Supernatural, 601
Well, I know there's at least a couple of folk here who'll be interested in my take on episode, so why not? Cut, naturally, for spoilers.
When we last saw our intrepid heroes... heh. I've always wanted to say that. But, when season five ended, Dean was going to try to honor his promise to Sam and go on with his life, and Sam was in Hell. Castiel had gone back to try to sort out the mess left in heaven by his brothers and sisters. Now, one year later, we see that Dean has tried, and more or less succeeded, in making some kind of life for himself in the suburbs. It seems to me like he's never really fit, that he feels he's never really fit, and that his past still weighs upon him. Even though he's stopped carrying a gun, he didn't have to go far to find one. We find out from Lisa that really, he's done better than he thought he had at being a dad and a partner. Muddling through much the way everyone does in one way or another.
Dean is... different. He's the Dean that's lived a year with Sam's death, and boy does he have a right to feel angry that no one told him Sam was alive, and coped with everyday life as best he could. He's not soft, not really, but he's not an asshole anymore either. Now, I like Dean, but he really fit in with the hunting lifestyle - cruising babes, cracking jokes, a good-old-boy-slap-on-the-back kinda guy who lived out of bars and got along with people like Gordon Whatshisname. Much of that had kind of faded due to the trials of the Apocalypse, but that's who Dean was. The contrast between Dean now and Dean then was made so obvious by the fact that the new folk, the Campbell's, are still really assholes (though more so and differently than Dean was to be fair). I think this contrast was intentional.
This show was different from the Supernatural we've come to love over the last five seasons.
1. No Impala. We know it's there. We saw bits of it while Dean was in the garage, but... notice. It was underwraps. I'm thinking that when the cover comes off and Dean finally drives his baby again, that fandom as a whole will pump the air and shout a resounding, "Yes!" I know I will.
2. Except for the montage in the beginning, no rock. And even that, though the song fit, it surely didn't sound like a Dean-song to me! I can't imagine that the producers don't know we're waiting to hear the first strains of Metallica, Kansas, or even Bon Jovi - who rocks, on occasion. I just wonder if they're going to hold off and hit us with both the Impala and the proper soundtrack at the same time.
3. There was massive emotional distance between Sam and Dean. Even when they separated in season five, there wasn't this much distance between them. It was almost as if they didn't connect at all. I can only imagine how hard that was for the actors to play! They're really good at burning up the onscreen chemistry! Jared and Jensen connect like nobodies business. I suspect that a lot of that was the way the characters have been written. The interview I read mentioned that they're both having to work really hard this season to get their parts to feel right. But, if the show is - as I suspect - aiming for that disconnected feeling, then they're doing a good job of keeping their actors off balance enough to achieve it.
Essentially, the show had a different feel to me with this ep. As I said elsewhere, I'm hoping this is all about contrasting the way things were with the way things are now, and eventually bringing things back to the way we expect them to be. Not without differences, of course, but less differences than they have now.
Let's talk about Sam. Wow. Anyone else notice how he's barely human? Someone commented that NO WAY would he do his own testing for evil. And they're right. Sam from all the previous seasons would never just go about it that way. He was... matter of fact, not angry, peeved, or anxious. Not desperate. Heck, I can't think of one real emotion Sam displayed during the episode. I didn't realize that, until he and Dean were talking about how Dean rushed out to try and save his friends lives. Sam said he never would have thought of that. Dean was surprised. Sam was just stating the facts.
There is definitely something wrong with Sam. I think we're going to see that his reasons for not contacting Dean go beyond what we've been told. Heck. I'm not sure Sam as he currently is can actually understand why Dean is upset about it. So, whatever went on when Sam was ridden by Lucifer, sent to Hell, and not just Hell but "The Cage," and then brought back has changed him. It's to be expected.
Dean's different. Sam's different. Supernatural is different. I suspect when Castiel makes his reappearance that he'll be different. I don't think they'll ever be exactly the way they were before, but I'm okay with that as long as where they go with this makes sense. (I hate shows that don't remain internally consistent!) I do hope - and trust - that the show will get back to essentially what it was with Sam and Dean in the Impala while strains of Wayward Son play on the radio and Cas occasionally pops in to see how things are going.
1. Didn't like the Campbell's, but I honestly don't think we're supposed to, not when it's already obvious that they're working on something that Sam and Dean don't know about. I think the eventual showdown will involve some conflict between these two factions. Whatever brought Grandpa back, I don't think he's one of the good guys.
2. I HATE SAM'S CAR! I'm hoping for it's eventual destruction and the reemergence of the Impala as the CAR THAT ROCKS BEYOND ALL CARS EVER! It's their home. What really, really hit me about Sam, is that he didn't remember that. He turned down the Impala. Dean had to know at that point how bad things were. I think Dean feels he's been left behind again by his family. And rightly so! Hopefully, Dean will also remember how to fight for them again.
3. Loved Lisa. Liked Ben too, but he really didn't have much of a role in this. But, the conversations Lisa had with Dean showed that she's just the kind of woman for him. She understands. She might be afraid, but she's ready to fight too. In my opinion, she seriously rocked the awesome. I will be beyond disappointed in the show if Lisa and Ben actually die. Some awesome people need to survive contact with the Winchesters! I really loved how she accepted Dean and told him it was the best year of her life. I actually hope that Dean could find a way to have both Lisa and hunting, even though the show itself has always come down hard on that concept. A girl can dream, can't she?
Anyway, I think I've rattled on enough for now. There was so much in this show to comment on! I hadn't even caught that Dean had put away his other life in a trunk, even though I saw him dig into it for his dad's journal. Symbolism, anyone? I'm totally stoked about the new season. I'm still WILDLY EXCITED! The only thing that'll kill my energy is if the show doesn't follow through on all the excellent threads they dropped in this episode. At this point, I'll still follow them anywhere they want to go. I have hope. And believe me, a bit of fear too. The last time I trusted was TW: Children of Earth. And we all know that I pretty much got an anvil dropped on my head for having faith in that one.
So, I'll wait and see, and tune in next week as Supernatural does the suburbs - heh, NO CHEAP HOTEL!
Oh, and hey, kudos to them for breaking a few tropes. Lisa and Ben WERE NOT kidnapped. Dean did not get drawn back into hunting by having to rescue anyone since that was all a hallucination. LOVE THE YORKIE! Laughed loud and long over the yorkie! Once again, no monster in the shed. So, they didn't do things the way I expected, and I expect them to keep on thinking outside the box.
GO TEAM FREE WILL! I'm on your side.
When we last saw our intrepid heroes... heh. I've always wanted to say that. But, when season five ended, Dean was going to try to honor his promise to Sam and go on with his life, and Sam was in Hell. Castiel had gone back to try to sort out the mess left in heaven by his brothers and sisters. Now, one year later, we see that Dean has tried, and more or less succeeded, in making some kind of life for himself in the suburbs. It seems to me like he's never really fit, that he feels he's never really fit, and that his past still weighs upon him. Even though he's stopped carrying a gun, he didn't have to go far to find one. We find out from Lisa that really, he's done better than he thought he had at being a dad and a partner. Muddling through much the way everyone does in one way or another.
Dean is... different. He's the Dean that's lived a year with Sam's death, and boy does he have a right to feel angry that no one told him Sam was alive, and coped with everyday life as best he could. He's not soft, not really, but he's not an asshole anymore either. Now, I like Dean, but he really fit in with the hunting lifestyle - cruising babes, cracking jokes, a good-old-boy-slap-on-the-back kinda guy who lived out of bars and got along with people like Gordon Whatshisname. Much of that had kind of faded due to the trials of the Apocalypse, but that's who Dean was. The contrast between Dean now and Dean then was made so obvious by the fact that the new folk, the Campbell's, are still really assholes (though more so and differently than Dean was to be fair). I think this contrast was intentional.
This show was different from the Supernatural we've come to love over the last five seasons.
1. No Impala. We know it's there. We saw bits of it while Dean was in the garage, but... notice. It was underwraps. I'm thinking that when the cover comes off and Dean finally drives his baby again, that fandom as a whole will pump the air and shout a resounding, "Yes!" I know I will.
2. Except for the montage in the beginning, no rock. And even that, though the song fit, it surely didn't sound like a Dean-song to me! I can't imagine that the producers don't know we're waiting to hear the first strains of Metallica, Kansas, or even Bon Jovi - who rocks, on occasion. I just wonder if they're going to hold off and hit us with both the Impala and the proper soundtrack at the same time.
3. There was massive emotional distance between Sam and Dean. Even when they separated in season five, there wasn't this much distance between them. It was almost as if they didn't connect at all. I can only imagine how hard that was for the actors to play! They're really good at burning up the onscreen chemistry! Jared and Jensen connect like nobodies business. I suspect that a lot of that was the way the characters have been written. The interview I read mentioned that they're both having to work really hard this season to get their parts to feel right. But, if the show is - as I suspect - aiming for that disconnected feeling, then they're doing a good job of keeping their actors off balance enough to achieve it.
Essentially, the show had a different feel to me with this ep. As I said elsewhere, I'm hoping this is all about contrasting the way things were with the way things are now, and eventually bringing things back to the way we expect them to be. Not without differences, of course, but less differences than they have now.
Let's talk about Sam. Wow. Anyone else notice how he's barely human? Someone commented that NO WAY would he do his own testing for evil. And they're right. Sam from all the previous seasons would never just go about it that way. He was... matter of fact, not angry, peeved, or anxious. Not desperate. Heck, I can't think of one real emotion Sam displayed during the episode. I didn't realize that, until he and Dean were talking about how Dean rushed out to try and save his friends lives. Sam said he never would have thought of that. Dean was surprised. Sam was just stating the facts.
There is definitely something wrong with Sam. I think we're going to see that his reasons for not contacting Dean go beyond what we've been told. Heck. I'm not sure Sam as he currently is can actually understand why Dean is upset about it. So, whatever went on when Sam was ridden by Lucifer, sent to Hell, and not just Hell but "The Cage," and then brought back has changed him. It's to be expected.
Dean's different. Sam's different. Supernatural is different. I suspect when Castiel makes his reappearance that he'll be different. I don't think they'll ever be exactly the way they were before, but I'm okay with that as long as where they go with this makes sense. (I hate shows that don't remain internally consistent!) I do hope - and trust - that the show will get back to essentially what it was with Sam and Dean in the Impala while strains of Wayward Son play on the radio and Cas occasionally pops in to see how things are going.
1. Didn't like the Campbell's, but I honestly don't think we're supposed to, not when it's already obvious that they're working on something that Sam and Dean don't know about. I think the eventual showdown will involve some conflict between these two factions. Whatever brought Grandpa back, I don't think he's one of the good guys.
2. I HATE SAM'S CAR! I'm hoping for it's eventual destruction and the reemergence of the Impala as the CAR THAT ROCKS BEYOND ALL CARS EVER! It's their home. What really, really hit me about Sam, is that he didn't remember that. He turned down the Impala. Dean had to know at that point how bad things were. I think Dean feels he's been left behind again by his family. And rightly so! Hopefully, Dean will also remember how to fight for them again.
3. Loved Lisa. Liked Ben too, but he really didn't have much of a role in this. But, the conversations Lisa had with Dean showed that she's just the kind of woman for him. She understands. She might be afraid, but she's ready to fight too. In my opinion, she seriously rocked the awesome. I will be beyond disappointed in the show if Lisa and Ben actually die. Some awesome people need to survive contact with the Winchesters! I really loved how she accepted Dean and told him it was the best year of her life. I actually hope that Dean could find a way to have both Lisa and hunting, even though the show itself has always come down hard on that concept. A girl can dream, can't she?
Anyway, I think I've rattled on enough for now. There was so much in this show to comment on! I hadn't even caught that Dean had put away his other life in a trunk, even though I saw him dig into it for his dad's journal. Symbolism, anyone? I'm totally stoked about the new season. I'm still WILDLY EXCITED! The only thing that'll kill my energy is if the show doesn't follow through on all the excellent threads they dropped in this episode. At this point, I'll still follow them anywhere they want to go. I have hope. And believe me, a bit of fear too. The last time I trusted was TW: Children of Earth. And we all know that I pretty much got an anvil dropped on my head for having faith in that one.
So, I'll wait and see, and tune in next week as Supernatural does the suburbs - heh, NO CHEAP HOTEL!
Oh, and hey, kudos to them for breaking a few tropes. Lisa and Ben WERE NOT kidnapped. Dean did not get drawn back into hunting by having to rescue anyone since that was all a hallucination. LOVE THE YORKIE! Laughed loud and long over the yorkie! Once again, no monster in the shed. So, they didn't do things the way I expected, and I expect them to keep on thinking outside the box.
GO TEAM FREE WILL! I'm on your side.