Quick Reaction: 6x04 Weekend at Bobby's
Home again! Now let's talk about Jensen's DIRECTORIAL DEBUT!
Unfortunately for me, there was something wrong with the feed, and for the whole first 10-20 minutes of the episode, the dialog was at times a whole 6 seconds out of sync with the action. This made it very hard to watch and also EXTREMELY ANNOYING. Ugh! I only hope Jensen's working tonight and didn't try to watch his episode...whenever something in Canada fails, I always feel like I personally let down any foreigner who is disappointed by the failure. I don't know if I should hope it was a problem for the CW or not. I haven't read anyone else's review so I don't know if this happened in America as well.
Anyway, let's talk about the episode...it was so cool to see an episode from Bobby's POV. It was a nice break, and a fresh perspective. Ok, now...let's see...
Crowley! Again, the audio was all out of sync here, so I was spending most of my time going "PIECE OF CRAP WHAT THE HELL AARRRG!" and sadly because of this what was actually happening in the scene was sort of lost on me. That being said, it was a very interesting standoff...and I like Crowley being a scotch snob, and the whole black-lit devil's trap was GENIUS.
Unfortunately, Crowley's being a demon and not giving Bobby his soul back...and he also brought his pet giant hellhound...so, Bobby has to let him go.
Then Sam and Dean are playing with a corpse by a playground...and wow, that's a really cool juxtaposition. Anyway, using the wonders of modern technology, Dean sends Bobby a picture of a fang, and orders Bobby to find out what it is...and Bobby is like "But...I've got things to do" only he doesn't say that...he says "Balls!" and then he says "Balls!" a lot more, and it's really a funny sequence.
Since when does Sioux Falls have a university? Wait...I just looked it up and Sioux Falls is a whole lot bigger than I thought it was...and does indeed have a university. Ok! Shows what I know.
Ok, so, Bobby says up until 5am and then phones Dean and tells him that he's hunting some Greek monster. He gives Dean ONE of the options for killing it and then Dean hangs up on him! Dean really shouldn't give Cas a hard time about his goodbyes...because really...
Meanwhile, this whole time, there's been a crossroads demon tied up in Bobby's basement! How in the heck did he get her from the crossroads to his basement? That's what I want to know.
Here the stupid audio problem worked in my favour, because I was so distracted by counting how many seconds the dialog was delayed by (so that I could complain about it properly in this post), I forgot to ask questions like "What is Bobby doing that can hurt a demon? What was in that bag? What kind of voodoo is this?"
By the way, in case there was any doubt, Bobby is a BAMF.
Neighbour lady shows up to hit on Bobby. She is adorable and in way over her head. I loved the "Dragged to Hell line"
Rufus shows up. I absolutely love the way Bobby and Rufus talk to each other. I think it's what I love about this show in general...everyone is so realistic. They feel like actual people. Whoa, deja vu...I may have typed that exact thing more than once.
But I like Rufus telling Bobby that he's not asking for his permission to help him. I also love Rufus describing the scotch and saying "What? I'm not a heathen!" Hahahaha...I love unexpected snobbery.
Also, Asian monsters! Something weird is going on...
A note on Fergus...which is Crowley's real name. I LOVE the fact that they named him Fergus, and I'll tell you why. In Celtic mythology, there's this Queen named Maeve (Medb), and my favorite part of her legend is that "it took seven men to satisfy her, or Fergus once." Very in keeping with what our dear Fergus MacLeod (Crowley) supposedly sold his soul for, no? Haha
Anyway, on with the show...an ACTUAL FBI agent shows up with everyone's favorite Sheriff. I think Bobby and the Sheriff should totally get together...you know, once she's done grieving the death of her husband.
I loved Bobby disguising his monster-killing advice as a recipe. Really nicely done...I also liked the brief shot of Sam being thrown into a post. I like the fact that we never actually SEE the monster that Sam and Dean are fighting.
I loved the lines about how Bobby has a body in the basement and a body outside too...and the Sheriff is just like "ugh, Bobby!" but is so hip to the Hunting stuff now that she doesn't even question it. I wonder how many bodies Bobby has buried around his property...it's probably very serial killer-ish of him.
Luckily, or not, the body has ESCAPED! I love Bobby's septic-explosion cover-up. Hilarious.
He calls Rufus and Rufus got his 5s and 7s confused. (Happens to me all the time)...so Bobby has to go find the Okami (I'm guessing at the spelling using my wonderous knowledge of Japanese as learnt through anime)...and it turns out the Okami preys on single white neighbour-ladies who bring you peach cobbler...NOOOooooo....
So Bobby BAMF his way into her house and SAVES her...by throwing the Okami in the woodchipper, and spraying blood all over the play (but really lady, don't stand on the business end of a woodchipper. Then Bobby realizes that neighbour lady wanted to date him, so he agrees, but then she turns him down ("Story of my life") AWwww....I totally think Bobby should have been rewarded for saving her life! Come on...
Dean calls and is all upset that Sam is a robot. Sadly, a call comes in on the other line and Bobby takes it: Rufus stole Fergus's son Gavin's ring, Crowley's son, but it looks like thievery is not his strong suit, and he's arrested. He ends up swallowing the ring. Ugh.
So, Bobby is all stressed out, and worried about his soul...and Dean is all stressed out because his brother is a robot, and Bobby is his ONLY FRIEND because Castiel is in heaven and HIS BROTHER IS A ROBOT, and he also misses getting his sweet morning sex with Lisa...and so he calls Bobby selfish, because Bobby has ALL KINDS OF FRIENDS that he can call if his brother turns into a robot, but Dean only has ONE.
And then Bobby LOSES IT and makes Dean get his Robot-brother so that he can yell at the both of them. And, I'm not saying Bobby isn't right to yell at them for being whiny and self-centred...I mean, they ARE. All kids are. But, RoboSam also has a point: All Bobby has to do is ASK for help, and Dean and Sam will drop everything and help him....even if one of them is a robot.
Side note: My mum used to do that to me all the time. Refuse my help for everything and then yell at me for not helping...ugh, parents.
Bobby tries to call in a favour with the Sheriff lady, but she refuses...only to come through anyway! YAY!
So, anyway, I liked the whole ghost summoning...that was really cool. I also like the Scottish boy it summoned...I wish he had more lines.
Bobby moves things to the basement for some reason, and then summons Crowley. We learn that Crowley is the King of Hell - awesome! Also, that the problem with working with demons is that their demons...and Crowley is having such a hard time of it, he has to put antacids in his scotch! Tough times indeed.
Turns out, Fergus sold his soul for an extra three inches. Side note: statistically, men with smaller penises are actually better lovers.
I loved Crowley's fake out for being happy to see his son, and then saying that he hates him. And for a brief second you're like, shit...but then you think "wait...that was Rufus' plan, but Bobby said 'something like that'...and Bobby is more of a BAMF than Rufus..."
No, Bobby's trump card is that demons are actually just a different form of spirit and can be killed the same way - by touching their bones...and the mother fucking WINCHESTERS ARE IN SCOTLAND!!!! Holy crow! INTERNATIONAL BADASSERY!!! AWESOME!
Crowley gives Bobby his soul back AND he gets to keep his legs! YAY! And then Bobby lets him go and he very pathetically picks up his own bones to store them someplace safer. Poor Fergus...I hope his vessel has a big cock, or else it was all for naught, wasn't it? Haha.
Then we get Dean driving on the other side of the road, and Sam is actually just a little bit like himself when he tells Bobby that Dean used four puke bags and white-knuckled it through their 9 hour flight....and the only weapon Dean had was a plastic fork. Brilliant. That's love right there, isn't it?
The end.
Ok, a note about JENSEN ACKLES: DIRECTOR - I'm not really that well educated in directing, so I couldn't really critique anything. To me, it looked fantastic. I liked the wider shots around Bobby, and the use of only tight shots of Dean when he's on the phone with Bobby (because the Winchesters aren't the focus here, so their surroundings don't matter.) Except at the end, when you have that nice wide shot of them in Scotland with the CGed highland/castle background...because that's the "DUDE! WINCHESTERS ARE IN SCOTLAND!" moment, so it needs to be grand. I think the main thing is that it felt like a classic Supernatural episode...like it belonged with all the others. Also, I liked his use of rotating dolly shots...like, around Bobby when he's doing the summoning. That reminded me of the rotating shots that Kim Manners used in In My Time of Dying. But as I was saying, it felt like a Supernatural episode, which means, in my opinion, Jensen did an awesome job! If I hadn't known, I wouldn't have guessed that he was a first time director.
Awesome job Mr. Ackles!
Unfortunately for me, there was something wrong with the feed, and for the whole first 10-20 minutes of the episode, the dialog was at times a whole 6 seconds out of sync with the action. This made it very hard to watch and also EXTREMELY ANNOYING. Ugh! I only hope Jensen's working tonight and didn't try to watch his episode...whenever something in Canada fails, I always feel like I personally let down any foreigner who is disappointed by the failure. I don't know if I should hope it was a problem for the CW or not. I haven't read anyone else's review so I don't know if this happened in America as well.
Anyway, let's talk about the episode...it was so cool to see an episode from Bobby's POV. It was a nice break, and a fresh perspective. Ok, now...let's see...
Crowley! Again, the audio was all out of sync here, so I was spending most of my time going "PIECE OF CRAP WHAT THE HELL AARRRG!" and sadly because of this what was actually happening in the scene was sort of lost on me. That being said, it was a very interesting standoff...and I like Crowley being a scotch snob, and the whole black-lit devil's trap was GENIUS.
Unfortunately, Crowley's being a demon and not giving Bobby his soul back...and he also brought his pet giant hellhound...so, Bobby has to let him go.
Then Sam and Dean are playing with a corpse by a playground...and wow, that's a really cool juxtaposition. Anyway, using the wonders of modern technology, Dean sends Bobby a picture of a fang, and orders Bobby to find out what it is...and Bobby is like "But...I've got things to do" only he doesn't say that...he says "Balls!" and then he says "Balls!" a lot more, and it's really a funny sequence.
Since when does Sioux Falls have a university? Wait...I just looked it up and Sioux Falls is a whole lot bigger than I thought it was...and does indeed have a university. Ok! Shows what I know.
Ok, so, Bobby says up until 5am and then phones Dean and tells him that he's hunting some Greek monster. He gives Dean ONE of the options for killing it and then Dean hangs up on him! Dean really shouldn't give Cas a hard time about his goodbyes...because really...
Meanwhile, this whole time, there's been a crossroads demon tied up in Bobby's basement! How in the heck did he get her from the crossroads to his basement? That's what I want to know.
Here the stupid audio problem worked in my favour, because I was so distracted by counting how many seconds the dialog was delayed by (so that I could complain about it properly in this post), I forgot to ask questions like "What is Bobby doing that can hurt a demon? What was in that bag? What kind of voodoo is this?"
By the way, in case there was any doubt, Bobby is a BAMF.
Neighbour lady shows up to hit on Bobby. She is adorable and in way over her head. I loved the "Dragged to Hell line"
Rufus shows up. I absolutely love the way Bobby and Rufus talk to each other. I think it's what I love about this show in general...everyone is so realistic. They feel like actual people. Whoa, deja vu...I may have typed that exact thing more than once.
But I like Rufus telling Bobby that he's not asking for his permission to help him. I also love Rufus describing the scotch and saying "What? I'm not a heathen!" Hahahaha...I love unexpected snobbery.
Also, Asian monsters! Something weird is going on...
A note on Fergus...which is Crowley's real name. I LOVE the fact that they named him Fergus, and I'll tell you why. In Celtic mythology, there's this Queen named Maeve (Medb), and my favorite part of her legend is that "it took seven men to satisfy her, or Fergus once." Very in keeping with what our dear Fergus MacLeod (Crowley) supposedly sold his soul for, no? Haha
Anyway, on with the show...an ACTUAL FBI agent shows up with everyone's favorite Sheriff. I think Bobby and the Sheriff should totally get together...you know, once she's done grieving the death of her husband.
I loved Bobby disguising his monster-killing advice as a recipe. Really nicely done...I also liked the brief shot of Sam being thrown into a post. I like the fact that we never actually SEE the monster that Sam and Dean are fighting.
I loved the lines about how Bobby has a body in the basement and a body outside too...and the Sheriff is just like "ugh, Bobby!" but is so hip to the Hunting stuff now that she doesn't even question it. I wonder how many bodies Bobby has buried around his property...it's probably very serial killer-ish of him.
Luckily, or not, the body has ESCAPED! I love Bobby's septic-explosion cover-up. Hilarious.
He calls Rufus and Rufus got his 5s and 7s confused. (Happens to me all the time)...so Bobby has to go find the Okami (I'm guessing at the spelling using my wonderous knowledge of Japanese as learnt through anime)...and it turns out the Okami preys on single white neighbour-ladies who bring you peach cobbler...NOOOooooo....
So Bobby BAMF his way into her house and SAVES her...by throwing the Okami in the woodchipper, and spraying blood all over the play (but really lady, don't stand on the business end of a woodchipper. Then Bobby realizes that neighbour lady wanted to date him, so he agrees, but then she turns him down ("Story of my life") AWwww....I totally think Bobby should have been rewarded for saving her life! Come on...
Dean calls and is all upset that Sam is a robot. Sadly, a call comes in on the other line and Bobby takes it: Rufus stole Fergus's son Gavin's ring, Crowley's son, but it looks like thievery is not his strong suit, and he's arrested. He ends up swallowing the ring. Ugh.
So, Bobby is all stressed out, and worried about his soul...and Dean is all stressed out because his brother is a robot, and Bobby is his ONLY FRIEND because Castiel is in heaven and HIS BROTHER IS A ROBOT, and he also misses getting his sweet morning sex with Lisa...and so he calls Bobby selfish, because Bobby has ALL KINDS OF FRIENDS that he can call if his brother turns into a robot, but Dean only has ONE.
And then Bobby LOSES IT and makes Dean get his Robot-brother so that he can yell at the both of them. And, I'm not saying Bobby isn't right to yell at them for being whiny and self-centred...I mean, they ARE. All kids are. But, RoboSam also has a point: All Bobby has to do is ASK for help, and Dean and Sam will drop everything and help him....even if one of them is a robot.
Side note: My mum used to do that to me all the time. Refuse my help for everything and then yell at me for not helping...ugh, parents.
Bobby tries to call in a favour with the Sheriff lady, but she refuses...only to come through anyway! YAY!
So, anyway, I liked the whole ghost summoning...that was really cool. I also like the Scottish boy it summoned...I wish he had more lines.
Bobby moves things to the basement for some reason, and then summons Crowley. We learn that Crowley is the King of Hell - awesome! Also, that the problem with working with demons is that their demons...and Crowley is having such a hard time of it, he has to put antacids in his scotch! Tough times indeed.
Turns out, Fergus sold his soul for an extra three inches. Side note: statistically, men with smaller penises are actually better lovers.
I loved Crowley's fake out for being happy to see his son, and then saying that he hates him. And for a brief second you're like, shit...but then you think "wait...that was Rufus' plan, but Bobby said 'something like that'...and Bobby is more of a BAMF than Rufus..."
No, Bobby's trump card is that demons are actually just a different form of spirit and can be killed the same way - by touching their bones...and the mother fucking WINCHESTERS ARE IN SCOTLAND!!!! Holy crow! INTERNATIONAL BADASSERY!!! AWESOME!
Crowley gives Bobby his soul back AND he gets to keep his legs! YAY! And then Bobby lets him go and he very pathetically picks up his own bones to store them someplace safer. Poor Fergus...I hope his vessel has a big cock, or else it was all for naught, wasn't it? Haha.
Then we get Dean driving on the other side of the road, and Sam is actually just a little bit like himself when he tells Bobby that Dean used four puke bags and white-knuckled it through their 9 hour flight....and the only weapon Dean had was a plastic fork. Brilliant. That's love right there, isn't it?
The end.
Ok, a note about JENSEN ACKLES: DIRECTOR - I'm not really that well educated in directing, so I couldn't really critique anything. To me, it looked fantastic. I liked the wider shots around Bobby, and the use of only tight shots of Dean when he's on the phone with Bobby (because the Winchesters aren't the focus here, so their surroundings don't matter.) Except at the end, when you have that nice wide shot of them in Scotland with the CGed highland/castle background...because that's the "DUDE! WINCHESTERS ARE IN SCOTLAND!" moment, so it needs to be grand. I think the main thing is that it felt like a classic Supernatural episode...like it belonged with all the others. Also, I liked his use of rotating dolly shots...like, around Bobby when he's doing the summoning. That reminded me of the rotating shots that Kim Manners used in In My Time of Dying. But as I was saying, it felt like a Supernatural episode, which means, in my opinion, Jensen did an awesome job! If I hadn't known, I wouldn't have guessed that he was a first time director.
Awesome job Mr. Ackles!