Quick Reaction: 8x22 Clip Show

[hells_half_acre]

Okay, so this episode was soul-crushing....

(Once again, I'm rewatching while I type this up, thanks to house-sitting at a place with a PVR. Next week I'll be back in my own apartment though and doing my quick reaction from memory.)

Comments

[borgmama1of5]

Emotionally the episode left me with a knot in my gut about the impossible situation the boys were left in. I was actually really happy for a change that the preview gave away a big scene because otherwise I don't think I would survive this week from anxiety.(And really, I don't need to spend my week tied up in knots over a TV show!)

However, from a logic POV I was infuriated.
-Set up a terrible moral quandry for Cas and then give him an easy out in making the nephilim go bad after all, so what was the point in making her sweet and innocent initially?
-Where is Kevin? He's just...forgotten.
-Put Abadon back together without any precautions?!?! I am so upset about how STUPID they made the boys for that, when it would have been so easy to have her chair in a devil's trap, and then the hand could have crawled down and scratched open the trap. I'll give them the ease with which she got the bullet out (which Cas did last week too) and yeah, leaving her alone was bad but getting a call from Crowley could take priority...but where was their basic hunter common sense???
-Oh, and how did Crowley know about Jenny from season 7? Do the books go that far? I was under the impression they end at Swan Song, because, you know, Chuck disappeared...so who wrote the rest of them? The writer couldn't think of any other rescuees from the first 5 seasons?
-Cas being played and not consulting with Dean--been there, done that.

Sigh. I am thisclose to writing season 8 off...

[percysowner]

I agree with all of these, especially the making the nephilim the aggressor so that Cas wouldn't be seen in as bad a light. They didn't give Sam that excuse with the nurse at the end of season four, but Cas gets an out.

Your other points are all good ones as well. This season has had massive problems for me and this episode really had so many of the things I dislike in it.

[hells_half_acre]

I really don't think the Nephilim was made the aggressor. I think she legitimately defended herself. Yeah, she was AGGRESSIVE about defending herself, but they still attacked her first after she told them not to - and then she was a bad-ass. I don't think that vindicated Castiel's decision at all, since she wouldn't have been choking Metatron if Castiel hadn't decided to go along with the plan.

So, no, Cas didn't get an out. He still killed a completely innocent girl. Just because she used her powers and angry-words when she defended herself doesn't make her bad.

[hells_half_acre]

I was actually really happy for a change that the preview gave away a big scene because otherwise I don't think I would survive this week from anxiety.(And really, I don't need to spend my week tied up in knots over a TV show!)

This is why I actually don't mind people spoiling most shows for me. Supernatural is my exception, but because it's the exception it's the ONLY one. Every other show I watch, I prefer to either be a comedy or to be enough seasons in that I'm playing catch up and already know vaguely where the characters are going to end up.

-Set up a terrible moral quandry for Cas and then give him an easy out in making the nephilim go bad after all, so what was the point in making her sweet and innocent initially?

I don't think they made her bad at all. Yeah, she defended herself angrily, but who wouldn't? If you had attacked the Winchesters, they would have appeared to be just as "bad" in their angry defending. Maybe it's the sexism thing, where she's just supposed to roll over and die? Or scream and whimper if she's innocent?

Regardless though, I think the line that stood out was "I try to be good" - that reminded me so much of Cas. I don't think Cas was any happier about killing her after she defended herself then he was before he came at her.

-Where is Kevin? He's just...forgotten.

I'm assuming they left him protected at Metatron's place, given that he's been telling Metatron all about Castiel and such.

-Put Abadon back together without any precautions?!?! I am so upset about how STUPID they made the boys for that, when it would have been so easy to have her chair in a devil's trap, and then the hand could have crawled down and scratched open the trap. I'll give them the ease with which she got the bullet out (which Cas did last week too) and yeah, leaving her alone was bad but getting a call from Crowley could take priority...but where was their basic hunter common sense???

Now THIS, I completely agree with. It was unbelievably sloppy, and I'm using "unbelievably" for a reason there. :P

-Oh, and how did Crowley know about Jenny from season 7? Do the books go that far? I was under the impression they end at Swan Song, because, you know, Chuck disappeared...so who wrote the rest of them? The writer couldn't think of any other rescuees from the first 5 seasons?

Crowley also told them that he's been using his own research, because wherever the Winchesters go, they tend to "leave a mess behind" - and you have to admit that the mess in Prosperity, IN, was pretty big. So it's not just the books.

Sigh. I am thisclose to writing season 8 off...

Sorry you feel that way. I'm loving this season, but I had to write S7 off, so I know how you feel. :P