Picspam Reaction: Supernatural 8.08
Warning: Contains profanity, references to old movies, old RPG systems, the Eleventh Doctor and assorted other miscellany.
Spoiler and Theory Summary
Crack. With crack on the side, garnished with crack, and for dessert, it's crack! Maybe involving cartoons. Not surprised, after the last two, and the upcoming hiatus, we were due for a breather round.
Except of course even if it's solid crack end to end, it still won't won't be a breather, will it?
Picspam Reaction, with speculation and randomness for Supernatural 8.08 - "???" "Hunteri Heroici"
-The Then's are getting shorter, this one is 38 seconds.
-For a second there it looked like this Gary person who probably only has minutes to live might be sitting at a picnic table set up in the Roadside Pull-off of Fraught and Angsty Revelations seen in a few previous episodes, but maybe not.
-"Do you hear that?" Ah yes. Flirty, happy people before the title card, that would be your approaching demise. Poor doomed bastards.
-PFFT! GAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA XD Okay, yeah. Crack with cartoons. Awesome!
-I do feel the need to mention now that since I heard this episode would be cartoony, I've been thinking of Abracapocus by big_pink, making this the second time this season an episode has reminded me of her fic in some way. If Celine Dion or Cirque du Soleil or tree-planting shows up before the end of the year... Hmmm... Still. Cartoons! *gets a raw carrot to nibble, just because*
-Title "Hunteri Heroici", very classic Bugs Bunny. No... classic Wile E. Coyote. ...Oh dear. O.o
-"Garth has a safe-house-boat?" Wasn't that mentioned before? With his cousin the... what was it? "Tri-racial paraplegic sniper." Hm. I was sure he'd mentioned a house-boat before.
-"What's the word, Cas?"/"It's a shortened version of my name." Why am I finding that so funny that I can hardly breathe? Is it the pure obtuse Castielness of it, or is it Dean's face?
-Hm. Castiel's turned off his connection to the angel network. That seems suspect, considering if anyone's going to have insight into the location of the tablets, it might be the angels... Although Castiel does have a legit reason to want to avoid them, setting aside the more recent developments. Is cutting himself off something he's done himself, or is it something he's forgotten he was commanded to do? *ponders*
-"I don't want anything to do with that place. Not anymore." Really? Is this subliminal 'Heaven is using me to spy on you' stuff? Or... hmmmmmmmm...
-"I'm gonna become a hunter!" HEEEE HEHEHEHEHEEEEEEE!!!! This is going to go SO well, isn't it? Just look at that face! It's expressions like that that make you remember he spent a significant portion of season 7 getting his brain scrambled by Sam's head-Lucifer and chasing bees.
-"I could be your third wheel!" 'Scuse me a sec, I just need to stop choking on everything ever. ... Okay. I'm good. Third wheel. *facepalm*
-"You know that's not a good thing, right?"/"Of course it is! A third wheel adds extra grip, greater stability." Nope, still choking. Talk amongst yourselves.
-Castiel saying 'our kind of thing'. I do not know how much comprehensibility this reaction post will have, given how little I've managed to hold on to in the first three and a half minutes (and that's including the Then) But, of course, it's crack.
-Also, behold, the return of pirate!Castiel. Arrrr.
-Aw. No teleporting allowed. You want to be in the Winchester family on the hunting team, you ride in the freaking car. Awwwwww. *flappy hands*
-"Can I at least ride in the front seat?"/"No! *body-check*" Sam does have a lifetime of Winchester family Impala seating seniority, but he might want to get into the habit of calling 'shotgun', just to clarify things.
-"Coroner said his heart was ejected from his body. Got some air too, found it in a sandbox." Woohoo!! \o/
-Written by Andrew Dabb. Hm. Not the name I was expecting to see, given the crack-and-cartoon themes, but okay. Flying solo too... that's new for him on this show, isn't it?
-"There are no narcotics in that man's system, his molecules are all wrong." Molecule-vision, that's handy. Hope it comes with an off-switch too because it would be so annoying to see everything as molecules. While we're here, Tie Report: Castiel's tie is a foregone conclusion, Dean's is maroon, pale blue triple-stripes down to his left, on the job, maybe with a hint of mentoring? Job-focussed, setting aside all the emotional revelations and stuff to take refuge in the job. Using it as a wall, perhaps? What am I saying? This is Dean. He uses everything as a wall.
-Directed by Paul Edwards in his first outing on Supernatural, I think?
-Sam Tie Report... what the hell even is that pattern? Little light square grid on a maroon background. I think my mom made me a polyester jumpsuit out of the cheapest possible material that pattern in the 70's. D-: Childhood scarring memories aside, the primary base colors of the boys' ties are similar which I think is a good sign. Maybe there has been some kind of post-emotional breakthrough discussion between the boys between episodes and some general progress made, except Sam's still against continuing to be a hunter and going back to 'normal', hence the square-griddyness.
-"Whatever you say, Scully." Hee, hee, heeeeeee.
-"I can't sense any EMF or sulfur." Damn, that's a handy set of senses Castiel's got. O.o
-Those awkward moments when your friend/protege starts sniffing the corpse. Dean's face, seriously.
-"Bladder infection." No concept of TMI. Never change, Cas.
-Shoddy M.E., not removing all the jewelry from the corpse.
-Oh ho. Amendment to Sam's Tie Report: Sam's tie only looks the same base colour as Dean's from a distance. Closer up, the pattern is a lot more complex and the colour base is a blue, and barely dominant enough to be considered a base colour. Things are still very not right from Sam's end of the relationship, though it's hard to see from a distance.
-Unfaithful spouse, they suspect the spurned spouse is witchy... I don't think so. This level of messing with the rules of reality, I'm thinking some kind of Trickster. I blocked the guest stars' names, but if they were resurrecting Gabriel, I think they might keep Richard Speight's name for the end credits, because that would be a hell of a thing. More likely an actual Trickster deity though, or some other entity with pervasive powers over reality. Maybe Jesse the Junior Anti-Christ is back?
-"Nice job on that bladder infection." That could have been a clue that lead them to the affair too though. A mild bladder infection could be caused by certain activities, particularly if clean-up was rushed or non-existent. Mostly in women but it does happen in men sometimes too. Just sayin'. *shrug*
-Sam flashback time. He hasn't had one of those in a while.
-"Do not use the words moist, or irregardless." Pfffft! Sounds like her... dad/uncle/male acquaintance whose judgement she fears is a real hoot.
-"Who's this handsome fella?" Of course he's talking about the dog.
-Stan Thompson, so not Richardson, but Richardson is probably her married name. "Do you want a drink, Dad?" And yep, father it is. There goes my vague crack-filled hope that her dad might be Douglas Richardson from Cabin Pressure.
-"I gotta say, Sam, you look like a real fixer-upper to me." Hee. I like Amelia's dad. I do.
-CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR! Yes she was already in the episode but she was fueling up and it felt a bit invasive to take a screencap while she was at lunch. ...I need help maybe. Although, so does she... *squints* is it just me or do those back shocks look oddly low? Cas might be a regular back seat fixture these days, but he's not that heavy. O.o
-"Gary had a heart attack." Or more accurately, an attack heart. Leapt right out of his chest and attacked his girlfriend, sort of. Ha ha ha? ...Sorry.
-"I'll handle this." Oh god.
-"I don't want to bother you but I've just got one question for you." IS HE DOING COLUMBO?
-"WHY DID YOU KILL YOUR HUSBAND?" Nope, probably not Columbo, or at least not entirely. Thought for a second Castiel had been sitting watching late night re-runs on the hotel TV and decided to play up his trenchcoat. Cas, honey, look into subtlety. Not that you'll have much luck picking it up from these two. *facepalm*
-"Agent Stills?" Ahhh. And I think Sam was Agent Nash. So Crosby, Stills and Nash?
-"That he was sleeping with her."/"I know." I had a feeling it was a poly or open marriage situation. Cool! And definitely not a witch. *nods*
-"Then what killed her husband?"/"Who gives a-" *beeeeeeeeep* HAHAHA. Dean. Never change.
-Oh why the hell not. Tie Report for guy on rooftop obviously about to throw himself off (and probably bounce if someone's flipped the cartoon physics switch): TOO MANY STRIPES. Overwhelming job-related stress has probably driven him to the rooftop. *nods*
-Well, he'll bounce or he'll fail his Smarts check and not realize gravity works until he looks down. Probably after he realizes he doesn't want to die after all. (Pinstriped suit too. Poor overworked bastard.)
-And yeah. Figures.
-"He invested everything in Roman industries and lost it all in the crash and burn last year." Awwwwwkwaaaaard....
-They had some great shooting weather in Vancouver earlier this year, didn't they.
-"That's straight off Bugs Bunny."/"So we're looking for some sort of insect-rabbit hybrid?" Oh Castiel, you are going to get sat down in front of a whole lot of Looney Tunes very soon. Also, that little bit where Castiel was hanging out in the background of that conversation with the authorities... figure his Handler called in an update there? I think maybe so.
-Eeeeeeheheheheheheh. Told yah!
-"The bird represents God, Coyote is Man, endlessly chasing the Divine yet never able to catch him." I can't even type, oh god, crying now. Of course an angel would see Wile E. Coyote as an allegory! XD
-"Maybe it's a Tulpa." HOORAY FOR NAME-TAGGING FIRST SEASON MONSTERS THAT REALLY REALLY REALLY NEED TO RECUR!
-"We'll have a slumber party, braid Sam's hair." WIN. And given that Castiel takes everything literally, if Castiel does stay in the same room, the chances of Sam getting woken up in the night with Castiel trying to braid his hair are really quite high.
-"I'll watch over you."/"That's not gonna happen." It probably has over the years, you just never noticed. *pats Dean* It's not like he's doing it to be creepy.
-"Something's coming across the police band." Damn. Castiel's got some really handy powers. Who knew he could re-tune angel radio to Earthbound frequencies.
-*HEADDESK*
-"Do you boys chase the crazy or does the crazy chase you?" That is the eternal question. I have got to say, I really like this character. I hope she survives the episode, and maybe her and Sheriff Jody can get together and compare notes on weird crap.
-Okaaaaay. Portable hole the thief got out of. Hm. Wish coin? Naw. too many external incidents for this to be someone wishing themselves to have Toon powers, unless the first two deaths were dry runs... Hm.
-"No fingerprints, never any sign of forced entry, just a pair of those every time like he's signing his work." Oh really? So an ongoing thief using a Toon trope as a calling card, and then Toon physics starts to become real. Hmmmm.
-"Hey, can you lift this?" And this could be Castiel's "pft, puhlease" face.
-Aaauuuuugggccch. Oh, and thank you so much sound department for the moist squishy noises that are so shuddersome over headphones. :-P
-"Then why isn't it working now?" An excellent question.
-"Your father had beautiful handwriting." Awww. As I recall it was more of an efficient block printing, but awwww.
-"This whole 'mysterious resurrection' thing always has one mother of a down side." Yeah, the Winchesters and Dean in particular would know that quite well. And again, their gift horses often turn out to be something closer to a Kelpie, so a 'Get Out of Purgatory Free' card for their angelic adoptee is just screaming "I HAVE A CATCH, DO NOT TRUST MY BENEFICENCE" and not poking at that seemingly consequence-free good thing would be incredibly foolhardy. And it's all going to hurt so much when the truth comes out.
-"Dean! I said no!" Quite sensibly, considering the last time he was in Heaven he decreased its Celestial population significantly among other things, and also may have a subconscious aversion to it now that someone claiming to be Heaven's Operative is messing with his noodle and making him spy on his friends.
-"Talk to me." I have no words for the depth of my 'Awwwwwww!' at that. *flappy hands*
-"I vaporized thousands of my own kind and I can't go back."/"'cause if you do the angels will kill you?"/"Because if I see what Heaven's become, what I... what I made of it... I'm afraid I might kill myself." Oh god. *flappy flappy flappy haaaaaaaaaaaands*
-"Hey." SAAAAAAAAAAAAAM! DO YOU HAVE AN EMOTIONAL REVELATION DETECTOR OR SOMETHING? YOU HAVE CRAPPY CRAPPY TIMING. CAN YOU NOT TAKE ANOTHER TRIP AROUND THE BLOCK FOR TEN MINUTES SO SOMEONE CAN HAVE A FREAKING EPIPHANY OR GET TOLD THAT WHAT LEVIATHANS WERE INFLUENCING HIM TO DO MIGHT NOT BE HIS FAULT OR THAT ALFIE THE WEINER-HUT ANGEL DIDN'T SEEM TOO PISSED OFF OR WHATEVER? *HEADDESK*
-"He robbed a house, across from the park where Gary blew a gasket." Ahhh, proximity to power being exerted. The black holes are the primary power thing, the rest is bleed-over *handwave* Toon pollution. Cool!
-"It's not targeted, it's like an area of effect." Hee. A Toon field! Oh that's going to be fun when they get around to fighting in it.
-"It's wabbit season!" Hehehehehe. It's a good thing Warner and the CW are related, or there would be so many licensing fees and legal issues in this episode.
-"I don't think you pronounced that correctly." Pffft. Oh Cas. Never ever ever change.
-Tie Report #2 for Dean: Grid of grey diamond-thingies on dark navy or black. No stripes, no colour. The discussion with Castiel has knocked him off-kilter, possibly due to parallels with his own post-Hell feelings, and also because one of the few real friends he has in the world just told him he's afraid he might kill himself if he tries to go home. It's a conflicted, numb, distracted tie with a lot on its mind. Dean's mind, I mean. Of course.
-Tie Report #2 for Sam: Looks solid grey at first, but there is subtle chain-like striping in the texture. Maybe Sam's starting to get back to the job, but he still feels constrained by it, or something happening in the 'normal' life he left. He's in his own head and his own memories of normal and therefore a little absent to things going on around him, particularly about things like interrupting emotional breakthroughs, Sam.
-"Agent Crosby, FBI." Yep. Wonder who Agent Young would be? Garth?
-"Grand larceny." A change from the usual "Horrific string of recent murders" reason for questioning people.
-Aha! A clear shot of the flyer behind Dean with the date indicates that either SPN-verse is barely into 2011, or this care home has serious problems taking flyers down after an event has passed. Regardless, THERE'S A CONCRETE DATE TO PLAY WITH! Probably one that doesn't mesh up with anything else ever, but woo! \o/
-"Don't flirt you two." Pft. Neither of them are the one likeliest to flirt with interviewees, Dean.
-"You were so pretty, Charles." Oh dear. Yeah, the occasional case of dementia is going to make this tricky. Though really, Castiel's probably the best one of them to talk to her, maybe he has some brain-scanning tricks up his sleeve along with molecular vision. (Hey... is that the same actress who played the pie lady with the knife in Bedtime Stories? I am easily fooled by hairstyles....)
-Not alone though. Oh good.
-"I'm sorry, Charles, I didn't trust you. You were quite the bounder." Oh I like her. Quite a lot. She's adorable.
-"Have you noticed anything strange lately, cold spots, smells...?"/"Well, there's the cat." Heheheheheeeeeee. *draws hearts around her*
-"He talks sometimes. Really hates that mouse." Ooo. Tom and Jerry. (Which isn't a Warner Brothers cartoon, so I suppose that's as vague as they need to be to keep legal happy.) Hm. So. Cartoon field effect? The person doing the robberies visits her and the cat starts talking, and who's going to believe an elderly person who says the cat was talking, and also, what elderly person who doesn't have dementia issues is going to actually admit they heard the cat talking? Hmmm.
-"I'll interrogate the cat." Oh god no. Unless it's like the Eleventh Doctor interrogates cats, in which case fine.
-Hm. I find that conspicuous brown box on the table by the man who's zoned out to be a little too conspicuous. *eyes warily*
-Flashback time for Sam again!
-Cut up hot dogs and Mr. Noodles (or whatever they're called in the US, although it could be spaghetti)? It's just like college!
-"Having spaghetti and hot dogs our first night in a new house was sort of a tradition." Awwwwwww.
-"My father was in the Marines."/"A jarhead, hunh?" *facepalm* Telling a person who was in the Army and is already antagonistic towards you that your dad was a Marine is not usually a good idea if you are trying to make polite conversational inroads, Sam. Seems like it might be, but the two branches of the American military tend not to like each other. I don't know why, but there you are.
-"I gotta say, Sam. You've got the look." Ohhhh. Oh crap. So. Sam's never been in the military, that's what he's told Amelia, that's what she's told her dad, her dad sees he's got a kind of military-like thing going on because Hunter etc... I wonder if her dad thinks Sam's AWOL, or a deserter or something. Strange drifter with no concrete past? And Sam is sort of deserting from hunting at the same time... hmmm. Amelia's dad's not going to like Sam for a very long time if that's what he thinks he's picking up.
-*nods through Stan's talk about running until you find something to hold on to* Yeah, Sam would hit a few post-traumatic bells too. But that "What are you running from?" has hints of shirking implications too. I like Amelia's dad. He's pushing Sam's buttons even though he has no idea exactly here they are located.
-I also have to say, Sam's flashback hair is amazing. The fog-filter these scenes are being shot through are making me reflexively want to clean my glasses though.
-What do you think; crew people and their family members maybe? Well except for the guy that looks a bit like Harry Morgan in the middle there who has attracted their attention and is the next phase of the plot no doubt. Fred James, Room 114.
-Fred Jones, sorry. Maybe my glasses do need cleaning. Ex-hunter from Utah. Interesting, and could be an interesting person for Sam to talk to, given the slight Samward-leaning-focus this episode. Perhaps something about retiring from hunting.
-"He was psychic."/"Psychokinetic." Well, crap. Along with providing beer to under-aged kids, is he also a huge classic cartoon fanboy?
-*FACEPALM*
-"Dumbass." Eeeeeeheheheheh!
-Yeah, and the retired psychokinetic hunter is sitting there, watching cartoons and drifting. Source of Toon powers, more than likely. Person actually doing the break-ins, not likely (unless he's faking the semi-coma, which would be awesome). Being used by someone else, very much more than likely. One of the orderlies or the home director? We've had an orderly with an interesting neck tattoo who talked to Sam, we have the oddly distracting female orderly Dean saw. Or maybe it's the cat.
-"Do you really think this one man is causing all of these shenanigans?" *draws hearts around Castiel for using the word 'shenanigans'*
-Circle of crazy. Oh yay, spurious testing of cartoon physics! They might be here all day. Although, sound effects only, no visible birdies. Hm.
-"You get him worked up he can reshape reality." ... and.... they hung out with him when they were kids.... and he went hunting with John? Oh wow. I really want to see that now. Hunting aside, he'd be the best babysitter ever!
-"Do we kill him?"/"Did he just threaten to murder one of my patients?" *facepalm* When discussing weird crap, make sure the mundanes aren't going to overhear and cause a ruckus. You guys are training Cas to hunt, you should be demonstrating best practices and setting a good example.
-Another handy skill for a hunter, the ability to go invisible at will. Also teleporting. ...considering Castiel has disconnected his angelic wifi and ostensibly is offline with Heaven, I'm wondering if his lack of trouble using all manner of miscellaneous powers isn't a sign that his Handler really is acting on Heaven's behalf. Or is someone else providing Castiel with power. ...eeeeeek. O.o
-Oh, crap. Big sparkly candles in cartoon physics are very bad news.
-Speaking of useful powers, Fred Jones can change channels by tapping his finger. That's handy. (Pardon the sort of pun)
-Yeaaaaaah. Crap. Hoping Castiel is lurking invisibly and picking up on the imminent doom.
-And that would be a no. Ick. D-:
-"The frosting reached near super-sonic speeds." Heeeee. Okay, Sheila's fine, so maybe it was just a cake splat, not a Sheila splat. That's okay then.
-"Fred's gone." Awwww, Castiel's faaaaace. Poor Cas.
-"Charles, she's wearing my diamonds." Not so out of it there, is she? Someone's busted!
-"My boyfriend gave it to me!" Darn, it's the tattoo orderly. I should have known, he had too many lines earlier not to be involved somehow.
-Ooo. Or it's been Fred all along, he's been using the orderly to get him in and out of the home without suspicion in exchange for a cut and has now decided he's too much of a risk, giving the jewelry to his girlfriend and exposing them, and the whole 'helpless old man out of touch with reality' schtick was all fake. Awesome! \o/
-Also a very useful skill for a hunter to have, Healing Touch. Cas is just busting out all over with useful, normally Heaven-powered skills, considering he's said he's offline with Heaven. Or at least he thinks he is. *eyes his Handler verrrrrry suspiciously*
-"Doctor Maloney." Orrrr, the care home director is the mastermind. Darn. I was hoping for Fred to be a secret criminal mastermind as well as a psychic Toon-reality generator.
-"I like Fred so I said if he hurt the guy I'd go to the cops." You're okay, tattooed orderly, although finding out your boss was ripping off the folks in the care home was probably something you should have reported, you aren't overly evil. I think. ...Does that tattoo look like the top of Woody woodpecker's feathered crest? *eyes paranoidly*
-"Seems to me like the dude's living in a dream world." And we immediately go into flashback mode for Sam. OH REALLY? HMMMMMM...
-"You are living in a dream world." Oh okay, fine, Amelia's dad said it too, Sam hasn't been under the spell of a Djinn or whatever. Or has he? Nah.
-"Guy had good taste. For a jarhead. *cheesy grin*" *snerk* Aw, he's trying. Maybe. Also, holy crap Sam is huge. In case anyone forgot.
-Everyone gets out of the Impala and the bass guitar hits the soundtrack for the start of the Winchester Silly Boys/Caper/Badass music and all is right with the world. \o/
-Heheheheheee. Like Dean would be able to resist playing around with a portable hole. ...That sounded reeeeally wrong didn't it. You know what I mean. *handwaves*
-"Can you feel that, Sam? The power?" It would be really worrisome if he could. Sam's supposed to be long over his psychic stage. (Darn it.) Still, yet another useful hunting skill for Castiel; detecting the expenditure of psychic power. THIS IS MAKING ME NERVOUS NOW. O.O
-Oh crap. This could be interesting. O.O
-AAAAAHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! XD
-Hi Fred! I'm kind of sad you aren't a secret criminal mastermind, but I am glad you don't seem to be evil so far.
-At the very least they are messing with his concentration.
-"The scrawny one?" Heeeeeeeeee. He got bigger. And probably more goofy on the occasions he get hit with the weird end of the expression stick.
-Now that is an effective use of portable holes. STEAL ALL THE THINGS!
-"What's up, Doc?" HA! Yeah, of course Dean couldn't resist saying that either. Speaking of which... *gets another carrot to munch*
-"You what's the worst thing that can happen to a guy with a mind like I got? Losing it." Ow. Aw. And a little eek.
-"Little bastards think they can drop their folks off at a home and visit twice a year maybe?" And right up until the care home director started going on about how he deserved the money instead, he almost had me on board. Well, that and the collateral murdering was a bit of a non-starter.
-AHAHAHAHAHAHAH! NEVER BRING A GUN TO A TOON FIGHT! C'mon, Dean! Stick your hand through a portable hole and trip him as he runs away!
-"Something to hold on to." I see what you did there, Sam.
-*FLAILS MADLY*
-FRYING PAN OUT OF HAMMERSPACE!
-Ouch!
-"You idiot! Bring a gun to a gag fight!" I know, dude, that's what I said! However, Dean will catch up in a minute, and then you'll see some serious crap.
-"X marks the spot." Paint can!
-Darn it, missed! Next time don't warn him. Or maybe make it a cruise liner instead of an anvil for a broader area of effect, because that happens too. Though if you do that, run instead of taunting.
-"It can be nice living in a dream world, it can be great, I know that. And you can hide, and pretend all the crap out there doesn't exist. But you can't do it forever because eventually, whatever it is you're running from? It'll find you. It'll come along, and it'll punch you in the gut and then? You gotta wake up. Because if you don't, then trying to keep that dream alive will destroy you. It'll destroy everything." Okay, firstly HELL YES, SAM, THANK YOU. Two, CASTIEL LISTENING INTENTLY. Three, PROGRESS!!! EVERYWHERE!!! In a crack episode, because even the crackiest episode of this show can hit you square between the eyes with character or plot development or a massive pile of angst, because that's how they roll. WOOOO! \o/
-AHahahahahahah. Yep, sorry Doctor Maloney, the cartoon-physics laws are over, but not before Dean Winchester got the chance to go through a portable hole and summon an anvil from anvil-space. Nice jump though! Excellent form. *golf clap*
-And now is when you find out why it's a very bad thing to take advantage of someone with psychic powers. This is gonna be messy....
-Yep. And nasty. But at least more explainable to local authorities than another anvil.
-He'll go under again and someone else will use him. Sad but true, but hopefully he's not going to off himself too. That would suck.
-"The procedure will be painful and when it's over, I'm not sure how much of you will be left." That's... not sounding like a really great option there, Castiel... Never go into sales and marketing. O.o
-"He's listening to 'Ode to Joy'. He's happy." Hopefully he can switch channels on that, or whatever it is is set on shuffle, because endless repetitive Beethoven can be hazardous to a person's sanity.
-"Cas, you get to ride shotgun, you done good." Aw, Sammy's faaace. Aw.
-"I can't come." Oh and now we have some results of incidental character development. Oh dear.
-OR WE WOULD HAVE RESULTS IF HIS FREAKING HANDLER WASN'T INTERFERING TO MAKE SURE CASTIEL STAYED AS BROKEN AND STUCK TO THE WINCHESTERS AS THEY NEED HIM TO BE. *HEADDESK* FFFFFFFF!!
-"All the pain that I caused, I have to come back to make things right!" Oh Caaaaaaaaas!!!! *flappy hands*
-"Unless I ring my bell, you stay out of Heaven, Castiel." Ooooooof. Yeah, that's going to add a whole lot of stress to Castiel's already considerable subconscious load from the messing around with his memory and motivations that his Handler is doing. Knowing he has to go back and face what he's done, wanting to make amends, but not being permitted, and then being made to think he's the one making that decision. Oh Cas.
-"Well then, what should I do?"/"What do you want to do?" And she cuts him loose with no memory of the meeting except the thought 'what do you want to do?' Dangerous move, perhaps, except she probably knows what he wants to do is what's going to keep him close to the Winchesters. (Also a very suspect move as Heaven advising one of their angels to use Free Will, is not a common thing, particularly when that angel is Castiel, who had some serious recent transdimensional blowback from free-will-related activities.) One of these days, they're going to make a tactical error, and its all going to be explained or at least revealed as something other than what it appears to be. Until then, Castiel's got a head full of memory gaps and motivational bailing twine partly tied by entity/ies of unknown allegiance claiming to be from Heaven, and are likely the ones making sure Castiel's as powered up on all fronts as he needs to be while keeping him from questioning why that is when he's cut off from Heaven. Which sucks for Castiel and by extension the Winchesters, but I love twisty plotty mind-warping crap like this. WHEE! \o/
-Oh hey, Sam and Dean were both looking right at him when he had that little Handler-induced lacuna. Doesn't sound like he's missed much time this time though.
-Stay with Mr. Jones and watch over him. Yeah. Kind of random as a cover, but hey, you just gapped out in front of them. Any cover they'll buy is good now. Although you aren't thinking it's a cover, you're thinking it's what you want to do. Which I have no doubt is slowly and painfully baking your noodle. Oh Cas.
-"Then I'm not sure. But I know I can't run any more." Oh that's going to be hard. The obvious solution of going back he's being blocked from doing, and alternative solutions are not going to be easy to find. And he's still under subliminal orders to watch the Winchesters and the hunt for the Word and report. He's no going to have much fun over the next while.
-Flashback time again for Sam, because after that speech he gave he's got character development of his own to swallow.
-"I lost him, and I ran." And then you found him, and yet you're still running. Which is fine, I'm sure you've got a damn good reason, just tell us. Please.
-"It's Don. He's alive." Thought so. But is he the usual sort of alive where he's been alive the whole time and it's a special op or bureaucratic error, or is he the Supernatural kind of alive/not dead where Sam is going to have to dispatch his girlfriend's undead husband with fire or salt or sharp pointy objects for triple the angst points. Gee, I wonder.
-There's something so sweet about Castiel pulling up a chair to sit beside Fred. I don't know what it is, but it just is.
Well that had some interesting ponder-fodder in it now didn't it? O.o *ponders*
(PLEASE, NO SPOILERS OR REFERENCES TO UNAIRED EPISODES IN COMMENTS! Any and all promo material for unaired episodes is considered to be a spoiler in this journal. The further definition of what constitutes a spoiler for this journal is located in left hand sidebar. Theory and speculation based on aired episodes only.)
Spoiler and Theory Summary
Crack. With crack on the side, garnished with crack, and for dessert, it's crack! Maybe involving cartoons. Not surprised, after the last two, and the upcoming hiatus, we were due for a breather round.
Except of course even if it's solid crack end to end, it still won't won't be a breather, will it?
Picspam Reaction, with speculation and randomness for Supernatural 8.08 - "???" "Hunteri Heroici"
-The Then's are getting shorter, this one is 38 seconds.
-For a second there it looked like this Gary person who probably only has minutes to live might be sitting at a picnic table set up in the Roadside Pull-off of Fraught and Angsty Revelations seen in a few previous episodes, but maybe not.
-"Do you hear that?" Ah yes. Flirty, happy people before the title card, that would be your approaching demise. Poor doomed bastards.
-PFFT! GAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA XD Okay, yeah. Crack with cartoons. Awesome!
-I do feel the need to mention now that since I heard this episode would be cartoony, I've been thinking of Abracapocus by big_pink, making this the second time this season an episode has reminded me of her fic in some way. If Celine Dion or Cirque du Soleil or tree-planting shows up before the end of the year... Hmmm... Still. Cartoons! *gets a raw carrot to nibble, just because*
-Title "Hunteri Heroici", very classic Bugs Bunny. No... classic Wile E. Coyote. ...Oh dear. O.o
-"Garth has a safe-house-boat?" Wasn't that mentioned before? With his cousin the... what was it? "Tri-racial paraplegic sniper." Hm. I was sure he'd mentioned a house-boat before.
-"What's the word, Cas?"/"It's a shortened version of my name." Why am I finding that so funny that I can hardly breathe? Is it the pure obtuse Castielness of it, or is it Dean's face?
-Hm. Castiel's turned off his connection to the angel network. That seems suspect, considering if anyone's going to have insight into the location of the tablets, it might be the angels... Although Castiel does have a legit reason to want to avoid them, setting aside the more recent developments. Is cutting himself off something he's done himself, or is it something he's forgotten he was commanded to do? *ponders*
-"I don't want anything to do with that place. Not anymore." Really? Is this subliminal 'Heaven is using me to spy on you' stuff? Or... hmmmmmmmm...
-"I'm gonna become a hunter!" HEEEE HEHEHEHEHEEEEEEE!!!! This is going to go SO well, isn't it? Just look at that face! It's expressions like that that make you remember he spent a significant portion of season 7 getting his brain scrambled by Sam's head-Lucifer and chasing bees.
-"I could be your third wheel!" 'Scuse me a sec, I just need to stop choking on everything ever. ... Okay. I'm good. Third wheel. *facepalm*
-"You know that's not a good thing, right?"/"Of course it is! A third wheel adds extra grip, greater stability." Nope, still choking. Talk amongst yourselves.
-Castiel saying 'our kind of thing'. I do not know how much comprehensibility this reaction post will have, given how little I've managed to hold on to in the first three and a half minutes (and that's including the Then) But, of course, it's crack.
-Also, behold, the return of pirate!Castiel. Arrrr.
-Aw. No teleporting allowed. You want to be in the Winchester family on the hunting team, you ride in the freaking car. Awwwwww. *flappy hands*
-"Can I at least ride in the front seat?"/"No! *body-check*" Sam does have a lifetime of Winchester family Impala seating seniority, but he might want to get into the habit of calling 'shotgun', just to clarify things.
-"Coroner said his heart was ejected from his body. Got some air too, found it in a sandbox." Woohoo!! \o/
-Written by Andrew Dabb. Hm. Not the name I was expecting to see, given the crack-and-cartoon themes, but okay. Flying solo too... that's new for him on this show, isn't it?
-"There are no narcotics in that man's system, his molecules are all wrong." Molecule-vision, that's handy. Hope it comes with an off-switch too because it would be so annoying to see everything as molecules. While we're here, Tie Report: Castiel's tie is a foregone conclusion, Dean's is maroon, pale blue triple-stripes down to his left, on the job, maybe with a hint of mentoring? Job-focussed, setting aside all the emotional revelations and stuff to take refuge in the job. Using it as a wall, perhaps? What am I saying? This is Dean. He uses everything as a wall.
-Directed by Paul Edwards in his first outing on Supernatural, I think?
-Sam Tie Report... what the hell even is that pattern? Little light square grid on a maroon background. I think my mom made me a polyester jumpsuit out of the cheapest possible material that pattern in the 70's. D-: Childhood scarring memories aside, the primary base colors of the boys' ties are similar which I think is a good sign. Maybe there has been some kind of post-emotional breakthrough discussion between the boys between episodes and some general progress made, except Sam's still against continuing to be a hunter and going back to 'normal', hence the square-griddyness.
-"Whatever you say, Scully." Hee, hee, heeeeeee.
-"I can't sense any EMF or sulfur." Damn, that's a handy set of senses Castiel's got. O.o
-Those awkward moments when your friend/protege starts sniffing the corpse. Dean's face, seriously.
-"Bladder infection." No concept of TMI. Never change, Cas.
-Shoddy M.E., not removing all the jewelry from the corpse.
-Oh ho. Amendment to Sam's Tie Report: Sam's tie only looks the same base colour as Dean's from a distance. Closer up, the pattern is a lot more complex and the colour base is a blue, and barely dominant enough to be considered a base colour. Things are still very not right from Sam's end of the relationship, though it's hard to see from a distance.
-Unfaithful spouse, they suspect the spurned spouse is witchy... I don't think so. This level of messing with the rules of reality, I'm thinking some kind of Trickster. I blocked the guest stars' names, but if they were resurrecting Gabriel, I think they might keep Richard Speight's name for the end credits, because that would be a hell of a thing. More likely an actual Trickster deity though, or some other entity with pervasive powers over reality. Maybe Jesse the Junior Anti-Christ is back?
-"Nice job on that bladder infection." That could have been a clue that lead them to the affair too though. A mild bladder infection could be caused by certain activities, particularly if clean-up was rushed or non-existent. Mostly in women but it does happen in men sometimes too. Just sayin'. *shrug*
-Sam flashback time. He hasn't had one of those in a while.
-"Do not use the words moist, or irregardless." Pfffft! Sounds like her... dad/uncle/male acquaintance whose judgement she fears is a real hoot.
-"Who's this handsome fella?" Of course he's talking about the dog.
-Stan Thompson, so not Richardson, but Richardson is probably her married name. "Do you want a drink, Dad?" And yep, father it is. There goes my vague crack-filled hope that her dad might be Douglas Richardson from Cabin Pressure.
-"I gotta say, Sam, you look like a real fixer-upper to me." Hee. I like Amelia's dad. I do.
-CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR! Yes she was already in the episode but she was fueling up and it felt a bit invasive to take a screencap while she was at lunch. ...I need help maybe. Although, so does she... *squints* is it just me or do those back shocks look oddly low? Cas might be a regular back seat fixture these days, but he's not that heavy. O.o
-"Gary had a heart attack." Or more accurately, an attack heart. Leapt right out of his chest and attacked his girlfriend, sort of. Ha ha ha? ...Sorry.
-"I'll handle this." Oh god.
-"I don't want to bother you but I've just got one question for you." IS HE DOING COLUMBO?
-"WHY DID YOU KILL YOUR HUSBAND?" Nope, probably not Columbo, or at least not entirely. Thought for a second Castiel had been sitting watching late night re-runs on the hotel TV and decided to play up his trenchcoat. Cas, honey, look into subtlety. Not that you'll have much luck picking it up from these two. *facepalm*
-"Agent Stills?" Ahhh. And I think Sam was Agent Nash. So Crosby, Stills and Nash?
-"That he was sleeping with her."/"I know." I had a feeling it was a poly or open marriage situation. Cool! And definitely not a witch. *nods*
-"Then what killed her husband?"/"Who gives a-" *beeeeeeeeep* HAHAHA. Dean. Never change.
-Oh why the hell not. Tie Report for guy on rooftop obviously about to throw himself off (and probably bounce if someone's flipped the cartoon physics switch): TOO MANY STRIPES. Overwhelming job-related stress has probably driven him to the rooftop. *nods*
-Well, he'll bounce or he'll fail his Smarts check and not realize gravity works until he looks down. Probably after he realizes he doesn't want to die after all. (Pinstriped suit too. Poor overworked bastard.)
-And yeah. Figures.
-"He invested everything in Roman industries and lost it all in the crash and burn last year." Awwwwwkwaaaaard....
-They had some great shooting weather in Vancouver earlier this year, didn't they.
-"That's straight off Bugs Bunny."/"So we're looking for some sort of insect-rabbit hybrid?" Oh Castiel, you are going to get sat down in front of a whole lot of Looney Tunes very soon. Also, that little bit where Castiel was hanging out in the background of that conversation with the authorities... figure his Handler called in an update there? I think maybe so.
-Eeeeeeheheheheheheh. Told yah!
-"The bird represents God, Coyote is Man, endlessly chasing the Divine yet never able to catch him." I can't even type, oh god, crying now. Of course an angel would see Wile E. Coyote as an allegory! XD
-"Maybe it's a Tulpa." HOORAY FOR NAME-TAGGING FIRST SEASON MONSTERS THAT REALLY REALLY REALLY NEED TO RECUR!
-"We'll have a slumber party, braid Sam's hair." WIN. And given that Castiel takes everything literally, if Castiel does stay in the same room, the chances of Sam getting woken up in the night with Castiel trying to braid his hair are really quite high.
-"I'll watch over you."/"That's not gonna happen." It probably has over the years, you just never noticed. *pats Dean* It's not like he's doing it to be creepy.
-"Something's coming across the police band." Damn. Castiel's got some really handy powers. Who knew he could re-tune angel radio to Earthbound frequencies.
-*HEADDESK*
-"Do you boys chase the crazy or does the crazy chase you?" That is the eternal question. I have got to say, I really like this character. I hope she survives the episode, and maybe her and Sheriff Jody can get together and compare notes on weird crap.
-Okaaaaay. Portable hole the thief got out of. Hm. Wish coin? Naw. too many external incidents for this to be someone wishing themselves to have Toon powers, unless the first two deaths were dry runs... Hm.
-"No fingerprints, never any sign of forced entry, just a pair of those every time like he's signing his work." Oh really? So an ongoing thief using a Toon trope as a calling card, and then Toon physics starts to become real. Hmmmm.
-"Hey, can you lift this?" And this could be Castiel's "pft, puhlease" face.
-Aaauuuuugggccch. Oh, and thank you so much sound department for the moist squishy noises that are so shuddersome over headphones. :-P
-"Then why isn't it working now?" An excellent question.
-"Your father had beautiful handwriting." Awww. As I recall it was more of an efficient block printing, but awwww.
-"This whole 'mysterious resurrection' thing always has one mother of a down side." Yeah, the Winchesters and Dean in particular would know that quite well. And again, their gift horses often turn out to be something closer to a Kelpie, so a 'Get Out of Purgatory Free' card for their angelic adoptee is just screaming "I HAVE A CATCH, DO NOT TRUST MY BENEFICENCE" and not poking at that seemingly consequence-free good thing would be incredibly foolhardy. And it's all going to hurt so much when the truth comes out.
-"Dean! I said no!" Quite sensibly, considering the last time he was in Heaven he decreased its Celestial population significantly among other things, and also may have a subconscious aversion to it now that someone claiming to be Heaven's Operative is messing with his noodle and making him spy on his friends.
-"Talk to me." I have no words for the depth of my 'Awwwwwww!' at that. *flappy hands*
-"I vaporized thousands of my own kind and I can't go back."/"'cause if you do the angels will kill you?"/"Because if I see what Heaven's become, what I... what I made of it... I'm afraid I might kill myself." Oh god. *flappy flappy flappy haaaaaaaaaaaands*
-"Hey." SAAAAAAAAAAAAAM! DO YOU HAVE AN EMOTIONAL REVELATION DETECTOR OR SOMETHING? YOU HAVE CRAPPY CRAPPY TIMING. CAN YOU NOT TAKE ANOTHER TRIP AROUND THE BLOCK FOR TEN MINUTES SO SOMEONE CAN HAVE A FREAKING EPIPHANY OR GET TOLD THAT WHAT LEVIATHANS WERE INFLUENCING HIM TO DO MIGHT NOT BE HIS FAULT OR THAT ALFIE THE WEINER-HUT ANGEL DIDN'T SEEM TOO PISSED OFF OR WHATEVER? *HEADDESK*
-"He robbed a house, across from the park where Gary blew a gasket." Ahhh, proximity to power being exerted. The black holes are the primary power thing, the rest is bleed-over *handwave* Toon pollution. Cool!
-"It's not targeted, it's like an area of effect." Hee. A Toon field! Oh that's going to be fun when they get around to fighting in it.
-"It's wabbit season!" Hehehehehe. It's a good thing Warner and the CW are related, or there would be so many licensing fees and legal issues in this episode.
-"I don't think you pronounced that correctly." Pffft. Oh Cas. Never ever ever change.
-Tie Report #2 for Dean: Grid of grey diamond-thingies on dark navy or black. No stripes, no colour. The discussion with Castiel has knocked him off-kilter, possibly due to parallels with his own post-Hell feelings, and also because one of the few real friends he has in the world just told him he's afraid he might kill himself if he tries to go home. It's a conflicted, numb, distracted tie with a lot on its mind. Dean's mind, I mean. Of course.
-Tie Report #2 for Sam: Looks solid grey at first, but there is subtle chain-like striping in the texture. Maybe Sam's starting to get back to the job, but he still feels constrained by it, or something happening in the 'normal' life he left. He's in his own head and his own memories of normal and therefore a little absent to things going on around him, particularly about things like interrupting emotional breakthroughs, Sam.
-"Agent Crosby, FBI." Yep. Wonder who Agent Young would be? Garth?
-"Grand larceny." A change from the usual "Horrific string of recent murders" reason for questioning people.
-Aha! A clear shot of the flyer behind Dean with the date indicates that either SPN-verse is barely into 2011, or this care home has serious problems taking flyers down after an event has passed. Regardless, THERE'S A CONCRETE DATE TO PLAY WITH! Probably one that doesn't mesh up with anything else ever, but woo! \o/
-"Don't flirt you two." Pft. Neither of them are the one likeliest to flirt with interviewees, Dean.
-"You were so pretty, Charles." Oh dear. Yeah, the occasional case of dementia is going to make this tricky. Though really, Castiel's probably the best one of them to talk to her, maybe he has some brain-scanning tricks up his sleeve along with molecular vision. (Hey... is that the same actress who played the pie lady with the knife in Bedtime Stories? I am easily fooled by hairstyles....)
-Not alone though. Oh good.
-"I'm sorry, Charles, I didn't trust you. You were quite the bounder." Oh I like her. Quite a lot. She's adorable.
-"Have you noticed anything strange lately, cold spots, smells...?"/"Well, there's the cat." Heheheheheeeeeee. *draws hearts around her*
-"He talks sometimes. Really hates that mouse." Ooo. Tom and Jerry. (Which isn't a Warner Brothers cartoon, so I suppose that's as vague as they need to be to keep legal happy.) Hm. So. Cartoon field effect? The person doing the robberies visits her and the cat starts talking, and who's going to believe an elderly person who says the cat was talking, and also, what elderly person who doesn't have dementia issues is going to actually admit they heard the cat talking? Hmmm.
-"I'll interrogate the cat." Oh god no. Unless it's like the Eleventh Doctor interrogates cats, in which case fine.
-Hm. I find that conspicuous brown box on the table by the man who's zoned out to be a little too conspicuous. *eyes warily*
-Flashback time for Sam again!
-Cut up hot dogs and Mr. Noodles (or whatever they're called in the US, although it could be spaghetti)? It's just like college!
-"Having spaghetti and hot dogs our first night in a new house was sort of a tradition." Awwwwwww.
-"My father was in the Marines."/"A jarhead, hunh?" *facepalm* Telling a person who was in the Army and is already antagonistic towards you that your dad was a Marine is not usually a good idea if you are trying to make polite conversational inroads, Sam. Seems like it might be, but the two branches of the American military tend not to like each other. I don't know why, but there you are.
-"I gotta say, Sam. You've got the look." Ohhhh. Oh crap. So. Sam's never been in the military, that's what he's told Amelia, that's what she's told her dad, her dad sees he's got a kind of military-like thing going on because Hunter etc... I wonder if her dad thinks Sam's AWOL, or a deserter or something. Strange drifter with no concrete past? And Sam is sort of deserting from hunting at the same time... hmmm. Amelia's dad's not going to like Sam for a very long time if that's what he thinks he's picking up.
-*nods through Stan's talk about running until you find something to hold on to* Yeah, Sam would hit a few post-traumatic bells too. But that "What are you running from?" has hints of shirking implications too. I like Amelia's dad. He's pushing Sam's buttons even though he has no idea exactly here they are located.
-I also have to say, Sam's flashback hair is amazing. The fog-filter these scenes are being shot through are making me reflexively want to clean my glasses though.
-What do you think; crew people and their family members maybe? Well except for the guy that looks a bit like Harry Morgan in the middle there who has attracted their attention and is the next phase of the plot no doubt. Fred James, Room 114.
-Fred Jones, sorry. Maybe my glasses do need cleaning. Ex-hunter from Utah. Interesting, and could be an interesting person for Sam to talk to, given the slight Samward-leaning-focus this episode. Perhaps something about retiring from hunting.
-"He was psychic."/"Psychokinetic." Well, crap. Along with providing beer to under-aged kids, is he also a huge classic cartoon fanboy?
-*FACEPALM*
-"Dumbass." Eeeeeeheheheheh!
-Yeah, and the retired psychokinetic hunter is sitting there, watching cartoons and drifting. Source of Toon powers, more than likely. Person actually doing the break-ins, not likely (unless he's faking the semi-coma, which would be awesome). Being used by someone else, very much more than likely. One of the orderlies or the home director? We've had an orderly with an interesting neck tattoo who talked to Sam, we have the oddly distracting female orderly Dean saw. Or maybe it's the cat.
-"Do you really think this one man is causing all of these shenanigans?" *draws hearts around Castiel for using the word 'shenanigans'*
-Circle of crazy. Oh yay, spurious testing of cartoon physics! They might be here all day. Although, sound effects only, no visible birdies. Hm.
-"You get him worked up he can reshape reality." ... and.... they hung out with him when they were kids.... and he went hunting with John? Oh wow. I really want to see that now. Hunting aside, he'd be the best babysitter ever!
-"Do we kill him?"/"Did he just threaten to murder one of my patients?" *facepalm* When discussing weird crap, make sure the mundanes aren't going to overhear and cause a ruckus. You guys are training Cas to hunt, you should be demonstrating best practices and setting a good example.
-Another handy skill for a hunter, the ability to go invisible at will. Also teleporting. ...considering Castiel has disconnected his angelic wifi and ostensibly is offline with Heaven, I'm wondering if his lack of trouble using all manner of miscellaneous powers isn't a sign that his Handler really is acting on Heaven's behalf. Or is someone else providing Castiel with power. ...eeeeeek. O.o
-Oh, crap. Big sparkly candles in cartoon physics are very bad news.
-Speaking of useful powers, Fred Jones can change channels by tapping his finger. That's handy. (Pardon the sort of pun)
-Yeaaaaaah. Crap. Hoping Castiel is lurking invisibly and picking up on the imminent doom.
-And that would be a no. Ick. D-:
-"The frosting reached near super-sonic speeds." Heeeee. Okay, Sheila's fine, so maybe it was just a cake splat, not a Sheila splat. That's okay then.
-"Fred's gone." Awwww, Castiel's faaaaace. Poor Cas.
-"Charles, she's wearing my diamonds." Not so out of it there, is she? Someone's busted!
-"My boyfriend gave it to me!" Darn, it's the tattoo orderly. I should have known, he had too many lines earlier not to be involved somehow.
-Ooo. Or it's been Fred all along, he's been using the orderly to get him in and out of the home without suspicion in exchange for a cut and has now decided he's too much of a risk, giving the jewelry to his girlfriend and exposing them, and the whole 'helpless old man out of touch with reality' schtick was all fake. Awesome! \o/
-Also a very useful skill for a hunter to have, Healing Touch. Cas is just busting out all over with useful, normally Heaven-powered skills, considering he's said he's offline with Heaven. Or at least he thinks he is. *eyes his Handler verrrrrry suspiciously*
-"Doctor Maloney." Orrrr, the care home director is the mastermind. Darn. I was hoping for Fred to be a secret criminal mastermind as well as a psychic Toon-reality generator.
-"I like Fred so I said if he hurt the guy I'd go to the cops." You're okay, tattooed orderly, although finding out your boss was ripping off the folks in the care home was probably something you should have reported, you aren't overly evil. I think. ...Does that tattoo look like the top of Woody woodpecker's feathered crest? *eyes paranoidly*
-"Seems to me like the dude's living in a dream world." And we immediately go into flashback mode for Sam. OH REALLY? HMMMMMM...
-"You are living in a dream world." Oh okay, fine, Amelia's dad said it too, Sam hasn't been under the spell of a Djinn or whatever. Or has he? Nah.
-"Guy had good taste. For a jarhead. *cheesy grin*" *snerk* Aw, he's trying. Maybe. Also, holy crap Sam is huge. In case anyone forgot.
-Everyone gets out of the Impala and the bass guitar hits the soundtrack for the start of the Winchester Silly Boys/Caper/Badass music and all is right with the world. \o/
-Heheheheheee. Like Dean would be able to resist playing around with a portable hole. ...That sounded reeeeally wrong didn't it. You know what I mean. *handwaves*
-"Can you feel that, Sam? The power?" It would be really worrisome if he could. Sam's supposed to be long over his psychic stage. (Darn it.) Still, yet another useful hunting skill for Castiel; detecting the expenditure of psychic power. THIS IS MAKING ME NERVOUS NOW. O.O
-Oh crap. This could be interesting. O.O
-AAAAAHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! XD
-Hi Fred! I'm kind of sad you aren't a secret criminal mastermind, but I am glad you don't seem to be evil so far.
-At the very least they are messing with his concentration.
-"The scrawny one?" Heeeeeeeeee. He got bigger. And probably more goofy on the occasions he get hit with the weird end of the expression stick.
-Now that is an effective use of portable holes. STEAL ALL THE THINGS!
-"What's up, Doc?" HA! Yeah, of course Dean couldn't resist saying that either. Speaking of which... *gets another carrot to munch*
-"You what's the worst thing that can happen to a guy with a mind like I got? Losing it." Ow. Aw. And a little eek.
-"Little bastards think they can drop their folks off at a home and visit twice a year maybe?" And right up until the care home director started going on about how he deserved the money instead, he almost had me on board. Well, that and the collateral murdering was a bit of a non-starter.
-AHAHAHAHAHAHAH! NEVER BRING A GUN TO A TOON FIGHT! C'mon, Dean! Stick your hand through a portable hole and trip him as he runs away!
-"Something to hold on to." I see what you did there, Sam.
-*FLAILS MADLY*
-FRYING PAN OUT OF HAMMERSPACE!
-Ouch!
-"You idiot! Bring a gun to a gag fight!" I know, dude, that's what I said! However, Dean will catch up in a minute, and then you'll see some serious crap.
-"X marks the spot." Paint can!
-Darn it, missed! Next time don't warn him. Or maybe make it a cruise liner instead of an anvil for a broader area of effect, because that happens too. Though if you do that, run instead of taunting.
-"It can be nice living in a dream world, it can be great, I know that. And you can hide, and pretend all the crap out there doesn't exist. But you can't do it forever because eventually, whatever it is you're running from? It'll find you. It'll come along, and it'll punch you in the gut and then? You gotta wake up. Because if you don't, then trying to keep that dream alive will destroy you. It'll destroy everything." Okay, firstly HELL YES, SAM, THANK YOU. Two, CASTIEL LISTENING INTENTLY. Three, PROGRESS!!! EVERYWHERE!!! In a crack episode, because even the crackiest episode of this show can hit you square between the eyes with character or plot development or a massive pile of angst, because that's how they roll. WOOOO! \o/
-AHahahahahahah. Yep, sorry Doctor Maloney, the cartoon-physics laws are over, but not before Dean Winchester got the chance to go through a portable hole and summon an anvil from anvil-space. Nice jump though! Excellent form. *golf clap*
-And now is when you find out why it's a very bad thing to take advantage of someone with psychic powers. This is gonna be messy....
-Yep. And nasty. But at least more explainable to local authorities than another anvil.
-He'll go under again and someone else will use him. Sad but true, but hopefully he's not going to off himself too. That would suck.
-"The procedure will be painful and when it's over, I'm not sure how much of you will be left." That's... not sounding like a really great option there, Castiel... Never go into sales and marketing. O.o
-"He's listening to 'Ode to Joy'. He's happy." Hopefully he can switch channels on that, or whatever it is is set on shuffle, because endless repetitive Beethoven can be hazardous to a person's sanity.
-"Cas, you get to ride shotgun, you done good." Aw, Sammy's faaace. Aw.
-"I can't come." Oh and now we have some results of incidental character development. Oh dear.
-OR WE WOULD HAVE RESULTS IF HIS FREAKING HANDLER WASN'T INTERFERING TO MAKE SURE CASTIEL STAYED AS BROKEN AND STUCK TO THE WINCHESTERS AS THEY NEED HIM TO BE. *HEADDESK* FFFFFFFF!!
-"All the pain that I caused, I have to come back to make things right!" Oh Caaaaaaaaas!!!! *flappy hands*
-"Unless I ring my bell, you stay out of Heaven, Castiel." Ooooooof. Yeah, that's going to add a whole lot of stress to Castiel's already considerable subconscious load from the messing around with his memory and motivations that his Handler is doing. Knowing he has to go back and face what he's done, wanting to make amends, but not being permitted, and then being made to think he's the one making that decision. Oh Cas.
-"Well then, what should I do?"/"What do you want to do?" And she cuts him loose with no memory of the meeting except the thought 'what do you want to do?' Dangerous move, perhaps, except she probably knows what he wants to do is what's going to keep him close to the Winchesters. (Also a very suspect move as Heaven advising one of their angels to use Free Will, is not a common thing, particularly when that angel is Castiel, who had some serious recent transdimensional blowback from free-will-related activities.) One of these days, they're going to make a tactical error, and its all going to be explained or at least revealed as something other than what it appears to be. Until then, Castiel's got a head full of memory gaps and motivational bailing twine partly tied by entity/ies of unknown allegiance claiming to be from Heaven, and are likely the ones making sure Castiel's as powered up on all fronts as he needs to be while keeping him from questioning why that is when he's cut off from Heaven. Which sucks for Castiel and by extension the Winchesters, but I love twisty plotty mind-warping crap like this. WHEE! \o/
-Oh hey, Sam and Dean were both looking right at him when he had that little Handler-induced lacuna. Doesn't sound like he's missed much time this time though.
-Stay with Mr. Jones and watch over him. Yeah. Kind of random as a cover, but hey, you just gapped out in front of them. Any cover they'll buy is good now. Although you aren't thinking it's a cover, you're thinking it's what you want to do. Which I have no doubt is slowly and painfully baking your noodle. Oh Cas.
-"Then I'm not sure. But I know I can't run any more." Oh that's going to be hard. The obvious solution of going back he's being blocked from doing, and alternative solutions are not going to be easy to find. And he's still under subliminal orders to watch the Winchesters and the hunt for the Word and report. He's no going to have much fun over the next while.
-Flashback time again for Sam, because after that speech he gave he's got character development of his own to swallow.
-"I lost him, and I ran." And then you found him, and yet you're still running. Which is fine, I'm sure you've got a damn good reason, just tell us. Please.
-"It's Don. He's alive." Thought so. But is he the usual sort of alive where he's been alive the whole time and it's a special op or bureaucratic error, or is he the Supernatural kind of alive/not dead where Sam is going to have to dispatch his girlfriend's undead husband with fire or salt or sharp pointy objects for triple the angst points. Gee, I wonder.
-There's something so sweet about Castiel pulling up a chair to sit beside Fred. I don't know what it is, but it just is.
Well that had some interesting ponder-fodder in it now didn't it? O.o *ponders*
(PLEASE, NO SPOILERS OR REFERENCES TO UNAIRED EPISODES IN COMMENTS! Any and all promo material for unaired episodes is considered to be a spoiler in this journal. The further definition of what constitutes a spoiler for this journal is located in left hand sidebar. Theory and speculation based on aired episodes only.)