Supernatural 200th Episode (10x05) Reaction
My reaction is under the cut - no spoilers for future episodes (as I haven't seen any spoilers yet):
I have to say, I've been kind of dreading the episode ever since I heard about it - not really because I didn't like the idea of it necessarily, but more that I wasn't sure the writers could pull it off. And also, considering the story arc of the last season and last few episodes, I wasn't sure if it was going to seem out of place in comparison - I kind of felt that maybe the 200th episode should be a big mytharc, epic, serious episode (i.e. it could have been a good opportunity to do an epic Sam and Demon!Dean confrontation episode, ending in him being cured).
So for the last couple of weeks I've been torn between getting excited for the 200th episode and dreading watching it in case it was terrible.
Up until season 6, the meta episodes worked really well and they are some of my favourites, but since then I don't think they've quite managed to hit the mark on them - I re-watched the Season 7 wedding episode last night, along with Mark Watches, and it just made me feel uncomfortable, last season's Meta Fiction was just awful for me (rather being a nod to the fans, it just reminded me how bad a lot of the writing and continuity has been the last couple of seasons).
So, with the 200th Episode, I went into it with trepidation and at first, I wasn't convinced by the opening scene with the teacher (I felt the acting was a bit off), but by the Dean/Impala scene, I didn't think it was all that bad and by the end, I was feeling pretty good about it :).
Yes, I did find that there were a few cringey moments - I could have done without the explicit mentions of/nods to Destiel, Wincest, Dean being a woman etc., but I think it was handled pretty well (like the play Dean/Cas being a couple in real life rather than playing a Destiel relationship) and overall, I did feel like it was a loving nod to the fans rather than a bit of a mockery of them (which is the feeling I got from Meta Fiction).
I laughed out loud at several moments, I cried at the end and I think I was more absorbed in this episode that I have been for a while. Sure, it had a few things that niggled at me, but overall, I enjoyed it and I think it worked pretty well.
Liked
- Dean caring for Baby at the beginning
- Carry On Wayward Son... actually all of the songs were pretty good.
- The inside joke about the Samulet hitting 'Dean' in the face/mouth all the time
- 'Sam'/Marie giving Dean the makeshift Samulet and that whole conversation where she shows she knows it's him
- Dean and Sam's reactions to everything
- Their reactions to Carry On and the Impala scenes
- All the nods to previous episodes and storylines (and Adam)
- Chuck at the end!
Not so much
- The Wincest/Destiel mentions were a little bit much for me. Of course, if they hadn't mentioned them, then I'm sure those fans would have felt alienated, but I'm not sure I like the idea of it being talked about to and acknowledged by the actual characters. Although the scene where Sam is trying out the different name combinations is funny
- The placement of the episode - as great as it was, I'm not sure it really fit in with where the brothers are at the moment - I kind of think maybe they should be focusing on the Demon!Dean/Mark of Cain stuff instead at this point.
Questions/Niggles
- As I saw someone else mention on LJ, the Winchester's names were never in the books... although at the time Chuck said that, he'd only published up to season 3, so perhaps he wrote them in afterwards?
- I thought that that more books had been published beyond Swan Song - I may be wrong about that though. Actually, just checked the Slumber Party transcript and Charlie mentions that Becky uploaded the unpublished works to the internet, but not how far in the seasons those works went up to... if up to Swan Song was actually published, and the later seasons were unpublished but available online, then surely the girls in this episode would have found them and therefore known what happened in S6 onwards?
- What does it mean for Chuck showing up at the end? Was it just a nod to the fans, or will he be back in some capacity later?
Overall though, I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to the next episode (no idea what it's going to be about and I'm avoiding spoilers).
It will be interesting to see what happens at BurCon this weekend, considering that the 200th episode aired this week :). I was at JIB the weekend after the S9 finale and that was cool because we were the first fans J2 had seen since it aired, so there was a lot of talk about Demon!Dean and what would happen in S10.
I have to say, I've been kind of dreading the episode ever since I heard about it - not really because I didn't like the idea of it necessarily, but more that I wasn't sure the writers could pull it off. And also, considering the story arc of the last season and last few episodes, I wasn't sure if it was going to seem out of place in comparison - I kind of felt that maybe the 200th episode should be a big mytharc, epic, serious episode (i.e. it could have been a good opportunity to do an epic Sam and Demon!Dean confrontation episode, ending in him being cured).
So for the last couple of weeks I've been torn between getting excited for the 200th episode and dreading watching it in case it was terrible.
Up until season 6, the meta episodes worked really well and they are some of my favourites, but since then I don't think they've quite managed to hit the mark on them - I re-watched the Season 7 wedding episode last night, along with Mark Watches, and it just made me feel uncomfortable, last season's Meta Fiction was just awful for me (rather being a nod to the fans, it just reminded me how bad a lot of the writing and continuity has been the last couple of seasons).
So, with the 200th Episode, I went into it with trepidation and at first, I wasn't convinced by the opening scene with the teacher (I felt the acting was a bit off), but by the Dean/Impala scene, I didn't think it was all that bad and by the end, I was feeling pretty good about it :).
Yes, I did find that there were a few cringey moments - I could have done without the explicit mentions of/nods to Destiel, Wincest, Dean being a woman etc., but I think it was handled pretty well (like the play Dean/Cas being a couple in real life rather than playing a Destiel relationship) and overall, I did feel like it was a loving nod to the fans rather than a bit of a mockery of them (which is the feeling I got from Meta Fiction).
I laughed out loud at several moments, I cried at the end and I think I was more absorbed in this episode that I have been for a while. Sure, it had a few things that niggled at me, but overall, I enjoyed it and I think it worked pretty well.
Liked
- Dean caring for Baby at the beginning
- Carry On Wayward Son... actually all of the songs were pretty good.
- The inside joke about the Samulet hitting 'Dean' in the face/mouth all the time
- 'Sam'/Marie giving Dean the makeshift Samulet and that whole conversation where she shows she knows it's him
- Dean and Sam's reactions to everything
- Their reactions to Carry On and the Impala scenes
- All the nods to previous episodes and storylines (and Adam)
- Chuck at the end!
Not so much
- The Wincest/Destiel mentions were a little bit much for me. Of course, if they hadn't mentioned them, then I'm sure those fans would have felt alienated, but I'm not sure I like the idea of it being talked about to and acknowledged by the actual characters. Although the scene where Sam is trying out the different name combinations is funny
- The placement of the episode - as great as it was, I'm not sure it really fit in with where the brothers are at the moment - I kind of think maybe they should be focusing on the Demon!Dean/Mark of Cain stuff instead at this point.
Questions/Niggles
- As I saw someone else mention on LJ, the Winchester's names were never in the books... although at the time Chuck said that, he'd only published up to season 3, so perhaps he wrote them in afterwards?
- I thought that that more books had been published beyond Swan Song - I may be wrong about that though. Actually, just checked the Slumber Party transcript and Charlie mentions that Becky uploaded the unpublished works to the internet, but not how far in the seasons those works went up to... if up to Swan Song was actually published, and the later seasons were unpublished but available online, then surely the girls in this episode would have found them and therefore known what happened in S6 onwards?
- What does it mean for Chuck showing up at the end? Was it just a nod to the fans, or will he be back in some capacity later?
Overall though, I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to the next episode (no idea what it's going to be about and I'm avoiding spoilers).
It will be interesting to see what happens at BurCon this weekend, considering that the 200th episode aired this week :). I was at JIB the weekend after the S9 finale and that was cool because we were the first fans J2 had seen since it aired, so there was a lot of talk about Demon!Dean and what would happen in S10.