Rewatch S14: Moriah (14x20)
1 week late by tradition! But still January, so I'm counting it as a win.
I finally bring you the final episode of my S14 rewatch - a whole year after I initially intended to be finished.
The new goal will be to get the clothing catalog updated by the end of February... we'll see how well I do at that. Once the clothing catalog is updated, I'll track down a S15 DVD (if they're out yet) and do a S15 rewatch.
Let's jump into it!
Moriah
Oh man, Carry On Wayward Son still makes me emotional. The series finale was just "okay" for me, in the end - so I think part of me still has a yearning for a resolution when this song plays... but Supernatural got too complicated to ever feel resolved, I think.
Anyway, Jack is pissed! You put him in a box! The amount of book shelves those boys backs have broken - they'd be paralyzed by now.
They never address the structural damage Jack did to the bunker in this episode (...reading this back over, I realize that I have firmly become a boring adult - "ugh, the repair work!" my mind screams).... not to mention the stuff that was in that room that's smoking now.
Then we get the Dean and Cas fight, where Dean is like "Our son is clearly a monster and must die!" and Cas is like "Your parenting sucks!" only they don't use those words. Meanwhile, Sam is like "My parenting is awesome, but no one ever listens to me..." and Dean is like "WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO LISTEN TO YOU! THERE'S DRAMA TO BE HAD!" and Sam is like "Valid point, I guess?"
Also, they really should put out the fires in that room first... like, even before they have this whole discussion - they should be putting out those fires. I was about to write "have they never known anyone who has died in a house fire?" and then I remembered the 1x01... really, they should know better. I mean, I know Mary and Jessica were deliberately set on fire, but STILL.
Jack compelling people to stop lying is a man after my own heart. I mean, I agree that white lies are sometimes necessary - but I absolutely HATE IT when people lie to me, even as a joke, or even just saying something they don't mean. My brain can't figure out when people mean something and when they don't, and it's very frustrating. When people just out right lie to me, I get more offended than I would if they just told me whatever it is that they wanted to tell me.
Sam calling Dean out on his nerdiness is amazing and well needed after 14 seasons... Dean is the biggest nerd on the show, who is constantly making fun of nerds.
I don't believe that Sam's favourite singer is Celine Dion though... but it's true we don't really know anything about Sam's music tastes. I just think that it's more realistic for Sam to go to singer-songwriter from a classic rock upbringing, rather than female ballad singer. BUT, that's based on my own upbringing on classic rock and my own music tastes... Sam is obviously a different person than I am.
The leap from not-lying to violence seems pretty extreme though.
Chuck shows up! I'm trying to remember where that red alley is - I feel like I've seen it before, and not just on Superntural... maybe it's in Gastown? New West? Must be New West, it's too hilly for Gastown. None of you care. Sorry.
Poor Jack, accidentally kills his mom by being born... and then purposefully kills his grandma?
Though, I guess maybe the leap from lying to violence could be Chuck interference - because his whole thing is to make Jack look like a bigger threat than he is, to encourage Dean's desire to kill him.
I love Dean smashing the guitar, because it really turns the character from Robbie's Chuck to Dabb's Chuck. Carver/Robbie's Chuck was a good guy, but Dabb needs God to be the enemy. (Kripke's Chuck/God was an absent mysterious character, and arguably the best route to go with the character). But as soon as Dabb introduced Jack's character - well, really the episode "The Future" - a possible path to Chuck becoming foe was laid out, because Jack was a direct challenger to him. Now, I was totally on board with this plan - because one of my favourite lines in S5 was Dean telling Cas to tell God that Dean was coming for him next. So, I wanted God to eventually be the final boss, and I wanted Dean (and/or Sam to be the one to kill him.) So, I was quite enthused about this storyline as soon as I saw Dean smash the guitar - putting Chuck clearly in the "annoying villain" framework that Supernatural is very very fond of.
The special gun that kills the person who fires it along with the person they're aiming at - It's very narrativingly convenient.. which is cleverly the point. Like, I do get a kick out of the fact that Supernatural can get away with this stuff because they've established "God is a bad writer" as a fact of their universe. :P
Rob Benedict is very good at the subtle reaction shots - like, the smirk when Cas walks away from the argument tells us that everything is playing out the way he wants.
Dean tells Sam that he's going to be the one to kill Jack (and therefore die). Really, Dean wanting to die young and have Sam live without him is well established at this point... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Sam has a good point - that Dean is both asking him to lose Jack (his pseudo-son) and also to lose Dean on the same day.
Cas and Jack meet up. Really, Jack, stick with the parent you have - don't try to win back the ones that have left you.
Sam talks to Chuck about how many alternate worlds there are - and we find out about the one that is all squirrels. CUTE!!!!
Chuck: "You and your brother, out of all the Sams and Deans in all the multiverse - you're my favourite. I mean the thing that happened at the office earlier today, that was crazy right?"
- I love Jared's reaction shot here. As Sam starts putting the final pieces in place about what being Chuck's favourite actually means for them. Again, the acting on this series has always made up for when the writing is deficient.. which is why when the writing is there, it's phenomenal.
Ah, Jack didn't kill his grandma. That's good. I couldn't remember.
They frame this shot well - by keeping Sam and Chuck across the room from each other, Sam's towering figure isn't as noticeable and Chuck can still be formidable as a foe without having his physical tinyness emphasized.
Did Cas and Jack really not hear the impala pull up in that silent silent cemetery?! Or did Dean coast into that parking lot in the background on neutral with the engine off and still park nicely beside Cas's truck?
I love Dean's reaction to Jack kneeling and waiting to be killed. Again, acting superb from Jensen as always. Dean is so used to his enemies putting up a fight that it's probably EASIER if they do.
...why you need to cock a gun that doesn't have bullets though? It should be like a water pistol.
Chuck: "The father killing his own son - this is Abraham and Isaac..."
- I love ANYTIME that a character actually names Jack as their son. I have to note it. Maybe because Dean and Sam are never the type to put names to things... like, they'll legit hang out with someone for 10 plus years without putting a label on the relationship beyond the both vague and specifically winchesterian label of "family".
And Sam exposes who the villain of the story is - the monster at the end of this book is the writer... and that's really fitting, given that was the title of the episode that Chuck was introduced in. I like it. NOW, I know some people absolutely hate Chuck as God (and having a visible God) and they hate the idea that Sam and Dean's entirely lives have been a manipulation of Chuck's... and we'll get into the points that I agree and disagree with more when I rewatch S15. But, as of THIS episode, I like the way they set it up... with the one caveat that my favourite speech of Dean's is STILL the one about how there's no god, and no angels, just "random unpredictable evil that comes out of nowhere and rips you to shreds" - and this plot takes out the "random" part, which I'm NOT a fan of. It leaves everything else though - which I AM a fan of... in that Dean's not wrong. God and the angels in Supernatural aren't forces for good and are actually (with a few exceptions) part of the "unpredictable evil". So, I still see Supernatural as taking place in a godless universe, even though it has a confirmed God. This all gets into theology of course and I THINK I've talked about this before, in terms of Jewish theological questions that arose in the aftermath of the holocaust around questioning the existence and/or inaction of Dog (totally leaving that typo in because it makes me laugh... and made me realize that I'm getting WAY off track here.)
Dean: "No, my mom was my hero, and I will miss her every second of my life, but she would not want this."
- Yes, Dean! Also, Dean naming Mary as his hero instead of John... I mean, a person can have more than one hero, but I love this as character development for him.
Really, Sam and Dean berating God for his non-involvement is really a theological argument that's super fascinating... like, how you reconcile an inactive god with a god that's both good and omniscient? (I don't actually need an answer, btw... nor am I questioning your faith if you believe in God - you do you! Religion is awesome if it's something that fills your actions with love and gratefulness and brings you meaning and happiness.)
Chuck, of course, kills Jack... proving that he could have the whole time - so he is definitely a douche for making Dean do it.
So, Chuck totally killed their soulless son - and it's super sad.... but we get to zoom in on the eye and see Jack in the Empty, and Billie makes an appearance.
Oh! And I forgot to mention how Sam TOTALLY tried to kill God - SUPER AWESOME!!! Only he didn't aim low enough (ha!) and just clipped his shoulder... and I really wish they would have done something else with that plot, but we'll talk about that in S15.
And all the ghosts from hell coming back... including the spirits that they saved people from...
(You know, zombies coming out of the grave doesn't work in most cultures on earth - because as far as I'm aware the majority of cultures actually practice cremation... just another thing that makes Supernatural an Americana show.)
I'm not a huge fan of the montage, but I do love the song they put over top of it - on the nose, but I like it. :) "God was never on your side..."
And we're done! Thank you to those who have stuck this out with me. I'm sorry that 2020 really made things so difficult for me to get things done. Overall though, I'm doing okay - but thank you all for understanding that I couldn't keep up my same efficiency as before during a global crisis.
This entry was originally posted at https://hells-half-acre.dreamwidth.org/593696.html.
I finally bring you the final episode of my S14 rewatch - a whole year after I initially intended to be finished.
The new goal will be to get the clothing catalog updated by the end of February... we'll see how well I do at that. Once the clothing catalog is updated, I'll track down a S15 DVD (if they're out yet) and do a S15 rewatch.
Let's jump into it!
Moriah
Oh man, Carry On Wayward Son still makes me emotional. The series finale was just "okay" for me, in the end - so I think part of me still has a yearning for a resolution when this song plays... but Supernatural got too complicated to ever feel resolved, I think.
Anyway, Jack is pissed! You put him in a box! The amount of book shelves those boys backs have broken - they'd be paralyzed by now.
They never address the structural damage Jack did to the bunker in this episode (...reading this back over, I realize that I have firmly become a boring adult - "ugh, the repair work!" my mind screams).... not to mention the stuff that was in that room that's smoking now.
Then we get the Dean and Cas fight, where Dean is like "Our son is clearly a monster and must die!" and Cas is like "Your parenting sucks!" only they don't use those words. Meanwhile, Sam is like "My parenting is awesome, but no one ever listens to me..." and Dean is like "WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO LISTEN TO YOU! THERE'S DRAMA TO BE HAD!" and Sam is like "Valid point, I guess?"
Also, they really should put out the fires in that room first... like, even before they have this whole discussion - they should be putting out those fires. I was about to write "have they never known anyone who has died in a house fire?" and then I remembered the 1x01... really, they should know better. I mean, I know Mary and Jessica were deliberately set on fire, but STILL.
Jack compelling people to stop lying is a man after my own heart. I mean, I agree that white lies are sometimes necessary - but I absolutely HATE IT when people lie to me, even as a joke, or even just saying something they don't mean. My brain can't figure out when people mean something and when they don't, and it's very frustrating. When people just out right lie to me, I get more offended than I would if they just told me whatever it is that they wanted to tell me.
Sam calling Dean out on his nerdiness is amazing and well needed after 14 seasons... Dean is the biggest nerd on the show, who is constantly making fun of nerds.
I don't believe that Sam's favourite singer is Celine Dion though... but it's true we don't really know anything about Sam's music tastes. I just think that it's more realistic for Sam to go to singer-songwriter from a classic rock upbringing, rather than female ballad singer. BUT, that's based on my own upbringing on classic rock and my own music tastes... Sam is obviously a different person than I am.
The leap from not-lying to violence seems pretty extreme though.
Chuck shows up! I'm trying to remember where that red alley is - I feel like I've seen it before, and not just on Superntural... maybe it's in Gastown? New West? Must be New West, it's too hilly for Gastown. None of you care. Sorry.
Poor Jack, accidentally kills his mom by being born... and then purposefully kills his grandma?
Though, I guess maybe the leap from lying to violence could be Chuck interference - because his whole thing is to make Jack look like a bigger threat than he is, to encourage Dean's desire to kill him.
I love Dean smashing the guitar, because it really turns the character from Robbie's Chuck to Dabb's Chuck. Carver/Robbie's Chuck was a good guy, but Dabb needs God to be the enemy. (Kripke's Chuck/God was an absent mysterious character, and arguably the best route to go with the character). But as soon as Dabb introduced Jack's character - well, really the episode "The Future" - a possible path to Chuck becoming foe was laid out, because Jack was a direct challenger to him. Now, I was totally on board with this plan - because one of my favourite lines in S5 was Dean telling Cas to tell God that Dean was coming for him next. So, I wanted God to eventually be the final boss, and I wanted Dean (and/or Sam to be the one to kill him.) So, I was quite enthused about this storyline as soon as I saw Dean smash the guitar - putting Chuck clearly in the "annoying villain" framework that Supernatural is very very fond of.
The special gun that kills the person who fires it along with the person they're aiming at - It's very narrativingly convenient.. which is cleverly the point. Like, I do get a kick out of the fact that Supernatural can get away with this stuff because they've established "God is a bad writer" as a fact of their universe. :P
Rob Benedict is very good at the subtle reaction shots - like, the smirk when Cas walks away from the argument tells us that everything is playing out the way he wants.
Dean tells Sam that he's going to be the one to kill Jack (and therefore die). Really, Dean wanting to die young and have Sam live without him is well established at this point... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Sam has a good point - that Dean is both asking him to lose Jack (his pseudo-son) and also to lose Dean on the same day.
Cas and Jack meet up. Really, Jack, stick with the parent you have - don't try to win back the ones that have left you.
Sam talks to Chuck about how many alternate worlds there are - and we find out about the one that is all squirrels. CUTE!!!!
Chuck: "You and your brother, out of all the Sams and Deans in all the multiverse - you're my favourite. I mean the thing that happened at the office earlier today, that was crazy right?"
- I love Jared's reaction shot here. As Sam starts putting the final pieces in place about what being Chuck's favourite actually means for them. Again, the acting on this series has always made up for when the writing is deficient.. which is why when the writing is there, it's phenomenal.
Ah, Jack didn't kill his grandma. That's good. I couldn't remember.
They frame this shot well - by keeping Sam and Chuck across the room from each other, Sam's towering figure isn't as noticeable and Chuck can still be formidable as a foe without having his physical tinyness emphasized.
Did Cas and Jack really not hear the impala pull up in that silent silent cemetery?! Or did Dean coast into that parking lot in the background on neutral with the engine off and still park nicely beside Cas's truck?
I love Dean's reaction to Jack kneeling and waiting to be killed. Again, acting superb from Jensen as always. Dean is so used to his enemies putting up a fight that it's probably EASIER if they do.
...why you need to cock a gun that doesn't have bullets though? It should be like a water pistol.
Chuck: "The father killing his own son - this is Abraham and Isaac..."
- I love ANYTIME that a character actually names Jack as their son. I have to note it. Maybe because Dean and Sam are never the type to put names to things... like, they'll legit hang out with someone for 10 plus years without putting a label on the relationship beyond the both vague and specifically winchesterian label of "family".
And Sam exposes who the villain of the story is - the monster at the end of this book is the writer... and that's really fitting, given that was the title of the episode that Chuck was introduced in. I like it. NOW, I know some people absolutely hate Chuck as God (and having a visible God) and they hate the idea that Sam and Dean's entirely lives have been a manipulation of Chuck's... and we'll get into the points that I agree and disagree with more when I rewatch S15. But, as of THIS episode, I like the way they set it up... with the one caveat that my favourite speech of Dean's is STILL the one about how there's no god, and no angels, just "random unpredictable evil that comes out of nowhere and rips you to shreds" - and this plot takes out the "random" part, which I'm NOT a fan of. It leaves everything else though - which I AM a fan of... in that Dean's not wrong. God and the angels in Supernatural aren't forces for good and are actually (with a few exceptions) part of the "unpredictable evil". So, I still see Supernatural as taking place in a godless universe, even though it has a confirmed God. This all gets into theology of course and I THINK I've talked about this before, in terms of Jewish theological questions that arose in the aftermath of the holocaust around questioning the existence and/or inaction of Dog (totally leaving that typo in because it makes me laugh... and made me realize that I'm getting WAY off track here.)
Dean: "No, my mom was my hero, and I will miss her every second of my life, but she would not want this."
- Yes, Dean! Also, Dean naming Mary as his hero instead of John... I mean, a person can have more than one hero, but I love this as character development for him.
Really, Sam and Dean berating God for his non-involvement is really a theological argument that's super fascinating... like, how you reconcile an inactive god with a god that's both good and omniscient? (I don't actually need an answer, btw... nor am I questioning your faith if you believe in God - you do you! Religion is awesome if it's something that fills your actions with love and gratefulness and brings you meaning and happiness.)
Chuck, of course, kills Jack... proving that he could have the whole time - so he is definitely a douche for making Dean do it.
So, Chuck totally killed their soulless son - and it's super sad.... but we get to zoom in on the eye and see Jack in the Empty, and Billie makes an appearance.
Oh! And I forgot to mention how Sam TOTALLY tried to kill God - SUPER AWESOME!!! Only he didn't aim low enough (ha!) and just clipped his shoulder... and I really wish they would have done something else with that plot, but we'll talk about that in S15.
And all the ghosts from hell coming back... including the spirits that they saved people from...
(You know, zombies coming out of the grave doesn't work in most cultures on earth - because as far as I'm aware the majority of cultures actually practice cremation... just another thing that makes Supernatural an Americana show.)
I'm not a huge fan of the montage, but I do love the song they put over top of it - on the nose, but I like it. :) "God was never on your side..."
And we're done! Thank you to those who have stuck this out with me. I'm sorry that 2020 really made things so difficult for me to get things done. Overall though, I'm doing okay - but thank you all for understanding that I couldn't keep up my same efficiency as before during a global crisis.
This entry was originally posted at https://hells-half-acre.dreamwidth.org/593696.html.