Lawdy, Lawdy ...

[dodger_winslow]

After a season filled with one great episode, two half-way decent episodes (if I'm being generous), and 9 craptastic mockeries of what once was, we now have ... two great episodes. THANK you, Supernatural. For reminding me why I'm still willing to hang on by my fingernails long after I should have just turned off the lights and gone home.

Because

Comments

[nerthus]

I'm glad it was a good episode for you; I found it rather underwhelming actually, sigh; terrible special effects, confused about why they needed more than one virgin there at the end to toss into Purgatory...and why oh why does Cas keep insisting Sam's ravaged soul woulda been better off suffering in the Cage for eternity? If they're trying to foreshadow something for later about the war in Heaven and Sam's soul...if so, the writers will probably just muck it up like they do with every other major plot line, sigh. So yeah, aside from the return to more of the old Sam and Dean as real brothers again vibe, I wasn't that thrilled with any of the rest of it.

[dodger_winslow]

I viewed this episode as an excellent example of the John Shiban school of scriptwriting. John doesn't worry his pretty little head about non-catastrophic logic holes or iffy science ... and he can get away with it because he tells such an entertaining story that you want to love it, so you do

[dodger_winslow]

Just as I also didn't feel too much need to pick at the idea that, if dragons grab virgins to use as sacrifices to THEIR master rather than, as the lore says, demanding the virgins for themselves as munchies, then what, all those dragons across the ages have been trying to resurrect the mother of them all? Because they were all snatching virgins, too, right? But clearly, dragons don't snatch (or demand) virgins to eat as this episode clarifies, so all those dragons all those years were snatching virgins for

[nerthus]

Yeah, I was able to enjoy this episode for two reasons--the return of my beloved Sam/Dean dynamic and okay, hokey as hell and way OTT but I DID laugh at Dean's attempts to remove the sword from the stone. The majestic rise of the 'hero' music followed by its squelching when he failed cracked me up, as well as "Son of a bitch, that's really on there!" Ha. I think a lot of people are speculating that the new Big Bad could be either Echidna or Tiamat (who IS the mother of dragons, I think); but why can't SPN ever have a truly OTHER-looking Big Bad (half woman, half-snake, for ex)? Always gotta have a human 'vessel,' sigh, and I'm not sure I was that impressed with the one chosen this time. Of course, her appearance was brief, so I guess we'll see how she does. The adult Lilith never did much for me either; guess I'm too picky about how I personally envisage the vessels, ha. But I'm sure the pesky budget police wouldn't pop for adequate effects to keep cgi'ing a recurring character or whatever. Some fans LIKE the crappy effects, saying it

[dodger_winslow]

and okay, hokey as hell and way OTT but I DID laugh at Dean's attempts to remove the sword from the stone. The majestic rise of the 'hero' music followed by its squelching when he failed cracked me up, as well as "Son of a bitch, that's really on there!" Ha.I did, too. Very much. Which was another relief for me, as much of Jensen's mugging over the last season and a half, while amusing in its own right, has been so character-antithetical as to render Dean into Jensen for several seconds right in the middle of an episode that required me to believe he was Dean to work

[dodger_winslow]

I think a lot of people are speculating that the new Big Bad could be either Echidna or Tiamat (who IS the mother of dragons, I think)The problem with that is the writers tying this "mother" concept to the alpha vampire's "mother of all" statement and Crowley's "alphas are the key to finding purgatory" deal. The mother of just dragons isn't (or defies all lore if it is)the mother of all monsters/demons, so it would have worked much better if they'd played this episode as utterly divorced from the whole alpha thing, particularly as, since there were 3 of them, they didn't play any of these dragons as alphas. So 3 dragons trying to raise the mother of dragons from purgatory? Would have been made of win. But the implication the episode made explicit that they were resurrecting the "mother of all" referred to by other alphas just mucked the waters up again on the whole Lilith thing ... which they'd already more-or-less screwed the pooch on by playing Lilith as a rival demon to Lucifer rather than a relative peer of Lucifer who might be

[dodger_winslow]

I guess if I want to see a serviceable dragon I can go rewatch "Merlin"; I quite like the dragon on that series, ha.

I'd recommend watching Reign of Fire, which as far as I'm concerned, is the Jurassic Park of dragons, both visually and conceptually. As well as being one hella good and entertaining movie. :)

[sen1995]

Dodger, I'm very happy to see you posting again about an SPN episode. I agree with so much that you are saying here -- especially the part about Cas and Sam's soul. I couldn't make sense why anyone, especially Cas, would be content with leaving Sam's soul remain in the cage. I'm glad Dean was of another opinion.

And The Benders and Houses of the Holy are two of my favorite eps ever. I re-watched both of them recently (along with Faith), and loved them all over again. Houses of the Holy always has such a strong impact on me, for the revelations about Dean that allow us to understand why he professes to have no faith in God or angels, and for Sam's hope and faith that there was something else out there watching over him. The final scene between Sam and Dean in that episode gets to me every time. I did want to point out, however, that Sam spoke the actual line "Hope is the whole point" in the episode Roadkill. At least I don't remember the line in Houses of the Holy (though Sam certainly made us feel it

[dodger_winslow]

Was it in Roadkill rather than Houses of the Holy? I've had it in my head as Houses' tagline from the jump. Maybe it was in both? Unless my brain has crossed wires (which is totally possible), I seem to recall it being something Sam said in the presence of the angel statues in the church of Houses. But either way, the way it was stated has always seemed like a "we are telling you the secret to the series here