10x01 Reaction
Yeah, I know. Silence for weeks and then two posts in one day. What can I say, it's the season premiere! And to be perfectly honest, I scheduled this one in advance. I stayed up until 4am to watch the episode live, and I think I might make a habbit of it. Problem is, I couldn't go to sleep after because my mind was buzzing!
As I mentioned on my previous, long-ass meta post, I was writing my reaction and got distracted by my thoughts about Dean, so this isn't exactly a review, more like random thoughts about specific scenes I had during and after.
The opening scene was a fantastic way to start this season. We all assumed the demon Sam was interrogating talked about Dean with her famous "a Winchester? One of us?" from the promo where in fact she talked about Sam all along. Clever demon, clever promo editors.
Sam was terrifying in this and Jared gave a heartbreaking performance that made me want to hug him the entire episode and was on the top of his game. I wish we'd had seen more from Sam in those four weeks. What Sam did to that demon wasn't nearly enough for her little speech, I want to see what made her say it and triggered the rumors.
A Winchester? One of us?
But it's true, isn't it? Whatever soul you had, whatever boy scout code you cuddle up to at night, it's all gone. Leaving what? Look at you.
Moving on four weeks later, I skipped the second sneak peek and I still felt like I knew too much about the episode and what was coming. No more promos for me!
Having said that, when Sam reached out to look at Dean's note I may or may not have whimpered a little. No matter how ready I was, the fact Dean cared enough to write it before he left, enough to let Sam (Sammy!) know he's alive and doesn't want to be found is killing me. You can claim he just wanted Sam to stay away, but he could've just left without a word and he didn't.
I keep looking for proof that Dean is still Dean, and for me, this was a big one.
Sam's conversation with Cas was touching. We don't get to see these two interact often, but they started bonding (no pun intended) during S9 and I'd love to see more of their dynamic, and what exactly happened with Sam's shoulder (other than demon!Master Chau, I mean). It's clear that they both care for each other, and are united by their grief and worry for Dean.
The karoke scene was... unncessary. Especially the I'm Too Sexy one. Don't get me wrong, give me Jensen singing every day, even if he's trying so hard to sound bad, but I found it embaressing in the promo and not that great in the actual episode.
The bed scenea though, very necessary. For reasons. But even ignoring the ovbious reasons to love it, I liked Dean's interaction with Anne Marie here and how he told her not to get attached. For a moment there it looked like he was trying to protect her feelings, like another proof the Dean is still there. This wouldn't last long. And of course there's the jerk/bitch exchange. So wrong. So funny.
I talked about it enough in my other post, but the TL;DR version is that it shows how much Dean needs the brotherly dynamic, and reflects it into Crowley.
Millitary guy (which I named here before, sorry if I ruined it to anyone! I read his name somewhere and forgot it wasn't mentioned) doesn't seem all that interesting to me so far. He seems about Dean's age, and he probably has a grudge again him (or again John?) for failing to save a family member. *yawn*
The only thing that interests me about him is who sent him that fax, and was he a time traveller from the 80s. No, sorry, just who sent that fax.
Gas station guy on the other hand is my new favorite character. Doesn't matter that he had 2 minutes of screen time. Gotta love him.
"You mean when porn guy was stabbing the other guy to death 10 feet in front of me, and I was having a total code-brown moment in my favorite freakin pants because I thought I was next?
Did I conduct a field interview? No.
[ETA] And how could I forget! Crowley's “Your brother and I were beginning to wonder if you’d hit another dog.” Cold. Cruel. Perfect. So hurtful for Sam, no only by the mention of his poor choices but the fact that Dean told Crowley all about it. I choose to take it as an official apology by the writers for creating that damn Amelia storyline and making Sam not look for Dean while he was in Purgatory. Not that I forgive them that easily for it, but I appreciate the effort.
Moving on. I want to talk about Cas and Hannah, but I almost made myself fall asleep while writing it, so I won't. It wasn't too bad but I'm really not interested in what's happening in heaven right now. Cas and his human emotions, now that's interesting. And what a cruel, hilarious, fantastic way to play with the Destiel shippers emotions, with that fade from Cas talking about love in the car to Dean driving the car? I don't have any problem with Destiel, but the teenagers on tumblr claiming it's canon and freaking out about it? Priceless, and the writers keep having fun with it.
I think Dean and Crowley's conversation was the most insightful thing about this episode. We didn't get enough Dean in it to my taste, and it was the first time we saw him engaging in a real conversation with anyone since his transformation (if we don't count the one with Anne Marie where she mostly did the talking, and how awesome was she?). Again this is something I already talked myself to death about in my other post so I won't repeat it, but it's my favorite scene in this episode.
The entire episode I kept looking for proof that Dean is still Dean. Jensen gave a perfect performance as expected and made demon!Dean different yet similar, but I still looked for little glimpses of our Dean and I thought I saw it with how he told Anne Marie not to get attached or the way he looked when Crowley mentioned Sam.
Then the ending scene happened. The conversation with military guy was what finally broke me. Dean wanted to know Sam was still alive, started threatening military guy, making us believe that even now he'll fight for Sam, but no. He couldn't care less.
Dean: Now you listen to me. There is no trade. There's not meet up. There's no nothing. Except the 100% guarantee - somewhere down the road, I will find you and I will kill you.
Military Guy: That'll be a cold comfort to your dead brother.
Dean: I told him to let me go, so whatever jam he's in now, that is his problem.
Military Guy: Yeah, well, I'll be sure to pass that onto him as I'm sleething his throat
Dean: Yeah you do that, cause he knows me and he knows damn sure that if I am one thing, I'm a man of my word.
This reaction? Making us believe that he’s threatening Sam’s kidnapper for just a moment when in fact he couldn’t care less about Sam, and is just pissed about someone coming after HIM?
That hurts.
All in all, a very good episode. Not the best season premiere SPN ever had and I could use some more action, but with the time jump and introducing new characters they needed some time for explanations and judging by next week's teaser (10 seconds! 10! It's getting shorter!) we'll get some then.
I love that there's no cases because Dean is the case, and I can't wait to see more demon!Dean and for Sam and Dean to meet.
As I mentioned on my previous, long-ass meta post, I was writing my reaction and got distracted by my thoughts about Dean, so this isn't exactly a review, more like random thoughts about specific scenes I had during and after.
The opening scene was a fantastic way to start this season. We all assumed the demon Sam was interrogating talked about Dean with her famous "a Winchester? One of us?" from the promo where in fact she talked about Sam all along. Clever demon, clever promo editors.
Sam was terrifying in this and Jared gave a heartbreaking performance that made me want to hug him the entire episode and was on the top of his game. I wish we'd had seen more from Sam in those four weeks. What Sam did to that demon wasn't nearly enough for her little speech, I want to see what made her say it and triggered the rumors.
A Winchester? One of us?
But it's true, isn't it? Whatever soul you had, whatever boy scout code you cuddle up to at night, it's all gone. Leaving what? Look at you.
Moving on four weeks later, I skipped the second sneak peek and I still felt like I knew too much about the episode and what was coming. No more promos for me!
Having said that, when Sam reached out to look at Dean's note I may or may not have whimpered a little. No matter how ready I was, the fact Dean cared enough to write it before he left, enough to let Sam (Sammy!) know he's alive and doesn't want to be found is killing me. You can claim he just wanted Sam to stay away, but he could've just left without a word and he didn't.
I keep looking for proof that Dean is still Dean, and for me, this was a big one.
Sam's conversation with Cas was touching. We don't get to see these two interact often, but they started bonding (no pun intended) during S9 and I'd love to see more of their dynamic, and what exactly happened with Sam's shoulder (other than demon!Master Chau, I mean). It's clear that they both care for each other, and are united by their grief and worry for Dean.
The karoke scene was... unncessary. Especially the I'm Too Sexy one. Don't get me wrong, give me Jensen singing every day, even if he's trying so hard to sound bad, but I found it embaressing in the promo and not that great in the actual episode.
The bed scenea though, very necessary. For reasons. But even ignoring the ovbious reasons to love it, I liked Dean's interaction with Anne Marie here and how he told her not to get attached. For a moment there it looked like he was trying to protect her feelings, like another proof the Dean is still there. This wouldn't last long. And of course there's the jerk/bitch exchange. So wrong. So funny.
I talked about it enough in my other post, but the TL;DR version is that it shows how much Dean needs the brotherly dynamic, and reflects it into Crowley.
Millitary guy (which I named here before, sorry if I ruined it to anyone! I read his name somewhere and forgot it wasn't mentioned) doesn't seem all that interesting to me so far. He seems about Dean's age, and he probably has a grudge again him (or again John?) for failing to save a family member. *yawn*
The only thing that interests me about him is who sent him that fax, and was he a time traveller from the 80s. No, sorry, just who sent that fax.
Gas station guy on the other hand is my new favorite character. Doesn't matter that he had 2 minutes of screen time. Gotta love him.
"You mean when porn guy was stabbing the other guy to death 10 feet in front of me, and I was having a total code-brown moment in my favorite freakin pants because I thought I was next?
Did I conduct a field interview? No.
[ETA] And how could I forget! Crowley's “Your brother and I were beginning to wonder if you’d hit another dog.” Cold. Cruel. Perfect. So hurtful for Sam, no only by the mention of his poor choices but the fact that Dean told Crowley all about it. I choose to take it as an official apology by the writers for creating that damn Amelia storyline and making Sam not look for Dean while he was in Purgatory. Not that I forgive them that easily for it, but I appreciate the effort.
Moving on. I want to talk about Cas and Hannah, but I almost made myself fall asleep while writing it, so I won't. It wasn't too bad but I'm really not interested in what's happening in heaven right now. Cas and his human emotions, now that's interesting. And what a cruel, hilarious, fantastic way to play with the Destiel shippers emotions, with that fade from Cas talking about love in the car to Dean driving the car? I don't have any problem with Destiel, but the teenagers on tumblr claiming it's canon and freaking out about it? Priceless, and the writers keep having fun with it.
I think Dean and Crowley's conversation was the most insightful thing about this episode. We didn't get enough Dean in it to my taste, and it was the first time we saw him engaging in a real conversation with anyone since his transformation (if we don't count the one with Anne Marie where she mostly did the talking, and how awesome was she?). Again this is something I already talked myself to death about in my other post so I won't repeat it, but it's my favorite scene in this episode.
The entire episode I kept looking for proof that Dean is still Dean. Jensen gave a perfect performance as expected and made demon!Dean different yet similar, but I still looked for little glimpses of our Dean and I thought I saw it with how he told Anne Marie not to get attached or the way he looked when Crowley mentioned Sam.
Then the ending scene happened. The conversation with military guy was what finally broke me. Dean wanted to know Sam was still alive, started threatening military guy, making us believe that even now he'll fight for Sam, but no. He couldn't care less.
Dean: Now you listen to me. There is no trade. There's not meet up. There's no nothing. Except the 100% guarantee - somewhere down the road, I will find you and I will kill you.
Military Guy: That'll be a cold comfort to your dead brother.
Dean: I told him to let me go, so whatever jam he's in now, that is his problem.
Military Guy: Yeah, well, I'll be sure to pass that onto him as I'm sleething his throat
Dean: Yeah you do that, cause he knows me and he knows damn sure that if I am one thing, I'm a man of my word.
This reaction? Making us believe that he’s threatening Sam’s kidnapper for just a moment when in fact he couldn’t care less about Sam, and is just pissed about someone coming after HIM?
That hurts.
All in all, a very good episode. Not the best season premiere SPN ever had and I could use some more action, but with the time jump and introducing new characters they needed some time for explanations and judging by next week's teaser (10 seconds! 10! It's getting shorter!) we'll get some then.
I love that there's no cases because Dean is the case, and I can't wait to see more demon!Dean and for Sam and Dean to meet.