SPN Episode Reactions 11x01, 11x02 and 11x03
SPN Episode reactions, 11x01, 11x02 and 11x03
As it’s been a while since I wrote any episode reactions (last one was for 10x18), so I’m going to talk about all three episodes of S11 so far here in one post:
11x01 - Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire
I have to admit that I haven’t been particularly awed by this season so far - the ‘Darkness’ cliffhanger in the season 10 finale just seemed a bit lame and like it came out of nowhere, so it didn’t have me on tenterhooks and full of excitment about S11 over the summer…. Not like the Demon!Dean cliffhanger did last year.
For me, 11x01 just seemed like a poor rehash of the season 2 episode, Croatoan, mixed with a bit of Walking Dead. There were a few fun moments, it was nice to see a female character with a decent role, the baby was cute and I liked the reveal at the end that Amara had the Mark of Cain.
However, in regards to the Winchesters, it just seems like nothing has changed… yet again. I thought the Dean/Sam scene in the hospital was well-shot and did what it was supposed to, namely, be a big emotional scene, but unfortunately, I just didn’t really buy it. It seemed like a contradiction and a bit hypocritical - with Sam talking about having to save everyone, yet they kill tons of demons in human bodies that may or may not be dead all the time - what about all those people? Then you’ve got the rehash of the lying to each other thing again - they talk about being honest with each other, then Sam hides his infection by the black stuff from Dean.
There was so much in this episode that just isn’t explained and not followed through on - like what was infecting all the people… was it the Darkness, was it something else? Why the black veins… what was actually happening to the people? Why was it killing them etc.?
So in summary, for 11x01:
Liked:
I gave 11x01 the benefit of the doubt because I thought maybe everything with the infection would be explained in episode 2… oh, wait… no, it wasn’t. The infection was just conveniently ‘cured’/got rid of by Sam in a matter of minutes with no real explanation as to why it even worked. The only interesting parts of the episode here were the Dean/Crowley/baby scenes - I though those were done pretty well, but the rest of the episode was kind of boring.
I like Misha, don’t get me wrong… he’s a great addition to the SPN fandom when it comes to cons and charity work etc. but honestly, I don’t think he’s that great an actor - he doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of range. And here, I’m afraid I just found myself bursting out laughing every time he growled or screamed in pain or whatever, because it just looked more like he was constipated than anything else. I actually found his scenes cringeworthy in this episode.
I found myself annoyed by the whole cure of the infection scenes… it was all very convenient, and left lots of questions:
I spent the whole episode feeling bad for Jensen having to direct yet another terrible script from the Nepotism Duo :(. Pretty much the only good things about the episode were Jensen’s directing and the Dean moments.
For once, I would just love to see what Jensen can actually do with a good script instead of yet another script by these two. It’s unfortunate that the Duo always end up writing the third episode of the season and that it is probably the only episode of the season that Jensen can logistically direct as the first episode shot (though in S6 Weekend At Bobby’s was episode 4).
I think Jensen did the best he could with what he was given, and some of the shots he got and the atmosphere he created, especially the close-ups of Dean and Sam, were amazingly good.
Though I like her, the Rowena stuff was obviously written for comedy, but it just made her look a bit stupid and incompetent - the whole ‘mega coven’ thing seemed out of character. For a witch who is several hundred years old and is Crowley’s mother, I would have thought she’d been more intimidating and conniving and less campy. I love Ruth Connell and I think she’s made a great addition to the cast, but the writing for Rowena can be rather sloppy at times.
Just felt like overall there wasn’t much purpose or substance to the episode - I already knew that it would be about finding Rowena to get her to cure Cas… and so in that sense, it was essentially just what I had expected: pretty boring, poorly written, and with tasteless jokes, plus some racism and sex-related stuff thrown in for good measure.
Liked:
Though I haven't been overly impressed with the first 3 episodes of the season, I am looking forward to next week's episode, since J2 seem pretty excited about it and also the episode directed by Richard, so we'll see how the season continues to progress over the next few episodes.
As it’s been a while since I wrote any episode reactions (last one was for 10x18), so I’m going to talk about all three episodes of S11 so far here in one post:
11x01 - Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire
I have to admit that I haven’t been particularly awed by this season so far - the ‘Darkness’ cliffhanger in the season 10 finale just seemed a bit lame and like it came out of nowhere, so it didn’t have me on tenterhooks and full of excitment about S11 over the summer…. Not like the Demon!Dean cliffhanger did last year.
For me, 11x01 just seemed like a poor rehash of the season 2 episode, Croatoan, mixed with a bit of Walking Dead. There were a few fun moments, it was nice to see a female character with a decent role, the baby was cute and I liked the reveal at the end that Amara had the Mark of Cain.
However, in regards to the Winchesters, it just seems like nothing has changed… yet again. I thought the Dean/Sam scene in the hospital was well-shot and did what it was supposed to, namely, be a big emotional scene, but unfortunately, I just didn’t really buy it. It seemed like a contradiction and a bit hypocritical - with Sam talking about having to save everyone, yet they kill tons of demons in human bodies that may or may not be dead all the time - what about all those people? Then you’ve got the rehash of the lying to each other thing again - they talk about being honest with each other, then Sam hides his infection by the black stuff from Dean.
There was so much in this episode that just isn’t explained and not followed through on - like what was infecting all the people… was it the Darkness, was it something else? Why the black veins… what was actually happening to the people? Why was it killing them etc.?
So in summary, for 11x01:
Liked:
- Dean talking to Sam as he walked back to the car and then realising it was still stuck in a ditch
- Jenna as a ‘strong’ female character
- The cute baby
- It was interesting to see how the actress playing Crowley portrayed him
- The mention of the Cage and Michael and Lucifer… finally some continuity from previous seasons
- the lack of explanation for the ‘Darkness/zombie’ infection and what it was actually doing to people
- Sam lying to Dean yet again
- Sam not being a good enough hunter to know not to get himself locked in a closet with zombies
- The way Sam was infected - almost exactly the same scene as in Croatoan
- The whole thing with Crowley being a woman… what exactly was the point of all of that - did we really need an orgy in there?
- Was there any point to the Cas scenes at all? (honestly, I’d forgotten Cas was even in the episode until a second ago)
I gave 11x01 the benefit of the doubt because I thought maybe everything with the infection would be explained in episode 2… oh, wait… no, it wasn’t. The infection was just conveniently ‘cured’/got rid of by Sam in a matter of minutes with no real explanation as to why it even worked. The only interesting parts of the episode here were the Dean/Crowley/baby scenes - I though those were done pretty well, but the rest of the episode was kind of boring.
I like Misha, don’t get me wrong… he’s a great addition to the SPN fandom when it comes to cons and charity work etc. but honestly, I don’t think he’s that great an actor - he doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of range. And here, I’m afraid I just found myself bursting out laughing every time he growled or screamed in pain or whatever, because it just looked more like he was constipated than anything else. I actually found his scenes cringeworthy in this episode.
I found myself annoyed by the whole cure of the infection scenes… it was all very convenient, and left lots of questions:
- How exactly is Sam un-pure (I thought he purified himself in Season 8)?
- Why was he getting visions of hell?
- How does he have enough holy oil to get rid of the infection in all of the people (I thought holy oil was extremely rare)?
- How did he know that Holy Oil would actually cure it… since we don’t know what the infection is?
- Why did it only affect people in that one town?
- What was the purpose of the infection?
- Why did some people die quicker than others? Why were they dying at all?
- What does the infection have to do with the Darkness?
- the scenes with the baby
- the interactions between Dean and Crowley at the house
- the appearance of the reaper, Billie, and her singing (the choice of promo song makes sense now)
- they killed off both Jenna and Hannah and the grandmother… what a great episode for female characters :S!
- the cure for the infection (see above)
- Misha’s acting as beast-Cas
- the boring angel torture scenes.. please can we just get rid of the angels already?
- the CGI changing of the baby’s age… I was reminded of the creepy child in Twilight
I spent the whole episode feeling bad for Jensen having to direct yet another terrible script from the Nepotism Duo :(. Pretty much the only good things about the episode were Jensen’s directing and the Dean moments.
For once, I would just love to see what Jensen can actually do with a good script instead of yet another script by these two. It’s unfortunate that the Duo always end up writing the third episode of the season and that it is probably the only episode of the season that Jensen can logistically direct as the first episode shot (though in S6 Weekend At Bobby’s was episode 4).
I think Jensen did the best he could with what he was given, and some of the shots he got and the atmosphere he created, especially the close-ups of Dean and Sam, were amazingly good.
Though I like her, the Rowena stuff was obviously written for comedy, but it just made her look a bit stupid and incompetent - the whole ‘mega coven’ thing seemed out of character. For a witch who is several hundred years old and is Crowley’s mother, I would have thought she’d been more intimidating and conniving and less campy. I love Ruth Connell and I think she’s made a great addition to the cast, but the writing for Rowena can be rather sloppy at times.
Just felt like overall there wasn’t much purpose or substance to the episode - I already knew that it would be about finding Rowena to get her to cure Cas… and so in that sense, it was essentially just what I had expected: pretty boring, poorly written, and with tasteless jokes, plus some racism and sex-related stuff thrown in for good measure.
Liked:
- the young girl playing Amara is pretty good
- the close-up shots of Dean and Sam and the good cinematography
- Dean with Rowena in the bunker… very atmospheric
- ‘FBI’ Dean and Sam interrogating the witch
- Misha’s acting… again - so campy and unbelievable as the ‘beasty’ Cas. It felt very forced and was rather painful to watch… I spent most of his scenes in giggles.
- The whole mega-coven thing with Rowena… got tired quickly
- The Busty Asian Beauties porn stuff - tasteless, racist, not funny… and completely unnecessary. But then again, what else can you expect from the Nepotism Duo?
- Dean checking out the blonde - cute/funny scene but out of place and out of character for Dean to get distracted by a woman in that situation
Though I haven't been overly impressed with the first 3 episodes of the season, I am looking forward to next week's episode, since J2 seem pretty excited about it and also the episode directed by Richard, so we'll see how the season continues to progress over the next few episodes.