Playthings & Nightshifter

[feliciakw]

I made a couple comments about "Playthings" last year, and again, I don't really have a whole lot to add.

Comments

[girlyghoul70]

Playthings is a fav! I'm trying to remember, but I'm pretty sure I knew that Maggie was either a ghost or an imaginary playmate from the get go. I think I was a little thrown when both girls ran past the boys. But it was not a huge gasp for me when it's "revealed" that Maggie is "imaginary". And dang, but she's a mean little girl! I liked the ending sort of, because it gave Rose some power when she mostly had none. She was able to save her daughter and granddaughter even though it cost her her life- so we get good oogie feelings for Rose. However, I think it would have been more satisfying for the boys to vanquish Maggie... because like I said- she was a MEAN! LITTLE! GIRL!

And people... they do NOT look like Antiquers! Sure it gave them a good cover when they wanted to look at the doll collection. But just walking in the door, no they DON'T look like antiquers! SHEEZ!

And I know Felicia's not happy with Sam's drunken diatribe. But I still love "You're Bossy!... and Short!" Though he definitely deserved the "Greasy pork chop served in a dirty ash tray" He got back.

NightShifter- Not one of my favs, though I'm not sure why. It's got everything I love in it... (surprise twists, lovable characters, Hendericksen as a baddie) but not one of my Go-To's. Hmm. Really not sure why.

I caught a little of this today and mainly saw Sam's "Jan Brady" scene where he's trapped in the vault while someone gushes about his perfect older brother. Hee! Two more seconds and he would have been stomping his foot going "All I ever hear about is Dean! Dean! Dean!" MA HA!

[feliciakw]

It's not that I don't like Sam's drunken demands per se. More like it just hurts. Both for Sam, who thinks he has to save as many people as he can before he goes dark side, and for Dean, watch Sam suffer and make promises he knows he can't keep.

Ya know?

As far as Maggie goes . . . yes, she was a mean little ghost, but I can almost understand why--having been kept away (rather than put to rest) and wanting a playmate and knowing she'd be left alone. I imagine she'd rather have her sister than her great-niece anyway. And Rose gets to be with the sister she lost.

I just noticed yesterday that at the very end? The blonde curly haired doll is looking toward a little brunette doll, like Maggie is glad to have her sister again.

The thing about Maggie is that she starts out as being this very mean ghost, but ends up being just a lonely, lost, angry little girl (who drowns people and pushes them down the stairs and hangs them. So there is that).

[girlyghoul70]

I dunno. I still gotta go with the Mean Little Girl theory. There had to have been some reason the Hoodoo Nanny was keeping her away and Rose continued to do so for so many years. She must have been causing trouble from the get-go. She not only killed innocent folks who were just trying to do their jobs, but she was ready to kill her nieces and/or hold them hostage until her sister agreed to give up her own life to keep her company.

She may have been a sad little girl ghost who died young and tragic and just didn't want to be alone. But then you get into that slippery slope of "Well, Jason Voorhees was just a poor little kid who drowned", "Candyman was just a tragic victim of a lynch mob", "Hannibal Lecter was just a little hungry", etc. Nah. She was a Mean Little Girl!

[feliciakw]

You do have a point about the nanny, so maybe Maggie was causing mischief and Nanny didn't want it to escalate. But for future reference, perhaps the Winchesters should hold classes on how to put restless spirits to rest, rather than just warding them off and making them even more restless . . . and angry . . . and murderous.

Hey, Candyman was the tragic victim of a lynch mob . . . who grew angry and murderous and iirc obsessed with someone not his girl, and he needed to be put down.

Hannibal Lecter is in a different class, though. He's alive and kickin' and human and cannibalistic. Brilliant, but sociopathic. And outside the Winchester mission statement. Now, if he ever becomes an angry spirit, then yeah, they can toast him.

Jason . . . Well . . . are we talking ghost Jason of the original series, or not-so-ghost Jason of the remake? Because depending on which version we're talking about will determine the approach.

And speaking of restless spirits, this story will make your heart a little hurty.