i also approve of the next episode's title, because it amuses me and makes me think of good omens
Supernatural 4x09, I Know What You Did Last Summer: first off, I really like the titles this season! They make me happy. Actually, the third season had some really good titles too and the second season had a few, but the first season was almost entirely One-Word Description, and those are lamesauce. I mean, Bugs? That's the best you could do? And then the second season had stuff like Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things and Born Under A Bad Sign and All Hell Breaks Loose, and the third season had Bad Day At Black Rock and A Very Supernatural Christmas and Time Is On My Side, and now the fourth season has Lazarus Rising and Are You There, God? ...It's Me, Dean Winchester and I Know What You Did Last Summer so, yes, I like the titles this season and this was in no way an attempt to avoid talking about the episode itself.
Get the good things out of the way: Sera Gamble is secretly a fanfic reader and/or an active lurker on LJ, because of the details she does, the little everyday stuff like hustling pool and taking care of injuries, all the little things we put in fanfiction all the time but the show rarely gives us, and also she tends to put more emotion into the show, which of course fandom specializes in (I have a theory that fanfiction puts much more emphasis on everything, regardless of fandom, whether it's with the aforementioned little details or the relationships between the characters or even just the way the characters interact with their environment, because fanfiction is always about the characters whereas source material is often about the plot). So, fuckingmiserable!Sam being willing to go to Hell to get Dean out? Totally a fanfiction thing. Plus a male Crossroads Demon for the win. And that's why we (usually) love her, yo.
Anna: I like her! It is a shame that she will probably die. You know, she actually looks and sounds quite a bit like Penny from Dr. Horrible. So of course she will die. But at least she'll be very pretty and interesting when she does. I saw someone say that they think this will be Castiel's ultimate breaking point, the moment in which he lets all those doubts overtake him and either Falls or saunters downwards a bit, and I'm inclined to agree; throw the guy yet another moral dilemma and have Dean there to push him? Down he goes. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Uriel, then. Angel showdown? Angel showdown. Which Castiel would probably lose. Er. So possibly something else. But in any case, I'm pretty sure Castiel's gonna have some issues with killing Anna. And there will be more staring at Dean. (Did you notice that as soon as he entered the room, his eyes just zoomed in on Dean and never left? I don't know if it's a Misha Collins thing or a directed thing, but I like it, even beyond a slashy perspective. Being that focused on Dean makes for an interesting character trait, especially considering his inevitable breakup with God. Inevitable, I say.)
...and Ruby.
Well. I'm not one of the people who was incredibly squicked and incensed by it, and on one hand I want to say that I see where they're coming from? But on the other hand I'm quite content with the show's explanation as to why it's not all that horrifying? But on a third hand I think that means I'm following what the show wants me to think and not putting too much thought into it myself? There are a lot of hands here, is what I'm saying. At least we can all agree that Sam saying Ruby was a Dean substitute was a bit eyebrow-raising, yes? And it's pretty safe to assume that they stopped the sexing once Dean came back, or possibly even before that, once Sam got a little less suicidal and crazy. So. ...whole lot of hands.
So this is my end thought: in terms of good things vs. bad things, this episode was a hell of a lot better than Yellow Fever and Wishful Thinking. Because unlike Yellow Fever, it came through with the emotional content, and unlike Wishful Thinking, they acknowledged the issue, and they didn't try to mask the episode's problems though humor. And, looking at what other episodes Sera Gamble's written--Faith stands out, as does Heart and Time Is On My Side--I can honestly say that she made the episode with her use of emotional impact, and if it was written by almost anyone else, then it wouldn't even have had that saving grace. And we can all be grateful for that.
...also, hey, she ain't bad with titles! She's the one who gave us Are You There etc, and Crossroad Blues and the aforementioned Time Is On My Side plus, of course, this episode, so. I approve of this lady. (At least Faith wasn't a person place or plot device used in the story and Heart had a hella double-meaning, so she even gets points for those.)
Get the good things out of the way: Sera Gamble is secretly a fanfic reader and/or an active lurker on LJ, because of the details she does, the little everyday stuff like hustling pool and taking care of injuries, all the little things we put in fanfiction all the time but the show rarely gives us, and also she tends to put more emotion into the show, which of course fandom specializes in (I have a theory that fanfiction puts much more emphasis on everything, regardless of fandom, whether it's with the aforementioned little details or the relationships between the characters or even just the way the characters interact with their environment, because fanfiction is always about the characters whereas source material is often about the plot). So, fuckingmiserable!Sam being willing to go to Hell to get Dean out? Totally a fanfiction thing. Plus a male Crossroads Demon for the win. And that's why we (usually) love her, yo.
Anna: I like her! It is a shame that she will probably die. You know, she actually looks and sounds quite a bit like Penny from Dr. Horrible. So of course she will die. But at least she'll be very pretty and interesting when she does. I saw someone say that they think this will be Castiel's ultimate breaking point, the moment in which he lets all those doubts overtake him and either Falls or saunters downwards a bit, and I'm inclined to agree; throw the guy yet another moral dilemma and have Dean there to push him? Down he goes. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Uriel, then. Angel showdown? Angel showdown. Which Castiel would probably lose. Er. So possibly something else. But in any case, I'm pretty sure Castiel's gonna have some issues with killing Anna. And there will be more staring at Dean. (Did you notice that as soon as he entered the room, his eyes just zoomed in on Dean and never left? I don't know if it's a Misha Collins thing or a directed thing, but I like it, even beyond a slashy perspective. Being that focused on Dean makes for an interesting character trait, especially considering his inevitable breakup with God. Inevitable, I say.)
...and Ruby.
Well. I'm not one of the people who was incredibly squicked and incensed by it, and on one hand I want to say that I see where they're coming from? But on the other hand I'm quite content with the show's explanation as to why it's not all that horrifying? But on a third hand I think that means I'm following what the show wants me to think and not putting too much thought into it myself? There are a lot of hands here, is what I'm saying. At least we can all agree that Sam saying Ruby was a Dean substitute was a bit eyebrow-raising, yes? And it's pretty safe to assume that they stopped the sexing once Dean came back, or possibly even before that, once Sam got a little less suicidal and crazy. So. ...whole lot of hands.
So this is my end thought: in terms of good things vs. bad things, this episode was a hell of a lot better than Yellow Fever and Wishful Thinking. Because unlike Yellow Fever, it came through with the emotional content, and unlike Wishful Thinking, they acknowledged the issue, and they didn't try to mask the episode's problems though humor. And, looking at what other episodes Sera Gamble's written--Faith stands out, as does Heart and Time Is On My Side--I can honestly say that she made the episode with her use of emotional impact, and if it was written by almost anyone else, then it wouldn't even have had that saving grace. And we can all be grateful for that.
...also, hey, she ain't bad with titles! She's the one who gave us Are You There etc, and Crossroad Blues and the aforementioned Time Is On My Side plus, of course, this episode, so. I approve of this lady. (At least Faith wasn't a person place or plot device used in the story and Heart had a hella double-meaning, so she even gets points for those.)