SPN 5x10
Fair warning: this is an honest episode reaction, and I'm going to talk about things I like and dislike equally.
OK, well. I wanted to love this episode. I did. I was excited for it; I'd been looking forward to it. There were some good things - several. I will touch on those. But I was underwhelmed/disappointed by this episode, from the first scene to the last (again with a non-ending!).
I knew it was a bad sign when in the first conversation between Sam and Dean, Dean yet again threw a verbal jab about Sam trusting a demon. On Sam's behalf, I wanted to yank him through the screen and tell him to get the fuck over it, already. But Sam just takes it, smiles his little bitter smile and goes on with the conversation like nothing has happened. YMMV, but that is not my Sam and Dean; in my happy little world, Dean would be working on these issues when Sam would call him on them. That's how I felt, anyway, after that scene. I gather it was supposed to be so that when Lucifer yet again harped on the parallel, threw it in Sam's face all the stuff that happened last year with Dean, that Sam would feel put-upon and identify with Lucifer and on and on, but ugh, so clunky and anvilicious in the bad and not entertaining way.
Hellhounds snagging Dean would have been 10x better if there had been some reaction to that from Sam. Any reaction. That dynamic that makes these kinds of episodes meaningful and worth watching, right? Where is it?? Same with the 'any last words?' bit. Even the semi-lingering 'those who are about to die' look Sam and Dean gave each other was missing both the intensity *AND* the love. It did not work for me. Possibly because I'm comparing it to days gone by (preparing to take on the seven deadly sins) where that kind of look was loaded with emotion.
Bobby having to keep Dean grounded and tell him to focus made me unhappy, too. Dean is a grown man. Is he really going to call Bobby on his CB and wibble like a little kid? I wanted grounding Dean to be Sam's job. It easily COULD have been Sam's job. Can you imagine how much more awesome this episode would have been if that had been the dynamic between them? Sam grounding Dean, being practical, helping their dynamic explode with power and fight and fury? This if the very first time I have thought, this episode would be better without Bobby. And then I thought, I don't mean it, show! I take it back! Dude, I'm overjoyed he managed to survive. I was almost sure he was going to bite it before the end. But I'm not taking back the part about how he was pretty much pointless in this episode, and was in the way of the character development. And then there was exposition, and more exposition; that CB scene was completely painful for me.
Now let's get to the gigantic, flaming, propane-fueled tub o'fail: WTF ELLEN AND JO. This is not my happy face. Yeah, it made me cry. Sure. It was very emotional. But I wish I hadn't felt a) totally manipulated and b) angry throughout. Oh, there's so much to be angry about, re those deaths. Immolating themselves to take out the hellhounds (and having it be strongly insinuated that it was for Dean) was such a fucking waste of two great characters. Much with the dumb. There's pretty much no reason I'd accept as good enough, and the whole 'but the women went out in a blaze of glory!' thing, just, no. Just a waste of good characters. Not like it's the first time, of course, but that doesn't make it less disappointing.
The rest of this was a mixed bag. Crowley was pretty awesome. I was interested to see that the show finally went to the place they set up in season four when the first male CD appeared for Sam; had Sam busted out that deal, there would have been boydemonkissing. This kiss was...really totally not what I had in mind. It was gratuitous. And pretty pointless. *crinkleface* Anyway, back to Crowley: the whole Nazis-on-parade thing was so incredibly skeevy, and yet it lacked impact entirely for me. It felt like he'd been flipping channels and landed on History International and just couldn't find anything else to watch. I don't know. The whole first section felt...wrong. Like, sure, sometimes Dean does lack in the witty rejoinder department, and that's endearing, but in this case it felt forced and kind of stupid. "You're morons." Huh, Dean?
As for Jo and her 'I'll spend it with a little thing called self-respect': WIN WIN WIN. But I'm deducting points again for Dean suddenly perving on Jo, when he hasn't bothered up to now. It was bizarre, okay? I just went, why are we back here? Haven't we covered this? I do get that it was to show how far they've come, that Dean sees her for who she is, that Jo is all grown up and handling her business, etc. But I don't know. It felt contrived to me. I wish it didn't. Also, Jo could not have hit the broad side of a barn with that shotgun (much less invisible and moving hell hounds) the way she handled it - she couldn't even keep it level. Continuing theme of women who can't handle weapons properly = fail.
Reapers appearing as all male: an odd choice. Especially since the one reaper we are well-acquainted and most familiar with appeared as a woman. I did like them all standing there, eerily waiting for their boss to come forth and make with the killing. Speaking of which: killing all the women and children in such a cavalier way?? Demons for every able-bodied man?? Ick.
Angel of Death = anticlimactic. Death fluttered out of the ground like a Dementor. I went...okay...that's it? Maybe that'll pay off in the latter half of the season.
Lucifer didn't actually seem to know Castiel. Uh, actually, that's not true. He seemed to know him by another name. Or to be confused. Or something. I have no idea. "Castiel? Is that it?" That was just weird, when it's been implied that of course they knew one another back in the day. This also failed to meet my very high expectations for the potential Castiel-Lucifer angelic throwdown.
Sam being all front-y with Lucifer was good, though. So much helpless bravado. So he'll say yes within six months, eh? In Detroit? OMGWTFLUCIFER! What in the hell would make Sam say yes? I'm so perplexed! This will be interesting.
The way Castiel was lit in his scenes with Lucifer made him look like a wide-eyed, wounded bird. Kind of a cool choice.
(Edited to get rid of a lot of pointless reactive blather about stuff I don't really want to talk about.)
This could have been such a cool episode. It could have been exceptional, actually. I feel cheated, and I wish I was feeling the love the way some of the rest of you are.