for Sammy.
-"Stupid, stupid plan." Oh now he sounds exactly like Sam. "Ditch the plan, nice to kick some ass for a change." Yeah, that is a Sam kind of rationale, so now Dean's got the 'Sam's trying to be happy and enjoy life while he can before the Apocalypse all comes crashing down on our heads again some more and here I am harshing his squee' face.
-"You're a good guy, Dean."/"You are drunk." Awww. Deeeeeean.
-Bread squee! Hee!
Heeeeey. That stained glass panel... I think that's from the Roadhouse, maybe? [Or not. I'm not finding a matching screencap offhand.]
-Ah, we're caught up to the teaser. And this is why the kid was not reacting to the alcohol in the banana daiquiri. Because he's already hosed, and he's already melted his taste buds with whiskey or whatever that was.
-"We're gonna do it!" HAHAHAHAHA! Regardless of the arguable skeevyness of the situation, I had to laugh. I mean look at his little face! I really like this actor kid.
-And Dean starts to think maybe Sam's other than weird. Oh dear.
-Heeee! Sam kidnapped by teenagers! "No one can hear you, my parents are out of town!" Doesn't that just boost your ego, Sam. Not only did you get kidnapped by teenagers, you're being held in a kid's basement.
-"You mean you haven't killed him yet?" Oooo! See, I thought the earlier homicide attempt was a 'get rid of the only person who might be able to tell I'm not Sam' thing, and not part of an actual murder plot. Ooo.
-"He's been in your house, he's hanging out with your parents." Hee. Silly kids doing a body swap spell and not expecting an actual swap.
-Lady in leather. Hm. Odd that she's randomly trolling bars for partners; there's normally a whole trust thing involved. As far as I understand. Anyway, I suspect that Gary fled in panic before anything happened. Or he threw up, because Sam's hangovers are epic and his body has a doozy inbound. Which actual Sam will get to deal with the full consequences of in the morning, I guess. That's so not fair.
-Hell's most wanted. Aha! Lucifer and pals have tapped the network of demon dupes, like Zachariah tapped the 'fringier religious groups'. Someone's developing tactics (frigging finally). Now all the boys need to do is tap the Chuck's book fandom as a distributed info network and all three sides of the Apocalypse will have wide-ranging eyes-and-ears. Of course this really sucks for Dean because so far they're all looking for him. So he has to avoid 'fringy' religious groups, people duped by demons into thinking they're witches, and satanists. Normally not difficult but I imagine there's a bit of overlap with the hunting community and sources of hunts and research there.
-Gary couldn't draw. Hey, is that fan art???
-'I'll just call up a demon and get my reward.' Yeah, like that ever goes well. Do you not watch movies, kid?
-Meanwhile, back at... a different hotel...? Okay, sure. Clear out the poltergeist, but don't impose on your babysitter's hospitality by camping on the couch for a night. *handwaves* Anyway, Gary-in-Sam's sneaking up on Dean (or more likely his pillows) with a gun. Pft. Like that's gonna work. You might be in Sam, but you do n;t have his experience, and you're brand new at being 6'5" and hyoooge. You should be as stealthy as a roller-skating water buffalo, kid.
-Hi Dean! Hi Dean's fist! "Ow!" Hee! [Not screencapping worth beans, too dark.]
-Meanwhile, back in the basement of the junior demon dupe league, Trevor is being an idiot. And of course it doesn't go well. However, Demon!Nora is adorable! Is she Meg? Can we keep her? Pleeeeease???
-*is basking in glee*
-"A dangerous Warlock... named Gary." Hm. Doesn't have quite the same ring as "I am the Prophet, Chuck." But nice try.
-"An empty vessel just waiting to be filled." Hm. I'm kind of thinking since Lucifer was happy about Sam's rage, he needs Sam inside the meat suit. Unless it's some kind of hormone thing, where Sam needs to be angry as much as possible to keep his blood circulating a hormone soup. Hm. So, inversely, can possession by Lucifer be fended off with elevated serotonin levels? *ponders* Regardless, demon-in-Nora is hardly one that would be familiar with the details of the procedure, since she's one that's available to be called up by 'My First Satanic Grimoire'.
-'I want my reward!' Idiot. Also idiot with real lack of foresight. The undying gratitude of a demon might come in handy. But then again, if he had any kind of perspective, he wouldn't have been duped into this situation in the first place. Regardless, Trevor, you die now. Dimwit.
-Ooo, another neck snap? Nope, manual disembowelment. "Yum! Tastes like moron!"
Great, now on top of the urge to shout "PUDDING!" at people asking me dumb questions, I'll have to resist the urge to taste stupid people just so I can use that line. Somehow, I think this'll be an easier urge to fight. :-P
-Hm. Dean hears Sam's voice on the machine messages, when it probably- okay was Gary speaking physically. Hm. Okay, maybe now that Dean knows Sam's not Sam, he can hear the consciousness of the person who left the voicemail and not the voice of the body. Which, you know, would be a handy thing to have for a hunter's phone, in case one of your contacts gets possessed and calls you up to lure you into a trap. So, kind of like a variation on EVP or something. Yeah, sure! Soul-voiceprint technology. There's an app for that. *nods and handwaves*
-Dean, you didn't set wards? (Or even salt lines, since salt lines could probably keep this bottom-feeder out)? Hell is after you and you.... Ah. They just swapped hotels and I bet it was Sam's turn. *glares at Gary*
-Please oh please oh please can we keep Nora-demon?
-Not used to being an asthmatic kid half your size, are you Sam?
-"I wanna be a witch." Still a gullible fool, asking to be duped. *pats Gary*
-And Dean's still out cold. Where's Castiel? Hm. Ahhh. Bet the town's shielded by demons or something. Oh hey, storms are a demonic omen, right? Maybe all the thunder is demons on the way. Plus there's the rib tattoos. They can't be found unless they want to be found, or he calls them.
-Oh crap. "Say yes." I still think the wee demon in Nora here's miscalculating exactly what Lucifer's meat suit requirements are and how the whole authorization process works, but... heh. Possession being nine-tenths of the law, it could be argued that it might work, and if anyone can figure out how to exploit a possible loophole, it's Lucifer.
-Nice try, Dean! Guess you weren't as unconscious as you looked. Also, this lets Demon!Nora pound the crap out of you and cement the 'Satan is bad' concept in Gary's gullible consciousness.
-(Hm. If Dean or Sam breaks a rib, is the tattoo broken? There has to be some kind of way around that. They were symbols, not lines though, but if a crack happened through a symbol... There's probably duplicates and stuff. Or the condition of the bone is immaterial. OR if one snaps it summons Castiel immediately. Ooo, that'd be handy. Anyway, sidetracked)
-SIMULATINATION!!! Hey, I did a little sound file ages ago, wonder if it's still accessible... [Nope, damn.] Hey! Dean's memorized the exorcism! \o/ Adios could work, I meant it's origins are 'a Dios' or 'with God' except it's not quite Latin. Regardless, yay for memorization! Yay for latination! Yay for a good old fashioned latin exorcism!!! \o/ Woo!
-Nora's all bundled up in a blanket. Aw. She's had a rather awful day, hasn't she? Murder plots, getting possessed, ripping a hole in her idiot friend's chest and licking his blood of her hand. Yeah. She needs a blankie. Even though they were all willing to conspire to murder Dean for personal gain. They're gullible idiots, and I suspect Trevor was the driving force behind the killing people plot and he's gotten himself killed.
-Speaking of dead morons, since the unswap thing appears to be happening at the hotel, I'm guessing they went to buddy's house, got Sam, did a bit of 'make it so the cops won't keep looking' stuff for Trevor's basement (there's that handy trank gun; maybe it could be rigged to look like the... whatsit, pneumatic cylinder thingy misfired and exploded or something. *ponders*), and headed back to the hotel. Gary and Nora lost their friend, but I really don't think he was that much of a friend. Sure there was the 'talk it out' thing from earlier, but I don't know how genuine it was. Regardless, Trevor's death has most likely been disguised as a particularly gruesome suicide-by-exploding-trank-gun (which really, it was in a way. Although not trank gun. Suicide by stupidity in spades, though, totally) and the school counsellors will descend on Gary and Nora and anyone else in the school in droves. And Trevor's poor parents, when they get back. Aw.
-Interesting. Sam and Dean try not to kill minors, but give them a chance to unscrew their own lives. And then hunt them down if they keep doing evil things. Good to know.
-Yay BC weather! \o/ And there was a rumble of thunder earlier, which taking the downpour and things we know about demon sign and Lucifer, could very well mean he's inbound. Eeek!
-"Wish I had your life." Aw. Sam counseling rebellion. Shocking!
-"Kids' life sucked ass." Aw again. And a discussion of apple pie family life. Though I suspect this time it's a case of sour grapes. Dean still seems vaguely hopeful though. Aw.
Hee! So, canon bodyswap! Nifty. Not a plot device likely to recur being used by Dean and Sam, but given the very specific Apocalypse related options it opened up, I think it can be considered to be 'on the wall' with regard to future plot developments, especially considering Lucifer's tapped the network of duped people and satanists as eyes-and-ears. Given that that's now the case, I wonder if they aren't doing a bit of a general recruiting drive in that department. Gary found the book, maybe it was left somewhere for him to find? Maybe similar things are being left to be found by others? Bears thinking. *ponders*
(PLEASE, NO SPOILERS OR REFERENCES TO SPOILERY MATERIAL IN COMMENTS! The definition of spoiler for this journal is located in left hand sidebar and includes references to promo material as spoilers. Theory and speculation based on aired episodes only.)