Rewatch #7
7.16 Out with the Old
This is the one which starts with the ballerina dancing her feet off--ugh. Oddly enough, now that Lucifer is free in Sam's head, Dean seems very relaxed about sending Sam off on his own, as opposed to the anxiety Dean's had throughout the season for Sam's crazy making him, well, crazy.
The case with the cursed objects is interesting and fairly straighforward. Loved the little girl saying 'sorry' as she accidentally kicks Dean in the face...twice. And I appreciated the restraint of not making Dean put the ballet shoes on. The verbal jokes were enough. But then smart!Dean feels something's off--his spidey-sense is working--and it leads to the real estate Leviathans.
A confession--she was way over the top, but I kinda loved the real estate bitchy lady...she delivered her lines so genuinely that I believed in her caricature. And her beleaguered assistant George :) Actually, pretty much all the townspeople were very strong characters, written to give us a solid sense of who they were even though they were only around briefly. Thinking about it, that may be why I am fond of this episode.
But shouldn't the boys have freaked out when "Bad Moon Rising" came on the car radio??? Wouldn't they remember what happened last time they heard it on the road??? So it was and it wasn't a surprise that there was blood all over Frank's trailer...
But no body. So I totally believe Frank faked the scene to throw the Leviathans off and he is floating around in deep cover somewhere so the boys can run into him one last time before the series ends!
7.17 The Born-Again Identity
I find this episode to be a major disappointment. Not as far as the return of Immanual/Cas--the amnesia and its reveal was satisfying, particularly Dean's heart-to-heart with Immanuel in the car. Jensen put tons of layers in that scene, and so did Misha.
But Sam's whole breakdown just doesn't work for me. First of all, the way he bounced off that car in the opener, he should have had multiple broken bones and a concussion!
But really, the problem is that sleep deprivation, no matter how haggard they made Sam look, just isn't scary. I never worked up real anxiety about Sam's condition. The only time it really worked for me was when Lucifer kept throwing firecrackers and Sam flinched every time--that was effective because there was a physical cause-and-effect going on. Lucifer's nonstop chatter was annoying, but not scary. I didn't feel afraid for Sam until the demon took him to the basement for the electroshock treatment.
Nice touch having Sam still able to focus to save someone else, though I never quite figured out how the girl was in a fire that only resulted in needing a square bandage on her neck...
Meg was annoying as well. In retrospect she was brought in here in order to be used as a semi-ally for a while, since everyone else the boys know is dead...but I really was wishing for Dean to just end her with the demon knife in the convenience store and be done with her...
Sam must have had a power nap in the psych ward after Cas took Sam's hell memories, because he looked a lot better standing by the car when they were leaving than he did when they were rescuing him...
7.18 Party On, Garth
I love Garth. He is the anti-hunter hunter--someone who feels confident in what he does. Even when it's cringeworthy to watch as an observer, he carries himself with pride. He won't let outsiders affect his self-esteem, and it's that sense of knowing exactly who he is that makes him appealing to me. With Garth, what you see is what you get. And he's a lot smarter and definitely more emotionally together than his first impression. He's funny, but he's not portrayed as a buffoon. And he isn't intimidated by Sam and Dean's opinion of him.
So I cut this episode a lot of slack for having Garth, and for drunk boys, especially in the brewery office when Dean finds the good stuff. Comedic gold :) And the Japanese restaurant guy who gave them the translation and then blessed the sword. He must have wondered about those guys for days afterwards...
What I have trouble with is the family whose family members are getting killed. The last remaining daughter--3 siblings have just died so she goes to hang out at a bar??? Heck, when they go to the brewery, both her brothers have just died and she is very matter-of-fact about showing off the place. Where's the grieving? It was very weird.
It also strained credulity that the little kid could get drunk on the little sip of alcohol she had...though network standards may have had something to do with that.
And then there's Bobby at then end, the audience being played perfectely by Dean's exclamation of 'There you are!'--and he grabs the flask.
We're starting to get to the homestretch...
This is the one which starts with the ballerina dancing her feet off--ugh. Oddly enough, now that Lucifer is free in Sam's head, Dean seems very relaxed about sending Sam off on his own, as opposed to the anxiety Dean's had throughout the season for Sam's crazy making him, well, crazy.
The case with the cursed objects is interesting and fairly straighforward. Loved the little girl saying 'sorry' as she accidentally kicks Dean in the face...twice. And I appreciated the restraint of not making Dean put the ballet shoes on. The verbal jokes were enough. But then smart!Dean feels something's off--his spidey-sense is working--and it leads to the real estate Leviathans.
A confession--she was way over the top, but I kinda loved the real estate bitchy lady...she delivered her lines so genuinely that I believed in her caricature. And her beleaguered assistant George :) Actually, pretty much all the townspeople were very strong characters, written to give us a solid sense of who they were even though they were only around briefly. Thinking about it, that may be why I am fond of this episode.
But shouldn't the boys have freaked out when "Bad Moon Rising" came on the car radio??? Wouldn't they remember what happened last time they heard it on the road??? So it was and it wasn't a surprise that there was blood all over Frank's trailer...
But no body. So I totally believe Frank faked the scene to throw the Leviathans off and he is floating around in deep cover somewhere so the boys can run into him one last time before the series ends!
7.17 The Born-Again Identity
I find this episode to be a major disappointment. Not as far as the return of Immanual/Cas--the amnesia and its reveal was satisfying, particularly Dean's heart-to-heart with Immanuel in the car. Jensen put tons of layers in that scene, and so did Misha.
But Sam's whole breakdown just doesn't work for me. First of all, the way he bounced off that car in the opener, he should have had multiple broken bones and a concussion!
But really, the problem is that sleep deprivation, no matter how haggard they made Sam look, just isn't scary. I never worked up real anxiety about Sam's condition. The only time it really worked for me was when Lucifer kept throwing firecrackers and Sam flinched every time--that was effective because there was a physical cause-and-effect going on. Lucifer's nonstop chatter was annoying, but not scary. I didn't feel afraid for Sam until the demon took him to the basement for the electroshock treatment.
Nice touch having Sam still able to focus to save someone else, though I never quite figured out how the girl was in a fire that only resulted in needing a square bandage on her neck...
Meg was annoying as well. In retrospect she was brought in here in order to be used as a semi-ally for a while, since everyone else the boys know is dead...but I really was wishing for Dean to just end her with the demon knife in the convenience store and be done with her...
Sam must have had a power nap in the psych ward after Cas took Sam's hell memories, because he looked a lot better standing by the car when they were leaving than he did when they were rescuing him...
7.18 Party On, Garth
I love Garth. He is the anti-hunter hunter--someone who feels confident in what he does. Even when it's cringeworthy to watch as an observer, he carries himself with pride. He won't let outsiders affect his self-esteem, and it's that sense of knowing exactly who he is that makes him appealing to me. With Garth, what you see is what you get. And he's a lot smarter and definitely more emotionally together than his first impression. He's funny, but he's not portrayed as a buffoon. And he isn't intimidated by Sam and Dean's opinion of him.
So I cut this episode a lot of slack for having Garth, and for drunk boys, especially in the brewery office when Dean finds the good stuff. Comedic gold :) And the Japanese restaurant guy who gave them the translation and then blessed the sword. He must have wondered about those guys for days afterwards...
What I have trouble with is the family whose family members are getting killed. The last remaining daughter--3 siblings have just died so she goes to hang out at a bar??? Heck, when they go to the brewery, both her brothers have just died and she is very matter-of-fact about showing off the place. Where's the grieving? It was very weird.
It also strained credulity that the little kid could get drunk on the little sip of alcohol she had...though network standards may have had something to do with that.
And then there's Bobby at then end, the audience being played perfectely by Dean's exclamation of 'There you are!'--and he grabs the flask.
We're starting to get to the homestretch...