Season 11 Reviews 11.15-11.18
And the amazing season continues...
11.15 Beyond the Mat written by Andrew Dabb and John Bring
I remember when I saw the episode preview for this I wrote it off as going to be one of those ‘stupid-funny-because-we-can’ episodes.
Was I surprised to get another rockin’ episode!
I was amused by Dean’s toss of the aspirin bottle to Sam. They are using that ‘toss something to my brother’ a lot this season. It’s adorable-cute that they found something to add to their brotherly quirks 11 seasons in!
Loved that Dean just admits he’s desperate to get out of the bunker and Sam, after looking at Dean’s face, goes along, and later agrees they should go to the match because ‘the world will still be screwed tomorrow.’
The writers did a nice job of putting John in the episode with the reminiscence of him taking the boys to wrestling matches-the words and deliverance of them along with the mention of their own fanboying really added to the episode.
Again I thought show did a great job of fleshing out the wrestlers and Rio and the grungy atmosphere of the world they travelled in!
Dean: You think about that. Town after town putting your ass on the line for next to nothing. No money, no glory. Wow.
Sam: You realize you just literally described our jobs.
Ouch.
I felt bad for the boy whose dad was murdered. And wondering how Gunner killed him when he had just beaten his opponent in the ring and was taking a bow???
So Sam goes back to their motel to research while Dean stays with the wrestlers. Loved his little routine in the ring…Sam calls Dean to tell him it might be a demon and he’s coming. Dean starts doing tequila shots with the gang at the bar-and just how long does it take Sam to get there? It appears to have been a seriously long drive if the bar was closing when he arrived. And poor Dean, guess he doesn’t do much tequila…
Harley’s refusal to take the demon’s offer-that was a fantastic character moment, when he says he never thought there was anything after death, but if there are demons and hell, then there must be a heaven too, and he’s not going to give up his shot at that. His character had been a jerk and suddenly I didn’t want something to happen to him…I felt sad that he didn’t make it.
And Gunner-he was so likeable-and yet a murderer-and yet he managed to do the right thing to save the boys and then faced his end straightforward-so many layers in a one-episode character-this is when Supernatural shows just how great it can be!
The other thing that happened in this episode is that Crowley gets away from Lucifer, and I hate to say it, but I was impressed with Crowley’s smarts. Maybe it’s that I find Lucifer even more annoying than Crowley…
One minor question-Lucifer walks in on Crowley about to open the box with the Hand of God. After some verbal skirmishing, Lucifer goes to the box and instead of just opening it, he picks it up, moves it to another table, and opens it there, and I just have to wonder why? Why move it when there was plenty of space to open it where it was? Maybe it’s an influence from Cas, because I remember in the episode where Cas retrieves the angel tablet from Lucifer’s vault back in season 8 he did the same thing-rather than open the chest where it was, he had to pick it up and move it first. I have no idea why that sticks with me as a weird extra step…
11.16 Safe House written by Robbie Thompson
I didn’t realize this was another Robbie one…Robbie, we’re going to miss you…
Neat mom character at the start…
I couldn’t figure out what made Sam immediately think of Bobby and Rufus when the neighborhood watch lady mentioned that FBI agents had been there a ‘handful of years ago.’ There should have been something more to make him go there.
When Bobby’s care came on screen, the caption was ‘A Handful of Years Ago’-cute.
The cutting back-and-forth between Sam and Dean and Bobby and Rufus was so lovely-it really enhanced the episode, made it a game almost to see how it was going to switch. Dean’s ‘come get me, bitch’ cutting to Bobby’s ‘stay away from me, bitch’ made me laugh. The fight between Sam and the thing possessing Dean was brutal-Sam trying to pull his punches but possessed Dean isn’t, and the fight only ended when Sam broke a chair across Dean’s back. The moment that really got me though, was after it was over and Sam went to help Dean and gently brushed the top of Dean’s head-what a spontaneous moment of brotherly love in that tiny gesture!
Then there’s the weirdness of the time paradox, of Bobby and Dean seeing each other in passing, saving victims back in time-the coherence of how that was written is something to be really admired! And then Robbie gives us the bottle of Johnny Walker from Rufus to Bobby that we already saw seasons ago (when Dean gets pulled back in time to work with Elliot Ness.) It’s those little things-it’s so wonderful to get episodes where the writer really knows and loves the show!
11.17 Red Meat written by Robert Berens and Andrew Dabb
I know everyone’s favorite episode this season is Baby, but for stand-alones, this is the one that does it for me!
It starts with a kick-ass fight-and then Sam gets shot and goes down in slow motion, and I think my heart stopped and didn’t start up again until the end of the episode! Dean does emergency surgery to remove the bullet, and Sam…well, Sam is in bad shape but he’s going to keep going because he’s Sam F**king Winchester…And Dean is scared to death for his brother but charging on because that’s what he does…
I think it was a bit of a cheat to have Sam with no pulse or heartbeat and then he magically revives, but I’m gonna let it slide because it was a necessary part of the tragedy-the cut from Dean dying from the pills to Sam gasping to consciousness-I confess to being devastated at that moment and yelling ‘no’ at the TV…
Again, all the pieces fit together-Corbin turning, the horrible cop who wouldn’t let Dean go to Sam-he got what he deserved!-Michelle as an empathetic character for whom I felt bad at the end-her speech about ‘there is no normal’ after what happened to her…
And there’s Sam, who clearly earns his super-human status this episode, dispatching two werewolves, getting to Dean, and killing the last werewolf, all the while with the hole in his gut leaking copious amounts of blood!
Though I did have a WTF moment at the end when Sam strolls out to the care practically as good as new-he so should have been put in a hospital for a day or two!
Dean hides going to Billie from Sam…Darn it, they’d being doing so well with being honest…
I loved this episode for the amount of fear for the boys it managed to create-11 seasons in, over a hundred deaths and comebacks between the two of them-and I was honestly scared because I couldn’t see how it was going to end okay while I was watching it!
11.18-Hell’s Angels written by Buckner and Ross-Leming
Show just had an unprecedented run of 14 episodes in a row that ranged from good to stellar, so I am not going to get to upset over this mess of a story…
Amara was hurt by the angel smiting and still pretty under-par when we first catch up with her and Rowena, but she is back to full strength after the second treatment? I shouldn’t ask how Rowena knows wha treatment a deity needs…
I thought it was interesting that Amara questioned why Rowena was helping her by saying she didn’t sense any kindness in her-so Amara can discern some human feelings, which ties in to her initial reaction to Sydney in Thin Lizzie, which was to reward her with bliss because she’d tried to be kind to the person she perceived as a girl in need of help.
Speaking of Rowena, that was a really cheesy way to bring her back…I’d like to know if that was the intention from when Lucifer originally broke her neck or whether they had to come up with a way to bring her back after they killed her too soon…
I have to admit Misha’s delivery of Casifer’s pitch to the angels sounded like Pellegrino’s style of speaking to me…
Crowley’s been so stoic and clever up till now, but once he’s back among ‘friends’ all he can do is bitch about what he went through…Not getting a lot of sympathy, is he…
Okay, this is what made me nuts: how was that whole deal supposed to work? They kick Lucifer out of Cas before giving him the Hand of God-where does he go? He still needs a vessel, and they didn’t have one handy other than Sam…
And what was with the scene in Cas’ head where he’s placidly watching TV in the bunker and totally unconcerned with what’s happening with Sam and Dean and the real world? Were they trying to communicate Cas had given up hope? Turning his reaction into a joke didn’t make me feel for him, and I should have cared if he was that despairing…It felt like someone proposed ‘wouldn’t it be a funny scene if…’ and then they wrote the episode around getting that scene in, nevermind it doesn’t make any sense, and it’s not the first time these writers have done that…sigh…
Why were the boys prepared for an exorcism? They were dealing with an angel, the only demon around was Crowley. Admittedly convenient that they were ready…
So the boys end up back in the bunker, and Sam sets up beer bottles on the map table so Dean can do bowling? Huh? Whatever…And they have their little discussion about honoring others’ decisions:
Dean: …didn't we say that we're gonna swear off getting in the way when one person makes a choice the other didn't agree with?
Sam: Yeah, um. Yeah, we did say that.
Dean: So...
Sam: Okay. So, that's our policy.
Dean: Which sounds damn good. Well, let's go find that idiot and bring him home.
I think Dean’s last sentence was supposed to be ironic, right? Giving lip service to the agreement and promptly going to ignore it? I want to take it that way, anyway…
Summing up this episode, it was Amara and Rowena talking; Sam, Dean, and Crowley talking; and Lucifer talking to everyone. And none of the talking made any sense…
11.15 Beyond the Mat written by Andrew Dabb and John Bring
I remember when I saw the episode preview for this I wrote it off as going to be one of those ‘stupid-funny-because-we-can’ episodes.
Was I surprised to get another rockin’ episode!
I was amused by Dean’s toss of the aspirin bottle to Sam. They are using that ‘toss something to my brother’ a lot this season. It’s adorable-cute that they found something to add to their brotherly quirks 11 seasons in!
Loved that Dean just admits he’s desperate to get out of the bunker and Sam, after looking at Dean’s face, goes along, and later agrees they should go to the match because ‘the world will still be screwed tomorrow.’
The writers did a nice job of putting John in the episode with the reminiscence of him taking the boys to wrestling matches-the words and deliverance of them along with the mention of their own fanboying really added to the episode.
Again I thought show did a great job of fleshing out the wrestlers and Rio and the grungy atmosphere of the world they travelled in!
Dean: You think about that. Town after town putting your ass on the line for next to nothing. No money, no glory. Wow.
Sam: You realize you just literally described our jobs.
Ouch.
I felt bad for the boy whose dad was murdered. And wondering how Gunner killed him when he had just beaten his opponent in the ring and was taking a bow???
So Sam goes back to their motel to research while Dean stays with the wrestlers. Loved his little routine in the ring…Sam calls Dean to tell him it might be a demon and he’s coming. Dean starts doing tequila shots with the gang at the bar-and just how long does it take Sam to get there? It appears to have been a seriously long drive if the bar was closing when he arrived. And poor Dean, guess he doesn’t do much tequila…
Harley’s refusal to take the demon’s offer-that was a fantastic character moment, when he says he never thought there was anything after death, but if there are demons and hell, then there must be a heaven too, and he’s not going to give up his shot at that. His character had been a jerk and suddenly I didn’t want something to happen to him…I felt sad that he didn’t make it.
And Gunner-he was so likeable-and yet a murderer-and yet he managed to do the right thing to save the boys and then faced his end straightforward-so many layers in a one-episode character-this is when Supernatural shows just how great it can be!
The other thing that happened in this episode is that Crowley gets away from Lucifer, and I hate to say it, but I was impressed with Crowley’s smarts. Maybe it’s that I find Lucifer even more annoying than Crowley…
One minor question-Lucifer walks in on Crowley about to open the box with the Hand of God. After some verbal skirmishing, Lucifer goes to the box and instead of just opening it, he picks it up, moves it to another table, and opens it there, and I just have to wonder why? Why move it when there was plenty of space to open it where it was? Maybe it’s an influence from Cas, because I remember in the episode where Cas retrieves the angel tablet from Lucifer’s vault back in season 8 he did the same thing-rather than open the chest where it was, he had to pick it up and move it first. I have no idea why that sticks with me as a weird extra step…
11.16 Safe House written by Robbie Thompson
I didn’t realize this was another Robbie one…Robbie, we’re going to miss you…
Neat mom character at the start…
I couldn’t figure out what made Sam immediately think of Bobby and Rufus when the neighborhood watch lady mentioned that FBI agents had been there a ‘handful of years ago.’ There should have been something more to make him go there.
When Bobby’s care came on screen, the caption was ‘A Handful of Years Ago’-cute.
The cutting back-and-forth between Sam and Dean and Bobby and Rufus was so lovely-it really enhanced the episode, made it a game almost to see how it was going to switch. Dean’s ‘come get me, bitch’ cutting to Bobby’s ‘stay away from me, bitch’ made me laugh. The fight between Sam and the thing possessing Dean was brutal-Sam trying to pull his punches but possessed Dean isn’t, and the fight only ended when Sam broke a chair across Dean’s back. The moment that really got me though, was after it was over and Sam went to help Dean and gently brushed the top of Dean’s head-what a spontaneous moment of brotherly love in that tiny gesture!
Then there’s the weirdness of the time paradox, of Bobby and Dean seeing each other in passing, saving victims back in time-the coherence of how that was written is something to be really admired! And then Robbie gives us the bottle of Johnny Walker from Rufus to Bobby that we already saw seasons ago (when Dean gets pulled back in time to work with Elliot Ness.) It’s those little things-it’s so wonderful to get episodes where the writer really knows and loves the show!
11.17 Red Meat written by Robert Berens and Andrew Dabb
I know everyone’s favorite episode this season is Baby, but for stand-alones, this is the one that does it for me!
It starts with a kick-ass fight-and then Sam gets shot and goes down in slow motion, and I think my heart stopped and didn’t start up again until the end of the episode! Dean does emergency surgery to remove the bullet, and Sam…well, Sam is in bad shape but he’s going to keep going because he’s Sam F**king Winchester…And Dean is scared to death for his brother but charging on because that’s what he does…
I think it was a bit of a cheat to have Sam with no pulse or heartbeat and then he magically revives, but I’m gonna let it slide because it was a necessary part of the tragedy-the cut from Dean dying from the pills to Sam gasping to consciousness-I confess to being devastated at that moment and yelling ‘no’ at the TV…
Again, all the pieces fit together-Corbin turning, the horrible cop who wouldn’t let Dean go to Sam-he got what he deserved!-Michelle as an empathetic character for whom I felt bad at the end-her speech about ‘there is no normal’ after what happened to her…
And there’s Sam, who clearly earns his super-human status this episode, dispatching two werewolves, getting to Dean, and killing the last werewolf, all the while with the hole in his gut leaking copious amounts of blood!
Though I did have a WTF moment at the end when Sam strolls out to the care practically as good as new-he so should have been put in a hospital for a day or two!
Dean hides going to Billie from Sam…Darn it, they’d being doing so well with being honest…
I loved this episode for the amount of fear for the boys it managed to create-11 seasons in, over a hundred deaths and comebacks between the two of them-and I was honestly scared because I couldn’t see how it was going to end okay while I was watching it!
11.18-Hell’s Angels written by Buckner and Ross-Leming
Show just had an unprecedented run of 14 episodes in a row that ranged from good to stellar, so I am not going to get to upset over this mess of a story…
Amara was hurt by the angel smiting and still pretty under-par when we first catch up with her and Rowena, but she is back to full strength after the second treatment? I shouldn’t ask how Rowena knows wha treatment a deity needs…
I thought it was interesting that Amara questioned why Rowena was helping her by saying she didn’t sense any kindness in her-so Amara can discern some human feelings, which ties in to her initial reaction to Sydney in Thin Lizzie, which was to reward her with bliss because she’d tried to be kind to the person she perceived as a girl in need of help.
Speaking of Rowena, that was a really cheesy way to bring her back…I’d like to know if that was the intention from when Lucifer originally broke her neck or whether they had to come up with a way to bring her back after they killed her too soon…
I have to admit Misha’s delivery of Casifer’s pitch to the angels sounded like Pellegrino’s style of speaking to me…
Crowley’s been so stoic and clever up till now, but once he’s back among ‘friends’ all he can do is bitch about what he went through…Not getting a lot of sympathy, is he…
Okay, this is what made me nuts: how was that whole deal supposed to work? They kick Lucifer out of Cas before giving him the Hand of God-where does he go? He still needs a vessel, and they didn’t have one handy other than Sam…
And what was with the scene in Cas’ head where he’s placidly watching TV in the bunker and totally unconcerned with what’s happening with Sam and Dean and the real world? Were they trying to communicate Cas had given up hope? Turning his reaction into a joke didn’t make me feel for him, and I should have cared if he was that despairing…It felt like someone proposed ‘wouldn’t it be a funny scene if…’ and then they wrote the episode around getting that scene in, nevermind it doesn’t make any sense, and it’s not the first time these writers have done that…sigh…
Why were the boys prepared for an exorcism? They were dealing with an angel, the only demon around was Crowley. Admittedly convenient that they were ready…
So the boys end up back in the bunker, and Sam sets up beer bottles on the map table so Dean can do bowling? Huh? Whatever…And they have their little discussion about honoring others’ decisions:
Dean: …didn't we say that we're gonna swear off getting in the way when one person makes a choice the other didn't agree with?
Sam: Yeah, um. Yeah, we did say that.
Dean: So...
Sam: Okay. So, that's our policy.
Dean: Which sounds damn good. Well, let's go find that idiot and bring him home.
I think Dean’s last sentence was supposed to be ironic, right? Giving lip service to the agreement and promptly going to ignore it? I want to take it that way, anyway…
Summing up this episode, it was Amara and Rowena talking; Sam, Dean, and Crowley talking; and Lucifer talking to everyone. And none of the talking made any sense…