Episode 10x03 Reaction (and S10 in general)
I don't usually write episode reactions (this is my first one), but I thought I'd get some thoughts down this week :).
Overall I liked the episode - it was very good, wonderfully directed by Jensen (oh, who am I kidding? I know nothing about directing choices, but it looked good :P), and was definitely worth waiting for.
This episode, along with last week's (10x02) have had me pretty much engrossed in the scenes, not wanting to look away - which is something that hasn't happened for a long time... at least 2 or 3 seasons, I suppose. It used to be the case for me with the early seasons that I could watch the entirety of an episode over and over again, without getting bored with any scenes (there were some episodes where I didn't care for the case/MOTW too much, but other than that, all the other scenes held my attention), but I haven't felt that for a long while. In fact, with Season 9, there would be episodes where I barely even looked at the TV screen while it was on because I just didn't care what was happening - I would be 'watching' while surfing the internet or playing Angry Birds or cooking or something.
I also haven't felt the need to rewatch any of the episodes in the last couple of seasons (other than S9's First Born) - in fact, last year it was actually a struggle to sit through a re-watch of S9 with my parents when I visited them. However, I rewatched 10x02 twice last week and I will definitely be re-watching 10x03 as well :). For me, the only boring parts of the episodes have been the Cas/Hannah scenes: a) because they aren't all that interesting (I've been over the angel storylines for about 4 seasons now) and b) they detract from the rest of the episode.
Overall though, I'm really enjoying S10 so far. Episode 1wasn't the best for me because I wasn't a fan of how Demon!Dean was being portrayed (and the angel stuff was so boring) and I thought that if that was all Demon!Dean was gonna be, I wasn't interested in watching him and just wanted human Dean back. However, my mind was changed with 10x02 which was so much better and 10x03 just followed on from that!
A few comments on 10x03:
- It was great to finally see this episode, after all the hype from the sneak peek clip ay SDCC :).
- Just realised from the live Tweets that Mark's son was in the Crowley Hell scenes (and apparently Danneel's brother was as well? According to Jensen's Tweets)
- I'm pretty sure that the gas station (named after Jensen's nephew, Levi, who is the cutest kid ever - he was in his stroller just a couple of feet from me in Jensen's M&G in DallasCon) is the same building they used for the gas station in 4x01 Lazarus Rising... it looks like the same interior and surroundings, and I'm sure they've used it in other episodes too.
- I really liked the atmosphere of the episode - whether that was just due to Jensen's directing, or the season in general, I feel like it's more like the old SPN again... focusing on demons and Hell and the brothers, and none of the happy, shiny, corporate crap that we've had for the last few seasons. I loved seeing Crowley in his Hell dungeon place (and not a business office), I liked the demon at the Crossroads, the dark lighting of the bunker - it all just worked :).
- Nice nod with the photographs of the boys when they were younger :).
- Btw, what happened to Dean's eyes turning black when Sam had the knife to his throat? I'm sure they turned black in the SDCC Sneak Peek, but they didn't in the actual episode.
Having said all that though, I can't help but feel a little disappointed with the episode, because it just felt way too easy. I'm one of the people who was all in favour of Demon!Dean and hoped he stuck around for a while, and though it was great to see Dean back at the end, I can't help but feel that there should have been more to it. There was so much potential for exploring the character that it can't be over already, can it?
After the end of last week's episode, I was very excited for 10x03 - with Dean's chilling words to Sam about mercy and what he was going to do to him, I couldn't wait for the showdown this week. I needed scary Dean, I needed to see Sam afraid of him, I needed... something more! Of course, with Jared's shoulder it wouldn't be practical, but when Sam had the knife to Dean's throat, I was just waiting for the big showdown - I wanted an epic fight, I wanted to see Sam take Dean down (or at least try)... but then suddenly Cas showed up, restrained Dean and 2 minutes later, he was human again.
Just feels like a bit of a letdown - I would have loved to see the cure not working first time (i.e. Dean fooling them that he was cured and then turning on them), for Dean to put up a massive fight, for us to see more of what scary things he was capable of. I'm really hoping this is not the end of Demon!Dean completely (I kind of wanted to see more confrontations between Cole and DD as well).
I'm hoping that there's a catch and that there's still some demon inside him - because if this is it and there's no more Demon!Dean at all, then what a waste of a storyline that had amazing potential (just like the Purgatory storyline in S8)!
Even saying all that though, I still think the show is better right now that it has been in a long time - for the first time in what feels like forever, I'm actually excited for the new episodes and am eager to re-watch them rather than pretending they never existed. I just hope the rest of the season continues in a similar vein :).
Overall I liked the episode - it was very good, wonderfully directed by Jensen (oh, who am I kidding? I know nothing about directing choices, but it looked good :P), and was definitely worth waiting for.
This episode, along with last week's (10x02) have had me pretty much engrossed in the scenes, not wanting to look away - which is something that hasn't happened for a long time... at least 2 or 3 seasons, I suppose. It used to be the case for me with the early seasons that I could watch the entirety of an episode over and over again, without getting bored with any scenes (there were some episodes where I didn't care for the case/MOTW too much, but other than that, all the other scenes held my attention), but I haven't felt that for a long while. In fact, with Season 9, there would be episodes where I barely even looked at the TV screen while it was on because I just didn't care what was happening - I would be 'watching' while surfing the internet or playing Angry Birds or cooking or something.
I also haven't felt the need to rewatch any of the episodes in the last couple of seasons (other than S9's First Born) - in fact, last year it was actually a struggle to sit through a re-watch of S9 with my parents when I visited them. However, I rewatched 10x02 twice last week and I will definitely be re-watching 10x03 as well :). For me, the only boring parts of the episodes have been the Cas/Hannah scenes: a) because they aren't all that interesting (I've been over the angel storylines for about 4 seasons now) and b) they detract from the rest of the episode.
Overall though, I'm really enjoying S10 so far. Episode 1wasn't the best for me because I wasn't a fan of how Demon!Dean was being portrayed (and the angel stuff was so boring) and I thought that if that was all Demon!Dean was gonna be, I wasn't interested in watching him and just wanted human Dean back. However, my mind was changed with 10x02 which was so much better and 10x03 just followed on from that!
A few comments on 10x03:
- It was great to finally see this episode, after all the hype from the sneak peek clip ay SDCC :).
- Just realised from the live Tweets that Mark's son was in the Crowley Hell scenes (and apparently Danneel's brother was as well? According to Jensen's Tweets)
- I'm pretty sure that the gas station (named after Jensen's nephew, Levi, who is the cutest kid ever - he was in his stroller just a couple of feet from me in Jensen's M&G in DallasCon) is the same building they used for the gas station in 4x01 Lazarus Rising... it looks like the same interior and surroundings, and I'm sure they've used it in other episodes too.
- I really liked the atmosphere of the episode - whether that was just due to Jensen's directing, or the season in general, I feel like it's more like the old SPN again... focusing on demons and Hell and the brothers, and none of the happy, shiny, corporate crap that we've had for the last few seasons. I loved seeing Crowley in his Hell dungeon place (and not a business office), I liked the demon at the Crossroads, the dark lighting of the bunker - it all just worked :).
- Nice nod with the photographs of the boys when they were younger :).
- Btw, what happened to Dean's eyes turning black when Sam had the knife to his throat? I'm sure they turned black in the SDCC Sneak Peek, but they didn't in the actual episode.
Having said all that though, I can't help but feel a little disappointed with the episode, because it just felt way too easy. I'm one of the people who was all in favour of Demon!Dean and hoped he stuck around for a while, and though it was great to see Dean back at the end, I can't help but feel that there should have been more to it. There was so much potential for exploring the character that it can't be over already, can it?
After the end of last week's episode, I was very excited for 10x03 - with Dean's chilling words to Sam about mercy and what he was going to do to him, I couldn't wait for the showdown this week. I needed scary Dean, I needed to see Sam afraid of him, I needed... something more! Of course, with Jared's shoulder it wouldn't be practical, but when Sam had the knife to Dean's throat, I was just waiting for the big showdown - I wanted an epic fight, I wanted to see Sam take Dean down (or at least try)... but then suddenly Cas showed up, restrained Dean and 2 minutes later, he was human again.
Just feels like a bit of a letdown - I would have loved to see the cure not working first time (i.e. Dean fooling them that he was cured and then turning on them), for Dean to put up a massive fight, for us to see more of what scary things he was capable of. I'm really hoping this is not the end of Demon!Dean completely (I kind of wanted to see more confrontations between Cole and DD as well).
I'm hoping that there's a catch and that there's still some demon inside him - because if this is it and there's no more Demon!Dean at all, then what a waste of a storyline that had amazing potential (just like the Purgatory storyline in S8)!
Even saying all that though, I still think the show is better right now that it has been in a long time - for the first time in what feels like forever, I'm actually excited for the new episodes and am eager to re-watch them rather than pretending they never existed. I just hope the rest of the season continues in a similar vein :).