(no subject)
Tonight's SPN, knee jerk reaction:
Wow, that was... something. I'm now feeling nicely tense. Thanks, SPN. The other shoe is starting to drop.
Honestly I'm feeling a bit whammied by the collision of past catching up to the present, combined with a sense of fandoms colliding.
Starting with the colliding fandoms - hello Criminal Minds Meets SPN. Let's see. Don't mock the genesis of the unsub's Can of Krazy... I mean, another person's pain. Because evil doesn't always have an external explanation. (I mean, most people don't land themselves in Hell to be tortured, and then get freed, and have to try living with the pain of those memories. That's just the extreme case example.) Then there is the unsub partnership, dominant and submissive, I mean... human and demon, and all those complicated dynamics that come with that package.
I'm not actually mocking the fandom collision -- Ben Edlund wrote a recognizable behavioral serial killer/sociopathic partnership dynamic, based on what little I actually know about the subject. At least... he wrote it well enough for me to sit up and notice those little details that created a mental connection for me on the crime drama front. Albeit with a SPN twist. But man, it's messing with my head a little right now, because I'm kinda of going into crossover train of thought. Lol.
And of course the blast from the past going back and showing never-before-seen missing footage from Sam and Dean's latter S3 hunt for Lilith. Unfinished business, but only because evil never truly dies, it just finds a new face to wear. Or an old familiar one. This is the first time in a while that a demon has felt... well, pure evil, for its own sake. I have to admit it brought a missing tension I haven't felt for a while when demons are part of an episode. So many agendas and dealings with the devil... This demon was scary because he didn't have an agenda, other than corruption.
Definitely things are getting put into position for the final run of episodes of this season -- Sam's psychological issues, Dean's exhaustion/hope/depression issues, the evidence of the toll and damage their lives collects. So much collateral, even when it's not their fault and they do the best anyone could possibly do. It's pretty horrible when you have to wonder if your saves will turn out to be true saves, or will turn into ticking time bombs. No wonder hope is so hard to hold onto for the boys.
The Cone of Shame dog parts made me laugh... maybe that makes me a bad person. But really... that bit of absurd humor I badly needed in an otherwise drama-focused episode. Um... Dean? I'm pretty sure that killing dogs for ritual purposes is trumped by killing people just because you like it and feel a compulsion to. On a "that's just sick" scale. I love dogs, but just saying...
Final random note -- it took me a couple of minutes to figure out where that devil's trap came from at the end of the episode. And then I felt silly for not figuring it out right away. Of course the demon was incredulous at getting caught by the same freaking trap he was originally trapped, tortured and exorcised in by Sam and Dean 4 years ago. (I think. I need to rewatch to verify if it is indeed the same location, but I'm pretty sure.) He may have had a favorite haunt to do all his dirty work in, but going back to the familiar without remembering the most relevant part of his own history was poetic justice. Sam and Dean weren't the only ones who overlooked the obvious trap right in front of them. They just did a better job of escaping.... or did Sam?
Like I said above... now I'm nicely tense about what's coming, just in time for freaking mini-hiatus. Argh!!
Proper review coming later this weekend, once I've had a chance to gather my thoughts a bit more.
Wow, that was... something. I'm now feeling nicely tense. Thanks, SPN. The other shoe is starting to drop.
Honestly I'm feeling a bit whammied by the collision of past catching up to the present, combined with a sense of fandoms colliding.
Starting with the colliding fandoms - hello Criminal Minds Meets SPN. Let's see. Don't mock the genesis of the unsub's Can of Krazy... I mean, another person's pain. Because evil doesn't always have an external explanation. (I mean, most people don't land themselves in Hell to be tortured, and then get freed, and have to try living with the pain of those memories. That's just the extreme case example.) Then there is the unsub partnership, dominant and submissive, I mean... human and demon, and all those complicated dynamics that come with that package.
I'm not actually mocking the fandom collision -- Ben Edlund wrote a recognizable behavioral serial killer/sociopathic partnership dynamic, based on what little I actually know about the subject. At least... he wrote it well enough for me to sit up and notice those little details that created a mental connection for me on the crime drama front. Albeit with a SPN twist. But man, it's messing with my head a little right now, because I'm kinda of going into crossover train of thought. Lol.
And of course the blast from the past going back and showing never-before-seen missing footage from Sam and Dean's latter S3 hunt for Lilith. Unfinished business, but only because evil never truly dies, it just finds a new face to wear. Or an old familiar one. This is the first time in a while that a demon has felt... well, pure evil, for its own sake. I have to admit it brought a missing tension I haven't felt for a while when demons are part of an episode. So many agendas and dealings with the devil... This demon was scary because he didn't have an agenda, other than corruption.
Definitely things are getting put into position for the final run of episodes of this season -- Sam's psychological issues, Dean's exhaustion/hope/depression issues, the evidence of the toll and damage their lives collects. So much collateral, even when it's not their fault and they do the best anyone could possibly do. It's pretty horrible when you have to wonder if your saves will turn out to be true saves, or will turn into ticking time bombs. No wonder hope is so hard to hold onto for the boys.
The Cone of Shame dog parts made me laugh... maybe that makes me a bad person. But really... that bit of absurd humor I badly needed in an otherwise drama-focused episode. Um... Dean? I'm pretty sure that killing dogs for ritual purposes is trumped by killing people just because you like it and feel a compulsion to. On a "that's just sick" scale. I love dogs, but just saying...
Final random note -- it took me a couple of minutes to figure out where that devil's trap came from at the end of the episode. And then I felt silly for not figuring it out right away. Of course the demon was incredulous at getting caught by the same freaking trap he was originally trapped, tortured and exorcised in by Sam and Dean 4 years ago. (I think. I need to rewatch to verify if it is indeed the same location, but I'm pretty sure.) He may have had a favorite haunt to do all his dirty work in, but going back to the familiar without remembering the most relevant part of his own history was poetic justice. Sam and Dean weren't the only ones who overlooked the obvious trap right in front of them. They just did a better job of escaping.... or did Sam?
Like I said above... now I'm nicely tense about what's coming, just in time for freaking mini-hiatus. Argh!!
Proper review coming later this weekend, once I've had a chance to gather my thoughts a bit more.