SPN 6.16: Insta-reaction thingamajig
I don't really have the time to do an elaborate 'thoughts on', but this ep had so much WTFery (of the good and bad kind) that I had to get it down before I adjusted.
SPOILERS after the cut.
6.16: And then there were none
1. Rufus is back! \o/ Y'know, I have an ex called Rufus. He and I had a nasty breakup. It's funny to think about it now, but all those months back? Tears, spiteful text messages, cross-lecture-hall glares, everything. Ha. Ahem. Anyway. Back to the eppy.
2. Okay, I'm not liking this Mother of All actress at all. I think it's got something to do with her dialogue delivery. Or maybe because she has this one stock 'evil' expression. Or something, I don't know. But hey! The dragons did have a truckfull of virgins, so we might get other vessels for the Mother, right? Right? *hopeful*
3. Maybe it's not even her fault. Like Jake Abel, who made for a fantastic Adam but couldn't quite pull off Michael well (and I still regret that we never got to see Ackles do that role. Ackles-as-Michael facing off against Padalecki-as-Lucifer? The screen would EXPLODE from all the awesomeness.)
4. So he bashes her head in with the hammer. Like you don't do this loved-one-gruesomely-murdering-the-other every single time, Show. (Like it doesn't work. Every. Single. Time. *shudders* )
5. Bobby + boys in suits! Um. And some investigating. And suits!
6. Also, Dean? Give my old school tie back. You and Sam have been taking turns wearing it all season.
7. "Finish up over here." What? What's there to finish up? Boo, Bobby.
8. Where's the Sam-Bobby tension? WHERE? Don't tell me you dropped that, Show. Not after I went on and on praising that piece of characterisation. C'MON.
9. I love that RufusnBobby are like retro-SamnDean. "It's not rocket-surgery," indeed. *giggles*
10. I absolutely LOVE the easy camaraderie between the Winchesters and Rufus and Bobby. Love it love it love it.
11. Gwen! \o/ And Samuel! 'Bout time we saw you guys again!
12. Ha, no love lost between Dean and Samuel. I like that it's Sam now who's all "Don't shoot the man! ... Yet."
13. Yes, Samuel, he got his soul back. HA. *sticks tongue out*
14. Why did you let Dean go off alone. WHYYYYYY.
15. Nonononononononono. Gwen, Gwen, not Gwen. NO, Show, you can't be doing this. YOU CAN'T BE KILLING OFF EVERY SINGLE AWESOME FEMALE CHARACTER.
16. DAMNIT. YOU DID IT. YOU KILLED GWEN. YOU SUCK, SHOW.
17. So they pool all of their weapons. No, it doesn't make sense, Bobby.
18. "I love to polka." Haha.
19. So... they sit and call people. Huh. Okay. Also, the ~*TENSION*~. Yeah.
20. "What're you going to do? Hold it for me?" I laughed SO hard at that. >.>
21. Y'know, Samuel, I totally wouldn't mind it if the Winchesters were stalking me.
22. So... BobbynRufus banter, some unresolved business involving Omaha. Right now I can't really bring myself to care, BUT - what's that I hear? The call for backstory-fanfic, of course!
23. Okay, I'm beginning to get really worried about the shenanigans Robo!Sam got up to with Samuel, what with all of this foreshadowing. But I love that the instant Samuel's like "you want to know all about what you did?" Dean immediately puts himself between Samuel and Sam and is all Scary!Protective!Bigbrother (although Samuel can still see Sam's head over the top of Dean's).
24. "Once we finish this thing, you're next." Ohhh-kay. I take point 21 back.
25. Ear goo! It's SAMUEL!! (Or a really bad case of otitis media).
26. "Except for the part where the monster will definitely, definitely not give up all his weapons!" YEAH! You tell him, Rufus!
27. Booby-trap! Go Super-Observant!Sam! I love that bit of consistency.
28. Sam's separated from the rest of 'em! I'm getting "Fresh Blood" flashbacks. Not necessarily a bad thing, I LOVED that episode.
29. Sam v Samuel. Samuel's all confident Sam won't shoot him, eh? Yeeeeah, about that, Samuel. Soulful!Sam can be pretty damn scary-badass, too. Just ask Gordon. Or Jake. Or the demons from Sin City. Or - you get the picture.
30. "You're dying to know." And isn't that just like Sam. I don't know whether to hug him or hit him for being so insistent on scratching that wall.
31. HE SHOT SAMUEL! WHAAAAAAAAT.
32. Nothing's come out of his ear. They're all understandably wary. But, seriously, Show. If Sam killed Samuel when the latter was not even under monstery-persuasion... I really don't know what to say. Except: don't you think that boy has enough on his plate to deal with, right now? Don't you?
33. While I'm on that: so you've taken out most of the Campbells. They just bottomed-out, no fanfare, no mourning, nothing. For people that were introduced so early in the season, they've not really served any purpose. What about the whole Mary thing, huh? What about all the work they did on Purgatory? What did they do after they realised Crowley was dead? If anything, Samuel should've been furious at the Winchesters for offing Crowley, nothing else! And it wasn't mentioned even once this episode!
34. Okay, just one more point: I kind of love that Bobby was so relieved to find out that Sam was okay.
35. "Cranium saw." RIIIIGHT. Bobby, are you fucking serious.
36. He is. He's actually going to cut open Samuel's head to see if the monster's inside. Ooooh. I like. :D
37. "I want you and you - I want you and you to watch him and him and - all right, if anything comes out of anybody's, somebody step on it." Rufus, ILU.
38. "What I do remember... it's not good." Okay, Sam. Let's back up here. This is the first time you - and I mean, the actual you - have seen your grandfather. The stuff that you remember - the flashbacks from 6.13 - were mostly you, or rather Soulless-You, being a scary sonuvabitch. If anything, Samuel was objecting to your methods. Granted, he didn't do much to stop you, but he was terrified of you. I don't get why you would just develop such a virulent hatred for him, even if Dean tells you that Samuel left you and Dean to be killed by Crowley.
39. Also, Show? Samuel had so much potential. SO MUCH. Why did you make him a douchebag? Why did you make it so his death wouldn't even draw a blink from his own grandsons? Why did you make it so that fandom rejoices in his death? Why?
40. "What would Mom say?"
"You know what I think Mom'd say? She'd say just because you're blood it doesn't make you family."
Great! That's why Samuel threw them to Crowley, so he could get his daughter, his real family, back. Oh, wait. You didn't mean it like that.
41. "We're about to crack open your grandpa's grapefruit. Take a breather." Oh, don't worry, Bobby. Sam and Dean probably fantasise about cracking open their grandfather's skull, those douchebags. Yes, I'm on Samuel's side, anybody got a problem with that? *snarls*
42. Hi, dangerous-looking electrical wire! *cringes*
43. More stuff about Omaha. I'm still unable to make myself care.
44. YIKES! So okay, Samuel waking while his skull was getting cut open creeped the shit out of me.
45. Ouch! Grandpa electrocuted by live wire! With green goo coming out his ears and what looks like - yep, slimy green worm/creature! Awesome.
46. So NOW you get the idea to kick open the door together. Right. Still looked really cool, though. :D
47. "Electricity," says Bobby. Huh.
48. Haha, okay, them checking their ears was funny. But: check each others' ears, you idiots! Do you think the monster's gonna go, "ooh, look goo. Guess it's me! Hee hee." Seriously, did you leave your brains in the Impala today, or something?
49. Ha, whatcha gonna do, Sam? Electrocute yourselves?
50. I WAS KIDDING!! I was!
51. Okay, Sam touching the live wire to his arm before Dean get a hold of it was funny.
52. "I got a damn pacemaker," says Rufus. Interesting. "Down three toes, too, FYI." *giggles* I'm sorry.
53. Avoidant!Bobby's got the monster in him. Okay. So, looking back at point 47, either the monster must've gotten inside Bobby's nut somewhere in between 47 and now, or it just told the others the best way to kill it. Either way? This monster is stupid.
54. He stabbed him! No, Rufus! You didn't off Rufus, Show, you didn't! WHHHYYYYY. What have you got against AWESOME secondary characters??
55. Waking up tied and bound to a chair. Another day in the life of the Winchesters... oh, wait. It's Bobby.
56. "Why do you keep taking about Herpes?"
"What? I don't. Shut up. Shut up!" LOL.
57. Okay, I am laughing so hard at the monster-in-Bobby. I love Beaver, but I kind of wish it'd been Padalecki or Ackles for better impact.
58. The Mother of All's creating brand new monsters! Sounds exciting.
59. "She's got a message for you: you're all gonna die. It's going to be nothing but pain for you, from here on in." Yeah, like I was saying. Winchesters. Regular office day.
60. "We'll just have to do what Bobby would want us to do." Ergo, tie him and up and electrocute him until the monster is dead. Ouch.
61. Y'know, Show, when you segue from a scene where Bobby's slumped, with goo and blood all over his face and Sam going, "he's not breathing!" to Sam and Dean standing over a freshly-dug grave: NOT COOL. *shudders*
62. Okay, Bobby talking about how Rufus and he first met: how Bobby's possessed-wife was Rufus's job, was moving. And then: RufusnBobby road-tripping and hunting, then Omaha and whatever-the-hell-happened-there, and Rufus refusing to forgive Bobby for it - Bobby is to Rufus, what Sam is to Dean, and it's kind of awesome, in a way.
63. Dean, with the life is too short to be holding grudges speech. That indirect blanket forgiveness for all that Sam/Robo!Sam did. Sam, with the "Some of us pulled a lot of crap, Dean." And then, Dean, "Well. Clean slate."
64. Maybe it's not terribly healthy yet, but I really like where they're taking the boys.
65. BOBBY. Pouring the whiskey on Rufus's grave. Raising the bottle, taking a drink of his own. MY HEART, SHE IS BROKEN.
66. End episode. Show, I would like to know where you're going.
67. a. Heavenly Civil War
b. Purgatory and the Mother of All storyline
c. The Great Wall of Sam and all the shit he pulled as Robo!Sam
I'm counting on you pulling all of that together and getting us a good resolution to the season.
SPOILERS after the cut.
6.16: And then there were none
1. Rufus is back! \o/ Y'know, I have an ex called Rufus. He and I had a nasty breakup. It's funny to think about it now, but all those months back? Tears, spiteful text messages, cross-lecture-hall glares, everything. Ha. Ahem. Anyway. Back to the eppy.
2. Okay, I'm not liking this Mother of All actress at all. I think it's got something to do with her dialogue delivery. Or maybe because she has this one stock 'evil' expression. Or something, I don't know. But hey! The dragons did have a truckfull of virgins, so we might get other vessels for the Mother, right? Right? *hopeful*
3. Maybe it's not even her fault. Like Jake Abel, who made for a fantastic Adam but couldn't quite pull off Michael well (and I still regret that we never got to see Ackles do that role. Ackles-as-Michael facing off against Padalecki-as-Lucifer? The screen would EXPLODE from all the awesomeness.)
4. So he bashes her head in with the hammer. Like you don't do this loved-one-gruesomely-murdering-the-other every single time, Show. (Like it doesn't work. Every. Single. Time. *shudders* )
5. Bobby + boys in suits! Um. And some investigating. And suits!
6. Also, Dean? Give my old school tie back. You and Sam have been taking turns wearing it all season.
7. "Finish up over here." What? What's there to finish up? Boo, Bobby.
8. Where's the Sam-Bobby tension? WHERE? Don't tell me you dropped that, Show. Not after I went on and on praising that piece of characterisation. C'MON.
9. I love that RufusnBobby are like retro-SamnDean. "It's not rocket-surgery," indeed. *giggles*
10. I absolutely LOVE the easy camaraderie between the Winchesters and Rufus and Bobby. Love it love it love it.
11. Gwen! \o/ And Samuel! 'Bout time we saw you guys again!
12. Ha, no love lost between Dean and Samuel. I like that it's Sam now who's all "Don't shoot the man! ... Yet."
13. Yes, Samuel, he got his soul back. HA. *sticks tongue out*
14. Why did you let Dean go off alone. WHYYYYYY.
15. Nonononononononono. Gwen, Gwen, not Gwen. NO, Show, you can't be doing this. YOU CAN'T BE KILLING OFF EVERY SINGLE AWESOME FEMALE CHARACTER.
16. DAMNIT. YOU DID IT. YOU KILLED GWEN. YOU SUCK, SHOW.
17. So they pool all of their weapons. No, it doesn't make sense, Bobby.
18. "I love to polka." Haha.
19. So... they sit and call people. Huh. Okay. Also, the ~*TENSION*~. Yeah.
20. "What're you going to do? Hold it for me?" I laughed SO hard at that. >.>
21. Y'know, Samuel, I totally wouldn't mind it if the Winchesters were stalking me.
22. So... BobbynRufus banter, some unresolved business involving Omaha. Right now I can't really bring myself to care, BUT - what's that I hear? The call for backstory-fanfic, of course!
23. Okay, I'm beginning to get really worried about the shenanigans Robo!Sam got up to with Samuel, what with all of this foreshadowing. But I love that the instant Samuel's like "you want to know all about what you did?" Dean immediately puts himself between Samuel and Sam and is all Scary!Protective!Bigbrother (although Samuel can still see Sam's head over the top of Dean's).
24. "Once we finish this thing, you're next." Ohhh-kay. I take point 21 back.
25. Ear goo! It's SAMUEL!! (Or a really bad case of otitis media).
26. "Except for the part where the monster will definitely, definitely not give up all his weapons!" YEAH! You tell him, Rufus!
27. Booby-trap! Go Super-Observant!Sam! I love that bit of consistency.
28. Sam's separated from the rest of 'em! I'm getting "Fresh Blood" flashbacks. Not necessarily a bad thing, I LOVED that episode.
29. Sam v Samuel. Samuel's all confident Sam won't shoot him, eh? Yeeeeah, about that, Samuel. Soulful!Sam can be pretty damn scary-badass, too. Just ask Gordon. Or Jake. Or the demons from Sin City. Or - you get the picture.
30. "You're dying to know." And isn't that just like Sam. I don't know whether to hug him or hit him for being so insistent on scratching that wall.
31. HE SHOT SAMUEL! WHAAAAAAAAT.
32. Nothing's come out of his ear. They're all understandably wary. But, seriously, Show. If Sam killed Samuel when the latter was not even under monstery-persuasion... I really don't know what to say. Except: don't you think that boy has enough on his plate to deal with, right now? Don't you?
33. While I'm on that: so you've taken out most of the Campbells. They just bottomed-out, no fanfare, no mourning, nothing. For people that were introduced so early in the season, they've not really served any purpose. What about the whole Mary thing, huh? What about all the work they did on Purgatory? What did they do after they realised Crowley was dead? If anything, Samuel should've been furious at the Winchesters for offing Crowley, nothing else! And it wasn't mentioned even once this episode!
34. Okay, just one more point: I kind of love that Bobby was so relieved to find out that Sam was okay.
35. "Cranium saw." RIIIIGHT. Bobby, are you fucking serious.
36. He is. He's actually going to cut open Samuel's head to see if the monster's inside. Ooooh. I like. :D
37. "I want you and you - I want you and you to watch him and him and - all right, if anything comes out of anybody's, somebody step on it." Rufus, ILU.
38. "What I do remember... it's not good." Okay, Sam. Let's back up here. This is the first time you - and I mean, the actual you - have seen your grandfather. The stuff that you remember - the flashbacks from 6.13 - were mostly you, or rather Soulless-You, being a scary sonuvabitch. If anything, Samuel was objecting to your methods. Granted, he didn't do much to stop you, but he was terrified of you. I don't get why you would just develop such a virulent hatred for him, even if Dean tells you that Samuel left you and Dean to be killed by Crowley.
39. Also, Show? Samuel had so much potential. SO MUCH. Why did you make him a douchebag? Why did you make it so his death wouldn't even draw a blink from his own grandsons? Why did you make it so that fandom rejoices in his death? Why?
40. "What would Mom say?"
"You know what I think Mom'd say? She'd say just because you're blood it doesn't make you family."
Great! That's why Samuel threw them to Crowley, so he could get his daughter, his real family, back. Oh, wait. You didn't mean it like that.
41. "We're about to crack open your grandpa's grapefruit. Take a breather." Oh, don't worry, Bobby. Sam and Dean probably fantasise about cracking open their grandfather's skull, those douchebags. Yes, I'm on Samuel's side, anybody got a problem with that? *snarls*
42. Hi, dangerous-looking electrical wire! *cringes*
43. More stuff about Omaha. I'm still unable to make myself care.
44. YIKES! So okay, Samuel waking while his skull was getting cut open creeped the shit out of me.
45. Ouch! Grandpa electrocuted by live wire! With green goo coming out his ears and what looks like - yep, slimy green worm/creature! Awesome.
46. So NOW you get the idea to kick open the door together. Right. Still looked really cool, though. :D
47. "Electricity," says Bobby. Huh.
48. Haha, okay, them checking their ears was funny. But: check each others' ears, you idiots! Do you think the monster's gonna go, "ooh, look goo. Guess it's me! Hee hee." Seriously, did you leave your brains in the Impala today, or something?
49. Ha, whatcha gonna do, Sam? Electrocute yourselves?
50. I WAS KIDDING!! I was!
51. Okay, Sam touching the live wire to his arm before Dean get a hold of it was funny.
52. "I got a damn pacemaker," says Rufus. Interesting. "Down three toes, too, FYI." *giggles* I'm sorry.
53. Avoidant!Bobby's got the monster in him. Okay. So, looking back at point 47, either the monster must've gotten inside Bobby's nut somewhere in between 47 and now, or it just told the others the best way to kill it. Either way? This monster is stupid.
54. He stabbed him! No, Rufus! You didn't off Rufus, Show, you didn't! WHHHYYYYY. What have you got against AWESOME secondary characters??
55. Waking up tied and bound to a chair. Another day in the life of the Winchesters... oh, wait. It's Bobby.
56. "Why do you keep taking about Herpes?"
"What? I don't. Shut up. Shut up!" LOL.
57. Okay, I am laughing so hard at the monster-in-Bobby. I love Beaver, but I kind of wish it'd been Padalecki or Ackles for better impact.
58. The Mother of All's creating brand new monsters! Sounds exciting.
59. "She's got a message for you: you're all gonna die. It's going to be nothing but pain for you, from here on in." Yeah, like I was saying. Winchesters. Regular office day.
60. "We'll just have to do what Bobby would want us to do." Ergo, tie him and up and electrocute him until the monster is dead. Ouch.
61. Y'know, Show, when you segue from a scene where Bobby's slumped, with goo and blood all over his face and Sam going, "he's not breathing!" to Sam and Dean standing over a freshly-dug grave: NOT COOL. *shudders*
62. Okay, Bobby talking about how Rufus and he first met: how Bobby's possessed-wife was Rufus's job, was moving. And then: RufusnBobby road-tripping and hunting, then Omaha and whatever-the-hell-happened-there, and Rufus refusing to forgive Bobby for it - Bobby is to Rufus, what Sam is to Dean, and it's kind of awesome, in a way.
63. Dean, with the life is too short to be holding grudges speech. That indirect blanket forgiveness for all that Sam/Robo!Sam did. Sam, with the "Some of us pulled a lot of crap, Dean." And then, Dean, "Well. Clean slate."
64. Maybe it's not terribly healthy yet, but I really like where they're taking the boys.
65. BOBBY. Pouring the whiskey on Rufus's grave. Raising the bottle, taking a drink of his own. MY HEART, SHE IS BROKEN.
66. End episode. Show, I would like to know where you're going.
67. a. Heavenly Civil War
b. Purgatory and the Mother of All storyline
c. The Great Wall of Sam and all the shit he pulled as Robo!Sam
I'm counting on you pulling all of that together and getting us a good resolution to the season.