On 7x03 "The Girl Next Door"
I wish I could have enjoyed tonight’s episode more than I did, but the ending ruined it and I honestly feel like I can’t remember anything else. Just some quick thoughts while everything is fresh, and maybe I'll revisit this more later if I feel the need.
I loved having young Sam in the episode, because it’s always amazing to learn more about the boys through flashbacks. I gotta say, I don’t agree with the decision to dissolve between cuts and add that distracting filter to the memories. As far as directing went, though, I think Jensen did a good job besides that, if that was even his decision.
Jewel Staite was phenomenal, and the fact that her character’s name was Amy Pond made me smile in a way Supernatural hasn’t in a while. I enjoyed some of the small moments with Dean, like the telenovela and the fact that he rejected the cake because it’s not pie (a nice touch because I agree, and I recently read some fic about it, but that’s besides the point). We got good glimpses of the “old Dean” when he was too impatient and cut off his own cast and again when he was protective of his car. But other than that (and the return of Bobby who remains flawless in my eyes) there was a lot to be desire.
Honestly, I have no idea what the writers are thinking lately when they’re writing Dean. It’s hard to recognize the character at the best of times, and at the end of tonight’s episode I was just in shock. Not only do I find it hard to swallow that Dean would be so obviously flipping his shit about Sam, but we still haven’t seen him grieving for Castiel. At first this could be understandable, since they were fighting for their lives, but since they had obvious down-time, I think it would’ve been the perfect opportunity. And yes, feel free to argue that Castiel betrayed them or whatever you may think, but that doesn’t stop the fact that Castiel was Dean’s best friend for the better part of three years, and that he died after seeking forgiveness. If Sam weren’t so messed in the head, I would expect him to be harping on Dean about it. Hell, even with his hallucinations, I’m surprised he hasn’t mentioned it.
But beyond these emotional inconsistencies (because Dean has always been emotionally constipated, so why is he fawning over Sam while completely ignoring the supposed death of Castiel?) there was tonight’s ending. Dean killed a creature after telling Sam that he trusted his judgement, and though Sam’s been wrong about people in the past, I just… something felt off about it. Yes Dean has killed countless creatures before, and plenty of them have used the excuse of “just surviving,” but Dean killed a mother in front of her child, and that’s just wrong to me. Not to mention that it seemed like Amy was going after lowlifes like a drug dealer and possibly someone that was attempting to steal a car (speculation on my half, sure). There’s also the fact that Amy obviously saved Sam from certain death, at the price of her own mother, which felt to me like something that Dean would have understood as a sign of goodness in her, along with the fact that she was only killing in order to save her son.
And I’m losing coherency and I doubt I’m going to convince anyone that doesn’t see a difference in Dean before and Dean now, so I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead and hope this season picks up soon.
Though, after discussing this a bit more, I’m also rather unimpressed with the fact that they skipped three weeks between the hospital scenes in the beginning and then when they were in Montana. Why would you skip so much time at such a vital point in the story? The leviathan are out and about, Sam is crazy, Bobby’s entire life just burned to the ground, and Castiel is gone. Oh so instead of showing character growth and reactions, they just did a bit of time travel. No more massive psychotic breaks for same, no Dean mourning Castiel, and no Bobby grieving the loss of his entire life and the house the represented his one remaining link to Karen. I don’t know, guys. I really don’t know.
I loved having young Sam in the episode, because it’s always amazing to learn more about the boys through flashbacks. I gotta say, I don’t agree with the decision to dissolve between cuts and add that distracting filter to the memories. As far as directing went, though, I think Jensen did a good job besides that, if that was even his decision.
Jewel Staite was phenomenal, and the fact that her character’s name was Amy Pond made me smile in a way Supernatural hasn’t in a while. I enjoyed some of the small moments with Dean, like the telenovela and the fact that he rejected the cake because it’s not pie (a nice touch because I agree, and I recently read some fic about it, but that’s besides the point). We got good glimpses of the “old Dean” when he was too impatient and cut off his own cast and again when he was protective of his car. But other than that (and the return of Bobby who remains flawless in my eyes) there was a lot to be desire.
Honestly, I have no idea what the writers are thinking lately when they’re writing Dean. It’s hard to recognize the character at the best of times, and at the end of tonight’s episode I was just in shock. Not only do I find it hard to swallow that Dean would be so obviously flipping his shit about Sam, but we still haven’t seen him grieving for Castiel. At first this could be understandable, since they were fighting for their lives, but since they had obvious down-time, I think it would’ve been the perfect opportunity. And yes, feel free to argue that Castiel betrayed them or whatever you may think, but that doesn’t stop the fact that Castiel was Dean’s best friend for the better part of three years, and that he died after seeking forgiveness. If Sam weren’t so messed in the head, I would expect him to be harping on Dean about it. Hell, even with his hallucinations, I’m surprised he hasn’t mentioned it.
But beyond these emotional inconsistencies (because Dean has always been emotionally constipated, so why is he fawning over Sam while completely ignoring the supposed death of Castiel?) there was tonight’s ending. Dean killed a creature after telling Sam that he trusted his judgement, and though Sam’s been wrong about people in the past, I just… something felt off about it. Yes Dean has killed countless creatures before, and plenty of them have used the excuse of “just surviving,” but Dean killed a mother in front of her child, and that’s just wrong to me. Not to mention that it seemed like Amy was going after lowlifes like a drug dealer and possibly someone that was attempting to steal a car (speculation on my half, sure). There’s also the fact that Amy obviously saved Sam from certain death, at the price of her own mother, which felt to me like something that Dean would have understood as a sign of goodness in her, along with the fact that she was only killing in order to save her son.
And I’m losing coherency and I doubt I’m going to convince anyone that doesn’t see a difference in Dean before and Dean now, so I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead and hope this season picks up soon.
Though, after discussing this a bit more, I’m also rather unimpressed with the fact that they skipped three weeks between the hospital scenes in the beginning and then when they were in Montana. Why would you skip so much time at such a vital point in the story? The leviathan are out and about, Sam is crazy, Bobby’s entire life just burned to the ground, and Castiel is gone. Oh so instead of showing character growth and reactions, they just did a bit of time travel. No more massive psychotic breaks for same, no Dean mourning Castiel, and no Bobby grieving the loss of his entire life and the house the represented his one remaining link to Karen. I don’t know, guys. I really don’t know.