"Changing Channels" reaction post
I normally don't do episode reaction posts, but...
OH MY FUCKING GOD. DID YOU JUST SEE THAT? DID YOU JUST WATCH WHAT I JUST WATCHED BECAUSE OH MY GOD.
Okay. Indoor voice. Partly. I'll try.
I can't even quite express how much I loved this episode, so let me lay out in sprawling outline format what I loved about it.
1. FULL HOUSE OPENING CREDITS REFERENCES OH CHRIST IT WAS SO AWFUL AND PERFECT I ALMOST THREW UP. Not joking. sockkiah was concerned for her couch.
2. Dean is hot for Dr. Sexy. There is no other way to read the many looks he gave the man. Seriously. There is just...good lord. I mean...up to this point, yes, I've shipped Dean/Cas, but I never thought there'd be any chance of Dean actually being bi or gay canonically. Now, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he came out or had a fling with a dude on the show. I mean, I'd be surprised at the writers (that'd take some balls), but not at the character. Um, yeah, Dean, we all know.
2a) I would also not be surprised if Dean was mentioned in an LGBT characters top ten list in the next year. He's at about Andrew Wells level on the subtext-to-text spectrum, and I've seen Andrew listed before.
2b) Dean/Captain Jack Harkness in season 6. Callin' it.
3. There are going to be so many gifs of Sam taking a hit to the balls.
4. I love that they brought the trickster back. He's one of my favorite recurring characters.
4. a) AND NOW HE'S SECRETLY BEEN GABRIEL - THE ANGEL I'VE MOST WANTED TO SEE ON THE SHOW - ALL ALONG! AND TYING IN ANGELIC SEASON 4 AND 5 PLOTLINES BACK TO SEASON 2...AND AND...CANNOT EXPRESS...CAN ONLY FLAIL...*FLAILING*
4. a) i. Gabriel is thought to blow the trumpet that signals the End Days. He's also the guy who went around telling everybody they were pregnant earlier in the New Testament. Dude's got an awesome role. He should have a greeting card line. This is why I wanted him to show up.
4. a) ii. If he ever shows up with any kind of horn, I may have to be removed from the floor surgically, I'll ROFL so hard.
4. a) iii. That whole thing with the Trickster in "Mystery Spot" telling Sam he had a wife named Amelia and he sold ad space, just like Jimmy Novak? I'm choosing to take that as trickster/Gabriel drawing from knowledge about his brother's vessel.
4. b) This whole family motif Gabriel dragged back in? The thing he laid out every so clearly for the boys? The "It's always been you, because the angels were doing the exact bullshit you've been doing for millenia"? Yeah, I might have to marry that thing. It's the best thing. There was a crystallizing episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender that laid out family lines and destiny like this, and I wanted to marry that, too. I've been saying for ages that Supernatural is one big family drama - no matter how epic it gets, it always comes down to family dynamics (I really, really want to write a paper about this). And Gabriel brought that to a new level.
4. b) i. Dean bitching out Gabriel for being a coward about his family and basically calling him out to finally do something about it. YES. A MILLION YES. FOREVER YES. I really, really, really hope they bring Gabriel back to actually be a plot-important character late in the season.
5. "That's kind of...uncomfortable." Oh, Car!Sam, you're such a prude. ("Dean's been in Sam's trunk, it's canon!" --sockkiah)
6. HERPES! (Who else thought it was a real commercial and almost didn't pay attention?)
7. Castiel was in this one! I didn't know how they were going to work him into the episode, and his minimal presence ended up being so perfect. He showed up at the perfect moment to get a proper \o/ reception from sockkiah and me, got his pretty face all bloodied up, and came back around to hammer home the point about family values. He didn't need to take center stage in this one, and that was played beautifully.
7. a) Did you see that weird little reaction shot Dean had when the trickster/Gabriel was talking about "pretty boy angels"? He looked like somebody had just introduced him to Dippin' Dots for the first time, but in the worst possible circumstances. Amazed and baffled and scared all at once. Deaners, what's going on in that angel-retardant noggin of yours?
7. b) Dean showed concern for Cas all episode! Warmed my little heart.
8. When we first saw a promo with a snippet from the cop procedural sequence, I said, "If somebody does something with their sunglasses and the music goes 'YEAAAAAAHHHH,' I'm going to die. But they won't do it. Would they...? No. No, they won't."
And then going into the actual sequence, I said, "If they do it, I'm going to die. They won't do it, though."
And then, do you know what?
THEY DID IT. THE MUSIC WENT "YEAAAAAAHHHH" WITH SAM AND DEAN PUTTING ON SUNGLASSES AND THEN I DIED AND FELL ON THE FLOOR. I LITERALLY FELL ON THE GODDAMN FLOOR AND DIDN'T GET UP FOR THE REST OF THE EPISODE. NOT. EVEN. JOKING.
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. SURPRISE TWIST ENDING: I WAS A GHOST THE ENTIRE POST!
*spooky noises*
Okay, I think I've got it out of my system. But this was by far my favorite episode of the season, and easily already on my top ten favorites for the series. Maybe top five, we'll see.
OH MY FUCKING GOD. DID YOU JUST SEE THAT? DID YOU JUST WATCH WHAT I JUST WATCHED BECAUSE OH MY GOD.
Okay. Indoor voice. Partly. I'll try.
I can't even quite express how much I loved this episode, so let me lay out in sprawling outline format what I loved about it.
1. FULL HOUSE OPENING CREDITS REFERENCES OH CHRIST IT WAS SO AWFUL AND PERFECT I ALMOST THREW UP. Not joking. sockkiah was concerned for her couch.
2. Dean is hot for Dr. Sexy. There is no other way to read the many looks he gave the man. Seriously. There is just...good lord. I mean...up to this point, yes, I've shipped Dean/Cas, but I never thought there'd be any chance of Dean actually being bi or gay canonically. Now, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he came out or had a fling with a dude on the show. I mean, I'd be surprised at the writers (that'd take some balls), but not at the character. Um, yeah, Dean, we all know.
2a) I would also not be surprised if Dean was mentioned in an LGBT characters top ten list in the next year. He's at about Andrew Wells level on the subtext-to-text spectrum, and I've seen Andrew listed before.
2b) Dean/Captain Jack Harkness in season 6. Callin' it.
3. There are going to be so many gifs of Sam taking a hit to the balls.
4. I love that they brought the trickster back. He's one of my favorite recurring characters.
4. a) AND NOW HE'S SECRETLY BEEN GABRIEL - THE ANGEL I'VE MOST WANTED TO SEE ON THE SHOW - ALL ALONG! AND TYING IN ANGELIC SEASON 4 AND 5 PLOTLINES BACK TO SEASON 2...AND AND...CANNOT EXPRESS...CAN ONLY FLAIL...*FLAILING*
4. a) i. Gabriel is thought to blow the trumpet that signals the End Days. He's also the guy who went around telling everybody they were pregnant earlier in the New Testament. Dude's got an awesome role. He should have a greeting card line. This is why I wanted him to show up.
4. a) ii. If he ever shows up with any kind of horn, I may have to be removed from the floor surgically, I'll ROFL so hard.
4. a) iii. That whole thing with the Trickster in "Mystery Spot" telling Sam he had a wife named Amelia and he sold ad space, just like Jimmy Novak? I'm choosing to take that as trickster/Gabriel drawing from knowledge about his brother's vessel.
4. b) This whole family motif Gabriel dragged back in? The thing he laid out every so clearly for the boys? The "It's always been you, because the angels were doing the exact bullshit you've been doing for millenia"? Yeah, I might have to marry that thing. It's the best thing. There was a crystallizing episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender that laid out family lines and destiny like this, and I wanted to marry that, too. I've been saying for ages that Supernatural is one big family drama - no matter how epic it gets, it always comes down to family dynamics (I really, really want to write a paper about this). And Gabriel brought that to a new level.
4. b) i. Dean bitching out Gabriel for being a coward about his family and basically calling him out to finally do something about it. YES. A MILLION YES. FOREVER YES. I really, really, really hope they bring Gabriel back to actually be a plot-important character late in the season.
5. "That's kind of...uncomfortable." Oh, Car!Sam, you're such a prude. ("Dean's been in Sam's trunk, it's canon!" --sockkiah)
6. HERPES! (Who else thought it was a real commercial and almost didn't pay attention?)
7. Castiel was in this one! I didn't know how they were going to work him into the episode, and his minimal presence ended up being so perfect. He showed up at the perfect moment to get a proper \o/ reception from sockkiah and me, got his pretty face all bloodied up, and came back around to hammer home the point about family values. He didn't need to take center stage in this one, and that was played beautifully.
7. a) Did you see that weird little reaction shot Dean had when the trickster/Gabriel was talking about "pretty boy angels"? He looked like somebody had just introduced him to Dippin' Dots for the first time, but in the worst possible circumstances. Amazed and baffled and scared all at once. Deaners, what's going on in that angel-retardant noggin of yours?
7. b) Dean showed concern for Cas all episode! Warmed my little heart.
8. When we first saw a promo with a snippet from the cop procedural sequence, I said, "If somebody does something with their sunglasses and the music goes 'YEAAAAAAHHHH,' I'm going to die. But they won't do it. Would they...? No. No, they won't."
And then going into the actual sequence, I said, "If they do it, I'm going to die. They won't do it, though."
And then, do you know what?
THEY DID IT. THE MUSIC WENT "YEAAAAAAHHHH" WITH SAM AND DEAN PUTTING ON SUNGLASSES AND THEN I DIED AND FELL ON THE FLOOR. I LITERALLY FELL ON THE GODDAMN FLOOR AND DIDN'T GET UP FOR THE REST OF THE EPISODE. NOT. EVEN. JOKING.
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. SURPRISE TWIST ENDING: I WAS A GHOST THE ENTIRE POST!
*spooky noises*
Okay, I think I've got it out of my system. But this was by far my favorite episode of the season, and easily already on my top ten favorites for the series. Maybe top five, we'll see.